World is Flat

There was a joke making rounds some time back about corporate meeting culture. Let me quickly tell that joke first and then back to a more serious topic, which this post is going to be!

A senior colleague, whilst preparing for a yet another meeting, gives one idea to enjoy these boring corporate meetings to his newly recruited colleague. Write down these words on a piece of paper he tells. The words are: globalisation, innovation, leverage, customer satisfaction, high performance, intuition, out-sourcing and competence. Now the idea is to strike out each word as and when it is heard during the meeting. At the end of the meeting if there is a single word left on the paper he wins otherwise he loses. And as you would have guessed, there were very few meetings which gave the new entrant a chance to win!! The morale of the story: most corporate meetings are stereotype and mere lip-service.

Why did I remember this story now? Because I am currently reading a book - The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. A highly acclaimed book about present times and how globalisation is shaping our new world and some of the challenges in this “flat world” that we are and will increasingly be facing. And to my utter surprise each of the above words is mentioned so many times in this book, repeatedly, that I could not but pose and ponder over them. It is a lengthy book rather a thesis from a well travelled gentleman and journalist who moved around the world trying to find answers to why India and China are stealing American jobs and ended up with this amazing book, which I will recommend to every global citizen who wants to succeed in this new world. The title of the book was conceived when the author heard Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani say "the playing field has been levelled". (This explains why Infosys' annual financial statements reach its shareholders with THINK FLAT embossed on its cover page!!)

One idea that I liked the most is a simple mathematical equation. CQ + PQ > IQ. Curiosity Quotient + Passion Quotient > Intelligence Quotient. Suggesting that in the new flat world it is an individual’s curiosity and passion for his work, which will drive him to success and to a better paying jobs and ultimately to better standard of living and not as much as his intelligence. Quite an equation there!

So if you are up for some dose of global economic environment and some ideas about how to compete in the new flat world, this is a book for you. Go grab it.

A call to honour : Tol "Mole" ke Bol

A book that was purchased just to kill time during my 24 hrs long train journey from Hyd to Amdavad suddenly became so riveting that I didnt realise i was more than half thru in a single day of reading!!

The controversy that the book has created definitely had some influence on me but my basic aim behind reading it was I wanted to understand what goes behind the scenes in international diplomacy. As a former E, F & D minister (External Affairs, Finance, Defense respectively, as the author likes to call)in Vajpayee govt, Mr. Jaswant Singh gives a first hand experience of the far impacting era in indian history spanning 1998 - 2004.

A memoir that starts in the deserts of Rajsthan - the motherland of Mr. Singh touches wide subjects of diplomacy and how india stirred its way through turbulent times post Pokhran-II, WTC attack, Kandhar hijack, military coup in pakistan, kargil war and attack on parliament and subsequent build up on border.

And something abt the controversy... The author does write about a PMO official ( widely known as "a mole in PMO during Narsimha rao govt"), who wrote to USA agency abt india's nuclear plans. But there is nothing controversial abt it. He just suggests that this type of clandestine approach to diplomacy is well known and just asks india to be aware and be prepared abt it.


Finally a statement that he quotes in this book twice and once to mark the end of it.
"My Lord! I dont even know what I dont know". Isnt it true?

For those who are interested in some serious diplomatic dose, I would certainly recommend this one. Its neither a memoir nor an autobiography. It's altogether a different genre...