Barack Obama : Audacious Hope for Change?

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, August 28,1963


We are the ones we have been waiting for.
Barack Obama
Speech following Super Tuesday results, Feb 5, 2008.



Barack Obama has the world on fire. He has got our imagination on hyper-drive.

200,000 Berliners and other mostly European nationals greeted Obama in July. For me, that event alone sums it up for Obama. For students of history, a black man talking about a new world order to Europeans in the heart of Europe where two world wars originated, is as symbolic as the coming down of the Berlin Wall it self. Maybe even more.

And…. a Yahoo search for Barack Obama produced 539,000,000 pages.

The Economist via Economist.com is conducting an on-going on-line voting for non-Americans from all over the world to cast their vote. We now get to ‘choose’ who should become the President of the United States of America! What an irony….nobody ever asks me who should become the Prime Minister of my own country. Anyway…

I did a quick survey on the voting patterns last week and this is what I found out: in almost all the countries that I checked on, Obama is leading the vote count except for Iraq where too few people have voted. I guess the Iraqis are not in the mood right now.

Anyway the following are the few countries that I managed to check on and their corresponding % of voters who have voted for Obama:

1. Malaysia : 90%
2. Singapore : 87%
3. India : 86%
4. UAE : 97%
5. Britain : 89%
6. Japan : 86%
7. Uganda : 95%
8. Iran : 85%
9. China : 83%
10. Afghanistan : 89%
11. Indonesia : 96%
12. Russia : 85%

And according to the Time Magazine website, a total of 85% of all readers have voted for Obama!

Why?

Obama is viewed as a harbinger of change. He is supposed to herald a new beginning for the USA and as an extension of that, to the rest of the world. His election to the highest office in world politics will be the final healing that the United States need to move away from it’s discriminatory past. A black man in the White House! They should make it a tourist attraction to see all the faces of the KKK in the deep south.. Would be worth the money.

But I can see why the rest of us are all fired up by Obama and find it a little ironic too! 90% of Malaysians have voted for Obama but I wonder how many of them will be willing to accept a Malaysian Indian to be the next Prime Minister. 86% of Japanese voted for Obama but how many there will accept a woman to be the prime minister. I can understand the 86% of Indians in India who voted for Obama though. Here is one country predominantly Hindu and male-dominated but yet has a female President, a Sikh prime minister and had a Muslim President recently. The leading party of the present government is led by a Caucasian Catholic female! So, it makes sense for the Indians to choose Obama. They do have a history of acceptance of diversity.

Anyway, I suppose everybody will have their own reasons for choosing Obama. He represents different values for different people. For the colored people (of course, white/fair skin is also a colour but I think you know what I mean) of the world, Obama’s rise to the pinnacle of world politics will be sweet justice for a world that has for so long looked down upon them. The curse of being ‘coloured’ is finally being lifted. Obama, whether he is elected or not next month, will symbolize a new turning point in race based politics. It’s not that race and skin colour will not matter but they will matter less. Not since Jesse Owens has the coloured people of the world has been so electrified. For Malaysian Indians, Obama will also represent a new faith in themselves. With Hindraf having rekindled their faith in themselves (although much work needs to be done to channel this energy to positive outlets; a task made difficult by our fumbling Syed Hamid Albar) Malaysian Indians will see that there is no limit to their road to a better future. You can’t stop the cream from rising.

As for the rest of us who are slightly more colour blind, Obama may represent a new hope for a new world order. A new order based on mutual respect and understanding. Obama is hoped to signify the shift from western dominated unilateral thinking to a more inclusive and global perspective. Obama has the influence of many cultures within him. He has some connections or other with Indonesia, Sabah (his brother-in-law’s parents originate from Sabah). He has roots in Kenya. He has been exposed to Islam. He is highly educated. In contrast, America and its politics hitherto are identified with people like Sarah Palin who only got her passport last month! For most Americans, like Palin, the world is America and America is the world. Anything that does not jive with this deserves to be bombed out of existence or at least boycotted to oblivion.

But then now we have Obama. Could he be different? Will we see a more noble and humble America? Maybe. But lets not forget as what Karim Raslan says, in the final analyses and when the brouhaha of the America election is over and when the dust settles, the victor needs to answer to his constituency and that is the American people. This will apply to Obama too. Obama (or Mc Cain) will become the President of the American people and they will have to play to their gallery whether they like it or not.

Yet, we hope that Obama will be more than just an American President. We hope that he can infuse new values into American politics and that he can make Americans understand that Uncle Sam’s hegemony is no longer in tune with world affairs. If America had so much good will from its Marshall Plan, if America was briefly loved in this part of the world after the Tsunami, it was because the world had a glimpse of American soft power. We saw a gentler side of this giant. It was so intoxicating like the good old days just after World War II.

Obama carries the hope of all of us that America needs to look beyond it self and its self- interests alone. This is a responsibility of a true super-power. World politics will only get more complicated. The end of the cold-war was supposed to see the end of divisive world politics but it has actually brought about a discordant state of affairs. The rise of China and India, the increasingly assertive Russia longing for its imperial past, the birth of nations bent on avoiding main stream world politics, the precarious conditions of nuclear powered nations like Pakistan, and the great dichotomy of east versus west political rhetoric by small-minded politicians the world over will only make the job of keeping peace that much harder. We don’t need to add to this problem with a return to American cow-boy style gun-ship politics. American military power will always be needed to keep the balance and its show of strength will be a comforting feeling for the ‘free’ world no matter how much we would hate to admit to that. But we would prefer a noble super-power.

Personally, I am doubtful that Obama can do what we hope he should do. Let’s face it. He needs to answer to his political backers, the huge American corporations and industrial captains who are bank rolling him. There is no free lunch in politics. American economy is closely tied to its military complex and it will take dozens of Obama to undo that even if America had the will for it. Obama, will have to play a tricky role in world politics. It will be anybody’s guess how he will treat China although he seems to echo a new vision of international relations. And how is he going to get America out of the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan and I think the Bush administration is going to leave him another headache by increasingly attacking terrorists camps deep within Pakistan.

In world economics, Obama will be a relatively new face. By now, Capitol Hill is probably drawing up plans to ensure that no ‘foreign ‘elements’ try to hoodwink the young president. They would be prepared to ‘protect’ Obama from economic decisions that could harm America. This is the politically correct way of saying : Status quo as usual.

All in all, the day after Obama is elected (if at all he gets elected) will be the same as today. However there will be a difference in another realm; man’s mind. The results from this will be seen in a generation or two; hopefully. A new paradigm will be born. Hope for equality and the brotherhood of man will find a new ray of light. The light that was lit by such giants like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela will once again flicker brightly. We will have hope to believe that man kind is capable of peace and love and understanding. We will have reasons to believe that nations can co-habit this planet peacefully and that people of different faiths can live in peace.

In the final analyses, Obama is but the first step on a long and treacherous journey for equality and peace. He will either become a doyen of a new era or he will be remembered by a “ oh well…it was an experiment…” by line in the history books.

As for us in the world of business, Obama or no Obama, life will be that much more difficult especially for those among us who have had a ‘business as usual” attitude.

Its business un-usual just as an un-usual thing is going to happen to American politics. Well, almost!

Leading (and Managing) With Passion

One of my all time favorite song is the Beatles’ Let it Be.


When I find my self in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be

And in my hour of darkness
She is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be
Whisper the words of wisdom

And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be

For though they maybe departed
There is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be
There will be an answer
Let it be

Let it be, let it be, let it be

And when the night is clouded
There is still a light that shines on me
Shine on until tomorrow
Let it be

I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary whispers to me
Words of wisdom

There will be an answer
Let it be

I also love the Scorpions, Queen, Air Supply, Michael Jackson; I have a whole set of his albums…or at least I think I still do. No problem even if I don't as every time he comes out with a new one, I go out and buy all his past albums. I listen to them all. That's the way I enjoy MJ. Oh yes… I love Santana, Dixie Chicks, Maroon 5, Depeche Mode (who? you say…..go and find their albums at places where they sell 80s British pop…you will love them). Nirvana, Prince, Run DMC, Eminem, Louis Armstrong, Bonnie Tyler are all still my favorites. John Lennon is also somewhere at the top my list. So is Nora Jones, Kitaro, Sade and George Michael. They have all left a mark in my life. I remember some of their greatest songs while I was going through the ups and downs in my life. I distinctly relate Air Supply to my varsity days. Enya’s hauntingly beautiful Orinoco Flow and her other Irish/Scotish infleunced songs were a lullaby that helped me to sleep during the dark weeks and months when my beloved uncle lay on his death bed. Eminem was introduced to me by the love of my life, my girl friend Alcie. His words and anger were almost like a catharsis for my own. I remember, a rare tear running down my cheek listening to Elton John’s England Rose during Princess D’s funeral.

This is the first time I have actually given any serious thoughts to this. It was prompted by a participant in my program recently when he shared his experience at a street corner in Jakarta where a street performer rendered a beautiful song. And this participant said that he could see the passion in that guy’s singing (we were talking about the element of passion that differentiates the peak performer from the rest).

So there it is, the answer to why among all the hundreds and hundreds of singers and bands that I have heard in my life, only a handful remains in memory is because their work was infused with a passion that ignites something within you….. a realization, a memory, a sparkle of new knowledge or even a tear. That street performer probably could not be bothered whether anybody is paying any serious attention to his ‘work’ but sing he did…with all his heart. Then, somewhere in that crowded and dusty place another soul caught his words and melody and they made a difference. Amazing isn’t it this thing called Passion?

This has a deeper meaning for me actually. In my job as a consultant/trainer/coach, there is only one thing in my control : My passion for my work. Whether the receiver of my delivery receives it as I intended it will depend on their preparedness; their timing. Out of the many people who are in a session with me, each will learn and reflect on many things. Some may not at all. But, its my passion for what I do that helps me to do my thing as somewhere deep within me, I know…I know like I know the sun will rise….that something I say or do is making a difference in somebody’s thinking and feeling right there. It was true for last week's session too.

I guess Passion is what differentiates the truly great men and women from the rest. Bill Gates build an empire on passion. Oprah Winfrey built one too on passion. Where will GE be if not for Jack Welch’s passion for performance. Closer to home, Lee Kuan Yew built Singapore on his sheer passion for that tiny dot of land down south. Tony Fernandes made Air Asia a market leader by his untamable passion for success. Without passion, I doubt Carlos Ghossn could keep with such a crazy schedule : half a week in Europe and half a week in Japan and everywhere else in between.

The ultimate living man and woman of passion : Deigo Maradona, Tiger Woods & Nicol David . If you have watched Maradona during his peak, you will know what passion is. His passion for his game will be clearly etched on his face for every goal he scores, every goal he assists, every pass he misses, every little mistakes he and his team made make. And, with that passion, his team went on to win a World Cup. Need I say more.

I suppose any business leader needs passion in his life. He or she needs passion for the business and for the people. I met an amazing lady from the hospitality industry recently and her passion for her work practically enveloped me and my colleague. She spoke with such an energy that one can practically feel her love for her job radiating from her very being. Over the Deepavali holidays, I watched an interview of Kamal Hassan, the consumate Tamil film actor. He spoke with such passion for his work and it was not difficult to see why the great late Sivaji Ganesan acted alongside him.

Show me a poor manager and I will show you a manager without passion for her people and business. Show me a a succesful company and I will show you passionate people.

So, Let It Be is a great song. It was a song by a band of Liverpoorlians (yes, there is more to Liverpoll than football)who had passion in their belly to make a difference. A difference they made....for an entire generation.

Leaderless Organizations?

Leaderless Organizations? Maybe a little less 'leadership' may not be such a bad thing after all. Here is why.


Lee Wei Lian wrote in the The Edge (20th October 2008) that he is amazed at how countries like Japan and Switzerland seem to continue developing and breaking new grounds in all aspects of human endeavors despite their politicians and their politics.

It got me thinking.

Japan has experienced numerous leadership changes at the highest levels and not all through the ballot box. The Americans too outwardly seem to be obsessed with their Presidents. Malaysians probably can identify with the drama of American presidential elections as we too are a nation of people obsessed with politics and its players. But, we are not going to talk about politics today but rather about the world of business.

Are we too preoccupied with business leaders rather than getting on with the business of business? Can a successful business be run like the way Japanese society seems to govern it self? Despite constant leadership changes and scandals the Japanese society, as pointed out by Lee Wei Lian, is a highly developed and evolved society. So are the Americans and western Europeans to a large extent. Can an organization too be like that? Can the employees of an organization make strong central CEO leadership irrelevant and grow and prosper without C-level 'worship'? Is that good?

Organizations need strategic directions and these may change as dictated by market conditions and technological shifts. Not all in an organization are gifted or skilled to provide these strategic directions. So, lets give this one to the CEO.

But, what after that? Do we still need the CEO to drive the business or do we need a group of employees who now take the cue and go on with the business. Take for example, the American’s space technology and their dominance in planetary exploration. JFK gave them a dream and a target. That's it. The rest was all about the American people : The scientists, the researches, the thinkers, the teachers, the man on the street. They made it happen. They made it happen despite the assassinations , the defeats, the changes, the scandals, the downfalls, the successes, the failures of their presidents and politicians. They only needed a direction from their politicians and then they hit the ground running and as no president had ever since indicated that they should stop this adventure, at any given time there is probably 5 or more American ‘eyes’ flying past or are exploring the most distant celestial bodies in the galaxy.

Why can’t an organization be the same? Why do we need constant CEO interventions? Why is this one position so critical to organization’s success? Is that the way it is supposed to be or is it as Lee Wei Lian says of our society, “ We in Malaysia have somehow been brought up to believe that politics is the be-all and end-all of our country’s success”.

So, lets assume that an organization can indeed be like the self governing and self-directed societies that I have used as comparisons above. What shape should the organization be and what type of employees should it have? Firstly, I think the way forward for future organizations is to become ‘Remote-Networked’ Organizations. I am going to call these as RMOs (no pun intended and remember I am the first to use it!).


Can this happen? I wonder...

I am always amazed at the eloquence of how British football pundits write about the beautiful game. I suppose other European football writers write in equal eloquence but since the only European language I know is the Queen’s English, I follow the musings, ranting and analyses of English football writers who often times not only rant and analyse the EPL but also other European and international competitions. So, I rarely miss the Saturday edition of the NST as it has a special section dedicated to EPL news.

Last Saturday was no different and I was not disappointed. The centre piece was about the plight of Newcastle United. This once proud club with its imposing St James stadium where some of the EPL’s biggest stars earned their stripes is now languishing both in league ranking and also popularity. In fact, the events unfolding at this club is akin to a seriously mis-managed corporate organization. The cast is headed by its billionaire owner, Mike Ashley. Another example is Tottenham Hotspur owned by another billionaire in the form of Joe Lewis. The highlight of his and his gang of businessmen-managers of the club is that Dimitar Berbatov headed to Manchester United while Robbie Keane packed his bags and left for Liverpool.

The common threat running in both clubs (and also a few other EPL clubs) is that their owners don't seem to trust their managers enough to allow them to do what they need to do. So, they appoint a ‘director of football’ who is nothing more than a changing-room spy who reports back to club owners who are probably golfing their days away somewhere else. This reminds me of the laments of many a manager in today's corporate settings who don't feel trusted enough by their leaders. Well, I have blogged before on the Economics of Trust so lets not get into that again here.

Back to the EPL, the irony is that the EPL seems to slowly prove that in the future, football clubs can become a profitable business even if the club is languishing at the bottom of the table. Ask Levy, if you can find him on his yatch somewhere in the Mediterranean, as Spurs, despite languishing at the bottom of the table will announce a huge profit this year which is expected to be far higher than even last years’s profit of 27.7 million pounds. It seems that the business of football will soon become business in football.

Finally, I also learnt a gem of a thought from Mohamed Hammam, the chief honcho of the AFC who in his call for Sepp Blatter not to overstay his welcome in FIFA said that “ The more you stay, the longer you are in power, whether you like it or not and no matter who you are, the less evolution there can be. You create statutes to save you”.

Pele said that football is the beautiful game. I think he meant that in more ways than one.

Oh by the way, my club, Aston Villa is finally showing some of its latent quality. The loss to Chelsea last week was not something to be embarrassed about. The Villains will prove a point or two this season. In Martin O'Neil Villa has an astute manager who has an uncanny ability to bring out the best from any player. Though, I still feel they need to get at least one high profile striker....maybe Henry! One would dare to dream.

In the meantime, the Merdeka Tournament is up next. For those of you of a certain age and generation, you remember the good old days when the Merdeka Tournament was a big thing. Well, the good times are not back yet, looking at the invited teams but at least its still alive. So, get excited and be prepared to be disappointed. I find that's the best strategy to wake up for work the next day when it comes to the national team.

As for Villa fans (all 5 of you out there!)....Viva Villa!

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi vs The Wolves of Putrajaya

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi : The Best Prime Minister We Could Have Had. That will be how we remember him. Not now, not soon. But surely one day.

For those of you who visit www.firstcoffee.blogspot.com , you will know that I rarely touch on political issues except during certain critical times. In my almost 3 years of blogging, I have probably wrote something related to politics in less than 5 postings.

Now, is one of those critical times. This is one of the times when one needs to make a stand even if that means nothing in the bigger scheme of things. But, ,make a stand one must as that is the least one can do in this maddening era.

At last….finally…the wolves have retreated back into the dark sinister forests from which they had emerged since March 8, 2008. But they have retreated in victory and their prize is the head of the man who could have been the best prime minister this country could have had.In their wake we have a wasted land bathed in hate,suspicions and fear. They drew blood. Oh yes, they drew much blood. Blood of the innocent and the principled. Datuk Zahid was the first. Abdullah followed and there will be more.

The sheeps, the people of this country, sighed in relief when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced his decision not to contest for UMNO’s presidency and thereby effectively relinquish his post as the Malaysian prime minister. We thought this will at last bring some semblance of sanity to our political landscape. History will judge our assumption wrong.

I must say that the people, us, have erred.
Did we realize that there were in fact two packs of wolves making our lives miserable these last year or so. One is the opposition and the other is from within UMNO it self. The former was visible and we could hear them snapping at our heals. The latter was among us, or more precisely among the majority of well meaning UMNO members. This pack was led by the master Wolf himself, Mahathir Mohamed. A great man once said that all it takes for evil to flourish is for good men do nothing. We have done nothing and we have helped sow an evil seed in this nation and we will reap its foul returns in the years to come. We have given new life to those original ‘divide-and-rule’ con-artists who have paraded themselves as statesmen and nation builders. Yes…it was not the British that employed the divide and rule tactic it was those from among us. Now, they have awaken. We will be divided and they will rule us.

Politicians are politicians just as wolves are wolves. The few non-wolves in some of the political parties and administrations today will not last long. Wait and see. Do we seriously think that a man who has dedicated his life to fight for the rights of the underprivileged can continue to serve the prince of wolves, Anwar Ibrahim? Can the scion of Abdul Razak overcome the surrounding wolves in the form of UMNO divisional war-lords constantly emboldened by Mahathir and his scions? They, despite their sincerity and good intentions will not be able to protect us. Only our collective wisdom can save the day.

In allowing Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to be cowed into ‘resignation’ our wisdom has failed us. Or is it our will that have deserted us?

There is probably a whole new generation today in Malaysia. This generation is not one distinguished by age but one differentiated by it’s weltanschauung and its believe that this nation can be more than it is now. This is the generation that has swept away 50 years of widely accepted truisms in many aspects of the Malaysia psyche. I reckon, since I am also a member of this generation, there is now a new awakening taking place which will probably be realized sooner than any of us might dare to believe.

This is the awakening that the post of our nation’s Prime Ministerhip is far too important to be decided by two men or a group of men (and a woman). There has to be a better way of doing this while maintaining the status quo as enshrined by the constitution and the sacred social contract as has agreed upon by our founding fathers. UMNO members has to find a better, more enlightened way, of deciding their supreme leader as their choice affects the entire nation.

In the form of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, UMNO had within its grasps a man with a form of servant-leadership qualities that could have given this nation a soul and which would have leap frog us into a mature developed nation. Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi could have been the best Prime Minister we could have ever hoped for in our nation’s quest for a deserved place among the most modern and progressive Muslim majority nation on earth. It is devastating, at least for me, that UMNO (and the rest of us) have missed this chance and this man is being hounded by those from within and without.

What has this man done wrong?

He could have very easily continued the legacy of his predecessor and basked in the glories that would have surely followed. He could have announced mega projects after mega projects which would have kept the wheels of our inflated economy spinning and with it the existing bands of political and business warlords would have continued with their death grip on this nation. He could have erected a memorial for his predecessor and kept running back to him for advice. He could have made his predecessor his ‘minister mentor’. He could have been a ‘care-taker manager’ for the previous regime.

More importantly, he could have continued to stifle freedom of the press and extent his tentacles into the deepest recesses of the judiciary. He could have continued to stifle civil voice. He could have continued to aggravate relationships with our key partner nations to divert attention away from his own shortcomings. He could have done so many other things that could have avoided the situation that he is in now. He could have, simply put, continued with the old.

But, he refused to ‘continue’. He wanted to change.

Who has lost out in this change? The nation? The BN? The government of the day is still the BN and everything we see and enjoy today is the product of the BN government. The people as a whole thank only the BN for the good tidings in their lives and of course blame the BN for the bad fortunes that seem to visit them every now and then. But, having a stronger opposition is not a misfortune that the people in general are blaming the BN or the Prime Minister for. It is the people who have decided for a little change and this ability to dream about a vastly different direction of how this nation should move forward is a direct result of Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s magnanimous leadership style and his courage to take on entrenched parasites in our national institutions.

So, this change that is sweeping the nation now is a bane to only the old guards, the bourgeois and the political and economic cronies of the previous administration. It is a pain only to those who can flourish in a closed, racially divided and ethically corrupt environment. Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi struck at the heart of the cancer that is eating away national institutions and structures.

The next question that begs to be asked is: What will his successor do differently as be different he must. Otherwise why the rush to change the leadership in the first place? If Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s style of leadership is to be rejected than what is the alternative? A return to Mahathirism? God forbid!

I shudder at the thought of where the nation is heading. I emphatize with Rear Admiral ( R ) Tan Sri K. Thanabalasigam who was the first local navy chief and the one and only non-Malay navy chief. In his column in the NST recently he wrote : “ I have never seen us more divided than we are today, except perhaps immediately after May 13”. I did not experience that dark day my self but being a student of History in my undergraduate days and for having the privilege of being tutored by some of the best History professors in USM I can say here that the real and unvarnished truth about May 13 is still hidden from mass view. For the students of un-biased History, you will know that just as now, back in 1969, there were two packs of wolves, one from the opposition and one from deep within the labyrinth of UMNO’s feudal war-lord driven political structures.

The wolves are out…..again. Brace for their onslaughts.

Grapes & Bombs: Focusing on What Works

I once read a speech purportedly given by Abdul Kalam, the former President of India. He lamented Indian media’s penchant for bad news. He asked why Indian media can’t emulate their Israeli counterpart. It seems, during one of his trips to Israel (this must be during his nuclear-bomb making days!) there was a series of bomb explosions in Tel Aviv and its surroundings areas. The headlines of a major local newspaper the next day screamed about the success of a Israeli man turning a desert land into a grapevine! The bomb attack made it into somewhere in the middle pages.

This story came to my mind when recently a fellow consultant shared some articles on Appreciative Inquiry (AI). The basic tenet of AI is simple and profound all at once. Essentially, AI postulates that we should focus on the positives rather than the negatives…...on the grapes not the bombs! Say for example, a senior executive team goes on a retreat to brainstorm reasons on why there is a high rate of turnover in their organization and spend days on it. What will they find? A hundred reasons why people leave. But, what does that solve? What if, says AI, they focused instead on why people stay in their organization even seemingly despite the fact many others are leaving or are planning to leave?

I suppose that changes the whole dynamics at how one looks at organizational challenges. By beginning an inquiry from the positives is definitely more empowering and energizing. In the case above, the executives may find the following reasons (positive) as to why there are still loyal employees in the organization:
1. The company looked after them during the good times
2. Working for the company has a prestige factor attached to it
3. The company has a good history among the local folks
4. The company takes people places (or used to), etc

On the contrary, if the executive team had begun their soul searching by asking the question why their people are leaving in droves, they may have found out that :

1. Over the years the company had forgotten how to look after its people
2. The company’s merit based compensation has been corrupted
3. The company’s behavior in the market place is no longer aligned to its vision and mission
4. The company’s policies and procedures are outdated, etc


Both ways, the executive team would have found out some answers but the quality of their brainstorming will vastly differ. By focusing on the negative, we give life and energy to the negative. By focusing on the positive, we give life to the positive. All said and done, people are more energized by the positives than the negatives. It is the things that work that matters in an organization. People leave an organization not because of the things that don’t work today but because of the things that used to work but aren’t working anymore. Find these things and mend them and we can keep our people; or at least we can make them stop and think that we are sincere in taking their views into account.


There is a company I know which is a house-hold name. It used to attract young talents in droves. Now, it is shedding its work-force faster than its HR can recruit. As expected, the management team has been identifying all the reasons why the company is loosing people (especially the younger ones) but the problem still persists. I asked one of the managers what made the company attractive previously and the key message that I got was that it used to be a creative company with sufficient room for people to experiment, make mistakes and learn. Today, after years of double digit growth, the company has become complacent and risk-averse – which means creativity and innovation are no longer a prime quality desired from its employees. Herein the solution! What this company needs to do now is to make it more creative, dynamic and mistake-tolerant. Why? Because, it worked before.

An interesting parallel could be made here in relation to Proton’s gradual turn-around. Take away all the technical and financial lexicon, what essentially has turned around Proton is that it went back to what works. In this case making a fuel efficient, quality, people oriented and affordable car (Persona and the new Saga). The other 20 reasons why Proton was failing is immaterial. All it needed is one example of something that used to work.

As for Abdul Kalam, he can take comfort in the fact that one of his most illustrious countrymen, billionaire Vijay Mallya said recently that “In any situation there are positives, and even though you cannot gloss over problems, you really need to build on the good parts…” Mallya was referring to the fact that his Force India Formula 1 team is yet to win a single point with only 3 mores races left in the season.

May the Force (that works) be with us!

In the Company of Great Women!

The following is a list of the 10 most powerful women in business as listed in http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0809/gallery.women_mostpowerful.fortune/index.html which listed 50 most powerful women in world business.

I thought I am quite well read as far as business is concerned until I read the whole list. My goodness! I am such an ignorant fool or at least an ignorant fool who assumes too much. Other than PepsiCo, Sara Lee, Kraft Foods, Avon and Harpo which I knew were helmed by women, I was totally (but pleasantly) surprised to see women behind the success of such great companies like Xerox, GE and IBM. These giants have women helming some of their most profitable businesses.

Interestingly from the list of 50, only two are blacks ( Oprah and Ursula Burns, President of Xerox) while Marissa Mayer of Google is the youngest at 33.

It was also reported that if the much anticipated ‘change’ of leadership from Anne Mulcahy to Ursula Burns takes place, it will be the first ever (I mean the first ever since Adam bossed around Eve) that a woman-to-woman CEO leadership change will take place.

OK…now for the list of the 10 greatest for 2008 with a little description of why they should be on the list. All information are quoted (sometimes verbatim) from the website as indicated above.


1. Indra NooyiChairman and CEO
PepsiCo (PEP)

Nooyi has moved swiftly to offset slowing beverage sales in North America by expanding the international business, which now represents 26% of revenues
2. Irene RosenfeldChairman and CEO
Kraft Foods (KFT)

Warren Buffett recently upped his stake to 9% so that should mean something. I think.
3. Pat Woertz
Chairman, President, and CEO
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
Woertz's $70 billion "supermarket to the world" ranks ahead of giants like PepsiCo and Intel on the Fortune 500.
4. Anne MulcahyChairman and CEO
Xerox (XRX)

A tough business climate sent Xerox's stock back to its 2006 levels, but Mulcahy is widely lauded for pulling off a full-scale turnaround since taking over in 2001.

5. Angela Braly
President and CEO
Wellpoint (WLP)

No really sure why she is on the list. The analysis given was not rosy.

6. Andrea JungChairman and CEO
Avon Products (AVP)

As part of a three-year extreme makeover, Jung trimmed management, invested $100 million in research facilities, and tripled ad spending. In China, Avon has doubled the number of direct-selling reps to 700,000. Hmmm…maybe the Communist Party should worry more about the Avon Army than the Falun Gong.



7. Susan Arnold
President, Global Business Units
Procter & Gamble (PNG)
No idea why she is here too.
8. Oprah Winfrey
Chairman
Harpo

Need I say anything more?
9. Brenda BarnesChairman and CEO
Sara Lee (SLE)

Barnes has spent three years on a cost-cutting tear, shedding underperforming units that accounted for 40% of revenue..
10. Ursula Burns
President
Xerox (XRX)

She is on the list because….well…because its Xerox.