American, British and Canadian ENGLISH?

I was in a meeting the other day and I was displaying to my team an Audio Video Presentation for the magazine and one of my team members said she had found some grammatical error in it. I asked her to point it out to me and she showed me the word "Focussed" and said it was spelt wrong. 

She's from Austria and seems to have been brought up with the American method of spelling. Now which one of these are correct? I've been brought up in India where we have been taught the British way of spelling and many of my words now may appear to be spelt wrong with the Americans. The more and more we deal with Americans and Microsoft Office for that matter - the more and more words we come across that are no more spelt the way we always spelt them. So do I draft a different letter for the Americans, a different one for the British and yet another one for the Canadians?

I take this opportunity to blame the Americans for this one. They find a spelling difficult and they just change the way its spelt to suit their purposes. I guess they run away from the "Spelling Bee" competitions and go away to create their own rules so that they can win the game!

However, since we're dealing with so many American people in our lives, we still have to abide by their rules. But this is not for long. A friend of mine said to me a few months ago, "In a decade, one person out of five would be Indian and 2.5 on 5 would be Chinese". Here comes Asian domination. Our economy is growing stronger while theirs only seems to be looking at new problems arising as a result of trying to correct old ones. I wonder where this is heading and when we would see a shift in the way we think... and perhaps SPELL?

Life as a Manager - What kind?

I've always had the opportunity to work with large teams - either in the capacity of a facilitator or as a participant but now after my MBA, I'm actually managing a team of close to 5 people. And as the days go by, I realize a few things....

One, that all the issues that come across in an organization don't seem to be because of anything other than people to people communication! Of course, we do put processes in place to try and offset this issue.... but all the same at the end of the day, when we try to take stock of the concerns and issues that we are plagued with... it all boils down to people. My entire office encompasses about 15 people. And in this small setup, I have been watching all of the problems that people are having. With small sub groups being formed and little silos being created. And if things can be like this in such a small setup, how about companies with thousands of employees! No wonder, most of what we learn during an MBA is about Corporate Culture! Most MBA students would throw up hearing the word "Culture"! But then that seems to be what's out there in the business world....

Now in the midst of all this, as I am now managing people, I wonder what kind of manager should I be. I see others in my organization who prefer to maintain a distance from their team and are usually strict - The stereotypical manager! But, I have over the past preferred to be close to my team and actually work more as a friend than anything. Of course, there is a flip side to this whole arrangement. Sometimes, people do take you for granted and even go to the extent of laughing of anything you say! Those are the times I wonder if I made the right move to manage people in this fashion. But then, at times I am learning to be able to deal with difficult situations. I am also learning how to control my anger in certain situations and look seemingly cool and composed!

The next year in my life is the most crucial... or atleast that's what I think.. As it's going to mould the kind of person I am... especially in an Entrepreneurial frame of reference. I have been lucky to be in the organization I am... where every business unit functions as a separate entity and I have almost autonomous powers in my BU and get to manage with the least amount of interference! People trust me and value my opinion. I am learning at such a quick pace and now know most of my short-comings in a business setup and am working hard to correct those issues!

Just some random musings from my side.... But remember one thing! Managing an organization is managing people. If you get that formula right, any workplace would become about 5 times more productive!

Montfort School Yercaud - My Alma Mater

I am in India now as most of you possibly know already. I made a trip to my high school - Montfort School, Yercaud after like 6 years! I was stunned and shocked by the number of changes in school - both Physically and in the culture. There were new structures at every possible place - in my sister's words, a "Concrete Jungle". Bro. George for sure is a visionary leader but he is now lacking in space to put up concrete structures. As we enter school now, they are putting up a statue of Montfort 100 feet above the ground! Now that's gotta be a landmark of some sort! I wonder if he's got permission from the Civil Aviation ministry for that - We gotta warn the planes bout that thing. They're also in the process of building what will become Asia's largest indoor stadium at a phenomenal cost. The new 400 m track is amazing! Being maintained like it were fit for use in the Olympics. All this apart from a number of other statues and structures around school. Ah yes... They're also building another floor above the dormitories. Apparently, they are moving the Junior school classes here. Junior school is to become another school for Montfort - Montfort ICSE! Whew.... too many changes.

On a cultural note, I felt kind of disappointed when I first walked through school. I hardly could meet anyone who knew me! Most of the staff in the office had changed. Bro.Augustine couldn't remember me (That was disappointing) and Bella (Robert Bellarmin, my Physics teacher and dorm warden) had moved out of school since he was now married. It was also Bro. George's birthday and hence I couldn't find the time to meet him. So, I wandered around aimlessly in school for about half an hour before I went to SHY (Sacred Heart Convent, Yercaud) - my mom and sister studied here. It's a girl's school just opposite to Montfort. The welcome we got here was so overwhelming! All the nuns (including the Principal and the Provincial head) were out to fuss over us. They took us to the parlour, gave us tea, biscuits, bread, butter and guava jelly and even put out some cake for us. I really had no words - I was disappointed with my school but let it pass.

Here are a few pictures, will upload more when I get the time!

However, I went over the next day and met Bro. George. It was a pleasure as he welcomed us whole heartedly (I presume!) and actually took us to the parlour for some tea too! Look at me getting so excited over a damn tea! ha ha... I did meet Bella, ID (Irudhayaraj - My Maths Professor) and Bio (Francis - The Biology Professor). Was glad to see that there were few of the old faces still in school. They all remembered me very well and were glad to spend time speaking to me! Felt nice to be back at school.

 Have a couple of very interesting and exciting posts lined up. Coming up right after will be one on the Yercaud Mafia, which is no doubt more interesting than any soap on television!

Auto Sir... Auto... Taxi Sir... Taxi - Back to India

"Auto Sir... Auto... Taxi Sir... Taxi... Cheap and best sir.... "

To hear the familiar sound of Auto and Taxi drivers run out to you when you come out of the International Airport in Chennai brought back nostalgic thoughts of my days in Chennai. I guess the Autos and their drivers will always remain an Integral part of what Chennai means to us. It was refreshing in many ways to hear the deafening sound of cars "honking" for the smallest of reasons and for the longest of times. I guess Manila has made me realize that it is possible to drive a car without having to honk every 20 seconds!

Even as I waited to clear immigration after landing at the Chennai airport - I was reminded of the "openly" corrupt nature that India was in. The Philippines is known to be as corrupt as India but I still am yet to see the brazen openness that we see amidst the cops and politicians here. While we stood in serpentine queues to get our passports stamped - there we see a police guy (pretty senior official) wait inside with his wife (Though us "normal" folks aren't allowed to come in to the aiport). They were waiting for their son to arrive. As soon as he gets to where we were standing, there are a few cops who take his luggage, take his passport and run to the official at immigration and get it stamped for this guy. Why, even the guy sitting at immigration stood up to salute this chap! Lol... I actually smiled watching all of this and then reminding myself that India was still the same! Well, I carried on waiting for the next half an hour in that line and I was tempted to call a friend's mother to get help with all of this (She was in a senior position in the airport), but then I realized that there would be no difference between that Cop's son and me then.... and that I would have no right to crib about such things in India... and so I didn't make the call.

While I waited to get my check-in baggage from the baggage collection point, I saw this young couple struggling with a huge bag. Before I could offer to help them, I see this guy (With a badge and stuff - I presumed that he works at the airport) offering to help them. He brings a strolley cart and starts lifting their bags to put it on the cart. In all, he would have spent about 5 minutes carrying and arranging about 3 suitcases/bags onto that cart. I was impressed! But at the end of it, I saw him asking this guy in the classic Indian fashion for money! While the couple looked at each other and the guy pulls out his wallet, this guy goes saying, "Please give me Rs.100"! Whew! 100 bucks for just that???? And the audacity to ask for money like that. How I wish I had the authority to fire that guy! But then what difference would it make - That's how our system works... right from the top to the bottom! And there are more than enough people to point fingers at but not enough people to take these people to task.

Well, this was my sweet welcome back to India.... I sat and thought of what all needs to be done in our country before we can become truly competitive in the Asian context (not even Global). Maybe we do need a dictator to rule us for a few years to set things straight and to change the way most of us think. We take our life for granted and don't even want to change any small aspect of our lives! I kept thinking... and my eyes closed... as I sat at the domestic airport waiting for the next flight.

iPhone Battery Issue - Finally Resolved

I have the iPhone 3G for close to a year now. In the recent past, my battery had become a pain in the ass! I would charge it in the morning (say 7am) and then by 1pm I would need to charge it again. It was really killing me to carry a charger wherever I went. I was cursing Apple for this reason. I however love the iPhone on all other counts and was doing my best to put up with this "curse".

However, I recently upgraded my firmware from 3.0 to 3.1.2 and the battery issue just disappeared! Brilliant! I din't know that a firmware update could improve battery life so drastically. It now lasts me more than 15 hours! So for those of you facing the same issue as I was, you should upgrade your firmware - even if yours is a jail-broken (unlocked) phone, it would make sense to upgrade and then again get your phone unlocked.

Another observation is how Apple has such a "Halo effect" with its followers and fans! A friend of mine whose a hardcore Apple fan (He was the reason as to why I bought the Macbook Pro too) would keep telling me that the battery issue was probably coz of my usage! When I told him that I had upgraded the firmware and the battery was fine, this was his response: "See, it was your fault all along. Why didn't you just do the upgrades as they came by"!

A classic example of the "Halo effect" in Branding and Consumer Behaviour going on to Cult Branding.