Lead a team...sure, that's easy...

I am sure, most of us would say its easy to lead a team rather than being a team member and listening to someone else. Well, all that I can say now is "Grass is always greener on the other side".. courtesy my school friend.

He has been promoted as TL last Dec. We have been constantly discussing the issues, management and lot of other stuff that go into handling a team. He always used to tell me that he won’t get personal issues while rating his team members. The justification he gives for getting his personal opinion while rating sounds very right to me. And now 5 months into the position, the system has changed him or is this how things have to work.  Looks like leading a team is not all that easy.

 

Hope this changes something...

Well.... now that i have voted... what next??

We can just hope that the right person takes the top job and things change. More said, less done.. has always been the statement from our politicians. 

After ink on the finger, its just cross the fingers. 

Bailing out banks makes them angry..

An overwhelming majority (87%) says they are bothered by bailing out banks and financial institutions that made poor financial decisions while a 48% plurality says the bailout makes them angry. Read more here

Three Cheers to India....

Yupeeeee....India wins test series @ Nz. 

Public Knows Only Basic Facts About Financial Crisis

Americans know the current unemployment rate than the current level of the Dow Jones avergae. And 51% are aware that of the three major U.S. automakers, Ford is the one that has not received emergency loans from the government. Read more here

Made in India Electronic Voting Machines in demand.

Bhutan got them for its elections last year and Nepal has acquired them too. Indian-made Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are making  waves abroad, not just in our neighborhood but right up to the African continent. 

The new EVMs don't just record your ballot, but also the exact time when you cast it. It also gives hourly polling updates. Therefore if someone says that his or her vote was being tampered with, the time when they cast their vote can be found out. The machine is priced around Rs.9,800, inclusive of taxes

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Well... that's recession in all industries....

You will never lose your way now….

With sat-nav shoes, you’ll never get lost.

Scientists in London have come up with shoes which will have GPS tracking chip. You can now program it with your destination and the LED at the tip of the shoe will guide you through the route. What’s more, it also has a speaker which will give you voice details about the route.

Well, I guess now nobody will have any problems in reaching their destination. Hopefully the scientists will not advance it in such a way that your spouse can program your shoes and get an update back. That would be fun..!!!

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Palm Islands and The World Islands

Top 10 media generated April fool hoaxes.

It has become tradition to pull pranks on 1st of April and even the normally serious news media consider April Fools' Day hoaxes fairgame. Here is a list of top 10 media generated April fool hoaxes.
The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest (1957)
Nixon for President (1992)
Instant colour TV (1962)
Assassination of Bill Gates (2003)
Left-Handed Whopper (1998)
Water on Mars (2005)
Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity (1976)
Mall of America West
Wisconsin State Capitol Collapses (1993)
UFO Lands in London (1989)

Read Details here

TATA Nano's 4 P's of Marketing... They have all got it right...

The 4 P’s of marketing: Product, Price, Place (distribution), and Promotion.

To start with: Product: An impeccable piece of vehicle, covering all segments of the market, from youngsters to senior citizens. Attractive, Small yet comfortable.

Price: Offering the lowest price in this segment, requires no comments.

Place (distribution): With the existing Tata dealers and roping in its other business lines like Westside, Croma , Titan stores, the distribution will never be an issue for Nano.

Promotion: Coming from the Tata’s stable, the Nano has already created a brand image. The price of the car has offered enough promotion not only in India but also globally. 

Financial Fool’s day

G20 Summit 'We need to stop this foolishness... Bring a pop-up tent if you have one, sleeping bag, wind turbine, mobile cinema, extra shoes, action plans and ideas... Let's imagine another world.

This is an innovative way to protest I guess. The protesters have definitely made their point. With leaders from different countries attending this summit to bring about reforms to revive the economy, this is surely a warm welcome message. Mr.Obama has commented he would fight against protectionist kind of economy. Lets see what promises are fulfilled and what remains as promises. 

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Earth Hour 2009 - Video

Earth hour was started in 2007 and in Sydney, Australia. And is now joined by more than 4000 cities and 88 countries. In Dubai, where external lighting on several major city landmarks was turned off and street lighting in selected areas was dimmed by 50%, the Electricity and Water Authority reported savings of 100 megawatt-hours of electricity. This represented a 2.4% reduction in demand compared to before the hour began.

Make the difference. 

IPL-2 in multiplexes…

When Mr.Modi first had a press conference about the schedule for IPL-2, much before moving it out of India, there was a mention about IPL-2 being screened live in multiplexes. The concept was, multiplexes would screen live cricket match played in a different venue.

Now, IPL-2 being played at South Africa, I guess this new concept will can see daylight. Not many cricket fans will be able to fly to SA to watch the matches. If this new concept kicks off, cricket fans can enjoy the feel of the match with the same crowd along with the screaming and cheering, of course for a price. With movies running a dry season, this will surely cheer up the multiplex owners also. Hope Mr.Modi considers this as a viable revenue option. 

Change… Should read consumers' mind well…

Facebook has been deluged with feedback on its new layout, much of it negative but constructive. Hundreds of thousands of people gave the redesign a thumbs-down in a user poll. And groups like "MEMBERS WANT THE OLD FACEBOOK BACK!" have formed to voice their discontent.While the social network isn't reverting back to the old page design, they are making a handful of changes to appease some of the outraged masses.  

Users of Facebook raised their opinions to an extent which made facebook to revert the changes made. What should companies, more precisely services providing companies, whose revenue is based on the no of users using it should do before offering new services (or changes?). Well, reading the consumer’s mind is the topmost thing to be done. “Change” is never easily accepted in the consumer community. The transition phase is very crucial for the success. Now, it looks like Facebook has managed the situation well, however what will be there next move?? Have to wait and watch.

"None of the above" option

I was reading an article about the election campaign "Jaago re", creating awareness about exercising our vote for the forthcoming election. This thought cropped up in my mind, what if you do not want to vote to any of the parties (less said about the kind of parties we have). Now, here’s an innovative (imaginary?) solution for this, what if we have an option on the electronic voting machine which says “None of the above”.

I know most of us would like such an idea of exercising our voting right and at the same time choosing the right option also. However will the election commission like such kind of option, I doubt. And definitely none of the political parties will encourage this.  

8.2 seconds... and you are in love..

Men take 8.2 seconds to fall in love It takes 8.2 seconds for a man to fall in love at first sight, say scientists.

Now, this is an intersting study. I am sure all men are up and ready to spend 8.2 sec and what more, the study says if you stare at a gal for less than 8.2 sec, it might not result in love at first sight. 

Now that's what i call, putting a number. Guys, go ahead, spend that 8.2 sec and you might find your love. How ever, get yourself well prepared before you do that first move towards her.

Hourly drivers... A new concept..

After taxis on hire for hourly basis, its the turn for drivers. Yes, that's rite, you get drivers on hire.  I came across this service a couple of days back. 

So what's special about this? We have seen such services before. Well, here you can hire drivers on per hour basis and the tariff is based on the number of hours the driver is present. You can do your booking online and the driver will arrive at your doorstep. For the busy families, who needs drivers to pick or drop their children to school, take elders to temple/hospitals, or even for shopping, this service is perfect. What more, these drivers speak variety of languages, they also assist in grocery shopping, bill payments, etc. 

Find more about this @ www.hourlydrivers.com 

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Political funda

Is this the end of America?

'Is this the end of America?' 'Helicopter Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve is dropping trillions of fresh paper dollars on the world economy, the President of the United States is cracking jokes on late night comedy shows, his energy minister is threatening a trade war over carbon emissions, his treasury secretary is dithering over a banking reform program amid rising concerns over his competence and a monumentally dysfunctional U.S. Congress is launching another public jihad against corporations and bankers.

As an aghast world — from China to Chicago and Chihuahua — watches, the circus-like U.S. political system seems to be declining into near chaos. Through it all, stock and financial markets are paralyzed. The more the policy regime does, the worse the outlook gets. The multi-ringed spectacle raises a disturbing question in many minds: Is this the end of America?'

- Terence Corcoran

What Can Tata's Nano Teach Detroit?

From Businessweek: Understanding your customer, or potential customers, is another. What do your customers need? What do they really want? What can they afford? The customer was ever-present in the development of the Nano. Tata didn't set the price of the Nano by calculating the cost of production and then adding a margin. Rather it set $2,500 as the price that it thought customers could pay and then worked back, with the help of partners willing to take on a challenge, to build a $2,500 car that would reward all involved with a small profit.

The Nano engineers and partners didn't simply strip features out of an existing car—the tack Renault took with its Dacia Logan, which sells in India for roughly $10,000. Instead, they looked at their target customers' lives for cost-cutting ideas. So, for instance, the Nano has a smaller engine than other cars because more horsepower would be wasted in India's jam-packed cities, where the average speed is 10 to 20 miles per hour. 

The Big Three, by contrast, are insulated. As Dev Patnaik, founder of strategy firm Jump Associates (and someone with family in Detroit) argues in his book, Wired to Care, U.S. automakers are disconnected from even the average American consumer because all of their employees and those employees' friends and family are given steep discounts. A company can't develop successful products if it doesn't have regular contact with customers. And no, focus groups don't count.'

What are we loosing here..

Its final, South Africa will host IPL-2 , so what is India loosing here?? 

Firstly, it shows the indian political drama at the world stage. While passing the buck goes on, SA has bagged the cash-rich event. Secondly, die-hard cricket fans will fly to SA to view the IPL-2. Its a blessing for SA tourism, which they can show off to the world on the expense of IPL franchise owners. Moving on, with world football to be hosted by SA in 2010,it has got a good platform to prove to the world that it has the capability of hosting large sports events. 

Imagine the revenue that will be lost here by the ground advertisers, indian stadiums, local help, etc. Another example of indian political chaos.

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Its cost-cutting.

After Mr.Obama's "Yes we can"..Its TATA's "Now you can"

The NANO slogan "Now you can" will bring about a hope in the middle class families, who can now afford an all-weather vehicle. 

Whether this fits into the pocket of a two wheeler user has to be seen. Will the dealers be able to lure the middle class segment to buy one inspite of low margins and commmissions will be the next question. 

NANO is the "change" to the auto industry. What surprises me is, the allotment method used. Its going to be a lottery system and the first one lakh fortunate ones will get to pay the announced price. How ever, the next lot will have to pay an incremental price. The lottery system is something new to the industry, that to in this scale. 

Now lets wait n watch if the aam-aadmi changes "Now you can" to "Yes I can". 

Warren Buffett's advice for 2009

Does this post require any comments... I dont think soo... These are words from the man who has seen the industry for decades. 

Guess i learnt it fast.....

This is the template (downloaded from freeskins.blogspot) i initially started off this blog with.... And now you can see the changes i have made to this template.  Well, i spent half a day doing this... and I m really happy n satisfied with the current template... Guess i learnt html coding (techies would understand) fast.

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Zardari - world's fifth biggest loser

Zardari - world's fifth biggest loser by the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine. , 

Well... was there any doubts about it... i dont think so. Zardari has been trying to defend his seat all the time.

What's more surprising is, the people from Pakistan have participated in the voting. Now, that's what i call 'Democarcy'

Tata Nano: What women want...

When it comes to pleasing the fair sex, Nano seems to be a definite winner. The Nano is a perfect blend of spunk and chic...and with its ultra cool shape girls will definitely switch to cars from dolls. Available in bright colours like the modish yellow, the Nano is certainly quite hard to resist. Read more here (ET)

What woman want.... well thats a compex question to answer. But it seems like Mr.Tata has the answer- Nano. 

With Nano hitting the commercial space today, have to wait and watch the reaction of current leader in small car segment.. The Marutis..... However, I feel Mr.Tata would like to concentrate on aam-aadmi for Nano to be a hit (which i am sure will be). Kudos to the 'cheapest' car naaa... the 'aam-aadmi' car. 

My First Post - My Dedication

Hi All,
This being my first post.... my start off for something new, I would like to dedicate this to all the people who have played a significant role in my life... my parents, my sister, my friends and all......