January 25, 2009

C K Prahlad's Success tips......

I had fantastic time reading this link.

Read On .....

Rock On.....

Can Celebrity endorsements work in HR?????

Employer branding is on a big swing recently. More specifically, IT and BPO companies are vigorously marketing themselves.

This sort of marketing is probably the differentiating factor in the ever growing competition of attracting talent.

Is it possible to leverage Celebrity Appeal in the above context?????

Imagine Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone endorsing an employer brand. Well!!!! it's possible but what kind of effect will it have on the target audience.

Would it propel them to a join a company because Shahrukh or Deepika is shown working there???

I guess, not really.

It's fine to gulp down a soft drink or buy a watch which Shahrukh endorses. Somehow, it makes us feel a little more like Shahrukh and it's certainly nice to be Shahrukh.

But in case of being an internal customer, once you place your bottoms in the cubicle and get into the rigmarole of daily work; you dont really feel like the 'Shahrukh Khan' whom you would have watched in a two minute happy go lucky TV ad of your company.

The dynamics of Celebrity endorsements are different when targeted to external customer and internal customer.

However, a 'genuinely' good employer featuring a celebrity with a simmilar brand identity in it's TV ad might work wonders but a celebrity alone can not help a pretentious employer.

The customer motives behind gulping a soft drink and building a career are very different............



January 20, 2009

Managing 'love' at work place....

Firstly, I have a major problem with above mentioned heading as I believe love should be the last thing to be manged by HR people.But then that is what I feel. Not many felt that the recession would take place or Obama would become the president but it still happened.

So in these unpredictable times or the times to come in future even 'managing love at workplace' might become HR's new found challenge.

Yesterday, I was having a light hearted conversation with a friend. I can't recognize as to when or how the entire conversation started but it ended with the thing that is called 'love'.

She told me about a break up with her guy which happened two years back. The memories of the relationship still lingers very strongly with her. The relationship could not last because of 'practical reasons'.

As a human resource student/associate we always love helping people whenever they are bogged down. So I tried helping her with some kind words but failed miserably.

I know many people who have failed in their relationships but they still get into new relationship or even get into multiple relationships.

A few questions arise in this regard and they are as follows:

1. Do we fall in love with the person whom we like or we just fall in love with the entire idea of falling in 'love' in itself?????

2. Is love the medium for getting to know the special person or the special person is a medium for getting to know 'love'?????

I guess both the questions mean the same but does it have different answers?????????

I guess, answers to these questions can help us to become deeper and better humans. So if you want to become a deeper and better human resource associate then becoming a better and deeper human being will always help especially if incase HR's new challenges include managing office romance.

Trust me ;-)

January 16, 2009

Recession Jokes

A good friend from my MCC days had sent me an humourous e-mail and it read as the following:

Ali baba and chaalis chor is now Ali baba tees chor…10 were laid off!

Batman and Robin is now Batman and Pedro. Batman fired Robin and hired Pedro because Pedro was willing to work twice the hours at the same rate!!

Ironman now "air-pooling" with Superman to save fuel costs?!!

Women finally marrying for love! And not money!

Husbands asking their father-in-laws for a "bailout"!

The only "deposits" being made on a Ferrari are the ones made by birds flying over them.

Q: With the current market turmoil, what's the easiest way to make a small fortune?
A: Start off with a large one.

Q: What's the difference between an investment banker and a large pizza?
A: A large pizza can feed a family of four.

The credit crunch is getting bad isn't it? I mean, I let my brother borrow $10 a couple of weeks back, it turns out I'm now America 's third biggest lender.

Why have Dubai real estate agents stopped looking out of the window in the morning? Because otherwise they'd have nothing to do in the afternoon.

Q: What's the difference between an American and a Zimbabwean?
A: In a few weeks, nothing.

Dow Jones is re-branded as "Down Jones".

Goodyear is now re-branded as "Bad Year".

Money talks. Trouble is, its knows only one word - goodbye.

January 12, 2009

What kind of a blogger are you??????????????????????

I took a small test and here is the finding about my blogger self:





You Are a Pundit Blogger!



Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read.

You're up on the latest news, and you have an interesting spin on things.

Of all the blogging types, you put the most thought and effort into your blog.

Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few

January 11, 2009

Married But Available!!!!!!!!!!!

Married But Available is not the typical sequel [Because Rascal Rusty said so!!!!!,read acknowledgements to know further...] of the prolific wordsmith of new age, Abhijit Bhaduri’ s first book ‘Mediocre But Arrogant’.

Married But Available unfolds the first 10 years of the Abbey’s work life after graduating from an esteemed institution.

The book shifts it’s gear from time to time in a delightful pace that unplugs Abbey’s proffesional and personal persuit of gaining greater meaning and purpose through enjoying the simplicities around him like eating the delicious yet familier [if u r a Delhite] jalebis, playing word games[among many other games ;-)] with Ayesha, buying a second hand car[which leads to his biggest personal complexity], learning the fish and pond matrix from his proffesional mentor ‘Captain Sobti’, listening to early morning ‘Raag Bharavi’, admiration of the Taj Mahal by moonlight alongwith Keya, witty remarks by Rascal Rusty and a soul stirring letter from Father Hathaway [I have read that letter multiple times since I read the book]among many many others…..

Another interesting dimension to the book is Abbey’s persuit of dealing with his complexities of life ranging from separation with his wife Ayesha after marriage, atrocious factory politics, finding alternative solutions for saving hundreds of jobs as an HR associate, struggle for being at sync [proffesionally and personally] with batchmates and a college reunion of different kind among many many others.

It’s the innocent juxtapose of these simplicities and complexities which makes the book a reading delight.

Being an HR student, I found great amount of HR wisdom which is rare to be found in text books.

Consider this for example ‘ The way you treat people who don’t matter shows your real character.Never ignore those who cannot do anything for you. Remember, sometimes prayers work better than strategies in the corporate world’
or
A life lesson like ‘ Stop asking about the meaning of life and instead, think of yourself as the one questioned by life.’

I don’t remember the last time I read a book which is so wholesome in terms of it’s tersed tone, candor, wit, humour, knowledge,maturity[at times innocent immaturity too] and emotions…..

I strongly recommend the book to all of you….Happy Reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 7, 2009

A Bitter Satyam [Truth!!!!]

Satyam Computer Services is in the news today for the wrong reasons .
Strong reactions from various people have been coming across several news channels. I was watching a discussion on NDTV 24*7 where even Shri Narayana Murthy expressed his dismay.

In the discussion Shri Narayana Murthy rightfully stated that " When magazines and newspapers can carry out surveys listing the 'most powerful people' in the country then it should also conduct surveys on 'the most respected people' in the country and every corporate person should desire to get featured in that list."

At this situation anyone would agree to that statement made by Shri Narayana Murthy but the fundamental problem has been that we recognize and respect such statements during these incidents. There has to be a shift of priority and 'Integrity' needs to top the priority list.

I believe this incident will certainly help to shift the gears for companies which might be having a distorted priority list as of now.

It's time for a priority check for clients too who invest or do business with companies based on Dollar/Rupee impact rather than reliability or goodwill.

It's a time we re look at branding. Brand names can be deceptive. Satyam stands for truth but this incident seems to be the height of irony. Next time you come out with an impressive name for your latest HR practice; reserve the pat on your shoulders till the HR practice actualises into concrete results.

This incident also brings my attention to the Human Factor [November 2008] issue covering the need of Chief Governance Officers to get things back into shape. It is an unpleasant surprise that Satyam Computer Services received 'the best governance award' last year. I just have one word for that and it is 'Strange!!!!!!!!' or may be a lot more like 'awful', 'disgusting' and still much much more................... What are the auditors and surveyors doing???????????????

Finally, what saddens me the most is the dilemma faced by many students who are having the offer letters of Satyam in their hands. My message to them is that they should find themselves lucky enough that they have not already joined the company. If Satyam had found them competent enough to hire then other companies [companies with better value system] would also do the same.

I have friends and relatives working in Satyam for years and I get remorse stricken thinking about them. They have to carry this baggage of bitter truth[Satyam Incident] along with them for quite sometime and/or longer for maybe no mistake of their own.

Happy New Year [A little belated though]

Sorry!!!!! I am actually a little late in wishing all of you 'Happy New year'...Hope this year brings loads of happiness and prosperity in your life...

With that note let me share two links with you from Gautam Ghosh's blog :
1. Nine New Year Wishes for managers and HR people.
2. 2009's first carnival of HR. This link contains various other links from talent bloggers around the globe.

Happy blogging ;-)