How To Turn Executives Into Wizards

  As comments on our blog posts have been far and few so far, we interact informally with groups of executives to get valuable feedback to ensure our efforts bring benefits to readers.  This week's topic is the result of the following discussion with one such group and it was a revelation to us.       "You just touch upon vital topics and leave them, saying that the rest of the issues are obvious." "Can you be more specific?" " Yes, the blog on various quotients was really new and insightful and beneficial. But, you only explained two and moved on to the next topic." " Let's make amends right away. Which specific quotient is a priority to you?" " Integrity Quotient. " "Ok, we will go back to that one in next week’s post. And please tell us about More such gaps and recommend new topics." --------------- The word Integrity is heard often and is considered highly important for individuals and society at large. But what ex

  That's Not What I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks a Relationship That's Not What I Meant  By Deborah Tannen  Harper Collins; Pages 214;  Price $14.99                                   The very title of the book will revive memories in almost everyone’s minds when they had to say "that's not what I meant.” There are occasions when someone says A suggests an action in the interest of say B. If B misunderstands and says that is the thing which will ruin him, the former has to say “that’s not what I meant”.  The author has made the book interesting and instructive through several examples of conversations that went completely awry.    She has based the narration on sound linguistic concepts but avoided getting into complex techniques and formulas. Her starting point is that misunderstandings, or so-called information gaps, are not restricted to any one language, country, region or even social status. “That’s not what I said” incidents are numerous and s

Why I Failed  Lessons from Leaders  By Shweta Punj   Random House India  Pages180; Price Rs 199  (Available on Amazon)   One needs a stout heart to take the risk of starting a business in a highly competitive economy. A strong and imaginative mind is required to run a new business. And only a person with steely nerves can keep his sanity while seeing his/her business declining, or even folding up. The stalwarts chose by the author for her book "Why I failed?" obviously possess all the rare qualities in full measure, because they went through all three stages and progressed. They say "failure is an orphan", but in this book, the parentage is announced. Also, it is said that "experience is the best teacher, but very expensive". With this book, you can learn from others' experiences. The sub-title of the book is "Lessons from Leaders", a highly economic proposition. Shweta herself says that "this book is built around stories of people who s

Originals  by Adam Grant  Penguin Random House  Pages 322; Price £ 12.99                                                                                                                                                                                          Can one individual change the world? Adam Grant's answer is a resounding YES   The opening page of the book ‘Originals’ has a quote from George Bernard Shaw - "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in adapting the world to himself.” Originality is taking the road less travelled, championing a set of new ideas that go against the grain but ultimately making things better. Adam Grant candidly admits that "nothing is completely original, in the sense that all our ideas are influenced by what we learn from the world around".  He has chosen a wide canvas and painted vividly a number of peoples’ mindscapes. There are thinkers, lawyers, Silicon Valley giants, Presidents, Prime Mini

   Self-Promotion for Introverts By Nancy Ancowitz McGraw Hill;  Pages 270;  Price $ 18.95 Introverts! Cheer up!! You Can Rise to the Clinton/Buffet Level if………...   The author deserves kudos for showing real courage in attempting to codify two deep mysteries: the human mind and self-promotion in organisations. The mind has been described as unfathomable, mysterious and devious. A teacher used to quiz students at the beginning of a psychology course: "what is deeper than the Pacific, taller than the Himalayas and faster than an electric flash?” When students would give up, he would smile and say, "Simple! The human mind."  Drawing on her own rich experience and tapping the wisdom of more than 50 learned, eminent people from politics, literature, education, performing arts and many other fields she has indeed come out with a valued publication.   The book is a guide to millions of nervous, and some even depressed, introverted people. The book might also clear the dece[tiv

Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. By Klaus Schwab Portfolio Penguin; Pages; 273; £14.99  A Guide  to Building a Better World Many are unaware of the full implications of the current Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). Most including businessmen and executives are underprepared to cash on the opportunities in 4IR and to prevent its formidable threats. It might come as a rude shock to them that the bugles are already sounding for the more gargantuan challenges of the   Fifth Industrial  Revolution(5IR). Schwab has been at the forefront in sensing and monitoring the signals of the epochal changes, (both positive and negative) of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He is the top motivator who coined the term 'Fourth Industrial Revolution'. Once you say the revolution is on the enormity is grasped. He not only spread the vitally important messages but took actions on his own, and also under the aegis of the World Economic Forum of which he is the founder and Exec

Trillion Dollar Coach By - Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle John Murray(Publishers); pages 217;  Rs 599  Bill Gates once told an interviewer, "Steve Jobs was a wizard…….(and) I was like a minor wizard". By that standard Bill Campbell, who was a ‘sounding board’, a coach, a mentor, and a friend of Steve Jobs must be considered a super coaching wizard. The book, 'Trillion Dollar  Coach' is indeed a playbook for business wizards, not only in the IT industry but for all business executives.   Bill Campbell coached Steve Jobs when he was re-building Apple from near bankruptcy to make it a company with a market valuation of several hundred billion dollars. Bill also worked side by side with Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt to build Google (now Alphabet) from a start-up to a company with a market capitalization of several billion dollars. He also coached many other billionaires (see the list below; it is not an exhaustive one). Taking into account the t

CHAOS - The Amazing Science of the Unpredictable          by James Gleick; Pages 352 ;  Price £ 9.99                                                                                                               Is management art or science? This has been a topic for talks, debates, books, journals and research papers. The two aspects of science that drove this relentless pursuit were the rationale of 'cause and effect' and the 'scientific laws'.   The basic  idea  this pursuit is to avoid 'chaos' and have a straight decision making process; the secondary objectives are saving time and attaining unanimity in the team. The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the dramatic developments of digitalisation, cloud competing, big data, blockchain, IoT/IIoT, 3D Xeroxing, cryptocurrency and other aspects have created chaos, upheaval and disruption all around. Some of the old established business management  'laws and models' are go