Loud Thinking

Archive for April, 2013

“We cannot put off living until we are ready. The most salient characteristic of life is its urgency, ‘here and now’ without any possible postponement. Life is fired at us point-blank.”

Jose Ortega y Gasset (1883-1955);
philosopher

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

— Mark Twain

3 Elements of Great Communication

To make it in any job, you need to be able to convey ideas clearly and effectively. There are three things the best communicators employ to deliver their message:

Credibility. Prove your authority by demonstrating technical expertise in a specific area, which helps convince people that you know what you’re talking about. If you can’t do that, display integrity and character, which convinces them that you’re not going to lie to them.

Emotional connection. People need to believe that what you’re saying will matter to them. Connect by giving them your undivided attention and linking your message to something they care about.

Logic. All the authority and empathy in the world won’t help you if people don’t understand your basic idea or how you came to your conclusions. Make a clear argument that people can follow and use data and analysis to back up your points.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Three Elements of Great Communication, According to Aristotle” by Scott Edinger.

A not so old advice but still relevant

PCB Must Invest in Future

Posted by Syed Nayyar Uddin on January 7, 2013 in Cricket, My Views, Pakistan, Sports | Edit |
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It is absolutely the right time to fully appreciate PCB and Pakistani cricket team for basically two achievements. Firstly, for winning the ODI series against India 2-1 and secondly, for completing a very sensitive tour, absolutely incident free.
Now, this is also very appropriate time for the PCB, to finalise its short and long term future plans, with regard to the policy of categorising players for the teams for Test’s, ODI’s and T20′s. This is necessary, because Pakistan will be competing for Test Championship, Champion’s Trophy, T20 World Cup and the ODI World Cup, all within next 36 months.
So, with an eye on the future, the PCB planning should focus on such potential players, who have the capacity or who can be groomed to have the capacity, to deliver for Pakistan, in the days to come. We should not waste time, energy and money on such players, who are past their prime and per se wants to continue playing, just for selfish reasons; but they are practically blocking the future of up coming and young players, for an indefinite period.
In this connection, PCB recently, took a difficult, bold and wise decision of dropping Shahid Afridi from the ODI version of the game. While, not taking anything from the past contributions of Shahid Afridi, PCB’s decision was very progressive and forward looking, but in my opinion, was still a bit late. National interests must not be compromised for personal wishes.
Now, again the time has come to select the players for the different versions of the game, on the basis of talent and capacity of the players, with prime objective of INVESTING in future. PCB should adopt a policy of bearing with the failures of the fresh lot with patience, rather than pursuing with old horses, who have even lost the strength, to easily hit sixes or even boundaries to reasonably good bowlers, or take three or four runs without being exhausted, on a slightly bigger grounds.
According to my observations, PCB must think about the future of the following players in a very rational manner.
1. Misbah ul Haq. He is not at all capable to play till the 2015 ODI World Cup. Even now, he is over age and not capable of steering the team out of a crisis situations, in front of WORLD CLASS bowling, particularly against out of sub-continent teams. So, why not to groom a fresh batsman instead of MUH and on the other hand, give the captaincy to Muhammad Hafeez, for gaining the experience for the coming Champions Trophy and the ensuing ODI World Cup?
2. Younis Khan. Our selectors took a retrogressive action in recalling him from the ODI retirement. Even his presence in the team today in the 3rd ODI, couldn’t save Pakistan from a mere 10 runs defeat against India. His selection for the Indian tour has cost us heavily, in not giving experience to a youngster. He should be decently thanked for his services and let him not block the future of any budding batsman. PCB should not be so callous with the new generation of batsmen, that retired batsmen be made to come in their way. If PCB had recalled Muhammad Yousaf or even Inzamam ul Haq, may be, they would have scored runs more than the newcomers, but then we can’t and must not live in the past, under any circumstances. For that matter, if India lost the ODI series against Pakistan, no heavens have fallen. Similarly, if we had lost to India with fresh legs, it would have been a gain of experience, rather than winning with recall, of retired persons.
3. Kamran Akmal. Just like Shahid Afridi (who can still be selected for few more weeks and months for his bowling abilities) Kamran Akmal is a spent cartridge; and to continue with him is in fact, deceiving ourselves. He may still give some performances against mediocre bowling, but against world class bowlers, his batting is absolutely UN-DEPENDABALE. As far as his wicket keeping is concerned, it is OK. However, there is no shortage of young generation of agile wicket keepers and hence, further continuation with Kamran Akmal, is like living in a fools paradise.
4. Shoaib Malik. There is no doubt that he was past his prime many months ago. He has reached a stage, where its impossible for him to perform against quality bowling, particularly in ODI and T20 versions of the game. If we argue that he performed well in domestic level, then the selectors should be told that domestic level performances are for the new players. International players are judged on their performances against foreign teams. These are two separate criterions for the different levels of players. If the selectors still wants to retain some old horses, for Test matches for some time, then PCB management shall be the better judge. However, these old players must not be used in a way to stop the career of the budding players.
5. Umar Akmal. He was touted in the past to be a player with immense talent. However, he has proved wrong all his fans and well wishers. In fact, he is the most UN-DEPENDABLE batsman in the team. Not to play him is a risk. However, to play him is a bigger risk. While batting, he is a very risky person for the batsman at the other end. Moreover, mostly his shot selections are very poor. He never puts a price on his wicket. Also it looks that in his failures, there is a big hand of his head coach. Somehow, this man looks a fit case for sending him to a psychologist, for making him a person with some sense of responsibilities and strong mental power, who should be able to focus on teams goal achievement. Till such time he is transformed into a mature person, Umar Akmal seems to be an utterly misfit player in the national squad.

Murder case for the deaths of Measles affected kids

DG Health Punjab, Dr. Tanvir Ahmad, has admitted that the measles epidemic in Punjab, was caused due to non availability of vaccine in the year 2011.

This is a clear case of criminal negligence.

It is suggested that for the killings of over 100 children, out of the ten thousand kids affected by this disease, all those responsible for not arranging vaccine in 2011, be booked for the murder cases of so many kids, in line with the past tradition, when a contractor who build the bridge, was booked for the damage of the bridge, hit by a truck in Lahore.

“People will try to tell you that all of the great opportunities have been snapped up. In reality, the world changes every second, blowing new opportunities in all directions, including yours. ”

Ken Hakuta –
American inventor

“I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.”

— Arthur Rubinstein

@nayyarahmad: @TIME @timeworld @ImranKhanPTI @AndleebAbbas

this time voters may vote so heavily 4 PTI that even PTI leadership & supporters may b surprised.

PTI contesting on 18 seats in Karachi Vs MQM. Guess about PMLN…….. Just 3.

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily” — Zig Ziglar