Loud Thinking

Archive for 2013

Make a Plan for Professional Growth

With the right strategies, even the busiest leaders can find the time for development. But to make that effort fruitful, you need to determine what types of development will increase both personal fulfillment and value to your firm. To come up with the right possibilities, try these techniques:
Look over your job description for activities that you would love to pursue, but haven’t gotten to yet.
Think about the dreams that you had for your current position before you started. What did you hope to accomplish?
Set up a lunch or coffee with people in similar positions, either at your company or at a different company, and ask how they invest in learning.

Adapted by HBR from “Make Time for Growth Assignments in Your Daily Work,” by Elizabeth Grace Saunders.

Believe-In-Yourself is having a good self-confidence.

“Self-acceptance comes from meeting life’s challenges vigorously. Don’t numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory.”

Swami Sivananda (1887-1963);
spiritual leader, author, physician

“A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.”

— Charles H. Spurgeon

Why Hullabaloo only on CNG and Fertiliser gas usage?

Why no audit of IPP’s for maximum waste in Pakistan of gas and furnace oil compared to the rest of the world?

Why total income tax free profit allowed to the IPP’s? This means rewarding the IPPs for colossal wastage of oil and gas and consequently producing very expensive electricity.

Pakistan must ensure that the efficiency of the (independent power producers) IPP’s is improved immediately, if not to the world level, at least to the level of India.

Our gas-fired power plants consume up to 17,000 BTUs to produce one kWh, while India produces one kWh with 6,000 BTUs. We are wasting 11,000 BTUs just for nothing as compared to India.

Our furnace oil fired IPPs are consuming almost twice as much oil, to produce the same amount of electricity, than other comparable power plants in the world.

Now, calculate the monetary value of this waste of the oil and gas (as compared to India\world) and imagine the saving in cheap production of electricity to the government; and its consequential benefits to the people.

Increasing the IPPs efficiency will sharply bring down the cost of production of the electricity and greatly reduce the high power tariff burden on the general public. This can only be done by an energy audit of the IPPs, which the NEPRA has avoided, for the last eight years.

Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Sahab, these are the management and governance issues; and if attended properly by your government, will result in huge relief to the masses. But some how, I apprehend that your bureaucracy\advisors are not giving you the true picture of the state of the affairs; and the power cartel is so strong that you look absolutely helpless. These people will never allow you to act on the out of box solutions. They just want you to keep on increasing oil, gas and electricity prices, according to their mad dictation.

Mr. PM of Pakistan, it is high time you reshuffle and also change your entire team, repeat entire team, else be ready for not many rosy days in future.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Lahore.

Sent from my iPad3 4G LTE
PS:- The information regarding high usage of gas and furnace oil by our IPPs, its comparison of production efficiency with India and the world and matter of NEPRA energy audit was quoted from the article of Mr. Farrukh Saleem, titled “Power Cartel” published by the daily “The News” dated October 6, 2013.

“As we awake to a new day, most of us think of the same old things. It’s a new day, so think of new things. New things to do, new ways to do them, new ways to make things interesting, new things to make life better, new ways to help your dreams come true. If you wake up every new day thinking of the same old things, then you set yourself up for the same old fall.”

— Unknown

Avoid the “Soft Yes”

Saving “the ask” for the end of a presentation increases your risk of encountering the “soft yes.”

This happens when executives get jazzed about a strategy, nod their head vigorously in support of it, but stop short of committing real resources.

Avoid this scenario by making your resource request clear early — within the first 10 minutes of your meeting.

Be specific. Then lay out the logic for the request and detail the metrics that leadership can monitor as they watch their investment.

End your meeting by repeating the resource request.

If you obtain verbal agreement, send a written summary to stakeholders to nail it down.

Being clear in intent, consistent in your explanations, and persistent in getting formal agreement can ensure that you get the resources you need when you need them.

Adapted by HBR from “Avoiding the Soft “Yes,”” by Scott Anthony.

An old note posted on fb on 11 April, 2012. May be it is still somewhat relevant :

Why the new PCNS recommendations are not making it conditional, for charging a suitable fee from NATO, for use of Pakistani air space?

Have we forgotten that America charged heavily from Pakistan (for the confiscated planes) for even the parking of our fully paid F16 fighter planes.

And today, after all our cooperation and sacrifices in the war on terror, for more than a decade, they have repaid our favors by bombing a Pakistani post and killing our more than two dozen soldiers. But still, we want them to use our airspace for free.

We never imagined our parliamentarians will be such a gut less lot?

God save Pakistan.

Helen Keller said : ‘The most pathetic person in the world is some one who has sight but no vision.’

Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, if we have no home grown vision for Pakistan it means we are not only blind but nincompoop, as well.

If we can’t give future direction for Pakistan, than better outsource the country to China, rather than hiring a western firm, to provide vision 2025 for Pakistan.

Moreover, if Planning Commission of Pakistan can’t perform this basic job for the nation; and wants it done through consultants, then why not close this ministry and allocate the relevant assignments to the Finance Ministry?

This situation is a farce and looks like a joke with the nation; and is synonymous with the situation, where a husband hires another man, to perform his own responsibilities.

An Express Tribune news…

Shaky ground: Govt considers McKinsey for help with Vision 2025

By Shahbaz Rana / Creative: Jamal KhurshidPublished: October 9, 2013

The Planning Commission (PC) is considering engaging the global management consulting firm ‘McKinsey & Company’ – a company that has in the past failed to produce a quality report on Pakistan despite charging $5 million − to prepare Vision 2025 for the country.

The PC’s desire to involve McKinsey in preparation of a policy document that it believes will set the priorities of a nation of 180 million people for next 12 years, has raised questions of aligning such policy prescription with ground realities.

Mckinsey had been engaged by the previous government, and paid $5million by the Asian Development Bank on behalf of Pakistan, a huge sum for just one report of questionable quality.

“The McKinsey’s report was fancy but a terrible one in terms of content”, said former deputy chairman Planning Commission Dr Nadeem ul Haque. Haque said he had contacted the McKinsey’s partners thrice and asked them to defend their work, but no one turned up. On one occasion, he said, one of the McKinsey partners admitted the poor quality of the work and promised to revisit the report.

Dr Haque said his predecessor Salman Faruqi had sanctioned $5 million payment to McKinsey.

The timing of giving McKinsey a stake in the new ‘visionary’ document coincides with a three-year International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) programme that has already set policy directions at least for the programme period. The ministry of finance is in the driving seat at the moment and has kept the planning ministry out of the loop. It did not engage the planning ministry when it was finalising the IMF programme that carries far reaching adverse implications on economic growth.

In a conference organised by the PC recently, Salman Ahmad, a partner at McKinsey had claimed that the previous government had shelved his company’s work.

When contacted, Asif Sheikh, the spokesman for the PC, said the government has not yet decided to formally engage the McKinsey.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal, was keen on preparing a new vision for the country aimed at stabilising economy and ensuring sustainable inclusive growth. However, the biggest obstacle for the commission, according to the minister, was the PC’s capacity constraint.

He has promised to develop the vision by the end of this year but so far the blueprint of the vision is not ready. Sources close to the minister said that Iqbal was upset about the slow pace of work and wanted to hire consultants from the private sector to complete the exercise.

Despite McKinsey’s poor work, Iqbal wanted to engage the firm to overcome capacity constraints, a strategy that is not received well in the PC, according to sources. While acknowledging capacity constraints, PC officials said that the continued indifference of the policymakers towards strengthening the PC led to demise in the working of the Commission.

They said that instead of doling out millions of dollars to these international consultants the government should focus on the Commission or else it should be closed down. The previous government turned the Commission into a project processing unit while compromising on its policy role.

Ahsan Iqbal was not available for comment.

In a similar case, the PC has also engaged Dr Khalid Ikram as a consultant on Vision 2025. Dr Ikram was also involved in the preparation of the Framework for Economic Growth (FEG), prepared by the previous government.

Asif Sheikh said that the PC had requested the ADB to provide assistance in preparation of the Vision 2025 and Dr Khalid Ikram was selected by the ADB. “We have accepted the ADB’s choice”, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2013.

Land mark judgement..!

A TOI report of 10 Oct. 13

Electricity supply is a legal right, Madras high court says

CHENNAI: In a landmark ruling, the Madras high court has said electricity supply is a legal right and denial of power supply is a violation of human rights.

Justice S Manikumar, directing the Tiruvannamalai district administration and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) to give electricity supply to more than 180 families of launderers living along Girivalam (circumambulation) path in Tiruvannamalai, on Tuesday said: “Access to electricity should be construed as a human right. Denial of it would amount to violation of human rights.”

Noting that electricity has a bearing on education, health and family economy of the poor, Justice Manikumar said: “Lack of electricity supply is one of the determinative factors, affecting education, health and a cause of economy disparity, and consequently, inequality in society leading to poverty. Electricity supply is an aid to get information and knowledge. Children without electricity supply cannot even imagine competing with others.”

The launderers had filed a petition saying though they had been living on poromboke land (government land without clear titles) along the holy Girivalam path in Tiruvannamalai for several decades, electricity supply had been denied to them. Their counsel G Pari cited a municipal committee decision to deny them power supply, and said the committee cannot override statutory provisions and electricity supply code.

Concurring with him, Justice Manikumar said: “Lack of electricity denies people equal opportunities in the matter of education and consequently suitable employment, health, sanitation and other socio-economic rights. Right to electricity of a person occupying government land is recognized in the distribution code and it is integral to the achievement of socio-economic rights.”

The judge underlined the social duty of authorities and said: “It is the fundamental duty of the authorities to show compassion to those who are living in huts and tenements for long. When socio and economic justice is the mandate of the Constitution, it is a travesty of justice to deny electricity to the petitioners.”

Pointing out that there is evidence to prove that they were living in the Girivalam area at least since 2005, Justice Manikumar said: “Though the district administration and municipality have claimed that the petitioners are encroachers, they cannot be expected to live in darkness. Even an occupant of a government poromboke site is entitled to seek a decent living with basic amenities like water, food, shelter and clothing. Electricity is indispensable. It would be inappropriate to contend that the petitioners are not entitled to electricity supply.”

He directed the TNEB authorities to provide electricity connections to the families within four weeks.