Loud Thinking

Archive for July, 2014

Ziglar had this to say about quotes:

“If you’re like me, you’ll jump at the chance to bypass all the churning and scoop the cream right off the top. And that’s what quotes are…the cream of our learning.”

How to Hire More Top Performers

It goes without saying that a company with more top performers has an edge over its rivals. To increase your proportion of top talent:
Control your pipeline. Do your own recruiting, and stop relying on headhunters.
Have your A players conduct the interviews. B and C players can’t always identify the highest potential people (and if they do, they can feel threatened). Average performers tend to look for congeniality and the ability of a candidate to fit in; they don’t always look for someone who seems likely to raise the bar.
Involve as many line managers in the interviews as possible. This is especially true when hiring for highly technical jobs: HR might not be able to judge whether people have the very specific skills required.

Adapted by HBR from “How to Hire More Top Performers” by Michael C. Mankins.

August 14 deadline: Imran lays out conditions for calling off long march

By Our CorrespondentPublished: July 4, 2014

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan on Thursday said that he was willing to call off the August 14 long march on Islamabad if the Supreme Court opens a probe into election rigging in four constituencies.
“If a three-member judicial commission under the Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk investigates the electoral fraud and places the result before the nation in two weeks, we will call off the long march,” the PTI chief said.
He was speaking at the Kal Tak programme of the Express News hosted by Javed Chaudhry.
“No, we cannot give the government any more time,” he said pointing out that PTI has been fighting in tribunals for the past 14 months and giving more time will mean that one should get ready for the next elections.
Imran reiterated that the August 14 long march will be a giant leap towards real democracy that will herald a new Pakistan.
He said that the people were just as charged as they were in May 2013. “I felt the pulse of the crowd in Bahawalpur, we are starting from where we left out in 2013.”
He did not rule out demand for a mid-term election.
To a question about the status of Nawaz Sharif and his government post-August 14, Imran said, “I am not going to show all of my cards right now.”
On politics of confrontation, the former cricketer said that PTI went to election tribunals but no avail, “we wasted 14 months.”
The system has to be changed, he said.
He asserted that if the judicial commission finds allegations of rigging untrue and declares no electoral fraud has taken place, “I will go and congratulate Mian Nawaz Sharif on his victory.”
However, Imran said he believes that on May 11, 2013, the nation saw biggest electoral fraud in the history of Pakistan. Unless there is accountability, the practice of poll rigging will continue. “A few people have formed dynasties in Pakistan, their children are being groomed to rule us, this is not democracy, it is monarchy,” he said. Corruption cannot be eliminated without accountability, he asserted.
Regarding the operation in North Waziristan Imran said that he believed in democracy and would never have supported an armed offensive. “As a student of history and international relations, I assure that every conflict ends in dialogue,” he said. The Moro conflict of Muslims in the Philippines, he said, continued for over 40 years, only to end in talks that started a few months ago.
On the perception that PTI is resorting to confrontation because it cannot control the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, Imran said this was incorrect. He dilated upon the police reforms, improvements in education and health sectors the K-P government has achieved.
“There is no likelihood of K-P government being dissolved,” Imran said replying to a question by the host. The fact is, Imran said, the PTI unlike the N league, has not pumped Rs60 million of taxpayer money in self-aggrandising media campaigns.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 4th, 2014.

Look Mr. Najam Sethi, what the BCCI Secretary Sanjay Patel has said about your so called “MOU turned into binding agreement straightaway”.

Wisden India quoted Secretary Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Sanjay Patel, as saying on Wednesday “the deals with Pakistan were not set in stone”.

Perhaps the genius PCB boss may be knowing that:

“You can fool some of the people for some of the time. You can also fool some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all the people, all the time”.

“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”

—Aldous Huxley (1894-1963);
Novelist

“The people we are in relationships with are always a mirror, reflecting our own beliefs, and simultaneously we are mirrors, reflecting their beliefs.”

— Shakti Gawain

“Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either.”

— Henry Ward Beecher

“Love yourself, respect yourself. Never sell yourself short. Believe in yourself regardless of what other people think. You can accomplish anything, absolutely anything, if you set your mind to it.”

—Marcus Allen (born 1960);
American Football Player

Regroup from a Failing Project

People tend to obsess over sunk costs (all that time and money we’ve invested in something and can’t get back). When teams commit more resources to a clearly failing project, it’s even more of a problem. The more cohesive the group, the more likely they are to hang in there when it’s best to walk away. To get back on track, your team needs to look at its investments objectively, deciding what to scale back on and what to cut altogether. Make it easier to measure what does and doesn’t work by establishing clear organizational goals — and avoid sweeping, abstract language. Break each goal down into smaller subgoals, and then identify the actions required to reach each one. This will give your team a better sense of what’s achievable, and what’s a lost cause.

Adapted by HBR from “Get Your Team to Do What It Says It’s Going to Do” by Heidi Grant Halvorson.

The way referees are playing for the Brazilian team, there is a very little chance for any other team, to win the World Cup..!