Loud Thinking

Archive for August, 2014

Break Up with Your Mentor If It’s Time to Move On

A great mentor can do wonders for your career, but if you’ve reached the point where you’re no longer learning from him or the chemistry has fizzled, don’t prolong the relationship. In order to grow, it’s necessary to move on. Maybe your mentor’s skill doesn’t align with where your career is heading, or you just want a mentor who has more time to offer. Start the separation conversation by sharing your appreciation for all of his time and effort. Detail everything you’ve learned from him and explain how those skills will continue to help you. Be honest and transparent about why your future plans necessitate a shift, and frame it considerately: “Given my change in focus, I wonder if getting together regularly is the best use of your time.” Leave the door open for possible future collaborations, and offer any assistance to return the kindness and help he’s given you.

Adapted by HBR from “ How to Break Up with Your Mentor” by Carolyn O’Hara.

Whither good governance or even the shadow of any governance in Pakistan..?

Eat more fast food…!

Food and health experts regret that the customs authorities lack facility to verify the quality of imported meat products. Moreover, Pakistani customs rely on supplier certification instead of independent certification based on physical inspection or random checking.

They pointed out that no country other than Pakistan allows food products import without first physically verifying the production facilities to ensure quality.

Published in Dawn, Aug 6th, 2014

Mid-way solution of the Pakistani political crisis..!

Let there be a an electronic internet instant voting REFERENDUM asking the question “In your opinion the general elections of Pakistan – 2013 were rigged or not?”

Every Pakistani (including Pakistanis abroad) be allowed to vote by mentioning his/her CNIC or the NICOP or the Passport number, to avoid any duplication.

If the the majority of the answer received is found in an affirmative, the PM should resign and mid-term elections be held immediately.

However, if the majority of the votes say NO then PTI should drop its protest.

My dear Mohammad Zubair Sahab.

AoA.

When you talk about democracy please remember this fake-o-cracy is being run by about 30 family members.

For that matter Saddam Hussain and Hosni Mubarak used to get 100% votes.

Would you call that DEMOCRACY.

Please for God’s sake have a heart, you are one the most reasonable person on the other side of the fence..!

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.”

— E. Joseph Cossman

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”

—Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Poet, Playwright, Essayist

13 things you should never say in a job interview..!

Link:- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/13-things-you-should-never-say-in-a-job-interview/listshow/39673786.cms

How to revamp the PCB..?

A blue print for the PCB’s revamping..!

Pakistani cricketers always bear the burden of representing the image and the hopes of millions of their fans.

Their on and off the field behaviours, have a social and political significance, that goes well beyond the field and enters into the homes of all the citizens as well as, into the most powerful institutions.

The victory in a world cup ODI or a T20 contest, can move nearly all sections of the Pakistani nation, in an incomparable manner.

Thus, for the ordinary Pakistani cricket fan, PCB is not just an organisation; rather, it is a mini Pakistan (and its chairman a mini Prime Minister) and looked upon like the institution of the Pakistani armed forces, where they can’t imagine, any compromise shall be made, on the image and reputation of the country; and where rather than lowering the national flag and pride, our sons sacrifice their lives.

Hence, the PCB and not the players…. needs a turn around..!

We should not be so naive to expect production of a Mercedes car from the manufacturing plant of a motorcycle.

Moreover, as Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

As such, we must not expect miracles by sending players to army institutions, for some rigorous training. If that was the case, why armed forces sports teams world over and in Pakistan, are NOT the number one teams, in all the sports they participate?

Nowadays, like the management, sports is a science and the role of the amateur handlers is over. Only QUALIFIED professionals can train sportsmen, for producing world beaters.

Until and unless, PCB itself is turned upside down, our cricketing standards will keep on sliding into the abyss.

The culture of taking work from the qualified professionals can NOT be handed over to the existing SENIOR staff of the PCB, who can’t even develop a multi-media presentation.

Everyone knows how many managers and above, in the PCB, can truly handle the computers, beyond the emails reading?

It is suggested that PCB must be totally revamped (with a vision statement of BETTER THAN THE BEST) from the top to the bottom, to make it function like a top class world level organisation, with zero tolerance for old amateurish and bureaucratic style of working, which breeds intellectual, moral and financial corruption, nepotism and favouritism, in each and every sphere of its operations.

Right now, PCB has become the last and final resting place of the great nincompoops of Pakistan.

However, the greatest harm the PCB is doing to the nation is that it is being run on a system, which is doing double damage; in the shape of production of mediocre run of the mill players; and at the same time, talented players (like Awais Zia) are facing hurdles, in coming into the lime light.

If the PCB wants to survive in the fast changing world of competition, it must change its old habits and rebuild itself, inside out.

PCB must know that a professional organisation is “of and for professional people”
For the inside out rebuilding, the PCB must come out in a crystal clear manner that “how it want to be thought of” and then consider every thing that the PCB “say and do.”

Every PCB department must also be converted into a “cost center” responsible for its revenues and expenses.

Side by side, the PCB must also shun its CULTURE of politics and self serving policies. This is absolutely necessary, because culture of an organisation is the environment under which all it’s employes perform their duties.

What is needed by the PCB is to create a culture of team work, which stimulates the employees for working with absolute honesty and recognises and rewards employee efforts and permeates the entire organisation.

While chaos, politics and leg pulling is rampant in the rank and file employees of the PCB, how it can be expected to produce players, who will not be equally, if not more, afflicted by these malaise? As they say in the IT jargon, garbage in garbage out, or output can not be more than the input.

However, the top notches of the government and the PCB, must know very clearly that the PCB can not be turned out into a first class world level organisation, by just transfers, postings, change of designations, hiring or firing of employees.

In fact, such steps breeds even more discontent and ill will, among the employees and the general masses.

To achieve the desired results, PCB needs a total and complete overhaul, disregarding any political or other pressures for serving any vested interest(s), examples of which (running the organisation on an absolutely 100% merit basis) can be seen in many Pakistani organisations like LUMS, SKMCH & RC, IBA, NUST and the GIK etc.

Till such time, the PCB itself is turned into a center of excellence, it can’t produce a bunch of players, who can be the world beaters, on a consistent level.

In any team game, a team do not need champions like Don Bradman or David Beckham to be the world beaters. But, greats like Don Bradman and David Beckham in any team, can not excel, without the cooperation of other team members.

For our players to consistently excel at the international arena, PCB coaches need to repeatedly hammer into the minds of the players, the following famous quote of Aristotle.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”

Now, world over competitive sports is not considered just a past time hobby or entertainment and fitness activity. Rather, sports activities are considered and handled as a science.

As such, the PCB must shun business as usual, decades old approach. Moreover, the PCB think tank must “PLAN FOR SUCCESS” with clear and measurable objectives.

The PCB must also not forget that the world’s best and most expensive coaches are NOT the recipe for the success. If this notion was true, rich countries like the USA and the Saudi Arabia, would have been the world champions, in many sports like football etc.

The recipe for success mostly lies in the smooth working of a well defined system, lead for which must come from none other than the PCB chairman.

Gone are the old decadent ways of assembling players for a camp, just before the tour to show their fitness and playing abilities. It must be the specified duty of the think tank and the selectors to devise a plan to monitor 24/7 the health, eating habits, general behaviour and performance of the CONTRACTED players, in a scientific manner. These contracted players must not be allowed to have a free reign, even during the off days, as they are almost like paid employees of the PCB.

Moreover, the FINE TUNING and grooming of the marked pool of all the talented and upcoming players (non-contracted) should be the SPECIFIC responsibility of the NCA staff, who must constantly produce, highest calibre five players, for each position of the game, both for the men and the ladies teams.

As such, rather than hiring a foreign coach for the national team, we need to hire an experienced and QUALIFIED foreign expert, who has the experience of running the sports academy on professional lines, may be from Australia. This expert should be assigned the task to turn NCA, into a center of excellence, second to none in the world.

It will not be out of place to conclude, by mentioning the quotes of the three famous sports coaches, for the motivation of our players, who are under tremendous pressure to perform on a consistent level.

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.”
– Vince Lombardi

“When you’re playing against a stacked deck, compete even harder. Show the world how much you’ll fight for the winners circle. If you do, someday the cellophane will crackle off a fresh pack, one that belongs to you, and the cards will be stacked in your favor.”
– Pat Riley

I’ve never played for a draw in my life.

Alex Ferguson

In England, it’s a rare thing to see a player smoking but, all in all, I prefer that to an alcoholic. The relationship with alcohol is a real problem in English football and, in the short term, it’s much more harmful to a sportsman. It weakens the body, which becomes more susceptible to injury.

Alex Ferguson

I’m going to tell you the story about the geese which fly 5,000 miles from Canada to France. They fly in V-formation but the second ones don’t fly. They’re the subs for the first ones. And then the second ones take over – so it’s teamwork.

Alex Ferguson

The work of a team should always embrace a great player but the great player must always work.

Alex Ferguson

Can Pakistan produce one legend like Steve Jobs..?

Yes we can, we have not one, not two but three persons, who can deliver to the nation and the world even more than Steve Jobs, provided they are given the government patronage, proper atmosphere and opportunity for R&D in IT sector; and they are Mr. Umar Saif, world renowned IT genius guru and Chairman PITB, Mr. Salim Ghauri, another world renowned figure and CEO of NetSol and Mr. Jibran Asghar, an IT (software) genius of Pakistan, working for the last more than 10 years in Bern, Switzerland.

If we watch the Movie “Jobs” which is based on the story of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computer Inc., is a life story of how the Apple Computer Inc. came into being.

It is a story of a man driven by his brilliance. It was as if he knew his life was short and he was given this gift and ordered to fulfill it.

In that quest he failed to make friends, gave up old friends, did not amass wealth, lived a simple life, took some controversial actions that were wrongly interpreted. Yet, he managed to create an enterprise that was valued as the most valuable company in the world.

In that process he made thousands of Millionaires and lifted hundreds of families from abject poverty to a life of affluence.

His mantra was simple, give the people something that they have never used but be honest when you offer that. The net result was he generated an unparalleled following.

Apple sold less cell phones than most of the worlds brands, but made many times more revenue than any other cell phone company.

The reason, people trusted Apple to provide the best.

Then sacrificed (some even sold their body organs) to obtain their product at any price.

Apple delivered what it promised.

That is how legends are made.

Create Advocates for Your Brand

Often the most important people selling your product are not your sales and marketing teams, but your customers.

Here’s how to turn them into company advocates:

Let them interact.

Connect your customers to their peers — other people like themselves who deal with similar issues.

Bring them together through live events, in teleconferences, forums, and other networks so that they can exchange ideas and learn from each other.

Market their triumphs.

Prospects care about what they can accomplish with your products.

Tout your customers’

achievements in any white papers or case studies you publish as much, if not more, than your own.

Have them do the talking.

When you need someone to speak about your products or services in public forums or with the media, ask your PR person to take a back seat and give your customers the opportunity to speak on your behalf.

Adapted by Harvard Business Review from “How to Create True Customer Advocates,” by Bill Lee.