Loud Thinking

Archive for the ‘My Views’ Category

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.”

— Henry David Thoreau

“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the horizon of the spirit.”

Helen Keller (1880-1968);
author, lecturer, activist

Imagining the Path to Success Can Help Make It a Reality

If you’re procrastinating, stuck, or struggling to meet a goal, try this (seemingly simple) technique: Write your goal down, then devise different possible ways of achieving it, and finally, close your eyes and imagine yourself carrying out each one. Evidence shows that imagining a movement will stimulate the movement areas in the brain; so by envisioning the steps you must take to reach a certain objective, you “jump start” the brain into action. And focusing on creating clear mental images can also help reduce anxiety and improve confidence. This may seem more challenging if you don’t know the distinct steps needed to reach your goal – but imagery hones your attention and actually activates particular brain regions that make you capable of unconsciously mapping a path to success. So not knowing “how” is OK. Just focus on your goal and imagine the different paths toward reaching it.

Adapted by HBR from “ To Reach Your Goals, Make a Mental Movie” by Srini Pillay.

“Thankfully, dreams can change. If we’d all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun with cowboys and princesses.”

— Stephen Colbert

“I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.”

Agatha Christie (1890-1976);
writer

How Big Brands Can Engage with the Sharing Economy

The growth (and growing competitive pressures) of the collaborative economy has big brands wanting in. As customers increasingly buy from one another (and not from your large company), you need to engage with this market or risk watching your own revenue streams be disrupted. Understanding the core drivers behind this new economy, and learning how to fit them within existing models, will help established companies enter the collaborative arena. Consider these ideas:
Less buying, more sharing. Stop measuring success in terms of units sold – think in terms of units used. People are buying less and sharing more, so think about offering goods and services outside the traditional sphere, for example, through sharing or rental services.
Less consuming, more producing. New technologies have turned individuals into producers and sellers. By integrating crowd-produced goods into your supply chain (like West Elm did with Etsy) and attracting small-scale sellers, you gain a competitive edge.

Adapted by HBR from “ Established Companies, Get Ready for the Collaborative Economy” by Alexandra Samuel.

“If you want to forget something or someone, never hate it, or never hate him/her. Everything and everyone that you hate is engraved upon your heart; if you want to let go of something, if you want to forget, you cannot hate.”

— C. JoyBell C.

“Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons do not last. The spring rains will come.”

Sarah Ban Breathnach
writer

Include Skeptics in Your Strategy Making

Skeptics can derail even the best strategies. Those who strongly believe that a strategy is wrong can work against it or fail to advance it – but this is why it’s critical to involve skeptics in the early stages of the strategy-making process. This is when criticism can be put to the best use. Strongly encourage any doubters to speak up so that people can see what might be wrong with the potential strategy. These questions will trigger thoughtful evaluation and push you to make the best strategic choice. If skeptics have a voice in the process – and if you listen to their feedback – they are far more likely to help conceive of and support a new strategy and assist in moving it forward. If no one is speaking up about the potential risks of a new strategy, ask your team members to take up the role: “What would a skeptic worry about here?”

Adapted by HBR from the Playing to Win Strategy Toolkit.

An eye opening letter published today by the daily “Dawn”.

Ministry of Industries & Production, Finance and the FBR must wake up to stop this loot & plunder by the cement manufacturers.

Cement bag price rise

From the Newspaper
Updated about 2 hours ago

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THIS refers to the report by Aamir Shafaat Khan (May 4) about price raise in cement bags by cement manufacturers for which I will take readers back to 1998/99 when the price of a cement bag was Rs140. It was the period when all cement plants were using furnace oil to run their systems.

But when Gen Musharraf’s era started, all manufacturers started converting their cement-manufacturing plants from furnace oil to coal. The reason being that the cost of coal was one-fourth that of furnace oil. All of a sudden, the price of cement was increased from Rs140 to Rs240 per bag. Surprisingly, there was no protest whatsoever!

The rise in the price of cement from time to time is most unjustifiable, as there is no raw material (imported/local) used in its manufacturing.

The fuel bill after conversion from furnace oil to coal is reduced from 100pc to 25pc and the coal which is burnt during the process along with its ash, amounting to 15pc of the coal burnt, is also mixed in the cement.

One ton of furnace oil costs manufacturers Rs80,000 whereas two tons of coal costs between Rs26,000 and Rs28,000.

Is there any authority to counter these elements?

Mobin Niazi
Karachi