Archive for December, 2005
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 22 Dec 2005, 9:11 PM - Leave Comment
I am searching my notes and documenting simple things we can do to make us more productive, increase effectiveness and more important – make it easy for others to deal with us.
Recent blog post on that topic was
Simple things you can do – A Baker’s dozen
As I add more items to this list, it gets easier to convert this into a lens. So here is my latest lens on Squidoo:
Squidoo lens: Simple things you can do
If you have any tips, thank you for sending them.
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 20 Dec 2005, 1:00 PM - Leave Comment
Today my CIOUpdate column for the month was published. The article is titled “Time Management for IT professionals.”
Rather than focusing on the tips and techniques of maximizing on your “to do” lists, I focus on the strategic thinking behind time management.
Hope you will enjoy it!
Posted under Leadership, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 19 Dec 2005, 11:56 PM - Leave Comment
OK I talked about building long-term relationships before. Here is one way to accelerate it. You will see that it gets easier to build long-term relationships when you are comfortable being all alone.
I read about this first in one of my favorite books “Passion, Profit and Power
” by Marshall Sylver. Sylver asks the readers one simple question – “If you cannot be happy with your own company, how can you expect others to be happy with your company?”
Think about it. How comfortable are you with yourself? Do you need external validation/recognition/endorsement to feel good about yourself? If yes, then you will put a lot of pressure for people around you to be “accepted” by them. That will, in turn, put a lot of strain on your relationships. You will be conscious of what others think and you would want them to “accept” you and the sad part is – if they don’t “accept” you, you will find reasons to not “accept” them rather than fixing yourself. On the other hand, imagine a sceneario where you are comfortable with yourself – being alone. When you have company, it’s a luxury. You can enjoy those moments together and you can let others enjoy those moments as well.
For those of you who dread being alone and always wanting to be with someone, remember that It’s not that your “wanting” to be with someone that will draw them to you but it’s their “wanting” to be with you that is more important.
Practice being alone for sometime. It can be as simple as taking a walk in the evening. And yes, please shut off the cell phone and the blackberry while you are taking that walk 
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 18 Dec 2005, 7:08 PM - 3 Comments
I hope somebody will create this plug-in for Firefox or any tabbed browser. Here is the background and the idea.
RSS changed the way we browse for information. Earlier you to go to an individual website and read stuff. Now, with a good blog reader (or RSS aggregator or whatever) we don’t have that problem. Manhy of my friends track hundreds of blogs and read them. This would not be possible without RSS. So, that is one part of the story. RSS won’t solve everything. You still need to visit several individual websites almost on a daily basis to do some of your work. The other day I counted and for me it’s about 14 different websites everyday. How can we solve this problem?
Here is a simple plug-in I thought would help. Store all the links to these “everyday” websites with a special del.icio.us tag and when you activate this plug-in, it opens all these websites in multiple tabs. When the first website opens up, you can continue to do your work and the other websites start getting loaded in the background (in other tabs)
You can save a ton of time. Thanks.
Update: Thanks to
Derek Scruggs and
Boris Bauer for showing me that this already exists. Boris kindly sent me the steps to do this. Here they are for the benefit of others.
For Firefox
1. Go to bookmarks2. Go to manage bookmarks3. Create a folder4.Group all the sites you want to open in one folder.5. Drag that folder in the bookmarks toolbar. (make sure this is enabled inthe View > toolbars section)6. Select the folder in the toolbar and select "open in tabs".
Thanks to both Derek and Boris again!
PS: Also thanks to Jason Siffring who posted another comment extending the logic. Thanks Jason.
Posted under Innovation, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 17 Dec 2005, 10:23 PM - Leave Comment
How can we make new year resolutions work?
There is so much of negativity that is surrounding new year resolutions. Many people almost make it a new year resolution to not to make any more new year resolutions and in that particular case, they win
Before we even talk about new year resolutions, some questions to consider about the current year:
1. How do you rate yourself on your performance this year?
2. What were your key performance indicators and how did you fare in each one of them?
3. Were you successful this year? How do you know?
4. If these questions were asked next year same time, what could you do differently next year to have better answers for the same questions?
Obviosly we know that if we don’t change our practices, results won’t be different than this year. One option is to wait for something surrounding you to change – which might happen. However, you know that the only person that you will ever have control on changing is YOURSELF. So what could you do to change yourself in the new year to produce better results.
Here are some thoughts.
1. New year resolutions work.
It is all in your belief that will make them work or not work. Imagine a new year resolution. Let’s say the same resolution was given in the form of a directive from your workplace. Either you do it or your job is at risk. How would you treat that as compared to wishing something for yourself. The problem is not the promise but the fact that the promise was made to yourself. Start making the same promise to someone else close and put yourself on the line. Things will change dramatically.
2. Create a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
If you were a business, what would you track about yourself? How would you know that you were making progress? That comes in the form of KPIs. What would be a good set of performance indicators that when tracked will make you move towards your goals?
3. Decide and implement a reading plan.
If you have to reach your goals and if there is some knowledge that is missing, you know that you can acquire it by reading stuff. Is it hard to make a list of those books you should read next year that will move towards your goal. No, I don’t think so. You have all that information. How about you buy all those books in the holiday sale and get someone else to hold you accountable? How about if you promise to your colleagues that you will provide a summary of one book every month? Would that help? If not, what do you think will help and what is preventing you today to implement something that would help?
4. Develop the right relationships
If your dream is big, it is almost guaranteed that you need help from others to reach there. Do you have those relationships today? If not, what is your plan to establish them?
5. Mind your attitude
If you whine, you will get attracted to a set of people who either like to listen to whining or they are whiners themselves. What are the possibilities of reaching your goals in the company of whiners?
6. Mind your language
You are what you speak. Your language will determine your state of mind. Watch your language. Is it helping you today? If not, what could you change in the new year that might help?
7. Distinguish yourself
I started the series on distinguishing yourself ten months ago and there are now about 82 ways. Not everyone of them is applicable to everyone of you. That is not the point. Are there ones that you can identify with? Are there ones that are relevant to you? If you apply one or more of them to your life in the next year, would it make a difference in the next year? If yes, how would you hold yourself accountable to apply one or more of them next year?
I want to wish all of you happy holidays and a very happy and prosperous new year!
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 17 Dec 2005, 6:00 AM - Leave Comment
I first heard this from Tony Robbins at a seminar. Paraphrasing him, “All learning is basically connecting the unknown to the known.” I have learnt a lot from that one statement and I have used it many times.
If you observe carefully, powerful communicators use analogies to make their points. Consider the following paragraphs
#1. Goals: It is important to have a clear goal to get ahead. You need to clearly and vividly imagine your goals to have a higher chance of reaching them.
#2. Goals: You want to go on a vacation during these holidays. You decide to book your ticket. You talk to your travel agent and tell him that you need a good deal for this trip. The first question that the travel agent asks is “Where do you want to go?” and if you say “Somewhere nice” or “somewhere north” the travel agent may not be able to help you much. The travel agent wants specific information to help you. Just providing vague descriptions of some place won’t help. If you need to be so specific for a simple vacation trip, what about the need to be specific in your life, which is the biggest journey that you are going to take? How vividly should you imagine your destination if you want to have any chance to reaching it?
As you can see, both the paragraphs want to convey the same meaning but one uses an analogy and the other does not. Obviously, the one using an analogy will have a better impact than the plain and simple one. Setting goals is not an unknown or alien concept and it gets clearer with an analogy. Imagine taking a new concept and applying the same rule. It gets easier to communicate your point.
Next time when you need to communicate something, think about the audience and see what is already “known” to them. Once you know this, you can try and relate whatever new you have to communicate using what is “already known.”
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 16 Dec 2005, 4:05 PM - Leave Comment
We have been saying for a long time that the web is breaking the borders and making it seamless for people to collaborate globally. Whether we want it or not – globalization is here to stay. If you can’t beat it, best is to make the most out of it. Developing cultural sensitivity is no longer a luxury. It is almost mandatory!
I was fortunate to have lived and worked in five countries and always learnt to be culturally sensitive in a hard way. I finally figured out several things that we important in that place by using the most famous strategy ever “trial and error.” Looking back, I always wished that I had done some homework before venturing into new areas and dealing with people from a different culture. So, the point is – whether you are working in a different country or you are working with people from a different culture or both, you can make it easy (for yourself) by learning to be culture sensitive.
Let me a give a simple example (although not directly related but it still makes a point.) It was in 1997 and I was managing a sales force automation project for a large french customer. That was my first visit to Paris and I was not well prepared. The first day, I was a bit confused about the way I was greeted – a gentle hug and touching cheeks were alien to me. I started meeting people and got used to the working styles a bit. Third day, when I was at the kitchen, someone asked me “Did you see Obe?” and I thought for a minute and said “No, actually I don’t know Obe.” He gave me a strange look and walked away thanking me. When I came back to the seat a few minutes later, my friend Robert who was sitting next to me jokingly said “So, you forgot that we know each other” and at that time I realized what had happened. “R” in french is usually “eh” and the last syllable is ommitted in conversations. So “Robert” really became “Obe.”
I was embarrassed and didn’t know how to face the other person next time I met him somewhere else.
I have had lots of different kinds of experiences in other countries. Every time I look back and reflect on things, I wish I was more prepared and I would have been more effective with the right preparation.
There is a quick reference book that comes in handy and it’s called “Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands.” Take a look when you have a chance.
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 15 Dec 2005, 6:00 AM - Leave Comment
Yesterday I met with Ramit Sethi
and while we talked about a ton of things, one of the things we
discussed was the people’s need to chase exclusivity (examples: be it
going to a certain business school, living in a certain community/city,
driving a certain car etc.) without a clear leverage plan.
I agree with Ramit’s observation. I have seen this time and again when
I watch people trying to join a business school. When asked “Why
exactly do you want to go to THIS business school” most often I hear an
answer that is VALID but not CONVINCING. It is almost like it is the
RIGHT thing to do to get ahead. They have validations, meaning they
know of people who have been successful taking this path and of course,
they don’t look at a larger set of people who don’t use this
exclusivity to their advantage. To be clear, I don’t have anything for
or against business schools. My only point is that if you do make such
an investment of time and money, you better make the MOST out of that
investment.
I talked about the need to gather the right puzzle pieces
and if exclusivity will provide you with another important piece for
your puzzle, then yes, go ahead and explore that option. However, if
your chasing this exclusivity just because everyone and their friends
are doing it, then it may be worthwhile to think about this again. This
is just because of the fact that anything exclusive costs more than
average (time, money or both) and it is in your best interest to
compare ROI from investing for this exclusivity or pursuing something
else with the same amount of investment.
Question for you: What kind of exclusivity are you chasing right now? Can you make the most out of that exclusivity when you do get it?
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 14 Dec 2005, 6:00 AM - Leave Comment
Imagine that you have a set of lego blocks – let’s say about 60 of
them. What we can do with these blocks depends on our creativity, skill
level, amount of time we are willing to commit and so on. Some people
may create a small object and others might build something big. Each
person can create something of their own.
Now, let’s say we decide to add a few more puzzle pieces to this mix.
You look around but don’t find any more lego blocks. You look some more
and you find some jigsaw puzzle pieces. You decide that something is
better than nothing and add about 20 jigsaw puzzle pieces to the mix.
Now rather than 60, you have 80 puzzle pieces.
The challenge now is to try and build something from the 60 lego blocks
and 20 jigsaw puzzle pieces. Nothing good comes out of this but you
don’t want to give up. You keep trying and want to badly make it work.
You read up some creativity and innovation stuff, talk to some experts
and try again. No luck. You give up after some time.
Your friend on the other hand had same number of lego blocks but
instead of adding jigsaw puzzle pieces, he waits and collects more
money and buys a few more lego blocks. While you are fiddling with this
combo, he creates a masterpiece.
Moral of the story: You need to gather the right puzzle pieces to get ahead.
We can draw several analogies. The lego blocks are like your current
skills and resources – all the assets that you have. You can configure
these resources in variety of fashions to create something out of your
life. When you decide add some skillsets or new resources, you need to
ensure that the newer configurations can create something bigger. If
you don’t think through and blindly add some skills or resources to the
mix without thinking through the configuration, you will break your
back but nothing good comes out of it.
Good luck!
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 13 Dec 2005, 4:10 PM - Leave Comment
The Enterprise Innovator published a Q&A about the book and the general topic of commoditization a couple of days ago. Here is the link:
Q& A with Rajesh Setty
Thanks.
Posted under Main Page.
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