Archive for March, 2006
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 31 Mar 2006, 1:30 PM - 5 Comments
Today I had an interesting experience at Subway. Standing in the queue for a quick sandwich, I observed the sandwich artist creating great sandwiches. The people in front of me had ordered variety of meat sandwiches. The sandwich artist was using her hands (with gloves, of course) to handle the meat.
I am a vegetarian due to religious reasons. So, when it was my turn I politely requested her to change the gloves. The response I got from her baffled me. She said “There are a lot of people (there were 3 people) behind you. If you want, you can wait at the end of the line. I won’t change my gloves because it takes a long time”
I smiled and just let this pass. It is unfortunate that the person could not take 10 seconds to honor a customer’s request.
An employee’s attitude represents a company’s attitude to the customer. So, if you don’t take care of hiring great customer facing people, you will provide a great sandwich and still leave a bad taste 
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By Rajesh Setty on Thu 30 Mar 2006, 9:23 PM - 2 Comments
I am sure most of you would have read the “The Star Thrower” story by Loren Eiseley (Link)
Here it is again…
The Starfish Story
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to
do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began
his work. One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down
the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to
himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so,
he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man,
and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was
reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them
into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is
that you are doing?” The young man paused, looked up, and replied
“Throwing starfish into the ocean.” “I must ask, then, why are you
throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise
man. To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is
going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not
realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish
all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!” At this,
the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it
into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for
that one.”
When there is an opportunity to make a small difference, we might not take that up for variety of reasons. Some of them are:
* You think the other person may not need help.
* You think the job is so small that anybody can do it.
* Yes, you think it won’t make a big enough difference.
* You think nobody will care whether you do it or not do it.
Next time, when you find yourself in that situation think about the
starfish story and make it a point to make a difference, however small
it is…
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 30 Mar 2006, 5:51 PM - Leave Comment
I want to draw your attention to two items:
1. Real Estate agents and their incentives:
I was reading Freakonomics
the other day. Steven Levitt beautifully explains the power of incentives in several chapters. In one example, Levitt talks about his study where it was found that the real estate agents tend to sell their own properties for significantly higher prices than their clients’.
Assume that you have a home that is worth anywhere between $300,000 – $350,000. The world view is that the real estate agent will sell the home for the highest possible price because of the incentives involved. The higher the price, the higher the commission. Right? Wrong, says Levitt. If there is an offer made for $300,000 for that home but there was a possibility of getting another $10K, the real estate agent won’t waste his time to get the additional $10K and may convince the owner to sell the home for $300K. The way incentives are structured is what prompts this behavior. Here are the details:
Commission for the real estate agent (A): 3% (6% split between buyer and seller agents)
Agency commission percentage (B): 1.5%
Actual commission percentage (C): 1.5%
Actual commission for additional $10K: $150
$150 is not a big enough incentive for the real estate agent to wait for a better price.
2. TV Show: Deal or No Deal
Kavitha and I watch this TV show sometimes. The rules (as explained in the website) are simple:
There are 26 briefcases at the start of the game each one filled with amounts anywhere from $.01 to $1M (or more sometimes) and the contestant picks a briefcase of his choice. Every round, Howie Mandel (the host) asks the contestant to open a set of boxes.
Then as each round progresses, the contestant must either stay with your original briefcase choice or make a “deal” with the bank to accept its cash offer in exchange for whatever dollar amount is the contestant’s chosen case.
Once you decide to accept or decline the bank’s offer, the decision is final.
Contestants are encouraged to ask friends or family in the audience for advice; however, only the contestant’s answer will be considered binding and final.
You would think that the contestants can make a lot of money. Most of the time, contestants make less than a few hundred dollars at the end of the game. It is interesting to watch the reaction of the audience everytime the contestant has to make a choice between “Deal” or “No Deal.” There is an overwhelming cry of “No Deal” from the audience even when the odds are not very good. Since there are hundreds of people saying “No Deal” the contestant might think that “No Deal” may be the right way to go. But look at the incentive for the audience. If the contestant takes a lot of risks irrespective of the outcome (win or lose) the show becomes a thriller. If the contestant does not take any risks, the show gets to be boring. What is the way for the audience to ensure that the show is thrilling? Just keep saying “No Deal” and influcence the contestant to not make a deal.
Incentives are extremely powerful. There are incentives for you to behave the way you do and there are incentives to make the people around you behave the way they do. Understanding the power of incentives will help you to understand people’s behavior.
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 28 Mar 2006, 4:29 PM - Leave Comment
Michael A.Lally (of Diligentia) reviews my book “Beyond Code” for “The CEO Referesher”
Here is the link for the review
The CEO Refresher :: Review of Beyond Code
Thanks to “The CEO Refresher” and Mike.
Posted under Endorsements, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 28 Mar 2006, 4:04 PM - 3 Comments
I got this beautiful note from my friend Mukundan. It was part of a “National Friendship Week” campaign.
I am posting this because as readers of this blog, you are all my friends. Some of you I will meet, some of you- I will communicate by email and some of you I may never interact. However, the fact that you took your time to visit my blog means a lot to me. Thank you.
Now, here is the story
Nail in the fence
Note: Make sure you read all the way down to the last sentence.(Most importantly the last sentence.)
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily radually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to
drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there. ” A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.
Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us.” It’s National Friendship Week. Show your friends! how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND, even if it means sending it back to the person who sent it to you. If it comes back to you, then you’ll know you have a circle of friends.
YOU ARE ALL MY FRIENDS AND I AM HONORED!
Please forgive me if I have ever left a hole.
Special thanks to Mukundan for allowing me to share this with all of you.
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By Rajesh Setty on Mon 27 Mar 2006, 7:58 PM - Leave Comment
My March column for CIOUpdate has been published. Everyone of us know that we need to “look at the big picture.” That requirement is a given. I write about what are some questions that you should ask yourself to get the big picture for the projects that you are currently working on.
Here is the link:
CIOUpdate: Looking at the big picture
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By Rajesh Setty on Sat 25 Mar 2006, 9:51 AM - 3 Comments
If you ask me what is the simplest discovery that has broad applicability in almost all walks of life, I would say it is the bell curve. You can explain a ton of things just by applying the bell curve theory (if there is one)
Getting advise is really easy. What might be very complicated for you will be easy for a person with a competence in that domain. Many times what you do with that advice is more important than the advice itself. Not everyone follows the advice. I think people fall into different categories when it comes to applying what they learn from a competent teacher.
[Of course, the bigger question is how will you convince this competent teacherr to teach you? Are you willing to pay the price? That's a separate discussion anyways]
Here is a bell curve segmenting the crowd of learners.
Collectors:
I actually want to call them antique collectors. These people love to collect advice. They read books, blogs and ask people for help. They ensure that the advice they collect becomes an antique in their minds.
Fantasizers:
They want to play around with the advice until they find one or two places where the advice was not applicable. That will be enough for them to stop following through. They will now look for new advice to fantasize.
Followers:
These are serious people. They want to make the most out of what they have got. They apply what they learn in a number of ways. They are quite successful in their life.
Committers:
These people commit themselves to achieve more. They learn quickly and apply what they learnt. They reach new heights in their personal and/or professional life. They become an example for others in their domain.
Transformers:
These people transform themselves and take what they learnt to the next level. They start transforming people around them and extend their circle of influence. They become a shining light in the lives of others and help others become committers or transformers.
Being a teacher, I am interested in helping people who have the potential to become transformers. So, I am careful who I pick to coach. I am sure your teachers will be proud if you are a committer. That’s a gift in itself. However, nothing can bring more joy to a teacher if his or her students are becoming transformers.
Go ahead, aim to be a transformer. That will be the biggest gift you can give to your teachers.
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 24 Mar 2006, 6:21 PM - Leave Comment
Bill Soby of Silicon Valley Innovation Institute
mentioned this quote during our conversation this evening. Most of us
have untapped potential that will remain untapped for a long time. One
reason is that if our current use of potential is getting us through,
where is the big incentive to stretch further?
“If we all did things that we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves”
- Thomas Edison
Posted under Great Quotes, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Thu 23 Mar 2006, 8:57 PM - Leave Comment
I have written a lot about questions and there is a still a lot more to
write. The internet has made it easy to find answers for our questions.
This is just great. However, this is causing a problem too. The moment
we have a question, we try to find answers from various sources out
there. Mostly, you will not find ONE answer but many answers. The rest
of your time now gets spent in analyzing the variety of answers that
you get from various sources. Since there is a possibility of finding a
LOT of answers, your new problem will be to figure out the right answer. What you forget is that you may have asked the wrong question.
I have subscribed to about nine different mailing lists. All the lists
are alive and kicking. I learn a lot from the conversations that happen
on the lists and wherever possible answer some queries. Last week,
there was an interesting question on one of the lists. The question was
simple -
“Should I be honest in my exit interview?”
There were about three responses and all of them were great. Three
different perspectives. Each response made me think. In that sense the
responses were very valuable. The next logical step for the person who
posed the question would be to analyze the responses and draw her own
conclusions. However, I was not fully convinced about the real problem
over here. Here was my response.
The
fact that you are asking the question about whether to be honest in an
exit interview suggests that you have some information that may not be
pleasant to be shared and you want to know whether to share it or not.
My question back to you is to think and see why was this information
not shared with the right people when you were working over there?
There is no right or wrong answer to this. The only thing that you can
do is to go and find an employment at a place where you can honestly
share such information when you are working rather than debating about
it during an exit interview.
My assessment is that the real problem was one or more situation(s) at
work that were not pleasant. The problem she should be really worried
about is how she could avoid getting into a similar work situation
again in her life.
The first question was valid and needed to be answered. The real question, however, should have been:
“How do I ensure that I join a company where the work environment is great?”
Remember that even if you get the right answer for a wrong question, it’s still of no use
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Wed 22 Mar 2006, 11:12 AM - Leave Comment
I wrote earlier about not to look to get drowned in positive feedback. This is an extension of the same. Some of you sent me an email stating that negative feedback alone won’t help either. I agree.
Note: If you are someone who is always on your own and never bother to get feedback, the only advise I have is to go please get a life 
Rest of us are surrounded by variety of people. Let me pick three types for the sake of this discussion.
Flatliners: They are extremely busy with their own work. They don’t have time to look at your idea or provide you feedback. They may say something like “Sounds good to me” or “Looks interesting”
Caring Critics: They really care for you and your projects. They are interested in you getting ahead. They honestly criticize the project keeping in mind the big picture of how this project will “affect you” in the grand scheme of things.
Non-caring Critics: They are not interested in the big picture of how this project will affect you and your life. Some of them may not even care for you really. You ask for feedback and you get it. In an extreme case, some of them might provide feedback that will hurt you in the long run.
You can ignore the first category of people when making decisions. Net caring Critic score is the difference between Caring Critics and Non-caring Critics. Here is the equation:
Net Caring Critic Score = Caring Critics – Non-caring Critics
Over the last few years, I have worked hard to keep this score positive and growing and it has helped me tremendously. This number is not easy to grow and you have to learn to build long-term relationshps. Most of your acquaintances and new friends will be in the first category as they just don’t want to tick you off.
Note: If you would like to read the other articles in the same series,
please take a look at the lens I have created on Squidoo: Squidoo Lens: Distinguish Yourself
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
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