Personal and professional development for technology professionals.
» Bringing Ideas To Life. With Love!
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 19 Sep 2006, 6:53 AM - Leave Comment
Christophe Herreman has posted a review of “Beyond Code” summarizing a few key points from the book.
He says that “This is one of the books to refer to when you are in need of a guide in hard times”
Here is the link to the full review
Christophe Herreman: Review of Beyond Code
Thanks Christophe!
Posted under Endorsements, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Mon 18 Sep 2006, 12:00 AM - 4 Comments
Winning is not the opposite of losing all the time. Sometimes, it can be a bigger loss than losing. Here are some cases:
I am sure you have your own items that you can add to this list.
Have a great week ahead!
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 17 Sep 2006, 10:08 PM - Leave Comment
–
Note:
1. A mini saga is a story told in exactly 50 words. Not 49 or 51 but exactly 50.
2. You can download a photographic manifesto of Mini Sagas at ChangeThis. Here is the link – Mini Sagas: Bite-sized Wisdom for Life and Business (PDF, 2.9MB).
3. For a complete list of Mini Sagas, please visit the Squidoo lens “Mini Sagas“
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 16 Sep 2006, 8:39 AM - Leave Comment
I have always been of the opinion that tools are just tools. It is not the tools that make the difference – it is HOW you use those tools. Plaxo is one such tool. If used right, it can keep your address book updated automatically. Of course, you can use it wrong too. Here is one Plaxo request that I received recently
As you can see, the person has no other information except my name and email address. I don’t know whether he really wants my information in his address book. If I decide to take the time to update it, it’s a bonus. If not, he probably doesn’t care – the status quo is maintained. It is almost like saying one of the two:
* “I am lazy to update my address book with your information. If you have the time to do it, please do so”
OR
* “I don’t know whether you are important enough for me to capture all your information. If you think you are important to me, why don’t you fill up my address book with your info?”
The tool is great. Used wrongly. IMHO.
Update: Dave points to interesting set of conversations related to Plaxo. Here is the link:
Ask Dave Taylor: Can I get Plaxo Spam?
Have a great weekend.
Posted under Business Models, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Sat 16 Sep 2006, 4:52 AM - Leave Comment
Chair for our Vistage group, Sterling Lanier had put up a great quote last wednesday. The quote was about fairness.
Is treating all people equally fair? At the outset, it looks like its fair. Please read on..
Posted under Great Quotes, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 12 Sep 2006, 11:05 PM - 2 Comments
I spent the last couple of days in India at BlogCamp at Chennai . I was invited there by Kiruba Shankar and I was really glad I was there. I had exchanged emails with many bloggers over there but had never met them in person. I am one who believes that nothing can replace a handshake.
On day 2, I made a short presentation on the topic “Blogging for a Global Audience” Rajan was kind enough to capture it as a video. Here is the link:
Blogcamp Presentation: Blogging for a Global Audience
For BlogCamp organizers: Congratulations on a great job there.
For BlogCamp attendees: It was great to meet with you all. I am sure we will be in touch.
Posted under Announcement, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 12 Sep 2006, 9:45 PM - 2 Comments
That was a rhetorical question. Instead of answering that one, please read the story I picked up from one of the teachings of Osho.
He was going from the farm to the town with a bucketful of eggs, and a few people in a restaurant, just jokingly, played a trick on the poor old army man. One of the men in the restaurant shouted, “Attention!” and the man dropped the bucket and stood in the position of attention.
It had been twenty-five years since he had gone through the training. But the training had gone into the bones, into the blood, into the marrow; it had become part of the unconscious. He completely forgot what he was doing-it happened almost autonomously, mechanically.
He was angry. But those people said, “Your anger is not right, because we can call out any word we want. Who is telling you to follow it?”
He said, “It is too late for me to decide whether to follow it or not to follow it. My whole mind functions like a machine. Those twenty-five years simply disappeared. Attention only means attention. You destroyed my eggs and I am a poor man…”
I don’t want to analyze the story. The key takeaway was fascinating. Things that we deeply get involved in on a daily basis get into our unconscious level.
Think about your job and your daily life. What messages are you sending to your permanent storage? With the accumulation of these messages, how do you see your life unfolding a few years from now?
I was there in India very recently and got an understanding of the way BPO industry operates. The pay is good and the short-term money is great for several young professionals. The short-term prospects are forcing several people out of college to opt-out to these kinds of jobs and they are keeping their brains in the cold storage for a few years. The price they will pay later for the additional money they are getting today is very high. Hope some of them will realize this TODAY.
I think when the story is re-told a few years from now, the key character will not be an army man but a former BPO employee 
Posted under Business Models, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 05 Sep 2006, 6:39 AM - 5 Comments
This trip to Delhi was fascinating. We all took a small break and sneaked out to Agra to visit Taj Mahal. It was the same experience I had in Niagara Falls. Taj Mahal took my breath away and I was spell bound just like thousands of others. I was also fascinated by the number of intricate details in the construction of this monument. Here is one example. Take a look at the entrance of Taj Mahal below:
If you observe all arch carefully, you will see that there are verses from Quran written over it. Do you observe anything else?
You will also see that irrespective of where the verses are located, they appear symmetrical – meaning everything appears the same size. This is because the letters are of smaller size near the bottom of the arch and they progressively become bigger as they move higher up. They are the of the largest size at the top of the arch.
God is really in the details!
Posted under Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Tue 05 Sep 2006, 3:13 AM - 1 Comment
Typically people don’t want anyone to anyone else to make choices for them. They want to CHOOSE.
Typically, people don’t want someone else to sell to them. They want to BUY.
Imagine a simple scenario where you are meeting with a professional service provider for some advice. The professional listens to you keenly and understands your situation. He then responds. Let us consider two cases:
The professional thinks that he has hit the bulls eye. He says that he has found the perfect solution for your problem and offers to go through the same in detail. In the end, he also warns that choosing any other option would be stupid.
Case 2: Carpet bombing with options
The professional is very creative and thinks that your problem can be solved in at least ten different ways. He offers to go over them in detail. He says that once he explains all the various approaches it would be a breeze for you to make a decision.
Unfortunately, you are not happy with both the options above. In the first case, the professional did not give you any choice (he was CHOOSING for you) and in the second case, the laundry list of solutions only confused you more.
The ideal case would have been one where the professional provided two personalized options (at the most three) or solutions and explained to you the ramifications (pros and cons) of choosing either one of them.
Now, remember the number of times you were on the opposite side of the table. When you were that professional to whom other people came to ask for help or advice. How did you respond? Did you provide them THE solution or carpet bombed them with a dozen options to choose from?
The winning formula, typically, is to provide options but not too many of them.
Good luck!
_____________________________________________________
Note 1: Here is a Squidoo lens that links to most of the previous articles in this series:
Squidoo: Distinguish Yourself
Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself (PDF, Free)
Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 6, 2008. This is a photographic manifesto featuring 15 of my mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Mini Sagas – Bite Sized Lessons for Life and Business (PDF, Free)
Posted under Distinguish yourself, Main Page.
By Rajesh Setty on Fri 01 Sep 2006, 6:19 PM - 4 Comments
My travel schedule and the book release event and the follow on press appointments have kept me extremely busy and away from blogging. Adding to this, I am also on a “vacation” with Kavitha and Sumukh. So, basically lots of excuses.
The book release event succeeded beyond the expectation of all the concerned people (publisher, publicist and myself)
Here are the quick highlights.
The event happened at Oxford Book Store, Connaught Place in Delhi. There are so many things that are cool about this bookstore
2. The book collection – fascinating collection of books
3. The people – very warm and friendly and move at the speed of light. I think they are also very well-versed with organizing these types of events. I was sitting at the store since 2.30pm (attending press interviews) and they almost transformed the place to hold the event in less than 30 minutes.
4. The tea collection – Most book stores have a in-house store to serve coffee. This place has “Cha Bar” (Cha means Tea in Hindi) where they serve close to 50 different types of exotic teas. In one day, we tried three different varieties.
Piyush Chawla from Vikas Publishing introduced the chief guests – Ajay Jadeja (noted cricketer) and Sita Raina (noted theatre personality)
The Chief guests then unwrapped the books and officially the book was RELEASED.
I spoke for about ten minutes on the topic of “Distingish Yourself” – picked a few topics from my series on Distingiushing Yourself (Link – Squidoo Lens: Distinguish Yourself)
Sita Raina (who had received the book only yesterday) had great comments about the book that almost brought tears in my eyes. It took me almost ten years to write the book and to hear positive comments by somone of Sita’s stature re-affirmed my faith in the statement “every disciplined effort has multiple rewards”
Ajay Jadeja spoke briefly and made some great comments on the concept of the book and reading in general.
There was handsome representation from the press people – about ten press people and four TV channels.
This was big milestone for me in India and it will now be followed by three talks (two in Bangalore and one in Chennai) and that will conclude my “vacation” in India.
Thank you all and I have posted the photos from the even on Flickr. Here is the link:
Link: Beyond Code release event photos (Aug 31, Delhi)
Thanks again. I will be back to regular blogging early next week. Have a great weekend!
Posted under Announcement, Main Page.
If you are from the Press or if you are from a Speakers Bureau, you can schedule a meeting with me using Jiffle.
Like Jiffle? Get it here.
Recent Comments