Archive for 'Distinguish yourself'
By Rajesh Setty on Sun 09 Jul 2006, 1:47 PM - Leave Comment
Programming languages have syntax and rules. With the right design in place, following the syntax and rules will get us the desired results. Which is fine but trying to extend that to life may not work all the time. Simple reason – in life you are dealing with people and people are very different from machines. They have emotions, moods, they have their good and bad days. Machines don’t have a lot of concerns. You maintain them nicely (and don’t abuse them) and you should be fine. They provide predictable results. Being in the technology world may tempt us to “decode” life and understand it in terms of syntax and rules. The idea is that once you decode it, you can keep re-using those rules to get superior results.
This approach (even if it works) has a very short life. What works today won’t work tomorrow. There are smart people out there and they know that a large majority of people are applying some basic rules for their decision making. Hence they exploit this behaviour for their advantage. Here are some examples:
1. You buy a song based on rating of the song
Check: Did you see the rating was based on how many votes?
2. You buy a book based on its appearance on the bestseller list
Check: Do you know how a book can get into the bestseller list? While most books on the bestseller list may be good, there is no guarantee as you can pay to structure a program to accelerate a book’s journey into the bestseller list
3. You normally don’t forgive someone’s mistake.
Check: If you had committed the same mistake before and you see that someone else is committing the same mistake, would your outlook towards that mistake change?
4. You trust the conclusions based on the survey results
Check: Do you continue to trust those conclusions after you look at the sampling size and the details of the participants that participated in the survey?
We all have undocumented rules in our lives. These rules play a big part when making decisions. While it is good to have simple rules for simple things (where consequences of our decisions won’t have a far-reaching impact) blindly following the rules may not be a good idea when it comes to decisions that matter most to us – be it in life, career, relationships or anything that matters most.
When is a good time to revisit your undocumented rules?
a) When you think your current rules are not yielding the results that you want from your life
b) When you think your current rules will create a problem in the future
in other words, you don’t have a chance but to revisit your rules at regular intervals.
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By Rajesh Setty on Fri 07 Jul 2006, 6:36 AM - Leave Comment
Let’s say you are working on a new project. You want to get some feedback from some of your smartest friends. You pick a number. Let’s say that number is ten and you call all of them at the start of the project and ask for their feedback. Chances are that more than one of them will give you the same feedback. The feedback can be something on the lines of:
a. what might work and what might not work
b. what to be careful about
c. their past experiences on a similar project
d. on executing the project well
or something else. The point is that if you talk to all of your smart friends at the start (or at any stage) of the project, you will hear the same thing from multiple people.
Here is a simple (alternate) approach to getting feedback:
1. Divide your smart friends into three or four groups
2. At the initial tage of the project, go to one group (new one every time) and get feedback
3. Incorporate the feedback, make necessary changes and update the group that provided feedback
4. At every crucial stage of the project, work with a new group and get their feedback and repeat the update cycle
5. Update other groups on the progress of the project but your focus should be to get critical feedback from a new group. If the earlier groups provide critical feedback that is valuable, it is a bonus.
This method has worked great for me and several of my entrepreneur friends. You need a new set of eyes (smart ones) to look at a project at every crucial stage. Progressive feedback requires discipline and planning but works like magic.
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By Rajesh Setty on Thu 06 Jul 2006, 3:06 PM - Leave Comment
This is typically a “last mile” problem that can easily be solved. This is also a problem mostly related to awareness and the power of beliefs.
Let me explain. Let’s say painting is your passion. You love to paint. You have done some amazing work in the past and you continue to produce great work of art even today. However, you have “discovered” that the best time for you to paint is early mornings. When the sun rises, you have to setup your stuff in the balcony and paint. Question for you: “What would be the magnitude of positive impact on your life if you dropped the condition that your best work is produced in early mornings ONLY?”
I have seen many bright people practicing their craft with self-imposed rules and conditions. Here are a few:
a) an author will write only on that old computer.
b) an author will produce his best work only at his or her farmhouse.
c) a painter has to wear a particular hat to produce her best work
d) a strategist gets his best ideas during the morning jog
Sometimes I think these self-imposed conditions provide an insurance policy to us. Imagine if you didn’t have those conditions holding you back. There won’t be any more excuses left for you to NOT succeed wildly.
Think about your case for a second. What conditions have you imposed on yourself to practice your craft? Are these conditions real or did you just make them up one day? Once you start believing those rules that you made up, they start becoming “real” for you. After that they become part of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Try this for a few days. Whatever be your core craft (that you love and are passionate about) make it “condition-free” – meaning you should be able to practice that craft without any conditions, wherever you are and whenever you want. Even if you succeed partially, you would be better off than where you are now!
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By Rajesh Setty on Wed 05 Jul 2006, 8:25 PM - 2 Comments
About fifteen years ago, I was attending a speed reading workshop back in Bangalore, India. As an introduction to the course, the instructor asked us to pick up a book and turn it around and read a page. It was hard to read the book upside-down. It took us a few minutes to read one full page. Then the instructor asked us to take the same book, turn to another page and read it properly. This time, we were able to read it fast. VERY fast. In fact, faster than our normal reading speed. Of course, that was not the real trick to speed reading. The instructor wanted to prove to us a point. And he DID.
Here are a few (hypothetical) scenarios:
1. Imagine your are in-charge of a new product launch. You have been given a budget of $1000 and a few interns from business school to help out. How would you make this happen? I am sure you have no choice but to think VERY differently.
2. You bootstrapped your company and spent most of the money on building the product. The VCs tell you that they can invest in your company if you show a few initial customer wins. You don’t have money to go and get those customers. You feel like you are in a rock and hard place. What would you do? Again, you would think VERY differently.
3. You are close to winning a deal with a client if you agree to execute the project at 50% of the bid amount. You badly want the deal and you start thinking about how to make this work. Again, you would think VERY differently to come up with a solution.
You can call this “out of the box” thinking (as it involves looking at things VERY differently) or you can call this “thinking inside the box” (as it involves designing strategies and executing with minimal resources) or something else. The point is that once you practice how to work with minimal resources, you stretch your mind. Remember the famous saying by Oliver Wendell Holmes – “Once the mind has been stretched by a new idea, it will never again return to its original size.”
Working with minimal resources is like taking your mind to the gym. If you succeed here, you are way more prepared to do your job when there are adequate resources. A side-benefit of practicing your craft with minimal resources is that you will learn the discipline to not waste or abuse any resource that you have.
Something to think about:
Which one of your projects are you putting off because of lack of resources? What would you do differently if your life depended on executing that project within those limitations?
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By Rajesh Setty on Tue 04 Jul 2006, 4:41 PM - Leave Comment
Last week when I picked up Sumukh (my seven year old son) from school, he had two forms in his hand. He said “Dad, can we please go to Barnes and Noble?” I love books so I was anyway ready to go there but I was curious to know why Sumukh wanted to go there on that particular day. That’s when I learned about this Summer Reading Program from Barnes and Noble. It is an interesting program. The concept is simple.
* Any kid can participate in the program
* Participating kid has to read about eight books (any books)
* Participating kid has to fill out a journal entry where the name of the book, author and the part that the kid liked most needs to be filled in.
* Parent/Guardian of the participating kid has to sign stating that the kid has read those books
* Participating kid has to take this journal to the nearest Barnes and Noble store to get a brand new book (from a selection of about 25 books)
Long story short. We both went to a nearby Barnes and Noble store. He got his free books. I couldn’t resist buying a book. While coming back from there Sumukh said he wants to finish reading a few more books next week so that he can get to do this exercise again. I couldn’t resist silently appreciating the smartness of Barnes and Noble. Very simply, the company was investing in its future customers.
We are no different. It is not difficult to see the relevance of this in our own lives. Imagine your life five or ten years from now. Would you be doing the same thing you are doing then? Probably not. You would be in a different position doing very different things – meaning you would have different clients. Think about it for a second. Are you investing any amount of your time (in a planned manner) in growing them?
What actions can you take today to find, connect and nurture your future clients? Do you see that you are really investing in your future competitive advantage by investing in your future clients?
Good luck!
Note: For other articles in the same series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic.
Link: Squidoo Lens: Distinguish Yourself
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By Rajesh Setty on Tue 04 Jul 2006, 3:08 PM - 2 Comments
I have written earlier about the importance of timing. Location is equally important as timing.
A few weeks ago I was in Boston speaking at TiECon East. I stayed at the beautiful Hyatt hotel overlooking the Charles River. It was late in the evening and I thought of fixing myself a cup of coffee. Next to the table, there were two bottles of water and each bottle there was priced at $4.95. It was surprising but not shocking. There were no shops closeby to the hotel and I am sure a few people won’t mind paying $4.95 for a bottle of water. Hey, the room costs more than $200 a night and that bottle of water costs less than 2.5% of the room rate 
Now, we all know how much does a dozen bottles of water cost at a place like Costco. Probably cheaper than $4.95. So, what changed. One thing is location. Take the same bottle of water to the middle of the desert and I am sure they can charge $49.95 and nobody will blink at the price. Premium, in this case is mostly related to the location.
The above example can easily be applied to our personal and professional lives as well. You bring a certain set of skills and strengths to the marketplace. If there is an oversupply of those skills and strengths at the location where you are, you are in a commodity marketplace. It is hard to ask for a premium in a commodity marketplace. That is not a good battle to fight. Alternately, think about what is the right location where your skills and strengths are more welcome.
Agreed. You have so many things going on where you are and it’s hard to move. It’s not that easy. It will disrupt everything that you have built. If that’s really the case, and you CAN’T move, you have to seriously think what are those skills and strengths that are commanding a premium at your CURRENT location. Is your current BRAND relevant in the current LOCATION?
If what you bring to the marketplace is not relevant, you are not bringing much. You can blame it on the marketplace, economy, outsourcing, government or you can do something about it.
Note: For other articles in the same series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic.
Link: Squidoo Lens: Distinguish Yourself
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By Rajesh Setty on Sat 01 Jul 2006, 12:16 AM - 3 Comments
Earlier, I have written about:
What is also important and often overlooked is the art of conducting a criteria audit. It is a simple exercise (but requires great practice) where you learn to elicit the underlying criteria to satisfy someone’s need. For us in the technology profession, it is the criteria that our customer uses to judge that we provided an “above average” service. The litmus test for this is a repeat order from the same customer.
For starters, how about asking questions something like this:
“What should happen or what should you see if this project is to be considered a big success?”
“When do you consider this project a success?”
“How do you know that we succeeded big time on this project?”
The above questions might work or you might have to invent your own that work. The key is to get the other person outline his or her criteria clearly. Now where is the audit part? It is obvious that a reasonably sized project will have multiple stakeholders and as you might guess every person involved may have a slightly different set of criteria to judge the success of the project. It is our job to get the key stakeholders to elicit their criteria. Then we can collate the results and come up with an action plan. A side-benefit of that exercise will be that you will have enough insight to deal with expectations mismatches or early warning signs of “internal politics.”
Once you practice this in your current engagements, you will notice that you will start getting to this almost unconsciously. Your clients will love it and you will feel that you have greater control on the project.
Note: For other articles in the same series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic.
Link: Squidoo Lens: Distinguish Yourself
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By Rajesh Setty on Thu 29 Jun 2006, 8:16 PM - Leave Comment
Note: The “more” in the heading was added after the fact. When I was discussing this article with someone whose opinions I respect, I got a quick and candid feedback that it is really not the presence that is the problem as only “dead” people who are not present. It is the “level” of presence that is the problem. Same difference between existing and living.
I love Deepak Chopra’s quote on the same topic. Deepak says
Past is history;
Future is mystery;
This moment is a GIFT. That’s why it’s called the PRESENT.
A simple approach for me would have been just to say “Be present.” If it was that easy, I think there would be fewer problems in this world. People are either analyzing the past or worrying about the future for most part of their waking time. Add to this, fortunately or unfortunately the technological revolution that has almost taken over our lives. Here are a few examples of that
a) We can now multi-task
Meaning we can chat with four people in four IM (Instant Messenger) windows while also editing a document, reviewing a spreadsheet, updating a presentation and of course, keep tab of new mails that are flowing through.
b) We have an “always-on” connection
Meaning “playing with our kids in the park” or “watching a movie with our spouse” is now very peaceful until an email arrives with the “push” technology that requires our “urgent” attention. We can respond real-time and get back to the park or the movie in an uninterrupted fashion.
Let’s take a simple scenario. You are talking to someone and you are also answering your cell phone and checking messages. Isn’t it obvious that you are not “fully present” for the other person? People can easily know whether you are “present” for them. They also know your “level of presence.” So rather than thinking about trying to just “sneak in” a few more things, you can start creating an environment where you can be “more” present. Here are some tips:
a)
Write rather than type: I know it is old-school to write. But in a book, it is hard to multi-task. So you can focus better.
b) Switch off your email (in whatever form) during a conversation: Either the conversation is important or your email. It can’t be both. One has to take precedence over the other.
c) Check to ensure that there are less interruptions: You can ask your secretary to hold off all calls until the meeting ends. You can turn the monitor away from you. You can switch off your cell phones. You know environment to create to have less interruptions.
d) Take a long walk alone (without your cell phone): We are bombarded with messages (thousands of them) almost everyday from so many channels (newspapers, TV, internet, email, in-person etc.) and you can easily get drowned in information. You can take a long walk to get an “information break” and be “present” for yourself for a change.
Think about the environment you work, you meet or you spend time alone. How many interruptions can you handle? Do you want to be reactive or proactive? Whater you do, please get off the JIMP syndrome. Overall, know that it is easy to be “more” present if you take time to create an environment where you CAN be “more” present.
Note: For other articles in the same series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic.
Link: Squidoo Lens: Distinguish Yourself
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By Rajesh Setty on Wed 28 Jun 2006, 4:13 PM - 1 Comment
In simple terms, escape velocity is defined as:
Escape velocity is defined to be the minimum velocity an object must have in order to escape the gravitational field of the earth, that is, escape the earth without ever falling back.
Wikipedia Link: Escape Velocity
Can you remember those days when you worked hard, gave it your best shot and got tired at the end of the day with all the activity that was happening. The sad part was that except your age nothing much had changed after a few years. You were back at the same place where you were. Very similar to a satellite revolving around the earth in some sense. The satellite is moving (so there is action) and since it is flying through different regions, there is change (gives a false sense of progress sometimes) but after a while (depending on the speed) the satellite finds itself in the same place where it started. The concept of “escape velocity” is applicable to our personal and professional lives. If your activity level (in the right direction) reaches that critical “velocity” you start to take off.
Jim Rohn said it right – success is measurable progress in reasonable time. If you are not making significant progress in your personal and professional life, one of the reasons may be that you are stuck in a “continuous spiral syndrome“ or you have not achieved escape velocity.
Here are a few symptoms:
a) Working hard but not getting enough results or the results are not proportional to efforts
b) sideways career movement
c) you are the sole income producer. Your have few assets or the current assets are not producing income.
Actually, those of you who have more than about eight years of working experience, you know the symptoms as they are very clear. When you are very young, you don’t notice them as everyone around you are going through the same drill. By seven or eight years into your working life, you see that some people have achieved “escape velocity” and some have not. If you are one who has achieved escape velocity, congratulations. If you are not one among them, you know that you can’t continue to do the same things or worse think that others just got lucky (they were at the right place at the right time.)
I think we are half way into the year and now may be a great time to review whether you are moving fast on all your initiatives and most important to check “is your fast – fast enough?”
Hat tip: Murali Gomatam of Global Equations
Note: For other articles in the same series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic.
Link: Squidoo Lens: Distinguish Yourself
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By Rajesh Setty on Thu 22 Jun 2006, 2:25 PM - 4 Comments
Let us take a hypothetical scenario:
You have $10,000 and when you visit a neighbourhood bank, they promise that they will double the money in six months. You smell a scam. But they say that they have done it before to others and they can do it again. You still can’t believe it but in the back of your mind – you are just thinking that there may be a faint chance that this might be true and if it is, you don’t want to miss the chance. While you are debating internally, the person on the other side says – “By the way, you don’t have to deposit your money. All we need is that we have a long-term relationship, that’s it.” You can’t believe what you are hearing. You walk out of the branch and go to another bank and lo and behold, the story repeats. They make a promise to double your money and you don’t have to deposit your money first…
This looks unbelievable when it comes to money. You can’t get a deal better than that. It is too good to be true. However, there is a scenario where this theory will work – it is when you share your thoughts with the right set of people. Who are these set of people? These are thought amplifiers. You tell them an idea that is at 5 on a scale of 10 and these people can transform the idea to be at 9 on a scale of 10. All this in a matter of minutes. Sometimes you take an idea to them and when they transform the idea, you feel that it was not even close to your idea. They seem like catalysts but they are much more than that. In simple terms, they touch an idea and they make it more valuable than before. The best part – they make it look so easy and make you feel “Why didn’t I think of that?” Now, imagine sharing your idea with ten such thought amplifiers. You will open up a whole new set of possibilities.
Silicon Valley is one such place where there is a huge concentration of “Thought Amplifiers.” That makes it easy for young entrepreneurs to start their businesses. That is from my experience in the last ten years of living here. I am sure that wherever you are, you will find “thought amplifiers” around you. The point is – do you have the time to invest in building the relationships with these thought amplifiers to make it worth their while to lend their power to you?
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