MIND MIND, the all so POWERFUL MIND ... but why do we call something SO POWERFUL when the same can be goaded by the feelings of greed, malice, anger and envy, and also be ebbed into oblivion by the feelings of self control, selflessness, philanthropy and restraint (will power) !!!!!
Its the mind that tells one to conclude : I like her a lot, I think I love her, I cannot live without her, but I think she does not like me and does not have the same feelings as I do ... at the same time, it is the same mind that says (though not instantaneously), Hey what if she is a fool and lacks the power and understanding to comprehend what true liking / true love is ?? I do like her a lot, but she does not like me ... it is not my mistake that she fails to see clearly !!!
The mind plays games and elevates the importance of someone to such great extents that you feel that she is the best and you crave for her and want her to be a part of your life and support you in all your tasks, be there to cheer you when you win, be there to jeer you even when you loose, someone whom you can share your joys and sorrows with ... but alas the mind also torments one (when darkness prevails) and says hey .. wait ... this is not the end of the road, move ahead, the journey is not complete, there's light at the end of the tunnel ... a simple mistake transforms the destination to tunnel .. this is the MAGIC of the mind .. it shows you what you want to see, and not what you should be seeing ...
MINDLESS games encourage one to care and fret for someone so much that you stop thinking of anything worthwhile ... the mind is preoccupied with the images and memoirs of someone to such an extent that even important tasks / events seem to get a back seat ... you crave for every opportunity to meet her and wish that the voice from heaven keep pouring into your ears 24x7, 365 days a year reminding us each moment of the our nearest celestial body, reflecting the divine image !!!
AAAhhhhh .. how wonderful an image does the MIND help us conjure .. but the same mind doesnt so readily help us out of such situations ... it takes a lot of effort to break the shackles of joy and love and get back to self dependency and despondency .....
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Implications of the financial crisis for the practice of good management
What are the implications of the financial crisis for the practice of good
management?
The recent financial crisis has shaken the people off their slumber of the dream run (growth) and has re-opened the Pandora’s box of woes, like increase in unemployment, decrease in demand, slumbering growth (events that are generally associated with each of the times of turmoil of the past century). With parallels being drawn between the recent financial crisis and the Great Depression of the 1930s and the ongoing prognosis of the causes, and concerns voiced for the longevity and the dreaded impact, perhaps it would seem that all is not well here. But there is a silver lining to the entire episode of gloom. The valuable lessons we learn from this.
Like any other cycle of downturn, it is the management that gets caught in the blame game and people try to assess the faults in same.
The current crisis has its origins in too bad management. The crisis has demonstrated that management has failed in its most basic tasks. There has been a lack of control, understanding and an unwillingness to take heed of warning signals. Managerial decision-making has centered on personal enrichment and even now, most culprits have ensured that they will not be the ones who suffer the consequences. There is no evidence that the huge fortunes made by executives are linked to the levels of business performance (bankrupt companies using bailout money used to pay bonuses).
As the sub-prime crisis unravels, casino capitalism has exposed itself. A powerful financial sector has crowded out other industries and made the economy dependent on short-termism and fast-buck making deals that are rarely in the interest of sustainable business and long-term growth.
The share of wages in national income in many counties has fallen in the last 30 years whilst the already affluent are taking larger shares of the slice that goes to wages. The “trickle down” effect peters drastically as you descend the income ladder. Greed is bad, stupidity is bad, but bad management is the worst of all.
The current financial crisis, like any of the other periods of downturn, does augur well for the practice of good management. For one thing, it reinstates the fact that Good Management is essentially predictive and not reactive. The fact that the crisis has left so many CEOs lurching for alternatives to overcome the crisis is a testament to the poor management and poor planning done for difficult times. For one thing, good management would entail serious planning for times uphill / difficult times. There are some companies (like Infosys Technologies) that have been able to wade off the difficult times successfully, without compromising on its values, thanks to the prudent planning done for such grim times, wherein a large chunk of revenue was reserved as cash to help them sail through difficult times, a trick learnt and mastered after the dot com bubble burst. So, amongst other things, the planning for disaster times should be at the helm of the good management practices.
The cause of the financial crisis can be traced to the insatiable human greed for more, at any price. The full stock of the risks involved was not taken and in some cases was neglected, like banks, increasing their exposure to risk and lenders increasing the short term, cash based lending to attain a BETTER, HIGHER return. Good management practice would entail taking proper account of the risks involved and ensure that the growth rates are not attained at the cost of the high risk. This would be achieved by planning for profit on a risk adjusting basis, as it provides more meaningful information about profit ability and it also, reduces the incentive to take excessive risk in order to increase profits. A more comprehensive disclosure practice would go a long way for this.
The growing economy did not give us a chance to think twice about how and why we were growing at such an unforeseen pace. All that mattered to all of us was / is the results / profits of a company. According to me, the single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that results only exist on the outside. The result of a business is a satisfied customer. The result of an investment bank is a wealthier client. The result of a hospital is a healed patient. The result of a school is an educated learner who becomes a productive member of society. Inside the enterprise, there are only costs. It is no accident that Goldman Sachs which of all the investment banks is the one that appears to value management the most has best survived the crisis. Perhaps it would be a good management practice for managers to think about policies with an outlook of the long-term sustainability and growth of the enterprises while making administrative decisions, instead of being lead solely with the goal of maximizing short-term profits. Perhaps it is this long term vision that has created companies like IBM, GE, and Proctor & Gamble.
While analyzing the crisis, one would feel as if a common system is operating around the same principles and the same is in use by each of the institutions, and each enterprise copying each other's methods, making the same mistakes and exposing themselves to each other's risks. It seems some sort of a tacit understanding between the involved parties was the cause of the mess we are in. A hallmark of good management would be setting one’s own standards and not being led / guided by the standards of others. Typical hoard mentality / cartelization, does not augur well for a healthy competition.
I would conclude by saying that perhaps a candid acceptance of the responsibility of all that goes / went wrong by the management and a desire and an ability to learn from the mistakes made, amongst other things, are qualities of a good manager and a good management would essentially be a collection of such good fellows.
management?
The recent financial crisis has shaken the people off their slumber of the dream run (growth) and has re-opened the Pandora’s box of woes, like increase in unemployment, decrease in demand, slumbering growth (events that are generally associated with each of the times of turmoil of the past century). With parallels being drawn between the recent financial crisis and the Great Depression of the 1930s and the ongoing prognosis of the causes, and concerns voiced for the longevity and the dreaded impact, perhaps it would seem that all is not well here. But there is a silver lining to the entire episode of gloom. The valuable lessons we learn from this.
Like any other cycle of downturn, it is the management that gets caught in the blame game and people try to assess the faults in same.
The current crisis has its origins in too bad management. The crisis has demonstrated that management has failed in its most basic tasks. There has been a lack of control, understanding and an unwillingness to take heed of warning signals. Managerial decision-making has centered on personal enrichment and even now, most culprits have ensured that they will not be the ones who suffer the consequences. There is no evidence that the huge fortunes made by executives are linked to the levels of business performance (bankrupt companies using bailout money used to pay bonuses).
As the sub-prime crisis unravels, casino capitalism has exposed itself. A powerful financial sector has crowded out other industries and made the economy dependent on short-termism and fast-buck making deals that are rarely in the interest of sustainable business and long-term growth.
The share of wages in national income in many counties has fallen in the last 30 years whilst the already affluent are taking larger shares of the slice that goes to wages. The “trickle down” effect peters drastically as you descend the income ladder. Greed is bad, stupidity is bad, but bad management is the worst of all.
The current financial crisis, like any of the other periods of downturn, does augur well for the practice of good management. For one thing, it reinstates the fact that Good Management is essentially predictive and not reactive. The fact that the crisis has left so many CEOs lurching for alternatives to overcome the crisis is a testament to the poor management and poor planning done for difficult times. For one thing, good management would entail serious planning for times uphill / difficult times. There are some companies (like Infosys Technologies) that have been able to wade off the difficult times successfully, without compromising on its values, thanks to the prudent planning done for such grim times, wherein a large chunk of revenue was reserved as cash to help them sail through difficult times, a trick learnt and mastered after the dot com bubble burst. So, amongst other things, the planning for disaster times should be at the helm of the good management practices.
The cause of the financial crisis can be traced to the insatiable human greed for more, at any price. The full stock of the risks involved was not taken and in some cases was neglected, like banks, increasing their exposure to risk and lenders increasing the short term, cash based lending to attain a BETTER, HIGHER return. Good management practice would entail taking proper account of the risks involved and ensure that the growth rates are not attained at the cost of the high risk. This would be achieved by planning for profit on a risk adjusting basis, as it provides more meaningful information about profit ability and it also, reduces the incentive to take excessive risk in order to increase profits. A more comprehensive disclosure practice would go a long way for this.
The growing economy did not give us a chance to think twice about how and why we were growing at such an unforeseen pace. All that mattered to all of us was / is the results / profits of a company. According to me, the single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that results only exist on the outside. The result of a business is a satisfied customer. The result of an investment bank is a wealthier client. The result of a hospital is a healed patient. The result of a school is an educated learner who becomes a productive member of society. Inside the enterprise, there are only costs. It is no accident that Goldman Sachs which of all the investment banks is the one that appears to value management the most has best survived the crisis. Perhaps it would be a good management practice for managers to think about policies with an outlook of the long-term sustainability and growth of the enterprises while making administrative decisions, instead of being lead solely with the goal of maximizing short-term profits. Perhaps it is this long term vision that has created companies like IBM, GE, and Proctor & Gamble.
While analyzing the crisis, one would feel as if a common system is operating around the same principles and the same is in use by each of the institutions, and each enterprise copying each other's methods, making the same mistakes and exposing themselves to each other's risks. It seems some sort of a tacit understanding between the involved parties was the cause of the mess we are in. A hallmark of good management would be setting one’s own standards and not being led / guided by the standards of others. Typical hoard mentality / cartelization, does not augur well for a healthy competition.
I would conclude by saying that perhaps a candid acceptance of the responsibility of all that goes / went wrong by the management and a desire and an ability to learn from the mistakes made, amongst other things, are qualities of a good manager and a good management would essentially be a collection of such good fellows.
Financial crisi implications
What are the implications, if any, of the financial crisis for global warming? (in 1000 words)
The rampant, unbridled, unprecedented growth of the global economies in the past decade has heated up (pun intended) the entire system. The grips of the financial crisis and recession have resulted in some cooling, especially on the front of global warming. Global warming is the effect of man-made greenhouse gases and the principal source of man-made greenhouse gases has always been prosperity. With shuttered factories that do not spew carbon dioxide; the unemployed who don't buy new cars and drive fewer miles in their old cars; the struggling corporations and families that cut back on travel and entertainment events, gasoline demand and hence the consumption has fallen. This is not the result of a sudden greening of the people's consciousness but of the rapid rise in the price of oil during the first half of 2008, followed by the full impact of the current economic crisis. There seems to be a positive effect of the recession on global warming, with decreased emission of green-house gases.
However, the environment benefits of economic decline are fragile because they are vulnerable to intervention by governments, with government programs, intended to revive the consumer spending and the economy, targeting a number of public investment projects (like new roads and airports), which result in big carbon footprints. Also, the crisis has let loose a number of countervailing forces that affects the broader issues in the financial markets that do not augur well for the development and the sustainability of clean energy in the long run. These forces are :
Clean energy projects typically entail massive up-front capital outlays, followed by relatively low ongoing costs. Banks, which provide the money for such up-front expenditures in the form of loans, are having a hard time (thanks to the credit crunch and liquidity freeze) and are averse to any new investments / loan disbursements. Some studies suggest that if the current lending trend continues, the debt finance of such projects would be able to meet only 75% of the required investments. With decreased supply of funds available to the developers to take their plans form the drawing board to the reality, future of such projects looks bleak.
The (speculative) spurt in the prices of fossil fuels had created an environment which was conducive for the growth of renewable energy. Now that the price of crude is at low levels, very little incentive lies for the people to adopt the same. To simplify: dirty energy competes with clean energy. High fossil fuel prices make clean energy projects look more attractive.
The current scenario has made it difficult for governments to show / commit a political willpower to overcome the problems of global warming and climate change. They are up against more pressing issues, like unemployment and health care, at hand and hence there is a difficulty on getting a consensus on a policy, on the future of such initiatives, off the ground, especially by countries like US and
Although it is very difficult to make predictions about the direction of the economy, it appears likely the current downturn will continue for some time, which is bad for the climate, mainly because of the way the weak economy interacts with the other factors that affect the clean energy. However, the hope that people across the globe will recognize that global warming is a life and death issue for future generations and that we must take necessary steps to change our automotive purchasing and usage behaviors to conserve the Earth's natural resources, fills my heart with optimism.
As countries around the world move from deploying monetary and financial stabilization measures, to boosting fiscal spending to mend real economies, there exists a need to use the opportunity to bring about a new, greener, carbon-reducing world order and try to boost demand in the best way possible by focusing on low carbon growth in future
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)