The political psychology

Saturday being an off from office normally starts late for me. But today I had to get up at 4 am to catch a train for Aligarh for an official visit. The pleasant Lucknow Shatabdi (the best among all Shatabdis) provided me with a copy of Indian Express. With sinking eyes wishing to close and relax I took the copy from the attendant more as a courtsey than an interest to read. As I moved to slide the newspaper in the back side pocket of the front seat, my eyes caught a news line - "TATA's open letter to Bengal". Since, the recent news were full of Nano, TATA, Buddhadeb, Singur, Mamta, etc. etc. I thought of investing few minutes to read this news before slipping to the sleep.

Mr. Ratan Tata's message through the letter to the youth of Bengal was both hard and soft but in no way looked politically motivated as claimed by the Mamta camp, though Mr. Rata mentioned in his letter that Mr. Buddhadeb has made real efforts in bringing the investors back to the oldest industrial state of the country. Tomorrow if somebody from Mamta camp reads this blog of mine, he will certainly label me as a Buddhadeb supporter. That's the political psychology!

Calcutta is the oldest - probably the first - metro of the country and a city wherefrom the industrialization of the country started. Calcutta, and for that matter West Bengal, is also probably the only place in the country which sank to its darkest depths of industrial failure because of political motives. Why and how it all happened? One compelling reason is the omnipresent "politics of Vote Bank". Having industries made the State employ lacs of workers in various industries. This working class was in huge numbers and was the major target group of all political parties. Every party tried to woo this section of the society in the State in trying to gain their vote bank. The national parties were moderate in their approach whereas parties which sprang from within the state were very rigid and aggressive in their agenda. Parties like Congress and BJP were found to be in a conciliatory mode, trying to get benefits for the working class even as supporting the pro-business policies. This was purely to balance their political interests in other parts of the country where working class was minimal and industrial development was required with the support of business houses. However, parties like Trinamool Congress and even CPM with the regional interests started focusing entirely on working class with a motive of pushing the business houses to the wall to squeez out everything for working class. These parties have been looked upon as saviors of working class. With an overwhelming support from the working class these parties were almost always able to hammer the industries on various issues. So when a paisa is increased on any amenity to improve the facilities or simply to meet the increased cost, a strike is always on the card. But as somebody said that "business of business is business", industries started shifting their bases from WB or closing down their units as they found themselves more in strikes than in business. In the process lacs of workers either lost their jobs or settled for a petty, less paying, small time work. No denying then that the Saviors played the role of Destructors!

Mr. Ratan in his open letter to Bengal asked a very simple yet thoughtful question - “Would they like to support the present Government of Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to build a prosperous state or would they like to see the state consumed by the destructive political environment of confrontation, agitation, violence and lawlessness? Do they want education and jobs in the industrial and high-tech sectors or does the future generation see its future prosperity achieved on a ‘stay as we are’ basis?”

But Trinamool Congress wasted no time to dismiss the letter as politically motivated and written in consultation with CPM. How on earth people can cheat themselves!!!

Even if the letter is politically motivated I dont see a problem because for the prosperity of the state and looking into the future the CPM is changing its ideology slowly and gradually to bring back industries. The Nano factory was a silver lining and could have served as the best example of industrial return to the state. But alas, the vested interest killed a once in a hundred year opportunity to give back to the people of the state what they were first to develop and own - the industrialization.

I dont squarely blame the Trinamool Congress either. Politics is like business - Give people what they need the most and you will sell a lot. That's how the political agendas are made. In WB its the interest of working class, in J&K its the interest of Kashmiri people, in UP its the interest of Ram Janm Bhoomi / Babri Masjid, in Rajsthan its the reservation for a section of society, in Maharastra it is the Marathi interest, and the list goes on. The problem is not with the interests. The problem is when all energies are diverted in achieving these interests at the cost of real and important issues of education, poverty, development, human rights, healthcare, etc. I do appreciate that there are strong emotions attached with all the specific interests listed above but we must also understand that satiating emotional thirst is not going to fill our bellies.

If people of the country come out of their emotional state and look at issues more objectively then even the political parties will have to change their agendas from petty politics to real development issues. The psychology of politics starts from people and ends with people. Unless people change their mindset we cannot expect our political leaders change their as they also form part of the very society we all live in.

So to change the political psychology let's change our psychology first... May God give us strength.

Visit to ISB Interview Venue

Today started the ISB interview rounds at Delhi Venue. Since my office is adjacent to the commercial building where ISB has planned to have interviews, I wasted no time to pay visit to the venue and get some information from the students getting interviewed today. When I reached the venue I made myself comfortably sit in the reception. There are different panels to manage the interivew of good number of candidates in shortest possible time. One such panel was interviewing candidates in a room on the right hand side of the reception. I was able to see through the room since there was a glass wall with only thin opaque strips. The first candidate was looking very confident, so much so that he kept his stylish sunglasses on the table and in front of the panel and leaned back on the chair. God knows what was discussed with him? When he came out of the room I made my way behind him and introduced myself to him when he was waiting for the lift. Curiosity was on my face, and little nervousness on his. This nervousness may be due the panel's asking him to share a joke that he remembers. He obviously was under tremendous pressure, which he was trying to hide with his confidence during the interview, and requested the panel to let it go... I am now mugging some jokes;)

Similarly there were two more candidates whom i could spk to. The gist of the interview round is here:

1) There is an essay writing. But all the three candidates were not able to explain what exactly was the essay all about... They were all nervous.
2) All the questions were concentrated around the application. So be prepared to be asked anything on your application.
3) The interview was very cool. The panel was very friendly. People came out nervous simply because the interview was of ISB.
4) The panel finally asks if the candidate has some question to ask? Be ready with a good question as this may also impress the panel. Dont ask a question like "How ISB can help me attain my career goal?" becuase that would mean that you have not done your research on the institute properly.
Will share with you my own experience once I am done on 16th Oct.
All the best to all prospective ISBians.

ISB Interview Call

Dear Masroor,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been short listed for an interview by the ISB Admissions Committee.
The schedule is outlined below:
Date: 16-Oct-2008
Time: 15:20 Hours
Duration: 30 minutes approximately
Panel No: 1
City: New Delhi
Venue: Regus Level 4, Rectangle 1,Commercial complex D4, Saket, Newdelhi, Tel: 11 4051 4051
As part of the application process announced earlier, please forward soft copies (in pdf format) of your mark sheets/transcripts from your class X onwards to (There was a link which i have deleted for reasons of security)
latest by Monday, October 7, 2008.
You need to report 15 minutes before the scheduled interview time for another assessment, which precedes the interview.To confirm your attendance for the interview, please click here.
Note: If your mail client does not support hyper link execution, please copy and execute below url from browser. (There was a link which i have deleted for reasons of security)
We look forward to meeting you at the interview.
Office of Admissions & Financial Aid
Indian School of Business
Gachibowli
Hyderabad 500 032
Ph: +91 40 2318 7474
Fax: +91 40 2300 7099
www.isb.edu/pgp
This is for the first time that I am not having butterflies in my stomach given the importance of this interview. And I dont know why? But as the days pass I am sure the pressure of performance will mount on me... God save me from those last minute pangs and keep me cool, please. Amen. Summa Amen.
Yesterday I attended one of the mock interviews at Princeton. In their view my profile is very strong. . . I just need to manage some of my body language which at one point signalled my uncomfort with one of the questions. Coming from HR background I know that "how you speak" is equally important, or sometimes more important, than "what you speak". As one of the current students wrote to me, ISB has already made up their mind about me and they would just be validating that perception during the interview. It is my responsibility to reinforce that perception. And if the perception is otherwise then interview is an opportunity to change that perception. In a way a hard selling is required (We are first a salesman then any other professional as we always try to sell ourselves to our customers - doctors to patients, newspapers to readers, , candidates to interviewees, and the infinite list goes on)
Well, time to prepare and say GOOD BYE... Will inform about the interveiw once done. Till then keep visiting this page ;)

I just finished reading "Ten Commandents of Business Failure" by Donald R. Keough, the former President of Coca-cola. What an exciting account of his advices to leaders! Donald did a great job of putting complex messages in simple language - and that makes me trust him a lot because one of his commandments of business failure is "Sending Mixed Messages". You guys must read this book to know, at least, how much leaders must bend to touch the ground from their ever rising positions! I am due to attend one one-day workshop at HO at Mumbai tomorrow morning and had to reach here tonight. Since I had purchased 4 books at a go recently I thought of finishing the TCBF at Delhi before departing so that I can start my new book - Cold Steel. I was so eager to read Cold Steel that at one point I stopped reading TCBF and engrossed myself in this book. However, ratinality took over soon. I started reading TCBF to finish it as I did not want to carry two books with me to Mumbai. Well, I did finish it on time and rushed for the airport to catch the flight. Flight was generous enough to get delayed by one hour and I utlised this time to start my journey with Cold Steel.

But before I move on to say things about Cold Steel, as the rationality has just taken over, I would first give you an account of TCBF.

TCBF is a fabulous series of lessons on leadership, specifically. Its about how positively we keep pursuing negative paths without even knowing the consequences. If you are working in an organization you will get a feeling of dejavu in every chapter - every commandment - and will keep relating those commandments with so many actions you organization is taking or has taken. And believe you me, all these commandments are so simple to understand that you dont really need an ex-president of Coca-cola to tell you about them! But then who would read and respect these commandments if they come from me? Moreover, who would be able to give such a huge list of exmples for every commandment? It would actually require a person with extensive experience at different levels of the organization; and Don has that. Well, without wasting much time I will write down whatever I remember from this small yet impactful book. Since I dont carry book with me, I am giving you the commandment snapshots based on my memory and hence, the commandment serial mismatch from the way it is in the book is bound to occur.

C1 - Quit taking risk: Don says if you wish to fail in business, stop taking risk. He goes on to say that the ability to take risk among people goes down as they become successful. Leaders start enjoying the past successes and think taking any risk may erode their past success - fear. Nonetheless they lose in the process. Why? Because a huge bunch of other competitors who are willing to take risk (because they are new and have nothing to lose) start leading the way ultimately marooning these old successful chaps. (This reminds me of a saying "Success is a journey, not a destination" so you must keep on running and not stop to enjoy the destination reached so far). Don narrates the story of his own father who migrated to a new land and assumed a huge risk by not staying with a low paying job at a time when the job market was going through the gloomiest phase and there was no guarantee that the new place would provide any living to him. But his father took the risk and went on to become the most respected cattle merchandiser in the new land. Through out the book Donald has given number of examples from his father's style of working who was, in a way, his first management guru.

C2-Trusting outside experts/consultants: This one I liked the most. I actually have a strong disliking for the outside consultants who would come to you, ask few questions, know about your business from your colleagues, keep sending those mails across the company, have meetings in your conference halls at your cost, present something to you in a beautiful slide show to be presented by a high accent gentleman/woman, and tell you here are the loopholes and the wayouts! They will then take away a good moolah from you because they told you something which they heard from you all in different cabins and put that sutff together and made this cake by adding their jargons to everything possible they heard... Isnt that so stupid???

I am happy that Donald said this so that I have an authority to support my views. Don narrates the example of his own company as how they were fooled by an agency which kept on insisting, of course based on their own so called fool proof statistics, that the company must change the taste of the drink as people were eager to see a change. It did (though Donald himself was not convinced but had to bow down against those statistics) and heavily came down the customers on the new taste. People started writing criticism letters to Donald and other top leadership. But their agency kept on insisting that it is only momentary and the results will be great. However, sensing the mood of the public, the company came back with old drink and people again wrote letters to the leadersihp - this time praising them. This is how outside experts can fool you at your own price. So to fail you must take their advice.

Friends, since, it is too late and I want to attend the workshop 2moro with open eyes, I will come back to you soon with other commandments. Till then keep reading whatever is here...

Bye...

The date is approaching... And as for any other GMAT writer, I have also started having the pangs of those last moments. The countdown has started and the D-day is just 11 days away. The best preparation for me now is to keep my cool and focus on whatever studied so far instead of trying to learn newer things. I know that. However, the concern for me at this time is to manage the abrupt increase in the workplace challenges - too many meetings, mid-year review for me, zonal review for northern India, additional responsibilities of some other function (I need to learn the art of saying no!), etc., etc., etc. Moreover, my social work meeting is also planned during these days. The last time when the group met, I was assigned a particular task of identifying the factors leading to the failures of NGOs and such other social sector organizations. I am to produce an in-depth write-up on this topic to the social work group and the irony is that I have not even started on this. Huhhhhh.....

Well, you would be thinking that if all that is to be done why the hell I am wasting time on writing this BLOG??? To get the answer go to my first blog... I am venting out....

Catch u later.

Bye. Bye.

I am writing down a probability problem which i faced during one of my CATs. For me probability is always a nightmare and if this kind of question gonna be present in the actual GMAT then God knows what will happen to me!!! Anyways, try giving the solution to this one.

Problem:
A fair coin with sides marked heads and tails is to be tossed eight times. What is the probability that the coin will land tails side up more than five times?

Options:
1) 37/256 2) 56/256 3) 65/256 4) 70/256 5) 81/256

I know Arun would be laughing at me ;) I know Arun (and for that matter any Engineer in our class) can do this problem with ease...

Would request everyone to share their own short-cut methods to crack maths/DS problems. This will surely help us to learn more in a limited time... I am waiting for your comments for this posting...

All the best guys/gals.

Known to remain away from high technology, time waster, non-productive dog - Blog - I am now on to it... NO NO NO.... My intentions are still the same; but this time i would utilize this dog to my benefit...

Preparing for an entrance exam, esp. after remaining away from studies for 5 years, may lead to occasional stress and frustration leading to a spiralling-down effect on my interest to continue my preparation. I learnt something in HR (not a privilege for HR only, though :)) that vomitting your frustration or emotions helps you come back to your normal state... Blogging will then help me express my bad times to at least this portal (others are most welcome to sneak!). But thank God that I am so far away from that reason to blog, but still created this blog just in case....

Another reason is to improve my writing skills, which i think are pathetic as of now... ISB would surely require somebody to be good at writing to get a place there...

Well now something about my preparatoin... My GMAT is on 25th August at Patna Centre. I was not able to get a centre in and around delhi due to the non-avaiability of seats.

My last (and the third GMAT CAT) yielded me 660. A real morale boosters for me, whose score was hovering over 550-570 in the previous two CATs. Some of the tricks from PR (Princeton Review) were of real help. I now hope to build on this score and touch 700+ to keep my hopes alive for ISB. They say that ISB looks for people with well-rounded personality, but a score of 700+ is what is must for even well-rounded ones ;) So whatever the shape you have it is better to score 700+ than to start writing about your personality...

So that's about it for the day and for my first blog... Keep visiting this blog and i will ensure that you get some good stuff for yourself here. As far as GMAT preparation is concerned, write to me and i will be more than happy to be of any help to you...

Good Bye.
Masroor Lodi.