How Apt

I Came across this description in a very interesting book called 'Modern India' by an American called Curtis, written in 1903. A third person unbiased view of India under the British rule at the turn of the twentieth century. I feel that the observation is still quite valid today - though I do feel that he used 'Hindu' as a generic term for Indian.

"... a Hindu immediately becomes a politician as soon as he is educated. It he does not succeed in obtaining an office he becomes an opponent of the government, and more or less of an agitator, according to his ability and ambitions."

Width of Railroad Tracks

{RAILROAD TRACKS ARE HOW WIDE APART?}

Does the statement, 'We've always done it like that' ring any bells?
The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would
break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a Specification/Procedure/Process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with it?' you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of the rear ends of two war horses... or two horses' asses.
Now, the twist to the story:
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.
The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. And the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.
And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important?
Ancient horse's asses control almost everything....
and CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else!! You need look no further than Washington to confirm this. (WHY go all over Washington to learn about the obvious? Just peep into the WHITE HOUSE!) Incidentally, when the present incumbent was first elected and left his home state Texas for the first stint, all Texans assembled to consider renaming their State. Thus Texas of the yellow rose fame was unanimously abbreviated to
'TEX' ( Havn't figured out why yet??????? Tch, Tch, Tut, Tut! 'Cause they had finally succeeded in packing off their prize AS(S) to Washington, nay the White House itself !!! ..........however I now really feel sorry for the good folk of TEX......their prize AS(S) will be back soon like the Lone Star he always was.......they've now got to schedule another huge assembly to do the obvious.....the TEX-an Lame Duck will be taking over as 'Hon. Librarian at large' in his Pop's 'Bush Library' at Texas A&M, College Station/Bryan......so they've no choice but revert to the Lone Star state's original name......It has to be a unanimous decision with all bonafide Tex(ans) physically present in one place, as per their 'Yellow Rose Constitution' when the US annexed the then Texas from Mexico!!! )
HISTORICAL TRANSITION in THE MORAL OF THE STORY:
'HORSES' ASSES THEN; ASSES' ASSES NOW!_'_._,_.___

Cheated

I took my non-empanelment in my stride, with the realization that despite apparently having an outwardly enviable service profile, there were probably occasions when I may not have measured up to the expectations of my superiors. Even on rejection of my complaint, and non-empanelment in the review, I continued to explain to myself that though not perfect, it is as good a system as is possible under the diverse constraints. I considered myself an integral part of the system. I stood firm in the belief that the system is benign, and though not found fit for promotion, it will find other ways to fulfil my aspirations.

However, on receipt of my posting order, I feel that I was under a misconception. I feel completely isolated and let down by all that I held in high regard. I now look forward to completing another 18 months and then hang up my uniform.

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey

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Balance Your Life

This is so true. But within the glass balls also, I feel family is most important.
When you die, your in tray will not be empty. In your last moments of life, if you get an opportunity to pause and reflect, you would definitely not regret spending some more time in office, or that you are not a couple of KGs slimmer. But you may wish that you had some more time to spend with your family.

Very often, in the rush and press of life, we often forget to pay attention to that which is the most important to us. We keep giving our time and according priority to issues that are, in the overall perspective, of lesser significance. This is because it is very rarely that we pause to think what is important to us, and what is merely pressing. We keep postponing spending time with our spouses and children, reading to them, playing with them, or going out on that vacation with them. We find reasons, pretexts and excuses for this - sometimes genuine, at other times merely out of force of habit. We take them for granted, and that is why we keep neglecting them.

But in the overall analysis, our endeavour should be to squeeze in as much of shared moments with the people who really matter to us in life. I, for one, will endeavour to do so.

Some Great Leadership Quotes

Adlai Stevenson:

It's hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.

Albert Einstein:

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.

Carl Sagan:

But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

Dwight D. Eisenhower:

You do not lead by hitting people over the head - that's assault, not leadership.

Edwin H. Friedman:

Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future.

Elizabeth Dole:

What you always do before you make a decision is consult. The best public policy is made when you are listening to people who are going to be impacted. Then, once policy is determined, you call on them to help you sell it.

Eric Hoffer:

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

Ernest Becker:

It is not so much that man is a herd animal, said Freud, but that he is a horde animal led by a chief.

Eugene V. Debs:

I never had much faith in leaders. I am willing to be charged with almost anything, rather than to be charged with being a leader. I am suspicious of leaders, and especially of the intellectual variety. Give me the rank and file every day in the week. If you go to the city of Washington, and you examine the pages of the Congressional Directory, you will find that almost all of those corporation lawyers and cowardly politicians, members of Congress, and mis-representatives of the masses -- you will find that almost all of them claim, in glowing terms, that they have risen from the ranks to places of eminence and distinction. I am very glad I cannot make that claim for myself. I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks.

Everett Dirksen:

I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.

Faye Wattleton:

The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.

Faye Wattleton:

Whoever is providing leadership needs to be as fresh and thoughtful and reflective as possible to make the very best fight.

H. Ross Perot:

Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.

Henrik Ibsen:

A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.

Herbert B. Swope:

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: which is: Try to please everybody.

Isaac Newton:

If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants.

James Callaghan:

A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice.

James Kouzes and Barry Posner:

There's nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can't clearly articulate why we're doing what we're doing.

James Kouzes and Barry Posner:

[Y]ou must unite your constituents around a common cause and connect with them as human beings.

Jesse Jackson:

Time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things.

John Gardner:

Pity the leader caught between unloving critics and uncritical lovers.

John Gardner:

Most important, leaders can conceive and articulate goals that lift people out of their petty preoccupations and unite them in pursuit of objectives worthy of their best efforts.

John Quincy Adams:

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

Kenneth Blanchard:

The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.

Margaret Chase Smith:

Leadership is not manifested by coercion, even against the resented. Greatness is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high premium on the end justifying any means and any measures.

Margaret J. Wheatley:

When leaders take back power, when they act as heroes and saviors, they end up exhausted, overwhelmed, and deeply stressed.

Mohandas Gandhi:

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

Noam Chomsky:

It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies.

Peter Drucker:

What is the managers job? It is to direct the resources and the efforts of the business toward opportunities for economically significant results. This sounds trite -- and it is. But every analysis of actual allocation of resources and efforts in business that I have ever seen or made showed clearly that the bulk of time, work, attention, and money first goes to problems rather than to opportunities, and, secondly, to areas where even extraordinarily successful performance will have minimal impact on results. The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." They don't think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.

Peter F. Drucker:

Leaders shouldn't attach moral significance to their ideas: Do that, and you can't compromise.

Peter Senge:

Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static "snapshots." It is a set of general principles -- distilled over the course of the twentieth century, spanning fields as diverse as the physical and social sciences, engineering, and management.... During the last thirty years, these tools have been applied to understand a wide range of corporate, urban, regional, economic, political, ecological, and even psychological systems. And systems thinking is a sensibility -- for the subtle interconnectedness that gives living systems their unique character.

Ralph Nader:

I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

Robert Coles:

Abraham Lincoln did not go to Gettysburg having commissioned a poll to find out what would sell in Gettysburg. There were no people with percentages for him, cautioning him about this group or that group or what they found in exit polls a year earlier. When will we have the courage of Lincoln?

Robert Greenleaf:

Good leaders must first become good servants.

Robert Louis Stevenson:

Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others.

Rosabeth Moss Kantor:

Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.

Rosabeth Moss Kantor:

Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.

Rosalynn Carter:

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.

Rosalynn Carter:

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go but ought to be.

Stephen Covey:

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

Susan B. Anthony:

Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.

Theodore Hesburgh:

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision.

Tom Peters:

If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.

Tony Blair:

The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.

Unknown:

Some leaders are born women.

Vince Lombardi:

Leaders aren't born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.

Walter Lippman:

The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.

Warren Bennis:

The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.

Warren G. Bennis:

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born -- that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.

Winston Churchill:

The price of greatness is responsibility.

Narayana Murthy on Leadership

N R Narayana Murthy | January 04, 2005

A leader is an agent of change, and progress is about change. In the words of Robert F Kennedy, 'Progress is a nice word; but change is its motivator.'

Leadership is about raising the aspirations of followers and enthusing people with a desire to reach for the stars. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi created a vision for independence in India and raised the aspirations of our people.

Leadership is about making people say, 'I will walk on water for you.' It is about creating a worthy dream and helping people achieve it.

Robert Kennedy, summed up leadership best when he said, 'Others see things as they are and wonder why; I see them as they are not and say why not?'

Adversity

A leader has to raise the confidence of followers. He should make them understand that tough times are part of life and that they will come out better at the end of it. He has to sustain their hope, and their energy levels to handle the difficult days.

There is no better example of this than Winston Churchill. His courageous leadership as prime minister for Great Britain successfully led the British people from the brink of defeat during World War II. He raised his people's hopes with the words, 'These are not dark days; these are great days -- the greatest days our country has ever lived.'

Never is strong leadership more needed than in a crisis. In the words of Seneca, the Greek philosopher, 'Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.'

Values

The leader has to create hope. He has to create a plausible story about a better future for the organisation: everyone should be able to see the rainbow and catch a part of it.

This requires creating trust in people. And to create trust, the leader has to subscribe to a value system: a protocol for behavior that enhances the confidence, commitment and enthusiasm of the people.

Compliance to a value system creates the environment for people to have high aspirations, self esteem, belief in fundamental values, confidence in the future and the enthusiasm necessary to take up apparently difficult tasks. Leaders have to walk the talk and demonstrate their commitment to a value system.

As Mahatma Gandhi said, 'We must become the change we want to see in the world.' Leaders have to prove their belief in sacrifice and hard work. Such behavior will enthuse the employees to make bigger sacrifices. It will help win the team's confidence, help leaders become credible, and help create trust in their ideas.

Enhancing trust

Trust and confidence can only exist where there is a premium on transparency. The leader has to create an environment where each person feels secure enough to be able to disclose his or her mistakes, and resolves to improve.

Investors respect such organisations. Investors understand that the business will have good times and bad times. What they want you to do is to level with them at all times. They want you to disclose bad news on a proactive basis. At Infosys, our philosophy has always been, 'When in doubt, disclose.'

Governance

Good corporate governance is about maximising shareholder value on a sustainable basis while ensuring fairness to all stakeholders: customers, vendor-partners, investors, employees, government and society.

A successful organisation tides over many downturns. The best index of success is its longevity. This is predicated on adhering to the finest levels of corporate governance.

At Infosys, we have consistently adopted transparency and disclosure standards even before law mandated it. In 1995, Infosys suffered losses in the secondary market. Under Indian GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles), we were not required to make this information public. Nevertheless, we published this information in our annual report.

Fearless environment

Transparency about the organisation's operations should be accompanied by an open environment inside the organisation. You have to create an environment where any employee can disagree with you without fear of reprisal.

In such a case, everyone makes suggestions for the common good. In the end everyone will be better off.

On the other hand, at Enron, the CFO was running an empire where people were afraid to speak. In some other cases, the whistle blowers have been harassed and thrown out of the company.

Managerial remuneration

We have gone towards excessive salaries and options for senior management staff. At one company, the CEO's employment contract not only set out the model of the Mercedes the company would buy him, but also promised a monthly first-class air ticket for his mother, along with a cash bonus of $10 million and other benefits.

Not surprisingly, this company has already filed for bankruptcy.

Managerial remuneration should be based on three principles:

• Fairness with respect to the compensation of other employees;
• Transparency with respect to shareholders and employees;
• Accountability with respect to linking compensation with corporate performance.

Thus, the compensation should have a fixed component and a variable component. The variable component should be linked to achieving long-term objectives of the firm. Senior management should swim or sink with the fortunes of the company.

Senior management compensation should be reviewed by the compensation committee of the board, which should consist only of independent directors. Further, this should be approved by the shareholders.

I've been asked, 'How can I ask for limits on senior management compensation when I have made millions myself?' A fair question with a straightforward answer: two systems are at play here. One is that of the promoter, the risk taker and the capital markets; and the other is that of professional management and compensation structures.

One cannot mix these two distinct systems, otherwise entrepreneurship will be stifled, and no new companies will come up, no progress can take place. At the same time, there has to be fairness in compensation: there cannot be huge differences between the top most and the bottom rung of the ladder within an organisation.

PSPD model

A well run organisation embraces and practices a sound Predictability-Sustainability-Profitability-Derisking (we call this the PSPD model at Infosys) model. Indeed, the long-term success of an organisation depends on having a model that scales up profitably.

Further, every organisation must have a good derisking approach that recognises, measures and mitigates risk along every dimension.

Integrity

Strong leadership in adverse times helps win the trust of the stakeholders, making it more likely that they will stand by you in your hour of need. As leaders who dream of growth and progress, integrity is your most wanted attribute.

Lead your teams to fight for the truth and never compromise on your values. I am confident that our corporate leaders, through honest and desirable behaviour, will reap long-term benefits for their stakeholders.

Two mottos

In conclusion, keep in mind two Sanskrit sentences: Sathyannasti Paro Dharma (there is no dharma greater than adherence to truth); and Satyameva jayate (truth alone triumphs). Let these be your motto for good corporate leadership.

The author is Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies.