Expand your network at ease : Six Degrees of Separation!

PC: Psych2Go

Did you know that you are just six connections away from any person on this planet?

Imagine this , you wanted to connect to some influential figures or role models like -  'Elon Musk,' 'Giorgia Meloni,' 'Kamala Harris,' or even 'Donald Trump' , they are just 6 handshakes away?  Yes - how wonderful right ?

Any two persons in the world can be connected by around six people.This concept is known as "six degrees of separation". Studies suggest that through a chain of "friend of a friend" connections, you can reach anyone in just six hops, also known as the 'six handshakes rule!'

This idea highlights the incredible potential of networking.

Your network is one of your greatest assets. It can unlock new possibilities and propel your career forward.

For engineers and professionals, this means that the person who can offer you your next big opportunity, provide valuable advice, or collaborate on an innovative project is closer than you think. Don’t hesitate to expand your network for all the right reasons.

Reach Out: Don’t be afraid to connect with people who inspire you or who you think can offer guidance. A simple message can start a meaningful conversation.

Build Relationships: Engage with your peers and seniors, attend industry events, and participate in online communities.

Be Open: Embrace new connections and opportunities that come your way. Each handshake, virtual or real, can open new doors.

Start connecting today!

#Networking #CareerGrowth #ProfessionalDevelopment #Engineering #marketing #management #digitalmarketing #creativity #startup #socialnetworking

 Chinese Whisper & Rope Slams:

>>How do we combat the Chinese Whisper effect in our organizations?

>>How do we ensure “rope slams” reach the tail end?

In this world of excessive data , visuals and narratives , you are just a click away to learn more about the above, so I would rather cut some fat and keep it short :) 

The “Chinese Whisper Game” teaches us how crucial it is to communicate in a direct and unambiguous manner in order to avoid misinterpretation and guarantee that messages are received and processed with integrity.

 On the other hand “Rope slams” ( Imagine a  Gym workout )  highlights the necessity of constant effort to maintain momentum and guarantee that instructions are properly carried out at every level.

In my recent book “Focused Minds” , I made a statement - “Engineers are orbiting around the task instead of landing on them”.  They might not be the ‘Cause’ but an ‘Effect’ , and it could have a trenscending effect and could apply to any professional. 

Is this because the top to bottom message stream is getting diluted when it comes to “mission & vision” statements of an organization and also the “rope slams” are losing their intensity ?

In any F.U.D situation my advice to any F.U.D affected individual would be -

1. Watch out your empty mind.
2. Watch out what you are consuming ( News / Gossip / rumors and also food )
3. Rise above from your peripheral activities and keep your eyes on the ball.
4. Ensure you are operating at your next level, trust me - its would bring out your v2.0
5. Take regular D.O.S.E !!

**Glossary: 

F.U.D = Fear , Uncertainity & Doubt

D.O.S.E = Dopamine , Oxytocin , Serotonin , Endorphin. 

RCA - Root Cause Analysis

An important step in finding the root causes of issues or occurrences that happen within a system or organization is root cause analysis (RCA). It entails extensively examining the issue or occurrence to determine its root cause and creating workable solutions to stop it from happening again in the future. 

We'll talk about why RCA is important and how it may help organisations in this blog.

You will also get a sample RCA template at the bottom of this blog post 🏆

1. RCA helps identifying the underlying root cause of problems:

The main advantage of RCA is that it aids businesses in locating the source of issues. Organizations are able to determine the underlying reasons of a problem or incident by doing a detailed analysis of the issue. With this knowledge, businesses can create solutions that work and deal with the problem rather than just the symptoms. This lessens the possibility of the issue recurring in the future and aids in preventing it from happening again.

2. Promotes continuous learning &  improvement:

RCA promotes continuous improvement by identifying areas where the organization can improve its processes or procedures. It enables organizations to learn from their mistakes and develop better methods to prevent problems from occurring. This approach helps to build a culture of continuous improvement, where everyone in the organization is encouraged to identify areas for improvement and work towards enhancing the organization's performance.

3. Reduced  costs:

RCA assists organizations in avoiding irrational costs related to reoccurring issues by locating the source of problems. Repeatedly correcting an issue can be expensive in terms of both time and money. Organizations can prevent problems from recurring and lower the cost of correcting them repeatedly by addressing the problem's core cause.

4. Promotes a proactive approach:

RCA advocates taking a proactive stance while fixing issues. It enables businesses to foresee possible issues and take steps to stop them from happening. Instead of waiting for an issue to arise and then responding to it, businesses can create proactive measures that address the underlying causes by determining the problem's root cause.

5. Enhance organizational performance:

By identifying the root cause of problems and implementing effective solutions, RCA helps to enhance organizational performance. It improves the quality of products and services, reduces downtime and disruptions, and increases customer satisfaction. This, in turn, can lead to increased productivity, greater efficiency, and improved profitability.

In conclusion, RCA is a crucial procedure that enables organizations to pinpoint the source of issues and create workable fixes to stop them from happening again. It encourages continual improvement, lowers expenses, encourages taking preventative action, and improves organizational performance. As a result, it is a crucial tool for any organization that wishes to increase productivity, maintain competitiveness, and accomplish its objectives.

Sample RCA template:

LINK :  DOWNLOAD HERE 

Shark Tank India - The Good and the Bad

"Shark Tank'' is a popular television show where entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of successful investors, known as 'sharks' a.k.a 'investors'.  We also get to see some ultra-wealthy and successful entrepreneurs as the Sharks and understand their point of view and opinions.

 For people who dream of being an entrepreneur, Shark Tank gives them hope. They can learn more about how to pitch, what investors are looking for, and how to prepare and pitch their ideas. On the other hand It also encourages viewers to keep trying for their dreams as they watch others reaching for theirs.

After a captivating and successful Season :1  , currently Shark Tank India season : 2 is certainly drawing a lot of traction. Here are some of the pros and cons of the show:

Positive aspects:

1. Inspiration: The show can be inspirational and motivate aspiring entrepreneurs to start their own businesses,  as it showcases their efforts to turn their ideas into successful businesses.

2. Exposure: The show provides entrepreneurs with the opportunity to gain exposure for their businesses, which can lead to increased sales and investment.

3. Networking opportunities: Appearing on the show can provide entrepreneurs with valuable exposure and help them make connections with potential investors.

4. Valuable feedback: The sharks provide valuable advice and feedback to entrepreneurs, which can help them improve their business ideas and strategies.

5. Educational: The show can be educational, as viewers ( irrespective of any age group )  can learn about different business models, marketing strategies, and negotiation tactics.

Negative aspects:

1. Pressure: The pressure of appearing on a national television show can be intense and  overwhelming , and entrepreneurs may feel nervous or stressed while pitching their businesses.

2. Unrealistic expectations: The show can create unrealistic expectations about what it takes to start and grow a successful business, leading some entrepreneurs to become discouraged when they face real-world challenges.

3. Stereotyping: The show can perpetuate stereotypes about entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners.

4. Unrepresentative: The show may not be representative of the experiences of most entrepreneurs, as the process of getting a business off the ground is often much more difficult and time-consuming than what is portrayed on the show.

5. Negotiation: The negotiation process on the show can be challenging, as the sharks are known for being tough negotiators. Even a brilliant idea can lose a good offer due to lack of negotiation skills. A good negotiator must understand when to push the bar and when to stop and accept the offer. There is a saying “When the emotions are HIGH , the intelligence is LOW”

Overall, "Shark Tank" is a show of ‘celebrated ideas’ and ingenuity alongside heartfelt stories in addition to being one of the  currently most entertaining TV shows for entrepreneurs, investors, and anyone interested in business and entrepreneurship. 

"Shark Tank" has received positive reviews and has been praised for its ability to showcase entrepreneurial spirit and innovation.However, it is important to keep in mind that the show is a reality TV program and may not always accurately reflect the realities of starting and running a business.

The story of Lord Shiva and Bhasmasura - what can we learn from it..

Storytelling is an innate human quality! We often do it to teach , influence and inspire...

Indian Mythology is one of the richest elements of Indian Culture. Through time, different stories in Indian mythology have been passed from generation to generation either by word of mouth or through carefully stored scriptures. It is a very fascinating world , it sparks human thinking , fuels creativity , and has high entertainment values.

One of the stories of Lord Shiva and Bhasmasura ( Asura / Daemon ) goes like this:

               PC: various vedic sites from internet. Not distorted , used just for depiction.

Bhasmasura :

Bhasmasura was a very strong daemon but he used to act before thinking. He wanted to become the most powerful Asura in their community. He knew Lord Shiva was very generous and could be easily pleased and was capable of giving any boon of his choice , so he decided to perform severe penance to win the heart of Lord Shiva.. Every day, during his prayers, he used to cut a part of his body and offer it to Lord Shiva to please him. He repeated this for many days. 

Lord Shiva :

Out of 10 qualities of Lord Shiva -  one of the qualities which made him very different from everyone else,  was that he was a 'benevolent deity'.  He was a kind hearted lord ,  "The Bholenath" , and has an ocean-like forgiveness quality. 

And hence ,  Lord Shiva was pleased with Bhasmasura's prayers and came forward to grant him whatever boon he wished for. 

The wish of Bhasmasura :

Bhasmasura wanted to be  immortal , so he said, "Lord, please grant me the wish that whichever person, place or thing I place my right hand on, is reduced to ashes".  Lord Shiva granted him the boon and Bhasmasura was very happy.

Wicked Bhasmasura :

Bhasmasura, being the wicked demon ..as he was .. wanted to try his boon on Lord Shiva himself and tried to touch his head. A panicked Lord Shiva had to run away from Bhasmasura and approached Lord Vishnu to help him.

Lord Shiva himself was immortal , hence, it was a now a severe contradiction which he landed into by granting this boon.

The saviour - Lord Vishnu takes the ‘Mohini Avatar’:

Lord Vishnu changed himself into a beautiful young girl Mohini. Bhasmasura stopped as he had not seen such a beautiful girl earlier.. She was so beautiful and so graceful that for a minute Bhasmasura even forgot who he was. She talked in a way that she caught him in her beauty. He fell in love with Mohini and asked her to marry him.

Mohini continued, 'I am a dancer Bhasmasura. When I was younger I made a promise that I would only marry a man who can dance as good as mine’ .  Bhasmasura readily agreed to learn to dance for his new found  ꒒০⌵୧ ♡ !!

Bhasmasura Vadh:

( How Bhasmasura was killed )

Mohini started teaching two different dance moves to Bhasmasura. Bhasmasura was fully concentrating and was getting better and better in his moves.

Mohini soon won in her trick and kept her hand on her own head. Without thinking Bhasmasura did the same!

Lord Shiva's  boon worked 😇 and he was burned into a pile of bhasma (ashes). Mohini was looking at Bhasmasura's ashes as Lord Shiva appeared before Mohini. Lord Shiva went back to Kailash, thanking Lord Vishnu.

What can we learn from this story :

• Beware of friends & followers , not everyone might be a real friend or a follower. 

• Be generous , but not too much. Understand and anticipate potential implications of any act.  Think before you act!

• Everyone makes mistakes , even the most powerful and brilliant people. 

• You must cultivate friends , if Lord Vishnu did not come for Shiva's rescue…

I leave this great indian mythological story for your further interpretation , as that's what indian mythologies do -  i.e. spark our imaginations and derive a learning out of it !!  :)

Until next time .. •ᴗ• !!

PLOT – Story for successful Change

Let me start with a small disclaimer -  In this post I am not going to lecture around what is
change and incident management. Rather one of the effective ways  to plan for a change.
There exists many such tools and flows to effectively carry out a change , however - this is
just one amongst those.

Well , we all know that change is common, natural and inevitable for an organization to grow,

both from a technology standpoint and org structure.  Here, I will try to cover various aspects

of the technological / IT production changes and not the latter. 

According to a report from McKinsey,  70% percent of change programs fail to achieve their
goals.

But why? Its is said that , the reason for such failures is due to employee resistance and lack of management support.

I would say - it is primarily because - “Changing human behaviour is hard”

Successful change management requires frequent and clear communication between an
organization and its people, and most importantly - convincing ourselves and others that the
change candidate is compelling, motivational and realistic!  i.e. every change initiative needs
a convincing narrative. 

American systems scientist  Peter Senge says:  “People don’t resist change, they resist
being changed”. 

I think we all agree that -  any / all change initiatives must be backed by a process,
so as to ensure it is well organised , and repeatable. 

Mnemonics

A bit off-topic , but I think we all would agree that - to remember anything , mnemonics helps us in a great way.  

Remember BODMAS -  The order of mathematical operations? :D

OR - the phrase "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" - to remember the planets, sadly Pluto is gone though.. but anyway!

Here comes another one -    PLOT.

What is PLOT ?

Ain't plot is such a familiar word when it comes to movies .. exposition , climax , action etc. etc.

In this case , PLOT is an abbreviation in the areas of effective change management , and it stands for Plan, Lead , Operate and Track.

Fine , how is it helpful?

While there exists numerous processes and flow charts to effectively carry out a change ,
one of them is  PLOT - a method designed and documented by Bain & Company -
one of the most prestigious and global management consulting companies headquartered
in the US. 

This PLOT flow helps us to convince and align ourselves to an end-to-end change
management process , keeping transparency, compliance , various guiding principles ,
communications points and many such things which is very instrumental to execute a
change effectively.

Below is my adaptation with some small tweaks , however if you google it , you can easily
get their original document with more elaboration. 

Step 1: Plan it well.

Step 2: Lead the change

Step 3 : Operate ( Execution phase)

Step 4 : Track it well.

Every organization has its own change management flow , but I am sure this PLOT can be a good chip in that flow for sure.

For. ex. 

During the execution phase many things may go wrong depending on how deep or broad
the change is. It is very important to understand that - “when on principle:  It’s understandable,
memorable, and repeatable , and eventually drives empathy!”

Closing thoughts ..

No matter where you are in the system life cycle, the system will change!
The desire to change will persist throughout the life cycle.
But,  the underlying services should be always stable, reliable, and predictable.

Above images are screenshots from one of my previous presentation, which I know,
is of not the best quality , hence attaching the original PPT herewith.

Download PPT Link

Please dont hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments section..

Happy holiday season and Happy new year 2020!

Until next time ..

Debajit Kataki