Saturday, September 15, 2007

The Classic Heart v/s Brain tussle

Half a year back, i had a discussion with a friend of mine on the topic:
'Who is the final decision maker-Heart or Brain'?

I was a in favor of brain n my friend was on the other. I used to tell my friend how can one take decisions based on what his/hers heart feels. One needs to be pragmatic in all realms of life.

I still remember my friend's reply:

'Naveen not every decision in life can be taken by your brain. On certain specific instances its the heart which drives to take the final call'

Today, i feel my friend was correct. Iam myself encountering such instances in my life where i realised prudence has to be bestowed through heart.

I sometimes feel amazed how much one's attitude and perceptions change in in due course of time. Its phenomenal.

Some decisions taken by heart adds a special spice in life and trust me i am enjoying each and every bit of it.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Sometimes MBA jargons does hold true:)

I used to have one compulsory full credit course in HR-'Organisation development'. The prof who used to take these classes was a very seasoned fellow,having chaired lots of distinguised posts.He has this knack of giving vivid examples during his classes.

Once i remember ,during one of the rare informal moments in the class, someone made this comment of the plethora of jargons being used in B-Schools. The statement was point to two particular jargons:

a. Holistic Approach
b. Cross Cultual Intervention / Exposure

My prof then made the following statement: "betajee, real life mein aisa zaroor koi moode(turn) ayega, jab tumhe in jargons ka mutlab samajh mein ayega"

Very recently i joined a german IT product company which is a market leader in its space and beleive me, my first months's stint itself has taught me how much these cross cultural exposure matters.

I recently attended a German Cross cultural training capsule. Sharing the following gist with you:
  1. Germans are very punctual
  2. They strictly keep personnal and professional relations apart
  3. They are very diligent
  4. They shall get closer to you once you impress them by your work
  5. They respect a 'deadline' to the core.
  6. They are a no-nonsense lot.
  7. They are extreemally process oriented.
  8. They dont do anything in haste. A german will put a lot of thought before coming out with a fool proof output.

I have been interacting with a german colleague since i joined this new company and intially things were really tough for me. I had come from a indian company and the work culture was really different there. I used to think how one can work in such a process driven culture where everything is set and iam supposed to just plug and play here.

But now after spending one month here, i realise the value of having a set of standard process and systems in place. The incremental productivity is way high than how i used to work in my previous company.

Also due to some strange resons even my german colleague is now much friendly and cordial to me so i can presume i stood upto his expecations.

Over n Out.