Management Musings

Having been part of a mid-size Multi National Company for the past many years now, I have had the incredible opportunity to grow and understand the decision making of the leaders within the organization. More and more, I have come to appreciate the dynamics that go into taking key decisions and how they eventually impact the direction that the company takes. We have had many different CEOs over the years - at least 4 that I can think of right away. Each and every one of them has had a distinct style and method of execution and decision making. As part of the R&D org, most of the changes over the years have been through the offices of different leaders of the Business Units, Engineering heads and now obscure titles that were created at the time for different reasons. It is quite telling that change has been the one constant factor over time. It probably reflects on the overall revenue and stock price of the company, which have both remained largely flat over the years. There has ...

Coming from a Hindu family, rituals have been a constant through my life. Not necessarily happening with any defined frequency, these ceremonies take up different forms and ways. My father was never a person who necessarily believed in God, or at least he did not make his feelings known to us. My mother, on the other hand, is as pious as they come. Her ultimate, argument-ending dictum on every topic where we push her to do something is "If He is willing, it will be done", or "I have put my faith in Him. He will make it happen". Once that is said, there is no force on earth that can budge that immovable stone of faith. So, in all the cases of rituals and religious ceremonies, my mother has been the driving force. She, of course, firmly believes that she does not know enough to perform one, so she would simply say, "whatever we do, is for Him", thereby justifying the innumerable short-cuts taken during these occasions. We would celebrate all the festivals w...

My earliest memories of travel outside of the city involve bus and train rides. Bus rides would be in the ubiquitous "Red Bus" or "Semi-Luxury" or "Super Deluxe" out of the city. In those worry-free days, the travel plans were out of our hands and minds, as was packing and logistics of the journey and destination. We were expected to show up, stay in sight and out of trouble. I never had a problem with meeting those expectations (at least as far as I can recall, my mother may have a different story to tell). The Red Bus journeys were the most adventurous - finding a seat and retaining it was always atop priority. As a kid, I was happy to help. Squeeze in among the rush to get inside, put a handkerchief on a seat and spread the hands out wide as far as I could, waiting for the family to join in. I can only imagine the thoughts in the parents' heads now. I used to enjoy those journeys as the bus would make a stop at every town along the way to the desti...