Why Organizations/Humans Fail

Organizations/Humans create plans based on their view of what the world needs now and in future. This is entity's view of reality. It is based on certain assumptions regarding the various things that pervade this world.

As long as these assumptions about the world are good enough to create a theory about the world and predict future, organization/person keeps succeeding. At regular intervals there is a fundamental shift in people's perception such as what they want from the world, what they want to pursue in life, and how they want to live. Then many of the the assumptions that explained how the world functioned get invalidated.

Once the assumptions are wrong, any theory and action plan based on those assumptions is wrong. Companies don't question if the change has happened and if that needs changing the assumptions and creating a new plan. They because of earlier success try to do the same old things more efficiently instead of doing different things and eventually end up as failures.

Parents & Inspiration

As I grow older, my admiration for my mother keeps growing as I realize how hard it is to be as disciplined as she is, as selfless as she is, and as broad minded as she is.

My parents taught me to ask myself "Am I about to do what is right?" before I tried doing something. It simply made me and my sister to strive hard to live up to that ideal.

The best compliment that I got was when my manager who is a veteran of industry said that he wanted to meet my parents because he admired what I did day in and day out.

My thoughts about avoiding recruitment pitfalls.

What they teach and don't teach at IIM are the following. They tell "you need to create your own rules of thumb to live the life by" and their goal is to only expose you to the thinking you may want to have or to the lines of thinking that you may wish to pursue.

Now is there any possibility to prevent offices becoming resorts where people get paid for spending their time at the expense of people working hard to earn their daily bread?

Some thumb rules:

1. Test a person's integrity - if he/she fails this test don't hire.
2. Culturally people are very different. In every culture there are basic values. In India in modern time these are cheating, lying, and pursuit of money by any means. People who cheat and lie are strict no no. People who are ready to put in the work required to earn the money are the only part of the population that we can employ.
3. Never hire a person who has screwed up the his/her personal life.
4. Never hire a person who has not achieved a single significant thing in life till date.
5. Never hire a person who does not feel good about himself/herself or is at war with the external world.
6. If you have doubts during the probationary period just fire, because it will save lot of heart ache that the person and you are going to have in the days ahead.
7. Talk with references for each person you want to hire. More persons the better.
8. Don't hire if person is worried more about benefits even before taking up the job.
9. Don't tolerate any breach of rules. Warn sternly, give chance , indicate maximum chances available. If offence is repeated simply take the corrective and preventive action. Don't keep saying "I will shoot", "I will shoot" - just shoot. Sometimes fear is also a good motivator. For many of us in India who have become shameless, fear is also an effective motivator along with greed.
10. Never hire if person has entitlement mentality. Nothing is guaranteed in this life. We need to work hard to get these things. With entitlement mentality rewards come before the work. In nature it never happens so.

Alright I will keep writing more. I did not follow some of these thumb rules. So don't make the mistakes that I have made.

Fanfan and Alexander

Representative of our need to hold on perpetually to something rather than cherishing the moment. As soon as we start striving to hold on to something especially in relationships - it becomes stifling / twisted. The realization that we can't hold on to something will let us cherish the moment without worrying about the loss that the tomorrow might bring. Hm, in a bout of philosophy I should not forget the surreal beauty of most French women. Some how so much harmony / beauty has a calming effect on the mind. It simply makes one feel joyous. On the account of beauty now I must add Spohie Marceau to the list of Monica Bellucci, Kate Winslet, Natalie Portman and my sister.

Donkeys and Horses and Ways of the world

Some how in many industries it appears that "number of years" put in matter more than what a person could do. This makes me think industries are mostly oblivious to the fact that with age a donkey/mule does not become a race horse. It just becomes a very old donkey/mule. So it is important to understand
a. whether it was originally a donkey or a horse
b. has it been used to fight wars or has it been used to lug the dirty linen
I believe this donkey becoming a horse mentality is very much true of the "knowledge work" industry.