Tuesday, April 01, 2008

How to Give Great Answers in Business Meetings

The next time you are in a meeting, performance review, or job interview, try this "stalling" technique if you are asked a tough question: Take a sip or two of water or coffee. Then use those few seconds to formulate your answer. You will, of course, have prepared for the meeting, but the short pause will allow you to collect your thoughts and phrase them well.
(Source: Web Worker Daily)

This tip appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

Career Insulation

Career Insulation

"One of the marks of an insecure employee is that he tries to build layers of busy-work insulation around his job. He tries to make it appear as though it would be a lot of trouble to replace him.

"The problem is, this keeps him from getting promoted. He locks in his job for a while, but that means he locks himself out of a promotion.

"Then a change in technology that makes his tasks easy to reassign to a low-paid worker leads to the termination of his career. In a high-tech world, this is the wave of the future. 'I can get it done cheaper in India' is the slogan of this brave new world.

"To survive these days, a worker should make himself easily replaceable. He should go out of his way to recruit and train a potential replacement - maybe two. He should let his superiors know this. That way, if a job higher up the chain of command opens up, the company can award the job to him. It's less hassle to promote him.

"It is not possible to hide for long behind a wall of make-work insulation. Technology will not allow it. It is best to plan for the future and spend your time preparing for the promotion rather than hiding behind unnecessary make-work. You can't climb up the ladder if you're locked to the lower rung."

(Source: Gary North's "Tip of the Week")

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Culture Wise INDIA


My book, "Culture Wise India: The Essential Guide to Culture, Customs & Business Etiquette" is now listed on Amazon.com

Culture Wise India is essential reading for anyone planning to visit or live in India, whether for business or pleasure, for a few days holiday or a lifetime. It is guaranteed to help newcomers avoid cultural and social gaffes; make friends and influence people; and enhance their understanding of India and the Indian people. Printed in full color.

HR professionals would find it a great corporate gift for expats.

Product Details
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Survival Books, Ltd. (July 25, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1905303475
ISBN-13: 978-1905303472

Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Wise-India-Essential-Etiquette/dp/1905303475

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Fountainhead

Revisiting one’s Alma Mater can not only bring solace from the stresses of corporate life but enlightenment as well.

I woke up to the strains of ‘Manic Monday’ by The Bangles from My iPod’s alarm, which selects songs at random: “Six o'clock already, I was just in the middle of a dream…” Nothing could have announced the hectic day that lay ahead of me more accurately. Now in the mood for more Russian roulette, I picked up the book of motivational quotes lying on my bedside table and flipped open a page at random. My eyes fell on John Burroughs’ one-liner: ‘To learn something new, take the path you took yesterday.’ The words hit me with cross-wire precision. I just had to take the day off for some introspection. I guess that’s why Casual Leave was invented – for casualties like these!

So, PDA in hand, at precisely 8.00am, I walked down my street along with school-going children, right up to the imposing Portuguese building of the convent where I had studied from Kindergarten through High School. As it turned out, it was a trip down memory lane. Standing there in the light drizzle on that June morning, I was transported back in time to another dark, wet and cloudy morning in June 1974, the first day of my last year at school.

On that memorable day, at the stroke of the school bell, a young nun had come bustling into the classroom with the brightest of smiles we'd ever seen, bursting with energy and enthusiasm, rearing to go! She introduced herself and announced that she would be our Class Teacher. She came over to each one of us and got us to introduce ourselves.

When finally we had all settled down, she opened her textbook and asked the class, “What do you know about William Wordsworth?” With a straight face, I stood and said, “His words are worth listening to!” And then everyone burst out laughing! Our team was born that instant! When I paid her a courtesy call recently, she said she still remembered it after over 30 years! To this day, the class of '75 draws inspiration from her vibrant personality.

As I walked down the hallway and through the corridors, the laughter echoing in the recesses of my mind, it dawned upon me that there were quite a few elements about my Alma Mater that still served as wellsprings of inspiration for me: The chapel, where I had played my guitar for the first time in June ‘74 and developed my skills in the art of song-writing; the Christmas-tree, in the cloistered garden, which still seems to be growing - living proof that there is no limit to growth despite varying environmental conditions; the twin steeples which let me know from the window of a taxi cruising along the river bank on my return from an outstation business trip, that I am already home; the library that turned me from an avid reader into a prolific writer; the night-sky over the convent - the only place left in town where I can see stars that still look the same as they were when I gazed upon them with the eyes of a child as I still do; the convent bell that rings every evening at Angelus, reminding me that not a day goes by without the nuns kneeling in prayer before the statue of Our Lady of Fatima beseeching her to intercede for all the children that have ever passed through the portals of the school.

Paradoxically, it is here in the past that I return to in body, mind and soul each time I have to take my next step into a world that is at times dark, wet and cloudy.

The rain had stopped and the sun was out when I finally stepped out onto the busy street, PDA in hand, with not a word written on its shiny glass screen but only the reflection of my brightly smiling face. It said it all!