The Welch Way

I am still stuck up on the ‘podcasts’. This one is by Jack and Suzy Welch.

If you don’t want to spend much time to read both his books [1. Straight From The Gut 2. Winning] read only second one. If even that’s lot more investment in terms of time and money, try this.

Take out two hours and Click on the following link.
More than a dozen 10 min long posts by Mr. and Mrs. Welch talk about-

1. Is ‘outsourcing’ around forever?

2. What is the secret of success behind Wal-Mart?

This post makes you ponder on-

God Forbid, will Wal-Mart go the GM way ?

Will there be unions in BPO industry in India?

3. Should everyone invest in China?

4. With advent of India and China, what is future of Europe?

5. What are the ‘top 3′ characteristics of successful companies?

On Career:

6. What will create an unique impression on my boss?

7. What will makes a good sales person?

8. What kind of executive coaches are good?

9. Boss Haters—How many bosses can you count whom you didn’t hate for some reason or other?

10. How do I deal with a smarter employee/junior?

I did have an opportunity to listen to Mr. & Mrs. Welch at LSE. Possibly LSE saw one of the longest queues that day. Not that everything i heard made perfect sense to my day to day life as a middle manaager but then it was great to hear first hand someone who has run one of the biggest corporations of America for decades.

That reminded me of my b-school—

While one heard the big names in India’s corporate circles at IIM-A, at least i haven’t heard of lectures by CEOs of GE,MS,Wal-Mart, Intel at R J Mathai center in IIMA. May be there is potential to get a bunch of these guys down there for a weekend lecture series.

But then every-time its not possible and now i think not worth spending so much of time/money in attending these events/lectures,esp while in job market. At times, it involves lot of work—buttering the most networked guy/boss in your office to get the event pass/tickets, travelling the public transport (unless you are already a director/VP), standing there in queue, trying to ask a question and not be sure if others would laugh at it and all of that.

Comparatively, it’s lot easy to click on the link , assume a reclining position on your couch and enjoy it. If you already have an ipod/mp* player, better still! Take Mr. and Mrs Welch along and listen them in your tube line/local train/metro/Bus or Riksha…

The World is FLAT

I am sure most of you have already heard of this FT/GS Business Book of the year authored by the Pulitzer winner NY Times Journalist Thomas Friedman.

I had an opportunity to hear him on this podcast about the book. He gives the due credit to Nandan nilekani on the name of the book with reference to his discussions with the infy CEO where he heard Nandan say- The world is levelling, thanks to Globalisation. It didn’t take much for this acclaimed journalist to coin most catchy title for this book.

Largely Tom has glorified the role that India and China has to play in 21st century and the challenges facing the young generation of Americans. The author has made the topic of Globalisation a household topic where every parent wants to understand globalisation to know what impacts it has on the future of their kids.

That’s a substantial contribution made to the domain of ‘Globalisation’, though I appreciate the views by economists like Pof Bhagwati who think that Friedman has stretched his arguments little too far. Jagdish Bhagwati’s podcast commentary on the book does a critical review of the book.

I do not have any doubt that Tom will sell more than Jagdish when it comes to book on Globalisation as masses will choose to read a journalist than an economist. However, some of arguments and examples (like the following) of Friedman make it look less of a reality and more of a rhetoric.
What I tell my own girls. When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, “Tom, finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving.” Today I tell my girls, “Finish your homework. People in China and India are starving for your jobs.”

Podcasts…

Robert Scoble , ex- strategist of Microsoft retired last month. I heard on BBC. He has joined podtech.

Scobleizer has been one of the most sticky blogs. He thinks Podcasting as a Media for mobile workforce. I can imagine thousands on tube and train stations and bogies busy listening to their favourite podcasts. I dont want to be left behind to know what it is for too long.

Yes! though I had heard enough about podcasts so far, i had not troubled myself to google ‘podcast’ and ‘podcast+XYZ’.

I have come across some expected podcasts (thought not as many of them YET) and some not-so-usual ones.

Expected ones from usual suspects-
Chieftains of TCS,Infy and Wipro talk about Future of IT Services Outsourcing (i didnt expect their first podcast on anything else). It is obvious to see each one of them focussing on the shift from ‘India Centric Delivery’ to ‘Global Mesh of Delivery Centers’. There are facts on market size and thoughts on extending the logic of offshoring from ‘IT Services’ to ‘Consulting’.

1. TCS MD on Global network of IT Services
2. Wipro Chairman’s interview on Offshoring

3. Infy Mentor on Outsourcing Boom

* McKinsey on Demand and Supply of Global Labour [You may not call it a podcast but then you wont regret to listen this 22 minutes of the audio clip that makes it relevant for you if you come from one of the top 8 rich countries or top 22 developing econopmies]

The best part of the podcasts is to listen to those who do not necessarily appear on TV/conferences as often as the above mentioned. Here are two of them here.

4. Prof. Richard Scase on Globalisation: Positions of UK and India

5. Bombay Dreams: Suketu Mehata on ‘Maximum City’

Suketu’s one hour is full of numbers to give you the perspective of Aamchi Mumbai but his lucid style makes it more like a poetry reading. It needs no convincing that 30 months of his research on ‘mumbai’ and his style of articulation makes the book a ‘Must Buy

It will be great to hear the feedback if one of you blog readers have read the book.

Note: I am surprised to see Yahoo ahead of Google on the Podcast search.

20 Best Films (non Hindi)

One would dream of having a copy of each of them in the album but guess unless i get a lottery or one of you readers decides to gift on my next birthday, it will take few months to build one.

I thought, not a bad idea to begin by listing them.

I am sure there are many other good films you know of/have seen that havent come in my favourites or I havent seen yet. Plz do add them in the comment.

1. Twelve Angry Men [1957] [Drama] [D-Sidney Lumet]
2. Apocalypse Now [1979] [Action&Adventure:War] [Marlin Brando, Martin Sheen] [D-Copolla]

3. Silence of the Lambs [1991] [Horror] [Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins] [D-Demme]

4. Il Postino [1995] [Italian,Romance] [D-Micheal Redford]
5. Hideous Kinky [1999] [Drama] [Kate Winslet] [D-Mackinnon]

The more talked about ones-

6 Braveheart

7 Bourn Identity/Supremacy

8 Forest Gump

9 Gladiator

10 Matrix
11 Schildner’s List

12 The Godfather
13 The Last Samurai

14 Titanic

15 Troy

Trilogies

16 Die Hard

17 Harry Potter

18 Indiana Jones

19 Jurasic Park

20 Lord of the Rings