October 2nd 1869: A Glimpse Back in History

Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man. - Mahatma Gandhi

Today is October 2nd 2014 and marks the 145th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.  The honorific Mahatma in Sanskrit means "high-soul", venerable, great soul";  also widely referred to in India as "Bapu" or father. 2nd October is also recognized world-wide as International Day of Non-Violence and on this occasion, I would like to share with you a glimpse back in history about the life of this legendary soul, peacemaker and freedom fighter - Mahatma Gandhi.

October 2nd 1869, in the rural village of Porbander, Kathiawar District, West Gujarat, a preeminent leader of Indian independence movement in British-ruled India was born.   

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathiawar_Agency#mediaviewer/File:Baroda_state_1909.jpg

His name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.  Gandhi's parents were Karamchand Gandhi and Putlibai, a Hindu merchant caste family in Gujarat.  After completing his primary and secondary education in India, Gandhi took interest to become a barrister.  Barristers specialize in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings, and giving expert legal opinions.  So, he traveled to England in 1888 for his education in law.  He earned his degree in law and returned to India in 1891.  Upon his return, he found himself  unsuccessful in setting up his law practice. He observed that the local "vakils" or lawyers, homegrown and well versed with Indian law were charging far less for their services than their British educated counterparts. In a futile attempt upon the advice of his friends & elders, he heads to Bombay to fill his gap by getting educated on Indian Law. His success in the courtrooms of Bombay as a lawyer is short lived and when he received a job offer as a legal advisor for an Indian company in Durban, South Africa, he readily accepts it.

He moved to SouthAfrica in 1893 when Africa's Apartheid movement was in full force. He continued to work and live here for over 20 years during which time he witnessed and felt the pain, the suffering and racial discrimination the Indians and Blacks were going through in South Africa.  Soon Gandhi found himself at the receiving end of such abuse and he vowed to take up the baton on behalf of the Indian community. He organized the expatriate Indians and protested against the injustices meted out by the African government. After years of disobedience and non-violent protests, the South African government finally conceded to Gandhi's demands and an agreement to this effect was signed in 1914. A battle was won, but Gandhi realized the war that was to be waged against the British awaits his arrival in India. Hence, he returned to India the following year.

Between the years of 1858-1947, the Indian subcontinent was under the British Raj ("rule"). His early movements for freedom started in South Africa - Satyagraha, meaning "truth" and "firmness". In 1915 he started his mission for freedom for the people of India by participating and organizing various movements that were already underway, under the guidance of his political mentor - Mr. Gopal Krishna Gokhale.  Gandhi always advocated a path of truth and non-violence through the Satyagraha movement. Some of his famous campaigns led for India's freedom struggle were: the Non-cooperation movement, civil disobedience movement , the Salt Tax abolition campaign - Dandi March and the Quit IndiaMovement. He got arrested on several occasions. His slogans "Quit India" , "Do or Die" were very popular.  Gandhi's vision for a free India was based on religious pluralism, however this was challenged during the early 1940's by a new Muslim nationalism that was demanding a separate Muslim homeland carved out of India. As a result, the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu majority India and a Muslim dominant Pakistan. All these movements led to the British East India Company to set foot back out and India declared Independence on August 15th, 1947. 

Mahatma Gandhi continued his peace campaigns and calming tensions in the new nation between the Hindus and Muslims.  His life in the newly independent country was short-lived when he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist, Nathuram Godse on 30th January1948 during a prayer meeting.

His birthday, 2nd October, is commemorated as a national holiday in India and celebrated as Gandhi Jayanthi and is also recognized worldwide by the UnitedNations as International Day of Non Violence.  Mahatma Gandhi inspired the world with his relentless faith in truth and justice for all mankind through Ahimsa.  He was a great soul - Mahatma - who loved even those who fought against his ideals to bring about peace with non-violence or 'Ahimsa'. 

His life was a message - a message of peace over power, of finding ways to reconcile our differences and living in harmony with respect and love even for our enemies.  Dear friends, I encourage you to recognize that "Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.." and to consider becoming champions of love and peace to spread this message of Ahimsa. 

-Shabana
Presented at Ozaukee Toastmasters Club #3510
October 2nd 2014

read more “October 2nd 1869: A Glimpse Back in History”

Empathy In Business Leadership - Traits of A Great Leader

Daniel Goleman first introduced the concept of emotional intelligence to the business landscape after his international best seller, Emotional Intelligence, was a great success.  This new book was aptly named Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence. Goleman takes the position that every good leader's task is to prime a good feeling in those that they lead. That good feeling occurs when a good leader has the ability to create resonance - source of positiveness that unleashes the best in people. Further he emphasizes that the primal job of leadership is emotional.  To learn why emotionally intelligent leadership drives resonance, and thus performance, and how to tap into its power for the individual leader, teams, or entire organizations, I highly recommend reading Daniel Goleman's Primal Leadership - Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence.

The four fundamental domains of emotional intelligence are:
1) self-awareness
2) self-management
3) social awareness, and
4) relationship building

These four domains are closely related and in order to be successful, a great leader must understand their relationship.  A leader who is not aware of his or her emotions cannot manage them well due to lack of self-awareness.  Their emotions are out of control and as a result relationships will suffer. In this post, I shall just focus on the relationship aspect of emotional intelligence and how empathy plays an important role in leadership. Dealing with emotions in the workplace is an skillful leadership trait and is easier said or written than practiced. Relationship management is not just about being a friendly person, it is about being genuine and authentic. For a leader, it becomes a powerful catalyst for resonance, once they are tuned in to the emotions of their teams they lead to fuel richer, more meaningful interactions.

Empathy is the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people and it is also an artful skill in treating people according to their emotional reactions. It fuels deep connections. Business leaders who are empathetic are great active listeners. They are not just paying attention to what is being said  verbally, but also tuned into the non-verbal cues from their audience. They are able to probe deeper, understand purpose, and most importantly, summarize back key points of agreement and build rapport effectively with meaning.

Hence, to be a great leader, it is important to make the connection with the people you lead- genuinely at an emotional level - in order to foster strong relationships.  This in return builds rapport and becomes a powerful catalyst for resonance in bringing out the best in people.  In conclusion, I am sharing this short video clip on The Power of Empathy - A RSA Short by Dr. Brennie Brown. Dr.Brown is a research storyteller & professor at the University of Houston, TX. In this clip she demonstrates the key differences between empathy and sympathy and how one drives connection while the latter drives disconnection.

read more “Empathy In Business Leadership - Traits of A Great Leader”

Are you breeding a cancerous middle management culture that is silently killing your organization's reputation?

Editor’s note (2026): This article was originally published in 2014, before concepts such as psychological safety and toxic middle management entered mainstream leadership discourse. I’ve chosen to leave it intact as a reflection of early thinking on organizational culture and leadership accountability.

  

What prompted me to write an article on this topic today? Well, it was this video on CNN.com on the French Telecom company, Orange that was on the news recently for a recent rise in suicides among its employees. Let me take a step back to provide a short background for this article. 

In 2012, the former Chief Executive Officer - Didier Lombard was indicted by a court in Paris and bailed over allegations that he led a corporate culture of bullying and harassment that resulted in the suicide of at least 30 employees. He served in this position from 2005-2010.  Critics allege that it was some of his brutal management principles and 'bullying culture' that contributed to these suicides.  Also, in particular scrutiny was his so-called “NExT” (New Experience in Telecommunications) program, an effort to drive efficiency and increase customer value, resulted in a restructure that cut more than 22,000 jobs over a short period of time. In addition it also forced managers to change jobs every three years. This program was soon terminated by his successor. 

 In 2013, once again Orange restructures its organization in an effort to simplify its innovation structure to improve efficiency and tightens its executive committee.  Vivek Badrinath was appointed as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer to lead the Group’s innovation, technology and customer experience resources. Mr. Badrinath, who was 43 with a strong technical background held a few short leadership positions prior to his appointment with Orange.  Most recently this year in 2014, Vivek Badrinath, left Orange to join Accor, a hotel group.  His void was filled by appointing Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière to lead the innovation, marketing and technologies division as reported in a press release dated March 14 by Orange.

Large corporations such as Orange, previously French Telecom, present many challenges to their leadership.  Corporate culture and organizational identity are just two of  the many important challenges that senior leadership must pay attention to be successful in the long run.  In  September 2004 French Telecom sold a part of its shareholding and it was no longer a major shareholder as a result of the 1997 Asian Financial crisis. Hence, it became a private company after 115 years in a post-nationalization era of the telephone system!

 This organization went through a major transformation, while its top executives maintained their focus on advancing its winning global marketplace position further without establishing a solid transition strategy.  This is evident from its executive turnover history.  While executive management was focused on being a global leader in telecommunication services, perhaps it had given birth to a silent killer - a cancerous middle management culture that was developing operational tactics to support its executive management's corporate strategic vision. This new sub-culture was far different from the organization's corporate culture. Evidence of this is known from employee survey data that was conducted during the suicide investigations.

Image Courtesy: BBC UK News Health

Often middle-management is a layer between two layers of management in an organization. They are a step above a non-managerial role and a step below senior management. Some may report to a C-level executive directly, while others may just report to a non C-level executive in the organizational hierarchy. Often, this depends on the size, industry, and sector of the organization.  It is imperative for C-level executives to be proactively monitoring the performance its middle-level management on a regular basis and its cultural health.

Questions such as: are our employees generally happy? What is our employee turnover ratio? What is the annual employee survey data telling us? etc. are helpful in gaining valuable insights on your organization's culture health.  Instead of adding more middle-management, have you considered a shift toward abolishing middle management all together in your organization? In today's social world, rebuilding corporate reputation can be a very expensive process. Hence organizations must develop proactive measures to safeguard against any threats to its reputation. 

 A cancerous middle management culture can be defined as a sub-culture that threatens your organizational identity and is far different from your organization's core values and traditions. It has a negative impact on employee morale & productivity.  In organizations that are not process mature, it can give birth to ad-hoc processes that help it thrive and sustain.  It sometimes can ruthlessly eliminate a workforce or talent that it perceives as a threat to its existence.  As it thrives in silence and spreads like cancer, it is critical for executive management to diagnose early-on and treat it swiftly as it can be detrimental to an organizational overall reputation, its identity and the workforce's well-being when left ignored. 

I would like to conclude this article by asking you this thought provoking question: Are you breeding a cancerous middle management culture that is silently killing your organization's reputation? Please share your thoughts and comments !

read more “Are you breeding a cancerous middle management culture that is silently killing your organization's reputation?”

CIO Skills: 5 Essential Competencies- A Must Have for Today's CIO

There are several articles published on the topic of leadership competencies that today's CIO must possess in order to be perceived as successful by the business. I have compiled a list of 5 Essential Competencies - A Must Have for Today's CIO in this article.  Today, as  IT is increasingly viewed by the business as a key contributing enabler to expand its competitive edge and drive market share,  it is creating a fundamental shift in paradigm on the CIO's role from a traditional - technical - digital role to that of a strategic business partner in the organization. To be successful during this transformation, a CIO must conscientiously develop an innovative mindset  combined with new capabilities that will help drive the business value and reshape the way IT does business.

Below are 5 Essential Competencies that are must have for today's CIO:

1) Strategic Aligner: A powerful strategist thoroughly understands and has the know-how to use available knowledge with the right dose of tact and influence to make things happen with the highest outcome for success.  Not everyone can be a powerful strategist, but it certainly can be a learned competency that can be perfected over a period of time. A strategic aligner is an individual that links the goals of business to it strategy to achieve measurable outcomes.


2) Diverse Technology know-how: Some CIO's are either experts in a particular technology domain and tend to be biased in their decision making, some CIO's are hired for their strong leadership expertise with a generalist technology background, some others have been promoted within the ranks and as a result may or may not be exposed to the newest technology trends or product offerings to make effective decisions. Hence, it is important that no matter what the case, it is important for today's CIO to have not only a diverse technology know-how, but also, to understand how to align with the business's overall strategic vision. Sometimes the lack of this competency can be fulfilled by hiring a trusted technology adviser or by developing an internal emerging center of excellence practice within the organization.

3) Trailblazer: A trailblazer is someone that sets foot first on something new and that has not been done before. As leaders, they pave the way for exploring new markets, while taking calculated risks and transforming organizations. An organization cannot continue to remain sustainable in business with outdated processes and technologies.  There maybe some of you that would disagree with this, but I think this is an important skill for any CIO to have. As a trailblazer, you are not just putting the business first and technology second, but you are also focused on delivering value to your customer through continuous improvement.

4) Relationship Builder & Ambassador: An important skill to have for any individual, and not just for a CIO. But, it is a critical skill required for every CIO! In today's modern corporate ecosystems, if your CIO is not perceived by your business leaders as someone who can effortless build bridges, foster new relationships and strengthen  existing ones, his or her success within that organization can be challenging.  Relationship building needs to occur at every level in the organization. A competent CIO should be effortless able to deliver on a balanced matrix of tangible, intangible, organizational and personal aspects of value customized to their specific business customer–to build an authentic and trusted partnership.

5) Corporate Finance know-how: Strong basic to intermediate knowledge of corporate finance is essential for any CIO. It is important that you know how to interpret the data accurately to help make sound decisions. Relying solely on the sources supplying you the data, can be hazardous.  Understanding and speaking the same language that your business and financial partners speak is very helpful.

I hope that found this blog article on the topic of 5 Essential Competencies for today's CIO helpful. Do you have any suggestions to add to this list? Please leave your comments below!

read more “CIO Skills: 5 Essential Competencies- A Must Have for Today's CIO”

YouTube Resource: Microsoft's next CEO - Who is Satya Nadella?

Today, Microsoft announced its next CEO, Satya Nadella. He becomes the third leader in the company's 38 year history, replacing Steve Ballmer. The video below is an interview Microsoft posted today on its website as interviewed by Microsoft's Steve Clayton.

read more “YouTube Resource: Microsoft's next CEO - Who is Satya Nadella?”

TED Talk Resource: The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar

This is a great video on the Art of Choosing. We have a lot of choices available to us and around us. How are we doing making choices? Is it easy? It is difficult? Why so? Watch this TED Global talk by Sheena Iyengar and be inspired and share your thoughts in the comments section below.

read more “TED Talk Resource: The Art of Choosing by Sheena Iyengar”

YouTube Resource: Indian Companies Doing Business in USA - Foreign Direct Investment Success Stories

I have been away from my blog for a while now as I have been busy with a new project. Recently, I came upon a resource while researching for a project, that I wanted share with my readers. This video resource discusses how Indian companies are making a difference on American soil. As many of my readers know I am actively involved in strategic international business initiatives and specialize in helping American companies wishing to do business with technology & manufacturing companies in India and vice versa.  It is my hope you find this video insightful. If you are interested in learning more about how to get started, please feel free to email me directly or leave me a comment below.

This video clip is approximately 13 minutes long and is developed by the Confederation of Indian Industry.  The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the development of India, partnering industry, Government, and civil society, through advisory and consultative processes.

To learn more on how to find a local chapter or to become a member, please visit CII Website.

read more “YouTube Resource: Indian Companies Doing Business in USA - Foreign Direct Investment Success Stories”

3 Tips for Embracing a Client-centric Approach to Project Management

Earlier this year, ComputerWeekly.com published the Top 10 trends for Project Management in 2012 authored by LeRoy Ward. The one that got my interest was #9. "Client centric project management can outperform the "triple constraint". The three fundamental constraints in project management, often referred to as the iron triangle or triple constraint are: cost, time, and scope. The success of our projects and our roles as project managers is measured on how effectively these three metrics are managed. Are we capable to deliver the project successfully on budget, on schedule and within scope.

While we are so focused on the triple constraint, we sometimes tend to forget on the value proposition and customer perspective of the project. This can be detrimental to the health and success of a project when our client has a different perspective on the definition of project success. Hence, as we bring 2012 to a close and move forward into 2013, as project and program managers, we must actively listen to how our clients define as a successful project. We must learn how to engage stakeholders in discussions about project value and success, without having to wait until the end of the project to do so.

These three fundamental tips on client-centric approach to project management are a great starting point that will help you achieve consistent success on all your future projects.



Original Image Courtesy of FreeDigitalImage.com

Tip 1: Conduct a stakeholder analysis workshop: During the stakeholder analysis phase identify the names of your project stakeholders and their level of influence on your project. Assign either with a influence scale of 1-5 or color coded grid. Make it interactive by asking key questions relating to your project. Example: What does a successful project look like? What does the final outcome look like?

Tip 2: Maintain an updated Stakeholder Register/Journal: Once you have conducted a stakeholder analysis, don't just stop there. Make sure that you keep your stakeholder register updated. Even if you are just engaged in projects longer than six months, the chances are that you might have stakeholders join and leave. It is important that you keep the stakeholder register updated regularly. I maintain an electronic stakeholder register that can be easily viewed by all my project team members easily.

Tip 3: Facilitate a monthly or fortnightly "Listening Session": A listening session is where you invite your stakeholders to listen to their feedback and opinions on the project. If you have a large group of stakeholders, you may consider inviting your key influencers from the stakeholder analysis performed earlier. Listening sessions are a means of gaining valuable insight on the voice of your customer or client regarding your project.  This is not the time to get defensive or come up with answers on the spot, but it is an opportunity for you to listen and become better connected with your stakeholders. This is not a status update meeting.

Being client-centric is a journey and this transformation occurs over a period of time.  As we begin to embrace the client-centric approach on our projects, we shall start to see our customers's satisfaction increase steadily over a period of time.  The triple constraint now has a sibling - voice of the customer or client, and is taking a leap forward as the new quadruple constraint aka the four-legged stool.

I hope you find these 3 Pro Tips for Embracing a Client-centric Approach to Project Management helpful in managing your future projects. Do you currently embrace a client-centric model in your organization for project management?  If so, please share your experience in the comments section below.

read more “3 Tips for Embracing a Client-centric Approach to Project Management ”

5 Aspects of a Holistic Service Design in IT Service Management

This is probably not the first time you have heard the word 'holistic'.  Have you pondered over the thought of what is the actual meaning of the word holistic and why it is used so much in the IT world these days? Well, this blog post will help shed some light on this topic. Miriam's Webster Dictionary defines holistic as : relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts.

Holistic medicine concerns with approaching treatment to the whole body rather than just treating the symptoms of an existing condition. Similarly, when approaching service design, we must take a complete, big picture perspective of the overall service that is being designed. It should not be done in isolation, the impact on the entire service, its management, tools, systems and architectures, other supporting processes and metrics should also be considered. 

A holistic approach to Service Design takes into consideration the 5 key aspects within all its process activities. It ensures that consistency and integration within all IT activities and processes are achieved both in function and quality.

The 5 key aspects to a holistic approach in service design are:

1) Gathering Service requirements for new and/or changed services: Requirements for new or changed services can be elicited through requirements analysis or extracted from an organization's service portfolio. Each requirement needs to be carefully evaluated, documented and agreed upon, so that the design document can be constructed.  This design document can then be compared to the strategy and constraints of the IT's service strategy to ensure that it is conforming to existing policies. Also, it must ensure that the new or changed service is easily integrated with the existing services and other underpinning services that support it.

2) Leveraging Information management tools like service portfolio and service catalog: The existing management tools must be closely evaluated to ensure that they are capable of supporting the new or changed service. Some of the key management systems in a service oriented organization are its service portfolio and catalog. These reside within the Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) and contain details on the design of the service, technology architectures and measurement methods & metrics.

3)Integration with Enterprise technology architectures and management architectures: Any new or changed service needs to be aligned with the organization's existing technology and management architecture to remain consistent and to ensure that the service is operable within the constraints of the existing architecture. If not, then either the architectures would need to be updated or the service's design would require modification to be successful.

4)Discovery of the processes required: As with any new or changed service, there is impact to roles, responsibilities and skills of individuals involved. Existing processes need to be reviewed to ensure that the new or changed process is not creating a major impact on how they function. If it is, steps need to be taken to educate personnel in their changing roles and processes need to be updated to accomodate for the new or updated service. This includes all service management processes, not just the one process in question.

5) Measurement metrics and methods: This is an often overlooked aspect when new or changed services are introduced. Existing measurements methods and metrics need to be reviewed and updated so that the new or changed service can be accurately measured and tracked. This might not be required if the change to an existing service is minor or does not impact the measurement metrics.

Considering the above 5 key aspects during the service design phase ensures that the new or changed service is integrated into the existing environment consistently and with minimal impact to the user.  ITIL's foundational principle is about IT as a service organization focusing on the business processes it supports and the value that the business receives or realizes as a result of its service. Hence, as a result of this model, the impact of technology on the business and how a business change may impact IT can both be predicted and measured. Adoption of a holistic approach to service design ensures that all aspects of the organization are considered and included within all new or changed services. 

Do you currently practice a holistic approach to service design in your organization or have an example of an approach that has worked for you in your organization? I would love to hear it! Please share your experiences in the comments section below.

read more “5 Aspects of a Holistic Service Design in IT Service Management”

Career Management: 5 Helpful Tips to Successfully Negotiate in a Tough Job Market

Back in December 2011, I was invited by Disability.gov to contribute as a guest blogger to their Career Connection Series, Ask the Expert. I developed an article that offered tips on how to successfully negotiate in a tough job market. This was almost a year ago. The current employment market as we know it is changing. There are new models being created and born almost every day. Below is a link to the original article as it appreared on Disability.gov. Did you find the article helpful? Please leave your comments below.

Career Connection Series: 5 Helpful Tips to Successfully Negotiate in a Tough Job Market

read more “Career Management: 5 Helpful Tips to Successfully Negotiate in a Tough Job Market”

Video: Is there an Indian Way of doing Business?

Have you ever wondered, if there was such a thing as an Indian way of doing business? Dr.Devdutt Pattanaik has a title of Chief Belief Officer at the Future Group. Business Sutra is a special series on CNBC TV18 India presented by Dr. Pattanaik where he attempts to answer this question in a conversational setting facilitated by Ms. Menaka Doshi.

Business Sutra discusses the purpose of a corporation, short term goals versus long term ideals, leadership qualities, dharma sankat and modern day business conflicts, ownership versus management, the lifecycle of a business and similiar issues pertaining to Leadership & Governance.



Did you find this resource helpful? Leave your comments below.

Related Links:
Dr. Devdutt Pattanai
Business Sutra-Leadership

read more “Video: Is there an Indian Way of doing Business?”

Video: Teaching the 7 Habits to Children

read more “Video: Teaching the 7 Habits to Children”

Video: 5 Ways to Win in Business

I found this great resource on a leadership topic.  This video was produced by Meet the Boss TV - 5 ways to Win in Business. We can learn about leadership not just from business, but from a variety of sources. In this video, 5 Ways to Win in Business, the producer has complied great lessons from sports players. I hope that you find it helpful. Do you have a practical tip for us that worked for you? Please share your thoughts below!

read more “Video: 5 Ways to Win in Business”

TED Talk Resource: Sugata Mitra- The child-driven education | Video on TED.com

Prof. Sugata Mitra is a Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at the Newcastle University, United Kingdom. He is the founder of the "Hole in the Wall (HIW)" experiment, where in the year 1999 a computer was placed in a kiosk created within a wall in an Indian slum in New Delhi and the children were allowed to freely use it. The experiment aimed at proving that kids could be taught to use computers very easily without any formal training. Prof. Sugata Mitra aptly termed this methodology "Minimally Invasive Education (MIE)". His interests include: Education, Remote Presence, Self organizing systems, Cognitive systems & Physics & Consciousness. The video below is from a recent talk Prof. Mitra presented at TED Global 2010.

Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education Video on TED.com

read more “TED Talk Resource: Sugata Mitra- The child-driven education | Video on TED.com”