Food for Thought

Often people struggle to come up with logical and practical solution to the problems at hand. This happens because we tend to approach the problem with combination of viewpoints. In his book Thinking Fast and Slow, the author Daniel Kanheman breaks down these view points into two systems of thinking- fast and slow. Understanding hows and whys of these systems will help us in taking a better approach of handling situation at hand making better decisions. System One: Fast Thinking This mode of thinking is based on emotions and sub-conscious reactions. The biases and personal experiences are the foundations of this thinking system. It is what we commonly call the 'gut instinct'. At times, it may be irrational and flawed. When faced with a situation requiring decision making, the brain naturally makes associations and referencing to the past experiences. The natural tendency is to find solution quickly with minimal efforts. This reaction is subjective and has ele...

Ever wondered why certain organizations reach the zenith while others struggle to make a leap or sustain? What makes organizations reach certain height? How do they transit from 'good to great'. Is it the strategies they choose, or their visionary leader, or is it the team team they employ? Read along to find out the essential ingredients on the incredible transformation. Good is the enemy of Great! On contrary to the popular belief the transition does not happen due to larger-than-life charismatic persona of the leader but it is due to systematic process that an organization undergoes. Author Jim Collins, in his book  Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't , outlines a framework of this based on his research. The framework has three components, namely, 1. Process: This involves taking the first step towards greatness and continuing in the same direction (indicated by build up in the above diagram) till you reach an inflection point...

Book: 12 Disciplines of Leadership Excellence: How leaders achieve sustainable high performance Authors: Brian Tracy, Dr. Peter Chee Summary The authors describe 12 principles to succeed as a Leader. These can be developed over time by practice and experience. These are listed below: 1.  The Discipline of Leadership Excellence Current age employees most of the times look for what is in-stored for them in any work. Thus in current era, two types of leaders are more valuable as per author - charismatic transformational leaders who inspire people to do their best and transactional leaders who possess the ability to work with and achieve through others. Great leaders connect their team with the larger purpose by articulating their vision effectively and adding meaning to their team's work. As a leader one should make decisions and take actions and be accountable for the results. Leader should be prepared for adversity by planning for the worst-case scenario. Ope...

Book: 5% More: Making Small Changes to Achieve Extraordinary Results Author: Michael Alden "You can increase your productivity in virtually every aspect of your life by just 5%, and it will have long-term and life-changing benefits.” Everyone wishes for a better life; but, many fail in achieving this due to either unrealistic expectations or lack of action. The success comes by doing (acting) and not just day-dreaming about it.  The book suggests putting 5% more efforts in the direction of the goal one wishes to achieve. This may not bring-in 5% more results but will definitely take a step closer to the set target. To achieve 5% more, one must hold him/herself accountable. Start by writing down daily and weekly goals and be honest and realistic about it. (This can also be done for a team i.e. setting team goals and communicating them with the team). Incremental adjustments can be made eventually to the goals (targets). Author's colleague Brian encouraged him to ...

Book:  2 Second Lean: How to Grow People and Build a Fun Lean Culture Author: Paul A. Akers "A Lean strategy will always yield a simpler, safer and better product, and with happier, very involved employees." By adopting Lean thinking, one can reduce the stock and directly tackle two crucial maxims: cut waste and improve constantly. Running production in large batches requires lots of space, machinery and workforce, additionally, the means to move products around. Instead, if opted for ‘U-shaped manufacturing cells,’ each worker becomes responsible for producing only one item from start to finish. This process offers many benefits, such as, workers produce less inventory, make fewer mistakes and create less waste. One-piece production improves cash flow. The first thing that lean seeks to destroy is waste. As an organisation, your task is to eliminate it. There are eight sources of waste: Transport  (moving people, products & information), Inventory (storing parts,...

The above quote from the author summarizes the idea of this book. The book emphasizes on the importance of thoughts in the development of human being. Thoughts affect all the arenas of one’s life. The  character  is nothing but sum of all the man’s thoughts. In turn, person’s character influences the conditions and circumstances of his life. Every action has its origin in thoughts, even the spontaneous ones. “Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruit.” Man is made or unmade by his own thoughts; they can destroy him or build him up. Man becomes master of his of thoughts, by application, self-analysis and experience. Diamonds are found by mining very deep similarly, man must dig deep inside the soul to find the connected truths. A person must watch, control, and alter his thoughts; also must trace the effect of his thoughts on himself, others, his life and circumstances. When person consciously does this process he can truly be maker of ...

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus , as the name of the book suggests, it asserts the idea that men and women are poles apart as if they belong to two different planets. Author John Gray provides many suggestions for improving relationships between men and women by understanding the style and needs of each other even if individuals don’t necessarily conform to stereotypical behavior. It is extremely important to remember that men and women have very different approaches and nature. Thus for healthy relationships, we need to appreciate these differences, and stop expecting that the other partner should feel or act in the way we would. Men prefer the recognition and appreciation of their abilities whereas women prefer their emotions to be appreciated. They hate it when that gets ignored or belittled. Men prefer working single-handedly and showcase their abilities while women prefer problem solving through co-operation and communication. Men desire that their solutions get apprecia...