Lee Kuan Yew : The legendary transformer

Singapore lost its founding father last week. Lee Kuan Yew died on 23^rd March 2015. Lee transformed the colonial backwater into one of Asia’s prominent countries.

Writing down some of the things I could understand on what led to this transformation and is there the other side to it as well.

In one of the interviews Lee had said “We don’t have the ingredients of a nation. The elementary factors like homogenous population, common language, common culture and common destiny”.

So how did such a transformation happen in 50 years of country’s existence?

When this small city state was ejected from Malaysian union in 1965, it was threatened from within by race riots as well as communist insurgency. His autobiography wonderfully recounts the story of how he crafted success out of these challenges.

After taking charge of this small city state, Lee opted for pragmatism over ideology and social stability over civil rights. Lee believed that the record of any country should be judged against the backdrop of its historical, cultural and Institutional realities.

 

Lee’s leadership qualities :

Lee has been an exceptional leader.  His clarity of vision, conviction, honesty, discipline in the pursuit of the goal, blunt but non derogatory approach, taking firm decisions and foresightedness has made Singapore what it is today. History was instructive but not imprisoning for him. He prized opportunity, meritocracy, work ethics and education. His sharp intellect gave him an aura of an elder statesman in Asia and in the World. His free economic policy led to Singapore becoming headquarters to many multinational companies.

Lee’s perception about India :

Lee’s perception of India changed over the years. Initially he pitted India to China and highlighted India’s obvious disadvantages over China. When the concept of East Asia Summit (EAS) to strengthen peace and security in the region was conceived, India wasn’t a part. However when the forum was launched in 2005, India was one of the founding members of EAS. This was largely because of Lee’s advocacy for India.

Singapore’s economic growth :  

Since beginning Lee  adopted a free market philosophy. This approach has helped them grow faster economically than their peers. The free market philosophy has also been balanced by a chain of successful companies that are owned by government, public housing projects to house most citizens and compulsory savings through public provident fund. Singapore has seen higher savings and investment rates. Growth happens on account of rapid capital formation for which savings are absolutely necessary.

Singapore’s per capita income rose from $2529 in 1960 to $36897 in 2013 in constant 2005 dollar terms according to World Bank indicators. This means Singapore’s per capita income rose by 14.5 times from 1960 to 2013 in real terms.

Over the same period, India’s per capita income grew from $228 to $1165, or five times.

Task discipline vs Thinking big :

Under Lee, Singapore has seen towering skyscrapers, landscape gardens, spotless streets and a disciplined society. Singapore has also seen the other side. No cutting edge research, no global brands like Sony of Japan, Apple of US, Samsung of Korea and ICICI Bank, Infosys, Flipkart, Tata’s & Birla of India.

The unquestioned obedience makes Singapore run like a well-oiled machinery. This leaves little scope for developing an experimenting mindset, which could be limiting the citizens and the country in future.

Singaporeans make excellent managers and technocrats but there are very few entrepreneurs. 

Can our country learn from Lee’s philosophy?

According to Infosys ex- chairman Mr. Narayan Mutrhy who met Lee multiple times, India can learn the following things from him.

1.       Integrity of thought and action by political leadership.

2.       Duties should come before rights.

3.       Selecting political candidates and the bureaucrats on the basis of their merit.

4.       Weeding out corruption through stricter laws.

5.       Removing friction and facilitating more business friendly environment.  

India is different from Singapore in many ways. The size of our country, culture, demographics and socio-political setup. The world takes lessons from us on running a democratic set up.

So we may want to experiment with Lee’s model by taking the top 50 cities of our country or top two in each state and create a mini Singapore. This without compromising the ethos of our Country. Now, this may sound like an Oxymoron but what’s the harm in at least giving a thought and creating a blue print?

 

 

Indian government initiative of 'Swachh Bharat' mission and 'Smart cities' is a great starting point. Transforming this initiative into people movement can be the key.

 

 

 

Freezing while presenting? These 5 things can unfreeze you

Let’s face it. Whatever be your profession, at some point or the other you will have to face this situation. Standing in front of a group of people and speaking.

Have you faced or experienced this situation? Be it in your office, your business, your community get-together or alumni meets? What’s the feeling?

During my trainings or interactions with people, they have repeatedly told me that this is the most difficult situation to handle. They freeze, perspire, experience a thought jam and often go blank.

Is there a way out? Is there a method that can help unfreeze and win the moment?

First let me share the good news. Yes, there is a way out.

Now let me also share the not so good news. It requires some efforts that most people don’t put. This is for two reasons. One, even if they do not practice presentation skills, it does not hamper their routine and two we normally have a tendency of procrastinating the difficult things.

But if you are serious and want to take a step ahead in what is referred to as a ‘Life Skill’, here are 5 things that can help you.

Before we begin, please understand that freezing while giving presentation is not unusual. It happens to even the most seasoned presenters. This only indicates that our mind and body is preparing itself for the unusual situation.

Remember ‘TIPS’.

1.       Topic :

Understand the topic so that you don’t miss the fundamental expectation of the presentation. After all your subsequent blocks are going to be built on this foundation. So getting this right is imperative.

 

2.       Information gathering :

Once you understand the topic, the next important step is to gather information about the topic that is relevant to the type of presentation. For example for the business presentation it could be data, business and activity updates. For non-business presentations it may be more experiences and issues. Please ensure that you gather more information than the time given to you for the presentation. This will give you choice of sequencing the points basis their importance and eliminate the non-important ones.

 

3.       Presentation methodology :

Once you prioritise the points, check for the presentation methodology. Are you going to use power point or only reference notes? MS office 2013 allows you to see the next slide when the first slide is displayed to the audience. This can help you in structuring your thoughts. If you are going to use only notes, use cue cards. If you are using power point, please keep your slides simple and de-cluttered.

 

4.       Story :

Listening to stories is engaging. So your presentation must have stories. You may wonder how a business presentation can have stories. Do you recall one of the best business presentations you heard? What do you recollect?  Do you recollect only numbers or stories associated with these numbers? Stories of how people achieved topline, bottom line, market share or dominant position in a territory.

So try and substantiate your presentation with real stories. It adds tremendous power to your presentation.

 

5.       Pep yourself :

Remember the Rush Hour series by Jackie Chan? Chris Tucker who plays detective Jim Carter in the movie has portrayed an easy, jovial yet serious when required kind of character in the movie. Jim gives a high pitch pep talk to self and to inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) when requiring big fights with criminals.

My point is simple. Preparing yourself for presentations or talks is a big fight against your dis-empowering thoughts. Fight it like detective Jim and inspector Lee. Overcome the fear by regularly practicing the presentation skills. Give yourself a pep talk.

The first 4 points will give you the structure for preparing the presentation. The fifth point will give you energy and confidence to overcome the stage fright.

Let me know if these tips have helped you in your next presentation.

 

MOOCs – An easy access to continuous learning, or is it?

Want to keep in touch with the subject of your liking? Want to do some formal course in the subject from some of the well- known universities and listening to some of the finest professors on the globe? Importantly want to do it sitting in your cozy couch sipping your favourite coffee?

If your answer to these questions is in affirmation, MOOCs can be the best option for you.

About MOOCs :

For the un-initiated, MOOCs or massive open online courses are the courses offered by various universities over Web. The term MOOC was coined in 2008 by Dave Cormier of the University of Prince Edward Island in response to a course called Connectivism and Connective Knowledge (also known as CCK08).

In India, the idea was first proposed by IISc Bangalore in the year 1999. Following that, video-based teaching material, NPTEL was set up during 2003-2007. As of March 2014, approximately 750 video courses and web-based courses have been developed by the faculty members of IITs, IIMs and IISc.

Coursera.org; edx.org; udemy.com are some of the sites that aggregate various courses from universities. All of them offer free registration on their site. Some courses are free and some are paid.

Usually these courses range from eight to twelve weeks.

What is it like? :

One has to complete various stages to complete the course. Week wise video lectures, assessments, participation in online discussions, project submission, final test and peer review. After all this you get your final grades.

You search the subject that you are passionate about and the chances are you will find some course or the other that adds value to your current knowledge on the subject.

Self-directed learning, easy access, choice of subject, convenience, cost competitiveness (most of them are free) all these go in favour of MOOCs and all of us.

So do we see an increase in the number of courses being offered by various universities on these platforms?

According to the European Commission's Open Education Europa initiative, as of January 2015 - there were over 3,842 MOOCs worldwide. The total Number of MOOCs grew 201% in 2014, and over the period 2013-2018, MOOCs are forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 56.61%.

The other view :

The academic leaders however seem to be giving mixed signals.

Babson survey research group has some interesting findings in this regard. The group has been tracking opinions of academic leaders about online learning for 10 years now. They have started asking about MOOCs since 2012.

In 2012, 28 percent of respondents believed MOOCs were sustainable, while 26 percent thought they were not. In this year’s survey (2014), where they surveyed 2800 academic leaders, 16 percent believe MOOCs are sustainable, while 51 percent think they are not.

The academic leaders want to use the courses to improve institutional visibility and drive recruitment, discovers the survey.

Conclusion :

There has been lot of discussion and debate on the usefulness of MOOCs for the participants as well as for the institutions.

For the debate to turn favourable for both, there needs to be deeper penetration and wider choice.

Importantly, an acceptable measurement metric can enhance credibility of MOOCs for participants and for the institutions.

For me, I find MOOCs to be resource rich, convenient and of good value.

 

NITI Aayog, You and Me….

NITI Aayog, You and Me…. 

The government of India constituted the NITI Aayog. NITI Aayog replaces the 65 year old planning commission.  NITI is a Sanskrit word that loosely translates as ‘policy’. The government has aptly given NITI an appropriate long form. National Institution for Transforming India. I am not sure if it’s the other way round. Long form condensed into an acronym.  Anyways, the point is now we have the NITI Aayog.

As the Chairman of the Aayog, our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra  Modi  kick starts the first meeting of NITI Aayog on 6^th February 2015.

So what should be different with the NITI Aayog compared to the planning commission that we had for good 65 years? 

Here are the three things that may not only differentiate but have a positive influence on the people of our country.

1.       Identifying the real definition of GDP :

GDP or Gross Domestic Product is a measure of gross economic activity. This really does not differentiate between a good activity and a bad activity. The GDP looks at the value, not worth. As the famous economist Tim Harford puts it, ‘a Brazilian wax may have the same value as the cost of a week’s food for a poor family’.

 

a.       What money can’t buy :

Philosopher Michael Sandel explains in his book What money cannot buy that many things that produce goodness in people’s lives such as dignity, trust in one’s neighbors and a sense of fairness are not measurable in money terms. Therefore they are excluded from GDP calculations.

Measuring quantitative things itself is difficult at a macro level. So if we add qualitative aspects like dignity, trust etc, it will be even more difficult to have a score or a number that is comparable.

 

b.      The economics of innocent fraud :

John Kenneth Galbraith writes in The economics of innocent fraud, ‘Good performance is measured by the production of material objects and services. Not education or literature or the arts but the production of automobiles, including SUVs…The best of human past is the artistic, literary, religious and scientific accomplishments that emerged from the societies where they were the measure of success.’

 

Integrating quantitative and qualitative aspects to measure the real progress should be an important task on NITI Aayog’s agenda. 

2.       Education :

The first education policy in India came in 1968. This document established 10+2+3 education model. We got the second policy in 1986 that focused on access and equity. For the last 29 years now there is no new education policy in our country whereas there has been a fundamental shift of what is required in terms of knowledge and skills.

The government has recently outlined a vision for education policy.  The broad contours of this policy under 33 themes are uploaded on www.mygov.in .

 

Some of the framework points are:

a.       Internationalisation of higher education

b.      Public-Private partnership in higher education

c.       Improving quality of education

d.      Outcome based teaching-learning model in elementary schools

NITI Aayog needs to play an important role in ensuring that the framework is robust enough to take care of current and future knowledge and skill requirements.

3.       Financial Inclusion :

We hear stories of money being borrowed at 5% per month by a sahukaar (money lender). There are many movies depicting this pain where the borrower spends (and sometimes ends) his life servicing the debt.  Jan Dhan Yojana is a big and important step that can curtail this to a large extent. The Aayog needs to chart the future course so that it creates a win-win for the account holder as well as the banks or financial institutions.

 

In a nutshell, we need a balanced score card for measuring the progress of our nation and our countrymen.

 

NITI Aayog will do a great job if it creates one. In the real sense then it will be an institution for transforming India.

 

5 things for the new YOU!!!

Did you make resolution this year? Any resolution? Losing weight, acquiring new skill, getting up early, balancing professional and personal life or anything close to heart.

We are well over a fortnight into the New Year. Do you still hold the resolution and are continuing with it? If the answer is yes, chances are that you may continue it.

If you have not done any resolution, I am with you.

I have made New Year resolutions and often seen them crumble in the first month. I have seen this with many people. Yet there are some who sustain them. We all see them. They may have a discontinuity in between but they restart and continue with the resolution.

What makes them going? What is it that gives them the strength to restart the broken chain and why is it so difficult for others?

Here are the 5 things experts say they do differently.

1.      They see the big picture :

Napoleon Hill in his famous book ‘Think and grow rich’ writes persuasively about the art of visualization. Stephen Covey in his book ‘7 habits of highly effective people’ writes about begin with the end in mind.

The people who continue with their resolution demonstrate these qualities quite often. My friend lost 17 kg and got in shape last year. She has set her target on a particular weight she wanted to achieve (end state) and visualized being their every day.

How do you visualize?  Believe that you have already succeeded. Whatever is your goal, close your eyes and see yourself achieving it. See it in as much detail as possible. Add colors, movement, smell, taste, sound, emotions – make it seem like a live memory rather than something you are imagining.

 

2.      They speak out :

 

I have often seen these people share their resolution with their near and dear ones. This to my mind gives them moral binding to continue with their resolution. There are phases in their life when they feel of giving it up, however this binding often keeps them going.

 

3.      They display consistency and commitment :

The commitment to be consistent at a particular thing comes from what Napoleon Hill calls the burning desire. And burning desire comes when we know where to go, which is the big picture or the end state visualization. You see these are so very strongly inter-connected. Distinguished professor of psychology Dr. Robert Cialdini shares this beautifully. He says there is something that lies deep within us that direct our actions. This is our obsessive desire to be (and to appear) consistent with what we have already done.

 

 

4.      They look at it as ritual :

    A ritual is a series of actions or type of behaviour regularly and invariably followed by someone.

   Once they debate it out in their mind and decide on some agenda, they try and make it a ritual. So once their mind is conditioned and starts believing it to be the ritual, their other actions get aligned relatively easily.

 

5.      They value time :

This is one of the most precious resources available with us. They understand it all the more. They prioritise things and channelize their energies to the set priorities. This allows them to allocate the requisite time to achieve their set resolutions.

 

Here is wishing you a great new year and may you and I get the strength to realise our resolutions in this year than ever before.

 

 

 

 

Translating individual knowledge into Organisational knowledge

Translating individual knowledge into Organisational knowledge

I have a few important questions.

How does one institutionalize the knowledge and expertise gained by an individual? Why is it important for the Organisation? Does sharing these insights bring insecurity to an individual?

Well, we shall try and discuss the first question. How does one institutionalize the knowledge and expertise gained by an individual?

In 1985, product developers at Osaka based Matsushita Electric Company were hard at work on a new home bread making machine.  They were having trouble in getting the machine to knead the dough correctly. The crust of the bread used to get overcooked and the inside was hardly cooked.

The gist of what was done is as follows.

The best bread making hotel was identified. An engineer from Matushita electric understood the process in detail from the master chef who was an expert in making the best bread in town. The engineer then translated the understanding to the project team responsible for making the bread home machine.

The knowledge transfer may happen in one of the four ways.

1.       Tacit to tacit: One person shares his knowledge with the other person. In the bread making example, it’s the sharing of knowledge, process and skill by the master chef with the engineer. Look at some of the skills like that of a blacksmith. One person passes on the knowledge and skill to the next generation and so on…

2.       Explicit to explicit: This is when one individual puts discrete pieces of information together to form a new whole. A project management office for example may ask for different kinds of information from various teams/department and create a new insight altogether.

3.       Tacit to explicit: When the knowledge known to one individual is shared in such a way that it can be translated into a process. In the example of bread making machine, when the engineer is able to articulate the learning from the master chef to the project team, it can be termed as tacit to explicit knowledge transfer.

4.       Explicit to tacit: The new explicit knowledge is shared across the Organisation. When this is done, the other employees begin to use it, internalize it and broaden their capabilities. This enables them to reframe their own tacit knowledge.

Today technology plays a very important role in the manner in which the knowledge is created and captured in the company. Many companies have kept innovation at the center of the strategy. This becomes one of the big differentiators for them.  

So we find Organisations using many innovation models or concepts or practices. Some of them are innovation councils, hackethons, innovation champs, Idea incubations, crowd sourcing and many more. This allows them to generate new ideas effectively, fail cheaply, get the filtered ideas and incubate them. Finally leading the chaos to a concept and scale it into a new business opportunity.

I am sure you have come across many such examples. From small process change innovations that help reduce time and better customer experience to paradigm shifting innovations like a car @ $2000 (Tata Nano) or manufacturing a portable imaging device at one-tenth of the cost that can be taken to patients for health check-ups (GE).

So does it help us as consumers and contributors to knowledge creation and innovation?

As consumers these innovation practices helps us with more and more innovative options and access on products and services.

As an Organisation citizen it allows us to participate in the process and enhance our own tacit framework.

It allows us a great opportunity to contribute and make this world an even better place to live.

 

 

 

Why people smile back?

Why people smile back?

Few years ago, a university professor tried a little experiment. He sent season’s greeting cards to a sample of people who were complete strangers.

Any guess as to what would have been the result of this experiment?

Although the professor expected some reaction, he was amazed with the response he got. Holiday cards addressed to him came pouring back from people who have never met or heard of him. Most of them never ever inquired about the identity of the unknown professor.

They received the holiday greeting card and they sent one in return.

Recollect when your little princess went for her friend’s birthday party? There was a gift and there was a return gift. I think the return gift concept would have come from parents more than children.

When someone invites us at their place, we also reciprocate by inviting them at our place.

Why do you think this happens?

Here is the reason. There is a powerful rule that is at play. Renowned psychologist Dr. Robert Cialdini calls it the ‘Rule of Reciprocation’.

The rule suggests that we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us.

So when you do something for others, they have an overwhelming tendency to repay.

I am sure you have been to the sweet mart some time or the other. I have a very experience with sweet marts in two different circumstances. My re-action were different for these two different types of sweet shops. One type of sweet mart show you the displayed stuff and the other type not only shows the display, but also encourages you to taste different types of sweets.

I have always felt a sense of obligation to buy something in the sweet marts where I was coaxed into trying different sweets.

One such interesting study was done by Prof. Dennis Regan. Here is the gist of the experiment.

The set up was that of grading the paintings (‘art appreciation’). The subjects (they are the one on whom the researcher conducts the experiment) were divided into two groups.. First group 1 and then group 2 were asked to grade the paintings. In both the groups one person was common who was a research assistant with Prof. Regan. He acted as one of the participants in both the groups and behaved the same natural way except one change.

With group 1 he took a 2 minutes break, went out and got 2 cokes.  One for self and the other for fellow mates. With group 2, he did take a 2 minute break but did not bring the coke. Neither for self not for others.

Here is an interesting part of the experiment. When the grading was done and the participants waited in the other room, he told both the groups to do him a small favour.

He indicated that was selling raffle ticket @ 25 cents for a new car and that if he sold more tickets he would win fifty dollar prize.

What do you think may have happened?

People in group 1 for him he got the coke purchased twice the number of tickets compared to group 2.

The experiment through the rating scale also check the correlation between liking for the research assistant and tickets purchased.

The findings were again interesting. People who owed him something to him reacted differently. It did not matter to them whether they like him or not, they still purchased the tickets.

Give and you shall receive.

The question then is, can we use this powerful rule in sales, service, social context or for that matter any sphere that we are in?

Here are the three things we can conclude :

1.       People have a tendency to repay favours.

2.       Repaying an obligation overpowers liking for us.

3.       This can have great application in any profession that we are in.

And yes, for the same reason, if we smile the other person will smile back!!!