I was casually discussing quality and excellence with one of my old friends. We were exchanging our ideas on these topics, when I realized that he used the words quality and excellence interchangeably. This led to some more thinking and here’s what I realized: Quality is generally extrinsic. It is driven by external demands. We […]
Problems, challenges and inefficiencies (in one way or the other) are a part of any organization. How organizations deal with them makes all the difference. In my career so far, I have (broadly) seen two kinds of organizations. First are the ones who know the problem areas, but are not willing to invest in having […]
I have seen organizations that do the following. They define their work processes and implement them across the organization to get certified against a certain standard (like ISO). Standards enforce compliance and sometimes, leaders falls in a trap of linking the level of compliance with performance of individuals. This is how a “constraint” mindset works. […]
New year brings with it new predictions, agendas, resolutions and trends. New business models, new ways of working, cooler tools and technologies. One thing that remains constant (and has remained constant) is “Excellence” – which is at the core of the success of any organization, product, service or an individual. If I were to select […]
I am filled with gratefulness as I think about 2010 coming to an end. The reason I love blogging is that while I express myself, I meet some very interesting people – meet them through the words we write and through our passion of sharing ideas to make a small difference in the world we […]
Some of my most significant learning in quality and continuous improvement have come from John Hunter’s Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. This year, John invited me to participate in 2010 Annual Management Improvement Carnival, and I was thrilled to host it on this blog. The prime focus of this carnival is people development – and […]
I have always enjoyed reading thoughts of Subroto Bagchi, one of India’s most well known and respected leaders from the IT industry who operates as a “Gardener” and Vice Chairman at MindTree. I have read both his books, “The High Performance Entrepreneur” and “Go, Kiss the World” with great interest. (Read the reviews here and […]
Conversations are at the core of good leadership and how/what a leader communicates reveals the personality of the leader. A few years back, I was facilitating a discussion between the project leaders. The goal was to identify the opportunities for improvement in processes. Within first few minutes I knew that the conversation there was not […]
A quick thought. A lot of people worship religiously by following age old traditions, maintaining rituals and visiting religious places. That is the kind of worship that connects us to the Almighty. In my view, the “real worship”, the one that deeply connects us to our own selves, is to: first be ‘human’ in everything […]