Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
And now the biggest fall in the financial capital of the world
Troubled times continue in the financial capital of the world. The latest casualty is one of America’s most storied organizations - a part of their history and folklore. It was this organization which first made the pin stripes a dress code – something which has now become a dress code across Wall Street.
Their fall comes after 13 glorious years including 4 as the best performers in the whole world. In a performance driven world this organization had the highest salaries and bonuses this year – 207 million dollars in all. And the worst part – they now have to vacate their famous office – a land mark site in the city, nicknamed after one of their most legendry employees.
So is the Federal govt doing something about it?
No, in fact some industry watchers are making fun of the government’s inability to do anything in this case.
God knows what America is coming to
Thursday, September 25, 2008
FIFA finally gets the World Cup mascot a pair of shorts
The mascot for the 2010 football world cup in South Africa was unveiled on Sept 23. After the shockers that were the last two World Cup mascots, I was expecting something similar or worse than a set of comic alienoids or a half clothed lion football man.
The 2006 mascot - Is it half-clothed or half-naked?Such fears never arose in the good old days. Check out all the World Cup mascots till date and the rationale behind each.
Is it a mere coincidence that the mascot horrors have come in the reign of Mr Sepp ' mad bundle of ideas' Blatter. I am wondering what could be an appropriate punishment for him - making him dress like the 2006 mascot probably!!!
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Dempo schools ‘Home’ away from home
Which channel is showing this tournament in India?After the high of India’s triumph in the AFC Challenge Cup, comes India’s greatest moment in Asian Club football. Dempo Sports Club have become the first Indian club to make the last four of the AFC Cup – Asia’s equivalent of the UEFA Cup. The club achieved this by scripting an amazing away win over Home United of Singapore.Here’s a full recount of how they got to this stage.
I am sure many Indian football fans like me gave this momentous game the slip. Well, time to make up for it and cheer Dempo to more glory. The semis begin on 7th Oct when Dempo take on Lebanese club Safa Sporting in the first away leg. The return leg is at home on the 21st of Oct.
But does anyone know which channel will be showing these games live in India? I haven’t a clue. Somebody please help me out here – for my sake as well as for all the others who care.
Go Dempo
P.S. - The 'Sports Blog : for the common fan' is now moving to a new home. Starting the second week of October, the common fan's views on the world of sports will be found on http://www.acommonfan.com/. Look forward to seeing you guys in our new home.
HR lessons from the world of sports
This post was originally published on the Workosaur blog. Workosaur is the coolest new job portal around - its a niche site focusing only on 7 figure jobs
The world of sports is extremely performance driven. It’s the hardest “industry” to continually stay at the top. No other industry is as competitive. Winning in sports is everything. There is no place for non-performers – winners thrive and losers perish. Business organizations also aspire to create a similar kind of culture – one which is completely performance driven and breeds excellence. However, few HR teams know how to go about doing so. What they need to do is take a break from what they have been doing all along and start doing what people are doing in the world of sports. So what are the key things that people in the world of sports do?
- Great players don't always make great managers and vice versa - In most organizations, the best individual contributors are often promoted to become managers. The world of sports runs differently – those guys have long known that the skill set required to become a great manager is drastically different than the skills necessary to be a great player. A lot of great managers have been very ordinary players but in corporate organizations managers have more often than not been great workers also. HR in organizations needs to learn this - to promote based on people and management skills and not just on their ability to contribute individually.
- To win it is important to focus on the key positions that play the most significant role in securing victory – Sports teams know that it is not possible to have top performers in every position and also that attempting to do so is a futile exercise. HR teams are not so focussed and end up spreading their resources thin. Successful teams have always concentrated on filling the key positions with top performers and HR needs to do the same – start prioritizing jobs by their potential impact on the success of the business.
- Your performance statistics will never improve if you keep hiding them - The best sportsmen always love to compete and compare themselves against others – by keeping score. The world of sports is obsessed with tracking performance figures and that ensures that non performers have nowhere to hide. Compare that to the corporate world, where the HR keeps all the performance statistics under wraps. No information about target achievements and appraisals are ever made public. This also forces the HR to keep salary increments a secret. Non performers keep getting away. Thus to build a performance based organization you need track, measure and distribute output and performance reports.
- Rewards and recognition programs should not have a fixation for parity - In sports the best players often get paid many times more than the mediocre performers. In business, the difference is far less. HR uses tools like normalization curves and target percentiles to justify their action of keeping salary differentials low. It is difficult to get the top talent (as required for point 2) if they are not paid significantly more and treated differently than the average performer. It also corroborates the fact that in sports, performance is rewarded and paid for accordingly. HR often has no justification for its payment practises and hence is forced to keep them secret 9 another example of point 3)
- Firing poor performers is a good thing and not a bad one – In sports, teams are always striving to improve – even if it’s by the teeniest bit – it’s a pre-requisite for teams that want to continue the winning habit. They are always looking to weed out the bottom performers and replace them with better talent. HR managers on the other hand believe that sackings are bad for morale and keep delaying it – giving poor performers’ chance after chance. How’s that for the motivation of the star performers – seeing their efforts get negated by that of shoddy performers, who are not even made to pay for it.
- In sports, Winning isn’t everything… it’s the only thing – Sports teams are never satisfied with second place. It is this kind of “performance culture” that brings the best out of players. Unfortunately HR departments are quite happy with an above average performance. Average goals often result in below average results. There is no motivation to exceed expectations.
- Don’t reward complacency with training sessions – Great sportspersons have the personal will and drive to get better. They don’t have to be tutored like school children to work on improving themselves. HR teams are preoccupied with training sessions. They believe that grown up and career conscious men don’t have enough self motivation to improve on their own and have to be sent to training programs to achieve that. Well I have news for them. If you have a company full of such men, you are in big trouble.
P.S. - The 'Sports Blog : for the common fan' is now moving to a new home. Starting the second week of October, the common fan's views on the world of sports will be found on www.acommonfan.com. Look forward to seeing you guys in our new home.
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Sunday, September 21, 2008
Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena - what took TV guys so long to come up with this?
Colors, the Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) from the Viacom18 stable, is launching a new cricket format show - Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena. This will feature “Indian cricketers with ladies from Indian television, to fight it out on the dance-floor”. It hits the TV screens on 26 September and will air every Friday and Saturday at 9 pm.
I have one question for the people who run television in India
What took you so long to come up with this?
This was such an obvious idea that even I had thought of it
The six teams are S Sreesanth with Surveen Chawla, Harbhajan Singh with Mona Singh, Irfan Pathan with Ashima Bhalla, Dinesh Karthik with Nigar Khan, Nikhil Chopra with Barkha Bisht and Vinod Kambli with Shama Sikander.
While this is a decent line-up, I have a dream cast for any competing channel that wants to steal their thunder.
And trust me; if this one materializes I will take a break from this blog to watch the show. The line-up is that good
Sphere: Related Content
I have one question for the people who run television in India
What took you so long to come up with this?
This was such an obvious idea that even I had thought of it
The six teams are S Sreesanth with Surveen Chawla, Harbhajan Singh with Mona Singh, Irfan Pathan with Ashima Bhalla, Dinesh Karthik with Nigar Khan, Nikhil Chopra with Barkha Bisht and Vinod Kambli with Shama Sikander.
While this is a decent line-up, I have a dream cast for any competing channel that wants to steal their thunder.
And trust me; if this one materializes I will take a break from this blog to watch the show. The line-up is that good
Why I have dared to do a Nostradamus for Indian Tennis
Nostradamus’ prediction on Indian men’s tennis
“At the height of the game’s glory in the land of the Aryans civilization, a great warrior will be born in a place known for its shrubs that produce a brew of unmatchable purity. The warrior will be named after the moon god. He will travel to the land of the game’s origins and train in the ancient learning grounds. He will conquer all and became the most accomplished fighter produced by the training grounds. He will return to the land of his birth and find it shorn of most of its past glory and eclipsed by other regional powers. His people have been consumed by internal strife and the last link to the magnificent past is also fading away. The warrior will answer the call of his long deprived people and bring back the glorious days.”
How the prediction has panned out
In the 1980’s (the best period for Indian men's tennis with the combo of Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan) in India (land of the Aryans), a tennis player (warrior) will be born in the tea (brew) producing state of Assam (a place which produces the best tea). The player will be named SomDev (the moon god as per Hindu nomenclature). He will go to the US (place where tennis originated) and play in the US collegiate system (formerly a breeding ground for all US players). He will become the collegiate system’s most decorated player (most accomplished fighter). He will come home to find that India haven't been to the World Group in ten years (lost past glory) and have no half decent singles player – Thailand, Japan and South Korea have far better singles players (eclipsed by other Asian powers). The team has been suffered from infighting (internal strife) and the last of our Davis cup heroes – Leander Paes (last link to glorious past) is close to retirement (fading away). Somdev will bring new hope for long suffering Indian tennis fans (long deprived people )and become India's next great singles player. He will lead us back to the Davis Cup World Group and also bring back the days when Indian players were regular features in the main draw of grand slam events and other top tournaments (bring back the glory days).
Ok, fine, Nostradamus made no such prediction
Mr Nostradamus couldn't have done a better job with this prediction
But Iam willing to put my head out and take ownership of this prediction. And you know what, this is the safest prediction that I have ever made, really. Somdev is that good.
And we haven’t even come to the best parts yet
Somdev’s stint in the US collegiate circuit has ensured that he is supremely fit and athletic and has an all-court game with no glaring weaknesses. This is a rare combination for an Indian player – we haven’t had another one who wasn’t lacking on at least one count.
Ramesh Krishnan had a serve which acted merely as way to start the point. He was taught by his father who in turn was taught by a father who was self taught. Vijay Amritraj’s lack of stamina was his undoing in countless encounters. Leander’s singles game was extremely one-dimensional – chip and charge at every opportunity. Sania Mirza has also suffered from a lack of a good serve and technical flaws which cause frequent injuries. Somdev on the other hand is well equipped to face the challenges of the modern game.
Additionally, he has a very mature head on his shoulders. He could have turned professional a year earlier after his first NCAA title. But he resisted the temptation to do so, preferring to stay on for another year to finish college and work on his game. Such maturity will hold him in good stead – he will not get carried away by the fame that has already been bestowed upon him and also not get disheartened by the growing pains of finding his way around in the tough world of men’s professional tennis.
Is there anybody who still doubts that chances of my prediction coming true?
Sphere: Related Content
“At the height of the game’s glory in the land of the Aryans civilization, a great warrior will be born in a place known for its shrubs that produce a brew of unmatchable purity. The warrior will be named after the moon god. He will travel to the land of the game’s origins and train in the ancient learning grounds. He will conquer all and became the most accomplished fighter produced by the training grounds. He will return to the land of his birth and find it shorn of most of its past glory and eclipsed by other regional powers. His people have been consumed by internal strife and the last link to the magnificent past is also fading away. The warrior will answer the call of his long deprived people and bring back the glorious days.”
How the prediction has panned out
In the 1980’s (the best period for Indian men's tennis with the combo of Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan) in India (land of the Aryans), a tennis player (warrior) will be born in the tea (brew) producing state of Assam (a place which produces the best tea). The player will be named SomDev (the moon god as per Hindu nomenclature). He will go to the US (place where tennis originated) and play in the US collegiate system (formerly a breeding ground for all US players). He will become the collegiate system’s most decorated player (most accomplished fighter). He will come home to find that India haven't been to the World Group in ten years (lost past glory) and have no half decent singles player – Thailand, Japan and South Korea have far better singles players (eclipsed by other Asian powers). The team has been suffered from infighting (internal strife) and the last of our Davis cup heroes – Leander Paes (last link to glorious past) is close to retirement (fading away). Somdev will bring new hope for long suffering Indian tennis fans (long deprived people )and become India's next great singles player. He will lead us back to the Davis Cup World Group and also bring back the days when Indian players were regular features in the main draw of grand slam events and other top tournaments (bring back the glory days).
Ok, fine, Nostradamus made no such prediction
Mr Nostradamus couldn't have done a better job with this predictionBut Iam willing to put my head out and take ownership of this prediction. And you know what, this is the safest prediction that I have ever made, really. Somdev is that good.
Good enough to have beaten a bagful of top-100 players even before he turned professional. One of them happens to be Sam Querry – the guy who gave Rafael Nadal a real scare in the US Open.
In Somdev we trust, completely
In Somdev we trust, completelyAnd we haven’t even come to the best parts yet
Somdev’s stint in the US collegiate circuit has ensured that he is supremely fit and athletic and has an all-court game with no glaring weaknesses. This is a rare combination for an Indian player – we haven’t had another one who wasn’t lacking on at least one count.
Ramesh Krishnan had a serve which acted merely as way to start the point. He was taught by his father who in turn was taught by a father who was self taught. Vijay Amritraj’s lack of stamina was his undoing in countless encounters. Leander’s singles game was extremely one-dimensional – chip and charge at every opportunity. Sania Mirza has also suffered from a lack of a good serve and technical flaws which cause frequent injuries. Somdev on the other hand is well equipped to face the challenges of the modern game.
Additionally, he has a very mature head on his shoulders. He could have turned professional a year earlier after his first NCAA title. But he resisted the temptation to do so, preferring to stay on for another year to finish college and work on his game. Such maturity will hold him in good stead – he will not get carried away by the fame that has already been bestowed upon him and also not get disheartened by the growing pains of finding his way around in the tough world of men’s professional tennis.
Is there anybody who still doubts that chances of my prediction coming true?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
The BCCI gets a little more marginalized in its war against the ICL
It just keeps getting better for the ICL. Immediately after making a major inroad into Bangladesh, the league has now won new friends in SriLanka. The Lankan board has agreed to allow players aligned with the rebel Indian Cricket League to compete in the country's domestic tournaments. Sri Lanka thus becomes the second country after England to do so – more will follow and the clamour for lifting the international ban will also gain a stronger voice. Additionally the ICL gains a new audience – which will create more cash flows and significantly improve the League’s financial health.
And there is more. A strong bitterness is brewing against the BCCI in New Zealand as well. Glenn Turner’s recent interview clearly echoes the sentiments of his country’s cricketing fraternity.
The key excerpts from the interview
Drifting to a different topic, how do you see the current crisis in New Zealand cricket?
Yes, with the emergence of the Indian Cricket League, we have lost some of our top players. Our provincial cricket is getting weakened and it is getting reflected in our performances in the international circuit. I think it’s time the ICL affiliated players are allowed to play international cricket.
Is the NZC putting the issue forward to the ICC?
I don’t know about that, but what I don’t like is that it’s the Indian board which is calling all the shots in the matter. If somebody’s ego and the power of the mighty dollar are put ahead of the game, cricket is bound to get a beating.
Here’s a list of ICC member countries who would be quirt relieved to see the ICL win (a victory means official recognition and an end to losing players to a rebel league) or the IPL lose (emergence of a strong rival league to seriously diminish the BCCI‘s clout in world cricket) - England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. That’s quite a list – The BCCI is either making a lot of enemies or losing a lot of friends. Either ways Subhash Chandra isn’t complaining.
Sphere: Related Content
And there is more. A strong bitterness is brewing against the BCCI in New Zealand as well. Glenn Turner’s recent interview clearly echoes the sentiments of his country’s cricketing fraternity.
The key excerpts from the interview
Drifting to a different topic, how do you see the current crisis in New Zealand cricket?
Yes, with the emergence of the Indian Cricket League, we have lost some of our top players. Our provincial cricket is getting weakened and it is getting reflected in our performances in the international circuit. I think it’s time the ICL affiliated players are allowed to play international cricket.
Is the NZC putting the issue forward to the ICC?
I don’t know about that, but what I don’t like is that it’s the Indian board which is calling all the shots in the matter. If somebody’s ego and the power of the mighty dollar are put ahead of the game, cricket is bound to get a beating.
Here’s a list of ICC member countries who would be quirt relieved to see the ICL win (a victory means official recognition and an end to losing players to a rebel league) or the IPL lose (emergence of a strong rival league to seriously diminish the BCCI‘s clout in world cricket) - England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. That’s quite a list – The BCCI is either making a lot of enemies or losing a lot of friends. Either ways Subhash Chandra isn’t complaining.
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