Human Brain – the greatest symphony creator

Our brain is like a symphony creator. It creates notes to each sinew of the body and instructs how to perform. It is like a symphony creator hands out notes to each section of the orchestra – the players playing piano ,violins, cellos, flutes, trumpets, violas, brass, clarinets etc to play a symphony in unison. If an unsuitable note is handed out to a violinist or a trumpet player, the output is jarring. Similarly the brain also can send a wrong signal that results in imperfect limb movement or incoherent speech. Dementia, Alzheimer, Parkinson’s, Paralysis, all these happen because of brain’s malfunction and it’s notes going haywire. Our physical ailments or well-being not withstanding, it also sends signals that make our emotions erupt in a joyful or violent manner. It makes us to be kind to fellow humans and but also makes us to act in a cruel manner to cause harm to others.

How do we better take care of this wonderful symphony creator called brain?

We, as ordinary humans still don’t know ways to directly control our brain functions that activates our body parts. The brain functions in a normal way when each of our body part does what it is supposed to do. There is a perfect rhythm and sync in what it does. So keeping our body parts in prime condition is one way of helping our brain to continue doing its work. The following tips form renowned gurus and doctors make our body and mind to stay healthy. Let us try.

Eat moderately, eat right and on time

Exercise or walk or jog or run daily for 20-30 mts

Surround yourself with people having positive energy

Create more family time

Control anger and let go your ego and jealous

Mindfulness or meditation helps to recharge yourself

Believe in THE supreme power

We have come to this world to do what we are supposed to do and do it right.

Opportunity Vs Effort

How often we have seen people cribbing about not being recognised or rewarded for their hard work. We also see them lamenting that others who don’t put much efforts are being recognised and rewarded. They feel that they always get a raw deal from their superiors.

Let us see how a typical corporate life and growth is seen by a top management:

  • Right opportunity —> wrong efforts—> failure
  • Wrong opportunity—>wrong efforts —> failure
  • Right opportunity—> right efforts —> success
  • Wrong opportunity—> right efforts —> failure

So the probability of success is one in four cases and we can see where people go wrong. It is obvious that there are more chances of failure if we don’t identify right opportunity and put in right efforts to to achieve success.

It is always not the case when you feel your bosses are against you and however efforts you put in, they notice only the failed outcomes.

In general, Longevity in corporate life is all about continued successful outcomes from an individual.

#corporatesuccess #recognitionawards

What makes people to grow and excel?

We all know a Comparison is a measure of how others perceive about performances. We also know that Competition is a measure of what outsiders see about individuals, organisations or countries.

Analysts compare and conclude who is competing with whom and who is doing better than whom. It is not an exact measure of the what they think these companies or countries are capable of. It is a measure of a relative performance and they conclude with a limited data and information. It also reveals the perceived weakness that may not be correct.

For an individual or an organisation or a country, it may be a motivating factor that ranking helps them to know where do they stand in a competitive world. But it is not a defining factor. They know their capability and the opportunities in front of them and take a self-assessment of how these potentially are to be put into action to derive the maximum outcome.

  • An individual should realise his or her capability and how it needs to be enhanced to achieve the goal. A good mentor will help achieve that objective.
  • An organisation should dwelve on its capabilities and limitations that inhibit its growth and strive to work on them to improve its standing in the market place. A good strategy needs to be revolved that considers all aspects of business that grinder the growth.
  • A country needs to tap all its resources and channelise them to unleash its hidden potential to achieve progress. Implementation of policies and achieving outcomes must be the focus for the bureaucrats and ministers.

We don’t grow because others want us.
We grow at our own will and show the world that we have ‘it’ in us to excel. It is always the potential that we would want to showcase not the weakness. Great individuals, Famous organisations and Developed countries have demonstrated that nothing succeeds like the focus,determination and hard work.

Perils of Re-org

The most dreaded word in any organisation is Re-org. It sends shivers down the organisation pyramid. Usually a few select senior leaders with the help of an external consulting firm gets into this exercise and the outcome is either a great hit or a damn squib.

It may be noted that a business reorg due to a merger or acquisition is different from a structural & operational reorg of a running business.

There are multiple reasons why re-org is attempted by a CEO or the Board of Directors.

  • the organisation’s top line is not growing enough to keep pace with the industry growth. New opportunities are not pursued.
  • the CEO himself had just taken over with a mandate that a double digit growth needs to be assured. The first thing he attempts to do is an re-org.
  • there are too many senior leaders in the same role for many years and a sort of complacency or duplication of responsibilities has set-in that impacts the organisation’s performance.
  • the organisation is drifting away from
    being customer centric and long time customers are parting ways.
  • a new acquisition or merger has happened and a new org needs to be created to accommodate the executives of the acquired / merged entity.
  • the organisation has turned into a behemoth and is no longer nimble to absorb the changing technological trends and show consistent growth and profitability across all revenue streams.
  • a recent dent in the brand image of the business due to an internal operational issue or a market reaction or increasing customer complaints compels CEO to shuffle leaders.

If the re-org doesn’t produce the desired results, chaos sets in, leaders lose focus and the employees become a confused lot. Attrition happens fast and new hires are not on-boarding. The old org’s hang over and hierarchy still rule the day to day operations and the new org is unable to take complete control. Conflicts happen at all levels and customer interests are compromised. Revenue streams are juggled and sales teams are demotivated.

Reorg is mostly an organisation’s internal matter and when it fails, skeletons are out in the open and the blame game starts. A successful reorg exercise should clearly consider:

  • communicate, why reorg is needed
  • get the buy-in from all stake holders
  • define new responsibility matrix
  • name unit and sub-unit owners
  • lines of business to be dropped/added
  • new revenue streams
  • expected increase in top/bottom lines
  • customer retention strategy
  • internal and external threats to org
  • employee retention
  • revised competitive strategy
  • finally be empathetic to employees

A reorg helps some and disappoints many. So due care must be exercised before it is conceived and implemented.

#reorganisation #customerretention #employeeretention

Better planning and execution in Supply chain results in profits

Managing the constituents of a supply chain in a business is vital for achieving incremental profits. We usually focus on managing cost reduction in supply chain but never look at it as profit that could be measured at every stage – parts sourcing, conversion, value addition, packaging, logistics, inventory management and distribution. Each component contributes to incremental profit and the business owners of these components need to align with the overall objective of the organisation. If we think cost reduction in supply chain helps in keeping sale price constant to retain customers, then we don’t think of it as a profit. Is cost cut a holier word than profit? Not at all.

In a competitive market, it is an art to keep the sale price of a product constant to hold onto market share but keep increasing the profit as far as possible, in-spite of variations in input and conversion costs. The job of the cost accountant plays an important role in achieving this objective. How many companies have this dedicated role, especially smaller organisation where this responsibility still lies with the promoter. The costing team takes the feedback from sales team, sourcing team and manufacturing / subcontracting team to arrive at the optimum sale price of a product that can be sold in high volumes during both on-season and off-season. The cost accountant also keeps a tab on the operations running costs like energy, fuel, salaries, infra maintenance etc.

Sourcing – every business has more than one vendor for a part or service . Spreading the supply risk among them and helping them to manage their input costs is important to keep the purchase costs within limits. Low cost alternate materials in parts or assemblies help to keep the production cost in check. Making short term and long term forecasts using machine learning algorithms is vital for the business.

Conversion – at the manufacturing plant, parts get converted or assembled to make the final product. Any savings in operational steps or routing or reducing maintenance down time or value additions go a long way to reduce the cost of conversions.

Value addition – a specially made tool or machine at the suppliers’ place can be replaced with an in-house tool modified to do the same operation helps to negotiate better price from the supplier.

Inventory Management- Maximising profits by managing material holding cost, planning for surge in customer orders is an art. How much buffer is necessary for each raw material and each finished product is statistically analysed and planned.

Packaging – since the advent JIT concept, sub– assemblies or parts do not get packed if the supplier and buyer are situated close by. Re-usable packaging or Returnable packaging as in the case of barrels or moulded trays or wooden crates substantially reduce the packaging cost that results in incremental profit.

Logistics – it constitutes a good percentage of final price of the product and it is important to control this cost by deploying a fleet management system ( either own or sourced outside) that offers the lowest transportation cost per piece or tonne or Kg. Again JIT concept helped in increasing the efficiency of logistics. The 3rd party logistics companies are a boon as part loads of parts or final products are shipped at reduced cost.

Distribution – the most horrendous part of supply chain and distribution is making available the products at the retailers’ shelves or meeting JIT deadlines. There needs to be a logical method of distribution based on past consumption history, prior knowledge of principals’ production quantities, planning for weather uncertainties and social disturbances. Demand forecast at the retail end is again done using supply chain planning softwares and analysing volumes of data to know the purchasing pattern and peak demand points in distribution network.

Today we have many softwares that help in integrated business planning, sales & operations planning, demand forecasts, inventory optimisation and response / lead time calculations. Choose a software that fits your business needs for the best supply chain planning and execution strategies.

#sapibp

#netsuite

#oraclescm

#precoro

#anaplan

#sapscm

#netstock

#microsoft365scm

Is Digital still a buzz word ?

‘Digital’ continues to be a buzz word for both IT and non IT companies for more than 5-6 decades. In fact when the first semi conductor chip was invented ( in 1958), we had also transitioned from analog to digital in every sphere of our life – in appliances, electronic instruments, computers, space vehicles, automobiles ( remember your first Casio digital watch?) etc.

We still talk about digital revolution in business and in our day to day life and haven’t yet found an alternate word. Frankly speaking, Digital experience has seemlessly merged with our life long ago and it is not a differentiator today. It is no longer fancy to brag that we do digital transformations.

It is good to note AI and ChatGPT are taking the world by storm but these are not new either. They are surely huge improvements of previous inventions that are already in use.

Today the challenge lies in how we integrate different technologies and platforms and what new use cases we could develop that will make our lives much easier. As we make our lives easier we get more time to invent newer technologies and that’s how the cycle of inventions and deployment goes on.

Human intelligence makes Artificial Intelligence more powerful. Our responsibility lies in limiting its use and not harm humans and the mother nature.

#digitalbusinesstransformation #artificial-intelligence #human-intelligence

Transforming a team …

We read a lot of posts about effective leadership, transformational leadership, autocratic leadership, participative leadership etc but they all focus only on a leader.

The men and the women they lead are never discussed about by any leadership guru and we know how they need to transform themselves to be a part of the team that is successful.

A successful leader is partly made by his or her team members too and we forget this fact and gives credit to only the leader.

A team needs to be participative, creative and undergo a transformation process to orient towards a leader and his or her vision. Success may be a result but the process to achieve it, is equally important. That process is not a one person’s effort.

An individual can be a successful person – a doctor, a sportsperson, a writer, a musician etc – but they are so because others have helped or motivated them to bring out their individual brilliance to the world. Their followers or admirers push them to secure that status for a long time to be remembered by all.

Let us spend some time how do we create such people in a team. Change in attitude of individuals bring about change in willingness to work for a cause or objective. Skills do matter but it is again a change in attitude to learn newer skills is essential.

A man creates his own destiny by his willingness or unwillingness to accept change that determines the course towards a successful outcome. That’s mindset every individual should ideally possess.

Let us debate 😊

leadership #teamculture #successmindset

It’s all about me…

We want to be loved, valued or appreciated. That’s a common nature of a human.

We always expect appreciations or likes for what we do or say. Because they keep us happy. The more we expect such accolades, the more we tend to be egoistic and there is a haughtiness that sets in us leading to total disregard of how we want to see others around us. We feel angry when those surrounding us don’t appreciate us.

We feel elated to be surrounded by people, who believe that as long as they keep praising our actions and words, they will get our favours. This sycophancy over a period, assumes a larger proportion to make us feel arrogant and disrespectful.

Good and long time friends leave us the moment we fail to recognise their value and appreciate them. When we always think about us, we don’t notice the good things in people around us. Relationships are built on mutual trust, love and appreciation. They are broken when we fail to see these virtues in other people. An egoist breaks the relationships due to his selfish attitude and soon he becomes s lonely person.

In every conversation we have with others, we talk about us, our family or what we have achieved. We never enquire about them or their family or their problems. People stay glued to each other through ups and downs only when they share their joys and sorrows.

Care, compassion and empathy towards others go a long way to nurture relationships that will stay rock solid for many years.

So, it’s not all about me but everyone around us. That will keep us and others happy and smiling.

It is not the destination that is important but the journey is.

What a fascinating statement by Gaur Gopal Das, the International Life Coach!

A journey is full of learnings that goes through rough paths, some tough people, some nice people, some failures, nice opportunities and is a long one towards a goal. If the destination is reaching that goal, then what one would do after reaching there? Rest up and stay contended?

On the other side, a journey throws up many challenges and one gets the will power and determination to overcome the challenges as he moves along. Challenges are not show stoppers but makes one tougher and seasoned. The journey also presents you with some beautiful moments that make you enjoy with the people that are also part of those moments. There are by-standers or co-travellers in a journey that may not add value to the journey but they help you to see a different perspective of people, their attitudes , their preferences and views.

A journey helps us to chisel our views on how we think about others, how we care for others and how we take responsibility for our actions. We define our own journey, the pace, the paths and the stops and no one can change it.

Do compliments make people weak?

We have seen people expecting compliments ( including some of those who post here) at the work place or in the family. A post or a share on social media page garners huge likes for some and not so for many. For the latter, they think that friends, buddies, siblings and parents are there to profusely offer you compliments to a level that spoil them and to feel crest fallen when they don’t regularly get them. They remain sullen and remorse and don’t attempt anything new and shy away from even doing their normal routine.

Some managers, mentors, teachers, professors or even parents consciously desist from complimenting team members, mentees, students or children when they perform their tasks that are well within their capabilities. They feel that compliments do make performers not to aim bigger in work or life and they keep expecting appreciations all the time . But the same mentors and teachers do pat people on the back when jobs that needed efforts and skills beyond what they possess.

In short, leaders appreciate people when they excellently perform more than what is expected of them but not when they perform within their ability.

A debate on this topic will be an interesting one. What is your view? Feel free to share it.

#compliments #capabilitydevelopment