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Thursday 30 September, 2010

Expectations of Management, Part II

Expectations of Management, Part II

Here's the next one:


As Rajni Fans would say,

"How izzzz it"?

Regards,

N

Wednesday 29 September, 2010

Body language of Satyam Board Members

Body language of Satyam Board Members

Of late, I've seriously switched over from the tear-jerkers, mega-serials, Kollywood / Bollywood films, etc. to the plethora of news channels (both General and Business news channels).

They seem to provide a far better quality of comedy, satire, melodrama, sex and violence, shocking twists & turns, commercial breaks at just the right moment, repeated replays to ensure that one doesn't feel that one has missed anything even if one skips the news for an hour, a day, a week or a month!

This has prompted me to start posting a few comments based on the news items that I see from time to time.

Here goes one such:

After a pretty long wait, Satyam (Mahindra Satyam) declared its ancient results (pertaining to the last couple of years or thereabouts) today. Watching all the news channels, a person from Neptune or Jupiter would have thought that this must probably be the largest corporate entity in this part of the Universe! However, let that pass.

Channel after channel, commentator after expert commentator, repeatedly emphasised that:

  • The body language of the Satyam Board members appears to be "confident"!

Believe it or not, when I heard it the first time, I almost fell off my chair rolling in laughter. After all, when board members of any little company (leave alone a company with a few thousand crores of revenues) comes out to meet the press, you certainly don't expect them to:

  • Be shivering with nervousness
  • Show explicitly their lack of confidence, if any
  • Clearly hang their heads down in shame at the extent of losses even if the figures were far lower than their own internal expectations
  • Be completely honest about their fears and anxiety about
    • the future performance of the company
    • their real anxiety about the negative prospects of all the pending law suits
    • their concerns about such live and real problems like eroding margins, labour turnover, loss of brand equity, disappearing clientele, etc.

For heaven's sake, the media folks ought to be aware that:

  • Most of these board members are much richer than the anchors and reporters and have an entire army of PR experts (both real and self-proclaimed) who will obviously guide them on Body Language
  • Most of these board members have certainly gone to the same bunch of B-schools, read the same books and articles on Body Language, etc. as the media folks.
  • Due to both the above reasons, most likely, the board members are also likely to be much smarter (at least much more street-smart) than the media folks.

Wonder when the media would learn!

Regards,

N


Wednesday 22 September, 2010

Expectations of Management - Part 1

Here's the first among a series of occasional posts on the expectations of top management of the corporate world.

A nice pic, indeed:





Regards,

N


Friday 17 September, 2010

Richest Countries

Richest Countries

Check this out!

Source: Received through email from a "Technical Investors" yahoo group

Authenticity level - Unknown, but likely to be quite authentic. Other info that I've received have proved to be quite reliable.

As far  as Swiss  Banks are concerned,  money stashed by Indians are more than the money stashed by all other nationals combined. No info is available about other tax havens like St Kitts, Cayman Island, etc.

Very interesting indeed!
 
However, Why highlight black money stashed abraod only for India?
The Russians, Koreans, Chinese, Japanese etc. have equally good reasons to stash money out of their respective countries.
So India can't come to #1 as yet. Black mony would be added for other countries also and that'll be much bigger than that of Indians.
 
regards
vin

From: Deepak

Subject: Richest country

Please read till the end.
 Deepak Patade

-----  World's Richest Government: Very Interesting

World's Richest Government

 
We know the world's richest man is Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico, followed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet of USA .
 

How about governments?

Which countries' government is the richest (having most money that is, in US$)

If you are expecting North American and European nations, you might be disappointed.

While the countries look rich, wealthy European nations can't withstand a prolonged major financial crisis, just like Greece .

The USA might have the biggest economy, but the American government is not at all rich; in fact, it can't even take out $150bn if asked to now without resorting to borrowing.

To date the US government has borrowed $14 trillion!

The UK , likewise, while the country/people are rich, the government isn't.

The UK government's debt stands at $9 trillion now.

World's Richest Government

Richest governments after 2008-2009 financial crisis:

1. China
National reserves: $2,454,300,000,000

2. Japan
National reserves: $1,019,000,000,000

3. Russia
National reserves: $458,020,000,000

4. Saudi Arabia
National reserves: $395,467,000,000

5. Taiwan
National reserves: $362,380,000,000

6. India
National reserves: $279,422,000,000(Not allowed to count it's black money abroad...or it would have stood first !!)

7. South Korea
National reserves: $274,220,000,000

8. Switzerland
National reserves: $262,000,000,000 

9. Hong Kong , China
National reserves: $256,000,000,000 

10. Brazil
National reserves: $255,000,000,000

Here are the rest, in million US $:

11 Singapore / 203,436
12 Germany / 189,100
13 Thailand / 150,000
14 Algeria / 149,000
15 France / 140,848
16 Italy / 133,104
17 United States / 124,176
18 Mexico / 100,096
19 Iran / 96,560
20 Malaysia / 96,100
21
Poland / 85,232
22 Libya / 79,000
23 Denmark / 76,315
24 Turkey / 71,859
25 Indonesia / 69,730
26 United Kingdom / 69,091
27 Israel / 62,490
28 Canada / 57,392
29 Norway / 49,223
30 Iraq / 48,779
31 Argentina / 48,778
32 Philippines / 47,650
33 Sweden / 46,631
34 United Arab Emirates / 45,000
35 Hungary / 44,591
36 Romania / 44,056
37 Nigeria / 40,480
38 Czech Republic / 40,151
39 Australia / 39,454
40 Lebanon / 38,600
41 Netherlands / 38,372
42 South Africa / 38,283
43 Peru / 37,108
44 Egypt / 35,223
45 Venezuela / 31,925
46 Ukraine / 28,837
47 Spain / 28,195
48 Colombia / 25,141
49 Chile / 24,921
50 Belgium / 24,130
51 Brunei / 22,000
52 Morocco / 21,873
53 Vietnam / 17,500
54 Macau / 18,730
55 Kazakhstan / 27,549
56 Kuwait / 19,420
57 Angola / 19,400
58 Austria / 18,079
59 Serbia / 17,357
60 Pakistan / 16,770
61 New Zealand /
16,570
62 Bulgaria / 16,497
63 Ireland / 16,229
63 Portugal / 16,254
64 Croatia / 13,720
65 Jordan / 12,180
66 Finland / 11,085
67 Bangladesh / 10,550
68 Botswana / 10,000
69 Tunisia / 9,709
70 Azerbaijan / 9,316
71 Bolivia / 8,585
72 Trinidad and Tobago / 8,100
73 Yemen / 7,400
74 Uruguay / 8,104
75 Oman / 7,004
76 Latvia / 6,820
77 Lithuania / 6,438
78 Qatar / 6,368
79 Cyprus / 6,176
80 Belarus / 6,074
81 Syria / 6,039
82 Uzbekistan / 5,600
83 Luxembourg / 5,337
84 Guatemala / 5,496
85 Greece / 5,207
86 Bosnia and Herzegovina / 5,151
87 Cuba / 4,247
88 Costa Rica / 4,113
89 Equatorial Guinea / 3,928
90 Ecuador / 3,913
91 Iceland / 3,823
92 Paraguay / 3,731
93 Turkmenistan / 3,644
94 Estonia / 3,583
95 Malta / 3,522
96 Myanmar / 3,500
97 Bahrain / 3,474
98 Kenya / 3,260
99 Ghana / 2,837
100 El Salvador / 2,845
101 Sri Lanka /
2,600
102 Cambodia / 2,522
103 Côte d'Ivoire / 2,500
104 Tanzania / 2,441
105 Cameroon / 2,341
106 Macedonia / 2,243
107 Dominican Republic / 2,223
108 Papua New Guinea / 2,193
109 Honduras / 2,083
110 Armenia / 1,848
111 Slovakia / 1,809
112 Mauritius / 1,772
113 Albania / 1,615
114 Kyrgyzstan / 1,559
115 Jamaica / 1,490
116 Mozambique / 1,470
117 Gabon / 1,459
118 Senegal / 1,350
119 Georgia / 1,300
120 Panama / 1,260
121 Sudan / 1,245
122 Zimbabwe / 1,222
123 Slovenia / 1,105
124 Moldova / 1,102
125 Zambia / 1,100
126 Nicaragua / 1,496
127 Mongolia / 1,000
128 Chad / 997
129 Burkina Faso / 897
130 Lesotho / 889
131 Ethiopia / 840
132 Benin / 825
133 Namibia / 750
134 Madagascar / 745
135 Barbados / 620
136 Laos / 514
137 Rwanda / 511
138 Swaziland / 395
139 Togo / 363
140 Cape Verde / 344
141 Tajikistan / 301
142 Guyana /
292
143 Haiti / 221
144 Belize / 150
145 Vanuatu / 149
146 Malawi / 140
147 Gambia / 120
148 Guinea / 119
149 Burundi / 118
150 Seychelles / 118
151 Samoa / 70
152 Tonga / 55
153 Liberia / 49
154 Congo / 36
155 São Tomé and Príncipe / 36
156 Eritrea / 22

Big national reserves doesn't guarantee prosperity however, for instance, the yearly expenses for China 's government is $1.11 trillion, their government must always think of economic growth and making more money.

China's gov't overspent $110bn last year, much on it towards modernizing their military, if it goes on like this their reserves can only last for 22 yrs.

The Malaysian gov't overspent $13bn last year, if it goes on like this their reserves can only last for 7 yrs.

The Singaporean government overspent $3bn last year, much of it rescuing their banks from financial crisis, if it goes on like this their reserves can last 68 yrs.

The Swiss gov't overspent $1bn last year, if it goes on like this their reserves can last 262 yrs. 

A country normally can borrow up to 100% its GDP, a very strong industrial country or very financial stable nation can borrow up to perhaps 200% its GDP, debts over 250% GDP the country is bankrupted.

Greece 's Debts Is 113.40% GDP, In Danger As It Is Not Considered A Strong Industrial Or Financial Country. 

Iceland Is 107.60%, Also In Crisis As It Is Not So Strong Industrial Or
Financially. 

Singapore Debts Is 113.10%, Not In Hot Water Due To Its Global Financial Hub Status, And Also Its Financial Strength. It's Only Dangerous For Singapore When It Reaches 200%

Japan Debts Is 189.30%, Still Under Radar As A Powerful Industrial Nation. It Needs To Panic Only At Around 200%

US Has The World Largest Debts, But It Is Only 62% Its GDP, It Is Not In Any Immediate Danger Of Bankruptcy.

Zimbabwe Debts Is 282.60% GDP, It Is A Bankrupted Nation.

Malaysia Debts Is Currently At 53.70% GDP.

Hong Kong And Taiwan Is Doing Pretty Good With Debts At 32-37% GDP

South Korea Is Even Better With Debts At 23.5% GDP

China Is Very Stable With Debts At 16.90% GDP

Russia Is Like A Big Mountain With Debts Only At 6.30% GDP

There Are Only 5 Countries With No Debt (I.E. 0%) –

Brunei, Liechtenstein , Palau , Nieu, And Macau Of China .

Regards,

N


Wednesday 15 September, 2010

Are you climbing walls? This should help(?)

Are you climbing walls? This should help(?)

Got this stuff from a friend some time back.

Guess that it is relevant for many of us at different points of time.

Read on:

Whenever I find the key to success, someone changes the lock.

To Err is human, to forgive is not a COMPANY policy.

The road to success??.. Is always under construction. 

Alcohol doesn't solve any problems, but if you think again, neither does Milk.

In order to get a Loan, you first need to prove that you don't need it. 

All the desirable things in life are either illegal, expensive or fattening.

Since Light travels faster than Sound, people appear brighter before you hear them speak. 

Everyone has a scheme of getting rich.. Which never works.

If at first you don't succeed.. Destroy all evidence that you ever tried.

You can never determine which side of the bread to butter. If it falls down, it will always land on the buttered side.

Anything dropped on the floor will roll over to the most inaccessible corner. 

42.7% of all statistics   are made on the spot.

If you have paper, you don't have a pen??. If you have a pen, you don't have paper?? if you have both, no one calls. 

Especially for engg. Students----
If you have bunked the class, the professor has taken attendance.

You will pick up maximum wrong numbers when on roaming. 

After a long wait for bus no.20, two 20 number buses will always pull in together and the bus which you get in will be crowded than the other.

The last person to be fired or quit is responsible for all the errors until another person is fired or quits.

Irrespective of the direction of the wind, the smoke from the cigarette will always tend to go to the non-smoker 

Regards,

N


Wednesday 1 September, 2010

Pearls in unexpected places!

Pearls in unexpected places!

First, a clarification:

I AM NOT THE AUTHOR.....NOR IS IT MY EXPERIENCE.

Touching, indeed!

Regards,

N

A Really Moving incident!!

..After a simple Temple Darshan we entered "Giri Trading" and
started searching for this Book on Thatva Bodha..

We found many people buying various Books and CDs and from their smart walks
and accumulation of CDs from Bhajans to Bombay Jaishree,sent a nice feeling
in us,that,we have come to the right place indeed...
I was looking for this Book while my wife started collecting Bharathiar's
songs and Ms's Music..I searched everywhere for this Book..
There was this Girl Kalaivani,standing next to the Cashier,sincerely
watching all our movements..a Black Girl,should be from a nearby
Village,might be 17 or 18,should not have crossed 8th Std.,Might be out of
POverty she is here..all my Journalist's brain unnecessarily calculated
about this Gullible Girl..and tho' she was repeatedly watching me,I ignored
her and started searching for"Thathva Bodha"
I saw many books from"Sandhya Vandanam" to Swami VIvekananda's Chicago
Speech" but having spent a good 40 minutes..I looked at her..she also looked
at me curiously..
I asked her,knowing fully well that such a girl cannot have any idea of
anything,leave alone Thathva Bodah..
"Sir,Shall I help you?"(in Tamil)
"Yes I am looking for Thatva Bodha?"
"Sanskrit Text or English /Sanskrit?"
God..she knows..
"Sanskrit& English"
"Do you like to have the PUblication from Chinmaya Mission or Indu
Publications or by Ramakrishna Mutt?"
"I dont know..I just want to only Learn you see..I dont really know indeed"
"Do you read Tamil Sir?"
"Yes I am a Tamilian "
(thinking to myself how most of mylife time
I like to act in most otherplaces
that I am not)
"Then Sir,you can take this"..she ran to the Shelf where I had searched for
30 minutes,removed the books in the front side and came out with a Book in
Tamil
"This one in Tamil by N.Sivaraman by Indu Publications infact is simple and
wonderfullYou have the Sanskrit Text too inside.."
My God..Why did I under estimate such a Genius..Just because of my Arrogance
that I am an NRI..
Or Just because I presumed such a Black,gullible girl,
who wd have come for this JOb out of absolute poverty,
wdn't have any idea of"Thatva Bodha"

I decided to change my attitude and realise that I am absolutely an 'Idiot'
at this moment in front of this wonderful girl and submitted myself in all
humilty..
"Madam,Ireally don't have any idea of even who wrote Thatva BOdha till
Yesterday..I just attended a lecture on this subject and was fascinated by
the lecture and hence"
"Did you attend Goda Venkateswara Sastri's lecture in BHarathiya Vidya
Bhavan?"
"Oh God..How did you know?"
"He regularly takes classes on such subjects..infact he is one of the best
Sir,in the city on such subjects"
"You are interested in such subjects?"
"Yes Sir,I read a lot about Swami VIvekananda and Ramakrishna and Thathva
Bodha incidentally is my favourite Subject"
"You mean to say you have read Thatva Bodha.?"
"I have read this one by Sivaraman and once you read it you won't feel like
keeping that book on the table at all.."
"Why what is so great about this Book?"
"Sir,you must be Joking that you don't know about Thatva Bodha.."
"Really I accept my ignorance.."
my wife was watching from the corner,admiring all her Cd collections..
"Sir,according to me if you read this it gives the entire Vedanthic Saramsam
and one wd become a bit more humble in life..
leaving Ahamkaram once for all.."
"Is it a fact that reading this simple book one wd get so humble..
"Ofcourse one shd be involved totally into the text..
Needs lot of conviction and devotion.."

My wife joined the conversation and she felt this girl is indeed a very very
talented intelligent girl..so she told me
"Why don't you interview her for Washington Post..why at all you shd think
of Paris Hilton?"
I also felt that I owe something to her..so I asked her whether she can
spare sometime for an interview..
She politely refused saying
"My boss is to give me permission..Besides many people are looking for
guidance like you and hence I have to go.."
"What is your name anyway?"
"Kalaivani"..
My wife's admiration for her devotion to duty and her total involvement in
her work..made her go direct to the Boss.."Sir,that girl Kalaivani.."
"Yes very hard working Girl.."
"This is my husband Viswanath .."
"Nice meeting you Sir"
"He is the Senior Journalist in Washington Post.."
Boss stood up.."Washington Post?"
"Yes Sir..I wd like to interview this girl..I am highly impressed..with her
ethics.."
Boss called her..Time was 5:45 Pm...
"Kalaivani,they have come all the way from USA..they wd like to spend
sometime with you..can you?"
"Sir,there are so many customers waiting for some guidance..
it is a rush time..if they can come again tomorrow.."
"OK OK I can come again tomorrow.."
I again came next day morning leaving all my appointments with Times of
India just to see this girl..It was no rush hour..
My wife and myself found out....

Kalaivani is from a nearby village near Arcot..She has 5 sisters..She is the
eldest one..Her father was a drunkard and he died a few years ago caring for
none of them..Her mother used to work as a helper in Masonry and passed away
two years back..leaving all the 6 on the streets..
This girl who had completed her 9th std decided to search for a job and Giri
Trading came forward to help her out..She brought all her 5 sisters with her
and with her meagre salary she is taking care of them..all the 5 sisters are
going to a nearby corporation school..
"Kalaivani..but when did you get this enthusiasm to learn about Thatva
Bodha?"
"Sir after joining here,I decided that the best way to be of help to the
customers is to know the subject first..I took small Books on Swami
VIvekananda and started reading..I found the subject so fascinating..I
decided to read other books in Tamil like Bagavad Gita and Viveka
Choodamani..Thats how.."
"What is your salary?"
"Rs 2500..Sir"
"Are you able to manage all your expenses with the 5 sisters..?"
"Not at all Sir but the Boss helps me a lot..?"
"What is your aim in LIfe?"
"I want all my sisters to get education..
then they wd get easily employments is it not?"
"If I give monthly Rs 10000 for meeting all your expenses..wd that
suffice..?"
"It is indeed too much but that also I wd accept only thro' my Boss.."

We took her to the Boss and told him that we wd like to send Rs 10000 every
month so that all her sisters' education wd be completed..Boss said
"She deserves it Sir..You can trust me I will hand over the amount to her
every month or alternately you can open an acct in her name and start
transferring.."

My friend John Paul,
who is the Regional Manager of Times of India had also come with me..He
said"You have done a good thing.."
My wife said"*I pray that Karpagambal helps Kalaivani to become an expert in
Vedantha and start giving lectures in USA..
*We can arrange for her lectures.."
We left wonderstruck....If we go into the interiors of BIhar and
Barrackpur..how many moreJewels can be found..
I really became humbled
-