Flags were flying at half mast in
I for one like many immigrants have never understood why politicians consider guns as holy cow and don’t talk about it. This more so because, I admire the ability of the American society introspect several sensitive issues and discuss them threadbare. From abortion to race relations to
I believe it is high time
According to Fortune magazine, Professor Ram Charan is the most influential consultant alive and powerful CEOs love to meet him. He has written (or coauthored) over 11 books and is a globetrotter who is always on the road crisscrossing the world. When I accidentally met him in the
Yet, such a highflier was very approachable and a charm to interact with. When Sid, a colleague of mine and I approached him, Mr. Charan was engrossed on his Vaio, but he quickly put aside that to join us for what turned out to be an wonderful interaction that I will remember for quite some time to come.
Our initial conversation started with several open ended but interesting questions from Ram Charan on what Sid & I do and about business & SOA. He quickly distilled through our rambling expositions on SOA and came out with simplified statements on technology and SOA which really floored me. I was awed by his understanding of technology and its application to business, though he claimed to be far removed from technology. After that exchange, I could appreciate why Jack Welch would say Ram Charan has the ‘rare ability to distil meaningful from meaningless and transfer it to others without destroying confidences’
Though Ram Charan declined my request for an interview, he patiently and politely responded to my queries on a wide range of topics and here it comes:
What drives him?
Ram Charan prefaced his response by mentioning that he has been asked this question several times before. He said that he is lucky to be doing what he likes and that naturally drives him. His philosophy is if you love what you do, it automatically drives to be very involved in whatever you do and everything else falls in place. Regardless of where he is on any given day, he gets up by
About risk taking and how he decided to quit his secure tenured professorship to become an independent consultant?
Citing his Indian origin, Ram Charan mentioned that his upbringing and the Sankrit slokas he learnt over the years, kept him rooted on the purpose and minimized his wants and needs. His take is that it not as much about risk taking but very much about doing what you like. He made it clear that when he did that switch, he was not going to be penniless and was content with the safety net he had secured by then and felt it was the natural thing to do as it allowed him to do what he likes.
About being spiritual
For this query, Ram Charan said something interesting that I don’t quite follow. According to him, he is spiritual on what he does and doesn’t practice any of the rituals. However, he did sound deeply religious as he citied his upbringing and Sanskrit slokas many times during the course of our brief chat.
About SOA and Business
Ram Charan believes SOA has the potential to transform business but it is still in the nascent stage and the companies competing for the SOA market share will succeed only by focusing on distinctly differentiating their services and not by just coming to the market with a basket of services. His view (and I fully concur) is that, it is not as much about technology but about the ability of the business to adopt and benefit from SOA.
About finally getting a home
Ram Charan didn’t have a home until very recently. Even now, he doesn’t know where his apartment is in
About his rare interview
Ram Charan said he rarely gives interviews and that is by design. Even the Fortune interview happened only years of persistent persuasion.
We were on a roll and I would have loved to continue the interesting conversation but he had to rush to catch his flight to
Ram Charan and Sid. I am little envious of Sid as he will get to be Mr. Charan for an additional 4+ hours as they travel to Bangalore together and might have more opportunity to interact with Ram Charan.
Subsequently, fresh deviations, including conversion of a portion of the parking lot for commercial use and building of an extra floor to accommodate a food court, were detected.I wonder why Chennai Metropolitan Development Authorities (CMDA) waited so long to catch this problem. Are there periodic inspections during the construction phase?
"Our exterminator, with Google's security team and the snake's owner, are searching for it. Should you see the snake, please do not attempt to touch it or pick it up. Call security immediatelyIf you are still wondering, Kaiser is a 3 foot python and its owner Adam brought it to Google NYC office as part of bring your pet policy where it gave quietly slipped out of its tank. After frantic search, Kaiser was indeed found resting behind a closet and was promptly caught and given marching orders.
"A snake was lost; it was not an April Fool's joke. It was found last night," a Google spokeswoman said on Tuesday. "The snake has [since] left the building."
Globally Integrated Enterprise (GIE) is a relatively NEW terminology coined and introduced by my big boss in Foreign Affairs. This article received lot of press and has been much debated and discussed. The idea of a GIE is built on the premise that the world is flat and in a flat world all things are possible.
Now that the world is flat (Is it really?), organizations across the spectrum are moving to further integrate and consolidate its position across the geographies. The winners in the 21st century will make the next billions from BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) countries so it is important for large global brands to further integrate their business across artificial geographical boundaries.
But what does it mean to globally integrate? What does it exactly mean? It is much more than having presence across the world and it definitely much more than having manufacturing base
in China and ITES out of India. It is about considering the entire world as one vast market place for sourcing and selling. Of course, we know that it is easier said than done. But the barriers to Global Village is entirely human made and thus in theory can be removed.
Global Sourcing: This is not a politically correct (PC) term for labor arbitrage but a true global sourcing of ideas, raw material and labor. In a flat world the next Google or Youtube could come from any part of the world and not just from Silicon Valley. The actual challenge is not about concept or the opportunities but the operational aspects. The people, process and assimilation of ideas and realizing them is where the challenges exist. And to the extent organizations can make it truly happen have pots of gold is waiting them. But no one has really gotten to those pots of gold yet.
Global Production: Ability produce where it is optimal
Global Market place: Ability to view the entire world as a single marketplace and sell wherever there is market.
Global responsibility: Having the same environmental and labor standards across the world. For GM, it is to have same pollution control standards in California and Cambodia. For Toyota, it is to have same labor welfare laws in Tokyo and Tashkent.
what's your take on Globally Integrated Enterprise?
Here is Sam Palmisano's take in Foreign Affairs.
While the globally integrated enterprise is still an emergent idea, the outlines of major attributes that will characterize the winners are becoming clear. Think of an enterprise that:
