Principles of Power?

Fundamental principles of power: 


a) hierarchy is ubiquitous and desired in task groups, which means there is invariably competition for the rewards that come from moving up the ladder; 


b) the ability to see the world through another’s point of view is a critical skill for being able to garner influence; 


c) success requires ambition, drive and the persistence and resilience to overcome setbacks and to work constantly on weaknesses.

From an article titled "The narcissistic world of the MBA student" By Jeffrey Pfeffer in FT.com

(see article here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6470ac1a-e8f9-11df-a1b4-00144feab49a.html#ixzz15Kaa5szW)

Materialism overdone?

Received a mailer from Taj Hotels today.... nice illustration of the extreme ostentatiousness that has become part of our materialistic society, not leaving our holy festivals either.


Titled: SOME GIFTS ARE MORE THAN RITUALS., LIKE THE GIFT HAMPERS FROM TAJ

(I am listing the top 3 most outrageously crazy stuff)

Season’s Greetings
A bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label Scotch Whisky, Danish cookies, California prune juice, Lindsay's stuffed Manzanilla green olives, roasted cashew, a box each of Taj chocolates and Indian tea, a hand-crafted candle and a traditional Votive honey mosaic. INR 6,500 (plus tax)

Dipavali Hamper
A bottle each of Johnny Walker Red Label Scotch Whisky (or Balvenie DoubleWood), Moët & Chandon champagne, and an imported wine, Lindsay's queen olives stuffed with almond, Dormex savouries, a box of Taj chocolates and shahi mithai, traditional French jam with cane sugar and rose petal, a hand-made designer candle, a silk tie and cufflinks from Satya Paul, crystal infinity gold plated Ganesha in Sea Shell, a perfume from Canali, spa set from The Nature’s Co, a gold leaf Minakari Puja Thali with Ganesha, diya and shankh, silver plated bowl from Moti, silver plated lounge candle stand from Episode, and, a Japanese glass bowl. INR 30,000 (plus tax)

The Royal Gourmet Hamper
A bottle each of Royal Salute Scotch Whisky, Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé Champagne, Cognac Hennessy VSOP, a pen and a pair of cufflinks from Montblanc, a Blackberry 8520, Paul Smith perfume, spa set from The Nature’s Co, Ganesh Navya from Frazer & Haws, a crystal set from Swarovski , a tie and handkerchief from Canali, a silver plated tilak puja set from Episode, a silver plated lounge candle stand, Lindsay's Kalamata olives, traditional French jam with cane sugar and rose petal, savouries from Dormex, Taj chocolates, shahi mithai, and a packet of fine tea. Packed in a hand-made wooden trunk. INR 100,000 (plus tax)

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Tell me...am i the only one, or isnt this a bit over the top? btw...I am not a regular Taj-hopper..i signed up for a free card on their website. 

Just as an aside, this post also because of the discussion on materialism i was having with wifey the other day.....methinks that we are becoming too materialistic. 

On Stuxnet and Cyber War-mongering

Been reading a couple of good articles on cyber-security/war/esponiage. 


1.  Bruce Schneier's blog post on the Stuxnet work - whether it was intended for Bushehr nuclear plant in Iran, or was it just an error, or was it a muscle-flexing? Quite good . Read it here.


2. Seymour Hersh's article in the New Yorker on Cyber War. Comprehensive look at all aspects, starting with the reverse engineering (?) of the custom-built OS built by the US Navy because of the capture of their spy plan (EP-3E) by China in 2001.  Very interesting article, esp the capture and whether "zeroing it out" was enough. 


He goes ahead to describe the fear-mongering and the various aspects of truth in the ongoing and oncoming cyber war - or is it just cyber espionage?


Interesting lines from the article:


 “Current Chinese officials have told me that we’re not going to attack Wall Street, because we basically own it”—a reference to China’s holdings of nearly a trillion dollars in American securities—“and a cyber-war attack would do as much economic harm to us as to you.”


..they ordered all (USB?) ports on the computers on their bases to be sealed with liquid cement. 


...the talk about cyber war as a bureaucratic effort “to raise the alarm” and garner support for an increased Defense Department role in the protection of private infrastructure. He said, “You hear about cyber war all over town. This”—he mentioned statements by Clarke and others—“is being done to mobilize a political effort. We always turn to war analogies to mobilize the people.”


"...Economic espionage on the Internet has been mischaracterized by people as cyber war.”


...military and intelligence eavesdroppers have resisted nationwide encryption ....for the most obvious of reasons: it would hinder their ability to intercept signals.


The Obama Administration is now planning to seek broad new legislation that would ..require manufacturers of equipment such as the BlackBerry, and .. Skype, to develop technology that would allow the federal government to intercept and decode traffic.


Diffie wrote "....The problem with the Internet is that it is meant for communications among non-friends.”


Read it here


Seymour Hersh is the pulitzer-winning investigative journalist, who is credited with exposures such as the My Lai massacre, KAL 007 bombing, Israel's nukes, etc. Read about him here

Ray Ozzie's 5 things to do

First post...and a fresh perspective. This one a 5 things to learn from Ray Ozzie...outgoing chief architect at Microsoft. Normally, not a fan of top 5 things to do, but this one is nice.

This is from the Fastcompany article (http://www.fastcompany.com/1697825/ray-ozzies-new-memo-five-lessons-for-leaders) which is their interpretation from his outgoing memo - Dawn of a new day (http://ozzie.net/docs/dawn-of-a-new-day/)

1. Take time to paint a vision of the future

It’s well accepted, of course, that leaders need to step out of the day-to-day, look toward the future, and plot effective long-term strategies. But not all of them sit down and write out what they see--in narrative form, much less, not just a bunch of PowerPoint slides. And when they do take the time to write about the future, they often write about how their company is going to move through the future. Ozzie instead starts with the big picture, the big trends in the industry itself, and then uses that as a mirror to show where Microsoft is doing well--and where it risks falling behind. As the old saying goes, “If your map doesn’t match the actual terrain, it’s not the terrain that’s wrong.”

2. Put past successes “in perspective”

Once a company has done something well, it’s easy to keep doing that thing. In fact, it’s hard to stop doing it, because your company--its structure and incentives--get organized around enabling that successful thing to keep happening. But if the bigger picture in your industry changes, as it is in the tech sector, that successful thing may no longer be optimized to the new environment. Continuing to do it, and not shifting to a product line better suited to the new landscape, will put you at a disadvantage against competitors who do adapt, not to mention new entrants who have designed themselves with the new needs front of mind. In his memo, Ozzie talks about how Microsoft’s historic focus on PCs and software made it great. But he also paints a future in which PCs and software play less of a role. “This will absolutely be a time of great opportunity for those who put past technologies & successes into perspective [emphasis mine],” Ozzie writes, “and envision all the transformational value that can be offered moving forward.”

3. Recognize what’s inevitable in your industry

The flip side of putting past successes in perspective is recognizing what new developments are inevitable. The news industry, for example, spent a lot of time fighting the Web and digital news before finally accepting their inevitability. Think of how much energy would have been saved--and, more, put to better use--had the industry sought to dive into the digital world, rather than fight it. “Let’s mark this five-year milestone by once again fearlessly embracing that which is technologically inevitable,” Ozzie writes, “clearing a path to the extraordinary opportunity that lies ahead for us.”

4. “Inevitable” is not the same as “imminent”

Once you’ve looked the inevitable in the face, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. If the future landscape you see is vastly different than the landscape you originally planned for, it might feel impossible to make the shift. But stay calm. Even changes that are inevitable take time to materialize. That gives you time to plan and shift your strategy in increments. Ozzie says the changes in the tech world will require innovation in the “user experience, interaction model, authentication model, user data & privacy model, policy & management model, programming & application model”--in other words, in just about everything the tech world does. But, he adds, “these platform innovations will happen in small, progressive steps, providing significant opportunity to lead.”

5. Real transformation has to come from within

If you want to make a shift from the old world to the new, the people inside your company have to see it, believe it, and have a passion for it. You can bring in outside consultants to tell you where the future is headed, but if the people inside your company don’t live it and breathe it themselves, you won’t get there very fast, if at all. “The one irrefutable truth is that in any large organization, any transformation that is to ‘stick’ must emerge from within,” Ozzie writes. “Those on the outside can strongly influence, particularly with their wallets. Those above are responsible for developing and articulating a compelling vision, eliminating obstacles, prioritizing resources, and generally setting the stage with a principled approach. But the power and responsibility to truly effect transformation exists in no small part at the edge. Within those who, led or inspired, feel personally and collectively motivated to make; to act; to do.”