News & Views: Genetically Modified Food

Today while reading I came across this link -- http://is.gd/F4fJIl

Summary: This editorial opinion says how majority of the scientist says its safe to eat Genetically Modified Foods (GMF), and hence extrapolate that 'We don’t need labels on genetically modified foods'

Opinion: I think there are two points here that needs to be underlined.

1. People need to know what they are reading if they are interested. The right to know/transparency is an important part of the democracy.

2. This is not even 50 years old. To understand the full effects of it you need at-least three generations of a family, the first gen that had started eating GMF, second that was born to them and grew up eating GMF, and the third which had parents who grew up eating GMF and now they are too. Only when this third generation matured to old age can we be sure about its side-affects. Until then we are dealing with theories and probabilities.

James Risen. A journalist worth idolizing!

This was a intriguing account of the James Risen case in USA. (Click here)

In short, the story is about how easily can government get access to information about an individual and use the same to stifle the journalists' sources and intimidate people in such a way that there are no "future leaks" from the government, no matter how wrong is the government.

After reading through this article and looking through various others, my conclusion is that perhaps we need to re-look at spirit with which the founders of any democracy had hoped or wanted to set as precedent.

The solution, in USA's case, would be to create a new witness protection program run and linking it to new laws which will give full sanctuary to whistle blowers. If it sounds complicated let me explain with an example.

In this case where,

The moment the story was blown and cases came in-front of judges. Each case had to be looked from the following aspect --
1. Was the government wrong not by current law but when their actions and reactions are measured against the 'Declaration of Independance'?
2. Did the people try to take down a government which was corrupt?* There is an old adage, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

*But when a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.


If the answer, as it looks in this case, is 'Yes'. Then the case is not admissible and it should be thrown out. Also a strict action should be taken against the prosecutor or the one leading the case. As far as the witness or the corroborator is concerned then s/he be put under the witness and whistle blower program and their safety should be guaranteed.

Opinion on "The Senate Committee's Report on the CIA's Use of Torture"

Ever since "The Senate Committee's Report on the CIA's Use of Torture" has come out in the public domain there are two extreme views that I see. Those who would be saying the reports stand that torture was not required and it was extremism and compromised on humanity etc. The other's who would characteristically say the report is wrong, and it was because of the torture that many lives were saved.

I believe the truth is perhaps somewhere in between. Till now I was avoiding to write on it, but now at-least there is one expert who thinks on the same lines although they have left some questions in their article. Obviously since it seems like an American author so I wouldn't get into the details of his biases.

Now coming back, before getting into the moral questions lets try and recall what had happened. In India it was approx 9 in the evening in India when America was attacked.

It was typically a situation that was 1. Not anticipated. 2. And no one had any clue. 3. The top management, in this case the bureaucrats and the politicians who were perhaps thinking they were back in the wild wild west, where everything is my-way or the highway. And hence what followed next was more of a logical conclusion

Stratfor has perhaps got the entire thing closest to reality that most people while are calm now, were jittery then. They correctly diagnosed the problem: "The use of torture was not part of a competent intelligence effort, but a response to a massive intelligence failure."

On torture and what went wrong with US was perhaps quoted by the report as: "The problem with torture — as with other exceptional measures — is that it is useful, at best, in extraordinary situations. The problem with all such techniques in the hands of bureaucracies is that the extraordinary in due course becomes the routine, and torture as a desperate stopgap measure becomes a routine part of the intelligence interrogator's tool kit."

As far as the moral dilemma is concerned. There is a time when you don't know anything, so you get people who deliver with perhaps dubious means and then you build capability and transfer to achieve things in the right way.

This could have sound counter-intuitive and extremely grey. But we need to accept, not everything in life is in black or white. Many things are out-rightly in between.

Sharing Ideas for hiring website

People are shy of sharing ideas, I believe knowledge should always be shared. 

Recently while checking some websites for jobs I came across some ideas and shared it with one of the job site founders. I don’t know if the mail was correct or not but looking back I find it quite funny, wonder what the person at the other end thought.

Let me share the mail here.

Hi,
I will skip the formalities of introducing myself because that is irrelevant and get to my suggestions.
On the hiring side I think you should collect two set of data/response to question/
1. Are you looking for someone with the same industry experience?
2. Are you looking for people with skill set that would suit your company and bring in diversity of skill-set and perhaps lateral thinking capability?
And accordingly mark all jobs either (1) People with industry experience or (2) cross functional experience.
This will help identify HRs on what they want. People from within industry may not always get them fresh thinking but maybe the HRs don't want it. If it comes out clearly then it can be mapped to the persons field. Hence making acceptance and rejection easier.
In any domain, a job can be bracketed in between creative, operations/coordination and management. You can start the paid module where each applicant's experience is distilled into these either manually or programming and from there you can advice on best matches if the HRs are looking for cross-functional hiring.
I don't think there is any job website which looks from this perspective. If I have not been articulate enough about my suggestion but you are interested then let me know when you are in Mumbai and relatively free.
Its merely a suggestion based on my observations. Good luck!
--
Warm regards,

It was nice of the founder to actually reply that they were working on something similar. Which confirmed that I was not the only one thinking about the problem. Rather there were people who were also thinking about the solution. 

A haphazard plan

Hah!!! Happy Birthday to me! I think being a narcissist for a day is absolutely fine.

My observation is that people are either excited, in celebratory mood – the party makers, and then there are those who do their best to avoid the lime-light – the party evaders.  I am to some extent a party evader too.

So what do party evaders look out for? I have no clue.  The few that I know, who are also party evaders tend to introspect. They try and make sense of what are the good things that they did over the last one year. And how many mistakes they made in the year gone by. And there is some amount of planning on what to expect or plan to achieve in the next year.

This seems like a good idea. Good enough to try. Despite that I think I will not remember what all I have done nor that I will have a single clear goal for the next year. Since, my belief is that no plan ever goes according to plan, therefore, its best that we keep more than one plan and few backups as well along the way.

Last year I had made plans to read some books. To be exact I wanted to read more than 14 books during the year. At the same time I also wanted to do some courses from Coursera and one complete a course in risk management, something I had been pursuing on the side-lines. Did manage to complete parts of it here. On the office front I changed jobs and managed to write some interesting stories in the new job. 

So how should I set goals for the next year one year? This seems difficult.

Well I think reading about 12 or more books is necessary. And this time will review or write summaries of each book as well. That should make it interesting.

For quite a few years I have been wanting to learn calligraphy and voice modulation. Although at this point it looks highly unlikely but at least will do my best to cover some ground in finding out on how to learn.

Also during the year, I will do my best to read about a new subject. Maybe learn something from some friend as well or about a new industry. This should be fun.

On a serious note, I would like to get more clarity on where I should take admission for a Masters’ program. 

Completing some more additional subjects from Coursera will obviously be part of the goal. Which subjects? That is a difficult to state at this point. Although most of the courses are very flexible on a weekly basis. But I have come to realise I need to do courses where the option is to watch the videos is such that I am able to finish it in about 3 hours a week followed by a weekly or fortnightly quiz in multiple choice question format. It’s easier for me to complete and fulfil the program.

An intensive program which also requires peer valuation is difficult for me. It takes more time, although I agree it is a better way to learn. Therefore for a working professional I find it difficult.

Now let’s see if next year on the same day, how much am I able to achieve. And what are the things that I had not made plans for but did complete. 

Message Exchanges -- Untitled-1

Given below is the link of an article that a friend had posted.

http://qz.com/178362/india-crosses-the-moral-line-of-no-return-if-narendra-modi-becomes-prime-minister/

And this was my additional comment on it.

SZ: Unfortunately. Getting ahead on Fear and Hate is easier than doing it the right way.

And this was the subsequent comment of another person that started the entire conversation, which some may find interesting.

DM Whom you want to be?

1. Farmer =

2. Farmers Wife =

3. Farmers Son =

4. The Mongoose =

5. The Cobra =

Match those characters with a suitable options....

You, Common People, Politicians, India's Future, Narendra Modi, Media, Confusion, Corruption, Inflation, Rahul Gandhi, greedy people, opportunist, Economy or you can put your own word.

Before that, read the story!!!!!!

Once, there lived a farmer and his wife. They had a little son. The farmer had a petmongoose. The little boy and the mongoose were fond of each other. They were good playmates.

One day the farmer was busy at his fields. The farmer's wife had left to the market. The little boy was fast asleep in a cradle. The mongoose was lying down near the cradle.

A cobra somehow got into the house and it was nearing the little boy. The mongoose sniffed the snake and jumped up. He fought with the cobra. The cobra began to attack. There was a fierce fight between the cobra and the mongoose. The mongoose finally bit and killed the cobra.

The mongoose saw the farmer's wife returning from market. He ran happily towards her to greet her. She saw blood around the mouth and paws of the mongoose. The farmer's wife mistook that the mongoose had attacked her son.

The farmer's wife took a long stick and gave heavy blows on the mongoose and then ran into the house. She was shocked to see a dead cobra lying on the floor near her son. Now she realised her mistake.

SZ: So I assume the meaning of the story would be something like Wife is the voter. Son is the economy. Mongoose is Modi and Cobra are Muslims.

DM: It's upto u (Shoaib)..........what u want to choose!

It's reflects your perception about the matter.

You are supporting Modi or not it's pointless.

The moral of the story is don't land into any conclusion from outside.

SZ: Oh I don't deal with perception (Dear DM). I deal with probabilities and likelihood in real life. There was nothing wrong with the column, but when you put up a story, it seems like a nice way to avoid the tough question on choices. So I extrapolated one possible meaning that you wouldn't want to consider or like, making the same point, as you wrote - "don't land into any conclusion from outside."

The truth is you don't need to be involved but just be near a riot/war/huge-fight (a fight when someone dies) to know things. Be so near that you can know not the stories through other people but hear them directly from the horses mouth. The ones who are still alive by matter of chance or the ones who killed or the ones who lost someone there. If you don't know and if you haven't seen, don't compare with cliche stories, you can argue on an ideology but don't compare realities to stories. Reality is very different.

My understanding is you have never seen or been near to a riot but if I am wrong, which I certainly can be, please share your insight and what you have seen or heard and how near were you.

If not then next time when you hear of a riot, I suggest you go there. meet people, talk with them. Don't argue, don't tell them about fairytale stories, just listen and observe. Give time and then see them again, with time will come perspective and they will tell you things as a matter of fact in words devoid of emotion but words that will send chills down your spine. This time it would be different than the time when emotions were high, that I can assure you. Talk to them in different places - sometimes at their house, sometimes where they have tea, sometimes over dinner, sometimes when they would read a piece of news. In that case you wouldn't conclude from outside.

DM "I will never forget the hand till my death"

This is the comment of my mom about an incident which took place in her life more than half a century ago.

The moral story which I put up, its my nephew's 1st Standard Text book story (moral story). It carries a simple message for those toddlers that "don't land into any conclusion from outside" which is applicable to us as well & why I put up that story you come to know at the end of it.

Dear Shoaib, The incident which I am going to tell you it don't deal with probabilities and likelihood; it's all about perception of an Individual who directly suffered the fate. A single incident can be interpreted differently by me, you, mom, Zeeba or someone else & also the significance of that incident will differ from person to person based on their perception about the context.

Based on your reply I can assume that you never directly faced that kind of situation, only heard about it (directly from the horses mouth) but I did; or to be accurate my mom did.

If I wouldn't have faced those situation then my answer would have been a biased answer.

Yes, You truly reflected the facts & I totally agree with you but I also want to highlight that you overlooked few important aspects of it; like PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) & it's effect on human behaviour (Perception), snow-ball effect, devil's horn effect, fading effect bias, uncontrolled contributing factors etc. When you are dealing with a sensitive issues like riot/war/death then you need to consider all the aspects of real life, not a generic view of an incident.

I researched about it long time back; currently don't have any reference but if you are really interested to know then you need to spend weeks or even months while researching to come to a conclusion.

The truth is 'reality is stranger than friction'.

Few Related Articles

http://www.niu.edu/.../publications/walkerskowronski2009.pdf

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_memory_biases

If you have time read it.

A brief background about us. I am from West Bengal; 2nd largest concentration of Muslim Population in India (wikipedia). I am Bengali; my grand parents & my father immigrated from East-Pakistan or currently Bangladesh during partition (1947). That time a large amount of Bengali's didn't immigrated from East-Pakistan immediately, they stayed back because they loved their home land & also they don't want to lost all their resources (house, land, shop etc). My mom's family was one of them.

Though they were the minority ethnic group in East-Pakisthan/Bangladesh but they were happy. My mom's father was a post master & her uncle was one of the renowned Doctors in East-Pakisthan/Bangladesh. It was a joint family & they stayed together in a very big house. That time they were one of the wealthy family in that town with lots of land, a store, a nice doctors chamber & few cows. My mom's uncle had thousands of loyal follower that time & everyone respects them very much. Everything was fine for next 15yr with some minor problem. From late 1963 to early 1964 the situation in that area started to get intense (Ref:http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_East-Pakistan_riots) but then also it didn't escalated into an alarming level. Though that period Hindus were banned to wear shoes, use umbrellas, ride a rickshaw or can't sell their property but because of their reputation in the town/mohalla no one objected. Even they felt safe in that area. According to my mom testimony, her uncle used to quote "this is the safest place; we feel very safe & secured here". But one night during 1964 riot a group of people came to their house (out of which few are family friend) killed her uncle without giving him a moment to react; kill his newly wedded pregnant wife; killed my mom's elder brother & tried to kill everyone else. My Grand Father took my mom (that time she was only 8yrs old) with him accompanied by her elder sister (12yr) & her young brother (6yr) & fled through the back door in the middle of a night (around 2am) with the help of their servant (Ponchu Da). They have to left that place bare footed without a single penny in their pocket.

Luckily my grandmother was out of town & she survived. Later they came to know that they also killed their loyal servant (Ponchu Da). They walked whole night though the jungle with a scare in their mind that someone is following them!

In the early morning with the help of a person they reached the India boarder. Even the help provided by the stranger is not free of cost, my grand dad have to give him his gold chain in return. While returning to India my mom saw a truck, full of death body (I don't need to say who they are) out of which one hand was hanging outside the truck. The blood soaked hand struck the 8yr old girl so badly the it still hunts her.

In my first line I referred that hand.....

Now forget about everything; Modi, mongoose, cobra, you, me, your religion, my religion everything.......

Just think yourself a 8yr old girl who lost her elder brother, uncle & aunt (who are equivalent to her mother & father) just few hours back & in the morning she saw the most horrible seen in her life.

Mr. Shoaib, can u please shed light about the probability or the likelihood of her emotion trauma caused by this incident!

& also can you please answer some of her unanswered questions.

1. Why they killed my brother(13yrs)? What he did?

2. My uncle saved thousands of life but why they killed him who saved their life?

3. Why my uncles childhood friend (who also studied with him) was among the killers?

4. Why they killed my innocent aunt or our servant?

She didn't get the acceptable answer & because of that her perception totally changed about a particular community!

Is she right or wrong?

Who will decide?

Till now, it's half of the story! Waiting for your response. After your response I will clarify my stands & will finish the story.

SZ: She would be biased in all likelihood and would live those scars. And since you grew up perhaps you too would be completely biased, and in either case I cant contest with words because its difficult to change experience with words. But perhaps if and when the time comes will try to create an example so that your view changes. And I am sorry for the losses in your family.

For your questions there are no answers except that people who did that were wrong and unfortunately no human being tried helping your elders. If your mother believes in God of whatever sort, she should reserve those questions for that supreme being.

But to assume that only you or your mother have been traumatized is also wrong. My father was a little lucky, his friends struck him at the right places (during Ranchi Riots 1967) just that they were doctor's hand and not a butcher's so the cut was not deep enough to kill him instantly. And then luck favored him and Brigadier arrived at the hospital, since RMCH is near the cantonment area. Had the army people been 15 min late probably I wouldn't be responding today. The guy who struck first was his school friend who had come to visit them in college. Why he did he do that? There is no logical answer. And this entire attempt to wipe out some 34 Muslim boys was done in the presence of police unit that was deployed in the campus so that no untoward incident takes place.

Throughout his life after that, he could never open a bottle with his right hand, because when the senior staff of the college found him their immediate concern was to save his life and to work with all casualty that was coming in. No one looked into his fractured thumb. The hit on his head ensured that the vision from his left eye became nearly nil, so despite being a book lover and a veracious reader he had to remain content with only one eye.

Despite this incident my father never differentiated among his friends based on religion and he never asked me to do so either. Rather what he taught us (his children) was there would be some bad people and some good, don't judge them on religion or caste or creed. And look through events understand what happened? Why it happened? Who benefited? And how the common person on the road (you and me), we lose out in a struggle for power, ideology and money where we have no stake.

We too have lost friends and families to riots. But then we have also seen incidents of hope. Bhagalpur riots 1967 we lost some very close family friends. Then in 1989 riots Bhagalpur was really bad and that is when one of our family friend's tenant did what few would have done. Rioters came and asked the tenants (hindus) to come outside the house, there were offered to shift everything to a different house on the same road, and then all owners (muslims) were locked inside and the house was set on fire and rioters left. Somehow most of the people managed to escape but they had hidden two children and in trying to run they actually left them. The tenants son entered the burning house saved the two children. And everyone left Bhagalpur overnight, the price of saving lives for the tenant too was to leave the house and the city. They all shifted to Patna.

And similarly there are many incidents where individuals have put their foot down to save lives, across regions, across religions in times of madness. I can understand how your mother would feel contemptuous, so does my mother - she lost her cousin in Benares riots of 1972, and nearly lost the man she was to marry in Ranchi riots.

Some one will have to rise up to the occasion and do what is right and if we can remove our biases for a moment we all know when we are right and when we are wrong. I don't know how to explain, well I hope you can understand.

DM: You are right, people should have reacted the way your father did. The lack of consciousness, lack of logical thinking is the main problem not a particular community or people.

Let's finish my story first then u will understand everything......

I told you before, every incident can be perceived differently by different individual. My mom developed a grudge or hatred about a particular community.

Is she right? Obviously not.

People mind alway tend to generalise every incident.

Here comes the concept called "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nicolas Taleb's. People generalising the incident based on their comfort level or suitability or mental satisfaction.

Now, comes the analytical part.

You know Shoaib, you were partially right, I have grown up by listing all those stories & become biased. I assumed/perceived that all the Muslims are bad because I also didn't get the acceptable answer. I started to felt that those people who can kill a child, a pregnant women & a person who saved their life several time they must be bad & evil people.

So I generalised my thinking & developed a barrier between me & all the other Muslim friends. In school I don't even have a single Muslim friend because of the perception.

In class-XI I started developing friendship with Abdul (My first Muslim friend). We studied in a same school & also in a same coaching centre. In few months we become good friends. Then a stereotype warning came from my family, don't mix with Abdul. I tried to convince then that he is good, he is different, he is not like others but one statement from my mother drained all my effort & I hit a concrete wall.

I am just quoting her sentence "you friendship with Abdul is less than a year old; my uncles childhood friend didn't hesitate to kill him after 30yrs of friendship; then who are you?"

That time I was determine to prove her wrong but I didn't have the answers of her questions!

Then I started my research about the incident.

Do you know what I found?

"The reality is stranger than fiction"

My uncle was the topper in school & college but his childhood friend was far behind in term of results, reputation, assets etc. when my mom's uncle Used to attend patients in his private chamber his childhood friend used to spent leisure time in his chamber while appreciating his achievements.

But the reality was different; he developed ego & envy against him. Here comes the concept called the snowball effect. It's was developed over the time, not in a single day. He was also an doctor but overshadowed by my mom's uncles reputation. He dreamed to practicing like him but it never materialised in reality. After so many years the opportunity came in his way to eliminate his competitor & fulfil his sleeping desire. The person only took the opportunity of riots to fulfil his grudge & takeover their moveable or non-moveable assets without a criminal proceeding or any negative publicity which can't be possible in other way. This type of greedy, selfish, self-centric attitude didn't signify any religion like Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian. Those type of people doesn't belongs to any ethnic group, they comes under only in one category which is criminals. It happens with me, it happened with you & also to others. This type of people was there in the past, is there in the present, will be there in the future. It's upto you which color you want to put in. This incident happening every day everywhere.

Some are defining it as political, some defining it as a communal & some defining it as a cultural (honour killing) issue.

Whom you want to blame for the losses is upto you. You can blame your destiny or the god or the country or the government or the minister or a particular community.

Here the main question......Can you control it? It's impossible to control human mind or evil thinking. The incident which occurred in her life cannot be controlled from outside.

Here the contributing factor is not religion nor political or cultural. It's a criminal intent (uncontrolled contributing factor) done under the shadow of communal riots.

Just talk with those people who have lost their life in riots, u will find all of them have lost their home, assets or other belongings. What you thing those people who is executing the riots is doing it for ideology? If you think so then you are the biggest fool I have ever mate. Yes exceptions are there but I can guarantee that most of the people would have different intension.

But in reality convincing the sufferer about the real issue is very tough. Even if they understand everything then also a unconscious negative feeling will be there at the back of there mind. It's like a time bomb; u need a spark to re-ignite it. In that context you were right, a good leader need to secure that kind of incident should not happen but for him it will be difficult to control those criminal minds to stop exploiting the issues like riots, ethnicity or something else for their personal gain. I believe except a criminal mind nothing exist in this world which can influence a person to kill his/her childhood best friend or a child. Whatever is the reason can you kill you childhood best friend or a child in any circumstances?

I don't think so.....A sound human being can't do it any circumstances.

After my finding I shared my view with parents & created a solid stand point. They are 100% convinced or not I am not sure but atleast they don't have any problem with my friends & don't shows the stereotype attitude.

Hope for the best......

Regards

DM

SZ: Your analysis is mostly correct.

Criminal intent can be checked if the law is based on the concept of 'Justice' and the implementers have decided to do so. Mostly if I have come to understand correctly, then in a 50 year history of someone trying to achieve a just kingdom/society/nation then for about 5-10 years the society actually would witness a phase where criminal intent is completely checked and there is peace overall. After that either border wars will start or something will go wrong with society because a new leader will be born. Since inciting is very easy, may not work with you and I, but in general giving a speech with negativity and raising the tempo is easy and for quick success leaders often employ this.

Now well I may be foolish, but then 'to believe' one has to take a leap of faith and that is the essence of most religion. I think we are in agreement that most people do not think analytically, if that assumption is correct, then maybe we can also come to a common agreement that most people do not analyses their religion and the leap of faith could be in the wrong direction. Now that is seed of ideological criminal intent (example: Elements of Taliban in Pakistan (the ones who only kill innocents), perpetrators of Malegaon blasts and Mecca Masjid (hyderabad) blasts , KKK (in US) etc.)

You know the cases against such people should be made under criminal offense rather than terrorism or any other part of law. But the truth is that the foot soldiers in such organizations actually have 'weird' belief system. Maybe the leaders of such organization are more analytical and hence outright criminals but on grassroots its belief -- driven by idealogy.

My observation, so far, has been that all criminal activity has a reason -- money, power, lust/jealousy, revenge, mental instability or ideology. At least till now I have not come across a case which cannot be compartmentalized in one of these categories. Assuming its only one would be wrong.

I maybe wrong, one can always be wrong but that is the structure that I follow so far. If you have better insight then do share.

[p.s. since you read, understand and perhaps follow Taleb to Gladwell. check out Robert Shiller's - 'irrational exuberance' and Karl Marx]

And it end here

.... taking it forward ...

Recently through a FaceBook post I came across this interesting piece by Aftab Ahmed. 

To give you a small summary, he has correctly interpreted the concept of 'halal' and 'haram' income and its usage and then he has put up his view on the Babri-Masjid why it doesn't matter, and yet it matters. 

Although he is partially correct that, "Any big or small event where even it seemed remotely that they are being man-handled they (Muslims) erupt." But the truth is its slightly more complicated. 

There is a vision of India. It is of a democratic and multi-cultural country with no single religion being the state's religion -- Nehru's version of India. And that religion should be practiced in the house in a religious place etc. In short religion and state are different. These are people who call themselves 'secular'  and they believe in being diverse. 

Now there is another vision for India. This calls for a single country with homogeneity, as thought by RSS. It has some contradictions but we will not get into it as of now. In this thought process, religion has a very important role, which to an extent is the seed of the conflict.  Watch this video for more clarity on the type of ideology they propagate.

And if anyone is actually interested then they must read the speeches, books, etc. written by M. S. Golwalkar, the second "Sarsanghchalak" (Supreme chief) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. (wiki link).

If that seems like a lot of work then you can read: "TERRIFYING VISION — M.S. Golwalkar, the RSS and India" by Jyotirmaya Sharma. The work is quite scholarly, sometimes dry but worthy of reading for anyone who wants to understand why the Babri-Masjid is more of a Nehru's vs Gowalkar's vision of India. All normal people irrespective of being a Hindu, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Tribal, religions will only be pawns in this ideological game.

p.s. I think Gandhiji and Swami Viekanand too would have sided with Nehru. But then I have not read much of their work and would love to see some light being shown on them.

Organisations and Leadership

Defining organisations and leadership is important and there are many ways in which it can be done. This is just one of that I think best defines the genes in terms of expectation. 

1 – Organisation of Opportunists

There is an organisation where the dominant behaviour is governed by only one objective, “My well being”. This is an organisation, where a number of individuals have come together to look after their personal benefit! 

When they keep saying different things and sometimes contrary to what they have been recommending but all their actions result in benefiting them, well that’s a classic opportunist. Everyone knows such people can’t be trusted.

With time and observation, it dawns on us that most opportunists are myopic in their vision and understanding of the world. These people cannot bring new thinking and it is above them to rise to situations where leadership and courage is required.

Most of all they cannot develop a thought, these opportunist are only good in terms of riding the momentum of public emotions. When the followers/associates become sentimental they will not come over to bring calm around them, rather they will use that moment and try to build strength. Time and again they will remain opportunist.

2 – Organisation of an Ideology

This organization believes in some fact or fiction or story or whatever. They have a belief, an ideology for which they work. Members here will put their personal needs and wants in second place to the ideology.  

Well, here you are dealing with an orgnisation where the basis to achieve a common goal. The goal is made or prepared considering their ideology, it is based on some principal -- right or wrong is always debatable but there is an underlying motto. .

Leaders with ideology can be people with exceptional ability.

If the organization is driven by the ideology such as --"Justice and Equality for all (and not limited to a certain set of people), if not of past, but for present & future" -- and its members are actually able to implement it then the people can consider themselves as blessed. 

When such organisations is working properly and is fair then you will see many leaders emerging. It can groom a good leader who can evolve to the caliber level of Mahatma Gandhi and Mandela. These days, such people are hard to find but more than that such organisations are difficult to find.

Otherwise it is extremely important to understand what is the core idea or the vision that one would end up supporting. Because it can be as distorted as the KKK, Black Panthers, Taliban, etc. (there are couple of Indian versions as well on all sides -- regional level, religion, caste, sub-caste, etc. ).

But allow me to put a little caveat. One must understand that with time and experience, since humans as a species also evolve, individuals will also change and organisations are made up of individuals.

Leadership : Bucketing individual leaders

Broadly there are four types of leaders. I have marked them as Type 1, 2, 3 and 4 for ease of reference:

Type 1: They want power and feel like a king. Power is their only ambition. At times such leaders can be so much of a control freak that they will go to length to discredit their opponents, especially those whom they consider as strong competitors. These are also mostly opportunists who transform into tyrannical. Type 1 does not have any grand plans. And they cannot think beyond 1-to-5 years (in democracy) or whatever period they fancy (dictator). And also they do not evolve in their message to the need of the people or the process of evolvement is too slow.

Type 2: Leaders that want position of power to profit only. From a leadership point these are opportunists. This may sound similar to Type 1, but there is a subtle difference, they don’t care of being a king or king maker or whatever, for them it’s not about positions its money/power or anything that they are aiming for constantly.

When opportunists become leaders they cannot bring radical changes nor will they rise up to a situation when people in general are sentimental. When the public in its emotional moments demand blood, these leaders will become brutal, but they will not dominate continuously by being brutal, that capacity these individuals do not have.

Since they understand their potential they will not aim for the highest office but the second highest or the council that supports the highest office. This is the lot which would shift between power broker and being in position of leadership like a governor, CM, MoS etc.

Type 3: Leaders, who want power in order to write history. It’s not money or power that is the driving factor here. It could be leaving a legacy, or creating history. Usually such people either create institutions or mold an institution to their vision. Off all the characteristic there is one that are crucial here if they are not only in power but they are also the face of power — Good debater/speaker – they will give speech to capture imagination.

If leadership is split between front face and party organizer, and the true leader is more of a party organizer and not in the leader chair himself/herself, then it would be completely ideological driven. There are also times that such leaders, when they get a taste of power, then ideology goes out of the window and they become Type 1 leader i.e. a tyrannical, power hungry leader.

Differentiating the two would be a challenge but I think the easiest way would be to see how they handle the day to day activity and keep an eye on their past actions. That should give you a glimpse of what type the leader is – Mahatma Gandhi/Mandela or Hitler/Chavez.

Type 4: People who are propelled to leadership position and their target is simple one, to stay in that position for as long as they can, even if they have no ability and/or appetite to deliver results for which the power was bestowed upon them. In either case such leadership is usually week

'Misconceptions!' Are mutual funds relevant? Yes!

Read an opinion on the MF industry on Business Standard -- http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/are-mutual-funds-relevant-113063000620_1.html -- given below is my opinion on the subject.

'Misconceptions!' Are mutual funds relevant? Yes

The only reason why MFs will not succeed is because there is a huge misconception about the industry

Financial industry experts fail to understand one simple view that most people from other industries have on finance -- 'It is complicated and boring!'

There is some truth in this view and yet it can easily be classified as wrong. The truth is, its not as simple as the functioning of a savings account. You will have to fill in various forms and give signature on few documents depending upon the financial product you are buying.

The common opinion is wrong for the simple reason that not everyone knows about the intricacies of each industry. If a software expert finds finance as complicated then s/he should also understand that for most people even software is a complicated. Why is there this misconception that 'finance should be simple'?

Now coming to the response for the article 'Are mutual funds relevant?' The author has raised four points why the industry will fail. And given below is my take on each of the four points.

Benefit perception: The benefits are not clearly perceived because most people fail to do their homework. Financial products should not be considered or compared to consumable products like mobile, soap, tv etc. The most relevant comparison for it would be either doctors, architects, or engineers of a specific subject. There are many times when you think that their services are not required but that is not correct all the time.

While everyone has an opinion on what should be done when you have a fever but it is advisable to go a doctor? There are many people who would buy medicines through a pharmacist and act as a self-doctor and they live a long and healthy life, but then many people also tend to fall ill severely because they took the wrong medication.

Similarly everyone will have an opinion on how to approach investments but its best to consult a financial advisor or someone who understands the intricacies of the product. You dont like their opinion, go for a second opinion, just as you would in case of a doctor.

Also don't think that pharmacist is an equivalent to a doctor. Similarly why do people have the misconception that someone who has chosen to be a distributor or broker will understand the big picture of your finances.  (For people who think doctors and advisors are wrong comparisons, I would suggest that you check how many doctors are there in your city and if all of them have similar number of patients queuing up.)

Investments are hassles: Yes it looks difficult to invest at times and there are lots of forms to sign and they ask you with all kinds of question. But the entire idea to protect you and hence the safety measures were created. Medicines too should ideally be given only against prescription although that's not the case but convenience doesn't make the actions as correct.      

Promise vs performance: Here again the problem is that of the first one. Who made the promise?

Consistency: Another misconception. You need to understand the industry and the person. This is surely one place where I would compare it to doctors. There are successful and then there are not-so-successful. Similarly there are successful financial advisor and not to successful financial advisors.

I think most people don't get the structure right. The misconception is that Mutual Fund should be held responsible for anything wrong while this position can have some merit but it would be better to treat the Mutual Fund industry like Pharmaceutical industry. AMCs are manufacturing products, testing them. Just as the dream drug, one pill that cures all problem, that pharma companies would be chasing; mutual fund industry will try to search for its one fund that will perform in all markets in all conditions. But how can that happen?

Just as you need to find a good doctor and hope that they diagnose the illness correctly, similarly you should find the right advisor. Else in one case you might lose your health, the other will risk your wealth.

Missing the tidbit of life

Came across this interesting blog. In summary, the author is pointing out how the culture of 9-5 or eight hours of work has devoid him of enjoying his life..

I have been thinking about this myself for last few months. And somehow feel that working beyond 4-6 hours is actually not necessary.. The other 2-3 hours should be used to study, think through things, and read that is off your work.. After that better go and take a walk, listen to other people.. And may be, if possible then it would be better to go and travel a bit twice a year, go to a place you haven't been to before..

In fact I have come to realise that if you truly want to know a lane or a road, block etc then walk through it.. When you are riding or driving you tend to miss on too many things, fail to observe or understand the significance...

Living life is not just about making money, partying but its also about understanding, admiring and enjoying the small things in life -- walking, listening to other people, and spending time with family and friends, enjoying a cup of coffee/tea..

Abstracts - Antifragile, business, religion, introverts

We are living in such an information heavy world that it takes time and real effort to just chaff through many many bytes and words of garbage information to find something interesting. Off late, I have been thinking of sharing the most interesting pieces of articles on a daily/weekly basis where the topics can be as diverse as possible. Alas, haven't been able to do so until today.

Now I plan to share anything that I find interesting here and I would pollute it with my views while providing for the link so that you can enjoy the actual material.


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A Talk Show : This is an all audio show between Nassim N. Taleb and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman on Taleb's book "Anti-Fragile". It is very interesting and must be heard to understand the overall idea if Taleb. If you don't like reading through his book might at least listen to this.

He has some very interesting perspective as well!!!

"Education inhibits risk taking, this is what I don't like academia" -- Nassim Taleb

Listen carefully all the way to the last question because in the end you might just end up understanding anti-fragile better than Nassim Talem as Daniel Kahneman did when he answered for the last question.

Unpredictability is a great thing in life :)

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Memento Mori

This means "remember your mortality."

As legend has it, the phrase dates back to a conquering Roman general. As the general enjoyed Rome's equivalent of a ticker-tape parade, a slave was tasked with standing behind him, whispering "memento mori" into his ear.

The goal was to keep the general from getting too big a head... and possibly losing it in his next battle (because of lack of humility and lack of respect for risk). 


Something we are taught during school but somehow when we are grown up we tend to forget. No point in writing anything on my own, so just copy-pasted the part that I thought was most important.

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An great interview of Asghar Ali Engineer. 

There are few people I would agree with as much as I do with with Mr Engineer on Islam and freedom. Most people may not get the time to read his articles and go through his views. But at a broader level even watching this video is a good option.

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Introverted Kids Need to Learn to Speak Up at School

An interesting read on why parents should encourage their children to communicate. There are some clues on how but no step by step procedure.

If they seem useless to you, then next time onwards don't look at anything with the heading as "Abstracts"

MBA

The following comments were made on The Economist over the "Would the economy be better off without MBA students?"

guest-isoswwj wrote:

MBAs are strewn along the hallways of banks and consulting companies like litter along the roadside. They contend that they bring value to business, and to some extent they do. They remind us that there ought to be cooperative connections between departments in a company that contend against each other for precious resources. They are able to tell us that by moving the sorting table closer to the conveyor belt, we can box our products more quickly and boost our daily output by 2 percent. That's wonderful, but to be honest, they do what anyone would or could do if he were willing to stop thinking according to the party line and to think for himself.

The big problem I have with MBAs is that they are in love with their own set of buzzwords, those words that are either invented (so they can be "branded") or redefined and imparted with specially nuanced meanings that only the cognoscenti would understand, unless of course they stoop to the level of the hoi polloi where we usually reside to explain in the most patronizing way what they mean to say in plain English.

MBAs are not risk takers. They would be scared to death to be exposed to the capital risks of business ownership, to stake the welfare of their families on the outcomes of their decisions to go with this product or that service, and to trust one's inner hunches as we, who actually run businesses, do. They are quite comfortable doling out advice at exorbitant rates, knowing full well that whether or not their advice bears any fruit is completely disconnected from the "value" that they assess for an hour of their time.

I am not opposed to education. I spent 11 years in higher education accumulating degrees, taking extra courses to puff up my resume like the Pillsbury Doughboy. Did it make me smarter? No, but it made me sound smarter to those who had not willingly subjected themselves to the same rigors. It is odd to see how people with sound judgment defer to someone else with a degree. It is as if adding some alphabet soup to the end of one's name is the same as throwing dust into someone's eyes: he has to beg for assistance to navigate a path he has trod many times before.

MBAs do have their place, and my feeling is that their first stopping place should be in the mailroom. From there they could start to climb the ladder, eventually moving into sales where they have to learn the very visceral lessons about what it takes to produce a dollar of real revenue, what it takes to listen to "No" said a thousand times before a "Yes" is uttered, and what it takes to sell an product that is imperfectly aligned with highly moveable public tastes. Finally, when he has mastered sales, he can move into compliance where he can learn what it is to keep a company in the good graces of government regulation whose scope and reach change more frequently than women’s fashions.

Once the MBA has had that kind of "street" education, the combination of what he has learned in class and what he has learned on the job becomes truly valuable...if he has something different to say from what those of us who slug it out on a daily basis already are thinking. There is an old adage in the computer programming business that goes, "If it were so easy, everyone would be doing it." Owning and running a business is not for sissies. It requires a personality that can deal with uncertainty, economic hazards, potential litigation from employees and customers alike, and worst of all, the deeply rooted inner sense that perhaps one cannot endure the costs of perpetually trying to outmaneuver his competition.

If MBAs want to find a real market for what they offer, they should get into the business of building courage and inner strength in business executives who burn out in their late forties, who are doomed to have heart attacks before they are sixty, and who will likely die an early death from the stress of running businesses upon which their employees and their families depend. I think more than ever, what the economy needs are businesses and business leaders who have a conscience and a sense of the debt they owe to society for patronizing their businesses. Instead of the current crop of business leaders, advisors, MBAs, and the rest of the hangers on that are in constant pursuit of "monetizing" essentially worthless endeavors, we need new blood that understands that the most important objective of business leaders is to enhance the lives of those, who by dedicating one-third or more of every working day of their lives to the goals of their employers, make business success a conceivable outcome. Those same business leaders need also to adopt the view that their second and inferior objective should be to enhance shareholder value. If that were to happen, society would truly be different, and the MBAs that emerge from their schools with their faces all scrubbed clean, their hair parted, and their shoes shined like bowling balls would probably be different, too.

posted on 28/11/2012 01:10:19 amRecommended (59)Report abuse

CnKQ7pSia6 wrote:

Dear Sir,

I'm applying for an MBA degree right now. And I've been a management consultant for 6 years.

To see what value MBAs add you have to ask which are the most common sectors/employers that MBAs go into. The answer is unanimous - management consulting and investment banking.

Not to say that these two fields add no value to the economy, but having been a management consultant I can tell you first hand, one doesn't know much at all about a sector at least for the first 2-3 years. Worse still, many of my colleagues don't even know what they don't know. Having the name McKinsey or Bain on your business card doesn't transform you overnight into an insightful visionary (in many cases it makes you obnoxious but just as dumb as you were yesterday). When I first entered the field I was amazed how much crap gets passed around as "business knowledge" and the word I probably hate the most - business "learnings" (I used to angrily say there was a word in the English language - LESSONS - so there's no need to make up nonsensical words). I learned that the clients I was supposed to "advise" had been working in that industry for decades - and me, a come-in-yesterday Johnny is going to advise them on how to do their job better? What a joke. It taught me to listen carefully to the men who actual had their feet on and ears to the ground... you know, the people that my fellow consultants think are not worth listening to... the accountant in that X office who knows how the company negotiates with its suppliers, the field manager who knows how the product actually gets sold and so on.

But now its too much for me. I've come to think that consultants are just smooth slick snake oil salesmen with no real skin in the game. Same goes for investment bankers. Both sets collect their fat fee, no matter what the result.

As for the bankers, I love finance. I really do and that's why I want to study that in business school having never had any formal education in economics or finance (I was a scientist and physician). But I see finance as a critical but support function. I once said to a couple of fellow consultants that our kind and bankers were at best like midwives and it was the entrepreneurs and actual business managers that gave birth to actual value. They looked at me as if I were from another planet.

But you know what the biggest tragedy of it all is? Its that these kids are the brightest and best. The ones sitting around me graduated from universities like Harvard and MIT in subjects like math, physics, economics and chemistry. You know, those old fashioned fields where you need to REALLY think and analyze. Not just make pretty slides. And I used to think at least half a dozen times each day "What a waste!"

There is such a ridiculous echo chamber in these groups that everyone will parrot the latest mantra. I'll conclude with two examples -

1. Teamwork - whatever one can do, a team can do better! Or at least that's what's drilled into you. One of my favorite questions when interviewing candidates for my firm was "Tell me two examples of something that are better done individually than in a team" I can count on the fingers of one hand, the number of candidates that could even attempt a decent answer (among dozens of candidates).

2. Another mantra is "leadership" - but what exactly does that mean? Are the qualities required of the US Army Chief of Staff the same as those needed by the head of Amnesty Int'l? Would a great CEO also be a great president? Is there some formulaic design for leadership? You'd be astounded at how many of the MBA types think so.

I hate to say it but I wouldn't put most of my colleagues in charge of managing a corner grocery store, let alone a large organization.

And yeah - I'd wish they stop using all that stupid jargon! In my experience, the more a person uses big important words to explain something, the less he actual understands the subject. A genius can explain a concept in a way that even a fool would understand. But a fool will explain the same in a way that even a genius would not understand.

Thanks.


My personal views are also similar. And hence wouldnt like to add anything more.

Greedy tip

Among the seven deadly sins that mankind is afflicted of, I would say "greed" is perhaps the most common. Maybe because of my profession, I have managed to notice more instances of greed .

Well I am associated with business journalism, mostly covering personal finance -- Stocks and Mutual Funds -- for over two years. Even in that my domain was mostly about writing features on stocks (Jan 2009- Dec 2010). And everytime I would mention about this, most often people would ask me for a quick tip to make a quick money.

My response was the same then and now, investing is not a fun game. It is not easy money. You will have to do some work to make money. Its like an activity, you can enjoy it only if you like working hard. And I would always offer them tips on how to study the market and understand stocks. Was even ready to help them learn everything that I know.

Alas! Not many people would agree that its not easy money, and then most will actually stop asking or saying anything. Sometimes I get the feeling, they think I have no clue about my job.

In a way, it was sad to see how everyone wanted the easy money. It seemed they had forgotten the proverb: "Give a man a fish and he will not be hungry for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll never go hungry".

Everyone wants a fish and doesn't care about tomorrow.

In school I had read a story. I am sure you must have read it too. Don't remember the exact text but it goes like:

Once upon a time there was a man. He was poor as compared to some of his relatives but he had everything in his life, a nice house, decent work, good family and was able to meet all his commitments. Then one day he made a statement that if given a chance he will make a lot of money and even the devil cannot take away from him. 

The devil heard and decided to take the challenge. 

The guy started making money and grew rich. Then one day, he was given an offer that he can have as much land as he can run and cover. The man started running, and though he was tired, he thought if he could run a little more, he will have that extra land as well. In the end he dies, ran too more than he should have and the only land that he actually got was the space in which he was buried. 

Now what I don't get why don't people ever understand the lesson.