IPL Tops India’s Most Innovative Companies

Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list has an India sub-list for 2010. Indian Premier League tops the India list & also makes it to the #22 spot on the global list.

ShubhadeepB_FastCompany_MostInnovativeCompaniesList2010

The 2010 list also features familiar names like RIL, Godrej, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, M&M & Infosys. The list also brings some lesser known entities into the limelight – VNL (#39 on the global list), Narayana Hrudayalaya & A Little World.

VNL (http://www.vnl.in/) – VNL makes telecom equipment that helps mobile operators reach rural markets profitably.

Narayana Hrudayala (http://www.narayanahospitals.com/) – The rich come here for the world’s best heart care. The poor come here for the world’s kindest care, for no one here is turned away for lack of funds.

A Little World (http://www.alittleworld.com/index.html) – ALW is the developer of ZERO, India’s first domestic payment system with specific focus on reaching out to masses with lowest available communication infrastructure. MCHEK came out of the same stable.

Social Media Lessons From FedEx

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Over the last few weeks, at least a dozen friends have commented on the lack of activity on this blog. This was inspiration enough.
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I came across this interesting post by Matt Ceniceros about how FedEx is using social media to connect with its customers. In the post, Matt explains 5 lessons :

  1. Social media expedites your ability to intelligently gather information – gather information about feelings, perceptions, reactions & customer sentiments
  2. Social media humanizes a company – establish common ground for your company & brand
  3. Social media allows you to engage in in-depth conversations – its about sharing not selling, facilitate customer conversations & influence it
  4. Social media uncovers opportunities fast – enable real time relationships with customers
  5. Social media simply takes you back to basic – its all about communicating with your customers

Read the original post here. 

GDP – Just a Number!

“For too long we seem to have surrendered personal excellence and community value in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product now is over 800 billion dollars a year, but that gross national product, if we judge the United States of America by that, that gross national product counts air pollution, and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic squall. It counts Napalm, and it counts nuclear warheads, and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our city. It counts Whitman’s rifles and Speck’s Knifes and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

Yet, the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play; it does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worth while. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”

(Quoted by Robert Kennedy in 1960)

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Take: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

 

Its been a long time since I have termed a business book “gripping”. This book was exactly that – I finished reading the book cover to cover in the shortest possible time & I enjoyed every moment of it. The author, Patrick Lencioni, brands his product as A Leadership Fable – & it sure lives up to this tag. The book is a MUST READ for anyone who wants to leverage a team – either as a manager or as a team member.

At the core of this book is the Five Dysfunctions Model – a pyramid of the five dysfunctions –

  • Absence of Trust stemming from unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group (base of the pyramid)
  • Fear of Conflict leading to artificial harmony
  • Lack of Commitment resulting in ambiguity
  • Avoidance of Accountability as seen in low standards
  • Inattention to Results accompanied by focus on individual status & ego (apex of the pyramid)

The most practical aspect of this book is post the fable – a guide to put the model to work. The guide provides three useful inputs (a) a checklist to identify which dysfunction is ailing your team, (b) suggestions for overcoming the dysfunction, and (c) role of the leader.

A question that I have pondered over many times in the recent past is How do you know when a team is collaborating? The book does provide crucial cues to answer this question (at least for now).