Archive for June, 2008

Quotes worth recording - Terry Pearce

by Rajesh Setty on Sun 29 Jun 2008 21:28 PM EDT

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The difference between “wanting something” and “wanting something and willing to pay to get it” is the same as the difference between day and night. A quote from Terry Pearce is applicable to people from all walks of life. Here it is:

“There are many people who think they want to be matadors, only to find themselves in the ring with two thousand pounds of bull bearing down on them, and then discover that what they really wanted was to wear tight pants and hear the crowd roar”

- Terry Pearce

Have a great week ahead!

Via Steve Farber

News and its journey upwards

by Rajesh Setty on Thu 26 Jun 2008 22:37 PM EDT

At a broad level there are only three kinds of news in the organization.

1. Good news

2. Bad news

3. Irrelevant news

The way good news and bad news travel within the organization is typically different.

Good news has a way of growing through the layers and showing up as bigger than what it is originally.

Bad news has a way of shrinking through the layers and showing up as smaller than what it is originally.

In either case, reality is distorted.

When reality is distorted, you pay a price. In the first case (good news contributing to reality distortion), this price may be complacence. In the second case (bad news contributing to reality distortion) the price may be a rude shock.

Question to think about:

What practices can we put in place so that the reality distortion is kept to a minimum?

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Things that make me smile #37 - Blonde Mortician

by Rajesh Setty on Thu 26 Jun 2008 16:45 PM EDT

There are many ways to solve the problem. Not all of them are optimal. I got this one in the email today afternoon and thought you might enjoy reading it…

Blonde Mortician

A man who just died is delivered to a local mortuary wearing an expensive, expertly tailored black suit.

The female blonde mortician asks the deceased’s wife how she would like the body dressed. She points out that the man does look good in the black suit he is already wearing.

The widow, however, says that she always thought her husband looked his best in blue, and that she wants him in a blue suit. She gives the Blonde mortician a blank check and says, ‘I don’t care what it costs, but please have my husband in a blue suit for the viewing.’

The woman returns the next day for the wake. To her delight, she finds her husband dressed in a gorgeous blue suit with a subtle chalk stripe; the suit fits him perfectly.

She says to the mortician, ‘Whatever this cost, I’m very satisfied. You did an excellent job and I’m very grateful… How much did you spend?’ To her astonishment, the blonde mortician presents her with the blank check.

‘There’s no charge,’ she says.

‘No, really, I must compensate you for the cost of that exquisite blue suit!’ she says.

‘Honestly, ma’am,’ the blonde says, ‘it cost nothing… You see, a deceased gentleman of about your husband’s size was brought in shortly after you left yesterday, and he was wearing an attractive blue suit. I asked his wife if she minded him going to his grave wearing a black
suit instead, and she said it made no difference as long as he looked nice.

‘So I just switched the heads.’

(BET YOU DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING!!!)

Note: For other 36 posts in the same series, please visit my Squidoo Lens on the same topic. Here is the link:
Squidoo Lens: Smile Please

the loyalty factor

by Rajesh Setty on Thu 26 Jun 2008 08:08 AM EDT

Loyal to the company.

Loyal to your friends.

Loyal to your family.

Loyal to <<fill in the blanks here>>

Most people talk about loyalty as an absolute.

In reality, most of these people view loyalty within the constraint of their convenience.  Sort of saying -  “I will be loyal to you as long as it is convenient for me to be loyal to you”.

The wisdom lies in determining who in your network is in which category.

Also, something to think about - and ask yourself

Which category do I belong to in relationship to people that are close to me?

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Incredible India?

by Rajesh Setty on Tue 24 Jun 2008 08:32 AM EDT

VV Ranganathan is the chairman of Compassites and founder of Pinnacle Opportunities. Ranga is an inspiration and guiding force for all of us at Compassites. His latest blog post on India provides a perspective on what is REALLY happening in India. It is scary to to say the least. Here is the link:

VV Ranganathan: Incredible India

You may also be interested on my previous blog posts related to the topic:

1. April 30, 2008: What are you paying to make money?

2. May 5, 2007: If Bangalore really wants to be the Silicon Valley of India

3. May 22, 2006: More validation for Beyond Code

Have a great morning

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GMC says - keep doing what you are doing

by Rajesh Setty on Mon 23 Jun 2008 18:01 PM EDT

I was at a cafe this afternoon and ordered a chai. The sleeve for the coffee cup had an advertisement. I am not complaining about the advertisement - they have to take up every bit of real estate anywhere to communicate to us, right?

The content of the advertisement, though, was funny

Here is what it said

“I don’t know what you are doing, but keep doing it”

“Nothing starts your day like coffee and a little positive reinforcement”

On the same lighter note:

First, if what you are doing is not working, there is no point in continuing to do it. Second, if what you are doing is taking you nowhere, positive reinforcement and coffee will take you to nowhere faster.

GMC might have made this work just because there may be other people like me who may have a conversation about this ad. However, GMC could also have gotten better attention just by providing something really valuable - think about something that will make someone throw away the cup but actually collect the sleeve of the cup. I am sure they have spent a fortune to get their name on those sleeves. Spending a bit more to make it memorable would be just worth it.

Have a great week ahead!

How to commoditize yourself fast

by Rajesh Setty on Mon 23 Jun 2008 11:34 AM EDT

You want to be an “also ran” in the rat race? If so, no worries - technology will help you do that. Quickly.

There are many ways to do it. Really. I have an example of a Business Development email that I received (unsolicited, of course) a while ago. You can read the entire email filled with cliches and claims that are “very common” from vendors of that category.

First, an unsolicited email rarely does the job for a long-term relationship. I think the better way would be to get an introduction from someone. This would mean lot more work upfront. Hence people resort to the aid of technology and blast emails en-masse and hope that a “small” percentage will respond favorably. In fact, a small percentage of them may respond back - almost validating their original premise. In turn motivating themto continue to do what does not work really.

Anyway, back to the point, please read through the email and you will notice that the sender tries his or her best to be one among the many. He or she has followed all the best practices and the current buzzwords to ensure that he is “compliant” with the crowd - in the process eliminating himself out of the race. What is lacking in the email is simply that he or she has failed to show why the offer is “relevant” to my business and failed to establish a relationship prior to adding me to the list of recipients.

Technology provides a great competitive advantage if used right. It will also prove to be a “competitive disadvantage” if used wrong.

Have a great week ahead.

Ways to distinguish yourself #188 - Avoid Graffiti

by Rajesh Setty on Sat 21 Jun 2008 19:02 PM EDT

If you want to be an amateur graffiti creator, you don’t require a lot of skills. You can pretty much get away with anything. Of course, there are professionals here too. I am not talking about those 1% of the people - 99% of the people that engage in graffiti are doing this for a purpose that is not noble.

Photo Courtesy: Sean Hawkey (via Flickr)

Now, the question is do you engage in graffiti?

If you go to a blog and make a comment that is not relevant to the conversation, you are engaging in graffiti

If you write a review for a book on Amazon and not say anything of material value, you are engaging in graffiti

If you join a conversation and talk nonsense, you are engaging in graffiti

If you join a discussion group and engage in a fight with others for no reason, you are engaging in graffiti

Just graffiti and spray painters cause a lot of harm to the owners to the building, engaging in introducing noise anywhere will cause a lot of harm to others who are engaged in that community, website, blog or company.

============

Note 1: For links to the other 187 entries in the “Distinguish yourself” series, please visit my Squidoo lens on the same topic:
Squidoo Lens: Distinguish yourself

Note 2: The first 25 entries in the series have been packaged in a ChangeThis manifesto that was published on September 07, 2005. You can download that manifesto here:
ChangeThis Manifesto: 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself

Note 3: My latest manifesto on ChangeThis was published on August 8, 2007. Today it is ranked #40. I am overwhelmed by the support for this. Thank you. Here is the link:
ChangeThis Manifesto: Making the Most of Your Time: Going Beyond To-Do Lists

Discipline is in the details..

by Rajesh Setty on Fri 20 Jun 2008 14:49 PM EDT

Discipline really shows up in the details.

In our last trip to Los Angeles, Paul and I had an interesting experience with Avis. After returning the car, we were waiting for the shuttle car for a looooong time. Not only did the people know the status of the rental car, even the clock that is supposed to show when the next shuttle car was to arrive was also broken

The sad part was nobody seemed to care about this and nobody seemed to think that people do notice details.

Discipline is in the details and people (especially customers and prospects) do notice the details even if you don’t!

What about your own business? What are some details that you have not paid attention to but your customers and prospects are noticing? And, more importantly - what will you do about this tomorrow?

Physically close.. mentally far away…

by Rajesh Setty on Tue 17 Jun 2008 07:17 AM EDT

The connected world and the gadgets create a new set of concerns.

Early morning, I saw two couples going for a walk.

In one case the husband was listening to something on his iPod and the wife was walking silently next to him.

In another case, wife was listening to something on iPod and the husband was talking to someone on his phone - with a bluetooth headset sticking to his ear.

I don’t know what to say but to observe that in the quest of connecting to everyone all the time, we may be moving far away from people that are closeby.

All the best!

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