The Oscar fever has caught on and for the first time, I am blogging live watching the Oscars, from the comforts of my home. Nothing can beat this experience. Seeing it live, munching my favourite triscuit, watching my two kids screaming louder than the Oscar host and blogging as Slumdog Millionaire is about to win Oscars – At this point, I don’t know how many, though!

The expectations are high among Indians that music maestro AR Rahman, who has bagged three nominations for “Slumdog Millionaire”, will bring home the coveted trophy. What a moment that will be!

Other two Indian films vying for the glory are “Smile Pinki” and “The Final Inch”.

The time is 8.30 PM EST.

Ok, the Oscar Awards has begun and so is this live blogging.

The time is 8:33 PM

Singer, Dancer, Actor Hugh Jackman enters the show with startling display of his talent. He starts of with the song on Slumdog Millionaire, moves onto Benjamin Button – what a startling display, picks up Anne Hathaway for an impromptu dance. Jackman performs about the other movies – The Reader, The Wrestler and Nixon. What a Live Performance that was!

The time is 8:40 PM

Hugh Jackman introduces all the nominees including Mickey Rourke, the couple – Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, the guy who played Nixon, Demi Moore.

The time is 8:45 PM

5 yesteryear Oscar actress winners including Whoopi Goldberg introduces Penelope Cruz, Marisa Tomei, Demi Moore et al.

Penelope Cruz wins Oscar for the best actress. She goes to the stage and thinks she would faint…but doesn’t. She gave an emotional speech saying it is art which unites the universe. You are too good and beautiful. Penelope – Congratulations !

The time is 8:54 PM

Some type pad clicks. Few sentences and sounds of a typewriter. I don’t know what is happening.

Enter Steve Martin and Tina Fei. They starts joking around, as usual and soon picks up the mike for announcing the best screenplay. Now I understand why there were those type sounds.

The best screenplay award goes to Dustin Lance Black for Milk. Dustin, on the stage, emotionally talks of “Hope” for Gays and Lesbians across America.

Next comes the award for the best adopted screenplay…and the award goes to Simon Beaufoy, the writer for Slumdog Millionaire.

Oscar # 1 for Slumdog Millionaire. Wondering why Vikas Swarup for Original Screenplay. But yes, he thanked Vikas Swarup and the other two musketeers and his love for India.

I am so excited now. My friend, Madhavan, who wrote Will Slumdog Millionaire Win the Oscar Awards, pings me on Gmail. We exchange congratulations for the first in the kitty and many to go.

The time is 9:03.

Enters Kungfu Panda and his star friends…I am talking of Jack Black and Jennifer Aniston. He is hilarious.

The best animated feature film goes to Wall-E. Oscar is taken by Andrew Stanton. He thanks everyone..nothing extraordinary of a speech. The show goes on

The best animated short film goes to La Maison En Petites. Kunio Kato collects the award and “Sanks” everyone!…Sankooo..meaning Thank You.

Time for a break!

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It’s back to basics – so it seems. The ” good old days” – days when firms would simply throw money to retain people, Compensation Managers were given marching orders to “do what it takes” to retain talent and in the bargain delivered top dollar increases and fancy variable pays, when counter offers was the need of the hour and kept compensation managers on their toes -

This all seems to be a passe!

With global recession tightening it’s grip around us and with nightmares like the 50B US$ fund run by Bernaud Madoff coming to light, analysts say this is the tip of the iceberg!

I wish it isn’t because what we have been through over the last few months has been more than what we can take. Unfortunately, my wish isnt going to come trough and this will last a few more months – the damage, unraveling like a ravaging hurricane, the magnitude of which will be know only when the storm passes!

While we duck for cover and realize that umbrellas are not enough to weather this storm, compensation managers are going through a pretty different and unique year end / compensation planning process. Quite a few firms that I know, both big and small have said they don’t plan to do merit raises this year – some of the other players are even taking a call on doing away with variable pay plans, not to mention the scary issue of headcount reduction.

So what does the employee feel?

Well – at least some of my experiences tell me that the real world is living in an ivory tower. I’ve had a few folks walk by to me and say, “Can you tell me how much increase I am going to get ? “, “I want to know the “exact” percentage of my bonus!” and I am stumped for words!!!!

It’s sad that a majority of the work force thinks that this is a passing cloud. I can’t blame their ignorance because they probably don’t understand the magnitude of what we are contending with today. But as someone who reasonably understands the situation, I can tell you one thing – the good old days are gone forever and will never ever return.

Hold on! I’m not a pessimist. I am an eternal optimist!!! I’m not predicting doomsday for a second. The point that I am trying to make is that corporates are learning lessons and learning them hard and fast – mistakes teach us a lot and this one is no different.

This too shall pass say some – Yes!.. This too will, because we can’t expect to see things never improve. They will and they better.. Just that the new world order has arrived and when things get back to normal – it’s back to the days of our parents, days when value propositions will be driven by learning and growth opportunities, loyalty to firms having some value and of course, compensation being at the bottom of the stack..

Good bye good old days, welcome to the new world order!!! – if your firms want to survive!

Image Credit: Luismi1985

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This time they are after shaking up the Internet and broadband market of India. Reliance Infocomm has forged an alliance with 5 hardware vendors to offer free laptops with Internet to their customers.The companies, which have entered into this agreement, are Acer, Asustek, HCL, Infosystems and Lenovo.
What we are referring to here is the brand new offer that Anil Reliance Infocomm wants to bring to table for India. 

Image Courtesy: Engadget.com

These devices are expected to have Intel’ ‘Atom’ processor. While it is still not very clear whether these would be a laptops or custom net books, it is very clear that they are soon hitting the market. Acer however seems to have confirmed that it providing net books for this deal.

Reliance believes that with only 12 Million Internet subscribers there is huge potential to take Internet penetration to next level. It is very likely that Reliance would create the sensation that it created in mobile market as this whole deal is priced at Rs. 1500 a month with a contract of 2 years.

While Reliance is doing this, certainly rest of the players in the market will shift gears to do something similar and hopefully consumers will stand to benefit from this.

Very eager to see whole country going Internet savvy! Go Reliance Go!

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Over the last few days many of you have mailed me to ask what the real meaning of Show Daddy is. I am eager to tell you as much as you are ready to listen.

In the last few weeks, we have spoken about the various aspect of time management, let us do a recap first and in the end I will tell you what to Show Daddy or rather how to Show Daddy what you’ve learnt

You learnt to set expectations with your wife, your boss etc. You also learnt the importance of having a plan and how to come up with a step by step approach by working to prioritize each of them while making sure that you don’t loose track of the goal.

Then I went on a different tangent talking about procrastination and how decision making is so important in life. After that you heard from me how to delegate your responsibilities.

And then I thought why not throw some gyaan (knowledge) on Six Sigma – hence I taught you the concept of DMAIC and how this can be applied to your life. 

After that I thought I will take a break…and you thought I would never come back ?

I came back only to write what excellence means to each of us and the art and benefits of getting organized.  In short this is the story so far. 

1. Set Expectations
2. Have a plan
3. Objectivise your goals
4. Work to Prioritise
5. Do not procrastinate
6. Always make Decisions
7. Delegate your responsibilities
8. DMAIC your life
9. Yearn for excellence
10. Get organized

 Take the first letter of the word and you will know how to Show Daddy.

 Simple – ain’t it ?

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Image Credit : Leo Reynolds

“Man, I have a 6.35 am to catch. I am running late by 10 minutes. I am not sure if I will be able to make it. Lets talk tomorrow” says Vineeth

“Suresh, I started this venture part time with few of my friends. I am already working 10 hours at office and another 3 hours to commute back and forth. I am expected to deliver both at work and at my new partnership firm. I am finding it difficult to manage, yaar. Can you tell me a way to come out of this ?” says Sudheer, an HR executive at an MNC

“Hey Verma – I have had another bad day with my wife. She keeps complaining that I don’t take her out for a movie or for dining, I don’t spend time with the kids and is not a partner to all the hardship that she undergoes. What do you reckon. Do you think I should quit my job and take up a new one or leave her alone?” …asks Srinath, another MNC executive who also happens to be a partner in the venture in which Sudheer has put his heart to.

What do these three guys have in common ?

Anybody’s guess – They all have the same problems that you and I face every day – lack of time.

I wish I could give them a part of my time and add it to their allotted 24 hours in a day. If only we could buy and sell time, then the whole world would have been a different phenomenon altogether. I am sure, time is the only commodity left to be traded.

Did I give some ideas to the commodity market, just now ?

Never mind, that’s a different topic altogether to discuss. Will do it some other day.

Lets get down to business and “Show Daddy” how time can be well managed.

One common thing that I have noticed in many youngsters and the old alike is that everyone craves for time.

Time is money.

• Ask a trader, how much money will he lose if he steps out of his desk for a few minutes.
• Ask a sprinter, what is the value of the split of a second
• Ask a CEO, what is the value of his time

All of them would say one common word – Invaluable.

Time is invaluable.

So, coming back to the point – how do I, as an individual, manage my time most effectively ? How can I fulfill my role  as an employee, a wannabe entrepreneur, a husband, a father or a son, a neighbour or a colleague – how ?

Everybody needs my time and no body tries to understand how much invaluable it is to me .

I have long introspected these questions, time and again and have come up with a formula  called “Show Daddy” which works fantastically for me. Hope this will put things into perspective

1. Set expectations

This one is a tough one. I can set expectations for myself but how do I do set it for others who are so dear to me ? Well, that’s the question that runs in many of our minds. My answer to that is simple.

Learn to say “No”.

This is a golden two letter word that brings an eternity of happiness. Take things which you can fulfill. Say “No” to others. If your wife asks you to come for shopping and expects you to be with her all through her shopping expeditions and you don’t like it a bit, say “No”.

The other option is to go with her but with a laptop and an air-card chipped in, so that you can make use of your time while she takes 4-5 hours of creative time for selection and end up buying nothing (No offence to lady readers but it’s a fact that many of us go through). If you don’t have a laptop, go buy an ASUS EE PC – that is the smallest yet powerful micro PC that you can get in the market. Wouldn’t cost you much – say around $300 or so.

The example given above holds good with your boss too.

Eat only what you can chew. If you accept what you can’t deliver, he will question you on your commitment, integrity, honesty, sincerity blah blah blah and you will call for unwarranted discussions.

In contrast, if you put your foot down, you will set his expectation right and in the process save lot of time and energy for yourself

Key message – Put your foot down where it matters by saying “No” and thus set expectations

2. Have a plan

Well, I don’t need to tell you the importance of having a plan. Having a plan is half the job well done. Imagine a project manager managing his project without having a set plan, set objectives, set goals etc.  We will speak more on this in the sections coming but you get the point, right ?

Without a proper plan, you would seem like a headless chicken with no sense of direction, whatsoever. A plan gives you direction. A direction gives you the goal and the goal shows you the path to achieve that goal.

Improper planning or the lack of planning itself can cost you hundreds and thousands of dollars of wasted or overutilised man hour effort trying to figure out what needs to be done and when.

Bottomline – A plan is the backbone and a step by step guide for your success.

I thought of writing the rest of the time pieces but I know you are already exhausted already. I am taking a break now, will be back tomorrow to complete the rest of the article in this 5 part series.

Meanwhile, digest what I said just now, do some introspection and see if you can start making some changes to your life….just some !

Cheers !

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