August 31, 2011

"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"—"the more it changes, the more it's the same thing"

Funny thing about human nature---One always recognises a wrong committed by another and takes a righteous stance on it-and when the same person gets a chance, practises it with more precision (since there would ave been scientific developments in the interim.)
Americans are the worst because
1. Their entire philosophy is based on "is it good for America?"
2. They are the first to advocate change of governments because those govts are suppressing their peoples  and are murdering democracy.
3. They are the most powerful military nation currently.
4. There is no counterweight and it is unipolar world now.


Let us review a little history---

The Doctors' Trial (officially United States of America v. Karl Brandt, et al.) was the first of 12 trials for war crimes that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Nuremberg, Germany after the end of World War II. These trials were held before U.S. military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms at the Palace of Justice. The trials are collectively known as the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials", formally the "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" (NMT).

Twenty of the 23 defendants were medical doctors (Brack, Rudolf Brandt, and Sievers being Nazi officials) and were accused of having been involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the the guise of euthanasia. Josef Mengele, one of the leading Nazi doctors, had evaded capture.

The judges in this case, heard before Military Tribunal I, were Walter B. Beals (presiding judge) from Washington, Harold L. Sebring from Florida, and Johnson T. Crawford from Oklahoma, with Victor C. Swearingen, a former special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, as an alternate judge. The Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was Telford Taylor and the chief prosecutor James M. McHaney. The indictment was filed on October 25, 1946; the trial lasted from December 9 that year until August 20, 1947. Of the 23 defendants, seven were acquitted and seven received death sentences; the remainder received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment. --

qouted from WIKIPEDIA.




Quoted from  THE HINDU dated 31/08/2011 --International--page 15.

quis narro vos? (What say you?)
or
Quo vadis?

August 30, 2011

Happy Birthday Anna!

Many many happy returns of the day. May your prolific contributions to SH and sustainability continue to grow!!!!

August 24, 2011

Lessons from NRN: Shibhu's perspectives

The farewell ceremony to NRN was elaborate, absorbing and also instructive. Sharing some of the points here, as everyone can benefit from the secrets of this amazingly successful entrepreneur.

From Shibu's (the incoming CEO of Infosys) speech:

  • Shibu was the last founder of Infosys to join. He was offered a job at Infosys, not a 'foundership'. Even though Shibu was willing to come in as just that, NRN changed his mind and the minds of the other partners and  made him a founder-partner. NRN didn't take advantage of the situation and went by the merit of the situation
  • Shibhu would work hard to be prepared for reviews by NRN. If he were prepared for 8 out of 10 items that NRN had wanted done in an earlier review, NRN would inevitably start the new review with the 2 items not done. Eventually, NRN's advice to Shibhu: 'Get a diary'. Shibhu said it is the best advice he received ever and nothing substitutes for taking notes. Youngsters, please note
  • The night before UAT of their first big project, someone finds a cosmetic bug in a report (some text was incorrect). The assessment was that it couldn't be fixed in time for the UAT. NRN insists on calling the client decision maker (at a late hour of the day) and have him come in to see the bug. The person comes and dismisses it as inconsequential. The next day, the client tells his own team about the incident and says 'if this is the level of diligence of this team, you all need not bother with the UAT' or words to that effect. To Shibhu, it was a demonstration of the power of transparency on influencing clients positively.
  • Shibhu was given the responsibility of setting up the first network line to the US from Infy. NRN gave him a few 100,000$ and asked Shibhu to take care of it. The solution Shibhu came up with was unorthodox- NRN backed him on it.  What Shibhu did eventually formed the base of the Infosys network design. Give stretch targets and back your people to achieve them- the confidence you invest in them is enough to let them jump the gap
  • There were many occasions when NRN & family helped Shibhu and family through personal troubles, financial troubles and even gave them a temporary home. Mentoring at all levels.

More later...