Visible costs

We would rather suffer the visible costs of a few bad decisions than incur the many invisible costs that come from decisions made too slowly – or not at all – because of a stifling bureaucracy.

—

Warren Buffett excerpted in “Startup lessons learned from Warren Buffett”

via 37 signals

Quest essentials

All quests worth undertaking ...require audacity. And willpower. (Of course.) And persistence. (Of course.) But frankly, a persistent misreading of the odds.

--Tom Peters

IPL

Received a sms from the mobile service provider sent by the police "Kindly note that mobiles, cordless phones, cameras , water bottles , purses , handbags , eatables , any type of weapon etc are not allowed inside DY Patil Stadium". DY Patil btw is the venue for the IPL final match today.

Wonder if such conditions applied to all the matches and if it was applicable to Lalit Modi and his ilk.

It's better to watch the IPL match at home. And Live Cricket in the neighborhood.

Steel, wood , glass

Indian homes have traditionally used metal vessels and containers to cook n store food. Then along came plastic with it's convenience of being light , colorful , transparent and cheaper for serving and storing food. A few decades later it's abundantly clear that plastic brings with it huge problems of chemicals leaching into the food/water and the larger issue of the non-biodegradability of plastic.

One would imagine that steel product manufacturers would would use this information to inform customers and to market their products . Yet (in India ) in the stores I've visited steel vessel kitchenware does not have any such USP being highlighted. It's just stacked in rows as one of the categories. When in fact steel/metal kitchenware manufacturers can make a compelling case for consumers to completely recast their kitchenware to eliminate plastic. Good for you..good for the planet. (some of the folks dissipating their creative talent in marketing fairness creams can be directed towards helping the steel kitchenware industry )

The water in a steel bottle tastes better , stays cooler. But , steel bottles esp ones that will not leak water when tilted to 80 deg are not easy to find (at least in Mumbai). The best promotion for a steel bottle would be to fill it with water and invert it - conveying quality , convenience , taste and health benefit.

Analogy applies to wood n glass kitchen products e.g wooden cutting board visavis plastic cutting board , microwavable glass bowls instead plastic etc .

Whether or not the steel kitchenware industry revamps it's promotion - pl do shift to non-plastic kitchenware . Remember..good for you...good for the planet.

Hot heads...

Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything.

- Billy Graham

Choose your ecosystem..carefully

You are the company you keep. Choose and create your eco-system carefully - buyers , suppliers , service providers , team members . Often companies exercise a fair amount of care in building the internal team . But , not so much while choosing clients , suppliers thinking "it's business".

Yes, it's business . It's also your life . In which you spend a fair amount of each working day interacting with the various people in your chosen eco-system. If you choose to work with creative , confident , solution oriented , collaborative people then you can create together in a joyous , respectful way.

Given the inter-connectedness of business the notion of an organization needs to reinterpreted as an extended eco-system which involves your immediate clients , suppliers , service providers. Each performs a critical role in the chain. Trust , competence , shared ideology ,collaborative approach are essential ingredients for success.

Success not just in terms of the volume or value of a business. Joy , satisfaction and meaningful creation are equally critical components of success.

Write...

Communication is a multi-faceted thing . The ability to write clearly , persuasively , creatively -is one form of communication that is an important skill in many lines of work in today's world. Even as citizens and consumers we do / should interact with companies , groups , local media , govt etc . In each interaction the ability to communicate clearly is an undoubted advantage in sharing one's point of view. Technical knowledge in one's domain is of limited help without the ability to communicate effectively. I often see people have the passion , the knowledge which they would like communicate. But are constrained by their inability to do to effectively.

Writing is a skill that should be nurtured from school . Creative essays like write a letter to the earth on how you'll care for it , letter to your parent/sibling/ friend on 5 things you love about them , write a letter to your local govt representative - why we need a garden , regulate traffic near the school , write to a specific brand to reduce plastic (kids are incredibly creative . Once they get the context their letters I'm sure can move the Pulitzer panel ).

As I write this post it occurred to me that schools could actually get children on write on issues that impact them and share the letters as an album (incl. online ) with the relevant agencies.

Whether the ability to write effectively was encouraged in school or not - there is no doubt that everyone should invest time and conscious effort to nurture this skill.

Think write about it :)

Politicians and fairness creams

Calling designers to come forth and offer their design services to ALL political parties that advertise in public spaces through posters and hoardings. I have yet to see a single political poster or hoarding in Mumbai that is not repelling. Sycophancy and self-aggrandizement ooze through every pixel. If politicians must blow their own trumpet on non/minor achievements at the very least they can do so tastefully. They don't lack the funds to hire quality designers. They certainly lack the taste and the courtesy to spare citizens having to endure the pointless clutter.

These days the fairness products industry is advertising aggressively in various media. They kind of rival the political hoardings in terms of the nonsense quotient. "Become fair and spot-less* in 7 days". One suspects there will soon be a campaign that promises fairness in an hour (possibly for an hour !) . Notice here that I stress on campaign and not the product . That's because no fairness product can do what the campaigns claim to do. As I write this post it occurs to me that folks who create their campaigns for the fairness industry are perfect for politicians to revamp their outdoor promotion . Here's why -

- They know how to bull shit
- They have more aesthetic sense than the politicians

Think about it..an airbrushed ,'spot less' politician wrapped in white halo would be a lot less annoying than a bunch of them jostling for space even in an orange colored hoarding :)

Flipkart

Found 3 books on Flipkart which 2 bookstores (one of them being Landmark) I frequent did not have in stock and had no idea when they would be able to supply. I enjoy browsing through books at a bookstore. This has therefore been a category where I've so far preferred to visit a physical store. I must thank the 2 stores for driving me to Flipkart (which a friend had once advised as being a good place to buy books).

The buying process at Flipkart is simple and quick , prices are great . Books above a certain value are shipped without extra charges. This beats braving the afternoon heat to make a trek to the local bookstores , locating the book, spending time at the check-out counter and above all enduring the intolerable decibel levels at the mall.

If the delivery of the books is as great as the ordering - then I'll def be buying a lot more on-line :)

Postcard decor

Table tops and nooks can be wonderfully accessorized with post cards and small objects :)

Reflection

These days we look into a mirror longer and more often than ever before in the history of mankind. The level of reflection is far from being proportional.

Bunch of joy..

The flowers that bloom near my window..