Human Resource Planning & Audit by Arun Sekhri

The whole book is very illustrative with a lot of case examples and SIMPLY SPEAKING.... tips given everywhere drawing your focus to the core concepts.

Mission Statements:

Microsoft: We work to help people and businesses throughout the world realise their full potential.

Ford Motors: We are a global family with a proud heritage passionately committed to providing personal mobility for people around the world.

Infosys: To make a difference to the way people live.

ITC Limited: To enhance the wealth generating capability of the enterprise in a globalizing environment, delivering superior and sustainable stakeholder value.

Mahindra and Mahindra: We don't have a group-wide mission statement. Our core purpose is what makes all of us get up and come to work in the morning.

ADIDAS : All Day I Dream About Sports

Unique Elements:

Siemens - Where Technology touches lives
Dupont: Better Things for Better Living though Chemistry
Hyundai: Building a better world through innovative technology
Nokia: Connecting People
Xerox: The Document Company
IBM: Solutions for a small planet
Philips: Let's make things better
BPL: Believe in the Best
FORD: Built for the road ahead.
EXXON MOBIL: Taking on the world's toughest energy challenges
CHEVRON: Finding newer, cleaner ways to power the world
AT & T : Your world delivered. Connecting you to your world, everywhere you live and work
Marriott International: "REVIVE"
AVON Products: Ding-Dong, AVON Calling
FEDEX: Relax, It's FedEx
Walt Disney: I am going to Disney World
3M : 'Innovation'
NIKE: If you have a body, you are an athlete
ABBOT Labouratories: A Promise for Life
BOEING: For-ever new Frontiers

1857- Revisited A timeless journey: Myth and Reality

Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi rose as an epic figure out of the national insurrection. She was only 22 years old in martyrdom and death on the battlefield which added to her popular image of herosim, reistance, boldness and insurgency. There is a telling song in folklore on how she raised her revolutionary army from the common people and made soldiers out of them

'From clay and stones
She moulded her army
From mere wood
She made swords
And the mountain she transformed
into a steed
Thus she marched to Gwalior!


The genius of Rani in countering the mass terror of the British is also depicted in folk poetry.

'Fell the trees
Commanded the Rani of Jhansi
Lest the Firanghis hang
our soldiers on them
So that the coward British
may not be able to shout
"Hang! Hand them in the trees!"
so that, in the hot sun
they may have no shade!'


Rani's leadership and level of self-confidence is reflected in this folk song:


'Amidst tears from his eyes 
Proud Hugh Rose spoke
I beg you for one pot of water
To quench my thirst
with the first potful 
and ask for more'
Replied Rani:
'To get that coveted pot
Hand over the guns,
and ammunition
and also your sword'


Mirza Ghalib on the loss of lives in the 1857 Mutiny:

"Sab kahan kuchh lala-o-gul mein numayaan ho gaye"
Some have turned into tulips and roses, where are the rest?


"Khaak mein kya sooratein hongi ke pinhaan ho gayein"
What beauteous shapes lie concealed beneath the shroud of dust!


"Yaad thi humko bhi ranga rang bazm aaraeaan"
I too revelled  in colourful sessions in days of yore,


"Lekin ab naqsh-o-nigaar-e-taaq-e-nisiaan ho gayein"
But now they only serve to deck the oblivion's gloomy chest. 


The spirit of the masses to sacrifice willingly their lives for the cause is amazing. Here the menfolk are being exhorted to go and bravely fight the British and be ready to have their heads smashed or sacrifice their lives. The womenfolk were ready to wipe their sindoor, symbolizing widowhood, but not willing their men to refuse to pick up the gauntlet. "The object of the mutineers were to wipe out all traces of Europeans, and of everything connected with foreign rule.

ba jan ganwai ke nevta
Churl forwai ke nevta
Sindoor pochwai ke nevta
Jai ho hamar te math del
Jai ho hamar te sath del

The Power of Managing Time by J D Tripathi

There has been a lot written about Time Management. But, when I read the reviews of Javed Akhter and Shobhaa De on this book, I knew this has to be special. I started reading and I could not put the book down. The treatise is succint and clear.

The Beginning: Voltaire's question: "What of all things in the world, is the longest and shortest, the swiftest and slowest, the most divisible and most extended, the most neglected and most regretted, without which nothing can be done, which devours all that is little, and enlivens All that is Great?" The answer is TIME


He has formulated a Time spectrum which focuses on Reducing -Unnecessary/ non-productive work/ Procrastination, Interference interruptions and Utilization of Thinking Time for planning/ meditation, productive work, recreation to recoup oneself. Idle time, waiting time and travel time needs to be managed with as much positive approach to make your day worthwhile.

The only reason for time is so, that everything doesn't happen at once". - Albert Einstein


"Of calculators, I am Time, the imperishable, world-destroying, grown mature, engaged here in subduing the world". - Dr. S Radhakrishnan quoting the Bhagawad Gita.


You cannot kill time without injuring eternity - Thoreau

Conclusion:
Story of Time: Somewhere in the far East, there lived a King who wanted to gift the most precious thing to his subjects. In one of this trips, he came across a Sundial which he brought home and installed it at the City Centre.


His subjects started to differentiate the parts of the day, they became time-conscious, produced more and prospered. 


Eventually, the King died. The subjects wanted to pay tribute to the King and so they built a temple around the sundial andornated it with gold and jewels. It was a fitting tribute to the King who brought the Sundial.


The rays no longer reached the sundial: the shadow that was the source of prosperity was not longer in time/ they lost their orientation. The kingdom collapsed. (Source: I J T D, ISTD, New Delhi)


Now, give it a thought!!

Philosophy - Do you Believe in GOD?

When I thought the best part of Understanding Philosophy was when the question paper carried a single question : WHY? The perfect answer to the question was: WHY NOT? and the student got full 100 marks 

Now, read on....

When Emma Darwin wrote to Darwin in her letters,  "while you are acting conscientiously & sincerely wishing, & trying to learn the truth, you cannot be wrong," but please dont base all your opinions to the "habit in scientific pursuits of believing nothing till it is proved", in matters of love and faith. On it her husband had added a short note of his own: ‘When I am dead, know that many times, I have kissed and cryed over this.’ A professor of Philosophy speaks to his class on the problem Science has with God - The Almighty.... He asks one of his new students to stand and..... Prof: ‘So you believe in God?’ Student: ‘Absolutely, sir. ‘ Prof: Is God good? Student: Sure. Prof: Is God all-powerful? Student: Yes. Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm? (Student is silent.) Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good? Student: Yes. Prof: Is Satan good? Student: No. Prof: Where does Satan come from? Student: From...God... Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world? Student: Yes. Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct? Student: Yes. Prof: So who created evil? (Student does not answer.) Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they? Student: Yes, sir. Prof: So, who created them?  (Student has no answer.) Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God? Student: No, sir. Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God? Student: No, sir. Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter? Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't. Prof: Yet you still believe in Him? Student: Yes. Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son? Student: Nothing. I only have my faith. Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has. Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat? Prof: Yes. Student: And is there such a thing as cold? Prof: Yes. Student: No sir. There isn't. (The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.) Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it . (There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.) Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness? Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness? Student: You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you? Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man? Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed. Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how? Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor.Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey? Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do. Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.) Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.) Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain? (The class breaks out into laughter.) Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain,sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir? (The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.) Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son. Student: That is it sir... The link between man & god is FAITH . That is all that keeps things moving & alive. .... this is a true story, and the student was none other than......... APJ Abdul Kalam , the former President of India

MACROECONOMICS by Suman Kalyan Chakraborty

Here's an honest effort with a lot of research that has gone into the making of this book and my kudos to the author. I provide the excerpt on the treatment of 'National Income, Capital Formation, Government Expenditure, Tax & Transfer Multiplier' which will entice you further on the remark made above.

National income is total amount paid to factors of production. In other words, it is net national product minus indirect taxes.
J R Hicks thinks national income as a collection of goods and services reduced to a common basis measures in terms of money.
GDP is money value of all goods and services produced in domestic territory of a country in a year's time and GNP is money value of national producton for any specific period of time.
NNP at factor cost is volume of goods and services turned out during an accounting year. N.I at factor cost is total of entire incomes earned by owner of factors of production.
Hence, National Income at factor cost = N.N.P - Indirect Taxes + subsidies
Product method issued to finding out market value of all goods and services manufactured during a year.
Income method refers to gross national income obtained by addition of wages, profit, etc. and also income earned by governmnet either from property or through work.
In case of expenditure method expenditure of consumption and investment on finished products by community are considered.
Problems in estimation of National Income may be conceptual (lack of notion), statistical (lack of statistics), practical (ignorance).
National Income Statistics are useful for policy makers for planning purpose.

Ecnomic welfare is that part of social welfare that can be brought directly or indirectly in relation with the measuring rod of money.
Development of a country is a collective effort because of existance of selfish opportunism and power takes.
In case economic development of entire masses is our objective the greater effort is to be emphasized on material development so that it strengthen major determinant of economic progress.
Due to slow growth rate of manufacturing sector, growth rate fo commodity sector is much low as compared to non-commodity sector.
Agriculture is parking lot for poor and share whatever they may grow there. Thus, growth rate of agricultural sector smaller than non-agricultural sector.
Agriculture is the amin support of our economy. About 60 percent of our polulation deriving their sustenance from it.
Declining share of rural population out of total population to some extent responsible for reverse trend in ratio of rural-urban incomes.
Unorganised sector claims to contribute two-third of NDP as it is found not only in unincorporated but also individually owned and operated except public administration and defence.

We should centralise our attention so that rising proportion of employee compensation can be restricted to some extent to avoid adverse effect of inflation and in instignation of cost-push factors to accelerate inflation.
Equitable distribution of national income is indispensable for all round development of an economy. Otherwise fruits of growth will be distributed among few privileged class only.
Unequal distribution of land is only a partial although fundamental index of inequality. Apart from that aset holding and command over other economic resources also leave their impact in spreading inequlity in an economy.
Policies of Government behind redistribution of income is to attain balanced growth, improvemen t of nutirtional levels among poor masses as well as stimulating productive investment.
Estimation of capital formation can be estimated by way of deducting net exports and consumption from domestic product.In analysing trends of saving - it is studied as how dometic saving become enough to finance developmental needs of the economy.
According to our Planning Commission our rate of saving is comparable to rate in middle income and even some high income as in industrialised countries.

Financial Management by P V Kulkarni & B G Sathyaprasad

B G Sathyaprasad was my mentor and professor and he has this flair for deliverence. His lectures were a treat in the sense, he would meticulously present the concepts which came so easily to him and he would transform the blackboard into the free flow of ideologies/facts from the 'Financial world'. As David Francis observes:  "Overnight, Finance changed from a primarily descriptive study to one that encompassed rigorous analysis and normative theory; finance today is best characterised as ever-changing with new ideas and techniques". This applies to the whole book.

His book is a thoroughly good read with a lot of illustrations and the treatise is very refreshing.

For e.g. 'Responsibility Centres'
This is a relatively 'new concept' well dealt in this book. It  says 'Reports prepared by managers pertaining to only those costs or revenues over which he/she is expected to have control' in small groups and applied to the whole enterprise. In a responsibility centre, costs are charged to the person who has the authority over the acquisition as well as the use of service. Hence, it is a 'personalised concept' and are of three types viz., cost centre (which measures the ability to control cost, tracing procedures used for product costing cutting each activity as a cost centre), profit centre (controlling the bulk of income and the bulk of expenditure on an operation taking into account both inputs and outputs)  and investment centre (on the basis of returns on the capital employed)

CEO Speak

Angela F. Braly, CEO, WellPoint
A government-run health plan would not address the underlying issues of cost and quality.

Michael S. Dell
We're concerned that one word that seems to be missing from a lot of discussions is "competitiveness". It's a word that should be used more often

Robert Griefield, CEO, Nasdaq
Withing the leadership of the Business Community, there is a concern. The attitude is not so much wait-and-see but wary. They are wary with respect to the tax policy and obviously are also concerned with the burden of helath-care costs.

Jeffrey B. Kindler, CEO, Pfizer
We have to accept the reality that the vast majority of the people in this country(USA) get their insurance from employers and if we create a system that provides an incentive for employers to not provide their employees with insurance, then under certain scenarios huge numbers of people under public option would move out of the employer system into the public system. That would not be a good outcome because it would impose a tremendous burden on the taxpayers.

W. James McNeny Jr. CEO, Boeing
A level playing field for American companies and workers in international markets is more important than ever.

Duncan L. Niedarauer CEO NYSE Euronext
On tax policy: The US-headquartered companies are forced to cut jobs to reduce costs to make up for the increased tax burden. It would encourage a lot of American Companies to be incorporated elsewhere and potentially moving jobs out of USA  and moving headquarters and operations abroad.

Ratan Tata, TATA
We do a lot of homework to make sure the acquired company fits into our culture and value system. If we find that a company follows practices that we are not in agreement with, we would not go into it.

Richard  Branson, Virgin Atlantic
My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them.... from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full, I felt that I had to attempt it.