6 Things You Should Always Include On Your Résumé
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-include-on-your-resume-2014-12

Expressions, idioms and sayings

Tips for Public Speaking

Tips for Public Speaking

• Always Give the Audience Something to Take Home
• Don't Defer Answering Questions. If a question pops up in the middle of your presentation, that’s awesome: someone is listening! So seize the opportunity
• Ask a Question You Can't Answer:Asking questions to engage the audience often feels forced. Instead ask a question you know the audience can’t answer and then say,” That’s okay. I can’t either.” Explain why you can’t and then talk about what you do know
• Fuel Your Mental Engine. Think about the session in future.
• Share a Genuinely Emotional Story: Many speakers tell self-deprecating stories, but simply admitting a mistake is a waste if you only use it to highlight how far you’ve come. Instead, tell a story and let your emotions show. If you were sad, say so. If you cried, say so. If you felt remorse, let it show. When you share genuine feelings you create an immediate and lasting connection with the audience. Emotion trumps speaking skills every time
• Pause for Ten Seconds: Pause for two or three seconds and audiences assume you’ve lost your place; five seconds they think the pause is intentional; after ten seconds even the people texting can’t help looking up. When you start speaking again the audience naturally assumes the pause was intentional... and that you’re a confident and accomplished speaker. A poor speaker abhors a vacuum; only confident speakers are secure with silence. Take one long pause to gather your thoughts and the audience will automatically give you speaker bonus points
• Share One Thing No One Knows:  I’ve never heard someone say, “I was at this presentation the other day and the guy’s Gantt chart was amazing...” I have heard someone say, “Did you know when you blush the lining of your stomach also turns red?” Find a surprising fact or an unusual analogy that relates to your topic. Audiences love to cock their heads and think, “Really? Wow...”
• Don't Make Excuses
• Don't overload your slides
• Don't Ever Read Your Slides
•  Your audience should be able to almost instantly scan your slides; if they have to actually read you might lose them
• Always Repeat Audience Questions:Unless microphones are available, rarely will everyone in the audience hear questions other audience members ask. Always repeat the question and then answer it. It’s not only courteous, it also provides you with a little more time to think of an awesome way to answer each question.
• Always, Always Run Short:  If you have thirty minutes, take 25. If you have an hour, take 50. Always respect your audience’s time and end early. As a bonus, that forces you to hone your presentation – and to prepare to shift gears if your presentation takes an unexpected turn. Finish early and ask if anyone has questions. Or invite them to see you after the presentation. But never run long… because all the good will you built up could be lost.

Mixed Bag

I had a client recently who mentioned that consultants use "plastic words". Here are some examples

6 CEO Productivity tips
1.Take breaks every 20 minutes
2.Make yourself uninterruptable sometimes
3.Manage your energy, not just your time
4.Don't be a slave to email
5.Keep your emails short and sweet
6.Delegate, Delegate, Delegate: Delegation is the most important fuel for productivity

Developing Yourself

‘You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.’ Jim Rohn

C Suite Meeting

Developing a C Suite meeting:

1. Build a rapport
2. Framing the meeting (What do we want to accomplish from the meeting?)
3. Execute the framework
4. Wrap Up

 Sales opportunity can be identified using  FUD: Fear, Uncertaininty and Doubt

Toastmasters Conference

I attended the District 60 Toastmasters Conference today. Some interesting things that stood out

1. Average age of a Toastmaster worldwide is 47. Does that mean young folks don't think this is important or are they not aware of it or simply we have not reached out to that audience?. In any case, the age explains why the social media uptake is so low! My Toastmasters club has individuals who are 20 years old to members with 20 year Toastmasters experience.

2. The District 60 has 5000 members and only 10 percent are on social media

3.Revenue for a a TM district is primarily from club memberships and conference. The district makes about 194K in revenue. About 96K is from membership fees.

4.The District gave an early bird '$99' to drive more registrations this time. They made it a 1 day event (which I think makes sense). The turn out was still low that they had expected 

5. There were about 360 folks today, about 180 of which were first timers. I thought this was pretty cool. 

6.Personally, I think there is too much focus and pressure on Distinguished Status. Perhaps, as the revenue is tied to membership, that could be a reason.

7.I saw some folks get DTM and were awarded a medallion while some good music ("eye of the tiger") was playing in the background. DTM is the highest level at Toastmaster.They had a "hug " line with past DTMs cheering and hugging them as they joined the exclusive club. I thought it was cool!

8.Emergencies can strike anytime. The fire alarm blew up and at about 5 pm, and everyone was asked to exit out. A tough moment for the organizers. My wife was at home, so I went back.  The event did resume but I could not attend it.

9.The guest communication and leadership recipient was Dr Ophira Ginsburg. She had a pretty inspiring speech about how she encourages women in Bangladesh to undertake breast cancer examination. Her logic was that in the west, breast cancer is detected early and in about 90 percent of the case, it is fixed. In the emerging markets, this is identified very late and sometimes can't be treated.

I was a first timer and on this was a good use of my Saturday. Was it worth the money? Hmmm...perhaps the 99$! 

Outsourcing Trends in Canada

Given some of the work, recent discussion and forums that I have attended, here are a few notes on the Outsourcing Trends in Canada

 

1. Clients are assessing and redefining the current opening model due to shifts in the outsourcing market (regulatory compliance, cloud offerings, temporary foreign workers etc.) 
2. Cloud computing is becoming the preferred sourcing alternative  and OSFI has placed guidelines for that. Cloud based elements in an outsourcing contract will increase to about 50% in 2017 from about 10% in 2010.Audit of cloud service delivery models is an expectation of clients 
3. As a result of multi sourcing  and shared services, clients are looking for early contract renewals or End to End strategies 
4. Buyers are beginning to get concerned  with CSR capabilities of outsourcing providers
5. Canadian depth and presence is becoming  a key requirement during vendor selection. 

 

CIO career strategy

 http://www.itworldcanada.com/blog/cio-career-strategy-managing-for-success/99208

• Recognize that you are your own “CIO brand”. What does your brand say about you? CIOs often let their personal brand be defined by default based on their current position and company, which is not ideal. Are you a CIO known for driving transformation or alternatively, at the opposite end of the spectrum, for optimizing existing operations? Whatever it is, you need to proactively make sure that you are conveying the right message in a positive way to match your career aspirations.

• Jim Collins outlines the “Hedgehog concept” in his book Good to Great, where he suggests that we all need to find the sweet spot in our professional lives which is at the optimum intersection of “what we are good at” with “what do we have passion for” and “what is our economic engine”. So the question is what is the career sweet spot for you as CIO? Once you have clarity on that question, it will help you plan the development of your career and desired end state.

• You should never stop looking for your next position, be that internal or external to your existing organization. As important as your current role is today, be open to new opportunities and exploratory calls from executive recruiters and industry contacts. You never know when one door will close and a new door open for you that is so much better than your current reality.

• Network, network, network. Given daily priorities and time pressures, CIOs can often become quite insular. Connecting with peers to share lessons learned and best practices can help provide insights and heightened value added thinking. Social media can greatly enhance the reach of that networking.

• External recognition of your accomplishments as a CIO is a good way to get the message out about who you are and what you do. Be willing to share your story publicly and consider participating in the various award programs. 

Dressing for success

Dressing for success 

http://m.fastcompany.com/3036012/how-to-be-a-success-at-everything/why-you-should-never-wear-orange-to-an-interview?utm_content=buffer5d107&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#2

100 Best Quotes On Leadership

100 Best Quotes On Leadership
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/10/16/quotes-on-leadership/#!

1. Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. —Jack Welch

1. The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly. —Jim Rohn

1. Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. —General Dwight Eisenhower

5 things every presenter should know about people!

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/20/things-every-presenter-should-know-about-people-susan-weinschenk/

1. People learn best in 20-minute chunks.There must be a reason for the successful TED-sized talk format.
2. Multiple sensory channels compete.During a talk, you engage both the auditory and visual channels — because we’re visual creatures and the visual channel trumps the auditory, make sure your slides don’t require people to read much or otherwise distract from the talk.
3. What you say is only one part of your presentation. Paralinguistics explores how information is communicated beyond words — be aware the audience is responding to your body language and tone. Record yourself presenting to get a feel for those and adjust accordingly.
4. If you want people to act, you have to call them to action. At the end of your presentation, be very specific about exactly what you would like your audience to do.
5. People imitate your emotions and feel your feelings. If you’re passionate about your topic, this excitement will be contagious for the audience. Don’t hold back.

3 Rules for More Productive Meeting!

From HBR Management Tip

Three Rules for More Productive Meetings

We're spending too much precious work time attending unproductive meetings. For most executives, meetings take up at least 20 hours every week; one meeting spawns another, and on it goes. Here are three ways to prevent meeting bloat:

• Keep the invitee list to seven. The Rule of 7 states that every attendee over seven reduces the likelihood of making a good, quick, executable decision by 10%. So once you hit 16 to 17, your decision effectiveness is basically zero.
• Make most meetings under an hour. Most of us schedule 60-minute meetings by default. Every additional minute generates more cost, so try blocking off shorter amounts of time that can be spent more productively. Can you get through your agenda in 30 or 45 minutes instead?
• Use longer meetings sparingly. Create (and enforce) a new rule: any meetings scheduled to be 90 minutes or longer need senior approval.

Adapted from “Yes, You Can Make Meetings More Productive” by Michael C. Mankins.

3 Things You Should Always Do Before You Quit Your Job

3 Things You Should Always Do Before You Quit Your Job

1.  Protect Yourself: Before you quit, you'll want to make sure you don't have a non-compete agreement in place that will prevent you from accepting your new position, 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-do-before-you-quit-2014-7#ixzz39ODGZEGN

2. Get your Bonus Companies typically pay bonuses as an incentive, she says, "so if you leave before you receive your bonus, your employer may look for any excuse not to pay you." Also, some companies have written policies that say you must be employed with them at the time the bonus is paid in order to receive it — so you should always check your company's guidelines before putting in your two weeks notice, she concludes. 

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-do-before-you-quit-2014-7#ixzz39ODP8600:


3. Tell you boss before anyone else: No matter what your relationship has been with your boss, always tell them you are leaving before you tell your coworkers," Richmond says. The last thing you want is for you boss to hear about your job offer through the rumor mill.

And, she says, when you do tell them, only provide the necessary details and facts. "Giving your notice is not the time to air every grievance you've had during your tenure. Refrain from dumping your emotional baggage, making accusations, or reciting a laundry list of complaints."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-do-before-you-quit-2014-7#ixzz39ODZPOm3

Think!

MAke some time to think 

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/sunday-review/no-time-to-think.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0&referrer=

Crowd Sourcing

Leverage the power of the crowd:
http://mobile.deloitte.wsj.com/cio/2014/05/27/power-to-the-crowd/

Managing your career

Cycling

Mark Martin at TEDxLSU talks about why you might want to take bicycling . Few quotes that made quite an impact.

• Melancholy is incompatible with bicycling. ~James E. Starrs
• Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live. ~Mark Twain, "Taming the Bicycle"
• Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.” – H.G. Wells
• A bicycle is a child's toy, a rich man's obsession, or a poor man's last choice

Improve your airport experience!

I feel depressed today.

Spinning

Spinning

Changing a flat tire

Parts of a bicycle

High-tech gadget boosts your image at work.

You always knew it but did not agree to it. But now, this research proves it.
A research now says that using the latest high-tech gadget is one way to boost your image at work.

So, business professionals who want to be perceived as leaders should be investing in the latest technology breakthrough. I know a lot of you would disagree but hey trust me, I think it counts.

Here are a few more things to note from the research:

1.Familiarity with and usage of new high-tech products appears to be a common manifestation of innovative behavior

2.Researchers also found that women who used technological gadgets benefited more than their male counterpart

Internet of Things

What is the Internet of Things?

Wonderful article on Guardian, a summary of Pew Research's Internet of Things report

What is Internet of Things?
A global, immersive, invisible, ambient networked computing environment built through the continued proliferation of smart sensors, cameras, software, databases, and massive data centers in a world-spanning information fabric known as the Internet of Things.

It’s about devices all working together!

Google Glass

Google Glass has created quite a ripple. Is it ready for use? 

Read the article here: 

http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/13/google-will-now-sell-glass-to-anyone-who-wants-it-indefinitely/?ncid=rss

Discussing Pay with your employees

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/04/how-to-discuss-pay-with-your-employees/

Cockroach Theory

A beautiful speech by Sundar Pichai - an IIT-MIT Alumnus and Global Head Google Chrome:

The cockroach theory for self development👍

     

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and  sat on a lady. 

She started screaming out of fear. 

With a panic stricken face and trembling voice,she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.

Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.

The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but ...it landed on another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.

The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.

In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.

The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt.

When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach 

responsible for their histrionic behavior?

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?

He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.

It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.

I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

Lessons learnt from the story:

I understood, I should not react in life.

I should always respond.

The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.

Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of.

A beautiful way to understand............LIFE.👍👍-

Design Thinking

Quote of the day from my Design Thinking class

Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones - Herbert Simon

What Causes Behavior Change?

Nice stuff I learnt in the Gamification Course at Coursera

Look at BJ Fogg's course: Three elements must converge at the same moment for a behavior to occur: Motivation, Ability, and Trigger. When a behavior does not occur, at least one of those three elements is missing.  

Trigger Types

1. Spark

2. Facilitator

3. Signal

In Gamification,

Engagement Loops ---> Motivation

Progression Loops ---> Perceived Ability

Good games trigger effectively

Idioms for Business Purpose

Source: Effective Business Letters

Like A Kid in A Candy Store :  If someone is like a kid in a candy store, they are very excited about something.

Like A Moth to A Flame : Something that is like a moth to a flame is attracted to something that is deadly or dangerous.

Like An Open Book : Anything which can be easily interpreted
Your future is like an open book. I can foresee the things to come. 

Like A Rat Deserting A Sinking Ship : If people leave a company because they know that it is about to have serious problems or turn their back on a person about to be in a similar situation, they are said to do like rats deserting a sinking ship.

Like Chinese Arithmetic :  If something is complicated and hard to understand, it’s like Chinese arithmetic.

Like Clockwork : If something happens like clockwork, it happens at very regular times or intervals.

Like Father Like Son : This idiom is used when different generations of a family behave in the same way or have the same talents of defects.

Like Giving A Donkey Strawberries : If something is like giving a donkey strawberries, people fail to appreciate its value.

Like It or Lump It : When people say this, they mean that the person will have to accept the situation because it is not going to change.




Like Lambs To The Slaughter :

If somebody does something unpleasant without any resistance, they go like lambs to the slaughter.




Like No One’s Business : 

If I say my children are growing like no one’s business, it means they’re growing very quickly.




Like Peas in A Pod : 

If people or things are like peas in a pod, they look identical.

My ring and the one you have are like peas in a pod.

Being Rich Secret

To be rich tomorrow, you must live rich today.Rich idiots fake if until they make if. 

Nice Thoughts

A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month's study of books 

All kinds of fish eat meat, only the shark gets blamed

As water is to flower- so is praise to the heart of a man  

Old age is NOT the name of old body- it is the name of the old mind 

Every individual chooses his vocabulary according to his mental attitude 

No one ever finds life worth living. One has to make it worth living 

The two really important things in life are a good bed and a fine pair of shoes. When you are not in one, you are in the other 

Life does not come with an instruction book..that's why we have fathers 

Nice Thought!

"If you want to be a good leader, listen to and accept with humility the feedback that comes from your team."

Jim Kim, President of the World Bank

Great Interview Question

What is something you have learnt from a timely loss? 

27 Unspoken Suit Rules Every Man Should Know

A very interesting article on BuzzFeed. I wish I knew some of these before. Nevertheless, this will be a good one. Some of the good ones are listed below

• If you sweat a lot, wear an undershirt
• Your tie should JUST reach the waistband of your trousers, or be slightly shorter.
• The suit jacket should be just long enough to cover your pants zipper and butt
• Your tie should always be darker than your dress shirt.
• Make sure that your socks are long enough that there’s no exposed leg when sitting down
• Sleeve cuffs should be exposed about half an inch.
• A pocket square adds an extra level of polish, but make sure it doesn’t match your tie in either pattern or fabric choice.
• Opt for a charcoal or gray suit over black, unless you’re attending a funeral.
• Your belt should be fairly thin and the same color as your shoes.
• You should match your shoes to the color of your suit 
• Always go with the classic windsor knot for your tie, but use the size of your head to determine whether you should go half or full windsor.

Thought for you

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.-Confucius

Yes, a bad idea if you don't think through

There is no such thing as a bad idea. Yes, there is! 

If you propose an idea (even in a team meeting) , do some thinking around it. Think through some of the questions that people are going to ask and try to answer them. Else you will look like a kid speaking without any logic, you will be a topic of joke during the lighter moment. 

Not keeping up to date

Perhaps, one of the worst mistake you can do is not to stay up to date on what is happening in the client's world or at the competitions. 

Sometimes, you don't read about it but when you are at the client site, you will get a feel of it. There are clues and tip offs that are from the point of view from the client that will be visible from the moment you step into the client's office. 

Listen and take notes

When you interview a client, make sure to take notes. Keep all your distractions away (resist the urge to check that email) and make your client feel as important as a movie star giving an interview, or a political candidate holding a press conference. Listen to them. Let them speak their mind and then ask some insightful questions. Sometimes their biases or a strong opinion comes out. Do not react but listen through this, take notes.

Of course it would be a sin if you are taking notes on a sheet of papers of the back of an envelope.  Also, avoid using flashy folders. My wife once gave me one and the Partner commented on it and it distracted me from the entire interview session. 

PowerPoint Quiz

1. Can you present without PowerPoint ?

2. Do you know how to blank the screen with a single key?

Just press the b key on your keyboard and the screen goes black.To get your slides back, just press the b key again. Blacking out the screen is the best idea, especially when the room is dark, but you can also white out the screen. Use the w key instead. 

3. Can you go to any slide directly (without scrolling)?

Just type the slide number and press Enter.Need to return to the first slide immediately?Hold down both mouse buttons for 2 seconds, then release.

4.Can you present without looking at the screen behind you?

Pic: Making Business Presentations - How to deliver a winning message

Fake it till you become it.

Social psychologist Amy Cuddy has an advice for you-  Try a power pose and fake it till you become it. Here is the TED Talk regarding that

Lessons from Year 1 of Management Consulting

This is a reflection that I wrote for myself in 2008. I had  done a year of Management Consulting in India and the USA. It was a very different experience and here are my thoughts. On the 1st January, 2014, I post the reflections here

-------------------------------------
It has been more than a year since I have graduated from Business School and it has been an interesting journey since then. To sum it all, life after Business School has been all about hard work, managing expectations and handling pressure.  I have enjoyed my stint at Management Consulting. I got to write a thought article (that was published in a magazine), work on projects in different sectors (Automobile, Telecom, Staffing Solutions,Aerospace) and got a chance to work or be at India, UAE, US, Canada and Thailand - all in the last one year.

Any reflections? Yes, of course. I was thinking about the past year during one of my flights to home, and here are some of my observations or the statements that I have constantly heard.

1. Consulting is all about being proactive, not reactive
2. MS Excel and MS Powerpoint are two powerful tools 
3. Consultants work very hard, clients pay a lot of money and expect them to deliver value
4. There is a lot of brain power in a consulting firm
5. Honesty with clients is of paramount importance, Trust once lost is difficult to regain
6. Impressions matter! Watch out for how you dress, carry yourself and communicate 
7. There would be several stressful moments and if you can get through them, you'll develop into a better consultant.
8. There are no slackers in the consulting business. There is no choice -you have to work hard
9. Fitness (mental and physical) is important.
10. Project Director determines the work culture of a team working on a particular project 
11. Work life balance is tough! If you are perhaps aiming for that, consulting is not a wise career choice.
12. Fresh out of business school, you can have some really good perspective 
13. And lastly, a busy consultant is a happy consultant