Will Middle East CFOs embrace the Strategist’s role in 2008?

Will Middle East CFOs embrace the Strategist’s role in 2008?

3rd – 4th Dec 2007, Dubai, Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel - The end of year 2007 saw a new hope among CFOs in Middle East when naseba, working in strategic partnership with Time Magazine, CNBC Arabiya, Middle East Monitor, Capital, Business Islamica, Business Intelligence Middle East and AME Info, gathered TOP CFOs from diverse industries like Banking, FMCG, Oil and Gas, Real Estate, Construction, hospitality and retail at the CFO Strategies Mid East congress 2007.

A unique congress with it’s agenda, helping to define and grow the role of a New CFO from just being a financial controller to the strategic business partner of the CEO.

Well moderated by Jim Frederick, Senior Editor, TIME Magazine, the congress saw a series of educational presentations. Mr. Sanjay Uppal, group CFO of Emirates NBD, unfolded the new CFO agenda, emphasizing on the evolving role of the CFO as the strategist. The new evolving role was echoed by Mr. Surinder Sarna, CFO, Al Shaya group, where he laid the new CFO-CEO partnership game-plan.

Mr. Dilip Kumar, Financial head of Arab Banking Corp., emphasized on disclosures in his presentation while Mr. Andy Raheja, CFO, Al Barari group, shared his vision on the CFOs role in the boom market, while giving a great analogy on known and unknown of Boom economies quoting Donald Rumsfeld.

The CFO of Jumbo Electronics, Mr. Vipin Aggarwal, aptly representing the FMCG market in Mid East focused on emerging paradigm of risk management and Mr. Deepak Shrivastava CFO, Oman LNG, shared his views on Real Asset management in Mid East region.

While brainstorming in roundtables, CFOs saw increased emphasis on IFRS adoption, BASEL II norms as well as some voices were raised for common standards to be followed by the entire Middle Eastern organizations. While the CFOs discussed the new company economics with direct impact of globalization, diversification of businesses as well as new mergers and acquisitions becoming more prominent in the new economy, they acceded to the fact that a new evolved strategic role for them is now mandatory.

Some of the key solution providers at the congress: Global Strategy and consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), Financial Markets Intelligence provider and world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, Standards and Poors, Investor Services and Credit risk assessing firm, Moody’s Middle East and credit risk management solutions firm, Atradius. During the one-to-one business meetings with CFOs as well as panel discussions gave some key insights in the new Credit rating procedures in Middle East and shared new risk assessing techniques.

CFO of Aggreko International said in his concluding remarks, “A very good concept and forum for networking and building professional relationships and sharing views. I would encourage follow up and building up on this." His thoughts were re-affirmed by CFO, Le Meridien Medina, “CFO ME is a very good first step to improve the roles and responsibilities in the Middle East.”
While commenting at the venue, the congress producer, Prachi Dawar, said, “Looking at the positive outlook of attendees and the value-add the CFOs had form this, we are looking forward to repeat this activity in Middle East in 2008”

naseba

Established in 2002, naseba produces business platforms focused on re-education, networking and most importantly increasing deal-making opportunities for executive clients. With offices strategically located in 7 cities around the world, naseba employs over 250 executives from more than 30 nationalities. naseba group went public on the Paris Stock Exchange on October 5th, 2006.

Ironic Dubai - On verge of a Bubble Burst?

Ironic Dubai

One of the culturally progressive places in the Middle East is Dubai. The most happening business destination of today's Fortune 500 companies. For it's obvious reasons of great business opportunities like oil, retail, shipping, as well as Dubai offers progressive culture, Tax Holidays, rapid adoption of technology and a strong buying power.

Strangely, the majority population of Dubai is expatriates. The ones who are staying for long now, have been able to settle themselves, well, however, still a large working population finds it difficult to sustain in Dubai because of rising inflation rates which has led to increased living costs in all quarters of life.

Very ironic to the Country's image {rich people} a majority {expatriate} is not rich as well as they are finding it increasingly difficult with each passing day to sustain in dubai. With ever increasing traffic and living costs...makes me ponder...is Dubai on a verge of Bubble Burst?

The bubble of growth has been building....and quite a few companies in Dubai have grown over 200% annually within past 5-7 years. This constitutes a minority companies, which are service providers, auxillary products and some mainstream product companies. A rapid growth is always appreciated with worldwide investment if it's sustenance is substantiated by credit rating agencies. However, how can you trust an agency in a region where they themselves are new and there has been no system of keeping financial records and it has been primarily private, single ownership businesses.

So does this bring us to ask questions like: Is A Growth Bubble Building up in Dubai? And is this Bubble on verge of Bursting?


Is this is Myth? - With an overall economic slowdown in American markets and other surrounding regions, Middle East still offers great economic spending power?

If this is true then why is inflation affecting Dubai? And if this is a myth then my question gets more important than ever...Is Dubai really on verge of a Bubble Burst?


Not sure about the answers to my questions, though Dubai reminds me of Mumbai...a Very Cleaner and well organized version of Mumbai. The people are busy in their daily lives, running around all over the place to earn their bread and butter. And they have the same bindas spirit. Just a twist that the place is very clean. People have driving sense and they enjoy their weekends at malls, shopping, trying out new eating joints and more...



During my recent visit to Dubai, i though of getting a couple of pictures clicked in one of the busy malls...its almost like another city inside a mall...phew..enough of my rambles...and questions for the day and my dubai visit... will be back soon...

naseba conducts Airport Expansion India Congress 2007

The Airport Expansion Indian Congress (AEIC) 2007, a two-day event that was organized by naseba, held at the Hyatt Regency in Mumbai from November 25, 2007, saw aviation experts from all over India, stressing on the need to upgrade India's airport infrastructure to match international standards. Each of them presented their case-studies on the subject. "India's aviation industry is soaring high and there is a need to put the infrastructure in place," said Andrew Harrison, Chief Operating Officer, Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL), who gave a presentation on 'Shaping the Design for the Future - Vision 2010'.

Development of airports on the basis of Public Private Partnership (PPP) module was also highlighted. "Today, India is the second fastest growing passenger market in the world and there is an urgent need to refurbish airports. Although this poses as a great challenge, it also has the potential to create opportunities at large," stated Gordon Griffiths, Assistant Director (Airport Development - Asia Pacific), International Air Transport Association (IATA), while presenting a case study on 'Opportunities and Challenges of Indian Aviation.'
KN Shrivastava, Joint Secretary General, Ministry of Civil Aviation, spoke on the 'Current State and Future of Indian Airports', while Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir gave an insight on 'Airlines' perspective on Airport Development in India.' The event was attended by officials from the Airport Authority of India; Mumbai International Airport Ltd.; Delhi International Airport Ltd.; Cochin International Airport Ltd.; Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad; Bangalore International Airport Ltd.; Federation of Indian Airlines, SITA, IATA; GoAir; Malaysia Airports Holdings; Ernst And Young; Munich International Airport and Australia-based Aconex.
The event, organised by Monaco-based Naseba, a global business information company, is held in different countries every year and came to India for the first time. Speaking about the event, Prachi Dawar, Airport Excpansion Congress, Event Producer, Naseba, said, "The idea was to have a platform that focuses on knowledge expansion, networking and most importantly, maximising business opportunities. With the immense response that the AEIC received, we are considering making it an annual feature."

Marketing Communication Primer – What’s The Future? - Series

Marketing Communication – What’s The Future? - Series

Today I am starting this new series on my blog on Marketing communication, What’s the future?

Premise:-

With the B-Schools still teaching 4 Ps of marketing to MBA students while preparing them for businesses, the students face a stark reality when they sit for Interviews. They realize within 2 minutes of interview, that this is not what the companies are looking for.

Wow! “I worked my ass off to learn so much about marketing in my B-School and you are telling me this is not what you are looking for?” – This could be a reality check question running in mind of any B-School passout. Well the cruel answer is “YES”.

Do we blame the education for this mismatch? “No”. Then what do we do?

This series of Marketing Communication primer is going to help all fresh graduates, Marcom professionals, Strategic Marketing Professionals and Hiring Managers to see the difference in various levels of marketing, as well as, what’s the NEXT big things in Marketing to look for.

Causes for aberration:-

The prime reason why people get confused or are not well prepared for what they are looking for in their role in marketing is the lack of understanding about the two levels of Marketing.

Two Broad Levels of Marketing:
1. Strategic Marketing attempts to determine how an organization competes against its competitors in a market place. In particular, it aims at generating a competitive advantage relative to its competitors.
2. Operational Marketing executes marketing functions to attract and keep customers and to maximize the value derived for them, as well as to satisfy the customer with prompt services and meeting the customer expectations. Operational Marketing includes the determination of the marketing mix.

It’s very important for people to understand that Strategic Marketing is a function of a Sr. Marketing Professionals where the person in charge has very well mastered the Operational Marketing.

Demystifying Strategic Marketing:- In simple words it’s the Visioning Strategy linked with the execution planning. This would require the below mentioned functions:
a) Understanding Business Objectives / Goals
-Annual X % increase in revenue of a product line
-Retention and growth of Y accounts in Z geography.
-A % market share for this service / product.
-C no of competitor accounts to be captured etc.
These are some examples of wider business goals that a CEO would have in his mind.

b) Converting these business goals into plans like:- Annual / Bi-Annual / 5 Yearly, is what a senior Marketing Professional (marketing and sales director/VP/SVP) would look at and come up with a strategic plan to support the larger business objectives.
-Identifying milestones in the plan.
-Broad annual metrics to be achieved based on sales data from past or industry averages etc. these are few examples to illustrate.

c) Execution Strategy: - This is is one of the most neglected portion from a strategic perspective. Ram Charan, Author of book, Execution, stresses on this point in his book and calls execution as an essential part of strategy.
Without a clearly defined execution strategy all this is just a Bird’s Eye-view approach to say things. A very clearly defined execution strategy and plan is something which can really make these things happen. The execution strategy might look at various activities which can support the annual plans in the previous step.
-Resources required – Hiring/Training etc
-Commission and incentive buffers / Employee benefits
-Media strategy
-IT Infrastructure
-Strategic Alliances and partnerships etc.
-Tactical challenges and solutions

d) Handover of Plans:- Communicating the plans company wide to ensure effective information dissemination etc. Continuous follow-up etc.

Demystifying Operational Marketing:- In simple words, leveraging various channels / media, to generate demand and achieve organizational objectives.

4 Ps of marketing:
In popular usage, "marketing" is the promotion of products, especially advertising and branding. However, in professional usage the term has a wider meaning which recognizes that marketing is customer centered. Products are often developed to meet the desires of groups of customers or even, in some cases, for specific customers. E. Jerome McCarthy divided marketing into four general sets of activities. His typology has become so universally recognized that his four activity sets, the Four Ps, have passed into the language.
The four Ps are:
-Product: The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants. The scope of a product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and support.
-Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts. The price need not be monetary - it can simply be what is exchanged for the product or services, e.g. time, energy, psychology or attention.
-Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or company.
-Placement or distribution refers to how the product gets to the customer; for example, point of sale placement or retailing. This fourth P has also sometimes been called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or services is sold (e.g. online vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults, families, business people), etc.
I am not going to focus on these 4 Ps of marketing, however, I would keep them in mind as well as showcase the Future of Marketing Communication to all.

Closing Remarks:- In my coming postings: while these 4 Ps might be the basis for operational marketing I will introduce the
-5th P of Marketing.
-4 “A”s of Marketing
-Web and Internet as Business Models of Future marketing
-Newer and Exciting Channels and Media of marketing
-New strategies for Business Development
-Strategic Advances in positioning

And more…Please share your comments to help me improve my postings.

What should I do to marry a rich guy?

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

I’m going to be honest of what I’m going to say here. I’m 25 this year. I’m very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I’m greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York . My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I’ve dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden , $250k annual income is not enough.
I’m here humbly to ask a few questions:1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)2) Which age group should I target?3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I’ve met a few girls who doesn’t have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)
Ms. Pretty

Here’s a reply from a Wall Street Financial guy:

Dear Ms. Pretty,

I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyze your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I’m not wasting time here.
From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain. Put the details aside, what you’re trying to do is an exchange of beauty and money: Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there’s a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can’t be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It’s not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.
By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a trading position. If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or leased. Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool.
Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in leasing services, do contact me.
Signed,
J.P. Morgan

Bangalored – Not Anymore? – Real Estate giving jitters – Companies moving out of Bangalore

Bangalored – Not Anymore? – Real Estate giving jitters – Companies moving out of Bangalore

With the real estate prices skyrocketing in the main business centers within Bangalore city limits, the city is set to see companies moving out of Bangalore.

The term Bangalored meant people in other parts of world loosing their jobs to people in Bangalore. However, Are bangalorians set to see terms like Cochined? Hosured? Mysored? Chandigarhed? Or probably Eastern Europed? Or Czeched?

Premise:

Not just the living cost but the costs have gone up in all respects in Bangalore. Whether it is salaries, cost of living, daily groceries, house rents, office space rents, taxes and expectations…almost everything has gone sky looking.

So if you were a 50 – 150 employee organization running in a busy business centre or a focal business area in Bangalore, you would be paying anywhere between, Rs. 70 – 150 / Sq ft of office space cost. With these things in mind, we are talking about almost a 100% increase in rents since past 3 years. Resulting in increased operating costs and decreased margins. Eventually cuts in company expenditures leading to options like either looking for a cheaper space outside Bangalore or doing employee cut.

Considering most of the companies face a 10-20% attrition rate and they would want to keep the hiring and training costs low, employee layoff is the most risky proposition. So companies are looking out for various ways to cut their op-ex.

Reasons:

If you were thinking organized retail is the best thing which is happening to Bangalore with over 20 shopping centers and retail malls opening within past 3 years, Bangalore is getting modernized and seeking high paced positive growth.

Here is a realty check. Considering the revenue a retail shopping mall / food complex is going to make on a monthly basis would be much higher as compared to any company paying as a rent. The malls, retail chains and similar sorts are ready to shell out almost 200% more than what the regular companies / young entrepreneurs can give as rents. So obviously the land lords would want more moolah and boom, the deals get signed with the highest bidding retailers.

Large office spaces like Whitefield/ITPL/Electronic City are anyways facing issues of long traveling hours for employees, unsatisfied employees, increased travel costs, higher stress levels, increased residential real estate prices putting pressures of increased salaries, higher expectations and more…Companies like Wipro, infosys and many more are even adopting policies like allowing employees to work from home, stay in their home cities and moving their bases to 2nd rung cities already.

Bangalore not an entrepreneurial heaven any more.

Not just retail, companies are these days being pushed to revise the rent agreements signed long back. This again, is giving jitters to companies working for long in same places. The entrepreneurs are seeking it difficult to get a reasonable office space at a cost that they can afford and which is aborting a lot of ventures which could have burgeoned into tomorrow’s infosys’.

What’s Government doing?

After year’s of resistance and so many court cases, Delhi government decided to shut down commercial establishments in residential areas. This lead to shops moving into malls and shopping centres authorized for the same. In turn led to people moving to move out of expensive places in Central Delhi to Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and more. The city saw a rental price correction and more organized businesses.

What is Karnataka government thinking? Are they going to keep allowing commercial shopping centers in residential and office areas? Is their any policy to control this? When are they going to wake up? Is their going to be some regulation on the rentals? Or will the government just bother about who is taking the Seat in Assembly?

Strangely while all this is happening, the CM and rest are busy in their new mid term election games. Pathetic situation of city’s infrastructure doesn’t bother them. It is painful when they cut 33% of my salary as a tax and I do not see infrastructure in front of me. And then I see my money is being wasted for an unwanted state elections.

Closing thoughts:

With the distanced attitude of the government, poor infrastructure, no means to control prices. The “Bangalorians” are all set to see job cuts, jobs moving out of Bangalore, consolidation in salary hikes, surrounding cities taking over, or you never know, Bangalore loosing it’s image as silicon valley to a realty stone valley.

Festival of Lights-Joy-Fun- Diwali 2007 Well Enjoyed

This is a little late though, a great Diwali festival celebration in the heart of India, Delhi. Wow what a great fun festivals are in India.

A full entertaining day it was, this diwali. And it's amazing to watch how Delhi celebrates Diwali, it's an episode in itself. With all the markets full of glitter, lights, people eating, shopping and more.... you can see the women folk enjoying to get their hands decorated with some elaborate mehndi designs in local market roadside sitting arrangements.

And yes the day rocked for me coz of many other reasons:

Watched Om Shanti Om - SRK and Deepika starrer movie. Full entertainment and fun movie. Enjoyed SRK's performance as always, though he looks a little old now even with his 6-pac abs. And deepika is a pure stunner. She looks amazing and a very fair acting performance for a movie debutant.

And offcourse how can you forget the home decoration and fire crackers and all that lighting...this all lights up your home, surroundings and you feel esctatic.

All this and more makes India and Indians to enjoy their lives and lead with those happy hearts. As I get to talk to people all over the world I have realized, indians are by far the happiest lot of people. With their own ways of facing the difficulties and still keeping that smile on face and acually getting satisfied and still craving for more and always ready for that extra mile to make things happen. I am proud being an Indian!

Loyalty and Employee Attrition Rate

In recent times I have been reading about "Employee Loyalty" and "Employee Attrition Rate". A lot of organizations worldwide face this challenge of employee attrition, where they hire the best and the brightest in the industry. However, after 2-3 years of stay in the company and learning things people think they know everything and they decide to move on.

Well I do not agree to this behaviour, however, reflecting on my previous job hops it's strange that unknowingly I myself have done the same. "Unknowingly" yes, unknowingly...when today I reflect upon my previous 5 years I see having changed 3 companies already. Which essentially means 1.5 yrs on an average is what I stayed with those companies and I didn't realize till now until I think about it...that, I too moved on thinking I know everything. Strange but true. Well then just a month back I was thinking after a review meeting and hearing something very important from my Boss..."I have to think long term and what I was demanding is a very short sighted demand."

I felt a little disheartened and unsatisfied. However, I then went back to home and started talking to my wife about it and she said...hold on....come out of your present thinking and look at it objectively. Yes, I realized, I was unpractical for a moment and unreasonable too and that's when I decided, ok, let me introspect. Well I don't know it all. I need to learn a lot. And this is the right place and is in the right time over here. So let me re-look at the way I am looking at things.

Hey, I just moved out of the feeling of "disloyalty" which was developing in me...and yes it helped me grow as a person.

Question: What is "loyalty" anyways?
Dictionary: The act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action

Answer: Infosys CEO Narayan Murthy once said:” Love Your Job But Never Fall In Love With Your Company, Because You Never Know When It Stops Loving You."
Well, I am not sure in what context he said that, however, an interesting statement from a company's CEO who runs a company of over 60,000 employees.

So does that mean you should be loyal to your work and nothing else?
Well, I feel if I am loyal to my work, I am loyal to the people who assigned me the work. I am loyal to the people who thought I would be the right fit to do that job. I am loyal to the company who decided to hire me to do that job. I am loyal to my family to whom I promised I will earn and give them a good life.

So does that mean I should be loyal to my work and my company and my family always? Well answer is YES. However, I have 2 questions to ask readers...

What about my company being Loyal to me?
Where does this disloyalty actually arise?

Is it a One-Way-Street? That I keep being loyal to my employer and my employer can take a decision to let me go whenever they want to? Isn’t that disloyalty to the employee that you decide to let some one go and don't even bother to inform him about it, if, any corrective action can be taken?

There were days in my country, India, when people use to join one company and retire from the same company in there entire career. Why doesn't it happen again? Well, it's a 2-way street now. Both employers and employees are disloyal to each other OR is it that we don't communicate enough? Is it that, if we have our issues, we do not communicate them well in advance, to find a solution? I am not sure...what are the reasons...but I feel it can be corrected.

As I always say, communication is the KEY to success. If people communicate with each other about their feelings, about their opinions and what they think is right and wrong, these "Disloyal" situations can be avoided.

However, I have another question:

Question:Have we become so impatient and eccentric that we don't have the time and patience to talk and be honest?

Answer: May be yes. We do not have patience to help people. We are bothered about our own growth. We are bothered about "what's in it for me?” So essentially, it's neither the employer being disloyal to the employee, nor the employee being disloyal to the company. It comes down to Individuals. We as individuals are responsible for our actions and our decisions. And if we are taking these decisions based on our attitudes towards looking at things, as self centered people, we are more or less bound to take irrational decisions.

There are so many companies out there, which have survived for over 100 years. Have they had people taking decisions based on there attitudes and self centered behavior, today, those companies would have died, because, the success of companies is due to the people who work there.

So what does this all mean? - Loyalty is nothing but an individual's decision based on his attitude? Yes, I feel so, and if that is the case, I, as a person should spend most of the time on keeping my attitude the best and I can make most of the work done well, and I can be "Loyal" to my work, my company, my family. I need to communicate and help others communicate about any issues. I need to keep the channel open and try to keep my attitude positive and healthy always.

I can always sit and talk about it instead I will take action and work on my attitude and communicate whenever required.

Lastly, a healthy positive communicative attitude from an employer and employee can help solve these attrition / loyalty / disloyalty issues easily. Nobody should wait, instead start acting on this.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think about it.

Gujarat riots - Shame, Disgrace,Genocide or Dictatorship

Recent sting operation by Tehelka exposing the Gujarat government's machinery's involvement in fuelling the riots, as well as the brutal involvement of Hindu fundamentalist groups in executing the same is a sheer shame, disgrace and a clear case of genocide.

Having said that it makes me wonder is it what i just mentioned or is it the clear case of Dictatorship in a Democratic country? Is it the same India which calls itself Secular? Are we the same Indians who call ourselves proudly as Secular and Democaratic?

Strangely I don't know whether people would want to continue to stay in a state where the people can't trust the government, police, and other agencies.

The real shame is that after 4 years of actual riots we get to know about the truth and still the government is in power and no one seems to take any action on it?

So it's like we are secular and democratic country but just for one incident please excuse us ,as it was a public outrage. Wow what a logic which came from the government...


I feel sad about such incidents, the only hope is that there are agencies which are still working to expose such henious crimes. I thought if not anything else I should voice my opinion through this medium.

Top 100 CEO Blogs | Sales Motivation Capsule

http://www.scottragsdale.com/

"Inspiration" "Motivation" Growth path ... yes this all is what you would get while you go thorugh my CEOs blog.

I would consider my CEOs blog among the TOP 100 CEO Blogs in the world. A must read for all Sales guys and keep themselves motivated Each Day, Every Day. Scott is one of those people who can be called epitome of "Doing things as much as saying" and as he says "if it was easy" ... anybody could have done it ... not everyone can make it happen.

A few people in this world actually "Make It Happen" and Scott is my inspiration and my motivation for making it happen.

Scott's passion for adventure sports made him cross the deserts in a marathon race marathon-des-sables-southern-morocco ... while I was reading this entry, I was just getting more passionate about what I do and it motivated me to "DO" more...

Oh by the way if you were wondering what made me get a new look ... you know now my motivation now...

Will be back soon.

CIO Strategies India 2007

www.ciostrategiesin.com 10th - 11th December 2007 • The Leela Palace, Bangalore

"CIO-led workshops make CIO Strategies India stand out from the rest"

Is India Inc losing the IT outsourcing edge? Is Innovation the only answer? How secure is your Information? Discuss these and other challenges with Fortune 500 CIOs at CIO Strategies India 2007 – the ultimate networking forum designed for CIOs by CIOs. Discover how your present IT strategy fits in the global scenario with over 100 CIOs at the same platform.

The CIO Strategies Forum
CIO Strategies India is not an expo or a conference - it is the industry's best strategic business platform focused on re-education and problem solving.

Educational Workshops
Solve real life Fortune 500 case studies on hot topics like SOA implementation, IT alignment with business, new IT innovations in India.

Cutting-Edge Presentations
Learn about the latest IT challenges from renowned industry experts from Shopper's Stop, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj, Kuoni, and more.

Ultimate Networking Functions
The forum is designed to maximize networking opportunities. Take advantage of exclusive leisure activities, luncheons and cocktail receptions in a luxurious 5-star environment.

Here what others have to say...

"Sincere congratulations to organizers. A very fine and professional event organized in a glamorous place ideal to exchange ideas and identify the future of IT."
CIO, ALRO

"naseba has done a great job in getting together fellow CIOs with whom exchange of experiences is precious!"
ICT Director, Endemol Holdings

"Most events are too marketing driven, this event provided the ROI we expect and the level of delegates we want."
Director North American Corp Marketing, Hyperion

More Testimonials.... [http://www.ciostrategiesin.com/index.html?pagecode=testimonials]

Quick Links

•Event website [http://www.ciostrategiesin.com/]
•Event WhitePaper [http://whitepaper.cxostrategies.com/]
•Apply to Attend [http://www.ciostrategiesin.com/index.html?pagecode=contact]

Top Speakers Include

•Arun Gupta,Chief Technology Officer,Shopper's Stop
•Dhiren Savla,Chief Information Officer,Kuoni India
•JB Bhaskar,Chief Information Officer,Bajaj Allianz
More Speakers... [http://www.ciostrategiesin.com/index.html?pagecode=speakers]

CIO led Workshops inlcude

•Changing Role of the CIO
•IT Outsourcing -Destinations
•Innovation
•Information Security
•Complete Open Source Implementation

More topics... [http://www.ciostrategiesin.com/index.html?pagecode=speakers]

Event Partners...[http://www.ciostrategiesin.com/index.html?pagecode=partners]

For more information, please contact: Charan Varghese, Project Director
email: charanv@naseba.com Tel: +91 80 30280562 - fax: + 91 80 30280555

Human Assets Expansion Congress 2007

www.humanassetsindia.com 19th - 20th November 2007 MUMBAI

Leading Business Information Company, www.naseba.com, is holding Human Assets Expansion Congress in India.

Innovative strategies in retention, attrition management, training and development, HR MIS systems, Performance and leadership management and more...complete Human Asset management is all what the Congress discusses.

Human Assets Expansion India is a C-level, strategic executive congress, which provides the opportunity for HR directors to meet with global industry suppliers and industry experts in a true business-to-business environment. With prescheduled one-to-one business meetings and educational sessions that are strictly limited to upper-level executives providing them a Real-Life Case Study Format with Ultimate Networking Opportunities.

Key Discussion Topics

• Innovation in Talent Retention, Development and Growth
• Back to Basics: Human Asset Management
• Defining and installing new values, attitudes and behavior within an organization
• Challenges of handling changing aspirational management of the new generation
• Leadership Challenges


Quick Links

• Event website
http://www.humanassetsindia.com
• Complete Agenda
http://www.humanassetsindia.com/index.html?pagecode=agenda
• Complete list of speakers
http://www.humanassetsindia.com/index.html?pagecode=speakers
• Event Testimonials
http://www.humanassetsindia.com/index.html?pagecode=testimonials
• Registration page
http://register.humanassetsindia.com
• Contact page
http://www.humanassetsindia.com/index.html?pagecode=contact


Key Speakers 2007

• JN Amrolia, Executive Director, Ashok Leyland
• Dr Anadi S Pande,VP of Corporate Planning & Strategy,Hero Honda Motors
• Muralidhar Rao, President & ChiefOperating Officer,NIS Sparta
• Sudheesh Venkatesh, Head of HR,Tesco
• Dr. Chandra Mauli Dwivedi,Group President Human Resources,Financial Technology Group
• Joji S Gill, Head of HR,Microsoft

What previous year's attendees said…

"Very impressed. I would be more than happy to present at any of
naseba's event functions."
HR Director, Honeywell

"This event is the perfect way for direct communication between
solution providers and those seeking development within their
companies."
HR Director, Gulf Air

"Great platform for knowledge and best practice sharing on the
available HR tools to streamline processes and make HR more
effective."
HR Director, Siemens

For any queries contact Charan Varghese - Project Director

email: charanv@naseba.com

tel: +91 80 30280562 - fax: + 91 80 30280555 http://www.naseba.com
____________________________________________________________

Targeted Marketing - Top 5 ways for Online Marketing

Targeted Marketing:- 5 most popular ways to target online:

· Contextual targeting: Ads are targeted to related content being viewed by consumers; content usually matches the advertiser's business. For example, ICICI Prudential may run its ads in the mutual fund section of a personal finance site or Hyundai Santro would run its ads in the family section of an automotive site.

o Advantages: There's an implied interest in this content and an assumption that a prospect is in market.

o Challenges: Content has a premium value and tends to be cluttered with competitive ads. In addition, advertisers rely on a small window to reach prospects.

· Demographic targeting: Ads are targeted to content that has a high composition of a specific market segment (regardless if there's a contextual fit). Demographic information may include professions, industry, company size, gender, age, and household income. For example, an advertiser who wants to reach baby boomers may advertise on a site like ThirdAge.

o Advantages: Demographic targeting provides an opportunity for advertisers to increase their reach and avoid highly competitive and cluttered contextual placements.

o Challenges: Just because someone fits a market segment, doesn't mean she's in market for a product. Demographic targeting is better suited for branding campaigns.

· Geographic targeting: Ads are targeted to specific geographical areas based on a user's IP address, Zip Code, or the local content he's viewing. An automotive dealer in New Jersey can advertise local lease offers on NJ.com or target consumers via their IP addresses on USAToday.com

o Advantages: Marketers can target consumers with relative, local-interest creative.

o Challenges: This targeting can be hard to manage since technology can be imperfect. In addition, local-interest creative isn't always available.

· Registration targeting: Ads are targeted to consumers based on the information they provided during registration. If ZDNET wants to reach independent software testers, it could exclusively target people who are regular downloaders of softwares registered as such.

o Advantages: It allows marketers to target hard-to-reach segments without wasting impressions.

o Challenges: Registration information can be outdated or inaccurate.

· Behavioral targeting: Ads are targeted to consumers based on previous activity (past content, purchase, or search history). For example, Orbitz can retarget a consumer on Yahoo who just configured a trip but didn't purchase.

o Advantages: It provides an opportunity to create a dialogue with consumers and reach them beyond contextual environments.

o Challenges: If not handled properly, it could have an adverse affect.

Day Occasions

Friendship Day (I call it another Day Occasion) celebrations take place on the first Sunday of August every year. The tradition of dedicating a day in honor of friends began in US in 1935. Gradually the festival gained popularity and today Friendship Day is celebrated in large number of countries including India. On this day people spend time with their friends and express love for them. Exchange of Friendship Day Gifts like flowers, cards and wrist bands is a popular tradition of this occasion.

Though I am not a great follower of all these days, still I don't mind remembering my friends and colleagues on this day. I anyways keep in touch wth them and I believe in the spirit of friendship which should kindle always! However such days give you another opportunity to do so. I feel all the marketeers would feel happy on such "Day Occasions", as they get an opportunity to sell more. Fair enough, sympathy, empathy, emotions and more always are well exploited by marketeers and they would love to take on such occasions.

Anyways, no more story....My celebration Idea:
"Send a SMS or Email to all your friends and let them know that they are special to me. Friends are the relatives I have made by choice! And may be a quick meet-up."

To all my friend's, lets keep in touch!

Behavioral Marketing

New and emerging Idea of “Behavioral Marketing” is gripping the websites and advertisers are getting more keener on it. This basically talks about customization of Ads based on predictions on what you are going to buy next. This is like one-on-one marketing based on individual data. Like: Gender, Location, Demographics, Interests, Past website visits, Recommendations etc.
Like Book Selling Sites recommending the following:
“People who liked this also liked books like these:-
Link 1
Link 2
Link 2”
Now websites are trying to provide Real-time Ads. With the help of certain details like your Location and demographics. They are continuously collecting data about you, while you browse and on real-time change the ads from a generic one to the most relevant ones relevant to your interest.
“Auto Opt In” is the trick most of the sites are using which means you just can’t skip this.
The basic value proposition is “we are going to stop bombarding you with non-relevant ads and give you something which is very relevant to you.”
Well companies are trying to build and implement these algorithms and only some retrun on investment data will prove if this model is working well!

Some Online Citations:

nugg.ad AG - http://blog.nugg.ad/2007-07-25/is-predictive-behavioral-targeting-only-something-for-geeks-nerds-and-freaks/
Yahoo! Expands Behavioral Targeting - http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3520631
Yahoo Adds Behavioral Targeting - http://advertising.yahoo.com/marketing/bt/
Microsoft Demos Behavioral Targeting - http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=38484
Behavioral Maketing - http://www.behavioral.us/2007/06/15/when-does-behavioral-fail/
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_targeting"

Tata Indiacom Offers Samsung Duo Dual Mode Handset in India

Following the Spice Telecom, Tata Indicom with Samsung has announced to launch Samsung Duo, the dual mode handset supporting GSM and CDMA technology.
According to Samsung, users can use two GSM or two CDMA or one of each sim cards in one handset.
The Duo handset is a slider phone having a 2.2-inch hybrid TFT display. Also it features 1.3 megapixel camera with 10X digital zoom and video recording. This phone is a real business phone supporting document files in excel, word and PDF formats.
The phone also offers good amount of entertainment to users through an MP3/AAC+ player supporting video in MPEG4. The phone has 10MB of internal memory and can support up to 1GB of external memory.
Besides, the phone has three input options ABCD’ keyboard or a normal mobile phone keypad and thanks to the handwriting recognition software that it incorporates, you also jot something on it.
Perhaps, the most interesting feature for Indians the Indian calendar it bundles which lists all the festivals, dates and important occasions. Additionally it has a Panchang featuring auspicious/inauspicious times during a day.
Currently the Duo is launched in Mumbai only at the price of Rs. 11,999, excluding the Indicom Sim card.

Was just discussing yesterday night ... Teleportation is the Next Technology change? Which is going to throw out all these mobiles and communication devices....I wish I could be alive to see that day!

Goal Setting!

What will you achieve if you don't know what you want to achieve?

GOAL setting, timeline setting, steps break-up, milestone celebrations, motivation, inching closer to your GOALS. Well all this sounds more or less like a excerpt from a Project Management book at your B-School. No. This is simply the latest thing running in my office where all the employees have put together all their Goals on the wall:

1 yr goal

5 yr goal

10 yr goal

Lifetime Goal.

In the image some 32 Goal sheets are visible which says exactly this. I think its necessary and every company should do this. Get your employees to decide the goals. Set some timelines. Breakup the path to achieve those goals into smaller units. Self Motivate yourself. Keep working and celebrate the milestones. Achieve and Enjoy! Start your journey for the next goal.

The USUAL Scenario outside Forum just next to my Office!

The UN-USUAL Scene in the evening sky over Forum!

Usual is to see long waiting queues of traffic in front of my office. Hosur road and surrounding areas. Well it takes me 5 minutes to walk down to my office. And if i drive by car it takes 15 minutes. Bangalore traffic is becoming pathetic day by day. And no solution seems to be in pipeline.

Unusual was the large number of eagles flying over the Forum and its vicinity last Friday evening. I was working in the office and suddenly my boss Liam called me out and asked me, why do you think these birds are so frantically flying all over the place? Well not just me, we were like 3-4 people and offcourse human nature prompted everyone with his or her own theory! This was a very strange thing which i saw for the first time. I don't particularly know why it happened, however, what sounded a good logic from Zafar was that, it became dark suddenly that night so the birds lost their time tracking mechanism.

Anyways, if you seem to know why it happened....do post in your comments.

Royal treatment on my Birth Day!

Royal treatment on my 25th Birth Day!

I didn't expect the Royal treatment I got this 4th of july on my 25th B'Day. I turned 26. Yes the venue was Leela Palace, Bangalore. The location was Jamavar. Thanks to my wife who had done some pre-booking. I was impressed. We had fun time that night, I njoyed a lot. And i think we ordered food in excess as always. The aloo tikki dilli style was good, i relished it. The rest of the food was also delectable. With the enjoyment in the air, coz of Independence Day of America, there was hustle n bustle. And we could hear some fun party going on there. Overall good music and good ambience.

Cheers again and thanks to my biwi for this ossum treat!

What is naseba?

A lot of people have been asking me recently, what is naseba? Well here is your FAQ answered...

Q) What is naseba?

A) The word naseba comes from a Japanese idiomatic expression: "when there is a will there is a way." naseba can be translated, "if you make it happen." naseba is Business Information (BI).

We are committed to provide BI to the entire online community without them paying any charge for the same. We are a product company and our products are Strategic Business platforms like Congresses, Forums, Conferences or Expos.

Q) Is naseba Event Management Company?

A) NO

We produce, promote and host our own strategic business platforms using a conference, congress, expo or forum format - depending on the market - with the ultimate focus on ‘knowledge expansion’, ‘networking’ but most importantly maximizing ‘deal-making’ opportunities for all our executive clients.

Q) How are you unique from other similar events companies?

A) Let me answer this in bulleted format:

We are into providing you with Business Information for your strategic decision making.

We don’t host someone else’s events.

We host our own Strategic Business Platforms for business information exchange.

We give commitment in our contract, in black and white, the target number of people attending our event.

Pre-scheduled One-to-One business meetings.

A complete delegate directory with contact information & pre-course questionnaire to help you uncover the needs of the prospective client in advance.

Open business meeting to ensure you do not miss out on meeting any delegates you would want to meet.

Table sponsorship opportunities to maximize your visibility.

Limited numbers of suppliers to ensure you are not surrounded by your rivals.

Hope this makes us as a “unique” company!

Q) What products does naseba have?
A) naseba provides 4 streams of international products:

Travel & Tourism Series - 10 strategic congresses focused on maximizing networking and deal-making opportunities for Travel & Tourism professionals.

CXO Strategies - designed exclusively for CXOs by CXOs providing a UNIQUE mix of best practice and knowledge sharing in a problem-solving environment.

Global Expansion Series - a dynamic two-day platform created for busy decision makers to conduct business in their respective infrastructure sectors through prescheduled, one-to-one business meetings interwoven with re-educational sessions and the ultimate networking parties.

Knowledge Expansion - a conference format with a networking approach, focused on dynamic re-education for busy upper-level executives who do not attend vendor-driven conferences.

Q) How old is your company, some company history details?

A) In order to climb to the next level and expand more aggressively - further proving to make things happen - naseba did a reverse takeover of MM Finance, a company listed on the Marché Libre of the Paris Stock exchange - therefore, on October 5th, 2006 naseba proudly went public.
Since inception in 2002, naseba has expanded its portfolio of worldwide executive congress and forums to 60 annual strategic B2B platforms covering 26 different industries.

As a leading global business information company with headquarters in Monaco, naseba has offices strategically located in eight cities around the world and employs over 200 executives from more than 30 nationalities.

We are multicultural, dynamic and focused on making it happen.

Top 100 Blogs

I found this interesting site which gives you the list of Top 100 blogs in India. A very good website for seeing who's blogging in India.

More interesting pages that I found was on this website are:

Top 100 Most Influential blogs.

Top 100 Songs being heard.

Top 100 DVDs being watched.

Do comment and let me know if you come across similar sites.

Product Review: BOSE Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System.

Update 2 - The volume control pod snooze error (Scroll to bottom)
The volume goes off in the middle of play if USB not connected.
Update 1 - How to connect your BOSE Companion 5 Multimedia Speakers to your TV? (Scroll down)
Procedure and images to demonstrate the connection with TV.
Product Review - Good sound comes in Small Packages!

If you are one of those who hold any of the following opinion:

>BOSE is costly.
>BOSE has only Sophisticated Surround Sound Systems.
>BOSE is my dream audio-video system.

Then please read on….

BOSE Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System (BC5MSS) shatters all the myths and brings forward the reality of High Quality audio experience in a small package!

---------------------------------------------------------------
Bottom Line

Bose's Companion 5 speakers are great for those who want more from their DVD audio but lack the space for a true surround-sound setup.
---------------------------------------------------------------
PROS

The subwoofer delivers nice rumble. Speakers widen the stereo image. Great for desktop or home listening. Wired control has volume and mute button.
---------------------------------------------------------------
CONS

"Surround-like" is NOT real surround sound. The satellites are lacking in the mid-high frequencies. Control is wired.
---------------------------------------------------------------

I bought the BC5MSS one month back and tried and tested it in multiple scenarios. Here is what I have to say about the system. BOSE is committed to provide Best Audio Quality and they have 100% delivered on it, interestingly, cost effectively and in a small package!

I am sure most of us would have come across BOSE’s amazing sound quality experience once in a while somewhere. I experienced it for the first time in FORUM Mall’s BOSE showroom. During my first visit there I was sure, this is my Dream Audio system. However, I was not sure when this Dream is going to turn into reality. Yes, price was something which was keeping me back.

Not long, I visited BOSE showroom around mid of June 2007 and I saw this BC5MSS system and saw a little price tag hanging there for Rs. 24,500/-. I was sure this is just going to be the price of the small speaker and nothing else. I was about to overlook, when the gentleman in the showroom approached me and asked me if I would like to see a Demo of the product. I said Ok go on show me what can this Tiny thing do? To my amazement, I was immediately overwhelmed by the systems audio performance! My very next question was, is this sound coming just from the speakers or there is a base unit to it? And, there it was, a pretty Acoustimass module happily sitting down there. My next question, so this set of speakers, stand, cables and this module costs how much in total? “Sir this entire unit including everything costs 24.5K” said the gentleman….yippeee…!! Am I dreaming or what? Well I had almost made-up my mind and thought let me quickly do an online research of the same and talk to one or two near ones. Did that quickly and took my decision to buy this system!

Features worth a mention!

Proprietary TrueSpace® surround digital processing circuitry - Creates an immersive sound environment from just two visible speakers. The system is designed for sitting at the computer; however I have used it with my TV out in my living room and gave that WOW experience.

Digital 5.1 audio playback (Surround Like – Not Surround Sound) Brings music, games, movies and other 5.1-decoded material to life with much of the performance you'd expect from a five-speaker system.

Compact Acoustimass® module – (The heart) delivers clean, deep low frequencies into the room. The module can be hidden almost anywhere in the listening area and allows for small, elegant speakers without sacrificing performance.

Control pod - multi-function pod for volume control, single-touch mute, headphone jack and connection for a second audio source such as an MP3 player.

USB connectivity - to your PC, this means that the Digital signal is being processed by the BOSE’s internal circuitry delivering that Virtual Surround Sound.

Dual inputs – means you can connect your DVD/iPOD/TV-Out/MP3 etc while it’s connected to PC. As well as there is a sound out – to connect to your Head Set / Headphones.

Performance Test – Built to last!

I have tried connecting this to my PC, Laptop, MP3 Player, iPOD, DVD/TV Player.

Results:

PC / Laptop: As promised, delivered the Virtual surround sound experience with USB connectivity you do get a 5.1 channel surround sound experience.

MP3/iPOD: Again as promised, delivered the WOW BOSE effect. Even with a 2.1 channel input, you get a 5.1 channel output experience.

DVD/TV: You can take a serial to phono cable and connect your TV out to the Control Pod “in” the DVD out can go to the TV and experience the Surround Sound experience.
Catch – Doesn’t match up to the actual BOSE surround sound system! I wouldn’t recommend for a complete surround sound experience. However, COST factor overtakes the sound logic sometimes! So your call, at this cost, a BOSE like experience should be really worth it!

How to connect your BOSE Companion 5 Multimedia Speakers to your TV?

I used the serial to phono cable(image below). The white and red end went into the TV out in the image below

Serial to Phono Cable.(Single end into BOSE POD and Double end into TV Audio Out) TV Audio out

Also, you can connect it to your DVD player too. Take a 3 pin to 3 pin connector cable and connect the 3 pins as shown in the image below to the Audio and Video IN of your TV. The other side of the 3 pins should go into the DVD player Audieo - Video OUT. So now your DVD player is connected to your TV and your TV player's output is connected to speakers.

However, to be precise in this case the Audio processing is not directly on the BOSE board, so its not the digital signal being processed, but the analog one. Also when you connect BOSE directly to your laptop/PC, the digital signal is directly sent to the BOSE acoustimas module so the digital signal processing happens on the board and that's why DVD live quality.

If you want to OWN a BOSE system which gives you most of Audio-Video functionality at a very reasonable cost, this would be a Perfect BUY!

Update 2 - The volume control pod snooze error. The volume goes off in the middle of play if USB not connected. I have faced this problem that if I have connected the volume control pod with TV/DVD play, after some time of playing, the volume control pod goes into sleep mode. I am not sure why this happens, however, the solution is, connect your USB connector cable to some USB device or a laptop. In this way, the volume control pod remains active.

This is a strange solution, but then it works. Let me know if it worked for you or not.

Did you think Harry Potter was a children’s Movie? – Think Again!

Movie Review - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Ihe movie's fame has gone beyond just being a children’s movie. Rowling and Yate has made it clear with the 5th part, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, that its not just for the children. It’s a full fledged entertainer which is power packed with the right ‘masala’ for being a complete entertainer for all ages (a little better editing would have propelled it more)! However lacks in fun or the funny element (I expected, a little bit, though). The story, plot, special effects, acting, costumes, make-up, fight scenes, drama, performances, screenplay, emotions, intimacy…am I forgetting anything, I guess pretty much it, the entire curry cooked very well!

I watched this movie, after all the juggle, this Sunday afternoon at REX theatre, Bangalore. Actually this movie made me think, was this for children or adults? Teens may be, but not for kids… for sure!

Well to start with the plot was very well portrayed in the movie, though sometimes it looked like you are watching the abridged version of book. Most of the scenes would quickly remind you of the chapter in the book, but would get over quick, however fairly conveyed the messages and the story. The plot was not revealed till the end, which keeps people glued who haven’t read the book and were watching the movie for the first time.

Another interesting area, which I would like to comment upon would be the special effects. I liked them! They make or break a Harry Potter movie. Very well picturized flying scenes, well sequenced, breathtaking heights, brilliant sound effects, flying witches and amazing flying horses. What more would you want?

Oh well, there was a keen importance given to costumes, I liked Sirius’s cloak, Hermione’s pink striped dress (and the way she wears her Tie), Imelda’s dress and off course Mr. Potter’s Suit! The make-up artists had spent good amount of time to ensure that every scene looked genuine and it did. The fiction brought to reality was looking true. The picturiziation and the screenplay were like the story unraveling scene by scene…like the pages of the book rapidly flipped.

Performances go like this, Harry’s kind of shedding Ron and Hermione (I felt it). Evanna as Luna was brilliant. The best performances, however, were by Helena and Imelda - as Bellatrix and Umbridge, respectively. Helena portrayed Bellatrix perfectly and supremely pulled off Bellatrix’s obsessive (and deranged, creepy) devotion to Voldemort - she was practically licking her Dark Mark! Imelda was a great Umbridge, sinister in her own way - as we all know. However I felt, because of the length of the book, the movie was made fast paced, where lots of performances just got missed like the Grawp, Grimmauld Place, Kreacher, Tonks, Quidditch, Giants, Centaurs etc.

Other interesting things were the drama, emotions and the intimacy! Well-well-well, Mr. Potter’s onscreen kiss, an intimate one, surely not for kids, made the crowds go howling. It was pretty much like any other Hollywood adult flick. Scenes with Harry holding hands, Harry going towards all the women, Hermione’s way of looking at Harry and others, all clearly suggested, NOT for my Kid. Not to forget the blood on the faces of Harry and others after every fight sequence. The order of the phoenix has grown out of being a ‘children’s movie’ to an adult/teen entertainer well.

What I missed though was the funny side of it, which was there in initial parts. Who says teens/adults don’t like fun? Anyways….another thing which I didn’t like was poor editing of the scenes of Ministry of Magic. The long dialogues, the last scenes of the Prophecy, Dumbledore’s and Valdemort’s fight sequence.

In short, a little over than an average watch! Worth watching once, if you are a Harry fan!

Mozilla Addons Rock

Though I write this blog entry using IE browser, I wanted to share some things which I see rocking in Mozilla Firefox.

As advertized by Mozilla, firefox does speed-up your speed of browsing, but what it additionally offers is these Add-Ons which are really cool.

You can visit this URL https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/recommended to find the reccomended Add-Ons by Firefox.

Some of these which I personally like are:

Yoono
While you are surfing, Yoono instantly suggests what others have discovered: websites, people and articles. Create a rich scrapbook of your favorite stuff with the new "Buzz It!" feature, one-click grab and share videos, photos and texts from any web page. Yoono keeps your scrapbook and original Firefox bookmarks synchronized across your computers.

ScribeFire
ScribeFire (previously Performancing for Firefox) is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog.

CoolIris Preview
Cooliris Previews gives you the power to browse and share Web links and rich media faster. Just mouse over any link, and the Cooliris preview window immediately appears to show you the content. To email it, just click.

Another reason why I like this one is that it reminds me of the Song "Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls, one of my all time favourite. Lyrics and the music is ossum!

del.icio.us
This extension seamlessly integrates your browser with del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/), the leading social bookmarking service on the Web.

ChatZilla
A clean, easy to use and highly extensible Internet Relay Chat (IRC) client.

LinkedIn Companion

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 10.5 million experienced professionals. LinkedIn helps you be more effective in your daily work and opens doors to opportunities by helping you develop and manage your network of business...

My LinkedIn profile can be easily accessed and update, whenever I need to!


Do share if come across some interesting Firefox Addins. I would love to read your comments. Download firefox and new google toolbar for better browsing experience.

I have joined naseba

I have joined naseba last week. I joined as a Marketing Director for the India and Middle East markets. I am accompanied with my colleague Zafar who brings in his extensive experience in Middle East market. My role would be to work along with Zafar to set-up a marketing department for the company and help generate leads and generate revenue. I am reporting to Liam Findlay, CRM Director, who has envisioned this entire department.

naseba is Business Information.

naseba producec, promotes and hosts strategic business platforms using a conference, congress, expo or forum format - depending on the market - with the ultimate focus on knowledge expansion, networking but most importantly maximizing deal-making opportunities for all our executive clients. naseba is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The word naseba comes from a Japanese idiomatic expression: "when there is a will there is a way."naseba can be translated, "if you make it happen."

As a leading global business information company with headquarters in Monaco, naseba has offices strategically located in eight cities around the world and employs over 200 executives from more than 30 nationalities.

naseba is proud to be working in partnership with many leading press groups and local authorities such as BBC World, CNBC, Financial Times, Time, Al Arabiya, London Convention Bureau, the Principality of Monaco, the Abu Dhabi Government and the City of Prague, just to name a few.

I feel highly motivated with our CEOs statement: "The secret to our success is that we understand that all participants, both sponsors and executive delegates, must have a return on their investment - whether that investment is time or money. Our high rebooking rate of both executive delegates and sponsors is proving that we are delivering this ROI to our clients.” Scott Ragsdale, Chairman and CEO.

Harry Potter Movie Tickets Sold Out in 60 minutes

Harry Potter and the order of phoenix, Movie Tickets Sold Out in 60 minutes!

Yesterday afternoon I visited PVR in Forum Mall, Bangalore, to purchase tickets for the movie long awaited movie Harry Potter and the order of phoenix, at 3 PM. They told me that the booking will start at 5 PM. So I went back and then again reached at 5.45 PM. And to my amazement, there was a long never ending queue. Within 5 minutes the person at the booking counter announced that the tickets for Harry Potter - the order of phoenix are sold out for the entire Saturday and Sunday(21-22 July 2007).

With a long face, I returned to my office and started working. Just thinking that the demand is much more than the Supply. Or may be there are too many Harry Potter fans in bangalore! This is the 2nd week of the movie and still the tickets are not available.

Real estate companies might want to look at this and start more new movie theatres in bangalore!

New Harry Potter Book Leaked Onto Bit Torrent

After OJ’s book, its Rowling’s now. Seems like the latest book in the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, has been leaked onto Bit Torrent. The book was leaked onto Demonoid and quickly spread to other sites in the form of two torrents. Already google search showing over 1,160,000 search volumes . One of the torrents features only 495 pages of the book while the other is complete. However, users who have downloaded the book say that it’s a bad quality scan and half the pages are illegible. You even have to use Photoshop to clean up some of them, should you want to read the book in its entirety.
But with all the hype around Harry Potter, having torrents of a book like this can be dangerous. Mininova has already removed the torrents for the book, a move that the site normally wouldn’t choose. Now that it’s leaked, spoilers are bound to hit the Internet left and right, so be careful where you click. Otherwise, wait until the 21st to get your Potter on.

I would urge all the Harry potter fans just to avoid downloading such leaked books and pay respect to the Author for her hard work!

Changing Language of 21st Century Leader - Accountable Communication

As the 21st century leaders come in the field to lead and empower a team of high performers, they need to develop and inculcate the New Language to motivate and bring more accountability and personal integrity. I am sharing some of the New Language words which are set to change the boards.

Some important day to day examples which can help you excel in day to day conversation. These examples are nothing more than some well thought and well crafted sentences which can guide your way to growth. Initially you might find difficulty to implement these in your day to day dialogue, however with the positive mindset complemented by a conscious effort, you are bound to excel and bring more and more accountability in the system.

> Avoid: “You’re acting ridiculous. How can you expect me to respond to a question that has absolutely no logic to it and doesn’t relate to anything that we’re talking about?”
ü Replace with: “I’m having difficulty understanding how what you’re saying connects to the issue we’re discussing. Would you please elaborate…?”
Ø In short harnessed words are accountable!

> Avoid: “Everyone needs to get on board fast to handle this mess.”
ü Replace with: “I need everyone on board fast. I can’t do this alone. Together we can turn this situation around.”
Ø In this case, You are triggering action and not reaction!

> Avoid: “I’ve made a decision to move ahead with a program that will help us achieve better performance.”
ü Replace with: “I see a possibility for us to be the first group to lead the way in building a high-performance organization. I know we can accomplish this together.”
Ø Inspiring people is the key, not derailing them!

Do share more similar lines, words or sentences that you have seen effective in difficult situations.

Coorg, your relaxing holiday destination!

With ever increasing pressures of work, family chores, daily hustle and mundane routines, u'd need a relaxing and soothing holiday. I recently visisted Coorg and got exactly what I was waiting for quite a long time.

Coorg enjoys the incomparable scenic beauty, lush green valleys, coffee plantations, teak wood forests & majestic mountain ranges. Add to that a strong, brave martial race of Coorgs (Kodavas) that reveres tradition, has a distinct culture and lives life to its fullest.

Coorg is situated on the Western Ghats of Karnataka in South India. For the adventurous at heart, it is an absolute treat. There are trekking, golfing and angling (Mahaseer too!) options available. Religious trips abound on Hindu and Buddhist circuits. Family getaways can be easily arranged. You can also relax your body and mind with special Ayurvedic massages. Coorg is also as trendy and happening as its close neighbour Bangalore.


Some Videos from Coorg trip