Gosh! Technology is a leveller and it enables everyone equally. Let me give you an example of unethical behaviour for work related activity that eventually exposed the unethical behaviour.
One of my acquaintance, lets call him Mr. Shark, is a very popular recruiter and he is glorified in his company as someone who can get information about anyone in this world who have logged on information somewhere on the Internet. I was having a chat with him and he told me how he uses the system. He uses various different measures, uses combinations and uses a good lot of guesswork to find information about a person from social networking sites to chat sites to blogs to internal company databases. On top of this, he also has access (illegally obtained) to mobile numbers of employees of most targeted companies. So, imagine that there is a senior executive who is great at his job and has no intention of changing his job. This Mr. Shark will contact him, lure him, send repeated mails every week and also try making personal contact with him. This is worse than spamming. Mr. Shark is unashamed of his skills and is rather proud of it. He proudly says 'see I hit the right target' and laugh loud.
So, I asked him - 'well, do you think your searches are unknown to the target'? Mr. Shark was optimistic that the target has no ways of knowing how Mr. Shark got to know the target's mobile no. or his family details.
I showed him some websites where I have posted information and my blog. I ran a good analytics tool that I have and there it was all for Mr. Shark to see.
- I showed him which Google searches led to my blog. For e.g. someone wanted to know how many kids I have and that led him to my blog! One another had wanted to crack a password to a matrimonial portal and since I had written about the portal itself, he had landed in my blog. What surprised me was how many searches were looking for personal details and this was new to me. It's probably motivated by Sales and promotional (of course unethical) companies or individuals or people who like to hound others after fully knowing their personal details.
- The analytics report showed the exact domain address and exact country from where the Sharks had searched/called.
- It also showed so much behavioural searches of the Sharks that not only shocked Mr Shark but gave me great confidence that Internet is a level playing field. If you can find and hound, so can I find information that I'm being looked for. With my premium blocker tool, I can exactly block the Sharks.
Just like how Bayesian logic learns SPAM rules out of each behaviour, so does the human mind. So, please don't use unethical means to do anything at work, esp. during this era of the Internet. You are fully exposed! And you have lost everything after that.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Saturday, September 1, 2007
As a man thinketh - James Allen
Read this book, it is free, available freely downloadable from internet - it is a classic wtitten in the last century and it is a small book but very powerful book. Every page is like a mantra. There is a free audio book also available as MP3.
Here are some excerpts and I strongly encourage every one to read it. After reading this, we will stop blaming others and circumstances for failures.
Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this--that man is the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny. As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills. Man is always the master, even in his weaker and most abandoned state; but in his weakness and degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his "household." When he begins to reflect upon his condition, and to search diligently for the Law upon which his being is established, he then becomes the wise master, directing his energies with intelligence, and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. Such is the _conscious _master, and man can only thus become by discovering _within himself _the laws of thought; which discovery is totally a matter of application, self analysis, and experience. Only by much searching and mining, are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being, if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his character, the moulder of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he may unerringly prove, if he will watch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and utilizing his every experience, even to the most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowledge of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power.
James Allen's little known history is here. I think he was an enlightened soul.
Here are some excerpts and I strongly encourage every one to read it. After reading this, we will stop blaming others and circumstances for failures.
Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruitful of divine promise and confidence than this--that man is the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny. As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills. Man is always the master, even in his weaker and most abandoned state; but in his weakness and degradation he is the foolish master who misgoverns his "household." When he begins to reflect upon his condition, and to search diligently for the Law upon which his being is established, he then becomes the wise master, directing his energies with intelligence, and fashioning his thoughts to fruitful issues. Such is the _conscious _master, and man can only thus become by discovering _within himself _the laws of thought; which discovery is totally a matter of application, self analysis, and experience. Only by much searching and mining, are gold and diamonds obtained, and man can find every truth connected with his being, if he will dig deep into the mine of his soul; and that he is the maker of his character, the moulder of his life, and the builder of his destiny, he may unerringly prove, if he will watch, control, and alter his thoughts, tracing their effects upon himself, upon others, and upon his life and circumstances, linking cause and effect by patient practice and investigation, and utilizing his every experience, even to the most trivial, everyday occurrence, as a means of obtaining that knowledge of himself which is Understanding, Wisdom, Power.
James Allen's little known history is here. I think he was an enlightened soul.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Levelling and the ifs and buts
Yesterday I had an encounter to deal with. One of my managers was abused by his reportee. This employee is a fantastic performer and was rated 'Excellent' by the manager in his levelling. When this levelling got rationalized at a higher level, the 'Excellent' rated person had to be brought down to the leel below which was 'Met expectations'. What always surprises me is this. An engineer, an individual contributor, inspite of his/her great logical thinking in coding rarely understands this life principle. He/She usually thinks 'Why me', 'I have put in my blood sweat and tears and I get just this rating'. I explained to this employee in detail about how individual bell curve fitments finally gets into the bigger curve and an organization needs to have the correct distribution of great and average performers.
We might have Sania Mirza as a great tennis player but when it comes to world ranking she is 50+ ranked!
It's hard and unfair sometimes. But one cannot always be assessed the best or worst all the time. If one realises that he/she will be fairly judged most of the time if one performs well, then there is no fear of failure or fear of rejection. Otherwise, the career goes down in a spiral since you have to combat stress, being fussy, sidelined, moods and overall low esteem.
We all are unique in some ways and no one can really be compared with another person. So, walk with your head high and with a smile always on your lips.
We might have Sania Mirza as a great tennis player but when it comes to world ranking she is 50+ ranked!
It's hard and unfair sometimes. But one cannot always be assessed the best or worst all the time. If one realises that he/she will be fairly judged most of the time if one performs well, then there is no fear of failure or fear of rejection. Otherwise, the career goes down in a spiral since you have to combat stress, being fussy, sidelined, moods and overall low esteem.
We all are unique in some ways and no one can really be compared with another person. So, walk with your head high and with a smile always on your lips.
Friday, April 6, 2007
The Reimbursement Mindset
It's all a philosophical discussion but I will go into specifics of certain behaviors of software pros (aka. software coolies). What I call a 'Reimbursement syndrome' it's a disease. I see this all the time during my work hours and off it.
Interviewee : "Well....er I like the package but can you tell me what company benefits I will get....I mean, will my telephone and other bills get reimbursed?". So the clever HR manager repackages everything and gives him huge benefits only that the interviewee does not know that it is shuffling of the same package!
Employee: "I know I'm eligible for a particular amount for telephone call charges and another amount for broadband charges. Can I claim the sum of the amounts for either of them?"
I have seen numerous occasions where my team member built his case for months that he is not paid enough and he is in poverty but when he got a good raise he immediately purchased an expensive car! I asked him why - he said, well I buy it under a certain scheme and it has 0% interest!!
Or numerous friends who stand in long lines to convert those free coupons in stores.
Or numerous relatives who lose the fun of talking over phone with near and dear ones because they are forever dealing with cheap calling card dialing, calls dropping and losing the conversation thread completely.
Or numerous managers who lose business because they did not call the business contact directly (who pays then) and instead chose to call via the office EPABX and bridged it with a conferencing company (calls through VoIP) and in the mean time lose a good 20 minutes by when the business prospect is totally put off!
Do you get my point? Most of us are Software coolies or wage labourers and until we get out of this we will never prosper. Have you ever seen a successful entrepreneur filling reimbursement claim forms for small expenses? Don't miss the point - 'small expenses'.
Invest in yourself. Use the time, energy and mind share spent in calculating small expenses, in small claims for larger things that will propel you to higher orbits. This could range from doing your job exceedingly well, learning new skills, developing more enriching relationships and all that goes with your career and personal life development. In fact the more you invest on the 'right things' the more you prosper. stop worrying about the raise your colleague got and instead plan and do your job exceedingly well. And the next time you will notice that you have not only got a great promotion that includes the pay for the next level, but you have also got much more than what you would have saved with small claims and no promotion. Getting my point?
Behave and think like a King and you will be one soon. Behave like a coolie and you are a coolie forever.
Interviewee : "Well....er I like the package but can you tell me what company benefits I will get....I mean, will my telephone and other bills get reimbursed?". So the clever HR manager repackages everything and gives him huge benefits only that the interviewee does not know that it is shuffling of the same package!
Employee: "I know I'm eligible for a particular amount for telephone call charges and another amount for broadband charges. Can I claim the sum of the amounts for either of them?"
I have seen numerous occasions where my team member built his case for months that he is not paid enough and he is in poverty but when he got a good raise he immediately purchased an expensive car! I asked him why - he said, well I buy it under a certain scheme and it has 0% interest!!
Or numerous friends who stand in long lines to convert those free coupons in stores.
Or numerous relatives who lose the fun of talking over phone with near and dear ones because they are forever dealing with cheap calling card dialing, calls dropping and losing the conversation thread completely.
Or numerous managers who lose business because they did not call the business contact directly (who pays then) and instead chose to call via the office EPABX and bridged it with a conferencing company (calls through VoIP) and in the mean time lose a good 20 minutes by when the business prospect is totally put off!
Do you get my point? Most of us are Software coolies or wage labourers and until we get out of this we will never prosper. Have you ever seen a successful entrepreneur filling reimbursement claim forms for small expenses? Don't miss the point - 'small expenses'.
Invest in yourself. Use the time, energy and mind share spent in calculating small expenses, in small claims for larger things that will propel you to higher orbits. This could range from doing your job exceedingly well, learning new skills, developing more enriching relationships and all that goes with your career and personal life development. In fact the more you invest on the 'right things' the more you prosper. stop worrying about the raise your colleague got and instead plan and do your job exceedingly well. And the next time you will notice that you have not only got a great promotion that includes the pay for the next level, but you have also got much more than what you would have saved with small claims and no promotion. Getting my point?
Behave and think like a King and you will be one soon. Behave like a coolie and you are a coolie forever.
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