My Musings

 J oe Biden is playing with the rotating globe in his desk at the oval office. His critics are hysterically shrieking on the TV screen,"   by Jove, The US spent two trillion-dollar over two decades on the war in Afghanistan. That's 300 million dollars per day and legacies of four presidents! America can't throw away all that. " Biden bides his time and proffers to his aide- " That money is already gone - down the drain. We have lost the taxpayers' money, whether we stay or leave. That sunk cost should not play a role in our decision. A decision to stay the course is not decision-making. A decision to change course is decision-making-by-the-balls.   " His aide twists his face as if he bit off a lemon wedge and whimpers a lame " Yes, Mr. President, you are so prescient !      Sunk cost fallacy is the only accounting principle that doesn't account for today's costs but our past Karma ! Sunk cost fallacy is a thinking error. The sunk cost fallac...

I received a speed post on a lazy afternoon. It had the hall ticket for the Science national talent search exam, followed by a call on the landline (It was the 90's). Janaki Mami was on the line asking if I had received the hall ticket. She was excited about my prospects in a SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH! The fact that I could barely spell chemistyr or didn't understand the gravity of newtons law didn't matter to Janaki Mami. In the few minutes of our conversation, I felt like a 'musk'y whizkid who would churn out the next tesla. The results turned out as Bernoulli's error was another matter for another day! The fact that her investment in my science talent turned out to be penny stock didn't bother her a bit! Perhaps, she was an angel investor of yore.   In a nutshell, that was the story of her life.  She trusted and invested in people who crossed her path. The reciprocation didn't make an iota of difference. There wasn't a gene in her body that doubted he...

Corporate speak and the English language  It is the 75th Anniversary of Orwell's seminal essay -  Politics and English language . Seventy-five years later, the lament on the state of the English language persists. Calendars changed, medium socialized, the venerable pen discarded, keystrokes introduced but the dilapidated state of the language remains.     In the corporate world, the English language is in a bad way! Dying metaphors, verbal false limbs, pretentious diction, meaningless jargons infest all kinds of writing boards. My inspiration to make this argument came from the below verbal obfuscation.    "We need to mirror with our employees with personalization. In the current VUCA scenario, generalization may not resonate with our teams. Trust, Respect and Personalization are the key. You never know how these curated conversations may positively "touch" our employees' mindsets and emotions."   The author is perhaps suggesting that we need to ...

 An arduous but loving childhood  Where resources were sparse But love was plentiful.   The eldest son, responsibilities umpteen he had; Many mouths to be fed, the weight of the family he had to bear.   Familial duty he never considered burdensome, Albeit the distance away from them was worrisome   Simple and humble his beginnings, His brahmachari life he dedicated to his siblings.   A self made man, he chartered his own course with élan, He broke the rules, with firm conviction he followed his plans   Meagre were his needs but large and generous his heart; Little did he know, at 38, his life was just about to start!     Providence intervened, halting his solitary life “Its about time you get yourself a wife !”     The maiden, swept off her feet, by a man so spirited, feisty and full of courage, Who had nary a thought for societal rules; high handedness of a groom, characteristic of ...

  I vividly remember Athimber reviewing the last pages of the  mortal being  by Atul Gawande at my home in Kochi on a sunny afternoon. The key takeaway he remarked to me, "   A life well-lived is better than a life outlived . " Pretty original! I remember this scene like it was just the other day.  He loved words; especially it's interplay . In his 82 years of storied life, he played steady test cricket. He always gave more premium to guarding his wicket than getting out of the crease. At times he was a happy non-striker patiently watching the ball roll by. He knew being on guard was more critical than playing for the stands. He was a debt market trader who understood the power of compounding. He quoted Keynes to me once in Hyderabad while dismissing my career anxieties.  " In the long run, we are all dead."   He was an engineer by profession. However, in his heart, he was a supply chain guy! A curious one at that. He asked many existential quest...

It's 9:00 AM, and the laptop is cranking up. The emails are dripping in slowly but steadily into the inbox. I open the 20 slide presentation and start clicking away thoughtlessly. I get a series of stings from WhatsApp—Ting ting ting. Notification from Facebook nudges from the background and demands my finite attention. A LinkedIn post — '10 ways to get more done' picks my curiosity.   The CPU is cranking away in no time, assuming its boss is on steroids. A phone call from a colleague, " did you check my mail ?" a euphemism for, plant the phone on the valley between your neck and shoulder and give yourself nice spondylitis! Sure I say. As I do that, outlook asks me to lookout for an upcoming meeting as it warns me —5 minutes to go! That's me, the DJ, toggling away my daily chores, many tabs at a time, and my hands moving with swag as the jockey plays Billy Joel.   "don't  wait for answers just take your chances  don't ask me why ." Phew, that...

  Inspired beginnings and happy endings Everyone loves the grandiose of the big announcements and the innocent simplicity of happy endings. One vividly recalls the November 8th, 2016 address deliciously termed as demonetization. The dramatic 2011 late-night broadcast " we got him"  with an accomplished aura that informed us of the death of Osama Bin Laden. The August 15th radio broadcast that romantically suggested that we encountered our  "tryst with destiny."  Sexed-up visualizations of inspired beginnings and happy endings are but easy to draft. Hatch an idea, conceive a plan, concoct strategies, or trump up falsity (pun intended) that is right up the alley of a leadership playbook. The station of the Miserable Middle It is the  miserable middle  that eats our  ideas  for breakfast. The cumbersome and tedious middle is the dietary fiber that gives the wholesomeness to our breakfast. Columbus was caught in the middle of the ocean. Gandhi was ca...