Engaged minds

It Lenin once said, “Trust is good, but control is better”; after many years I overheard this redundant statement in a converaation happening in a lift! The conversation between the leader and the young managers was hilarious as it quickly focused on people performance and how controls ensured; the young managers (smilingly?) nodded. We had to alight however my thoughts on the value of 'trust' lingered. Controls are important for all organisations as they promote responsible behaviour and accountability. Many managers and leaders don't agree nor undermine the importance of 'trust' as education, globalisation, and information technology enables communication creates self awareness, and freedom of choice for people.  Trust is the invisible glue that binds the wall and the wallpaper. The invisibility and intangibility nature and the perceived loss of control is what deters many leaders and managers in deploying trust.  Modern leaders and managers believe that   tr...

Don't give up nor loose your confidence nor allow anyone to dent it!  Humans are a sum of our memories and learning experiences which makes us, who we are and what we may become. Our memory has limitless capacity, it is just we need to focus on learning, clear the clutter, learning, unlearning and retaining the good.  There isn't ‘bad memory’ or ‘good memory’; what we learn and retain is purely related to our attitudinal. Memory as a long retention tenor!  Memory neither decays not fades nor is experience redundant. Memory recall and implementation of ideas thereof is easy and within our self-control. Past memories can be recalled and ideas implemented easily; people just need the right stimuli, motivation, confidence, the context and circumstances. Our memories can be dented and damaged by external forces – physical forces and disease or people. The former is clinical and takes a long time to recover (sometime irrevocable) whereas latter...

We pray for Mr LKY's soul to rest in peace!!  Our heartfelt condolences to Mr LKY's family and Singapore. You contributions to Singapore and it's people, your leadership and strong will to succeed and thrive despite all odds will always remain a leading case study and inspiration to many emerging markets and leaders to learn, action, ethically succeed and thrive ! Many thanks!

Thank you for staying connected!! God bless you and your family!! As requested by many friends I am sharing in brief our journey experiences. We criss crossed self drove 2972 miles in the West Coast US covering San Francisco, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Grand Canyons, Hoover dam, Colorado River, Los Angeles-Santa Monica, Long Beach, Highway 1 - Cambria Lading, Big Sur, SFO Northern bay scenic drive, Muir woods, Mount Tamalpais and surrounding National Park, Golden Gate national park, South Lake Tahoe, San Rafael, San Jose and Fremont.  Fulva and I shared some nostalgic moments passing by Santa Cruz; the name sake Santa Cruz in Bombay is where we grew up, met and married!! On this trip we visited many national parks, natural formations, desert, snow, mountains, oceans and cliffs, man-made monuments, universities, centre of expertise (Griffith Observatory, Universal studios, SJ tech museum etc.), meeting friends, learning and having lot of fun together. Our past journeys to Australia, ...

Asian bond market issuance has been growing rapidly over past few years however competitively priced bilateral bank loans remains the elephant in the room for bond markets. As at end of June 2014, the total issuance by both corporates and governments outstanding reached US$9.5 trillion, including India, of which government bond markets stood at US$4.8 trillion. The Asian bond market is expected to grow exponentially in future with improved economic growth, infrastructure development,  regulatory, governance, and economic and social conditions in Asia. Direct investor access to government bonds in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Korea, Taiwan, China, dimsum CNH HK is now possible via direct access whilst registered with central banks and via synthetic funds. Investors also participate in the LCY bond markets through various participants of which popular access is through HSBC Asian Bond Index and the JP Morgan JACI Index. ...

Teenager (T):  I was assigned a task in which I have to address the issue of balancing the needs of a global city with that of a nation state, focusing on assessing the impact of globalization on one aspect.  The issue that I wish to investigate on is pertinent to the issue of the effect of social immobility, caused by wealth inequality on social cohesion. To gain some perspective on my area of research I would like to direct a few questions to you.  Mr X (X):   Globalisation impacts the economy, government, society, and every individual directly and indirectly! Globalisation helps free trade and capital, improves movement of human capital promotes capitalism opening up enormous opportunities for people and economies.  On the flip side, it also throws up social and economic challenges due to porous borders, liberal trade and immigration laws that allows free movement of goods, capital and people.  Globalisation also creates intense competition tha...

Whenever an organisation or system changes its vision or strategy or needs to remove the corrosion, it is often given that everything within the organization must change, adapt and sparingly destroy. Many of organisations and management often adapt a quick fix ‘surgical strategy’ across the board - hiring and firing, placing a new team and bring in new blood; destroying the existing and recreating the new. These organisations believe that the old must give way to the new. Management performance and incentive plans to achieve the desired change are also agreed based on (often exaggerated) minimum loss value in initial years and minimum profits for future years which may remain elusive!   The illusion of “surgical changes” clouds the new management from enjoying the true value of sustaining existing success that is paying for the change. Often undermined is the current capability, competitive advantage, the skills, experience and insight of the existing people, prod...