Oh, the beauty of introspection!

When WA decided to postpone its policy by 3 months, I decided to move anyway. Because one does not remain with the butcher just because the slaughter is postponed. 

Moving away from WA is not a choice any more. 

But, as expected, most ppl in my network did not want to move. 

The same thing happened when WA was bought over by Facebook. I had tried to move then, with no success. 

This time, the only difference was, that people have moved. But then, Whatsapp came up with that masterstroke, let's postpone for 3 months. 

The universal law of inertia took over and ppl said, ok, why should we move now? 

Well, the answer to that was pretty obvious to me: One does not stay with the butcher because the slaughter has been postponed. 

But more importantly, this universal law of inertia forced me to face 2 important questions: 

1. What do I value more? Privacy, or network? 

2. What is the optimal size of the network that i really want? Not what Marksman Z , Larry Page and Co, and Bill Games have created for me. What do I want? 

The answer to the first was a no-brainer. 

For 2 elections now, Facebook has directly decided who the President of the United States should be. 

After the first election, I had asked, "If Facebook decides who the next president of the United States is going to be, is the US still a sovereign nation?" 

After the second, we know that they are not. 

So, yes, even if I am the lone dissenting minister in the court of some Indian king in the 1740s, even if I am the lone dissenting citizen, privacy clearly matters far, far more than the network. 

2. What is the optimal size of the network that I really want? Not what Marksman Z , Larry Page and Co, and Bill Games have created for me. What do I want? 

This is a surprise. When I really, really thought about it, I realised that the REAL networks for me are still small. 

Let's ask that question: How many of these Whatsapp networks, Facebook friends, etc., do you call when you are a in jam. I realised, NONE. 

For practical advice, I might go to some WA groups, but if they are not there tomorrow, that is fine too. 

It is great fun to see pictures of people's kids and vacations. But over many years, it has not brought me closer to them in any real sense. (2)

For search, I have used DuckDuckGo and not Google, for over a year now. And here is the real surprise: Contrary to what Google has you believe, personalised search results are NOT better than standard search results served by DuckDuckGo. In fact, they are *&@$ worse.(1)  

So, really, when I thought about it, I realised that I will be much, much happier in a world full of people who have the maturity to have discussions without getting personal, people who actively invest in positive thoughts, and in building each other up.  It is GREAT to be brutal about cutting out people who add an atom of negativity to life. 

I scrolled through the Facebook groups - do you know how many groups were retained? 4 out of 150. 

Scrolled through the Whatsapp groups - 3 out of over 100 were retained. 2 of these are the child's school groups, which I cannot exit. Which means that effectively, ONE out of my hundreds of WA groups were of real value to me. 

Can you imagine how much time i have wasted over the years? 

And so, having thought through this clearly, one feels so sweetly liberated and happy. 

It is time to let go and watch more Netflix! I recommend The Social Dilemma. Very Highly. :) 

Endnote

As a consultant, we tell our clients - Our job is to ask you the right questions, so that you arrive at the right answers in the shortest possible time. So: 

I would urge you to ask yourself the same 2 questions - 

1. What do I value more - privacy, or network? 

2. What is the real network that YOU want? 

Good Luck! 

Footnotes

(1) There was this day when I was doing a story on edible oil exports from India. Usually, when researching such stories, i go to the website of the trade association and pick up the numbers from there. In this case, i searched Google for the Association of Edible Oil manufacturers of India - 3 pages of search results and NOTHING. Then, i tried DuckDuckGo. First search result was the right one.  

(2) Facebook: I have added many colleagues as friends, and consequently become better friends with them. Some new friends have come from Facebook groups. And some real friends are from Blogger. This necessitates a loss of privacy, bcs unless you discuss your real thoughts, you cannot connect with others. 

BUT, the converse is also true. Many people I value have stopped being friends with each other  - stopped being real friends because of stupid virtual online debates. 

Both Facebook and Twitter have hit the world with  hate campaigns that are both malicious and unprecedented. Yet, NOT ONE country has been able to sue them. Not one country has been able to bring them to justice. If that is not Colonisation 2.0, I dont know what is. 

These hate campaigns are not, to be fair, their main agenda. Their main agenda is engagement. Because of the way the human brain works, we engage more with negativity than with positivity. 

It is our own brains that taught the AI to give us hate campaigns. 

 

I want good, warm networks. I want to be surrounded by people who actively prefer positive content to negativity. 

(3) Tangent: In a flood, a twig is swept away by the force of the water. It is not the fault of the twig, but the twig moves with the water. As the water reaches livestock, the twig enters the eye of a lamb and blinds it. Floating in a flood of negativity is not the twig's fault.  The twig did not, in all probability, realise that it was a part of a flood and was going to be a weapon. It did not even think itself capable of being a weapon, being just a twig and all that. But the twig is responsible for blinding the lamb.

 

Whatsapp says no change, so why is everyone leaving?

 Remember this post: The Second Global Colonisation | LinkedIn? 

(Its also available on this blog now) 

That time in history when the Resident moved from being Advisor to de facto ruler? 

We are at that moment in history now. The coloniser is saying, slowly and surely, that they rule. 

Let's take a look at a few data points: 

A. If you have a Samsung phone, on the latest OS, check the number of apps that come activated by default. You cannot even disable the vast majority of them. From your physical activity to your passwords, from your digital health to your voice controls, Samsung wants it all. 

B. Go to Apps> Google Play Store > Permissions 

You will notice that there is a permission there called Physical Activity. You cannot disable it, even if you want to. Some years ago, when a researcher did a Man in the Middle attack to prove that Google knows when you are getting out of your car, there was much rad faced embarrassment. Now, there is no embarrassment. Google is telling you what it will do, and it will do it nonetheless. 

C. Whatsapp 

In the new privacy declaration, there is a clarity - we already do share the data, now we don't have to be apologetic about it, and the governments cannot be a pain to us any more by taking us to the court for violating privacy. No longer will the EU, America, or Canada be able to summon the heads of big tech and impose fines for privacy violation. 

 

D. After the Capitol Hill riots, the account that was suspended was of Donald Trump, not of the rioters. Both Twitter and FB absolutely knew who the rioters were, but they suspended the account of Donald Trump. In Mughal era terms , that was the Resident cutting off access of the emperor to his subjects. They killed off Trump's ability to reach out to millions of people directly. 

In no court of law is a non-doer guilty of an act, even if the act is committed in his name. In suspending his accounts, both FB and Twitter made a clear, and bold political statement - We decided who gets to see your content, we decide whether to hold you responsible. There is no court, no judge, no jury, and no rule of law. We are the law. 

Conclusion

Big Tech is declaring, that they are Big Brother and there is no concept of privacy. No one, not even elected governments, can stop them - now, or ever. 

 Is not the policy itself. It is the confidence to say that you have no right to privacy. And we're not answerable to anyone.  Even if the Govt of India tries to pass a citizen privacy law now,  they can't touch FB "group" because all citizens of India have given their 'voluntary consent' to such use of this data.

This is the new Silva mind control method.  And the big tech proclaiming 2 things : 

1. We have your data and we can use it to decide what you see,  how often you see it, and what you cannot see.  If that leads to greater radicalisation and the resultant loneliness,  so much the better.  

2. We are above the law.  Even if our algos feed hate to an entire country,  NO ONE can hold us responsible.  

If we think that political power is not in the agenda of a business house,  we're deluding ourselves.  Political power is straight vertical integration for a business.

Users moving away en masse is the population saying,  "Not yet." In terms of data exchange,  they were doing all this and more,  as the Congressional hearing in 2020 proved and the Singapore hearing before that, and the EU hearings. But at those times,  a govt could summon them and ask these questions about citizen privacy.

At this time, sure, you can leave. But at some time in the future, imagine trying to leave Facebook and your personal photos accidentally making it to the Dark Web because FB will publicly release all information that is not protected or expressly taken down by the user for more than 6 months. From there, how they went to the Dark Web is not Facebook's problem. Its their Terms of Use. :) 

The Second Global Colonisation

 This post first appeared on Linked in in Feb 2019. 

It is neither a coincidence nor a flash in the pan that the Twitter CEO refuses to present himself to the parliamentary committee of India.

Bear with me while I present a little history.

Circa: 1800 or thereabouts

The British Resident, in every Indian state, was subservient to the Indian king. His job was to "advise" the king in matters of military strategy and to ensure deployment of the British troops whenever the king wanted.

In time, as the dependence of the kings on the British armies increased, the power of the Resident grew. 

To the extent where, the military strategy was being decided by the Resident, not by the king or his senapati. With this military dependence came the loss of sovereignty. The kings realised, one by one, slowly and painfully, that though they were called "Kings", they were nothing more than vassals of the company.

Slowly, the company's rules became binding upon the kings of India - not through a de jure authority, but a de facto one. The Company ruled India.

It was against this backdrop that the Mutiny of 1857 was planned. It was a revolt against a government that was not a government.

****** End of history. Cut to present.

A few days ago, I had asked, why is all this data actually being collected by the IT behemoths? I now get it. This is the creation of a government that is not a government.

By not appearing in front of the parliamentary committee, the Twitter CEO is doing exactly what the British Resident did in the 1800s. It is saying:

A. Your house is fragmented. No way that they will all follow you as a unified group.

B. I have control over what your people see, what they think, and what they will do. In effect, I can make them do as I please, and therefore, I am the one who rules them.

C. I am not answerable to you, or to anyone.

D. You cannot touch me, and in fact, you should be scared of me. Because I can undermine your own sovereign position within your country, by using simple mind control and digital mob management.

I have just realised the point of it all. And it is devastating.

It does not matter whether I am dependent on Twitter or not. One person not being dependent on Facebook or Twitter or Google is one Indian minister warning his king against the British.The entire ecosystem was moving in that direction. Everyone needed to be stopped. If the other kings were using British cannons, and winning because the British would not supply cannons or know-how to the Indian armies, then every king would have to do it.

If one politician used Facebook advertising to sway votes, and the rival politician was left with no recourse, then everyone who wanted to win elections would HAVE to do it. Guess who are the earliest adopters of this unethical mind management? The most unethical people. These are the few that created the Tipping Point, after which, the Sun never set on the British empire for 300 years.

Colonisation of the world was not a coincidence. It was based on very precise and very accurate understanding of human nature.

We are not just in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We are also in the second colonisation. 

Think. About. That.

Why do the scions fail?

The story is so familiar it is a script by now. The young scion of a great business family completes his education and joins the family business of oil manufacturing / machine parts / plastic models / publishing. 

The parent plans to hang his boots, giving the son incremental responsibility as he slowly plans to retire. 

Cut to 3-4 years later, the father is still in the stirrup, neither leaving nor willing to go on. The son, getting more frustrated by the day, being unable to prove his credentials to his father through business success. 

Why do you think this happens ever so often in families? More importantly, the families who do get it right (Premjis, HCL's Nadars, TVS, Birlas, Tatas, etc.) - What did they do right? 

Here are some thoughts, based on the new scions and the traditional practices: 

• LOOOOOOONG gestation period 

Most of these children started in the business LONG before they took over the reins - almost as much as a decade, if not longer. 

• Start early, meaning, really early 

When the owner's child comes to the premises, almost everyone wants to pamper the child and make them feel good. Over a period of time, everyone gets to connect with the child, watch their growth, and make a habit of changing their behaviour according to the age of the child. More importantly, it helps create that thing that is really important in the workplace - loyalty. 

One of the TRICKIEST issues in Indian promoter led business succession, is the transfer of loyalty from the father to the son. (Yes, this issue appears to be more gender based). 

Here is an interesting data point: 

The father has possibly grown the business while the child was also growing up at home. So, the folks who are in the business for a long time, have seen both grow, and themselves. 

A great thing to do, is to integrate the 3 growth journeys. The employees feel a sense of connection with the young scion and when he goes off to do the MBA, the employees know and anticipate that he is coming back as the Bada Sahib now, from Chhota Sahib.  

So, the time to start succession planning in a family run business is not when the child is 24 or 27. It is when the child is 4 or 5. Worst case scenario, the child will not join the family business after growing up. In which case, the employees can ask after the Chhota babu once in a while, and its still all good. But if he does decide to join the business later, he will find an allied force the day he joins. 

• Learn the ropes 

The term 'learn the ropes' , arguably*, comes from one of the most dangerous professiona on the planet - fishing. When you took your boat out to see, you had to know which rope led where. That would make all the difference to the direction and speed of the boat, and the survival of the crew. A young recruit started with the ropes, learning till he had mastered them. 

If a young scion has to join the business, he has to start where young recruits typically start - by learning the ropes. The journey of Rishabh Premji has been truly inspirational on that account, and the journey of Neville Tata shows us what happens if a person does not have enough exposure to the 'doing' side of business. 

*(The origin of the phrase is not certain, but most experts agree that it was this. Fishing is hands down among the top 10 most dangerous jobs across the world.)

• Implementing New Ideas

"Let's try this and see" is far more likely to succeed than "We are going to do this". The Japanese have a term for this - kao o tateru. It means building someone up in front of others. When you are sitting in a room full of people, and someone senior in the organisation disagrees with you, NEVER confront them in public. Tell them that you respect their view and will reconsider. Then, bring them over in private and understand their real issues. Then explain and bring them over. NEVER let it become about the ego. Keep it about the ideas. 

If there is no way that they are agreeing with you, tell them, let us try this, and if it fails, we will not go any further. Trial is a way for both of you to get kao o toteru - saving face. 

• UNDERSTAND

This tip is in caps because many, many scions typically come back from their foreign MBAs with great education in western business practices, but none in their own business environment and practices. 

One day, my family was playing a business game that some of us have created. One of the players ran out of cash though she had assets. I gave her the shortfall and said, "Give it back when you sell your stock. No interest." 

My son immediately pointed out that i cannot give an interest free loan to a direct competitor and my Board will eat me up on this. I said, "But in trading, it happens all the time. We compete in the market, but we support in private." 

My brother confirmed that this does happen all the time. My son was flummoxed (and that's putting it mildly). 

In India, we know that the CEOs of Harley Davidson and Enfield Bullet were personal friends, even as their products competed for the same customers. I am currently providing content to a direct competitor at really low rates. 

One day, all of us were stranded at Leh, and Sahara Airlines had cancelled a flight. Jet sent a flight from Delhi to ferry the angry passengers from Delhi to Leh. No ticket changes were done, no more formalities. We just sat in a Jet Airways plane instead of a Sahara Airlines plane. 

This concept of collaboration in competition is unique to Eastern cultures, like many others. 

Take time to understand them - the people, their motivations, the business practices that may be at so much variance from what you know. 

• Modernising is necessary, but its not about modernising at all 

Oh! If one had a penny for every time one heard, "But they are just not willing to change!"

It is about your assumption that your current team cannot and will not modernise. Maybe they won't. Every leader who joins the pack brings in his own people. But inheriting scions have an advantage - they have a bunch of people who want to please. 

Rest assured that during his 27-40 years at the helm, your father pivoted many many times. So, that team has seen pivots. It is not about change at all. It is all about the leadership. 

A trickier issue is when the patriarch does not want to change. One of the most difficult conversations we were a part of was between the 2 generations. The earlier generation had always sold their products at a 10-12% premium to the market. The scion had joined as the sales head and was just not able to meet those numbers. 

"We cannot sell at those prices any more. There is too much local competition and the customer does to care that much about quality. My sales team cannot meet those numbers. They just give up and leave." 

"But if we reduce prices, it erodes the entire premium placement that we have built over 2 decades. We are the only Indian company that has RnD capability in house. We are at least 40% more durable than China made products. We already have a suggestion to do a B2C branded campaign. Why would you not take those suggestions?" 

Both valid points. And a perfect deadlock. 

• Stakeholder Management and Negotiation 

If I had to point out THREE top skills for an inheriting scion, they would not be strategy or MBA. They would be Analysis, Stakeholder Management, and Negotiation. 

Western education teaches all three very well, all we need to do, is to start applying it at work from Day 1. Most heirs are deeply analytical, but don't always consider active stakeholder engagement and planned negotiations with them. 

• Do bring your team, by all means 

Every new leader needs to bring in employees who are loyal to them and more in tune with their modern ideas. 

The challenge is not so much to find such people, as to make them work. You are comparing 15 years of loyalty to 5 months at the job. A generation that has grown old with your parents to people who quit and switch jobs every 2-5 years. 

As a leader, your role is to not mix the 2 capabilities, but to use them both effectively. These are 2 different skill sets and they both bring a different value to the table. Use them effectively, and one has best of both worlds. Don't, and you are stuck with 2 problems instead of one. 

Another issue will be the effective amalgamation of the young and the old, and that is a chapter in itself. 

Endnote 

Indian business, and Indian leadership are truly hard to understand. But the fault does not lie with the child or the scion. The fault lies with an education system that does not incorporate any of this. 

Many years ago, I was in the waiting area of Emami Corporate office, waiting to see someone. On the table was a book called Marwadi. 

I picked up the book, hoping to see a coffee table book. It was a periodical, and it listed personal and professional achievements of Marwadi business families all over the country, their family functions, the guest list, the works. (Yes, it did have updates on LN Mittal and whom he meets when he flies to India) 

That was the day my eyes popped. Just do a mental calculation to understand the combined net worth of the people featured in that one periodical. 

I had no idea that they were so deeply intertwined. They seldom give business interviews, and when they do, they are for an audience steeped in Western management practices. One cannot imagine that the best friends of the Mittals in India are (name withheld).

By the way, the Sindhis have one such magazine too, and it doesn't just cover India. It covers the entire South East Asia. 

Enough. Said. 

How to stop your KMS from being your MIS

This was a very interesting discussion. An organisation had just set up their KMS and were wondering about information structure. 

The project manager asked a very intelligent question - How do I ensure that my KMS does not become a document repository, and remains a knowledge warehouse? 

Here is, in brief, the answer: 

What goes into a KMS? 

To understand what goes into a KMS, we have to understand what a KMS is. The best way to understand what a KMS is, is to know what a KMS is NOT. KMS is not: 

MIS 

It is not meant to give you timely information on your operations and help you monitor business as usual. 

DMS

It is not a Document Management System. It is not where you dump all your reports, proposals, policy documents, etc. 

DSS

It is not a Decision Support System. All information in the KMS repository is, by and large, time agnostic. Like the Vedas and Amar Chitra Katha, the wisdom in it is for a long time, of course, updated with the times. But not time sensitive. That is the crucial aspect. 

A Knowledge Management System is just that - a system to manage the knowledge in the organisation. 

So, to be counted as knowledge, an artifact / document must be: 

A. Time agnostic

B. Be applicable in a wide variety of domains. If it is specific to that one project, that one report, and that one employee, its not KMS worthy. 

C. Be clear about the knowledge it imparts. 

D. Ideally, help a person connect the dots and lead to some business value.

E. Must not include any confidential information / company identifiable information.  

Some examples of good KMS usage 

Katy is looking for ways to quickly do effort estimate on her bids. Obviously, the information is incomplete, and she has to do her best. She finds out, over a period of time, that if she has some key data elements, she is able to give a bid that is very close to the actual costing + margin of the organisation. 

So, she prepares a questionnaire that has all these data elements. 

Now, whenever the bid team receives a RFP (request for proposal) , it sends this questionnaire as its standard list to the client. The bid team then has the info it needs to create a clear bid in a short amount of time. 

******************* 

Raghu, the Finance head, is sick of asking departmental heads for TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) before approving their capital procurements against Budget Line Items. 

Exasperated, he creates a TCO Calculation template that he just uploaded into the KMS. Now, before sending the proposal, everyone looks at the TCO calculation template. This has also helped other department heads identify the hidden costs in their procurements, which were earlier blind spots. 

************* 

How to ensure the success of your KMS

1.  Keep a tight gate on what gets in. 
2. Incentivise reuse of artifacts as much as possible. 
3. Monitor usage at all times. Even plants atrophy without fresh air and anything left untouched starts to decay. KMS is not a dead system. It is a living, breathing system that supplies vital nutrients to your organisation. 
4. Guard against plagiarism. It is unfortunate, but not rare, for employees to copy stellar documents written by someone else and submit them as their own KMS submissions. 
5. Incentivise participation. If people are hesitant to create documents, give them sample documents and offer surprise prizes for lucky submissions. Hold a contest once a month every 6 months - for both submitting and using artifacts. The contest for using artifacts will also give you the case studies that you need to create emails about KMS use. 

How long does it take? 

6 months. This number is usually independent of the organisation size. It will take people about 6 months of consistent, persistent reminders to make a habit of using KMS as a regular part of their work. Plan your Change Management for 6 months, and keep plenty of budget. 

And Finally: 

What makes a good Knowledge Management System 

How to Design a Dashboard for yourself

 Many years ago, I wrote this post to explain durable dashboard design. 

A durable dashboard is not a dashboard that is used by the client for a long time. All dashboards, once developed, are used by client organisations for a long time. 

But they are not used by the people making the decisions. Their Decision Support System inputs start flowing in, as they always have, from outside the system. 

That post tries to address the issue of creating dashboards that remain relevant for the user for a long time. 

This post is for managers trying to create a dashboard for their own use. Obviously, its technology agnostic. You know what tools you use and how you can make it better. The post will only help you ask the right questions and find a way to design something that works for you. 

How to create a dashboard for your personal use 

Step 1: What do I want to know, and why? 

This may sound like a no brainer, but you'll be surprised to know few people actually start with this question. What do you want to know? 

Let's say that you are a talent acquisition professional. There is a mountain of metrics that you need to be tracking. Which ones need to be on your dashboard? The  higher up you go, the more aligned this will be with the organisational metrics. 

Make a list, then discard 

If this is the first time you are doing this exercise for yourself, it makes great sense to create a larger list, then eliminate entries until you arrive at a manageable number. 

Why do you need to know this on a daily basis? 

Let's be clear - there are reports, and there are dashboards. Dashboards are what many of us wake up to. Reports are what we see once a week, month, or quarter. If this isn't something that you need to see on a daily basis and track, then it should not be on your dashboard. 

If you do see something every day, ask yourself WHY you see it. Which decision making does it support? What does it help you control or monitor? Sometimes, we track some metrics just because we like them. It is time to be ruthless with self. 

Once you have a list of the numbers you need on your dashboard (and not before that), please move to the next step. 

Step 2: How do I want to see them? 

This is as important as Step 1. Do not underestimate the importance of visualisation. And, there are few best practices. Understand how YOU want to see these numbers. Today, the tech investment needed to see even some of the better visualisations is not too high. But its important that you should be able to interpret the numbers at a glance using the visualisation. 

Common Mistakes to avoid 

• A 'cool' visualisation: Heat Maps, Dials, are all great. But does your brain absorb them instinctively? Do they tell you all you need to know?  Does traffic light always meet your needs?

 

• An incomplete picture: When we travel from numbers to visuals, the first planned casualty is the detail. So, when you choose a visual, please ask yourself it it tells you all you need to know, and only that which you need to know. Do be ruthless on both fronts. 

• Heavy to load: A slow loading dashboard starts off being cute, moves to being mildly irritating, and ends up being abandoned property. Choose visualisations that are quick and efficient. 

Step 3: In what order do I want to see them? 

This is the last step, and as important as the first two. 

Sit back and imagine your dashboard. Wireframe it - using a tool of your choice (mine is pen and paper) and imagine yourself using it. Since you are the only consumer of this, there is no one to impress. Only you. Which report goes where on the screen WILL impact whether you see it at all, and how well you process the information. 

Once you do all these 3, congratulations, you are all set to develop the personal dashboard. Today, there are multiple DIY dashboarding solutions available, the simplest being MS Excel, which exists on most laptops. 

When is it time to redesign the dashboard? 

When any of the following happens: 

• Role Change 

• Change in organisational priorities

• When a project /program / department you are tracking moves from scaleup/development to stability or vice versa 

Important end note

Even if you have designed this dashboard, do give yourself time to 'break in' and start being productive with the dashboard. A week or two is par for the course. See how you use it, what elements work best for you, whether you want redesign or restructuring. 

Once we start using dashboards for every day working, data based decision making comes naturally. So does the ability to ask the right data questions when faced with a decision. 

Why should someone invest in The Children's Post of India?

 Someone asked me: 

What is the one reason that someone should invest in you? 

And what is the one reason that they should not? 

Our answers: 

What is the one reason that someone should invest in you? 

The Business Model. Print at home was considered hilarious 3 years ago but today it is par for the course. This disruptive business model will make the industry capital un-intensive, and eliminate geographical barriers. 

And what is the one reason that they should not? 

Me. I can, and have done, great product design. But after that, scaling up on ad renvue needs a different skill, one that I dont have. Investor relations. All of these are important skill gaps. So it makes sense for someone to pick up the business and take it to the next level.