Delving Deeper

June of 2018 had been a hectic month for me.  Let me attempt to list the things I got to touch in June to set the context for this post: My special times inside Kerala's  IT SME Life... journeys via contributions to SME entrepreneurs . I had two retainer clients, one each in Kochi and Kozhikode who kept me clued in to the SME's journey.  Nipah scare in Kerala made some of my past clients reach out for help - to ensure they managed this scare staying within the freedom + responsibility approach that we had got them to take.  Last month of my term as Volunteer Secretary of NIPM Kerala Chapter  - four programs to plan - Young Managers Contest, Corporate Citizen Award,  revamping Legal Update and Annual General Meeting Annual meetup of Citizen Science enthusiasts at Thrissur for deliberations on technology and crowd sourcing enabled Bird Monitoring in Kerala - will blog about this soon as this meeting made the early 40's brain in me to take up an...

So I've landed in Chicago for SHRM18 after a 24 hour journey (over 21 hours in the air) from my home in Kochi, India. I'm very excited about the theme that www.shrm.org  has chosen for #shrm18 - 'Expand your world' - here are my reasons: From the first time I attended this conference back in 2012, SHRM has helped me expand my world via HR pals, connections with whom they have catalysed via special events organised at the annual conference and exposition - the international delegates get really pampered at any SHRM annual.  Apart from being an international attendee, I have been lucky to be part of SHRM's blogging squad as well - this platform which gives me a 'behind the stumps' (Cricket Umpire lingo) connection opportunity to some of the best content creators at a global scale - t hey are  - don't miss connecting with them as they help you traverse this year's conference via social media updates.  This excitement of being able to expand my worl...

I had missed SHRM16 but had not missed blogging about why I thought large conclaves like the ones organised by  www.shrm.org  are great social selling opportunities after reading about the power of social selling later that year. SHRM18 too has a carefully curated list of service providers who will be showcasing their wares at the Exposition which will be open from 4 pm on 17th June - immediately following the opening general session which will be featuring Johnny C Taylor, Jr. the new CEO of SHRM and Jeb Bush. The would be over 600 exhibitors and I have realised, with each of my 4 previous conferences that there will be exciting stuff which will keep attendees glued to most exhibits.  Here are some tips that I found useful as one attempts to traverse this maze looking thingy that we can call the exhibition floor! 1.  Identify at least 25 Exhibitors based on your current role or your companies immediate needs by speaking to your colleagues about your the oppor...

So people keep asking me this question - why am I geeked about #shrm18? Here's what on top of my mid now as I'm preparing for my fifth time at an SHRM Annual . SHRM12 opened out the world of possibilities to me when I managed to combine it with my annual visit to connect to work related matters with Arbitron (now Nielsen Audio) - I had blogged about it then - here is the first post  written excitedly as I got to be part of SHRM bloggers for the first time! Here are the other posts from that year - looks pretty silly now I confess.  A list of tweets  An attempt to capture the essence of shrm annual on video  3. SHRM has been my mentor on #socialmedia trends - I had blogged about some lessons after my second edition. This was the time when I could find my way around better and could connect to more learning stuff - this was at Orlando.  4. The need to reconnect to social media got me back for my third shrm conference - this time at Las Vegas where I...

Yep, this is one question I love to hear these days - especially when it is from someone based in my home state Kerala. Some context : So I got back to my home state in Dec 2007 to become first employee of a US Media measurement major (Now part of Nielsen Audio) who was then setting up it's Captive Technology centre in India, yes a GIC as per NASSCOM. Post a global acquisition by the Market research biggie - I set out to form a Boutique Consulting gig  with a purpose of catalysing the growth of the IT SME ecosystem in the state, combining with ex-boss - a Rocket-scientist turned Programmer turned CEO who I would need more than a blog to introduce. I have to confess that it was a bit tough for me to answer them initially. To give my readers a context, here are the assumptions that people keep while asking this questions: HR consulting means 'recruitment' - that too 'sourcing' resumes - worst still - the keyword searching variety. After I shake my head with...

June 2018 also means that I'm going to be stepping into my 20th year as a Human Resource a.k.a. #HR management professional.  I remember being very excited when I got to hear for the first time via our Organisational Behaviour class that Work itself is a classification of motivators. Looking back on my first five years of Corporate life - I cannot remember many role descriptions from recruiters including the ones I made for my first employer (a Rayon yarn manufacturing plant) which exemplified 'work itself'.  It's towards early part of 2010 that such descriptions were slowly found - albeit rare.  Come to think of it most other forms of motivations propounded by theories, have now being questioned - the famous among them being Maslow's  Hierarchy of needs  theory.  Why did it take over sixty years to question any theory is a valid question I have.  Maybe this podcast about Why Bschools should be bull dozed - by the Guardian provides some answers ?...

Yesterday evening while driving back from Alappuzha district where I had gone to Umpire an all kerala T20 cricket tournament, I happened to listen to this  www.ted.com  talk.  Not sure what made me tune in to this particular talk from the list of suggestions which my mobile app had thrown up for me at that time. I guess the words 'Great' and 'Coach' may have made some influence. Here is the talk which I'm referring to: It's interesting to see the comparison that the speaker makes between the traditional pedagogical view (read - as followed by most academicians) and the view that professional sportspersons take when they are attempting to travel from 'Good to Great'. What I liked about the whole thing is that there is no mention of any commercial connections like certifications while espousing the value of coaching.  To me the commercial interests have made very relevant concepts like coaching (discussed here) frowned upon by the very folks w...

Context for this blog is my recent interactions over social media with groups of people in my state who are kind of re-inventing the wheel when it comes to using updated pedagogy for teaching and learning. When one hails from the first state within a country which was declared 100% literate some years ago - one tends to develop a unique outlook towards teaching and learning. As a result, one's expectations from Kerala's teachers will be higher. If I put myself in such shoes, it gets coupled with the fact that my parents happen to be teachers (Mom taught Maths and Dad taught Geography to army men).  Due a combination of forces, my mediocrity meter may have become a bit more sensitive than normal. My exposure to the Education Industry (yes, it's become an industry during my time) as an HR professional gave me many opportunities to look under the veil. From the time I passed out with a campus placement in 1998-99, I've got to witness the transition of management educati...

It was during my BSchool days in Pune (1997-99) that I came to know about Richardo Semler via his book ' Maverick ' and it was to his teachings that I would turn to whenever I was faced with an uncertain situation in the corporate world - the world into which I ventured gleefully from mid 1999. Therefore, it was kind of natural that I bought his 2003 bestseller - The Seven day Weekend , around the time I took up my biggest ever role in Jan 2008 as Employee No. 1 of Arbitron India. For those of you who missed catching up with Richardo's work - You can get this highly recommended book from this link . Here are some videos from Richardo Semler - Some of the stuff which I read became bases for the arguments I had (and won) while setting up workspace at Arbitron India's 45k Sq feet office - yes we had a hammock in our open garden. Some of the 'Freedom' concepts became building blocks of the unique Culture which we documented later in our life story with ...

Stumbled on this talk via the youtube algorithm last week and as I was listening to it, I recollected stuff from another talk by Dan Pink about incentives. Posting the two videos for readers to connect in their own way.  Management is definitely in need of a renaissance... better late than never.  Glad that the  hbr.org  came up with this article - https://hbr.org/2017/09/management-is-much-more-than-a-science

If I would ever look back at my life in search of a time which by itself catalysed the disruption to my own thinking and approach to life, it would be the year 2015 without an iota of doubt.  I've been thinking about writing a note about those for a while now - having raved about the impact this year's events have been creating on my life. so here goes... Yes, it started off with a disruption. The baby i helped nurture was no longer going to be around. The baby grew up and was adopted by another much bigger family where the it's core will become just one of the areas of strength to the new parent company. From a very decent monthly salary  - After starting off as Employee No. 1 for # ArbitronIndia's captive unit in Kochi from Jan 2008, I had not thought about venturing out on my own ever. Yes, not even in my retirement plans. So when the circumstances presented an opportunity to try out something on my own, it was the closeness to comfort (Ex-Colleagues and Boss) th...

So this year we 'did not have' Onam. Yes, Keralites will quickly connect to meaning of this sentence.  Let me explain for the benefit of others. Whenever a Keralite family does not celebrate Onam - they mention that situation as 'not having' Onam.  The most common reason is when you loose a close family member and this particular Onam falls in the ensuing 12 month mourning period. So this year I ended up spending time to write stuff on Onam day and it resulted in this  Facebook post about a recent interest of mine. I realised that this post itself will be buried in my newsfeed on Facebook - going by the fact that I tend to post over 25 times in a day on this medium from the time we gave birth to our baby  - SS Consulting. So in an attempt to make the contents searchable, I'm converting the same into a blog post. On this  # Onam  day, I want to express my gratitude to my friends and related folks who via  Facebook  as well as in person, intr...

So why do over fifteen thousand HR (People Resources?) make it a point to attend SHRM's  annual conference and exposition? This is the question that many relevant stakeholders back in my country has been asking me whenever (it's been 3 times since 2012 now) I get back and start talking about it. Here is my attempt to provide answer(s) with some visuals.  Why pictures? Well, they will get my readers to feel free to imagine and thereby connect and maybe even find their own 'why'. View from baggage claim at NoLA Airport Look what I got to see when I landed at the New Orleans Airport on 18th June. I had taken an early morning flight from Dallas where I had an eventful time with my classmate and his family after I landed in US from Kochi (Via Abu Dhabi) on 16th June. SHRM has got the location into the design of the conference itself and attendees will get to feel and experience the conference in multiple ways - the above is just one of them. So later, when a speaker(s...

#SHRM17 would be my fourth time at a SHRM National conference and my third time as part of the socialmedia squad - a chance to be amongst some really exciting action oriented human capital management folks with whom I had first met up in Orlando (2012). Those times still remain as a 'Deer-in-headlights' moments for me. If you are from India and are planning to attend #SHRM17 - feel free to reach out to me for an inside view over DM's / comments / email. I'll be glad to share notes about why this conference is a 'must to be ticked off item HR Pro's bucket. Hope to see some of you at the special reception that SHRM organises to honour over 1k international delegates who attend this conference every year. My #SHRM17Blogger pals have all been in the thick of action over that past 2 months. The HCM retainer projects from my venture made me miss most of the action on Twitter / Blog this time - so I'm really looking forward to making it up with the forth oppor...

#SHRM12 at Atlanta was my first Dekho to any SHRM Conference - and Mind boggling is not the word. I had blogged about it some time back. I had come to respect SHRM think-tank and it's commitment to HR Content since then. So I'm really on top of the world when I get another opportunity to be part of a select list of Social media evangelists to support this years Annual conference next week - coming as it does amidst a very demanding time for me and our baby venture SS Consulting . So here are three reasons why I'm excited about #SHRMI16: 1. The content itself is exemplary. SHRM's research team has always been proactive on content.  Remember that this team brought the concept of 'Third-Gender' to limelight last year - many firms across our country are still in the dark about legal stuff around SC Judgements on this matter. Take a look at this year's agenda on this link - http://www.shrmiac.org/index.html#agenda 2. The Theme itself ! I always wonder h...

26th June 2016 looked to be just another Sunday when it began at around 6.15 am for me and my boys. Yes, my sons Arnav (10.5 yrs) and Adharv (5 yrs) were excited about the boys only road trip to Kottayam to be with their 'Achamma' (Dad's mom). So we left Kakkanad around 7 am and both boys fell off to sleep. It was when we reached were on the Kallara - Neendoor road passing thru a usual birding spot of ours that I pulled up and woke Arnav up. 15 minutes later we had this #Birding effort on Ebird . When we got back home later that evening, I overheard my son Arnav telling his Mom that he found me on phone for most part of the day when at Kottayam. It was then that I decided to look at some hard data an here's the result of a manual check via my phone records. Total No. of calls made / attended on 26th June - 21 Minutes spend talking including ones above 3 min duration - 4 hours 48 minutes ! Ever since the formation of our new venture about a year back, the time ...

The Hindu happens to be a newspaper which I took over a long time to connect to as a child reader in the late 80's all the way to early 90's during my school and college days. That story can be a topic of another blog some day (upon request) but today as I went thru the editorial page, I thought it helped me piece together some of the reasons why the paper IMHO supports my own quest for depth in many subjects. Headlines from today's Editorial are as follows: Reviving the Politics of Remission - about decision of AIADMK Govt in TN to release 7 life convicts from Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case Welcome release, strange remarks - possibly the most viewed topic of the past 3 weeks - Yes, no paper could have missed having #JNU update on editorial today right - well I'm sure that one could find many which will. An article titled ' No freedom without dissent ' by Mr. Sanjay Hedge - Adv. of Supreme Court I don't know if there's a newspaper which posi...

I had chanced upon this interesting article on social Selling a few days back and as is possible in a browse-only mode while working from home, this led me to some more material and links (videos too) on that Social Selling before I got myself back to the topic I've been thinking about this month - The SHRM Annual Conference of 2016 or the #Shrm16.  It then struck me that Exhibitors are looking a Social Selling possibilities at SHRM16. So here's why I feel HR Product / Service vendors can stand to benefit thru Social Selling if they are 'present' at the Exposition. My first look at this gigantic conference which gets over 15k HCM / HR folks (Practicing, Consulting, Teaching, Vending to name just a few) under one roof which goes across the United States year to year  was in Atlanta, GA back in 2012. I've been to Atlanta, Orlando and Vegas with SHRM Annual so far - the last one being self-sponsored. I had a 'deer-in-headlights' feel written all over my fa...

Sometimes, a deadline may end up being a blessing in disguise. That sort of thing happened to me last month when a former student from a local management school where I had taught Performance Management (who goes as @Ximekochi on Twitter) reached out to me and sought my help to answer some questions the class had come up with as they were preparing for the Final Placement season. Last month had seen me taking up a new retained HCM Leadership role for a Thiruvananthapuram based IT SME client which meant that I'd be traveling from Kochi to Thiruvananthapuram every week - so finding time to respond to their 'deadline' was going to be tough. Thankfully the train journey allowed me to take some time out to respond to them. I'm pasting the responses as a blog post below: 1. How can one identify and approach a mentor in the initial stages of a management career in the organization ? My answer was in two parts: A. Identification of a Mentor: Keep your eyes and ears ope...