Are You A Gentleman?

"You can see whether a person is a gentleman or not by seeing how he treats those who can be of absolutely no use to him" – as the saying goes.

We all know how we treat those whom we need or have use of.  Why does a person mistreat, ignore or be otherwise indifferent to those who can be of absolutely no use to him or her?  The root of the behaviour can be safely generalized to the absence of humility.

On a detached and spiritual level, humility as a quality allows us to consider our own defects, be modest in how we describe ourselves and be conscious of the higher powers that may be. If I were to define humility, I would say something like this - "Humility is the quality of being courteous and respectful to others."

This working definition of humility does not qualify what “others” means - and this lack of clarity seems to allow us to be selective about our humility and our disposition.

Indians are conditioned to a phrase - "Your Humble Servant". This is ridiculous. This is a hangover from the Princely and the British era where humility was confused with servility.  Humility is about maintaining our pride about who we are, what our accomplishments are, our self worth - but not about how superior we are to others.

I have always maintained that the higher a person rises in terms of knowledge, wealth, status, power, etc - the more humble a person must be.  Humility means that you are aware of your achievements that have given you knowledge, wealth, status, power, etc – but there is no arrogance.  We all admire people with these traits.  Our admiration for these people does not come from acknowleding their achievements but rather from the absence of arrogance.

There are mountains of materials on leadership.  Management text books go about describing leadership in all its managerial aspect.  However, to lead you must have someone to follow - and nobody follows arrogance.

Copyright - Nitesh Kotecha

A Lovely Video About Foodchains

My daughter Samruddhhi was learning about food chains.  We were searching the web for some resource material that would enhance her knowledge.

We were browsing throught the national geographic website and we came upon a lovely video that clearly explains the food chain.  My daughter loved it and I am sure your children will like it too...

Below is the link. Enjoy

magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0309/quickflicks/brainpop/foodchain/mysteries.swf

Copyright  - Nitesh Kotecha

Effective Managers Are Not Necessarily True Leaders

Effective Managers and True Leaders differ in their

a)    Management Style – Good Managers limit their concerns to the day to day complexities of an organization, while true leaders orchestrate important changes in the organization.  For example, true leadership goes beyond management’s responsibility of planning and budgeting routines, structuring the organization, staffing and monitoring activities by creating a vision for the firm and inspiring individuals to reach for that goal.

b)   Management Traits – A good leader posses a drive, that is, a high regard for achievement and are constantly striving for improvement.   Secondly the good leader exerts leadership motivation – they show interest and desire to lead individuals.  In addition, a good leader ins concerned with his or her integrity, shows self esteem and finally has a high level of knowledge about the industry or company he or she is working for.

c)    Management behavior – A good manager’s behavioral approach centers  on task performance (getting the job done) while good leaders also focus on group maintenance and the concern over their follower’s participation in decision making.  A good leader exhibits behavior that demonstrates concern towards a group as a whole and towards individuals on a personal level; they express concern over areas such as trust, open communication, mutual respect and royalty.

In order to succeed in establishing a positive atmosphere and a culture where employees are encouraged to thrive, it is essential that managers go beyond good management and become great leaders

Source: Bateman and Snell (2007)

Your Broker As A Cheat (Part 2)

There are many reasons why your broker would recommend a stock to you.  

However, the reasons may not necessarily conclude that you are making a prudent long term or a short term investment.  In fact the recommendation may come to you only because you have an account with the broker and that you have cash – and that you are financially dense.

Your broker may have invested in the stock for his other clients, or for his family or for herself.  The stock may not be performing well.  The broker is now experiencing stress and cannot decide her current condition.  The stock is not performing and the broker’s reputation is on the line.  Our internal state of harmony is challenged if she is to conclude that it was a bad stock.

It is at this moment that you ask your broker about a good stock and pop!  She just names the stock that she is stuck in.  Your investment in this stock not only induces conformity in your behaviour – the broker also feels good that money is pouring into the stock.  She now does not have to think that she could be a certified dud.

Your broker could be hand in glove with the main broker at the exchange and there could be a mutual understanding between them to encourage retail participation in the stock thus allowing the company and its operators to offload the stock.

Now, depending on the stock, you may book your losses at some 30% to 40% loss.  This is the time the company and its operators pick up the stock again and look around for fresh idiots to fall prey to the game.

Some stocks in this category are Prakash Industries Ltd, Shree Precoated Steel Limited, Sturdy Industries, India Lease Dev, Shree Rayalseema, Anus Lab, Zyden, Arvind Remedies, Karuturi Global, Alok Ind, Assam Co  and similar certified junk.

Please note that such a game plan is first initiated by a good looking “Research” Report or some model portfolio gibberish.  Your broker will produce such a report before you in order to add authenticity to an otherwise junk proposal.  If you are greedy, you are game.

A giver is a person who gives, a donor is a person who donates and a broker is a person who gets you broke!

In dealing with brokers, it may pay to heed to the words of Alexander Pope:

Be wise,

Be discreet,

But mark that point,

Where sense and dullness meet.

Happy Investing !

Copyright – Nitesh Kotecha

British Happiest at 38

People in Britain are at their happiest and content with life at the age of 38.  The new poll conducted on 2,000 British adults, aged 18 and above, also revealed that Britons better about themselves in their thirties than when younger, suggesting that it’s “not just wisdom that comes with age”.

http://zeenews.india.com/entertainment/and-more/brits-happiest-and-most-content-at-38_99176.htm

Not Wanting The Labour Pains

Just wanting the baby and not the labour pains is the route down the road often travelled.  The destination that this road leads to is mediocrity.

The Bible mentions “Go to the ant – consider its ways and be wise”.  The ant is one of nature’s most productive creatures.  Have you seen how motivated and organized ants are?  Look at the ant working and you will see the heights of single-mindedness of purpose.

We see Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and other music maestros perform and notice public admiration that they get.  What we don’t see is the painstaking efforts that they have put in during their training to achieve mastery.  Pandit Ravishankar would train in Maihar in Madhya Pradesh, India where it is 47 degrees centigrade during the summer.

Why do we want the finished product right away?  There is nothing in nature that seems to want things this way! The trees don’t bear fruit unless it has grown and matured enough to do so.

Work ethic – the fact that work in itself is good – is what schools and colleges must build into its students.  Parents need to mould their children and instil a set of values about the moral benefit of work and how the attitude leads to development and refinement of character.


Copyright - Nitesh Kotecha

True Empowerment

Empowerment has been the major thrust in management philosophy.  Empowerment at work is the availability of opportunities at the work place for the employees to be able to make their own decisions about their tasks at work.  Many business houses are practicing empowerment with their employees in order to offer better opportunities at work and to create an environment conducive to employee satisfaction.

Empowerment entails, amongst other things, some autonomy.  There are many theories and much research material on empowerment.  However, it believe that true empowerment lies is a superior’s ability to manage himself WHILE HIS SUBORDINATE is exercising autonomy.  The degree of autonomy may vary as per time, place and the situation – but autonomy remains at the core.

The “trust deficit” and the negative fantasies of “existential risk” in the superior’s mind strike at the heart of true empowerment.

The success of any organization depends on the ability of its organization structure and management to empower the lower hierarchy.  This is a given.  However, the flip side to this statement is that the success of any organization depends on the ability of its organization and management to

a)       Trust their own HR department about the quality of the employees that it offers positions to

b)      Trust the organizational structure and its systems of checks and balances

c)       Trust themselves and replace their insecurities and fears with a positive mindset

True empowerment fails when the above core ingredients are missing


Copyright - Nitesh Kotecha