Friday, December 16, 2005
Enjoy your Coffee
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university lecturer. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups." "Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and
position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change." "Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it." So friends, don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead.
Offering his guests coffee, the lecturer went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the lecturer said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups." "Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and
position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change." "Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it." So friends, don't let the cups drive you...enjoy the coffee instead.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
How to Retire at 34
The story of Ramesh Ramanathan, founder Janaagraha-How to Retire at 34
As with their finances, so with their lives--the Ramanathans give the ‘high-risk, high-return’ philosophy a new definition.
HALF A million dollars is what they set out to earn, as they winged their way to the US in the late eighties. To 24-year-old Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan, that had seemed a good sum to return home with. A garage sale of all their worldly possessions had fetched Rs 3 lakh, they had mustered an educational loan of another Rs 3 lakh to fund Ramesh’s goal of a Yale MBA, and they were off.
The couple’s decision to upend a promising life in Bangalore and take on debt to chase the American dream was roundly deemed foolhardy by family and friends. The sense of disbelief at their departure, however, was nothing compared to what greeted the couple a decade later when they actually returned home.
As managing director of Citibank’s Equity Derivatives Business in Europe, Ramesh was among Citi’s top 150 executives, tipped as potential CEO material. Their personal fortune by then was "many multiples of half a million dollars." Swati’s Masters in design from Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute had found her jobs at Fortune 500 design firms. Daughter Shunori was six and son Rishab all of two. At this point, the Ramanathans decided it was time to give up their jobs, retire and head back home.
When he took this decision, Ramesh was 34; and it was the third time in his life that he was veering away from a scripted success story to rewrite the plot. "I grew up in a middle-class home–financial security is extremely important to me–but equally important is intellectual honesty; I need to believe in what I am doing," he says. And if that has meant plunging into decisions that put everything achieved thus far at risk, the Ramanathans have never hesitated.
The first right turn
The tough decisions started early. The couple met in Bangalore when they were 18. Ramesh enrolled for a Masters in Physics and Computers at BITS Pilani, while Swati convinced her conservative Gujarati family to allow her to train in design at NID, Ahmedabad. Determined to marry in the face of stiff parental opposition, Ramesh decided to drop out of BITS in his fourth year so he could start earning. Says Ramesh: "My mother was devastated but my father backed me and allowed me to start working with him in his machinery-handling business."
It was his first brush with the real world of smokestack industries and grimy shop floors. He quickly learnt the ropes well enough to enter into a profit-sharing arrangement with his father. His first earnings of Rs 3,000 went to Swati, who promptly opened a bank account. After a year, and now married, Ramesh had learnt enough to launch his own business trading in specialty steel, while Swati started off an interior design firm. The 20-something couple was soon earning close to Rs 30,000 a month. A rented apartment in downtown Bangalore, a car and Rs 1.2 lakh invested in a piece of real estate, the couple was well on its way to yuppiedom. Already, the real estate investment is clear evidence that, unlike an average couple that would have put its money into savings accounts or a mutual fund, Ramanathan was ready to tread deep waters.
Spiritually, however, the couple felt stagnated. Says Swati: "We were making money but intellectually we were vegetating." They wanted a change.
To throw away an established life and start afresh in the US took courage. But that’s something the Ramanathans had in plenty. With his sights, as usual, set high, Ramesh would choose Ivy League. They decided to take on a loan but get the best degree from the best college. Again, a glimpse of that ability to up the stakes. The two of them reached Yale with just enough for Ramesh’s first year’s tuition. Swati waited tables and ran the college cafeteria to make ends meet. They hoarded discount coupons and wondered if their budget would stretch to include cauliflower for dinner.
When Ramesh landed a six-week summer internship at Citi that paid him $1,200 a week, it was the first vindication that throwing up a flourishing career back home had been the right choice. A university loan completed the second year and, as Swati says: "The second year was wonderful–we knew he would get a placement at Citi."
On the fast track. A starting salary of $65,000 as management associate and a sign-on bonus of $20,000 launched the Ramanathans on a halcyon stint in the world of international finance. But Ramesh soon realised that the salary was incidental: "The real money in international banking is in the bonuses; the more profit you generate for the bank, the more you earn as bonus." Not a gambit the punter Ramesh would easily pass.
In two years, drawing on Citi’s proven strength in derivatives, Ramesh created a derivatives product with a basket of multimedia stock for the retail market. However, all he got out of it was a fat bonus; somebody else got to run the business. Undeterred, he put together another derivatives product aimed at corporate clients. This time, he insisted he would run the business. The gamble paid off, and in two years, he had built a $50 million business from scratch. Four and a half years after joining Citi, Ramesh had moved into the high-powered orbit of the bank’s boardrooms. Meanwhile, Swati was working with top-notch design companies.
Ramesh’s investment antennae were meanwhile twitching sharply. He chose equity, and put money into Nokia, EMC and other less-known stocks with high performing potential. Nokia, a Finnish forest produce company, that was flirting with telecom, was one of his first buys. Listed in Europe, it was first noticed by the Fidelity Magellan Fund. Ramesh put in around $20,000 in the stock and stayed invested even as Fidelity cashed out. The faith paid off when Nokia became a byword for mobile telephony. EMC, the computer hardware maker, turned out to be another winning buy. By the time he moved to London as head of Citi’s equity derivatives business in Europe, his personal portfolio, fuelled by his spectacular bonus earnings and a very high appetite for risk, had a compounded annual growth rate of 40-50 per cent.
High-flying careers, jet-setting lifestyle, and more money than they had ever set out to earn. Nearing the summit, you’d say.
Turn right back
For the Ramanathans, though, the lure of India was a constant note in the background. In fact, they would not buy real estate in the US because that would have been tantamount to putting down roots there. Returning was always the background motif. When Swati volunteered for community work, she saw something that made this wish stronger. She says: "When I went for community work, I was surprised at how efficient the systems were for citizen participation. I asked myself why India couldn’t be like this."
It was at this point that the couple realised that the system worked because somebody had taken the trouble to put it in place. Says Swati: "It was a simple leap from there to asking ourselves, if not us who else, to put a system in place?"
Moving back to India was no longer a distant option, it became a certainty. By giving up a high-flying career at Citi, Ramesh knew he was staking everything to chase an ideal. But as always, he was comfortable with the gamble–punt high but take the chips home.
The final move came when a friend, who had lost both parents within a week of each other in India, spent a weekend with them. Says Swati: "The enormity of her loss jolted us. All we could think was, what were we waiting for?" Monday morning, the couple put in their papers. Even as Citi flew in a director to make Ramesh reconsider, the couple was already looking ahead to India.
Planning the move
The couple sat down and listed every detail, down to household help, of what it would cost to retire at 34 and begin afresh back home. The derivatives genius brought to bear some of that formidable skill to crafting a personal finance strategy. Central to the plan was ensuring a regular cash flow to take care of living expenses. "It was tempting," admits Ramesh, "to return to India under the Citi umbrella." But he knew it would be self-defeating, if his heart was set on provoking social change.
The family was clear they were making a geographical shift, not a lifestyle one. So, living expenses–including household, fuel, staff, two cars–was calculated to average about Rs 2 lakh a month. The children’s fees alone totalled up to Rs 4 lakh annually. The capital cost of the move, including a new home, was pegged at
Rs 1.5 crore. Says Ramesh: "We realised that with about Rs 24 lakh annually, we could support a very comfortable lifestyle in India." Then, they promised themselves a no-expense-spared overseas trip every year to touch base with friends–another $30,000-50,000 a year. Says Ramesh: "All put together, it would amount to Rs 50 lakh annually; still half of what we spent at the time of my last posting in London."
The big difference: then he drew a hefty salary and bonus, now he would need to make his money work to get the Rs 50 lakh. Says Ramesh: "To get the best return on investment, we had to be free to invest our dollar earnings anywhere in the globe." They, therefore, set up a private equity investment vehicle registered in Mauritius, Ramanathan Capital, to handle the couple’s personal finances and invest in private equity worldwide.
Soon, their personal finances were in fine fettle. Their cash flow needs were now met by their investments–stocks, fixed- income instruments and a gradual exposure to Indian equity. However, meeting lifestyle expenses was only a part of the overall financial plan. Their money would also have to fund the voluntary initiatives that would henceforth form the bedrock of their lives in India.
The new role
Meanwhile, Ramesh was searching for a role for himself in a changing India. He travelled across the country for the first six months, meeting NGOs and bureaucrats. Micro-finance investment and public policy were his two areas of interest. In Bangalore, the state government was putting in place the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF), inviting corporate participation in public policy. Enthused, Ramesh signed up to devise a fund-based accounting system for the Bangalore City Corporation. The double entry book keeping system was in place by April 2001, allowing detailed listings such as the money allotted to each city ward for development work.
Finally, disappointed when BATF was unable to involve citizens in the decision-making process, Ramesh and Swati founded Janaagraha, funded entirely by the Ramanathan Foundation with a corpus of Rs 2.5 crore. "True democracy means a citizen should have a voice in government," is what the couple firmly believes. Today, every citizen in each of Bangalore’s 100 corporation wards can participate in the budget allocation of her ward. In 22 wards, corporators have accepted citizens' suggestions. Two years after inception, Janaagraha supports a volunteer staff of 15 and Ramesh reckons it will cost Rs 30-50 lakh annually to run.
Therefore, he realigned his investment strategy. The Ramanathan Foundation corpus is now invested in tenanted commercial real estate, earning tax-free returns of 12 per cent. Says Ramesh: "Our personal investments on the other hand return 6-8 per cent after tax, a reason why I will consider more investment in real estate." As Janaagraha draws up more of his time, Ramesh is moving his personal investment decisions into the hands of professional money managers. Says Ramesh: "By the time we’re 50, both our children will be in their undergraduate courses. We will support them through that and for their future, we’ve set up an endowment each."
As the couple turns 40, says Ramesh: "Our everyday cash flow expenses are being met, the children’s endowment is in place, Janaagraha has been provided for, so what’s left?" Very little. They returned because "they wanted to give back," and they’ve done that very well indeed.
As with their finances, so with their lives--the Ramanathans give the ‘high-risk, high-return’ philosophy a new definition.
HALF A million dollars is what they set out to earn, as they winged their way to the US in the late eighties. To 24-year-old Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan, that had seemed a good sum to return home with. A garage sale of all their worldly possessions had fetched Rs 3 lakh, they had mustered an educational loan of another Rs 3 lakh to fund Ramesh’s goal of a Yale MBA, and they were off.
The couple’s decision to upend a promising life in Bangalore and take on debt to chase the American dream was roundly deemed foolhardy by family and friends. The sense of disbelief at their departure, however, was nothing compared to what greeted the couple a decade later when they actually returned home.
As managing director of Citibank’s Equity Derivatives Business in Europe, Ramesh was among Citi’s top 150 executives, tipped as potential CEO material. Their personal fortune by then was "many multiples of half a million dollars." Swati’s Masters in design from Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute had found her jobs at Fortune 500 design firms. Daughter Shunori was six and son Rishab all of two. At this point, the Ramanathans decided it was time to give up their jobs, retire and head back home.
When he took this decision, Ramesh was 34; and it was the third time in his life that he was veering away from a scripted success story to rewrite the plot. "I grew up in a middle-class home–financial security is extremely important to me–but equally important is intellectual honesty; I need to believe in what I am doing," he says. And if that has meant plunging into decisions that put everything achieved thus far at risk, the Ramanathans have never hesitated.
The first right turn
The tough decisions started early. The couple met in Bangalore when they were 18. Ramesh enrolled for a Masters in Physics and Computers at BITS Pilani, while Swati convinced her conservative Gujarati family to allow her to train in design at NID, Ahmedabad. Determined to marry in the face of stiff parental opposition, Ramesh decided to drop out of BITS in his fourth year so he could start earning. Says Ramesh: "My mother was devastated but my father backed me and allowed me to start working with him in his machinery-handling business."
It was his first brush with the real world of smokestack industries and grimy shop floors. He quickly learnt the ropes well enough to enter into a profit-sharing arrangement with his father. His first earnings of Rs 3,000 went to Swati, who promptly opened a bank account. After a year, and now married, Ramesh had learnt enough to launch his own business trading in specialty steel, while Swati started off an interior design firm. The 20-something couple was soon earning close to Rs 30,000 a month. A rented apartment in downtown Bangalore, a car and Rs 1.2 lakh invested in a piece of real estate, the couple was well on its way to yuppiedom. Already, the real estate investment is clear evidence that, unlike an average couple that would have put its money into savings accounts or a mutual fund, Ramanathan was ready to tread deep waters.
Spiritually, however, the couple felt stagnated. Says Swati: "We were making money but intellectually we were vegetating." They wanted a change.
To throw away an established life and start afresh in the US took courage. But that’s something the Ramanathans had in plenty. With his sights, as usual, set high, Ramesh would choose Ivy League. They decided to take on a loan but get the best degree from the best college. Again, a glimpse of that ability to up the stakes. The two of them reached Yale with just enough for Ramesh’s first year’s tuition. Swati waited tables and ran the college cafeteria to make ends meet. They hoarded discount coupons and wondered if their budget would stretch to include cauliflower for dinner.
When Ramesh landed a six-week summer internship at Citi that paid him $1,200 a week, it was the first vindication that throwing up a flourishing career back home had been the right choice. A university loan completed the second year and, as Swati says: "The second year was wonderful–we knew he would get a placement at Citi."
On the fast track. A starting salary of $65,000 as management associate and a sign-on bonus of $20,000 launched the Ramanathans on a halcyon stint in the world of international finance. But Ramesh soon realised that the salary was incidental: "The real money in international banking is in the bonuses; the more profit you generate for the bank, the more you earn as bonus." Not a gambit the punter Ramesh would easily pass.
In two years, drawing on Citi’s proven strength in derivatives, Ramesh created a derivatives product with a basket of multimedia stock for the retail market. However, all he got out of it was a fat bonus; somebody else got to run the business. Undeterred, he put together another derivatives product aimed at corporate clients. This time, he insisted he would run the business. The gamble paid off, and in two years, he had built a $50 million business from scratch. Four and a half years after joining Citi, Ramesh had moved into the high-powered orbit of the bank’s boardrooms. Meanwhile, Swati was working with top-notch design companies.
Ramesh’s investment antennae were meanwhile twitching sharply. He chose equity, and put money into Nokia, EMC and other less-known stocks with high performing potential. Nokia, a Finnish forest produce company, that was flirting with telecom, was one of his first buys. Listed in Europe, it was first noticed by the Fidelity Magellan Fund. Ramesh put in around $20,000 in the stock and stayed invested even as Fidelity cashed out. The faith paid off when Nokia became a byword for mobile telephony. EMC, the computer hardware maker, turned out to be another winning buy. By the time he moved to London as head of Citi’s equity derivatives business in Europe, his personal portfolio, fuelled by his spectacular bonus earnings and a very high appetite for risk, had a compounded annual growth rate of 40-50 per cent.
High-flying careers, jet-setting lifestyle, and more money than they had ever set out to earn. Nearing the summit, you’d say.
Turn right back
For the Ramanathans, though, the lure of India was a constant note in the background. In fact, they would not buy real estate in the US because that would have been tantamount to putting down roots there. Returning was always the background motif. When Swati volunteered for community work, she saw something that made this wish stronger. She says: "When I went for community work, I was surprised at how efficient the systems were for citizen participation. I asked myself why India couldn’t be like this."
It was at this point that the couple realised that the system worked because somebody had taken the trouble to put it in place. Says Swati: "It was a simple leap from there to asking ourselves, if not us who else, to put a system in place?"
Moving back to India was no longer a distant option, it became a certainty. By giving up a high-flying career at Citi, Ramesh knew he was staking everything to chase an ideal. But as always, he was comfortable with the gamble–punt high but take the chips home.
The final move came when a friend, who had lost both parents within a week of each other in India, spent a weekend with them. Says Swati: "The enormity of her loss jolted us. All we could think was, what were we waiting for?" Monday morning, the couple put in their papers. Even as Citi flew in a director to make Ramesh reconsider, the couple was already looking ahead to India.
Planning the move
The couple sat down and listed every detail, down to household help, of what it would cost to retire at 34 and begin afresh back home. The derivatives genius brought to bear some of that formidable skill to crafting a personal finance strategy. Central to the plan was ensuring a regular cash flow to take care of living expenses. "It was tempting," admits Ramesh, "to return to India under the Citi umbrella." But he knew it would be self-defeating, if his heart was set on provoking social change.
The family was clear they were making a geographical shift, not a lifestyle one. So, living expenses–including household, fuel, staff, two cars–was calculated to average about Rs 2 lakh a month. The children’s fees alone totalled up to Rs 4 lakh annually. The capital cost of the move, including a new home, was pegged at
Rs 1.5 crore. Says Ramesh: "We realised that with about Rs 24 lakh annually, we could support a very comfortable lifestyle in India." Then, they promised themselves a no-expense-spared overseas trip every year to touch base with friends–another $30,000-50,000 a year. Says Ramesh: "All put together, it would amount to Rs 50 lakh annually; still half of what we spent at the time of my last posting in London."
The big difference: then he drew a hefty salary and bonus, now he would need to make his money work to get the Rs 50 lakh. Says Ramesh: "To get the best return on investment, we had to be free to invest our dollar earnings anywhere in the globe." They, therefore, set up a private equity investment vehicle registered in Mauritius, Ramanathan Capital, to handle the couple’s personal finances and invest in private equity worldwide.
Soon, their personal finances were in fine fettle. Their cash flow needs were now met by their investments–stocks, fixed- income instruments and a gradual exposure to Indian equity. However, meeting lifestyle expenses was only a part of the overall financial plan. Their money would also have to fund the voluntary initiatives that would henceforth form the bedrock of their lives in India.
The new role
Meanwhile, Ramesh was searching for a role for himself in a changing India. He travelled across the country for the first six months, meeting NGOs and bureaucrats. Micro-finance investment and public policy were his two areas of interest. In Bangalore, the state government was putting in place the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF), inviting corporate participation in public policy. Enthused, Ramesh signed up to devise a fund-based accounting system for the Bangalore City Corporation. The double entry book keeping system was in place by April 2001, allowing detailed listings such as the money allotted to each city ward for development work.
Finally, disappointed when BATF was unable to involve citizens in the decision-making process, Ramesh and Swati founded Janaagraha, funded entirely by the Ramanathan Foundation with a corpus of Rs 2.5 crore. "True democracy means a citizen should have a voice in government," is what the couple firmly believes. Today, every citizen in each of Bangalore’s 100 corporation wards can participate in the budget allocation of her ward. In 22 wards, corporators have accepted citizens' suggestions. Two years after inception, Janaagraha supports a volunteer staff of 15 and Ramesh reckons it will cost Rs 30-50 lakh annually to run.
Therefore, he realigned his investment strategy. The Ramanathan Foundation corpus is now invested in tenanted commercial real estate, earning tax-free returns of 12 per cent. Says Ramesh: "Our personal investments on the other hand return 6-8 per cent after tax, a reason why I will consider more investment in real estate." As Janaagraha draws up more of his time, Ramesh is moving his personal investment decisions into the hands of professional money managers. Says Ramesh: "By the time we’re 50, both our children will be in their undergraduate courses. We will support them through that and for their future, we’ve set up an endowment each."
As the couple turns 40, says Ramesh: "Our everyday cash flow expenses are being met, the children’s endowment is in place, Janaagraha has been provided for, so what’s left?" Very little. They returned because "they wanted to give back," and they’ve done that very well indeed.
Grass Seems to be Greener
The grass isn't always greener on the other side!! Move from one job to another, but only for the right reasons. It's yet another day at office. As I logged on to the marketing and advertising sites for the latest updates,as usual, I found the headlines dominated by "who's" moving from one company to another after a short stint, and I wondered, why are so many people leaving one job for another? Is it passé now to work with just one company for a sufficiently long period? Whenever I ask this question to people who leave a company, the answers I get are: "Oh, I am getting a 200% hike in salary"; "Well I am jumping three levels in my designation"; "Well they are going to send me abroad in six months".
Then, I look around at all the people who are considered successful today and who have reached the top - be it a media agency, an advertising agency or a company. I find that most of these people are the ones who stuck to the company, ground their heels and worked their way to the top. And, as I look around for people who change their jobs constantly, I find they have stagnated at some level, in obscurity. In this absolute ruthless, dynamic and competitive environment, there are still no - short cuts to success or to making money. The only thing that continues to pay, as earlier is loyalty and hard work. Yes, it pays! Sometimes, immediately, sometimes after a lot of time. But, it does pay. Does this mean that one should stick to an organization and wait for the golden moment? Of course not. After, a long stint, there always comes a time for moving in most organisations, but it is important to move for the right reasons, rather than the superficial ones, like money, designation or overseas trip. Remember, no company recruits for charity. More often than not, when you are offered an unseemly hike in salary or designation that is disproportionate to what the company offers it current employees, there is always an unseemly bait attached. The result? You will, in the long term have reached the same level or may be lower levels than what you would have in your current company.
A lot of people leave their organisations because they are "unhappy". What is this so called unhappiness? I have been working for donkey years and there has never been a day when I am not unhappy about something in my work environment - boss, rude colleagues, fussy clients etc. Unhappiness in a work place, to a large extent, is transient. If you look hard enough, there is always something to be unhappy about. But, more importantly, do I come to work to be "happy" in the truest sense? If I think hard, the answer is "No". Happiness is something you find with family, friends, may be a close circle of colleagues who have become friends.What you come to work for is to earn, build a reputation, satisfy your ambitions, be appreciated for your work ethics, face challenges and get the job done. So, the next time you are tempered to move on, as yourself why are you moving and what are you moving into?
Some questions are:
* Am I ready and capable of handling the new responsibility? If yes, what could be the possible reasons my current company has not offered me the same responsibility?
* Who are the people who currently handle this responsibility in the current and new company? Am I good as the best among them?
* As the new job offer has a different profile, why have I not given the current company the option to offer me this profile?
* Why is the new company offering the new job? Do they want me for my skills, or is that ulterior motive? An honest answer to these will eventually decide where you go in your career to the top of the pile in the long term (at the cost of short - term blips) or to become another average employee who gets lost with the time in wilderness?"
DESERVE BEFORE YOU DESIRE"
- Dr. Gopalakrishnan, Chairman TATA Sons.
Then, I look around at all the people who are considered successful today and who have reached the top - be it a media agency, an advertising agency or a company. I find that most of these people are the ones who stuck to the company, ground their heels and worked their way to the top. And, as I look around for people who change their jobs constantly, I find they have stagnated at some level, in obscurity. In this absolute ruthless, dynamic and competitive environment, there are still no - short cuts to success or to making money. The only thing that continues to pay, as earlier is loyalty and hard work. Yes, it pays! Sometimes, immediately, sometimes after a lot of time. But, it does pay. Does this mean that one should stick to an organization and wait for the golden moment? Of course not. After, a long stint, there always comes a time for moving in most organisations, but it is important to move for the right reasons, rather than the superficial ones, like money, designation or overseas trip. Remember, no company recruits for charity. More often than not, when you are offered an unseemly hike in salary or designation that is disproportionate to what the company offers it current employees, there is always an unseemly bait attached. The result? You will, in the long term have reached the same level or may be lower levels than what you would have in your current company.
A lot of people leave their organisations because they are "unhappy". What is this so called unhappiness? I have been working for donkey years and there has never been a day when I am not unhappy about something in my work environment - boss, rude colleagues, fussy clients etc. Unhappiness in a work place, to a large extent, is transient. If you look hard enough, there is always something to be unhappy about. But, more importantly, do I come to work to be "happy" in the truest sense? If I think hard, the answer is "No". Happiness is something you find with family, friends, may be a close circle of colleagues who have become friends.What you come to work for is to earn, build a reputation, satisfy your ambitions, be appreciated for your work ethics, face challenges and get the job done. So, the next time you are tempered to move on, as yourself why are you moving and what are you moving into?
Some questions are:
* Am I ready and capable of handling the new responsibility? If yes, what could be the possible reasons my current company has not offered me the same responsibility?
* Who are the people who currently handle this responsibility in the current and new company? Am I good as the best among them?
* As the new job offer has a different profile, why have I not given the current company the option to offer me this profile?
* Why is the new company offering the new job? Do they want me for my skills, or is that ulterior motive? An honest answer to these will eventually decide where you go in your career to the top of the pile in the long term (at the cost of short - term blips) or to become another average employee who gets lost with the time in wilderness?"
DESERVE BEFORE YOU DESIRE"
- Dr. Gopalakrishnan, Chairman TATA Sons.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
IT Survivors - Staying Alive In A Software Job
Before I started working for myself, I spent some years in some of the top IT companies in India and still have many friends working in various software companies. I wrote a blog Recruiting like crazy, about the same time last year about how Indian companies are recruiting like there's no tomorrow and the possible consequences. However I was avoiding writing this particular piece as it seems like an unpatriotic thing to do, to tell the world how bad the working conditions in software companies in India have become. And there's always the risk of excerpts being used out of context to bash up IT in India.
I am now writing this because I just keep hearing horror tales from the industry and it doesn't seem like anything is being done in the matter, so I thought I will do my bit and write. First and foremost, before stereotypes about India kick in, I would like to clarify that I am not saying that Indian software companies are sweat shops where employees aren't being paid and made to work in cramped uncomfortable places. The pay in software companies is very good as compared to other industries in India and the work places are generally well furnished and plush offices. India being a strong democracy, freedom of expression is alive and well and Indians are free to express their opinions and voice their concerns. Yet, I say that the software industry is exploiting its employees.
IT work culture in India is totally messed up and has now started harming the work culture of the nation as a whole. Working 12+ hours a day and 6 or even 7 days a week is more the rule than the exception.
Consequences:
· A majority of IT people suffer from health problems.As most of the IT workforce is still very young, the problem isn't very obvious today but it will hit with unbearable ferocity when these youngsters get to their 40s.
· Stress levels are unbelievable high. Stress management is a cover topic in magazines and newspapers and workshops on the subject are regularly overbooked.
· Most IT people have hardly any social / family life to talk of.
· As IT folk are rich by Indian standards, they try to buy their way out of their troubles and have incurred huge debts by buying expensive houses, gizmos and fancy cars.
Plush offices, fat salaries and latest gizmos can give you happiness only if you have a life in the first place.
The reason I feel this culture has emerged, is the servile attitude of the companies. Here's a tip for any company in the west planning to outsource to India. If you feel that a project can be completed in 6 weeks by 4 people, always demand that it be completed in 2 weeks by 3 people. Guess what, most Indian companies will agree. The project will then be hyped up as an "extremely critical" one and the 3 unfortunate souls allocated to it will get very close to meeting the almighty by the time they deliver the project in 2 weeks. Surprisingly, they will deliver in 2-3 weeks, get bashed up for any delays and the company will soon boast about how they deliver good quality in reasonable time and cost. Has anyone in India ever worked on a project that wasn't "extremely critical"?I was once at a session where a top boss of one of India's biggest IT firms was asked a question about what was so special about their company and his answer was that we are the "Yes" people with the "We Can Do It " attitude. It is all very well for the top boss to say "We Can Do It ".. what about the project teams who wish to say "Please....We Can't Do It " to the unreasonable timelines...I was tempted to ask "What death benefits does your company offer to the teams that get killed in the process?". I sure was ashamed to see that a fellow Indian was openly boasting about the fact that he and his company had no backbone. The art of saying No or negotiating reasonable time frames for the team is very conspicuous by its absence. Outsourcing customers more often than not simply walk all over Indian software companies. The outsourcer surely cannot be blamed as it is right for him to demand good quality in the least cost and time.
Exhaustion = Zero Innovation
· How many Indians in India are thought leaders in their software segment? - Very few
· How much software innovation happens in India? - Minimal
· Considering that thousands of Indians in India use Open Source software, how many actually contribute? - Very few
Surprisingly, put the same Indian in a company "in" the US and he suddenly becomes innovative and a thought leader in his field. The reason is simple, the only thing an exhausted body and mind can do well, is sleep. zzzzzz
I can pretty much bet on it that we will never see innovation from any of 10000+ person code factories in India.
If you are someone sitting in the US, UK... and wondering why the employees can't stand up, that's the most interesting part of the story. Read on...
The Problem
The software professional Indian is today making more money in a month than what his parents might have made in an year. Very often a 21 year old newbie software developer makes more money than his/her 55 year old father working in an old world business. Most of these youngsters are well aware of this gap and so work under an impression that they are being paid an unreasonable amount of money. They naturally equate unreasonable money with unreasonable amount of work.Another important factor is this whole bubble that an IT person lives in.. An IT professional walks with a halo around his or her head. They are the Cool, Rich Gen Next .. the Intelligentsia of the New World... they travel all over the world, vacation at exotic locations abroad, talk "american", are more familiar of the geography of the USA than that of India and yes of course, they are the hottest things in the Wedding Market!!! This I feel is the core problem because if employees felt they were being exploited, things would change.
I speak about this to some of my friends and the answer is generally "Hey Harshad, what you say is correct and we sure are suffering, but why do you think we are being paid this much money? It's not for 40 hours but for 80 hours a week. And anyway what choice do we have? It's the same everywhere."
So can we make things change? Is there a way to try and stop an entire generation of educated Indians from ending up with "no life".
Solutions
1) Never complement someone for staying till midnight or working 7 days a week.
Recently, in an awards ceremony at a software company, the manager handing over the "employee of the month" award said something like "It's unbelievable how hard he works. When I come to office early, I see him working, when I leave office late, I still see him working".. These sort of comments can kill the morale of every employee trying to do good work in an 8hr day.
Companies need to stop hiding behind the excuse that the time difference between India and the west is the reason why people need to stay in office for 14 hours a day. Staying late should be a negative thing that should work against an employee in his appraisals. Never complement someone for staying till midnight or working 7 days a week . 2) Estimates:
If time estimates go wrong, the company should be willing to take a hit and not force the employee to work crazy hours to bail projects out of trouble. This will ensure that the estimates made for the next project are more real and not just what the customer has asked for.3) Employee organizations / forums
NASSCOM (National Association for Software and Services Companies) and CSI (Computer Society Of India) are perhaps the only two well known software associations in India and both I feel have failed the software employee. I do not recall any action from these organizations to try and improve the working conditions of software employees. This has to change.
I am not in favor of forming trade unions for software people, as trade unions in India have traditionally been more effective at ruining businesses and making employees inefficient than getting employees their rights and helping business do well. So existing bodies like NASSCOM should create and popularize employee welfare cells at a state / regional level and these cells should work only for employee welfare and not be puppets in the hands of the companies.
If the industry does not itself create proper forums for employee welfare, it's likely that the government / trade unions will interfere and mess up India's sunshine industry.
4) Narayan Murthys please stand up
Top bosses of companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, etc. need to send the message loud and clear to their company and to other companies listening at national IT events that employee welfare is really their top concern and having good working culture and conditions is a priority. Employee welfare here does not mean giving the employee the salary he/she dreams of.
Last word
I am sure some of my thoughts come from the fact that I too worked in such an environment for a few years and perhaps I haven't got over the frustrations I experienced back then. So think about my views with a pinch of salt but do think about it. And if you have an opinion on this issue, don't forget to add a comment to this article
Written by Harshad Oak
I am now writing this because I just keep hearing horror tales from the industry and it doesn't seem like anything is being done in the matter, so I thought I will do my bit and write. First and foremost, before stereotypes about India kick in, I would like to clarify that I am not saying that Indian software companies are sweat shops where employees aren't being paid and made to work in cramped uncomfortable places. The pay in software companies is very good as compared to other industries in India and the work places are generally well furnished and plush offices. India being a strong democracy, freedom of expression is alive and well and Indians are free to express their opinions and voice their concerns. Yet, I say that the software industry is exploiting its employees.
IT work culture in India is totally messed up and has now started harming the work culture of the nation as a whole. Working 12+ hours a day and 6 or even 7 days a week is more the rule than the exception.
Consequences:
· A majority of IT people suffer from health problems.As most of the IT workforce is still very young, the problem isn't very obvious today but it will hit with unbearable ferocity when these youngsters get to their 40s.
· Stress levels are unbelievable high. Stress management is a cover topic in magazines and newspapers and workshops on the subject are regularly overbooked.
· Most IT people have hardly any social / family life to talk of.
· As IT folk are rich by Indian standards, they try to buy their way out of their troubles and have incurred huge debts by buying expensive houses, gizmos and fancy cars.
Plush offices, fat salaries and latest gizmos can give you happiness only if you have a life in the first place.
The reason I feel this culture has emerged, is the servile attitude of the companies. Here's a tip for any company in the west planning to outsource to India. If you feel that a project can be completed in 6 weeks by 4 people, always demand that it be completed in 2 weeks by 3 people. Guess what, most Indian companies will agree. The project will then be hyped up as an "extremely critical" one and the 3 unfortunate souls allocated to it will get very close to meeting the almighty by the time they deliver the project in 2 weeks. Surprisingly, they will deliver in 2-3 weeks, get bashed up for any delays and the company will soon boast about how they deliver good quality in reasonable time and cost. Has anyone in India ever worked on a project that wasn't "extremely critical"?I was once at a session where a top boss of one of India's biggest IT firms was asked a question about what was so special about their company and his answer was that we are the "Yes" people with the "We Can Do It " attitude. It is all very well for the top boss to say "We Can Do It ".. what about the project teams who wish to say "Please....We Can't Do It " to the unreasonable timelines...I was tempted to ask "What death benefits does your company offer to the teams that get killed in the process?". I sure was ashamed to see that a fellow Indian was openly boasting about the fact that he and his company had no backbone. The art of saying No or negotiating reasonable time frames for the team is very conspicuous by its absence. Outsourcing customers more often than not simply walk all over Indian software companies. The outsourcer surely cannot be blamed as it is right for him to demand good quality in the least cost and time.
Exhaustion = Zero Innovation
· How many Indians in India are thought leaders in their software segment? - Very few
· How much software innovation happens in India? - Minimal
· Considering that thousands of Indians in India use Open Source software, how many actually contribute? - Very few
Surprisingly, put the same Indian in a company "in" the US and he suddenly becomes innovative and a thought leader in his field. The reason is simple, the only thing an exhausted body and mind can do well, is sleep. zzzzzz
I can pretty much bet on it that we will never see innovation from any of 10000+ person code factories in India.
If you are someone sitting in the US, UK... and wondering why the employees can't stand up, that's the most interesting part of the story. Read on...
The Problem
The software professional Indian is today making more money in a month than what his parents might have made in an year. Very often a 21 year old newbie software developer makes more money than his/her 55 year old father working in an old world business. Most of these youngsters are well aware of this gap and so work under an impression that they are being paid an unreasonable amount of money. They naturally equate unreasonable money with unreasonable amount of work.Another important factor is this whole bubble that an IT person lives in.. An IT professional walks with a halo around his or her head. They are the Cool, Rich Gen Next .. the Intelligentsia of the New World... they travel all over the world, vacation at exotic locations abroad, talk "american", are more familiar of the geography of the USA than that of India and yes of course, they are the hottest things in the Wedding Market!!! This I feel is the core problem because if employees felt they were being exploited, things would change.
I speak about this to some of my friends and the answer is generally "Hey Harshad, what you say is correct and we sure are suffering, but why do you think we are being paid this much money? It's not for 40 hours but for 80 hours a week. And anyway what choice do we have? It's the same everywhere."
So can we make things change? Is there a way to try and stop an entire generation of educated Indians from ending up with "no life".
Solutions
1) Never complement someone for staying till midnight or working 7 days a week.
Recently, in an awards ceremony at a software company, the manager handing over the "employee of the month" award said something like "It's unbelievable how hard he works. When I come to office early, I see him working, when I leave office late, I still see him working".. These sort of comments can kill the morale of every employee trying to do good work in an 8hr day.
Companies need to stop hiding behind the excuse that the time difference between India and the west is the reason why people need to stay in office for 14 hours a day. Staying late should be a negative thing that should work against an employee in his appraisals. Never complement someone for staying till midnight or working 7 days a week . 2) Estimates:
If time estimates go wrong, the company should be willing to take a hit and not force the employee to work crazy hours to bail projects out of trouble. This will ensure that the estimates made for the next project are more real and not just what the customer has asked for.3) Employee organizations / forums
NASSCOM (National Association for Software and Services Companies) and CSI (Computer Society Of India) are perhaps the only two well known software associations in India and both I feel have failed the software employee. I do not recall any action from these organizations to try and improve the working conditions of software employees. This has to change.
I am not in favor of forming trade unions for software people, as trade unions in India have traditionally been more effective at ruining businesses and making employees inefficient than getting employees their rights and helping business do well. So existing bodies like NASSCOM should create and popularize employee welfare cells at a state / regional level and these cells should work only for employee welfare and not be puppets in the hands of the companies.
If the industry does not itself create proper forums for employee welfare, it's likely that the government / trade unions will interfere and mess up India's sunshine industry.
4) Narayan Murthys please stand up
Top bosses of companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, etc. need to send the message loud and clear to their company and to other companies listening at national IT events that employee welfare is really their top concern and having good working culture and conditions is a priority. Employee welfare here does not mean giving the employee the salary he/she dreams of.
Last word
I am sure some of my thoughts come from the fact that I too worked in such an environment for a few years and perhaps I haven't got over the frustrations I experienced back then. So think about my views with a pinch of salt but do think about it. And if you have an opinion on this issue, don't forget to add a comment to this article
Written by Harshad Oak
Don't Hope , Decide
While waiting to pick up a friend at the airport in Portland, Oregon, I had one of those life-changing experiences that you hear other people talk about--the kind that sneaks up on you unexpectedly. This one occurred a mere two feet away from me.
Straining to locate my friend among the passengers deplaning through the jet way, I noticed a man coming toward me carrying two light bags. He stopped right next to me to greet his family.
First he motioned to his youngest son (maybe six years old) as he laid down his bags. They gave each other a long, loving hug. As they separated enough to look in each other's face, I heard the father say, "It's so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!" His son smiled somewhat shyly, averted his eyes and replied softly, "Me, too, Dad!"
Then the man stood up, gazed in the eyes of his oldest son (maybe nine or ten) and while cupping his son's face in his hands said, "You're already quite the young man. I love you very much, Zach!" They too hugged a most loving, tender hug.
While this was happening, a baby girl (perhaps one or one-and-a-half) was squirming excitedly in her mother's arms, never once taking her little eyes off the wonderful sight of her returning father. The man said, "Hi, baby girl!" as he gently took the child from her mother. He quickly kissed her face all over and then held her close to his chest while rocking her from side to side. The little girl instantly relaxed and simply laid her head on his shoulder, motionless in pure contentment.
After several moments, he handed his daughter to his oldest son and declared, "I've saved the best for last!" and proceeded to give his wife the longest, most passionate kiss I ever remember seeing. He gazed into her eyes for several seconds and then silently mouthed. "I love you so
much!" They stared at each other's eyes, beaming big smiles at one another, while holding both hands.
For an instant they reminded me of newlyweds, but I knew by the age of their kids that they couldn't possibly be. I puzzled about it for a moment then realized how totally engrossed I was in the wonderful display of unconditional love not more than an arm's length away from me.
I suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if I was invading something sacred, but was amazed to hear my own voice nervously ask, "Wow! How long have you two been married?" "Been together fourteen years total, married twelve of those" he replied, without breaking his gaze from his lovely wife's face. "Well then, how long have you been away?" I asked the man finally turned and looked at me, still beaming his joyous smile. "Two whole days!" Two days? I was stunned.
By the intensity of the greeting, I had assumed he'd been gone for at least several weeks - if not months. I know my expression betrayed me, I said almost offhandedly, hoping to end my intrusion with some semblance of grace (and to get back to searching for my friend), "I hope my
marriage is still that passionate after twelve years!" The man suddenly stopped smiling.
He looked me straight in the eye, and with forcefulness that burned right into my soul, he told me something that left me a different person. He told me, "Don't hope, friend...decide!" Then he flashed me his wonderful smile again, shook my hand and said, "God bless!"
With that, he and his family turned and strode away together. I was still watching that exceptional man and his special family walk just out of sight when my friend came up to me and asked, "What'cha looking at?"
Without hesitating, and with a curious sense of certainty, I replied, "My future!"
Straining to locate my friend among the passengers deplaning through the jet way, I noticed a man coming toward me carrying two light bags. He stopped right next to me to greet his family.
First he motioned to his youngest son (maybe six years old) as he laid down his bags. They gave each other a long, loving hug. As they separated enough to look in each other's face, I heard the father say, "It's so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!" His son smiled somewhat shyly, averted his eyes and replied softly, "Me, too, Dad!"
Then the man stood up, gazed in the eyes of his oldest son (maybe nine or ten) and while cupping his son's face in his hands said, "You're already quite the young man. I love you very much, Zach!" They too hugged a most loving, tender hug.
While this was happening, a baby girl (perhaps one or one-and-a-half) was squirming excitedly in her mother's arms, never once taking her little eyes off the wonderful sight of her returning father. The man said, "Hi, baby girl!" as he gently took the child from her mother. He quickly kissed her face all over and then held her close to his chest while rocking her from side to side. The little girl instantly relaxed and simply laid her head on his shoulder, motionless in pure contentment.
After several moments, he handed his daughter to his oldest son and declared, "I've saved the best for last!" and proceeded to give his wife the longest, most passionate kiss I ever remember seeing. He gazed into her eyes for several seconds and then silently mouthed. "I love you so
much!" They stared at each other's eyes, beaming big smiles at one another, while holding both hands.
For an instant they reminded me of newlyweds, but I knew by the age of their kids that they couldn't possibly be. I puzzled about it for a moment then realized how totally engrossed I was in the wonderful display of unconditional love not more than an arm's length away from me.
I suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if I was invading something sacred, but was amazed to hear my own voice nervously ask, "Wow! How long have you two been married?" "Been together fourteen years total, married twelve of those" he replied, without breaking his gaze from his lovely wife's face. "Well then, how long have you been away?" I asked the man finally turned and looked at me, still beaming his joyous smile. "Two whole days!" Two days? I was stunned.
By the intensity of the greeting, I had assumed he'd been gone for at least several weeks - if not months. I know my expression betrayed me, I said almost offhandedly, hoping to end my intrusion with some semblance of grace (and to get back to searching for my friend), "I hope my
marriage is still that passionate after twelve years!" The man suddenly stopped smiling.
He looked me straight in the eye, and with forcefulness that burned right into my soul, he told me something that left me a different person. He told me, "Don't hope, friend...decide!" Then he flashed me his wonderful smile again, shook my hand and said, "God bless!"
With that, he and his family turned and strode away together. I was still watching that exceptional man and his special family walk just out of sight when my friend came up to me and asked, "What'cha looking at?"
Without hesitating, and with a curious sense of certainty, I replied, "My future!"
