Happy New Year 2009!

Interesting Indians

The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest. - Albert Einstein

Cartoon Source: Tony Watson

There's one often-cited example of the power of compound interest. If Christopher Columbus had placed a single penny in a 6 percent interest-bearing account and instructed someone to remove the interest every year, the value of the interest earned by 2005 would be almost 31 cents. But if he had placed the same penny into the same interest-bearing account but left the earned interest to compound -- earning interest upon the interest -- the resulting balance for 513 years would be $95,919,936,112. That's $95 billion!

Most of us can crunch the numbers and calculate financial scenarios.  But only a few among us have a feel for these numbers in the back of the head, 24/7.  I used to travel via STL pretty much on weekly basis, for couple of years.  During that time, I had an opportunity of watching the rapid growth of an Indian food place (near the airport) started by a Gujarati gentleman, who freshly arrived from South Africa; from a narrow joint with a few benches, to a spacious full-size restaurant.  PIOs own about 50% of the hotels/motels in the US!  I guess 90% of these folks came from Gujarat.  I find some genetic traits amazing.

Don't Beat Around the Bush!

Picture source: Cinematic Wallpaper

A blast yesterday killed twenty-eight people in Iraq. Routine reports of this kind of death since the beginning of this unjustified war, reminded me of the following dialog from Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.

Anakin Skywalker: Sometimes I wonder what's happening to the Jedi Order. I think this war is destroying the principles of the Republic.

Padmé Amidala: Have you ever considered that we may be on the wrong side?

Anakin Skywalker: What do you mean?

Padmé Amidala: What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we've been fighting to destroy?

Anakin Skywalker: I don't believe that, and you're sounding like a Separatist.

Padmé Amidala: What this war represents is a failure to listen. Now you're closer to the Chancellor than anyone, please, ask him to stop the fighting and let the diplomacy resume.

Anakin Skywalker: Don't ask me to do that.

Of course, I am not supporting terrorists in Iraq or any kind of terrorism.  Answer to the question "who is a terrorist?" is merely a point of view.  How do we define the word "terrorist"?  If a person who caused more than million deaths for no good reason is not a terrorist, who is?  Mr. Bush's record is on par with that of Pol Pot.  It is about time for the US to unequivocally (and officially) admit to the world, "(we) our ex-president made a terrible mistake in Iraq and caused grief to millions here in this country and abroad", and hand over President George W. Bush to the International Court of Justice for his war crimes.  On a second thought, may be not.  After all, George Washington's cherry tree story is a myth.  We don't take morals from urban legends.  Do we? 

Merry Christmas 2008!

Source: Stu's Views

Question: Why is Christmas just like a day at the office? 

Answer: You do all the work and the fat guy with the suit gets all the credit.

Renouncing Renunciation

One of the Sai Austin news letters read:

Shirdi Sai Baba advised that renunciation (sanyas) is not the path for most people. If you try and renounce a bad habit, it may just get stronger and provide more temptation. So it is better to try and do some service for others each day as a means of self purification. When we serve a holy person we start to align our mind with cosmic mind. When we serve others we start to see God everywhere.

Makes a lot of sense to me. Using a similar concept, Basketball is being used as a vehicle for promoting positive habits in the inner-city kids.  When these kids do good things (like keeping their bodies fit), they will have less time to do bad things (like doing drugs).  More importantly, the positive energy gained through sports creates an upward spiral of mental and spiritual benefits.  

This concept works in many areas of our lives too. For example, most of the diets fail in the long run because they focus too much on not doing the bad things (like, eating cakes). If we ensure that we eat sufficient quantities of good foods (like greens, grains and fruit), we would gradually cut down on foods that aren't good for us. Transformation will not be quick; but it will happen slowly and surely. A good positive step for a better health in my opinion is, drinking the recommended 8 x 8 oz glasses of water every day.

Golden Grumps

Image Source: Petafoo

Recent research shows it could be the grumpy workers who are actually a company's most creative problem-solvers, said Jing Zhou, associate professor of management at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University.

It's the happy, cheerful folks who tend to think things are going well and that there are no problems to be solved, she said. They're less likely to be pondering potential pitfalls and often don't see problems until there is a crisis.

It's a departure from the general management philosophy that a positive mood leads to creative problem-solving, said Zhou, who based her findings on the results of 161 responses from employees and their supervisors at a large oil-field services company.

A positive mood means getting along, said Bob Hogan, president of Hogan Assessment Systems in Tulsa, Okla. A contrary attitude, however, can lead to advancement.

A mood of contentment doesn't fit with creativity, he said.

So what kind of employee does a company want to hire? It depends on the type of job, according to Hogan.

A company that runs a call center wants employees with good moods because they're focused on acceptance and getting things implemented.

"They will get punished if they're creative," he said.

But companies want "overcaffinated, energetic and agitated" employees for advertising, marketing and product development, he said.

Hogan said he follows his own advice when it comes to his own hiring.

When he's looking for a customer service representative, he looks for the person who is "sweet and smiling."

A research position? "I don't care about sweetness. It's focus and intensity."

In an effort to hire the best employees, Steve Hines has learned to pay close attention to the emotion he sees during job interviews. And when he doesn't see any, he gets worried.

"If you are happy all the time, it sends up a flag," said Hines, vice president of human resources for Armor Holdings, a defense and law enforcement manufacturing company.

People whose moods go up and down are living in the real world, Hines said.

Hines said he tries to get at that range of emotion in job interviews by asking applicants to describe the best thing they've done in the past couple of years and the most disappointing thing.

That range is especially important for the engineers and other technical and professional employees, said Hines, who has seen first-hand how bad moods can spark creativity.

Makes sense.  Discontent folks see more problems in the world than those who are content.  And, grumpy people are generally discontent.  Therefore, grumpy people see more problems.  Since we can't solve problems we don't see, we need grumps to find problems in fix them :-)

Achilles' Heels