This is one hell of a year...there are some 5 three-day weekends. Long, lazy, three day weekends. I did the stuff I reserve for my weekends....6 hours of accumulated guitar play over Friday and Saturday. And lots of reading over cups of steaming green mint-tea. Here are some of the interesting mail forwards/articles I've read:
1) An absolute must-see link on youtube. It won second place in a video contest titled "u@50" and was submitted by a 20 year old. I wonder what won first place, if this is so good! Hear this with your speakers on.
2) The Harvard Business Review of May 2009 has an article featuring an interview with J Richard Hackman, the Edgar Pierce Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Harvard University. The article is titled "Why teams DON'T work" and is about a book the Professor wrote titled "Leading Teams". The book begins with a question: "When people work together to build a house, will the work probably (a) get done faster, (b) take longer to finish, or (c) not get done?
The answer really depends on the nature of the team. Some of the truths you cannot but help agree with in the article are these: The team composition (if that is in your hands) needs to be hand-picked to have skills that complement each other's expertise. The team needs to have one single, compelling direction. Articulating, and refreshing the team's understanding of that articulation is critical. The presence of what the Prof calls "Deviants" is critical to the success of a team. A deviant is a person who questions "Why are we doing this at all?". A team that just has doers will stagnate at a set level of performance unless deviants exist. Now the problem with these kinds of research articles is that your brain picks up points that you can identify with. So the points I noted above are what struck a chord with me. You might not find these points to be extremely path-breaking, but you'll surely get some relevant and unique insight if you read the article yourself.
3) Want to top the world in your chosen sphere? Check out this link at the New York Times' website. It's somewhat similar to an article I posted some months ago - it states that Einstein, Mozart and Dante were not born geniuses blessed with abilities beyond the realm of ordinary human beings. Its 10,000 hours of deliberate, intelligent and necessarily boring practice. I believe this. Totally. Every great sportsman has made it that way through these hours of practice. A musician class mate (from college) is getting this way through very deliberate practice of the weak points in his tabla play. The big difference is mere practice versus intelligent practice . That ability to break down work areas into their elements and work on each element before it becomes habit is critical.
4) Finally, a guy called Peter Lawrence has written a book called "The Happy Minimalist". Peter himself worked at HP, retired last year at 44, and lives his spartan life in a two room condo with no bed, no TV, an ironing table that doubles up as a writing table where his laptop sits. The book itself is about that lifestyle and its simple joys. The lifestyle itself seems to be an idea he took from the way Mark Hurd (the CEO of HP) runs the company - he pared down the extravagances and cut down everything to its minimal required design. Now, I am not the kind of guy who's ever going to retire at any age even if I'm offered half the world as my kingdom. I need to do something with my head or I'd go mad. But you needn't view this article as a retire-early helplist, it can just be read to help you retire from a job you dont enjoy and instead do something else you do enjoy, even if that doesnt pay very much. Note - I haven't read the book, I've just read a gushing in-depth review of the book and I think it makes imminent sense.
PS - Much of the six hours of playing the guitar were done last night as a slight drizzle spread over Delhi. The chords of E Major, Esus2, Esus4 and G Major make for a great sound together.
1) An absolute must-see link on youtube. It won second place in a video contest titled "u@50" and was submitted by a 20 year old. I wonder what won first place, if this is so good! Hear this with your speakers on.
2) The Harvard Business Review of May 2009 has an article featuring an interview with J Richard Hackman, the Edgar Pierce Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Harvard University. The article is titled "Why teams DON'T work" and is about a book the Professor wrote titled "Leading Teams". The book begins with a question: "When people work together to build a house, will the work probably (a) get done faster, (b) take longer to finish, or (c) not get done?
The answer really depends on the nature of the team. Some of the truths you cannot but help agree with in the article are these: The team composition (if that is in your hands) needs to be hand-picked to have skills that complement each other's expertise. The team needs to have one single, compelling direction. Articulating, and refreshing the team's understanding of that articulation is critical. The presence of what the Prof calls "Deviants" is critical to the success of a team. A deviant is a person who questions "Why are we doing this at all?". A team that just has doers will stagnate at a set level of performance unless deviants exist. Now the problem with these kinds of research articles is that your brain picks up points that you can identify with. So the points I noted above are what struck a chord with me. You might not find these points to be extremely path-breaking, but you'll surely get some relevant and unique insight if you read the article yourself.
3) Want to top the world in your chosen sphere? Check out this link at the New York Times' website. It's somewhat similar to an article I posted some months ago - it states that Einstein, Mozart and Dante were not born geniuses blessed with abilities beyond the realm of ordinary human beings. Its 10,000 hours of deliberate, intelligent and necessarily boring practice. I believe this. Totally. Every great sportsman has made it that way through these hours of practice. A musician class mate (from college) is getting this way through very deliberate practice of the weak points in his tabla play. The big difference is mere practice versus intelligent practice . That ability to break down work areas into their elements and work on each element before it becomes habit is critical.
4) Finally, a guy called Peter Lawrence has written a book called "The Happy Minimalist". Peter himself worked at HP, retired last year at 44, and lives his spartan life in a two room condo with no bed, no TV, an ironing table that doubles up as a writing table where his laptop sits. The book itself is about that lifestyle and its simple joys. The lifestyle itself seems to be an idea he took from the way Mark Hurd (the CEO of HP) runs the company - he pared down the extravagances and cut down everything to its minimal required design. Now, I am not the kind of guy who's ever going to retire at any age even if I'm offered half the world as my kingdom. I need to do something with my head or I'd go mad. But you needn't view this article as a retire-early helplist, it can just be read to help you retire from a job you dont enjoy and instead do something else you do enjoy, even if that doesnt pay very much. Note - I haven't read the book, I've just read a gushing in-depth review of the book and I think it makes imminent sense.
PS - Much of the six hours of playing the guitar were done last night as a slight drizzle spread over Delhi. The chords of E Major, Esus2, Esus4 and G Major make for a great sound together.
6 comments:
Aries- u make me go green, i haven't had even a two day weekend in a long time
i can totally imagine the drizzle and the guitar, it doesnt get better than that
and that book, i am getting it, sounds like its a must read for me :)
checked out the link, the video is awesome, so very creative
Scribble - all good things come to an end. My days in Delhi are up. This is my penultimate weekend in Delhi. I relocate to Bangalore in 10 days' time. For good.
And the work there promises to be 15 hr workdays frequently all 7 days a week. I may come to you in a year's time suffering from burnout and searching for a job in Dubai.
Do you know...it feels so reassuring to know that the blogger friends will remain no matter where I go.
hey now that is news.. all the best and do keep us posted on things. i sincerely hope the blog doesnt take a back seat with those working hours
also, dubai.. whenever you give it a serious thought, do let me know, i would be happy to be of any help.. i have my selfish reasons too, my friend count here is quite meager :)
so yes.. good luck.. here's to new beginnings :)
Aries you moving??? Aww I always felt a common Delhi connection with your blog! Nonetheless, wish you luck with your new 15 hours a day, 7 days a week job!!
And like Scribble said dont let your blog take a backseat..! Keep us posted!
Good luck!
Thanks Scribble and ....
I didn't think I'd miss Delhi so much considering I've lived in so many different cities over the years. In at least that one sense, 15 hr workdays can only have a good effect...I wont have the time to reminisce about the times here, and within 3 months, I guess I'll be fine.
And of course, I will continue to blog. Thanks again.
Post a Comment