tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-122823292011-12-05T18:18:54.429+05:30Life is simple and is driven by simple thoughts. My observations on how complex situations have simple solutions.Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.comBlogger571100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-74573520788440308942011-07-28T17:51:00.000+05:302011-07-28T17:51:25.996+05:30

I got asked a question, what is the difference between a professional company and a Lala company (typically used for a promoter led company). I had not come across any clear definition so went on to google and searched for Lala company. Was surprised to know that there are/have been companies which proudly call themselves Lala company, they of-course do not know the derogatory implication in the

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-24558258411199731752011-07-15T15:42:00.000+05:302011-07-15T15:42:31.602+05:30

Recently one of my friend was complaining about how meetings keep getting dragged without any outcome from the meetings. I was in a workshop with some people around how to write job descriptions and many of them wanted to write one of the key responsibilities of their job was "to attend meetings". Most managers that I have spoken to have always complained about too many meetings in their jobs

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-49856690430175753052011-04-11T12:31:00.003+05:302011-04-11T12:45:17.209+05:30

I would like someone to help me understand why have HR teams over all these years continued with, in my opinion, a very funny way of calculating leave. If you take a holiday on Friday and Monday then the weekend is also counted as holidays or if you take leave before and after a holiday then the leave will include all the days of holiday. How does it impact the organisation so badly for having a

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-22564741801833397822011-04-04T13:55:00.002+05:302011-04-04T18:32:30.888+05:30

Since cricket will remain the flavour for many months to come, thought of noting down what I think are the learnings Leaders can take from Dhoni.The key ones being :Go by your gut-feel and do something different : There are times when conventional logic tells you to go on the beaten path. A true leader would need to take decisions which have not been tried and risk being criticised by all and

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-17094866039166477202011-01-20T14:23:00.003+05:302011-01-20T14:47:35.430+05:30

Recently I was called to address a group of people called the young startups, people who are at an early stage of their entrepreneurial journey. Was happy to see a bunch of excited people who had lots of passion for their idea, the right ingredient to have in an entrepreneur.One of the key question they asked me was around how do you hire talent into the start-up and excite them to join, and also

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-653270830174753732010-12-30T16:28:00.003+05:302010-12-30T16:31:01.754+05:30

As we step into another new year, just wanted to share a very nice thought which is a good way to look at life differently in the coming year. Hope you enjoy your coffee and your life !Enjoy. Happy New year, may you have the wonderful one. Thanks Kamlesh for sharing this. Regards,SanjayA CUP OF COFFEE The happiest people in the world are not those who have no problems, but those who learn to live

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-59702203952025384962010-11-25T12:36:00.002+05:302010-11-25T12:51:24.586+05:30

Continuing with my learnings from my bosses here are the next 3 important ones from my perspective.- Kick them but stand by them : I have had two bosses who would literally kick you on your backside every time you made a mistake, but would also stand by you and help you in the time of crisis in helping resolve the matter. I have also had bosses who would shiver at the thought of getting involved

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-38658555568841995302010-10-16T22:32:00.002+05:302010-10-16T23:30:16.382+05:30

I have had more than a dozen bosses in my working career till now, and was trying to figure out if I had to pick out a few things about them that I have admired and would like them to be qualities in myself what would those be. So in the next few posts I am going to put down a few things which I really liked about my bosses to create a reminder to myself about what I need to have as my leadership

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-7113753327251274372010-10-13T11:22:00.002+05:302010-10-13T11:25:40.698+05:30

I read this on my friend Abhinav Sinha's blog (http://systemsview.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/the-game-theory/) and found this to be an interesting explanation.Game Theory :While driving around the India gate, have you ever wondered why most (if not all) ice cream vendors are stacked together in and around a small patch. Or that most highway ‘dhabas’ are located in clusters. Or maybe, next time

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-29162557536986252992010-09-06T15:23:00.002+05:302010-09-06T15:45:52.423+05:30

I am pleasantly surprised by the number of calls I have started getting from people who want to know about how I managed to become a successful entrepreneur, its besides the point that the successful part is questionable to a great extent, but nevertheless, its a good kick that people think you are worth calling for advice :-).Its good to know that there are a lot of people who are allowing

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-15580287257209737982010-07-22T16:09:00.002+05:302010-07-22T16:46:38.030+05:30

Recently had an opportunity to teach at a Management College, thanks to a friend, who called me in for a full course on HR due diligence in M&A. It was quite an experience. I have been in situations where I have had to address client organisations and teach them about various new / old concepts of HR / Business, but teaching a bunch of youngsters in a management college is a very different

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-91685238218466774042010-06-23T13:57:00.006+05:302010-06-23T14:51:54.623+05:30

Having jumped ship and started my entrepreneurial journey a lot of people often ask me about how I managed to take a big career decision and survived the crash that the world market has seen. My savior during the process of setting up our retirement home venture has been freelance consulting work. A lot of people ask me questions around how difficult or easy it is to find freelance consulting

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-48714318445349880322010-04-16T16:51:00.003+05:302010-04-16T16:54:06.633+05:30

Sometimes we consultants can really make things too complicated. Faking News carries an interesting perspective on how a Chai wallah hires McKinsey to find out if he should sell omelets and maggi too. Found it very funny, which can mean that probably I am not a true consultant.http://www.fakingnews.com/2010/04/chai-wallah-hires-mckinsey-to-find-out-if-he-should-sell-omelets-and-maggi-too/A true

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-57973658132149302172010-02-08T11:15:00.002+05:302010-02-08T11:22:48.464+05:30

Recently I was addressing various groups in a client organisation around creating development plans for their subordinates. The people were required to identify strength and weakness areas for their subordinates and then create a plan for the next one year.Nearly all the development plans got created around the weakness areas and hardly anyone thought of developing the strength area further. This

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-10513068378528039462010-02-02T12:38:00.002+05:302010-02-02T12:53:56.685+05:30

India is apparently a democracy, but is it really? Looking at the recent happenings in Mumbai, does not seem like it. So the Shiv Sena and the MNS have the sole point of view about Mumbai and who can live there. Any other person, including Sachin, who is also a Maharashtrian cannot have any other opinion about it, which is counter to the opinion of the Thackrey family. And also if you decide to

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-3274388624000619702010-01-28T11:44:00.003+05:302010-01-28T11:53:35.381+05:30

Today, no conversation is complete without mentioning Aall izz well so let me start out by saying that and be done with.For some of my friends who keep asking me why I have not been writing on the blog, some clarification. There was a recession of ideas that I was facing predominantly because I was working on a new business venture, which refused to take off given the market dynamics. So was not

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-60295215144216076042009-09-16T15:56:00.002+05:302009-09-16T16:07:16.276+05:30

Nowhere else will one be able to find a true example of the above statement "Penny wise Pound Foolish".Our great leader Rahul Baba travels by Shatabdi to save the government some Rs 20546 odd (Now don't ask me how I come up with these numbers !! But trust me its probably thereabouts in range).Some children throw stones at the train, which is a common happening in India across the country and I

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-40652703787081599032009-09-11T16:27:00.002+05:302009-09-11T16:49:06.240+05:30

I am appalled by the behavior of the jet pilots.Normally I always believe that most of the companies will not care about their employees as soon as the tide turns negative and all talks about the company being a family will be tossed out of the window. We saw that on display recently. No company will ask its investors who have made super normal profit during good times, to fund the salaries of

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-7800354941013693292009-05-13T17:27:00.002+05:302009-05-13T17:49:24.375+05:30

I have been lazy !! I can blame it on the recession so am hopefully back to write about what laziness has costed me.In my state of laziness I have managed to emulate the six-pack wonder Aamir Khan, only difference being he has six-pack muscles, I have six packets of fat on my tummy :-). So big lecture from wife and a quest begins to lose the extra weight. Now gaining it was so easy, but losing it

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-45804130568110649332008-11-26T10:46:00.002+05:302008-11-26T11:04:35.602+05:30

Suddenly all the Big Stars of the corporate world have been brought down to earth with one big name company falling after the other. The recent fall of Citibank brings down the bank which never sleeps. Only if they had followed the age old advice that a good night's sleep does a lot of good to your health. Hopefully now Citibank will start sleeping well to ensure it can regain its health.I think

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-2630556939879714872008-10-31T13:34:00.002+05:302008-10-31T13:44:31.158+05:30

Recently I was in a meeting with a potential client discussing some issues they were facing and how they thought they can resolve. One of the solutions they want implemented is a Bonus system to reward a particular behaviour, they also wanted to add an element of retention to it by deferring this award so that people look forward to staying that extra duration to get the bonus.Many a times

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-13605461363724596132008-10-24T14:53:00.003+05:302008-10-24T15:06:39.642+05:30

It seems like time to trim the fat, I wish I could do this as easily for the fat on my tummy :-).Times are bad and pay-cuts, job-losses are the order of the day. Everyday brings another bad news and people are completely lost about what to do about their careers. The fear of Am I going out next is very high.My earlier post around CSR was a reaction to the Jet fiasco, but if one has to seriously

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-68061521793407804892008-10-15T16:38:00.003+05:302008-10-15T17:38:14.384+05:30

I am so scared of reading the newspaper these days. Everyday brings in a bigger bad news than the previous day and it just does not seem to be stopping.Todays news about Jet Airways asking hundreds of people to leave without giving prior notice, information or explanation just made things worse.I think job cuts are inevitable, given the market situation there will probably be lots of them, but do

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-84032862134142631922008-06-05T11:21:00.002+05:302008-06-05T11:30:47.313+05:30

An interesting point of view about how to assess the satisfaction of your employer with your performance.Enjoy !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A little boy went into a drug store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-76592425861032859552008-05-28T12:00:00.006+05:302008-05-28T12:47:23.186+05:30

Education is an important part of the persona of a person. A person educated at the IITs and IIMs and the likes always command immediate respect. My brother who is from IIM Indore was narrating how people would treat them as near celebrities when they would visit the city wearing their IIM t-shirts. Youngsters would stop them and seek their advice on how to prepare for CAT and which was a better

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-67530565756801682372008-05-01T12:45:00.006+05:302008-05-01T13:21:58.777+05:30

I found a suggestion by Dr Manmohan Singh, that reducing salaries by corporates will help fight inflation and help long term growth, very amusing. He just reduced our taxes to give more money in our hands and took credit for it, now he wants to take the money back by some other means. Did this tax reduction cause inflation in the first place?His government just approved the highest salary

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-16293787332554146022008-04-15T13:53:00.004+05:302008-04-15T15:28:31.462+05:30

So many times I meet people who want to do things just because everyone else is doing it, at times without even thinking about the impact on their organisation. Recently I got asked a question saying 'I hear that stock options keep coming in favour or going out of favour with employers, so do you think I should do this for my organisation at this point in time'.What most of us fail to understand

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-30340465218328507222008-04-07T14:07:00.003+05:302008-04-07T14:13:37.362+05:30

Someone forwarded an interesting mail which did sound a good fit with many corporate policies. So read and have fun.'When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount and get a different horse.' However, in government, education and corporates India, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as: 1. Buying a stronger whip. 2. Changing riders. 3.

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-37865906922025040102008-02-25T15:35:00.002+05:302008-05-24T14:35:52.177+05:30

Recently while working with a client organisation, I noticed something peculiar, peculiar from my perspective but common across many organisations. I noticed that the chairs in the conference rooms were all the same size except one which was at the head of the table, which was much larger. The interesting part was that the chair was left unoccupied for most of the meetings I conducted with the

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-44568547585722062132007-11-21T21:21:00.000+05:302007-11-21T21:38:32.333+05:30

I used to be a big Subway fan, to the extent that all my eat outs used to end up at Subway. My wife would object saying it was not hygienic to eat stuff which was cut and kept open. I used to give her a big lecture on Subway as an international brand which was very quality conscious and so on.One day my wife got and opportunity to counter all my quality conscious Subway gyan. We walked into a

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-60737080663964831222007-11-16T17:15:00.000+05:302007-11-16T17:20:39.900+05:30

My dear friend Avneet Jolly, who contibuted matter for my most popular blog item 'An Indian in Texas', has embarked on a very interesting venture to help consolidation of management knowledge and sharing it for people who need it. Details about his outfit are given below.Also there is a contest for contribution of good ideas and knowledge for people who may want to partcipate in it.A good

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-31671327981625936652007-08-22T11:56:00.001+05:302007-08-22T12:07:37.485+05:30

A friend shared this application he received for a job. One can learn a lot about writing a CV from the same. Read it and learn.If you think you will want to hire him, do tell me, I will get him to write to you. The letter has been reproduced with only a few changes to block the identity of the person. I am highlighting areas of real inspiration and learning for me. Hope you will find new

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-41878155192634438142007-08-19T18:10:00.000+05:302007-08-19T18:46:00.490+05:30

There are so many times I get a call where recruiters call to say they have an exciting job opportunity for me. My instant reaction all these years have been to say sorry I am not interested. The immediate reaction is 'WHY'. Most of the times it is impossible for people to understand that there could be people in this world who may not want to switch jobs.The other thing that is amazing is the

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-31114082081827831652007-08-02T18:26:00.000+05:302007-08-02T18:43:27.425+05:30

I have started to believe that an employee has maximum valuation from his/her employer on the day they announce they will quit. Suddenly the whole organisation gets down to trying to convince the person about how the organisation believes in the person and has great things lined up for their careers. Also in many cases offer to increase their salaries manyfold and promote, transfer, or do

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-15722411078039151252007-07-16T21:04:00.000+05:302007-07-17T19:58:35.034+05:30

Someone told me about how people have found a new way to get trees to bear more fruit. They resort to controlled poisoning of the plant. The thought behind this is that when threatened with their life the plants tend to try to protect their species by producing more seeds, which are contained in the fruit. So this ends up getting more output per tree compared to what they normally produce in

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-28626416899315520012007-06-28T14:47:00.000+05:302007-06-28T15:14:59.397+05:30

For people who do not know hindi, what the title means is 'Fifty five year old but the heart of a child'.Last sunday I went to play football after a good 20 odd years. Everytime I would get the ball I would start with it, kick it forward but every single time I could not reach it before the others. I was frustrated and my teammates were more frustrated with me. So I applied all my consulting

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-58349471101723247612007-05-16T23:08:00.000+05:302007-05-16T23:20:10.755+05:30

How would you feel if a restaurant owner prefers to eat at other restaurants rather than his own, a builder prefers to stay in properties made by other builders, a person working in a manufacturing unit, prefers to buy products of competitors rather than what is manufactured in the plant where he/she works ?I would feel awkward. So now how would you feel in the same light about working in a

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-63903506441649845372007-05-03T22:53:00.000+05:302007-05-03T23:24:47.921+05:30

Recently I met a lot of people who quit their respective organisations and the common complaint across various organisations was that their organisations really made it terrible for them to complete their exit formalities. It took tremendous amount of effort for them to get all the clearances and then a lot of back and forth before the final settlement was done.I also met a few organisations who

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1162556071078635792006-11-03T17:42:00.000+05:302006-11-03T17:44:31.096+05:30

Someone sent this to me. I wouldn't be surprised if this actually happened in an organisation.... I know of a few organisation where something close to this happened.HR POLICY ON FRIDAY CASUAL DRESSINGWhat Do You Wear As Casuals On Fridays???Week 1 - Memo No. 1Effective this week, the Company is adopting Fridays as Casual Day. Employees are free to dress in the Casual attire of their choice.Week

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1161365608715255462006-10-20T23:02:00.000+05:302006-10-20T23:03:28.740+05:30

Wishing all of you a very Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year ahead!!!Sanjay

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1154587018691910612006-08-03T11:21:00.000+05:302006-08-03T12:06:58.720+05:30

Its been a long time I wrote something and the usual excuse applies to me, just been too swamped with work.During all this hectic time, I ended up meeting a lot of young, bright, exciting people and interview them for a new team that we were setting up.My favorite question in the interview used to be so why do you want to join HR or why did you choose HR as your calling. I guess I do this to get

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1145123840247936342006-04-15T23:12:00.000+05:302006-04-15T23:27:20.656+05:30

Recently we went for a meeting with an organisation which wanted us to help them with their HR programs. The top management of the organisation felt that the HR programs were not helping their organisation achieve what the organisation wanted to. We met up with a few people in the organisation and finally people from the HR department.The HR folks gave us an impression that everything was on

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1141921403912127522006-03-09T20:42:00.000+05:302006-03-09T21:53:24.033+05:30

One of my HR friend's reaction when I told him I work in the outsourcing space was 'so you are the guys who are after our jobs'. This friend did not mean it seriously but one gets this reaction many a times. My friend asked me to write about how HR guys can ensure that their jobs don't get outsourced. I only want to tell you my friend that you have already begun the journey of outsouring by

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1141557318174694942006-03-05T16:31:00.000+05:302006-03-05T16:45:18.190+05:30

I got involved in a conversation to outsource a few of the HR processes for a large client. The client listened to our team for about an hour and agreed to look at the option of outsourcing. We went back saying we need to understand more about you organisation before we can provide you with a quote. The client is in a tremendous hurry to outsource so they wanted something quick. We sent in a

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1130753286983532792005-10-31T15:25:00.000+05:302005-10-31T15:38:07.166+05:30

Wishing everyone a Happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year ahead.May the coming year bring all of us a happy life without any terrorist attacks.

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1129391506119027512005-10-15T20:50:00.000+05:302005-10-15T21:21:46.126+05:30

I got a call from one of my clients with a situation many companies face. Three key people had quit their organisation and were going at nearly twice the salary to other organisations. The client wanted to know what they could do immediately to stop this outflow. His options, hike salary, give some extra bonus to bridge the gap and try to stop them anyhow.I have come across this situation once

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1127884293814118982005-09-28T10:09:00.000+05:302005-09-28T10:41:33.930+05:30

Last three months went crazy for me, lots of travelling and some hectic work. The outcome of this was that the blog suffered as I couldn't post anything during this time.Now I am back and will probably again try to be regular with my once in a week thoughts.Today I want to write about one thing that I couldn't avoid even when I was super busy, which was talk to a Citibank agent, twice a week, to

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1121878556750558432005-07-20T21:33:00.000+05:302005-08-04T18:42:15.343+05:30

I don't have the statistics but am sure there are not many CEO's in this world who have a basic background in HR, not counting organisations who are in the business of HR or HR consulting.The job of the CEO is (among other things)- to provide the vision for the organisation- to define the strategic roadmap- to mobilise resources- to develop capabilities in the organisation- to nurture talent in

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1121867915065996802005-07-20T19:26:00.000+05:302005-07-20T21:21:35.733+05:30

One of my friend Meera D'Souza had a very interesting thought around Outsourcing as a response to my earlier post on Why outsource. I liked her comment a lot about Outsourcing being an arranged marriage. Here is what she has to say...Client expectation setting has to be done correctly at the Account negotiation level. In my experience, at the high level they shake hands on the spirit of the

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1120602388496339532005-07-06T03:46:00.000+05:302005-07-06T03:56:28.506+05:30

Today I am in The Woodlands, Texas and met up with old friend Avneet Jolly (97 batch XL, for people who are from XL) who works in the same firm as me. On landing here remembered a note Avneet wrote in 1999 when he landed here and since I had similar feelings on landing here I thought I would just put the note he wrote with his permission. So here it is, enjoy........Dear Brothers (and sisters),We

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1118237406745510362005-06-08T18:57:00.000+05:302005-06-08T19:00:06.750+05:30

I joined corporate life during the TQM era and was constantly fed this going phrase “Walk the talk”. Most organizations at that time started competing on who was a better TQM organization and the best TQM benchmark practices started getting created. One of the important benchmark practice was to treat all employees equally and provide certain classless benefits.In my organization we had a common

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1117971620138285142005-06-05T17:09:00.000+05:302005-06-05T17:45:59.616+05:30

I was once in an outsourcing discussion with a client we were pitching to. The client wanted us to outsource their HR activities but was requesting us to take the processes as is and then also give them a significant cost reduction. My question was how. If we were to take same processes and same service levels, then we would have to deploy the same number of people and use the same technology

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1115571623037026642005-05-08T22:15:00.000+05:302005-05-14T20:02:38.476+05:30

Last week was hectic for me and hence I missed out on writing. During the two weeks got to listen to the latest Rabbi song "Bulla! Kii jaana main kaun hoon". This got me thinking a bit and I started thinking more around what do I do as an HR consultant ? Let me trace back a few years for a context.Having brought up in a Marwari family in Calcutta, the only higher education we knew about was

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1115182705592768452005-05-04T10:01:00.000+05:302005-05-04T10:28:25.606+05:30

I am not an economist so probably don't understand the logic of having Fringe Benefit Tax the way it has been planned. I have heard numerous interviews now of various Finance functionaries and the Finance Minister himself and have yet not got convinced of the need.The last argument given is that it only adds a max of 1% to 1.5% additional tax to all organisations, so they should not complain

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1115029695199050592005-05-02T15:13:00.000+05:302005-05-02T15:58:15.200+05:30

I have been in this situation many times in the past and faced with it as close as day before yesterday. Let me put this as a transcript of the conversation between a consultant and a client.Client : We need to have an objective, fair and transparent performance evaluation system.Consultant : For that you would have to set quantifiable or measureable targets for people in the organisation and

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1114258225371295442005-04-23T16:55:00.000+05:302005-04-23T17:40:25.373+05:30

I recently had the opportunity to meet a bright, young, talented, visionary fresher, who came to meet me to discuss his career strategy. I felt confident of handling him because of my experience as a consultant and a human resource professional till he started explaining his situation and started asking questions. I felt like such a loser.His story. Having acquired a degree in Management he

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12282329.post-1113917184379471872005-04-19T18:52:00.000+05:302005-04-19T18:56:24.380+05:30

When you have lots to say but nobody who listens to you --- Just BLOG. It can't be more simple than thisSanjay

Sanjay Lakhotiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14184607434023661366noreply@blogger.com0