List of Small-Medium HR firms

Finally someone has taken the initiative to build a comprehensive list of HR and OD firms doing good work but not so widely known. Here is the link- http://gauteg.blogspot.com/2008/06/list-of-small-and-medium-management.html

Hope to see the list grow with suggestions and new names coming in.

Indians in the TIME 100

The 2008 Time 100 list has, surprise surprise, Sonia Gandhi, Mr Tata of the Nano, Indra Pepsi Nooyi. Well, Ms Gandhi was not born Indian, and Ms Nooyi was but grazes greener pastures. That leaves Ratan Tata, the only 'true' Indian on the list. Well, there is the Dalai Lama too, and one can vehemently argue that he is as much Indian as you and I, after all, we all root for a free Tibet too.
BTW, Hu Jintao, also makes the list. Thank God they put the Dalai Lama before him, even though the list is not ranked.

"Say you'll stay..."

...Goes a song from the Cranberries.

Technology boom, open markets, vibrant job-scene... this is what the world has to offer the average college grad today. Consider this- in the next 5 years the old bastion will have retired. More than 55% of the country will be below 25. Companies across the globe will be flooded by new blood. 20-25 year olds... the 1990-s born.
Already expectations of the new recruit are sky high. They would have seen their grand parents and parents in a particular job set-up- one company, one job, slow growth, painful trudging up the hierarchy, slow salary raise through ones career. Not for them, this scenario. Economic optimism and a growing job market means they will not stay put for less salary or advancement in career. They are not afraid to jump and more often than not, they are not the worse off for it.
"It's a very different generation," says S. Gopalakrishnan, chief executive of Indian tech giant Infosys Technologies "They want immediate rewards."
The challenge, hence, is to find the balance... a way in which to utilise their energy while giving a realistic viewpoint to their expectations; address both their desires and frustrations.
Given the large population on youngsters in the job market, what India will do today, the world will learn tomorrow.
"India is going to be a lab for lessons that we'll apply to other countries," says Lyndon Rego, manager of innovation at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C., which develops leadership training programs in emerging markets.
And the experimentation is already under way in companies like Infosys, IBM, Mindtree and the like, which have all revamped their training and orientation programs for the young recruits below 30.
In the graduating batch of 2007 IIMs, a large percentage has already shifted jobs, some even twice. In one year. With this years financial slump, the trend might slow down a little. However, the 2008 batch of B-schools and engineering colleges have just finished their placements. In a few months we will know what they will decide to do, and who will finally be able to make them stay.

How much have we heard about the "Kolkata work culture". For generations it is a well known fact that Bengali-s are a lazy lot, dreaming away their days and singing and chatting away evenings, till its time to sleep. In Kolkata only though. Take a Bengali out of Bengal and he is a different animal. He not only works his backside off, and parties through the night, but also is the first to call his country cousin's bluff, first to criticise the above mentioned work culture, the first to point out that "they" all take siestas and jump for joy on bandh days.

We have a whole separate set of vocab for our gabbing. The "babu", with all its negative connotations is a quintessential Bengali term from the time when Writers Building first came into existence.

Have you heard of "rowak culture"? That is when a group of people sit on a 'rowak', that is any level ground where you can sit, and "give adda", (a word now in the Oxford dictionary, all hail) or while away time by talking. And how they talk. Any typical 'rowak' conversation could start with Bhajji's insult and end with Sarkozi's declining support in France and maybe touch Anjelina's pregnancy somewhere in between!

But Bongs, they are a-changing. The latest news is that "rowak adda-bajs" are joining the list of the endangered. Can it be that Bengali-s are finally trying to get some work done? Could well be. Leave Dalhousie's laid back lumbering afternoons and head towards the swanky buildings of Salt Lake Sector 5. The only locality in Calcutta spared the onslaught of Bandhs (another word recently introduced to the Oxford dictionary). That's the IT hub in the city, trying hard to look and feel Bangalorean. Glass walls reflect well dressed young men and women rushing about for a quick bite, a far cry from loose trousers and 'half-shirts' of the Government employee.

Real and retail estate is on the rise once again. Malls like South City are creating a whole new place for kids to spend their time. The Bengali has finally learnt to dress for a night out. Night clubs are usually full, restaurants have one hour waiting periods, marks and spencer lingerie is selling like hot cakes. And we are working for it. Finally there is an outcry against another bandh. People are out on the streets, almost defiant, inspite of lathi weilding goonda types (party workers, no less). We want the world to know we are not like that. We want that message out- "look ma, no holiday".

We are trying to stop talking and start walking. And if that happens in the heart of Bongland... watch out world.

India's newest exports- leaders

India was once upon a time the hunting ground for cheap labour, hoards of whom alighted on distant shores in search of a better lifestyle for themselves and their children. Now in the news are, one after another, global leaders of Indian origin- in business or otherwise.

Citi group announced last week its new global CEO. Vikram Pandit, a Maharashtrian, left India at the age of 16 to join Columbia University. An engineer, he completed his Ph.d in Finance. Earlier he was COO of Morgan Stanley. He now heads what is a predominant Indian presence in the Citi hierarchy.

In 2006 Indra Nooyi was named CEO of Pepsico. She is a grad from IIMC and worked in India for several years before she left for Yale and a hot shot career.

Here is an article which sums up whats been happening in the global leadership scene with Indians in some time now.

Basdeo Panday, a second generation Indian was Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago for 6 years till he was succeeded in 2001, and has remained leader of parliament for decades now. Mahendra Pal Chaudhary, was prime minister of Fiji but for a short one year before he was ousted in a coup.

The front runner in the US presidential elections Hillary Clinton's aide and right hand woman, Huma Abedin, has been in the news for some time now, lately for the wrong reasons. Read more about it here.

Fareed Zakaria is now the editor in chief of Newsweek International and one of the spokespersons India can count on. Of course Shashi Tharoor is another.

And nothing new to be said of the late Kalpana Chawla and Suneeta Willaims, or of the Manoj Shyamalan-s and the Vikram Seth-s.

Indians rock, or what!!!