Happy Ugadi and good news

Wishing you all a very happy Ugadi and wishing the year ahead be filled with all the rich flavors of life :)

A good news welcomed me today on the occassion of Ugadi, which read that Obama saying that return of outsourced jobs back to US is not good for them, which in layman terms means that the jobs which were outsourced due to the cost advantage would stay back in India and possibily more such jobs would come to India. The fears of seeing a cut in outsourcing of jobs which require low wages and low skills, would continue to be moved and its good news for the processing outsourcing industry and the likes.

But having said this, the impact on the IT outsourcing would be visible and India should start moving towards high end services and consulting work. As US readies itself to build its skilled labor and educate its people, India should this as an advantage and be the early mover. Obama identifies building solar panels or wind turbines or the new biofuel as the industries of the future, where he would be focussing on job creation which would mean higher skilled, higher value and higher paying jobs.

We should also look at our education system and try and put focus on these new industries which we see as the next growth areas. With these measures, I feel India would bounce back faster than expected and our economy would again show signs of improvement, but would be a mature market.

Back again on Layoffs

Again thinking of layoffs, not able to help it as I need to think on meeting the productivity vis-a-vis cost and its driving me nuts.

I read another layoff tale on Rediff today, by Charan Sethi (obviously name changed)on his story and the learnings. Interesting he says to action on the safety / backup measures immediately and not to procrastinate. But with a fear of layoff at the back of your mind, how would an employee be able to give more than 100%, which is the expected norms during tough times.

Logically it is wise to have options with you, but once you get an option / start looking for an option, the engagement levels fall and it directly affects the immediate performance, which might result in the person being laid off actually faster.

I would second with him, when he says that we should not procrastinate upgrading ourselves, learning new things and start saving. But how much of it can be done in a hurry is to be seen

Layoff tales

Everyone has been talking on the Layoffs and all of them know of someone who has been affected. But how many of us are learning and course correcting?

I was reading the Rediff's article where people who have been affected by the recession and been laid off, share their views and their learnings, though late. All of them say and put the most weightage on the savings front. Tradionally, Indians have been the typical reserved types and would not venture out for loans of any kind and manage their purchases / spending on the amount of savings that they had. Generations now, splurge first and think later. For sometime, I have been in the second category, but slowly and steadily migrating myself towards the traditional Indian mentality.

When you look at the savings and the asset created by the newer generation, most of the times we find liabilities in the guise of assets. Housing, car, gold, etc, which would have been procured with a loan / credit card. Though these could be assets after sometime, but they are definitely liabilities right now and the market conditions are not encouraging either.

So what should be your plan to insulate / minimize the effect, if you are the next one?

I am still thinking and would put that here after sometime

Entrapreneural itch....again

I have started getting that itch again...:) I want to start talking to people on the ideas that I have been having for sometime now, on the industry - institute alliance, assessment and training area.

I was reading an interesting blog which I came across, which has made some impact on me - http://inhouston.ning.com/profiles/blogs/people-call-me-crazy