41. Some readings and some musings

Dear All,

I wrote earlier about reading some interesting books across last year. Some thoughts collected from those readings ...

Perhaps, it all started when I got an article about "10X Change" and strategic inflection points. Led me to the first book "Only the Paranoid Survive" by Andy Grove of Intel. An excellent book about strategy, being aware of change potential and being prepared to deal with sudden change - even leverage it to get ahead of the competition. Was fun reading it. Absolutely recommended. Particularly in these times. But as I read it I was also reminded of another book read long ago - "Who Moved my Cheese". Lot of parallels in the stories although the later is about a few hard-working mice and managing changes in personal and work areas. But you get the idea.

Incidentally discussing about these two books with my good friend Atyab pointed me to another book, this time about operationalizing strategy - making sure we end up doing what we are planning. Not just dream about it. This was a high calorie food for thought "Execution- The Discipline of Getting Things Done" (Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan). But to be honest I did not read this completely. I could not. The book is really targeted at very senior management professionals. So it was like drinking directly from the Ganges - I was happy to fill in a small glass and sip from it. :-) The book is about lot of things - setting goals, establishing appropriate processes, selecting the right people to run these processes, leading them in the right way. Way to go for great CEOs I guess. But it underscored one very important thing for me.

Unless one is having the discipline to control oneself, there is not much point in thinking about leadership and strategies and execution. How can one 'select', 'review', 'lead' other people unless one knows, reviews and repairs one's own faults first? One does not need to lead millions of people like a Gandhi or a Martin Luther King (or a Mel Gibson in Braveheart) - it is very much sufficient (and necessary of course) to lead oneself to the light first. The one-eyed man leading the blind is only for the tales.

So some introspection brought me back to a book I had picked up when in school and read but not yet implemented. Perhaps not even understood completely yet. "Seven Habits ..." by Stephen Covey. An amazingly simple, yet truly inspiring book. I read it again - this time seeking for guidance. Again I could get no further than first three or four chapters. Let me explain why ... but in the next post ...

It will give me some breather and just so you guys will wait here for me ;-)

Cheers

Gotya