ജനുവരി 22

 ഇന്ന് ജനുവരി 22. ഇന്ത്യയുടെ ചരിത്രം പഠിക്കുന്നവർക്ക് ഭാവിയിൽ ഓർത്തുവയ്ക്കാനുള്ള ഒരു തീയതി. രാമ ക്ഷേത്ര പ്രതിഷ്ഠ നടത്തിയ ദിവസം. ഇന്ത്യ ഒട്ടൊക്കെ ആഘോഷമാണ്. പ്രത്യേകിച്ച് ഉത്തര ഭാരത്തിൽ നിന്നുള്ളവർ ദക്ഷിണ ഭാരതീയരും ആഘോഷിക്കുന്നു. രാമക്ഷേത്ര പ്രതിഷ്ഠ മോശമായ ഒരു കാര്യമാണോ? അല്ല എന്നായിരിക്കും ഉത്തരം. അതിൻറെ പ്രസക്തി വരുന്നത് 35 വർഷം മുമ്പ് അവിടെ ഒരു മുസ്ലിം പള്ളി ആയിരുന്നു എന്തും ചേർത്തു വായിക്കുമ്പോൾ ആണ്. 500ൽ പരം വർഷങ്ങൾക്ക് മുൻപ് പണിത ഒരു പള്ളി അത് ബലംപ്രയോഗിച്ചു പൊളിച്ച് ആ സ്ഥലം ഇന്ത്യൻ ഭരണഘടന പ്രകാരം സ്ഥാപിതമായ നീതിന്യായ വ്യവസ്ഥ വഴി പൊളിച്ച് ആൾക്ക് തന്നെ നൽകപ്പെട്ട അവിടെ ഒരു ക്ഷേത്രം പണിതിരിക്കുന്നു. ഒരു വിചിത്രമായ സംഗതി. ഒരു ആധുനിക രാഷ്ട്രത്തിൽ അന്യായത്തിന് നീതിന്യായ വ്യവസ്ഥ കുടപിടിക്കുന്നു. എന്തായിരിക്കും നീതിന്യായ വ്യവസ്ഥ ഇങ്ങനെ ചെയ്യാൻ കാരണം ? സമാധാനത്തിനു വേണ്ടി ഒരു മധ്യസ്ഥ ശ്രമം എന്നായിരുന്നു വിധി പ്രഖ്യാപിക്കുമ്പോൾ നീതിന്യായ വ്യവസ്ഥയുടെ ഭാഷ്യം. ന്യായത്തിന്റെ കൂടെ നിൽക്കേണ്ടവർ ഇടനിലക്കാരാകുമ്പോൾ ന്യായം നടക്കാതെ പോകുന്നു. അന്യായത്തിന് ആയുള്ള മുറവിളിയുടെ ശബ്ദം അത്രമേൽ വലുതായിരുന്നു. വിധി പറഞ്ഞവർക്ക് തന്നെ ആ വികാരം ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു എന്ന് സംശയമുണ്ട്. ഒരു രാഷ്ട്രം മുഴുവൻ അന്യായത്തെ ന്യായീകരിച്ച് അതിനെ ആഘോഷമാക്കി വരാൻ സാധ്യതയുള്ള കൊടിയ അന്യായങ്ങൾക്ക് ചുട്ടു പിടിക്കുന്ന ദിവസം. അതാണ് ഇന്ന്. ആഘോഷിക്കുന്ന എത്ര പേർ ഇതിനെ പറ്റി ചിന്തിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട് എന്ന് സംശയമാണ്. ചിന്തിക്കുന്നവർ ഉണ്ടെങ്കിൽ ഇങ്ങനെയൊന്ന് നടക്കില്ലല്ലോ! ഹിറ്റ്ലറിനെ, ജൂതരെ കൂട്ടക്കൊല ചെയ്ത ഹിറ്റ്ലറെ, വാഴ്ത്തി പാടുന്ന കാലമാണിത്. ചരിത്രം മറക്കുന്ന ജനങ്ങളുടെ കാലം. അന്ധതയുടെ കാലം. വലിയ മതാന്തതയുടെ കാലം മതത്തിൻറെ അന്ധത ചരിത്രത്തിന്റെ മറവി രണ്ടും കൂടി കൂട്ടിക്കലർത്തി ഒരു രാജ്യ നീതി ഉണ്ടായി വരുന്ന കാലം. ഒരു മത രാഷ്ട്രത്തിലേക്കുള്ള ചവിട്ടുപടിയുടെ രാജ്യ നീതി വെട്ടി തുറന്നിട്ടിരിക്കുകയാണ്. ഒരു മത രാഷ്ട്രത്തിൻറെ ചവിട്ടുപടി. മതരാഷ്ട്രങ്ങളുടെ ചരിത്രം ന്യൂനപക്ഷ വിഭാഗങ്ങൾക്ക് ഒട്ടും ആശാസ്യമല്ല. ഒരു അരക്ഷിത അവസ്ഥയുടെ കാലം, ഇന്ന് തുടങ്ങി എന്നല്ല ഇന്ന് അതിന് ബഹുഭൂരിപക്ഷം ജനങ്ങളും അംഗീകരിച്ചു എന്നു പറയാം. കുറച്ചുനാളുകളായി കാലം ഈ അടയാളങ്ങൾ കാണിച്ചു തരുന്നുണ്ട് അത് നാൾക്കുനാൾ ശക്തിപ്പെട്ടു കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു. ചരിത്രം പഠിക്കുന്നവർ ഈ നാൾ ഓർത്തുവയ്ക്കും ഒരു രാജ്യം മുഴുവൻ അന്ധരായ ദിവസം!

The way you say it

How many times it happened,

That, your meeting just overrun.

That, you are very excited about a topic but get an ice-cold response from your partner or friend when you share it.

That, the first 10 mins of a meeting you schedule revolves around personal matters

That, you wonder why it is taking longer to come to the point in a discussion.

If you think this had happened to you, then this blog is for you. After you read this,  you will be able to see the communication in a different light.

Communications is fundamental to the existence and survival of humans as well as to an organization.  But what exactly is communication?

 Communication is a process of creating and sharing ideas, information, views, facts, feelings, etc. among the people to reach a common understanding. And communication skills... it’s the ability to impart knowledge in ways that are understandable for recipients. There is a common understanding that “Good communication is the key to success.” But we can refine it a bit “Good communication is good, but clear communication is the key to success”.

But How can we make our communication clear? By clearing throat, by using flowery language. No.. The mantra for it is simple it is in the communication style. Communication styles are the broad ways in which people tend to communicate with others.

When I sat down to write this speech, my friend called me. He started sharing the work pressure and tensions. This went for an hour an half. And I just listen and sometimes asking some questions. I chose to listen, why?... For peace... Not exactly... that’s major because of my communication style. A mix of Supportive and Analytical. As a supportive communicator generally I’m an active listener. The questions come from my analytical side, trying to be a problem solver.  This usually works better in my conversation with my friends.

The supportive communicators are usually patient and people-friendly. The supportive communicator looks for a purpose and tends to ask “why” more, like, why are we doing this. Those who were in the executive council in the last 4 terms might have heard it often in the EC meetings. That’s a characteristic of those Supportive communicators.

The picture changes when it comes to the office. I work horizontally and have to do work with 3 managers.  The other day I was presenting a business improvement idea to one of them. The proposal was on the way we can optimize efforts on user queries and effort reduction. I started with the way we capture queries and then on how to analyses those queries, the tools we have, and on an on. He becomes impatient and cut me short. That was not what he was looking for. He wants bullet points and a timeline. Like an eagle, we need things to be move faster and quickly reach new heights. These are the characteristics of a Direct communicator. When speaking with them, start with the conclusion.

I was welcomed with tons of questions when I presented bullet points to the second manager. He wants details of each and every task, step by step I have to explain it. And also backup plan when plan A goes wrong. Oh, boys that were a tough meeting. Like an Owl, they are observant. they need details. Be ready with a detailed plan when you talk to such people.

The meeting with the third manager was the one which usually goes forever and overruns every time. We both are a supportive communicator. Like a Dove, We are considerate patient and people-friendly. The word “We” usually comes in the conversation. Speaking with these types of communicators, be relaxed, logical, and people-friendly. In communication, they tend to be a patient, sympathetic, and active listener.

The style of communication developed over the years through all the experiences, observations, and learning you went through. The style of communication is easy to understand by listening to others. Pause a listen, whether the one you are communicating is of an Eagle nature or an Owl nature or of the nature of Dove. That’s the simple mantra. Tailor your current. That makes you communication clear.

Clear communication creates accountability, builds a positive, trusting environment, avoids confusion, and provides a guiding source of vision. Whether you are a business owner, a CEO, or a freelancer, developing clear communication skills will serve to grow your business ideas, interpersonal skills, enhance your leadership, and fast track your success. The way you say it matters.

ചങ്ങമ്പുഴ കൃഷ്ണപിള്ളയുടെ "ആ പൂമാല" എന്ന കാവ്യം |ആരുവാങ്ങുമിന്നാരുവാങ്ങുമ...

Come, conquer it

Panic, Embarrassed, Exposed

Those were the feeling I had when I walked on to the stage in from of an audience for the first time in my life. This was in the school days and I was acting as one of the lead characters in a play. Soon I stepped on to the stage I looked at the audience. There were too many people in that huge hall. I glanced only once. That was enough. A shiver passed through my body, tongue-tied, and I was frozen. The teacher who scripted and directed the play appeared at the corner of the stage and started whispering me the dialogue. 

(Teacher)“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once”

(Me- hastily)” Cowradies many times before deaths; valiant never tastebuds”

A play supposed to be a serious one ended as a comedy show. Even after I finished the audience was trying to figure out the plethora of new words I invented on the stage.

Stage fear, Fear of Public speaking, Fear of facing an audience. I am not alone in this. The fear of public speaking always tops the list of fears. 46% of Americans fear that. This fear comes from Anxiety. Another study says that 85% feel anxiety in high stake speaking. I think the rest 15% may be lying. I don’t have to do much research on this. In the capacity of Vice President of Education of toastmaster club, I contact almost everyone for planning each meeting, just t fill 2 speaking slots and other 3 important roles. Many times I ended up in contacting other toastmaster clubs to fill up the roles.

Apart from leave and unavailability the reasons I hear mostly circles around the word anxiety.

                What people will think of me?   

                What if I fail?

                I need more time to prepare to prepare, so that I don’t forget my lines.

                What if I couldn’t connect with audience and communicate my idea

                What if I fail to convince audience?

Do you remember any other time these questions trouble you??

                In a meeting when your turn comes?

                When the speaker asks for questions after presentations

                Again when someone asks about your ideas

                Or when taking some critical decisions and you have a different thought?

                Or least in selecting a topic for a speech you wanted to give?

Isn’t so?

Because of the anxiety we hide our ideas and silence the pondering questions within us. Thus closing the doors to your unique ideas that no one else might have. Those ideas are yours, grown in you, just to stay within you, and die prematurely. That’s a miss, A miss for you, A miss for your friends and family, to the society.

One of my colleagues is passing through this same phase. His ideas are impressive and very much unique, which can change the way the developments and applications are maintained are done, and also give fantastic customer experience. If taken a step ahead, his idea can potentially become a startup with a big chance of success. But every time he presents his ideas, the Anxiety takes it over and rests you can imagine. He is still my colleague.

In 1889, one Indian lawyer went through the same traumatizing experience of anxiety. He was appearing for his first case in his career, but he couldn’t utter any word. He ran out of the courtroom in humiliation. Later in his age, he managed his anxiety by welcoming it with an open heart and it began to fade away. He communicated his ideas loud and clear and it starts resonating within the heart of millions of Indians. He was able to inspire them, unite them in the fight against colonial powers. The one we ran away from the court led the nation to independence and become the father of our nation.

There are many such men and women in the world, who overcame the fear of public speaking, let their idea flow through freely, which changed the course of their life and of the world. Abraham Lincon, Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, Harisson Ford, Mr. Bean Rowa Atkin. The list is long. The toastmaster club is a small invitation to you to join that list. Come on to the stage, Say “Hello” to your anxiety, embrace it, and conquer it. A leader is made.    

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once”

Troubled Water

Oct 10 2015 It was an important day in my life. On that day at 5:30 IST, I had my first call with my client manager as a lead. My role in the organization I recently joined was to lead the IT operations team which works for an investment bank. I was excited about this role. It was the first in my life, I was asked to lead a team. Though bit tensed, I was all ready for the first meeting with the client manager.

Good Morning Toastmaster and Dear guest,

Here is a glimpse of my leadership journey

5:30 I dialed in..

“Hello, Don, Jaise here from RIM team”

“Someone from RIM team, that’s surprising. What made you to join this call Jaise. I never ever had any representation from your team in this weekly governance call.”

“Don I will represent team going forward”

“Let’s see. I come back to you”

After completing the review with other team Don called me

“Jaise”… “JaiSE” … “JAISE”

 “I know this, that’s the habit of this team. They just disappear, no accountability. I tried to reach out to this f** team many times but no response. I gave up Now I working to revoke the contract with this team.”

All this time was trying unmute, Re-plugging the code and trying everything I know to fix the faulty phone but all in vain

Devastated, At that moment I realized that my journey on this leaderSHIP  is in troubled water. To add, most of the team members doesn’t had much IT experience.

Much before I joined the organization, I was on a different journey through books to find the meaning of my life. The book, “Man’s search for the meaning of life” which I read in that expedition came for my rescue. The author emphasis having a purpose for what all you do and it will give a meaning. Why don’t apply the same, have a Purpose, and find meaning in what I do and what my team does. Being new to Banking domain terms like Credits, Rates, Forex, Equity were all Greek and Latin to me. Yes, that’s where I must start, learn what are these. Thanks to YouTube and Business analysts of the bank, I was able to understand it. A wonderful business. What if my team is also as motivated as I am? The next few weeks were a learning journey for them as well as to me. At the end, we were able to see the bigger picture and was able to identify what is the role we, as a team, play in this bigger scheme of things. How does what we do matter or impact the business.

Working closely with them and sitting along with them in calls pointed out that, Some are technically strong, some other are not so. And same was the case with non-technical especially on communication. I sat with each one of them to hear their concerns to identify what they are good at and in which area they need improvement. With the feedback, we arranged a few sessions technical and non-technical to cater to the needs of the team.

I thought I solved all problems, hmm.. no, One other  problem I faced was on the people front. There were not many takers for the nightshifts. Some just mark sick leave when asked to come on the night shift. I don’t want to escalate this behavior to higher management, instead, I called everyone to a meeting. We discussed the concerns, we listened, we list down the suggestions. Finally, we came up with a plan with the consent of all in the team. This was implemented form the very next week.  

Friends,

What I tried to do was when I put the hat of a leader can be put in three points.

Finding the Purpose

Emotional connect with the team.

Openness

For me the purpose was very much important, that aligned the team to a single goal, that helped the team members to come up with new ideas and solutions.

I was able to relate to my team members who don’t have much IT experience to handle a critical project and obviously of not handling tough clients. With frequent communication with the team and with individuals, specific needs of the team were identified and respond to it. With openness, I created a team as one cohesive unit.

And all those efforts paid off

2 quarters later I got a letter from Don

“Jaise, I wish I could have got you in the team much earlier”

Thank you

Right Choice

Steve is very shy and withdrawn invariably helpful but very little interest in people or in the world of reality. A meek and tidy soul, he has a need for order and structure and a passion for detail.

Which of the following do you find more likely;

Steve is a Librarian?

OR 

Steve is a Farmer?

This is a study conducted by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Trevesky. This work was very popular they won the Nobel prize it was on human judgment. With a focus when these judgments irrationally contradict with laws of probability.

Our example depicts one specific type of irrationality. According to Kahneman and Tversky, after people were given the description of Steve as “Meek and Tidy soul” most say he is more likely to be a Librarian. After all the description aligns with the stereotypical view of a librarian than a Farmer. According to Kahneman and Tversky, this is irrational. It’s not about stereotyping there is something else. Almost nobody incorporates the information you already have in the judgment. The ratio of Farmer to Librarian. Let say it is 1:20. That is  1 Librarian and 20 farmers. I am not expecting someone to have the exact same information but why at least a rough estimate was not considered. Let’s add that bit of information and reason about the question again. So Let’s say we have 10 farmers and 200 farmers.

How many of them are a meek and tidy soul. Some random number. Be it 40%. That is 4 out of 10 are a meek and tidy soul. And similarly, in farmers 10% fit the description. So for us out of 200, this comes to 20.

See this now, 4 Librarians and 20 farmers fit the description of Meek and Tidy soul. Do a small calculation now. What is the probability of a random person among those who fits the description is a librarian is 4/24 isn’t. that is 16.7%. Meaning Steve being a Farmer is 6 times probably than Steve being a Librarian

What does this mean?

Even if you think a librarian is four-time more as likely to fit the description “Meek and Tidy soul”  that is not enough to overcome the fact that there are way more Farmers.

Let pause and think back to what we did here. a bit of reverse engineering.

First we checked out of the population what is the ratio of Liberians to Farmer ie 1/20 or 5%. The prior knowledge we have.

Then we checked off all who fit the description meek and tidy soul how many are the librarian. That is 4/24 and we got the result 16.7%. So we combined 2 pieces of information, the number of Librarian and farmers and trait the meek and tidy soul being common among Librarian and update our prior belief about Steve from 5% confidence to 16.7% confidence

The description Meek and Tidy soul was an evidence a clue for us to know who Steve is?. Steve can be a librarian or Steve can be a Farmer. So we chose to check the hypothesis Steve is a Librarian given the evidence.

"New evidence does not determine your belief in a vacuum It should update your prior beliefs it's important because we collect evidence and use it to build our belief about the world."

This integrating thing is called, you might have heard, Bayesian theorem. Bayes' theorem, named after 18th-century British mathematician Thomas Bayes. The theorem provides a way to revise existing predictions or theories given new or additional evidence. It has a vast application, in Finance for risk assessment, Scientist uses this to validate or invalidate their models based on new data. Any coder here? You can code this and explicitly control a machine's belief. And you do this you become a machine learning expert.

 But more importantly

We should use this when we make a choice or judgment. Our judgment is strongly influenced, unconsciously, by which side we want to win. This shapes how we think about our health, our relationships, how we decide how to vote, what we consider fair or ethical. What's most is the fact that it is unconscious. We can think we're being objective and fair-minded and still wind up ruining the life of an innocent man. We need to cut through their own prejudices and biases and motivations to make good judgments. Whenever you want to make a choice or decision. Pause, step back, and remember the 3 rules of Bayes theorem.

1.        Remember your Priors.

2.        Imagine your theory is wrong

3.        Update your belief incrementally

Courtesy: 3blue and 1brown 

പ്രേമം

വിടർന്നുരുണ്ട  അവളുടെ കണ്ണുകളിൽ നിന്ന് പാറി വന്ന ആ നോട്ടം എൻ്റെ നേർക്കാരിരുന്നു. ഒരുമിച്ചുകൂടിയിരുന്ന്  വർത്തമാനം പറയുന്ന, തമാശകൾ പറയുന്ന ആ കൂട്ടത്തിൽ വഴിതെറ്റി വരുന്ന ഈ നോട്ടം ഉണ്ടാകാറുണ്ട്. എൻ്റെ നേരെ പാറി വരുന്ന നോട്ടങ്ങൾ അതിൻ്റെ ഉള്ളിൽ ഒളിഞ്ഞിരിക്കുന്ന പ്രേമത്തിൻ്റെ ചെറു സ്പന്ദനം...കണ്ണുകൾ ചുറ്റും പരതി നടക്കുന്ന സമയത്താണ് ഈ നോട്ടം ശ്രദ്ദയിൽ പെടുന്നത്. പിന്നെ കണ്ണുകൾ തമ്മിൽ തമ്മിൽ ഉടക്കുന്നതു പതിവായി തീർന്നു. തമ്മിൽ തമ്മിൽ സംസാരിക്കാതെ കാണുവാൻ മാത്രമായി ആ കൂട്ടത്തിലേക്കു ഞങ്ങൾ വന്നുകൊണ്ടേയിരുന്നു. കണ്ണുകൾ ഉടക്കി ഒന്നും പറയാതെ സംസാരിച്ചുകൊണ്ടു ....

പണികൾ എത്രയുണ്ടെങ്കിലും അതെല്ലാം മാറ്റിവച്ച് കൃത്യം അഞ്ചര മണിയാകുമ്പോൾ ഞാൻ ആ പടിക്കെട്ടിൽ ഹാജരുണ്ടായിരുന്നു. ആ വിടർന്ന കണ്ണുകൾ കാണുൻ... ആ ചുരുണ്ട മുടിയിഴകൾ കാണാൻ .. ആ മുഖം കാണാൻ.. ഓമനത്തം വിടരുന്ന ചിരി കാണാൻ... ആ നിഷ്കളങ്ക ഭാവം കാണാൻ.. ആ സൗന്ദര്യത്തോടു ചേർന്ന് അതിൽ ലയിച്ചിരിക്കാനായി...

കാണാതിരിക്കാൻ പറ്റില്ല എന്നായി... മുടക്കം വരാതെ, സ്ഥിരമായി കൃത്യം അഞ്ചരക്ക് ഏതോ ശക്തി എന്നെ ആ പടിക്കെട്ടിലേക്കു എത്തിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരുന്നു..

ജോലി പ്രശ്നമല്ല ....ഉത്തരവാദിത്വം പ്രശ്നനമല്ല ... ആകെ മുന്നിലുള്ളത് ആയ സൗന്ദര്യധാമം മാത്രം...

അവിടെ ആയിരുന്നു തുടക്കം, കാണുവാൻ പോയി, കാണുവാൻ പോയി മനസ്സിൽ കഥകൾ മെനഞ്ഞു അതിൽ ആഗ്രഹങ്ങളും മോഹങ്ങളും ചാലിച്ച് ചേർത്ത് സ്വപ്നത്തിൽ അവളെ ഞാനെൻെ സ്വന്തമാക്കി..

ഒരിക്കിലും സംസാരിച്ചിട്ടില്ലാത്ത വിടർന്ന കണ്ണുള്ള സുന്ദരി , ഞാൻ നിന്നെ പ്രേമിക്കുന്നു....