Shveta Sharma

Leadership is all about HAVING A VISION and motivating people to share that vision and work towards achieving the goal set. But there should be only ONE VISION. The lack of a clear and a singular vision will most likely result in bad alignment, fragmented efforts, and personal agendas driving the organization, instead of the best interest of the customers and the organization. Having a recognized vision will encourage confidence and promote trust within the organization.

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Posted by Shveta Sharma at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All leaders have the same basic traits. However, the style of leading differs from person to person. It all depends on the leader’s personality or the situation at hand. Each style has its own set of positives and negatives.
The three styles of leadership are:
1. Authoritarian or autocratic: In this style of leadership, the leader tells his people what to do and how to do without getting any feedback from them. This type of leadership is generally successful in situations where you are short of time and urgent action is called for.
However, this style of leadership is not a very effective one and often leads to some resistance. Hence, it should be used very sparingly.
(U.S. Army Handbook, 1973)
2. Participative or democratic: In this style of leadership, the team is made part of the decision making process. The leader allows his team to decide how the task will be done and who will do it. However, leader remains the final decision

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Posted by Shveta Sharma at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In This article, the author, Dr Gillette, tries to come up with a model that would define leadership in context of today’s period which he likes to define as the information renaissance era. He has divided the article into five main sections:
1. Context of our era -Welcome to the Information Renaissance: The word Renaissance means Rebirth or Revival. The author suggests this name for our era as he proposes that “historic events work out on a concept of increasing returns”, or put to it simply, “One even leads to another” (Leadership for the Information Renaissance, Dr Gillette, p.3). He implies that this era is based on the learnings and achievements that happened in the era before. He further suggests that this era is in no way an information revolution period as revolutions are often dramatic and come to an end abruptly. He states that this era is actually a post revolutionary era. He calls it so as this is when whatever has been attained in revolutionary period can be explored and learned more about.
Additionally, according to the author, this era is most like the European Renaissance period which is discussed in detail in the next section.

Continue reading "LEADERSHIP FOR THE INFORMATION RENAISSANCE: CLARITY, CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITY : Adding Value" »

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All over the world, people realize the importance of a good leadership for good performance of an organization, be it a company or a nation. It would have been almost impossible for India to get freedom without Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or achieve biracial harmony in South Africa without the guidance of a leader like Nelson Mandela.
Napoleon Bonaparte says, “A Leader is the dealer in hope”. (www.brainyquote.com). Leaders are the people with a clear vision who decide what the goal is going to be and how is he going to influence and motivate the people under him to achieve that goal. These people have the desire for innovation.
A lot of times, terms Leadership and Management are used interchangeably. Certainly the roles often overlap. However, to put it simply, both of these are two very different ways of organizing people.

Management is a process which includes planning, organizing, directing, and controlling an organization for the purpose attaining a goal or an objective. Typically, management includes the appropriate allocation of human resources, financial resources, technological resources, and natural resources (Kotterman, 2006)
Leadership is a process by which an individual influences others to attain a goal or an objective. The leader directs the organization in a way that makes it more organized and coherent. A leader influences others by applying his/her leadership various attributes, such as beliefs, personality, knowledge, and skills. Although the position of a manager gives one the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives; this authority may not make one a leader. Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals, rather than simply directing people (Kotterman, 2006).

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Posted by Shveta Sharma at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Let’s try to bring into focus the impact of social and cultural influences on the leadership process. Kristina Coburn states that, “Followers, culture and environment have a hand in creating that leader.” According to J. Thomas Wren and Marc J. Swatez, leadership is a process of interaction between the leaders and followers that is affected by the following contextual variables:
1. The Historical Context of Leadership: According to this, any leadership scenario gets affected by long term trends that may have taken place in the past.

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Posted by Shveta Sharma at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“If you know yourself, but not the enemy - for every victory gained you will suffer one defeat!” Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”
UNDERSTANDING COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE
With the growing number of companies offering the same products in the same market, a company needs to have something extra to survive. A company, in today’s world, not only needs to get acquainted with the latest technologies and its customer’s needs, but should also know more about its competitor’s strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge is known as the Competitive Intelligence. Using this knowledge, a company can survive and gain a strategic advantage in domestic or global market.
Hence, competitive intelligence (CI) is defined as the process of collecting and examining the data about their competitors and using it to gain an advantage over competitors in the market place.

Continue reading "LEADING ORGANIZATIONS WITH COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT" »

Posted by Shveta Sharma at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.” (Tzu, 2005, p.xii)

UNDERSTANDING LEADERSHIP
“Leadership is a trait held by a person who has a clear vision for his organization that he is able to communicate to his colleagues in such a way that they believe in the leader and that vision, and feel motivated to work towards achieving that goal.”(Sharma, p.6)

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Posted by Shveta Sharma at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Indra Nooyi, chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, has been ranked fifth on Forbes magazine's list of the world's 100 Most Powerful Women. (money.cnn.com). She has also been named as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in America.
Since joining PepsiCo in 1994, Ms. Nooyi has been leading worldwide strategic initiatives, merger, and acquisition and divestiture activities for the company. More significantly, in the last five years Ms. Nooyi has played a key role in developing successful recruitment strategies within PepsiCo, resulting in a share price that has appreciated almost 80 percent. (www.Hunt-scanlon.com)
Under her leadership, PepsiCo has overtaken Coca Cola, one of the oldest rivals, to be at number one position. She believes in constantly reinventing to stay ahead in the race. She says, “The minute you've developed a new business model, it's extinct, because somebody is going to copy it."(money.cnn.com). Her high degree of dedication, vision, focus and strategically using the competitive intelligence to her company’s advantage is what makes her an ideal leader

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Posted by Shveta Sharma at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The author, John W. Gardner in the chapter, Leadership in Large-Scale Organized systems, states that a leader should have the ability to work with not just the segments of the organization he is assigned to, but also with the entire organization as a whole. He says that, “Leaders must understand not only the intricate organizational patterns of their own segment but also the workings of neighboring segments.” (Gardner, 1995, p.298)

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Posted by Shveta Sharma at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams
All over the world, people realize the importance of leadership for the betterment of an organization, be it a company or a nation. It would have been extremely difficult for India to get freedom without Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or achieve biracial harmony in South Africa without the guidance of a leader like Nelson Mandela. As Napoleon Bonaparte says, “A Leader is the dealer in hope.”(www.brainyquote.com)
Leaders are people with a knack to create relationships. They have a vision and the ability to motivate and inspire their people to work towards that vision and hence make it a common shared vision. A good leader will help to rescue even the most obviously failing strategy.

Continue reading "DEFINING LEADERSHIP" »

Posted by Shveta Sharma at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The author, Niccolò Machiavelli states that it is always commendable for a prince to be honest and avoid being crafty. However, he also says that those who have shown craftiness (like animals do) most of the times have been more successful than the people who have shown candor and honesty (which is proper for men).
Hence, according to the author, in order to be successful, a prince must know how to fight both ways: one with law and other with force. He says that the prince should be trained just like the Achilles, the Greek mythological hero, who was trained by Chiron, the centaur (half man and half beast). Machiavelli says that a prince should strive to be only as good as circumstances allow him to be. The prince, hence, ought not to quit the right ways if he can help it, but should know how to act deviously if he must.
Machiavalli states that, “A wise ruler ought never to keep faith when by doing so it would be against his interests.”
Therefore, it is very important that the leader be willing to do anything necessary to maintain power. He should gain from being feared rather than loved.
However, Machiavell further emphasizes that the prince should not be hated by his people and should command their respect. This will keep the people satisfied and ensure that there will not be conspirators within. In order to do so, the prince might not have all the good qualities but should appear to be merciful, faithful, humane, religious and upright. The author says that every one sees what you appear to be but only few really know what you are. And with majority of people on your side defending you, the few will not dare to oppose you.
Furthermore, Machiavell says that what matters the most to the people are the results. If the prince is successful in establishing and maintaining his authority, all the means he has resorted will be considered fair and just.

Continue reading "HOW PRINCES SHOULD KEEP FAITH - NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI" »

Posted by Shveta Sharma at 05:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

IP Multimedia Subsystem is a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) which integrates the services provided by the long-existing IP network with the mobility of portable digital devices such as 3G cellular phones. It enables the convergence of voice, video, data and mobile network technology over an IP-based infrastructure.
Hence, the users will be able to execute all their services when roaming as well as from their home networks. So, a multimedia session between two IMS users, between an IMS user and a user on the Internet, and between two users on the Internet is established using exactly the same protocol. Moreover, the interfaces for service developers are also based on IP protocols.
Advantages of Employing IP Multimedia Subsystems
• Creating a new service is a very time consuming and money consuming process. It is one of the biggest challenges in today’s communication network. The IMS infrastructure solves this problem by providing the standardized platform and reusable components.
• Although, the internet access is lot faster and reliable than it was earlier, it still does not guarantee Quality of Service. IMS ensures improvement in the transmission quality and guarantee that the Quality will remain consistent.
• IMS allows operators to charge multimedia session appropriately. Generally, operators charge by the number of bytes transferred. But with IMS, operators can choose to charge user by the number of bytes transferred, by the session duration (time-based), or perform any new type of charging.
• One problem that a user generally faces with a cellular technology is that some of the services will not be available when the user is roaming in another country. IMS uses Internet technologies and protocols in order to allow users to move across the countries and still be able to execute all the services as if they were from their home networks.

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Posted by Shveta Sharma at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 have made the Americans sit up and take a closer look at the security system in the country; the main challenge being to provide protection without sacrificing basic freedom of the people. On May 11, 2005, Congress passed the Real ID Act as part of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief Act.(http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0609REALID.pdf)
This act creates national standards, procedures and requirements for the issuance of state driver’s licenses (DLs) and identification cards (IDs). These standards must be met by May 11, 2008 if the state issued DL/IDs are to be accepted as valid identification by the federal government. These standards are likely to change long-standing state laws, regulations and practices governing the qualifications for and the production and issuance of DL/IDs in every state.
This REAL ID Act sets up a huge, centrally-coordinated database of highly personal information about American citizens which should contain their names, date of birth, place of residence, Social Security number, and physical characteristic. This ID represents a transfer of information and thus power from individuals to the identity providers. This transfer threatens liberty, enables identity fraud, and subjects people to unwanted observation. This law makes it compulsory for every American to have a national ID card by May of 2008. Without it, one will not be able to drive, board an airplane, train or even bus, enter any federal building, or open a bank account. It is also extremely likely that one will not be able to get a job without it.
Furthermore, an ID card with biometric identifiers may seem impenetrable, but there are several ways that terrorists will be able to get around such a system. And government will not be able to do anything then as the internet and computer industry is not regulated by the government.
The terrorists can bribe the employees who issue the cards or the employees who check the cards. They could recruit people who possess valid cards, U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, to support and carry out the attacks. They can also forge the cards.
The Policy makers should keep in mind that the goal is not to transform the free society into a surveillance state but to stop individuals, responsible for terrorism, before they act.

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Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, the authors of the book, focus on the ability to get things done and deliver the results. They state that it is the leader's most important job.
According to the authors, execution is built on three basic blocks. The first block is composed of seven essential leadership behaviors; knowing your people and your business, insist on realism, set clear goals and priorities, follow through, reward the doers, expand people's capabilities and know yourself.
The next building block of execution involves laying down what sort of behavior is acceptable and what is unacceptable in the company. Successful implementation of the plans should be rewarded to initiate transformation.
The third building block, selecting and appraising people, is the leader’s most important job and should never be delegated. To have the right people in the right jobs is very important.
Once these three blocks are in place, a solid foundation has been built. People then work together to create a strategy that is in agreement with the marketplace, the economy, and the competition. A strategic plan should define what steps the business is going to follow and in what direction should it be heading. Once the right people and strategy are in place, they are then linked together with the operating process that results in the execution of plans and actions and that allocates accountability. It provides the path on which people can take the business where it wants to go.

Posted by Shveta Sharma at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ted C. Fishman, the author of the book, focuses on how China came to be the economic power it is today. The book tells us how a huge country that was once very poor with Communist beliefs became the center of global capitalism. It describes ways in which China's financial growth impacts our every day lives, from price pressures on small family businesses to lower prices that benefit consumers. It further implies how the financial health of the industrialized world has become more and more reliant on China.
The book starts with giving the details of how, in the beginning, the productivity of China's vast low-cost factories grew and the how the appetite of its 1.3 billion consumers increased, both of which were being driven by the technological expertise and the foreign help in terms of capital. This, in turn, helped in laying a very strong foundation for the country’s economy.
The author suggests how China will force all the countries to make big changes in the way they think almost about everything. Be it as consumers, workers, citizens, and even as parents. Fisherman observes that China will soon dominate the world in manufacturing, with U.S. and European companies moving their plants to China and that China will soon become the next superpower.

Posted by Shveta Sharma at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)