My Father, V Gnanadhas, 1929 – 2010

My father, V Gnanadhas, passed away yesterday (July 30) in Chennai after a struggle with pain for more than a year. The last few days he was in intensive care, under life support and painfully aware of what has been going on. It was perhaps one of the worst ways to die since he was conscious till the very last moment, suffering from breathlessness and paralysis that he slid into after a stroke in July 2009.

 

He was a pious person though he hardly went to the church. But that did not make him a lesser Christian than those who were regulars. He spent more than 50 years working for the YMCA, embracing Christian values without being overtly religious or narrow-minded. Not a soul from the YMCA visited him during the last several years, including all through his period of sickness. My father was unperturbed by it all as he lived a great life of selflessness, contentment and remarkable patience even amid adversity, never ever complaining or losing his cool. He was a great writer, and generally edited the YMCA bulletin during his stay with the organisation. I may have inherited that strength from him.  I wish I had assimilated many of his other admirable qualities as well. 

 

I am saddened I was not with him during has final moments. In fact, I had not seen him since Christmas 2009. His death was deliverance from pain, but given the stellar, blemishless life he led, he did not deserve what he had to endure for more than a year. He was a father to not just me and my brother (his only two children) but also to three others from the Boys Town (an orphanage run by the YMCA) who came to live with us a few years after he married. In fact, they were teenagers when my brother and I were small kids. They were like my parents’ adopted children and we treated them like our own brothers. This is just a little-known nugget of information from his life.

 

I was in London when the end came and I had to quickly wrap up my visit there and rush to Chennai. I have just reached Singapore and will catch a flight to Chennai in the next couple of hours.

 

I will miss the warmth and love of my father for the rest of my life. He was a great dad by every yardstick for me and my brother. May his soul rest in peace.

 

“America has to be Hurt before its Conscience is Moved”

An Interesting Commentary in the Daily Express

When it comes to the US of America, the British and Indians appear to think alike, have common perceptions. You may call it stereotypal, but I have had only one simple description for all white men and women – Westerners. Naïve? Silly? Whatever!

But a hard-hitting commentary by columnist Ann Widdecombe in this morning’s edition (July 29) of the Daily Express in Birmingham clearly struck me.

Americans hardly thought much of terrorism until it hit home through 9/11 which pushed them into panic mode. Raising this point, Ann argues that America has to be hurt before its conscience is moved. That was well said as until then the U.S. was just paying lip service to the cause of a world without terrorism.

She even says Americans think the world begins and ends with their own country.  These are thoughts that would resonate well with Indians and those in the rest of the world as well. A marked selfishness and ignorance, if not indifference, to pressing issues in countries beyond their realm have consistently underlined American behaviour.

Ann was prompted to launch this attack by British Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent remark that Britain was only a junior partner to the U.S. in 1940. While she largely agreed with the “unguarded remark”, she felt that it would feed into “America’s over-bloated view of itself.”

She also pulls out a litany of examples from history to demonstrate that the U.S. remained a silent spectator to many events in other countries in the past.

“Country after country was invaded by Hitler and the U.S. remained neutral. British efforts to persuade America to join us in the defence of freedom were unsuccessful. Jews were taken to concentration camps in their million and the U.S. remained neutral,” she asserts.

Such was the case with the havoc that the IRA wreaked on the UK. The terror acts then were assisted by money from America. While it was not U.S. government money, the U.S. did nothing to stop the passage of funds, she argues.

Importantly, Ann points out that it was only the bombing of their Pearl Harbour that brought the U.S. into the World War.

I feel richer in knowledge reading the piece.

Incidentally, I am in Birmingham to attend some meetings here at BT. I will be leaving for London later this evening and be back in Singapore on Monday.

n       G Joslin Vethakumar

Off to London, But Not for Buying Property

Cheaper Pound, 2012 London Olympics Make Investments There Attractive, Though

 

I am off to London early tomorrow on a business visit. I was there last in July 2008, when our group at Cisco decided to have our team meeting in London instead of somewhere in the U.S. That was a refreshing change. This time it is a trip sponsored by BT, my employer since July 6. April-July is a great time to be in London, as you will not have to experience biting cold.

 

The difference between then and now is that the Eurozone crisis has made the British pound (and Euro) cheaper though it is in recovery mode now. With the London Olympics just two years away, it is a great time to invest in property there. But that applies to only those with spare cash. I don’t fit into that category. A lot of Singaporeans are already doing that, judging by the number of British property developers conducting roadshows here. I attended one as well — it came as part of a forex trading training package. Forex can offer you an interesting alternative income stream, provided you strictly follow the charts / multiple indicative trends. It is less risky than stocks, given that the investments can be a lot lower.

 

— G Joslin Vethakumar

 

Young Men’s Corrupt Association is now Just “Y”

Why Oh “Y”?

YMCA – It is an organization where neither the Y, nor the M, nor the C, nor the A was ever relevant

The rebranding craze appears to have caught up with the YMCA, too, as is reflected in the service organisation’s recent decision to rename itself as just “Y”. Maybe they wanted to avoid the religious emphasis that the original name of Young Men’s Christian Association portrayed.

Having grown up within a YMCA environment, I have always thought that the word, “Christian”, was a misnomer. The YMCA in India was largely built by non-Christians, supported by some of the most affluent people in society, transcending all religious barriers. Non-Christians were in the forefront of YMCA membership campaigns in India.

I have seen the best of Christian YMCA leaders and the worst of them. The last 30+ years or so, I feel, brought out a breed epitomising the worst of the YMCA. The “C” in the YMCA came to symbolise something else. Corruption of unimaginable proportions became the norm at the YMCA in India.

So, perhaps, the YMCA leaders behind the name-change did not want people to take swipes at the organization by calling it the Young Men’s Corrupt Association, a place where all evil resides amid fun and frolic, a place that triggers cultural and moral degeneration. It is more like a club where people gather and just have fun. Those who frequent pubs will find themselves at ease at the YMCA. All noble intentions that the YMCA stood for earlier have long been compromised.

The Christian values of selflessness and service to society are a joke at the YMCAs in India.  I don’t think the situation will have been very different elsewhere, depending on how stringent local governments are.

What I have felt over the years is that the entire abbreviation of YMCA made no sense. It was neither run by the Young, nor was it an Association of only Christian Men. In fact, without the involvement of women in the association’s activities, the male leaders will have long abandoned the YMCA. The abbreviation has, therefore, been inappropriate from the beginning.

While I am not privy to what led to the change in nomenclature, I can empathise with it. Businesses foolishly embrace rebranding as a panacea for all their troubles. They spend millions as a part of the exercise. Can the YMCA afford that? It is not a commercial outfit, so they don’t have to spend big to reinforce the message.

There is a lot of fraud happening in religious, social and charity organisations such as the YMCA. Public money is at stake there. That needs to be addressed first. Cosmetic makeovers will change nothing other than the appearance.

n  G Joslin Vethakumar

Creativity and High-Quality Reporting in British Newspapers

That Makes Even A Month-Old Copy Fun Reading

One of the good things about working for BT (I completed two weeks here today) is that I get a chance to browse through most top British newspapers. Today, I picked up a month-old copy of The Daily Telegraph (dated June 17), drawn in by the blurb on page 1 – Switzerland Give Spain a Mountain to Climb.

A fantastic heading that says it all – the tough road ahead for Spain, one of the pre-World Cup favourites, after their shocking first-round loss to Switzerland. But climb they did, emerging on top of the world with convincing victories in the following rounds though the final only saw them scrape through with an extra-time goal against Holland.

The classy heading apart, the newspaper also had a box item on what else the Swiss gave the world. Even this had a nice heading – "You’ve Got to Watch the Swiss”. The list had Velcro, the Swiss Army Knife, LSD, Fondue Set, Alpine Horn and Roger Federer – with brief descriptions on each. Interesting reading indeed!

The same edition also had a preview of the match between Argentina and South Korea, highlighting the coincidence that both teams had coaches who had played in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. They had in fact played against each other when a dangerous Huh Jung-Moo lunge targeted Maradona’s groin. They carried a picture of that incident as well.

The Telegraph also managed to speak to both the coaches with Maradona saying: “They played taekwondo, not football, against us then. I have forgiven them, not forgotten.” Huh, now coaching Korea, denied “playing taekwondo” and acknowledged it was very difficult to mark Diego. The Argentineans went on to win the match.

It is not just about great writing, it is more about generating creative story ideas and crafting a masterpiece with a flourish. And all of this planning and execution happen within a few hours, at times in less than an hour, as these are daily newspapers. That by itself is a Himalayan climb!

— G Joslin Vethakumar

Doing Both – A Surprise Package for Me from Cisco

More than a Month after I Submitted my Resignation, and a Week After I Joined BT

Doing Both – no, I am not trying to indulge in double entendre to compensate for the eminently forgettable World Cup that earlier today went Spain’s way. A World Cup that was more about octopuses and parrots than about magical soccer and delightful goals!

I am merely referring to the book, Doing Both, that has just been published by Cisco, authored by Inder Sidhu,  the company’s senior vice-president for strategy and planning.

Surprisingly, Cisco couriered a copy of the book from San Jose to my home in Singapore, a week after I quit the company to join BT (British Telecom). In fact, it was more than a month after my resignation was relayed to Cisco’s headquarters. It was good to know that I was still thought of there. The fact that it was mailed to my home, and not to the Cisco office in Singapore, made me feel doubly good.

By the same stretch, I am also awaiting Cisco’s 25^th anniversary gift anytime soon.  I was hoping to get it before my last day there as a parting gift, a collectible at that! But it was yet to be shipped from the U.S. I have no doubt that this gift too would reach my home.

Embrace Change Without Forsaking Your Core Strengths: Anyway, the ramble aside, what is Doing Both all about? As the blurb on the front cover of the book says, it is all about how Cisco captures today’s profit and drives tomorrow’s growth.

But it is much more than that. The message inherent in the book is that while embracing next-generation requirements you do not have to abandon your core strengths. Businesses do not have to focus on innovation at the expense of their core offerings. They can DO BOTH, and that is exactly how Cisco thrives!

An interesting book to read for free! A book that is on sale outside for US$24.99.

–G Joslin Vethakumar

Holland will be Fitting Champs if they lift the Cup

This World Cup has been an embarrassment for me so far. First Holland and Germany made my predictions hollow, kicking out Brazil and Argentina. Now Spain is also on the verge of making history, with their remarkable defence drawing a blank from the Germans who found the net four times in each of their last two matches.

 

But it must be a bigger embarrassment for world chess champion, V Anand, who picked Argentina (like me) as the likely winner while seeing little hope for his adopted home country of Spain. He will nonetheless be glad that he has a country he can root for in the finals on Sunday. Both Spain and Holland have never won the World Cup before. In terms of their track record at this edition, Holland hold a psychological edge as they are the only undefeated team thus far at the Cup. They will be fitting champions if they lift the Cup.

 

— G Joslin Vethakumar

Why I Quit Cisco!

BT, My Next Stop

Attrition is not uncommon at times such as now when the job market is buoyant and opportunities abound across the board, across all industries. But you do not expect that to happen at Cisco Systems, a company that is ranked among the best places to work for.

This, nonetheless, is a reality that is beginning to bite Cisco. The real danger lies in losing hard-to-hire people. There is no question I loved working for Cisco. In fact, my first three years were fantastic and I received multiple forms of recognition and awards. Even a few months ago, I won the Golden Globe award.

To sound even more arrogant, I can say rather assertively that I leave behind an imprint arising from the impact I made on sales teams across the Asia-Pacific region on bids that resulted in several strategic wins for Cisco during the five years I held bid management reins.

It is natural for us to experience an emotional upsurge when it is time for farewell. I was not and am not immune to it. But when we know we are not headed in the right direction, it will be inane to keep treading down the same path.

Was it Intelligence or Complacence?: When an employee at Cisco resigns to take up a job with a competitor, he is let go the same day. That did not happen to me as I was not joining competition, rather a partner (BT – British Telecom). But I had reason to be puzzled as when I handed in my resignation, I was not asked where I was headed to. So, I had to serve out the full month’s notice and this, to me, meant Cisco already knew I was not joining competition.

If so, the intelligence mechanism they are employing must be powerful as only on my last working day at Cisco did I tell some that I was joining BT. Scanning my laptop and bugging my calls may have been some of the tactics they adopted.

If this is not the case, it can be an indication that Cisco has stopped worrying about where its resigning employees are going to. I guess this can be alarming as this kind of complacence can spell trouble for the company.

There are many factors that led to my resignation, but it was not an impulsive one. I mulled over it for two years before deciding to throw in the towel. Here are some reasons:

·       Professional satisfaction was on the wane: Strategies were beginning to get discounted and tactical plays were in focus. I was simply not content with dotting the “i’s” and crossing the “t’s”.

·        A corporate unwillingness to accept flaws in the decision-making process: In other words, dissent was not just discouraged but also retaliated against. That said, I must add that I did win the Golden Globe award and a CAP (Cisco Achievement Program) award during FY 2009. Good enough recognition but some issues I raised were not addressed.

·       Excessive lip service: Company not practising what it was preaching – work-life balance, for instance (I was consistently working 18 hours a day, only to be told that better time management will help fix that! The right approach will have been adopting a stringent qualification process or strengthening the team)

– People Management: No leader is needed to manage just a few people, particularly if they have no other task to fulfill. Companies need doers, not mere people managers, particularly when there is a huge pile of work to be executed. Bad managers will only contribute to attrition.

Rigid Hiring Process: Cisco has a rigid hiring process to enable the hiring of only the very best in the industry. I had to go through 11 interviews (followed by a background check that was outsourced to an external agency) over six months before I could come on board.

That is not to say that all hiring is fair. I am told there was internal resentment sometime ago when the company hired a senior executive from Avaya – someone who had reportedly been fired by a couple of companies earlier. This, I hear, led to seven people quitting Cisco to join competition. That’s a serious loss of talent, particularly when they can create havoc for the company from a rival camp.

Individual whimsicality leading to foul hiring may be common at other companies, but when that happens at Cisco it cannot be expected to resonate well among the staff. It should, therefore, be no surprise that Cisco is already falling behind in the list of best places to work for.

The good thing is that Cisco is beginning to take the attrition rates and the underlying reasons seriously. When I sent an email to CEO John Chambers and the global head of HR (SVP), listing the reasons I was leaving for, it elicited immediate responses from them, promising a thorough investigation. The SVP even called me from San Jose to convey his assurance.

I had made up my mind by then and was in no mood to retract. I am now all set to join BT and am already excited about my role there – driving bid management in South-East Asia and, where possible, NE Asia. These regions have no bid manager yet, so I will be the first. My preliminary interactions with them have been very positive. They have a bid management centre of excellence in London and the team is growing. That is a recognition of the value bid management teams lend to their business.

I will miss the friends I made at Cisco though there is no reason why we cannot be in touch. It is, after all, a connected world, enabled by the Ciscoic view of “the network as a platform” for everything in life.

BT, here I come!

— G Joslin Vethakumar

 

Germany’s 4-0 Drubbing of Argentina Makes Me Realize I Must Stop Predicting

Considering the 0-4 drubbing Argentina have just been given by Germany, I think it is time I gave up predicting. It was a thoroughly disappointing, even disgraceful, show by Maradona’s men, making me feel that the hype over Argentina and the hope it gave for soccer fans were all misplaced. It did not look like Argentina were just having a bad day, their poor performance only showed that they are an inferior team.

I have to admit I made a mistake. All credit to Germany, they were clear winners today. I cannot believe that this team lost to Serbia in the first round. They now run into Spain, who also had a poor start to their World Cup campaign but have since found their rhythm. South American teams have had a pathetic run in South Africa. With three of its teams in the semi-finals, Europe has emerged as the best footballing continent in this World Cup

n  G Joslin Vethakumar

My Prediction Comes One Round Late — Brazil Booted Out But Holland Not Worthy Winners

In the end, my projection was not way off the mark, after all! Brazil were shown the door out of the World Cup just moments ago, quite deservingly so, though I would not say Holland were worthy winners. Desperate tackles, rampant fouls and an own goal — all smack of an amateurish showing, something you will not expect at the World Cup and from the likes of Brazil. A team that could not score a single goal against a terrible team like Portugal did not deserve to be even in the quarter final.

 

So, even as I bid goodbye to Cisco (more about this another day) yesterday (as it is past midnight already), I am glad it is farewell to Brazil as well. They were my number-two favourites, no doubt, but that was only based on history, not on current realities. Silly me!

 

In 1994, when I was working for the Singapore edition of the British soccer magazine, Shoot, I did not celebrate the Brazilian victory – rather I felt sorry for R Baggio, who ballooned a penalty kick after having a spectacular run all through at the Cup. The tiebreaker proved a heartbreaker for both him and Italy, and I wrote as much in a crisp editorial then. I watched the match only on TV at the office to write the editorial. His miss was what that remained etched in the memory of fans, not his brilliant show throughout the tournament. That’s life!

 

But the 1994 Brazilian victory was received with great excitement and exhilaration. It was past 4am when I returned home, after printing of the magazine commenced. As I walked into the lift at the apartment block, a girl who followed me told me with a wide, drunken grin and pointing to her wetness: "I was so thrilled for Brazil that I urinated in my trousers." Not something a girl will tell a stranger at that unearthly hour! But her innocent joy was palpably unfettered.

 

I liked Romario as much as Baggio then. But neither Romario’s artistry nor Baggio’s magical footwork could help either of their teams avoid the tiebreaker. Current coach Dunga was a part of that Cup-winning Brazilian team.

 

With Brazil’s exit, the World Cup, now under way in South Africa, has lost some of its sheen. But my pre-tournament top favourite Argentina are still in the reckoning. I am confident they will get past Germany and proceed to lift the Cup.

 

— G Joslin Vethakumar