Process Consulting

Author: Alan Weiss
Published: 2002
Publisher: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer

This book should be a compulsory reading for anybody who wants to get into the area process consulting - internal or external.
In 10 easy to read well organized chapters the author tells you how to work effectively with clients to launch, implement, and conclude successful consulting projects.
And it is not at all a theoretical stuff, but a very commonsense approach which the author had effectively implemented in his consulting projects for his clients which included Hewlett-Packard, GE, Merill Lynch.
I have been a fairly successful internal process consultant for the last 12 years in the organizations I have worked for.
However I very much wish that I had come across this book much earlier.
That would have really improved my effectiveness and efficiency.
The book provides powerful techniques for :
- creating initial conditions for a successful consulting intervention
- putting in place the strategy and tactics needed to gather intelligence
- coaching key people and establishing the rules of engagement
- reinforcing change and overcoming resistance
- creating dynamic training programs that can yield outright results for the client
- focusing on the transition from strategy formulation to strategy implementation
- improving leadership that is driven by values and measured by results
These techniques are supported by 40 short case studies most of them based on author's personal experiences, several useful checklists and nearly hundred hot tips (called Ultimata) spread across the ten chapters.
One thing I liked about the case studies is that the author has described his failures also.
This lends a human touch to this book.
How many of us readily admit our mistakes ?
The book is so well laid out that you can randomly open any page and you will come across very useful hot tip or a case study or a checklist.
One glance at the table of contents is by itself an education on how effective consulting.
Seeing is believing.
Browse through the Table of Contents and the Chapter 1 - Conditions for a Successful Intervention at the publisher's website.
Also visit the author Alan Weiss's company website - The Summit Consulting Group for more information and goodies.
I am glad that I came across this book in the British Library and borrowed it.
I would like to have a copy of my own, but it is rather expensive ($48!). Hopefully waiting for a low-priced edition or a second-hand sale !

Sepia Leaves

Author: Amandeep Sandhu
Published: 2008
Publisher: Rupa & Co.
Amazon Link : Click Here

A true account of author's childhood days in Rourkela, though it is classified as fiction, the reason being as the author says in his blog "the time line of the story is not entirely real and I merged some characters while, in other places, I created more than one character from one person".

The protagonist Appu's mother is suffering from schizophrenia and is not in a position to provide proper motherly care to him . Due to her illness her behavior is abnormal most of the time and generally very violent towards her husband i.e. Appu's father.

The book is a very moving account of how the father and son handle this problem in a very stoic manner with a great sense of fortitude and calm acceptance of the situation.

The part which touched me most is where Appu distressed at the condition of his mother and the pains he has to endure in his dysfunctional family asks his father "Why has God created misery ?"

The following reply from his father finds a permanent place in Appu's heart and mind. And so it would to sensitive readers and inspire them to face their problems courageously.

"If we believe that God created the world then he did not create happiness for some and misery for others. We all have happiness and misery.....Yes, some people have greater misery, but that is because God wants people to find ways of fighting it. And when they fight it even their happiness is greater. If everything were easy, if it was just nice and happy, if you had not experienced misery, you may not have the capacity to enjoy happiness.
By making life difficult, God is trying to teach you something. In life some people move ahead and some are left behind. The ones who get ahead do not come from easy circumstances, they rise above their difficulties. Their troubles shape them, teach them and push them to rise above others.
I understand that you feel things are unfair for us. That is not the case. There are always worse situations. God is trying to teach us something. We should try and listen...I believe in this. Grow up and you will find your own beliefs. However, see your difficulties as a test to become a stronger person...Beyond that I do not know"

A must read for everyone and especially those who have to deal with cases of schizophrenia in their family.

A Palace for the Poor

Published: 2007
Publisher: Ramakrishna Mission Students' Home, Chennai

This book is brought out by Ramakrishna Mission Students' Home, Chennai (endearing called the "Home" by its close associates) on occasion of its centenary celebrations . The 'Home' was established in 1905 Swami Ramakrishnananda, (the direct disciple of the saint Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa) along with Sri Ramaswamy Iyengar. It was intended to aid the students from poor families by providing food, clothing, shelter and education. The selection criteria for selecting such students being "poorest among the best " .
Subsequently it started several schools and technical institutes and completed its 100 years of illustrious history in 2005.
The book describes the origin and growth of the Home, establishment of educational institutions under its aegis , life sketches and anecdotes about its founders, close associates and some outstanding old students, glimpses of the life of the inmates of the Home. It also deals with its recent developments and its future plans.
This book will be of interest only to a select audience - mainly those who have been associated with the Home in particular and Ramakrishna Mission in general.
But it is a special book for me, since my grandfather Sri C. Ranga Iyengar was the teacher and then later the Headmaster of the Residential High School run by the Home, from mid 1930s (or probably even earlier) till he retired in 1959. His contribution towards Home has been recognized in this book with a two page write up about him along with his photograph. Through this writeup I came to know a couple of incidents which reveals his strange mixture of sterness and love to all boys residing in the Home without any bias or discrimination. I was not aware of these facts. Also the photograph of his is from his younger days which I had never seen, having always known him as an old man past his seventies.
My father and my uncle were also Old Boys of the Home and this book gave me some idea about the lives they would have lead when they were the inmates of the Home

Inventors Who Revolutionised Our Lives

Author: K.V. Gopalakrishnan
Published: 1999
Publisher: National Book Trust, India

The author of this book is a well respected Professor of Mechanical Engineering who during his tenure of almost 40 years in IIT Madras taught advanced topics on internal combustion engines (I was privileged to be his student !), guided several research projects, and published several research papers .
Yet coming from such a highly technical and academic person, is this delightful little book on inventions and inventors which is very simple to read and can be easily understood by a layman.

The book is divided into two parts.
Part A called The Art and Science of Invention, discusses the impact of science and technology in our lives, how an inventor is different from a scientist, what makes an inventor tick and the process of invention.
Part B called the Great Inventors has short life sketches of twenty inventors, spanning over two centuries (18th to 20th) whose inventions/discoveries are taken for granted today.

The inventors covered are - James Watt, Eli Whitney, Michael Faraday, Samuel Morse, Charles Babbage, Henry Bessemer, Alfred Nobel, Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla, Rudolf Diesel, The Wright Brothers, Guglielmo Marconi, Robert Goddard, Igor Sikorsky, Robert Watson-Watt, Chester Carlson, Sir Frank Whittle, Edwin Land, Robert Noyce.

I came to know about several interesting little known facts about these inventors.

These life sketches bring out very clearly the tenacity of purpose, capacity of hard work, and supreme self-confidence these inventors exhibited to translate their ideas into reality.

A very motivating read for everyone especially for the young budding inventors.

Raga Mala

Author: Ravi Shankar
Published: 1999
Publisher: Element Books Ltd.

This is an autobiography of the world-renowned sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, written on the occasion of his 75th birthday (now he is 89).
A very fascinating and almost a complete account of his life - his childhood, his teens as a member of his brother Uday Shankar's dance troupe, his learning sitar from his guru Ustad Allaudin Khan, his painstaking efforts to introduce and popularize Indian Classical Music in the West, his l collaborations with Western musicians of several genres Pop (Beetles, especially George Harrison who learnt Sitar from him), Jazz (John Coltrane, who named his son as Ravi after him) and Classical (Lord Yehudi Menuhin, who has written the Afterword for this book), his affairs with several women finally culminating in his marriage to Sukanya when he was in late sixties , his daughter Anoushka.
There are lot of sepia toned photographs (and some colored photos too) of excellent quality showing glimpses from various phases in his life.
Overall a very beautifully produced book, edited and introduced by George Harrison of Beetles fame.
A must read for lovers of Indian classical music.

Tribes - We Need You to Lead Us

Author: Seth Godin
Published: 2008
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Free Audio Download : Click Here

Of late I had been hearing quite a lot about the author Seth Godin but had not read his books. So when I saw this book in British Library, I just borrowed it. Little I realized that a big disappointment was in store for me. This book has just 130 pages of content, but the key points hardly amount to 20-30 pages. Rest is all fluff made of mere repetitions in typical evangelist fashion.

All that the author wants to say is this - there are thousands of tribes consisting of people sharing common interests ; modern technology has made it possible to connect people in a tribe; anyone can lead a tribe provided they have the willingness.
He then goes on to describe the characteristics of the Leader of such tribes and gives tips on how to lead them.

I did not find anything new or profound in this book when compared to other books. In fact I have come across better books on Leadership.

The organization of the content also leaves much to be desired. The whole book is a series of paragraphs . If it had been organized as chapters, it would have been easier to read.

A couple of positives about this book though. Its writing style is simple, conversational and easy to understand. If you need to deliver a talk on leadership, you can use some quotes and anecdotes from this book .

But all in all this is a book which you can easily skip reading if you have better things to do. It is highly overpriced - UK Pounds 10.99 - almost borders on looting. I am glad that I did not have to pay for it to read it.

Like the Flowing River

Author: Paulo Coelho
Published: 2006
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers

Among all the other books of Paulo Coelho which I have read - The Alchemist, Veronika Decides to Die and The Witch of Portobello - I liked this one the best. This book is packed with over hundred odd short chapters describing the thoughts and reflections of the author. Each and every chapter in this book is like a pearl in a necklace, strung together by a golden thread. That golden thread is the underlying philosophy of Paulo Coelho. It is all about attaining and living your dreams by being in peace with the world. This is one book which left me craving for more when I finished reading it.
Margaret Jull Costa has done an excellent job in translating this book originally written in Portuguese. I never felt that I was reading a translated work.

Essence of some of my favorite chapters :

• The Story of the Pencil : Five qualities of an ordinary pencil which a person seeking peace with the world needs to develop

• Genghis Khan and his Falcon : Lessons Genghis Khan learnt from his pet falcon

• The Manuel trilogy - Manuel is an Important and Necessary Man, Manuel is a Free Man, Manuel Goes to Paradise : Manuel keeps himself so busy with his work that he does not stop to think about the meaning of life. When he retires he realizes that he has passed through life but not lived it.

• The Moment of Dawn : How do we know the exact moment when night (ignorance) ends and day (knowledge) begins ?
  

• The Man who followed his Dreams : Going against what common sense tells and following one's dreams.

• Travelling Differently: Treat any travel as a pilgrimage and get the most out of it

• A Fairy Tale : Grow flowers of honesty
  

• Brazil's Greatest Writer: Jorge Amado a writer with a great heart and sense of humility He was a source of great encouragement and help to Paulo Coelho in his early days as a author
  

• Rome: Isabella Returns from Nepal: Bananas can teach you meaning of life

• Norma and the Good Things: Life is always a reason to be happy

• Jordan the Dead Sea : Peace is both necessary and possible. It is not the opposite of war

• Meeting in the Dentsu Gallery : The most important things, those that shape our existence, are precisely the ones that never show their faces

• Reflections on 11 September 2001: If the world is not going to be a safe place again, at least not for many years, then why not take advantage of that sudden change, and spend our days doing the things we have always wanted to do, but for which we always lacked courage ?

• Alone on the Road: Life is like a great bicycle race, whose aim is to fulfill our personal legend. We all set off together , but as race progresses we face challenges like tiredness, boredom and doubts about our own abilities. Some of us get left behind and the rest come face to face with loneliness, unfamiliar bends in the road and mechanical problems with our bicycle. At a certain stage with no one to help we begin asking ourselves if it's really worth all effort. Yes it is. It's just a question of not giving up. In order to overcome these obstacles, we need four invisible forces: love, death, power and time.

• The Funny Thing about Human Beings: Our contradictoriness. We think so much about the future that we neglect the present, and thus experience neither the present nor the future.

• Who would like this Twenty-Dollar Bill ?: So often in our lives, we are crumpled, trampled, ill-treated, insulted, and yet, despite all that, we are still worth the same.

• Self-Deception: It is part of human nature always to judge others very severely and, when the wind turns against us, always to find an excuse for our own misdeeds, or to blame someone else for our mistakes.

• The Art of Trying: Given that we all live different lives, who decided what 'getting everything right' means ? Why do we have to follow any other model ? A model more often than not becomes a prison that makes us repeat what everyone else has always done. As long as it doesn't harm anyone, change your opinions now and then and be unashamedly contradictory. You have that right; it doesn't matter what other people think,because they are going to think something anyway.

• The Catholic and the Muslim: It's a shame that people see only the differences that seperate them. If you were to look with more love, you would mainly see what we have in common, then half the world's problems would be solved.