Category: Business Management

IPL Tops India’s Most Innovative Companies

Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list has an India sub-list for 2010. Indian Premier League tops the India list & also makes it to the #22 spot on the global list.

ShubhadeepB_FastCompany_MostInnovativeCompaniesList2010

The 2010 list also features familiar names like RIL, Godrej, Bharti Airtel, Wipro, M&M & Infosys. The list also brings some lesser known entities into the limelight – VNL (#39 on the global list), Narayana Hrudayalaya & A Little World.

VNL (http://www.vnl.in/) – VNL makes telecom equipment that helps mobile operators reach rural markets profitably.

Narayana Hrudayala (http://www.narayanahospitals.com/) – The rich come here for the world’s best heart care. The poor come here for the world’s kindest care, for no one here is turned away for lack of funds.

A Little World (http://www.alittleworld.com/index.html) – ALW is the developer of ZERO, India’s first domestic payment system with specific focus on reaching out to masses with lowest available communication infrastructure. MCHEK came out of the same stable.

My Take: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

 

Its been a long time since I have termed a business book “gripping”. This book was exactly that – I finished reading the book cover to cover in the shortest possible time & I enjoyed every moment of it. The author, Patrick Lencioni, brands his product as A Leadership Fable – & it sure lives up to this tag. The book is a MUST READ for anyone who wants to leverage a team – either as a manager or as a team member.

At the core of this book is the Five Dysfunctions Model – a pyramid of the five dysfunctions –

  • Absence of Trust stemming from unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group (base of the pyramid)
  • Fear of Conflict leading to artificial harmony
  • Lack of Commitment resulting in ambiguity
  • Avoidance of Accountability as seen in low standards
  • Inattention to Results accompanied by focus on individual status & ego (apex of the pyramid)

The most practical aspect of this book is post the fable – a guide to put the model to work. The guide provides three useful inputs (a) a checklist to identify which dysfunction is ailing your team, (b) suggestions for overcoming the dysfunction, and (c) role of the leader.

A question that I have pondered over many times in the recent past is How do you know when a team is collaborating? The book does provide crucial cues to answer this question (at least for now).

Inspiration from Jamie Dimon of JPMC

(Photo courtesy BusinessWeek)


Age old wisdom that you don’t have to put someone down to feel on top put in action here. We could definitely do with more of this around.
JPMorgan Chase chairman Jamie Dimon’s dramatic falling out with Sandy Weill has passed into financial folklore. The two men had worked very closely together for about 15 years before they took over Citigroup. Dimon was widely seen as Weill’s successor at Citi. But, in 1998, Weill fired Dimon (speculation has it that Dimon passed Weill’s daughter over for a promotion).
Dimon moved on to Bank One in Chicago, turned it around, and merged it with JPMorgan in a deal that ended with him becoming chairman and CEO of JPMorgan. Then, in October 2006, he decided to pull out of subprime loans even as other banks bet huge amounts on them. The result: JPMorgan was the only bank with enough cash to acquire the ailing Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual when they were on the brink of collapse. Today, JPMorgan has surged far ahead of the crisis-ridden Citigroup. So is revenge sweet?
“No,” he said promptly. “I still have a lot of friends there, and what happened was so hard on people. I could play a sport with you and want to beat the hell out of you. But if you break a leg or have a heart attack, I’ll take you to hospital. I truly want Citi to get better. Citi’s problems are bad for Citi, for the people there, for America, and not good for JPMorgan. Also, it’s a terrible mistake to measure yourself by someone else doing badly. I want us to grow for us.