Eye for an Eye

 

You only value something when you no longer have it!

I have lost loved ones, I have lost material objects, have been picked pocketed and have lost good friends. But 22 October of 2016 was a day that I pray will never happen to me again. It was the day that I lost my vision.

Let me rewind the story and share with you my own experience and point out, how fortunate we are today because of science, technology and the innovative ideas of few people. It’s been almost an year now and recently two of my colleagues asked me how I am feeling and inquired about my eye condition. Hence the memory of the shock and pain.

I have been suffering from a condition that steadily degrade and destroy my retina. For those of you familiar with the anatomy of a human eye will know that this is the area where the photosensitive nerve cells capture light and helps us recognize images. The diagram below gives you a quick biological anatomy.

If you are familiar with digital camera technology, this is like the CCD – charge coupled device, an integrated circuit etched onto a silicon surface forming light sensitive elements called pixels. In my retina, a pin head size point called the Fovea of the right eye is badly affected. To make a long story short, no central vision. That makes reading and recognizing objects a tremendous challenge.

An Year ago, the condition was getting bad and I had to undergo a procedure called Photodynamic Therapy, a cold laser treatment of the eye to take a preventive measure from making a bad situation worse and to buy time from a gradual but complete loss of vision. The photo here shows how badly my retina is affected.

Scared, anxious and with a worried mind, I started to search the net, read, watch videos and consulted experts to understand how this procedure is done, what will be the possible results, drawbacks, what my options are, which country or hospital is best and the cost etc. I found that the chance of achieving my goal, that is controlling the situation has a 60% success, I will be visually impaired temporarily and there is a high chance that something can go wrong and I may not have vision again.

In my research, I found that a group of people ( most of them blind) have developed a cleaver applications that run on iPhone to assist and make life easier for the visually impaired and for the blind. KNFB Reader is this app. I watched videos how two blind persons demo its capabilities and how they can practically deal with day to day life. It was $99 and one time purchase. Combined with Siri, KNFB reader proved to be a remarkable tool. I practiced and learned how to use it, voice control it and understood what I needed to do for improving accuracy. Next was the issue of dealing with the constant flood of emails and my work. I found Windows Narrator and Cortana a fantastic combination that can help me with this part of the challenge.

Knowing that I have some technology support, morale support and assistance from my family, on 22 October 2016, I bravely went to SNEC ( Singapore National Eye Center) for the procedure. Soon after, I was blind. 8 days I had to be in complete darkness. No sunlight, no bright light and was confined to my hotel room. I realized what isolation means for prisoners. By the third day, I was bored to death. I grabbed my phone and got Siri and KNFB to help me. First was simple tasks like reading the time, room service menu and finding my medication. Soon graduated to reading mail, doing simple replies to text messages and e-mails. By the end of that week I was doing longer e-mails, reading documents with a great deal of difficulty and trying to get to a near normal life. During this ordeal, I was mid-way of an important on-line course and a couple of urgent deals to follow. None of them suffered and I was able to manage all my work with a great deal of effort. Visibility started to improve by the 6th day, on the 11th day I purchased a plastic magnifying card to read printed documents and only use the KNFB app if I can’t still make out things. Fortunately, the procedure had worked and I was able to restore the damage to some extent. A lot more to be done but this was already good. I managed to save one eye.

Advancement of technology and science has helped people like me and others with worst situations to navigate difficult times and enjoy life. Today we have companies building implants that will allow visually impaired to navigate the world. When I was a kid, I enjoyed a TV series called ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ ( Played by Le Majors). Science fiction at its best back in the day! The Character had a bionic Arm, Leg and an Eye.

Many decades later, Cannon has produced something very close to this bionic eye. I am sure, with continued funding and dedication of passionate engineers, we are not far from the day of walking in to a hospital, getting a bionic eye implanted and walking out to experience how beautiful this word is. I am truly grateful for all those people who have tirelessly worked to make iPhone and KNFB became an Eye for my Eye.

86% of CEOs consider digital as their number one priority

They believe that technology will transform their business more than any other global trend. Digital transformation has now become a strategic initiative for organizations to shift their business to the next growth phase.

Digital Transformation (DT) is a good conversation starter for an organization that is wanting to reinvent or transform to the next growth phase of their business by leveraging the digital revolution that is taking place. But before embarking on this journey, it is important to first understand why you want to transform and what do you intend to achieve? – Understanding the purpose, the expected outcome and having a shared vision is fundamental to ensure high success rate.

Web enabling an existing application or porting it to a mobile interface does not mean that we have digitally transformed. DT is a transformational process which may result in fundamentally re-engineering business functions, organization, our work styles and thinking.

At a recent workshop on how technology is impacting HR, I presented ideas on how DT is transforming HR functions. We see three important changes that are taking place worldwide in organizations.

• Digital workforce: Employees are more digital than before, with the widespread adoption of social media, consumerization of IT and accessibility of Internet, a larger proportion of workforce have become digital natives. The trend is growing and as the digital savvy millennials enter workforce, they will demand new work styles, services and tools.
• Digital workplace: We see how organizations redesign and modernize working environment to enable productivity and collaboration; use modern communication tools (such as Slack, Workplace by Facebook, Microsoft Teams, and many others); and promotes engagement, wellness, and a sense of purpose leveraging digital technology.
• Digital HR: Organizations have started to transform HR functions to take advantage of digital benefits. Digital tools and apps are used for consuming HR services, cheaper and faster. Digital HR solutions are now gaining attention as they provide agility, ability to innovate and engage people to foster a culture of inclusion, collaboration and growth.

 

The transformation trends in HR is driving organizations to rethink how they should engage with employees, empower them with the right information and tools, optimize HR processes and transform the HR functions.

Consumerization of HR Systems, digitization & transformation of performance evaluation and feedback, innovation in learning and development, the transformations that are taking place in talent scouting, selection and recruitment combined with the increased application of data analytics with artificial intelligence are the trends that will continue to drive significant innovation and transformation not only in HR but throughout the entire business. Having a trusted and capable technology partner that can help you navigate this journey is very important.

 

A third world developing country forever!

For over one hundred years SRI Lanka, an island located south of India in the Indian Ocean has been a third world developing country. Successive governments since 1948 independence from Great Britain has promised its constituents to take the nation to a developed country status with economic prosperity and better standards of living. Of course there have been many set backs but the people like to still believe that elusive dream. Let me put some thoughts why this will remain an elusive dream.
Over the years successive governments have genuinely tried to give the constituents a good deal. Healthcare through government hospitals is free. Rural families and pregnant women also have access to medical services though standard and frequency may be low compared to the cities. Education is free. Text books and uniforms are free. University education is free. Most university graduates expect government to provide them with a job. Government is over staffed but yet due to graduate protests and to curb the unemployment, these young graduates are absorbed. With not much work and the duties far below the education standard (graduates are over qualified) they either don’t do their job or continue to agitate for promotions disrupting the normal operations of government institutions. Undergraduates also protest frequently for various reasons and universities are often closed for weeks and months resulting in a long delay, sometimes as much as eight years for graduation. A loss of productive workforce to the nation.

STEM students who graduate are on the decline and within few years, it will be hard to find graduates from state universities to work in Science, Technology and Engineering fields. Needless to say that innovation and technological achievements by local graduates will be only a dream. Hence the development will suffer. Not having the right skill sets and the right attitude will not help either. We will forever be a developing country for sure.

Over the years since 1948, governments have been dolling and bailing farmers when crops are affected due to drought, floods, over production or any other calamity. Honest farmers are hardworking and supporting them is a good guesture. However it has now created a notion that for any and all reasons, if farmers crops are affected, they don’t get a good price for their produce, then the government must compensate them. The irony is that farmers consider this as insurance and don’t want to take the risk. Don’t want to explore new technology and want the government to keep dolling them the fertilizer, agriculture loans which perhaps not repaid in full and also guarantee high price for produce, irrespective of quality.

Many other sectors have their own scenario except few such as apparel sector that is doing amazingly well and contributing to the GDP. Tea is another agriculture sector that has been contributing to the GDP. However various issues, politics and shortage of labour has threatened this sector and dwindled its economic contribution. Value adding is not very prevalent but few companies are making an effort to make their mark at a global level.

Protests are a common factor today. Almost everyday there is a protest and protestors continue to disrupt lives of people. Protests should be a right of the people but not at the expense of public nusance and inconvenience on a daily basis. These are adding to the loss of productivity and output. Repercussions will be tax burden on a segment of people.

The middle income earners who are salaried employees carry most of the burden by way of indirect tax and for a small subsegment, direct tax. The middle and upper middle continue to struggle and save what they can to meet never ending expenses which is a common factor in most economies. The super rich probably either pay far below their due tax or escape altogether.

Government politicians are largely corrupt and getting bolder by the year. Corruption is institutionalized and fighting against the system is futile. The wines of corruption has spread to the judiciary and institutions set up to protect law and order. From the garbage collector to the high court judge bribes are a common factor.

Recently a Minister challenging a business community gathering and asking anyone who has not paid a bribe in their life to standup was amusing for me. I was shocked and awed when the Minister himself stood up. So much so, politicians are daring to play jokes on this matter.

The opposition is opposed to anything and everything. Sabotage and toppling the government seems to be the prime objective. The bunch are no better or even worse than the present regime. Both sides play the game and hoodwink the constituents to win the next ballot.

The constituents will impatiently wait for the next election, cast their vote to their favorite party and hope for a better tomorrow. The history repeats itself and life goes on.

SRI Lanka, an island nation with majority of its citizens having an island mentality will remain hoodwinked by the politicians they elect. Will continue to yearn for a developed nation and hopelessly wait hoping for a better tomorrow. It will always be a third world developing country forever!

The Shift, Drift and the Truth

The state of The Fourth Estate, Social Media and our collective responsibility

The ‘Fourth Estate’ may be a term that is not so common to many readers and it refers to the print media or journalism. The origins of this terminology goes back to a statement made by British Politician Edmund Burke. To simplify, there are three Estates that control and govern a county; The Executive, The Legislative and The Judiciary. The fourth estate refers to the press that act as the watchdog which is important for the functioning of a democracy. Hence the press ( or more precisely the Journalist) plays an important and critical role in many aspects. The most important of these aspects is the responsibility to report any concerns, corruption, risk to democracy and communicate to the public the good, the bad and the ugly of the three estates in a responsible and truthful manner.

Over the years, we have seen how journalist and the popular print media has been able to influence the general public and thereby swing public opinion. With technological advancement, we moved from print media to Television. News channels sprang up, built up credibility via excellent and up to the minute reporting, gained public confidence, followership and became the force in altering public opinion. The power of the electronic and print media combined was a force to recon with for many politicians and governments. The new fourth estate was able to influence, swing and move public opinion like never before. They became powerful politically, economically and socially, thus the rise of media tycoons. With deep pockets and a cash generating business, they were able to deploy resources to influence the other three estates. The fourth estate rose to become a significant force, more powerful than the other three and became the puppeteer of the legitimate three estates.

The Shift

Politicians in democratic systems and governments need popularity, secure the voter base and polarize the public. They had to support the fourth estate to gain and retain their individual popularity. In return, the fourth estate wanted and lobbied for more freedom. Thus press freedom became an essential element and “protection” for media and journalist became a mandatory requirement in a democratic society. ( this is a good thing by the way). With new found “immunity”, the press, journalist and the electronic media got steroids to investigate, question, report and drive public opinion ( either for or against) the three estates. The public was now able to get the juicy stuff, the inside stories and the corridor discussions within political circles, businesses and regulatory bodies. (Again a good outcome) The public started to believe and trust their favorite print or electronic media than the three estates. I must note that the judiciary was still held in high confidence and esteem by the public, despite the exposures of some judges who either abused or broke the law. The shift from being a watchdog, a responsible reporter or whistleblower role began and the fourth estate played an increasingly prominent role in forming, storming and breaking democratically elected governments. Creating politicians and ruining the ones that they don’t like.

The Drift

The proliferation of smartphones, pervasive connections to the Internet, the rapid growth of social media and its increasing integration with our lives has made each individual ( with a smartphone, social media account and connection to the world wide web) a reporter. Suddenly the power of the fourth estate is now in the hands of its followers. The new fourth estate is the Citizen. People post stories, pictures and videos, share them and make their opinion without responsibility and accountability. All four estates are now in tatters with this new drift. Legislators are scrambling to find ways to control and the judiciary is challenged with the archaic laws. All this while, the new “reporters” are having a field day, reporting anything and everything they want. Each story, each incident, highly opinionized, biased and one-sided. The responsible journalism is ignored.

The fourth estate, realizing the drift and understanding that their model is disrupted, joins the bandwagon for survival and want of control. Now a reporter, a media newsman can report anything they like, view it in any angle they want, express any opinion. It’s no longer about the truth of the story reporting but in getting the story out first. Getting the most views and the best audience capture is the game. Media ratings became more important than anything else. Hence the drift from responsible journalism to the freedom of dispensing wholesome garbage to the public.

The Truth

Responsible reporting, the need to check and verify the story and getting the whole story is no longer relevant to stay on top of the pile. Taking something out of context, twisting it around with cleaver tactics and dispensing the garbage to the viewers and readers is the new normal for the media companies running news channels, talk shows, radio programs and all forms of “expert discussions”. The media mafia has anchored firmly and well-oiled to deliver the arsenal.

I have a habit of watching the daily evening news of a favorite local TV channel in Sri Lanka. I am appalled to find that the news they dispense day after day, paints a gory picture of the Nation. A Nation heading for doom, stories that make people lose faith and hope on the three estates, disturbing news around death, murder and suicides. What objective are they trying to achieve? They are transforming the viewers to a psychopathic society. A society that will be immune to violence, a society that will consider violence as the only form of justice and create divisions within society, religion and gender. Experts in human psychology are busy with their heads buried either in research or billing at hospitals. They have no interest in dispensing any advice to reverse the trend.

I remember the term GIGO many years ago when I learned programming as a teenager. Garbage In, Garbage Out. That is what we are doing every day. We are running a process of feeding garbage to the whole world. We are creating a society that feeds on garbage. The impact is irreversible.

The Reality

Each and every one of us has the power, freedom and ability to report what we want and how we want. We do so by saying it is our personal opinion and we seek refuge in the freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Yet we don’t take the responsibility for the impact, the insults, the humiliation and the trauma others face from our publications, be it a simple post, a video or simply sharing another story or re-tweeting something. The truth is no longer relevant for many people, they must get the story out fast. Ensure they get the most number of likes and views. Drive the most controversial comments and make it the most discussed and talked about story in the social media. What form of society we are creating? We then create a post condemning others, making opinions and insults whoever point us wrong or try to correct us and we shamelessly commit the same mistake over and over again. The truth is no longer popular, what matters is how shocking, how vulgar and how filthy your story is. Some people’s sole objective is to post violence and gory picture on social media. Some stories are new some are decades old!

It’s time to take a stand, even if you are a minority in the new social media jungle. Take a stand to stop this trend, educate yourself with the truth and practice responsible reporting or posting. If you don’t share a vulgar story, comment on a story that create negative public opinion or a story which is far from the truth, then stop it. It’s better to walk away rather than create a further mess

Transformative Negotiation – by creating value

In the corporate world, there are a ton of books, articles and papers published on negotiation. We find that corporates train their executives either via a systematic process or ad-hoc, to become successful negotiators. Yet most negotiations when concluded, leaves one party less happy about the outcome. Theories, books and training on negotiation articulates four potential outcomes ranging from Win-Win, Win-Lose, Lose-Win and Lose-Lose. Though we deliberately start the negotiation promising ourselves that we want a Win-Win position, how often do we end up otherwise? Have you ever looked back at the negotiation process to analyze if that Win-Win negotiation got you enough value? Did the other party get enough value? How much value got eroded during the process of negotiation? So was it really Win-Win for both parties?

Some of you may refuse to agree with me. Yet if you truly reflect upon the most successful negotiations you have done, what more could you have done to make it great? Did it really generate the value you originally envisaged? If not, then what might have been the factors that eroded the value? If you were aware of these factors, would you have negotiated better?

Negotiations need a transformative approach, especially in business where companies collaborate  to enhance their business. Though the primary concern of each company engaged in negotiation is to get the best possible deal for each of them, it’s also important to visualize, analyze and articulate the collective value both companies can create and thus benefit from. This is the core concept of Value Negotiation. The purpose of this short article is not to preach about Value Negotiation, but to make you aware and point you towards some resources, simple techniques and ideas that might help you become a better negotiator in creating value.

Value Negotiation in my opinion has three parts. Preparation, Negotiation and Value Capture. The most important aspect here is Preparation. The more you are aware of the issue, your company, the other party, their circumstances, the present state of business ( for both) and potential outcome that both parties would want – you are better equipped for the process.

Negotiation is a complex process. It involves many elements and each element has to be carefully managed. Communication, Relationship, Commitment, Alternatives, Options, Legitimacy and Interest are all integrated and intertwined elements that makes or breaks the negotiation. Bargaining or taking positions, anchoring your offer and power-play all lead to value erosion and ultimately a less than desired outcome.

Value creation and capture occurs only if both parties are willing to engage and commit to make each other successful. It will require a great deal of interdependence, sharing of interests, building relationship and compromising for a better outcome.

If both parties end-up getting much more than what was originally envisaged, then you have nailed it. If the negotiation lead to more opportunities for both parties individually and collectively, then you have created value. If both parties can monetize these opportunities, then you have captured the value.

Professor Horacio Falcão is an Affiliate Professor of Decision Sciences at INSEAD. I was fortunate to engage in his Value Negotiation short course and would like to share one of his articles in the public domain here

The video link given here will also give you a better idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMOFLH96SP0

Do you think Value Negotiation is something you would like to try? I encourage you to do your own research. Read more about it and share ideas with like minders to improve your chances of succeeding.

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU

We are living in a world where cyber warfare is no longer a futuristic fiction.

Cybercrime has grown into a global criminal syndicate where billions of dollars are made. It is also interconnected with other crime operations and evolving with technology. Cyber criminals are ahead of the curve and law enforcement authorities are forever playing catch-up

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Governments, organizations, celebrities and citizens are no longer exempted from a possible cyber crime act. Cybercriminals have penetrated many high profile organizations, government sites and individual’s personal accounts and devices. They are listening, watching and waiting for the right opportunity. You may not know that they have set up a listening post and in fact, they may not even harm your systems, but you may be “harboring” malware that may permit criminals to attack a high profile target. Perhaps you may be the unsuspecting “transporter” caring the lethal payload.

FBI Director recently said that there are two kinds of big companies. There are those who’ve been hacked, and those who don’t know they’ve been hacked.

If your organization belongs to the later or if your CIO (or you) believe that no cybercriminal or malware can get into your computer systems, your CEO, Board of Directors and investors should be worried about it. There are ample examples of how a cyberattack can cripple operations of a business and put everyone in a spin, triggering the propensity to make poor judgement and weak decisions by the management, often this can lead to much larger reputational and financial damage to an organization.

Imagine your systems get lock downed by ransomware. Your confidential customer information compromised, sold to an underworld syndicate who might use the data for a variety of activities, ok including selling to telemarketing companies and through intermediaries to your competitors. Imagine the legal implications from customer lawsuits, reputational impact and customer churn.

The old school approach is to build defense in depth. Basically build more walls. “Firewalls” for those familiar with the jargon. Today organizations invest 70% to 80% of their security budget building walls and CIOs are quite content that no one can penetrate in. More like maximum security prisons. Do you know that latest threat in prisons are from air? Yes, drones!! Prison authorities are now scrambled to detect and prevent drones entering prisons.

Detection by far, is the most important aspect in combatting cybercrime. Experts suggest that if you invest 15% to 20% in detection you may be able to save nearly the same percentage in protection. You will know what protection systems work and what doesn’t. Often tighter protection comes with less flexibility on user productivity and may stun technological progress and innovation. Hence having some good detection methods can help implement advance, effective and robust defense systems. Today advance analytics of telemetry data, predictive analytics and machine learning is available to build sophisticated and intelligent cyber defense systems.

Once an attack is detected or when it is apparent you are compromised, it’s often too late. Not very many organizations invest enough to put in place a good response strategy. Most CIOs may be quick to point out that they have a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery plan. But has this been tested on a potential cyberattack scenario? Is it relevant to today’s context? How sure are we that backup systems are not compromised? Do you have a comprehensive business response plan? The permutations and combinations of scenarios will depend on the degree of openness of systems to the outside world. The absence of a response strategy or a poorly formulated response plan is more detrimental than the attack itself. In the panic stricken madness and chaos, organization’s may get shot in the foot. In fact, it may be one of the objectives of the attack.

A well thought-through response plan goes far beyond the emergency fire drill and computer backups. Again, companies tend to pay less attention here, they do not think through the steps and plans are poorly communicated to the staff. There may be ambiguity in the roles and responsibilities of the response teams and decision makers. “Let’s figure it out when it happens” might be the underlining attitude. Just think for a minute, how many of us pay attention to the airline on board safety messages, watch the video or the flight attendant and internalize what they say?

Timely detection and predictive analytics can help organizations to determine which response strategy must be invoked, what protection system must be strengthened and how the organization can get back to normalcy.

Remember cybercriminals are ahead of the curve in technology, they are streets ahead of the combatting guys, they are an organized criminal syndicate and it’s a multibillion if not multimillion operation. No organization can fight this alone. You need all the help that is needed from experts, specialized vendors and technology partners where security and protection from cyber attacks is part of their everyday business process.

Above picture Source: https://www.microsoft.com/security/cybersecurity/#!Overview

Darth Vader is no longer an individual but a mean army of cyber attackers. A unified team of Jedi’s are needed.
So May the Force be with you.

 

Body Talks

It was a freezing Tuesday morning in Hanoi Vietnam and the temperature was showing 12 degrees Celsius. I showed up 10mts early for the customer appointment and was anxiously waiting for my colleague to join me. The customer was a state owned enterprise and we were meeting the deputy CEO. The account manager ditched the meeting last minute and it was me and my female colleague representing our company. I was hoping to give her last minute briefing before the meeting. Just 30second before 9AM, my colleague showed up. We were introduced to the nine people who were seated across the large table. The deputy CEO, senior heads from investments, operations, CIO, Head of legal and compliance, a lady interpreter and few more people. We were just two. It was a highly charged up meeting with weeks of tension building and many exchanges of letters. Opening statement was by the deputy CEO and it was in Vietnamese. I had no clue of what he said. But I got an idea from his body language and the voice variation. It didn’t sound friendly. My colleague was my impromptu interpreter. Throughout the meeting, I had a lot of time to think, compose my body language and wait patiently for my colleague to translate. I remembered some important basics of public speaking and communication. I made my sentences with clear unambiguous language and simple English to communicate my point. My colleague’s translations were very lengthy. I intended to keep to the point and respond with brief messages but the translated version of my message was getting longer at each interaction. I was getting nervous and anxious not knowing what my colleague was saying. After forty-five minutes, the tension had died out, the deputy CEO’s tone was much friendlier and there was a smile in his face for the first time. I was able to latch on to this and steer my conversation towards the outcome we wanted. Meeting ended after One hour and thirty minutes with an atmosphere very different to when we started. Few weeks later, we signed up with the customer – one of the biggest deals for the company in Vietnam.

Reflecting on this, I wondered, what did I learn? Did my toastmaster experience and public speaking training help me? Should I be learning Vietnamese? Will I be able to communicate effectively in a language that is foreign to me? Did my colleague translate everything I said? What did she miss out and what did she include? Why did she keep elaborating my responses? Did she really convey my message?

I also learned that in Vietnam, especially among officials at state owned organizations and for that matter in north, capital city Hanoi, rank and position when negotiating between parties are very important. Culturally women are still not perceived as ‘equal’ in such negotiations. To have a much junior female in rank engaged in a hard face to face negotiation with a senior official is extremely rare. In fact, it can turn out to be a disaster due to cultural sensitivity. Nevertheless, I thought the meeting went very well.

Few days after we had signed the deal, I was having coffee with my colleague and was reflecting on the meeting with the customer. To my utter surprise I found that most of my points were lost in translation. I was disappointed and surprised at the same time. But how did they understand all what I said? Well they probably understood it and the lady interpreter was a ploy. It was a way to avoid saying the wrong thing in a foreign language and also to buy time to think and compose their message. It was a clever tactic I thought. My colleague had tried to sanitize my harsh message and make it friendlier, softer, smoother and communicate in a very culturally accepted form. Hence the long message. But in fact, the intensity of my message was never lost!! They just pretend not to understand it.

Though I did not understand all what they said in Vietnamese, they did understand all what I said. I remembered that at the meeting my mind was busy trying to structure my thoughts and points and to be “effective” in my communication. I consciously choose my words, phrases, punch lines, pauses and use of body language to the best of my ability. But the most important learning for me was paying attention to the visible cues. The non-verbal signals of the audience. How they sit, how they look at you. The facial expressions, the tone of voice, what they do with their hands during the meeting. All of these give us an important feedback. They speak louder than words.

This experience has taught me many lessons. I have decided to take what I have learned and apply to the situation. I have realized how powerful body language can be and how it is equally important to pay attention to visual feedback. It is all about paying attention to your audience. I believe my toastmaster foundation has helped me to become a better communicator. But experience like this, especially in a culture that is unfamiliar to me, paying attention to body language is extremely important. The body talks…. The question is “are you listening?”

The Heist

 

The biggest cyber heist in the history may motivate Hollywood directors and movie makers to produce another sequel to a cyber-attack thriller movie. While the authorities are figuring it out, Hackers have figured it out and “Gone with the Wind”. It is going to be a challenge for the authorities to crack-open the case and find the perpetrators. Hopefully they will catch-up without splashing ketch-up on the issue.

This February the hackers were able to gain access to the Bangladesh Bank’s computer systems, transferring $81 million from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to casinos in the Philippines from Feb. 4 to 5.

It comes as no surprise that both in Bangladesh and Philippines, the threat of Cyber Crime looms at large.

According to a press release from the Philippine National Police Anti-Cyber crime Group (PNP ACG), a total of 1,211 cyber crime complaints were filed with them from 2013-2015. The top five complaints received were online scams (366), online libel (240), online threats (129), identity theft (127), and photo and video voyeurism (89). – Source : http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/534597/scitech/technology/top-5-cybercrimes-complaints-in-the-philippines-according-to-pnp#sthash.sY6b9BMe.dpuf

Initial investigations by FBI has revealed that this was performed by an organized criminal syndicate operating from six countries. What is more astonishing is that this was not just a one off heist. There were 35 requests that unknown hackers made for payments from the bank’s New York Fed account in early February.

Cybercrime is real and it is on the rise. It was last December when Ukraine’s Ivano-Frankivsk region plunged into darkness as a result of a cyber-attack. The hackers even launched a denial of service (DOS) attack to the phone system to keep the customer hotlines busy and prevented legitimate customers from reaching the power company.

You can get more on this via http://www.wired.com/2016/01/everything-we-know-about-ukraines-power-plant-hack/

Does Crime Pay?

It surely appears to be. Especially Cyber-crime. The perpetrators are much smarter and intelligent than the investigators. The proliferation of networks, electronic transfers and the intricate crime network is too much to navigate making it extra hard to trace, zoom and apprehend criminals. Most cyber-crimes go unnoticed. In some cases, governments and big corporations try to keep a lid on it and avoid a PR disaster, embarrassment and rolling of heads. The criminals know this and use it to their advantage. We are not talking few millions of dollars here. We are talking of billions of dollars that are lost around the world and in some cases, authorities are still struggling to add-up the numbers.

Here is just a tip of the ice-burg – the situation of one nation. “The Norton Cybersecurity Insights Report reports that the U.K. public lost close to £134, or $203, for every individual victimized by cybercrime. This amounts to an approximated total of £1.6 billion, or $2.42 billion, throughout the nation. Furthermore, U.K. consumers lost nine hours, or over one working day, handling the aftereffects of the cybercrime. This means two in five, or 44 percent of all U.K. consumers, were victims of online crime.” ( Source: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/109896/20151124/one-in-five-brits-was-victim-of-a-cybercrime-in-the-last-12-months.htm)

Now imagine the loss in other countries. Add them up. It will be staggering. The total heist can solve world hunger problem for a couple of years. Free healthcare can be provided to millions of people for decades. Imagine the R&D that can be done, the industries that can be floated, the employment that can be created. It is simply mind boggling. For the criminals, hec! It pays. At least so far!!!

Here is the link of FBI investigations to cybercrime https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/story-index/cyber-crimes

145 million eBay user accounts were hacked recently. Hundreds of users all over the world complain that their Facebook accounts were hacked. What lessons are we learning from these?

 

 

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

 

The cowboys of the cyber world have their work cut-out. Governments in the developed world are leading the fight by drafting new legislature, giving teeth to the existing laws and investing on crime-busting machinery. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the US works with other federal agencies to conduct high-impact criminal investigations to disrupt and defeat cyber criminals, prioritize the recruitment and training of technical experts, develop standardized methods, and broadly share cyber response best practices and tools. Most IT companies have joined this fight. Norton, Semantic and Microsoft, PricewhaterhouseCoopers, Carnegie Mellon University are just to name a few. But the dark forces are much stronger and sophisticated.

Security experts say that hackers most often use very simple techniques to breakthrough. Social engineering has been one of the most widely used methods of getting vital information and a record number of users fall victim – literally handing over the information on a platter.

Besides this, malware has been a key contributor in assisting the cybercriminals to syphon information out from computers, phones and other computing devices that we use every day. Downloading a cool trial software, the latest hot fix for one of the software products running in your business, the songs of your favorite band or the latest Oscar winning movie that you downloaded can be delivering you more than what you expect.

Imagine, very soon we may hear hacking of drones, traffic systems including air-traffic, on-board computers of the latest vehicles and even IoT devices used in modern homes to manage security and energy systems. In a world where our information, businesses and economies are interconnected and integrated, it is not far from reality to face a complete system wipe-off by a hacker.

How do we bust this?

Millions of dollars are spent every year building cyber defense systems, firewalls and intruder detection systems. Yet the hacking incidents are not slowing down, scores are getting larger and the attackers are getting smarter. Sometimes we forget the basics, we tend to overlook simple things and quite easily keep backdoors open. Leaving room for exploitation by the hackers with a knack for figuring these out. Our cyber habits need to be checked. Are we too open, careless and overly confident with basic security? Do we care about genuine software, music and movies? Are we immune from attacks? Are we happy that we have the most expensive firewall? Remember we are living in a world where people still hide the door key under the rug or the flower pot. How different are we with our passwords? Unlike the house door, we will never figure out if someone has accessed our computers, data or information. Perhaps one option may be to look at a trusted cloud service provider and ensure that they guarantee and take responsibility for any disaster. Just like banking our money. We don’t build our own bank. We select a bank that we can trust and make sure that the bank takes responsibility for our deposits. We can also demand that our service providers, banks and businesses take cyber security seriously. Why not make cyber-security audits a mandatory aspect? It’s time to change the rules. What worked in the past may not work in the future. It’s time to think differently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ‘Pee’ in corporate success

Passion, Power, Performance, People orientation, Process driven approach are some of the ‘P’s that come into mind when we look at the traits of successful corporate executives and leaders. However, another important P that is not deliberated is the power of Politics. I decide to ponder on this subject and gathered my own experience, observation and some reading to structure few thoughts.

Organizations and Politics

The term organizational politics may immediately bring up manipulators and backstabbers to your mind. There is too much negative connotations around this subject. But organizational politics is all about navigating people within your organization. Sometimes you may wonder why you are overlooked when it comes to promotion. May be others have the skills and abilities that are badly needed by your organization. Perhaps your assessment about them may be wrong. If you dislike organization politics, shy away from it and don’t want to deal with it, then you may find it difficult to fit in. More importantly, you may not be considered as the best fit for the next promotion. In a dog eat dog corporate culture, if you don’t have a grip in politics that surrounds you, you will be eaten alive. You may then become another undesirable ‘P’ – the puppet.

 

You can’t do without it

We often consider organization politics as something bad. The reality is that; politics is an integral part of any organization. You can’t find an organization that has no politics on this planet. You can not be naïve to organization politics. Getting to know the political landscape helps you avoid political landmines and booby traps. These traps may not be meant for you but you can be decimated by them. Your ability to navigate an organization is absolutely critical. If you can manage organizational politics, then you can use it as a career boosting advantage.

 

It’s all about the power!

Organizational politics closely associates with the power you have within the organization. Power – the ability to influence others. This is the key in organizational politics. Power is like a double edge sword. It can break you or make you. (you may read my previous posting on Absolute Power). While power is like salt to iron. It has the ability to corrupt you, erode you and slowly devour you. Power also gives the ability to influence people, change the way people think and behave and get an army to march for you. Mahatma Gandhi was able to do just this and rally the nation to march for freedom. Nelson Mandela used this to change the attitude in people and end the apartheid.

 

How important is politics?

Managing politics will be an important aspect if you are a team player or have to manage people or work with them, then it is a skill that you must develop. If you are not good in politics, then your task is much harder as your efforts in selling the idea, managing the relationships and getting the work done becomes a herculean task. If you are working your way to a promotion that involves people management, then your manager will be keen to understand how effective you are in managing politics. If you manage the politics, you can manage the people effectively. And you will have the power to influence them.

 

Some ideas for managing politics

A network is much more valuable than leg work – Develop good relationships with your co-workers. Build your own network of influencers, allies and sponsors. Avoiding gossip and keeping your relationships clean, professional. Be sincere. It can win you good allies. Always avoid getting too personal with company issues. It is human nature to like someone and to be liked by others. Engage in stuff that build comradery.

Don’t clutter the chatter – Be a good communicator. It is not enough to be able to write good reports, memos and e-mails. You should also be able to use verbal and non-verbal communications effectively to put your message across as well as gather essential feedback. More importantly listen and observe. Don’t talk but speak. Don’t hear but listen. This will help understand motives and concerns of people.

Socialize and not scrutinize – don’t be a nerd and over-analyze people. Socialize when you can and find the opportunity to do so. Going out for lunch or coffee with your co-workers can help you build personal rapport and make your co-workers comfortable with you. The more comfortable they are, the more open they will become. In a multicultural multiethnic workgroup, this aspect is very important to understand culture and avoid potential pitfalls in communication. Make a good judgement of posting updates and selfies of these occasions on the ‘great book of faces’

Is your mouth faster than your brain? – Think before you speak – often we end up saying the wrong thing at the right time and burn bridges. Try to think how others will perceive your message. Is it clear and convey the correct intentions? Choosing the words that show the right intent is a skill that needs to be mastered. If you blabber too much, chewing extra gum may be a good idea.

Practice persuasion to avoid perspiration – Power of persuasion is an important tool in the art of organizational politics. If you don’t have the ability to persuade others, then you are less likely to have power and more likely to be overruled by someone else. Develop this skill if you don’t have it. If you can sell your idea, show what benefit it will bring, drive a consensus among your team and get them to believe it will work – then the hardest part is done.

Cradle the Credibility – Building and sustaining credibility is the key to earn respect from others. You cannot demand respect, you got to earn it. You can’t buy respect, you got to develop it. You have to be consistent and do what you say and say what you do. Show respect to others and people will reciprocate. Be above board, maintain transparency where it is needed. You must not only do justice but also appear to have done it. Most importantly, master your skills. Become a leader in your domain. Own your space. That will help you in getting the respect you deserve. Credibility is like a crystal ball. If you drop it, you will shatter it. Credibility is the currency to buy the confidence of others.

Pick your battles – understanding your opponents’ weakness and your own weakness gives a different perspective when you enter negotiations. Corporate negotiations are in my opinion your battle grounds. Every dog has his day. Check if it is your day for the battle. Develop the wisdom to know when to walk away from a negotiation and who you want to battle with. Line up your allies, chart your battle strategy.

Remember every battle need not be win-lose.

The element of surprise – if you can be read like a book or transparent like a glass box, people can figure you out. Put up a façade to hide your emotions. Your emotions can reveal your thoughts. You will be predictable and that may not always be at your advantage. Have an element of surprise. Change your approach from one situation to another. Be an illusionist, but don’t delusion others

Look in the mirror – Make your own reflections. Assess if people like you or dislike you. Why they do so? Do they trust you? Have you done anything to break the trust? Are you confident in yourself? Do you trust yourself? How are you shaping up? What skills you must develop? What habits should you drop?

Now, get closer to the mirror……

What do you see?

 Are you the same person?

 

 

— o O o —

 

 

The Absolute Corruption

In my vision of blogging, political subject was never thought as a subject of intellectual value. However, experiencing the ups and downs of the Sri Lankan political arena and seeing some parallels between politics and corporate world, I decided to put some thoughts to pen. Perhaps it may make some sense and provoke some like minders to share their perspective of the subject matter.
historian and moralist, who was otherwise known simply as Lord Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887:
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” ( Source : http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely.html)

History has proved repeatedly that power has corrupted good men. ( Women are of no exception) and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is no need to bring in elaborate examples and citations. Each of you will remember or know enough examples from your little corners of the world.

Science of Corruption
It is worth trying to understand why power corrupts and why good people fall victim to this no matter what. It is all to do with two factors in my opinion. Firstly, the psychological factors that surrounds the power and what you can do with it. The second is a people factor and it is one that is complex to navigate and understand but sometimes so obvious.

The chemicals and the psyche – Let’s take the first things first. With so much power at one’s disposal, the individual tend to achieve a higher degree of confidence, self-esteem and self-belief that they can do difficult tasks and perform better at their job. Due to position and power, works get done anyway and that boost the confidence levels, self-confidence and self-belief. When this cycle happens several times over, it can tremendously boost the ego of a person. Make them believe they can take tougher challenges, do things that others dare not attempt and become bolder in their actions. You see this in gamblers very often, with each win, they increase the stakes and take a higher risk. Higher the risk, greater the reward and so will be the psychological “boost”. You see this in Sports persons and thrill seekers. Also known as adrenaline junkies and you see this in some of the world famous business leaders who take into unconventional business or turns business models on their head and become successful celebrities. But why do they do it?
We are made to believe that these people chase an adrenaline rush and they are seeking this to get a satisfaction. Well that is not the whole truth. It is all to do with a hormone called Endorphin. Endorphins are the body’s natural opiates, designed to relieve stress and enhance pleasure. When you engage in certain activities, the chemicals in the brain release this hormone and it makes you feel happy. In each of us the neuron systems are slightly different and our brain connections are quite different. As a result, the level of endorphin release varies from one activity to another in each individual. For example, for some people a simple task such as laughing can release a significant level of endorphin that makes that person very happy. So much so, they keep looking for opportunities to laugh. The same applies to a skydiver or a base jumper who is constantly looking at getting that feeling of happiness, the endorphin induced moment of ecstasy. For some it is love making, having passionate sex, for some it could be eating chocolates, it could be having a hearty gossip, exercising, cycling or running a five kilometer distance in 30 minutes or less. It could also be running a business, a country or playing “God” with the power in their hands. Some of us get addicted to this and look for bigger and better opportunities to be happy.
When you are running a business, public office or when you are the leader of a government, the constant cycle of endorphin driven actions combined with the absolute power – keeps boosting your ego. You sometimes look larger than life to others. Quite naturally, due to power, others tend to rally around you. You soon get into the illusion that you are a “Great Person” you are a ‘fantastic individual’ and you feel like a celebrity. That will certainly boost the ego, self-esteem, self-confidence in several magnitudes that at one point, you may start to think that you are the “Greatest gift to the man kind” and that my friends is where you reach the point of no-return.

 

 The people we can’t do without – When you are wielding that power and orbiting around the earth with your ego boosted rockets, there will be many people who will rally around you. Often you like their company and you always look for them as they make you feel comfortable and fuel your ego boosters further. You never would want to question their motives, their true intentions or test their real loyalty. For you, they are your best buddies, your most confident team, your trusted advisors and sometimes you call them “your family”. Most of them are around you because of one thing. That is your power. With connections to you, they have access to your power. They will use this power to move things for you, get work done for you and in the process, a little help for themselves, their friends and family. “Well, what’s wrong with that?” you will think as they are all good people. Just like you. Doing good for the others.

But the reality can be far from this. People can and will abuse power. They will need more and more of your power to get things done and oil the wheels of the system that cultivates a climate of corruption and abuse. You will continue to depend on these people because for you, they are your most “trusted”. They will feed you the information you want to hear. They will soon set up filters and shield you from what is really going on, making you feel that you are doing the right actions and making the correct decisions. When you make the wrong decisions and ask their opinion, they may not choose to fault with you. They will tend to agree with you, making you feel that you are indeed doing the right thing. You will make mistakes; they will tell you your actions are correct. You will make the wrong decisions, they will tell you that you have made a wise choice. You will commit crime, they will help justify why it should be done and make you a hero. Friends, this is where you reach the point of no-return.

However noble and pure your intentions are, however honest and truthful you are, absolute power can corrupt you and it is not your fault. You are a victim of the circumstances. I called this as the “SYSTEM”
The SYSTEM is all around us. In our corporate world, in our professional associations, within our family units, within our rural communities, within our world leaders. We have witness leaders rise and fall. We have witness business boom and go bust. We have seen families rise and fall. This happens day in, day out.
If you ask me how do we beat this? My answer is that I don’t know. Perhaps it is a topic for a discussion and debate. I have some suggestions, but it is a subject matter for a future blog. Thanks for reading with patience.