Desicritics Category: BizTech: Management

America's Healthcare Crisis, Part II - Physician, Heal Thy Profession

Ashoka Chakra — Sat, 7 Mar 2009 10:04:35 EST

Physician, heal thyself.

One bright sunny day two decades ago, I stood rather nervously in an examination room, taking an oral examination in order to graduate from medical school. The examiner stood a few feet from me and with a curtly nod summoned a patient. The patient shuffled in and the examiner observed his watch. After thirty seconds, he nodded again, and the patient shuffled out. The examiner turned towards me. “Your diagnosis, doctor?”

That was a different era, an era where physicians were scientists, trained observers and good listeners. It was an era when physicians spent time with patients. How times have changed.

In thirty seconds, I observed that the patient’s right shoulder drooped, he took shallow quick breaths, and that he was rather emaciated. Pulmonary insufficiency afflicting the right lung, secondary to either tuberculosis or cancer was my diagnosis and I passed. I was able to make that diagnosis because I had been taught the importance of taking a good history and performing a thorough physical examination. By the time of graduation, those skills had been mastered. Though the two can be time consuming, they are a lot more cost effective than modern tests. But more importantly, they establish a rapport between physician and patient that is priceless.

These days, physicians spend less than 5 minutes with a patient and move on after ordering myriad laboratory or radiology tests. The art of a differential diagnosis that required options to be carefully vetted has been lost to batteries of expensive tests. How many patients can attest to their physicians having spent time with them, and lent a sympathetic ear? Sadly, centuries old sacrosanct trust that existed between patients and physicians has been relegated to history books. A physician is not looked upon as a knowledgeable family friend but as a glorified laboratory technician out to make a bundle.

The mentality of conducting tests rather than dealing with patients directly contributes to the health care crisis. In my last op-ed, I had mentioned that it took a CAT scan to identify my neighbor’s neck mass, something that any physician worth his/her salt should have identified from across the room. If such tests are to replace the eye, is it any wonder that medical expenses have sky rocketed? A gastroenterologist I know brags that he does not even touch a patient any more. He sends them straight for radiological imaging or endoscopy. Since he spends less time per patient, he can see many more patients a day, enhancing his income considerably. Unfortunately patients fall for this, assuming that more tests are better. While directed tests to prove a diagnosis are very understandable, testing simply to replace the process of diagnosis process is very wasteful.

Physicians argue that the legal atmosphere or patient pressure forces them to perform myriad tests. While both arguments are true to some degree, physicians must ask themselves who ultimately dictates standard of care.

The standard of care is not limited to diagnosis. Therapy is perhaps a more important component – after all, the increase in life expectancy over the past five decades is due largely to life saving drugs developed by the pharmaceutical industry. However, despite our appreciation for the pharmaceutical / biotechnology companies and their products, we should also keep in mind that they are responsible for the largest increase in health care costs. In this area, physicians can do a lot to curtail runaway prices. An example would be prescribing generic drugs instead of brand name ones. It is wrongly assumed that generic drugs are somehow inferior to brand name drugs. Generics have to prove their safety and equivalence to branded drugs before the FDA approves them and there is no reason to prescribe expensive brand names while cheaper alternatives are available.

My last comment is to exhort physicians to take back the practice of medicine. To take it back to an era where physicians were respected and the profession was an honored one. To take it back from bureaucrats, lawyers, and insurance company executives whose short term vision is dangerous to patients and the field of medicine. In short, physician, heal thy profession.

An Open Letter To Arindam Chaudhuri

Hardik Ruparel — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:11:56 EST

//Post updated 02/02/09

Dear Arindam,

You seem to have posted a rather audacious and untrue blog post about the movie Slumdog Millionaire. I agree, you said what you had in your little mind. Now I'll say what I have in mine.

You had the audacity to publish that ridiculous blog post as your paid advertisement in the newspaper. As if anyone reads it. I'm not too concerned about that. I'm just concerned where your corporate attitude is taking you. So, I've devised a plan for you to get back your life on track, or as the Pope would say, Rid You of Your Sins...

1) Sort out the Unfair Trade Practises charge against your nursery school, if you haven't already. ( Chill man..Just read it off the news online.)

Also check this bit on MRTPC's directive to probe these claims.

2) Pay your taxes dude ! The Tax Evasion charges don't look so great on your already sucky IIPM's brochure. Check this. Also this

3) Stop suing people who want to spread the truth. As long as Rashmi Bansal has the government on her side, she has nothing to worry about. Neither does Gaurav Sabnis

And don't even think about suing me. All the claims I've made have already been made by by the press and the Indian government. For simplicity, I've included them so you don't have to waste your time on the news websites. As far as my opinions are concerned, well those are entirely my own and you can't do anything about it.

4) Read the page IIPM Controversies on Wikipedia. Try editing it and I'll edit it back. Fun game eh?

5) Stop criticizing movies like Slumdog Millionaire. They're excellent.

Elaborating on the last point, I have many things on my mind..

Firstly, Indian directors have made such good movies. Rang De Basanti? Lagaan? And they've been equally well received by critics and appropriate credit has been given to the movie makers. So don't blame others if you only watch chick flicks.

You say the film doesn't have sincerity and honesty. Well, we all know how honest you are. The movie's honesty is quite clear. For people like you fed with a golden spoon in your mouth, it may require you to watch it some 20 times before you see it

And you're so bothered about India being portrayed as a third world country with slums and slumdogs? Well, we do have all that. And much worse. People keep talking about terrorism. But leave the terrorists alone. The real terrorism is in the poverty stricken India. The terrorists are doing their job just fine. People like you aren't. You just want to get richer. Accept that or nobody will ever respect you.

Then you say the movie shows slums, open-air lavatories, riots, underworld, prostitution, brothels, child labour, begging, blinding and maiming of kids to make them into ‘better beggars’, petty peddlers, traffic jams, irresponsible call centre executives…

But again, these are India's assets! Not really the ones we're proud of, but India wouldn't be India if it weren't for all these. Accept your country for what it is.

It's true, the movie has a Dark side about it, but again why do Indians always want happy movies. Accept the movie for what it is. It's a drama. Not a documentary. Stop making up bullshit and drilling people's minds with it.

I guess I could rant on about your antics but I wouldn't want to waste any more of my time on this topic.

Yours,

Hardik Ruparel

Satyam Board Dissolved, Peer Review Audit Of Nifty Stocks Ordered

Aaman Lamba — Fri, 9 Jan 2009 11:21:08 EST

The implosion of a good company gathered pace today when the Indian government announced the dissolution of the rump board that existed following the resignations of the independent directors and the Chairman and Managing Director of Satyam Computers. Acting through the Company Law Board, the government effectively nationalized the company and announced it would constitute a new 10-member board of independent directors within seven days consisting of "people of repute and dignity". Soon after, ex-Chairman Ramlinga Raju surrendered before the Andhra Pradesh police, after being untraceable for two days.

The material losses that appear to have been sustained by shareholders and the doubt over the accuracy of the auditing performed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers moved the SEBI chairman to announce that they would be asking all Nifty companies and other selected ones to submit their working books to a different auditor for a peer review. This unprecendented step might expose additional skeletons in the closet of various companies, but will go a long way in demonstrating the assertiveness and efficacy of India's regulators and government bodies.

Continuing with its penchant for rumor and provocative news reportage, the mainstream media floated a report today about Satyam announcing a two month hiatus of pay for its employees. This was rapidly debunked by employees, who indicated this was a misrepresentation of an internal employee discussion about sacrificing some pay, up to two months worth, to save the company they had built together.

Additional ambiguity was sought to be created in the misreading of the Infosys announcement that it would not poach employees or clients from the beleaguered Satyam into a statement that the employees were somehow un-employable.

The Indian government is dealing with a welter of issues all at once, and appears to be rising to the challenge, ending the petroleum officers' strike, besides superceding the Satyam board. This new economic order, with an assertive government acting fast and a big broom sweeping clean the excesses of the past, is a refreshing change, and might see an uptick in world perception about India's lethargic State.

The world economic situation continued to worsen, with United States job losses rising to 524,000, with an annualized drop of 7.2%, the highest since the end of World War II.

As the year progresses, it is already evident that this will be a year of many surprises, and things will only get darker before any glimmer of hope is seen. The rejuvenated expansion of the State might help stem the rising tide of economic fear, but this might come at the cost of free markets, which have their own way of working things out.

Risk Manager Role With Afghanistan International Bank

Dr Bhaskar Dasgupta — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 00:45:09 EST

Sometime in the dim and distant past, I had registered myself with an India based job site. This was when my father was ill, and I was considering moving back to India. Anyway, I had forgotten all about it, till today when this email landed in my inbox.

Post Title: Risk Manager
Organization: Afghanistan International Bank
Location: Kabul - Afghanistan
Duration: Permanent
No. of Post: 1
Sex: Any
Nationality Any
Salary: 4000 US $ p.m.+ accommodation + travel+ other benefits.
Background: Afghanistan International Bank (AIB), a commercial bank incorporated in Afghanistan and managed according to international best practices is looking for an experienced Risk Manager for its Head Office in Kabul.
Job Summary: Overall Job Purpose:
Due to rapid expansions of its business and operations the banking is looking for a Risk Manager. The position allows the successful candidate to be part of the senior management team of the bank and play a major role in its continued development.
The successful candidate will be expected to build a risk monitoring systems complying with Basel II requirements thus additional experience in market and operational risk management will be a distinct advantage.
Priority will be placed on credit management and the successful candidate will have had experience in:
1. â€¢ Credit Policies & Procedures
a. Credit policy, review and development
b. Acquisition or development of decision support tools for commercial and retail credit
c. Risk rating framework review
d. Underwriting standards development
2. â€¢ Risk Asset Review
a. Review of individual credit risk ratings
b. Credit quality assessments
3. â€¢ Portfolio Management Unit
a. Profitability and risk analysis
b. Pricing policy
c. Develop predictive dynamic monitoring
Qualification â€¢ Master degree
â€¢ Minimum 10 years experience directly related to risk management where at least 5 years in senior risk management capacity.
â€¢ Fully functional in monitoring of documentation, portfolios & exposure limits of the bank.
â€¢ Excellent analytical, creativity and problem solving skills.
â€¢ Posses good presentation and organizational skills.
Interested candidates can send their CVs with recent photo to this address:

Few thoughts crossed my mind.

The package is a bit low for what is a hardship posting for international bankers, so I am curious to know why would they have selected that compensation level.
Its an interesting job all right, but very ambitious. Candidates for this role with the required background and experience will be relatively few globally.
But it is good to read that they are aggressive, and I wish them luck with their hiring.
I researched the bank on the net and I was not really that comfortable to see that the address of the bank related to some house. Here is the address: House no. 1608 Behind Amani High School Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul. Reminded me of the addresses I would see in the tiny lanes old Bhopal.
One of the unsung success stories in Afghanistan is the steady development of the banking system. Considering that the Mullah's had effectively eviscerated the banking system, in a matter of 5 months, they have passed a series of banking laws, have presence of many international and local incorporated banks, got some good governmental backing from the Ministry of Finance.
Here is an interesting Afghan review report for the IMF. Gives you hope, no? and no, I am not suffering from the curse of low expectations. Give the country a break, it is starting from near zero.

I further quote some numbers on how Afghanistan has progressed since 2001 from this speech. (even though the verbiage could be a bit optimistic and is after all, coming from a US State Department Employee, the figures, even if adjusted, are noteworthy).

Reconstruction and development work remains on track in most of the country and the Afghan economy continues to grow at impressive rates, with licit Gross Domestic Product more than doubling since 2002. Thanks in large part to our colleagues in the U.S. Government, the lives of millions of Afghans have improved considerably: In 2001, just 8 percent of Afghans had access to some form of healthcare; now, more than 80 percent of the population has access to medical care. Almost 11,000 medical professionals have been trained. More than 680 hospitals and clinics have been built and outfitted. For the first time in 10 years, the grain harvest was sufficient to meet consumption needs inside Afghanistan. In 2001, 900,000 children – mostly boys – were enrolled in school; now, there are more than 5 million and more than 1.5 million of these (34%) are girls and young women. Since 2001, there has been a 22 percent decline in mortality rates for infants and children under 5 years of age – we are saving 85,000 more young lives every year. Two years ago only 35 percent of children were being inoculated against the polio virus. Now more than 70 percent of the population – including 7 million children – are inoculated. In 2001, there was a dysfunctional banking system. Now, Afghanistan has a functioning Central Bank with more than 30 regional branches and an internationally-traded currency. There are now 3 mobile telephone companies serving over 3.5 million subscribers – this is almost 11 percent of the population. In 2001, there were 50 kilometers of paved roadway in the country, now there are more than 4000 kilometers of paved roads.

The main thing which struck me was the sheer banality and normality of this advertisement. A very small thing, but something which gave confidence to me that Afghanistan is improving little by little, despite all the gruesome news coming out of Afghanistan and all the efforts by the Taliban to drag that benighted country back into the medieval ages. Sometimes, its good to see the good side of the story as well. I can only wish the country the best of luck and here's hoping that the Taliban are defeated. And if it keeps on hiring professionals of the type in the advertisement, it can only get better.

PS: then I read something like this and feel very depressed.

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan,Banking,Risk Management

Disjointed Questions on the Bombay Blasts and Its Aftermath

Kim — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:11:12 EST

Being in a distant country while Bombay is under siege, is nerve wracking at best.

My first long stay in Bombay was for my first job, with MBA degree in hand. The first weekend trip we took together as Management trainees was a local train ride from Andheri to South Bombay. We caught up with other batchmates in town for a movie at Metro Cinema and headed over to Cafe Mondegar for a drink and later carried onto Cafe Leopold because we had heard so much about these Bombay favourites. We then walked over to the Gateway of India and gazed at the iconic Taj Palace and towers. Gathering courage we felt we could project enough confidence to walk in and use their washrooms, which we managed.

Since this was the late 90's, B-School salaries weren't as astronomical as they were at the turn of the millennium and we obviously couldn't afford to eat in there, so we headed over to Bademiyan's for more affordable fare.

All these locations were under the media spotlight for the last 48 hours, for reasons one would never have dreamed about.

Personally, this attack was very hard hitting because of the sheer numbers of family and friends who live in the area, who were working late in the area, or were eating in the area after work. As is usual after every such attack in India, we started calling and smsing, then emailing and scrapping (when the phone lines were jammed and over loaded) and everyone we knew in the location to check on their status. This time it was a much, much longer list of people we were checking on.

Some were barricaded inside their houses and offices in the area while their lifts were shut down and they were advised not to leave the premises. Many spent that first night in the office while the rest of us helplessly spent the night hoping and praying for their safety and that the violence wouldn't spread to the surrounding buildings.

We stayed glued to the television and kept refreshing news sites on our computer screen and anxiously followed the sequence of events. Coherent thought was not easy and plenty of questions and inconsistencies kept popping up in my mind.

First of all: kudos to our NSG, army, hotel staff and police for their heroic efforts.

Why/How did this happen:

Intelligence failure is something the foreign media has been harping about in relation to these attacks, but as someone else mentioned: weren't 9/11 and the London Subway attacks, intelligence failures too.

Could we have done anything more to secure the locations?

How many locations will you secure? We have a country of a billion+ citizens, so I don't think it is about securing locations. Terrorists target any and every location. The only way every place can be secured is if citizens take responsibility of being aware of their surroundings and people around them.

We need to stop cribbing about and finding innovative ways to avoid security measures at malls, cinema halls etc. They are there for our security.

Our government should focus on stemming the problem at its roots: training camps, poverty, education, unemployment.

The terrorists were armed with AK47's while a lot of the police and railway police were equipped with nothing more than a lathi. Do they even stand a chance?

Why were 3 top cops traveling in the same vehicle?

Rescue efforts:

The staff at the hotels responded admirably and heroically. Some even lost their own lives while saving the guests. I am not sure if they receive training drills for terrorist situations, but they did their best.

Politicians have no business being anywhere in the area when such situations are ongoing. Having them around, means that security and armed forces are forced to divert their attention to the "security of the politician"

What business did Gopinath Munde have to be at the Nariman House today?
Same problem when they visit hospitals were the wounded are taken. Doctors and nurses are forced to stop tending to their patients and clear the area so the politician and their entourage of news crews and security personnel royally stroll through the area and promise tax payer funds (other peoples money) as remuneration.

Media:

While NDTV was the most restrained of the lot, our media still behaved as irresponsibly as always.

People whose family members were stuck inside, is it fair to thrust microphones at their faces and ask them how they are feeling?

Rescued people being brought out of the hotel after a horrifying ordeal, is it fair to thrust microphones at their faces and ask them how they are feeling?

While Right to Information is a wonderful act, some lines should be drawn when it comes to National Security. Broadcasting the immediate moves of the security forces, dissecting their rescue maneuvers, having ex army personnel describe helicopter rescue operations in detail - this only gives more intelligence to the terrorists holed up inside who could be in contact with anyone with a cable connection outside the location, even if cable connection at the hotels had been cut off.

Broadcasting false reports of the operation being over when it isn't because they see a thumbs-up being exchanged between two NSG personnel.

We need an appointed official spokesperson who is the only authority allowed to speak to the media when an operation is ongoing. This person needs to receive reports from all relevant sources and be advised on what news can be released and what cannot. Press should only be allowed at this location and not crawling around the affected area causing more security hazards or getting caught in the cross fire. This should give controlled information and hopefully control the rumour-mongering too.

If the press are controlled in one location, it will also prevent the crowds who were at the locations today not to show solidarity or out of concern but were there for the sole reason of getting their face on camera. (This is a reality in India)

Role of Politicians:

They haven't done anything to prevent the situation, they should stay away from the situation as mentioned above.

Where has the champion of Bombay, Mr Raj Thackeray disappeared to? Which safe location is he hiding in?

Our Home Minister was ineffectual as always. Surprisingly, our Prime Ministers speech didn't induce confidence either.

Politicians need to rise above their petty politics of deciding whether to hold a bundh on December 1st or not.

They should instead be visiting the homes of the brave security personnel who lost their lives and appreciating the efforts of their husbands, sons and fathers (not to be sexist, but no female personnel casualty has been reported yet in this case) who lost their lives in the service of the country. This is one of the few useful things that they can do at this point of time.

I also pray that they do not use this attack to further communalize our country for their own vote bank politics.

Future Action:

It may seem insensitive to say this at this point, but as a country we should take advantage of the terrorists targeting Americans, British and Israeli citizens.
The US previously tried to restrain India when they spoke about retaliation after the parliament attacks.

This is the right opportunity to use this joint sentiment against these terrorists to take a stand and launch a forceful offensive against terrorist camps targeting India.
Use the Israeli intelligence and their expertise to stem the flow of terrorists into India and destroy their their training camps.

We need a single security network that is pan-country, not disjointed co-ordination between multiple agencies.

We need to make our country safe again. Where people do not flinch at a loud sound, where people do not have to think twice before leaving their houses to catch a train, shop for groceries or watch a movie. We need to feel safe. It is our right as citizens.

Book Review: Hacking VoIP

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:37:48 EST

In a concise two hundred and eleven pages the author has attempted to cover the protocols, security threats and their countermeasures, audit issues related to Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP). As outlined in the beginning of the book, the audience is the VoIP administrators and other related IT personnel tackling the nitty-gritties of implementation and day-to-day functioning VoIP in an enterprise network.

With a clear primary goal of discussing security exposures and their possible solutions, the book does a good job as it takes through a security specific discussion and labs on signaling via SIP(Session Initiation Protocol) and H.323. There are also discussions on security issues related to media layer as implemented via Real-time transport protocol and security issues for both signaling and media in Inter-Asterix eXchange(IAX).

Some of the interesting topics in the book also include exploiting weaknesses in SNMP utilizing a tool such as GetIf and making free calls using VoIPBuster. The book ends with the topics on countermeasures and audit portions. Major approach presented is the ability to provide security at both the session and media layer.

With a focused audience and a clear goal, the book does justice for a technology moving towards maturity even as it finds a growing acceptance in the enterprise. Only one suggestion can be to include some more developments, solutions and techniques still not implemented in enterprise networks but having good scope.

Book Review: Nagios - 2nd Edition

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:52:39 EST

The book comes across as a wonderful companion for utilizing Nagios- an open source system and network monitoring tool. There are twenty six chapters covering a lot of depth and variety with respect to Nagios.

There are five main sections in the book, viz. Source code to a running installation, In more detail,The web interface and other ways to visualize Nagios data, Special applications and Development. Some of the more unusual topics worth mentioning is the configuration for external notification via SMS and via email, monitoring room temperature and humidity, monitoring SAP systems via plug-in check_sap.sh and via SAP's own monitoring system CCMS and monitoring oracle database with oracle instant client.

The chapters are very concise and readable especially for the system, network or other infrastructure administrator already hard-pressed for time. One of the important facets of this book is that although there is an attempt to present the useful information, it also motivates the reader to go further and explore based on the suggestions and hints that is provided in the book.

To summarize, a highly recommended book for interesting and very useful topics in present-day IT infrastructure.

Expansion of IIMs - Credibility At Stake

Moid — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:16:51 EDT

Of late, we have been hearing a lot about government's vote-bank politics entering into the education domain as well... an area which was hitherto left to the scholarly and the academia to sort out.

First came the shocker about the IIT cut-offs which are bound to ensure that an applicant with absolutely no sense of physics would still get into IITs with some remarkable performance in Math and Chemistry... while his classmate who was in the top rung of the class with a balanced and excellent performance in all 3 subjects will still not make it to IIT.

This news was only a precursor of things to come... everyone knew that the other schools of repute would not remain untouched... and so here came the R C Bhargava Committee Report on the IIMs... I understand that there are some very pertinent issues that have been addressed in this report which is always a good thing but then... the mediocre polity also has reared its ugly head in there. The vote bank politics again in play... increasing the number of IIMs and increasing the student intake @ IIMs.

However, being an IIM graduate myself and having experienced the educational system prevalent in the IIMs, I have serious reservations against the recommendation of expanding IIMs... personally, I've myself seen the value eroding through the years with increase in intake. One must understand that IIMs draw their credibility partly from the exclusivity... an eliteness that they bring to the corporate world.

And this "value" that the global economy sees in IIM graduates can erode very easily through this expansion for the following reasons:
1. Skewing up of the faculty-student ratio... we have to accept the fact that we cannot find additional faculty (qualified and experienced) to manage the increase in student intake... so even if we end up with more participants in the program, there wouldn't be any good faculty to teach
2. The lower you go in the merit list to pick candidates for admission, the lower goes the quality of the program participants. And I have seen this happening with the recent batches... the same as what is happening to IITs right now
3. One bad fish can dirty the entire pond... so is the risk that IIM graduates carry. One IIM graduate not being able to deliver adequate value to the industry would tantamount to IIM graduates in general losing their credibility... and that is what happens when lower caliber applicants also make it to the business school... this will be the death-knell... the value eroded would never be reclaimable.

I think a better alternative would be to create new management institutions (non-IIMs) on the lines of NITs in the under-grad domain but keep the IIMs distinctive and untouched. Plus the second issue of governance... should again be kept autonomous for the IIMs... I think that is one of the key factors that have kept the IIMs to maintain the leadership in the industry.

The American Financial Crisis -- Dejà vu?

Moid — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 15:03:45 EDT

No sooner did signs of the crisis dawn upon the "market makers", the blame game started, and with more signs of an economic depression, the game only got messier. However, being a market outsider, if you ask me... who is really at fault, I would say that it is neither the Investment Banks nor the Financial Lending Institutions nor the Federal Government nor the average American nor the global citizen. WTH??? Who would it be then? The Aliens?

Nope, it is a vicious circle and all players in the market are to blame... collectively. So, what we see today as the crisis is a result of the greed and gambling of the investors (through I-Banks), lending institutions, borrowers (the average American) and not the least, the US Federal Government. The lending institutions created the environment. The investors took the bait with some help from the I-Banks - the average American saw his long-term dreams getting fulfilled, and the government decided to keep quiet and not even look their way.

This is precisely what in theory was defined as "neo-liberalism" - a concept which eliminates government regulation and oversight under the pretext of a free market economy with minimum federal intervention. Not that, this phenomenon took roots under the present US regime - it has been followed since the Nixon days but then Bush took it too far.

This economic crisis began in the real estate sector and spread its tentacles to the financial sector which was being its god-father. However, the cycle is not gonna stop there. In my judgment, these problems are gonna percolate into the actual economy - which will then break the insulation for every global citizen. And if u ask me, will the famous seven-o-o bailout stem the tide? NO! not at all. I think it is just trying to push the waste under the carpet.

So, for us as common middle-class people - what happens to our lives?

1. CAREER
Somewhere or the other, the uncertainty in our careers is gonna go up... either by our industry of work directly facing the ire of the crisis or pushing up job seekers in our sectors which are still insulated or worse still pushing the salaries down.

2. PERSONAL INVESTMENT
This is surely gonna be a big mess - after all, even a LN Mittal with his hawk advisers couldn't avoid 16Bn USD getting wiped off his balance sheet. It is high time you evaluate your investment - and best, if you can divert it into a low-risk, low-return bank deposit. However, one question worth asking the US Feds is... who will pay us for the loss we have incurred by investing in the stock markets for no fault of ours? I know what answer you will get - IGNORANCE / at best SILENCE.

3. FAMILY LIFE

The biggest lesson for us is to not rely on "fake" liquidity and always plan our lives based on the "real" liquidity we possess. This reminds me of my dad's advice when I joined IIM - and many banks realizing our future earning potential ran to us offering credit cards and loans - he said one thing, "Never fall into the trap of credit cards. It is not free money which you can use without any accountability. So better pay with what you have in your hand". I did heed his advice albeit having a couple of credit cards years later, but just to manage online transactions. Nevertheless, I would give the same advice to all - avoid credit cards as much as you can and also try to plan your asset acquisitions (house, car, etc.) based on what you can afford and not based on speculation.

As for the US economy, it is in a very dangerous situation - with no disclosure, no oversight, no transparency. The suspicion levels are so high that even a bailout approval couldn't keep the markets from falling. Because, behind the big facade of the financial sector is the real American economy which has been the lifeline for the financial sector and that itself is now reeling in pain.

Book Review: The Ten Commandments for Business Failure

Aaman Lamba — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:49:58 EDT

In this time of failing corporate giants, it feels appropriate to review a slim cautionary book called The Ten Commandments for Business Failure, written by the President of a company who has survived quite well so far. Donald Keough was former president of the Coca-Cola Company, and provides us an invaluable how-not-to guide, bolstered by a foreword by Warren Buffett, and reccomendations from the likes of Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, and Jack Welch.

As Warren Buffett puts it in the foreword, Mr. Keough is a human personification of the Coca-Cola Company, in all its multi-dimensionality, and has an ability to 'cut to the chase on an issue' and keeps his prescriptions simple, grounded in deep experience, and it is interesting to see how many of the dicta in this book were ignored or outright flouted by recent large failed corporations.

The very first commandment, 'top of the list' as it were, is 'Quit Taking Risks'. This might seem obvious, but as the examples of Xerox and many other giants shows, often enough, the companies that get complacent and believe themselves to be secure in their business model, stop trying to rock the boat, take risks, and bet the farm on the anti-thesis of their core ideas. This was illustrated efectively by Clayton Christansen in The Innovator's Dilemma, and more recently we have seen all the Indian IT Service majors continue to propagate their low-cost services model, venturing only marginally into alternative business models, purely because the current ones have served them well for so long.

The second commandment, "Be Inflexible" is an even more powerful mechanism for ensuring failure. The resitance of the auto industry to shed existing product lines has meant their return to near-bankruptcy. Other classic examples of inflexibility are the IBM PC, Digital Corporation, and as Mr. Keough acknowledges, Coca-Cola's own inability to move beyond the iconic bottle for years, losing market share to Pepsico. The movie industry's avoidance of television for a long time, and more recently, the music industry's Internet blind spot, are compelling examples of the power of inflexibility to destroy an industry's market positioning and value.

"Isolate Yourself" is equally effective, creating a culture where bringing good news is rewarded, and bearers of bad news excoriated. This ivory tower syndrome was observed most recently in the case of Dick Fuld, CEO of Lehman Brothers, who refused to see reason and sell out when he could have got at least a meaningful value for his firm, instead of pennies on the dollar, which will go to creditors rather than the stakeholders. Bringing bad news early is an invaluable skill that advisors must cultivate, and CEOs/leaders reward. The supporting corollaries to this rule are to only listen to those who agree with you, and take all the limelight for successes. As Mr. Keough puts it, "Watch out for bright lights who surround themselves with dim bulbs!"

"Assume Infallibility" means passing the blame for failure, typically on subordinates, but even more effectively on customers - after all, the boss is always right:) A grand alternative is Warren Buffett, who, as Mr. Keough notes, provides a full accounting of successes and failures in his annual letter to his shareholders, as opposed to CEOs who make their annual report 'an exercise in fingerpointing'.

The next commandment builds on the previous, "Play Close to the Foul Line", by highlighting the assumption that since one can do no wrong, whatever one does, no matter how gray, must be right. This enables effortless flouting of ethical boundaries to achieve one's goals, such as when loans were disbursed to people who patently did not qualify for them, leading, in part, to the subprime crisis. N R Narayana Murthy, the iconic founder of Infosys, is fond of saying that the softest pillow is a clear conscience, a dictum that might be the exact opposite of this one. The American International Group failure could be attributed to some extent to the rampant accounting irregularities in the 2000s, inculculated by then-CEO, Hank Greenberg. Mr. Keough notes the pressure for short term results at the cost of longer term perspectives, or outright fudging of earnings, as a pertinent example of 'playing close to the foul line'.

"Don't Take Time to Think" is another easy path to follow in the frenetic data-driven business stream. The author looks at the costs of such an attitude to business, from the Human Toll to the masking of reality, to finally the dangers and foolishness of not taking time to think about consequences. The volumes of data flowing through the corporate ecosystem do not necessarily contribute to more accurate decision making, and can cause leaders to overlook critical insights.

"Put All Your Faith In Experts and Outside Consultants" is a caution against the millions of con artists who have their own companies' interests ahead of your own. The compelling example used by Mr. Keough is that of New Coke, where the company made a famous and costly misstep, finding out before the Internet-driven meme age the costs of taking the word of consultants to switch the core product that consumers were used to. He notes research that shows 'experts' were 80% confident about their predictions, yet right only 45% of the time. As the old saying goes, we don't know which half was right. Statistics, that favorite tool of the marketer and consultant are counterpoised by the observation of the classical economist Ludwig von Mises, a personal icon, where he said "Statistical figures tell us what happened in a nonrepeatable histocical case."

The author segues into another, perhaps more dangerous constituency than external consultants - the bureaucracy in the organization. He recalls Jack Welch's final letter to General Electric stockholders, where he noted "Hate the bureaucracy in your organization" to coin the counter-intuitive commandment "Love Your Bureaucracy". The support systems and middle managers often enough become obsessed with micro-managing, sustaining their internal power centers, and perpetuating the rituals of their functions. He illustrates how these 'choke points' often become primary causes of attrition, and worse, stifle the company culture, leading to atrophied superstructures of busy workers producing little output.

"Sending Mixed Messages" is an extremely common phenomenon, almost inevitable in large organizations. An interesting example is sending the mixed message "It doesn't matter what you do, you will be rewarded". When a company harps on excellent customer service and delivers piss-poor service through multiple channels, it is sending the worst mixed message possible - that they don't care about their customers. Similarly, the same company, say Coca-Cola, is marketed in different geographies as a low margin, high volume product and at the same time as a high value product in others. A positive example touched on briefly in the book is that of IBM - its shift from a closed organization to an open, customer-friendly society is worth considering, in part, because it entailed the elimination of mixed messages and bringing a consistency to the entire global company on how they approached and engaged with customers.

Finally, "Be Afraid of the Future" is the anti-thesis of "Quit Taking Risks". This refers to the creeping malaise of pessimism that envelops organizations particularly successful ones. Fear-mongering and focusing on failure becomes the norm, leading to decision paralysis and demoralizing the organization.

A hidden eleventh commandment adds a final spice to these recipes for failure. "Lose Your Passion For Work - And Life". This essay goes into more mystical territory, dealing with notions of self-esteem, presentation, and making an emotional connection with one's work and life pursuits. The analogy of any food tasting better in a McDonald's box is an apt one, and tapping into the emotional aspirations of one's people is the critical factor in organizational or individual success.

This slim book is eminently readable and works best if the nuggets are mapped to one's own perspective and experiences. It should come with a handy flash card of commandments of failure. Surprisingly, they work more effectively when worded the way they are rather than in the positive sense.