Bay Area and India

Excerpt from my talk at the panel discussion organized by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute ; held at The Commonwealth Club, San Francisco on Nov 23^rd, 2009

I want to take this opportunity to thank Bay Area Council Economic Institute for coming out with the new report – Global Reach, that captures the deep relationship between San Francisco Bay Area and India. Having been in this region for 12 years, I can tell you that I have not come across any company who does not currently have  a presence or relationship in India, or is not thinking about having a direct or indirect presence in India, or does not want to do business in India because of its fast upcoming economic status ; so in essence a+b+c = the universe of all the companies, enterprises and organizations in this region. This simple fact is the most unique and fascinating aspect of the relationship between India and Bay Area. No wonder the relationship continues to thrive. 

The Global Reach report is a timely release,  as it not only captures the interesting insight of the genesis of the relationship starting from 1850 onwards, but also provides the way forward in the global ties. What started as an agricultural relationship took over 125 years to move to education and knowledge based connect when students from India joined the local universities. 

The last ten years have really catapulted the global ties between India and the Bay Area to a different orbit – which is multidimensional. While the start and foundation of this is certainly driven by the engineering talent and maturity that’s been leveraged by several bay area companies, the emerging economy of India and rapidly growing consumer segment provides a phenomenal opportunity for the local companies to expand their global market presence as well. 

Bay Area enjoys a very special and privileged relationship with India that revolves around the engineering prowess that India has delivered. Engineered in India is a philosophy, is a way of life that provides competitive edge to almost all the bay area companies. The connect, the ties, the relationship has moved several notches in the last decade, starting from low cost service provider to now becoming a strategic partner, owning full product development through shared innovation and business model.

Engineering is core to India,  Innovation is what drives the valley and this powerful combination has sparked the global ties through a special bond that’s grown rapidly over the last ten years. In the next decade the current level of engineering services to be delivered from India will increase 4 to 5 times to what its today. It will increase to $ 40 – 50 Billion from less than $ 10 Billion today. While the initial platform was built by industry segments like Telecom, Semiconductor, Software and Computing etc., the next wave of growth will bring in several new segments like Clean Tech, Bio Tech, Energy, Infrastructure, Aero, Auto, Medical Devices, Consumer and more. The 300K engineers that will graduate from India in 2009 is twice the numbers of engineering that graduated in 2004. The supply side from India and the demand environment to compete in the global market for the SFO-Bay Area companies are the critical part of the collaboration.

Over the last 3 years, the complexity of product development work being done in India has increased by 35%, from doing low to medium projects the local companies are now leveraging India based teams to drive full product development in medical devices, telecom, consumer, software, computing platforms etc. Relationships are getting aligned at making an impact in the market place through shared risk and reward than just deploying people on the programs. In one of the recent cases, a fortune 500 company leveraged our SaaS platform to introduce their new services in an emerging geo, providing substantial time to launch advantage.

Its about global collaboration, global reach, providing complimentary connect, driving knowledge, cultural compatibility, IP protection, engineering excellence and leveraging local market and there is no better natural ally for the Bay Area than India.

Winning

Yesterday, I attended a celebratory dinner meeting with our best team of the quarter and I was not only thrilled that they really really rock but more importantly was very pleased that this team has made winning as a sustainable behavior, always exploring the right way to win…..I am so very proud of each and every member across functions and lines of business and locations.. Great show and keep the winning attitude on…

The elements of winning have been taught, discussed, debated and written many times by experts, its key that we keep this in perspective and focus on imbibing and implementing them – more so in today’s environment than ever before. Having nurtured, played, watched, mentored and simply enjoyed working with this team, as I look for what makes them tick, some attributes emerge that have been key to a sustained behavior of winning   

• Fantastic Team Playing with a sense of purpose – very basic yet the fundamental of winning
• Excellent ability to decipher and sense opportunities – picking up the right ball to hit is key in winning
• Thinking Big, taking chances and exploring beyond boundaries – craft a big vision and then push the envelope of execution to make it happen ; taking risk and chances to explore unchartered territories where the rewards are higher
• Ability to push back across the customer and internal ecosystems – in order to get to real core issues to develop right proposition
• Continuous Learning and dogged approach to never give up – learning from each failure and simply not giving up  
• Being Accountable – Ability to stick your neck out to make it happen
• Great Winning Attitude – deep conviction of winning under all circumstances
• Celebrate each win – every celebration is a reminder that winning is a continuum   

I am sure there are many more factors that one can always bring forward on winning, Key is to find our own sets and reasons to succeed … let’s look around there are many…

Learnings from my mother

Mothers day – it’s just not on the second Sunday of May each year… its celebrated every day of our lives – from the time we take our first breath onwards. Moms are always special and it’s so truly said  that since God can’t be everywhere – He created Moms… There are so many beautiful learning’s that I have got from my mom,  it’s a joy to remember and transcribe them..

 Faith – religious or otherwise, that’s the cornerstone for my mom’s overall approach to life. Given that she is a very religious person and draws her strength from prayers for sure, but more important is her deep faith that even worst of the situations will eventually pass and life is too short to keep worrying – has been a tremendous learning for all of us in the family.  

 Trust –  beliefs and trust go hand in hand with faith. Her simple philosophy that we must trust all, and at all the times and whatever happens, happens for good and for a reason – even in adversity, has been another major learning for me. Over the years her resolve to trust more has only increased and is not driven by who is on the other side and whatever be the circumstances.. my power of positive thinking comes strongly from the trust based upbringing

Love – giving sheer joy of unconditional love has made all of us – who we are today. The power of love that binds us, allows us to be together – even if we are in different parts of the world..

Dream – the most important element of life is to dream without boundaries or restrictions. Ability to dream big and make it happen has been the teaching I have clearly taken from her. Think big, go for the stretch, that extra mile and make it happen – are some of the key partners for making dreams come true.

Conviction, Passion and Confidence – Do whatever you do with deep conviction, passion and confidence ; do it so that you yourself feel happy,  that you have given it your best and have done with sincerity and honesty. Results will be evident.

And finally – Be Yourself ; you got to get better tomorrow than what you were yesterday, keep learning every day, knowledge is not that stops after you graduate, it  acquires a new form to teach you…

Happy Mother’s Day – Mom…..  God Bless and May all your Prayers come true..

Power to People

I have watched with great interest and curiosity the race to first million on twitter that Ashton Kutcher won couple of days back ( interestingly over CNN !) and the subsequent coverage of both the platform and the celebrity by all in the media from Larry King to Oprah… Why is this first million so important… what happened…whats the message.. it triggered some intriguing thought… Its really about giving Power to People…  ability to communicate, express and connect … a clear view that people are listening is truly the phenomenal way to increase the positive energy in the ecosystem..

 

It was incredible – the way Ashton realized and then galvanized people to help him reach million followers mark – by challenging CNN… – more importantly also is the way people supported by signing upto him. It certainly may have given the free publicity to all involved in this process – most of all to twitter. However the broad trend and key message that’s emerging for all of us to witness and participate is the powerful emergence of a new communication platform to reach out to the world and also bring them closer. Imagine a world, that’s connected so seamlessly – what a power it would provide to people….and what level of accountability it would drive for govt and organizations to serve …

 

Technology, Telecom Infrastructure, Broadband, Content, Rich user interfaces, giving it free and yet able to make it a commercial success…. are all key and essential ingredients to bring the communication platform to people. Ultimate goal is to connect all the Billions of people in the world and provide the real power to them – power to communicate, reach out, express and ensuring that decision makers act to solve issues and problems… This movement of social networking from twitters and facebook etc. will move from simple communication and sharing forum to mainstream and will eventually take shape of creating a new way of accountability – the real Power to People…..

Fighting Back and Growing Up

Traveling  and meeting so many people is always a treasure hunt experience for me, more so when the macro-economic condition and overall growth of industry is not handsome and in many cases reasonably bad. Looking for silver linings and signs of celebration and vibrancy is the treasure – these are the gold nuggets that define the spirit and belief that eventually we will come out of the current economic situation and we must continue and focus on what will take us there in the shortest possible time.

 

Fighting back and growing up is the key that defines the emotional state for many of us. One of the most effective ways I have seen and practiced is to ensure that I draw only the positive energy from the external eco-system..and keep off the financial mess from the emotional and thinking integrity. Celebrate every little win – which you would have ignored under normal circumstances…do more hi-fives to keep the spirit of winning going…smile more often to keep the charge on…. Learn something positive from everyone around you… all are trying to contribute and help in keeping the engine running .. we got to believe that no one likes to be in this mess… even though most don’t know how, when and in what shape or form will the recovery happen – incl. the Feds and Govts of all the powerful economies in the world.. yet… all are focused on revving up the growth back..

 

Smart people and companies will innovate, create new products, services and markets and will certainly take advantage of the same environment, that is causing issues with many others. For most, the real art is how to manage cost of current operations and yet keep the next generation growth focus that will drive new thinking. Combination of innovation, entrepreneurship and free market will define the next sets of growth. I certainly hope that with so much of Fed / Govt sponsored funds and bailout – they will not become the execution arm as well and slow the free market and entrepreneurial culture, the bedrock of growth and vibrancy.

 

There are no bankruptcies for innovation and forward thinking and it’s always a great pleasure and learning to see future winners investing and creating new markets in several emerging areas including green, mobility, cloud computing, social networking, biotech, nano technologies etc.. There is no better time to fight, lift up and get the growth back….

Social Networking – Part of Mainstream now

The incredible pace with which facebook and twitter have become part of our life in the last 1-2 years; has demonstrated the mainstream arrival of social networking. It is moving away from being cool tools, only for teenagers and Generation Y to everyone else as well and also being leveraged as a broad communication and networking platform ; than just being a fun and hanging-out place.

 

It’s interesting to see  how the Gen Y first caught the fancy of leveraging facebook and make it their wholistic communication platform and on the other hand Twitter was lapped by all including enterprises and Govt for their messaging system. Great ways to simultaneously and in real time communicate and get feedback from the world.

 

With over 175 M current users of facebook, and 6 M for Twitter ; it is expected that the combined users for these and other top social networking platforms around the world will be in billions over next 1-2 years. Expansion of Broadband and phenomenal growth of smart mobile devices with great user experience are enabling these blazing growth around the world. Inspite of the projected slowness and decline in PC market for 2009, the growth in mobile devices will continue to fuel the growth and higher adoption of social networking platforms.

 

Most of the early adopters and users are still from the American and European continents with some emerging economies as well. Imagine the massive potential this will bring – when all other countries, particularly the growing economies like BRIC will be fully on broadband with every one having a smart mobile device enabled by local language and culture support. It will open up deluge of possibilities for everyone in every sphere of life. Gen Y who is growing up with these already bake them into their daily routines;  Enterprises, Corporations and Govt. must learn to leverage these, embrace them fully and make them an integral part of their lives as well. Social networking is and will continue to be more mainstream for all of us in very near future.

 

Nationalized Life – What’s the alternative

How does the world change and change so fast. From a free economy in US, where Govt had very little role to play other than setting rules and regulations ; to a time, that would not leave too many options but to let them be responsible for running some of the largest companies in the world ; its is going to be an intense couple of years ahead.

 

Choices are very difficult – on one hand it’s a question of letting some of the biggest American brands survive with not only Govt Bailout but also virtually taking over substantial part of their paid up capital and on the other hand letting them collapse, as on their own there is hardly any other option left. It’s a question of American Pride with some of the biggest corporate brands like Citibank, AIG, General Motors – as without Govt support they will simply not come out of the woods. And on another hand, it’s a question of following the free market philosophy that has made US the place it is known for – entrepreneurial – where you can achieve it all – if you can dream…

 

Govt has its role and a job to do – among its biggest focus is to provide Infrastructure, drive highest level of primary and higher education, provide affordable and quality healthcare, focus on energy independence, drive national and international security etc. These functions have to be led by the Govt and supported by commercial enterprises. Times like now, Govt has a choice to make, do they want to run Financial Institutions, Manufacturing Companies ? and move away from whats core to being the Govt.

 

Learning from the past is critical and key to ensure that Govt’s responsibility is not only to set rules but also ensure strict compliance, timely intervention and create a new way of managing risk in the ecosystem as well – so that we donot get into situations like these again. Going back to the foundation of entrepreneurship and converting free run enterprises to Govt entities is not a solution. Effective management should drive a new kind of Public Private Partnership and that should be a fresh way forward. A collaboration that provides the platform for all to excel, keep the spirit of America alive and at the same time look at managing risk to ensure that life does not reset itself…

 

The show must go on…

How does life change over a period of ten days….and how after every visit to the ICU, we prayed that our dear friend recovers and recovers fast…. He was battling with second round of cancer for one year. Having won the battle first time almost a decade ago, life got ahead of him this time.  M had built a very strong will to live and tried beating odds at all time…..Having known him for a decade plus, it was his intense passion to life and strong belief in the show must go on… that defined him..

 

I remember many of our discussions revolving around how we have so much to cover in so little time and the immense hurry to get things done, yet he had a phenomenal eye for operational details – a rare combination…

 

Among many strengths, I will certainly remember M for his What you see is what you get views,  you can always get it straight from him – whether he liked what I had to say or not.  Total honesty – without any sugarcoating – always Mirror Mirror on the Wall…. It was this transparency that brought everyone to him…

 

Another of M’s favorite was to stretch the envelop – all the time ; self satisfaction was not his forte. Right after the completion of any project – however big or small, his characteristic introspection on how we would have it even better – why can’t we go and redo this and bring some new dimensions .. constantly asking questions and challenging everyone around… 

 

I will miss the open chat, his views and friendship …. I will miss his sense of uneasiness that had a great charm in itself…

May his soul rest in peace and God give courage and strength to all to cope up with his absence …as he would have said…. The show must on…

 

Power of Self Within

Jan 09 – another 600 K job lost in US, last 12 months have seen more than 3.6 M jobs going away. Unemployment rate in US at 7.6% is at its 20 year high level. G8 has never seen this cumulative decline of their fortunes. Pick up the newspaper or browse the web and you will usually come across the struggling inputs from Global Govts to States trying to start the economic engine that has come to a grinding halt – over the last 5-6 months. Unlike the back dated stock scandals that shook Corporate America, back dated recession of 12 months ( announced in Dec 08 that it started in Dec 07 !! ) was accepted without any surprise – as if we always knew it !!! 2009 forecast by the global economic pundits are nothing that gives any positive indications, now all are also shy of predicting any quick turnaround as well !! Most are consistent that it will go down some (!!) more before it turns around. Key Question that one has to ask is how do you keep a positive outlook when all what you see around is so much of unpleasantness and stress…

That’s where Power of Self Within becomes one of the most effective ways to draw positive energy. It’s the time to look within and create an engine of self-charge. We got to start the fission power – Create an environment that drives a positive way of looking in and searching out…. It’s a well said secret – you will find what you look for !! ….We must look for any meaningful element of positivity and cherish… It’s the frame of thinking … that counts. The world is still inventing… rate may have slowed down.. yet cycles of innovation and celebration must continue. It’s the single most important aspect that will also help all of us get out of the current situation as well.

Its not going to be easy to do this… but then the times are neither easy nor was known to be like this even 6 months back… Be Positive, Think beyond the obvious, Enjoy every little good news, Celebrate and Smile… Its all in the Power of Self Within

Hope – put to work

This week is going to be remembered not only in the US, but around the world as the one, that will signal the most dramatic and yet most meaningful change the history of mankind will witness for a long time to come. With Barack Obama becoming the 44^th President of United States of America on Jan 20^th , 2009 – the significance of three simple words, Yes We Can, has found a new meaning in the Global Dictionary. A journey that he commenced 2 years ago with deep conviction in his heart and willingness to bring the country together amidst unprecedented challenges was supported by the country all the way through. The two wars brought the country to a brink of emotional division with mega financial burden. During the two year period – virtually coinciding with a US led total collapse of Global Economy ; country came together to bring the much needed Change. More than three-fourth of the people in the world have never seen such deep economic crisis. History has suggested that economics, when it hurts people individually, combined with emotional distraught have always brought a huge change to the region, country and the world ; and the change has been significantly beneficial to the entire community and mankind itself.

 

It’s this week, that will first set the motion on Hope. Hope of the entire nation to set directional change that all have been waiting for a long long time. US led the world to this global synchronized meltdown and it’s the clear responsibility for US to lead the way out as well. It’s a great opportunity to demonstrate leadership and put Hope to work. Financial turnaround of world’s largest economy is not going to be easy or short, however, with mammoth support from the people and the positive energy and hope that the country has put into Barack Obama – the favorable wind of changes will surely and certainly help.  We are now getting closer to a Trillion Dollar of Stimulus Package – with a Hope that it would work. What we also need is to ensure that both the direct investment to jumpstart the economy and the tax cuts planned for the people to help them infuse cash and capital in the system ; are all aligned correctly to provide the boost to economy in short to medium term.

 

Yes We Can and Audacity of Hope – are no longer mere slogans ; they carry the aspiration of the entire nation and the whole world ; we have to succeed.