Wanted: Corporate honchos for nation building

Bangalore: The question whether our political system is prepared for businessmen being inducted directly into government remains to be answered. Ever since Indian independence, many political leaders have initiated improved participation of corporate leaders in the decision making process of the country by placing them in charge of key government divisions. Although many failed to prove their corporate excellence in governance, India's overall economic prosperity, in many ways, is indebted to them. Nation building now mainly depends on the corporate honchos who are willing to render their service.

Jawaharlal Nehru had prominent businessmen like T.T. Krishnamachari, Shanmukham Chetty and John Mathai in his cabinet occupying key positions. Later, Rajiv Gandhi also had many excellent minds from the IT industry like Arun Nehru, Sam Pitroda and Arun Singh. They all had to part ways with the government due to difference in opinions.

Now as time went by, the political and corporate scenario of the country has changed. Politicians acknowledge the need for involvement of educated and successful business leaders in the development of the country and such leaders are willing to contribute their service for the country as well.

Sam Pitroda has been called back in 2005 and was first appointed as the Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission and then as the Advisor to PM on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations.

Manmohan Singh inducted Arun Maira who is the Chairman of Boston Consulting Group as a member of the Planning Commission. Arun quit the board membership of Patni Computers before joining the Commission. He also has served Tata Administrative Services for 25 years.

Shailesh Gandhi, who has been running a successful packaging firm with more than 500 employees and a clientele that included many blue-chips, had sold off his business to become a Right-to-Information activist. Few years down the line, he has been appointed as the Central Information Commissioner.

Military veteran Raghu Raman, CEO of Mahindra Defence Land Systems, a Mahindra-British Aerospace joint venture was appointed as the Mission Head, National Intelligence Grid. The government hopes that his experience both in military services and industry can be used for smooth flow of information among official agencies.

Nandan Nilekani, the former CEO of Infosys has been appointed as the Chairman of India?s ambitious UID project. He has assembled an elite group of software engineers, tech-savvy bureaucrats and biometric experts to run the show. Srikanth Nadhamuni, an engineer with 16 years of work experience with firms such as Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics and Intel, heads the unique ID technology team. Nandan?s team also includes Pramod Varma, an Infosys alumnus and V.P. Research & Chief Technology Architect at Sterling Commerce; R.S. Sharma, a bureaucrat; Wyly Wade, a World Bank consultant and Salil Prabhakar, a fingerprints specialist. Hundreds of techies with the leading IT firms have volunteered to be a part of the project.

The dream of inclusive growth can be realized only with the brilliant minds in the corporate world. The political culture has to reshape itself to accept the innovative ideas of the youth. The technological intelligence of the young workforce should be utilized aptly to make India a superpower in the next decade. If done so, then the days are not too far when the decision making body of our country will be a combination of people with political administrative expertise and corporate intelligence.

India to see Highest Employee Churn !

Confident of getting another job, Indian employees are more prone to switch employers compared to others in the world, says a global work monitor survey.

Amongst the 25 countries surveyed in the Ma Foi Workmonitor survey, India has the highest index of 141, meaning that the maximum employee churn across the globe will be in India, which is followed by China and Mexico.

The mobility index is based on employees responses to two questions about their intent to change jobs. The first question was about changing the current employer for a comparable job in the next six months. The second question was about changing the current employer for a different job/profession in the next six months.

The Ma Foi Randstad Workmonitor is a quarterly review of "mental mobility status" of employees, their readiness to change jobs. The survey was conducted amongst workers in countries in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas.

The survey also found that Indian employees developed better during the economic crisis by working differently, revealing their innovative streak. The economic crisis was a developmental opportunity to most Indians, which is much higher than what the Chinese said with a score of 64 percent.

However, more employees in China went through a structured training programme through their employer during the past year (71 percent) compared to those in India (61 percent).

This finding suggests that Indian employees used the downturn better than their Chinese counterparts to explore innovative methods for accomplishing their jobs and hence growing professionally.

Eight out of 10 Indian employees surveyed said they would move to another organisation that promises faster and better development.

According to K. Pandia Rajan, Chief Executive, Ma Foi Randstad (India and Sri Lanka), the survey, though shows an increase in the mobility and a focus on promotion in the workforce, brings out the fact that employees would be satisfied with organisations that are better equipped to handle their developmental plans.

5 New Ways to Get Hired !

Hoboken: Today's job market has become very competitive as so many highly qualified people are vying for the same job openings. The competition has reached such a level that job search techniques of yesterday like searching the want ads and sending out resumes are no longer capable of serving the purpose. Here are the five creative ways suggested by Jim Kukral in his book "Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue" that can help you to attract employers' attention and to get hired.

1) Ramp up your resume:

At the first place, Kukral suggests to ramp up the resumes. He says that employers get lots of resumes to look through. Therefore, a candidate for the job must do something special to make his resume look unique from the others.

2) Try Facebook advertising:

Kukral suggests to try Facebook advertising as it is a useful means of networking professionally as well. Many companies have Facebook pages allowing people to make contact with their employees. Facebook also offers an advertising service that allows people to create their own target ad. Kukral recommends job-seekers to create an Facebook ad about them include their skills and qualifications and what type of job they are looking for, and then target it to the companies where they want to work.

3) Get Personal:

Next, Kukral suggests getting useful personal information about the people who are in charge of the hiring process at the company. He has advised to look them up on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and get information about their interests. According to him, it will help to know their likes and dislikes or where the candidate shares a common interest that will help him to connect.

4) Use YouTube to your advantage:

Being a great resource, YouTube can also be a cheap and easy way for a job-seeker to show off his skills, says Kukral. A job-seeker can use a video as a chance to follow up after an interview. He can also send his potential employer something he has put together that displays his creativity or a skill.

5) Think different:

Kukral further suggests job-seekers to think outside the box and to go one step ahead of the rest. "Advertise yourself in unexpected places, step out of your comfort zone, and, if you have to, invest a little money", says Kukral.

A professional speaker, blogger, and Web business consultant, Jim Kukral has helped companies like FedEx, Sherwin-Williams, Ernst & Young, and Progressive Auto Insurance understand how to find success on the Web. Jim teaches thousands of students around the globe as an adjunct professor for The University of San Francisco's Internet Marketing Program.

'I' in India is no more 'Immitation', it's 'Innovation' !

Bangalore: For centuries the Indian mindset has been about following the West. Be it a new technology, literature, art, theater, culture or movies. The 'I' in India meant Imitation. India had the me-too mindset and would imitate every aspect of the west. China and Japan were the two other countries who aped America for its technology reports Sufia Tippu of EE Times.

India has realized that just imitating west cannot bring out the real innovations from Indian minds. Now 'I' in India stands for Innovation. Innovations in India are not a new phenomenon and, it only lacks due recognition also we need to keep in mind that India's infrastructure began to grow only three decades ago while other countries were already nurtured with the supporting ecosystem.

IT establishments are emerging with creative and potentially challenging ideas. Narayana Murthy, chief mentor and co-founder of Infosys Technologies said "tremendous confidence in the country among the younger generation. A lot of them are willing to take risk; they have understood the power of entrepreneurship and wealth creation."

When IT giants like Infosys , Wipro and Tata consultancy services zeroed on software business, several hundred startups followed in their footsteps, but only a few have stood out from the pack in terms of patented innovations.

India's best chances to make its mark on innovation may be in cleantech and other disruptive technologies that can improve the quality of life for the world's poor while enriching their inventors and investors.

One such invention along that vein, a low-cost, durable, prosthesis known as the Jaipur foot, has restored function to amputees the world over and is probably the best-known Indian innovation to have found a global market.

Mitti Cool, the so-called village fridge. Invented by a potter, Mitti Cool is made from special clay (mitti) and uses evaporation to cool three or more storage chambers for water, fruits and vegetables.

A micro-windmill-based mobile charger that uses wind power to charge phones and laptops. Modified lanterns that produce light equal to a 100-watt bulb but run on kerosene, diesel or ethanol. The lamp has a wick coated with high-temperature materials, such as silica; a self-cleaning nozzle; and a special glass that reduces the chances of explosion.

These innovations show that India is a talent hub. Maybe these innovations did not grab the global market but it sure did fix the common place problems and also got the attention of the Indian market.