Lesson 1: I was in 9th class in school, and had a senior who was in 10th Grade, his name was Rehan, i dont remember the family name. He was the most notorious/mischievous guy in school along with that he had the best results, a cool combination. I was around 2nd- 10th ranker in school, because, I was always the last nite student. I could never study ahead for exams, that was a weakness I had... Rehan told me than, either be in the Top 3 or fail, he meant, If you are not in the Top 3 than it does not make a difference, what rank u r at. No one looks at you, you are a common folk like anyone else... I still remember that advice, till this day... And i recollect rehan had topped in our school in SSC exams that year. I am sure he is at the top wherever he is in this world.
Lesson 2: I dont very clearly remember who told this to me, but I remember the lesson which said: "Whatever you do, do it in the best way, Give it your best shot. And this has been my strategy since then" Although people around you might not like it. But I believe in giving it my best whatever I Do!
Lesson 3: Was with a friend recently, and he was mentioning how this world is so very competitive today. Everywhere you want to work you have contracts, and while the company will give you benefits in your contract, it will squeeze you like a Orange is squeezed to take the juice out of it. So you are always at the Edge, you have to be the best..Or else the company would not need you any more... SO i have his words embedded in my mind too...
Lesson 4: The next was Irfan on the Nite Out. as he was mentioning how businesses need to be competitive, need to have con-cept's to keep customers attracted. I m not gonna put down his ideas out here.. They are owned by the genius... I asked him, what would you say for people like me, who work in a Service Industry, like IT-Companies. How do you think we sell ourselves.. he said you need to Diversify, In the past people said "Master of One, is better than Jack of All" but now you need to be Master of All, Master one wont help you. Made sense... So you have to be the best at your job, you cant say, I am a network Specialist and I know nothing else... Valid point.. So I was matching my roadmap, what I had achieved and where I wanted to be with his ideas and it did make a lot of sense.
Conclusion: I gotta be the Best. If anyone looks at my work, they need to say "WOW" thats my Aim reinstated again. Need to work a lot harder to achieve this kind of results.. Wish me Luck :) It is not easy to hear Wow in today's world!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Baby's Night Out
U must have heard of Baby's Day Out... Isnt it! Well there no baby here...Just was wondering what to use as a title for this post and came up with this.
This Friday Nite. I was with 2 friends and I had gone to drop them to Salmiya at 12:00, so we were not very hungry but we did not have any dinner that nite. SO we thought of eating out. Than suddenly we came up with an idea of a Nite out. A pure Halaal night out. So we parked my small little car there. Took my friends GMC Suburban and hit the roads. Its engine was locked at 170km/h, so could not go beyond that in speeding. But it was a good experience, Its height is more than my height. And once you sit inside it, you feel like you are on the top of the world... The other cars look small, and the smaller cute cars like BMW Z3 looked soo small.. SO it was fun we had hit road 40 towards Ahmadi... and than opened the window to feel the air, and it was mild cold too. Sometimes speeding, sometimes going slow, sometimes playing with the Cruise control.. In 1 hour we reached a place that said "Slow checkpoint ahead" wow we were at Nuwaiseeb, I think thats the border, so we took a U-turn and back into Our lovely Kuwait... By now we were hungry, Stopped at a Sultan Express near the petrol pump. But didnt find anything interesting.
Than recommended we go to "Turkey Al-Mansoorin" thats in Fahaheel, A place I love, and atleast eat once over there every week, if not more. The chicken Kabab and Chickedn Faham are amazing. My Favorite, Shawarma is good too. So I took the driving seat, wanted to make sure I could handle this monster (Suburban) and yes it was great Fun!! I think I should buy one! Drove down until I was @ Turkey. The guys there know me bcos I go there so often. The time was 2:30, he told Mashawiyat close at 2, so I could not have my favorite dishes. I tried to convince him with my broken arabic, that its just Nuss saa(30 mins), do some for me. And than he told me he will speak to the manager to extend the time till 3 a.m. in couple of weeks, but right now I just had the option of having some Sandwiches and meal stuff. So we ordered some and were chit chatting while eating, I was learning a lot from Irfan, he is an Advertising/marketing dude. So he speaks a language which is abotu Business/Industry etc etc, which has too much for a guy like me to learn... So I got a lot of tips and motivation, Maybe another post on that soon. So by the time we left it was 3:30 a.m. And If I wouldnt sleep now, I would sleep while getting my car back from Salmiya to Mangaf. So I rolled out on the Suburban back seat and slept, and woke only when we were in Salmiya at 4:15 a.m. Drove back to Mangaf, reached around 4:32 while Fajr Adhan was going out. Prayed and went into Sleepppppppppp mode......
Good fun, Did some Off-roading too!!!! It was cool....
This Friday Nite. I was with 2 friends and I had gone to drop them to Salmiya at 12:00, so we were not very hungry but we did not have any dinner that nite. SO we thought of eating out. Than suddenly we came up with an idea of a Nite out. A pure Halaal night out. So we parked my small little car there. Took my friends GMC Suburban and hit the roads. Its engine was locked at 170km/h, so could not go beyond that in speeding. But it was a good experience, Its height is more than my height. And once you sit inside it, you feel like you are on the top of the world... The other cars look small, and the smaller cute cars like BMW Z3 looked soo small.. SO it was fun we had hit road 40 towards Ahmadi... and than opened the window to feel the air, and it was mild cold too. Sometimes speeding, sometimes going slow, sometimes playing with the Cruise control.. In 1 hour we reached a place that said "Slow checkpoint ahead" wow we were at Nuwaiseeb, I think thats the border, so we took a U-turn and back into Our lovely Kuwait... By now we were hungry, Stopped at a Sultan Express near the petrol pump. But didnt find anything interesting.
Than recommended we go to "Turkey Al-Mansoorin" thats in Fahaheel, A place I love, and atleast eat once over there every week, if not more. The chicken Kabab and Chickedn Faham are amazing. My Favorite, Shawarma is good too. So I took the driving seat, wanted to make sure I could handle this monster (Suburban) and yes it was great Fun!! I think I should buy one! Drove down until I was @ Turkey. The guys there know me bcos I go there so often. The time was 2:30, he told Mashawiyat close at 2, so I could not have my favorite dishes. I tried to convince him with my broken arabic, that its just Nuss saa(30 mins), do some for me. And than he told me he will speak to the manager to extend the time till 3 a.m. in couple of weeks, but right now I just had the option of having some Sandwiches and meal stuff. So we ordered some and were chit chatting while eating, I was learning a lot from Irfan, he is an Advertising/marketing dude. So he speaks a language which is abotu Business/Industry etc etc, which has too much for a guy like me to learn... So I got a lot of tips and motivation, Maybe another post on that soon. So by the time we left it was 3:30 a.m. And If I wouldnt sleep now, I would sleep while getting my car back from Salmiya to Mangaf. So I rolled out on the Suburban back seat and slept, and woke only when we were in Salmiya at 4:15 a.m. Drove back to Mangaf, reached around 4:32 while Fajr Adhan was going out. Prayed and went into Sleepppppppppp mode......
Good fun, Did some Off-roading too!!!! It was cool....
Monday, March 17, 2008
Companions and their Effect
Watch your companions! They have an effect!
Either you have an effect on them or they have an effect on you, this will always happen with your companions or friends. So watch out, try to see and analyze who you are taking as friends, if their effect on you is good or bad. If you are learning good things or vice versa.
Heard the above from a friend last week, and started analyzing my behavior. How it varies with the different sets of people I know. When I am company of good people, what are the good things and habits I have learned from them. When I am with the people with an attitude, how it has an effect on me. And May God protect me from having an attitude. When I am with people who are so Down-to-Earth and humble and nice, how I learn being nice and humble from them.
Ultimately, i watch whose company is giving me what and trying to protect myself.
Either you have an effect on them or they have an effect on you, this will always happen with your companions or friends. So watch out, try to see and analyze who you are taking as friends, if their effect on you is good or bad. If you are learning good things or vice versa.
Heard the above from a friend last week, and started analyzing my behavior. How it varies with the different sets of people I know. When I am company of good people, what are the good things and habits I have learned from them. When I am with the people with an attitude, how it has an effect on me. And May God protect me from having an attitude. When I am with people who are so Down-to-Earth and humble and nice, how I learn being nice and humble from them.
Ultimately, i watch whose company is giving me what and trying to protect myself.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Identifying the 'B' Manager
B stands for Bully... Well In my case there is no way of dealing... bcos its too late.. Now I just have to part with my company bcos of this dude. Neways for rest, they can try to read some stuff on how to deal with 'B' Managers befor this:
"There now seems no end to your tormentor's campaign of psychological harassment and personal and professional destruction -- aimed squarely at you. The nitpicking, the demeaning comments, the misleading digs and full-blown lies have all come together to exact their intended effect: to make you quit or get fired"
Why Bullying:
There are two reasons for this: 1) Many subordinate directors and managers, as a survival technique, begin to adopt the negative behavior and it is then perpetuated throughout the organization. 2)These executives are smart enough to know that yelling and hitting are quite visible, they also pride themselves in how cleverly they can (or think they can) belittle and humiliate the victim without others realizing what they’re doing. 3) They don’t target weak individuals, as most authors claim. They target competent and capable individuals. They generally pursue one victim (for the most part) at a time, until they fire the individual or the individual quits. They will then move on to the next target. Bullying is a set of behaviors that stem from fear and feelings of inadequacy. Bullies seek control over others and will try to discredit or humiliate those who intimidate them or who they perceive as a threat(are more competent/more well-liked/etc.)
A very good article, that divided them to be of 4 types is at: http://www.ameinfo.com/95129.html
Bullying Managers can be put into four types:
1. The Bulldog Bully This is a manager who resorts to raised voices and aggressive body language to get their way and refuses to allow you to state your case often with a torrent of verbose. Other techniques include getting red in the face, using abusive language, slamming doors and banging the table a great deal. They operate under a cloud of fear and employees are petrified of making any slips or mistakes in case they incur the boss's substantial wrath, this leads to a lack of desire to take any responsibility for tasks outside the employee's job specification and any creativity is stifled.
2. The Silver Tongued Tempter This type is most skillful and cunning, not for them the crudities of the active bully their style is wholly more covert but no less devastating. They happily promise great rewards and watch with glee at the extra activity their falsehoods generate. When the unfortunate victim realizes the full extent of the STB's empty promises and complains the STB then accuses them of negativity, because they dare to take them at their word. Often the STB will blame the withheld reward on 'situations beyond my control', 'other departments' or change the goal posts. For example an employee in a local financing firm was promised a promotion to team-leader with the associated pay rise, when the date arrived for her promotion the manager explained that the company wouldn't pay her a supervisor' s wage until she had 'proven herself'! This results in apathetic de-motivated and disengaged staff.
3. Messrs Reasonable & Co This one somehow manages to make all your requests seem not only ridiculous but outrageous too and convince you that their interpretation of the situation is perfectly acceptable and even normal, when, in fact, the reverse is true. The outcome is staff adopting a work to rule style and rejecting any attempt to take any initiative, as the perception is that there will be no back-up or assistance.
4. The Trapper Perhaps the trapper is the worst of the lot, if there is a 'worst'. These managers will actively work to set-up the unfortunate victim by setting vague or difficult work tasks or engineering an altercation so that they can paint the employee into or corner or use the event as an excuse for trumped up charges or even verbal/written warnings. This style results in massive turnover as staff get wise to the scammer and look for more ethical managers elsewhere.
"There now seems no end to your tormentor's campaign of psychological harassment and personal and professional destruction -- aimed squarely at you. The nitpicking, the demeaning comments, the misleading digs and full-blown lies have all come together to exact their intended effect: to make you quit or get fired"
Why Bullying:
There are two reasons for this: 1) Many subordinate directors and managers, as a survival technique, begin to adopt the negative behavior and it is then perpetuated throughout the organization. 2)These executives are smart enough to know that yelling and hitting are quite visible, they also pride themselves in how cleverly they can (or think they can) belittle and humiliate the victim without others realizing what they’re doing. 3) They don’t target weak individuals, as most authors claim. They target competent and capable individuals. They generally pursue one victim (for the most part) at a time, until they fire the individual or the individual quits. They will then move on to the next target. Bullying is a set of behaviors that stem from fear and feelings of inadequacy. Bullies seek control over others and will try to discredit or humiliate those who intimidate them or who they perceive as a threat(are more competent/more well-liked/etc.)
A very good article, that divided them to be of 4 types is at: http://www.ameinfo.com/95129.html
Bullying Managers can be put into four types:
1. The Bulldog Bully This is a manager who resorts to raised voices and aggressive body language to get their way and refuses to allow you to state your case often with a torrent of verbose. Other techniques include getting red in the face, using abusive language, slamming doors and banging the table a great deal. They operate under a cloud of fear and employees are petrified of making any slips or mistakes in case they incur the boss's substantial wrath, this leads to a lack of desire to take any responsibility for tasks outside the employee's job specification and any creativity is stifled.
2. The Silver Tongued Tempter This type is most skillful and cunning, not for them the crudities of the active bully their style is wholly more covert but no less devastating. They happily promise great rewards and watch with glee at the extra activity their falsehoods generate. When the unfortunate victim realizes the full extent of the STB's empty promises and complains the STB then accuses them of negativity, because they dare to take them at their word. Often the STB will blame the withheld reward on 'situations beyond my control', 'other departments' or change the goal posts. For example an employee in a local financing firm was promised a promotion to team-leader with the associated pay rise, when the date arrived for her promotion the manager explained that the company wouldn't pay her a supervisor' s wage until she had 'proven herself'! This results in apathetic de-motivated and disengaged staff.
3. Messrs Reasonable & Co This one somehow manages to make all your requests seem not only ridiculous but outrageous too and convince you that their interpretation of the situation is perfectly acceptable and even normal, when, in fact, the reverse is true. The outcome is staff adopting a work to rule style and rejecting any attempt to take any initiative, as the perception is that there will be no back-up or assistance.
4. The Trapper Perhaps the trapper is the worst of the lot, if there is a 'worst'. These managers will actively work to set-up the unfortunate victim by setting vague or difficult work tasks or engineering an altercation so that they can paint the employee into or corner or use the event as an excuse for trumped up charges or even verbal/written warnings. This style results in massive turnover as staff get wise to the scammer and look for more ethical managers elsewhere.
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