Thursday, December 31, 2009

Copenhagen: Seal The Deal

The crucial climate change summit to draw up a new plan to tackle global warming that will replace the kyoto protocol beyond 2012 has begun in Copenhagen on Monday. Climate change has been caused over centuries, has consequences that will endure for all time, and our prospects of taming it will be determined in the next 14 days. The representatives of the 192 countries have gathered in Copenhagen not to hesitate, not to fall into dispute, not to blame each other but to seize opportunity from the greatest modern failure of politics.This should not be a fight between the rich world and the poor world or between east and west.Climate change affects everyone and must be solved by everyone. The science is complex but the facts are clear. The world needs to take steps to limit temperature rise to 2C, an aim that will require global emissions to peak and begin falling within the next 5-10 years. A bigger rise of 3-4C- the smallest increase we can prudently expect to follow inaction- would parch continents, turning farmland into desert. Half of all species could become extinct, untold millions of people would be displaced, whole nations drowned by sea. The politicians in Copenhagen can and must agree the essential elements of a fair and effective deal and crucially a firm timetable for turning it into a treaty.At the deal's heart must be a settlement between the rich world and the developing world covering how the burden of fighting climate will be divided- and how we will share the newly precious resource: the trillion or so tonnes of carbon that we can emit before the mercury rises to dangerous levels. Rich nations like to point to the arithmetic truth that there can be no solution until developing giants such as India and China take more radical steps than they have so far. Developing countries argue that the rich world is responsible for most of the accumulated carbon in the atmosphere; three-quarters for all carbon dioxide emitted since 1850, causing the bulk of the problem and also that the poorest regions of the world will be hardest hit. But they will increasingly contribute to warming, and must thus pledge meaningful and quantifiable action of their own. Social justice demands that the industrial world dig deep into its pockets and pledges cash to help poorer countries adapt to climate change, and clean technologies to enable them to grow economically without growing their emissions. The architecture of a future treaty must be pinned down- with rigorous multilateral monitoring, fair rewards for protecting forests and credible assessment of "exported emissions" so that the burden can eventually be more equitably shared between those who produce polluting products and those who consume them. The transformation will be costly, but many times less than the bill for bailing out global finance- and far less costly than the consequence of doing nothing. The shift to a low-carbon society holds out the prospect of more opportunity than sacrifice. Already some countries have recognized that embracing the transformation can bring growth, jobs and better quality lives.Last year, for the first time more was invested in renewable forms of energy than producing electricity from fossil fuels.Putting a man on moon or splitting an atom were born of conflict or competition, the coming carbon race must be driven by a collaborative effect to achieve collective salvation.The politicians in Copenhagen have the power to shape history's judgment on this generation: One that saw a challenge and rose to it.or One so stupid that saw calamity and did nothing to avert it. We implore them to make the right choice.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Why MBA - biggest question for all MBA applicants.



Here I m Shri Ganeshaing Our Blog with this article...
Isnt it was the biggest question when you decide to go for PG.... MBA....??? Why...?

While working on my applications I encountered this question several times. Each time I had a better explanation but still not fully satisfied with my answers somewhere in the back of my mind. The AdComs generally doesn't like a candidate who is not clear about the answer to this question, and that’s justified. Once a candidate starts with the MBA, he/she may not have enough time to change the decision. Like me there would be many other applicants, so I thought if my findings and your feedback could help us all :)

Here I'm not going to answer why MBA is required. The reason would be different from person to person. I have listed a few questions for self-evaluation and I can promise, that by end of this note you would have an answer to convince the AdCom :P
My apologies, but in this post I would be taking example of "Management Consultancy in IT" (one of the hottest job profile today) to justify my points.

So get a pen and paper and start answering all the questions one by one. For some of the questions you may need decent amount of time and research.

Step 1:
Apart from the huge salary packages :evil: , what is the main reason for you. It could typically be:
1. Switching career to some other Industry or function
2. Starting ones own business
3. Progressing to a higher responsibility in the same industry or function

Step 2:
Now once you have answered the above question, take some time and evaluate
1. Which Industry, role and country you are aiming for.
I take an example of "Management Consultant in the field of IT in India".

2. What are your target companies.
Be clear about this. AdCom may want to understand what kind of companies you are targeting. It should not be list of 100 best IT companies listed on NSE, rather a genuine answer would be a target for 3-4 companies. Also, be realistic and don't try to list top companies like Mckinsey or Booz unless you can justify that.

3. What the new role means.
If I'm saying Management Consultancy in IT field, I should be clear about what this role means and what would be the kind of responsibilities. A typical IT management consultant would be doing:
  • Selling (identifying prospective clients etc)
  • Research (Gathering requirements, interviewing clients, evaluating existing solutions etc)
  • Analysis (Gathering data and information)
  • Reporting (preparing proposals, recommendation to client etc)
  • Implementation (project management, documenting team work, IT implementation etc)
  • Administration (Expense report, time tracking)

Step 3:
Now one need to evaluate himself to answer the big question of why the above role and industry
1. Where do you stand today.

2. What kind of role you are looking for in the future.

3. What skills you already posses and what new skills are required.
A typical way to answer this question would to list all the skills generally required for Management Consultancy and rank myself:
Technical knowledge - strong
Analytical skills - strong
Client skills - basic
Leadership skills - basic
Business skills - Nil
Management skills - basic
Communication skills - good
Relationship skills - basic

4. The skills, which hindered your performance in the past, MBA can add.
In my past role, there have been various responsibilities I couldn't take because of lack of a particular skill or knowledge of some tools. A simple way to answer this question would be to compare ones skill-set with the skill-set of a role (may be a senior manager) where he see himself after MBA. Example - I lack knowledge in Pricing concepts, Financial analysis, Business strategy, Project Management, Negotiation skills etc etc etc.

5. What have you done so far to prove that you are moving towards your career goal.

Step 4:
An MBA can just lay a foundation for your career goals, but certainly cannot assure to achieve that goal. In most of the cases, one can still achieve his/her goals even without MBA. Don't forget only 38% of the CEOs in US have an MBA degree. So the most important question
1. If not MBA then what?


Step 5:
To justify ones long-term goals, he need to understand what a typical career path would be starting from the responsibility he is looking immediately after MBA.
1. What is the career progression from the immediate goals?

Step 6:
Last, but not the least. If one has chosen a career goal, he should be aware of the future trends and opportunities in the particular field. After all, there may not be a sense to choose a career which doesn't have much of future demands.
1. What are the future prospects of the career goal chosen?

By end of Step 4, one would already have a good reason for why MBA. Step 5 and 6 would strengthen the reason and help in getting a more convincing answer if one has chosen a right path for him/her.


At last i frankly tell u i`ve never plan to go for PG prog Specially MBA......eh!
but while working in IT industry.... some how i find its a need to survive...

And now i decided... if i already plan to go for MBA then why not go with Mechanical(My Core Branch)