Friday, January 26, 2007

Experience vs Youth

It so happened that in matter of few hours in two different conversations, the same fundamental question got raised. Which is more important? Youth or experience. The first setting was an industry conference call for MITA where I (with five years of domain knowledge) was trying to exchange ideas with a stalwart of the industry (25 years of domain expertise). Note my use of knowledge vs. expertise. The second setting was on DC 980 Sports Talk with Coach John Thompson where the new trend in NFL for hiring young coaches was being challenged. Well it is a classic and a never ending debate. I believe that experience is needed and it would be not sane to ignore or disrespect the experience of an individual. At the same time experience can be debilitating if it makes one resistant to change and not open to new ideas and approaches. The youth brings freshness, energy, vibrancy and frevor of a child willing to try the untested; explore the unknown and experiment the new. Yes it is a very risk and fraught filled approach. But as many would point the greatest innovations, discoveries are due to this mindset and philosophy. Does age and experience reduce these dispositions and makes you less risk taking and resistant to change? Yes and I think its biologically supported too. But if the experienced people would allow for an open critical thinking of the as-is and the youth respect and imbibe the experience of the seniors as a control board, we can make significant progress. As for Coach John Thompson, I think the marriage of two: have a youthful head coach and very senior assistant head coach is the solution and it is no shame or disrespect to work for a younger person if he honors and recognizes the value of your experience and maturity.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Super Bowl: Colts Vs. Chicago Bears.. Finally Happened....

Its finally happened. Colts overcame the Patriots lock on coming from behind. It was more sweet than just a victory since many pundits would have said at the half time that New England game plan is working and Brady is money down the wire. It was not to be today....It was Colts Day...Yes calls and luck were against them to begin with ( fumble and recovery on the offensive touchdown for New England) but things turned around one step at a time. And to top to all to win by coming back down from 21-3 is really sweet. Infact, it is the largest comeback in the play-off history.
Not that I am a fan of Mannings but I definitely align with Tony Dungy personality. His calm demenaor and maturity is admirable and the victory well deserved. The Super Bowl is more interesting with two black coaches going head to head for the first time. Both of them are also close friends. Anyway, it would be something to watch two weeks from now. Also more because there would not be any Patriots!!!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Is your company the best Company to Work For?

I was reading the latest cover story on Fortune where Google employees were shown in all frenzy and the company was named the best company to work for in terms of employee benefits and perks. Every year this reading makes you reflect on your company benefits. The HR department always vouches we offer equal or even better benefits as compared to other companies of our size. Alas, there are no onsite doctors ( well health is a personal responsibility : why do we need one), no onsite car washes ( why buy cars and pollute the environment ride the Metro), no all paid annual ski trip ( we don't like cold, we are warm blooded animals), free gourmet meals( we don't want to create gluttons) and on and on it goes. On a serious front, these are some significant benefits but recognize with all these benefits basically work is home and home is work! Yes they are truly in direction of being employee friendly but we need to recognize that there needs to be a boundary between home and office and between family and work. As of my company, they are embracing remote working (with closed arms though :)), have a pool/ping pong table( can only play after office hours), free soda and discount kababs (term for meat skewers). But plethora of benefits cannot offset the nature of work, team players around you and as of now I am where I should be. Do I know about tomorrow? Not yet!!! What about you and your company?