Importance of smiling

Ron Gutman in a beautiful talk at TED a conference highlights the importance of smiling citing research. In a few bullet points he studies the importance of smiling and it's impact on our well being

1. It has been shown that those who smile more live longer
2. Smiling induces hormones in the brain that reduces the amount of stress enhancing hormones
3. Smile + Frown = Smile. If you are smiling, it is difficult for people to frown at you. Smiling is actually contagious
4. Smile makes you look more competent in the eyes of people
5. Smile induces activity in your body that correlates with healthier amount of blood pressure. 

I'd recommend you to watch this 7 minute talk on YouTube.

SOPA, PIPA and impact on Emerging countries

The debate about SOPA & PIPA has oscillated between a pro-piracy/anti-piracy debate and a pro-censorship/anti-censorship debate, with the media companies choosing the former battle ground and the tech companies opting for the latter. Although it is not merely a propaganda war there is much at stake including the impact of emerging online activism in countries where internet is beginning to spread. The present Indian government has been in the habit of censoring public voice especially since the voice of public did not go down too well with it's governance mechanisms that included high a degree of corruption. These are a few thoughts I had about SOPA & PIPA with respect to emerging economies.

1. Correlation with Speech Censorship tools
SOPA,PIPA use the same tools for censorship used by countries like China, known for violating human rights to suppress speech

2. Impact on Internet Transparency in Emerging Economies
India, which seems to be a successful democracy ranks very low on internet transparency as indicated by Google. A Google spokesperson has gone on to state that 

"We received requests from state and local law enforcement agencies to remove YouTube videos that displayed protests against social leaders or used offensive language in reference to religious leaders. We declined the majority of these requests and only locally restricted videos that appeared to violate local laws prohibiting speech that could incite enmity between communities. In addition, we received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove 236 communities and profiles from orkut that were critical of a local politician. We did not comply with this request, since the content did not violate our Community Standards or local law."

Already struggling with governance issues, corruption, and debate over the Jan Lokpal bill, passing of SOPA in high probability can act as a precedent to emerging economies such as India.
3. No Real Change in Piracy
India is notorious for piracy with Nehru Place in New Delhi featuring among the top 30 notorious IT markets of the world, dealing in goods and services infringing intellectual property rights (IPR). SOPA, PIPA will impact government's high handedness in dealing with public voice against government on the internet, it may not cause any real change in managing "pirate-hubs" such as Nehru Place.

Ethics: A trivial concept or the hidden dragon?

The issue of ethics never came to mind before I heard a batch-mate of my management class opine about the new course on ethics floated in our B-school. The incident happened over a cup of tea near the tea-stall, an uncontested hangout place in our campus. His opinion belittled the course, terming it trivial and unnecessary although useful in easily fulfillment of credit requirements for the MBA. This opinion was shared by others who had enrolled for the course. I really don’t know whether this sentiment was shared by most MBA grads or was it an isolated case. The quality of faculty taking the course is unquestionably brilliant. This opinion may be due to two following disjoint reasons.
1. Either the moral values imparted by the family system was so great that ethical issues were ingrained into the DNA
2. Or, Unethical behavior was acceptable, an undeniable aspect of doing business.

I may not be able to understand both but recent events such as the case of Rajat Gupta, A Harvard Alum, who was the head of McKinsey Global for a good nine years and co-founded ISB Hyderabad (A top Indian B-school) was jailed in an insider trading scam involving the now tainted Galleon (world’s largest hedge fund management firm). Looking at the nature of Indian culture, Ethics no doubt is an uncomplicated issue bordering on triviality. But as the returns to un-ethical behavior increase with respect to the costs such as a poor regulatory environment, an issue that does not seem big becomes a major question in the mind of an actor struggling between high returns coming from unethical behavior and a lower return from an ethical behavior. A B-school student may not give importance to ethics because his or her priority is to climb up the corporate ladder and grab the most important job such as that of a CEO in a company or start a successful money making venture. It is when they reach this stage; the true nature of ethics comes in play. While unethical behavior might have the potential to give returns beyond imagination, resisting it is an art that needs to be taught. By nature, a B-school student is ambitious competing among a herd of a zillion aspirants. The link between ambition and greed is controlled by resistance to unethical behavior. With top corporates, ambition is very high. Only the resistance to unethical can control it from reaching greed.

Anna Hazare - Why did round 2 fail

Round 2 of Anna Hazare was flawed in many respects. It's failure is an example of poor leadership on the part of camp Anna. Here are a couple of reasons

1. No clear Agenda, Objective or Goal (From an apolitical agenda to overtly political overtures)

2. Lack of united voice

3. Discrepancies in Anna's version and government's version of Jan LokPal

4. Dilution of Brand Anna by constant political bantering

5. Fatigue in people (It's been too much of Anna now)

Ultimately, the attention given to Jan LokPal by the parliament, and an excessively emotional and too little rational appeal of Anna's Jan LokPal has lead to perception of irrationality in this fast by Anna Hazare. Galvanizing people even for freedom struggle against the British Raj during the latter part of 1920s was not an easy task. It still is not an easy task. Despite the novelty of the cause Anna Hazare is standing for, public sentiment has to gauged effectively and their intention to galvanize also needs to be calculated. It is no easy task. It needs careful planning, coherent voice and a clear agenda. All three were missing this time, and to add to it was the fatigue due to excessive and prolonged media coverage.

You can also read Chaitanya's insights in his comprehensive coverage of Anna Hazare.
Also try reading:

Anna Hazare: India's Social Media Revolution 

Anna Hazare, Marketing and Jan Lokpal Bill

Anna Hazare, Social Media, and the Indian Revolution of 2011

Baba Ramdev, Anna Hazare & Social Media - Difference of opinion

Anna Hazare: India's Social Media Revolution