Managers and Leaders

We have plenty of managerial strength in our country. Hundreds of managers graduate from our Management schools every year and are absorbed by the industry. These Management schools teach all aspects of Management, be it communication skills, Conflict Management, Organisational Behaviour and so on. They also teach Leadership and its various aspects.

Though Management education is a necessity in today’s world and managers are necessary to keep a company or an organisation going, it is different from Leadership. Leaders are the people who direct and show the way. They are examples to others. Others follow them. Examples of leaders are Gandhiji, Nelson Mandela, Indira Nooyi, and ChandaKochhar. These are people who shaped and guided their countries’ and companys’ growth and path

Managers just manage people and the work so that it is done in an efficient way and meets the targets and other requirements. To inspire people and to decide on the path forward, Leaders are required. If a company has to diversify or find new ways to compete, leaders are required.

Managers manage and get work done, Leaders show the way and inspire.

Book Review

Title :    The 80 / 20 Principle: The Secret to Success By Achieving More with Less work.

Author:      Richard Koch

Publisher: A currency Book

Cost:          Rs 295/-

Pages:        278

ISBN:          0-385-49174-3

About the Book

In The 80/20 Principle, Richard Koch thoroughly examines Pareto’s Law – the observation that, in any given context, “a minority of causes, inputs, or effort usually leads to a majority of the results, outputs, or rewards.” This inherent nonlinearity is present in all aspects of life, and by paying attention to your efforts and results, you can identify major opportunities for improvement in every aspect of your life and business.

How anyone can be more effective with less effort by learning how to identify and leverage the 80/20 principle--the well-known, unpublicized secret that 80 percent of all our results in business and in life stem from a mere 20 percent of our efforts.

Working very hard for very little reward? Stop it, says Koch. Focus your attention on the things you do well which come easily to you, take the least time and see the best results, and your achievement and income will soar. Sounds simple, right?

Koch examines in detail how the 80/20 Principle can be applied to business but also how it can be used more personally to create happiness and ‘evolve your ideal lifestyle’. His suggested daily happiness habits are nothing really new but useful to remember and put into practice (eg: ‘exercise’, ‘mental stimulation’, ‘doing a good turn’) and his mission to convince everyone to work less, earn and enjoy more gets no arguments from me.

By identifying the critical 20% of causes and focusing time and resources on optimizing them, it is possible to realize enormous gains in productivity in relatively short order. While Pareto’s Law is typically used for sales, customer, or inventory analysis, The 80/20 Principle examines personal and management applications as well, including priority setting and work/life balance.

Focusing on the 20% of efforts that create 80% of results isn’t always easy, but it can revolutionize business and the quality of our life.

Safety Tips For Using a Public Computer

Using a public computer to check your e-mail, bank accounts and travel arrangements may be more convenient than lugging around a laptop. But it's also more risky. PCs are conveniently located at Internet cafes, airports, hotel business centers and other public places. Unfortunately, unscrupulous people target them in an attempt to hijack your sensitive information. To reduce your risk, consider these safety tips:

1. Don't let the computer save your login information.

Some operating systems can save your user name and password. Click "No" if a pop-up box offers this option. Some web browsers record this information anyway, so before you start surfing, disable this feature.

2. Erase your tracks

Internet Explorer also keeps a record of your passwords and every page you visit, even after you’ve closed them and logged out.

a. Disable this feature that stores passwords

Before you go to the Web, turn off the Internet Explorer feature that “remembers” your passwords.


b. Delete your temporary Internet files and your history

When you finish your use of a public computer, you can help protect your private information by deleting your temporary Internet files. For information on how to delete temporary Internet files on Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8, see Delete temporary Internet files.

3 .  Scope out the snoops.

Look around to see if anyone is watching you. This is particularly important if you are accessing a password-protected account. Someone could be observing and recording your access code.

4. Be wary of accessing your private data.

Doing online banking, stock trades and other financial transactions is not a good idea. so keep in mind that an industrious thief might have installed sophisticated software on the public computer that records every keystroke and then emails that information back to the thief. Then it doesn't matter if you haven't saved your information or if you've erased your tracks. They still have access to this information.

If you really want to be safe, avoid typing your credit card number or any other financial or otherwise sensitive information into any public computer.

5. Consider fellow surfers.

Avoid opening suspicious e-mail attachments or downloading software. Don't do anything that may potentially infect the computer and cause problems for the next user.

6. Logout.

If you've accessed a website that requires a login (for instance, your e-mail or bank account), make sure to log out by clicking the appropriate link (usually locate at the top right of the page)

7. Close the web browser.

For extra protection, close all browser windows and any other programs that may be running.

Book Review

Title Of Book: Quantity Food Production And Indian Cuisine

Author:      Parvinder Bali

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Cost:          Rs 325/-

Pages:        330

ISBN:          9780198068495

About the book

Yet another book by Parvinder Bali which is comprehensive textbook designed especially for the students of hotel management. The book covers the basics of volume cooking and Indian cuisine. The concepts are illustrated with the help of photographs, charts, layouts, etc. 

The first four chapters of the book introduce us to volume cookery and discuss the various types of volume catering establishments. The later portion of the book deals with the culinary diversity of India and the influence of history, geographical location, festivals and other factors on the various regional cuisines. Students will also learn about Indian sweets and street food, along with ancient cooking forms, such as dum and tandoor cooking. The book delves into the basics of planning, purchasing and indenting for volumes. It discusses the purchase systems, correct portion sizes for volume feeding, modifying recipes for volume caterings, optimum utilization of space for volume cooking, selection of equipment, staffing and resourcing. 

Key Features

• Concepts supported by suitable Photographs including 28 colour plates
• An appendix on internship training in hotels
• Accompanying CD containing 337 recipes
• Recipes of various Indian cuisines have been categorized on the basis of
• region (such as Kashmir, Maharashtra)
• tradition (such as Awadhi, Parsi)
• style (such as dum, tandoor)

About The Author

Parvinder S. Bali is Programme Manager—Culinary Services at Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development (OCLD), Delhi. He is a certified hospitality educator (CHE) from American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), a certified professional chef from the Culinary Institute of America, and also a certified chef de cuisine from the American Culinary Federation.

Table Of Contents

• Preface
• Preface
• Preface
• List of Colour Plates
• 1. Introduction to Equipment Used in Volume Cookery
• 3. Purchasing and Indenting for Volumes
• 4. Planning for Volume Catering
• 5. Regional Cuisines of India
• 6. Dum Cooking
• 7. Tandoor Cooking
• 8. Rice Cooking
• 9. Introduction to Indian Sweets
• 10. Traditional Home-style Cooking
• Appendix: Internship Training in Hotels
• What to Observe in Professional
• Kitchens
• Food and Beverage Service
• What to Observe in Kitchens
• Index

The growing demand for food that tastes like it was cooked at home (ghar ka khana ) in hotels and restaurants is also addressed in detail. The book would be very useful to hotel management students and aspiring chefs in understanding the basics of kitchen operations and also their practical applications.

Book Review

Title Of Book: The Old Man & His God

Author: Sudha Murthy

Publisher: Penguin Books

Cost: Rs 150/-

Pages: 130

ISBN: 978-0-14-400101-9

About the book

Another slice-of-the-life  “The Old Man and His God” by Sudha Murty.  The book is far from a discourse, it is in fact a collection of short stories, a third in a series. This is a book that can change your entire perspective of looking at people. Sudha Murthy's sincere, down-to-earth, practical writing style and the sheer simplicity of characters, stories and incidents portrayed in this book are apparent in every single page, every single line that she pens. The stories are crisp and have an inherent lesson or moral, based on real incidences in Sudha Murthy's life and travels. .

As she goes about her work with the villagers, slumdwellers and the common men and women of India Sudha Murty, writer, social worker and teacher, listens to them and records what they have to say. Their accounts of the struggles and hardships which they have at times overcome, and at other times been overwhelmed by, are put together in this book. A blind old man in a little Shiva temple offers the author shelter and peace in the midst of a storm and emerges as the most generous, unselfish soul she has ever met. A little stone bench under a banyan tree in a village in Karnataka is the perfect place for travellers to rest and forget their burdens for a while as they chat with the man sitting there patiently listening to them, a better counsellor than one can find anywhere in the city.

The selflessness and selfishness, compassion and cruelty, knowledge and ignorance all are shown distinctly.
A must read for everyone.

The Undeniable Truth

The human mind is, probably, the most complex creation. There is no computer to match its complexity and capability to network different situations and possibilities. Every person thinks differently and every human mind is different. If, for a moment, we assume that all human beings are similar, life would have been very simple. Criminal investigations would have been easy if this were the case. However, in such an event, life would have lost its charm and excitement. It is the unpredictability of the human mind and the difference in the way of thinking among men and women that has produced brilliance, and that has produced leaders and followers. I will attempt to explain, in this essay, what we see in people.  

The male sex was thought, for generations, to be superior to the female. If one were to start a discussion on whether this is true, it will, in all probability, end in heated arguments. However, it is a fact that for generations, men had been taught by their parents and elders that they are the stronger sex, that women need their support and that they should help them, both physically and mentally. Because of this false idea, girls were counseled to accept their position of inferiority. This attitude has been continuing for generations with the result that men have learnt to exert and display “superiority.” The dominance of men in the workplace is a result of this practiced belief. In India, girls were tutored that their place is in the house and that they have to take care of the family’s needs. Education was only for men. Girls were liabilities in the household and parents were only too eager to get them married for which they had to save up and pay dowry.

Today, with attitudes undergoing a change and with the emergence of the empowered woman on the scene, things have changed. Ladies are making their presence felt in every walk of life. Having said that, the concept of independent women, is not accepted still in many “progressive” families. The result is that men have a false reputation to live up to and this is the root cause of egoism. Since the reason is not sound, it assumes wrong and, sometimes, dangerous forms. To protect his ego a murderer can kill and to show his misplaced dominance and power, a rapist will rape. In the workplace, ego rules and is the cause of many disastrous decisions. The present generation of men is not to blame for this state of affairs. They are unfortunately at the receiving end because of the ascendancy of women in all spheres of life. This false attitude is handed down by past generations and it will take some more time and shocks to dilute. A woman, on the other hand has a point to prove and she goes about her job correctly and rationally. It is presently generally accepted that a lady is more efficient, is more rational and fair, and ready to accept her shortcomings.

I conclude with a clear assertion and acceptance that the there is no better or weaker sex. Men and advised to realize and accept this fact voluntarily. If they do not the realization will come painfully and in such a way that their egos are damaged beyond repair. To the women of the world my message is to carry on as they are doing.

Directions to Completion

There are many factors that make ordinary people like us sensible and disciplined. This is very important if we are to live in society. Unless there is discipline and a sense of purpose, the result in various aspects of life and well being will be chaotic and disastrous. Let us, for a minute, imagine that discipline in the armed forces is voluntary and soldiers can do as they like. The result will be chaos and the country’s security will be in danger. Even if orders are partly followed (and not in full) the result can be similar. This is because the desired result cannot be achieved. Hence it is not only important for a soldier to follow orders, but also take these orders seriously and take them to their desired conclusion.

Discipline is required, not only in the armed forces, but in all walks of life. Imagine what will follow if all motorists decide to ignore traffic signals on the road and take law into their own hands. It will be chaos and confusion and accidents will happen.

Whatever the form of the establishment, it is important for the workers, officers, soldiers and employees to recognise that as long as they work in an organized structure, it is very necessary that once a job is undertaken, it has to be completed according to the directions given. The person giving the instructions gives them to an employee or servant assuming that he or she is capable of doing it. The boss may delegate such work and do something else that may also have to be done. Hence it becomes the duty of the worker or assistant to either complete the work or tell his superior that he cannot do it and give reasons thereof. If this not done, it will amount to breach of trust and, of course, insubordination. We should also keep in mind that by not completing a task as directed would destroy the trust and confidence his superior has in him. Once this thread is broken, it can only be repaired and that too with a lot of difficulty. 

We should also consider the satisfaction completion of an assignment or task gives to a person. He feels a sense of achievement. He feels happy that he was able to complete his work. A personal task completed in time and done well does immense good to one’s confidence and pride. On the other hand an unfinished task makes us think constantly about it even in our free time. In certain situations, the possibility of being criticised, being fired by the boss makes it more painful. So the secret is to do your job and do it completely. Life will be much better.