On the new year ...

Another year go by ... Lots of new things, tons of old and no question that I had a whale of a time ! Hope this year brings in its own bouquet of the old and the new...

Have never really been the 'new year resolutions' kind but have been quite successful in changing habits these days. Whether it is teetotalary ( which is total ) or vegetarianism ( which is an on-off fad ), it has always been a pleasure to embark on the journey and see how one manages the various twists and turns...

But there are several facets of 'new habits' which has reconfirmed that the times are changing ....

1. One of my close business friends addressing a public gathering lamented " Signing of cheques is fast becoming a rare activity"... While the humor in the statement hits you fastr than the true meaning - these are the ominous signs of times to come...Stinginess is in...There will be a lot of caution execised by corporates while spending. The good timeas are around they say but this habit is here to say. So the days of doing less with less have gone and now are days of doing more with less ...

2. Methodologies and 'the way we do things' is changing faster than one can fathom... The regular terms like long term strategy and 5 year plan are passe and now the horizon decision making is smaller. So what does that mean - getting back to the drawing board much more than often...

3. The last point also ushers in the new competence - ability to unlearn. The changing landscape not only reiterates the point of picking up new skills but also permanently erasing some business practices of the past

4. The 'how of doing things' have also changed. Ethics are good business practices are much more in cmversation and for once most senior business heads urge their teams to walk the talk and constantly reinforce the need of following these practices. If one if doing or abetting the wrong things, he / she can be sure that the damocles sword is much more closer to his/ her head than it was couple of years ago. Luckily a lot of rhetoric in the media speak this language of straightforward deals. Quoting Subroto Bagchi in Professional - " Ethics is about dong the right things even when no one else is watching" I cannot imagine it be more succintly put ... Or what Narayana Murthy says - " Integrity is the sofest pillow"...

So are we in for more learning and fun this year... I am sure it is - There will be more roads to cover and alleys to traverse and I touch the feet of Ganesha and walk on ...