Unreal Blog

Is Bill Gates being disingenuous in his philanthropic efforts? Some people think so, and see the associated tax benefits as the true motivation. I prefer to see goodness of concrete actions, rather than speculate on possible motives. After all, who am I to cast the first stone? Haven’t I sinned? Haven’t you?

Read the rest of "Systems and People"

On Bill Gate’s philanthropic efforts. Giving credit where credit is due, though grudgingly.

Read the rest of "Latter-day Robin Hoods"

On what is important in life. And what is not.

Read the rest of "Midlife Crisis"

People tend to follow the money gradient. When a particular field is lucrative, more people tend to end up there. During the IT boom time of the previous decade, most of the talent flowed in there. Finance also has been a not-so-strange attractor for academics. Here is a look at the culture shock associated. Another excerpt from my upcoming column in the Wilmott Magazine.

Read the rest of "Group Dynamics"

It has been a while since I wrote anything on my blog. I was writing furiously, though, for my second book (http://pqd.thulasidas.com). After turning my sleep deprivation into a habitual insomnia, I turned in my draft manuscript, and I am ready to blog again.

Read the rest of "Back to Blogging…"

The last post in this series, this one exposes the extreme cases both in allowing and in denying bonuses, and their implications. Both the options imply our acceptance of certain economic idea. And, as with most things in life, it is not quite clear which is right, once you think long enough about it. A happy and stable middle ground is what we should seek and find.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – VI"

If you generate profit, don’t you deserve a share of it? Profit generation and increasing shareholder value — these are the hallmarks of top talent in our capitalistic world view now. What is good for the shareholder is certainly good for the talent as well.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – V"

Another common argument is that bonuses are necessary to retail the so-called “talent.” Are they?

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – IV"

If hard work does not entitle us to fat bonuses, perhaps our “talent” does? This is the third in the series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – III"

The second in the series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine, here is the common argument about hard work and the perceived entitlements.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – II"

This is another series of posts based on an upcoming column of mine in the Wilmott Magazine. In this series, I will examine at the arguments for and against huge bonuses and golden parachutes. The first in the series, this post merely sets the stage for the next half a dozen. The starting point of this series is the public resignation letter by Jake DeSantis, ex-EVP at AIG, and his reasons for believing in the fairness of the huge bonus packages. And my arguments against them, with the personal suspicion that my views are perhaps more a case of sour grapes than of moral high horse.

Read the rest of "Bonus Plans of Mice and Men – I"

Time and money represent the basic conflict of work-life balance. Here is an unreal look at the old problem.

Read the rest of "How Much is Your Time Worth?"

Stressed out at work? Try these stress-reduction techniques. Well, musings, really…

Read the rest of "Unreal Stress Reduction Techniques"

It is a jungle out there. Do you have what it takes to survive? If not, don’t worry, I’m here to help.

Read the rest of "An Office Survival Guide"

It is that time of the year again — the time for the dreaded annual performance appraisals. One friend of mine told me about one of his direct reports who actually started having a heart attack in his office during the APA! Here is a look at the pluses and minuses, originally published as a column in a Singaporean newspaper.

Read the rest of "That Time of the Year"

Another old gem from my newspaper columns collection, this post talks about email duels that all of us have gone through at some point in our career. Enjoy!

Read the rest of "Stinker Emails — A Primer"

For corporate success, we may need to hide our technical knowledge at times. When it comes to techie-ness, we should know when to hold, and when to fold. Here is my take on how best to use (or hide) technical knowledge, originally published as a newspaper column.

Read the rest of "Techie’s Dilemma"

Before we can make others listen to us, we have to listen to them. We need to apply this essential communication principle in private conversations with our spouses as well. Or, it may lead to more problems than meet the eye. Here is an a newspaper column of mine from last year.

Read the rest of "Listen and Be Listened to"

I have been doing a bit of geeky stuff lately — writing Wordpress plugins. That made me think… We all started off as geeks, didn’t we? What’s the use denying it? Remember how the teachers loved us, and the sexy cheerleaders, well, didn’t? During our moments of panic, we go back to our geeky roots. At least, I do.

Read the rest of "Geeks"

Newspaper column in Today on 2 Aug 2008.

We Singaporeans have a problem. We are graceless, they say. So we train ourselves to say the right magic words at the right times and to smile at random intervals. We still come across as a bit graceless at times.
We have to bite the bullet and face the music; we may be a bit on the rude side — when judged by the western norms of pasticky grace popularized by the media. But we don’t do too badly when judged by our own mixed bag of Asian cultures [...]

Read the rest of "Graceless Singaporean"