Thursday, February 15, 2007 10:40:37 AM
Dialog Telekom, the island’s largest mobile phone operator, and it’s re-introduction of the ‘First-ever’ digital Satellite TV broadcasting in Sri Lanka, subsequent to the acquisition of the satellite pay television operator Communiqu Broadband Networks (Pvt) Ltd and CBN Sat (Pvt) Ltd (for approximately 520 million rupees), remains defiant, steady and certainly vibrant with it’s proven dynamism and past-industry leading practices on all dimensions of the mobile and broadband services to back it’s newly ventured endeavor.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007 6:51:00 AM
Apparently investors were selling out and taking profit rather than picking up shares on optimism yesterday at the Colombo bourse sending mixed signals over what described as "impressive and unprecedented cabinet and majority" of the Government in Parliament.
Both price indices dropped as the market saw LKR 7.5b of its value being wiped off. Investors sold out to make profit while others noted that market wasn’t overly optimistic about the country’s as well as corporate prospects following the appointment of new Cabinet.
Whist, some investors hailed the new cabinet saying it was very impressive especially with top UNPers in it, while others claimed that it was too big and though the Government commands majority, political stability would be under threat with UNP and JVP stepping up their pressure. S:Lanka BR
Friday, January 19, 2007 9:01:10 AM
Time management includes tools or techniques for planning and scheduling time, usually with the aim to increase the effectiveness and/or efficiency of personal and corporate time use. These are embodied in a number of books, seminars and courses, which may offer conflicting advice. The common denominators of these strategies are a to-do-list, setting priorities and goal management. Some of the best known examples of time management strategies are tied to specific lines of time management products.
Time management for personal use is a type of non-other than self-management. Planning time and writing to-do-lists also consumes time and needs to be scheduled. This is one of the major criticisms of time management.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:40:10 AM
If you open it, close it..
If you turn it on, turn it off..
If you unlock it, lock it up..
If you break it, admit it..
If you can't fix it, call in someone who can..
If you borrow it, return it..
If you value it, take care of it..
If you make a mess clean it up..
If you move it, put it back..
If it belongs to someone else and you want to use it, get permission..
If you don't know how to operate it, leave it alone..
If it's none of your business, don't ask questions..
If it ain't broke, don't fix it..
If it will brighten someone's day, say it..
If it will tarnish someone's reputation, keep it to yourself..
S:Living chicken soup (NYT)
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:27:34 AM
When you were born, you didn't come with an owner's manual; these guidelines make life work better.
1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's the only thing you are sure to keep for the rest of your life.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "Life on Planet Earth". Every person or incident is the Universal Teacher.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of experimentation. "Failures" are as much a part of the process as "success."
4. A lesson is repeated until learned. It is presented to you in various forms until you learn it -- then you can go on to the next lesson.
5. If you don't learn easy lessons, they get harder. External problems are a precise reflection of your internal state. When you clear inner obstructions, your outside world changes. Pain is how the universe gets your attention.
6. You will know you've learned a lesson when your actions change. Wisdom is practice. A little of something is better than a lot of nothing.
7. "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" becomes a "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that again looks better than "here."
8. Others are only mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself.
9. Your life is up to you. Life provides the canvas; you do the painting. Take charge of your life -- or someone else will.
10. You always get what you want. Your subconscious rightfully determines what energies, experiences, and people you attract -- therefore, the only foolproof way to know what you want is to see what you have. There are no victims, only students.
11. There is no right or wrong, but there are consequences. Moralizing doesn't help. Judgments only hold the patterns in place. Just do your best.
12. Your answers lie inside you. Children need guidance from others; as we mature, we trust our hearts, where the Laws of Spirit are written. You know more than you have heard or read or been told. All you need to do is to look, listen, and trust.
13. You will forget all this.
14. You can remember any time you wish.
From the book "If Life is a Game, These are the Rules"
Friday, January 12, 2007 11:27:33 AM
How can you negotiate when the rules suddenly change, and no one knows whether your particular market is headed up or down?
Imagine that you're the CEO or president of a leading global organization. You have a month, at most, to fill your team's roster before training camp begins. What's your strategy? If you expect that your rivals will go on a spree and overspend for big-name players, it would be smart to sit back, protect your budget, and then scoop up the excess talent. But if the other owners move cautiously in this new terrain, it would be in your interest to aggressively sign stars before the market heats up.
Either strategy carries risks. You wouldn't want to blow your budget on a few marquee players and have little left to round out the team. Then again, there's no point in holding lots of cash with no one worthwhile to spend it on.
Conventional negotiation theory doesn't say much about how to craft and execute strategy in such dynamic markets. Assessing your walkaway point is useful in stable situations but less helpful if you don't know whether your options will get better or worse.
It pays to look for strategic insight from contexts where uncertainty, risk, and change are the only constants. Military science, in particular, offers powerful lessons for negotiators, whether they are settling disputes or making deals. As it says in Warfighting: The U.S. Marine Corps Book of Strategy (Currency, 1995), "The very nature of war makes certainty impossible; all actions in war will be based on incomplete, inaccurate, or even contradictory information."
Many negotiation scholars have shied away from drawing parallels to battlefield strategy, due to its associations with violence and brute force. In fact, contemporary theory of maneuver warfare is surprisingly nuanced and supple. Three axioms apply to negotiators who must cope in volatile environments: (1) make a bump plan, (2) be bold and quick, and (3) learn and adapt.
Axiom #1: Make a bump plan
Military strategist Carl von Clausewitz coined the term friction, "the force that makes the apparently easy so difficult." Friction doesn't just refer to adverse weather or enemy fire. It can also be mental and self-induced, resulting from the "lack of a clearly defined goal, lack of coordination, unclear or complicated plans," and other signs of ill preparation, according to Marine doctrine.
Mental and organizational friction infiltrates negotiation as well. When the stakes rise, so do tension and miscommunication. Totally eliminating friction is unrealistic on the battlefield and at the bargaining table. In both instances, you need the authority and the emotional steadiness to cope in spite of uncertainty.
Strategy is further complicated by the fact that the other parties are independent actors with their own objectives and plans. While you're striving to influence their behavior, they're just as determined to shape your decisions to their advantage. According to Warfighting, appreciating this dynamic interplay between opposing human wills is an essential factor in understanding the nature of war.
When formulating negotiation strategy, strive to view the landscape as other parties see it.
Friction is high in each of those domains. Confidential information about contract talks was sometimes leaked to the press. Key players who seemed ready to sign with one team suddenly bolted to another. Some general managers gave fat contracts to players long past their prime. Each transaction altered the overall negotiation landscape.
In rapidly changing marketplaces, you can't provide for every contingency. But you can take a page from Marine Corps practice and develop bump plans. Rather than mapping out every possibility, commanders practice a form of analytic triage by focusing on two negative possibilities, discarding almost everything else. The first element is anticipating the enemy's most likely course of action. The second is preparing for the biggest, most damaging risks by identifying the greatest threats to success.
Translated to the negotiation arena, creating a bump plan means ultimately making an informed bet on how you expect things to unfold, while also contemplating what you'll do if events go the other way. A hockey general manager who values premier goaltending should identify a handful of potential players. But in case he gets stymied with all of them, he should be open to assembling a team that's more offensively oriented.
Axiom #2: Be bold and quick
When the rules of negotiation have changed drastically, should you be bold or cautious? As a general principle, the crunch have a bias for action. Timing is just as important in negotiation. In volatile situations, you and your organization must be poised to act quickly. But don't confuse quickness with frenzy.
The first two elements—observing and orienting—are especially important for negotiators thrust into new environments. Your strategy must be driven not only by your goals but also by what you will learn while achieving them. Thus, negotiating with an individual, has dual purposes.
The more novel the circumstances, the more important situational awareness becomes for the negotiator. You need the capacity to organize and analyze data as it comes in so that you can confirm or reorient your strategy, if necessary. That way, you can align your tactical decisions with your larger objectives. The more efficiently you manage this process, the more up to date you'll be on current conditions. Cycling through these loops of analysis and action faster than other negotiators will give you a significant edge.How Can You Negotiating When the Rules Suddenly Change..? S:HBR
Friday, January 12, 2007 9:48:19 AM
Are you legally astute? Four components of legal astuteness are described: (1) attitudes that respect the law, but don't rely on counsel to make business decisions; (2) a proactive approach to identifying risks and opportunities; (3) the ability to exercise informed judgment; and (4) context-specific knowledge of the law and the appropriate use of legal tools. The author makes recommendations on integrating legal counsel into different aspects of the business process such as branding and trademarks, negotiating contracts and building relationships, and integrating legal counsel into the upper management team to give a new perspective to strategic decisions.
Key concepts include:
There are legal dimensions of business, and managers can learn to manage them more effectively.
Managers who view lawyers as partners in value creation and risk management are more likely to increase realizable value than those who view lawyers as a necessary evil to be consulted only after managers have decided what to do.
My Opera
