Could you accomplish more with iPhone or BlackBerry

This would be a first for me to discuss how each tool stacks up. It's an iPhone vs BlackBerry post.

I think for this discussion I will focus on three key aspects of personal organizers for both smartphones.

Today, we'll discuss about email.

BlackBerry - in terms of email the BB still comes up tops. Key features include push mail, separate signatures for different accounts, autotext (which allows you to configure short-hand for frequently used phrases), and ability to send attachments within the email application.

iPhone: Until recently push mail was limited to yahoo and MobileMe. Now that Google has joined in the game it has made it possible for me to get push mail for my corporate email. However major limitations exist (and some not entirely Apple's fault). For instance push mail via Microsoft Exchange is not totally reliable. We've experienced downtime a couple of times. Another limitation is email attachments. You can't send a new email with attachments, that is unless you have a MobileMe or DropBox account. That makes it extremely annoying. Also, unless you can put up with using TextExpander, which requires you to type your email within TextExpander and then copy and paste into the email application. That to me is so yesterday. Besides, you can only have one MS Exchange account so which requires you to purchase apps like GPush to push your other gmail account. Of course not everyone needs push mail but for those of us who needs to response to our customers fast the iPhone has major limitations for email.


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What is that? (Τι είναι αυτό;) 2007

Unconditional love...

Tum Chalo to Hindusta Chale - TOI Lead India "Tree"

Through the action of one individual, who "seemingly doesn't seem possible to make an impact", that motivates/inspire others to take action and make a difference.

Add and Maximize Value

We've always heard about "adding value". For instance, in any relationship how do you invest in the relationship?

One might say, well, I value add.

True, I guess you wouldn't be in that relationship for very long if that wasn't the case.

Then you might argue that when it comes to love one should give unconditionally. Why must there be a need to ask "what can you bring to the table?"

That's some what true but we are saying what you (first person perspective) can value add to the relationship? We're not saying that you demand something in return. Whereas when we say you wouldn't be in the relationship for long we are implying that the other person will / might look elsewhere (second person perspective).

So now let us look at "maximize" value and how different is that from "add" value.

To me it is a world of differences. Given a situation, I may be adding value but how do you know if I am giving my best or if I am holding anything back?

You wouldn't really unless you know me very well. What we want to emphasize here is that unless we are giving our 100 percent, you could still be short-changed in this instance.

Hence by maximizing value here in this instance we are saying this, you not only do your best, you give your best too.

One technique I found to be really effective if we do it with the right attitude is this: always set your intentions at the start of any interactions with another person. Because as our intentions are always good (it's only a matter of from which perspective) and hence sometimes our actions maybe misinterpreted.

Therefore it is always a good practice to first set your intentions and you will be able to practice the art of not just doing your best but also giving your best, everytime, all the time.

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Keeping Top Talent Engaged in Tight Times

Values - Personal & Engaged

We recently had a discussion about school values. Context was, this school has a set of values that are both at a personal level as well as at a collaborative level (we call this "engaged").

They went through an exercise to ask their staff to rate their list of values; rating a "1" from the list for most visible to the last for least visible. It turns out that the values at the "engaged" level were rated higher than the "personal" ones.

An interesting discussion ensued to determine how to make sense of the information collected.

Was it obvious that since the "personal" values are personal hence it is difficult to see? Or is it a cause for concern?

I think what we wanted to establish was this: even if these values are "personal", if people live by these values it would have been evident, personal or otherwise.

The School Leaders then posed an interesting question that, how if these personal values are lived out by individuals, what kind of impact would this make at the organizational level.

To this end we need to understand why values at personal level are extremely critical to organizational success.

Where in an ideal senerio where everyone in the organization lives by a set of timeless principled values, that would translate into a culture where everyone takes personal responsibilty for what happens and hence a no-blame culture becomes possible.

In other words we are speaking about an organization made up of individuals who have personal mastery. For such an organization three things will happen.

1) People choose how they would respond to any given situation.

2) As these individuals take personal responsibilty for the outcomes of their actions.

3) Knowledge work becomes possible.

Let's discuss these in turn. Choosing your responses to any given situation is like, yeah so what if the weather is gloomy, if life throws you a lemon you make lemonade.

These individuals will not complain about the kind of pupils we get. Nor will they complain about the lack of resources or support.

These individuals will find the best ways to address the cohort issue. Seek ways to work with parents, innovate their teaching practices, experiment with different techniques, and so forth. Of course it is easy to point the fingers at the children. But this will not be the style of such individuals.

Even if they tried all ways possible and yet not meet their targets, they will accept personal responsibility. It is just not their style to blame it on the child.

And because of their attitude, they would be creating work that will also benefit future generations as the kind of work they do will be worthy of retention and shared for the benefit of those that come after them.

You may realize that this is also true for any smaller outfit like a work team or a committee.

Next time, take the opportunity during your next discussion or meeting to identify such individuals on the team. How can you tell? Listen to their conversation. Is it focused on "what others can or should do" or is the emphasis on "what I as a member of the team can do".


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How do you express yourself?

Different people do it differently. Some of us don't even realize that every single one of us has the need to do it.

What's yours?

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