Saturday, 16 August 2008

Why do people Blog?

We as a human have a remarkable ability to think about things that make lot of sense and also about things which does not. But what we don't realise is that our thoughts whether it makes sense for us or not will make sense to somebody else.
Why should you Blog and why do I blog? Apart from monetary benefit in the form of advertising, all I know why I blog is for this one reason. There are other reasons which can be made to fit into this same reason. So what is that reason?

  1. If you want to develop personally, it is very important that you start having your opinion. This means, have an opinion on news you hear every day, have an opinion on employee communication you receive at office, have an opinion on your friends talk, have an opinion on the city you just travelled to, have an opinion on advertisement you see in TV, have an opinion on every possible thing you can. Opinion can be negative, positive or neutral. Note that having opinion does not always mean you have to talk it out or communicate to others. You will start to engage your brain steadily and realise you have started retaining messages. So you must be asking what it has to do with blogging. An average human beings needs motivation in some form or other to act. By blogging about your opinion you share your thoughts with other human being. This feels like a social accomplishment to many and a motivating factor in itself.
  • Have an opinion
  • Blogging motivates you to have opinion of your own

Those who don't blog but read others blog, please provide comments. This has similar effects.

Note: The topic above is specific for personal blog writing and not for blog writing for commercial usage. There might still be few exceptions like blog for deceiving others or exposing others etc. but majority of personal blog is for sharing opinions or a way of expressing opinions.

Your comments are welcome
Raghab Nepal

Friday, 15 August 2008

Should you travel to Kathmandu or Chennai or London?

Travelling to Kathmandu, Chennai or London? Read before you travel...

You must be surprised to see why does someone want to tell you about ice, sand and coin at the same time and why does it have to bother you. Lets see if it does.............

I was born in Kathmandu, Nepal and traveled everywhere in Nepal except Pokhara, Solukhumbu and other places except Kathmandu. That means to say that all I know about Nepal is Kathmandu (whole valley). I stayed in Chennai for about 8 years so I know quite a lot (Mylapore to Sriperumbudur to Mount Road). I have been in London for the last 2 years (Shepherds Bush to Hyde Park to Victoria).

What is so unique about Kathmandu -

1. It is a lovely City with lots of things to see. You can smoke marijuana for a price of a cigarette (I know my friends tell me this), you can see excellent Hindu and Buddhist temples with a rich history that very few young Nepalese remember and many stuffs in a very cheap way.
2. You can see riot or mob almost everyday. If you dare to, you can very easily be part of the riot. If throwing stone at police is in your to-do-list but is illegal in your country, please visit Kathmandu. I can assure you that there is no other place in the whole wide world where you get to participate in this everyday local festival.
3. If you do not believe in global warming, you know where you should go. Kathmandu is situated at 1,355 M above sea level, surrounded by beautiful hills with a clear view of snow-capped mountains. You would assume climate to be cold or not warm. You would have been right 15 years back. But these days, smoke from sources you won't want to imagine, embraces you with so much love, I won't tell you how exactly you will feel. You should experience this for yourself.

What about Chennai –

1. It is a lovely city with nothing to do or see. You can see temples and beach and that’s it. And yet people are good in Chennai.
2. If you are a non-vegetarian and want to feel how chicken feel when fried, visit Chennai in May. Chicken are killed first and then fried but unfortunately people in Chennai do not have the pleasure of first dying before getting fried. Sun is so mercy-less.
3. Public transport is one of the few things you should praise in Chennai. An average bus will have 200 people or more inside. That is called full capacity utilization. But Public transport system in Chennai is highly sexist and discriminating. Bus seats on the right hand side are reserved for females and no male passengers are allowed to even watch those seats, even when empty. On the other hand, females can sit on the any side. When in the bus, you will surely wish you were born a female.

What about London –

1. It is a very well maintained city (north of the river only). You can walk around whole day and find that everywhere looks the same. Depending upon which country you come from, a good lunch here can cost about your full month's salary.
2. It is very easy to get stabbed here. Go to a borough which lies south of the river and man you are lucky if you come out without feeling (if not really) stabbed. Under 10s scare you more than teenagers here. I guess that is what a developed city means.
3. You will find people from every part of the world here. This leads to a real confusion. In Kathmandu or Chennai, it is very easy to differentiate a tourist from a local which helped everybody play pranks on tourists. In London you don't know who is who; you miss out on the fun.

There are so very many things I thought I knew about these places and I am stuck with 3 things each for a city now. Nonetheless I guess this should help you when you visit these places and not miss out on anything mentioned above.

HATE (Poetry)

My soul knows the discomfort,
The pain that I behold within
The anger and hate that breeds
Push me under my own belief.
To keep the unruly world smiling
How long will I disregard my pride?
How long will I put it aside?

Copyright 2007 Raghab Nepal

PS - It is always been easy to hate somebody and feel the anger. I tried to put down an emotion in words that I was not feeling at the time. I think I did succeed.

Cigarette (Poetry)

I burn your legs,
Bite your head
Suck your soul
And inhale straight.
I crush you beneath
My dirty feet,
Throw you lonely
To your merciless fate.
Been no friend, for so long
Living in my blood, in my lungs
I hate living, you help me die
I puff you out into the sky
Still you call me a friend
And I rush, to get your smell.
You are only true friend of mine
In my dark and lonely times
None had been so close, so dear
To my heart and to my lungs,
Love in my heart, lies for you
And I don’t care about your bitter truth.

Copyright: 2006 Raghab Nepal

PS - I do not smoke anymore.............

How will Economy Turnaround?

Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped." - African proverb

Excessive Subprime lending, Inflated Home Prices, High Leverage, High Energy (Oil) prices, Low Dollar rate and countless other factors were breeding in the back drop of booming economic growth (some might like to call it as a bubble). When so many factors were cruising on the wrong track, it was a disaster waiting to happen.

Mid 2007, the news of Subprime Crisis hits the so thought resilient economy. To the discomfort of all, the so called resilient economy has stretch too far to stand ground. Countless job cuts (yet to unfold), massive banking write-downs, banking and financial disasters - Northern Rock, Bear Sterns etc., zero trust in the economy, high inflation (thanks to oil and commodity prices), low consumer sentiment, and various other aftermaths which nobody knows yet, have happened ever since and are yet to happen. Everybody talks about the crisis and the pain. The bigger question is what can turn this sliding economy back to prosperity and turn the arrow green and facing back towards the sky. Let me be different, let me be optimistic.

World Economy cannot be in recession forever. Yes, it happened for a long period in Japan in the last decade, but it was the monetary policies that were to blame. 1930 and 1992 felt the wrath of recession but things did turn out good at the end. So what are these self healing powers that market possess?

What else can turn the economy? Lets discuss

1. Consumer and business confidence is said to be low in times of recession. In fact, the confidence level is over depressed than required. Households as well as business community hold back on their spending and save for any unforeseen possibilities like layoffs, softer cash-flow etc. This held back demand creates a potential future demand. It can be comparable to potential energy created by holding water back in a dam to be released. To release this potential demand, an external impetus might be needed in the form of new entrepreneurial idea (a new service), fiscal policy (tax cuts or favourable tax treatment), monetary policy (interest rate adjustments) or any other external catalyst. The power at which this supressed demand gets released determines how quick the recovery happens.

2. A new invention which is yet to be known can change the direction of the economy. Computer was an innovation which helped the world economy over the last few decades to take a different height. Securitization helped the economy to grow (by also helping a lending business like American Express and others). This was an invention. But yes, I agree, misuse of this same invention has led to the current recession. Will there be anything new? Yes the possibilities are high.

3. Stock Markets are always known to anticipate the direction of the economy. But there is a hidden truth. The truth of self-fulfilling prophecy. When stock markets are high, the cost of capital to the business is low as it can raise needed capital with ease and at favourable price. This motivates business to invest and grow which helps the economy. On the other side when the economy is at recession, stock markets are at its lowest. Raising capital is difficult and the prices are not favourable to the business, hence higher cost of capital. Again I repeat, stock markets are known to anticipate the direction of the economy. One or few favourable news might lead to this surge in stock prices, without anything to do with the real economy. Nevertheless, surging stock prices lowers cost of capital to the business and induces higher investment thus creating the path to economic recovery. In this way the stock market feeds the self-fulfilling prophecy.

4. Political Change can have a major impact on the sentiment of the whole economy. New reforms can help the economy to grow; examples are that of India and China. Or the change in government can also do the trick, for example when Bill Clinton was elected the president of US, market responded favourably.

Fall in oil prices, rising dollar prices, Govt. (or whoever) induced market optimism and never to forget government (central bank included) intervention can play a part in helping heal the economy.

The question has never been whether the economy will regenerate or not, the question is when. The economy has the power and the tools (discussed above) to heal itself and there is no doubt about its intention.

- Raghab R Nepal, July 2008,

Poetry for the Credit Card

Ode to the Card

Green, Gold and Colorful Plastics
Credit crunch has been too drastic
Your love with POS terminal is on the line
Your spending has been on decline

People have been losing jobs
Default rate is on the up
Housing crisis in the reason
And we are increasing our credit provision.......

Discount rate is under pressure
Our coverage has not been so better
Our stocks have seen too many bears
For a good company, that's not fair

Future may look all too bleak
Economic downturn may be too deep
But every dark tunnel has an exit that's brighter
I hope we manage and come out stronger.......

Copyright Aug 2008 Raghab Nepal

Thursday, 14 August 2008

How to Lay-Off Employees in the best possible way

When companies' profit are hit, staff are usually the first to be axed. This provides quick outcome and helps shape P/L and balance sheet. New employees can often be the first in the firing line. To many (including me), 2008 has been the first time we have ever witnessed the height of corporate lay-offs.

With so many companies opting to reduce expenses by laying off employees, it should be remembered that the same employees have so far taken pride in working for the company and had helped the company achieve new heights at the time of prosperity.
So what can companies do when laying-off these loyal employees.

Is there a better way to terminate so many jobs? Lets discuss -

1. No, there is none.
2. Stop hiring new people externally and move people internally
3. Discourage any over-time work and try to distribute employees to departments with higher level of work requirements. For example, lets discuss one possibilty in current situation. If employees within acquisition have to be layed-off, trying to move these employees to credit control can do a trick. Credit control department would be requiring more employees to manage acquisition risk. The outcome is that the same employee now understands both acquisition and the risk involved in more detail. The same example applies for point 2 as well. (Example for Creditcard Industry)
4. Ask if any employees agree to retire voluntarily (or for a agreed sum of money). This is very effective in containing the size of lay-off in any situation and can reduce stress to existing employees.
5. Until the economic condition improve, try and negotiate with employees a 3 days a week work schedule for half-pay. There are always few who agree to these kind of ideas.
6. If the lay-off is unevitable.
In such cases, base the lay-off decisions on combination of all the below -
- past employee ratings
- on future potential
- employee existing network within and outside the organisation
- on experience (both internal and external)
Do not base it on
- employee's duration in the company
- their current performance only and not potential to the changed flat organisation
7. Without fail, provide impacted employees time (a month or more) to search for a new job outside.
8. Also provide reasonable amount of pay to minimise financial stress to the impacted employees. Employees bank account should be able to hold them until they find a new job.
9. Any reasonable employer should try to help impacted employees find a job and make the transition as smooth as possible. This can be done by connecting recruitment agencies to the impacted employees and paying a small sum to the recruitment agencies for finding a job for the impacted employees. This will motivate the agencies to work harder in finding the job for the impacted employees.

There are many possible ways that companies go about the lay-off process. The best of companies try to minimise the impact to the employees. It is always the employees who turn the company into a sucess story. Unfortunately, there are times when the same employees get themselves in the firing line, but again to make the company profitable.
Success is not when you do things right, but when you do the right things in the right way.

- Raghab R Nepal, July 2008

Note: Example in the blog relates to a common creditcard company but similar approach can be followed for any industries.