I have selected some of the famous quotations from Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) which caught my attention and which have a profound impact on anyone who reads it. (images are courtesy quotefancy.com)
The person who has self knowledge has achieved the highest peak in life...., yes, indeed the highest.. The yearning is to conquer the next highest peak .. others !! This blog is written by George Easaw member of the faculty of Business School of Allliance University, Bangalore, India.
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Henry David Thoreau's great quotations ..
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
How to be happy at work ?
It was very interesting an eye catching to catch an article from Harvard Business Review reported in 2019 which spoke of the important factors that helped one to be more happy at work. It was the result of research carried out by Rob Cross, Professor at Babson College. Click here
The author through the paper tries to highlight the important points that led to happiness at work.1. Work in one or two non-work committees or activities, example is being member of some sports club or cultural group or some social organisations doing voluntary work.
2. Making time for non-work commitments or relationships, outside work broadens one's perspective - helps sustain mental and physical energy. I do some voluntary work every three months, donating blood etc, that keeps me energised throughout the year.
3. Spend more time on relationships that helps us or the family. Our professional relationships are beneficial for getting benefits or promotions etc, which can be short lived. On the other hand broadening personal relationships are much more long lived than professional relationships.
4. Block time regularly for carrying out energising projects, breaks, vacation or relaxation. Writing blogs on interesting professionally topics for the benefit of my students, friends and relatives, to society and world at large gives me great satisfaction and happiness.
5. Creating rules as to when to check mails / social media daily. Being disciplined at using time gainfully and productively helps in the long run.
6. Shift from professional to personal space at the end of day. In other words it is as good as saying dont take work home. Practice good work-life balance.
Social connections play a central role in fostering sense of purpose and well being at the workplace.
Most of the people do not have a goal or aim in life which often leads to a less productive life. The HBR author Rob Cross writes,
“Playing defense [means] you are always reactive and living in fear. The
only way to get out of it is to get clarity on who you are and what you
want to do, and start forging a path and network that enable you to get
there.”
It is people, not perfect job that leads to fulfilment in life.
We need to invest in relationships that will keep us happy throughout our professional life and even afterwards.
George..
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
How can end-of-use tyre disposal be made environmentally friendly ?
How many years more will it take for humanity to understand this predicament and act accordingly to find an innovative way to handle this threat facing humanity. Tyres cause so much atmospheric pollution if allowed to burn in the open, so controlled environment incineration is the only solution. But all the components inside the tyre, rubber, chemicals, filler materials etc which have got thermal content and can be beneficially routed as a fuel substitute is wasted on incineration.
Tyres are a menace everywhere and it is clear in Kuwait where millions of old tyres are waiting either to be recycled or disposed so that future generations do not suffer for this bad state of affairs. The reason is that tyres are not bio-degradable, even if you wait for 500 years it just breaks down into smaller non biodegradable particles, thats all.
At the time of manufacturing tyres, the rubber and chemical mixture has gone through so high temperature and pressure, that the resulting tyre molecule is no complex, that only high temperature and pressure can disturb it again, not the normal atmospheric temperature and pressure.
This tyre cemetery is even visible from space.
What is the most innovative way to check this environmental pollution ? How can we reduce the annual piling up of used rubber tyres across the world at different places. Can we use tyres to
Like old containers are being used to build sturdy houses or warehouses for industrial use can we use tyres productively ?
- build strong compound walls so that the bricks and mortar can be saved ?
- pave Industrial flooring
- pave footpath by the side of roads and highways
- passenger seat benches on sides of highways
- garden stools
- flower pots
Innovative way to dispose of old tyres will indeed be a blessing for mankid.
George
Friday, October 7, 2022
5 Mass extinctions
A mass extinction event is when species vanish much faster than they are replaced. This is usually defined as about 75% of the world's species being lost in a 'short' amount of geological time - less than 2.8 million years - nhm.ac.uk
Thursday, October 6, 2022
Life during the 10 year Trojan war
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Human evolution over the years ..
I am on the effort trying to understand a bit of human history and how humans have evolved over the years. Who were our ancestors, where do we come from, where are we going to ? After all it is good knowing all things about Science, technology that has helped humanity over the past 500 years, but how did we reach there in the first place. it was a visit to the Ecozone in Toyota plant in Bidadi that got me fascinated about human evolution or anthropology.
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Wikipedia
Anthropology has been the study of the evolution of humans, what makes us, us ? It is quite interesting to know who our earlier ancestors were. Even though these is a missing link as to how the first australopithecus evolved from apes, about 4.4 million years ago, since we share lot of features in common, our ancestry can scientifically be considered to be from apes.
Australopithecus lived about 4.4 to 1.6 million years ago around S. Africa
Homo habilis lived 2 to 1.4 million years ago in Africa
Homo erectus have been one of the most successful human species and they lived on planet earth for almost 1.5 million years till about 110,000 years ago.
Neanderthals as a species moved around Europe between 110,000 to 35,000 years ago.
Homo sapiens, as what we are called, have been around only for 300,000 thousand years and we originated in Africa.
We need to understand that all this evolution happened during the past 4.4 million years from Australopithecus to Homo sapiens.
I have been doing this reading over the past many years trying to understand how human thinking has evolved over the years and how humans have developed in their physical and mental capacity over the years, especially when we know that the earth is more than 4560 million years old and we humans are barely 4.5 million years old.
What are the features of our cousins that lived on planet earth for at least 4.3 million years and got wiped out leaving only the last human species, Homosapiens left to control it, develop, advance fields of knowledge, spirituality and the like.
Hope in the coming days our discussions on these topics will open up our understanding of the evolution of the human race more than ever.
George
Saturday, August 27, 2022
Importance of walking ..
Improves cardiovascular health: Walking is a great way to improve your cardiovascular health as it helps to strengthen your heart and lower blood pressure. It also reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, and other related health issues.
Helps with weight management: Walking is an effective way to manage weight as it helps to burn calories and increase metabolism. Walking regularly can help you maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of obesity.
Enhances mental health: Walking helps to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. It also improves cognitive function and can enhance creativity.
Improves bone density: Walking is a weight-bearing exercise that helps to strengthen bones and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
Boosts immune function: Walking can help to improve immune function and reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disorders.
Enhances overall fitness: Walking is an easy and accessible form of exercise that can enhance your overall fitness level, including endurance, strength, and flexibility.
In conclusion, walking is a simple yet effective way to improve your overall health and well-being. It is a low-impact exercise that is suitable for people of all ages and fitness levels. By incorporating walking into your daily routine, you can experience significant health benefits and improve your quality of life.
Monday, August 22, 2022
Why is Operations Management very important in todays organisational and business setup ?
Operations Management is everything concerned with strategising the following organisational functions that help improve the competitiveness of organisations, its productivity and hence the profitability of organisations.
The main objective of any operations function is to improve the value delivered to the customer during the useful life of the product or service and its successful withdrawal and environmentally safe disposal. The more important organisational functions are given below.
- Product and service Design
- Bringing Innovation in different aspects of products and service
- Job design
- Scheduling
- Inventory management
- Capacity management
- Facilities management
- Quality management
- Supply Chain Management
- Project Management
- Operations Optimisation using Lean Operations, Six Sigma, Business Process Re-engineering
- Data Management using ERP, Data Analysis, Big Data
- Returns Management
- Environmental sustainability
- Understanding applicability of Industry 4.0 concepts like 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Metaverse, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Blockchains etc.
There is no other management branch that has so much of impact on the functioning of organisations like Operations Management. If one looks deeper into it, we find Operations management is all about controlling the major aspects of organisations other than creating customer awareness, financial aspects and maximising employee creativity and potential.
Operations Managers across industry lose their sleep over many issues and these primarily are given here -
- Concerned over productivity issues, unable to produce or ship the promised quantity to the customers gives many operations managers sleepless nights
- Quality problems hound operations managers as they get customer reports and complaints incessantly in case of these issues. Need to improve process quality is a matter of great concern for them
- Thoughts about value delivery, customer satisfaction, haunts the managers as customer issues and problems make or break an operations professional's career
- With the ever increasing pressure to manage data more efficiently, IT is taken for granted in modern organisations. A manager who is about to deploy a new enterprise-wide application can never get peace of mind till the deployment is successful and complete across the organisation and its geographically dispersed facilities
- Sending files and reports on time is a part of the monitoring process that can often come in the way of work and wreak havoc among people. Excessive amount of documentation and reporting, operations professionals often fail or delay in this area
- Since operations functions cuts across departments on the shop floor, maintaining proper coordination between departments is vital to the successful functioning of the organisation. Unresolved conflicts between departments often result in low output and longer down times.
- Choosing the right people to carry out the tasks on the shop floor. Difficulty recruiting the right talent can be really challenging at times.
- Not having the right suppliers / vendors for raw materials and spare parts inventory often results
With the overriding influence of electronic channels in today's commercial world, the importance of operations is increasing day by day.
George.
Living longer healthy lives ..
Monday, June 13, 2022
Mixed mode logistics ..
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
To be a true professional ..
The other day I was interacting with our new Dean, when he told me of some tips on how to be a great professional. I found the points to be very plain and really beneficial. Here they are being reproduced for the benefit of the public.
1. Be positive
2. Be prepared
3. Be persistent
4. Be patient
5. Be precise
6. Be polite
7. Be punctual
I found them to be very true and am reproducing here so that somebody can benefit from it.
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