Change

The two weeks - one in a developed country and another in one of the fastest growing countries of the world was a great lesson on the impact of change.

While I was in Australia, I saw enough of the television footage of the incumbent Prime Minister. He spoke of the dangers of electing the opposition who are a bunch of trade union leaders. He was of course trailing behind in the opinion polls and he had been in power for about 10 years. Was Australia ready for change?

In India, the Prime Minister lamented about the obstacles put on the path of change. He was commenting on the opposition to the India - USA nuclear deal. The ruling government talked about going to elections to seek a fresh mandate.

On the ground, people were less bothered about the Australian elections or the India - US nuclear deal. Life was revolving in a buoyant economy. The issue that was centre stage was the talent crisis and the pace of change.

Coincidentally, my book for reading on the long flights was on Change by Harvard Professor John Kotter. His eight step process of creating major change starts with two critical stages: establish a sense of urgency and creating the guiding coalition. Kotter is very persuasive in communicating that these two steps precede the other six steps in creating major change. Visit the website for more details.

Entrepreneurship

While in India, I read about the entrepreneur awards hosted by the Economic Times of India. The Star for the Year was Mr. Narayanamurthy, the Chief Mentor of the world’s largest software company Infosys Ltd. His advice to upcoming entrepreneurs was simple and practical. Have faith in your idea, take risks, be persistent and put company gain before personal gain. The company set upon itself a target to pay dividend every year and reinvest the profits into the company even if it meant a less take home pay for the founders. Visit the website for more details.

Mobile Learning

While in Australia, I attended the Mobile Learning Conference. We are certainly in early days. While voice and text seem to be the most commonly used, the use of mobile learning with other forms of e-learning seem to be on the rise. It was nevertheless a pity that the International Association of Mobile Learning does not have an Asian or a black African representative as the President from the United Kingdom believes he is best qualified to represent Asia. Visit the website for more details.

Talent Management

The talent crisis is a real one. Both in Australia and in India, the number of newspaper articles all point towards the looming talent crisis. The short term strategy seems to be for organisations resorting to developing people quickly to meet business needs. In Malaysia, the Asia HRD Congress team is hosting a powerful two day event on Talent Management. For details, please email enquiries@hrdcongress.com.

The Asia HRD Congress 2008

The Asia HRD Congress 2008 is accepting speaker proposals and partner delegations. For details, please email enquiries@hrdcongress.com.

Low cost air travel seems to be on the rise. While in Australia and India, I experienced low cost carriers when flying between domestic destinations. Now, with the news, we will have low cost airlines flying the Singapore - Kuala Lumpur route, it is going to make it all the more cheaper. And, in Singapore, the A 380 took off from Singapore to Sydney making air travel like never before. Interesting and challenging times.

We wish our Indian friends - Happy Deepavali.