Influence

Reading between the lines

infl — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:51:07 +0000

Many times, you cannot take a statement made by a company or individual at face value. It is important to be able to read between the lines, recollect your past interactions, and discussions with the person or company and then take a decision. Usually most people do not have a hidden agenda, but the ability to ask probing questions and read between the lines can be an advantage in business and in your daily life also.

The written word

infl — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:35:54 +0000

For any commercial transaction, the spoken word can never be relied upon due to a number of reasons
1. The person may say he or she never made the statement at a later date.
2. There are no records kept for reference
3. The listener may not have heard what was said properly due to a number of reasons like background noise, accent of the speaker, speaking too fast.
So any discussion should be documented in writing, with all concerned signing the document to ensure that there is no misunderstanding.

Experience matters

infl — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:57:28 +0000

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration

Many people think that a new technology or success in any field comes as a flash of inspiration, but actually it is a result of many years of experimentation, practice, hard work and testing. Some of the most famous writers have started writing stories from a very young age, and received many rejection slips before their first best seller was published.

Two sides to every story

infl — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:17:56 +0000

From http://bible.org/seriespage/there-are-two-sides-every-story-joshua-221-34

“Have you ever jumped to a conclusion before hearing both sides of a story? Have you ever failed to give someone the benefit of the doubt, even though they had never wronged you?”

This saying from the Bible is very relevant today.

Today, character and other types of assasination is a full time business for some individuals.
So when some one accuses another person of anything, before you come to a conclusion, find out what the other person has to say about it.
The accuser may be trying to extort money or blackmail an innocent person or may be forced by a third person to do so.

Search engine influence

infl — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 03:20:47 +0000

While analysing the high traffic websites in 20+ large countries in the world, the websites with the highest traffic levels are either search engines or social networking websites.
This indicates that most people use the internet mainly for search, for finding information. So a search engine is a major influence in the internet industry of a country, deciding the websites which people visit online.

Some business and media stories

infl — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:46:37 +0000

Meeting on Paid news

Circulation of Indian language papers

Manufacturing growth

Big Brands Big Trouble

infl — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:50:35 +0000

The book “Big Brands Big Trouble” was delivered nearly 2 months after first placing the order . The book was ordered at 2 different online book stores, but the order was cancelled as the book was not “in stock” and amount refunded back. The third seller also said the book was not in stock, despite listing it at his ebay store.

Finally a copy of the book was delivered after placing an order at Landmarkonthenet.com. Some “Big brand” creating problems for online buyers?

Cost control

infl — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 14:07:54 +0000

One of the most important things that you learn as an engineer is cost control. If you are going to get a premium price , you use high quality material as inputs and put in proportionate efforts. If you are getting the lowest price in the market, the quality of inputs is adjusted accordingly.

Similarly for a website if you are able to earn the best rate in the market, you will have to put in proportional efforts. Else, it is just a hobby, keep your costs low and ensure that it breaks even. The search engines are the biggest beneficiaries of quality content on the internet, if they wish to promote people producing junk content, people will reduce their usage of the internet.

And from the internet industry you learn one thing, if you have a good website, always make it clear who is behind it, there is never a shortage of people who will go to any extent to harm you and claim ownership of the website.

Fighting for the truth

infl — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:16:36 +0000

Some countries are prosperous and develop because more importance is given to facts, merit and hard work. In others rumours and gossip prevail, because people do not verify the facts. If you have the truth on your side, however big and well connected your opponent is, you should fight till the bitter end, ultimately the truth will prevail.

Document everything

infl — Sat, 14 May 2011 11:03:19 +0000

One of better aspects of doing a job for a few years is learning the art of defending yourself from your seniors. For any commercial transaction, it is always better to document everything. Even if you were discussing a project related issue with a colleague in the same cubicle, you were always told to put it down in writing and store it in the project file.

At a later date, for an issue, which was only discussed verbally, in case there was any dispute, it would be your word against your colleagues word, and it would be difficult to determine who was telling the truth. And this is perhaps the reason why I am so comfortable buying online, everything is documented.