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R.K.Laxman's Common man!

Deja vu.. Black Berry


It was a couple of years ago, myself and my colleagues on our way to the office were discussing ‘Blackberry Boys' and we all felt that BB will die soon. 
We could peep into the future with ease...easily but wonder how BB missed it and messed it! It is Hot on the web to discuss reasons for BB’s debacle...
However, My take is…
  • Respect the Customer.
  • Listen.
  • Unlearn to Re-learn.
Starting from the day your confidence gets appended with ‘over’, your days are numbered. 
Take a look at the videos. they thought that it's market-shaping! 
Well, the market shaped the RIM.
Two years later, RIM is dead and BB10 is a new avatar.
If BB is to rise like a Phoenix, It will have to patiently wait for iPhone or Samsung to do the same mistake!
Not surprisingly, I get a sense of deja vu after iPhone 5 launch and iphone 6 previews.
This is the ' Market Shaping' BlackBerry Indian ad..



Here is an article closely related to this article from Strategy+Business
How Leaders Mistake Execution for Strategy (and Why That Damages Both)

We are like that only

Publicis CEO's 2013 message .Great Interactive video

Do not miss using YouTube controls generously..
Use...
~ Sound
~ Picture Quality
~ Stop
~ Play
~ Full Screen
to enjoy a Brilliant Interactive Video. 
Happy Weekend!
Here are the Stats if you are interested.

The Problem itself as a Solution : Six examples

Problems are everywhere. Problems are opportunities. The more, the merrier.
Because , we all make money on problems. Every single business in the world thrives by offering a solution to a problem. However, we are yet to recognize that many times, the problem itself is the solution.
Here I furnish six Innovative solutions by experts using the problem itself as a solution.

Vaccines:  Use the Pathogen itself  as a Medicine
A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins or one of its surface proteins.

Traffic Jams: Avert bigger traffic jams by creating Smaller Traffic jams.
Yes. Indeed. Haven’t you thought that systematically small traffic jams are created at every Red light to ensure you avoid bigger traffic jams? We all know the chaos when traffic signals fail. Mumbaikers, the citizens of Mumbai Know its Value. That’s why you find they rarely jump the signals.  Want to know more science behind this, read the brilliant book titled “Numbers Rule Your World: The Hidden Influence of Probabilities” by Kaiser Fung.

Population Control: Control Population by increasing the life expectancy at Birth (reducing child mortality)
Research shows when child death rates are high, families tend to have more children in anticipation of child mortality. we may not agree Immediately due to a lack of understanding of numbers. Take a look at the Video by Prof Hans Rosling.  He says …Child survival will help in stopping population growth, will help the family also having fewer pregnancies. 

Homoeopathy :  Similia Similibus Curanter (Latin)
or in plain English,  “that which can cause can cure”. In a layman’s language, a substance that causes the symptoms of a disease in healthy people will cure similar symptoms in sick people. This is the fundamental principle of Homeopathy.

Mosquitoes: Control Population of Mosquitoes by breeding more mosquitoes
Yes. Oxytec, a company of Mr Haden Parry has a solution to control the mosquito menace. The solution is to breed a special male mosquito that can regulate female mosquito fertility. All you need to do is breed them and leave them to the environment. The concept lies in using two biological features. One is that male mosquitoes do not bite and so, it can not cause disease and the other one is a law of nature! The male will always find females to mate with! 

Cybersecurity: “Hacktivists” as cybersecurity professionals or Anti Hacker hackers!
Today the world uses hackers to combat cybercrime. We now have Ethical Hacking as a respectable profession!

We were never taught to look for the solution in the problem itself. So, we need to unlearn and relearn. 
This unlearning and relearning can creatively change our approach to the problem and possibly bring in innovative solutions.

Though it is a cliché, I dare to quote “Even Impossible and I ‘ m possible”.
Does it ring a bell?

Have you taken a deeper look at the menu ?

We receive updates on LinkedIn every day.
Piqued by the quantum of updates, I was cursing LinkedIn for pushing irrelevant updates. 
The moment you open LinkedIn, you are greeted with updates of your connections following innumerable companies and these lists are never-ending. In the process, you may miss knowledge updates.
I was about to write to LinkedIn to give choice to the users what to view and what not to view. Then,I took a deeper look at the menu. I realized that my ignorance was profound.
The choice is already there.
I just had to find it.

The same is true with our lives. Everyday opportunities and choices are presented to you like a menu.
Have you taken a deeper look at the menu?

Yesterday's 8 GB is todays 32 GB !!!



Maybe my ignorance. 
Maybe it a simple issue for a finance professional but, I failed to understand...
The story goes like this....I bought an 8 GB SD card from a leading "TRUSTworthy" electronics store in Jan'12 for Rs.1200.Now, in Jan 2013 This SD card conked out!
I took it to store as it is under warranty and the store gracefully agreed to replace it. He had 2 choices
Choice 1: Replace an 8GB Piece
Choice 2: Give back Money and ask me to buy goods worth Rs.1200 (Incase my goods exceed Rs.1200/- I need to pay the difference amount) 
When I requested Option 2, the store manager agreed. 
So, I had Rs 1200 /- to purchase.
In lieu of an 8GB Card, I purchased a 32GB card for the same Rs 1200. (Nowadays a 32 GB SD Card  costs ~ 1200)  
No extra money or difference of money was paid. 
Now, my gain is 8GB to 32GB for the same Rs.1200
( Should I consider Rupee devaluation in 1 year + Inflation as my extra gain ? )
How about to Store? I understand the intangible gain like goodwill etc.
Other than those intangible issues, Did the store Gain ? or No Loss-No Gain or Notional Loss? 
Though no one measures P&L on a single SD Card, If we were to compute what is the P&L?
I am confused @#$%^&

Merge , Split , Reorder and more with PDF files. Absolutely free!

Most often we get or download magazines in PDF from the Internet and they contain lots of Ads. The size is big and you want to save just a couple of articles and discard the rest and the ads or you may want to convert PDF to images. This is where PDFill can be of great use...
PDFill is absolutely free software that enables you accomplishes many tasks with ease.
You can use it to Create PDF files from any printable file, You can create images from PDF files, You can split-merge, Order-Reorder, Rotate, Crop, add header- footer, add watermark, and even Encrypt and Decrypt a PDF file.
One more Secret...You can print a PDF file that is "Print Disabled" all that you need to do is recreate PDF using PDFill!
It's a valuable tool. This is what you can do with PDFill.
Download the same here. PDFill Download




!ndian'ovation

Here are the links to most fascinating videos from Ted on India and Innovation.
We understand that adversity and necessity can lead to Innovations and Inventions.
These simple frugal innovations can bring long lasting impact and make a difference in lives of people.
They are a must-watch.Truly !ndian'ovation.
Click on the topics. They are linked to Ted Talks.

9 talks about innovation in India
  1. Arunachalam Muruganantham : sanitary napkins
  2. Vinay Venkatraman: “Technology crafts” for the digitally underserved
  3. Anil Gupta: India’s hidden hotbeds of invention
  4. Jane Chen: A warm embrace that saves lives
  5. Bunker Roy: Learning from a barefoot movement
  6. Nirmalya Kumar: India’s invisible innovation
  7. Marc Koska: 1.3m reasons to re-invent the syringe
  8. Nandan Nilekani’s ideas for India’s future
  9. Anupam Mishra: The ancient ingenuity of water harvesting




Learnings from Swami Vivekananda

Five Point Summary : Box and Whisker Plots

One evening, when you were reading a newspaper and your ten-year-old son came to you and announced that he scored 90 marks in Mathematics and scored 80 in English and rushed to play cricket. 
You were Happy and Sad at the same time. If 90 makes you Happy and 80 makes you sad, Think again!
Well, the next day when visited his class, you received new information.
In Mathematics, everyone in the class got more than 90 marks and the class average is 95. In English, everyone is below your son. He is the topper! You are Happy and Sad again!
Well, that means more information, more clarity.
More the information does not mean all marks of all the children in all the subjects. 
So, you need a summary.  The best summary that can describe data is the 5 Point Summary.
What are those five points? ( The simple definitions are  from wiki.paranormalcop.org)
   1.Minimum - the value above which there is 100% data
   2.First Quartile - the value above which there is 75% data
   3.Median (second quartile) - the value which divides the data set into two equal halves, 50% above and       50% below
  4.Third Quartile - the value above which there is 25% data
  5.Maximum - the value above which there is no data.
These five points can be represented in a graph that is called Box and Whiskers plot.

Creating Box plots in Excel are quite tricky as excel does not offer a straightforward chart type for the same.
Here is a Box and Whiskers Plot template created for you.
You can create up to 10 plots. 
Download the excel from @Downloads .
This is a Do ..Co..Mo stuff: Download, Copy and Modify at your will.
Few Ideas to get started.
1. Plot employee performance scores before and after training. You may be able to find out the training impact!
2. Plot employees Incentive earnings of last 2 years… You may understand the truth of employee earning!

Here is a wonderful article named  Visual Presentation of Data by Means of Box Plots 
by D.L. Massart,a J. Smeyers-Verbeke,a X. Caprona and Karin Schlesierb

Here is another great resource for special excel charts.



Easy Scatter Plot with 5 Dimensions..

This is a Scatter plot 
Scatter plots are very useful graphs to display two variables. They help to identify and measure correlations between variables.
It is customary to plot Dependent variable on Y-Axis or vertical axis and  Independent variable on X-Axis or horizontal axis.
Adding Labels to data points on a scatter plot in excel is a difficult task and is similar to creating and labelling bubble charts.
You need to add each variable and name (label) as a series... It's purely manual work...Here is a tool to make your job easy.
This is a tool created by  Mathis from Clear Lines Consulting.
With a click of a button, you can create scatter plot with Two variables Plotted, with Labels, different Colors and different Markers.
( 2 Variables(X and Y) + Data Point shape for the category as another dimension + Color of the data point as one dimension and the Name of the data point as another. Totalling five dimensions)
You can also download the Excel workbook from Mathis’ post "Excel-ScatterPlot-with-labels-colors-and-markers".
This is a very useful tool! Thanks to Mathis...
Credits: Power Scatter Plot Excel sheet: Copyright © 2009, Clear Lines Consulting, LLC
http://www.clear-lines.com
Licensed under a Ms-PL license (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ms-pl.html) : feel free to use and modify, but leave the © in if you distribute.

 Alternatively, you can use a add-in to show labels on the graph.
An excel add-in called Labeler, created by Rob Bovey can be downloaded from here.
It is free. Try It!
Excel Add-In Credits:

My New Year Resolutions


Million Dollar Dialogue

A life time of learning is trodden in to simple dialogues from films.
Here are few…

Year end...Self Apprisal

2012. is about to end. 
No Armegadon on 12.12.12 or on 21.12.12. 7 Billion thanks for the most uneventful year!
We just have to wait for new stories on 11.12.13 or 13.12.13 which happens to be a Friday ;-)
Well, on that happy note and wild anticipation, do you wish to recalibrate yourself with resolutions? 
Like to test yourself?  Test your IQ, Personality, Career Values.... 

 Here is a brilliant site called 123 Test.
It's Free. and good. This site hosts the most popular tests for Free. Registration is optional.
Test yourself. Share it with your family. 
Let your spouse also attempt these tests on a weekend...Enjoy the process and outcomes.

For those who wish to take it a little more seriously, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Jung Typology Test is a well-known test in corporate circles. An elaborate version of the same is here from the site Human Metrics. There is a considerable brouhaha on this test recently, However, MBTI is the most widely used psychometric test across.
Here below is MBTI Typology Summary quoting Various famous Personalities....
Credits: The Washington Post; Ryan Smith and Eva Gregersen, creators of celebritytypes.com

Waterfall charts a.k.a Mario chart

Waterfall Charts are consultant's favourite charts!.
No wonder they are often referred to as McKinsey style waterfall chart!
Apparently, they look difficult to create but once you know the secret, it works like magic.

 They are the best choice if you want to show how increments and decrements impact quantitative change in a given parameter. 

Let me explain.
In the year 2011, your company sales are 100K €. You have a plan to reach 330 K € by 2016.
Here is the data...



The data can be best shown in a waterfall chart. The chart looks like this

Sales Projections from 2011-2016 increments
totalling to 2016 final sales shown in the waterfall chart

The trick is - arrangement of data and hiding some components of a normal stacked bar chart! I have explained the same in the attached excel. Have a look at it!
Even if you do not understand.... no problem.. use ready-made charts from the same excel! I have given 4 different scenarios of the same chart.

You can download the file from the Downloads @ section of LCDing. 
It's a DOCOMO.. stuff (Download, Copy ,Modify)

Srinivasa Ramanujam

Zig Ziglar: 10 Quotes that can change your life

Zig Ziglar: 10 Quotes That Can Change Your Life Click the Link to reach Article on Forbes



Multiple same name Contacts or Duplicate Contacts on android

The Simplest Way to manage multiple same name contacts is using Google Contacts.
First, sync all contacts with Google Contacts. Consider Google contacts as a single point of storage.
Go to your Google Account,  and in  Two simple steps merge all the duplicates as shown below...
Here is the path
Contacts >> More >> Find & Merge Duplicates.
Sync Back to Mobile!
Bingo!

Text Visualizations with manyeyes

Text and Data visualization ? Try many eyes.
You can explore and create spectacular and compelling data visualizations. The name of the site is apt as you can view data through "manyeyes".
You need to register to log in to use your own data. 
well in addition to normal visualizations, the best part of the site is text analytics. This is quite important in the context that everyone is viewing to get insights of from huge piles of data generated on social media! Bringing out essence from text is made possible through various text analytical tools available.
Here, I present you the way religions describe The God. I have taken from Internet how various religions describe The God.
Sabka Malik Ek......means - One God Governs All
This is how It appears if I create a Word Cloud without editing data!

This is an example.
You can load your own data like text of your own speech, text from an article etc. and analyze the essence of the text!
Just to ignite your thoughts... 
~ Use the brand message text...
~ Use your CEO's Speech...
~ Use your brand detailing story...
~ Use text from your own presentation....
~ Use Ted Transcripts
I recommend Word Cloud  and Word Tree 
Word Cloud to know what the audience will hear from you (Top most repeated words. Obviously! )
Word Tree to know how a word is contexted.
Visit the site Watch the Video to learn more! Click the link. 

Outlook 2010 - Edit "Subject" of a Message

Most often,you find the e mail messages from Outlook  go to and fro between people without any change in the "Subject" that gives you an idea or hint about the content of the message. 
      As the conversation grows,more and more mails accumulate either with "FW:" or "RE:" without change of "Subject".You may now find it difficult to trace the appropriate mail.
A simple solution to this is : Editing the subject to a meaningful and recognizable header to trace it easily for future reference.
To edit the "Subject" , follow these 4 Simple Steps..
 Step 1: Open the message.
 Step 2: Click Action >>  Edit Message (as shown in the picture)
 Step 3: Go to Subject>> Edit it and close the message.


 Step 4: When it prompts you to Save changes,Click Yes.


Extracting bounced back email IDs from Outlook : Addressing the pain point in e-mail marketing

Email  marketing is abuzz! 
With great efforts you collect e mail Ids. With greater enthusiasm you send e-mails.
Click Send.
Give the system a sec…A series of bounced mail ids land in to your Inbox…. 
The reason , Wrong Mail Ids…..
Now the job is to compile all wrong mail Ids from all those bounce back mails or Wrong mail Ids. It’s dreadfully painful (Is this expression correct ?)to go to each return mail and collect the Id.
Recently I faced similar challenge! 
I Googled and bumped in to looooong Macros. 
Some suggested Import export…I tried and failed with all those solutions and may be because of ability to understand and execute the solution... and then….
Falsh $#@%^&* Flash…….!
New Idea !   Indian Jugad ! Quick and Dirty !
The Idea is as simple as ... Select , Copy and Paste.
Ctrl + A , Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V.
Here below is the explanation….
Open the  Outlook  .
Keep all mail Delivery failures in a Folder. Now do the following as shown in...
Picture 1 : On the fields bar , Select Field Chooser
Picture 2 : Menu Opens up like this. Drag to  the fields bar
Picture 3 : Now you have  “to” Mail Id and Other fields
Now It's just  Ctrl + A , Ctrl + C .
Open Excel and Ctrl + V.

Bingo… Now you have an excel with a column full of wrong mail Ids....
It was an eureka moment when I found the simplest solution. I was remembering the story...Americans had spent millions of dollars to invent a pen that writes in space where as Russians wrote with pencil !
Jugaad Zindabad

Identifying level for description of IMS data in Excel

This post/ tip is for Pharma market research professionals who use IMS data.
IMS Health uses EphMRA (European Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Association) classification system across the world while producing data.

These codes when downloaded from some IMS Data sources are demarcated by several "empty spaces" before each code/description. As the excel download of the data will have hundred of rows, identifying the level through a formula will make analytics easy.
Here is a simple solution using excel formulae.
You can download the excel file here or @Downloads.

Create Stunning Timelines in a Jiffy on PPT


Show timelines in presentations with a Style! 
Bring in the WOW factor.
Here is an Office add-in you can use to create stunning and great looking timelines. 
The add-in is absolutely free and can be downloaded here. It has an easy to use interface and wizard that helps you create timelines in a jiffy! Download Office Timeline add-in here

With a Free edition, you can create an unlimited number of timelines, Change, Edit them on the fly.
It's absolutely free, easy to use, creates stunning timelines on a PowerPoint. I recommend It.


Watch the Timelines in Action here

Cartograms - It's a new World out there...

A couple of days back, I had an idea to create World Map based on variables such as Population, GDP, Per capita health care expenditure etc.
I was excited...I thought I found a new visualization model...I dreamt of  ...name.....fame...new contribution to the world of visualization...
Then, I did a little search on Google. I understood such visualizations are in vogue and are called Cartograms...
In the end, I cursed that someone copied my idea even before I could conceive it...
However, I have come to terms with it...

 Let's see what these Cartograms are..
For those who are familiar with Bubble Charts, understanding Cartogram is easy...
Cartograms are simply maps of the world wherein the size of an entity like a country or a Continent is proportional to the size of the variable being depicted.
Let me give you an example.

 If we were to create a Cartogram of the world based on the Area of each country, you will see the Map exactly like the world map we see... Like the one on the right side...

If we were to create a cartogram of the world based on the Population of each Country, you will see the map like this. on the left side...

 You will see the world from a different viewpoint...
World Mapper is one such brilliant site that Created innumerable Cartograms. Many are available for Free download as Posters...



Maps by Mark Newman, data by Danny Dorling, text by Anna Barford, quality control by Ben Wheeler, website by John Pritchard, poster design by Graham Allsopp, and individual country maps by Benjamin Hennig.
There are few software programs to create Cartograms.
Visit Cartogram Central for exploring the options.

 I tried to recreate the same on Excel with varied results.
I will share with you the template once I have a fair amount of success. Share with me if you have any ideas on creating Cartograms in Excel.
Till then, enjoy World Mapper.
For more information on Cartogram, click the link below
Cartogram Types