1.9 million miles of ROADS...

  
   INDIA ranks first in the list of countries, having the largest road network in the world. Its road network spreads across almost 1.9 million miles. 

Termites build their own Air-Conditioners...

     Termites are tiny creatures but they make their homes out of soil, in such a way that it automatically maintains an inside temperature of 30.5'C even if the outside temperature goes as high as 40'C.

Reference link :
http://www.asknature.org/strategy/8a16bdffd27387cd2a3a995525ea08b3

One Pakistani delayed MUMBAI's Monorail Project

MUMBAI's new Monorail project has been delayed by almost 3 years because one of its main track (Wadala-Sant GadgeMaharaj Chowk route, 2nd phase) was supposed to be built adjacent to Arthur Road area. And the construction team didn't get the permission, due to security concerns as Ajmal Kasab was kept in the nearby Arthur Road Jail. 

#Incredible INDIA....


http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Blame-Kasab-for-monorail-delay/Article1-666963.aspx

Real WOLVERINE...

There is actually a real animal named "Wolverine" found in the Northern polar region. They are deadly and they also KILL.... Interestingly even Hugh Jackman didn't know about it till June '2013.

Wikipedia link :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine

Bhangarh (Rajasthan) still haunted???

Bhangarh (Rajasthan) is one of the very few places of the world, where roaming of tourists is officially prohibited after the evening hours. Legends say that the palace is still haunted.


Even the signboard put up by 'Archaeological Survey of India' says "Entry to this area after sunset & before sunrise is prohibited". 

Link : http://zeenews.india.com/slideshow/top-10-most-haunted-places-in-india_39.html

AMUL

The Indian dairy products giant, uses almost 1 crore 50 lakh litres of milk every day to make its various products.

What got you here, won't get you there... by Marshall Goldsmith

       This book holds the basic premise that there are a handful of workplace habits that often keep successful people from making the next big leap forward in their career. The author, Marshall Goldsmith, seeks to identify those habits and help you to overcome them so you can make that next big leap in whatever you’re planning to do with your life. While this book has a heavy skew towards management, there is a lot of meat here that applies no matter what you’re doing. Let’s take a look.

Section One: The Trouble With Success

        Whenever someone experiences success in the workplace, they usually get a very positive feeling out of it, and this generally results in a net positive for the person. Their self-esteem goes up and they begin to have more confidence in their abilities. However, this only goes so far: often, when a person has a string of successes, they begin to adopt a handful of beliefs that aren’t necessarily true. They begin to believe that they are more responsible than they actually are for the success of projects and they begin to believe that their value is much higher than reality actually shows.

         This is a human failing, one that anyone with some measure of success can fall prey to. I’ve fallen prey to it myself – more than once, I’ve managed to make myself believe that I was somehow superior simply because I performed my individual role well. This is a dangerous thing to ever believe, even if it happens to be true. It alters your own behavior in a lot of ways and sets you up for failure, not for success.

Section Two: The Twenty Habits That Hold You Back From The Top

This trouble with success often manifests itself in the form of destructive habits in the workplace, of which Goldsmith lists twenty. He lays out very brief summaries of these twenty habits on a single page, which I’ll quote for interest’s sake:

      That’s an impressive and insightful list of criticisms. In fact, that succinct list inspired me enough to actually print it out and post it at my desk so I’m reminded to try hard to avoid these habits. He goes on to devote a few pages to each habit in detail which was very insightful and interesting, but I was most bowled over by the list of habits.

    He also goes on to devote several pages to the “twenty first” habit, goal obsession. Goldsmith argues that many people lose sight of the here and now because they spend their time plotting out their long term goals, not realizing that the here and now is often the best place to take that first step to whatever you have in mind. In fact, obsession with goals often is the underlying factor in many of these bad habits.

Section Three: How We Can Change For The Better

Goldsmith offers up a seven step plan for fixing these bad behaviors, both individually and as a whole.

Feedback Whenever feedback is given to you in any form, never respond by arguing about it. Instead, write it down and consider it later when your immediate flared passions are calmer. Thank the person for offering their opinion, put the advice aside for a while, and then look at it later with a cool head, and you’ll often find something specific you can improve on. If you want to be proactive about feedback, don’t be afraid to ask for it, but never argue about it.

Apologizing If you realize that you have done something wrong, either very recently or in the past, apologize. Swallow a bit of pride, go up to the person, and just apologize for whatever it is. Likely, you’ll both feel better for it – you’ll lose at least some of the bad feeling and the other person will feel better too (almost always). I’ve found that apologies are almost always a very good thing, but they’re often very hard to do.

Telling the world, or advertising Now that you’ve apologized, what are you going to do to change? The next step is to define the changes you’re going to make and to let everyone know about them, especially the people you’ve apologized to. Apologies don’t mean anything if they’re not coupled with some effort to change.

Listening When someone speaks to you, listen to them. Don’t interrupt them, and try to fully understand what they’re saying before formulating a response. This is always a strong tactic to use when someone is trying to talk to you. If you can’t fully describe and articulate the message someone is trying to deliver to you, your response is guaranteed to be less accurate and thorough than it could be if you listened to the message and to the messenger.

Thanking Whenever someone does something beneficial for you, thank them. I’m personally a big advocate of the handwritten thank you note (I think in this modern era that it really seems special), but any form of thank you will do. Just be sure to take the time to thank everyone who contributes to your success, both directly and in public opportunities when given the chance.

Following up Once you’ve started to really work on these things and started eliminating the bad habits from your life, follow up on them. Wait a few months, then ask the person you’ve apologized to if things are still seeming okay and if you are doing well on your “advertised” plan of attack. Stay diligent yourself, and try to remind yourself often of your goals. Constant follow-up keeps you on task and on focus with anything in your life.

Practicing “feedforward” At this point, you’re making real progress on your negative habits. Now, step back and ask for some future suggestions on where you should go with these changes. Ask someone who you’ve had experience with in the past for two specific things that you can do in the future to help with the behavior(s) you’re working on, listen, thank them, then work on implementing them. Much as feedback talks about the past, “feedforward” talks about the future.

Section Four: Pulling Out the Stops 

    The final section really focuses heavily on people involved in management. Here, Goldsmith focuses on wider issues within an organization, such as handling these bad habits when they pop up both in superiors and in subordinates. Most of the suggestions here, though, really boil down to one thing: candor with a healthy dollop of honesty.

      For starters, if you have subordinates, be very clear to them what’s expected of them specifically from you. Similarly, if you have a new boss, be sure to ask (even repeatedly) what specifically is expected from you. If you see the bad habits mentioned earlier popping up in the office, be candid about it with that person, but don’t let it evolve into whispers and backstabbing.

      In short, a healthy organization is one that is open and honest enough to nip problems in the bud. Most major issues become major because the root causes weren’t dealt with quickly and with candor and honesty.

The Medici Effect : by Frans Johansson

        “The place, where the different fields meet, is what is called the Intersection. And the explosion of remarkable innovations that you find there is what is called the Medici Effect. This book is about how to create it. … The idea behind this book is simple: When you step into an intersection of fields, disciplines, or cultures, you can combine existing concepts into a large number of extraordinary new ideas.” “The Intersection is certainly not the only place to uncover new ideas, but it is the best place to generate and realize extraordinary ones.”

PART 1 – THE INTERSECTION

CHAPTER ONE: The Intersection — Your Best Chance to Innovate

“The mind-reading experiment (where a monkey moves a cursor on the screen with his mind) was creative because it was new and valuable, and it was innovative because the creative idea had become realized.” “…creativity really occurs when people act in concert with the surrounding environment, and within society. Ultimately society decides whether an idea is both new and valuable.” 

There is no way to know whether a thought is new except with reference to some standards, and there is no way to tell whether it is valuable until it passes social evaluation.

“If you operate within a field, you primarily are able to combine concepts within that particular field, generating ideas that evolve along a particular direction — what is called directional ideas. When you step into the Intersection, you can combine concepts between multiple fields,… — what is called intersectional ideas. The difference … is significant.”

In summary, intersectional innovations share the following characteristics:

·         They are surprising and fascinating.

·         They take leaps in new directions.

·         They open up entirely new fields.

·         They provide a space for a person, team, or company to call its own.

·         They generate followers, which means the creators can become leaders.

·         They provide a source of directional innovation for years or decades to come.

·         They can affect the world in unprecedented ways.

CHAPTER TWO: The Rise of Intersections

“The centuries that followed [the Renaissance] saw a growing specialization of knowledge. Disciplines became more fragmented as we broke the world into smaller and more specialized pieces.” “There are three distinct forces behind the rise of intersections, and at this moment, perhaps for the first time, they are all working together.”

Force 1: The Movement of the People. Globalization,

Force 2: The Convergence of Science. Cross-disciplinary sciences and multi-authored papers.

Force 3: The Leap of Computation. Faster, better, etc.

“Because the effects of these three forces are so pervasive, your understanding of a field is likely to become intersected many times during your lifetime.”

CHAPTER THREE: Break Down the Barriers Between Fields

This chapter introduces the “associative barriers” which are automatic and subconscious which keep us from finding the Intersection, helps us to “unravel” the “chain of associations,” and encourages us in “divergent thinking.”

Example = A Swedish cook making awesome fusion food at a Manhattan restaurant.

CHAPTER FOUR: How to Make the Barriers Fall

Here’s what a few innovators did. They,

·         exposed themselves to a range of cultures

·         learned differently

·         reversed their assumptions

·         took on multiple perspectives

We must remember that “there is always another way to view things” which is “particularly true as one compares cultures across the world.” “Research also indicates that people who are fluent in multiple languages tend to exhibit greater creativity than others.” “The purpose is not necessarily to come up with a specific idea, but to shake your mind free from preconceived notions.”

CHAPTER FIVE: Randomly Combine Concepts

Research has shown that two main types of random combinations are involved in generating creative ideas. 1) “flash-in-the-sky serendipity” which usually happens when you are trying to solve a problem.  

2) “prepared-mind discoveries” happen when someone with a “prepared mind” encounters a phenomenon he or she had not set out to find.

CHAPTER SIX: How to Find the Combinations

·         By diversifying occupations

·         By interacting with diverse groups of people

·         By going Intersection hunting

” A Renaissance man is someone that can see trends and patterns and integrate what he knows. To me the modern Renaissance man is curious, interested in different things. You have to be willing to ‘waste time’ on things that are not directly relevant to your work because you are curious. But then you are able to, sometimes unconsciously, integrate them back into your work.” Why are people so hesitant about working in diverse teams? Psychologists call this tendency “the similar-attraction effect,” the tendency to stick with people who are like themselves and avoid those who are different. “A sure path to inhibit your own creativity is to seek out environments where people are just like you.” So how do you bring diverse groups of people together? “For starters, it is important to depersonalize conflicts.” Go intersection hunting by “selecting items with no apparent connection,”  and “buy a couple magazines you usually do not read.”

CHAPTER SEVEN: Ignite an Explosion of Ideas

“The most successful innovators produce and realize an incredible number of ideas. The strongest correlation for quality of ideas is, in fact, quantity of ideas…it is typical to find that around 10 percent of the creators are responsible for 50 percent of all the contributions.” Why? “The intersection of fields, cultures, and disciplines generates combinations of different ideas, yes; but it also generates a massive number of those combinations. People at the Intersection, then, can pursue more ideas in search of the right ones.”

Dean Simonton says “innovators don’t produce because they are successful, but that they are successful because they produce. Quantity of ideas leads to quality of ideas.”

CHAPTER EIGHT: How to Capture the Explosion

·         Strike a balance between depth and breadth

·         Actively generate many ideas

·         Allow time for evaluation

“Too much expertise can fortify associative barriers…yet, expertise is clearly needed in order to develop new ideas to begin with.”

The buzz of a good brainstormer can infect a team with optimism and a sense of opportunity that can carry it through the darkest and most pressure-tinged stages of a project. – Tom Kelley 

1.      Produce as many ideas as possible

2.      Produce ideas as wild as possible

3.      Build upon each other’s ideas

4.      Avoid passing judgment on ideas

CHAPTER NINE: Execute Past Your Failures

“It turns out few kids like to think of themselves as ‘high risk.’ ” “For many students, it was inconceivable not to answer every insult with an escalation. Many students didn’t know that there were less risky ways to handle a confrontation.”

“Mistakes are inevitable if you want to succeed.” “Successful execution of intersectional ideas, then, does not come from planning for success, but planning for failure. It is a counterintuitive idea, but a critical one. Since we cannot rely on past experience to devise a perfect execution path, we must rely on learning what works and what doesn’t.”

CHAPTER TEN: How to Succeed in the Face of Failure

·         Try ideas that fail to find those that won’t

·         Reserve resources for trial and error

·         Remain motivated

“…the best results would come in an environment where success and failure are rewarded equally — and where inaction is punished.”

·         Make sure people are aware that failure to execute ideas is the greatest failure, and that it will be punished.

·         Make sure everyone learns from past failures; do not reward the same mistakes over and over again.

·         If people show low failure rates, be suspicious. Maybe they are not taking enough risks, or maybe they are hiding their mistakes, rather than allowing others in the organization to learn from them.

·         Hire people who have had intelligent failures and let others in the organization know that’s one reason they were hired.

“…just by saying that one activity is a reward for another activity can lead to a decrease in actual creative output.”

Money is great stuff to have, but when it comes to the act of creation, the best thing is not to think of money too much. It constipates the whole process.”

CHAPTER 11: Break Out of Your Network

‘swarm intelligence’ is a fascinating field filled with biologists, computer programmers, and others trying to find trends and answers by running programs that mimic the behavior of social insects.” The “value networks” “are needed to succeed within a field. That’s why we form them. And that is…where all the trouble starts.” “Although value networks are essential for directional innovation, they can prevent us from successfully pursuing intersectional innovation.” Example – group of ants finding the shortest way to food.

CHAPTER 12: How to Leave the Network Behind

·         Break the chain of dependence

·         Prepare for a fight

CHAPTER 13: Take Risks and Overcome Fear

The risk people tend to fear most is not financial loss or wasted time. Rather, it is the risk to their pride, status, and prestige, to what their peers will think of them if they fail. In other words, the risk of failure can weigh more heavily than what is at risk.”

CHAPTER 14: How to Adopt a Balanced View of Risk

·         Acknowledge risks and fears

Trap 1: If Things Are Going Well, We Stay Within a Field. “Prospect theory suggests that it is not so much that we hate uncertainty, but rather that we fear losing. It is not that easy to see how things in our life could instantly get better — but it is easy to see how they could quickly get far worse.” “The problem here is that if we take chances only when we have something to lose and play it safe when we have something to gain, we will be losing in the long run.” But It is comfortable and often very prudent to move forward in small, controlled steps, making sure to reap the gains we know we can get.” “The problem is that if we are willing to take risks and pursue intersections only when we are doing poorly, we’ll hurt our overall chances of success. This is the point when we tend to be short on resources, contacts, credibility, and time. This is when we have the lowest chance of executing past our failures. Instead, we should try to innovate, to take more chances, when things are going well.”

Courage is the resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. – Mark Twain 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Step into the Intersection…and Create the Medici Effect

Expect the unexpected. There is logic to the Intersection, but the logic is not obvious. “The unexpected nature of the Intersection makes it a place of uncertainty.”

So, Take the LEAP!!! :)

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NOTE : The name "Medici" comes from the Medici family, who were one of the first investors of this world living in Florence, Italy. They were ready to invest in any new and bright idea. So people from length and breadth of the planet flocked to the city to meet them which later resulted in the revolution named "Renaissance".

Making BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATIONS Happen

By Porus Munshi

• Thinking of an innovative company, no Indian name comes to our mind. Is it because there are no innovations taking place here? Or it is because we don’t know them? Or it is because we are too critical of ourselves and in awe of the developed nations?
• Are we merely going to be the land of Jugaad? Or we can take this intrinsic ability to improvise and convert it into a national advantage.
• Focuses on the thought processes which inspired some of the greatest breakthroughs on Indian soil.
• Innovating legacy mind sets :  Established industries are populated with old and rigid people, leading to a disease of sameness. We should always challenge ourselves and go beyond the existing paradigms.
• Innovating to take on giants :  In many companies, there is awe and fear of giants, defence towards giants. Fear is that, if we take on the giants, they will come after us and we cant take them. We are too small.
• R&D and technology–led innovation cant only happen in large organisations, but by proper insight and belief an entrepreneurial organisation can be better at innovating.
• Innovating for underserved markets :  Many people earn 2 to 5 dollars per day in India, or even less. So this forms a huge underserved market and organisations should want to tap into it. They don’t want a poor man’s Citibank, they want a Grameen Bank.
• Software yes, BPO yes, low-cost man power yes, but product innovation No. New products come usually out of US, Japan, South Korea, and even Taiwan and Brazil. But still products like Tata Nano and Titan Edge have shown that innovation can happen here also which others will try to follow.
• In case of Police and City corporation, it’s the lack of leadership that is making India slow. Everything else is almost fine.
• There is a pattern to make orbit shifting to happen. Orbit shifters begin with almost an impossible challenge that engages the heart rather than anything else. Then they should have a cutting-edge insight to find ways to reach that challenge. Then they should enrol the stakeholders, members, influencers etc who can make the mission. Not just enrol but infect them such that they become champions of the mission.
• Come out of your comfort zone and this may bring the best in you. No one has ever learnt, staying in his comfort zone. E.g- Denmark based Arla foods. They dreamt of making milk based diets for astronauts. In the process, they developed products that can be used on earth as well. Like a yoghurt that needs no refrigeration and has a shelf life of two years.
• Dainik Bhaskar -  They were the radical innovators who completely imbalanced the market. Most organizations think they have an outstanding strategy and based on that they work out for the future projections. Dainik Bhaskar did the reverse. They first had a dream, an impossible aspiration and then work back from there.
• When they were preparing to expand into Rajasthan, suddenly in a meeting their Chairman Mr.Agrawal stood up and said, “It sounds as if your aspiration is to reach heaven.” His sons said, “Yes.” Then, “do you know what you have to do to reach heaven?”…… “Die! Are you willing to die for this aspiration?” … “If not, we would better stay here in MP.”
• They were number one News paper daily in Rajasthn, Gujurat and Punjab starting from the very first day of launch.
• If you are a number 1 or 2, that is a very comfortable position. But sooner or later comes along a wide-eyed orbit shifter who refuses to play by the rules. And suddenly all rules are re-written. The barriers which we thought had concrete foundations, tumble like a house of cards. So we should always focus on in-depth understanding of our domain, be open for innovations and changes.
• Incremental innovators focus on trying to grab market share from the competition and fight within the existing market space. But radical innovators go a step further. They create a brand new space for themselves and bring buyers from both fields : existing and brand new.
• You should always instil the self-belief that you can do it. No matter how hard the target is.
• Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai :  They treat 2.4million patients and 286000 cataract surgeries every year. That to only 30% people pay, rest 70% get free treatment with hard work, we can really do well.
• Su-Kam – created an industry, by making inverters and now are the largest player in India and some other countries. The founder Mr.Kunwer started by thinking that “if the product wont work properly, then the market can’t grow.”
• Transformation of Surat from a plague ridden city to India’s 2^nd cleanest, led by an IAS City Corporation head.
• Shantha Biotech : New venture made vaccine of hepatitis at Rs.50, where it was earlier sold at Rs.750
• Titan :  Making of the world’s slimmest watch “Titan EDGE”, a watch which the pros like Swiss even laughed of saying it couldn’t be made.
• Chola Escape Buttons :   He said, in radical innovation, inspiring people and creating aspirations come first, then getting idea comes second.
• Tirchy Police :  A city of 24 lakhs population, was controlled by only 260 constables. Headed by the SP Mr. Tripathy, now everything runs smooth. His thinking was that, for violence and protests to stop, we should have intelligence about its possible origin, so that we stop it.
• Bosch India :  They thought out of the box and rather than making major and expensive engine modifications to enable it to interact with high pressure pump, they thought of modifying the pump itself to enable it to interact with the existing engine. This plan of their was then followed by the global Bosch teams.
• ITC :  They threw their existing agricultural field’s business model and started afresh to compete with bigger giants globally, without much funds.
• CavinKare :  How do you make billionaire giants blink, when you have some thousands of funds to play with. The founder, Mr. CK Ranganathan says, “You level the playing field. And a great insight is one of the greatest levellers.” He introduced the first shampoo sachets in India. Then left his family business and started Chic shampoo.

PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL

Dan Ariely

   Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions is a 2008 book by Dan Ariely, in which he challenges readers' assumptions about making decisions based on rational thought.

CHAPTER 1 : The Truth about Relativity

        In chapter 1, Ariely describes the ways in which people not only compare things, but also compare things that are easily comparable. For example, if given the following options for a holiday - Paris (with free breakfast), Rome (with free breakfast), and Rome (no breakfast included), most people would probably choose Rome with the free breakfast. The rationale is that it is easier to compare the two options for Rome than it is to compare Paris and Rome. Relativity helps people make decisions but it can also make them miserable. People compare their lives to those of others, leading to jealousy and envy. Ariely finishes the chapter by saying “the more we have, the more we want” and his suggested cure is to break the cycle of relativity. 

The Fallacy of Supply and Demand 

In chapter 2, consumers purchase items based on value, quality or availability – often on all three. The methods of appointing a value to an object with no previous value, like the Tahitian black pearl, is susceptible to irrational pricing. A value can be as easily (arbitrarily) assigned as by having a fancy ad with “equally” precious items and a high price tag in a window of a store on Fifth Avenue. When consumers buy a product at a certain price, they become "anchored" to that price, i.e. they associate the initial price with the same product over a period of time. An anchor price of a certain object, say a plasma television, will affect the way they perceive the value of all plasma televisions hence forth. Other prices will seem low or high in relation to the original anchor. In other words, decisions about future LCD television purchases become coherent after an initial price has been established in the consumer's mind.

The Cost of Zero Cost 

           In chapter 3, Ariely explains how humans react to the words "free" and "zero". Humans make decisions without rationalizing the outcomes of their choices. To illustrate this point, Ariely conducted multiple experiments. The outcome was consistent: when faced with multiple choices, the free option was commonly chosen. With the opportunity to receive something for free, the actual value of the product or service is no longer considered. Ariely claims, “Most transactions have an upside and a downside, but when something is FREE! we forget the downside. FREE! gives us such an emotional charge that we perceive what is being offered as immensely more valuable than it really is.” 

          Ariely's concept of "FREE!" applies not only to monetary and quantitative costs, but also to time. We forgo some of our time when we wait in line for free popcorn or to enter a museum on a free-entrance day. We could have been doing something else at that time.

Being Paid vs. A Friendly Favor

          In chapters 4 and 5, Ariely speaks in great detail of the differences between social norms—which include friendly requests with instant payback not being required—and market norms—which account for wages, prices, rents, cost benefits, and repayment being essential. Experiments also showed that offering a small gift would not offend anybody (the gift falls into social norms), but mentioning the monetary value of the gifts invokes market norms.

         Ariely talks about how social norms are making their way into the market norms. To illustrate, State Farm's slogan, “Like a good neighbour, State Farm is there,” proves that companies are trying to connect with people on a social level in order to gain trust and allow the customer to overlook minor infractions. The author concludes that "money, as it turns out, is the most expensive way to motivate people. Social norms are not only cheaper, but often more effective as well.”

Emotion in Decision Making

        In chapter 6, Ariely collaborated with close friend George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University.  They determined that in an emotional state, the young men were more likely to undergo an action that they would not normally consider. High-emotion situations such as anger, frustration, and hunger have the potential to trigger such effects on decision-making. In such situations our behaviour is fully controlled by emotions. We are not the people we thought we were. No matter how much experience we have we make irrational decisions every time we are under the influence of such high emotions.

The Problem of Procrastination (procrastination refers to the act of replacing more urgent actions with tasks less urgent) and Self-control 

         In chapter 7, over the last decade Americans have shown surprisingly little self-control. Ariely blames this lack of self-control on people's two states in which they make their judgements—cool state and hot state. In our cool state we make rational long-term decisions, whereas in our hot state we give in to immediate gratification and put off our decisions made in the cool state. With proper motivators such as deadlines and penalties, people are more willing to meet deadlines or long-term goals. The author states that based on his experience with his students, deadlines set by authority figures such as teachers and supervisors make us start working on a specific task earlier. If we set the deadlines ourselves, we might not perform well. Moreover, we will not start making any progress towards the completion of the task until the deadline approaches.

The High Price of Ownership 

           In chapter 8, Ariely discusses how we overvalue what we have, and why we make irrational decisions about ownership. The idea of ownership makes us perceive the value of an object to be much higher if we own the object. This illustrates the phenomenon of the endowment effect -- placing a higher value on property once possession has been assigned.

Ariely gives three reasons why we do not always think rationally when it comes to our possessions:

1.    Ownership is such a big part of our society that we tend to focus on what we may lose rather than on what we may gain.

2.    The connection we feel to the things we own makes it difficult for us to dispose of them.

3.    We assume that people will see the transaction through our eyes.

 To avoid the endowment effect, Ariely suggests that we create a barrier between ourselves and the material things we are tempted by daily.

The Effect of Expectations 

           In chapter 9, Ariely and several colleagues conducted a series of experiments to determine whether previous knowledge can change an actual sensory experience. One of the experiments was conducted in the Muddy Charles, one of the MIT's pubs. Students visiting the pub tasted two types of beer -- Budweiser and the MIT Brew (which contains balsamic vinegar).

              In the “blind test” the majority preferred the altered brew, but when they were told in advance that it was vinegar-laced, they chose the original Budweiser. Another group of students was made aware of the vinegar content immediately after tasting both kinds of drinks. However, they still reported that they preferred it, proving that knowledge after the experience does not affect our sensory perceptions.

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The Winning Way for Managers...!!!

Key Learnings  :-

Authors : Mr. Harsha Bhogle

               Mrs. Anita Bhogle

Both are IIM - Ahemedabad graduates.

• Success is always a moving target. It’s never taken for granted.
• Always try to look forward, rather than worrying about why you got into a bad situation.
• Self-belief comes with winning. If you have not won before, you can’t know when you are winning (even if you are at its doorstep). Champions always think about how to win, even from a loosing position.
• Let go of out dated things if needed, even if they are very popular.
• No matter how successful you are, to keep winning never let go off your work ethics. Be focused.
• Concentrate more on what you are doing, than what your rivals are doing.
• Always believe that you can win. Always have hope, even after a bad day or phase.
• Have an aura, don’t allow your rivals to believe that they have a chance.
• Aim to win every session, every day, not just every long term goal.
• Give equal importance to the smallest of things, as much as bigger things.
• Your body language speaks a lot. Don’t give rivals a chance to think that they have an edge.
• Have a calm mind and violent body. The reverse won’t work.
• Leave baggage of your past behind and put aside the anxiety of future.
• Winners visualise the rewards of success, losers visualise the penalties of failure.
• Zip your lip, in some cases.
• Goals must be out of reach, but definitely not out of sight.
• Its better to set tough goals even if that means occasionally failing short, rather than setting simple goals which may later lead to dissatisfaction.
• Performance goals are better than result goals. Results goals are not in our hands, but performance goals are.
• Talent alone isn't enough. You should have the combination of three things – Ability, Attitude and Passion. (It’s called the winning triangle)
• Even if you have the talent, you should know what to do with it. You should have resourcefulness.
• If we think that victory seems a perfect place to rest a while, we are wrong.
• Sometimes, a little competition is good. It brings the best out of us.
• Failure is the best teacher.
• It’s not the strongest of species that survive, not the most intelligent even. But the ones most responsive to changes, do survive.
• Changes may be risky, but not changing is riskier.
• Hold your team together. Make everyone from all levels, feel comfortable and involved.
• Inventories can be managed, people can only be led. Get along with everyone.
• For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.