US school education: long way to go

Posted on September 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

Any country’s long term growth and competitiveness has a direct dependency on the quality of its students in its schools. In spite of the major red flag that US high school students are falling behind compared to their global counterparts, and multiple govt. run initiatives and programs, there is no visible improvement in the results.

The recent 2011 SAT scores, that captures the progress of college readiness for high school students, again captures the declining results ( http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/education/15sat.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper ). Read more

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Posted in Emerging Economies, K-12, Learnings, US and Global Economy, US school education

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9/11 : a decade after

Posted on September 12, 2011 | 1 Comment

As my flight took off from San Francisco to Frankfurt yesterday, Sept. 11 2011, I remembered the fateful day a decade ago which changed US and the world forever…

The first time I heard about the Twin Tower attack by two hijacked planes was when a friend called me a little after 6 am Pacific Time on 9/11/2001 to switch on the TV. As soon as I switched it on, I saw the second hijacked plane hitting the South Tower of the World Trade Center… I can never forget that intense image and the huge blast of flame that erupted from the impact… Such a horrific moment; wish it had never been. What happened that day changed the US and world forever. Read more

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Posted in 9/11, Rememberance, Show Must Go On

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The magic of Steve Jobs

Posted on August 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

Apple is Steve Jobs. His magical and emotional connect with consumers is simply beyond compare. Steve’s intense focus on innovative products with intuitive user experience has not only charmed the world, it has created many new categories of businesses and changed the rules of the games across industries, from computers to music to smart phones to movies. Rarely has one leader created such widespread, global impact across so many different segments. His amazing knack of reading what would the world want next among a plethora of technologies and products defines him and his leadership. His success is not only in the colossal business results that Apple has consistently provided over the last several years, which last week has helped them become the largest market cap company in US. It’s also his phenomenal foresight and drive to make something that will change the world: Truly Think Different and practice it at a global scale. Read more

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Posted in Apple, Innovation, Leadership, Learnings, Steve Jobs

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The swell of Innovation waves

Posted on July 27, 2011 | 1 Comment

Ignore innovation at your own risk or peril. Highly successful companies have the unique ability to continually leverage the innovation band wagon, irrespective of whether they have created the discontinuity or not.

The tsunami caused by delay, avoidance or ignorance of innovation is so powerful that it does not care whether companies are big or small – it engulfs them all. The ability to foresee emerging trends is key and, in many cases, becomes the survival issue for companies. Read more

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Posted in Failures, Innovation, Learnings

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Convergence – bringing life together

Posted on June 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

Given that your smart phone can be used to control your car, make payments for your shopping, or work as an entertainment device, convergence is certainly closer to us than we think. Devices are becoming platforms rather than point products; platforms that can onboard a variety of applications depending on the user’s need. Enhanced user experience is becoming a key element in driving increased adoption of a single device for multiple usages.

What is driving this huge transformation of the industry, that was only making incremental improvements earlier? Read more

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Posted in Communication Platform, Convergence, Innovation