The Hindu Business Line : Find your way in the Badlands

The business highway is lined with hurdles such as `network angst, strategy tragedy and talent tantrums.' Here are some navigation tips. Also, there's help at hand if you want to network your home.

THE beginning of the year is the right time to survey the terrain, with the help of Mary O'Hara-Devereaux's Navigating the Badlands, from Jossey-Bass (www.josseybass.com) .

The book offers `transformative strategies' that business leaders can use to weather the `rugged' landscape of the future.

There is a set of `organisational pains', according to the author, and these need balms. First comes `fear and inadequacy of leadership', and the antidote is in `readiness', because "leadership is a performing art."

For instance, Jeff Jordan of eBay "spearheaded the new transaction process pitting BillPoint against PayPal," explains the author.

The second pain is `competency addiction' that shows as `arrogance and smugness'; to fight this, systematically innovate. O'Hara cites the example of Steve Jobs who combated this malaise by eliminating lagging lines and focussing on iMac.

The third problem is `network angst' when senior leaders feel betrayed by new ways of doing business. To counter this, you need new capability in the form of `social networks'.

As described by Karen Stephenson, CEO of Netform, "a pioneer in mapping networks", organisations can suffer from AODS, that is, Acquired Organisational Dysfunctional Syndrome. "When organisations reach this gridlocked state, real work does not get done according to established processes; instead, the workplace becomes a giant trading floor for informal favours between people that enables them to get routine work accomplished."

The fourth pain is `strategy tragedy' characterised by `caution and doubt'; break this with `disruptive innovation', as Sun Microsystems does. It is rolling out new strategies such as "selling software systems at $100 per employee and producing a faster chip, hoping to catch the wave on the next big thing in technology."

Pain five is `talent tantrum' that with `unfit and undesirable' staff. Handle this by engaging people `deeply', advises the author, classifying generations as follows: Veterans, born between 1920 and 1942; Baby Boomers (1943-1965); Gen Xers or Sandwich Generation (1966-1979); and Net Generation or Gen Y's (1980-1995).

The Net Gens bring in "positive attitude, work efficiency, and social consciousness," but their Badlands challenge is "to avoid getting frustrated."

The sixth pain is `consumer conundrum', showing as `confused and fragmented' response. How does Nubella handle this?

O'Hara writes that the company uses barcode information and determines what nutrients are missing from the shopper's purchase; "and it sends out coupons for products that will fill gaps in the shopper's diet."

A book that can fill up the gaps in your knowledge of Badlands.

Home, sweet, connected home

SETTING up a home network is not tough, assures Brian Underdahl in Home Networking: A Visual do-it-yourself Guide, from Cisco Systems (www.ciscopress.com) .

If you thought you have to join "some geek squad" or learn a new language to know networks, Brian can wean you away from such fears.

"You already use one of the world's biggest networks whenever you make a telephone call," he points out, dissolving any unfamiliarity in readers. "Computer networks function very much like the telephone network."

What about the home network? It is very similar to the office network, but a lot more "simpler, friendlier, and far less expensive."

Though home networks allow your PCs to communicate with each other, and share resources such as files, printers, and broadband Net connection," there are products such as from Linsys to reduce complexity for users.

A home network allows you to share files without running from room to room, explains an interesting illustration.

"This was sometimes called a `sneakernet' because the files were transferred by someone walking around in sneakers." A home network is going to make a big change in the way your family plays, entices Brian.

"Home networks come in two basic flavours - wired and wireless," informs the author. The term Wi-Fi is often used for the latter. Though wireless networks need no cables, don't forget "to control who can access them."

Each PC needs a network adapter, a.k.a. NIC or network interface card.

To guide you on the right path, every chapter has the `what went wrong' section with troubleshooting tips.

For example, the discussion of installing network adapters, paints a problem scenario: "If you rush in and just pull the cables off the back of your PC, it's quite easy to be confused when you go to hook everything after you finish installing a network adapter."

So, what do we do? "Don't panic. Most of the cables are either colour-coded or will fit only one of the jacks. One handy thing to remember is that your speakers plug into the green jack."

There is a chapter on making the network secure, because "there are many threats." Close the barn door before the cow gets out! Think, therefore, of `firewall' to control the traffic between the network and the outside world.

"Windows XP has a very basic firewall called Internet Connection Firewall built-in," informs the author, and adds that it does not offer as much protection as even the free version of ZoneAlarm.

Protect your wireless network by changing the default password, tips off Brian, because the default passwords for all popular brands of routers are "posted on the Internet."

Antivirus software typically does not protect you from `spyware'. Suggested antidote is Ad-aware, that can be downloaded from www.lavasoft.nu.

Surprise your home by building a network!

Tailpiece

"What is more painful than the tsunami is... "

"Sickening TV coverage of it?"

"No, the frustration that IT could not help save lives!"

Books2Byte@TheHindu.co.in

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