The Hindu Business Line : From crisis to consensus

We are moving from ‘the first stage of crisis-driven reforms’ to the next stage, where the driver will be consensus, says Manoranjan Sharma in India’s Transforming Financial Sector ( www.atlanticbooks.com ). “India continues to be predominantly bank-based with a bank intermediation ratio of about 80 per cent. Within the banking sector, PSBs (public sector banks) continue to hold sway,” he notes. Financial sector reforms should ultimately lead to ‘market-driven ownership of public financial institutions,’ argues Sharma. The book gathers insightful essays written by experts in the field, on topics ranging from microfinance to stock market volatility, from forex hedging to rural credit.

Put a face to stats

Statistics can be useful as support to presentations, and backing for arguments. But when it comes to generating ideas, faceless statistics are destructive, caution Mike Hutcheson and Rebecca Webster in Kickstart Your Creativity ( www.wisdomtreeindia.com ). “Problems are much easier to understand if we have a specific example to focus on. Develop a mental picture of a person, rather than a number.”

Another tip in the power-read is that great ideas come from “breaking rules and stretching boundaries than following them.” Rules and boundaries are a springboard to leap from, the authors encourage. “While rules start for a reason, they often outlive their use-by-date and continue because we don’t challenge them. Rules can make us lazy. They also create sterile environments. The result: we limit our creativity.” So, start by asking why!
Formal authority not enough

Influence is the power to get your work done, define Allan R. Cohen and David L. Bradford in Influence without Authority , second edition ( www.wiley.com ). Organisational life is too complicated to ensure that formal authority achieves what is necessary. Which is why you need influence, argue the authors.

There are, however, barriers to influence, says the well-written guide. External barriers include these: “The people you want to influence have incompatible performance measures and rewards; or the people you have to work with are rivals, or feel competitive and don’t want you to succeed.” More bothersome are the internal barriers such as ‘lack of knowledge of how to go about influencing’, and ‘attitudes that blind you to important objective information that would help you.’

Tailpiece

“I could not switch off the cellphone, so…”

“You pulled out its battery?”

“No, I put on my ear plugs!”

D. Murali

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

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