1. The iPod and iTunes.

2. Not doing it for the money. Long before Citigroup’s CEO Vikram Pandit was taking home $1 a year, Steve Jobs earned a measly $1 annual paycheck. When he rejoined the company in 1997 after being let go from Apple in 1985, Jobs set his salary at just $1. Though the tech pioneer is well-known for his wealth — thanks to his investments in Apple and Disney, among others — he has been quoted as saying “I never did it for the money.” In 2010, his total compensation was again $1, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

3. Focusing on design. The orginal Macintosh computer aside, Jobs’ focus on sleek, light-weight and resilient design has led to a concerted effort among the technology community to deliver similarly ergonomic technologies. Under his reign, dial-up modems, floppy drives and the fax machine got the ax, just to name a few.

4. Inspiring others. Not only do legions of entrepreneurs list Jobs as a source for inspiration, Apple’s ecosystem has helped fuel thousands of other businesses. At present, there are more than 500,000 applications listed on iTunes, and countless other technology firms have sprung up to furnish ancillary products. From iPod battery-life extender Mophie to Apple-accessories supplier Speck to app development firm Sweb Apps, Jobs’ creations for Apple have become critical to so many other businesses. Furthermore, applications developers and programmers have been building off the platform’s specifications for years.

5. The iPad. E-readers, computers and mobile devices were already in existence when the iPad launched last January, but the newfangled gadget nonetheless caught on — and beat record sales figures quarter after quarter. Apple’s iPad — which is expected to get a refresh in early 2012 — also gave rise to new business concepts and uses. More than 90,000 applications have been developed for the iPad alone. Furthermore, other technology firms have since developed their own tablets but none have come close to touching Apple’s success. Hewlett-Packard last week slashed the price of its TouchPad to $99 from the original sale price of $499, as it announced that it would discontinue the product.

6. Wowing investors. A decade ago Apple’s stock was worth $9 a share; today, it’s $372. Second only to oil giant Exxon Mobil, at $345 billion, Apple is one of the world’s most valuable companies.

7. Being a visionary. Just ask HP and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion if Jobs’ laser-like focus on design has been tough to beat. Though, notorious for being a stubborn micromanager, Jobs has managed to steer Apple in the direction of excellence. He is a visionary in the sense that he developed products for consumers that he thought they needed — and they confirmed his hunches again and again.

8. Forcing other corporate giants to be innovative. Thanks to the launch of iTunes, which demanded that songs sell for the low-low price of $1, record companies that wanted to reach consumers on iTunes were forced to comply. In 2007, Cingular moved to redesign its voice-mail system for the iPhone’s visual voice mail. And in 2009, the typically guarded AT&T agreed to offer consumers a month-by-month data plan for the iPad without requiring a signed contract.

9. For proving that a dramatic turnaround can be possible. Once again in charge of Apple in 1997, Jobs struck a deal with Microsoft to help ensure Apple’s survival. Under the arrangement, Microsoft invested $150 million for a nonvoting minority stake in Apple, and the companies agreed to “cooperate on several sales and technology fronts.” Next, Jobs installed the G3 PowerPC microprocessor in all Apple computers, making them faster than competing Pentium PCs. He also spearheaded the development of the iMac, a new line of affordable home desktops, which debuted in August 1998 to rave reviews. Under Jobs’ guidance, Apple quickly returned to profitability, and by the end of 1998, boasted sales of $5.9 billion.

10. Boosting employment. In 1997, the company and its world-wide subsidiaries had just 8,437 regular employees, and an additional 1,739 temporary or part-time contractors and employees, according to SEC filings. As of last September, Apple had approximately 46,600 full-time equivalent employees and an additional 2,800 full-time equivalent temporary employees and contractors.

Source : http://www.entrepreneur.com/

We had invited some HR Heads as well as Operational Heads to join us for cocktails and dinner at The Vivanta by Taj President, 90, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai. It was an  overcast August evening.  Most of the invitees showed up and we were very touched by their warmth as well as the effort they put in by joining us.

Nirupama and Jayanthi were great hostesses and took a lot of trouble to get all the details right. The ambience and menu and the service was great. We had Mr Bagha Singh who came by to wish us. Even though hid doctor had advised him to avoid going out. Kavita Hurry and Vivek Hurry came but rushed back in a hurry.

Sanjoy Bose, our long term ally as usual kept us in good spirit and often in splits as well. Roy Joseph, Tojo Jose, David  Rasquinha, Devrajan and Chitra Andrade assisted him ably. Nirupama , Kalyan, Jayanthi and I were more than happy to join in.

Author Bio: Gayatri Krishnamurthy leads Consulting Business. She is responsible for new business acquisition and also analyst interactions with experience across Industry domains. You can reach her directly at gayatri@adastraconsultants.com

Distortion in Communication

I had just joined as a HR Trainee in a Multi National Company in Mumbai. One morning, our Gardner Ram Kadam came to me in a very aggrieved mood and told me in Hindi that his “bhai” was drowned in the nearby canal which was flooded after the previous night’s heavy rains. He explained in detail the difficulty in pulling out the dead body from the water as it had bloated after too much intake of water. I condoled him earnestly on his irrevocable loss.

However, I was surprised to find that he was still in the Factory Compound at a time when he was supposed to be busy with the cremation of his brother’s body. I reported the incident to my boss the HR Director, who immediately went out of his’ office to meet Kadam and pay his condolences. After a while, he came back to my office with a smile on his face. He informed me that it was not his bhai who was drowned but his bhais (buffallow) which met the fatal accident. I cursed myself for my poor knowledge of Hindi causing this confusion.

Mistaken Identity

Amita was our new recruit selected from a Prestigious HR Institution after Campus interviews. Her first assignment was to help HR Director in recruitment. She brought in several Tests for selection. Visitors were very few in the factory as it was far away from the City proper. One day she was expecting a candidate shortlisted for an interview. The Receptionist was told that one

Balasubramaniam will come for interview and she should be informed as soon as the candidate arrives. The receptionist promptly informed Amita who was eagerly waiting to administer her newly developed psychological test. He was called in and was seated. Amita told him in detail how to answer the paper and the time allotted. When she handed over the Question Paper and a Pen, the Candidate asked her innocently why he should take a test as he came to see his friend working in our Engineering Division. Gopal – that was his name – also a South Indian was wrongly identified as Balasubramaniam, who subsequently came for the interview

Assumed Authority

I still recollect an interesting incident that happened while I was working in our corporate office. Employees’ Union had just entered the office then. The management was not ready to handle the sporadic incidents threatening the discipline. My friend Prabhakar Rao was a junior Manager looking after the Distribution Department. His Assistant John was the General Secretary of the Union who thought that his work was only that concerns the Union. Rao was not bothered about John’s nonperformance but only about his diminishing authority and ability to influence others in the department to get work done.

He used to call John to his Cabin to have discussion on various subjects other than office work. He told me that once he called John and asked him whether he had seen “Sholay”. John who was not interested in Hindi Movies replied negatively. Rao with a pointed finger told him a little loudly “John, you must see it. It is excellent.” The other Employees looking towards the closed cabin were surprised to see their boss in an aggressive mood dictating to the Union Leader. Rao was displaying his authority to others in his own way to achieve his goal of establishing acceptance of his subordinates.

Right Person at the Right Place

Pharma Company, I was working had many Parsi Employees. Many of them had their surnames derived from Professions or Businesses of their ancestors. We had Doctors, Vakils, Engineers and Daruwallas with us. Incidentally, the Director of our Medical Diison was a ‘Doctor’ not a medical doctor but a PhD in Pharmacology. The Executive Secretary of our Engineering Division was an ‘Engineer’.

On a lighter vein, there was a discussion on our lunch table and a resultant suggestion that Mr. Vakil, our Sales Manager should be transferred to the Legal Department and the HR Department must take the initiative to implement it.

Author Bio: M A Menon is HR Mentor at Ad Astra. You can reach him directly at menon@adastraconsultants.com

The article made me sad and a bit scared. I actually don’t think I could do my boss’ job better than she can. We all have different skills and strengths — hers fit her role and mine fit mine. In my 15 years I have seen so many people, both juniors and seniors, who have arrogantly thought that they are better than their boss and have failed miserably even in their job.

So lets quit whining and figure out ways to work together, to capitalize on either others’ strengths and to help our organizations succeed.

Author Bio: Cherian Philip heads the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Business. He is responsible for business development and new client acquisition. You can reach him directly at cherian@adastraconsultants.com

Cartoon : Copyright with http://businesscartoons.co.uk/

Ad Astra – all of USD1.5million, 150+ people – is a place where I see challenges, action and reactions as much as I have seen before in my life. It is not the numbers that determines the character of an organisation. The character of an organisation is determined by the people in the organisation.

• People who believe in the dream that the organisation is.
• People who are ready to dream the same dream.
• People who believe in living that dream.

I have always worked in growing setups in my life. Have seen organisations grow from Rs.4 crores to Rs.100 crores. Have been part of growing from 100 odd people to 3000+ people in ten years. Have seen revenues double in two years. Have seen the tuff times of these organisations where we fought for every rupee in the field and inside the organisation. What made these things happen, was the bonding and belief that the people had. While a number of them came, contributed and preferred to move those of us who stayed and lived our dream saw the creation succeed.

Yes it is different on the other side of the table.

• From demanding to being demanded.
• From receiving to delivering.
• From asking to doing.

But then it looks so much sensible and doable now after all these years of greying and losing hair. The young minds around me keep me alive and thinking and motivating me to share their dreams of a career.

At Ad Astra I see opportunities.

• Opportunities to learn.
• Opportunities to grow as a person.
• Opportunities to grow as a professional.
• Opportunities to grow with the organization.
• Opportunities to build what you always dreamt of building.

I chose to be here and am glad that I made that choice. Life has just started again.

Author Bio: Kalyanaraman J is our Executive Vice President responsible for Ad Astra operations across the North and West of India. You can reach him directly at kalyan@adastraconsultants.com

The fight; which doesn’t involve any political motive. By a person; who doesn’t have any real reason of motivating the people, for the fulfillment of his own desires.

“Kisan Babat Baburao” populary known as Anna Hazare maker of the self sustained village “Ralegan Sindh” is hailed as a man who moved the entire nation to register strong protest against corruption. He is one activist whose contribution has enabled the RTI (Right to information) to be implemented.

We, as representatives of the corporate community – had a duty to show solidarity to those involved by being present. Few of us, who believed in the concept of this movement made our way to the “Jantar Mantar” on April 5^th 2011- to elicit our support. A hunger strike was just the beginning – it lasted all of four days: this led to consent by the Government to further discussions on the anti corruption/LokPal Bill.

India has been witness to many a revolution, some of which were respected world-wide. The latest one would definitely transform the nation.

When corruption has become a way of life, someone had to come forward to instigate us to kill the germs of corruption to enable a ‘breathable’ environment for fair survival and growth. This is believed to be made possible through the introduction and implementation of a strong instrument in the parliament to — fight corruption.

We saw a lot of support for the same amongst Indians across all age groups. A few of them told us

“In our country the rich are becoming richer and the poor are getting poorer. How can we not protest against corruption?” asks Tania Basu, a first-year student of mass communications from the Jagan Institute of Management Sciences.

“If Anna can fight the system at 78, we should do so too,” says her batch-mate Kaushik Kumar.

We were glad to witness such an event on the very first day of the initiation which is now turned the face of nation as far as awareness is concerned. This movement is still on and would take many more Anna’s to conclude. The best part is that many more Anna’s were a part of the recent strike which made the government kneel down to accept the flaws and do some substantial work towards cleaning the system!

Author Bio: Aarti Anand leads the Non IT team in Delhi and is responsible for client mining and delivery. You can reach her directly at aarti@adastraconsultants.com

Was I to expect the unexpected, as I had no clue how much fun was in store with loads of learning….

We are individuals with our own perspective about everything we are do, which is far narrower than we actually think. Individual perspective, knowledge and skills or expertise does not contribute to anything unless and until communicated or shared with people who are driven by it to accomplish any goal set forward.

My purpose of writing here is not to bring in a different insight to anything but to co-relate the management concepts and perspective to what happened at the offsite. I would highlight the concept of Organizational Behaviour and how it takes a company from nascent stage and completes the life cycle of the organization.

Organizational Behaviour is a science which determines Individual-Organizational relationships.

For instance, in case the employees are not satisfied or motivated to work, their frequent absence is a strong indicator of the poor individual-organizational relationship. This usually results in either loosing the employee physically or mentally.

The offsite seems to have meaningfully helped us in developing a bond. This was evident from the smiles in the different pairs of eyes. If we, as an organization, respect the bond with deeds in future and our work would be more than mere transactional activities. This kind of bonding goes a long way in achieving the organizational goals that can only be achieved by moving in a singular direction.

The offsite experience has definitely boosted the intension of the driver of the org in the form of initiation of the change process which is visible. However, this change is yet to be felt once it is transmitted properly by the human medium (participants), to create the aura of belongingness.

Highlights of the offsite:

• Management session – This gave us a preview of the direction, our wants to move in.
• Cultural activities/party – As individuals, employees showcased their talent. This is far beyond than what they are expected to do on work front and displayed the organizational-bond.
• Outbond Training – People came from different places to participate in activities which are meant to be done together, understanding each other’s strength and weaknesses but still keeping the drive to complete the task and finish as winners.
• Corporate office session – This session added a sense of belongingness and made it felt that we are cared for.

The smiles on everyone’s face during the event let me know that they are experiencing the joy I am a part of.

This event was special to me as I was received an award on behalf of my team members who have mutual respect and admiration. It has been just ten months, since I have been a part of this family and yet, I feel there is a comfort level with which my own contribution would be more than work which in turn can help the Organization to achieve its objectives.

Author Bio: Aarti Anand leads the Non IT team in Delhi and is responsible for client mining and delivery. You can reach her directly at aarti@adastraconsultants.com

After sending out some resumes, he was promptly asked to interview for a position where he would have excelled. I spoke with him after the interview – he was upbeat, said he told the interviewer that this was the perfect job for him. He reported the interviewer smiled a lot, and they even shared a couple of laughs. In short, he thought he nailed the interview.

He didn’t get the job, and wasn’t even called for a second interview. Confused, he approached me for advice. ”What did I do wrong? Should I have been more assertive? Should I have asked more questions?”

I began to dig deeper. That’s when I learned my friend’s resume was as cluttered as his mind during the interviews. Being a top performer he would go on and on his achievements but in the verbose the greatest achievements in his professional life (Grand Slam) are missed mentioning. Then it hit me hard to know that he asked two questions that likely disqualified him as a candidate. First he asked about compensation and second he asked about a partnership track. Perfectly good questions – just not for a first interview.

First interviews are like first dates. You often don’t know each other, and both parties are trying to find commonalities, learn some solid facts about each other, and see if this is someone they would like to get to know better. On a first date, it’s not the time to be asking about long-term commitment, how much money someone has in their bank account or what they are looking for in a spouse. Those questions are down the road, as both parties get comfortable with the possibility of a future together.

And like on a first date, nods and smiles from the person at the other side of the table may only mean they are courteous and polite.

Author Bio: Cherian Philip heads the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Business. He is responsible for business development and new client acquisition. You can reach him directly at cherian@adastraconsultants.com

Watch the video: The Origin of Job Interviews – BBC One

Video : Copyright with The Armstrong and Miller Show in BBC One

At Ad Astra the concept of Corporate Social responsibility is not new, it is just the extension and the application of our Management Philosophy - In our pursuit to “reach for the stars” we don’t want to leave anyone behind.

At Ad Astra we have received support in a multitude of tangible and intangible ways – we would like to take advantage of diverse opportunities to contribute actively to society out of gratitude for this support. We have worked for NGOs that support the aged, differently abled, Blind and Aids victims to name a few.

Among the many occasions – on Ad Astra Foundation day (The day we were born as an organization – January 22^nd) – we spend working for the sustainable and healthy development of the under privileged around us.

We aim to fulfill our responsibility as a corporate citizen that supports our local communities and the world at large. Not just in business, but also through diverse social contributions.

We will continue to work toward the betterment of the world around and its people…

Visit to Rakum School for the Blind

Visiting Rakum School on our foundation day was an experience of one of it’s kind. As Stephan Marbury has correctly said that “The money you donate is nothing”. The actual joy for all of us was to share our time with the cute kids who are deprived of love and care. For all those moments, we felt as if we are a part of their world, experiencing the same hardships yet finding reasons to live, from them.

The experience not only left us with memories which will last forever but it also made us realize that no matter how many difficulties we face, life is still very kind to us. It really made us start looking at our life with positive outlook and fresh perspective.

Author Bio: Rashmi Ravikumar is our Search Consultant based out of Bangalore. You can reach her directly at rashmir@adastraconsultants.com