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Showing posts from December, 2006

To you my brother

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My earliest memories of him have to be when I was leaving my grandfather’s house after an enjoyable summer. My aunt had brought back two racing cars from Dubai and both of us were given one each. There was the one with the detachable driver and the other with the fixed driver. I was probably four and he was three. I demanded that I take both cars with me back home much to my mothers and my aunt’s dismay. But he was rather surprisingly magnanimous about it. He was willing to part with it to avoid a scene in the house. Obviously my mother made me leave one behind but for some reason I can’t get it out of my head. Many a summers have passed. Many a memories have been saved. The explorations of the limited expanse around the house, the fish tank swimming lessons, the visits to the beach, the showers under the garden hose, the first cigarette, the first drink, the first “interesting” swimsuit calendar, the “interesting” magazine, encounters in the foriegn land and else. Years are rolling by

Too many smart people in a room.

Today I read an article on Google questioning if there were too many smart people in Google for its own good. Google has been known to have a very tough hiring process and is known in the valley for hiring only the very best. This has built as aura around Google and its employees. The halo around the headquarters is for all to see. But the article indirectly asks a very pertinent question. Is there such a thing as having too many good people in an organization? From my experiences at workplaces I think the author has a very good point. Most people I have met who are blessed with above average intelligence also comes with a certain level of attitude that is not ideal towards managing them. In one of the companies that I was working in there used to be a really sharp guy who was the last word in what he did. But there was not a soul who could control him. The managers basically were at his mercy as far as deliverables was concerned. Don't get me wrong he was good. But he was just not