MetricStream kicks off its first GRC Summit

Thrive On Risk

The MetricStream GRC Summit 2013 kicks off in the next few hours. We have a great line up of speakers from the industry and professionals across the enterprise footprint responsible for building and managing successful, well-governed, compliant, and risk-aware organizations, today and into the future.

General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.), former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, will deliver the keynote address at the MetricStream GRC Summit 2013, 

During his role as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush, Powell successfully led the country through numerous crises, including Operation Desert Storm in 1991. As Secretary of State, Powell led the State Department’s successful resolution of multiple regional and civil conflicts. Throughout his service, Powell used leadership and diplomacy to build trust, forge alliances, and transform regions.

As one of the world’s most highly regarded and respected leaders, Powell will draw from his experience to discuss the role of effective leadership in risk management. He will deliver a keynote address on the theme “Thrive on Risk: Lessons in Leadership” which will cover three key areas – first, how important it is for individuals and organizations to take risks to achieve their potential; second, how to effectively balance risk and opportunity with a strategic approach; and third, the role of leadership in successful risk taking.

This two-day event will bring together GRC professionals, thought leaders, analysts, and MetricStream executives, partners and customers who will share real world perspectives, industry trends, and actionable insights.

Summit highlights will include: keynote addresses, information packed industry panel discussions, function specific case studies, cutting-edge technology showcases & networking opportunities. 

Wall Street Journal quotes Shellye Archambeau, CEO of MetricStream "We are very excited to announce the speaker lineup and agenda for the MetricStream GRC Summit 2013," said Shellye Archambeau, CEO of MetricStream. "The Summit is one of the most highly anticipated events of the year, attracting attendees from GRC and quality management and offering a variety of riveting presentations and discussions, networking opportunities, and most notably, a stellar lineup of speakers."

What Motivates You?

"If you look at the science, there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does." - Daniel Pink 

Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the carrot-and-stick approach. That's a mistake, says Daniel H. Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others). In this provocative and persuasive new book, he asserts that the secret to high performance and satisfaction-at work, at school, and at home—is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

Dan Pink's latest book, Drive talks about the Rise and Fall of Motivation 2.0. "In the first ten years of this century- a period of truly staggering underachievement in business, technology, and social progress- we've discovered that this sturdy, old operating system doesn't work nearly as well. It crashes- often and unpredicatbly. It forces people to devise workarounds to bypass its flaws. Most of all, it is proving incompatible with many aspects of contemporary business." 

As an example, the First Encyclopedia came from Microsoft. It paid professional managers writers and editors to craft articles on thousands of topics. It is evident from Wikipedia that the second encyclopedia won't come from a Company, but by tens of thousands of people who write and edit articles for fun. Wikipedia has more than 13 million articles in some 260 languages.

Another example is a collection of best practices illustrated in Connectivate. It is a collection of stories of more than fifty innovative companies whose breakthroughs are changing the world. By leveraging today's confluence of technological and analytical breakthroughs, these companies connect people, businesses, governments and other entities in novel and meaningful ways, capturing win-win propositions for everyone on the value chain. These companies have created a new economic context, making themselves increasingly accessible to create a space-time singularity called Always Available.

Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does—and how that affects every aspect of life. He examines the three elements of true motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose- and offers smart and surprising techniques for putting these into action in a unique book that will change how we think and transform how we live.

So next time you are looking at ONLY monetory rewards as a motivation, think twice and check if you get autonomy at work, a skill for mastery and an organizational vision that is aligned with your purpose.

Be "So Good That They Can't Ignore You!" from Cal Newport is a very apt advise to all on their Career Crossroads.

Think - What can YOU do for the organization, than what the organization can do for YOU! 

Cal Newport calls this "Career Capital" ... "If you want a great job, you need to build rare and valuable skills to offer in return."

Do you know what motivates you? 

~ dheeraj

Hiring an "A" Team @MetricStream Inc.

EKATERINA WALTER  In her book, Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook's Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2013), details the elements that drive successful, entrepreneurial companies like Facebook. In this edited excerpt, she focuses on Zuckerberg's strategy of incorporating Facebook's culture in its hiring practices, recruiting for the right attitude, and not necessarily the right skills.

"Zuck has "turned" many an engineer. For some critical hires, the conversation started with "No, thank you, I am not interested." But Zuck would then take the prospective employee on a long walk up a trail into the mountains (a tactic borrowed from his idol, Steve Jobs), a walk that ended on a hilltop with a breathtaking view and the culmination of Zuck's pitch, perfectly timed. That walk completely changed minds and showcased Zuck's vision. That Facebook's team is one of the strongest in the industry isn't the result of luck; it's the result of Zuck's strategic approach to hiring the best." (Source:http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225369)

You are the company you keep! 

"Learn with Customers" - The Compelling Talent Value Proposition!

Engage in Customer Lifetime Value in a business world that is increasingly organizing itself around customers rather than products. Social Media driven Communities are enabling "Lifelong Learning" experiences with customers to deliver "Customer Lifetime Value".

My blog post on CustomerCode start of this year on "Age of the Customer"  was just around the time I was on a crossroad considering two Leadership opportunities as my next career move. One being a multi billion dollar IT major and the other an emerging leader in the GRC - Governance Risk and Compliance space. Both were well paying jobs, a consideration that I was not too particular about. 

It was all about being in the right shuttle that will launch me in to this emerging "Age of the Customer".

There were 3 criterias that helped me lock my decision not with the multi billion dollar company, but with a much smaller company that had the vision and the intent to propel me into this new bold "Age of the Customer".

1) The Customer Lifetime Value Story! The true value of customer innovation is not in something that has been already discovered, but where the storyline is still a bit fuzzy and it needs disruptive modelling and an execution opportunity. 

2) The Pervasive Story! Customer innovation is about relationship and Community Marketing. 

3) The David and the Goliath Story! We have read the story of little David who slayed the giant, Goliath. Having worked in the largest sofware company in the world - Microsoft, putting my adaptive leadership to test to bring about strategic change in an emerging global company was the next challenge to fathom. 

BTW, the "David" in this story I am currently writing is MetricStream Inc. , a Market Leader in GRC - Governance Risk and Compliance solutions to Fortune 500 Companies. 

I am leading the Customer Advocacy and Production Engineering business here at MetricStream, Bangalore as a Vice President. We are building a speciality business where "Engineering Talent" meets "Customer Value Engineering". The team works with clients across verticals. From Financial Institutions like Bank of America, Citi Bank etc to Social Media Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pharmaceutical Majors like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson etc. See here for the clients and Solution areas you can get to work with. 

Come join my "CustomerCode" vision! We are hiring Technical Managers, Solutions Managers and in Engineering domains. See here for Current Openings!

I can't take you to the hilltop in California as Mark Zuckerberg did in his hiring walks, but certainly Nandi Hills is much doable for a Sunrise View.

Come and join me in the Sunrise!

~ dheeraj 

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dheerajprasad

Learning Day at Illinois Institute of Technology

It was my first experience of attending a Convocation at the 13th Convocation Function of Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago India Online Campus on 2 February. It was too late to realize the missed opportunity of not having attended my Convocation after I graduated 25 years back from my college.

Illinois Institute of Technology started the India Online Campus in 1997 alongwith Motorola as an experiment to deliver video based lectures of the faculty in the main campus in Chicago streamed across the network to students in India. It was great to see the young learners working in companies like Samsung, Motorola, HP, Qualcomm, Tech Mahindra, Microland, Infosys to name a few complete their Masters in Computer Science through Online Learning from IIT, Chicago.

The Graduating Class of Online Learners

I also had the wonderful opportunity to have lunch with Dr Robert Carlson, Dean of School of Applied Technology at IIT, Chicago and Dr Xiaofan Li , Associate Professor, Applied Mathematics. We discussed Virtual Labs and MOOC's and the many ways that Online Education is making knowledge available and Learners more connected in a shared learning model.

I also delivered a Keynote post the Convocation to the Alumni of IIT, Chicago on "Preparing for Career Challenges in Changing Economic Scenarios"  A story telling of my last 25 years and the changes I have seen and adapted my learning graph and career as we saw liberalization of Telecom and the mobile boom in India to the rise of Information Technology Services start of this millenium and now the new wave of Social Media and GRC - Governance Risk and Compliance.

Seeing the passion for learning and growth these online and life long learners are demonstrating, gave direction to my Not For Profit Community Project - LinkedEdu to get these Online Lifelong Learners on a "Common" Platform to share experiences and insights on Online Learning and associated Learning Outcomes.

If you have ideas on building this Community, please do write to me on dheeraj.prasad3@gmail.com

~ dheeraj

A Letter From My Father!

A rare letter from my dad that he wrote to us in 2008. He lived a highly principled life based on rich values that guided his thinking and actions of giving back to others. On a more careful read of this letter, he highlights in CAPS the three values that he lived his 87 years.

1. GRATITUDE AND GRATITUDE TO THE SUPREME
2. EXPERIENCING THE BLISS OF THE UNSEEN HAND
3. GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGING THE UNKNOWN AND THE UNSEEN

He had the same beliefs in Lifelong Learning and taking Challenges in life. He truly lived it till the end!
Today marks the second anniversary of his eternal REUNION with the UNKNOWN.

As I and my entire family remember him on this day, I pray for his eternal peace!

Peace,

Dheeraj

Finding Happiness in Your Career!

"The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet , keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of heart, you'll know when you find it." - Steve Jobs

I stumbled upon this Forbes video interview with Clayton Christensen talking about his new book - "How will you measure your life". I recently read it and found it very insightful. Sharing in this post the key Learnings.

What makes you tick? For many of us, one of the easiest mistakes to make is to focus on trying to over satisfy the tangible trappings of professional success - better salaries , nicer office , prestigious title. It is like chasing a mirage. It's a hopeless quest! The different set of questions to ask are - Is this work meaningful to me? Is this job going to give me a chance to develop? Am I learning new things? Once you get this right , the more measurable aspects of your job will fade in importance.

The Balance of Calculation and Serendipity Clayton goes on to say that an understanding of what makes us tick is a critical step on the path of fulfillment, but it is like winning just half of the battle. You actually have to find a career that both motivates you and satisfies the hygiene factors. You have to balance the pursuit of aspirations and goals with taking advantage of unanticipated opportunities.The balance between the Emergent and the Deliberate strategy is the key. Clayton advises to keep the aperture of your life wide open. Prepare to experiment with different opportunities, continue to adjust your strategy until you find your true passion.

Your Strategy Is Not What You Say It Is It is is all about walking the talk! You can talk all you want about having a strategy, what ticks for you, doing experimentation. But ultimately , this means nothing if you do not align those with where you actually expend your time, money and energy. 

"We can tell our values by looking at our expense statements and where we spend our maximum time and money on".

Bottom line is to implement the strategy that you truly want to implement. Manage and Monitor your resource flows, where you are spending your maximum time on. If you want to impact a million lives, you need to know how many people you are connected with, sharing learning and helping build platforms that enable change. 

If your actions are not supporting your strategy, you have a problem of running into a "Mission Impossible"!

~ d 

 @dheeraj_prasad on Twitter

Your Father who knows what you need before you ask !(Matthew 6:8)

A story my dad used to always tell us about his student days at the London (Dundee) School of Economics. 

" My dad went to London to study in the early 1930's as a self financed student. A self made person as many in that generation were , he chose not to seek any financial support from home. He worked and supported his studies in London. But there were hard times too! One such occasion was when he had to pay up for his tuition fees , else he would have been barred from writing his exams. On having explored all options to finance his studies to no avail , he once decided to write a letter to his father in India for the money. As the story goes , he wrote the letter but tore it just before posting it , realizing the other financial commitments back home in India.

He went back to his hostel room in deep thought on what to do next. To his surprise he gets a call from a Doctor friend (Dr Sagar). His friend tells him that he had a strong inner feeling that my father needs money and that he should come tomorrow to pick it up. It was a providential call as my dad had never discussed his financial issues with his Doctor friend in the past.

In my dad's words , there have been a few instances in his life when someone has just lifted him up from abysmal depths of personal crisis! 

So true , "Your Father Knows What You Need Before You Tell Him" ! 

Happy Fathers Day , Papa , wherever you are! You continue to bless us!