New Book – Organizational Development Essentials

I am happy to announce the release of my new book: “Organizational Development Essentials You Always Wanted to Know.”

This book is a ready reckoner for people who would like to know more about the subject of Organizational Development (OD) but do not know where to start.

It seeks to provide an understanding of the still relatively new and evolving discipline along with its key characteristics, core values, and goals. In order that it is not confused with some other disciplines like Change Management and Human Resource Management, a distinction is also drawn between them.

The book builds the theory of OD around the concept of constant change and suggests that organizations need to move from change that is thrust upon them to change that is planned, with the help of OD interventions.

The book also discusses the 5 stages of OD interventions – Entry, Diagnosis, Implementation, Evaluation, and Institutionalization in detail. The discussion is rounded off by discussing the OD practitioner’s core competencies, skills, ethical issues, and knowledge required as well as the expectations the organization has.

The book is an ideal pick for managers and leaders in organizations who wish to acquaint themselves with all the aspects of OD. It will be a useful guidebook for students and help them explore the field of OD for a prospective career.

This book is produced in collaboration with Vibrant Publishers and constitutes a part of their Self-Learning Management Series designed to help students, managers, career switchers, and entrepreneurs learn essential management lessons.

As a reminder, my earlier books, that also appear on the top right section of this blog, are:

a collection of satirical stories set in the workplace,

and

a detailed guide to the world of business process outsourcing (BPO).

Thanks to the valuable insights provided by my longtime blogging friend Jacqui Murray on her blog, the URL behind these images should take you directly to your local Amazon bookstore where you can know more about the book and, of course, buy it if you find it interesting.

If you get to read any of them, please do try and leave your comment/review/feedback either on this post or on the online bookstore where you bought it.

Thank you!

Adventures of an Itinerant Executive

Unlike MNC jobs, where another person doing something that you thought was your job seems threatening, writing appears to be a more cooperative activity.

I am just back from a joyful ride which Rajiv Inamdar’s book ‘Adventures of an Itinerant Executive’ had taken me on, and I urge you to do the same.

Rajiv is a senior from IIM Ahmedabad. Our careers also crossed for a few years at a big bank but we didn’t. Now he is a published author too. Stop it Rajiv!

Rajiv’s journey winds its way around exotic locales including Sri Lanka, the UK and the Middle East and, of course, many places in India, peppered with anecdotes and incidents to match, written in a delightfully humorous vein. It helps that these stories are personal, with Rajiv playing a part in many.

Even his parents are not spared! The book begins with the story of a shipboard romance between his parents that took place on a cruise from the UK to India in the 1950s.

History follows him as he navigates his way around roles in advertising, brand management and market research around the world, including the challenge of setting up Sri Lanka’s first market research company at the tender age of 25 during the worst ethnic riots that the country has ever witnessed.  In mid – career, he makes a switch to banking in the unlikely territory of Saudi Arabia where he lands smack in the middle of the Gulf war!

‘By mid-November, the Americans had sent in 230,000 troops to defend Saudi Arabia. General Norman Schwarzkopf, the chief of US forces in the region, made the basement of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Riyadh, next door to SAMBA ( Saudi American Bank – a subsidiary of Citibank), his war headquarters.

One evening, while playing tennis at the Saudi British Bank (subsidiary of HSBC) compound when we heard a fearsome rumbling in the sky. This sounded as if a massive thunderstorm was about to burst. It was the sound of a large number of gigantic US Air Force B-52 bombers that were arriving in Saudi Arabia to defend its residents. There were so many of them that several could not land on the airport runways and had to make do with the super-wide highways around Riyadh. We knew then that war was a real possibility and wondered what was in store for us.’

One can almost visualise Rajiv missing an easy volley as the rolling thunder of the B-52s starts just as he was positioning himself for the shot.

Or forgetting to pick up the original from the photocopier as a Scud missile sent over by Saddam thuds with almost pinpoint accuracy into the building next door to his office. ‘Almost’ because it was perhaps meant for the building on the other side of his office that housed General Norman Schwarzkopf.

‘A few days after we had been lulled into complacency by American assurances, a Scud came over Riyadh and demolished a 12-storey building next door to SAMBA’s headquarters where I worked. Saddam had obviously been aiming for General Schwarzkopf’s office in the Hyatt Regency Hotel on the other side of the SAMBA building. This was pretty accurate shootin’! A day later, a Scud flew directly over our residential compound and demolished a school a few kilometres away. We were right in the thick of battle.

On one occasion, a Saudi news anchor was reading the news when the sirens went off. He was explaining how well-fortified the city was and that its residents should not panic under any circumstances. Just as he was speaking, the wailing of the siren became louder and the news anchor was seen on camera looking fearfully over his shoulder to see whether the missile was in his vicinity.’

Following  a series of adventures in Saudi Arabia, which remains an enigma to most people, he moves on to Dubai where he is put through his paces as a consumer banker working in several parts of the business including marketing, credit, credit cards, and strategy. He then returns to India to lead the largest market research organisation in the country following which he makes another interesting career switch into the field of knowledge management where he spends the last twelve years of his remarkable career.

Apart from providing insights into management challenges in many industries the book describes several hilarious incidents and exciting stories from his personal life. These include trysts with several airlines to the point that one begins to wonder whether it is advisable to travel anywhere with Rajiv. He also describes a back breaking trip to the Himalayas on a motorbike at the not-so-tender age of 51 and tells stories of golf and tennis victories. There is an almost an entire chapter devoted to a car accident the author was involved in that contains many salutary lessons for those who drive in this country.

Apart from action and thrill seekers, Adventures of an Itinerant Executive might also be of interest to management students and young business executives, as the author also manages to deliver management lessons. His hallowed alma mater would be proud!

All of the above is packed into under 300 pages and is available as a paperback and e book on various platforms including Amazon (India, US, UK), Flipkart, Kobo, Google Play and iBooks. A  Kindle version is also available.

Highly recommended!

An Interview with Jacqui Murray

Presenting an interview with Jacqui Murray, long-time e-friend, prolific author, teacher and much more, as she gets ready to launch “Against All Odds,” Book 3 in the Crossroads series of the Man vs. Nature series, as Xhosa’s extraordinary prehistoric saga concludes, filled with hardship, courage, survival, and family.

This comes close on the heels of “The Quest for Home,” the second book in the trilogy, which was launched in September last year.

About Jacqui

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the Man vs. Nature saga. She is also adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice,  a columnist for  NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, Laws of Nature, Book 2 in the Dawn of Humanity trilogy, Winter 2021.

The Interview

Thank you Jacqui for finding the time during a period of intense activity as you get ready to launch your new book. I am curious to know more about it.

It’s great to be with you today, Ankur, on your amazing blog. I always enjoy your dry sense of humor on topics everyone around the world can relate to. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Does your chosen genre, prehistoric thrillers, make it easier or more difficult to create the atmosphere in the story? After all, people don’t really know what it was like then. But equally, neither do you. Not even Google perhaps.

As you say, little is known about time before man kept records. To build a world that readers believe in, want to travel in, I must rely on ‘paleo’ subjects like paleoclimatology, paleogeology, paleoanthropology that look at what nature has preserved for us. We know some about the climate back then from ocean coring that reveals the world thousands and millions of years in the past. We know something about life by analyzing remnants of teeth and bones, their placement and what surrounded them. But it is complicated. I researched as much as I could (each book includes a bibliography of my sources so readers can find out more on varied subjects) and then logically extrapolated what that ancient world would have been like. My job was to create a picture that prehistoric fiction readers could lose themselves in and that armchair paleoanthropologists wouldn’t snicker over. This is one of the reasons the first few books took so long to write!

Relentless pace. Book 2 in September last year. Book 3 in September this year. The Rowe-Delamagente thrillers just before that, Building a Midshipman somewhere in between, Dawn of Humanity trilogy in the works. That is an awesome level of creativity and output. How do you motivate yourself to write and write and write?

The simple answer is, it’s what I do, for about 12 hours a day. It used to be a hobby and now it’s my favorite pastime. I love the research, the outlining, the editing, the mixing it up with other Indie authors, the countless online conversations with fellow writers. My characters romp through my head and give me ideas. They even wake me at night to tell me what they’re going to do next. It might sound annoying but I love it.

When you started this series, have elements of the story changed from the original plan till the time you published the third book. Based on later discoveries? Based on feedback from the first book? If yes, how and why.

That’s a resounding yes. I’ll give you two examples. The trilogy I just completed—Crossroads—was originally a long book I broke into two. I planned to end the second book in a place where early research told me they could exist. But when I scratched just a little bit below the surface of that location (to wrap up the final chapters), I found it was nothing like what I expected. That made Book 3, Against All Odds, easy (and gave me its title).

Another epiphany: I originally was simply writing prehistoric fiction, about man’s evolution. Just recently, I realized that my subconscious was selecting seminal times in man’s evolution where we would either prevail or disappear. The first trilogy—Dawn of Humanity—is set in the time when man first differentiated himself from his cousins, the apes. The second trilogy, Crossroads, digs into how and why man developed so many of the skills that allowed him to prevail in his dangerous world—like sophisticated tools, clothing, fire, a bias for action, balancing ‘instinct’ with ‘thoughtful decision’.  The next trilogy will be that time 70,000 years ago when man almost became extinct. I am really excited to figure that one out! I mean, why didn’t we disappear?

What next Jacqui? This series is wrapped up. What can your readers expect from you next?

I need to finish the Dawn of Humanity trilogy. There are amazing evolutionary events going on in South Africa 1.8 million years ago that Book 1, Born in a Treacherous Time, didn’t have a chance to touch on. I’m outlining it this month and loving what I see. Then I’ll either do the second trilogy of Crossroads (spoiler: I left Book 3 on a cliffhanger) or go to that time 70,000 years ago when modern man almost went extinct. That’s pretty intriguing, isn’t it? I’d love if your readers would tell me what they’d like to read next, in the comments.

In conclusion, what would be your suggestions to budding, aspiring and struggling writers?

Keep writing. Don’t quit after one book—write at least three. Talk with other Indie authors—build your network. And finally, write what you love.

Thank you, Jacqui. I wish you success with this book, equalling and exceeding that of your previous books. I look forward to reading it soon.

About the Book

A million years of evolution made Xhosa tough but was it enough? She and her People finally reach their destination—a glorious land of tall grasses, few predators, and an abundance that seems limitless, but an enemy greater than any they have met so far threatens to end their dreams. If Xhosa can’t stop this one, she and her People must again flee.

The Crossroads trilogy is set 850,000 years ago, a time in prehistory when man populated most of Eurasia. He was a violent species, fully capable of addressing the many hardships that threatened his survival except for one: future man, a smarter version of himself, one destined to obliterate all those who came before.

From prehistoric fiction author Jacqui Murray comes the unforgettable saga of a courageous woman who questions assumptions, searches for truth, and does what she must despite daunting opposition. Read the final chapter of her search for freedom, safety, and a new home.

(click on image above to play the book trailer video)

Where is the Book available

Available digitally (print soon) at: Kindle US   Kindle UK   Kindle CA   Kindle AU

Social Media Links

Amazon Author Page:        https://www.amazon.com/Jacqui-Murray/e/B002E78CQQ/

Blog:                                      https://worddreams.wordpress.com

Instagram:                            https://www.instagram.com/jacquimurraywriter/

LinkedIn:                              http://linkedin.com/in/jacquimurray

Pinterest:                              http://pinterest.com/askatechteacher

Twitter:                                 http://twitter.com/worddreams

Website:                                https://jacquimurray.net

 

 

Our Books, My Stories

My stories made it to two books that have been published recently. Both are collections of stories contributed by different people, and related to their own life and experiences.

What is common between the contributors in the two books and in each book? They are all alumni of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), the coveted institution of higher learning dedicated to business education.

In “A Chapter Out of My Life,” the contributors are drawn from different IIMs, from different cohorts in different years.

In “Reflections,” they are all a part of the same cohort, the batch of 1987, who spent the same two years at the IIM in Ahmedabad.

What is common between the two books? I believe I am the only author contributing to both.

Over to the books then. If you do read them, please try to leave a ‘Review’ on either Goodreads or Amazon or any place online you are comfortable with.

1. A Chapter Out Of My Life: Gems from the lives of ordinary people

This has been published by Salil Agrawal, a senior by a few years from IIM Ahmedabad and the founder president of IIMAGES which is a society of the alumni of IIMs. He has been instrumental in creating the ‘network’ impact of the IIM alumni and hence, in many ways, the most suitable person for putting together a book of this nature. The contributors have been drawn from different IIMs, from different cohorts in different years.

In Salil’s words:

“There are extraordinary people and then there are ordinary people. People like you and me. People who are accomplished in their own way and who have had interesting lives. But they are not extraordinary, they are not celebrities. Their stories do not get published even though they are very inspirational.

This book brings to you stories from the lives of nineteen such wonderful people. All of them are alumni of Indian Institutes of Management. They write about an experience from their life that made a difference to them.

These stories will be very useful for younger readers – management grads in the first few years of their career, students of management, those aspiring to do an MBA and also those planning to join the corporate world in the near future.”

Kindle edition on Amazon India (Rs. 49- with proceeds to charity): https://bit.ly/sllbk1

Kindle edition on Amazon US ($0.65): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087XBMWBL

Paperback anywhere: still to be released

2. Reflections: Life Reloaded. Class of ‘87

This has been published by Sanjeev Kotnala, a classmate at IIM Ahmedabad, from the 1985-87 batch that graduated in 1987. The contributors are all classmates of ours. People who spent the same two years of their life in the hallowed precincts of IIM Ahmedabad, pursuing an MBA programme, amid the iconic exposed brick architecture of Louis Kahn.

Sanjeev is the founder of INTRADIA World and a Marketing and Branding professional devoted to enhancing potential and capabilities of clients’ team. He runs 2-day workshops on Ideation and Innovation and is a certified NLP practitioner and an ICF accredited life, Mid-life transition and Master Spirit Coach.

In Sanjeev’s words:

“Eighteen Authors, from CLASS OF 1987, IIM Ahmedabad, share more than 28 real impact stories from professional and personal life. These are small, compelling incidents that challenged their thinking, making an impact in their lives.

Read their ‘aapbeethi’ (self-experiences) as they transparently open up to allow you a behavioristic peek into their lives.

Yes, you can question their Approach and Learning, or maybe you could end up questioning your approach to life. Who knows, which incident here mirror’s your life and touches a chord? Why wait for Self Experience when others’ experience can help guide your approach.

What you gain from these stories presented in five sections; ‘Business’, ‘People’, ‘Encounter’, ‘Life’, and ‘Institute’, is all up to you. Happy reading.”

Kindle edition on Amazon India (Rs. 199-): https://amzn.to/2RsA3Ln

Paperback on Amazon India (currently out of print): https://amzn.to/36qDYg3

 

The Quest for Home – Virtual Book Launch

I am thrilled to announce the launch of her new book by my long time blogging friend and popular author Jacqui Murray.

The Quest for Home

Chased by a ruthless and powerful enemy, Xhosa flees with her People, leaving behind her African homeland, leading her People on a gruelling journey through unknown and perilous lands. As they struggle to overcome treachery, lies, danger, tragedy, hidden secrets, and Nature herself, Xhosa must face the reality that her most dangerous enemy isn’t the one she expected. It may be one she trusts with her life. 

The story is set 850,000 years ago, a time in prehistory when man populated Eurasia. He was a violent species, fully capable of addressing the many hardships that threatened his survival except for one: future man, the one destined to obliterate any who came before.

Based on a true story, this is the unforgettable saga of hardship and determination, conflict and passion as early man makes his way across Eurasia, fleeing those who would kill him. He must be bigger-than-life, prepared time and again to do the impossible because nothing less than the future of mankind is at stake.

This is Book 2 in the Crossroads series, part of the Man vs. Nature saga (Genre: Prehistoric fiction), and is available at:

Kindle US   Kindle UK   Kindle CA   Kindle AU

About Jacqui and how to reach her:

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy, the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers, and the Man vs. Nature saga. She is also the author/editor of over a hundred books on integrating tech into education, adjunct professor of technology in education, blog webmaster, an Amazon Vine Voice,  a columnist for  NEA Today, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. Look for her next prehistoric fiction, In the Footsteps of Giants, Winter 2020, the final chapter in the Crossroads Trilogy.  

Amazon Author Page:        https://www.amazon.com/Jacqui-Murray/e/B002E78CQQ/

Blog:                                       https://worddreams.wordpress.com

Instagram:                             https://www.instagram.com/jacquimurraywriter/

LinkedIn:                                http://linkedin.com/in/jacquimurray

Pinterest:                                http://pinterest.com/askatechteacher

Twitter:                                   http://twitter.com/worddreams

Website:                                 https://jacquimurray.net

Jacqui will be visiting blogs September 16th – 30th to chat about The Quest for Home. She answers some questions about the book here.

1. What’s the relationship between Xhosa (and Homo erectus) and animals?

Early man had no idea animals weren’t simply another intelligent creature who spoke a different language. Why would they think differently? Man wasn’t the alpha in this environment. Mammoth or Sabretooth were. Man thought he could learn from these animals and become stronger. He respected them.

2. What one characteristic would you say allowed Xhosa to survive in a world populated with Sabretooth Cats, violent volcanoes, and predatory species who liked to eat man?

 Really, with our thin skin, dull teeth, and tiny claws (aka fingernails), Xhosa had no right to survive against the thick-skinned mammoth or tearing claws of the great cats of that time. But she did. The biggest reason: Even then, Xhosa and her kind were problem solvers. They faced crises and came up with solutions. Where most animals spent their time eating and sleeping, Xhosa had time left over. This, she used to solve problems.

To me, that thoughtful approach to living, one no other animal exhibits, is why we came to rule the planet.

Here’s wishing success to Jacqui Murray and The Quest for Home.

 

Book Review: Twenty-four Days

Another thriller from my long-time blogging friend Jacqui Murray hits the stands.

With Twenty-four days, Jacqui builds on and enhances the genre of “technical thriller” that she introduced in “To Hunt A Sub”.

With a daughter in the Navy and son in the Army, Jacqui is already uniquely qualified to deliver the military thriller. Add to that her work of writing tech-in-ed columns and a personal interest in thrillers, and the combination becomes even more potent. Now top it off with the detailed research that has perhaps gone into the book which allows the reader to sail through the book without questioning the events and technology and science in it.

The tale leaves the reader panting as it sweeps across the world from America through Europe and Mid-East to the Far-East and back. And as it switches between human and artificial intelligence. And ideologies and faiths.

Jacqui’s is a fresh voice in the world of thrillers that needs to be heard by everyone who has interest in the genre.

 Available at: Kindle US, Kindle UK, Kindle Canada, Structured Learning.