Aditya Chadha

Wow.  The more I read about Honda, the more impressed I am. This is exactly how you should run a company, find the smartest people you can find and then let them figure out what needs to be done. A sample from the second article above:

A funny thing happened on the way to the solution. Try and picture this. On my first day of work, no one told me what to do. On the second day, the same thing happened, and on the third. That’s as much as I could take. I decided to meet with everyone I was coming in contact with to find out more about their individual talents and personalities, and to find out what was going on. Before I knew it, I was developing a picture of how things really were, and who needed what, and I became creatively involved in defining my own participation in relation to the skills I could bring to the table. In the process of doing this, I had complete access to everyone in the company, from other newlings to the President. Nothing but open cubicles no higher than 3 1/2 feet. I was allowed to learn, interact, and find solutions to every problem and need I recognized. I always found something important to do, and it became natural to provide effective solutions as needed. I am not a very unique individual, but I am effective because I am allowed to be. I also know it may be different for some people, experiencing this kind of freedom. I know that some people are petrified by this kind of freedom, and equate it to abandonment, and it drives them crazy not knowing what to do. I also know that even under the best of circumstances, people become sedate sometimes and settle in to patterns of repetition for false comfort. The answer, then, is to have them all switch places every few years, no matter how well they may be doing their job, because it is just as important to let everyone see their own position from someone else’s position. It also allows for the surprise of finding how much fun change can be when your creativity meets a new challenge. See what you end up with. It’s either this, or that.

That’s all there is to it.  Maybe you need more self-directed individuals than your average college grad but I think its worth it spending the time to find such people, and then helping them flourish both professionally and creatively. Don’t you?

Yeah, like Eminem said… ‘back again’, I’m back from my whirlwind tour of the homeland and have a ton of things to say about Delhi and what’s going on. 

First, the flight. Don’t fly Air India if you can avoid it — I got totally screwed on my way in and was very uncomfortable on my way back. Now, this may have possible been because of the fact that it was Diwali which is pretty much India’s biggest holiday season so maybe every airline was going to be overloaded but Air India actually ended up losing a flight in Mumbai so heed these words: STAY AWAY.

The only good thing that came out of my delay at Mumbai airport was a chance to kill a few (12!) hours just watching life go by. All of India is in a constant state of building and there’s a lot of activity going on even more than you’d usually expect from a nation of over a billion people. (I’ve heard China is similar). Look for a post from Mumbai airport soon!

Diwali and the wedding were amazing. It is always fun going back home and catching up with friends and relatives and the innate warmth is quite a change from the usually frigid North American social relationships. Not that I don’t have some amazing friends here but people in India are just indescribably warm, which is tough to replicate here. Or, perhaps (more likely) it is because my trips are so short that I only get to see the good part of what social life in India is like. 

That’s pretty much it, most of my time was spent with my parents and catching up with other friends and relatives and it was great. 

Interestingly, this is the first time I’ve actually been excited to be back in the US. I had a billion ideas about things I need to do in the last few days before leaving India and on the flight back and hopefully I’ll be able to write more regularly here about what I’m upto! 

Watch this space!