Before you begin to second guess me, this post is not about Top Gun! It's about a book called Maverick by 'Ricardo Semler'. A good friend of mine loaned it to me recently. I am yet to complete it.I am somewhere halfway through it and find it to be an engrossing read.
The book is about Ricardo Semler and the complete revamp he gave his company Semco. Not just physical, in terms of furnishing,employee count etc., but in terms of management structure,style, principles..... actually, more or less everything!Started by his father, Semco was a not very profitable company which manufactured pumps for ships. Rick who joined it at the age of 18, not one bit slowly, diversified the company's operations to include dishwashers, mixers,pumps for tankers among many others! The unusual and unique aspect of Semco is not its products but the style in which it is run. Workers decide on their own wages, set their own targes, decide the work hours, decide the profit sharing strategy and are given the right to vote on a large number of things! Things like deciding whether to buy a company or the choice of a plot for a new factory are all made by the employees through voting! Wow! Isn't that really unusual? Just imagine.. you actually get to hire you project manager? You get to decide! That most certainly eliminates all sorts of employee dissatisfacton!! And the best part of it all is that Semco makes enormous profits!!!
I was commenting to the friend who loaned me the book that i found the book extremely fascinating and was quite astounded that the 'Semco Stragey' was actually feasible and succesful. I was telling him that though I found the methods used by Semler quite revolutionary and interesting, I wasn't sure if it was quite down my line. That I was probably too forceful and domineering a person to ever implement it!! And you know what he actually had the gall to reply?? No " Why not? You're not really so forceful! You are a very sweet and lovable person!! " ..but actually a " Yeah, you would never be able to do it!!!" Baah!!!!!
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Friday, January 20, 2006
Thursday, December 08, 2005
LADY SUSAN
I just finished reading this book.
Lady Susan is one of Jane Austen's rare unpublished works. It was written in an epistolary fashion ( letters of correspondence - I know!! I was like what???? too : ) ). Bibilomania claims that though Austen completed writing the novel , it was never published because the vogue of writing books in an epistolary fashion was long past.
I disagree.
One of Jane Austen's most famous masterpieces, Pride and Prejudice , was originally written in the form of letters and was titled 'First Impressions'. After her publisher declined to publish it, she re-wrote and transformed it into the ever famous, ever lasting and ever impressing 'Pride and Prejudice' which ranks as one of my favourite books. If she could rewrite 'Pride and Prejudice' why could she not 'Lady Susan'?
Probably because of the simplicity of the theme which would have been quite unremarkable in the regular tried and dried style of writing. I speculate. I do not judge.
But anyways, Lady Susan did deserve to be published. The self titled protagonist of this novel 'Lady Susan' is quite deliciously wicked. Not in the style of Scarlett in 'Gone with the Wind'( you end up Empathizing with her , never SYMPATHETIC-that would be the biggest insult to Scarlett!), but more malicious, more conniving and just as unconcerned with the results of her trifling with the lives of the people around her. A manipulative bitch in simple terms. : ) .
Her character,her actions are portrayed in a fantastic manner; unfortunately, to the exclusion of all other characters in the novel. Therein lies the weakness of this novel. Unlike her other novels where every character is clearly dilineated and given an individuality that could quite easily carry itself outside the lines of the novel , here, most of the characters are held firmly in place strictly by the storyline. They could never survive outside the book.The end too seemed a little abrupt. Expected, but abrupt.
Yet, Lady Susan is a book worth a read and a sigh of admiration as it's very language, description and predictable irony is so purely 'Jane Austen'.
Lady Susan is one of Jane Austen's rare unpublished works. It was written in an epistolary fashion ( letters of correspondence - I know!! I was like what???? too : ) ). Bibilomania claims that though Austen completed writing the novel , it was never published because the vogue of writing books in an epistolary fashion was long past.
I disagree.
One of Jane Austen's most famous masterpieces, Pride and Prejudice , was originally written in the form of letters and was titled 'First Impressions'. After her publisher declined to publish it, she re-wrote and transformed it into the ever famous, ever lasting and ever impressing 'Pride and Prejudice' which ranks as one of my favourite books. If she could rewrite 'Pride and Prejudice' why could she not 'Lady Susan'?
Probably because of the simplicity of the theme which would have been quite unremarkable in the regular tried and dried style of writing. I speculate. I do not judge.
But anyways, Lady Susan did deserve to be published. The self titled protagonist of this novel 'Lady Susan' is quite deliciously wicked. Not in the style of Scarlett in 'Gone with the Wind'( you end up Empathizing with her , never SYMPATHETIC-that would be the biggest insult to Scarlett!), but more malicious, more conniving and just as unconcerned with the results of her trifling with the lives of the people around her. A manipulative bitch in simple terms. : ) .
Her character,her actions are portrayed in a fantastic manner; unfortunately, to the exclusion of all other characters in the novel. Therein lies the weakness of this novel. Unlike her other novels where every character is clearly dilineated and given an individuality that could quite easily carry itself outside the lines of the novel , here, most of the characters are held firmly in place strictly by the storyline. They could never survive outside the book.The end too seemed a little abrupt. Expected, but abrupt.
Yet, Lady Susan is a book worth a read and a sigh of admiration as it's very language, description and predictable irony is so purely 'Jane Austen'.
Monday, December 05, 2005
DEDICATED TO ALL BOOK LOVERS!
A friend of mine sent me a link to an article that expresses what i totally feel in words i could not even begin to frame! It's fantastic...
http://www.hindu.com/lr/2005/12/04/stories/2005120400270600.htm
http://www.hindu.com/lr/2005/12/04/stories/2005120400270600.htm
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