Tuesday, November 06, 2012

A thespian grandmom

A thespian grandmom, a sultry mom, and two star daughters…

Having been part of two different eras, Moon Moon sees no influence of her mom’s work in her own. “My mother stopped acting about 15 years before I stepped into films. If you look at the history of cinema, you will see that each decade is different in terms of writing, story, direction etc. I could never have done the kind of role my mother did because I was never offered such roles. What came my way was very different and I had to measure up to the kind of work I got.” The challenge, as she says, was never about comparison or expectation. “In fact, the biggest challenge faced by actors of any era is that of competition from fellow actors.”

On whether it is difficult for a star child to deal with people’s expectations, Moon Moon interestingly pointed out, “One has to understand that people don’t really have any expectations. It’s more about meeting your own expectations. Eventually how one performs matters.” In her film career of 60 movies and 40 tele-serials in Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and even Marathi, Moon Moon Sen dared roles that were tabooed in the Indian film industry then. “They just wait to see what you are going to be like,” says Moon Moon with a conviction that appears to be her source of motivation too.

During the conversation, her well paced discourse in a husky yet clear voice was constantly reminding me of an elitist secondary school language teacher. The similarity between them was an effortless wider-than-usual stretching of lips for clarity in pronunciation. What led to such a thought could probably be my knowledge of her being an English teacher at one time or her constant words of encouragement for all star kids who somewhere along the line are trying to overcome the shadows of their predecessors. “Like today, no one really expects Ranbir to be like his father or mother. For Abhishek Bachchan, the challenge is nothing to do with him being Amitabh Bachchan’s son. Nobody expects another Amitabh Bachchan; they wish to see what Abhishek Bacchan is all about,” she explains. 


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Aparna Ballakur (Vice President – HR, Yahoo! in India) tells Sayani Sinha Roy the Yahoo! workforce settles for nothing less than an addictive combination of Work, Opportunity, and Workplace

Q. How does Yahoo! retain its top employees?
A. At Yahoo! we settle for nothing less than an addictive combination of work, opportunity and workplace, or ‘WOW’, as we call it. The ‘work’ we do is fun, since we build cool stuff that impacts over 700 million users on the internet. I think the ability to touch millions of people across the world on a daily basis continues to be one of the most appealing aspect. Our employees get the ‘opportunity’ to work on bleeding edge innovation, alongside some of the best minds in the business. The opportunity that we give to our employees is our USP. We have created a work environment that is flexible, open and conducive to building a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Q. How has Yahoo! evolved in your tenure?
A. Yahoo! was early to realise India’s potential to emerge as an epicentre of high-end R&D, delivering strong internet products. We started with a small team and today R&D centre at Bangalore is the second largest R&D hub of Yahoo!

In the last few years, the centre has leapt the value chain, reinventing itself from an engineering centre to a customer-centric innovation hub that is making a strategic impact globally.

Q. Based on your experience, what role does HR play in M&A?
A. M&A brings unique people challenges that are outside the domain of business’ regular functioning. By keeping people issues front and centre, understanding HR’s role in each of the critical phases of the deal’s life cycle, and facilitating smooth culture integration, HR can effectively support the business and help achieve solid results from the transaction. A good way to measure a successful M&A is to pay attention to retention and engagement and ensuring that the new latent is leveraged well.

Q. Define your leadership style.
A. I believe in guiding, setting and communicating clear direction, goals and plans for my team and then leave it on them as to how they want to execute it. I feel that micromanagement can erode the confidence and motivation of employees. It is important for a leader to be direct. You need to clearly establish performance expectations and commitments with your employees and others. I believe in clearly identifying the goals and roles in the organisation and then helping leaders understand what they need to accomplish with teams.

Q. How do you manage time between work and family?
A. I believe in work-life integration and do not compartmentalise the two. You need to prioritise time; there will be days when work will take precedence and days when you will need to take time off for a family commitment. It is rare that on the same day you have pressing issues on both the sides. click here to continue...

Read More IIPM Related Articles
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face