“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks”
- Warren Buffett

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years” - Mark Twain

“A thinking system based on argument is excellent just as the front left wheel of a car is excellent. There is nothing wrong with it at all. But it is not sufficient." – Edward De Bono

Edward De Bono’s ‘Six thinking Hats’ provide us with a powerful decision making tool. These hats are simple to implement, can be learned rapidly and are used to achieve long-lasting results. Each hat has a different colour. The thinker wears one hat at a time and uses only that mode of thinking which goes with that particular colour.

This tool is being used effectively across the globe.

* It is said that this powerful tool helped Australia win the America’s Cup in 1983. The America’s Cup is the most prestigious Match Race in the sport of sailing. It is one of the oldest active trophies in international sport. But since then Australia has not been able to win this cup.

* MobiFon-Connex was the first mobile telecommunications company to win a GSM license in Romania. In 1999 they started training their employees to be better thinkers by using Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking tools. The results were so good; they decided to incorporate the Six Thinking Hats tool into all phases of their Business Process Reengineering project. By 2004, MobiFon (Connex) and Orange had more than US$200m in debts. The company was bought over by Vodaphone in 2005.

* Some years back, British Airport Authority implemented a new approach to parking at Heathrow Airport. Use of the six hat techniques resulted in lower costs, reduced traffic and improved customer satisfaction. But after a few years the problems seems to be coming back.

Are we missing out on something? Is this tool only useful in short term?

I believe there are two reasons to it.

First, it’s important that the tool should be used properly. Sometimes during implementation one person wears one hat, another person another hat, etc. This leads to people looking in different directions. This is not the best way to use this tool. Wouldn’t it be better if at any given moment everyone is thinking in the same direction? This might give better results and also there won't be much interference from individuals egos.

Second, there seems to be something missing in the technique. I call the missing part the “Visionary Hat”. When thinking in one direction it’s important that the vision of the company in the long run should be kept in mind. This is the “umbrella thinking” which is needed under the Seventh Visionary hat. Only then can an organization ensure that the effect of the six hats technique lasts for a long duration.

"Do you really want a creative accountant?"

Remember Enron had creative accountants.

"Survival of the fittest", the golden theory by Darwin, has become the very essence of every business activity that's happening around us. The moral compass seems to have been lost in this vast forest. Each unit of life is trying to outsmart the other one. This is why the companies are worried about their life span.

"1997-98 was the mega ice age for securing employment. It was also a period in which the spring labor offensive was called the 100-yen-coin spring offensive. It was a period in which the life span of a company was said to be 30 years, as well as a period to come up with a structural response since they were not facing a cyclical recession. " - Kobayashi

About five years ago, a name came into limelight and challenged huge giant like Microsoft. Who would have thought that Google will be worth billions in such a short time span. But will the company last is the question we should be asking. In the age where technology is changing every day it won't be a surprise if all the big names of today disappear overnight and new companies take their place.

If we revise our history lessons and look at the big names that ruled the corporate world in 60's, hardly a few of those names exist. Rest all have disappeared from the face of planet earth. I read somewhere that in a recent survey by Forbes, the average life span of a company in today's world has come down to less than 15 years.

Why is this happening? Can this be avoided?

If we ponder over these questions for a few moments, we will realise that all this boils down to the most overused jargon of Management, "Innovation, Strategy and Leadership". Even if a company looses out on a single element in these three the future looks doubtful. Not to mention that all these elements need to be evolving always. Its not like if Google has one of the best search engine so it can sit and relax. These elements have to be made a part of every employee's life. And this is only possible if the top management of the company believes and follows them.

Thought to ponder over: Only Akbar was given the title of 'Akbar the great'. None of the other rulers like Babar, Ashoka or Shah Jahan were given this title. There must be something unique about his style of leadership that led the Mughal dynasty to expand and sustain for a long term and also at the same time command respect from the common man.

Goli Goli Goli ... what does the term really imply in today's jargonated world. So lemme try to define it for you. "Goli is jargonated management lingo which is used to explain life universe and everything. " People may argue that it is same as 'Gyan'. Not really, Goli provides you a different dimension and tries to answer everything even though there is no logic in it ;-) 'Goli Express' is just a platform to look at things around us in a different dimension which doesn't scare people with numbers and may be as different as freakonomics. So lets start the engine. Very soon there will be guest bloggers too contributing to the Goli express.

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So much to share...so much to talk about...life teaches a new lesson everyday. 'Goli Express' is a just a medium to share all the mantras and tantras we come across in lives :-)