Book Review - Cut to the chase and 99 other rules

Cut to the chase and 99 other rules - Stuart R. Levine. A quick and easy to read guide book on managing corporate career. It has 100 rules, each with 1-2 page description with examples from his consulting experience. The rules span about how to manage time, how to deal with difficult boss, stuck careers, be highly productive, strike a balance and so on. I liked rule 59 the most -"Look at the big picture" - which talks about doing a personal SWOT analysis to examine our Strengths, Weakness, which are internal factors, and Opportunities and Threats which are external factors in managing our career, and taking action to move ahead. Another one that I liked suggested we focus on leveraging our strengths, rather than fixing weaknesses, which is right opposite to the typical feedback managers use during performance reviews.

Husband is an ATM machine - by law in India

I wrote about loose-ended divorce laws in India (Divorce laws poles apart), causing only more distress to both men and women, in the name of solving societal problems. Just read some news that husbands took to the streets about paying 50% of their pay as alimony - felt sad that the saga continues even as years roll by. It is not so much about 50%, but the fact that it is open-ended (no time line) and discriminatory (husband pays 50% even if the wife is working). The news article also indicates suicides among distressed husbands is more than distressed wives. Unfortunately, the law makers are not there yet to make sensible changes, or demonstrate fairness as opposed to revenge, or pay attention to detail when writing laws or providing guidelines. It also doesn't appear that the society gives a damn, since the affected are still a minority (even if few hundred thousands among a billion people). They say, nature doesn't ensure evolution doesn't go the wrong way - it is up to the species to make choices about it's own future. It will be a long while before something sensible happens with Indian divorce, dowry or domestic violence laws - until then, best for a man or woman is to stay of trouble, and second best is to pray for those in trouble!