MS reading, 29-May

1. Excellence - Stopping by for a quick read of a blog by Seth godin on Excellence.

2. Steve Jobs secret for eliciting questions, overheard at a cafe - Article revolves around a conversation between a mentor and a mentee (both being CEO's of their companies) and how to get real feedback from a bunch of people, if you are giving a presentation or leading a team. The article presents a couple of ways to do it. Nice one, May be I should also start using it in my presentations or conversations. This article re-emphasizes the need for mentors and how others have benefited from having mentors.

3. Studies show that people with high integrative complexity are more likely to be successful. - As a quote says - “If everyone has a full circle of human qualities to complete, then progress lies in the direction we haven’t been.” ― Gloria Steinem. The author has interviewed many self made billionaires and has presented his findings here. Based on his findings, author says  that successful individuals develop the ability to hold conflicting, contradictory, and paradoxical ideologies, thoughts, and values simultaneously. Having both short term and long term vision, having both bigger picture and sweating for small details. He also points to some of the biases we may be prone to while thinking or conducting business which maybe holding us back. 

MS reading, 27-May

1. The power of listening in helping people change - "Feedback is the breakfast of champions" - Ken Blanchard. Lets pause, Is giving feedback really a good thing?? Are we taking feedback in the right spirit?? Giving feedback caused performance to decline in 38% of cases. This happened with both positive and negative feedback, mostly when the feedback threatened how people saw themselves.One reason that giving feedback (even when it’s positive) often backfires is because it signals that the boss is in charge and the boss is judgmental. This can make employees stressed and defensive, which makes it harder for them to see another person’s perspective. This HBR article explores, other forms of subtle intervention.

2. 19 Truths you dont want to hear. - Some honest questions to ask ourselves. There is so much that goes through ones mind when we come across such honest questions which make us introspect and helps us gain a bit more clarity in life.

Top Interviews

1. Michael Jordan - The greatest basket ball player to have ever played the game.

MS watching, 22-May

1. The one thing only 1% people do - Short Video about Self discipline

2. Michael Jordans Trainer - Tim Grover- On how to become Unstoppable , renowned as an un paralleled authority on science of achieving physical and mental domination.What holds one back and how to set free and how to push beyond mental barriers. He has trained the great basket ball player Michael Jordan.

MS reading, 21-May

1. 15 Rules to Win at life - Video link is here -  Its an Alux video with 15 rules to win at life. Life is a complicated game, filled with moving pieces, changing environments, changing rules & unfortunately it don’t come with a rule book. It contains 15 questions one should ask oneself, irrespective of whatever battles that one is fighting for, to find out loopholes and to create a successful habit.

2. The difference between time and money - You can't save up time. You can't refuse to spend it. You can't set it aside.Either you're spending your time. Or your time is spending you.

Mahamastakaabhisheka 2018 at Shravanabelagola

Study Material on Signal Processing

1. RF Analog Impairments Modeling for Communication Systems Simulation - by Application to OFDM-based Transceivers
           Good book. Gives explanation and mathematical modelling of all Analog impairments.
           Must Read for all professionals in RF Domain.
2. Wireless Receiver Architectures and Design Antennas, RF, Synthesizers, Mixed Signal, and Digital Signal Processing - by Tony J. Rouphael
           Good explanation with derivations of all RF Components.
           Must Read
3. RF MicroElectronics - Behzad Razavi
         Explains the the RF from the circuit/Electronics perspective with the circuit implementations.

4.EECE 522 Estimation Theory- Binghamton University, State University New york.
5. Fundamentals of Statistical Signal processing - Estimation Theory by S.M Kay

An Impromptu discussion with my Managing Director

Today during coffee break in our pantry I ran into our MD and started the conversation by thanking him about his blogs ( I regularly follow his blogs, and i find it very useful) and how I like them. This started off into an impromptu discussion, only to realize when we had finished,  I had taken 1 hour of his time. This post is about our conversation.

The discussion was mostly about what books he reads,  what motivates him to read so much ( he reads close to 40 books a year!!!  and has finished ~800 books from his library of over 1K books) , how did it start about. One such thing he mentioned was how he regularly used to take 1 week break from office and go to secluded place (like home stays, cousins places in villages etc.,) to finish upon his reading. He benefited immensely by reading books. By his own admission, in his early days he wasnt so much of a driven individual (in his academic days) and he detailed how books have transformed him into one and how he is now driven by Excellence. Being such a nice individual he opened up and recollected some of his experiences and let me know some of the books he studied and how it all started...how reading has helped him and why he emphasis on reading..I was pleasantly surprised to know even he liked working in a remote corner as an individual contributor, though  ( in my opinion) he is par excellence in his role as a managing director ( which involves lot of talking to build relationships, resolve conflicts, getting projects, advising to startups etc., ) .

As a bonus for me he also talked about how much he values his mentors,  how much he emphasis on having mentors and how he benefited from them in his career growth. As a matter of fact, he has 3 full time (periodic) and 1 event based mentors . 1 within company 2 outside company...He also recounted on how having a mentor saved him from taking a misstep early in his career in the leadership role in my current company. Just like all great visionaries, he also spent some time in telling about his future thoughts about having mentors assigned for the team and how he thinks it might help them.

Over all quite a few takeaways.Its time for me to re-start on a few things that I had dropped out of  (like having a mentor, finishing books that I have started a while ago, setting some specific goals for myself , all of these I have done for some period in my life...but Need to restart with greater energy) or to re-prioritise or to try out and see if I can pickup something and improve certain things in my life.

Thank you RamP :)

MS reading 14-May

1. 15 SACRIFICES You Need To Make If You Want To Be RICH - I ve been reading the old classic - "Think and Grow rich"  - by the great Napolean Hill for a while now...Ive always been intrigued by the similarities in people who have made it big in their life...(By RICH,I dont limit  my self to the materialistic riches)  Alux.com has put together yet another video where they talk about the sacrifices that one needs to make in life to be rich. Worth the 15 mins!

2. 15 Steps to Master Self-Discipline - I am always fascinated by discipline and the role it plays in success..I have deep admiration for people who live through disciple, for one I try daily maintain one for myself ( and I often fail and I hit reboot button umpteen times...and this self battle goes on in me...)  This video put together by one of my favorite site puts down some of the important traits of discipline and why its important in life...Although every one knows what to do...Its just that people find it hard to it!! Its a powerful, yet a refreshing video.

MS reading, 13-May

I came across an image a few weeks ago, which caught my attention and made me look at it again and again.

2. What if Everyone in the world lived on the same street. It is data compiled from a study of various countries and what every one in the world want. 

Technical sites in Signal processing

This post contains the list of sites, i intend to regularly follow to stay updated with current trends in wireless communication industry, the one I m currently employed into.

1. https://www.mobilewirelesstesting.com

2. https://www.rcrwireless.com - To stay updated with all the latest in the Wireless Communication world. No particular affinity to this site, just that I ran into this site and it covers most of wats needed.

3. http://ma-mimo.ellintech.se/  -  Massive MIMO

4. https://www.grandmetric.com/

MS reading, 11-May 2018

1. 6 Big Career Mistakes That Can Sabotage Your Future - It always intrigues me to know what it takes to be a successful in ones profession. It talks about the common mistakes we might be doing.

2.  A Financial Planner Interviewed 233 Rich People to Learn How They Think. I always wondered how some people who have accumulated fortunes think? do they think differently? Is their thinking any different than us?

3. Warren Buffett's 5 Best Success Tips From 120 Hours of Berkshire Shareholder Meetings
From one of my inspirational guru - the Warren Buffet himself.

4. How to Get Along with a Co-worker You Hate  - It isnt uncommon for people to run into someone or to coexist with some one who they dont particularly gel together. The coach has the details.

5. Elon Musk recently wrote an email to Tesla employees about their upcoming model. It is titled Progress, Precision, Profit. His views on increasing productivity and professional nuggets of wisdom.

Blogs that I follow

Here is a small list of the bloggers I like to regularly follow. The insights into their way of life contain lots of nuggets of wisdom which would benefit a lot of us.

1. https://www.alux.com - The place where future billionaires come to get inspired.

2. https://www.gatesnotes.com/ - by Microsoft founder Bill Gates himself. I liked his idea of publishing the books he reads and how he shares what he learnt/his opinion about the book.

3. http://facilitatingimpact.blogspot.in/ or https://nitalk.jiveon.com/blogs/RamP - by the Managing Director of NI India RF. He writes about leader ship, time management, Books he recently read.

4. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/- By Seth Godin, American executive, Ted Speaker and an Author. He usually writes on Management, Respect, Career management.