2016. Imperfect. Or Perfect ?

2016 has been a years of downs and more downs. A long time client had a change in IT top management, who decided to move to another service provider. 3 colleagues who had been with us for over 10 years decided to move away. I lost my Dad. And finally yesterday I learnt that a 4th senior and valued colleague has decided to move.

Not to mention a zillion other world events. Seems like 2016 can't end fast enough. For most people. And definitely for me.

While writing this blog a couple of thoughts occurred to me. The first was of hierarchical importance. And the second was of perspective.

In all the events that I thought of not so great, to put it mildly, there was a question of hierarchical importance. In all of them, the other side was more important than us. And in all of the events, the primary question was what was the impact on the other side.

The long time client's new management in all likelihood had new ideas they wanted implemented. And decided that a partner they had worked with their previous organizations would fit their needs. My colleagues who decided to move on, moved on to what they believe to be better opportunities.

And my Dad moved on to a better world, free from pain and suffering. And so from the point of hierarchical importance, the changes were beneficial to all of them.

And all of these events can also be seen from a 2nd perspective. And each of these events provide an opportunity. At work, an opportunity to work with new clients, new technologies and even more profitable and meaningful work. Losing long term colleagues provides an opportunity to rethink and rework with new colleagues, while continuing to have our old colleagues as friends who are available for running ideas by.

My Dad is the one which seems the most difficult loss and oddly enough is the easiest to accept. He lived a beautiful and meaningful life. And left us just when he was beginning to have some pain and become bedridden. A perfect life. And a perfect ending.

Just as the ending to 2016. Perfect. Since, once we accept events as perfect, it gives us an opportunity to accept and do things that will make the future. Nicer. Bigger. Better.

And here's wishing each of you a perfect ending to 2016. And a Perfecter, Nicer, Bigger and Better 2017.

Merry Christmas and a Happy & Prosperous New Year. To your families and YOU.

Relationships

I've always had difficulty in managing relationships. I've been fortunate that my spouse has been more mature than me. And we've been able to have a great relationship. Not because of me. But in-spite of me.

And this talk by T. T. Rangarajan is a must listen to every couple. It highlights how we can be silly and petty and just listening will make us laugh and the next time we think of something as a big deal, relook at the issue. And more importantly, Life.

p.s.: The talk has no video. So for a change, enjoy listening without watching.

Blockchain - Changing the world

Blockchain is one of those technologies most people have heard about, but very few people understand. While many of us know that its the underlying technology used for the digital currency bitcoin, not many know what it is.

Here are 3 videos that will give you an introduction into Blockchain and a peek at what it is capable of doing. Which is changing the world, as we know it.

What is blockchain?
World Economic Forum

How the blockchain is changing money and business
Don Tapscott

 

How the blockchain will radically transform the economy
Bettina Warburg

Unemployment Index

On Friday, my colleague Al and I were having a discussion on the US economy. And he was complaining that it was bad. Very bad. Al is a staunch Republican and in his opinion, the Democrats always mess up the economy and the current administration was historically the biggest culprit.

As is to be expected, I disagreed. And my reasoning was that on all objective parameters the US economy was better than it had been since the previous 8 years when the Republicans held office. I pointed to the unemployment index which was under 5%. Al threw a huge list of attributes, all subjective and I was dismissive, since that was not data. And then Al mentioned that the real unemployment was over 10%. He mentioned the U6 unemployment index and he had my complete attention. And we checked that it was 9.30% as of November 2016.

I was now interested in the unemployment index and U6. And what exactly was the 4.9% that the media talked about. And the answers were fascinating. And like most things, the fastest way to know exactly what each of these is, is to watch a few videos.

What Does 'Unemployment Rate' Mean?

What is the 'real' unemployment rate?

Word of the Day: Unemployment (U3 and U6)

And you can view an interactive an interesting unemployment chart at Macro Trends.
"This interactive chart compares three different measures of unemployment. U3 is the official unemployment rate. U5 includes discouraged workers and all other marginally attached workers. U6 adds on those workers who are part-time purely for economic reasons.
http://www.macrotrends.net/1377/u6-unemployment-rate

And finally for those who like definitions, here are the definitions for U1 through U6.

• U1 : Percentage of labor force unemployed 15 weeks or longer.
• U2 : Percentage of labor force who lost jobs or completed temporary work.
• U3 : Official unemployment rate per ILO definition.
• U4 : U3 + "discouraged workers", or those who have stopped looking for work because current economic conditions make them believe that no work is available for them.
• U5 : U4 + other "marginally attached workers", or "loosely attached workers", or those who "would like" and are able to work, but have not looked for work recently.
• U6 : U5 + Part time workers who want to work full time, but cannot due to economic reasons.

http://portalseven.com/employment/unemployment_rate_u6.jsp