Do you find it difficult to hire leaders? Build them!

By Apeksha Kaushik, TimesJobs.com Bureau 

Leaders across the globe lack some skills and can improve on those. 

Leadership is a critical skill which encompasses various soft and hard skills. While some are born leaders, others can build the requisite skills to become an effective leader. 

Leadership Skills: An Indian Perspective 

Nearly 45 per cent of Indian organisations feel that most leaders lack relevant leadership skills, according to a TimesJobs.com study. These largely include soft skills such as communication, presentation and listening skills. In fact over 40 per cent organisations believe that these skills are found lacking in mid-level managers also, who are future leaders. 

Another study by TimesJobs.com indicates that close to 38 per cent organisations believe that participative or democratic style of leadership works best in the Indian context. They gave a thumbs down to the autocratic leadership approach. 

However, with changing work dynamics and increasing business complexities it is not advisable to stick to one style of leadership, believe industry experts. "Using multiple styles is the need of the hour. This is largely because of the complexity that one faces in terms of the industry we are in and the workforce we handle. It is best suited to create a combination of ownership, servant and strategic leadership model," articulated Hema Parikh, director-Human Resources, Ajuba Solutions India Pvt Ltd in a TimesJobs.com Hi Tea session. 

On The Other Side: The Global Perspective 

Highlighting the global leadership scenario, Andy Germak, executive director, School of Social Work, Rutgers University said that leaders across the globe lack some skills and can improve on those. "Soft skills, such as effective listening and communication, key messaging, professional presentation skills, supervision skills, public speaking, and so forth, are often the hardest skills to teach. In fact, most MBA and other leadership development programs do not focus on these soft skills. It is much easier to teach leaders how to analyse financial statements, than to teach effective listening and communication," he asserted. 

Building Skills: Guide to Effective Leadership 

Germak believes that the development of soft skills in combination with hard skills will produce the most effective global leaders. Further he shared a 5 step guide to building these skills: 

- Perform a self-assessment to understand where you need to develop your leadership. 

- If possible, ask both your supervisors and subordinates to assess your leadership skills. 

- Seek leadership and management development programs that will help you build the right skills. If you need to improve your budgeting abilities, for example, you may want to take a course in financial management at a business school. If instead you need to improve your presentation skills, you may want to take a course such as the Certificate Program in Training Skills. 

- After you have taken the appropriate courses, routinely assess your performance at work via the mechanisms outlined in No. 1 and No. 2 above. Perform skills assessments at three month intervals. These can be in addition to any official performance appraisal required by your organisation. 

- Take additional courses in the areas where you need improvement. Remember that learning is an ongoing process. You must constantly assess your skills and keep learning in order to remain effective in today's competitive workplace. 

Yahoo Wants to Be Apple's Default iOS Search Engine

Yahoo is working on two internal projects to optimize its mobile search and monetization in order to convince Apple to make Yahoo the default search engine on iOS reports Re/code. The WSJ reported last year that Apple and Yahoo had been in discussions of how to integrate Yahoo's services more prominently in iOS, beyond powering the Weather and Stocks apps. The report says Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is preparing detailed presentations to present to Apple executives showing what its new mobile search product could look like. There are a pair of internal projects, code-named 'Fast Break' and 'Curveball', that are part of Yahoo's redesign of its mobile search engine. That has not happened as yet officially — it’s just the big honking goal of the Yahoo effort, said sources. Still, several said Mayer has already buttonholed a few Apple executives on the topic, including its powerful SVP of design Jony Ive, who knows the former Google exec well. “This is the aim of the whole effort here, to grab the pole position in iOS search,” said one person working on the effort. “It will take more than pretty pictures though to convince Apple to give up Google, given its focus on consumer experience being top-notch. But Marissa wants it very badly.”Currently, Yahoo and Microsoft are in the midst of a 10-year search and advertising partnership, something Mayer is trying to get out of. At the same time, Microsoft's Bing provides the backend for Apple's Siri web search feature. Google is the default search engine in the Safari iOS browser, with Yahoo and Bing available as user-selectable options. Apple already replaced Google's Maps app with its own mapping application as default. According to the Re/code report, a new and expanded agreement between Apple and Yahoo is not imminent -- Apple has yet to be pitched on the new products. Instead, it's part of a longer term play to bring the two companies closer together.

Microsoft, most attractive employer in India: Report

Global software major Microsoft is the 'most attractive employer' in India, while IT, telecom and ITes are the most preferred sectors by the workforce, a survey by HR services firm Randstad said today. Microsoft emerged as the 'most attractive employer' in the survey for the fourth year in a row. 

Sony India is next most attractive employer. According to the surrey, Larsen & Toubro is the most attractive employer in the infrastructure industry, State Bank of India in the banking sector, Taj Group in the hospitality and Tata Power in the energy sector. 

The survey, which covered more than 8,000 potential and employed workforce in India, found that competitive salary and employee benefits and long-term job security were the most important factors when choosing an employer. Other criterion included financial health of the company, good work-life balance, pleasant working atmosphere and career progression opportunities. 

The survey said men preferred companies, which offered competitive salary and job security, while women looked at better work atmosphere, accessibility and flexible working conditions. The workforce aged above 35 years sought financially healthy companies for employment whereas those below 35 were attracted towards training and global career opportunities. 

Meanwhile, more than 70 per cent respondent found IT, communication, telecom and ITeS industry to be the most attractive sector to work. This was followed by FMCG and retail (69 per cent), and auto & auto-components sector (67 per cent). 

"The Indian economy is showing positive economic movement and shifting into a higher gear, which will have a significant bearing on the attraction and retention of talent across sectors," Randstad India MD & CEO Moorthy K Uppaluri said. 

"With employee attrition on the rise, employer branding has become crucial, now more than ever, and companies are viewing this as a competitive differentiators tool' to build great brands that will help them attract, manage and retain best talent," he added. 

Among the total respondents, 41 per cent desired a more relaxed work schedule as a motivation to serve longer in a company, while 40 per cent considered less working hours as a key motivator.

Google Camera App Brings HTC One M8 Camera Feature to All

Google Camera App Brings HTC One M8 Camera Feature to All is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.

Today smartphone owners have the choice to download and enjoy a brand new camera experience on their Android smartphones and tablets thanks to the all-new Google Camera app.

This morning Google released a standalone Google Camera application to the Google Play Store for all Android devices running Android 4.4 KitKat or above, and it has some awesome new features worth talking about. This completely improves the camera experience on Android, and for all KitKat devices rather than just those with Google’s Nexus 5 smartphone.

We’ve been hearing reports of a major overhaul to the Android camera being in the works, but no one expected it to be readily available today. One feature in particular is “Lens Blur” which is something many have been enjoying, or would like to enjoy from the new HTC One M8.

One of the weak points on Android for a long time has been the stock camera on Nexus devices. The user interface was generally quite bad, photos weren’t always the best, and what we saw on our screen wasn’t what actually appeared in the photo. There was more to the image than what was display.

The all new Google Camera app fixes all these problems, improved the user interface, and added some awesome new features worth talking about. Lately all the rage on smartphone cameras has been about this “blur” effect for that professional DSLR bokeh look where certain things are perfectly blurred out to focus a photo on what’s important. HTC has a new Duo Camera on the HTC One M8, and Samsung’s Galaxy S5 even has a “selective focus” option to try and deliver something similar.

These options allow the user to change or tweak the focus after a photo has been taken, and some of the results are quite impressive. Below is a photo of a fountain taken with the HTC One M8 using this new feature.

HTC One M8 uFocus Photo

However, Google’s just delivered an awesome camera for all Android 4.4 KitKat users, and also stole this feature from both of these phones, possibly in a manor that works better, and delivered it for everyone. It’s called Lens Blur and is one feature of many of the new camera. Google’s Camera app has photosphere (360 panoramas), regular landscape panorama photos, and now lens blur. This allows the user to select the point of focus, and even control how much blur effect is included.

Above is a look at the new slide-out menu in the Google Camera, and we have a neat new interface too. The settings button doesn’t give too many options, but it’s a start. The camera has been the basis of many complaints for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 for months, and this app should be addressing most of those issues.

Thankfully Google has added plenty of options for changing the resolution size (even for panorama photos) and added a grid for those wanting more professional options. There’s likely more changes coming soon in the Android 4.4.3 KitKat update, but part of moving apps to the Play Store is so Google can improve key aspects of Android on the fly, rather than through major software updates only.

So how does this new Lens Blur feature work? Simply select the option from the slide-out menu, then once you take a photo the app actually instructs the user on how the feature works. There’s a nice built-in tutorial, but all it takes is a slight rotate upwards to help the camera capture depth of field. Google is actually snapping multiple photos here, but only one will be displayed on your device, and can easily be tweaked using the round shutter icon after your Lens Blur photo has finished processing. Below is the same photo with two very different points of focus.

AMD launches Accelerated Processing Units in India

US-based chipmaker AMD today launched new processors at price starting from Rs 2,299 in the country, a move that could help manufacturers lower prices of desktop PCs in India.

The new APUs (Accelerated Processing Unit), based on AMD's Kabini AM1 platform, promises two times quicker computing and graphics performance and 2.8 times faster gaming speeds compared to competition.

 

 "This is a mass market product. This is one of the cheapest processors in the market offering highest value. Users will get faster computing and graphics performance as well as faster gaming speeds," AMD Director of Marketing Gabe Gravning told PTI.

These processors consume lesser power than their predecessors and AMD is excited about the launch in India as this is an extremely important market, he added. The new processors also provide users access to quicker video streaming, steady videos and richer colours in pictures.

Talking about the Indian market, AMD India Director Component Business Chandrahas Panigrahi said the country still has low PC penetration rates.

"Its true that PC sales have been slowing down but the market is still under-penetrated. People still come back to desktops when it comes to content creation and we are bullish on the market here," he said. Panigrahi added that the company has seen good growth in business here on the back of strong growth in gaming devices, uptick in sales of form factors like notebooks and graphics business.

"There are factors which determine price of PCs like inflation and all, the OEM has the final call. But these new processors are aimed at the mass market. With this processor, a price like Rs 10,000 for a desktop PC is possible," Panigrahi said.

According to research firm IDC, the overall India PC shipments for 2013 stood at 11.5 million units, a year-on-year growth of 4.8 per cent over 2012. It, however, anticipates the market to decline in 2014.

AMD has seen strong growth in the government and education sector in the country. Along with these, the consumer segment, especially gaming enthusiasts, has also helped the firm grow its position in the country. India also plays an important role for AMD's research and development. Its APUs -- Kaveri and Kabini -- were developed by its India team.

Slump in automobile market claims 2 lakh jobs: SIAM

The longest period of slump in India's automobile market, with sales declining for a second straight year, has taken its toll with production cuts leading to the loss of about 2,00,000 jobs, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

"Last year was one of the most difficult periods for the auto industry," said Vikram Kirloskar, the president of SIAM, who is also the vice-chairman of Bangalorebased automaker, Toyota Kirloskar Motors. "I personally feel that across the entire value chain in the auto industry, right from raw materials to the dealerships there could be around 1.5-2 lakh job losses."

The Indian auto industry employs around 19 million direct and indirect workers. The industry is already falling behind its target on the job front as it was estimated to employ more than 25 million workers by 2016 under the 10-year Auto Mission Plan of the government. A consistent fall in demand and sales for the past two years is likely to create a huge employment gap.

Car sales in India fell for the second consecutive fiscal ended March 2014 with a 4.65% drop as the auto industry continued to struggle in a sluggish economy. Besides the decade's steepest decline in car sales, heavy trucks and buses continued its negative sales streak for the past 25 months.

The industry is not expecting an immediate turnaround, even with a cut in excise duty. According to industry sources, the biggest job losses would have occurred at the retail levels, mainly dealerships that sell all class of vehicles - from bikes to trucks. It also hit the component manufacturers hard.

Many auto companies have gone for downsizing. India's largest auto company by revenues, Tata Motors had undertaken an Early Separation Scheme last year to reduce manpower by as much as 5,000 workers across its plants at Jamshedpur, Pune and Lucknow.

More than 500 managers had left the Chennai-based Ashok Leyland as part of its voluntary retirement scheme in November 2013.

Due to declining sales for the past two years companies are enforcing regular production cuts and industry executives said that job losses in the sector are quite common.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki had closed its five plants for eight days in June last year to reduce its swelling inventory at factory and dealers while others players like Mahindra & Mahindra, General Motors, Skoda Auto also undertook plant shutdowns and retrenched their casual and temporary workers to align production with the slowing market conditions.

In a major setback to the passenger car segment Hoover India limited, which was a master franchise of Japanese carmaker Nissan, shut its office leaving hundreds of its employees jobless. Analysts tracking the sector said that the trucks and buses segment was the hardest hit.

"Auto industry is one of the key industries which contribute to growth in the employment of manufacturing sector. It is difficult to give the exact number of employment loss but it can be anywhere in the range of 1.25 to 1.5 lakh," said Abdul Majeed, Partner & Auto Expert with Price Waterhouse.

Automotive dealers, who are facing the brunt of the slowdown, have been shedding staff to keep their business viable. "The initial signs are not good. For the first time in the last fiscal the retail sales or deliveries to customers were weak and that impact our turnover and profit margins," a Maruti Suzuki dealer said.

Fix These 5 Email Marketing Missteps Right Now

The most important things are done at the last second:The email marketing train is a constant and fast-moving one. It is hard to get off at the high speed and seemingly even harder to slow it down and take in the view. Many email marketers find it very hard to change less-than-successful practices or gain momentum on new techniques and strategies. However, there is hope! Email marketers share many ailments, but the remedies may not be as painful as one would expect.

You would never choose your brand name, where your office or stores should be located, or who should run your company at the last minute, but we make most of the crucial and impactful decisions at the last moment of our campaigns. Sometimes email marketers literally think about the subject line right before pressing send, as an almost necessary evil.