The "N" Factor
- By Professor Prabhu Guptara
- Published 02/14/2008
Professor Prabhu Guptara
Professor Prabhu Guptara is Executive Director, Organisational Development, Wolfsberg (a subsidiary of UBS - one of the largest banks in the world). He is also Freeman of the City of London and of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, and Chartered Fellow of the of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; he is also Fellow: of the Institute of Directors, of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts Commerce and Manufactures; and he continues to supervise PhD research at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) as well as to be Visiting Professor at various Universities and Business Schools around the world.
Earlier roles include: a Governor of the Polytechnic of Central London, Member of the Council of the British Institute of Management, of the International Federation of Training & Development Organisations (IFTDO), of the Association for Management Education and Development (UK), of the South East Regional Council of the Confederation of British Industry.
Judge, 1988 National Training Awards, 1980 Commonwealth Poetry Prize, 1990 & 1991 Deo Gloria Prize for Fiction; Chair of the Panel of Judges, Deo Gloria Prize 1992 & 1993.
Experience with an enormous range of organisations including: Akzo Nobel (Netherlands), the Associated Banks Institute (Germany), Barclays Bank (UK), British Petroleum (UK), the Council of Europe, Cultor (Finland), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Groupe Bull (France), Federation of Finnish Engineers (Finland), the International Management Association of Japan, Kemira (Finland), Kraft Jakob Suchard (Switzerland), Leadership Academy (Finland), Nokia Telecommunications (Finland), Novo Nordisk (Denmark), Sedgwick International Insurance and Reinsurance Brokers (UK), Singapore Institute of Management, Sonatrach (Algeria), Sun Alliance (UK), UNCTAD, Valeo (France), and so on.
Organiser, chair and lecturer by invitation for numerous international conferences, he has contributed widely to radio and television in the UK and other countries (The Money Program, Any Questions) and has written for Financial Times (London, UK), The Guardian, The Times and other publications; articles, for example, in The Gower Handbook of Management, The Gower Handbook of Quality, and the International Encyclopedia of Business & Management (Routledge).
A CD-ROM has been issued of his lecture at the Professorenforum, University of Zurich, titled "Making the World Better - Why it does NOT happen...and what TO DO about it"
Further information available from rbadertscher@coba.ch
His best-known research publication is "Top Executives in the Global 100 Companies and their IT-Competence" (ADVANCE: Management Training Ltd., UK, and Wolfsberg Executive Development Centre, Switzerland, 1998); and he is included in Debrett's People of Today and in Who's Who in the World. Professor Prabhu Guptara lives in Switzerland.
The "N" stands for "networking" which of course existed long before the word came into existence - as is always the case. Even in the world of ideas and concepts, the idea or concept always pre-exists the creation of the word to describe it (at least in the world of ideas and concepts).
Well, there are probably thousands of books on networking, but I must confess that I have never read any of them, thinking them a waste of time, as I grew up in India where the art of networking has been taken, if not to its highest level, then to something pretty close to it.
However, since a couple of my friends, Adrie Reinders and Marion Freijsen, have not only written a book but even presented it to me, I had little option but to at least browse through it.
I must say that, as soon as one seeks to do so, this little book draws you into it. Not only is it "unputdownable", it is full of practical tips that any novice will do well to have in her/ his bag.
The best thing about the book is that it distinguishes between genuine networking, which consists of establishing a relationship, and what might be called merely increasing the number of visiting cards in your Rolodex or the number of addresses in your Excel.
However, even relationships (or networks) need to be managed! Reinders and Freijsen have created very helpful charts and tables. A systematic approach to networking is different from a merely intuitive approach to it - not that intuition is at all bad guide to relationships and to networking, but intuittion does need to be supplemented with systems.
They look at the role of events in enhancing networks, at sports and other interests. They examine the question of whether networks are transferrable (or can be passed on from one to another). They present various considerations in relation to charities, to e-networking tools, social networking tools, collaboration tools, networking in politics, the impact of culture on networking, et. al..
Higly recommended.
Adrie Reinders and Marion Freijsen, The N Factor, WBusinessBooks, California, USA, hardback, pp 148, $19.95
(see http://www.wbusinessbooks.com/)
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