Jugaad worship

Now this is distressing.  Apparently hospitals in India are being hailed for their best practices.  By none less than Raghuram Rajan in his new book Fault Lines.

Hospitals in the United States could learn more from each other, as well as from hospitals elsewhere, including India, where costs have been brought down by bringing mass-production techniques perfected in manufacturing to health care.  Indian hospitals have found that error rate are reduced when their doctors specialize and perform many procedures of a similar kind.  The time for operations is also cut down, with no loss of safety.  A focus on eliminating unnecessary frills and on utilizing expensive resources like doctor time most effectively also helps even though good surgeons in India earn about as much as surgeons in the United States, the cost of operations is often an order of magnitude lower.

Are we in India blind to our remarkable capabilities, or has the world gone completely blind-sighted and/or desperate!

The rule of 10,000

We all know that it takes hard work to be good.  But just how long does it take to be really great at something?  Not just average, run-of-the-mill good – but truly great?

The answer, apparently, is 10,000 hrs.  Thats about 5 years of 8 hours of practice a day – before one can be great.  An MBA gives you a maximum of 0.5  years in a subject of your choosing.  You still need to put in the other 9.5.

For an inspiring and humbling read on the rule of 10,000, check out Amit Verma’s post.