Public Policy Analysis…

From my limited experience and an even more limited knowledge, I think I understand the equation for good policy analysis.

Obviously, one needs to know what a policy is and how to analyse it, before getting to good analysis. How does one know what is a policy and discern between the good and the bad?

We all experience policy affecting our lives everywhere – a “no smoking in public” policy affects non-smokers and smokers differently. This example can be extended to countless vagaries of our everyday life – food, sex, shelter, automobiles, fashion, technology – everywhere. Therefore, our first perception of policy is created by what we experience in life.

Then, a few of us choose to study public policy at a professional school – we learn about human nature, policy frameworks, decision criteria and stakeholder analysis. We use such tools to analyse and develop policy – I call these tools as knowledge. We also can note traces of bias in our policy-making and policy-analysis based on what we already know as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Finally, we all use common sense – creating policies that safeguard the basic requirements of humans have high amounts of common sense in them. However, common sense being uncommon and intangible, we cannot compare humans and policies on this aspect; we have to include this in the equation though.

Therefore,

Policy Outcome = Experience (X) * Knowledge (Y) * Common Sense (Z)

With Z being the same for all (because of its intangibility and therefore, its unmeasurability) and Y being common for the two types of population (the ones who study policy & the ones who do not), X should be the factor that differentiates better policy makers from the ones that are not as good. Even if the argument that the quantum of Y could be different (that some people learn more than others (the A+s vs. the B-s)) is considered, the magnitude of change in Y can be considered to be negligible vis-a-vis the magnitude of X – A B- probably means that one studied 500 pages less than the one who got an A+; however, the difference between one who spent 10 years working with policies, when compared with someone who has never seen a real life policy, I hope my argument holds good.

So what is the point? Common sense cannot be measured and anyways cannot be improved, so let us forget that. As public policy students we all get an equal shot at Y – let us try to maximise that; but in the end, it is X that is going to matter and decide what the Outcome of our Policies look like. Let us focus on X, even if it means a little less Y (Cost-benefit Analysis).

And therefore: I need more practical learning in my Public Policy Program.

Hence proved.

The Art of Public Speaking…

First things first – I am no expert on Public Speaking. This is no treatise on Public Speaking.

As a Public Policy student at the Lee Kuan Yew School, I am exposed to a variety of Speakers on a daily basis. We have in-house speakers, in-house “star” speakers, visiting speakers, speakers who have other jobs but come to speak & even people who have no other job but to speak. I am going to put down, what my mind tells me, the 10 apparently important things to do while speaking in Public.

1) Self-Deprecate: Start with “I am nothing of what he said…” making the introducer look like a lier or a fool. But never write & bring your own text that the introducer can read out.

2) Humble Pride: Do the “…where I was identified as the most amazing field man in the company” & “I was in the running for the Nobel Prize, but I never cared for awards…”; the trick is to maintain the poker face & nonchalant tone. Pretend  to not notice the audience maintain the same poker face & nonchalant tone.

3) Self-Promotion: Include video clips of self in TV, photos with celebrities, website links, article mentions etc. Especially giving out one’s website is cool – ensure the website has the above mentioned props & addresses of at least 10 cities, each at least 5000 miles apart from the other.

4) Out-of-the-world Frameworks: Structure the speech in what can be best called weird & think it is creative. Ideally, cover about 40% of what you said you will cover.

5) Display a Bias: Make sexist comments. Or chauvinistic remarks. Be snide & sarcastic. Call a popular theory crap & a popular personality an idiot. Basically, vie for attention, especially if it leads to a scandal.

6) Throw Names: Start with “I’ll tell him you said that…” & move to “…when I had gone to his home for dinner last week…” before sealing it with “…I have a special connection with his wife.”

7) Mention Occasions: “…the Obama Swearing in Ceremony was so cold…”, “…Copenhagen Convention…” & “…9/11 ground zero…” experiences are a must. Everyone should know where all you had been through last year.

Use words from different languages: The politest way of saying that you showered in Japan, had Breakfast in Korea, read Chinese Newspapers, did Business in Hong Kong, Lunched in Vietnam, took a Siesta in Thailand, drank Tea in Singapore, Gossiped in Indonesia, Dined at Sri Lanka & Slept in India. Choose a different region for the next day.

9) Dodge Questions: First, encourage people to ask questions & then start doging; until you get enough, dodging is not fun – so make people ask you questions. And then answer in global terms; E.g. The perfect answer for “When do you think the recession will end?” should start with “In my opinion, the Iraq war is futile…”

10) Court Controversy: “Obama bailed out GM because his step-sister’s granddaughter has chevy…”, “Lee Kuan Yew wears white because he is colour blind…” or “Amartya Sen cleared his Grade 10 with grace marks…” etc. are normal.

I have learnt so much in the first 4 months that I am very pleased. Hope this learning curve continues it’s upward trend.

I can’t…

I can’t get wet whenever it rains. I can’t put my feet up on the table. I can’t not wash clothes. I can’t step out not having combed. I can’t sleep whenever & wherever I like. I can’t eat whatever & how much ever I like. I can’t say everything that comes to my mind. I can’t let any random thing come to my mind. I can’t ogle at beauty. I can’t be childish. I can’t be angry. I can’t throw tantrums. I can’t be independent. I can’t be dependent. I can’t be penniless. I can’t have everything. I can’t stay away from my parents. I can’t stay with them. I can’t worry. I can’t not worry. I can’t think of tomorrow. I can’t not think of it. I can’t watch movies. I can’t decide to go on a trip in 5 minutes. I can’t ride around the world. I can’t not study. I can’t study.

Why am I even alive?

Knowledge & Ignorance…

After 20 plus years of education, I do not know what I have gained. It is definitely not wisdom (which supposedly is an ultimate goal of life) or intelligence (which supposedly helps one make less mistakes). Somewhere lower in the order lies knowledge: defined in many ways as below:

– noun

1. acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition: knowledge of many things;

2. familiarity or conversance, as with a particular subject or branch of learning;

3. acquaintance or familiarity gained by sight, experience, or report;

4. the fact or state of knowing; the perception of fact or truth; clear and certain mental apprehension;

5. awareness, as of a fact or circumstance;

6. something that is or may be known; information;

7. the body of truths or facts accumulated in the course of time;

8. the sum of what is known;

– adjective

9. creating, involving, using, or disseminating special knowledge or information;

— Idiom

10. to one’s knowledge, according to the information available to one;

However, I some why cannot relate to any of these. I am yet to be acquainted with a lot of truths & facts & I find this process of getting acquainted itself a bit tiring. Neither can I claim perfect conversance in any subject nor are my experiences enough to attain familiarity with any concept. Thus, I cannot claim to be in a state of knowing or possess information that is exclusive. So am I knowledgable? My simple definition (of course, condensed from the above) tells me that knowledge is knowing or what one knows. What do I know?

The American Proverb “Ignorance is Bliss” has always intrigued me. Can not knowing be better than knowing? Leaving out the situations of turmoil when not knowing is definitely an advantage, I am examining not knowing in regular day-to-day life. I see a child work with an empty cardboard box for well over an hour – its parent, an adult came by and put the box aside, obviously aided by the knowledge that the box had served its purpose; the child’s bliss was destroyed with knowledge. A photographer was taking painful efforts to get his angles, light composition & focus perfect in the garden for long; I walked past knowing that the effort is not efficient, considering the garden will remain at a similar state for a while, if not for ever.

Obviously, with knowledge one thinks about biases; does knowledge make one biased? Well it does, inevitably, but it might be thought that some biases are good whereas, some not good. Once again, knowledge fails to provide a clear answer leading to confusion.

Another aspect of knowledge is perception. Is there a free perception (meaning, to look at an object/a person/a situation at that moment, without attaching past, present or future information) or do we tend to always look through coloured glasses? Does knowledge enhance perception or does it diminish perception by guiding it with information?

If I am performing poorly in the acquisition of knowledge, how do I proceed to become intelligent & acquire wisdom? Are those never to happen in my life time?

Questions like these are easy to ask but have disturbing answers. They put things in perspective (of course aided by information) & destroy bliss – one is forced to sit back & think what s/he is doing. Then it dawns that this particular knowledge that enables one to think about this issue, has by itself destroyed some amount of bliss that one was living in.

Can one say no to knowledge acquisition? Can we live life day-by-day without acquiring knowledge? Is that a purposeful life?

 

–noun

1.	acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition: knowledge of many things.

2.	familiarity or conversance, as with a particular subject or branch of learning: A knowledge of accounting was necessary for the job.

3.	acquaintance or familiarity gained by sight, experience, or report: a knowledge of human nature.

4.	the fact or state of knowing; the perception of fact or truth; clear and certain mental apprehension.

5.	awareness, as of a fact or circumstance: He had knowledge of her good fortune.

6.	something that is or may be known; information: He sought knowledge of her activities.

7.	the body of truths or facts accumulated in the course of time.

8.	the sum of what is known: Knowledge of the true situation is limited.

Rossi wins his 9th World Riders’ Championship at Sepang…

Unlike F1 over the past few seasons, MotoGP has reinvented itself, just when one thought Rossi has no competition, youngsters like Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner & Jorge Lorenzo put their hands up to be counted. So today, after 9 world championships, I am sure Rossi still has to work hard, both on & off his bike. Limited interventions from management, close opponents & similarities in machinery have resulted in MotoGP raced being more competitive than F1 which suffers from too many scandals, a prohibitive thirst for money, unwarranted & stupid interventions of management in race results etc.

When I went to see the Malaysian MotoGP, I had some expectations which were all satisfied – and exceeded. Rossi started from pole (which was a huge surprise on Saturday since he completely messed up his last two fast laps in qualifying, overshooting turn 1 in both cases), made a good start whilst Lorenzo had to start from the back of the grid because he changed his bike due to setting problems he discovered during the formation lap. Valentino had actually beaten his own Sepang Circuit Fastest Pole Lap Record (which he had set on a 990CC Bike before) with his 800CC machine on Saturday & was the only rider to dip below the 2 Minute 1 Second barrier. He got away well from the line, but exercised a lot of caution over the first set of corners, because a mistake under the treacherous conditions could mean he was out of the race! Nevertheless, over the first few laps the order settled & Stoner took over from Pedrosa, eventually building a stunning 15 second gap – Stoner, much to the pleasure of Ducati fans, was a league aprt on Sunday. Rossi meanwhile, ended the first lap at P10 with Lorenzo at P8 after a storming start from the back of the grid. The pair eventually consolidated & took out about 1 rival per lap and slowly moved up the grid & by Lap 7, Rossi had overtaken Lorenzo, and was on P4, trying to get away from Lorenzo (on P5) even as he closed the gap to Dovizioso. Eventually, Dovizioso fell off the bike while chasing Pedrosa for second & gifting the last podium step to the doctor. As a clear racing line was established, both Rossi & Lorenzo upped their pace but Pedrosa was too far away (over 2 seconds) to be caught – also, throughout the race, major portions of the track remained wet & the lack of heat in the weather meant it was drying up any quickly, so any risk would have been foolish.

Once he got into P3, Rossi realised that the gap to Pedrosa is too large & therefore did not attempt to go for it, but instead drove a good race to ensure the crown was his – that Lorenzo was behind him, helped. And then he finished in P3, winning his 9th World Riders’ Championship, the 7th in MotoGP & 4th for Yamaha.

Awesome thing to observe was the enthusiasm fans reserve for Valentino Rossi & the way he entertains them. May be Stoner, Lorenzo & Pedrosa need to take a leaf out of his book even as they covet his position in MotoGP – media & people management are important skills. Consider these: The largest crowd on practice day was sitting right opposite the Fiat Yamaha garages; the most vocal fans were Rossi fans; every time he exited the pits & during every lap Rossi made, he was cheered the most; his colours (flourescent yellow) were the most visible & his merchandise would have outsold all other merchandise that was on sale at the venue.

The man himself responded brilliantly – after an amazing qualifying session, he found himself in conditions that were a complete anti-thesis to the way his bike was set up. He made that all important start & kept himself out of trouble in the initial laps, judging the conditions & setting up his bike, all this even while keeping an eye on Lorenzo. When he passed Toni Elias, I was asking people around me if he’d take the risk of trying to pass Lorenzo, being on equal bikes – we were all skeptic & were pleasantly shocked to see him take turn 1 ahead of Lorenzo, having made the move & made it stick at some other part of the circuit.

I think Valentino has been a great entertainer alongside being a great rider, sportsman & competitor. Agreed that sometimes his methods are questioned for their spirit, but I think he does what he does for the sake of competing.

I also hope F1 Management & FIA take some lessons from the MotoGP Management.

Here’s to Rossi for the awesome Championship!! May he win many more!!