Can you work in India while you live in Bharat?

James Joseph was in his late thirties, well ensconced in his job as a director with Microsoft, when he decided to take a family vacation in Aluva, Kerala. His six-year-old daughter tasted a jackfruit from a tree in their own yard and remarked, ‘Daddy, this is so delicious. I wish I could eat the fruits from this tree every year.’
Part memoir, part how-to, this is his amazing story of starting out from the backwaters of Kerala, becoming a corporate leader in America and then finding a way to have a successful career while working out of his village in Kerala.
This book also contains tips and techniques for anyone frustrated with living in cities. How do you set up a home office? How do you integrate with the local community? Where do your kids go to school? How do you convince your company to give you this opportunity? God’s Own Office may well inspire you to transform your life.

What is in it?

God’s Own Office, What is in it for Indian Professionals?

God’s Own Office is about how I moved from the Work Life Compromise of a big city to the Work Life Resonance of a small town. How I moved from days of meetings and waiting for meetings sandwiched between two major traffic jams, to days of meetings and constant recharge of energy sandwiched between two spectacular shows by thousands of birds living around me. How I worked from cities in three continents and finally achieved my career best professional performance, at the global software giant Microsoft, from my village. The book is full of practical tips for you to start your own God’s Own Office project for your family and you.

God’s Own Office, What is in it for qualified, Mothers and to be Mothers

Mothers not returning from maternity break is one of the biggest risks faced by major corporations for their already lean leadership pipeline of female candidates. If I have proved to work effectively from the comfort of a home, that too in a village in India, women can do even better. At least work from home few days a week before you enter maternity leave and again when you are getting back from maternity. This could significantly improve your chances of getting back on the leadership pipeline. God’s Own Office is full of practical tips to set up a home office specifically in India, which is more efficient than your real office.

God’s Own Office, What is in it for Students?

Will I be able to compete with other students from the cities, is one of the biggest concerns of students from small towns and rural India. I was only Half an Engineer who could only speak Half a sentence in English when I reached Delhi for my first job. God’s Own Office captures my journey from this Half Engineer to a real ‘Professional Without Borders’, and how I returned to my village to collect the Oscar for the best employee of the best employer in the World. Hope my experience will help some of you to start your global journey to be a Professional Without Borders and earn the right to return.

God’s Own Office, What is in it for Managers and HR Professionals?

Most managers and HR professionals in India are reluctant to let their best employees work from home as there are some negative experiences they may have personally experienced or have heard about. In God’s Own Office I have addressed the most common concerns of managers. I have provided a check list to see if the employee is ready and well equipped to work from home and tips to help the employee build the capabilities and discipline to earn the privilege to work from home. Hope the book will help you to encourage more employees to realize their full professional potential from the comfort of their home.

God’s Own Office, What is in it for Parents from small towns in India?

Most parents would like their children and grand children to spend more time with them without sacrificing the successful professional life they secured for their children. God’s Own Office provides you tips to set up a home office in a village where your children can work from without disruption during school holidays of your grand children. This will entice them to spend more time with you and improve the chances of them returning back to their home town without giving up their professional life.

Excerpt from God's Own Office

Advance Praise for God's
Own Office

“In the new economy, there will be fewer and fewer traditional jobs. Companies will rely increasingly on networks of experts who could be anywhere. Far from being scary, this trend creates exciting new opportunities for professionals who have valuable expertise. For this breed, geography is history. Work life resonance becomes eminently possible. James Joseph shows the way based on the inspiring story of his own journey. Dare to dream!”
Ravi Venkatesan (Founder of Social Venture Partners India and Former Chairman of Microsoft India)

“In the age of globalization a professional can work effectively from anywhere in the world, James has proved this very well from his village. God’s Own Office is the Office of The Future”
Mohandas Pai (Chairman, Manipal Global Education)

“James has dared to do what most employees and people managers are scared to try. This book is a practical inspiring guide for anyone seeking work life resonance. A truly refreshing and honest account, a must read for CEOs and HRD managers trying to unleash the full potential of their employees”
Anil K Khandelwal (Former Chairman Bank of Baroda and author, Dare to lead)

“God's Own Office is a delightful read. Written with transparent sincerity, James Joseph's story is like an Indian Walden Pond, an idyllic going back to Nature without cutting off ties with the everyday corporate world. Joseph's simplicity and unpretentiousness belies the pioneering nature of what he has achieved - a small miracle in today's cut-throat world.”
Anil Dharker (Writer, Columnist, Founder & Festival Director, Mumbai International Literary Festival)