Twenty-six small letters and twenty-six capital letters - just fifty-two in all and their combinations. Why suffer from poor handwriting all your life? In a matter of days, we can train our handwriting, knock this weakness off and enjoy the benefits of it for the rest of our lives,” said a handwriting trainer to a group of twelve-year-olds.
How often we meet people who keep cursing their fate for having studied in the regional language as the medium of instruction? With a year's formal training, they can learn the language they want to and knock that weakness off. How often people suffer the inconvenience of the driver not turning up for work!Immobile, despite the fact that an automobile is staring at them from their own garage. With a month's formal training, they can learn driving and knock a weakness off. Fear of public speaking is rated next only to the fear of death. Yet, through formal training, one can master public speaking in a matter of weeks.
When a weakness, a limitation, can be knocked off, why suffer it and let it incapacitate us for the rest of our life? How marvellous - invest some time in training, knock a weakness off and enjoy its benefits for the rest of your life! Life is actually simpler than what we think it is.
Formal, systematic training not only enables us to overcome our weaknesses and limitations, but also helps us to become better at what we are already good at.
Babies will eventually learn to walk, and then run. However, if they have to become athletes, they have to undergo formal, systematic training. Scribbling becomes writing under formal, systematic training.Talking becomes communication under formal, systematic training. Exercise under formal, systematic training becomes a wellness program. If you want to play the game of chess, learn it from anybody; but if you want to become a champion, then you'll need systematic coaching from a trained coach.
Nothing like our grandmother's remedies, yet don't we rush her to a doctor when she is sick? There is no substitute for formal, systematic training. Often, the difference between good, better and the best lies in the quality of training.
Whether it is painting, music, dance or for that matter any other art form that you want to be good at, no matter what your age is, undergo formal training. Yoga, meditation or sports, if it is not meant to be a mere pastime, undergo formal initiation with a trained coach. Take a break from the CEO's chair and take up formal professional education once again - go back to school and then come back to the seat. See the difference.
Ability when subjected to systematic training becomes proficiency. There is no other way to be the best.Nothing like growing in the right hands.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Excellence
Excellence is self-explanatory. Where there is excellence, explanations are not required.Where explanations are required, rarely do you find excellence.
What's okay is okay and what's not okay is not okay. However, we have a tendency to explain, justify, reason and rationalise what's not okay as okay. Hold it. Once you develop this tendency of using your mind to make what's not okay look okay, you press your own self-destruction button. The mind that gets trained into justifying lack of excellence learns to settle for compromises - it learns to live with compromises.
If you have scored 88 out of 100, the fact remains that you have fallen short by 12. How much ever you explain,you've still fallen short by 12. Communication cannot make up for the 12. You are attempting to explain as though 88 is actually 100, though you yourself know that 88 is only 88.
The saying goes - a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth. To others, it may appear to be the truth. You can do your best to make it look like the truth, but you will always know that it is a lie. Even when I am not comfortable with myself, I can tell the world - I am on Top of the World.But I know the truth of the matter. For how long can you make a cat look like a lion? You can neither hide the fact from yourself, nor hide yourself from the fact. What is short is short. Explanations can never make up for the shortfall.
If your target was 40 lakhs and you did only 36 lakhs, then you've fallen short of your target. If the delivery was to be made by Monday but it happened only on Friday, then you have failed in your commitment. If your appointment was for 11.00 and you turned up only at 11.15, then you are late. Much after you have explained everything in every possible way, the fact remains that you didn't achieve your target, that you failed in your commitment and that you didn't respect punctuality.
Of course, it is soothing to justify non-performance. It acts as a psychological pain balm. It relieves you from the burden of hurt. However, self-consolation for lack of excellence will hurt you very badly in life. Time and again, it will make you fall short of the mark and you will eventually fall short of what you are capable of. Wake up.What's not okay is not okay. 6.01 is not 6.00; Monday alone is Monday.
'Zero defect' is possible. Precision is possible. Sustained excellence is possible. It all starts with the attitude of refusing to settle for anything but the best. It's a funny thing about life that if you refuse to settle for anything but the best, it often gives it to you.
Lack of excellence should hurt. That which hurts, instructs. That which instructs, creates. Get created.Create excellence.
Source : FT
What's okay is okay and what's not okay is not okay. However, we have a tendency to explain, justify, reason and rationalise what's not okay as okay. Hold it. Once you develop this tendency of using your mind to make what's not okay look okay, you press your own self-destruction button. The mind that gets trained into justifying lack of excellence learns to settle for compromises - it learns to live with compromises.
If you have scored 88 out of 100, the fact remains that you have fallen short by 12. How much ever you explain,you've still fallen short by 12. Communication cannot make up for the 12. You are attempting to explain as though 88 is actually 100, though you yourself know that 88 is only 88.
The saying goes - a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth. To others, it may appear to be the truth. You can do your best to make it look like the truth, but you will always know that it is a lie. Even when I am not comfortable with myself, I can tell the world - I am on Top of the World.But I know the truth of the matter. For how long can you make a cat look like a lion? You can neither hide the fact from yourself, nor hide yourself from the fact. What is short is short. Explanations can never make up for the shortfall.
If your target was 40 lakhs and you did only 36 lakhs, then you've fallen short of your target. If the delivery was to be made by Monday but it happened only on Friday, then you have failed in your commitment. If your appointment was for 11.00 and you turned up only at 11.15, then you are late. Much after you have explained everything in every possible way, the fact remains that you didn't achieve your target, that you failed in your commitment and that you didn't respect punctuality.
Of course, it is soothing to justify non-performance. It acts as a psychological pain balm. It relieves you from the burden of hurt. However, self-consolation for lack of excellence will hurt you very badly in life. Time and again, it will make you fall short of the mark and you will eventually fall short of what you are capable of. Wake up.What's not okay is not okay. 6.01 is not 6.00; Monday alone is Monday.
'Zero defect' is possible. Precision is possible. Sustained excellence is possible. It all starts with the attitude of refusing to settle for anything but the best. It's a funny thing about life that if you refuse to settle for anything but the best, it often gives it to you.
Lack of excellence should hurt. That which hurts, instructs. That which instructs, creates. Get created.Create excellence.
Source : FT
The fallen Tomato Cart
I pass through this very intersection every morning with so much ease. Today, the pace is skewed. There is a sense of disarray as motorists try to push past each other through the traffic light. The light here always tests their agility because if you miss the green, you have to wait for another three minutes before it lets you go past again. Those three minutes become eternity for an otherwise time-insensitive nation on the move. Today, there is a sense of chaos here. People are honking, skirting each other and rushing past. I look out of my window to seek the reason. It is not difficult to find because it is lying strewn all over the place.
A tomato seller’s cart has overturned. There are tomatoes everywhere and the rushing motorists are making pulp of it. The man is trying to get his cart back on its four rickety wheels and a few passersby are picking up what they can in an attempt to save him total loss. Though symbolic in the larger scheme of things, it is not a substantive gesture. His business for the day is over.
The way this man’s economics works is very simple. There is a money lender who lends him money for just one day, at an interest rate of Rs 10 per day per Rs 100 lent. With the money, he wakes up at 4 am to go to the wholesale market for vegetables. He returns, pushing his cart a good five miles, and by 7 am when the locality wakes up, he is ready to sell his day’s merchandise. By the end of the morning, some of it remains unsold. This his wife sells by the afternoon and takes home the remainder, which becomes part of his meal. With the day’s proceeds, he returns the interest to the money lender and goes back to the routine the next day. If he does not sell for a day, his chain breaks.
Where does he go from here? He goes back to the money lender, raises capital at an even more penal interest and gets back on his feet. This is not the only time that destiny has upset his tomato cart. This happens to him at least six times every year. Once he returned with a loaded cart of ripe tomatoes and it rained heavily for the next three days. No one came to the market and his stock rotted in front of his own eyes. Another time, instead of the weather, it was a political rally that snowballed into a confrontation between two rival groups and the locality closed down. And he is not alone in this game of extraneous factors that seize not only his business but also his life. He sees this happen to the “gol-gappa” seller, the peanut seller and the “vada pao” seller all the time. When their product does not sell, it just turns soggy. Sometimes they eat some of it. But how much of that stuff can you eat by yourself ? So, they just give away some and there is always that one time when they have to simply throw it away.
Away from the street-vendor selling perishable commodity with little or no life support system, the corporate world is an altogether different place. Here we have some of the most educated people in the country. We don the best garbs. We do not have to push carts; our carts push us. We have our salary, perquisites, bonuses, stock options, gratuities, pensions and our medical insurance and the group accident benefit schemes. Yet, all the while, we worry about our risks and think about our professional insecurity. We wonder, what would happen if the company shifted offices to another city? What would happen if the department closed down? What would happen if you were to take maternity leave and the temporary substitute delivered better work than you did? What would happen if the product line you are dealing with simply failed? In any of those eventualities, the worst that could happen would still be a lot less than having to see your cartful of tomatoes getting pulped under the screeching wheels of absolute strangers who have nothing personal against you.
All too often we exaggerate our risks. We keep justifying our professional concerns till they trap us in their vicious downward spiral. Devoid of education, sophisticated reasoning and any financial safety net, the man with the cart is often able to deal with life much better than many of us. Is it time to look out of the window, into the eyes of that man to ask him, where does he get it from? In his simple stoicism, is probably, our lost resilience.
Source:Times of Mind
A tomato seller’s cart has overturned. There are tomatoes everywhere and the rushing motorists are making pulp of it. The man is trying to get his cart back on its four rickety wheels and a few passersby are picking up what they can in an attempt to save him total loss. Though symbolic in the larger scheme of things, it is not a substantive gesture. His business for the day is over.
The way this man’s economics works is very simple. There is a money lender who lends him money for just one day, at an interest rate of Rs 10 per day per Rs 100 lent. With the money, he wakes up at 4 am to go to the wholesale market for vegetables. He returns, pushing his cart a good five miles, and by 7 am when the locality wakes up, he is ready to sell his day’s merchandise. By the end of the morning, some of it remains unsold. This his wife sells by the afternoon and takes home the remainder, which becomes part of his meal. With the day’s proceeds, he returns the interest to the money lender and goes back to the routine the next day. If he does not sell for a day, his chain breaks.
Where does he go from here? He goes back to the money lender, raises capital at an even more penal interest and gets back on his feet. This is not the only time that destiny has upset his tomato cart. This happens to him at least six times every year. Once he returned with a loaded cart of ripe tomatoes and it rained heavily for the next three days. No one came to the market and his stock rotted in front of his own eyes. Another time, instead of the weather, it was a political rally that snowballed into a confrontation between two rival groups and the locality closed down. And he is not alone in this game of extraneous factors that seize not only his business but also his life. He sees this happen to the “gol-gappa” seller, the peanut seller and the “vada pao” seller all the time. When their product does not sell, it just turns soggy. Sometimes they eat some of it. But how much of that stuff can you eat by yourself ? So, they just give away some and there is always that one time when they have to simply throw it away.
Away from the street-vendor selling perishable commodity with little or no life support system, the corporate world is an altogether different place. Here we have some of the most educated people in the country. We don the best garbs. We do not have to push carts; our carts push us. We have our salary, perquisites, bonuses, stock options, gratuities, pensions and our medical insurance and the group accident benefit schemes. Yet, all the while, we worry about our risks and think about our professional insecurity. We wonder, what would happen if the company shifted offices to another city? What would happen if the department closed down? What would happen if you were to take maternity leave and the temporary substitute delivered better work than you did? What would happen if the product line you are dealing with simply failed? In any of those eventualities, the worst that could happen would still be a lot less than having to see your cartful of tomatoes getting pulped under the screeching wheels of absolute strangers who have nothing personal against you.
All too often we exaggerate our risks. We keep justifying our professional concerns till they trap us in their vicious downward spiral. Devoid of education, sophisticated reasoning and any financial safety net, the man with the cart is often able to deal with life much better than many of us. Is it time to look out of the window, into the eyes of that man to ask him, where does he get it from? In his simple stoicism, is probably, our lost resilience.
Source:Times of Mind
Sunday, July 27, 2008
"Thinking of a Lion while it is a Cat"
Last week we were informed that our Business Unit Head is going to visit our office and everyone in the project is going to meet him and anyone can raise the concerns to him.
So myself with my friends were discussing in the pantry about the BU head and how about the guy? Whether our concerns will be solved or its waste of our time? Will it be effective to putforth the questions in front of him? etc etc...At the same time we all know getting an opportunity to meet BU head is like seeing rain once in a while in chennai....
On that evening, I played in my mind the entire sequence - how I would open the dialogue ,how i would stand my ground, how to react for his questions, whether my questions are valid and start keep on thinking about it, because I have seen lot of managers(they term themselves as management gurus of the company) and act like they are too worthy for the company and shows all our problem will be solved by positive speech.Afterthat, there won't be any remedy or reply for our issues.Yeap,true...Thatswhy they are called as managers because they manage the problems and for solution we want to find some one else.But it's our responsibility to put forward our points even if it not reached there ears.
As expected, the meeting day also came and i got an opportunity to met him personally as well.He is very friendly and gave time to narrate my points clearly even he was in a busy schedule.He was happy that i took the issues to his notice and he was satisfied with my discussion.
But i am not satisfied because the questions i have played in my mind was not at all asked by him.I couldn't digest how poorly I had handled the situation and the enormous stupidity I had put myself through. I walked out looking sheepish.
How often we go through unwanted emotional stress and turmoil before a confrontation, only to be faced with something of an anticlimax. The obviously unnecessary thought process makes us feel terrible - before, during and after. Yeah, sometimes things don't work out so easily and you have to fight your way. But why go in spoiling for a fight? Why anticipate a negative response? Why enter a discussion thinking your demand will be turned down? Why expend your time and energy in preparing to face a lion when it's only a cat? Why take a negative approach? Why worry about something before it happens? We would save a lot of unwanted stress if we simply decide to hold our response until the situation presents itself.
No matter what the situation, you have a case if you are true. Contingency planning doesn't apply here. When you aren't sure whether it's a cat or a lion you are about to face, preparation proves pointless. Anticipation makes a mountain out of a molehill. Face it when you come to it. Let the wisdom of the English idiom prevail -
From my Brain....
So myself with my friends were discussing in the pantry about the BU head and how about the guy? Whether our concerns will be solved or its waste of our time? Will it be effective to putforth the questions in front of him? etc etc...At the same time we all know getting an opportunity to meet BU head is like seeing rain once in a while in chennai....
On that evening, I played in my mind the entire sequence - how I would open the dialogue ,how i would stand my ground, how to react for his questions, whether my questions are valid and start keep on thinking about it, because I have seen lot of managers(they term themselves as management gurus of the company) and act like they are too worthy for the company and shows all our problem will be solved by positive speech.Afterthat, there won't be any remedy or reply for our issues.Yeap,true...Thatswhy they are called as managers because they manage the problems and for solution we want to find some one else.But it's our responsibility to put forward our points even if it not reached there ears.
As expected, the meeting day also came and i got an opportunity to met him personally as well.He is very friendly and gave time to narrate my points clearly even he was in a busy schedule.He was happy that i took the issues to his notice and he was satisfied with my discussion.
But i am not satisfied because the questions i have played in my mind was not at all asked by him.I couldn't digest how poorly I had handled the situation and the enormous stupidity I had put myself through. I walked out looking sheepish.
How often we go through unwanted emotional stress and turmoil before a confrontation, only to be faced with something of an anticlimax. The obviously unnecessary thought process makes us feel terrible - before, during and after. Yeah, sometimes things don't work out so easily and you have to fight your way. But why go in spoiling for a fight? Why anticipate a negative response? Why enter a discussion thinking your demand will be turned down? Why expend your time and energy in preparing to face a lion when it's only a cat? Why take a negative approach? Why worry about something before it happens? We would save a lot of unwanted stress if we simply decide to hold our response until the situation presents itself.
No matter what the situation, you have a case if you are true. Contingency planning doesn't apply here. When you aren't sure whether it's a cat or a lion you are about to face, preparation proves pointless. Anticipation makes a mountain out of a molehill. Face it when you come to it. Let the wisdom of the English idiom prevail -
cross that bridge when you come to it.
From my Brain....
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The cucumber seller
The cucumber seller of Chennai At peace with himself and with the world rushing past, this man was dressed in poverty.
But in his presence, it was I who felt poor (SUBROTO BAGCHI-The author is co-founder & chief operating officer at MindTree Consulting).
On a hot July day, my colleague Moses and I were trying to locate our car on Chennai’s Nungambakkam High Road in front of Nalli Silks when I saw a roadside cart laden with cucumbers. The seller was vacantly gazing at passersby. Clad in a white shirt and a dhoti worn in the traditional Chennai style, he had long hair and an unkempt beard. I did not know Tamil, and asked Moses to find out the price. One rupee apiece, came the reply. We wanted one piece each. The cucumber seller began deftly slicing them to put salt and the delectable red chilly powder on the neat halves. As we bit into the cucumber, I asked Moses to tell him that his pricing was too low, and that he should raise it. Moses conveyed this. The seller shook his head, and replied that “customer satisfaction” is more important than extra profit. The words ‘customer satisfaction’ were in English. I gulped my patronizing comment. At this time, Moses excused himself to find our car. After a few moments, the seller asked me in English where I was from. From Bangalore, I replied. What follows here is our conversation.
His statements are highlighted.
Isn’t the Karnataka budget due to be presented tomorrow? Yes, that is true. Living in Karnataka, it was easy for me to concur on this.
I wonder how the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will ever solve the water-sharing problem. Man cannot solve this problem. It has to be God. After all, it is an issue of how much rain is going to fall! I nodded. I was not sure if I had a view at all.
See the way the monsoon is progressing. It does not look good. The progress of the rains is leaving a ‘V’ of a dry patch as the clouds move north. Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and the states up north will have problems. Politicians are the ones who use such problems to create a divide among people. They always do it. They use water, religion, anything they can, to create a divide. Look at the way Amarinder Singh of Punjab is taking a stand. I looked at him, in part admiration and part disbelief.
You’re from Bangalore. Things are going well for you folks. But I don’t understand how people with shady business interests can become representatives of public opinion there. It was part complaint and part observation. At this point, a fellow peddler arrived — helped himself to some of the cucumber, and the two had a quick conversation on some issue I did not understand. After the other person left, I asked him if selling cucumber was his full-time vocation. He told me that right now it was. Earlier, he sold lottery tickets, the trading of which has since been banned. As a result he had to switch his business to selling cucumbers on the wheeled cart. No complaints and no issues. Meaning to engage him further, I asked him his religion. This drew an instant look of disappointment from him: “Sir, I am an Indian. That is my religion. In my eyes, all people are equal, and it does not matter to me at all.” The clarity of his response and his conviction took me completely by surprise. His net worth was probably equal to his day’s turnover. The newspaper and magazines he reads, to keep abreast of things, wipe off the disposable income he generates. Bare feet on this busy, dusty road, he sold a low-value, perishable product from a rickety cart. At peace with himself and with the world rushing past, this man was dressed in poverty. But in his presence, it was I who felt poor. We are not complete if we are not connected. It is only when we are connected that things make sense. Only when things make sense, we can form an opinion. Standing there, I wondered how many in the corporate world know who the chief minister of Punjab is, and about the progress of the monsoon! How many have an informed view on river water politics and budget proceedings of another state. Soon, Moses appeared with our car. It was time for me to go. I shook hands with the nameless cucumber seller of Chennai. Actually, I wanted to touch his feet.
But in his presence, it was I who felt poor (SUBROTO BAGCHI-The author is co-founder & chief operating officer at MindTree Consulting).
On a hot July day, my colleague Moses and I were trying to locate our car on Chennai’s Nungambakkam High Road in front of Nalli Silks when I saw a roadside cart laden with cucumbers. The seller was vacantly gazing at passersby. Clad in a white shirt and a dhoti worn in the traditional Chennai style, he had long hair and an unkempt beard. I did not know Tamil, and asked Moses to find out the price. One rupee apiece, came the reply. We wanted one piece each. The cucumber seller began deftly slicing them to put salt and the delectable red chilly powder on the neat halves. As we bit into the cucumber, I asked Moses to tell him that his pricing was too low, and that he should raise it. Moses conveyed this. The seller shook his head, and replied that “customer satisfaction” is more important than extra profit. The words ‘customer satisfaction’ were in English. I gulped my patronizing comment. At this time, Moses excused himself to find our car. After a few moments, the seller asked me in English where I was from. From Bangalore, I replied. What follows here is our conversation.
His statements are highlighted.
Isn’t the Karnataka budget due to be presented tomorrow? Yes, that is true. Living in Karnataka, it was easy for me to concur on this.
I wonder how the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will ever solve the water-sharing problem. Man cannot solve this problem. It has to be God. After all, it is an issue of how much rain is going to fall! I nodded. I was not sure if I had a view at all.
See the way the monsoon is progressing. It does not look good. The progress of the rains is leaving a ‘V’ of a dry patch as the clouds move north. Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and the states up north will have problems. Politicians are the ones who use such problems to create a divide among people. They always do it. They use water, religion, anything they can, to create a divide. Look at the way Amarinder Singh of Punjab is taking a stand. I looked at him, in part admiration and part disbelief.
You’re from Bangalore. Things are going well for you folks. But I don’t understand how people with shady business interests can become representatives of public opinion there. It was part complaint and part observation. At this point, a fellow peddler arrived — helped himself to some of the cucumber, and the two had a quick conversation on some issue I did not understand. After the other person left, I asked him if selling cucumber was his full-time vocation. He told me that right now it was. Earlier, he sold lottery tickets, the trading of which has since been banned. As a result he had to switch his business to selling cucumbers on the wheeled cart. No complaints and no issues. Meaning to engage him further, I asked him his religion. This drew an instant look of disappointment from him: “Sir, I am an Indian. That is my religion. In my eyes, all people are equal, and it does not matter to me at all.” The clarity of his response and his conviction took me completely by surprise. His net worth was probably equal to his day’s turnover. The newspaper and magazines he reads, to keep abreast of things, wipe off the disposable income he generates. Bare feet on this busy, dusty road, he sold a low-value, perishable product from a rickety cart. At peace with himself and with the world rushing past, this man was dressed in poverty. But in his presence, it was I who felt poor. We are not complete if we are not connected. It is only when we are connected that things make sense. Only when things make sense, we can form an opinion. Standing there, I wondered how many in the corporate world know who the chief minister of Punjab is, and about the progress of the monsoon! How many have an informed view on river water politics and budget proceedings of another state. Soon, Moses appeared with our car. It was time for me to go. I shook hands with the nameless cucumber seller of Chennai. Actually, I wanted to touch his feet.
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