NatUre heAls..!! (wAy to ShiV saMunDaram..) ~ paRt-I

Are you a nature lover?

No. Today, I’ll not talk about any management theories. Rather, I’ll share an enchanting experience of my life.

 The day to Shiv Samundaram… What a trip! I had no clear idea about the place itself.

I was gossiping with my roomie, the night before. She said, “Hey, it will be fun. Come with us, let’s enjoy!”

I said, “Sorry hun! Assignments are left. Can’t help it!”

“But debo, it will be fun. We’ve been living together for the last 6 months under the same roof and still have not yet hang-out for once!” As if the world gonna end soon!

“Are you kidding me?! We did hangout for several times. Shopping, going for movies and food… Buzz off.. I’ve assignments to complete!”

“Cool!” and she left, banging the door so hard.

I was trying to concentrate… I don’t know exactly on what! Words were so very random. Oh hello! It’s not my assignments. It was the outside noise; some discussion was going around, right after my door. I realized and opened the door.

“Hello guys, I’m trying to concentrate on something. Will you please lower down your volumes?!”

“Good for you!” And they ignored. (1/3^rd people)

“Ah! Yes..! MIS (Management Information System), Ch no. 3.” I recapitulated and opened the pdf files on my lappy.  Our group had to present the case study on ‘Blockbuster vs. Netflix’ next week, so I started anyhow to read the case.

Bang! “Debo! Sleeping???” Bang! Bang bang!

“Why? You guys always have to kick my door or what?” I said annoyingly.

“Hush! Poor baby, stop crying.. We’ll get you one next time!”  said, the gal next door (my so-called neighbor).

One very interesting as well as irritating fact about hostel life is that you can ignore your room-mate, but you can’t ignore your neighbors’. They are the true epitome of unwanted disturbance all the time! In my case, it was a bit higher. My neighbors are more like ‘pirates’. Why?! When they’re hungry, no matters if I’m sleeping or not, they will come and help themselves to get my food stuffs out of my cupboard.. And that too without my permission! And sometimes, they self-invite themselves for an unwanted mid-night Maggie-treat. And you better don’t dare to say ‘no’. Coz, sleep can be at stake for that night! Mind it.

Anyways…  So, they came inside and sat on my bed. I instantly realized it gonna take long time. I shut-down my laptop and sat in my chair (I had left with no choice, my bed was already reserved!).

“Okay! What’s the matter?” I asked.

“As if you don’t know!?” said by 224 (p.s. 223 is my room, 222 and 224 are my neighbors’ rooms.)

“What?” I asked in a serious tone.

“Polu! We’re going to ‘Shiv Samundaram’ tomorrow… Yaay!” said 222 (p.s. ‘Polu’ was one of my weird names, given by 222) 

“Wao! Enjoy gals..”

“Not without you!” ~ 224

“See.. I have MIS Case Study to represent next week. So you gals can understand the problem.”

They looked at me at first, then looked at each other and started laughing sarcastically. As if, I said any PJ! Before I could speak something, one of them anyhow managed to stop laughing and said “Are you serious!”

“I….mmmmmm…..” (And I started giggling a little)

And the rest you can understand! Finally, we’re going to Shiv Samundaram the next morning.

(to be continued.....)

DisCretE PluGgeD...

The weird term!
Does this emphasizes something! What it might be??? ~ My first thought to it.

After getting an economics assignment on 'The Competitive Market Strategy Game' ~ a simulation (group) activity, we got an email_id with a password.

Password - 'discrete_plugged'

For a minute or two, I thought, "What was that?" 
 This is a very interesting fact that we always bang our head on frustration when something 'out of the box' concept has been introduced to us! It was kinda alike. 

First thing about me is that I was a total disaster in Economics. Whenever, economics has came to my way, it got affected vividly; be it my mum's expensive household items or my dad's net revenue! Or even, my sister's high-tech computer games. I swallowed'em.. 
So, being a non-economic extremist, it was tough finding for me to understand the in-depth concept of the simulation activity. Although, we had worked together as a team for the next 8 odd weeks; but it's just for the sake of doing things (for me)!

Why?!

No clear subject concept?
People are more intelligent around?
Group politics?
I'm dumb! I doubt it...

Unfortunately, none is the reason! 
Reason was ~ lack of that 'burning desire to learn'!
Reason was ~ lack of being adaptable!
Reason was ~ "I was resistant to change..."

Why?

Simple! Lots and lots of years of practice.. Of being the way I am!

I was = I am = I shall be (projected)

Instead,

I wanna be = I shall/will be

And now, lets come to the main point... What it taught me?!
Economics....!  Naah...

It taught me something very interesting about human emotions.
It's called ~ 'Freeze - Fight - Flight'; generally in that order. 
You might be thinking what's that?!

Okay, 'Freeze - Fight - Flight', popularly known as the 3Fs' is the process of 'fear-generation'. How? For instance, imagine the situation when you come late to home at night and your dad is standing infront of the main entrance gate. And is very angry. What you generally do? 

1st step ~ you don't know what to say and how to say/ react instantly.. (i.e., the state of freeze) And you freeze yourself... Isn't it? Especially, if he not gonna listen to you at all.

2nd step ~ after a while, when you somehow manage to deal the situation with a freak excuse, you try to justify yourself with that statement/ excuse.. (i.e., the state of fight) Does this ring a bell?! Every fight is an outcome of fear/ expecting fear. Fear of insecurity. And that sense of insecurity results from irresponsibility. Irresponsibility results from improper time management. Think!

3rd step ~  after fighting your full spirit, you drain your full energy. As because that time may be your dad is among that 1/3rd of the people who will never listen to you/ against you. Ooops! What should you do? Run away? Say, "Dad.. It's the last time. I promise. It will 'never' happen again!" (LOL, the state of flight) So very happening... Isn't it?!

At first, I was in the state of freeze. I thought everybody in my group is more intelligent than me. Then, after few days, when my group members started pin-pointing my irresponsibility, I started to fight with them, with the situation, even with my Prof. saying ~ "Guys, I'm not an economist!" and cried.. cried real hard! But, nobody listened (1/3rd people)! 
Then came the 'F' called 'Flight' ~ I started absenting.. bunk! Again bunk! Again.. again.. again.. 

One day, my Prof. called me in his cabin and asked ~ 

Prof : Yes, Debolina. What is happening around? Why are you absenting so much?
Me : I'm not well!
Prof : What happen to you?
Me : I'm ill.
Prof : Go take some medicine and come back.
Me : Taken. But not working. May be I'm very ill.
Prof : I said, go take some medicine and come back. 

And he handed me one economics book (probably of class XII).. Freak! What's that? (I said in my mind) And I asked,

Me : Sir, what's this for?
Prof : You told me you're ill, I gave you the medicine. Go read and come back.
Me : (WTF!) Oh no! Sir but....
Prof : I know, You're not an economist. (laughs) 
Me : (blank)
Prof : Debolina, you're a brave girl. Why not, you read it once and then decide that whether you are one among them or not! Don't escape my child. Let's just face it. 

I had no situation to speak after him then. I don't know exactly what he meant saying "You're a brave girl". But, one thing was very clear that I must read! Why? Not because my Prof. asked me to read. But I realized I must do something. It's better to do something than to do nothing. And the words "Let's just face it" drove me so deep and so higher. After that day, my fear gradually got vanished. Or, should I say, I gradually vanquished my fear of reading 'economics'. I cannot claim today that I'm an economist after reading that book. But I can claim ~ Yes! I'm a brave girl! As because, I faced my fear. 
Our group stood 3rd among 10 odd groups. If you're thinking it's because of me. You're absolutely wrong. Coz, I'm still not an economist. But I am the one who was in team. I was a team-player! Kudos discrete-plugged. Where people are discrete but we were plugged so hard that we won and got the 3rd rank! As Rabi Thakur a.k.a. Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore said once ~ "United we stand! Divided we misunderstand!"

Be brave. Face your fear. Live your dreams!

SelF cOnfidEnce - A naTure oR nuRtuRe!

This has become one of the hot burning issue that has been discussed over world-wide ~ starting from the top B-schools, media, social networking sites, to the corporate board discussion panels. Today, the entire corporate world is laying emphasis more on the human resource management. As because, change management has become an essential paradigm as well as a parameter for leveraging the growth and profitability factors of the business firms. The question is to evaluate the extent of manning efficiency in terms of effectiveness & efficacy. 

So, the discussion turns on ~ What increases self confidence? And what are the things that people need/ must do in order to increase their self confidence to a very high level?

And as usual, different people with different perceptions; and with all other subjective influences have came up with some conclusions. 

According to some, self confidence is more about nurture than nature.

They think that more and more practice with some required guidance and supervision increases self confidence. And when the self confidence is high, greater risks can be taken.

For instance, driving a car. It takes guidance, supervision and practice to learn the driving skills. Once the driving skills learnt properly, then self confidence increases and higher stakes could be undertaken for further improvement. 

But here, again lies some contradictions. Suppose, if a person, who has never driven  get excited about driving and say "I'm looking forward to my driving lessons and I know I will be a good driver!" Then?!

Studies have shown that self confidence is a 'talent' with some training, which can result in 'near perfect' or 'World Class Performance' (examples - Michael Phelps, Mohammad Ali, Sachin Tendulkar and Michael Jackson, etc.).

Princeton based Gallup Organisation have done 25 years of research on talents and observed that talents can be nurtured in a child till he/she attains the age of 15. If, by that age, we are able to create certain recurring patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors, and apply that to appropriate roles in work or even play, we could have a world class performer, a legend!  

The beautiful definition they have given is "Where others are struggling at something. Talents will do it effortlessly.."

So, we can conclude, self confidence is a bit of both - nature & nurture! It depends on you ~ WHO YOU ARE!!!!

Scorpions!

This is a recent observatory fact, I have personally been confronted with..

During attending a session of 'Management Skills' , covering the facts & figures of 'Emotional Intelligence (EI) - at the workplace'; I was being encountered by an interesting question by the Professor, i.e.,
"Do extremely emotional people fits well at their respective workplace???"
And my asnwer was kinda like - "Yes! They can!!"
Guess what!
Prof. gave me a look with one eyebrow-up & the moment I realised instantly, "Oh No! I'm gone!!"
Then he smiled and asked me to justify 'How?'
As usual I came up with a weird one..
I told him,"If a person is extremely emotional ("then he is an extremist" - told in my mind), then he might have bad times for certain limited time-period. But gradually will learn to control his senses as well as monitor to modify his actions & there comes the factor to acquire Emotional Intelligence(EI) naturally based on his past experiences."
"Students will be students!" ~ that's the first complimentary comment I received from him at first!
"Do you think that if I'm an extremely happy-go-lucky person, then also it can hold the same logic and reason behind it???" ~ he asked!
Gossshhhhhh!!!!!! I was totally drained and blank...
My conscious mind was telling me to 'Shut-up' but I still continued and argued ~"But Sir... Nothing is Permanent!" (and felt a little bit happy inside - that's probably what the student's psychology works like..)
The rest is not so much influential and somehow I concluded the fact that we should learn & practice to control our senses and emotions at our workplace..


Now what this short story implies to us???

• We hear and highlight those factors which we want to hear and spit-off, and not what is actually being said.
• Selective listening can drain you, resulting into the faulty communication.
• We always miss the sunny side of everything when we dig our past experiences.

MORAL:

Dust off your past mishaps and focus - at your present, with in your present. What is hunting inside you? Is that a fear? Fear is nothing but expecting a bad future! Dust it off. You're as stronger as you think you are. Do a positive set of mind-conditioning. Don't allow your past to  drain your present self-worth.

NoT a whOle loT !!

What is the difference between a person who cannot read and a person who can, but does not read???
"Not a Whole Lot!!!!" ~ Benjamin Franklin
Now here's a story which clearly demonstatrates the fact!
There is a story about a man who sold hotdogs by the roadside. He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers. He was hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio. His eyes were weak, so he never watched television. But enthusiastically, he sold lots of hotdogs. His sales and profit went up. He ordered more meat and got himself a bigger and better stove. As his business was growing, the son, who had recently graduated from college, joined his father.
Then something strange happened. The son asked, "Dad aren't you aware of the great recession that is coming our way?" The father replied, "No, but tell me about it." The son said, "The international situation is terrible. The domestic situation is even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad times." The man thought that since his son had been to college, read the papers and listened to the radio, he ought to know and his advice should not be taken lightly. So the next day, the father cut down his order for the meat and buns, took down the sign and was no longer as enthusiastic. Very soon, fewer and fewer people bothered to stop at his hotdog stand. And his sales started coming down rapidly. The father said to his son, "Son, you were right. We are in the middle of a recession. I am glad you warned me ahead of time."
                  
                                                                   We often are told that knowledge is power. Not really. Knowledge is information. It is potential power and it becomes power only when it is acted upon. 
Learning is a lot like eating. It is not how much you eat that matters, what matters is how much you can digest!
Knowledge is potential power; wisdom is real power.
Education takes many forms; it is not just grades and a degree. It is:

• Cultivating your strength
• Learning self-discipline
• Listening
• Eagerness to learn

Our minds are like muscles, stretch or shrink, it all depends on how much or how little we excercise them. 


Now what's our concern? What morals can we take away from this story???

1. Our expectations can create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
2. Many times we confuse intelligence with good judgement.
3. A person may have high intelligence but poor judgement.
4. Choose your advisers carefully but use your own judgement.
5. A person can, and will be, successful with or without formal education if they have the 5 Cs: Character, Commitment, Conviction, Courtesy, Courage
6. The tragedy is that there are many walking encyclopedias who are living failures.

Intelligence is quickness to learn.

Skill is an ability.

Competence is the ability alongwith the willingness 

and desire to apply what is learned.

Desire is the attitude that makes a skillful person competent.

Many skillful people are incompetent.

Ability without the right attitude is wasted.

The rOle of SociAl mEdia in CorPorate... aNd it'S eFfects on tHe mAnaGers !!!

As per the latest conducted survey reports by HBR (Harvard Business Review) are concerned, using social media to accomplish a meaningful purpose involves more than providing new technology and praying for success. Successful mass collaboration places new requirements on an organization, particularly on its managers. While many organizations are technically ready for social media, they should question the readiness of managers to embrace new ways of working collaboratively to achieve social success.

Why???

Because social media and mass collaboration fundamentally challenge the relationship between responsibility, resources and management. Normally, managers accept responsibility provided it comes with the control of resources required to deliver on that responsibility. The connection between responsibility and resources sits at the heart of the management authority, control, accountability & organization design. If we look at an organization chart, we will see the distribution of resources & responsibilities - the currency by which managers measure themselves and compare themselves to their peers.

Unfortunately, this control is the antithesis of collaboration. Relinquishing control to create a space for collaboration challenges managers who rely on their authority, experience and positional power to achieve results. And managers who exercise their authority over a collaborative community will defeat the purpose of social media-based collaboration and turn energetic and innovative communities into just another form of corporate task force. 

While it sounds obvious that managers can compromise collaboration with prescriptive control, the relationship between resources, responsibility and management is one of the most frequently asked questions in organizations looking to apply social media to achieving meaningful business purposes. 

Collective responsibility is a thorny(causing distress; difficult) issue and it takes a different level of management maturity to break the idea that if there isn't one person responsible, then no one is responsible.

Manager/ sponsor as guide rather than a leader is found more effective these days. In this role, the manager/ sponsor works across three levels to drive three important outcomes:

1. Participation ~ Increased participation  can be created when managers/ sponsors work within a community to ensure an open dialog and discussion of issues, ideas and contributions, plans, etc. Participation is critical to community engagement and creativity, especially when pursuing a meaningful purpose means fostering and allowing a difference of opinion.

2. Purpose ~ Purpose requires the manager/sponsor to step outside the community and assess its progress toward achieving its overall goals and objectives. Purpose reflects the foundational idea behind the community. Managers/sponsors act as guides by knowing when to ask how a particular thread contributes to the community purpose.

3. Performance ~ Performance of the community requires that the manager/sponsor bridge collaborative innovation or ideas and the organization's formal management structures and processes. Without a focus on performance, community-based ideas often stay within the community. In this regard, managers/sponsors are advocates for community ideas and insights across the enterprise. 

 

Participation, purpose, and performance represent the goals for guiding management and the requirements for effective managers/sponsors in mass collaboration. However, it takes a particular type of manager and management team to foster the type of mass collaboration that taps into the collective genius of your customers and employees.

Now what's our concern ???

We should self-observe the following facts in order to analyse ourselves whether we (as future managers) are ready to lead such social collaboration:

(This is one of the crucial activity program designed by Anthony J. Bradley & Mark P. McDonald of Gartner Group. Both of them have mutually suggested to demonstrate these facts by undergoing a technical survey over your managers through this questionnaire.)

• Do managers rely on their formal authority to deliver results and fulfill their obligations, or do they achieve results through influence, teamwork, and engaging the talents of their team?

• Do managers have to be the most senior, experienced, or knowledgeable person on their team? Have they achieved the position based on being the best in their discipline? Is their influence based on personal capability or interpersonal leadership?

• How does executive leadership respond to ideas, insights, or innovations that emerge from the organization rather than going through formal channels? Does the executive team believe that the future of the organization is his or her responsibility alone or is it a shared responsibility of everyone in the organization?

"This is a fancy way of saying that starting small and scaling based on the expanding capability of collaborative communities and growing management capacity provides a path for every organization to become a social organization. "

It's Jargon ! !

"People who don't know how to recognize an opportunity, complain of noise when it knocks!" ~ Shiv Khera

"I don't accept criticism that is not valid!" ~ Oprah Winfrey

"You can if you think 'You Can', But if you think 'You Can't' then your right!" ~ Henry Ford

"If you born poor, it's not your mistake.. But if you die poor, then it is your mistake!!" ~ Bill Gates

"Winners don't do different things.. They do things differently!!" ~ Shiv Khera

"Adversity causes some men to break.. Others to break records!!" ~ William A. Ward 

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." ~Marilyn Monroe

"Make the tools of info-comm available to people at an affordable cost, they will overcome the handicaps of illiteracy and lack of mobility."  ~ Dhirubhai Ambani

"When people are confronted with more information than they can process at any given time, their performance tends to suffer."  ~ Anonymous

"It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop..." ~ Confucius 

"My diaries have always been my friends. The written word is so much more constant than human beings.." ~ Mrinal Pande 

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced." ~ Swami Vivekananda 

"People (in terms of Human Resources) can be your biggest asset or your biggest liability." ~ Shiv Khera 

"In a positive environment, a marginal performer's output goes up. In a negative environment, a good performer's output goes down." ~ Shiv Khera 

"Dreams are a dime a dozen... it's their execution that counts." ~ Theodore Roosevelt 

"Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure." ~ Norman Vincent Peale 

"Success doesn't mean the absence of failures; it means the attainment of ultimate objectives. It means winning the war, not every battle." ~ Edwin C. Bliss 

"Daily intake of knowledge helps transcend the illusion." ~ Vedanta Vision

"Your talent and ability is wasted by infatuation with the illusion." ~ Vedanta Vision

"A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century." ~ Swami Vivekananda 

"Youth is the best time to be rich and the bet time to be poor." ~ Socrates 

"Half the world does not know how the other half lives !" ~ Rabelais

"Constant labor of one uniform kind destroys the intensity and flow of a man's animal spirits, which find recreation and delight in mere change of activity." ~ Karl Marx 

"When work is a pleasure, life is a joy.. When work is duty, life is slavery." ~ Maxim Gorky

"Sense-control is not unintelligent denial. It is intelligent enjoyment." ~ Vedanta Vision 

"When experiences become happier, life improves!" ~ Vedanta Vision


"Never leave till tomorrow, which you can do today!" ~ Benjamin Franklin


"Be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. Talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. Make all your friends feel that you appreciate their good qualities and strengths. Look at the sunny side of everything. Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best. Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. Give everyone a smile. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others. Be too big for worry and too noble for anger." ~ Christian D. Larsen (taken from 'Creed for optimists')

"Passion is not something you follow. Passion is something that will follow you as you put in the hard-work to become valuable to the world." ~ Prof. Cal Newport (Professor at Georgetown University and author of So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Search For Work You Love)

"It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles." ~ Buddha

"Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care." ~ Theodore Roosevelt

"Good things come to those who wait, but only those things left by those who hustle." ~ Abraham Lincoln

"Opportunity is born of independence handled in a responsible manner." ~ Zig Ziglar

"You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want!" ~ Zig Ziglar

"Always be Prospecting." Regularly get out of the circle you're in and start another circle or another chain. Use all your resources to keep those prospect list long & diverse so that your career is not dependent on one individual or one specific group of individuals. ~ Zig Ziglar

SuccEss is a joUrNey, nOt a dEstiNatiOn ! !

Thomas Alva Addison once said, "Our greatest weakness is giving up". It may be giving up on our plans in the face of seemingly insurmountable hurdles or giving up midway because our efforts do not measure up to the required level on our way to success. The most harmful giving up, however, is to rest on our laurels once we have achieved a modicum of success. We become smug and complacent and abandon all further efforts to sustain, nurture and consolidate it, leave along achieving greater heights in our chosen field of endeavor. 

Success does not come by accident, nor is it limited to the chosen few. It requires hard work, single-minded dedication and indomitable courage in the face of discouraging vicissitudes of life. Once you achieve success, you must strive for something higher for your satisfaction and urge to better yourself. Do not feel that you have achieved whatever you had wanted to achieve and there are no further peaks of success to be scaled.
That would be suicidal. Success, you must remember at all times, is a journey, not a destination. Once you have scaled one peak, there are many other peaks to be scaled and conquered till you reach the highest one. This, again, is elusive. You must, however, give no leeway to indolence. Nor should you crow about what little you have achieved so far.
Be patient and persevering in your pursuit of success which is, indeed, a hard taskmaster. It brooks no loosening of your grip. Nor should there be any slackening of efforts. Keep glued to your ultimate goal in the face of all distractions and hurdles because life is not roses, roses and roses all the way and success is not perennial. Once you are successful in a limited way - there may be other factors at work trying to impede your progress. Be wary of fair-weather friends and sycophants; they are your worst detractors. Above all, keep your cool and be level-headed under all circumstances. Do not let temporary success turn your head. At the same time, do not let equally short-lived failures and setbacks deter you from achieving what you have set out to achieve. Once your foot is firmly planted on the goal, aim higher... and still higher. You will make your family and those around you proud of your achievements. Good luck! 

RekinDle Ur pAssiOn ! !

From an early age, you are routinely taught to get a degree that will guarantee a job or help us in your business. But not everyone has a passion for the vocations their degrees assure them. Often, passion is put on hold in search of earning a lot dependable income.

However, it is easy to follow your passion, early in your career as there is so much to learn and every encounter is so new that even routine duties can seem flush with opportunity. Passion's flame is fresh. Over time, however, the source for passion's flame may very well shift and you have to shift with it. If you do, you'll find that work within your career and beyond remains fresh and vital for as long as you choose to stay in the arena.

If there is something which once you found to be new and unique and now find it routine and boring, then you need to rekindle your passion. Stoke your own fire as it comes from the heart and not from anywhere else. Find your own source for the flame. Shift your focus and get comfortable with being uncomfortable as renewed passion often comes with new and untested territory. Consciously choose a new venue for applying your skills as it can be a wonderful tool for relighting your passion's flame.

Remember, the most rewarding work of life might be following your passion and doing something which interests you rather than a highly visible work.  The first step in re-igniting passion is to publicly acknowledge your desire and willingness to find a new source for your passion. Stating your intention publicly is the seed for change. Without planting the seed of change by sharing your intention with someone else, it would be difficult to recognize an opportunity if it is provided by a chance encounter. Often, the first step in making a change is acknowledging your desire and willingness to make a change happen, even if you are not sure what that change will look like in the end...

Fault finders will always find FAULTS !

 Andrew Carnegie

(1835 - 1919)

This is a story of Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish-American industrialist and an eminent philanthropist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19the century.
Andrew Carnegie came to America from Scotland as a young boy. He started out by doing odd jobs and ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in United States. At one time, he had 43 millionaires working for him. A million dollars is a lot of money today, but in the 1920s it was worth much more.

Someone once asked Mr. Carnegie how he dealt with people. Andrew Carnegie replied, "Dealing with people is a lot digging for gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold you have to move tons of dirt. But when you go digging you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold."

Andrew Carnegie's reply has a very important message. Though sometimes it may not be apparent there is something positive in every person and every situation. We have to dig deep to look for the positive.

Now, what's our concern:

• What is our focus? ~ Search for the gold.
• If you are looking for what is wrong with people or with things, you will find many faults.
• What are we looking for? Gold or Dirt?
• Even in paradise, fault finders will find faults.
• Most people find what they are looking for.
• "Truths are eternal" ~ Plato

Our Real Attitude Reflects Through Our Situational Decisions

Once upon a time, there lived a farmer named Hafiz in Africa. He was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. And he was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If u had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could buy your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then the wise man left. That night Hafiz couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and was discontented. He was unhappy because he was discontented and discontented because he was unhappy.

The next morning, Hafiz made arrangements to sell his farm and went off in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. By the time he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially depleted. He was so disheartened that he committed suicide by throwing himself into the Barcelona River. 

Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at the stream that ran through the property. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like rainbow. He thought the stone would look good in his living room. He picked up the stone and put it on his mantle piece. That afternoon, the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?" The new owner said, "No, why do you ask?" The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one." The man said, "No, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come I'll show you. There are many more." They went and picked up some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres of diamonds.

(Adapted by Russell Cornwell, Acres of Diamonds, Cornwell founded Temple University based on this lecture.)

Life Is tO stRateGise ~ evEry nOw & thEn ...

"For teaching I that being depressed had nothing to do with the serotonin (chemical substance in body that affects mood) in my brain — the reason I felt depressed was because my life sucked. I was making choices just to appease the opinions of people around me, when I should have been making choices to appease myself. Medication is not the solution to my joyless lifestyle — the true remedy is to start making my own choices to live a more fulfilling life..."

 

LiFe LesSonS FroM a siNglE Rs. 500 nOtE ! ! !

 Prakash Iyer :

(Executive Coach & MD, Kimberly-Clark Lever)

"A Life Of Slavery Or A Life Of The Ruler.." What will you choose???

"Man was Born free... But everywhere he is in chains...!!!"

One of the popular thought of The Great Political Philosopher of the 18th Century ~ Jean  Jacques Rousseau

Before the French Revolution, Rousseau disgusted with the attitude of people and had given the above thought...

We all might think... Why???

Are we in chains everywhere???

Really???

What types of chains???

But...

For some~ Freedom implies "making non-contingent choices in a contingent and so connected world..."

Then how can an individual escape subjectivity when their environment cannot...???

But then, it's my take to explore the other side of this controversy...

 As we know, "thought sparks off any revolution..."

So did Rousseau's thought about freedom of people which worked as a fuel to fire to the French people and later the world at large.

A Government's importance is it's purpose.

Therefore, the legitimacy in a Government is not it's form, but rather it's purpose and fulfillment of that purpose.

"We are born free and so we are the master of ourselves. We should be guided by us."  - It was the nascent stage of democracy. It was the period of transformation and the beginning of the rule by themselves.

According to Aristotle,

"Some men are born for slavery and others are born to dominate and rule.."

It was the wake-up call by Rousseau for a legitimate Government which is formed by the consent of the governed. It should be a representative democracy where the legislative & executive were separated from one another so that the people that consider themselves exempt from the law, should make work in the interest of the whole community. 

The moot concept is to unshackle oneself from the chains of the society. 

This concept of freedom revolutionize the French society and the people. 

And they start craving for rule - of the people, by the people, for the people...

Atleast the History says so.... What do you say???