CHANGE BRINGS CHANGE-A STORY

There's a story about a woman who did not keep a tidy house. One day someone gave her a beautiful rose which she brought home and put in a vase in her lobby. The rose, though, showed up the vase which was tarnished and dusty, so she polished the vase and set the rose and vase on the table.
But now something was wrong with the table. It looked terrible. It had to be cleaned as well. At last the woman stood back and admired the sparkling table, the polished vase, and the beautiful rose.
But to her dismay, the whole lobby and House now seemed dull and murky. Before she knew it, she found herself scrubbing the walls, washing the curtains, and opening the windows to let light and air into every dark corner.
We all deserve best. For achieving that we need to do some changes in our attitude, our mind sets, our life style etc. if you make one small change in your life, light up one small corner, in no time your whole life can take on a different look. If you're dissatisfied with your life at this point, give some serious consideration to that one area you could change.

Sitting on your talent

There was a man played piano in a bar. He was a good piano player. People came out just to hear him play. But one night, a patron told him he didn't want to hear him just play anymore. He wanted him to sing a song.
The man said, "I don't sing."
But the customer was persistent. He told the bartender, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want that guy to sing!"
The bartender shouted across the room, "Hey buddy! If you want to get paid, sing a song. The patrons are asking you to sing!"
So he did. He sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. And nobody had ever heard the song Mona, Mona Lisa sung the way it was sung that night by Nat King Cole!
He had talent he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar, but because he had to sing, he went on to become one of the best-known entertainers in America.
You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel as if your "talent" is particularly great, but it may be better than you think! And with persistence, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may as well have no ability at all if you sit on whatever talent you possess! The better question is not "What ability do I have that is useful?" It is rather "How will I use whatever ability I have?"

Life is Like a Cafetaria

A friend's grandfather came to America from India. After being processed at Ellis Island, he went into a cafetaria in lower Manhattan to get something to eat. He sat down at an empty table and waited for someone to take his order. Of course nobody did.
Finally, a woman with a tray full of food sat down opposite him and informed him how a cafetaria worked.
"Start out at that end," she said. "Just go along the line and pick out what you want. At the other end they'll tell you how much you have to pay."
"I soon learned that's how everything works in America," the grandfather told a friend. "Life's a cafetaria here. You can get anything you want as long as you are willing to pay the price. You can even get success, but you'll never get it if you wait for someone to bring it to you. You have to get up and get it yourself."

Cocoon And importance of Struggle

A man found the cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress.It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly.He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened!In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been. And we could never fly. So have a nice day...and struggle a little!-------------------------
I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for prosperity and God gave me a brain and brawn to work.
I asked for courage and God gave me danger to overcome.
I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help.
I asked for favors and God gave me opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted and I received everything I needed

MISER Concept And Time Management

In his book 'Be a Winner Everytime' Mr. Promod Batra has mentioned about this MISER concept. This can be very successfully used in TIME MANAGEMENT. How it works? Let us see:
M => Stands for 'Merge'. Can I merge it with some other activity? Meaning there by doing more than one task at a time reduces the time taken to complete the tasks separately.
I => Stands for 'Improving'. Can I improve it? And most of the time we can, if we have a working attitude of 5 to 9 instead of 9 to 5.
S => Stands for 'Simplify'! Any action or activity can be simplified.
E => Stands for 'Eliminating'. Many things we do. We do not need to do them in the first place.
R => Stands for 'Reducing' the activity. This is where your experience, exposure and wisdom will help you.

How you would like to be remembered?

Are you startled by this question?
Have you ever given this a little thought ?
If you haven't, I would be serious when I suggest that you should give this a hard good look and cast this statement in your mind.
"When I am gone I would like people to remember me as….."

About a 100+ years ago, a man looked at the morning newspaper and to his dismay and horror, he read his name in the front page …"Dynamite King Dies.." This was cast in a square grey tinted box with a thick black line on the borders."His first response was awesomely shocking. "Am I there or here? When he regained his composure after a while, his next thought was to actually find out what people said of him, what people thought of him.

The obituary news read as follows:"He was the merchant of death. This man was the inventor of the dynamite. One most cruel invention that could kill people while it was being made, and even many more when it was used. A substance of mass killing, and a deadly weapon in the hands of those who wishes to create terror and rule the scene…. The story continued with several curses added to it.

He asked himself, "Is this how people view me? Is this the way they will think of me? Is this the way they will remember me?He decided then and there that he would change the situation made a firm resolve to clear the stigma that was being associated with his name.

From that day on he started working towards peace, and sure enough he left an indelible mark on this planet. He is remembered even this day as Alfred Noble. He gave his entire earnings to establish a foundation that would work for peace in the world, and today too it awards prizes for achievers all over the world for their unique contributions to the welfare of mankind. He lives on even today through this mission and the Noble prizes are awarded in his honour.

Just as Alfred Noble redefined his values, I believe all of us should step back and do the same taking a leaf out of this man's true story.What will be your legacy?How would you like to be remembered?Will you be spoken off well?Will you be remembered with love and respect?Will you be missed?

Pareto Analysis And Decision Making

Pareto analysis is a very simple technique that helps you to choose the most effective changes to make.It uses the Pareto principle - the idea that by doing 20% of work you can generate 80% of the advantage of doing the entire job.
Pareto analysis is a formal technique for finding the changes that will give the biggest benefits. It is useful where many possible courses of action are competing for your attention.

How to use tool:To start using the tool, write out a list of the changes you could make. If you have a long list, group it into related changes.Then score the items or groups. The scoring method you use depends on the sort of problem you are trying to solve.
For example, if you are trying to improve profitability, you would score options on the basis of the profit each group might generate. If you are trying to improve customer satisfaction, you might score on the basis of the number of complaints eliminated by each change.The first change to tackle is the one that has the highest score. This one will give you the biggest benefit if you solve it.The options with the lowest scores will probably not even be worth bothering with - solving these problems may cost you more than the solutions are worth.
Example:A manager has taken over a failing service center He commissions research to find out why customers think that service is poor.He gets the following comments back from the customers:1. Phones are only answered after many rings.2. Staff seem distracted and under pressure.3. Engineers do not appear to be well organized. They need second visits to bring extra parts. This means that customers have to take more holiday to be there a second time.4. They do not know what time they will arrive. This means that customers may have to be in all day for an engineer to visit.5. Staff members do not always seem to know what they are doing.6. Sometimes when staff members arrive, the customer finds that the problem could have been solved over the phone.
The manager groups these problems together. He then scores each group by the number of complaints, and orders the list:* Lack of staff training: items 5 and 6: 51 complaints* Too few staff: items 1, 2 and 4: 21 complaints* Poor organization and preparation: item 3: 2 complaintsBy doing the Pareto analysis above, the manager can better see that the vast majority of problems (69%) can be solved by improving staff skills.Once this is done, it may be worth looking at increasing the number of staff members. Alternatively, as staff members become more able to solve problems over the phone, maybe the need for new staff members may decline.It looks as if comments on poor organization and preparation may be rare, and could be caused by problems beyond the manager's control.By carrying out a Pareto Analysis, the manager is able to focus on training as an issue, rather than spreading effort over training, taking on new staff members, and possibly installing a new computer system.

BAD BOSS

Recently I came across a beautiful article written by Mr Chetan Dhruve called "My Boss Is Bad". I would like to reproduce it for the benefit of my readers.

When we have a bad boss, what's our typical response? We blame the boss and say: "My boss is bad". In short, we blame the individual. But why are there so many bad bosses around the world, cutting across organisational and national boundaries? The phenomenon of bad bosses simply begs the question: "Rather than individuals being bad, is something about our organisations actually creating bad bosses?"
Strange though it may sound, the answer to that question is yes. Our organisations have been unthinkingly designed to mass-produce dictator bosses. It's as normal to have a bad boss as it is to have a can of cola come out of a cola factory. The problem is that while we have a bad boss production system at our workplaces, we wish for good bosses instead – like wishing that orange juice will appear from a cola factory.
It's abnormal to have good bosses. But when the production line produces bad bosses, we try to train these people to turn them into good bosses. But that's like trying to train cola to turn into orange juice. It doesn't really work. And instead of trying to change the production system, we spend more time, more money and more energy trying to improve our training methods.
The great and noble leader
"It's as normal to have a bad boss as it is to have a can of cola come out of a cola factory."
Just what is this bad boss production system? To answer this, we need to delve into an issue that's much talked about, written about and debated about - leadership. The old boss words such as manager or supervisor don't sound very nice in our apparently enlightened age. So instead, we use that great and noble word, 'leader'.
It seems perfectly reasonable though: bosses are in charge of people, have power over them and lead them. Ergo, they're leaders. Hence we have a proliferation of leaders – group leaders, team leaders, project leaders and so on. But are bosses really leaders? No. Why not?
Well, we need to get into definitions here. In the context of leading people, who really is a leader? Our typical response is in terms of idealized skills, character or personality: a leader is someone who is visionary, inspires people, serves well, praises well, criticizes well, is proactive, action-oriented, emotionally intelligent and so on.
While this sounds like the right answer, it isn't, because we already have a clear and profound definition for 'leader': a person who is elected by the people he or she is leading. We have a different word for someone who assumes power and leads without being elected: dictator.
Now consider this: your boss has power over you. But you don't have a vote. That makes him or her a dictator by definition. And by definition, that makes you a subject. What happens when dictator and subject interact? This is where things get interesting.
The whole system
There's a field of study called 'Systems Thinking', which is the study of wholes and the interactions among its constituent parts. This contrasts with analytical thinking, which examines things by taking them apart. A system is defined as something that owes its existence to the interactions among its parts. If the interactions break down, the system breaks down – it ceases to exist. The system is a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts. It's also important to understand that in a system, while the parts affect the whole, the whole also affects the parts.
Now, when two people interact, a larger 'whole' results from that interaction – a relationship. The relationship owes its existence to the interaction. If one person opts out of the relationship, it breaks down. And just like how the individuals affect the relationship, the relationship also affects the individuals. Thus, a relationship is a system.
"A leader is a person who is elected by the people he or she is leading. We have a different word for someone who assumes power and leads without being elected: dictator."
Systems can have properties called 'emergent properties'. These are properties that do not show up until the individual parts of a system interact. Moreover, the whole may have properties that are completely different from those of its parts. For example, the individual parts of an aircraft – the engines, the tail or the wings - cannot fly on their own. But together, and with atmospheric air, the aircraft flies. The property of flight is an 'emergent property'.
Returning to the workplace, we know that a relationship exists between the boss and subordinate. What kind of system is this relationship? A dictatorship system. And what is the emergent property in a dictatorship system? From our knowledge of dictatorship-countries, we know the emergent property for subjects is fear. And for the dictator, it is absolute power and the abuse of that power.
It's important to note that even otherwise normally intelligent and brave people become fearful or compliant when put into a dictatorship system. Likewise, individuals may not reveal any abusive or overbearing traits until they become dictators. Training a dictator to be better behaved simply does not – and cannot - work.
Looking at the boss-subordinate relationship from a systems perspective, it's not surprising that bosses and subordinates behave the way they do. These behaviours are automatic products of the organisation's dictatorship system.
A change is needed
While abusive behaviour by bosses is bad enough, it's not the only outcome of dictatorship systems. There's another problem that's far worse: bad news is suppressed or met with hostility, and whistleblowers working in the best interests of the organisation are punished and have their careers ruined.
Given the terrible consequences of dictatorships, we need to change our organisations from 'fear-systems' to 'free-systems' – systems in which freedom is an emergent property. What kind of system would this be? You already know the answer - a system in which people have the right to vote for their leaders.
What we need to do is to build our organisations on the rock of freedom, rather than the quicksand of fear. The only way to do that, bizarre though it may sound, is to give subordinates the right to vote out their bosses. And fundamentally, we need to change the way we look at leadership – we need to stop talking only about leaders, and instead start talking about systems and the emergent properties they produce. With apologies to Shakespeare, to be free, or not to be free, that is the question.

Dolphins and ‘Blue Oceans’

Dolphin’s behaviour around sharks is legendary. Sharks are scared of dolphins. This seems very unlikely given our image and experience of dolphins. Dolphins are considered peaceful, loving and playful creatures. And yet when they encounter sharks they adopt a totally new behaviour. “They circle and ram, circle and ram. Using their bulbous noses as amphibious bludgeons, they methodically crush the shark’s rib cage until the murderous creature sinks helplessly to the bottom.”
The Dolphin exhibits its elegance even in a battle. Its greater flexibility enables it to choose a strategy which matches its strength against the weakness of the shark. There is no bloodshed and therefore no gory sight to behold. A ‘Red Ocean’ is avoided and therefore, in a way a ‘Blue Ocean’ is created.

Words Of Wisdom

A rich man asked a Zen master to write something that the family could cherish for generations.

On a large piece of paper, the master wrote, “Father dies, son dies, grandson dies.” The rich man became angry when he saw the master’s words.

“ If your son should die before you,” the master answered, “this would bring unbearable grief to your family.
If your grandson should die before your son this would also bring great sorrow.

If your family, generations after generation, disappears in the order I have mentioned, it will be the natural course of life. This is true happiness.”

Knowledge has its ways which ignorance knows not. Ask questions to the master; don’t questions the master.

What is Your Training Attitude

Check Your Training Attitude
Training Myth
Our People are experienced. They don't need to be trained
Training Fact
Business is changing continuously requiring update on the skills (A winning athlete continues training)
Training Myth
We tried it & didn't work
Training Fact
Training is not an event. It is an ongoing process
Training Myth
Our organization or division or dept is too small
Training Fact
Smaller means higher percentage of production relies on few people
Training Myth
We can't afford it
Training Fact
Compare the cost of training to the cost of incompetence
Training Myth
We don't have time
Training Fact
"If I had 3 hours to cut a tree, I'd spend the first two hours sharpening my axe" - Abraham Lincoln

The Touchstone

When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers.The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed.

It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"!The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles.He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold - throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea.

The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.

So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's asy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.

Life is the way you see it

A business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out.
Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment.
He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.
Suddenly an old man appeared before him.
"I can see that something is troubling you," he said.
After listening to the executive's woes, the old man said, "I believe I can help you."
He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time."
Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.
The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!
"I can erase my money worries in an instant!" he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the un cashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work
out a way to save his business, he thought.
With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment.
He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un cashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.
"I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been bothering you.
He's always escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller. "
And she led the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he'd been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.
Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.
From the above story we can make out that Confidence is nothing but vision held positively no matter what. It comes from ones own commitment and dedication to ones vision! Seeing ourselves having what we want and feeling it with us all the time increases our confidence enormously. Whether actually it is there or not doesn't matter.
It all lies in what we see it as.

Aesop's Fables And Training Lessons

The crow and the pitcher (necessity is the mother of invention)
A thirsty crow found a pitcher containing some water, albeit too little and low to reach. As it seemed she would die within sight of the remedy, the crow struck upon an idea to drop pebbles into the pitcher. The water level rose and the crow was able to drink.

The slave and the lion (good deeds are rewarded)
A slave escaped and sought refuge in the wilderness, where he hid in a cave, which happened to be a lion's lair. When the lion returned the shocked slave expected the worst, but the lion meekly offered him an injured paw. The slave removed a thorn, and the lion and he became great friends, sharing the cave for some while. After a time the slave longed to return to society and bade the lion farewell. When he entered the town he was recognised and thrown in jail, and his master decided to make a public example of him by throwing him to the wild animals in the arena. On the fateful day the slave was cast among the beasts, including one enormous fierce lion. The lion approached the petrified slave, and the spectators gasped - but the lion quietly lay down at the slave's feet. It was his lion friend from the cave. The audience demanded clemency for such a show of loyalty and the governor duly gave them both their freedom.

The farmer and the stork (you'll be treated according to the company you keep)A farmer set traps to catch cranes, which were pests and were eating his crops. Inspecting the traps he found a number of cranes, and also a stork, which pleaded to be let go, because storks are not pests and do not take the crops. But the farmer refused, saying, "I don't care who you are - you're with the cranes who ruin my crops and so you'll suffer just the same as them."

The miller, his son and the ass (if you try to please everyone you will achieve nothing)A miller and his son were taking their ass to sell at market, when they passed a group of girls, who laughed at how foolish the miller was to have an ass and yet be walking. So the miller put his son on the ass. Further down the road they passed some old people who scolded the miller for allowing his young son to ride, when he should be riding himself. So the miller removed his son and mounted the ass himself. Further along the road, they passed some travellers who said that if he wanted to sell the ass the two of them should carry him or he'd be exhausted and worthless. So the miller and his son bound the ass's legs to a pole and carried him. When they approached the town the people laughed at the sight of them, so loud that the noise frightened the ass, who kicked out and fell off a bridge into the river and drowned. The embarrassed miller and son went home with nothing, save the lesson that you will achieve nothing by trying to please everyone.

The oxen and the butchers (accept what is inevitable)A group of oxen were set on avenging their treatment by the butchers and plotted to kill them with their horns, until an old wise ox spoke out: "We may hate and fear the butchers, but they do what they must do expertly, and if we kill them, man will still eat beef, so then other less skilled men will cause us far greater suffering."

THIRD EYE METHOD OF RECRUITMENT

Dear readers. I found an excellent article about recruitment and selection in the internet.I would like to reproduce that article.I think each and every HRManager must read this article. As I do not know the person who has written it, I am unable to give credit to him/her. HAPPY READING.

Two persons were traveling in a car in Rajasthan, they found one boy shooting a bird with his arrow, and these two persons knew that the bird was Asia’s fastest bird and immediately the boy and his parents were contacted and he was admitted into a sports school, those two people were officers of Sports Authority of India (SAI) and that boy was Limba Ram, who brought several medals to India in Asian games and common wealth games.

A boy used to borrow money from his widow mother to buy candies and toffees every evening, this was observed by some toughies round the corner and one day they beat him up and took his pocket money, he came home sobbing and mother gave him more money to get his candies, the boy came weeping the next day also, now the mother took it serious and asked him not to keep quiet and take revenge the boy went back and kicked the tough guy and he fell unconscious, this was observed by a boxing coach and the boy is none other than Mike Tyson.

In my several interactions with recruiters and HR managers, I found most of the times the HR managers and recruiters behave very mechanically without trying to identify the skills and strengths of the candidates, I think that if we try to see the strengths of individuals then we can really find many employable candidates

I go to vegetable market with a list of vegetables and quantities to be purchased , in the market I do not look for better price or variety, and I buy things that are in the list only and most of the recruiters are functioning in this same manner (pardon me for being harsh) Let us behave like selection boards and not like rejection boards.

To assess the progressive performance of students we have a progress report, and this progress report is used as a bench mark to take a decision either to promote to next class or to detain in the same class. We HR Managers seem not to have any such tool, and there by we are not able to assess candidates potential. Let us observe a common interview question and answer pattern for experienced people, and then come back to the topic.

Q)What is your present role? R) I am in recruiting / sales / taxation/ Q C/ Production etc. Q) What is your present designation? R) ManagerQ) Will you join as a Sr. Manager? (Obviously in the same line of activity candidate is presently engaged in)R) Yes / No. – (Candidate may seek another designation)Q) What is your CTC?R) Rs. XYZ.Q) How much hike are you looking at?The outcome will be either candidate is selected or rejected – if he is selected I am sure is not going to stay for long, and after his honey-moon period will again keep himself busy with one of the job portals.

All of us need change, this man who has been doing recruiting / sales / taxation/ Q C/ Production etc, for quiet some period now has graduated to move to different verticals in the same functional area such as (core HR/ Marketing/ advertising/ accounts/Q A / ISO certification/ lean manufacturing/ TQM/ Six-sigma etc. respectively, but this was not identified by the HR Manager, Imagine a seventh standard student getting a decent 75% is put again in seventh class - but this time as a class leader. This is what happening in most of the companies / selection process. Common practice in schools is if a student gets less than 40%, is asked to repeat his present class and if he gets more than 40%, is promoted , are we doing this fundamental check of assessing his present level of capability?

Given a set of coloured stones a common man cannot identify which is a precious one and which is not – we need a gemologist for that, - gemologist has a third eye to see the potential, inner strength and quality of the particular stone. Given a few pieces of wood a common man cannot identify which is a teak wood piece - again we need a man with third eye – a carpenter – to identify the teak wood piece by its quality, strength etc. To say that some thing is bad we do not need managers, (to say a patient is ill – we do not need doctors, we need them to diagnose the cause) similarly we need managers especially HR managers to identify the latent talent not visible by two eyes – we need to open our “third eye” – to identify the strengths of the job seekers.

LOCUS OF CONTROL QUESTIONNAIRE

Circle the number to show how strongly you agree/disagree with each statement. Numbers on the left always mean disagree and those on the right always mean agree.
1. Getting ahead is about what you can do, not who you know.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
2. I am too old to change.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
3. If someone hates me, there is not a lot I can do about it.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
4. Most people can learn to be leaders- it’s not a matter of birth.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
5. A good way to handle a problem is not to think about it.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
6. Promotions are earned through hard work and persistence.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
7. I am very persevering – and I usually accomplish what I set out to do.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
8. Because no one can predict the future there is little point in making plans.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
9. I won’t make resolutions because I don’t usually keep them.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
10. I believe we are masters of our own fates.
Disagree Agree
1 2 3 4 5
If your total score is 40 or higher you probably feel in control of your life and what happens to you, the good and the bad. You are likely to take initiative in relationships, work and career.
A score of 30 to 39 also suggests an internal locus of control, though less definitely.
If you scored 10 or lower the opposite is probably true – you feel you don’t have much control over what happens.
A score of 11 to 19 carries a similar, though less pronounced meaning.
A score of 20-29 falls in between. There is real scope for you to develop your internal locus of control further.

The old spring clener

The old gentleman had been hired many years earlier by a young towncouncilman to clear away the debris from the pools of water up in themountain crevices that fed the lovely spring flowing through their town.With faithful, silent regularity, he patrolled the hills, removed the leavesand branches, and wiped away the silt that would otherwise have choked andcontaminated the fresh flow of water. The village soon became a popularattraction for vacationers. Graceful swans floated along the crystal clearspring, the mill wheels of various businesses located near the water turnedday and night, farmlands were naturally irrigated, and the view fromrestaurants was picturesque beyond description.Years passed.
One evening the town council met for its semiannual meeting.As they reviewed the budget, one man's eye caught the salary figure beingpaid the obscure keeper of the spring. Said the keeper of the purse, "Who isthe old man? Why do we keep him on year after year? No one ever sees him.For all we know, the strange ranger of the hills is doing us no good. Heisn't necessary any longer." By a unanimous vote, they dispensed with theold man's services.
For several weeks, nothing changed.By early autumn, the trees began to shed their leaves. Small branchessnapped of and fell into the pools, hindering the rushing flow of sparklingwater. One afternoon someone noticed a slight yellowish-brown tint in thespring. A few days later, the water was much darker. Within another week, aslimy film covered sections of the water along the banks, and a foul odorwas soon detected. The mill wheels moved more slowly, some finally ground toa halt. Swans left, as did the tourists. Clammy fingers of disease andsickness reached deeply into the village.
Quickly, the embarrassed council called a special meeting. Realizing theirgross error in judgment, they rehired the old keeper of the spring, andwithin a few weeks, the veritable river of life began to clear up. Thewheels started to turn, and new life returned to the hamlet in the Alps .
Never become discouraged with the seeming smallness of your task, job, orlife. Cling fast to the words of Edward Everett Hale: "I am only one, butstill I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; andbecause I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something I can do." The key to accomplishment is believing that what you can do will make adifference.

CONFIDENCE

When Henry Ward Beecher was a young boy in school, he learned a lesson in self confidence which he never forgot.
He was called upon to recite in front of the class. He had hardly begun when the teacher interrupted with an emphatic, "No!" He started over and again the teacher thundered, "No!" Humiliated, Henry sat down. The next boy rose to recite and had just begun when the teacher shouted, "No!" This student, however, kept on with the recitation until he completed it. As he sat down, the teacher replied, "Very good!"
Henry was irritated. "I recited just as he did," he complained to the teacher. But the instructor replied, "It is not enough to know your lesson; you must be sure. When you allowed me to stop you, it meant that you were uncertain. If all the world says, 'No!' it is your business to say, 'Yes!' and prove it."
The world will say, "No!" in a thousand ways.
"No! You can't do that." "No! You are wrong." "No! You are too old." "No! You are too young." "No! You are too weak." "No! It will never work." "No! You don't have the education." "No! You don't have the background." "No! You don't have the money." "No! It can't be done."
And each "No!" you hear has the potential to erode your confidence bit by bit until you quit all together.
Though the world says, "No!" to you today, will you determine to say, "Yes!" and prove it?
Have a positive day!

SINGLE LOOP AND DOUBLE LOOP LEARNING

Chris Argyris is the person who first presented this concept of single and double loop learning. According to him organizations learn in two ways : in a single loop or in double loop.When the errors detected and corrected permits the organization to carry on its present policies, then the error and correction process is single loop. In other words, single loop learning occurs when problems are solved by changing action or strategies for achieving a desired result without changing the underlying theory or assumptions about those actions.Questioning the governing variables and subjecting them to critical scrutiny is called double loop learning. In other words, double loop learning occurs when problems are solved by changing the fundamental values and assumptions of the theory as well as strategy and actionsNOW THING ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION. WHAT TYPE OF ORGANIZATION IT IS? WHETHER IT FOLLOWS SINGLE LOOP OR DOUBLE LOOP LEARNING? Our organizations are mainly built on single loop learning principle.But the need of the hour is to become innovative and question the basic premises. When single loop learning fails to deliver results, managers will become defensive and put the blame on others. Hence top management and hr managers must make efforts to encourage and nurture the culture of double loop learning in organizations in order to innovate and succeed in competitive environment.

AMAZING STORY OF MAFOI

(This article was published in rediff.com. Below is the reproduction of that article for the benefit of the readers of my blog)

Today Ma Foi Management Consultants is the largest HR services provider and staffing company in India, with a turnover of Rs 435 crore (Rs 4.35 billion).
Ma Foi has so far helped generate career opportunities for more than 169,000 people in 35 countries.
K Pandia Rajan started it in 1992 with a capital of just Rs 60,000. Ably assisting him in his long journey has been his wife, Hemalatha Rajan, who is also the director of the company.
Childhood in Sivakasi
Pandia Rajan was born in Vilampatti village in Sivakasi district. His father who was a worker at a match factory died when Pandia Rajan was just three months old. He was brought up by his grandparents in a joint family of about 40 to 50 people.
Later his grandparents started their own match factory.
After studying in the village school, the hard-working boy went to Coimbatore to study engineering at the PSG College of Technology.
Having stood first in the university, he joined XLRI, Jamshedpur for his MBA. That, he says, was where the seeds of entrepreneurship in the HR arena were sown in his mind.
"At that time, HR guys never became entrepreneurs, but I wanted to study HR and then be an entrepreneur. In my village too almost everybody is an entrepreneur. Unless you are on your own, you are a nobody there. So, you can say the entrepreneurial spirit is deeply ingrained in all of us."
But he had to wait for some time. After working for six years, and getting married to a chartered accountant (Hemalatha) in 1989, he and his wife decided to put all their dreams together in their own enterprise."
Starting Ma Foi
On August 15, 1992, the couple decided to launch Ma Foi Management Consultants ?to market expertise as a product.'
But why a French name? "We were targetting the international market. So, Ma Foi -- or My Word -- is a name that meant something to all European countries. It gave us an occasion to speak about our value to the clients. ?Ma Foi' symbolized what we wanted to say and do."
With an investment of Rs 60,000, they started Ma Foi in "a small shack of a place." But by the end of the year, four of their friends put in Rs 10,000 each and upped the investment to Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000).
They started primarily by placing engineers overseas. The Chennai office, which opened at 6 a.m., remained open till midnight so that candidates could walk in and register any time. "Although it was a struggle initially, we wanted to position ourselves as a candidate-centric organisation. About 30 to 40 people visited us every day. It was 1992-93 and the Gulf region was booming. We sent dozens of middle-level and managerial people at that time to countries like Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Brunei, etc. . ."
Even as visa processing began, the Babri Masjid was felled. All Gulf nations put a ban on issuing visas to Indians. And Ma Foi's losses ran into lakh (hundreds of thousands). "It was a tough phase and we had to pledge even our jewellery. But when we came out of the struggle, we expanded into all kinds of things."
By 1994, a lot of multinational companies made their entry into India. By the end of 1994, Ma Foi got a huge offer from Apple Computers to recruit all their heads of departments. "That was also the time the salaries in the Gulf region started falling. Till then we had not done any such huge recruitment in India. Whatever we had done was only on the secretarial side. With that one assignment from Apple Computers, we moved ahead in India."
Ma Foi also set up offices in all the big cities in India and seriously started looking at domestic recruitment and sectors like IT, finance and banking.
By then, Ma Foi became a closely held public limited company. "We gave equities to our friends, relatives with the promise that we would return at least 20% dividend every year."
During the dot-com boom in 2000, Ma Foi also had a dot-com plan and got a lot of venture capitalists investing in it. But then came the dot-com bust. "Thankfully we were affected only slightly by the dot-com bust. We pulled back the dot-com model very soon and convinced our VCs to use what we got -- around Rs 8.5 crore (Rs 85 million) -- in the brick-and-mortar model. With that money, we could spruce up our offices and add more people."
Part of the Vedior Group
In 2002, Ma Foi set up their first overseas office in Dubai. "In terms of turnover, we were number one in India then, with 600 people working for us. Whenever we travelled abroad we noticed that the staffing industry over there was quite evolved. It also made business sense to have offices abroad. Deputing 10 people in the United Kingdom is equivalent to deputing 100 people in India!"
After understanding how the overseas market worked, they had two choices: either to go for an initial public offering, or to look for a global, strategic partnership. "The IPO market was down and volatile then. So, we decided to go for a strategic partnership with global majors. Giants like Manpower, Adecor and Vedior were also looking at the Indian market."
"Vedior (the world's leading specialist staffing company from the Netherlands) was much below the two in terms of turnover, but it allowed us much more flexibility. It was a multi-brand company and called itself a federation and corporation. Because it is a federation, a lot of entrepreneurs become a part of it. We run the show and they support us. We had 270 shareholders, plus the VCs, then. It was a majority partnership with 76 per cent held by Vedior and 24 per cent by us. Today, we hold 18 per cent.
With Vedior's support, Ma Foi set up offices in the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Oman, the United States, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, and Malaysia.
The Indian market and the world market
"India is still an evolving market; it is still not a mature market though a lot more clarity has emerged in the last five years. In terms of legality, it is clearer too. On the other hand, the European and the US markets are quite mature. It will take another decade or so for the Indian market to evolve fully."
"People are slowly getting comfortable with temporary staffing in India too. In a country like France, almost 80 per cent of the staffing is on temporary basis. People mostly work on contract. But in India, there is a stigma attached to temporary jobs."
Impact of the US recession
"Definitely the slowing down of the US economy will have an impact on the Indian economy too, but not too much. It may take another six months for the IT and BPO sector to feel the pinch. Sometimes, the impact could be positive; there may be more outsourcing too as they have a problem there."
Making profits
Ma Foi broke even in their first year itself. From placing 30 to 35 people in the first year, now they find jobs for around 5,500 people every month.
If the turnover of the first year was Rs 520,000, today, it is Rs 435 crore. In the initial years, Ma Foi grew at more than 100 per cent. The company's compounded annual growth rate has been 70 per cent.
Social responsibility
"Though both of us were fairly well employed, our dream was to build an institution, do something meaningful and give something back to society in whatever way we could," the Rajans say.
The company made a profit of Rs 5,000 in the first year. Vandana Gopikumar and Vaishnavi Jayakumar, two college students had just started Banyan, a Trust that helps rehabilitate mentally challenged destitute women at that time. "We sent the entire money to help them set up Banyan. From that year onwards, we keep aside a part of our profits for charity."
As they doubled their profits every year, their contribution to charity too increased. In 1997, they started a Trust called Sornammal Educational Trust (SET) in the name of Pandia Rajan's grandmother. The first effort was to help the students of his village.
In 2000, when a school with 100 very poor children run by Hemalatha's grandmother was to be closed down after she passed away, the educational trust decided to run it. "When we saw the poor children, we felt like helping them. We bought a piece of land and built a school. We called it Sornammal Matriculation School. Now we have 650 children, of whom 350 study free of charge."
It was when Hemalatha met the mothers of the poor children that the idea to start self-help groups (SHGs) originated. These women are clustered into groups and are given vocational training so that they could start their own ventures. Training is provided to women to become nurses, DTP operators, housekeepers and even auto drivers. They are also taught tailoring, bag making, handicrafts, embroidery, et cetera.
"Till today, we have given Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) as loans to these women to start their own businesses. I must say the repayment of loans has been 100 per cent," a satisfied Hemalatha said.
The trust has 816 SHGs for 13,128 women in Chennai.
CIOSA
In 2004, after working with many NGOs, Hemalatha felt the need to bring all the NGOs under one umbrella, and that was how the Confederation of Indian Organisations for Service and Advocacy (CIOSA) was born. It acts as a good platform for corporates and NGOs to work together.
In 2007, the Ma Foi Foundation was formed so that all the corporate social responsibility activities are taken care of by one body. Under the Disha Scholarship Scheme, 1,300 children from corporation school -- 150 are from the Rajans' native town Sivakasi -- get scholarship to study. The foundation also runs career guidance programmes for the 8th, 9th and 10th standard students.
"Ma Foi Foundation promises a better society as we believe in giving back what we take out and changing the world for the better," the Rajans said.

Strategic Listening

We can communicate on one-or all-of four different levels at any given time:
1. facts,
2. meaning,
3. feelings, and
4. intention.
"The house is burning" is a simple, straight-forward statement. But those four words — depending on how they are said — may mean:
· "A residential structure is being consumed by flames." (Facts)·
"The house we're in is on fire." (Meaning)·
"Ahhhh!!!!" (Feelings)·
"Run for your life." (Intention)
Sometimes we don't understand other people, because we're not listening — or not listening well. We're distracted or simply not paying attention. But sometimes we don't understand them, because we're not hearing what they want to communicate. We're not listening to the right level.We may hear the facts, for example, but miss the feelings.It takes skill and intelligence to hear the various messages people are communicating.
Level 1 The FactsPeople want to Convey information.Our task is to Listen for details and clarify.We need to ask "Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?"Our goal is to Picture the situation as the person is describing it.
Level 2 MeaningPeople want to Make themselves understood.Our task is to Listen for the big picture; summarize and paraphrase.We need to ask "Am I understanding you correctly?" "Is this what you're getting at?"Our goal is to Understand what the person means — and make the other person feel understood.
Level 3 FeelingsPeople want to Connect on an emotional level.Our task is to Listen with empathy; pay attention to body language and tone of voice.We need to ask "How does this make you feel?""It sounds to me like you're feeling..."Our goal is to Recognize how the person is feeling — and make the other person feel connected.
Level 4 IntentionPeople want to Get their needs met.Our task is to Listen for wants and needs; focus on solutions, action steps, and outcomesWe need to ask "What do you want to have happen?""What would help you in this situation?""What can you/we do about it?"Our goal is to Know what the person wants to achieve.

Training Evaluation

One can evaluate the training effectiveness by the following important aspects:-
Indicators. This is the traditional approach to reporting training data. Some examples of indicators are number of employees trained, total training hours, training hours per employee, training investment as a percentage of payroll, cost per participant. Although these measures are necessary, they do not reflect the results of the training program. There are many types of indicators, but it is most important to include in the scorecard the measures of interest to the organization's top managers.
Level 1: REACTION. At this level, participants reactions to and satisfaction with the training program are measured. Some recommended data to capture on Level 1 instruments are:
- relevance of training to job - recommendation of training to others - importance of information received - intention to use skills/knowledge acquired Those four items have predictive validity for projecting actual applications and should be compared from one program to another.
Level 2 : LEARNING. Learning can be measured informally with self-assessments, team assessments, or facilitator assessments, or formally with objective tests, performance testing, or simulations. Learning self-assessments may ask participants to rate the following items: - understanding of the skills/knowledge acquired - ability to use the skills/knowledge acquired - confidence in the use of skills/knowledge acquired
Level 3 : BEHAVIOR APPLICATION. This level measures changes in on-the-job behavior while the training is applied or implemented. This in¬formation often is collected through a follow-up survey or questionnaire. Key questions asked concern :
- the importance of the skills/knowledge hack on the job - the frequency of use of the new skills/knowledge - the effectiveness of the skills/knowledge when applied on the job
Level 4 : BUSINESS IMPACT. At this level the actual business results of the training program are identified. A paper-based or automated follow-up questionnaire can be used to gather this data. Depending on the training programs' performance and business objectives, data may be gathered on the following:
- productivity level - quality - cost control - sales revenue - customer satisfaction
Level 5 : RETURN ON INVESTMENT. At this level the monetary benefits of the program are compared with the cost of the program. The costs of the program must be fully loaded. The methods used to convert data should be reported. The ROI calculation for a training program is identical to the ROI ratio for any other business investment:
ROI(%) = ((benefits - costs]/costs) x 100 A benefit-cost ratio may also be calculated by dividing costs into benefits.
INTANGIBLE BENEFITS. Intangible benefits are measures that are intentionally not converted to monetary values because the conversion to monetary data would be too subjective. It is important to capture and report intangible benefits of the training program, such as:
- increased job satisfaction - reduced conflicts - reduced stress - improved teamwork

Two wolves inside us

One of my uncles passed on to me a great story of a Cherokee grandfather talking to his grandson. The Grandfather explains, "There are two wolves that live within each of us. One is filled with anger, hate, lust, envy, jealousy and outrage at the injustices done to him. The other is filled with compassion, kindness, humility and understanding." The grandson asked him, "Grandfather which one is stronger?" and the Grandfather answered: "The one we feed."Wow! A message to really make us think. I suggest that we constantly ask ourselves as we go through each day, "Which inner wolf am I feeding…the destructive wolf or the loving wolf?" If we realize that it is the destructive wolf we are feeding, we owe it to ourselves and the world to do everything we can to change our thinking, our words, our actions, and beliefs to make the loving wolf gets stronger and stronger with each passing

Do not trust your eyes!

What we see may not be true. We might see a portion of truth. Do not believe me? See this picture. What comes to your mind? A muscular man driving an enfield? Now scroll down and see the reality.This is a big lesson for all of us. The message is not to arrive at a hasty conclusion based on half truths.

Never Give Up-A Picture

THE POWER OF IMAGINATION

Do you believe our imagination has some role to play in your success? If your answer is YES, then you are RIGHT.
Arnold Schwarzenegger won the title of Mr. Universe seven times. But he didn't keep his title by only pumping iron. As part of his workout routine, he would frequently go into the corner of the gym and visualize himself winning the title again.
Jack Nicklaus, the great professional golfer, explained his imaging technique. He said "First I 'see' the ball where I want it to finish - nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I 'see' the ball going there; its path, trajectory and shape, even its behavior on the landing. Then," says Nicklaus, "there's sort of a fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality."

I recall hearing the story of a prisoner of war who spent his years of solitary confinement playing golf - on the course of his mind. When he was released and returned to California, one of his first desires was to head for the nearest golfing facility. He was totally shocked at how his game had improved. Without question, his imagination had greatly enhanced his physical skills
Today, practice "seeing" yourself winning.

Attitude shapes destiny

Sage Narad was on his way to meet God. En route, a rishi accosted Narad and requested to confirm with Him when he would get the fruits of his penance. The sage promised to do so. On his way further, another rishi approached Sage Narad with the same request. Narad promised him too.

After his meeting with God the sage was returning. One rishi with all anxiety enquired what the reply was. Thereupon the sage said, "Oh Rishi! Count the number of leaves of this tree under which you are doing penance. That many years will take for you to reap benefits of your penance.""Still are there so many years to go? Oh God! What a long wait!" "grumbling so, the rishi deserted the place abandoning tapas. Narad gave the same reply to the other rishi who was also curious. To Narad's surprise, the rishi started dancing out of joy. The rishi profusely thanked Narad for conveying the good news and expressed his gratitude to God. Narad enquired what made him rejoice when the other rishi was repulsive to the same answer. The gleeful rishi said, "Oh wise sage! For two reasons I celebrate now. One is that it is now confirmed that my penance is to fructify. The second reason is that it is not going to be indefinite wait. Precisely after how many years I am going to get the fruits of my penance is now known."

The moral of the story is that it is not what happens in life but what you do with what happens in life that shapes the outcome of any event in life. What we do with what happens is a matter of attitude. ATTITUDE SHAPES DESTINY.

Amazing story of E.Sarathbabu(IIM Pass out)

His story is an inspiration for millions. A self-made entrepreneur, his mission is to help the poor through job creation. E Sarathbabu hit the headlines after he rejected several high profile job offers from various MNCs after he passed out of IIM, Ahmedabad two years ago.He instead started a catering business of his own, inspired by his mother who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai, worked as an ayah in an Anganvadi to educate him and his siblings. As a child, he also sold idlis in the slum where he lived. "We talk about India shining and India growing, but we should ensure that people do not die of hunger. We can be a developed country but we should not leave the poor people behind. I am worried for them because I know what hunger is and I still remember the days I was hungry," says Sarathbabu.
In August 2006, Sarathbabu's entrepreneurial dream came true with Foodking. He had no personal ambition but wanted to buy a house and a car for his mother. He has bought a car but is yet to buy a house for his mother. The "foodking" still lives in the same hut in Madipakkam in Chennai. Today, Foodking has six units and 200 employees, and the turnover of the company is Rs.32 lakh a month. But it has not been a bed of roses for Sarathbabu. After struggling and making losses in the first year, he managed a turnaround in 2007.How has his experience as a 'Foodking' been in the last two years? Sarathbabu shares the trial and tribulations of an exciting and challenging job in an interview with Shobha Warrier.
A tough beginning As I am a first generation entrepreneur, the first year was very challenging. I had a loan of Rs 20 lakh by the end of first year. I had no experience in handling people in business, and it was difficult to identify the right people. Though I made losses in the first year, not even once did I regret my decision of not accepting the offers from MNCs and starting an enterprise of my own. I looked at my losses as a learning experience. I was confident that I would be successful one day.Sleeping on the railway platformMy first unit was at IIM, Ahmedabad. When we started our second unit in October 2006, I thought now I would start making money. But I made losses of around Rs 2000 a day. A first generation entrepreneur cannot afford such a loss. But I worked really hard, working till 3 a.m. in the morning. What reduced my losses were the birthday party offers.I started the third unit again in Ahmedabad but it also made losses. All my units were cafeteria and I understood then that the small cafeterias do not work; I needed huge volumes to work. My friends who were extremely supportive in the first year when things were difficult for me. I had taken loans from my IIM-A friends. They were earning very well.In December 2006, an IIM Ahmedabad alumni event took place in Mumbai and I decided to go there mainly to get a contract. I was hopeful of getting it. I also knew that if I got the huge contract, I would come out of all the losses I had been incurring.I booked my train ticket from Ahmedabad to Mumbai for Rs 300 and I had Rs 200 in my hand. As the meet went on till late at night, I could reach the station only at midnight. I missed the train. I decided to sit on the platform till the morning and travel by the next train in the morning. I didn't have the money to check into a hotel. I didn't want to disturb any of my friends so late at night.It was an unforgettable night as I was even shoved off by policemen from the platform. It was quite insulting and embarrassing. After two hours, people started moving in, I also went in.A man who sat next to me on the platform gave me a newspaper so that I could sleep. I spread the newspaper and slept on the platform! I sleep well. I got my ticket refund in the morning and went back to Ahmedabad. And, luck did not favour me, I didn't get the contract.
In March 2007, I got an offer to start a unit at BITS, Pilani (Sarathbabu was an alumnus of BITS, Pilani). That was the first medium break for me. For the first time, I started making profits there though the other units continued to make losses. The reason for our success at BITS, Pilani was the volume; there were more students and there was a need for a unit like ours while in Ahmedabad, they have at least a hundred options.If I made Rs 5000 a day at Ahmedabad in two shifts, here I made Rs 15,000 a day. BITS, Pilani unit gave me the confidence to move on. Unless you make money, you can't be confident in business.What changed my fortuneWhen all my friends who worked for various MNCs made good money every month and I made losses with my venture. But I kept telling myself, I am moving in the right direction to reach my ambition and vision. My dream was to provide employment and I was doing just that. I continued to work till 3 a.m. but I never felt tired.Through BITS, Pilani, I got the BITS, Goa contract and that was the biggest break for me. It was not a cafeteria like the earlier ones but the dining hall that we got. We had to feed 1300 students. We started our operations in July 2007. At Rs 50, for 1300 students, our sales was Rs 65,000 per day. We soon started making a profit of Rs 10 to 15,000 a day.

Around 60 to 70 people work there. I gave the charge of the Ahmedabad operations to one of my managers and moved to Goa.I was still in debt by Rs 15-20 lakhs but I knew BITS, Goa would keep my dream alive. Within six months of starting our operations in Goa, I repaid all my debt.I was called to give a speech at the SRM Deemed University. After the speech, I asked the Chancellor, can you give me an opportunity to serve in your campus?? He said, "If not you, to whom will I give such an opportunity?" It's a food court but a big one, similar to the one at BITS, Pilani. There are around 17,000 students there.Now, I have the BITS, Hyderabad contract, ready to start in July 2008. Other than the six units, I have approached a few more universities and corporate houses too. In the first year, I had made a loss of Rs 25 lakh. Right now, we have a turnover of Rs 32 lakh every month, which works out to 3.5 crore (Rs 35 million) a year.
I have hired about 200 people. Indirectly, we touch the lives of around 1000 people. By this year end, we will have 500 people working for us. Only 10% of my workers are educated, the rest are uneducated. I want to make a change in their lives. If they have any problem, I will take care of it. We support the marriages and education of poor families. We are paying more to the employees as the company is doing well. Now that the foundation is strong, I plan to have ten units and a turnover of Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) turnover by next year.

His advice: Never give up!In the last two years, I have given more than 120 lectures in various institutions in India. When I got the first opportunity to speak, I thought God had given me an opportunity to encourage or inspire entrepreneurs. When youngsters tell me they are inspired, I feel good. When you just dish out the theory, nobody believes you. But when you do it, they believe you. What I tell them is based on my own experiences. When I thought of starting a company, I felt India needed 100 people like Narayana Murthy and Ambani. If 100 such people support 2 lakh people each, imagine how many Indians get supported. Entrepreneurship is needed to uplift the poor. It is not easy to be an entrepreneur, especially a first generation entrepreneur. There will be lots of challenges in the beginning but you should learn to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Never give up even if there are hurdles. There are many who give up within a week. You need determination and a tough mind to cross the initial hurdles. If you are starting without much money, you should not have any overhead expenses. He still lives in the same hut As I am in the food business, I know how much the price of every food item has gone up. Many people will languish in poverty because of inflation. Had my mother been working as an Anganvadi ayah today and earning Rs 1500, she would not have been able to feed us and educate us. On the one side, we talk about India shining and India growing, but we should ensure that people do not die of hunger. We can be a developed country but we should not leave the poor people behind. I am worried for them because I know what hunger is and I still remember the days I was hungry. That is why I feel it is our responsibility to take care of them. I wanted to buy a car and a house for my mother. I bought a car first, not a house. I still live in the same house, the same hut. I can build a house right now but I want my business to grow a little more. I feel good in the hut; that?s where I get my energy, that's where I lived 25 years of my life. I want to remind myself that the money and fame should not take me away from what I want to achieve. But within six months, I will build a good house for my mother. Her only advice to me is, don't waste money. Till I was in the 10th, there was no electricity in my house. I had to sit near the kerosene lamp and concentrate hard. That's how I learnt to concentrate. The two year journey has been very enriching. It seems like a 20-year journey for me. I was living every moment of the two years, from sleeping on the Mumbai railway station platform to this level.

Seven ways to beat Procrastination

1. Do the worst task first: I have used this technique for years. I have even created more than one "first thing." There is first thing in the morning, there is first thing after lunch, and there is first thing in the evening. I take a look at the items on my To Do List and figure out which one I am dreading the most and spend a limited time on it at least moving it forward. This is known as swallowing the frog first thing; if you begin your day by swallowing a frog, then the rest of the day looks good.

2. Break it down: Often the reason that we procrastinate is because the task ahead of us is too big. Often there are small parts of the task that can be done. How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time.

3. Use a friend: I am not actually referring to delegation (but of course I don't mind that either); what I mean is to tell a friend what you want to do and get them to help you start the task. Often it is the act of starting a task that is enough to get the task done.

4. Do the pleasant part of the task: Often many distasteful and large jobs have some parts to it that are not particular distasteful. Do them so at least you are moving forward on your most important items.

5. Fifteen (15) minutes: Just spend 15 minutes on a task. I have the attitude that I can spend 15 minutes doing virtually anything and I can certainly survive spending 15 minutes on something. Often by spending the 15 minutes on a task, I either complete it or I will get it moved forward enough that it has momentum to finish.

6. Track it: The simple act of tracking a goal is often enough to keep the goal moving forward. It seems odd, but knowing that you are going to write down whether or not you have done something is often enough to make you move forward.

7. Reward or punish: The reason we do something is because it is more painful than not getting it done, so if we can make the completion a task more rewarding or the consequences of not completing it more painful, then we tend to move forward on things. Tying successful completion of a task to a reward is often a successful technique. Remember that even successful people occasionally procrastinate. Procrastination is not a permanent condition

A Wise Old Monkey

A king used to maintain a group of monkeys for providing entertainment for his sons. The monkeys were very nicely fed with sumptuous delicacies everyday. The leader of the monkeys was well-versed in the scriptures of like wise personalities and he used to teach the other monkeys these scriptures.There was also a pack of sheep in the king's palace and the little princes used to ride them for fun. One of those sheep was very fond of eating anything from the palace kitchen. The cooks in the kitchen had to beat the sheep quite often to prevent it from causing mischief.

The monkey leader thought that this kind of behaviour every now and then may result in something disastrous for the monkeys in the long run. "The sheep are extremely gluttonous and the cooks, on the other hand, are very adept in beating the sheep with whatever they find at hand. In case the cooks at any time start hitting the sheep with a burning stick from the fire, then the furry body of the sheep would surely start burning.When such a burning sheep starts running around in frenzy and by chance enters into the nearby horse stable, then the hay inside will catch on fire and the entire stable along with its horses will be ablaze in no time. One ancient animal husbandry book prescribes that burns on horse flesh can be healed by animal skin obtained from monkeys. Accordingly, the king will have the monkeys killed."

Apprehending thus, the wise old monkey leader called on all the monkeys confidentially and told them, "In a place like this where the sheep and the cooks are in constant confrontation, we, the monkeys, are sure to meet with our destruction. So, let us take refuge in a forest somewhere before we are destroyed en masse."

But the arrogant young monkeys did not have anyrespect for the wise old monkey's advice. They simply ridiculed the old monkey, saying, "You must be under some sort of delusion due to your advancing age, and so you are talking like a lunatic. We are not interested in leaving the palace for forest life only to live on distasteful fruits; here we are being fed with nectarean varieties of foodstuffs by the princes themselves."

Upon hearing the puffed-up monkeys retorting like this, the old monkey told them with tearful eyes, "O fools, you do not know the results of such pleasure. Don't you know this will be ultimately destructive for you! So let me leave for the forest alone - I don't want to see your deaths."

Saying thus, the monkey-leader started for the forest, leaving behind all the other monkeys.Following this, one day that greedy sheep entered into the kitchen.The cook struck the beast with burning firewood. Immediately the sheep started crying and ran straight into the nearby horse stable. As the sheep, with the fire all over its body, started rolling desperately over the hay-stack kept in the stable, the entire pavilion caught fire and many of the horses were burnt to death while the others just ran amok, resulting in a great consternation all over.

The king immediately summoned his veterinary surgeon for the treatment of the horses. The surgeon quoted Salihotra's prescription that monkey's tallow was essential for the quick healing of the burns suffered by the horses. So the king ordered that treatment should immediately be undertaken to save the horses, and accordingly he also issued his instructions to kill the monkeys to collect their tallow. The monkey leader got the news and was very much depressed.

Those who contemplate that the ageing advisor might be under delusion and may not know more than a common person knows, and instead of following him follow evil companions, will certainly meet with a disastrous end.

Fish and challenge

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So to feed the Japanese population, fishing boats got bigger and went farther than ever. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not fresh. The Japanese did not like the taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish. The frozen fish brought a lower price.

So fishing companies installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese could still taste the difference. Because the fish did not move for days, they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste of fresh fish, not sluggish fish. So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get fresh-tasting fish to Japan? If you were consulting the fish industry, what would you recommend?

How Japanese Fish Stay Fresh: To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese fishing companies still put the fish in the tanks. But now they add a small shark to each tank. The shark eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a very lively state. The fish are challenges. Have you realized that some of us are also living in a pond but most of the time tired & dull, so we need a Shark in our life to keep us awake and moving? Basically in our lives Sharks are new challenges to keep us active and lively.....

Miracle of positive attitude

Father : "I want you to marry a girl of my choice"

Son : "I will choose my own bride!"

Father : "But the girl is Bill Gates`s daughter."

Son : "Well, in that case...ok"

Next - Father approaches Bill Gates.

Father : "I have a husband for your daughter."

Bill Gates : "But my daughter is too young to marry!"

Father : "But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank."

Bill Gates : "Ah, in that case...ok"

Finally Father goes to see the president of the World Bank.

Father : "I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president."

"But I already have more vice- presidents than I need!"

Father : "But this young man is Bill Gates`s son-in-law."

President : "Ah, in that case...ok"

This is how business is done!!

Moral: Even If you have nothing,You can get Anything. But your attitude should be positive

Individual Vrs Group

Linux is named after Linus Torvalds, a Finnish programmer. Today Linux is one of the path breaking software which has been recognized all over the world. Linus Torvalds developed Linux all alone, but today since the source code is free to access and change, Linux goes on getting developed further by thousands of programmers working in groups or all alone. Here it was the creativity of one brain which gave birth to a concept. This concept has been developed to its present form by groups of people spread all over, thanks to the Internet.

Innovative ideas do start in one mind before taking on the world. The radio, television, telephone, electric bulb etc. all were developed by genius scientists who had the ability and courage to think something different. It is a well known fact that Albert Einstein was the mastermind of the nuclear bombs which US dropped over Japan. It was Henry Ford who innovated the assembly line production of cars. It was after his success with the Model T that all other car companies copied him. It may be argued that in the present world, all development takes place in the labs of huge companies by highly qualified technical staff. But once you pore deep into these teams, will you realize that there is an individual brain responsible for new innovations. It is true in the advertising industry. When a top creative leaves an agency, many clients follow suit with their accounts. David Ogilvy was king of advertising while alive. Today O&M runs on his name.

Groups of people when working together have to deal with the whims and egos of each other. Some frequencies simply don't match. An idea which may be innovative and mind blowing for one individual may be a truly rubbish concept for another. The members are then forced to compromise to more conventional and pedestrian stuff. We have well known examples from our daily life. Microsoft founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen took on IBM and soon became bigger than IBM. GE was the brain of Edison. Quite recently in the networked world, most new companies on the Internet, software arena are run by entrepreneurs. Venture Capitalists work on the same concept. They act as incubators- they fund an idea to make it a reality. Original and innovative thinking is revered all over. The fact that people prefer to launch their own businesses and be their own bosses is due to the problems of working in groups or under pressure. Senior executives ignore creative ideas from juniors just because they are less experienced. Innovative thinking then suffers and comes down to a more conventional and acceptable level. It is noting these facts, that business houses all over are trying to have a more horizontal structure where juniors are given more encouragement and given more opportunities to contribute their thoughts. The concept of the single person taking the final decision is age-old since the age of kings. It was the king or monarch who had the final say after consulting his council members, while today we have presidents and prime-ministers doing the same. Amazon started off with Jeff Bezos alone. Today it is called as the largest superstore on earth.

HR and Virtual Teams

This is one organisational structure where the traditional HR models or paradigms are irrelevant. The reason is simple: conventional organisational hierarchies have no meaning in a team where the members hardly ever meet face-to-face. Also, given the high time-to-market pressures, these teams often need to be set up fast, and are disbanded even faster.
Yet, organisations all over the world are increasingly depending on such multi-lingual 'virtual' teams to achieve business goals. As companies have gone horizontal, they no longer have the luxury of collocation. Today, most products are developed and manufactured across boundaries, time zones, cultures and enterprises. As a result, the fundamental nature of teamwork is undergoing revolutionary changes, with companies getting networked and working through joint ventures and strategic alliances.
A typical virtual team could look like this: the team leader lives in Hyderabad, his deputy works from London, the production team is based in Malaysia, the marketing men are stationed across the world and a few others work out of their homes.
So how do companies make sure that the team functions seamlessly? Cutting edge technology is one solution and several companies are coming up with innovative measures. For example, Accenture's virtual collaborative software design extends the traditional notion of a video conference to an eye-to-eye interaction between users and virtual work objects. Projection technologies help to create the illusion that the users are on either side of a window, while visualisation and touch-screen technologies turn that window into a collaborative workspace.
But technology can solve only one part of the problem, as 'managing without walls' isn't easy. Relatively routine tasks, such as scheduling a meeting, become complex and fraught with interpersonal friction when one person's workday begins when another is sitting down to dinner or is sound asleep.
When key team members from various functions sit next to each other all day, information transfer is frequent. Formal meetings keep the project on track and establish goals and commitments, while informal meetings around the coffee table allow people to build trust and teamwork and to discuss ideas or get help with problems.
Thus, the key challenge for HR in making virtual teams work is this: when people who are supposed to work together can't see or talk to each other conveniently, a sense of isolation grows. This sense of isolation may lead people to feel that they are left out, not getting enough information or not being told the true story of what is going on. That is why has developed a regular Meet-the-People programme which is attended by every virtual team member. The company also has a 'war room' -- a virtual space where team members located in different physical locations collaborate on a real-time basis in order to achieve a common goal.
HR experts of companies that have institutionalised virtual teams say such teams need to be led with a level of professionalism and expertise much higher than in a traditional team. This is because virtual team leaders rarely have any sort of supervisory power over team members and have to rely on influence and inspiration. To counter the absence of togetherness, the team leaders have to set specific outcome-based challenges. For example, while a 'physical' team leader can take the route of 'we need to develop a plan for improving customer satisfaction', the virtual leader has to clearly state his goals in no uncertain terms: 'we need to eliminate all late deliveries within 90 days'.
A corporate reorganisation at Microsoft created a virtual team that needed to develop a new product offering. The team spanned four locations in different time zones, each contributing to the product's development. Disparities in company size and corporate cultures were among the immediate challenges the team faced. In addition to variations in languages, and diverse business structures, the number and structure of team intranet sites and multiple approaches to communication and collaboration varied from location to location prior to the reorganisation. Content that team members from one location defined as out-dated or inconsequential was considered valuable to teams from other locations. The result of the reorganisation was a virtual team with disparate work processes. Thus, the team needed a way to collaborate across disparate locations, cultures and work processes.
Technology wasn't a problem for Microsoft and the company used that in countless creative ways to improve communication among the team members. For, the principles of managing virtual teams are not much different from the principles of managing anybody or anything well. Communication is the key -- more so, when the team is dispersed in different corners of the globe and physical proximity is absent.
Here's what an innovative team leader did with his virtual team. Since he couldn't have regular lunch or coffee breaks with his virtual team, the leader provided a novel mechanism for such informal interaction. He had virtual pizza parties: send pizza to each location at the same time, and get together in an internet chat session or conference call to gab.
This is one organisational structure where the traditional HR models or paradigms are irrelevant. The reason is simple: conventional organisational hierarchies have no meaning in a team where the members hardly ever meet face-to-face. Also, given the high time-to-market pressures, these teams often need to be set up fast, and are disbanded even faster.
Yet, organisations all over the world are increasingly depending on such multi-lingual 'virtual' teams to achieve business goals. As companies have gone horizontal, they no longer have the luxury of collocation. Today, most products are developed and manufactured across boundaries, time zones, cultures and enterprises. As a result, the fundamental nature of teamwork is undergoing revolutionary changes, with companies getting networked and working through joint ventures and strategic alliances.
A typical virtual team could look like this: the team leader lives in Hyderabad, his deputy works from London, the production team is based in Malaysia, the marketing men are stationed across the world and a few others work out of their homes.
So how do companies make sure that the team functions seamlessly? Cutting edge technology is one solution and several companies are coming up with innovative measures. For example, Accenture's virtual collaborative software design extends the traditional notion of a video conference to an eye-to-eye interaction between users and virtual work objects. Projection technologies help to create the illusion that the users are on either side of a window, while visualisation and touch-screen technologies turn that window into a collaborative workspace.
But technology can solve only one part of the problem, as 'managing without walls' isn't easy. Relatively routine tasks, such as scheduling a meeting, become complex and fraught with interpersonal friction when one person's workday begins when another is sitting down to dinner or is sound asleep.
When key team members from various functions sit next to each other all day, information transfer is frequent. Formal meetings keep the project on track and establish goals and commitments, while informal meetings around the coffee table allow people to build trust and teamwork and to discuss ideas or get help with problems.
Thus, the key challenge for HR in making virtual teams work is this: when people who are supposed to work together can't see or talk to each other conveniently, a sense of isolation grows. This sense of isolation may lead people to feel that they are left out, not getting enough information or not being told the true story of what is going on. That is why Wipro has developed a regular Meet-the-People programme which is attended by every virtual team member. The company also has a 'war room' -- a virtual space where team members located in different physical locations collaborate on a real-time basis in order to achieve a common goal.
HR experts of companies that have institutionalised virtual teams say such teams need to be led with a level of professionalism and expertise much higher than in a traditional team. This is because virtual team leaders rarely have any sort of supervisory power over team members and have to rely on influence and inspiration. To counter the absence of togetherness, the team leaders have to set specific outcome-based challenges. For example, while a 'physical' team leader can take the route of 'we need to develop a plan for improving customer satisfaction', the virtual leader has to clearly state his goals in no uncertain terms: 'we need to eliminate all late deliveries within 90 days'.
A corporate reorganisation at Microsoft created a virtual team that needed to develop a new product offering. The team spanned four locations in different time zones, each contributing to the product's development. Disparities in company size and corporate cultures were among the immediate challenges the team faced. In addition to variations in languages, and diverse business structures, the number and structure of team intranet sites and multiple approaches to communication and collaboration varied from location to location prior to the reorganisation. Content that team members from one location defined as out-dated or inconsequential was considered valuable to teams from other locations. The result of the reorganisation was a virtual team with disparate work processes. Thus, the team needed a way to collaborate across disparate locations, cultures and work processes.
Technology wasn't a problem for Microsoft and the company used that in countless creative ways to improve communication among the team members. For, the principles of managing virtual teams are not much different from the principles of managing anybody or anything well. Communication is the key -- more so, when the team is dispersed in different corners of the globe and physical proximity is absent.
Here's what an innovative team leader did with his virtual team. Since he couldn't have regular lunch or coffee breaks with his virtual team, the leader provided a novel mechanism for such informal interaction. He had virtual pizza parties: send pizza to each location at the same time, and get together in an internet chat session or conference call to gab.
(This article was published in rediff.com.This is a reproduction of that article for the benefit of my readers)

The other side of superstar

From Dr. Gayathri Sreekanth's "The Name Is Rajini Kanth – A biography" Visiting that Ragavendra temple in Bangaloreis almost more than a routine for her. She has not seen him ever before in the temple.

He was sitting on the floor with his closed eyes, folded legs and locked fingers in 'Gnana Mudra'. He looked strange and different with a turban on his head and the very long flowing beard. Some thing was there in his face that attracted her. She could not understand what that was.

She finished her 'darshan' and came out; she saw the man was walking in the corridor. Again something was happening in her, she could not understand what was that. She was telling herself, "a poor old man. I have to help him". She ran to him, gave rupees ten in his hand and forced him to accept. He smiled, expressed a reverence like a 'prasadam' by keeping it in the forehead and thanked her by keeping the hand in prayer position ('Namasthey' ).

As she came out, she saw the man was getting into his Mercedes Benz, she was perplexed, shivered and ran to him and said, "Sir (Ayya!), Please forgive me, I did not do this to insult you. By seeing your dress and appearance, I thought you are struggling in life and offered you the money. It is a blunder. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Please give me back that money. I am sorry".

The man with the fake beard and turban laughed and replied her politely, "Ammaa.. There is no mistake of yours. It is the other way. The creator is again and again reminding me through some body, "You are nothing. You are not special. Everybody is equal in front of me". He keeps on sending this message again and again and today you happened to be a medium. That's it. Thanks a ton". His hand again went to prayer position, expressed gratitude to the lady and he went into his car.

When the lady realized the man was none other than Super star Rajini Kanth - Asia's number one paid actor, he has left the place.

She did not know what to do. With tears in her eyes, she was starring at the direction that the car went.