Kapil Dev in Riyadh

Annual day celebrations at a school reminds us of our own school days...esp if we were active in the extra-cultural activities like drama, music, et al. Similar is a feeling when annual day function is held at the school of our children, when they have to juggle between studies/tests and practice. ( At least our school days were less stressful). The excitement among all children and us, parents, hit a new high when the news of this year's chief guest was confirmed. Kapil Dev, one & only...! Memories took me to my school/college days..!
Kapil became a popular cricketer when he started playing for India. Those days, The Hindu, Sportstar, Sportsweek, etc were the source of all news and analysis. He became an icon when his brilliance, both as a player/all-rounder and captain, enabled India lift Prudential Cup. The brilliant match-winning knock against Zimbabwe ( ironically, we are out of tri-series courtesy them!)... The brilliant dismissal of Viv Richards in final...He is one great player, who has given as much back to the game... very few have made such a difference!

A caricature of him, with the cup, was the sole picture on my room-wall for a very long time, as I struggled with my maths, physics earlier and then commerce! He was not from a metro, did not speak fluent english, was not flamboyant... many of us could identify with him. He inspired a few generations of professionals and achievers,not few fast & medium pacers!

As I walked, or limped thanks to a sprain to the venue at school, I thought... Kapil was fit throughout his playing career.

We were seated,eagerly waiting for him. He walked in, to a roaring reception of a packed house...So many of us were overwhelmed by his sheer presence. The tall, dark and handsome, also fit even now, Kapil revived memories of our own school/college days, when we were TDH&Fit ( certainly not now, at least most of us parents in the audience!)

He sat through the program encouraging the students and staff. We were just happy to be in his inspiring company.Kapil gave a short, but a very inspiring speech:

Most of us (NRI's) would have gone through similar struggles in our early lives, just as Kapil did. But all differences end there. Kapil worked very, very hard and reached the pinnacle. We were not as focussed, committed! If Kapil could reach the top, each one of us could have reached, in our respective fields too... A little more goal-orientation, hard-work, sincerity, prayers.... would have helped!
One key difference was he could pursue his passion and many of us could not, as we did not have the financial security or our parents would not risk ( not to blame our folks, as we would have perhaps done same if we were in our parents' shoes)
But, our children are better off. Their parents have some amount of financial security. Many of them will be encouraged and supported to pursue their dreams. But, how many children will reach the top ? How many of them will identify a passion, work very hard, keep up the focus and will reach the top, maintaining impeccable value-system....!? Like a Kapil, Sachin, Vishy Anand, Dr Kalaam, Nrn Murthy, Pt Jasraj...real Indian icons...

Even if a few students reach such levels of Total Greatness, Kapil would be the happiest for his humble contribution( inspiration). Their alma mater will be proud. Their teachers will be happiest. Parents would have done their duty. May God bless and guide our beloved children...
A big thanks to DPS...
Thank you, Kapil Dev!

Incredible India

India perhaps hit a less incredible, low today...thanks to our political leadership, our elected representatives and some of our icons :

• Rahul Gandhi has claimed his trip to Mumbai a huge success. Surely he has won some brownie points. But travelling by train was not 'so cool'... even to the youth of Mumbai, whom he was trying to win over. ( He might have been inspired by a similar gesture of the Queen of England recently. But she was grace personified). The silent majority was unhappy with Shiv Sena's direct/indirect threat. But Rahul has not handled the issue well either. By downplaying the martyrdom of some local, popular cops, he has distanced not only the quintessential marathi manus, but also the average mumbaikar. Both resident & non-resident, son-of-the soil & migrants. While they will not accept Shiv Sena's stand, they will not be fooled by Rahul's immature response, more than words, his action. While Rahul or Shiv Sena may claim they won the battle, the hard-working, average mumbaikar is losing his battle, day after day.... with no hope of the political leadership making a difference to his quality of life. 
• Another youth icon, SRK, has not done any better. When he got the 'canvas' ( all the news-hungry channels), he used it well, by saying his daughter asked him if they may have to move out of India! Yet again, he disappointed his fans, many of who are educated and will not be swayed by his handling of the situation. It was a disgrace we did not pick up any of the T20 champs. But, as the owner of a franchise, even KKR did not pick up any. Then why the crocodile tears and all this tamasha... The average cricket lover and movie-goer feels cheated. 
• Jairam Ramesh is one of the most respected politicians. But the way he lost his cool to a passionate member of the audience, was poor leadership. 
• The way Pranabda handled an instigating Modi ( CM of 5 cr Gujarathis, as NDTV's puppet show would add !), showed our political leadership in poor light. 
• To top it all, No.1 cricket team ( among just 10 test playing nations, Bangladesh included), got off to a good start and failed to sustain momentum, in Nagpur, Maharashtra!

All this happening when common man is suffering the price rise. The threat from across the border took a new twist... the world is suffering, not only from economic slowdown, but also from the impact of climate change....people from all over the world are extending a helping hand to the Haitians to get back on their feet... But, our politicians are busy politicking...with some good help from others. INCREDIBLE !!! 

JOY of Vegetarianism

World over the month October is celebrated as the Vegetarian Awareness Month. It kickstarts with Oct 1 being World Vegetarian Day.
Started by a group of North Americans, this movement is picking up slowly and surely. The meat industry produces more greenhouse gases that all automobile, planes and ships put together ( acc to a UN Study in 2006). That is a strong reason for us to GO Green.... All the indirect cost and trauma of all the health problems/diseases are not even quantified. Let us save the Earth, save the animals ( for meat)... Let us spread the JOY of Vegetarianism
And... that is part of Living, Spiritually
Check out :http://www.worldvegetarianday.org/

This falls in the same month when world celeberates Oct 2 as International Non Violence day. Gandhiji deserves more than a mere token gesture. The world deserves more of that definitely !

Independence Day

India celebrates Ind Day... Indians world over celebrate being Indian ! Wow... you become more patriotic when you are out of India. Three cheers to my motherland... maa tujhe salaam....

years ago, my dad suggested how about me following his footsteps and joining defense services. Somehow I was not very keen. Thankfully, he did not persuade me and gave me 'the freedom' to choose my career path. One of the reasons was I wanted to be independent. Having seen army-life very closely, I thought there was limited freedom once you opt to become a soldier. But today, after years in corporate life, I confess, 'being independent is very relative'!

I am aware 'being independent is a state of mind'. It has nothing to do with my job, my environment or anything external. True independence is when I am not a slave of my mind, body, senses...

PS : In that context, army life would not have been a bad idea, I would have been physically fit and strong too...

Time Management

After some posts on spiritual/current affairs, etc I am in a mood to reflect on a different aspect, Corporate Life. We spend most of our time @ work, so what we achieve/under-achieve there is of great relevance to our Journey of Life, Spiritually, as always!

A forward of Robins Blog, No Idling-$2,000 Fine, caught my attention. How true....! We have no luxury to waste time. As suggested, we should fine ourselves for every moment wasted and I would add, when we did not give our very best. Afterall, every moment is Divine.

Master gifted one of His devotees a wrist watch. This devotee, a senior army official, told Master, 'I don't waste time'. Master said, 'I know, I know'... Perhaps the underlying message was the army officer still had opportunity to save time. If so, all observers/devotees had a long way to go...

Robin Sharma's concluding message is You can't idle and get to great. Make a choice.
Procrastination is very natural to us. The choice is ours: good or great. And how we manage time is of great relevance.

Sach ka Samna

Frisking of Dr Kalam was the controversy....now, it is 'Sach ka samna' both Vinod Kambli's comments and the objection in certain quarters to the very concept of the program.

Kambli's comments came as a big surprise!! As Pres Obama told a group recently, 'the destiny is in our own hands'. If Kambli failed to reach the level of Sachin's accomplishment, he has to get into interrospection and it will dawn on him what went wrong. It may be too late to make yet another come back, but he can play a second-innings in what he is good at and what he enjoys best. He alone is responsible, no one else. It was a question of focus, perseverence, character, value-system, hard-work .... that makes one. Sadly, Indian/World cricket lost a talented left-hand batsman ...

I always quote the example of this jodi for success vs failure, to my son, colleagues and others. We all fail to reach our best because somewhere we lost track.....

As for the furore in LS and media, let us focus on more pressing problems. A piece of advise for press is to avoid prime time for such programs, just as I suggested to a leading daily to take vulgarity out of their home-page at least ( when feedback was sought on the new design of their website). Yes, we have the option to switch off, ensure our kids do not get exposed and use time better.

Our Destiny is within our own hands....

Frisking of Dr Kalam

I got some reactions about my earlier post... it was evident many people are upset about the whole episode. For 'frisking our former pres'/'humiliating a great soul such as Dr Kalaam'/'for doing that to an Indian,South Asian,racist'/'biased'/etc.
I was surprised at Continental's earlier stand, 'it is our policy'!! And their reluctance to be empathetic to the feelings of the Indians, their customers, current or potential!!
Now, they have come up with a feeble apology, perhaps more due to the outcry.

Let us put this behind ourselves and focus on more important issues. One such issue is the hot debate in Karnataka - making kannada official medium in primary schools and SC's timely and appropriate intervention. Thanks to SC for that.
If we really love and respect living legends like Dr Kalam, let us handle issues close to his heart better: children's education as part of his Vision 2020 for India

Frisking of Dr Kalam

This is one of the hot topics today...MPs from various political parties were on their feet, raising the decibel levels at Lok Sabha, on this issue..! Reports say, 'an unrepentent Continental Airlines' has said every passenger is treated 'equally' and will thus be subjected to 'frisking', before boarding their aircraft.
Air-traval became less safer wef Sept 11. Thereafter, the three recent air-disasters, have made all more paranoid. If C A's rule says so, perhaps they were right in frisking Dr APJ.
I wonder what is Dr Kalam's stand ? The reports confirmed he went through the formalities, 'politely'. True to his way of doing things... He might be feeling silly being in the middle of an unnecessary 'controversy'!
Last couple of days, I have been tracking reports on MandelaDay celebrations. No doubt, he is a great leader and truly God's gift to mankind, Africa and RSA. We indians like him due to the Gandhian connection.
I was looking at our own list of prominent contemperories. I had recently posted about our inability to acknowledge the living legends! Few names came to my mind - Dr Singh, Dr Kalam, Atalji, Pt Jasraj, Lataji, SMG/Sachin, Amiabh, Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Vishy Anand. . . ( I am keeping our Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Sri Sri, Mata Amritananda Mayi, ... out of this list) I felt Dr Kalam is comparable to Mandela. He is embodiment of what India stands for.
A frisking incident will not affect people of Dr Kalam's stature. He is much more than a former president for us. It is beyond the grasp of Continental Airlines...

SMG turns 60

The oiriginal little master, SMG, turned 60.

Best wishes to him and wish him many more such happy, healthy and spiritual milestones.

He is celebrating at Prashanthi Nilayam.

His descipline, dedication and focus helped him to reach the greatness. We have had several greats in Indian Cricket. But the first and original is SMG. He is a living legend!

PS : Photo courtesy: ESPN

Mumbai Indians thrash KKR

• Sanath-Sachin's burst did not end in a 200 plus score. But, the score was good enough to hand over KKR a 90 + run defeat.
• Time for KKR management to strategise afresh.
• As AJ mentioned, KKR has been unfair to Ashish and Bangar, no ordinary players from India. They have no businesss to handle players so unprofessionally. What is use of all strategies, if they can not handle PEOPLE, players ??
• Alternatively, throw away all strategies and tactics, let the players play to their hearts' content. SRK and Buchanan will be surprised to see the results.
• I feel bad for the players, esp Dada. Also, others in the team, including the Captain, who himself is struggling at average of 6 runs at IPL-2
• Captaincy, like LEADERSHIP, is not easy. I feel, Yuvi, McCullum, are struggling. Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Saurav are natural leaders.

GO ON.... Mumbai Indians !

How Starbucks Saved My Life by Miahael Gates Gill... contd

Some more inspiring thoughts from the book...

• page 41-the author regretfully recalls how he had 'consciously or unconsciously derailed his colleague's efforts, as she was an African-American without the education or experience that mattered to him'. How often we come across such people in our professional and personal lives. As managers/leaders, we fail in our responsibility to ensure success and happiness of people around us.
• Pg 44: Indeed, at a spiritual level, ' WE ALL HANG BY A THREAD FROM THE HAND OF A ANGRY GOD'. Inspiring thought. (But, I firmly God never gets angry)
• Pg 45: It is a personal struggle for many of us go give up the thought that 'we are unique' and to give up the 'sense of a special place' in the universe'. It could be a sign of sheer ego/complex, very common indeed. ( Of course, at a spiritual level, we all are special...children of God)
• Pg 53: I am not a fan of Starbucks. But after reading about the culture, I am delighted ! But this was one of the best: at starbucks, nobody ever ordered anyone to do anything. it was always, "would you do me a favour?" Worth emulating!
• Pg 65: Miss Markham's faith in the little Michael is something we all could do to our children, students( by teachers), family and colleagues. Inspire them with more YOU ARE GREAT!
• Pg 73: Work is Dignity - if the world accepted this Gandhian philosophy, we would not be in in the middle of this 'depressing' Great Depression-2!
• Pg 206: This is my take-away from the book, as Crystal said: FOLLOW YOUR HEART. the author felt happiness he had never known before.

Indeed, EVERY DAY IS A LEAP OF FAITH ( pg 207)

How Starbucks Saved My Life by Miahael Gates Gill

Few days ago, I was on the western cost. For a week-long, intense training on Leadership.
Last week end, at Eastern coastal city, on an official visit. After a four-hour drive and couple of meetings, I was exhausted.

Once back in room at Sheraton, I observed there was nothing to read. Hotel had left nothing inside nor did I carry anything. I was in no mood to ask for/read a newspaper either. I ventured out. And, I was glad to know a branch of my favourite bookstall was just next door. . .

As is my habit, I checked out new releases. Nothing stuck a chord. I checked at the counter for my list of books from my cellphone. Again, they had none of the books. Not even, Malcolm Gladwell's latest. I came back and was again looking at a particular shelf... the same salesmanager came across and suggested a book. I said I had read Eat, Pray and Love. Then, he pulled out another book, HOW STARBUCKS SAVED MY LIFE, perhaps the last copy of the same. I gave a quick glance and decided to go ahead with the acquisition. And, God bless the sales manager.

Some thoughts:

• The cover and the gist on the back cover got me hooked ( as always, I pick up only those books I get hooked)


• An inspiring rags to riches story of an Ivy league educated, JWT veteran, who gets his pink slip.


• He has already messed up his personal life.


• Ends up as a Partner at Starbucks Cafe, where he meets a black american young lady, his new boss


• He talks about 'his earlier life' and his new and inspiring life at Starbucks.

Indeed it was 'a wake-up call'

President Obama

Riding the unprecedented popularity and expectation, Obama takes over the post of the most powerful position on earth. With the WE CAN campaign, he stirred the nation into action.
He has challenged the status quo. He defied the prediction of several experts to reach to this level. A high decibel campaign, innovative vehicles such as e-channels to reach out, getting a cross section of celebrities to endorse, a relevant punch-line ( We Can!)...

Hats off to America....

Often we reach a point to make a choice: Personal preference Vs Common Good. We come across such situations in our personal, professional and social roles. Every choice has an impact, in short/medium/long term. Needless to add, our motto should be common good, which over a period of time should become a habit. We should always place the society/nation/others/
company/institution/group ahead of ourselves.

Americans had the guts to place the nation ahead of personal preference by voting to office a Black American. History would judge this as one of the defining moments of America. Americans, through this choice, showed why they are indeed a great nation.

Obama has generated himalayan expectations. Let us pray for his success so that he is able to live up to the expectations he and his campaign have created. America and World badly needs such a Great Leadership!

Learning

Oliver Wendell Holmes, "a mind once exposed to a new idea will never return to it's original dimensions." Powerful thought there.

When you are exposed to a new idea in a book that you read, whether you really get that idea consciously or not, you are not the same person you were before you picked up that book. At some level, you have changed. You see the world a little differently. You have grown.

So read for a change. Stay hungry for learning. Always be curious. And keep raising the bar.

Source : Robins blog

Inspiring thoughts on Leadership

Three factors, integral to good leadership in corporate life is C - I - D:

• Creativity
• Integrity
• Descipline

Acc to Robin Sharma, best practices that drive sustained personal development and changes in performance levels:

• Daily affirmations
• Visualization
• Reviewing our goals and key performance indicators each morning during our Holy Hour to drive focus and enlisting the support of other people who are devoted to similar goals.

Nelson Mandela

Some inspiring lessons from this great leader :

1. Courage is not the absence of fear - it's inspiring others to move beyond it
2. Lead from the front but don't leave your base behind
3. Lead from the back and let others believe they are in front
4. Know your enemy and learn about his favorite sport
5. Keep your friends close - and your rivals even closer
6. Appearances matter - and remember to smile
7. Nothing is black or white
8. Quitting is leading too

SOurce : Robins Blog ( based on article in TIME)

Left-handed, a better LEADER?

One in 10 people in the general population is left handed - but lot of children in earlier generations would have been forced to switch hands :)

• both Barack Obama & John Mc Cain are southpaws
• in 1992, all 3 contenders : Gerofe HW Bush, Bill Clinton & Ross Perot
• also few earlier : Harry Tryman, Gerald Ford, Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton ...!

Pablo Picasso and Benjamn Franklin were lefties too.They also exhibit better communication skills. Are lefties better-equipped to handle the challenges of Leadership ? They seem to be...

Check out : Sam Wang & Sandra Aamodt's book in "Welcome to your brain : why you lose your car keys but never forget how to drive and other puzzles of everyday life"

KIM:A fitting champion for Woods' event

Tiger woods dominates the Golf-arena, God-like. His story would inspire people for generations, like many other great sportsmen, who have not only hit the pinnacle, but also remained a fine example of Character.

Tiger Woods is personally responsible for the success of this new player, Kim, who is considered to be the next Tiger !

In an earlier match, he was ('fashionably'!) late ... but found Tiger already there and was 'calm, cool, imperial and adult', like a true professional. And that was enough to 'wake up' Kim and swear ' he would change'.... Rest is history.... or history in the making !

It is just that one proverbial step that keeps us away from jumping from Good to Great !

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/06/AR2008070602177.html

"Today, be a little bolder. Reach a little higher. Be a little kinder. Be a bigger dreamer."
- Robin Sharma

Business Leader

Kevin Roberts, global CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi : excerpts from his interview....

• Key to a successful campaign : All you need is love - Indeed…That is the case with anything...esp to reach a level of excellence
• He accepts he is not a team player and would always like to lead a team - This is more than ‘autocratic’ style of leadership :)
• His personal, and his company’s success depends on the next big idea & he is always focusing on it...
• His main job is to inspire his 7000 plus employees - That should be the case with every leader, in every field of activity... INSPIRE !
• In 2006, he developed the Lovemarks marketing technique - based on the idea that the strongest brands are the ones that establish an emotional connection with the consumers.
• Today, he says, is the "age of the idea"
• While dealing with Toyota, a senior there said ‘Kevin, you will never know more about cars than Toyota,but we will never know more about the people that buy them than Saatchi & Saatchi." "So to me the consumer is boss."

Role of business is to make the world a better place.....INSPIRING STUFF

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/518547-the-power-of-love