Its simply magic

Its simple magic

My friend Madhu Madhan and I keep exchanging thoughts now n then that provides some interesting insights to life. Here is one very powerful but yet simple reasoning Madhu has provided a while ago. It happened when Madhu and family were at a Magic show during a weekend.

As narrated by Madhu…

We were at the PC Sorcar Master magic show this weekend. The kids in the group were sitting at the edge of the seat mouths wide open their eyes rarely blinking. My 3 year old started crying thinking they really pushed a sword through a screaming man. On the drive back the grown-ups were exhausted answering questions about 'how was it done' and 'was it real'. I slowly nudged my 7 year old into taking the perspective of magic into the real world and fired back observations at him such as 'Aren't trees growing out of the ground magic?', 'see how magically the flowers bloom and then die', 'imagine how children are born', 'there is so much magic happening around you'. All that got a muted response, but I knew the seed has been sown. I'm a firm believer that familiarity and knowledge rids us of the awe with which we look at the world around us as though it's magic. If we can shed that ego of knowledge or the burden of knowing we can simply enjoy the greatest magic of all that we all live amidst in this world. Let's make a cautious choice to observe atleast one spontaneous magic around us everyday/every week. Then life can be beautiful and enchanting just the way it should be.

Super powerful thought it is...

Inspiring Discovery

As read in one of Harvey’s article

The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. It's a remarkable feat to observe -- so effortless and graceful, a real defense mechanism necessary on the predator-filled savannas. But put these magnificent creatures in an enclosure in a zoo surrounded by just a three-foot wall, and the animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will land. They will be killed rather than risk the unknown.

Many humans share these characteristics. They thrive in familiar territory, doing what they know is safe and comfortable, but they won't take any risks for fear of failure. They would rather watch opportunities pass them by than jump over the wall.

And then there is the barnacle which makes one single and lasting decision about where it's going to live. After it decides, the homely little creature spends the rest of its life with its forehead cemented to a rock or attached to a ship. It survives by capturing food with its feathery legs and fending off predators. Not a glamorous existence, to be sure.

Again, parallels can be drawn to human behavior. Some people will attach themselves to a job or company with no intention of doing much other than eating or being eaten.

Have you ever wondered how a little stake in the ground attached to a chain can restrain a four-ton elephant? These powerful creatures must be trained to stay with their keepers. For the first few days they are in captivity, the elephants are tied to bamboo trees with heavy rope. After trying unsuccessfully to free themselves, the animals give up, and can be restrained thereafter by a rope anchored to a small stake.

Certainly the stake is no match for the elephant's power, but these largest of land mammals have learned to be helpless. Chances are you've worked with a few elephants, who won't leave their comfort zone even though they have plenty of strengths to protect them. Their spirits are broken and they step back at the least resistance.

Of course, we can also learn plenty of positive lessons from animal behavior.

In the 1930s, a leading zoologist concluded it should be impossible for a bumblebee to fly. That is because its size, weight and the shape of its body are all wrong in relation to its total wingspread. Fortunately, no bumblebees have ever studied aerodynamics so they just naively keep on doing what they should logically be incapable of doing.

We work with people like that too. They buzz around, doing the seemingly impossible without giving it a second thought. No explanation for what they are able to accomplish: they just do what needs to be done, and along the way, they pollinate ideas and make them grow.

Watch a duck navigate across a lake. It looks so smooth and steady, floating along, like a postcard from the north woods. Look under the surface, and observe how hard the webbed feet are working. Then look at the wake the duck leaves behind. A ten-pound duck, less than a foot wide, opens up an angle of at least 40 degrees, with ripples extending more than 50 feet. The duck has left its mark--more than 600 times its size!

We have that extra sixth sense and its really upto us to make use of it for a great living!

Telling-Lies-No-Papa

Telling lies no papa…

Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-violence, in his June 9 lecture at the University of Puerto Rico, shared the following story as an example of "non-violence in parenting":

"I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa , in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies. One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day in town, my father ask me to take care of several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced.

When I dropped my father off that morning, he said, ' I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home together. ' After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered.

By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00. He anxiously asked me, ' Why were you late? ' I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, ' The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait, not realizing that he had already called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: ' There' s something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn' t give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.

So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered. I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again. I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday.

“That is the power of non-violence."

[Thanks to Rohit for sharing this article]

All About Excellence

Sculptor and Excellence

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?" The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it." The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency.

Sand To Pearl

First of all its great to read a poem after a long-time [not that i never came across one for long time]

This poem is as found in of one of Harvey's article

"Plain Old Oyster" attributed to David Cohen

There once was an oyster, whose story I'll tell
Who found that some sand, had gotten into his shell
It was only a grain, but gave him great pain
For oysters have feelings, although they are plain.

Now, did he berate the harsh workings of fate
That had brought him to such a deplorable state?
"No," he said to himself, "Since I cannot remove it,"
I'll lie in my shell, and think how to improve it."

The years rolled around, as the years always do,
And he came to his ultimate destiny ... stew.
Now the small grain of sand that had bothered him so,
Was a beautiful pearl all richly aglow.

This tale has a morale, for isn't it grand,
What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand?
Think ... what could we do, if we'd only begin,
With some of the things that get under our skin.

This is what a determined spirit can achieve...

This is also Integrity

[Thanks to Nandini for sharing this wonderful article of Mr. Bagchi]

While discussing instances of professional conduct while researching for the book, here is a great lesson from the life of Amit Varma, a man I deeply admire. Amit got his MBA from Kellogg School of Management and has been with MindTree ever since we started. Today, he heads MindTree’s worldwide consulting practice in IT strategy out of California, USA. Here is a story about integrity and values from his school days that has shaped Amit’s business outlook and I am sure will touch you deeply:

“This is an incidence that goes some time back when I was 14 yrs old and was representing my state (West Bengal) in cricket. We were playing the final game of the qualifiers and the semi finalists would have been decided based on the outcome of this game. We were playing Karnataka and both of us needed to win to qualify - we still had an outside chance of qualifying based on the outcome of another game but Karnataka had to beat us to qualify. It so happened that the weather intervened after the first half of the game and per the rules the points were to get split between the teams. This would have given us the advantage and would have helped us qualify based on the total points and would have knocked the Karnataka team out. We were all rejoicing in our dressing and the high fives had started when our coach walked in and said that he had agreed to play the game again the following day. Needless to say, there was shock, dismay and disbelief on our face when we heard this - why would someone want to do this especially when this outcome had helped us qualify?

Our coach told us that if we really wanted to win the championship, we should do it by winning and not by relying on statistical methods - in his words “you win by playing; if you had to sit and do statistics, you are all better off sitting in school and attending the right classes”.

We lost the game the next day and didn’t make the semi finals! None of us could ever believe that our coach had done this to us.

It so happened that Karnataka went on to win the championship and when the team went to collect their awards, their coach called our entire team on the podium and ensured that we all received the awards with his team. He specifically called out our coach and said that if he had not been professional and agreed to play again, some other team would have been receiving this award and he actually went on to dedicate the award to our coach and us.

We felt extremely humbled - the seeds of professionalism were probably sowed in most of us right then and there but the true understanding of what happened sunk in much later in life. Even today I ask myself - would I have done the same had I been in our coach’s shoes especially with the benefit of knowing that we actually lost the replayed game? As much as I’d like to think I’d have done that, I’m really not sure.”

How often we get to hold our integrity wherein breaking it is fine too just as in above example? Those are the times that are true tests to our integrity.

Pair Of Old Shoes

A young man, a student in one of the universities, was on a walk with his professor one day , a man whom the students considered a friend for his kindness to those who waited on his instructions. As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which were belonged to a poor man who was working in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day's work.

The student turned to the professor, saying: "Let us play a trick on the man. We will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them ..." .My young friend," answered the professor, "We should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of this poor man.

Put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how this affects him.." The student did so and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes.

While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were to be seen upon his countenance. He gazed upon the coin, turned it around and looked at it again and again. He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin.

His feelings overcame him . . . He fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and uttered aloud a fervent thanks in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom this timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing .The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears."Now," said the professor, are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?"The youth replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. .. I feel now the truth of these words, which I never understood before- "It's more blessed to give than to receive."

If you want happiness for a lifetime - Help someone

[Thanks to Ram for sharing this nice article]

Sachin-Job-Love

Like Sachin, love the job

G S Vasu is the resident editor of ‘The New Indian Express’, Hyderabad
source : express 19nov2009

At one of the meetings I had with a group of associates, I asked if they loved watching a movie in a theatre. The response was a ‘yes’. Turning to the smokers, I asked if they loved every puff they took. ‘Yes’, they replied. The same was the response from those who loved every sip of whisky or beer.

On all these, they spend money — for cinema tickets, cigarettes, liquor and a cup of coffee or a favourite dish for the girlfriend. Then, I asked why they don’t love the work they do, though they get paid for it. The small gathering just remained silent.

Many greats paid glowing tributes to Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar on his completing 20 years of international cricket, but the one fundamental reason that has kept him going for two decades is the simple fact that he loves doing what he does, an aspect the legend himself has emphasised more than once. Being just one among his millions of fans, I am not qualified to write about his exploits on the field, but I began wondering how a case-study of his success, rather his traits, applied to almost every organisation or company — those that do exceedingly well and emerge leaders, those that keep trying to do better but never manage to reach the goal and those that just fall apart.

How many of us actually love what we do at the work place? Many don’t, whether they admit it or not. It could be true of a carpenter, a journalist, a manager or a marketing person. But the fact is most of us spend 70 per cent of our active life at work and if we don’t enjoy that time, life itself becomes meaningless. Making employees love what they are supposed to do is the key to the success of any organisation. Otherwise, it is like a husband and wife living together (for a variety of reasons) but not exactly loving each other. Just as my boss makes it a point to emphasise that in respect of journalists, there is no alternative to good writing. But it is possible only when one does it with passion.

‘You’re only as good as you are today’. It is true of everyone, Tendulkar included. How many times have we heard or read people saying it was time he quit, until the maestro kept proving himself again and again, just as he did in Hyderabad recently when he played one of the finest one-day innings the game has seen? Sachin is under scrutiny all the time but lesser mortals like us can often get away with non-performance. I had a colleague who always told me how he had exposed some scandal two decades ago. But, in the last decade of his service, I never saw him write and he could get away with it. Even today, the one remark that I keep hearing from employees in various organisations is: “We have worked very hard in the initial years of our service. But, we are no longer interested.”

The reasons could vary: one hasn’t got a promotion for years, another hasn’t received a decent increment and yet another has no faith in the future of the organisation he works for. Creating effective mechanisms — money and recognition — is the key to motivating people, the two factors that had a role to play even in Tendulkar’s success, just as they had a negative impact in the case of other equally talented sportspersons who did not have the same kind of money or recognition in a cricket-crazy nation.

One manager was confronted with a similar situation in a department — a bunch of disheartened staffers, more than required, and all of them doing things in the most routine fashion. Some of them were capable, a few others incorrigible or ‘resisters to change’ as I would like to put it. The latter group was slowly weeded out and a part of the money saved used to reward those who remained. They are much better off today than a few months ago; five of them doing what eight did earlier. After all, as Jack Welch said in his Winning, plaques and public fanfare have their place. But without money rewards lose a lot of their sheen. Equally important is a non-bureaucratic and meaningful evaluation system so that the right people are rewarded. I am reminded of the CEO of a company who spent all his time in the office in engaging low-level employees to spy on the seniors. Over the years, it wrecked the careers of many and in the process the organisation itself. Just as Indian selectors often kill promising sportspersons because the consideration is not based on talent but something else.

For one last time, I shall return to Sachin and this time it is about the lack of ego despite all the success he has achieved, and his commitment and integrity. Good and great people never think they have reached the top of their game and they never allow their integrity to be questioned. Today, he is praised as much for his commitment and integrity as for his batting. But, how many companies have heads with a similar attitude? On the contrary, many of them are saddled with leaders, smart and capable, but who believe they are so indispensable that they should not be bound by anything, including the company’s values, which are written in boldface and kept on the table to draw everyone’s attention except their own.

They can never be in a team, just as a friend narrated the episode in a company where one head kept fingering another till the latter left, totally frustrated and dejected. There is this story of another senior manager who used all his creativity to violate a rule and claim refund of a certain expenditure that is not allowed. The accountant knew passing the bill was a mistake and yet could not muster the guts to say ‘no’ because the claim was made by the boss. More often not, ethics apply more to the heads than those under them because it is the former who has to set an example and also has a greater opportunity to steal, lie or cheat.

Sachin might have walked on to the cricket field hundreds of times so far and yet each time all of us cheer every minute that he spends at the crease and feel terrible when he walks back. The reverse is perhaps true of most heads — employees hate the moment the boss enters office and feel relieved when he/she leaves. That’s why I would say the life of Sachin Tendulkar can be a good lesson for any corporation that is required to manage a large workforce as it would be, in any case, to every aspiring cricketer.