In a recent discussion with a few just-out-of-college future technologists, we got into something interesting – they all have a dream to become a successful entrepreneur.
Usually a dream is the first step, with that belief to accomplish what you are likely to set out for is equally important. Once you have this belief, then there should be prospective intent ( in terms of goal setting and high level planning ) with a first end result in mind. Then comes the passion to achieve is critical – many people cook, only few are renowned as Chefs – the passion is what separates them from the ordinary and they take pride in what they cook – I always says they know what the food lovers would relish. These are the few ingredients of accomplishing what you set out for.
Dream + Belief + Intent + Passion = Achieving Intended Results -> Success
Tamil History reinforced
Ponniyin Selvan – great Tamizh movie, well done and comes close to what Amarar Kalki had written. After seeing it, I did come to a realization that we had been forced to learn only about Mughals and Britishers in our History classes in middle and high school, rather than know and understand our own heritage and rich history. Raja Raja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola had the world’s largest naval fleet in and around the 12th century when they went to many SE Asian countries and established Hinduism there. This movie should be the wake-up call , we need to start redoing our school’s history syllabus to know and understand more about our rich heritage and culture and know more about the conquests and the cultural side that were nourished during that period between 5th and 14th century. I hope we have the inscriptions for this or we need to start discovering them and put the real story together in an authentic way. Time to wake up is now, know more about our local and Indian History and not to read more about the invaders who plundered us.
I will certainly like the TamilNadu government to look into this and change the syllabus to reflect our pride in the middle and high school history lessons. By the way, why are the Nagapattinam copper plates in Leiden Museum – time to bring them back here. Time to act and change the script is NOW.
Sponsorship JINX
The jersey sponsors for Indian Cricket team since 1990s like Wills, ITC, Sahara, PayTM, Star, Oppo and now Byjus have paid top dollars to get their branding across through most watched sport in India – they used Indian cricket to market their name. Now I notice Sahara is no more there, PayTM is in trouble with competition recently(I love this wallet though), OPPO is just an also-ran mobile company, and BYJUs seem to be exposed bare. Not sure if the intended RoI has been gained or they had established themselves as the key player (let alone be the leader) of their pack, and certainly does look like a Jinx to me most of the time. Any other inference?
FIFA world cup 2022 management lessons
FIFA 2022 World Cup finals: France vs Argentina. What a game. One of the best finals ever witnessed. There are few management lessons that can be inferred from the match:
1) Big players deliver during the big games and this is why they are paid the big bucks. All 11 played well but the big guys deliver more. There is always commotion amongst the rank and file in your organization about pay disparity on the same grade. One or two may get paid higher based on potential and delivered results or past achievements. But if you do not perform to potential or not delivering consistently, then you are shown the door (case in point C Ronaldo). Michael Jordan was paid big bucks because he delivered consistently for Chicago Bulls.
2. It is always the team that matters first. Both Messi and Mbappe not only scored goals but also were involved with many assists that went into the goal post. This is the trademark of great team player, however big they are. Individual greatness is not revered if the team fails.
3. Around 10 minutes before the first half , the French coach did two substitutions. Till that time, it was all Argentina. France were just in the field, doing nothing much. It take a good coach to recognize the inertia being built up to re-organize the team. Constantly re-balance your team for optimum and desired results. After that, the last 10 minutes of the first half France came back strongly and for the rest of the game.
4. Always look for the right moment to strike, especially when the competition is sitting on glory- after about 80 minutes of play, Argentina was slightly relaxed at 2-Nil and seeing this lethargy, MBappe strikes twice within 100 seconds to equalize and drag it to extra-time. And they did it again near the end of second half. Always be aware of your competition and suit your response accordingly. This is why organizations do competitive analysis but this has to be done regularly to change your game.
5. When it comes to penalty kicks, it can be anyone’s game. But anticipation is key. The better goal keeper either by plan or by luck anticipates where the striker would hit and goes to that side. It happened during the second hit of France – it was prevented by the Argentinian goalie. Take informed risks, and have mitigation plans in place.
6. Pressure makes one choke. Experience does matter when it comes to handling pressure. All five strikes are doing the same job – hit the ball to the goal. Some people freeze (like the third hit by France which hit the goal post and went away) and others deliver.
7. Incidentally, Argentina lost their first league match to Saudi Arabia. Many pundits started writing them off. Two things : (i) Never under-estimate the opponent – even the weaker team can cause an upset (ii) It takes will and effort to bounce back and eventually win it. Yes, it is possible. Never let setbacks ruin your day. Keep on trying till your succeed.
Great to see two equal teams fight till the end.
Resolutions – make them work
It is that time for RESOLUTIONS when a new year starts. Again, as in any goal, make them SMART.
I would always recommend dividing your precious time across three facets, and make each of them meaningful to you:
(i) Life – Family and friends
(ii) Work (and wealth) – your profession, save for a rainy day
and (iii) Health – taking care of it and keeping yourself in the best shape
Your hobbies, sport activities, gym, moonlighting, travel, religion, spiritual enlightenment, etc would all fall into one of these buckets.
But be wise to spend good percentage across these three depending on your priorities
Fancy Job Titles
Ridiculous to see such titles as Senior Associate Director, and Senior Assistant Vice President. What do these titles mean and what would be the responsibility of such titleholders. Honestly, it is a big joke, but for making the person happy with a Director or a Vice President as the suffix, and the prefix is laughable to say the least. And I can infer the deep and bad hierarchy in these companies which literally tells me they do not believe in flat hierarchies and hence efficiencies, and thus not an attractive company. Time to change now. Get rid of these titles – Director and VP, that is it. Let the folks earn these titles instead of getting accommodated in intermediate career rungs
Understand your customers
“The purpose of any business is to get and keep a customer. Without customers, no amount of engineering wizardry, clever financing, or operations expertise can keep a company going” – Theodore Levitt
Simply put, focus on market pull and not technology push. You need to show how to acquire new customers and what problem of theirs is your product or solution solving, that simple. Understand customers first and what they want and when, and deliver it to high quality.
Chin Mudra and about fingers
A noteworthy derivation about life, The Supreme and meditation, interpreted from Skanda Purana:
The Thumb stands apart from the rest. It is not in the same group as the other four fingers. Without the Thumb, the other four fingers cannot be totally functional . Hence the Thumb represents The Almighty.
The Fore finger or the Index finger signifies Life. Middle finger signifies Ego and Pride. The Ring finger signifies karma, dead or feat (can be good deeds or bad deeds) – it is the process of doing. The small finger or Pinky signifies Maya or Illusion.
God creates us and we all want to go back to bad through Moksha Mukthi – highly possibly only through good deeds and meditation. So, one has to keep the ego, bad deeds and illusions away from one’s life. Chin Mudra in Yoga is the touching of Index finger-tip with the Thumb – “life” joining with “God” – this is the basic pose for meditation.
So, when one meditates, we keep the Ego, Karma and Illusion away. This is when you become one in peace.
Some more tit bit on Ring finger: This is the finger associated with Apollo, the Greek God of Love and romance. This finger is also associated with the moon. The Romans believed the vein in the Ring finger on the left hand ran directly to the heart – “Vein of Love”. This is why wedding or engagement rings are worn on the left hand Ring finger.
The Bulls and the leaders
My extrapolation from a statement in Jeffrey Archer’s book when it comes to quality of senior leadership at the top of any organization: ” Only the suffix differentiates between the Bulls and the Bullshitters “. So true, lots of very ordinary guys who speak quite well with great Powerpoint skills are able to reach higher rungs of any organization, suppressing the awesome talent with real substance that are there inside the very same organization.
What is motivation and discipline?
Motivation is a thought, a realizable dream, a potent desire to do something because of some reason. It is NOT the act or action itself. Having just motivation is not enough. Being motivated is a good start.
Discipline is when you act on the dream and make it a reality. Discipline is when you take concrete steps to realize the thought or the dream. Discipline over time becomes a habit.
Great entrepreneurs have discipline as a key strength – they take an idea to fruition, or create a successful business.
Success = Motivation + Discipline + risk management
Discipline is what makes motivation happen. Say for example, one is motivated to join the gym but nothing happens unless you get to the gym regularly to push your body around which is where discipline is needed.