Reading list.... 2015 - 2016 ... Quarter One...

Since last few days I have come across some great books and site so here are they:

The work of Art & You are a writer by Jeff Goins (To be purchased,  waiting list)

The war at Art by Steven Pressfield  (Read)

The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor (Reading)

Thinking fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Purchased , reading wait list)

Believe me these are life changing books....

Aanekant ...... Lord Mahavir's Message & Solution for many world problems...

Aanekant , (title of this blog is also based on this principle) is one of the finest messages of Lord Mahavir. 

Aanekant means the principles of pluralism and multiplicity of viewpoints, the notion that truth and reality are perceived differently from diverse points of view, and that no single point of view is the complete truth. 

Today "I" am right and therefore others are wrong , others are my opponent and in some extreme thinking others should be eliminated has taken over the world thinking.

All view points are conditioned and /or partial. There can not be absolute right or wrong. Terrorist killing people are right from their own stand point but if they change their point of view they may give up violence. Changing point of view can change behaviors & therefore nothing is absolute right or wrong.

Two people killing an animal : One with an intention of killing and eating and one by mistake. 

Technically both have killed so same rule applies to both is absolutism: However intent killer would attract more intense Karmas while accidental killer would attract lighter Karmas. Even our courts view this differently.     

If we understand and believe in the principle of Aanekant our own behavior will become moderate. We will be more open in accepting other's point of view not necessarily by giving up our point of view. We will become more accommodative which will reduce our hatred towards others. 

When world peace is seriously at stake this principle of Aanekant propagated by Lord Mahavir can offer the solution we all are seeking desperately. 

May his teaching bless our lives on the occasion of Mahavir Janmakalyanak (Birthday of Lord Mahavir).

Happy Morning.....not Good Morning

Happy Morning......

One of the Gym members where I go regularly wishes everyone Happy Morning and not Good Morning. His logic - do we wish on birthday as Happy Birthday or Good Birthday ?

Sounds interesting. 

Today during interaction he said ," By coming to Gym daily not only our body remains healthy but mind also becomes healthy. " We all know that. 

Doing something good in the morning motivates us and keep us in good mood through out the day.  Good mood impacts our other work,  this is a chain reaction.    

We are not happy because of our external success but reverse is true, we are happy and that impacts our external performance and success.

Referring to one of the personal trainers my Happy Gym friend said," He is full happy not a 1% is waste."

Are we fully and always HAPPY? or is there a waste? 

Remove unhappiness waste from your mental system and become 100% happy as that impacts our performance and therefore chance of success. Don't wait for your happiness till you become successful or till you get what you want. Become happy is a prerequisite of success. 

Have a Happy day. 

Inviting memorable customer experience stories

My first draft manuscript of book on Customer Experience is at editing stage, I need examples of great customer experience stories to be incorporated in the book. Inviting stories.....Well free ebook for all whose stories will be selected for the book...Look forward to amazing stories.

End of Volunteerism ....

Volunteering ends when desire for credit and thanks exceeds desire to do selfless work. 

Yes many people whom we assume to be doing social work , selfless work are suffering from deep desire to get recognition, deep desire to get credit of their work in public,  deep desire to get some direct & indirect benefit out of it. 

Mostly these are the people who talk about principles and ethics every now and then. They demonstrate by their words how mush they care about the institution they are working for. Ethics, truth, straight talks , I swear are some of the words of their vocabulary to camouflage their deep desire.

Just remove them from their post and see how their opinion & vocabulary changes. All institutions are stuffed with this kind of people. Society is more in danger from these people as others are known dangers but these people are unknown & hidden dangerous insiders. 

Volunteering means selfless work, desire for credit and public recognition ends selflessness and it becomes Give and Take business as usual. 

What the hell !!!.... Ok Fine...

My just completed teenage daughter utters two phrases frequently. Language of teenagers are different and shapes the future of the language.

Coming to these phrases, there is a great learning from these.

In life we are always concerned with one or many things. When any such incidence we encounter personally first utterance is : What the hell !!!

However we are taught by Stephen Covey that there are two area in our life: Circle of Concerns and Circle of Influence. Expanding circle of influence will contracts our circle of concerns. 

When we are in our area of concern , what the hell situation will be frequent.  We have two options then:

1) Expand the area of influence to address the concern
2) Accept the reality that you cant do anything about the situation

In both the scenario our response after what the hell should be - Ok Fine;

1) Ok Fine , let me do something about it 
2) Ok Fine, let me accept that I have to live with it

Lesson is do not remain in what the hell situations and quickly go into Ok Fine mode with any of the two options above.

My daughter when she understands why of what the hell situation usually says OK Fine with 2nd option & occasionally pursues 1st option.

These two phrases are very important & going hand in hand in real life situations.

Whenever we are in what the hell state of mind immediately go into Ok Fine mode to remain calm or become action oriented as the case may be.

Lessons in life comes from anywhere and everywhere. 

NAMO - QUICK Wins please (Humbly)

There is a concept called QUICK Wins. 

There is a concept called Economic Education  

When you are working on a larger good , to keep your supporters and believers glued to you , you have to offer some quick immediate visible benefit / difference. Since larger project takes long time this is very critical to keep the supporters glued to you.  

PM is in economic overhaul mode, visiting various countries which will boost our economy  , making Government work harder etc etc. but for people its useless unless they see some quick benefit and life changing experience.  On the contrary foreign trips and pictures work other way like PM is wasting resources in foreign tours and doesn't care about the people who voted him. Series of QUICK wins initiatives is a MUST. (This is also known as low hanging fruits.)

Secondly we want to get away from freebies culture so voters must know the impact of freebies. Economic education should be the part of Govt's economic agenda.  Working to improve economy without educating people HOW it works is again like a silent Govt. ( You may be speaking all other useless things, that is not a talkative leader unless it offers some insight.)   Communication is critical to get votes, communication is critical to expand voters base, communication is critical to make people know what you are doing , how you are doing and  how will you achieve the goal. 

Govt MUST initiate economic education programme like Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. 

We need Ministry of Citizen Communication (I & B is anyway useless) educating citizen about important issues without spending on photos of political masters. (People know the PM , they want to know how he is working to change their lives for the better.) 

(PS: None of the above works and helps against Arrogance. First prerequisite for a public leader is Humbleness. Saying I am humble means nothing unless you are seen so. Entire present political class is suffering from this. Warren Buffet has recently quoted," ABC of failure for companies - Arrogance, Bureaucracy & Complacent , it is also applicable to all types of organisations.)

The Art of Doing Nothing

Our PM Mr. Narendra Modi is workaholic. He never took vacation during his tenure as CM of Gujarat. He is driving all crazy in Delhi by his super aggressive working style. 

He is getting praised from all over the world. 

This action begets praise culture is making us action oriented 24 X 7.

When we are not doing anything we are considered lazy.  We always want to do something so much so that many of my friends tells me they get bore on Sunday. 

I think in school we all wanted that extra holiday and now when we have grown up we don't know what to do with our holidays and free time.

I think workaholic means running away from the self.  When we always want to engage with doing external things we are infact do not know how to live with the self. 

People don't like their holidays, vacation or free time is infact a problem with our society. Today there is an article in Mint about Great Rajni Kothari a political economist. Author says he believed that no one should pay price for the progress. This is referred as environment ,villages & villagers need not pay price for the progress. I would add even no generation should pay price for the progress.

We should no over work and in the process kill ourselves in the name of progress and development. I think we are doing for future generation is just a myth ; be it economic development or be it independence freedom fight. Every generation do and act for their own benefit. Benefit to next generation is just a by product.  

Point is we all need to PAUSE and reflect the kind of fast life we all are living under the pretext of working for next generation or for an employer or nation building.

Work with commitment YES but don't fool your self by justifying over work. Have  equal enthusiasm for free time activities. Enjoy your free time and doing nothing time. Doing doesn't mean doing for earning only. Inculcate personal hobby and spend time with self and family. Take vacation and expand your perspective.  

We all spend our prime time in working for earning but 2/3rd of all employees are unhappy. Even entrepreneurs become slave to their business and miss expected happiness and perceived freedom.

Bottom line is LOVE your free time, LEARN the art of doing nothing , LIVE with the self. Our first duty is towards the self and at the cost of our happiness we even cant fulfill our SO CALLED duty towards others.   

Next time when you get free time ,  feel privileged and not just KILL free time CHERISH this time because this is time you are actually LIVING for self. Art of doing noting is the real ART. 

Is your company board lopsided? Lacks diversity?

Last week I was discussing CFO of one of the listed companies about their board vacancy and new members on the board. He informed me that they have inducted two chartered accountants (CA). One CA was already there on their board. I wondered how many CAs a company needs on their board? Company board indicates diversity and inattentiveness of the company.  

In most Indian companies we will find CA and lawyers as independent directors. I fail to understand compliance is the only role of the board? Do executive directors not want views from professionals from various fields? 

Marketing, HR, Economists, Architects, and why not writers ad artists, for out of the box views , social media expert, IT professionals , film directors , media & communication professionals, international and local domain experts I mean there are many diverse professionals available who can add perhaps more value that legal and finance professionals. 

But most companies do not want to think differently. Independent directors should play active role in growth and strategy of the company which is much more than compliance and tax planning or linear thinking. there is noting wrong with CA and lawyers on board but excessive of them wont work. 

In light of above today's interview of SBI Chairperson Mrs Bhattacharya is welcome that PSU boards have surfeit of CAs. I think this should be a thinking point for all boards to review critically excessive of anything. Company board need diversity in times we live in. Markets outside is dynamic and need lateral thinking. When war is of talent , limited and lopsided boards will make companies struggle to survive.

(Anti-Disclaimer:  I myself is a CA)   

Essence , very profound ...

Reflect on this, we don't need long essays or papers to realise this : 

“Do you have any idea how many lives we must have gone through before we even got the first idea that there is more to life than eating, or fighting, or power in the Flock? A thousand lives, Jon, ten thousand!” 

― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

(This may be lazy blog post but let it be...)