मित्रों त्योहारों का मौसम आ गया है। गणेशोत्सव हो गया है, कई और त्यौहार आने बाकि हैं। इन्हे मनाने के लिए कई संस्थाओं के लोग हमसे चंदा मांगने आयंगे। मेरी विनती है की उस समय हम सब चंदे के राशि का उपयोग या दुरुपयोग न सोचते हुए दिल खोल कर चंदा दें। हो सके तो जितने वे मांगे उससे ज्यादा। साल में एक बार ही देना पड़ता है और उतने पैसे तो हम बेवकूफी भरी चीज़ों पर, मॉल में घूमने में, महंगे लंच और डिनर पर, फ़िल्में देखने में अनायास ही खर्च कर देते हैं।

ये त्यौहार और उत्सव ही हमारे धर्मे और संस्कृति की धुरी हैं और उसकी व्यवस्था करने वाले ये लोग धर्म के अग्रणी सैनिक । जुलूसों और झांकियों में शराब पीकर नाचते हुए युवक भी हमारी पताका फहराने का अप्रितम काम करते हैं जो हम और आप नहीं कर सकते। याद रखें जब राजपूत जौहर करने निलकते थे तब उन्हें भी अफीम खिलाई जाती थी और आज भी सीमा पर लड़ने वाले सैनिकों को शराब मुहैय्या करायी जाती है ताकि वे असाधारण ऊर्जा एवं साहस का संचय कर सकें।

वक्त और ज़रूरत पड़ने पर यही लोग सर्वप्रथम देश और धर्म के काम आते रहे हैं और आगे भी आएंगे। वे यदि थोड़ा फिजूलखर्च करते हों या चंदे की राशि का एक भाग स्वयं पर खाने पीने में व्यय करते हों तो भी उसे नज़रअंदाज़ कर दें। इतनी बड़ी व्यवस्था बनाये रखने में इनके योगदान की उसे दक्षिणा समझें और भरघोष चंदा दे सभी उत्सवों को सफल बनायें।

Vivek Sharma

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What's on your mind?

Vivek Sharma

18 hours ago · Edited

लोग वहम में रहते हैं की हमें कोई अहम नहीं है।
इस 'हम' से बडा तो कोई वहम नहीं है।
अकेले आकर अकेले जाते हैं लोग।
फिर भी 'हम' होने का अहम पालते हैं लोग ।।

अमीरों को बड़प्पन का अहम है।
गरीबों को फूटी किस्मत का वहम है।
जिनमे समझदारी की सौगात है।
उन्हें दोनों की नासमझी पर रहम है ।

ताकतवर अहम में हाथ उठा जाते हैं।
कमजोर वहम में मैदान छोड़ जाते हैं।
हिम्मतवालों में जो होते हैं,
दोनों की बुज़दिली पर सहम जाते हैं।

हम में न तो अहम है, न ही वहम है,
ये सोच रखना भी तो एक अहम है।
हैं सही हर मायने में सिर्फ हम ही,
ये मानने से भी बड़ा क्या कोई वहम है?

Communication that works

The importance of communication has been so widely discussed, debated & recognized in the recent past that not much seems to be left to say on the topic. However all this frenzy has spawned off a rhetoric of its own. So long as it concerns individuals, communication seems to be doing well. When it comes to an organizational level, the politics of communication combined with the diplomacy of denying clarity often takes precedence over its spirit.

The rise of Google has seen knowledge being commoditized, but understanding still remains elusive to many. Spread of the MBA culture has further strengthened the practice of using jargons without practicing them. More often than not, the sense of what is to be communicated gets lost in the cloak of diplomacy, resulting in a lot of goody-goody noise being made without any substance. The tragedy is that there is too much sound to hear but nothing worth listening to.

This politics of making statements destroys the very essence of communication. Communication was neither meant to be a showcase of linguistic excellence, nor a sales demo of the Oxford dictionary. It was meant to convey messages, simple & clear. It should not be a verbose diarrhea of complex vocabulary that even complicated minds cannot digest. Communication must be precise & the meaning loud. What should be paraphrased is the spirit of the message, with the exuberance of jargon being silently subtle. This is a fact that most fail to fathom, especially the people at the senior management levels who later lament upon the inability of their juniors to be in sync with them.

Let us pledge to say whatever we want to or will do, even if it be a sour statement to make. Merely coating a sour reality with sugary coatings gives no positive results. Not that sugar is expensive. The cost of opportunity lost due to the intent not conveyed is drastically more so.

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation.

These are the words of Pearl Buck, the first American Woman to win the Nobel
Prize for literature. She herself received the Pulitzer & the Nobel at a very
young age, thus living her words. While Pearl ascribed this tendency to Youth, it
is equally true for other age groups as well. People of all sorts have plunged in
the seemingly impossible abyss & come out thundering that impossible is a
word found in the dictionary of fools. Fact of the matter is not that nothing is
impossible but that everything is possible, provide it is attempted & the correct
logic is applied. But just as one doesn't discover new lands without consenting
to lose sight of the shore for a very long time, there comes a time when the risk
to remain tight in the bud becomes more painful than the risk it takes to
blossom.
Moral of the sayings is that we can achieve if we attempt, Success will be ours if
we are willing to risk failure, but risk we must take, for there is no security on
this earth. Only opportunity, if you want to go high places. Intellect must not
take precedence over adventure & the heart should rule the mind. If we listened
to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship.
We'd never go into business, because we'd be too cynical. Well, that's
nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the
way down. The important thing is this: To be able at any moment to sacrifice
what we are for what we could become. Many mistake will be made on the way,
many ideas would prove futile but remember that the only person who never
makes mistakes is the person who never does anything & It is better to have
enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having
no ideas at all. A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but
more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.
We must set very high goals. Let them look difficult & distant. Always Bite off
more than you can chew, then chew it. Our teeth might be hurt by the
uncertain stones in between but Creativity requires the courage to let go of
certainties. Don't be afraid to climb a branch thinking it would break. That's
where the fruits are. If you fall, learn to appreciate that only those who dare to
fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
Think of things that you would like to do, would like to have & then run for
them. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away
from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream.
Discover. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

Something about 'Risk'

This issue seems to me to be one of the best in recent times. Very informative, practical & of real use to all. The snapshot on the Consumer Protection Act is especially interesting. The government has provided us a means to solve many of our problems, but we seldom use it the way & to the extent it should have been used. Awareness of our rights can really make a difference when dealing with problematic products or services.



Of special interest is the inspirational story about the Tomato seller. If one observes in depth, we & especially today’s younger lot has become so accustomed & addicted to the internet for everything that they seldom seem to realize that there is a life outside the net too. Internet was supposed to be the means that would enable our lives & a habit that will disable our creativity off it. But alas! It is sadly acquiring the status of a self sustained maize which is not only addictive in nature but also keeps on whirling the unaware habitual user into endless helices & spirals of its huge world wide web. Its time we start realizing that the world outside the internet is bigger, has been in existence for much longer & has far more potential.



The other thing worth mention is “Risk”. We in the finance industry have a fairly good idea of ‘Risk’ for our business hinges on it & its able management. The same thing applies in real, personal lives too. Many are in the habit of playing safe & reaping he benefits of both worlds. The winners however are those who jump in the fire & emerge unscathed. In one of our previous issues, we had dwelled on the importance of seizing the opportunities. Here it comes again. To win a game for yourselves, you have to play it. Playing comes with the risk of loosing, but should you play, there is the prospect of winning the game – For Yourself. If we just play safe from the stands, we can cheer for either team (& can always side with the winner), but the win will be theirs not ours.

If you can feel it; you can do it.

Thinkers & philosophers are often seen attaching great significance to developing one’s self confidence. Many of them are often seen advising people to develop confidence in their abilities even if they don’t yet possess the abilities in reality. In doing so, unrestrained self confidence often becomes a Damocles sword capable of transgressing to the category of over confidence, which is detrimental to the well being of all & sundry. What then is the ideal way out?



When we look at case studies of instances like the above in retrospect & analyse them for the causes & consequences, it comes to light that the answer lies in something called ‘self esteem’. These two words represent the difference between the positive trait of displaying self confidence & the negative one of being over confident.



We all need to have a self esteem about ourselves, if we aim to take giant leaps of progress. Self esteem is different from self confidence in that it means it believes in the inherent ability of the individual’s resourcefulness to tide over the hardships by searching for & finding out the suitable solution as against self confidence, which is the belief of an individual of possessing the solution to the problems. Both qualities do look a lot similar, but have a fine line dividing them.



Having a high self esteem forces one to look for & find solutions to problem that might actually work. Having a high level of self confidence often leads to bits of despair, if the assumed solutions do not work as well as planned.



High self esteem is also necessary to propel oneself forward. We will move ahead only if we firmly believe in our capability of being able to do so. forward. High self esteem itself compels our inner selves to action & leads the way beyond. This along with a positive attitude shall mean that the faculties required for development shall surely be acquired by us, sooner or later.



To succeed, it is not necessary to have a perfect beginning. Our behaviour in managing the progression of later events is more important. Mountaineers do not reach the summit directly, the beginning is always made at the humble ground below

Welcome to my New year

April is the start of a new year for us. The financial year is in fact more important for all of us, not the least because we being professionals have to align all over activities to the Financial year. This is the time for all professional new year resolutions (target/goal setting in layman’slanguage), analysing our performance in the past year, deriving learnings from the same & planning for the times ahead.



At present, we are on the threshold of a massive upsurge not only in terms of the traditional parameter of business volumes, but also in terms of the way we look at different perspectives of doing business. We are undergoing a radical transformation of outlook & approach in the way we function. Results are already very encouraging & the future promises to be very bright.

The markets also seem to be faring quite well, adding to the optimism.


Let us then, gear up for the great future that lies ahead. Let us promise to our own selves that this shall be the best financial year we have ever had.

It is never too late to become (or to do) what you might have been…

A great number of employees seem to be perennially stressed out, loose interest in their work & slowly develop a general dislike towards the work they do. This dislike eventually spills on to their whole work environment including their colleagues, bosses & the organization as a whole.

Many a times this is due to our lack of interest in what they do. Most people love their jobs, but many do not like their work. ‘Work’ is different from a ‘Job’

A ‘job’ is a combined function of your company, designation, position in the organisational hierarchy, salary & last but not the least, future prospects. These are all, the external stimuli which attract you to your occupation. On the other hand the ‘work’ you do needs to come from an internal stimulus, which is different from all of the above. This stimulus can be your innate liking for this type of work, hobbies, passions, dreams & aspirations either partly or all of them. If the ‘works’ that you need to do in the ‘job’ you are in fall within the scope of any of the above, you will like your ‘job’ as well as your ‘work’, else you can only like your job.

In situations where employees like their jobs (basically for the status it gives them, one of the external stimuli), but do not like their work (because they are not able to connect it to an internal stimulus) frustration or despair is bound to develop sooner or later.

What then is the key to having the best of both worlds? Success lies in loving your work, not the job. If you like your work, have a passion for it, you will definitely succeed in your job irrespective of whether you like either of the external stimuli or not. Vice versa is however untrue.

For those who are stuck with this problem, there are only two ways out. First & the easiest is to develop a liking for the work that you are supposed to do. Start feeling for it, get inspired from the great achievers in the field, develop a passion for it and dramatic results will start showing up before you even know them. If somehow, you do not find yourself comfortable with the idea of continuing to do the ‘work’ you are presently required to do, then, better than languishing around & spoiling yourself along with others; it is time to change the ‘work’ itself. Recession is well past, opportunities are surging everywhere & it should not take somebody long to find the right fit, provided the fit really exists.

Professional success, in essence is mostly about nurturing your ideas & nourishing your dreams, being passionate about them & striving to achieve greater heights of success in what your relish rather than be bogged down in a monotony you do not connect with. Always do what you love to do, else you will not like what you do & can forget about succeeding in it, but for some stroke of brilliant luck, which seldom comes at the right time. It is never too late to become (or to do) what you might have been….but YES, to win; you have to play first, without any preset notions of definite immediate success. You will have to make the attempts & take the risks; rewards don’t come automatically. If you don’t like taking risks, start loving your work. NOW.

A few words about Time Management

Very often, we want to do a lot of things, but don’t seem to have the time for them. Routine office work, travelling & other chores take up the whole day & by the time we can think of starting some developmental work, its time to go to sleep. The next day follows the same routine & so on.
Everybody has almost the same time at his disposal, but some people seem to be doing so many things at once. How does that happen? Time Management is the key.
Time management skills are the ability of a person to understand and overcome the paucity of time. A practitioner of time management is always in control of his life & able to slow down the clock, is never under stress and has high energy levels. He makes dramatic progress in his professional life. The ability to balance work, personal, and family time is a direct offshoot of the ability to manage our time as it gives enough flexibility to respond to changing circumstances.
Time management is not a talent; it can be learned quite easily. Even if we just think about this all the time & try to introspect on the reason of being perennially busy, many benefits can be derived. No need to attack all the reasons at once, just start with the smallest obstacle that is wasting our time & many problems will disappear.
It may very well be that we might have already thought about this problem earlier & might even know the solutions, but if we still don't do it, it is time to work on developing our willpower to put us into action. Knowledge without action is useless, try to become mentally strong. If we forget to manage our time in the rush of things, its wise to keep multiple reminders, alarms, etc. or ask others to remind.
Don’t wait for something to happen, better to start immediately. No matter what our schedules are, all of us can improve upon them & increase our efficiency. If not sure of how to make a beginning, start by planning to keep yourself free for thinking about your/your team’s/you department’s future development for some fixed time in a week (don’t do routine work in this time), say the Fridays or Saturdays (depending on whatever is the end of your week) & we will begin to see results.

Laying the groundwork for change management

In the last few posts we have dwelt on the issue of Change Management. We over saw the importance of the process, various things that lead to it & its many benefits etc. However in the absence of a clear methodology ‘change’ proves difficult to handle. Outlined below are some steps that go a long way in integrating new initiatives into the old environment:
1. Building a sense of urgency: Employees need to be told about the paucity of time to launch themselves into the big league. They also need to be asked to inspire themselves & their colleagues to be continuously on the move, set higher objectives & achieve them in real time.
2. Appreciation of effort: All initiatives might not lead to success, they never do. But failed initiatives should not be scoffed at lest that would lead to employees becoming too afraid to initiate new developments. The organization should be made to understand that dramatic success comes only through trial & error. Hence all genuine efforts should be equally appreciated.
3. Creating change champions: Brownian motion only leads to disturbance, random ideas & activities need to be grouped together into right teams. Once the suitable people are in place with sincere emotional commitment, the right mix of skills and levels can be reached. And none should forget to a get a Captain for the team. Without a committed leader, the team is bound to loose direction.
4. Forming a vision: Leaders of the teams should establish a simple vision and strategy & focus on the tactical decision necessary to drive the change & assimilate it.
5. Selling the change: Everybody will appreciate the change if they realize its benefits to them. It’s very important for the initiators to sell their vision to the whole organization so as to create whole hearted acceptability.
6. Authorizing & motivating actions: The team spearheading the growth initiatives must have authority to take all steps it needs to remove obstacles, enable constructive feedback and ensure development. These actions can also be motivated by rewarding and recognizing valuable contributions, progress and achievements.
7. Let success come in stages: The whole objective should be broken up in steps such that achievements of each stage are easily identifiable. This way success seems to come faster thus motivating everybody further & justifying the change.
8. Persistence Pays: As discussed above all efforts may not be successful but it doesn’t mean that the process should be given up. Things take time to change. We should foster and encourage determination and persistence. Results will come sooner or later.
9. Preserving success: Whenever an initiative results in success (small or big doesn’t matter) the change initiative that led to the success must be immediately incorporated into the policy of the company so that it becomes a permanent fixture.
The measures listed above are a comprehensive lot which if followed by all will definitely lead to their collective prosperity & explosive growth.

Pessimism never won any battle

Pessimism never won any battle, neither did optimism alone loose it. Yet when it comes to initiating out of the box thinking, the scales tilt in favor of pessimism, albeit in the guise of ‘Conservatism’. Few seem to realize that what got them here, may not get them there, into the big league. Established methods, processes & industry practices (having them is in itself a big achievement) will only help an organization to grow at the organic pace. It is the ability of an organization & its people, to surpass their industry’s best practices, that will catapult a budding ‘me too’ player to the top. Such differentiation can be achieved only through ‘out of the box’ thinking for which we need to be an optimist.
One might wonder at the link between pessimism, optimism & out of the box thinking! Change management is this common link. Let’s see how?
The practice of forever working with a model hugely tried & tasted in the past has its origin in a feeling of insecurity arising due to the desire of most individuals to maintain the ‘status quo’. In simple words nobody wants to upset the applecart as the changed circumstances might be too hot to handle. Innumerable ideas & concepts have fallen prey to this fear of uncertainty leading to huge losses for corporations that did not encourage professional adventure & benefits for those that motivated dynamism. Risk, no matter how calculated, is uncomfortable; but has the potential of bringing in huge profits. Inertia is comfortable, but comes at a huge cost.
The key to having the best of both worlds is to have an efficient & effective process of Change Management in place in the organization. When an organization is on the threshold of launching itself into the big league, it needs an environment where the more enterprising of its employees can bounce off ideas & put them on trial without the fear of being prosecuted for the uncertainty there ideas might land the organization in. This requires the creation of an environment that recognizes creativity & has its contingency plans ready to meet any unwarranted situations. All this can only be achieved with a positive frame of mind. Success may elude us at times leading to bouts of pessimism, but we have to make it a habit to treat pessimist tendencies as passing phases of our lives. Perseverance, continued persistence & an inherent belief in the optimism of out of the box thinking is the only way to win the battles against ordinary existence & strike gold.