My Reflections , My insights

  It's not about right or Wrong  #Breaking the Bias This year's IWD theme is #Breaking the Bias. So let us understand and talk about the same. I always talk about being non-Judgmental and gave the example of Sridevi’s Movie, English-Vinglish. In that movie, we saw how Sridevi broke the Bias and took up the challenge to Break the Bias. But why, in the first instance, people judge? Why do people get biased? And What are these Biases?     There has been a constant and conscious effort by corporates, Society to remove, break and Stop the biases. But old habits die hard; we all have to deliberate in what we do in our daily lives. Last year, the Customer documentation team sent a notification restricting the usage of a few words, like whitelist & Blacklist, Master & slave. From ages, we have been using those words. How come we were using these for so long, as my title says, it's not about right or Wrong; it’s all began due to our social infrastructure and the ...

  Waiting and Waiting For When the farmer sows the seed, he has to wait for the plant to sprout. That’s already been work in progress, but if he becomes anxious about why sprout has not come and daily checks, he will become stressed. Things will happen at their own pace and time.             There is a subtle difference between “waiting” and “waiting for.” Which leads to peaceful progress and Stressful success ; if we keep thinking, why isn’t it happening? Why not yet? You will get stressed, and, even if seed eventually sprouts, farmer has traded peace for success.             You might have seen people waiting for an elevator; they keep pressing button to call the lift as if it will come fast. It will arrive at its own speed. They lose their peace. If you have gone for dinner and ordered, you have to just wait … waiting for the waiter will make the wait exaspera...

  Self-Discovery Have you ever been in self-Realisation or discovery mode? I think as age progresses, it automatically comes to you when you sometimes take a pause and think, introspect. And the same happened to me around a year ago. Mind is like Parachute; it needs to be open to work. This is what exactly meditation is. Reflect upon your negative thoughts and reframe them into positive thoughts. I will bring up a recent use case that has taught me many things. A year ago, there was a surge of attrition in my team. (I will not go into WHY?), will focus on what elements it has taught me during that course. I thought all was within my Control, OR I would say I was controlling things, but indeed that was not there. I was trying to control everything and failing and then blaming myself. A sudden surge of Self-Doubt occurred to me. Is it because of me? Whether I can handle the situation? And in this scenario, I tried to be judgemental. I started thinking I did so much for them,...

  Discovery During a visit to the NASA space centre in 1962, President John F. Kennedy noticed a janitor carrying a broom. He interrupted his tour, walked over to the man, and said, "Hi, I'm John Kennedy. What are you doing?" "Well, Mr. President," the janitor responded, "I'm helping put a man on the moon." To most people, this janitor was cleaning the building. But he was helping to make history. This is the power of a leader who provides purpose to all the people around them; He radiates the mission/vision to people around them.              The most misused and overused word in our corporate industry is Leader . People casually use the Leader and Manager interchangeably. But there is a     difference, although both have their importance and needs.   As a Manager, you are nominated or appointed by the corporate or Authority for some task or assignment; he gets Authority by title bestowed upon him...

  I want to see chips flying There was a woodcutter who was very sincere and hardworking. He used to make his living by cutting wood and selling across. He was happy with his work, and life was going on. One day a businessman came across and liked his work; he said, “I would give you double of what you earn, come and work with me. “             Seeing the double salary, he happily started working for him. Woodcutter gave the axe and asked him to cut the wood from the round end of an axe (from the other blunt side). The woodcutter was puzzled, but he didn’t think much as he thought he was getting a double salary, so why bother.             Continuing with the same work, day by day; eventually, he got fed up with his work. He quit the job; the businessman asked why so, as he is getting a double salary, why bother. He said, “ he loved seeing the chips fly. I want challen...

  Work Martyr                81% of salaried employees in the US report that they work outside of their standard work hours (~8hrs), with 29% doing it three or more days per week , according to New Study by Workforce Institute at Kronos. A work martyr is defined as  someone who feels a sense of shame for taking time off. They are driven to overwork out of fear that they're disposable or otherwise not valuable if they aren't burning the candle at both ends.             How many of you have even consumed 50% of your annual leaves last year? How many of you went on holiday with your families and spent time with them? (this doesn’t include visiting your hometown for festivals). We all are in the same work-life balance predicament, which needs serious thinking. Working too hard is a recipe for burnout. After the initial praise and recognition fade, can you re...

     Choices in Life   It was a quiet room with dim lights, rhythmic Beep, bip, bip sound from the monitors, making the atmosphere perturbed. Various tubes were coming out of the patient’s body in ICU, making way to monitors for analysis of vital statistics. A nurse Named Bronnie Ware was sitting near the patients   and   trying to question her terminally ill patients about 1.       If any regrets they had or 2.        anything they would do differently , and Surprisingly, common themes surfaced again and again. She researched this for eight years , Which turned into a best seller.                When our kids are in teenage, we have seen that they try making choices for their careers .    Even if they wanted to pursue a profession bit unconventional like being poet, writer, painter, drama artist, fitness expert. BUT somehow, they...

  When it matters most I distinctly remember that beautiful, sunny Sunday morning; the cool breeze was blowing across the lush green ground of Wiltshire county cricket club in the UK when I was in   UK Swindon and was participating in corporate cricket league    Finals.     Although I may not look like one, I was a decent medium-paced bowler when I was there. I had a pretty good season and was the highest wicket-taker. Captain trusted me and handed over the ball to me to start the innings.   Excited and confidently, I took the usual run up and came down the pitch, bowled the batsman, and immediately looked curiously towards the Umpire. He expectedly brought his finger UP, and slowly unexpectedly, he brought another one; the ball went out of the boundary for a six. And the same treatment was given to my 2 nd ball as well. I failed to deliver when it mattered most.   It may sound familiar, as we had seen with teams like South Africa / England...

  Living 1000 lives   Imagine you are accompanying one of the great visionaries of contemporary era ELON MUSK , from his childhood and witnessing how he used to get bullied in his student life. And later how he got transformed by acquiring X.com and PayPal.   And how He made Electric Cars / Driverless Cars a reality via his Tesla venture, and how he envisioned a colony on Mars by 2040 via his SpaceX Venture. Exciting, Isn’t it??   This is ONLY possible via reading.     As George R Martin Said, Reader lives 1000 lives before he dies, while the person who never reads just lives single life .     There is something about the process of going through 200 pages book in terms of depth of insight it gives. Reading is nothing but having a conversation with Authors.    As I like autobiographies and biographies, I keep meeting these great people. I am with them in their struggles, their victories as I go through their books.   ...

  KGS Recently we talked about   KGS. -         Know the way -         Go the way -         Show the way   No one tries to make the change or Be the change . Many of us don’t follow KGS; they try to direct people to give Gyan /knowledge but forget to GO the way by trying /adapting the same on themselves. They only Know the way and Show the way. I wanted to share an anecdote related to this. Once a lady came with her son to Bapu ( Gandhiji ) and complained that her SON   takes lots of sweets. She asked Bapu to advise her son not to take the same as it is not suitable for his growth and health. Bapu listened to the complained and asked them to come after two weeks. Lady was disappointed, but she came after two weeks as she didn’t have a choice. This time, Bapu advised her son to leave sweets, explained their ill effect, and convinced him that ...

  Seven Vadas Once a starving man was walking on the street looking for something to eat and, he saw a “Vada” stall by the side of the road. And a lot of people we around busy in savoring the Vadas. He approached him and asked him, “ Will this Vada Satisfy my hunger ??”   And what are the charges for it? “    Vada vendor replied, “ Yes definitely for sure and quoted the rate Rs10/-.                 Hungry man ate one Vada, and he was still hungry; he ate 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th, and likewise, after having 7 th Vada, he felt full and satisfied. He then handed Rs10 to Vada Wala; He got Zapped as he was expecting Rs70/-, the hungry man replied, “Haven’t   I asked you whether your Vada will satisfy my hunger and to that, you said   Yes. When I ate the first six Vada, I was still hungry; only the 7 th Vada of yours’ s satisfied my hunger.   Hence only 10 Rupees for 7 th Vada. So, the...