Information – Positive Thinking
There is a solution to every problem
There is a solution to every problem
Mr Alok Kejriwal is a new media entrepreneur and founded the contests2win business in 1998. He has successfully created new-age businesses in India and China. In his non-working hours Mr Kejriwal meditates and collects Indian contemporary art. Here’s his take on four questions from Business Line:
Two things that my education/training taught me:
God is in the details.
There is a solution to every problem.
Two things I learnt from my work/real life:
The greatest value creation comes from people — value them the most.
If something is difficult — it’s a great sign. That’s what will make the effort valuable.
One quality I look for the most in a new recruit:
Passion, passion, passion.
A book that I read recently:
After Dark, by Haruki Murakami.
Do not procrastinate
Do not procrastinate
Ms Harinder Singh
Ms Harinder Singh is General Manager at Grand Ashok, Bangalore. She is responsible for implementing strategies to streamline the entire operations of Grand Ashok. She has also served as General Manager, Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu. An amateur golfer, Ms Singh is nine times national trap shooting champion. Here’s her take on four questions from Business Line:
Two things that my education/ training taught me:
Knowledge is wealth.
Thoroughness and hard work in all predicaments.
Two things I learnt from my work/real life:
Do not procrastinate.
There is no ideal situation — everything is subjective.
One quality I look for the most in a new recruit:
Positive attitude.
A book that I read recently:
The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman.
The process of learning must continue
The process of learning must continue
Mr Sreeram Iyer is the CEO of Scope International and CIO of Standard Chartered Bank, India. An MBA from the UK, he is also a Chartered Financial Analyst, Company Secretary and a qualified Cost and Management Accountant. Here’s his take on four questions from Business Line:
Two things that my education/ training taught me:
The process of learning must continue regardless of success achieved.
Try and share your learning with your team members.
Two things I learnt from my work/real life:
There is no substitute to delivery, execution and action.
Every individual brings new talent and capabilities. Identify those and maximise returns.
One quality I look for the most in a new recruit:
Right attitude — to change, learning and ethics.
A book that I read recently:
Plato and a Platypus — Understanding Philosophy through jokes, by Thomas Cathcart.
Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines
Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines
Mr Ashish Kirpal Pandit is the CEO of Fortis HealthWorld Ltd, the retail arm of the Fortis Group. An MBA from Indiana State University, Mr Pandit’s tryst with Fortis HealthWorld began in early 2006. His focus on detail has been instrumental in powering the company to its current leading position. Mr Pandit is a traveller by spirit and an avid golfer. Here’s his take on four questions from Business Line:
Two things that my education/training taught me:
Honing my analytical skills — this has helped me in identifying trends.
Clear and effective communication is the key to success.
Two things I learnt from my work/real life:
To take up challenges and turn them into opportunities.
Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.
One quality I look for the most in a new recruit:
Energy, enthusiasm and eye for detail.
A book that I read recently:
The Pursuit of Wow!, by Tom Peters.
Principled life leads to success
Principled life leads to success
Himanshu Baid
Mr Himanshu Baid, Managing Director, Poly Medicure, started his business of manufacturing healthcare disposables in 1997 under the brand name Polymed. His aim is to build his company as the most reputed and trusted company in the medical disposables industry.
Mr Baid, after completing his BE, joined Philips in Germany where he gained vital experience in international trade. His stint in Philips helped him understand the psyche of international marketers.
An avid follower of tennis and cricket, Mr Baid likes spending time with his wife and two sons in his spare time. Here’s his take on four questions from Business Line:
Two things that my education/training taught me:
Principled life leads to success.
Punctuality and self-confidence.
Two things I learnt from my work/real life:
To be strong and face the challenges.
Passion and enthusiasm to learn from every aspect of life.
One quality I look for the most in a new recruit:
The ability to understand the needs and requirements of the organisation and being honest towards the company and to himself.
A book that I read recently:
The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell.
Be fact-based
Be fact-based
Mr Pradeep Nevatia
Mr Pradeep Nevatia, President and CEO, Ninestars Information Technology Ltd, is credited for bringing the ‘Integrated Six-Sigma Program’ and TQM (Total Quality Management) practices from the manufacturing to the BPO industry. Mr Nevatia is a post-graduate in industrial engineering from NITIE, Mumbai, and a alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi. He has co-authored Brand-Wise, Leveraging People to Create Powerful Brands (2004, East West Publications). Here’s his take on four questions from Business Line:
Two things that my education/ training taught me:
Structured thinking.
Systemic planning and analysis.
Two things I learnt from my work/real life:
Be balanced.
Be fact-based.
One quality I look for the most in a new recruit:
The capability of the person to go beyond oneself.
A book that I read recently:
Lie and a Truth, by Nandan Gautam
Take success and failure in the right spirit
Take success and failure in the right spirit
Mr Hasan Abdul Kader
Mr Hasan Abdul Kader is the Managing Director of CCS Infotech Ltd. A BE (Computer Science) from National Institute of Technology (formerly Regional Engineering College), Tiruchi, he has more than 18 years of experience in management, public relations, product branding and overseas marketing. Here’s his take on four questions from Business Line.
Two things that my education/training taught me:
Improved analysing and decision-making abilities.
Believe in social responsibilities.
Two things I learnt from my work/real life:
Success and failure have to be taken in the right spirit.
Broad vision coupled with strategic effort will yield results.
One quality I look for the most in a new recruit: The ability to take/see every opportunity as a commitment and challenge.
A book that I read recently:
The Argumentative Indian, by Amartya Sen.
MAGIC IN SELF CONFIDENCE
A Business executive was deep in debt and could not see any way out.
Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.
Suddenly an old man appeared before him.
“I can see that something troubling you”. He said
After listening to the executive’s woes, the old man said, “ I believe I can help you”.
He asked the man his name, wrote out a cheque and pushed it into his hand saying, “take this money, meet me here exactly one year from today and you can pay me back at that time”.
Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.
The business executive saw in his hand a cheque for $ 500,000 signed by
John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!
“I can erase my money worries in an instant!” he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed cheque in his safe knowing that it might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.
With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals, restructured his business and worked rigorously with full zeal and enthusiasm and completed several big deals. Within few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later he returned to the park with the uncashed cheque. At the agreed upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand him back the cheque and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.
“I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried.” I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D Rockfeller” and she let the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.
Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.
Meeting The Challenge Of Changing Patterns
Meeting The Challenge Of Changing Patterns
Janina Gomes for TIMES OF INDIA
“We once saw a man draw some black dots. We looked and could make nothing of them but an irregular assemblage of black dots. Then he drew a few lines, put in a few rests, then a clef at the beginning, and we saw these black dots were musical notes. On sounding them we were singing”. This observation set me thinking. There are many black dots and spots in our lives. We cannot understand why they come — unexpected bad news, sudden deaths, illnesses, unsavoury encounters, brushes with the uncouth… We wonder why God permitted them in the first place. Then, other experiences come flooding in, equally unexpected: good tidings, experiences of goodness, compassion and mercy.
Maybe God has been adjusting the dots. He has been drawing the lines he wants, separating the good from the bad, lifting us above what is low and unseemly. He puts in the rest in the proper places. The black dots no longer remain an irregular assemblage. They are drawn into a larger pattern, woven into a wider harmony.
When we look down a long avenue of trees, we are amazed to look from one end of the avenue to the other at the rich greenery, the large boughs, the arching leaves. Sometimes, the trees seem to groan under the burning heat of summer, yet they provide shade to the hapless who take shelter under their outstretched arms.
There are seasons, when the trees shed their leaves and remain brown and seemingly barren. Then once again, they suddenly turn green in spring. Fresh new leaves appear. All is verdant, green, inviting once again.
When we look back along the long avenues of our years, our experiences are quite similar. There are good times and bad. There were times for growing roots deep into the ground to withstand the winters of our lives. There were times to shed leaves, experiences, persons and situations that were poisoning our lives. There were times to shift our alliances and allegiances to bring them more in tune with God. There were times to go deeper in search of water and the source of life.
We all have to deal with change in our lives. Change is really an opportunity to grow. The unexpected always comes along. The unexpected could also come in the form of the beautiful and the inspiring. We all know what joy meeting an old friend by chance can bring us.
An unexpected phone or letter that encourages us can light our day. An experience of quiet joy and peace may come to us through a sudden shaft of light from the window. Affirmation from a friend or loved one could lift us, when the lowness of some around us is getting us down.
Change and difference are a part of life and the mystery of being unsure never leaves us. It is no secret that deer, squirrel and owl are not alike, that birds do not fly in lines and fish don’t all float at the same level. We choose the level at which we live our lives, the heights that we touch and the depths to which we stoop.
We cannot determine the times of sunshine and the times for cloud and rain. Our spiritual experiences may not always be pristine and un-diluted light. We all cannot escape the darkness and gloom. But the closer we move to God, the better we learn to handle change.
From sheets to pillow cases to dusters
From sheets to pillow cases to dusters
Uma Asher,TNN
Over the years, it has slowly dawned on me that I have learned many things from my parents in years past, without even noticing. They live in an apartment in the overcrowded clutter that is suburban Mumbai. Every day, they buy a handful of flowers and bel leaves for the household altar. The flower woman delivers them to our door, wrapped in a leaf and tied with a piece of string. My mother saves the string, and when it has grown to a fist-sized ball, she returns it to the flower-seller, who re-uses it.
My father would take cloth bags to the market every day, but somehow plastic bags crept into the house occasionally. My mother would collect them, and periodically hand them over to the vegetable vendor, so he could reuse them.
In the days of glass milk bottles, my mother saved the aluminum foil caps. A few caps made a new career as scrubbers for cast-iron cookware like a roti tawa; others were given to our domestic help, who sold them as metal scrap in the slum where she lived. That way she earned a spot of extra money, and the aluminium presumably got recycled somewhere. When the tough nylon fabric from folding deck chairs frayed at the edges, it was taken out and sewn into heavy-duty bags to buy our monthly supplies of grain.
Those bags lasted well over a decade. When I was a child, the fabric of my unfashionable but sturdy cotton school uniforms was ideal for making shopping bags. Our old clothes that were in wearable condition were bartered for steel pots and pans from an itinerant vendor.
My mother rescued old zippers and buttons, and stored them in an old candy box to sew on other clothes. Torn clothes were cut up and saved as wipes for kitchen spills, muddy shoes, and so on. Old cotton bedsheets got cut up, and the ends, less frayed than the centre, were sewn up into pillow cases or dishcloths. If a container broke, the lid was saved, and used when another container was missing a lid.
To this day, gifts are unwrapped very carefully, and the paper stored flat under a mattress for reuse. Resealable plastic bags are rinsed, dried, and reused when possible.
Even though my parents live in a flat, they don’t regard their hoard of old stuff as clutter; it’s well-organised so things are there when they need them. When they need string, a plastic bag, a clean jar or bottle, a lid or nail of any size, a rag to wipe a spill, they know exactly where to find it.
Only when I lived in the US did it even occur to me that stores could sell such items. I have come to recognise and be grateful for how my parents’ little habits continue to shape the way in which I use things. They never use the expression “reduce, reuse, recycle”. When they add some little item to their stash, they simply say, “This will be useful.”
ClicksandWrites 
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