Life is a Journey – Transforming LIVES

Feedback - Breakfast for Champions

2011-07-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

Every soul is potentially divine & all of us are born genius, but some people fail to recognize the genius in them and lead a mediocre life. We live in a competitive world where collective Performances drives success, happiness & emotional engagement with organizations. As the world gears up to scale new heights, Human Capital is taking centre stage & playing a pivotal role in ensuring greater value to the customers and enabling in creating stickiness.

People will not become great in their career unless they know where they are doing well, so they can keep on doing these things, and where they need to improve to deliver better results. For many employees it can be a case of ‘No news is good news’, as they only get to hear if things go wrong. Feedback is extremely critical for improving and perfecting performance, but if we do it in a constructive way it acts as a highly motivational & life changing exercise.

There are many ways of engaging & developing talent in organizations. Performance Management System is one of the most trusted ways an organization can measure & evaluate best performance practices and support future development of its people. Every professional needs to know where he/she stands with regard to their job performance. While every individual awaits his/her performance feedback on regular intervals, feedback is related to many facets of overall development such as Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Attitude, Behavior, Value Match etc. It’s extremely challenging to eliminate subjectivity while giving feedback. Often there are differences between manager & subordinates due to focus on personality rather than Performance, Competence & Capability.

As a recipient of performance feedback it’s extremely critical to understand feedback in right perspective, there are few basic guidelines for performance appraisal they are:

1. It’s an opportunity to present your achievements, development areas in the right
perspective (Accurate self- assessment)
2. Evaluating Objectives Vs Measurement Criteria related to a job/project
3. Measuring Behavioral/Values in a professional environment
4. It’s an instrument which facilitates to receive both positive and negative feedback & takes
corrective action for self development
5. Appraisal also focuses on Competence Development & not merely Performance evaluation

But more often than not feedback is not accepted in the right sense by majority in the industry which leads to turbulence in working environment, disengagement & animosity among the supervisor & subordinates. Feedback can be positive, negative, neutral and development oriented. I believe we need to look at feedback as a Power Booster which will help us to realize strengths, development areas, potential & a journey ahead.

It’s extremely important to broaden our heart & Mind when we receive negative feedback as it can work completely counterproductive if we do not take it in our stride. I agree that feedback is a very subjective & person dependent. But if you look at high achievers in IT industry, sports, artists etc. they attribute their success to the constant feedback & its impact on their Performance. We have a choice of feeling completely dejected & let down by managers/supervisors about the Feedback they have given or absorb the data & introspect without any bias to see if feedback can really help you to up your competence levels & start making a difference to your own life.

I would like to share few tips on how to deal with negative/development oriented feedback:

1. Review complete feedback without reacting to what is being told/written.
· Our first instinct in such situations will be to get defensive & start counting reasons
· What is he/she concerned about? What are the key issues raised by supervisor?
· Why is he/she reacting this way & what could be the concerns?
2. On receiving feedback, do not look at the person but focus on the role
· Do not mix your identity with career, instead focus on role & refer feedback on
performance of that role
3. Be comfortable with criticism & take it in a constructive way, as it is focused on you’re role
and not your personality
· When criticized, it’s not easy to absorb, but do not take it personally. You need to see
things in perspective
4. In a professional career, there will be many Ups & DOWNs, but treat feedback as a tool
for self transformation. Feedback is the Breakfast of champions.
· It’s extremely critical to know that career is a journey & not a destination. We need to
learn & enjoy every experience.
5. Lets own up mistakes & be willing to learn from every experience
· It takes a lion heart to accept our mistakes and work on improving our mistakes. Set a
self discipline of not to repeat any mistakes. This is a journey towards growth
6. Know that “Man the maker of his destiny”

We are the masters of our life, we must take charge, create interventions to transform our future & redefine our destinyThe above points are purely based on my personal/professional experience in the industry & hope these learning will be helpful in dealing with performance feedback. It’s not easy to handle feedback but if we learn the art of dealing with it, it’ll go a long way in transforming our lives.

Good Luck at God Speed!

Launching GEN "Y" – Exploring the unkown

2011-07-02T22:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world of IT Family.. World is a place full of Life Transformation in every sense – It’s a great Learning University, a happening place for many things in our life.
There are many types of people in this world, people from all walks of life come together to shape up their life, career, society etc. In the process some feel that god did not give what they WANTED, but today I will tell you god has given everthying that we NEED to make our life a beautiful journey.

Transformation does not start with someone else changing you; transformation is an inner self reworking of what you are now to what you will be tomorrow. Your first task is to discover yourself and then commit yourself to your GOAL for the rest of your life. You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Many people come with big dreams, but only some achieve their dreams. The only way to realize your dreams to wake up and take RIGHT steps to make your dreams a reality.

To facilitate this transformation there are many innovative & unique concepts in Indiaan IT where people Learn, Share & Inspire the youth of India. So get ready to launch your career.
We Gen "X" welcome you to the new world and wish you good luck and All the very Best…

Life of a Professional - A Journey well travelled...

2010-02-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

Life is a journey and one has to celebrate every moment of life either its a personal or professional career. It has been a memorable experience to spend 15 years in a corporate environment. After having spent my early days of my career with NTTF (NEC) & The Indian Hotels Company Limited, The Taj West End, I landed up at MindTree. Recently I completed 10 Years@MindTree . As I looked back to reflect on what is that I have learnt in these wonderful years of my life. I have tried to pen down my experiences & key learnings as a Professional.

The definition of a Professional can be attributed to an individual's ability to work unsupervised at any situation, The capacity to self certify the completion of work well done and while doing this maintain the highest level of integrity at work by doing the right and not the convinient.

Take risks in life and never be complacent with what & where you are. Straight from the Gut, listen to your inner call
Problems are truly nothing but abundant opportunities/challenges in life. Sky is the limit to your ambition
Building a culture Centric organization is a long & painful process. Culture is the nucleus of a true people organization
Never complain, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution. Challenge your limits & conquer the How’s.
You past glory has no guarantee of your future success, learn everyday. Road always less traveled, develop forward looking attitude
Work is 8.5 Hrs & Passion is (24/7) for life, be passionate of what you do & Enjoy. There are no short cuts to Success & Achievement in life
HR Function is the custodian of Culture & values, you are the face of the organization. What you do, say & write is seen as a rule\policy
It is simple to be happy, but it is so difficult to be simple. Right Attitude is everything, wear a Smile, it costs nothing to be cheerful. Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. Learn to love what you do and you will be happy and successful
Commitment, Dedication, Passion, Hard work & continuous learning attitude are the bedrock of your professional growth & Success. No one is perfect in life, we all evolve over a period of life. It’s OK to make mistakes but never repeat the same mistake again.
Man the Maker of his own destiny. You are the driver of your destiny, company can only facilitate right environment & opportunities . Never say No attitude, flexibility, ability to learn, relearn & unlearn.

I would like to thank eveyone who has impacted my life at MindTree and helped me to be a better Professional and it’s been a great journey personally and I will cherish these days for the rest of my life.

Career is a Journey and not a destiny in itself.. explore yourself, experience challenges, Learn, Unlearn, Relearn and Rejuvenate all the time. Sky is the limit for your passion... chase your dreams, wake up and take action to realize all your dreams.

HR OD Initiative - Toddlers Park – Building a home for the Generation Next

2009-11-21T14:48:00.000-08:00

As a HR professional for the last decade and half, one thing I have realized is Human Resource as a function is ever evolving and still has many unchartered territories to explore. During 2007-08, in the early summer as we were rolling out strategic initiatives of HR function, one of the responsibilities I had was to create an OD charter & implement some of the unique practices in my organization. It was very challenging and unique, as none has traversed this path and I was the first one to take a plunge into this assignment. After a lot of research & discussions I realized that the development and implementation of a winning mindset is the core to be able to build and sustain OD intervention in any organization. OD charter can be a way to transform your HR organization. A true HR transformation is an integrated, aligned, innovative, and business focused approach to redefining how HR functions within an organization so that it enables the organization to deliver its value proposition to its primary customers, stake holders and society at large.

There is a perception in the industry today that HR functions are all about creating JOY events, feel good factor and not really providing strategic direction & handling critical issues of people development. HR functions/professionals are working towards creating best practices to enable a strong people centric culture (Culture is the nucleus of a true people organization) that make employees more competitive, comfortable and helps to create a sustained high energy levels across the organization.

One of my first assignments was to create a home for young Minds at MindTree. This was a special need of all young mothers/fathers who have young infant who needs a caring & nurturing home away from home. It was an assignment of creating a Daycare to create inclusivity and support system for oung parents. I felt it was the most interesting and challenging assignment I ever had in the last 13 years of career. It was very fascinating for me as I also had a little son Nishcal who is 2 years who would play in this DayCare once it is ready.

Evolution of DayCare appeared in the early 1840’s in France, Originating in Europe in the late 18th and 19th century, day cares were established in the United States by private charities in the 1850s. Daycare’s in India evolved because of the need to create support system for all nuclear families. More and more people in India have started living in major cities where both husband & wife are career oriented and have no one to take care of their future (Children). This has lead to starting daycare centre’s in India.

At MindTree, we have a Baby’s Day Out facility where all young parents bring their kids to work, while parents work children play around, in a beautifully decorated place with lots of toys, games etc. This facility accommodates only handful of people and not made to cater to larger needs. Suddenly young parents have to depend on care takers who need to nurture children & hence they were not sure if they will go to office on any given day, since they have to wait till the care taker comes. This issue started impacting young parent’s work/professional and personal life. Many minds were not keen to send their children to outside daycare centres as they were not comfortable & logistically it was a nightmare to manage family issues on a daily basis. All parents went and approached people function to help in this situation. Ideas starting pouring in from everyone, then we started thinking of a facility which can help the parents. There arose the idea of having Toddlers Park at MindTree.

First task was to find out the facts about what it takes to start a DayCare centre, the needs of MindTree Minds and capacity planning to be able to empanel a vendor who will run this DayCare. I broadly created a project plan to execute this assignment and roped in few young mothers Mitali, Shyamala to help me with scoping & requirement gathering. I started an extensive research on what it takes to create a DayCare, spoke to lot of agencies who run daycare, companies who have DayCare, people planning to start daycare. I did quite a lot of networking among the HR community to find out what it takes to set up a DayCare. I met many HR professionals, child specialists, entrepreneurs in DayCare domain to understand how, what, why, where etc. I also visited corporate DayCare centre’s of Honeywell, Infosys, IBM etc. along with Mitali & Vanita. During my discussions I realized it’s not very simple to start a daycare, It needs a complete different mindset to set up a daycare.

Key special requirements for DayCare are;
- Soft Flooring with special material with mat finish & not necessarily carpet
- Walls need to have soft padding to ensure that children do not get hurt while
crawling, walking, playing etc.
- All equipments in the Daycare to have smooth edges
- Enough cross air circulation & no Air Condition
- Special clothing’s, crockery & mattresses along with special floor mats
- Special Cradle’s for different age groups
- Need to have unique child to care taker ratio to ensure appropriate hygienic
environment
- Special toys, special books, CDs etc.

You will never realize how help is often available just when you need it, One day while visiting Infosys DayCare I met Mrs.Meena Sivaram from Bright Vistas who had done some excellent work in setting up and running successful daycare centres across Bangalore. The way she presented her story was a mesmerizing experience for me, her love for children & understanding of child psychology helped me to narrow down on my search for a partner. This 30 minute conversation led to many longer discussions to see if we can work together and she can help me to set up MindTree’s daycare Centre in Global Village.

We briefed our requirements to Bright Vistas MD, Meena Sivaraman and introduced her to all young parents at MindTree so that they are comfortable with the service provider. A team of young mothers & myself started looking for the space run this facility. We were given many different options but none were suitable to host young children. At last we found space below Coffee day in the Global village premises. While we searched for space, we gave the specifications to our Administration team to work out a layout plan, furnishing etc. I must admit that we pushed them to deliver with stiff deadline but they worked day and night to bring the infrastructure. At last with an effort of 4 months we started our daycare 3rd week of September’2007 we had Toddlers Park ready for inauguration to host young minds of the future.

After the daycare started Kids were very happy since they could learn new things and have lot of friends. But soon we realized that we hit the dead end with no of children registering with Toddlers Park was diminishing as we didn’t get the minimum Nos to to run a DayCare and Meena was getting worried as she started incurring losses within 3 months. We did not know what do and decided to create a marketing collaterals, conducting events at DayCare to educate people about the facilities, services and happiness for children. It took few months before we managed to get the required children to come to Toddlers Park..
As the happiness quotient started spreading a wave within Global Village and in a year’s time many requests came for the toddler’s park that lead to the extension of the facility to accommodate mmore than 25 children. This has lead to a full-fledged toddler’s park which accommodates tiny babies from 3 months to 6 year old kids and evolved various services such as full day, half day and hourly basis engagement of young children to suit different needs of different parents.

Presence of Toddlers Park with in the walk-able distance of work place brings the feeling of near the dear ones and one could just meet them, cuddle them when you wish; play with them whenever required and comeback to work with absolute freshness. This gave us a sense of work life balance and erased the feeling of way from the loved ones. This facility has helped not only MindTree parents but also given employment to many people for their survival. Most of the people employed are from surrounding areas & have got an opportunity to serve the best creation of almighty and in the process then can lead a more meaningful life for their loves ones with the help of Bright Vistas. People never forget that helping hand especially when times are tough. In helping others, we indirectly help ourselves, for whatever good we do to others completes the circle and comes back to us in some form or the other. Hard times hit us at some point in life, Enjoy everything in life, good & bad, Let your fortune help others, only People helping people makes this world a better place to live.
It was an experience of a life time to create a home for little prince & princess who will rule this world some day. Children will not remember us for the material things that we provide them but the feeling that we cherished them. Children are the most valuable gifts of god as they the best hope of a better future… Long live the generation next…

Wonder Children – Defined the destiny and found Happiness in MUSIC….

2009-08-10T07:24:00.000-07:00

India is a land where miracles do happen in this time & age to people, it’s true that the spirit of people, ability to deal with uncertainty, ambiguity, and abundant challenges makes this country an Incredible place to live. I am about to share a miraculous story about 2 young visually impaired (Blind) sisters born to an average middle class family, living in a small village in southern India in Karnataka. A journey of an extraordinary set of people with abundant determination, committment, passion and confidence to win over ostacles in life.

The family of 5 children; 3 girls who were blind by birth. This family had no exposure to the external world and was grappling with misery, pain and sufferings by raising the blind children and felt that it’s an end of the world for them. These girls were special children and were gifted by god (6th sense) with many special skills and qualities. No one knew what they will do when they grow up, how they will manage their life. One fine day these young girls decided to learn Music & took up the challenge of learning Hindustani Classical Music at the age of 10. Their parents took that bold decision of encouraging them to learn music inspite of societal pressure not to send their children to learn Music. This single choice of their parents to make a happy journey shaped their destiny and life took an unexpected turn and rest is history now.

They learnt music day and night and it became their lifeline over the years. It was heartening to see those tiny fingers trying to play various musical instruments like Harmonium, Tabla, Thamboora etc. In no time they mastered all these instruments and were ready to challenge the world. In the last 10 years they have developed into acclaimed Musicians and started performing across the country, won many accolades, awards and prizes. They have performed in Mysore Dasara, Lakkundi Utsav, Bagalakot Utsav, Youth Festivals, Udaya TV & many more music festivals across many districts in Karnataka. In-spite of their visual impairment they were able to complete Bachelors and Masters Degree in Music with top honors, to the extent that one girl won a University Gold Medal in her Bachelors, she received award from governer of Karnakata Sri. TN Chaturvedi. Today she has opened a Music Academy for those who want to learn Music, she has taught many children and able to inspire people to take up Music. She is the most precious jewel in the family and everyone loves her.

Another girl is a profound writer and she has written more than 150 poems, short stories and has composed all her poems on her own. She uses the script for the blind Braille. she is also a Music teacher in a High School where she teaches Music to hundreds of students every year. She proudly calls herself the messenger of love and peace as you will find Love and peace in MUSIC. She travels 50 Kilometers (35 Miles) everyday to teach Music to young and vibrant Indian children. She is very happy and cheerful as blindness does not bother her anymore as she herself is guiding light for thousands of students who want to learn Music.

Over the years, the family which was helpless and gone through misery, has transformed itself into a Happy environment and proud to have been part of this journey, to have brought delight and smiles on the faces of their loved ones. Over night, everyone in the society who were cursing them took a notice and started praising their courage, commitment, passion and dedication towards Music. When adversity hits you, only few will survive and win over & rest will perish, situations like these will distinguish between the best & the rest.

The true hero’s are the parents who dedicated their life to support these children and now are very Proud and Happy of what their children have achieved. Even though they did not understand the nuances of Music, but devoted their whole life to support these blind children be it taking them to temples at 3:00 am in the morning, or returning home mid night every now & then to help them to complete their Music concerts. The astonishing fact about their parents has the grit, hope, optimism & belief in their children’s abilities that they will win over challenges in-spite of their disability.

In the summer of 2005 one girl had developed a serious health issues and doctors had diagnosed serious infection to her lungs & throat and feared that she may not be able to sing in future for the rest of her life. Doctors advised her to give up Music till she recovers from the infection for about 8 – 12 months. These were the most difficult times for her as she was devastated by the news and was in no mood to give up Music. She challenged her inner self and did not give up Music, but continued her studies practicing Pranayam (Breathing exercises), Yoga and meditation to overcome the infection. Ultimately she could conquer victory over the lung & throat infection and gave several stage performances with all health issues. She was highly determined and never wanted to let her parent’s efforts to go waste.

If you ask them what’s their best moment of life she smiles and says ”I am grateful to god that I was born blind else we would never have found my HAPPINESS and says she never regrets for being blind”. She goes on and says “If there is another life, I want to serve my parents because I need more than one life to serve them.”

The other girl says “She is not blind at all, because she always sees her parents as her eyes, they have always guided her to brightest life which has given her HAPPINESS”

These Sisters found happiness in Music; they are very happy and love their profession and very passionate about their talent.

So happiness quotient is all in the mind, if one decides to be happy, happiness will find you the way these young sisters found their happiness in Music. You have to make efforts to be happy and life will change for ever!!!
Life is a journey and physical inabilities are not obstacles for your ambition. The real inabilities are the huger to achieve, succeed and hunger to win over challenges in life on a daily basis. So simple message in life is “Learn as if you are going to live forever, live everyday as if you are going to die tomorrow”.

2009-04-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

Incredible India – It happens only in India (Small Car with a Big Heart)
11-Apr-2009
I dedicate this article to my son Nischal who is celebrating his 3rd birthday today. He has been an inspiration for me in my life and he has been influencing through his pure selfless love and affection.

Ever since I have come to this earth I wanted to trace the evolution of Mother India and after many years of struggle, I realized that the story of India began almost thousands of years ago, when man first appeared in this part of the world. There are many stories of a Stone Age man occupying the entire Indian subcontinent. It’s very interesting to note that Indian exploration of tools & technology also took shape in those early years of human civilization. Man was continuously struggling to survive and this survival instinct forced him to invent tools and techniques as he started making smaller but more effective tools of stones & bones for his hunting (Survival Instinct). This innovation led to expressing ideas through rock paintings, building shelters etc. From ancient civilization to till date India has come a long way. Today India has more than 1 billion population and has developed enormous strength and capability to show a new way to the world.

India is known for its intellectual super power in more than one instance where we have proved our ability to guide the world in a new direction. Aryabhata is greatest astronomer and a mathematician of India. He was born in 476 AD and introduced to the world a magical digit called "0" (zero) and rest is history. I am sure we all know that Sushruta was the first Plastic surgeon in the world and lived in 6th century. Sushruta was a surgeon and teacher of Ayurveda . There are many incredible great stories about India and Indians which world can study and understand the contributions and power of Mother India.

India is not just another piece of earth of this planet, she is a Super power, a goddess of many cultures, religions, languages but she is ONE. Today India is the second largest country on earth in population, and seventh largest in geographical area. From an image of the land of yoga, tigers, snake charmers and elephants, India has acquired an enchanting image of "The most happening place in the world”. The image cannot be brighter than the object, and the fact that there is a visible change in India's image. In this modern world, India is known for its ability to innovate, champion Change and lead the IT revolution in the world arena. You will be pleasantly surprised to know farthest & deepest reach of Indians across industry segments in USA. A total of 35% of Doctors, Scientists, Engineers, and start up champions in America are Indians. So brand Made in India or Indian is shining brighter than ever before.

While India was progressing well on all fronts to compete, collaborate and innovate greatest technological inventions with the rest of the world, there were few Indians in India who were deciding to gift India a new age Small Car with a Big Heart called Nano. The very concept of Nano evolved with a strange thought from Mr.Ratan Tata. Not sure how true this story is, it was one of those rainy days in Mumbai when Ratan Tata was traveling and saw a small middle class family getting fully drenched in rain as they were traveling in a scooter. A strange thought crossed his mind “Why not make a Car for a common man?”. In Ratan Tata’s words “It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family”

Everyday when we step out of our home to office, work, near by city etc., how often we pay attention to what’s happening around us, who is responsible for the mess around us, how can we help to make a living better for self & others. Does anyone of us think on these lines, it’s not that only a rich man like Ratan Tata who can think and make a NANO dream come true in 6 years. I think all of us in our own way can make a difference, provided we care for our environment, neighborhood and fellow citizens and the country we live in. Our village, town, state, country is not just a lump of earth but it’s our Motherland, if we desire its progress we must take responsibility of promoting wellness of everyone.

House of Tata’s are known for their Corporate Social Responsibility in India, if anyone would like to get first hand information one needs to visit Jamshedpur and enter Tata Nagar. Ratan Tata has said in an interview that his company does not want to grow “Over Everybody’s Dead Bodies.” Close to 66% of the profits of Tata’s investment arm, Tata Sons, go to charity and they do not publicize much about it. They believe in transforming in millions of people in India and across the globe. Truly Tata’s are no comparison to any Indian Company till date.

Summer of Mar’2003 in Geneva Ratan Tata announced to the world that they will present a common Man’s car to India which will be affordable by any middle class family for a sum of Rs.100,000 ($2000). When the world heard him, people said Tata’s have lost their senses and ready to destroy the empire that they have built, some Japanese engineers said “By joining 2 bikes it does not become a CAR”, some said “Will it be a TOY or will it move on road” and so on.. But Ratan Tata had this determination, commitment and his empathy for Indian Middle Class family that made him chase his dream with a bunch of indigenous team of young engineers to work on a plan to create a People’s CAR for Indians by Indians. It took 6 years for the team to narrow down on a dream project and they were ready to unleash the dream of their beloved young (72 years) chairman.

When world got the first glimpse of NANO in Geneva Motor show’2008 everyone including Ferrari, Suzuki and whose who of the world Auto industry were shocked, surprised & were happy by a tiny moving NANO and the rest is history. The whole Geneva Auto Show erupted with joy of seeing a dream come true for the first time in their life. This Indian miracle announced to the world that India & Indians are ready for innovations in the Auto sector. Those who criticized the idea of Euro 1700 car stood up and took notice of little NANO and hailed the technological innovations of Tata Motors.

Back home in India when the world was busy celebrating the success of NANO, Mr.Ratan Tata was busy planning for his Dream plant in West Bengal, and he did not know that he would have to wage a war with his own countrymen to set up his dream project plant. He is a roaring tiger and was not willing to give up his fight, but he was loosing time as he had to keep up his promise which he had made to the Indian Middle Class. Later he found a new home for NANO in Gujarat. Once the plant is ready, this will make the car affordable to an additional 14 million families, including a section of 58+ million two-wheeler owners in India.

It’s the irony of this greatest democracy in the world where politics/politicians are out in public to ruin the socio economic growth of the country for their selfish motives. I am not sure when & how we will learn to bring in a change in Indian political system.

The Indian Middle Class would never have dreamt of owning a car someday, 23-Mar-2009 is a Dream come true for millions of Indians who had never thought of having their own car. Undoubtly the star of the moment is Ratan Tata’s Pretty Woman NANO. Many people may argue that Nano will create more problems in India than helping Middle Class. I strongly disagree with this logic of some intelligent thinkers that it will add to the tumbling poor infrastructure in the country. But I would like to remind them of an old adage “When the going gets tough, tough gets going”. Let the 21st century thinkers, politicians, scientists, citizens find better ways to solve these problems rather than blaming NANO invention. If Ratan Tata would not have dreamt about NANO somebody would have done that in some corner of the world. Let us be proud of what Indians have given to the world and celebrate the Indian Nerds who are leading the world automotive innovation through NANO.

I am an avid fan of house of Tata’s because I had the fortune of working with Tata’s in the early days of my career and as I write this article sitting thousands of miles away in England I overjoyed by the noble idea & vision of Mr.Rata Tata which has made Indians proud. I have met several people across Europe in UK, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland any conversation does not end without discussing NANO story. We are proud of you Mr.Ratan Tata, you are the Real Hero of India and I am sure Mother India is very proud of her son.

Read more about NANO :
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Finally-history-on-wheels-gets-rolling/articleshow/4307704.cms
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200903221651.htm

Watch Ratan Tata’s passionate Story of NANO in his own words Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3brUB8IZhAo Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Mw6BuMJEM&feature=related Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvjhg2Zh84k&feature=related

Lessons learnt from this mind-blowing experience of Human Spirit, Passion, commitment, determination, Team work and uncompromising character are;

Its all about Human spirit of Change
Challenge your limits and embrace change all the time.
Nothing is constant but Change, be open to change and you can change your destiny. Man the maker of his own destiny.

Learn to Question the unquestionable
Never accept things as they are, challenge the unchallenged. Question status quo all the time
Develop deep questioning ability, questions lead to clarity and clarity leads to destiny

The quest to lead & the quest to conquer will bring the best in you
Develop a killer instinct and always innovate, explore to lead by example
The achievement of your goal is assured the moment you commit yourself to it, give your 100% in whatever you do, success will be yours

Dream the impossible.. Dreams translate into actions
Keep your dreams alive to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, your vision, hard work, determination, and dedication.
Remember everything is possible for those who believe in their abilities

If you want to bring change, you need to lead by example, path to success is not easy.. but not impossible either
Great ideas can come from every corner of India, you need to channelise your energy by starting something small
You are the vehicle of change, if you cannot change, no one else will.. so never give up!!

Learn to love what you do – Believe that you are doing a great work & you will deliver great results
Keep looking for new things, never settle for something simple
Do not let the others opinions to drown your ideas

Hunger for success leads to development/growth/newer competencies
Always think different & learn from everybody around you, knowledge is all around you. Create space for knowledge in your mind and acquire survival & life skills
Never think you know everything, be humble and willing to adopt, change to accomplish your dreams.

We need to live our life as if we were to die tomorrow (Live life to the fullest extent everyday). We need to learn as if we were to live forever. In life knowing is not enough; we must apply our mind to everything that happen around us. Most of us have the willingness but we do not do anything. While others wait for opportunities to come by but some people create opportunities to impact our world. I firmly believe, through continuous learning & innovation we can solve any problem, overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal that we can dream of. A real & a new living successful example is NANO. Jai Hind……

SKIP – A Powerful tool for Self Transformation

2009-03-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

The performance and results achieved by an organization, whether it is product or service based, are a direct reflection of the thinking, creativity, and efforts of its members. Optimizing the capabilities of every member of the organization makes good management sense. In our emerging "knowledge society," information on one's 'ability to deliver' is invaluable for staying sharp and responsive. 360° feedback awakens the need and strengthens the drive for increased productivity.
When organizations are growing at a rapid pace and there is a need to build good Managerial Traits among leaders. Many leading organizations have developed thier own leadership development programs, models at company level. I feel implementing some simple & effective Self Development tools like 360 degree feedback will really help in developing overall personality of every leader.

SKIP Program is intended to provide overall feedback by the team members/supervisors. SKIP feedback provides performance data from multiple points of reference, not just one. It can help to fill the gaps that invariably exist between how you see yourself and how others see you. Its purpose is, First, to gain deeper insight into how we, and others, see our performance and, Second, to reinforce and accelerate the need for continuous development.
Compared to traditional, single source feedback processes, 360° feedback is significantly more powerful, reliable, and accurate. The added dimension of 360° is its ability to compile multiple assessments from team members and contrast that data with your own self perceptions. Because it comes from a broader base of perception and interaction, it is less likely to be biased or skewed by one person's opinion.
SKIP feedback levels the playing field by soliciting input from a different sources: The Supervisors, peers and team members. The feedback tends to not only be more balanced, but harder to dismiss due to its' broader range of input and perspectives.

SKIP feedback strengthens accountability and self-management. When a person receives high quality, reliable feedback from team members/supervisor it highlights and reinforces the connection between individual performance and team results. Through a process of self assessment, teams can identify their developmental needs and provide their own direction for improving the level and quality of their performance.
SKIP Program methodology is very simple.

SKIP sessions need to be conducted by a well trained facilitator who is a neutral person and will not influence either on the feedback given by the team members/supervisor and captures the right messages. The person who is receiving the feedback will invite the team members, supervisors. All the members including the person who is receiving SKIP feedback will be called to a room and they will be briefed on the intent, format, Do’s & Don’t’s of the program. After the initial briefing the person receiving feedback leaves the room to enable the SKIP session. Its extremely essential to create a open minded & stress free environment to facilitate open discussions without any bias, prejudice, animity & hatredness towards the person receiving feedback. In these sessions confidentiality is of great importance and facilitator needs to take all people into confidence and ensure any views expressed during SKIP sessions will not become a topic of discussions in the organization.
Facilitator will initiate the discussion on the following points
What the Person should CONTINUE doing
What the Person must STOP doing
What the Person should START doing
All the discussions needs to be captured in on all the parameters, without reference to source such as person, instance, situation, story etc.
Once the feedback discussions are completed, the person will be called into the room and the data is shared with him/her in presence of the whole team. The person is free to respond and seek clarification only from facilitator and not with anyone.
The person will take action points based on the inputs given by the team and committs himself/herself to work in improvement areas.

This simple process can actually transform the overall organizational culture and can really bring in fairness, transperency and openness. SKIP can truly become an exploration journey of human transformation. This also reinforces the fact that one need to comapre only with yourself and not with others, because no two people are equal and their priorities, goals & aspirations can be completely different.

SKIP can be the first step towards igniting change from within to become a true professional.

Awake Arise & Achieve Unity.....

2009-02-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

INDIA is one of the oldest civilizations with a kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage. It has achieved multifaceted socio-economic progress during the last 60 years of its Independence
Even since I have come to this world I am trying to find the meaning of a religion which has created so much of havoc across the globe. I am global citizen from India and still searching for a meaning of religion. The reason why I am searching is because of too many things that are happening in front of our eyes in the name of religion.

I will list some of the following incidents that I have seen & heard in the last few months.

Someone is creating hatred against their own country men
One religious group burnt churches & rapes servants of god & burns people alive
Across many states (Gujarat, Orissa, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala & many many more.) in
India people have targeted churches & burnt people alive
Religion has become political agenda and people of India have fallen to this trap and
allowed politicians to divide the country into pieces
A ghastly terrorist attack in the city of Mumbai on 26-Nov-08 which killed more than
180 people and left 300 wounded.
Politics did not even spare the war zone; while our real hero’s were fighting the enemy
tirelessly, politicians were busy making their allegations to gain mileage.

If you pay close attention to what is causing all these mayhems in our country, you will soon realize that there are no direct answers. You start probing deeper then you start getting some answers such as political parties, politicians, racial divide etc. Still this is not the correct reason.. you really have to dive deep into your inner heart and mind to find the real answer. According to me it’s WE THE PEOPLE who are responsible for this mess.

As a country we are able to eradicate illiteracy to large extent in a true sense, but we have become complete real illiterates when it comes to understanding our self consciousness.
No religion has ever taught us hateredness, be it Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism etc. We have become intelligent enough to twist the pages of holy scripts in our favor to score points and spread the divide & rule philosophy.

I am not sure by when & how we will be ever wake up to realize these simple tricks of some so called leaders who do not know the meaning of LEADER. They are completely illogical, uneducated directionless & does not posses any professionalism to be called a real leader.

Let’s see things around us and see is there any religion exists. When Sun shines every day he does not look at a Muslim or a Hindu house, but selflessly shies all through the day to provide direction to make the right moves in life. Look at Jasmine flower that spreads fragrance, aroma all across and creates such a wonderful atmosphere to live and so on. I can give 100’s of examples which does not have any religion, caste or a community.

Look at our own lifeline; I do not think a Christian’s blood colour is different from a Hindu or a Muslim. When god has not made any difference, why create temporary boundaries and ruin our lives. We have only one life to live and I think we all should make use of this golden opportunity to develop universal brotherhood and lead a very meaningful life.

I firmly believe that mother earth is a large family (Vasudhaivakutumbakam) has only one religion which is humanity. I am proud to belong to the religion called INDIAN which has sheltered and is still fostering hundreds of different religions, languages, cultures, traditions and still able to present a bold face to the world.

I think it’s essential that we erase all these tiny boundaries which are creating so much of hatred amongst all of us. We need take the ctarter of creating harmony, love, peace & brotherhood among the fellow countrymen to change the way we lead our life forever.

We have a very limited life to battle many wars which needs to be won and we should not waste our time to prove each other who is better & stronger. We need to prove to everyone that INDIA is a country of billion people who speak many languages and present diverse cultures but still can live as one nation. I think we have a chance of a lifetime to prove to the world at large on our Unity in Diversity.

I pray to all Mighty Gods of all religions in this world to shower enormous Strength, Courage & Will to spread PEACE, HARMONY and LOVE among all Citizens of this world.

"As fellow countrymen we need to understand and appreciate diversity. We need to bow our Head in MOSQUE's, Kneel in our TEMPLE's and Pray in CHURCH's. You & I are the sons of ONE RELIGION and that's the SPIRIT of ONE NATION, Dear fellow country men, the time has come to get united and fight for universal brotherhood. "

AWAKE, ARISE and STOP NOT till we achieve UNITY … Jai Hind…

Human Resources – Challenges & Opportunities in the New Economy

2008-10-25T15:31:00.003-07:00

Organizations across the world today realize that a ‘satisfied’ employee is not necessarily their ‘best’ employee in terms of loyalty, commitment and productivity. Only an effectively ‘engaged employee’ who is intellectually and emotionally connected with the organization, feels passionate about organizations Mission, Vision and Values. HR Functions are burning the midnight oil & trying to go above and beyond the call of duty to achieve this mammoth task of effective engagement . To be effective in the current environment HR needs to know as much, if not more, about the ‘business’ of the organization as the business people do. We need to be able to speak the language of HR in the context of the business so that HR can influence the decisions made by the business that impact the people of the organization.
The Indian IT industry is going through the toughest phase as there is a huge shortage of good talented work force in Indian market. The war for talent has reached its peak and many corporations are witnessing higher attrition trends. The biggest challenge for any Human Resource Function today is multi fold such as Attract, Retain, Develop, Talent Transformation and Effective Engagement. HR is an important function within any organization. It is also the most dynamic of any enterprise function. Expectations are constantly changing….expectations of the employees, leadership team, customers. HR has to serve all constituencies – Its people, extended families, shareholders, leadership of the organization and the customers of the organization. In this ever changing corporate climate of innovation, turbulence, mergers, HR professionals should act as ambassadors of change by creating the right processes, practices & systems to inculcate a win-win culture between the organizations & its people.
I believe the role of HR is going to be very crucial in building/transforming organizations. Employees of the organization will have to become the champions of HR function at all levels to develop and sustain a highly engaged & emotionally connected employees.
Key Human Resource Challenges & Opportunities

Severe shortage of right skilled manpower/employees

In India there is no dearth of Engineering & graduate colleges, may be we are one of the country which has maximum no of educational institutes. As per the recent NASSCOM survey there is a need for more than 300,000 professional qualified, employable & Industry Ready people are required in the next 2 years. With increasing poor quality products from universities employability ratio of engineers/graduates is at all time low of less than 25%, I am not sure if we have data on employability ratio among other graduates. Today many of the industry leaders are burning midnight oil to chalk out strategies to develop employable skills to all their employees.

Many large organizations are spending in excess of Rs.600 Crores per annum towards training/grooming people on various aspects of industrial & technological requirements. So as a nation we need to start addressing this issue of developing survival skills among the youths of India so that we do not become factories of producing Engineers without the RIGHT skills.

There is a greater need for industry & academia to work together without any personal agenda to develop overall talent across the country to meet the industry demands. Else India will loose the technological edge by virtue of not having employable skilled people in the country. I am sensing certain level of complacency among academia as they have truly transforming into a engineering/graduates factories without any quality check methods & processes.
Few thoughts on how to survive skills shortage

Think beyond Compensation - look at innovative strategies to attract and retain good employees. Identify what factors which enable good employees to stay in your organizations and create content to showcase your employable culture.
Clearly defined career path for every role & individual. Create challenging opportunities, provide good work/life balance and flexibility in the workplace
Utilize the skills & experience of senior colleagues to coach/mentor people at all levels. People need to exhibit passion and great commitment at all levels.
Skill Improvement & knowledge acquisition opportunity for all employees. Support in certifications (PMP, PMI, technology specific certifications such as MCP, MSCD, Sun certification etc.), further education program through university tie up for higher education.
Be a true ‘employer of choice’. Offer and encourage balanced and flexible working arrangements for all employees. (Day Care, Health clubs, recreational facilities, sports complex, social networking etc.)

Employee engagement - From active engagement to active disengagement

Engagement is a very emotional & culture centric word and needs to be managed well in every organization. We are living in the word of digitization where everything is getting automated and role of human interaction is diminishing fast. While this is seen as a great advancement of integrating all systems & processes across organizations, we should not loose out on the need for regular human interventions to connect with larger organization. Organizations are recognized by the people and their ability to relate to the overall vision.
Engagement is about motivating employees to perform to the best of their potential. An engaged employee gives 100 percent to his company and becomes a trusted ambassador of the organization. Employee Engagement is the means or strategy, by which an organization seeks to build a long lasting partnership between the organisation and its employees. Organizational dynamics are changing too fast where employees have become the nucleus of the organization around which all activities are planned. Today organizations exists because of its people and people are the vehicle of growth for any organization.

It’s extremely essential to realize the need for active engagement at all levels to build a strong, sustained and culture oriented organization where employees are the core of organizational growth strategy. There is a greater need for the organizations to invest in employee relations and build a sustained strategy to engage people at all levels. Many organizations are adapting to Employee perception surveys, feedback systems, employee led task forces to create higher level inclusivity & engagement.

Every employee in any organization wants more than money to stay in with one organization for a longer period. Even though pay sometimes becomes a justification and often shows up in exit interviews, most employees stay in organizations because they have many aspirations and interests which need to be addressed and guide them to build a long term career with the organization. Every individual is keen on building a competitive advantage for himself/herself; to create competitiveness in oneself, people are always on a look out for challenges to sharpen their axe all the time. In order to achieve their aspirations, they are always expecting an active engagement & constant attention with thier managers/organizations. Engagement is all about creating a sense of inclusivity among employees with the organizations, to create inclusivity one need to understand the stated & unstated expectations of employees.

Increasing Socio economic imbalance between IT & rest of the industries
Sunrise industry of modern India, Information Technology (IT) which has a dream of achieving 86 Billion dollar has clearly taken India to a global arena and has made all of us proud. The whole world is looking at Indian IT industry for solutions to their business challenges. India's higher education system contributes about 350,000 engineers and 2.5 million university graduates annually to our workforce, yet at any given time about 5 million graduates remain unemployed. A survey done by McKinsey Global Institute shows major IT organizations find only 25 percent of engineers are employable, and NASSCOM report foresees shortage of 500,000 skilled, employable work force by 2010.
Today the whole world speaks about IT & only IT and the rest of the industry segment has lost out in creating its own space in the global arena. This is equally true for India which a strong developing economy with close to double digit GDP Growth. While all the attention has been given to IT has made all of us proud but this has created new set of challenges for the other industries. The issue seems small but actually it’s a bigger threat which needs immediate attention before it’s too late. Current generation graduates seems to believe that there is no career other than IT and this is leading into severe shortage of manpower in manufacturing, automotive, retail, garments, cement, civil, academics and so on.

Due to high visibility, lucrative compensation, global exposure & Fancy work culture, curiosity, excitement has successfully ensured that all people migrate to IT and ignore the other industry segments. This has clearly created an industrial unrest in Indian economy. This may offer different challenges all together if not handled well. There is a greater need for the government to bring in legislative changes to labour laws which impact other industries and also create a economic balance between IT & Rest of the industries.

Managing Work Life Balance & flexible work environment
“Facilitating the employees in managing their WORK & LIFE commitments is a business imperative and not an optional extra” this statement explains the importance & need for the organizations to take right steps to facilitate employees in achieving a balance between their work and personal life. Organizations need to recognize that in order to recruit and retain high quality employees, it needs to take a multipoint approach, by implementing innovative & different employment practices to enable employees to strike a balance between their home and work life.

Most organizations did not give adequate attention to Work Life Balance till it became an employee engagement issue; later organizations took a one-sided approach to their work-life efforts. Many organizations have developed systems, policies, processes & rewards program to solve the work-life-balance problem. While these were helpful but these overlooks a critical factor. Work life balance revolves around individuals and no two individuals are equal; work-life balance is more an individual issue that affects the organizations and not necessarily an organizational issue that affects the individuals.

It’s very important to realize the need for a life outside work so that people can start thinking of how to balance their work life. Based on my industrial experience I have seen that most youngsters do not have a personal life outside work. The role of Human Resources is extremely critical to act as a change agent in creating awareness & importance of life outside work and its positives. There are many innovative ways of creating Work Life Balance such as telecommuting, work from home facilities, Day-Care Centre for young parents with children, health clubs, Flexible office timings, paternity leave, sports competition, recreational facilities, family day celebrations, learning from unusual sources, Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives etc.

Global Business Model
We are living in a flat world today with increased technology usage and boundaries are disappearing very fast. The role of HR in the new economy will change to that of creator of overall values and direction. With easy access of Internet cloud more and more businesses can enter the global marketplace with great ease.
The role of HR professionals with increased international business practices, international labor laws, multicultural sensitivities and multiple languages is going to be an uphill task. All HR professionals need to be knowledgeable of other cultures, languages and business practices to be able to create a stronger support system. 21st century is definitely the defining period for Human Resources with global market place shrinking day by day and becoming one world & is offering a whole new set of challenges.
This has lead to many innovative practices which are scalable and cross cultural in nature. HR needs to take a centre stage and enable global business growth by transforming from an administrative function to a strategist, engagement champion, culture ambassador, trusted advisor to business head etc. HR needs to evolve from strategic business partnership to strategic business leadership (driving change and results, not just monitoring them). In a nutshell the role of HR will be to manage, nurture, develop and retain the best intellectual capital.

Work and Society
Family and life interests will play a more prevalent role in people’s lives and a greater factor in people’s choices about work—there will be more of a "work to live" than a "live to work" mentality. Employees will demand increases in workplace flexibility to pursue life interests.

Based on my industry experience Technocrats may refuse to make the sacrifices required today in their family lives and more people (not just women) will opt out of traditional careers.
Work will serve as a source of cultural connections and peripheral friendships and people will start creating life within work rather creating life outside work.
Employees will continue to struggle with their need for work/life balance, and it may get worse in the years to come in this competitive world.
Community involvement and social responsibility will become part of an organization’s business vision & everyone has to adopt this method to make impact at the gross root levels and our focus should be on Education, Poverty & illiteracy.
Those people who refuse or are unable to adapt & pick up newer skills/technologies will find it very difficult to accomplish their career goals and will trap themselves in lurch.

People Development
Lifelong learning will be a requirement. The focus of training/learning activities will be on performance improvement/enhancement and not just on skill building. Employees with varied skills and competencies will be valued more highly than those with a depth of expertise in a single area. Problem solving, analytical, cognitive thinking and decision making will become a required curriculum with practical work problems as the teaching medium. The whole learning environment itself has undergone a sea change from a class room oriented approach to a case study driven with live examples, role plays and lot of field work.

Training will be delivered "Just In Time," whenever people need it, using a variety of technologies.
Companies will demand constant personal growth, and employees need to respond positively to higher expectations. It will not be possible to survive in the workplace without basic computer skills. People who can learn new skills/competencies quickly will be highly valued.
As the computer-savvy generation is more assimilated into the workforce, employees will become much more productive in complex tasks and less dependent on other people and departments.
Versatility will be the key factor in determining employee value with strategic thinking, leadership, problem solving, technology and people skills close behind.
Compensation systems will be linked to business outcomes
Positions need to be organized in teams focused on a task, not organized around a hierarchy.
Positions will be defined by the competencies needed to be performed.
Employees will be more independent, moving from project to project within their organizations.
Many jobs will be redesigned to be much broader in scope, especially in management positions.
Employees will be increasingly measured by how much value they contribute to the business, not by whether they fulfilled predetermined objectives.
Work will be more challenging, and jobs will become increasingly complex

HR Challenges in the new economy will be completely different from that of the past & it needs out of the box & innovative strategies to deal with all unusual issues
We as HR Professionals need to brace ourselves and develop necessary competencies to be able to tide over the current volatile economic & people industry.

Power of Knowledge in a new Economy

2008-09-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

It may not be possible for the scientists either now or in the near future to build and assemble a computer which will be as perfect as Human Brain; and not even half as perfect as the human brain. Nature has shaped and built the human brain perfectly, its structure, functions are so complex that they have not been able to understand it in detail even today.

The invention of machines in the beginning of the 19th century has led to the mass industrial revolution. This brought several processes of industrial activity under one roof. The factory system was implemented in an effort to organize the industries on modern and scientific grounds. At the beginning, activities were carried out by workers or “people” as called in the modern era who are the creative minds of the organization, the heart and soul of the company and their knowledge is the biggest asset.

The roots of the modern management lie in the machine age of the 19th century. As we have observed that in the last few decades the machine age is being transformed by the information age or the Internet age. In the information/internet age the only irreplaceable capital that any successful organization possesses is the power of knowledge and the ability of its people. The productivity of any organization depends on how effectively / meticulously people share their knowledge with those who can use the same for professional and personal growth.

As the technology has changed its existence from machine age to information age man has learnt the art of accepting newer mechanisms by which he can run a successful business. In any organization information or data is being generated at a very rapid speed, if not at a chaotic rate. Few years back it was fashionable to talk about the difficulty of making good use of raw data. Basically we did not know the ways and means of converting the raw data into information with the help of latest technologies and better management. Information is now available in many forms such as Books, Magazines, news letters, micro formats, data bases, CD-ROMs, internet, intranet and so on. This multiple formats of information complicate’s the process of identifying reliable answers. Thus this has led to the information revolution in the industry. Many companies, and government agencies invested in new system, which promises to provide the cure for poor information management and thus which converts it into knowledge.[Ex. Strong Information Systems, Knowledge Management, Information Resource Centers, knowledge repositories etc..]

Knowledge is undoubtly the biggest driving force for any activity, but the question is who has made up his/her mind is how he/she is going to use this power to make a visible impact. Knowledge is the most powerful tool, which can be used for creating any kind of opportunities, challenges in the information age.

Whether it is an individual against another or by a nation against another, or a company against another.. Knowledge becomes the strongest weapon to face any kind of situation. A company may be rich in many ways and have world class facilities for its people, but it is helpless against a company which has better skilled with great intellect ability people to work for.

There is an explosion of knowledge happening in the world today. This has led to the concentration of too much power in the hands of few. Knowledge is a double edged sword, which has to be managed carefully. If used properly with foresight it may hasten the process of growth and development; if used otherwise it may cause unimaginable disaster.

Any knowledge that is divisive, that does not give one the sense of belongingness, unity with all men and women in an organization, is at risk of being misused. Knowledge which makes one conscious of the fact that we are all one, that our fates are linked with one another, and that we cannot be happy till every single individual among us is happy is needed for all of us to be successful in life. I strongly believe that whatever knowledge we acquire in our life will never go waste, in one or the other way it guides us towards the brighter part of our life.

As Swam Vivekananda once said every soul is potentially divine, I am of the opinion that every individual has a great source of knowledge and everybody has the potential to create miracles in people’s life. But the question is when, where and how he/she ignites that volcano of knowledge which spreads across people, across communities to enlighten large part of society. We need to awaken our senses and ignite our minds to aquire knowledge and conquer the challenges of life. So let us feel proud to be a part of the knowledge economy, where our knowledge is used to the fullest extent to tranform our life and achieve supremacy in life.

Tribute to Young & Vibrant Campus Kids

2008-04-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

Boundless Power, Passion, Energy & TEAM WORK…

Organizations across the world today realize that a ‘satisfied’ employee is not necessarily their ‘best’ employee in terms of loyalty, commitment and productivity. Only an effectively ‘engaged employee’ who is intellectually and emotionally connected with the organization, feels passionate about organizations Mission, Vision and Values. He/she goes above and beyond the call of duty to achieve the organizational goals.

In times of diminishing loyalty, high employee turnover and changing market scenario, employee engagement is taking centre stage in the HR fraternity as it can become a powerful retention strategy. Needless to say that Employee engagement has a strong impact on the bottom-line of every organization.

Employee Engagement is about motivating employees to perform to the best of their potential. An engaged employee gives 100 percent to his company and becomes a trusted ambassador of the organisation. Employee Engagement is the means or strategy, by which an organization seeks to build a long lasting partnership between the organisation and its employees. Organizational dynamics are changing too fast where employees have become the nucleus of the organization around which all activities are planned. Every individual is keen on building a competitive advantage for himself/herself; to create competitiveness in oneself, people are always on look out for challenges to sharpen their axe all the time. In order to achieve their aspirations, they are always expecting an active engagement with organizations. Engagement is all about creating a sense of inclusivity among employees with the organizations, to create inclusivity one need to understand the stated & unstated expectations of employees.

At MindTree Human Resources Function is an integral partner in organization growth strategy. Thus we created a charter to work on a unique employee engagement model with 1000 odd campus Minds who were in the process of transitioning from Campus to corporate.

After the mind blowing Engagement activities for July & Oct’07 batches, I had become younger by atleast 5 years and had made 1000 news friends within no time. Our team did not realize how we were able to break the ice & create a participatory culture with people from all over India. All our plans yielded great results and we witnessed some great events by all campus minds. PALs (Parent, Anchor & a Leader) and many People Function (Human Resources) team members kept calling all campus minds as KIDS and actually they all were MindTree Kids. We had to take care of all their unstated requirements.

We were very curious to know their feedback on how did they feel with our People Engagement initiatives. We conducted a survey and we got very good feedback along with few areas of improvement. I was extremely happy that I was leading this new and innovative initiative for MindTree. I can confidently say that year 2007-08 was a very special year for me in many ways.

As we were planning for new strategic initiatives for the year 2008-09 my boss broke the news during early Jan’08 that I am slated to travel to Europe to manage People Function operations based out of London. I was excited and thrilled and was looking forward to this great challenge. The news spread like a wild fire and it was open secret by Feb’08. I received 1000’s of best wishes and felt really loved and cared for the first time in a corporate world. Unknowingly I had got many fan followers and it was a very special time.

One fine day Kalyan, Suresh, Aditi, Lakshman and few others called me to be part of a program to thank PALs for their contribution to Campus Engagement program. I thought it was a fantastic idea and readily agreed and blocked my calendar for 21-Mar-08 as I was too busy with many loose ends to be closed before I board the flight to London. In fact few days later Kalyan & Lakshman came to while I was busy collecting helpful tips about London life from Anand Sampath. They wanted me to speak to them live on video about my experience with campus Minds. I thought this is the normal gimmick that these kids adopt to make a program and agreed to speak soon after the meeting. Anand looked as if he knew about this and pushed me to complete this. I spoke something and went home without realizing that I was trapped by campus kids.

Without my knowledge they had made all the arrangements including a lovely trophy, snacks and cake, inviting seniors and shooting Jani, Ranjitha, Vidya and many campus minds.

On 20-Mar-08 we had a scheduled meeting with all PF team on planning for 2008-09. During the meeting everyone knew about the program on 21st and I had no clue about this and I must say that the whole team maintained a good secrecy till Puneet mentioned about the same. I thought it will be a small part of the PALs program and did not think much about it.

I must say that 21-Mar-08 will be one of the most memorable days in my life. I had series of planned meetings with Europe offshore team, Supriya and few others to understand the issues & expectations of my job in Europe. Aditi kept calling me saying that I need to attend the whole program and I need to speak about all the 3 PALs and I will be called 3 times on the stage. Accordingly I gathered points about Dr.Sudha, Krishnan & Naveen and was kind of ready to deliver speech on all these 3 extraordinary people for their commitment to campus engagement. It was 4:30 pm when I got a call from Aditi, Kalyan and few others to come to Kalpavriksha as program is about to begin. I hurried up and packed my bags and rushed to Kalpavriksha. program.

When I reached the venue I realized something is fishy as they told me to wait for some time. Mean time I met Sudha, Mukesh and Sripad and was wondering what was happening. Within few minutes I entered the room and they gave me a cheering welcome I did not know how to respond as I was completely taken by a surprise and whatever followed was a history. All campus minds had prepared a full length movie on Nagan (Pet name given by campus kids). I was stunned by the video & the responses people had spoken about me. I used to see all these in Television programs but it was hard to believe that I was actually the recipient of such love and affection by all people with whom I worked. What was very special was Jani (CEO of R&D Services) speaking very passionately about me and so as Ranjitha, Vidya and I do not know whether I deserve those great accolades?. The video went for 20+ minutes and it was like as if I am in could 9 and I had to pinch myself many times to believe that it was for me. Then came another surprise Dr.Sudha, Mukesh Mathad, Sripad, actually Chandru, Neha, Lala, Shabhabrat Padhi and many more people. It was very kind gesture by all Minds that made me feel really special.

Puneet entered the hall and I could not believe as he had to travel all the way from Banashankari Office only for this program and he spoke his heart and took all people to 1999 days. It was actually like rewinding my life in MindTree.
I am very grateful to him for those kind words. I do not think any supervisor will speak so much about his/her colleague. I can only quote some of the words that I heard from people..

“Nagan is a 7 year old boy in a 40 year old body (Actually I am not that Old)”
“Commitment, passion, great motivator, leader, friend, guide etc….. “
“Nagan is a mentor, charming person, dynamic, friendly, Big Daddy, very caring, loving......” “You are our shining Star…, He is adorable, admirable.. “
All these words will be remembered for a long time in my life.

Puneet presented a trophy of a life time and I must say that I am lucky to receive such affection & love from all campus kids. After receiving the trophy I did not know what to speak when Aditi called me to share few thoughts. Actually I was speechless (I had a bad throat & could not speak at all). All I knew was that I did not deserve such a warm affection and love from all these people. According to me I have not done anything out of the world to be able to receive such an accolade. Having received this reward, I can say that this is the biggest recognition for me by any standards because this is a tribute to People Function at MindTree. This is a tribute to employee engagement and we got to know that what effective employee engagement can do to an organization.

I know there are many unseen minds/hands that supported me all through this unusual role and make a great impact on all minds. After the program I realized that what impact we have created on these young minds and how they have shaped up within a short span of time. I must admit that these people are very special and they have found a very special place in my heart. Infact I have made some great friends in life and I am grateful to all of them. They do not know the word impossible. They can create wonders within no time, I have seen many examples of their power of bonding among each other and they can do anything for you.

By now it was 6:10 pm and Lakshman & Aditi wanted all people to move outside the Kalpavriksha for another surprise event. It was another shocker for me… I could see a huge cake and did not know how to respond to the unexpected affection & love from so many people. During snacks time Kavitha wanted to ensure that I knew who Rekha & Kavitha is …. At last I passed her exam, which I had failed many times.

My colleagues congratulated me and kept telling me that I deserve all this as I have made a difference to their life. Heart in heart I knew that these people have made a difference to my life. Year 2007-08 was a very eventful year in many ways. I had gone through the worst times of my life due to my father/Mother in law’s illness and needed all energy and motivation to bounce back to life. I got re-energized working with these campus kids. To be frank I was feeling very low and completely stressed in life and these people actually were the source of inspiration for me to win over all hurdles and still be cheerful all the time.
I do not know how to thank them for all they did to me on that day!!! I went home with a very heavy heart without knowing how to live upto there love and affection which they had bestowed on me. I can only wish and pray to god that they may be blessed with a greatest career and good health. May god help them to realized their dreams and aspirations. I wish & hope to make a difference to their life in whatever little way possible. I prey to god to give me another opportunity to serve these special friends.

I have learnt some important lessons working with these campus Minds;
1. Nothing happens unless you Innovate, Dream, Explore & Apply (IDEA)
2. Be willing to champion unusual assignments, every opportunity has a challenge to offer
3. People are most important element of any transformation
4. Learn to live with ambiguity. Things will not always be clear, find new ways as you travel along the journey
5. There is no substitute to TEAM WORK & HARD WORK
6. Small ideas can change many lives & nurture ideas, thoughts
7. Be willing to explore & encourage innovation… experiments leads to astonishing results
8. Never under estimate the power of youth, their imagination & creativity. Challenge them and they will deliver miracles
9. You are not alone in trouble, there are many, embrace life and win over hurdles
10. Invest in relationship and nurture emotional engagement

As I drove back home I realized that it was an engagement of a different kind, winning 1000 hearts in a span of 6 months, it meant a lot and it took a lot from you to be able to relate, live and think very differently to get connected with young Minds. What I had experienced was the power of volunteerism, collective team work and sheer love & affection of true MindTree Minds. It was an unbelievable act of strength, unity in diversity and a true reflection of MindTree's young brigade which is ready to conquer the world.......
Three Cheers to Young Brigade'2007-08………

Igniting Young Minds –Building Survival skills at School Level

2008-02-14T04:11:00.000-08:00

Lecture to the Head Masters & English teachers of North Karnataka Region on 7-Apr-07 at Hubli, Dharwad Dist, Karnataka.

It was one of those a busy days in office and I was rushing to attend an important meeting when I got a call from Prof. B L Desai, Head of Dept. of B V Bhoomaraddi Engineering College, he wanted to discuss something important & urgent. I informed him that I would call back later.

Prof. B L Desai is one of the most respected names among the teaching fraternity in north Karnataka. He has been serving BVB College for the last 3 decades and is very passionate about teaching and shaping careers of many youngsters. I called up Prof. Desai to find out the details about his call and I heard something very special, he almost spoke my heart and requested me if I can be part of the same.

Many times I had shared my dream of creating a forum to develop employable skills among youths so that they can accomplish their aspirations by learning the essential skills that are required by the industry during their childhood days. Prof. BL Desai had managed to put together about 200 High School Headmasters & English teachers under one roof with the support from Education Minister of Karnatka, Commissioner & DDPI [Deputy Director of Public Instruction]. He requested me to address the gathering on 7-Apr-07 in Hubli. Even though I was nervous in the beginning but agreed to do my best as I felt it was a great honor to meet our beloved teachers.

I am sharing my thoughts on how can we Ignite young minds and facilitate a smooth transition from School to Corporate world. I had the great opportunity to share my views & ideas with people who craft millions of children’s careers they are our TEACHERS. Many years ago I was their child where they would impress me everyday when I went to school and I could see many of them as role models. Today it was my turn to share my view on this whole issue of Employable skills of our youth brigade.

Competitiveness of India Inc;
Traditionally many decades age India was known as a country of snake charmers, land of complete backwardness, millions of illiterates, likes to be followers than creators [300 years we were ruled by the British] to where we are today.

India as a country has more than 380 universities, more than 10,000 different colleges, lakhs of graduates, more than 50% of universities across India use English as a medium of teaching, more than 6000 PhD’s and so on.. and on…..

India is also one of the fastest developing economies in the world today, targeting double digit GDP Growth. India hosts 65% of Information Technology global off-shoring workforce, 46% of global BPO [Business Process Outsourcing], having said that we also have many issues such as sustaining Diversity (Religion, language, culture etc.), unemployment, poverty, social security, health and many more which needs to be addressed to ensure Democracy and Economical prowess.

World view of India:
Many global companies are excited about India story and they want to be part of our success story. Many of these companies have a special chapter for India story in their yearly business plans. Many believe that we have the best of both the worlds “Ability to relate to the rest of the world by means of speaking a global business language [English] & Intellect ability to create the worlds best Intellectual Property”. Also our neighbors China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Korea’s are catching up with building strong language skills. For instance China has employed 30,000 English trainers to impart English Language skills so that they build competitive advantage over other Asian countries.

All Taxi Drivers in China to learn English before the 2008 Olympics. They have also made English compulsory at primary school level to build greater need to learn English language skills.
Indian IT Industry Challenges:
One and the only challenge is to hire the best right talent at the right time with a right cost. Indian IT would need 300,000 qualified Employable engineers in the next 1 - 2 years. Today many of the industry leaders are burning midnight oil to chalk out strategies to build employable skills to all their employees. Many large players are spending in excess of Rs.600 Crores per annum towards training/grooming people on various aspects of industrial & technological requirements.

Some of the key skills that every young engineer need to acquire during early days of their schooling/college;
Business Language Skills
Reading, Writing, speaking, Articulation, assertive skills
Problem solving, cognitive thinking, Values, ethics & social responsibility etc.
Industry/domain knowledge, skill & ability to deal with uncertainties of the changing world
Behavioral etiquettes – Social life style, personal grooming, corporate etiquettes, appreciating culture etc.
Leadership Skills – Self leadership, People, Diversity Management etc.

The task of imparting all the above skills seems herculean and impossible at school, college level. These may not be part of any curriculum, but we often miss out on all these and hence end result is lack of competencies to get into corporate world. This leads to many issues among the student communities across the country.

There is a saying The mediocre teacher tells, The good teacher explains, The superior teacher demonstrates, The great teacher inspires, I believe the role of Teachers in inculcating the right skills at the school/college level is very high and they can play a very vital role in shaping the careers of many young people, so teachers have to transform from being a mere educators to role models and inspire students to see the BIG Picture.

If we look at a life cycle of an individual, the best phase of life is childhood where they are capable of learning anything and everything because they are still young and mouldable, in other words if teachers can ignite hunger to develop certain special skills & abilities which will act as a boosters for them to launch their career into the corporate world.
As teachers I would urge you to teach the following skills to all student community without which they are incomplete in every sense.
Inclusivity
As children we were always tough to compete among each other at school/home/neighborhood whether it is exams, sports, extra curricular activities everywhere. I think its good to be competitive, but we should not forget the need for empathy, caring for each other, social responsibility, treating everyone equal etc. If unaddressed at school level this will soon become an evil in our society; before it’s too late I feel teachers are best equipped to impart this social skill. As children we look upto teachers and we learn everything taught to us at school level. We need to understand and appreciate each others issues & problems. We have seen an era where human beings are treated like animals when slavery system existed, can we understand that every human being has the right live his/her own dignified social life. We have no rights to disown/disrespect anyone. We need to teach our children that there is nothing called upper class/middle class or lower class. I believe this class system is all in the mind.

When people transition from school to college and then to corporate world, there is nothing but TEAM WORK. It does not matter what one has studied, all are treated equally and have to work together to achieve common goals. Unlike at school/college where we have been taught to compete, the whole process transforms from competition to collaboration & team work keeping aside personal interests. There is a saying “Together Everyone Achieves More”. So my sincere request to teachers is to create greater Inclusivity among each other so that we can create a wonderful world.

Speak your Mind
Culturally we are living in a suppressed society, where hierarchy, positions over rule anything & everything that we do in our daily life. When it comes to expressing our feelings/views points and ideas, we always feel that let someone else communicate and we tend to shy away. I think the time has come for the younger generation to take centre stage and have a point of view on anything that happens around us, for this to happen children’s have to be taught that speaking your Mind is the best way to express yourself thoughts, ideas, suggestions etc. This can happen only when we expose students at school level to various social/cultural or any other issues that we are facing, so that they can apply their mind and express their thoughts. Power of thought if managed well can transform our nation into a developed nation; we need to nurture thoughts, ideas and views. Teachers please provide platform to young brigade to express themselves.

Learn from the Environment
A country with billion people having vast variety in language, culture, values, ethos has lot to offer for everyone to learn from each other. We often turn a blind eye to what happens around us and look outside for learning. I would like to emphasize on few examples which will open our eyes to learning opportunities.
Traffic Police: Let us look at the role of Traffic Police who manages traffic in Bangalore city. Bangalore today has more than 75 lakh people and in access of 20 lakh vehicles. Please educate children to learn satisfaction/service orientation from the traffic police who is paid to inhale carbon monoxide for the rest of his life that he has to stand in the middle of the road. What motivates him to serve people at the cost of his own life? Its all about being service oriented and enjoy what you do.
Ant/Bee : I am sure this is a very common example & everyone can relate better. Have you seen any supervisors managing transactions/activities of Ant/Bee’s. What motivates them to work in teams without any supervisors? Can you please teach children work with out any supervision?
I can give many more examples to drive home a point that we need to learn from the environment all the time. Let us not ridicule our society and culture which is the backbone of our existence and this will be the single most differentiator for us as a nation in the years to come. Unity, Diversity, cultural changes will drive a complete different behavior and it’s important that we our youth understand the need for co-operation in every possible way.
Questioning Skills:
The Indian education system is characterized by instructive teaching, individual work, and more focused on oneself, and a complete absence of independent thinking and the presence of unquestioned obedience to authority. By nature we do not encourage people to ask questions, because it is not accepted well in the society. It may be construed that questioning is disagreeing, not being obedient & disrespectful etc. I believe questioning is a great skill which everyone needs to develop; you cannot lead life based on assumption theories. During early days of student’s career its best if we cultivate questioning skills which will help to develop thinking ability beyond the stated and seek clarification on any given context. I request teachers to develop this rare skill in every student.

Humility/Humble –
Humility’ is not an unknown word to all of us. It’s not one of those words people will pause to look up the meaning for. We love the thought of humility & are one of those ‘great’ values we strive hard to acquire. It takes a lot to develop humility and it needs to start at an early age to be able exhibit humbleness all through our life. It’s very unfortunate that majority of young people today do not have humility/humbleness and we need to blame ourselves for what we are experiencing in today’s world. It’s important to realize that we need to know what we do not know. We need to realize that all of us do not have equal talent, but all of us need to have equal opportunity to develop competencies/skills.
It’s very important to remain humble all the time irrespective of your profile in society. As a child if we learn the importance of behavioral value system and develop these skills it will prove to be one of the biggest strengths one can aspire to acquire. Teachers, you have a great opportunity to shape the future of our society, please teach us humility & humbleness.

Developing strong Value System
Indian family system is built on strong values which have helped us to remain united all these years. Values are guiding principles in our life and they play important role in shaping our career, relationships, behaviors and our choices. Values also tell us who we are, why we are etc.. Our actions reflect the value system that we have inherited from our ancestors.
We are living in an era which witnessed some of the worst examples of corruption in the history of mankind, unethical practices to gain money, popularity, position etc. I do not think we want our generation next to live in such a society which is filled with people having questionable character, conduct and adopting convenient routes to achieve success. It’s extremely important in today’s context to teach our children positive values to influence positive behavior. Positive behavior will lead to a better society in the years to come. As teachers it’s essential to help students to influence and inculcate some of the following ethical values;
Build their Integrity
Help them listen to their conscience
Encourage them to help others
Help them become independent
Teach them how to distinguish between Right and Wrong. Doing what is Right and not what is Convenient.
There is no way to Happiness; Happiness is the only way etc…….
If we are able to teach the above values to students, we would have begun the process of creating a new society which will be free from all evils.
Having discussed overall social skills for effective learning at school level, if we can take some initiatives which will be a step forward in equipping young students with survival skills to face abundant challenges of the world. I firmly believe if teachers can play this important role of transformational role models for millions of young students across the country. There are no short cuts to achieving this goal, but to work it out one step at a time. I would like to conclude with the following lines from Upanishad which is very relevant to the topic.
You are what your deep driving desire is,
As is your desire, so is your will
As is your will, so is your act
As is your act, so is your Destiny”

Thanks you so much for this life time opportunity to share my thoughts with my beloved teachers.
About Author:
Naganagouda S Jakkanagoudar is a Associate Director of HR at MindTree Consulting Ltd, Bangalore. He has over 13 years of Industry Experience in Manufacturing & IT in the field of IR & HR. He is involved in building HR processes, systems, tools for effective Talent Engagement & Development at MindTree. He can be reached at naganagoudasj@mindtree.comAbout Author:

Making of an Engineer

2007-12-05T05:57:00.000-08:00

Key Note address by Naganagouda SJ at the Inaugural ceremony of AVISKAR-2006 Project exhibition by AMCE Students at Basaveshwar Engineering College, Bagalkot, Karnataka on 1-Dec-2006

Respected Principal, HOD’s Teachers and my beloved student friends of BEC, Bagalkot, members of the press & media. It gives me an immense pleasure to be amongst you today, as I stand before you to address this august gathering on the occasion of AVISHKAR’2006 a technology project exhibition event. I have a mixed feeling as I speak to you because I am novice in technology and I may not appreciate technology better than anyone of you here. I can see some of you as the future technology evangelists who will shoulder the responsibility of building a better world in the years to come. I will make a sincere effort to relate myself with your thought processes and try to speak few words.

In the current knowledge economy where people with Knowledge, Skills & Abilities are the key drivers of industrial growth. The race for supremacy in technological development is at its best and war for top talent is the buzz word in the industry today as many corporations are facing severe talent crunch.

Let me talk about the role of innovation in technology development which is very relevant to what we will witness today, we as a company laid lot of emphasis on Innovation in whatever we do right from our inception. I feel all of you need to think out of the box and be willing to explore self with technology by means of taking risk wherever possible.
Let me explain to you some of the key characteristics of innovators are:

Personality Traits
As students we have a tendency to have inward focus on curriculum which is primarily driven by the semester system of learning. I am of the opinion that some where we are loosing focus of the big picture of creating intellectual engineers. We are merely becoming just engineers with a degree. Today as we are discussing about Aviskar I request each of you to develop some key skills which will help you to think differently and work better.
• Out of Box Thinking
• Never say die Attitude & Hard work
• Commitment & Ownership
• Risk taking ability to explore the unknown
Technology Appreciation traits
In Today’s world Technology has reached a stage in our life where it’s difficult to detach ourselves from its existence. So much so that today that we have started to relate our selves with more of technology than our name for example if you happen to meet any Software engineer in Bangalore if you ask anyone “who are you?”, instant answer will be I am a Java/.Net engineer. While this is good to be passionate about technology, but we should not forget that Technology is a means to solve the problem and its ever changing. So we should develop skills to appreciate different technologies at different times in our life. I would like to list some of the key competencies which we need to cultivate while at college so that we are better equipped to face the technological complexities offer by the industry.
• Product Mentality
• Problems = Opportunity
• Domain Knowledge
• Analytical Ability
• Continuous Learning
• Think Quality.. think innovation..
Innovation does not revolve around people who think alike, In fact Diversity is one key element of innovation, as a team, as a college, as an enterprise we need to encourage diversity so that ignited minds can think in many different ways to bring innovative ideas and convert them as products/services etc. Another key element is to create a sense of inclusion where you make the other person always wanted and continuously encourage in the right direction so that it infuses a strong sense of involvement which will result in innovative ideas.

I see competition everywhere right from admitting an infant into a kinder Garden school, to secure a seat in a busy City bus, sneaking through jammed traffic, getting a BE/Medical seat, CAT entrance rush, most importantly placements etc. etc. You may be wondering why I am quoting these examples, there is one common in all these examples i.e human is involved. So what I mean to say is we are the cause for every action & consequences that are haunting all of us today.

My question to all of you is, are we creating a world full of thinkers, innovators or a chaotic bunch of ordinary people. I think each one of us have to find answers and only we can think of a better answer and we only can build a better world.

I am sure all of you have the divine potential to create innovative solutions which will make all of us proud one day and more importantly your parents, your alma mater and at large our country.

All the very best and good luck..

2007-12-04T06:09:00.000-08:00

SWOT – A tool for Self Assessment

SWOT is basically raising the level of self understanding and self appreciation of knowledge, skills & abilities that one possesses. It is understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses when planning for individual’s career. SWOT is a key tool in the career planning for individuals.

A SWOT analysis focuses on the internal and external environments, examining strengths and weaknesses in the internal environment and opportunities and threats in the external environment. SWOT Analysis is a powerful technique for identifying Strengths and Weaknesses, and for examining the Opportunities and Threats you face. It helps you develop your career in a way that takes best advantage of your talent, knowledge, Skills, Abilities & opportunities.
Why SWOT Tool:
It’s a very powerful tool to know what we don’t know & provides a way to develop skills/competencies for the required role.
When one gets into MindTree, this enables the Practice/COE champion to understand the individuals overall abilities & developmental areas and accordingly one can prepare a Plan of Action.
A tool to help a person deal with problems and issues that affect his/her career growth.
A technique that allows for a greater understanding of one’s abilities and areas of weakness and for being honest and objective about these.
Knowing what you are trying to achieve & enables you to enhance the overall personality traits.
A detailed understanding of a situation and the problems inherent in it along with knowledge of the resources available to deal with it
What makes SWOT particularly powerful is that with a little thought, it can help you uncover opportunities that you are well placed to take advantage of and also to understand your weaknesses which you can manage /Eliminate threats which would otherwise catch you unaware anytime.

I N T E R N A L
YourStrengths
YourWeaknesses
E X T E R N A L
Opportunitiesin Your Career Field
Threatsin Your Career Field

One needs to evaluate all the time as to what he/she should learn & develop on the job so that they can enhance overall competencies and become a true professional. We believe SWOT is a great technique to adopt so that this can help individual to plan for their overall development and in the process enhance overall competencies and become highly competent professionals.

A wonder called NISCHAL... My Teacher

2007-09-06T04:11:00.000-07:00

It was a great transition from a bachelorhood to a family man. It was one of those busy days in office when I got a call from my FIL ( Father In Law) that I am father of a baby boy on 11-Apr-06. Actually I was in level7 of my office in Banashankari, Bangalore. From that moment to till date life has changed so much.... I am blessed with a gift from god called NISCHAL who is just 19 months young now. I did not realized how he has already grown to 19 months. I started realising that actually I am learning few things from him without noticing he becoming my teacher and I believe he is the best teacher now. I have been learning some fascinating things in the last few months.

I want to share some of the important lessons learnt till date:

Learn from everything

Love is selfless & Pure

Have great energy levels (Tenacity) at all the time

Friends are for ever & beyond relatives

SMILE always - Best medicine for all ailments in life...

Final word: Be open to learning from every opportuinity & situation .. do not evaluate from whom you are learning.. we can learn from every soul on this earth.. Lets develop a learning attitude