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Showing posts from September, 2010

Learnings of an Entrepreneur

The entrepreneur’s hat is an awesome one by any stretch of imagination. The buck stops at you. You are the last resort. Period. That more than anything else, ensures continued self assessment and its concomitant – an on-going self evolution for the better. Especially if there is an implicit internal commitment to build an excellent organization with sustainable values respecting the eco-system in its totality. The outcome is story that run along the lines of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – I have not read the book, but do have an inkling [based on the assortment of quips and quotes] on the fare it provides. This piece has a limited agenda, though and just intends to target of at least 4 posts a month, in as elegant and useful a form as the time, mood and other self imposed [read conditioned] constraints permit. :) One thing I can state loud and clear – entrepreneurship is quite an enthralling thing and it is much easier than I imagined when I embarked on this road. I say th

The New Indian Hero

Can you guess, whom I am talking about? Which new kid off the block is it? Someone in Hollywood, or in the sporting arena? Or some maths Olympiad or spelling bee Whiz? Couldn’t really be further off the mark. The person who has caught my attention – is another old man. [The last man – to have caught the national sub-conscious with some endearing freshness was Dr. A.P.J]. Not quite a maverick – of which heros are normally made of. But a real solid hard core professional, with some delightful old school work and living style. The kind of people, who call a spade a spade. Nothing flashy at all about them, zero tolerance for corruption, all about competence and team spirit. Consistent track record of executing large, mega, hyper complex projects before time and within costs. To top it, someone who wakes up at 0430 hours every day, does yoga in the morn and sleeps at 2130 hours. The type of person India is desperately short of now. Just a thousand odd such people, 50 in every state – and w

Survival or Service

Survival or Service One fine moment we reply with a smile, at other times to the same solicitation we might give a frown. At times we respond to a challenge with grit and character, to some other challenge we instinctively justify the bending of a rule. For the better part of the day, we stand tall by our self-mirror as we adhere to the moral science lessons, but for a few [yet significant] moments we would prefer to go practical. All of us, - most certainly, yours truly – live in two states. In one, we focus only on the survival of self [or the vaguely extended self]. In the other, we desire to be of service to others. Every moment, I feel, all of us live in these two states. The difference as an individual at different moments the relative dominance of one state of over other varies. Every ‘sinner’ has a heart and every ‘exalted’ guru has a moment of weakness. Similarly, as groups [families, organizations, communities, nations etc] different states dominate at different times. Diffe

Unabashed Disclosures…

Its been a good thousand years since I have written, yeah looks so far behind in the past. Me seems to have become a different person in the interim. Muted, morphed and almost wearing a looong whirrrrrrr by my ears. The buzz of female fatale notwithstanding. Almost a feeling of insanity - without the periodic cathartic mingling with the printed matter. Mind you – its not just not-blogging hello to my alter-ego or not writing some nice lovable letters [I hardly do the latter anyways] - I haven’t even read anything of substance. No, not even nuanced literature to sooth my nerves. But it’s the Phoenix which rises from the ashes….and yet again history repeats itself [or it promises – at this moment]. As I was poring away into my murky self, with a general sense of jaded distaste, suddenly something gleamed. A sense of illumination, [The idea of blogging was the effect not the cause] and it runs as follows. I am normally a jaded, irritated and low tolerance self, when am in a mono-d