Inspirational Leadership Training

I was conducting a half-day session on Leadership at the Institute of Company Secretaries of India today. The session was highly interactive as the participants played enthusiastically in the activities

While sharing my Five Rules of Leadership, I spoke about the need for Leaders to have a Bias for Action. One of the participants made the point that Bias is a negative word and I could have preferred the word "Preference". I agree that Bias seems to have acquired a negative connotation through usage and leans nearer to prejudice. But the word is essentially an indication that someone likes one option over another. A Bias for Action means we prefer to do things rather than simply keep analyzing. To lean towards something because you don't like something else, or you like something more than something else.

Businessdictionary.com defines Bias as the Propensity to act or decide without customary analysis or sufficient information 'just do it' and contemplate later. Popularized by Tom Peters, author of 'Search For Excellence,' as a distinguishing feature of agile firms.

Quotables

“The way you do the little things says a lot about the way you will do the big things.”

Quotables

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

- Bertrand Russel.

Quotables

“Great minds discuss ideas

Average minds discuss events

Small minds discuss individuals” – Anon

Visarjan 2010 Chennai

19.09.2010

It is Visarjan time and the roads are blocked with lorries carrying Ganesha idols of varying sizes to be dissolved in the Bay of Bengal.

An Itinerant Trainer

I am basically an itinerant rainer going wherever I am called teaching whatever I know to people who desire to know. My peregrinations have once again brought me to the Garden City.

Banglore is cool and pleasant. It is once again the Air Conditioned city I remember it to be except that, in those days the AC effect began even as early as July.

Here is a nice quote about learning and knowledge sent by my friend Lalitha a Bangalorean herself:

“For the one who knows to be able to teach the one who knows not, first the one who knows must know that he or she does not know all things; second, the one who knows not must know that he or she is not ignorant of everything. Without this dialectical understanding of knowledge and ignorance, it is impossible, in a progressive, democratic outlook, for the one who knows to teach the one who knows not.” Paulo Friere – in Pedagogy of Hope

The Power of Mathematics

A really funny cartoon from the book Cosmic Verses: A humorous Rhyming History of the Universe by James Muirden.

Sunset on the Wainganga

This shot was taken from the Wainganga bridge on the Bhandara-Raipur Road from the Eastern side towards the southern side. I liked the play of the setting sun on the water and took the shot with a little strip of land visible on the extreme western bank.

Wainganga bridge

On the road from Bhandara town to the Ashok Leyland plant, there is a river that cuts across the road. This river is the Wainganga which is a tributary of the Godavari. The Wainganga has its source in Madhya Pradesh and flows through Maharashtra. The river is pretty sluggish here as it passes near Bhandara on its way to joining the Godavari near Nashik. Currently the river is crossed by a strong concrete bridge. From this bridge you can see the former bridge built one hundred years ago by the British. The locals say this bridge has survived many floods. During the monsoons this bridge would be submerged.

I took this shot from the eastern ewnd of the new bridge in the evening around 6:00 PM on 14th September.

Ganpathi Bappa Moriya!

In Maharashtra Vinayaka Chathurthi is celebrated for ten days. So everyone is still in devotional mood. There are Ganapathi idols everywhere and Puja is performed religiously at every one of these votive shrines by ardent Maharashtrians singing, “Ganapathi Bappa Moriya, Mangal Murthi Moriya!” This is the idol placed in the Ashok Leyland guest house by the staff and their families. I joined them at the Puja in the evening and witnessed Aarthi etc.,

Ashok Leyland Bhandara

I am here at Bhandara to conduct a Financial awareness program for the executives of the Bhandara unit of Ashok Leyland Limited. It is a two day program.

If you proceed further for another twenty kilometers, beyond Bhandara town the Bhandara unit of Ashok Leyland lies on a sprawling green 230 acre rolling grassland on the southern side of the National Highway. The plant is at the edge of the forest and I am informed that sightings of Deer and wild Boar can be had frequently and sometimes even a stray leopard. Just adjacent are two major reserve forests.

Locating Bhandara!

12.09.2010

I spent almost the whole day travelling from Chennai to Bhandara. First I flew from Chennai to Mumbai and then flew another hour and a half to reach Nagpur. Nagpur airport is chic and modern; it could well be a miniature version of any airport abroad.

To locate Bhandara, I suggest that you take a map of India and locate Nagpur somewhere in the center. Now, imagine that you are drawing a thick black straight line towards east (that would be your right hand side if north is on top as it should be) with an eye-liner pencil; the line is almost straight except in places where it curves up and down when you find it difficult to control the soft tip of the pencil. This is the road running out of Nagpur to Raipur. Whatever scale you are using, when you’ve drawn the equivalent of seventy kilometers, you

have located Bhandara. You can take your line further east to Bhilai and then Raipur and on and on. This is the central portion of India where there is maximum space between east and west. Gujarat on the western cost and Bangladesh on the East or W. Bengal and the North East. I think this part of Maharashtra and MP were once the thick jungles that Indians had to cross to reach Kashi or Kashmir on pilgrimage. Although post independent India has tamed these forests somewhat, the flora and fauna are just waiting to take over at anytime.

As we drove from Nagpur on the Road running east to Bhandara, the setting sun was behind us bathing the road with a tawny light that shined on the trees and grass and made them look fresh and bright.

We passed through Bhandara which is a typical “developing town” in India’s agrarian heartland. It is small pocket of industrialization surrounded by green rice fields on all sides. This is a rice belt and people are rice eaters here. The prevalence of paddy fields has resulted in numerous crickets that take refuge in the guest house.

Instant capture!

Having a 5 mega pixel solid camera built into my Nokia cell phone is the equivalent of having a sketch book and an infinite variety of color pencils perpetually on hand. Every object, shape, color theme or juxtaposition of images can be captured for future examination. Here is an image I saw from my bed in the GITAM guest house room!

The Cutting Edge of Technology

It is believed that the Maratha Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was presented a sword by goddess Bhavani. The name of the Sword was ‘Chandrahaasa’. The Information Technology block at the GITAM University is Called Chandrahas and hasan image of the sword on the elevation as well as a statue of the Maratha King facing the entrance. I think this is meant to symbolize Cutting Edge Technology trhat has to be as sharp as Chandrahaas and as effective in overcoming obstacles. I relly admire the genius who has planned and executed this massive institution of higher learning with so much clarity and sensitivity.

Established in 1980, Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM) is the dream child of an inspired group of eminent intellectuals and industrialists of Andhra Pradesh, India, led by popular parliamentarian Dr. M V V S Murthi, M.A., B.L., Ph.D. to set up a centre of learning in technology, management and medicine in the picturesque port city of Visakhapatnam. The vision of G The successful saga of GITAM University started with its establishment of College of Engineering. Responding to the expanding needs in the fields of technology, management and medicine, GITAM College of Management Studies, GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade, GITAM Dental College, GITAM College of Science and College of Pharmacy have been added to the ever growing list of GITAM Institutions. In these twenty seven successful years GITAM University has emerged as one of the most sought-after centers of professional education in the country.

About Hugs and Fools

Let a FOOL hug you but don't let a HUG fool you.

Shivaji is invited by Afzal Khan to his tent where Afzal plans to hug Shivaji and kill him with his tiger claws. But Shivaji is faster in plunging his dagger. The picture on the right has acaption that describes Shivaji as a terrorist. This needs to be understood from different perspectives. But the fact remains that Shivaji is still an Inspirational leader who is legendary for his bravery and cunning.

learning from Mistakes... continued....

A Short and Cute Proverb:

"You have to learn lessons also from others mistakes., Because you will not get TIME to do all the mistakes....

Enjoy making mistakes!

I love teaching at Business Schools because it gives me an opportunity to interact directly with the bright young minds that are going to be involved in managing India Inc., in the future. I get to see them here, as it were, “in-process”; in a formative stage. They are fluid; somewhat confused; yet rigid in their confidence in their own inte

lligence.

I tried to make this current group of MBA students at GITAM appreciate the need to be flexible in their approach to resolving managerial issues.

Most engineers as well as finance professionals have passed through an educational system that consistently rewards being right and punishes being wrong. While this approach is perfectly justifiable with respect to exact sciences and like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Arts like Accountancy, it is dangerous in an MBA program where abstract ideas are being shared and compared.

To demand a right or wrong answer for a case study would be inappropriate. Approaches can be discussed and their pros and cons analyzed or even debated. Reasons can be attributed for success for success or failure of a company. Generic learning should be derived there from.

When a participant in an MBA program sticks to his view as the “only” correct one, he is regressing back to his “Right vs. Wrong” learning patterns that exclude by definition all information that contradicts this view. This could even lead to totalitarian attitude that could be dangerous to the organization if present at the middle or senior levels of management.

During the session, I made an impassioned plea to the students to “enjoy making mistakes i.e. being wrong!” One of the students a smart and vociferous communicator, Indrajit Bannerjee stood up and politely made this point:“Sir, we do things to be right. We don’t do things to be wrong! So you are wrong to say that we should enjoy being wrong!”

This was followed by heavy applause from the class.

I was impressed by his words. I decided to take my own advice and enjoy being wrong! Yes! He is right! You don’t set out to make mistakes and get things wrong. You plan to get things right!

The point is what you do when you are clearly shown as being wrong. Are you willing to listen and see other perspectives to understand where you went wrong or are you busy defending your concept of “Right”? This is the essence of the art of learning from mistakes with joy. How we deal with failure determines our ability to succeed. What you do when you’re wrong influences your ability to be right!

Vaizag Landing 2

You can see clearly the coastline and the city hugging it in this shot.

Vaizag Landing - 1

On my way to Vaizag this time, I begged the air hostess and got Seat 2 B, a window seat and managed some good aerial shotswhile landing at Vaizag.

Anna Salai by Night

A Night shot of the Y Bend in Mount Road (Anna Salai) taken from the Terrace of Hotel Mathura.

Habits of Highly effective Managers

I delivered a lecture on Habits of Highly effective Managers art St. Jodsephs College of Engineering on OMR, Chennai. The campus, adjacent to the Sathyabama Deemed University is masssive. It looks more like a theme park with beautifully maintained lawns colorful statuary and aeshtetic buildsings everywhere.

My lecture was well received by the students.

Dark Tree

I photographed this tree from the Window of the ICAI Branch. I am experimenting with the Picture Manager. By reducing the saturation and increasing the contrast I have made this image look like it was shotlate in the evening on a stormy day. It wasactually shot in full sunlight at 16:00 Hrs.

Teachers Day 2010

05.09.2010

I am at GITAM Vizag for my third and final visit. It is coincidental that I am here on Teachers' Day. The Students were quite profuse in thieir greetings on Teachers' Day.

I am also getting a lot of mail and SMS greeting me on this day. The following mail touched me:

From: satabdee borah

Sent: 05 September 2010 19:34
To: Srikanth S
Subject: Happy teachers day!

Sir wish you a very Happy Teacher's Day! It was an honour as well as a pleasure attending your Corporate & Allied Law classes for the Final batch which started in november 2009. We really need such motivating & engaging teacher such as yourself in Assam! With regards.

Satabdee Borah.

Thank you Satabdee.

I take this opportunity to thank all students who sent in greetings. I wish all my students who ever learnt any subject from me all the very best. I bow down in gratitude to all my teachers, especially my illustrious Guru and greatest teacher Prof. K S Anantharaman. I rededicate myself to the spirit of Teaching, Training and Counselling and make a promise to myself to be honest as a teacher and seek the unblemished welfare of the student in all my endeavors.

---

Bangalore

I am now in Bangalore. The weather's definitely chilly and the wind's a bit nippy. I took this photo near Ambedkar Bhavan in Basant Nagar.

A twine that connects

28.08.2010

I had the opportunitty to address the Finance Executives of Ma Foi-Randstaad. Their CFO Mr. Sai Prasanna made this beautiful comment about Finance.

"Finance is the twine that connects the various functional departments of a company together like a garland or necklace."

The metaphor is quite interesting and takes me to the VII Chapter of the Bh. Gita where Brahman interweaving all-pervasive force that ties up all creation is compared to the sootra or string that keeps the beads of a necklace together.

The earlier speaker was a Chartered Accountant and Director Deloitte who spoke about Security and Governance. He was accompanied by Mr. Matti B Rao who is known to me as BK Rao or simply BK. BK and I go a long way back to 1989-91 when we were both Junior

Officers or JOs in Price Waterhouse (There was no Coopers then!). We have spent many happy times on audit at Coonoor, N. Delhi and elsewhhere. There was even one occasion when we came back late from an audit in coonoor to the mess. The mess was almost closed and they had very little food and only one banana leaf on which they could serve! BK and I were famished and decided to use a single leaf! Both of us are Brahmins and our early conditioning had made it very difficult to share the same leaf; so we got into a tacit understanding that at no cost will we allow our respective food to spill over to the other's side! This is the bonding we have. As can be seen both of us have grown in stature from those early days in PWH! :-)