Method to the madness!

Prudential algebra, the Benjamin Franklin way of plotting ‘pros and cons’?

Or the ancient Persian way of ‘deciding twice’: once when sober and once when drunk?

Or ‘decision science’ is where you get your juice from, as the New Yorker points out that it is Barack H. Obama’s decision method -  a research field at the intersection of behavioral economics, psychology, and management?

Or do you prefer the Charles Darwin method of listing possibilities?

Or do you find yourself close to the ‘Gandhian method’, that stems from principles of morality, quality, civility, humanity, inclusivity, and collective good?

How do you decide? Do you have a method for it? If not why? Is there merit in having one? Are some of the things that I wish to explore with you, today. The art or as many call it the science of decision making is perhaps the most essential skill one needs to own, not just for sustenance but also for success. We make hundreds of choices each day; some more critical than the other, but decisions nonetheless. Every decision necessitates a definite consequence. If it happens to be a sound one, outcomes are balmy and if it goes south, things turn ugly. Therefore, it is crucial to pause to analyze the process that we might have for arriving at decision. At this stage, for argument's sake, let’s admit that all of us have a method, it's just that some of us recognize it and others do not, but trust me when I say no human mind is devoid of one.

While we’re at it, let’s bust the most common myth, the oldest surviving decision fallacy: Lack of knowledge/intellect causes poor decision making, undividedly. 

This is believed to be the gospel by many but it is not entirely fact-based. I am not saying that information and intellect are not useful in making a selection but I am simply saying that it is not the ‘sole’ contributor in decision making. Knowledge deficit is not an issue as much as, behavior deficit is, let me give you a few examples:

Common facts are known to most if not all. 

1. Carb/sugar is poison. 
2. Wearing a seatbelt (even on the rows behind the driver) saves lives. 
3. Smoking kills. 
4. Not reading ‘good stuff’ makes us dumb.

Yet, these blunders are choices that billions of people make every day over the known ‘right choice', and the science behind it, completely’; as I said, awareness is not always the issue, the behavior is. A person who makes the weighing scale arc beyond the healthy mark and those with a special medical condition, let’s say diabetic, hypertensive, cardiac issues - know that the voluptuous bite of burger, will set them back by a few weeks of hard work (assuming that they have been refraining) and yet when presented with one, they hog it, in 8 out of 10 incidents. And while at it they also order a bag of fries; some in guilt override even finish the job with ice cream (with disproportionate amounts of creme). Have you ever thought why some of us slide on the hideous slope? Behavioral psychologists explain, it is because of the combined effect of the below : 

1. Present Biase: Absitation, in this case, is hard work. Which even if observed is only going to materialize into tangible results in the future but letting go, being slothful, rewards here and NOW (the bite). So most people go for it. 
2. The emotional context of the pleasure centers: Social contract accounts for a lot of what we do, an enclosure full of reckless burger eaters, tricks your brain into believing that after all a burger can’t kill and then you intellectualize in your mind, while you have already queued up for the order, that, "I have been on salads for nearly 7 days, I have earned it". So with a smile broader than usual, you order double cheese and whatever else it is that you enjoy consuming.
3. Fear of losing out: We’re motivated more by fear of loss than possibilities of gain: not taking the bite looms larger than the possibility of being on the healthier side of body mass, in the long run. So at the moment, burger seems like an ok thing to do so you go for it.

Human beings are irrational subjects but in the most predictable ways, therefore, as long as you are able to tame the ‘cue, routine, reward’ cycle as the ace writer Charles Duhigg defines in his book the power of habit, which is to say that behavior accounts for more than information in decision making, you'll be fine. But what is also true is that all circumstances that we face are not an outcome of routine, we often encounter unique situations, to which we have zero familiarity with. That begs that question, how should we approach decision making in those cases? A few examples of those scenarios are: 

1. COVID has dented the business substantially, should I, therefore, rationalize the cost structure of my organization now, or wait for the situation to unfold a little more? 
2. Which job offer should I take as both of them promise to pay nearly the same and are in the same city? 
3. Should I marry or not? What my ideal match will be? 
4. What should I learn next? 
5. Which investments make sense .. which is dud? 
6. Who to befriend and who to actively avoid? 
7. How polite is it too smooth? 

You catch the drift, I hope?

Decision making is often an art of juggling between conflicting objectives and undiscovered options. You’ll never have all the information that you need, security will seldom be answered conclusively and yet you’d be required to exercise your choice and sometimes without much notice too. What do you do?

I think we have succeeded in doing a good job in setting the context right. We’ve defined the issue at hand well, we gotta now unravel the solution part of it. And before we get there I must in the benefit of full disclosure, admit that I have made many terrible choices, straight up unwise ones when measured against the common parlance and I also can’t even say with certainty that I have never repeated a judgment error, in my life. But I must also place in your knowledge that I have been intent on discovering the art of decision making for over 16 years, now.  I have read a wide variety of philosophers and observed modern-day exemplary decision-makers to better my own process. I have also written about decision making (12 articles in the last 10 years, you can find them on the website)

So, when you learn what I have to say on the matter, take it for what it is worth, no less no more.

What you’ll register from here on is a condensed version of a discipline that I have created for myself, and so far it has served me well or so I think.

Step 1 - is to figure out what is it that matters the most to us? Or put differently, what makes us most appeased. 

• Is it wealth?
• Does intellectual indulgence count above everything else? 
• Do you crave for happiness in the conventional sense the most?
• Is morality and social justice, the mission of your life?
• Do you get motivated by societal positioning, which is about going a bit over the top in the display of possession?
• Are health and emotional well being most dear to you?
• Are you looking for love and a sense of belonging? 
• Or you simply want the ZEN, like peace?

Or anything else? 

Decisions are the vehicle on which we travel to the destination of our life goals, therefore it is vital to sort out what we really desire for first. It is crucial to not haste here: take your time, speak to your friends, family, and most importantly your mother: she knows what you want more than you do. After you’ve made up your mind on your life goal(s) and related priorities, give it some resting time. Let say 90 days or so, revisit the list again, and if then also it makes the same sense that it did when you originally created it, chances are that you’ve hit the GOLD. And if you feel like you need to change a few things, go right ahead: it is your life and there is no deadline for this activity. The goal is to know the thing that you deeply desire at a level much deeper than what is easily influenced by superficial worldly influences. After watching the BATMAN movie if you want to be one too, you know it can’t be your life's GOAL, because there is JUST ONE BATMAN!   

Also, at this stage you must know that :

“We judge ourselves by our intentions, but others by their impact.”

Let’s scope our decision-making process to say that we’re blocking important and interesting decisions like the items listed below, from our endeavor

1. What to watch on Netflix. 
2. Android Vs iOS.
3. Youtube Vs TIKTOK.
4. Kohli or Dhoni.

We’re trying to narrow our conversation on rather uninteresting aspects of life, those decisions which often mean more than one thing. Things that have an impact on our lives in the medium as well as the long term. The set of decisions that help us get through the familiar part of the day are important but they do not determine the quality of our lives. Who we are today and what we will be tomorrow are a function of the other kinds of decisions that we take; the ones that require cognitive investment: logical thinking, rationalization. Matters that require intentionality, are the ones that we are going to talk about in this article.

The decision is a statement of intent, in fact, the most potent one.

As significant as the intention is to a decision-maker is, it is also open to interpretation by others, who may or may not be impacted by it. Opinions are not the same as facts and therefore must be taken with a grain of salt. We should shape our system of decision making, by trying to be rational, comprehensive, progressive. Inclusive, moral, and most important of all ‘right’. A smart man once said ‘when facts change I change my mind’; when one of his discussions was called into question, by the press. From peace to war; every outcome at an atomic level is a decision. 

It is comforting to know that no one ever walked on the planet without making poor choices. A bad decision is undesirable but not completely avoidable. It is humanly impossible to effectively insulate the decision-making process from error. No matter how bright you are you’d still make regrettable choices, it is ok, do not beat yourself over it. It is, however, crucial to have a system of making decisions, so that you get is right more often than you get it wrong.

Actions work best when they are themed to a carefully chosen principle. I personally believe in the three value systems that we will go over one by one. In my view, it provides beliefs needed to form a sound decision-making process. I credit the below philosophies for all the right decisions that I took in my life. And I attribute all the decision errors that I have made thus far to a shortage of discipline, intent, and sometimes even bleak desire to make them right. 

1. Stoicism: Stoic philosophy can’t be discussed without mentioning the stalwarts who propounded this line of thought, eloquently :
   1. Seneca  (4 AD - 65 AD)
   2. Marcus Aurelius (121AD to 180 AD)

I have had the good fortune of reading writings of both of these heavyweights, in the university: It was not an extracurricular reading, philosophy was one of my subjects.

Other thinkers have also spoken and written about Stoic philosophy but I find these two thinkers most prolific. If you were to deep dive you’ll find that “Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy which was founded by Zeno of Citium, in Athens, in the early 3rd century BC” (Wiki will also tell you this)

So what does it really cover?

The virtue of action, tolerance, and self-control, it professes remaining calm under pressure and avoiding emotional extremes. Personal improvement is at the very core of this philosophy. It simply mentions that everything that happens in our life is a result of connected cause and effect. It says that we can only respond by adjusting our attitude towards the prevalent circumstances. This discipline is about accepting the worst possible scenario and actually living it a few days a year to know what it is like to face the worst fall. It advises against making anger the response but leans on the side of intellectual arguments. It propels, that it is going to be ok in the end. This principle is also dead against, empty hope, passion, and mindless motivation. It is about being objective and free from emotions to the extent possible. 

2. Buddhism: It is about confronting suffering by practicing compassion. Budhha seconds, blowing out the flames of desire, by living in moderation, ‘the middle way’. Four important aspects of this philosophy are :
   1. Suffering exists.
   2. Suffering is caused by desire 
   3. We transcend suffering by managing our desires.
   4. If we change our outlook the changing circumstances won’t impact as badly.

Buddhism is about converting Ignorance into wisdom, Anger into compassion, greed into generosity. It teaches us to focus, to internalize the world around us, and to give. It tells us that peace is the ultimate goal that we must go after. I’m not detailing the origins of Sidhartha and how he became the enlightened Budhha because I assume most of you already know about it.

BR Ambedkar’s writing on Buddhism is worth reading

3. Essentialism: Disciplined pursuit of less. Less is more! It does not mean that you should aim for less - you have every right to desire wealth, materialistic pleasures, or just about anything that you deem fit. This philosophy is about attaining those goals by removing the vital few from the trivial many. It talks about devoting all your time and resources only to the things that really matter. It does not advocate “I will do everything”. It teaches us to declutter our lives, being intentional about what we do, and not diving into every pool that we find in our way. The principles of minimalism are also covered in it. Do more with less, be productive, and not busy. It speaks about, not following the pattern, but finding one’s own path and then pursuing it with laser-sharp focus. 

You should read Greg Mcknew to learn more about this philosophy.

When I try to converge these philosophies to find workable guidelines, I take the below out.

Tool Kit : 

1. Saying “NO” is ok. You do not have to say yes to every opportunity. Less is more!
2. Delaying decisions is better than taking the wrong one. 
3. Pro and Cons is important for maintaining objectivity 
4. Emotional wellbeing is displayed by not letting sentimentalities cloud judgment
5. Be aware of your biases and work actively to shield your decisions from them.
6. Be compassionate and be willing to share the fruits with those who deserve it. 
7. Always be on the right side of the moral principle in doing so uphold the law of the land, too. 
8. Stand for what you believe in even if doing so is the hardest thing to do at� the moment.

With that, I take your leave. I hope you found it useful. 

Remember, you have to make your own framework, pick what is right for you, and then run with it. 

Brand and Brand Builders

Brand gurus and marketing geniuses have defined brand comprehensively, leaving little scope for ambiguity or confusion for a postulant like me. Everyone is a consumer, we buy articles from sources we consider authentic within the reach of our presence and also in the grasp of our financial means. Every interaction with the product or service either creates a new impression in our minds or emboldens the perception built in the past: this applies to both good and bad experiences alike. You are not going to win the adulation of people by saying that consumers of our age live on an overdose of information, they have passage to reviews: real consumer feedback, success stories and matching products, all within the reach of a few taps. Someone determined to find out the positives or the negatives of your brand will succeed with trifling effort. The world has yet not seen a product that hasn’t failed, we are also yet to come across a brand that doesn’t make poor choices, from the perspective of its customers; yet we consider some brands better than the other. One can talk about the appeal of a product/service, its usability, price, availability etc to establish the brand and its identity, but it is not something that I’d like to explore in this article. What I’m trying to, and let me admit, audaciously superficially, the underlying reasons; or should we say what builds the character of the brand? Proof of the pudding lies in eating it; the brand is nothing more than the sum total of its user's perception, so if customers are a carrier of the brand, it’s true ambassadors, who are the brand builders? Who gives the brand character flesh and blood and brings it alive? No prizes for guessing, it is employees like you and I. Brands are built by what you and I do on our work desk and elsewhere in our work hours. Apple is not a person, Hyatt is not a singular object, the virgin airline is not lifelessly flying these are a result of real people working day in and day out. 

Desires, apprehensions, fears, motivation, commitment and conviction of employees manifest itself in the shape of a product and service that end consumer experiences and pays for. It is a misnomer that only great brands sell, there is a market for absolute garbage too. Everything retails, real measure of success of a brand is how popular or let say dominant it gets in the medium to long term : one quick test could be to figure out if its customers are willing to pay a ‘premium’, if so, you’ve done things right, at least those which matter the most to the customer. If the price tag is the only hook that you have on your customers, be rest assured, you will soon run out of business. Someone with a will just a tad bit better than yours to work on ‘features’ and the efficiency to keep the costs in check matching your levels of control, will suck your customer leaving you dry and unhappy. Therefore single most important objective for you should be to create a brand that is liked by your customers not only by the price tag at which you sell but also something else, something perhaps much more important than price itself. Let me quickly bring the Apple example here, for a quarter of the cost of a full spec iPhone you can buy a OnePlus which is as much a phone like the iPhone if not better, but customer stick to the iPhone knowing fully well that they are paying exorbitantly for a set of features which are not unique because iPhone is much more than a phone, in the Apple ecosystem, it does many things well without failing, which the cheaper Android counterpart can’t simply deliver. Apple has managed to create a phone which is more than a phone for its customers.

And that precisely should be the objective of the brand .. you have to be ‘more’ than what you must be in the most minimal sense. Lowest common denominators do not create history .. don’t aspire to be them. That truly in my view is what a brand should be, let’s turn our attention to the brand makers, the creators of the brand, the employee you and I. Or what should people in the leadership team do to help shape the character of the organisation to deliver a brand, below three things come to my mind ( that has a hell lot to learn on this subject and everything else)

1. Find that one thing you wish to be.
2. Be willing to sacrifice everything for that one thing
3. When you achieve that one thing ..look for the next big thing,

Let’s go over these individually and briefly.

1. Find that one thing you wish to be: A ton of researchers have proven it beyond reasonable doubt that it is utterly foolish to even fantasise being multiple things, it is just not wise. On the contrary, if you can be one thing and really good at that, you’ve made your mark. But it is easier said than done. In an organisation there are hundreds if not thousands of things that happen, every number mean something to someone; in choosing one, are we saying that we have to ignore the rest? Well, not quite, the ‘one thing’ philosophy says to choose one thing that makes most business sense to you. And you do not have to be austere in choosing what you wish to be. Let’s say choosing to be a 1 billion dollar company is a good target and so is getting high with 98% customer satisfaction. Both are brilliant targets to go after, please understand, everything that you would do, well, in one way or the other tie into everything, but by choosing one thing you basically, channelise energies in a certain direction of your choosing. So for instance, let’s say you are an ITES ( BPM, BPO, contact centre.. choose the phrase that you like) company and you had to choose a target, what should you choose? You can aim at a certain gross margin and say I wish to end this year at 23%, or you can give yourself a people target, saying I have to become a 40K people strong organisation or simply say that I will be on the number one spot on the partner scorecard for all my clients. Choosing to be on the number one in all client scorecard is a wise goal to elect, let me tell you why. Being number one the scorecard means you have not only met but also exceeded performance expectations substantially, in doing so you’ve given your customer a very strong reason to stay with you, one even stronger than your rate of billing. And to be number one, you’ll have to have the best talent onboard, a culture that retains skills, effective performance management, stringent cost control, satisfied set of employees etc. So to achieve that one thing you’ll end up doing all the right things. Choosing an indirect sensible goal will get you better results than a direct cost or number goal.
2. Be willing to sacrifice everything for that one thing: Temptation and temporary setbacks will set you off course. Distraction is everywhere, scattered so brilliantly that you’ll find it at every turn, even when you are not looking for it. You will need to resist the urge to do over midway. Remember shifting the goal post in a running match leave not only the players but also the spectators confused and confusion we can all agree doesn’t end in anything positive. Let’s take an example, let’s say the one thing that you had to choose happens to be ‘being the most preferred employer’ and in order to do that you’ve started reviewing your policies with the intent to make them lucrative and particularly employee friendly; what does that mean in the short term? Providing better couch and a better sofa, we know, comes at a cost higher than the ordinary. So it will mean that you’ll have to spend a little more, in bettering the benefits of the employees, giving the physical and the IT infra a facelift. This is real money and will go out of the limited reserve that you’d have built with years of frugality and conscious corner cutting, what you need to do is conduct a cost-benefit analysis. You do not have to hire a consultant for it, look at the cost of attrition (the opportunity you lose for not having people), cost of rehire, wastage caused by learning curve (new people take longer to do things, if the experienced lot took 5 minutes per task the new employee would start with 10.. you are losing money on every transaction), higher the churn more distant BAU gets, cost of chaos is 15% on an overall basis, per the research conducted by Harvard. Critical talent leaving robs you of your competitive advantage. So now that you have a view .. of what you should look at, do your numbers how is the cost of reform placed against the cost of ongoing leakages? Analysis done right will tell you that even with the additional cost of reform you’ll end up adding anything between 5 to 8% to your margins in the medium to long term alongside creating a strong, motivated, engaged organisation that you’ll be proud of. Remember when going gets tough it is the character of the organisation that comes to rescue.

On to our last item

1. When you achieve that one thing ..look for the next big thing: Goal setting is of paramount importance and must be done extremely carefully: intellect is put to use here. Fine minds create a meaningful plan; all organisations have all three kinds of people.
   1. Fire Fighters: These folks shine at transactions, they like moving from one problem to another, they are so used to fighting the fire that a period of peace makes them uncomfortable. They are the first line of defence.
   2. Sailors: The old and loyal guard, a very important section of people, scars that they carry hide many ugly struggles that the organisation had to go through. These are good people, with a desire to remain there. Their field of vision is wider than the firefighters and are generally calmer in their personas, they do not react easily, but when they do they do it with all the might. They have everything going for them except for one critical item, their exposure. Thanks to their long tenure in the same organisation their story of growth become the story of the organisation and so if the organisation is not the best yet, their acumen is also not top notch. These good souls become close, their visions get tunnelled mostly limited by past.
   3. Think Tank: This is a crazy lot, and perhaps the most valuable one. These are people with razor-sharp intellect, the best education, superb background, fearless outlook and they crave revolution. They are addicts for change, they keep struggling and propelling to better the environment for themselves and for the rest. This lot is seldom satisfied; for them, the road to success is always under construction and quite literally. They are courageous to the point of being impractical, they set for themselves inhuman targets and are mostly full of passion. Erudition, oratory & taste for fine things in life are their characteristics. They are persistent to the point of appearing nagging. They are dissatisfied with slow progress but never disappointed and end up being the agent for change.

wrt. the percentage, you need 60% of your staff to be firefighters, about 30% as sailors and 10% think tank. It won’t harm to have more think tanks but the problem is that there are not very many ‘good’ people and retaining this talent pool is not easy at all. You have to be wary of the sailor group; with tenure what also grows is complacency you gotta keep them in check otherwise, they will make their disability, limitation of the organisation; attrition in this group is desirable. Think tanks are not good for anything else, they can only be part of strategy and direction setting, so use all of them, have at least a few firefighters in the group and make sure you keep sailors out of the ground tasked with finding the next big thing for your organisation, it has to be one thing.

Lifting the victory title takes the pain of the practice away in the very moment; so keep running these and other thought experiments that you find fitting to your taste and your business. Wishing you well! 

The unambitious, you!

All of us need to truly love something to exist meaningfully; it doesn't have to be one thing. It can be a combination of things, people or situations.. just about anything that we identify with unthinkingly, something that feels like our own, a natural extension of who we are, in its most elementary form. There are many ways to want ..not so many to know. The story of human evolution has been written in letters of adaptation and with the ink of patience, there has never been a shorter method to mutate naturally into a higher race, from fish to monkey to monkeys staring at blue screens all day, using both opposing thumbs to press mostly and not so much to grip, has happened in millions of years. Some advance laboratories today are creating working models of human heart and in some capacity also the brain – these aren't dwarf achievements, these could potentially change how we conceive our world. But even in its most profound state it is not evolution but an attempt to emulate, another proof that we are monkeys for the most part of our being. Monkey see .. Monkey do.. until we find what we love. That realization alters that course of being for better, does little to speed though.

Through centuries of recorded history, we have been educated about the need to progress and prosper, heroic stories of accomplishment has presented to us with the sole purpose of igniting inspiration in us. We pick up our idols and start emulating the qualities that made them who they become. It is a good thing to do .. we have to create something out of limited existence, we must leave behind things for people to remember us by. Nature is a great leveler.. it allows successful as well as failures to leave the same things behind – stories. Tales of who were we and how did we deal with our lives, in our times. And what can be better than creating a story about something we love. How we come to love a few things more than others is a topic in itself, the neural science, making it work is interesting .. we will surely touch upon them some day. Today, however, it is about identifying which is that thing, or if we have actually found it.

Would you believe me if I told you that everything that we do unambiguously has the potential of becoming things that we truly love and desire? But hold on, isn't being competitive and coming out as the winner a thing? It most certainly is, but what we are talking about today are things which exist at the level much deeper than the sense of accomplishment in our thought center, in the most pristine parts of our brain. These things define who we are in far more meaningful ways than how much money we make, what our net worth is, what job title we have .. how big our homes, our cars, and offices are. Let me put this straight, I'm not trying to make a saintly argument here. Nor am I trying to hike to a moral high ground from which wealth seems as waste and material belongings are another representation of limiting chains. While you are at it .. make the money you want .. create the home that you've always wanted, be on the cover of every magazine that you liked reading in your growing years. Possibly be so awesome that every poster is in the town dreams to have you in it. Material matters are important ..it is the unit by which society measures success and you have to score. Go be the person you must become.

My argument is simply this .. to get better at being that person that owns stuff, good stuff, you will first have to be the person who loves, and this is only the romantic love, that SRK has fooled our generation to fall for. This love is admiration that Gandhi had for truth, respect that Nelson Mandela had for equality, and importance that human/civil rights had in Martin Luther King’s world — you see what I'm saying? This love is not Manmohan's silence or Modi's chatter .. this love is the time that Dr. Tharoor takes out to keep writing books and publishing them at a stage in his life when he can simply reap the benefits of who he has been in the first 40 years of his life. This love is feeling that got AJP Abdul Kalam to take up teaching .. after leaving the majestic Rashtrapati Bhawan. This love is also in some ways called "purpose", life's mission, identify or just a hobby. Pick the word that you think describes it the best, as long as the definitions are aligned expression isn't a problem.

For all we know life is not a lazy Sunday afternoon or a busy Monday morning .. it isn't a laid-back Friday evening or an exhilarating Saturday – life is a concoction of all these and more. It is the routine of Tuesday, weight of Wednesday, throbbing of Thursday .. all if it mixed into one. Have you ever wondered why you find it difficult to concentrate in your silent bedroom but find it easy to read your book, in a crowded café that you like? Have you mulled, why discourteous staff bothers more when the food is not particularly tasty? The same traffic jam feels ok when you are on your way to meet a person you know as a horrible being?  Why do we procrastinate a few things on the same day as on which we absolutely can't sleep to encounter an important event, the following day? Mind is a mess for some and mystery for others but is always is the key to the world that we like to build for ourselves. Product of our mind is thought and these thought are the only things that we really have .. everything else is just an illusion. Coming back to the definition that I attempted creating, I based it around being unambitious, I say so because in things we love .. we do not compete and this fact that we are not in a race promotes the kind of peace that is needed to create unison & tranquility, in other words concentration or happiness or simply put pleasure. Let me give you a few examples, if you like reading and Ruskin Bond happens to be your writer of choice, when you read his finest creations you do not bother about reading too fast or too slow .. you just enjoy being there. So much so that you often re-read, revisit the plots even without the book, think about what your writer said before sleeping amidst the emptiness of night. Now, think of a contract that you read at your work .. what things come to your mind? You've to read comprehensively, objectively, quickly .. make notes, be ready etc.. these are important things but at a cognitive level, to read that contact masterfully, you will need to have a Ruskin bond in your life .. if you do not have it .. you can't do an awesome job at reading and comprehending that contact.

Neither me nor your best friend .. will ever be able to tell you what should you love and why? Your mother can .. mothers know everything .. and they are always right. Whenever I have been defeated in life .. I have always run towards my mother .. her company gives me the strength to fight back. Maybe she is the one who inspires me the most and from her, I find things to love and be the person that I wish to be. I'm not sure .. if this method will work for you. On finding what you love .. you are truly on your own. I can tell you when you find the thing that you love .. you will experience one or all of the three things & thus .. you'll know you've found it. When you do, keep it close to your heart, keep growing into its stronger, bigger and better shape – that alone, will give you the story that you'll leave behind.

The three things are:

1) You'll be willing to reconsider, restart and even resume ..

2) It will make you forget .. everything else that you otherwise consider important. ( This forgetfulness is not a mental disability but the general phenomenon of being substantially more aware of something and giving other things lesser importance, momentarily)

3) It will be addictive, you will effortlessly want to do it more and more    ( so is smoking, drinking and drugs – but those aren't things that you love .. those are things you simply get trapped in for lack of education and dare I say, lack of awareness)

I will end this with a hope that you find what you truly love and create a wonderful story with it, one worthy of leaving behind.

You have a good Sunday.

Politics : Betrayal on purpose or tactics of survival?

Every since I was small child _ I’ve dreamed of becoming a politician, no the aspiration hasn’t yet given me either all the skills essential for the job or an opportunity, neither have I left everything else to pursue it- while I certainly plan to take that big leap of my life, very soon ( very soon has been the expression since last lok sabha elections :)) 

Politics is by and large is a remark not liked – I won’t say hated but won’t hesitate in saying that most of us associate it with dirty, immoral , selfish acts to grind an axe ! Well, everyone is entitled  to their views, we are dwelling in a free country till the incumbent government chooses to de-list ‘freedom of expression’ completely. Without going into the literal meaning of the expression (which isn’t actually anything bad) or technical details of it – I shall try and explore the perception built around the expression and relate it with corporate world – 

Another year and a half and I would be a decade old in the  cruel world of corporate working and I’ve been hearing about office politics ever since I stepped into the first day of my career, may a times I have been a victim to it as well, sometime have been able to sense and avoid or let’s say protect myself too  - but this necessary evil has always co-existed with a million good things. No industry ( at least, I can talk for the trades I’ve worked for _ Telecom , IT , ITES) is immune to it , no company is politics proofed ( won’t name the concerns I’ve been associated with).

 It is widely known , sounds strange, but, yes, accepted too – many who practice it often give it fancy names – lobbying, teaming , protecting – god knows what not? So what is it ? Why does it exist , when people consider it distasteful, why does it still so prominently subsist?

 Here is my theory – People wish to climb the ladder of success without really toiling hard enough – short cuts are in great demand in this age were ‘anybody and everybody’ is running short of time!

 Like I said before – I’m not an expert on this for I’ve been facing it for quite some time, I think I can share my views and hence the theory.

 Most Workers end of day are creatures of flesh and blood who love to be appreciated, loved, noticed, given favours –– if we try and compare this number with people who would wish to earn all of this purely out of their skills, hard work, commitment, values and honesty – you would know the majority is of the former type – and hence malpractices at work are rampant.

 Let us accept that we are selfish to the word barring people we love ( love partners , closest pal & immediate family) –and I don’t think I would be wrong in saying that the wish to survive by those who are less fitted is the mother of work politics.

 Survival of the fittest is a universal truth and yes people engage in these malevolent activities to boost their possibilities of survival – in my limited exposure – I see three kind of survivors and it cuts across levels and department and nature of work and industries. 

I’m placing this category “ work well and thrive” at number one despite of it being the smallest group for I’ve immense respect and admiration for this group and it’s followers – These are honest people, who are punctual, who value their job, take even smallest of task given to them with utmost seriousness and deliver not just with mind but  also heart. These people are very easily identified for these would be outspoken, skilled and upfront , they keep creating values and their delivery does earn them special place in hearts and minds of their collogues  - those who engage in politics bad mouth them and because work politician form the majority , they wouldn’t have many friends at workplace. These people are backbone of every delivery system and their backs suffers the most from the work politics. Poor souls get into many rifts/debates/issues based fights at work.

 The second category “ work less and dream of thriving more” – this is the largest community within work space, averagely skilled and most dangerous for they can put up act of “working hard” – so well that even a hard worker when is subjected to their act begins to feel shy for the work that he/she puts in. You can’t detect these snakes easily because they mix well with the first category and befriend them ,  a very close observation tells me that they are often very sweet tongued, can do lip service like nobody, keep pleasing people, extending out of workplace favours. And yes, they are lairs! They may appear friend with people in 1^st category but given quarter a chance jump in excitement to complain against them. They master the nag of delegation, love stealing other’s work and work best as postman -  Beware of them.

 The third category “ I won’t work , coz I can’t work – but wanna thrive”  _ this is  the community of fools & dumb chicks – then the question is how do they survive, BTW, these are second largest in numbers – connections, yes , they survive coz they establish some connection with people who occupy key positions – by extending favors both licit and illicit ones (if you know what I mean) – most of these are deployed moles, planted by those poor leaders occupying key positions to source information – “deliver who is talking what and about who and why”  - This is their sole KRA! And no, these are not honest even with their masters, the information that they deliver is often doctored  to suite their interest first and the purpose second. They are very easily detected , coz they are seldom found working and still they enjoy most of the monetary and otherwise perks at work.

 So this in a nutshell is the politics at work – spoken ill about by all, practiced by many and a harsh reality to those few who fall in its trap –

That will be all from the desk of @LKstates (twitter handle)  - Goodnight and have a great weekend.

The guy I know – turned 27!

The guy I know – turned 27!

Yes, the guy I know indeed turned 27 yesterday – ask me and I would honestly say 27 is not young but when posted for the guy I know – I might say 27 is not real old! The closer we get to a number we shift our eyes to an object placed distant – not sure if it is to add road to the journey or journey to road that always existed!

Have read a lot of people who have created greater identity for themselves before they were standing to blow the candle off the cake suggesting they had turned 27 and a silent comparison is perhaps inevitable but on how “the guy I know” assesses himself needs to stay with him for some more time , may be for a second round of review but yes there are details in the public domain which cannot remain his sole property and neither will he compromise on the opportunity to assess the results better before it is shared for a 2^nd time, so here they are.

A lot has changes since “the guy I know” entered into the third decade of his life and it’s unfair to not say that he is very well placed in the last quarter of his third decade on the earth! Well, “The guy I know” is not a rich man yet, nor does he have the best body in town to fault – that brings him to the question - what are those things that he still hold and he is happy holding on to it- Memories, yes ( MY MEMORIES), Dreams , (MY DREAMS) , he says!

“Past is the only treasure that we don’t share with anyone else – last 27 years have been truly mine! – no claims entertained!” – “Guy I know” says

Thankfully, he is healthy if carrying a couple of extra KGs of fat is considered healthy, his vision is intact if we don’t consider ‘work glare’, Has great stamina – if stamina means running to a spot where means of comfortable travel is easily available!  - “Wear and Tear” is only natural – he is 27 now!

Besides his physical appearance – I don’t see any change –  “The guy I know” still dreams of making big in politics, writing  best sellers , grabbing “Bharat Ratana” for tremendous contribution towards the socio economic development  –Yes he dreams BIG and some may appear unrealistic when seen in light of his present attainments but like I have always been saying – “keep trying, keep learning, keep moving”  _ he wants his journey worthy of getting entry in the archival of his past!

I would not make it any longer – the timer on my laptop is Staring at me and rightly so , I’m just an hour away from the mid night  - Good night from “the guy I know” who turned 27!