How to write a resume during this downtrend

You’ve got just 5 seconds. Resumes are flooding the market. Human resources professionals and consultants are having a tough time going through tons of resumes. So how can you make your resume stand apart?

Write Short Scannable Resumes
Recruiters normally give 5 to 10 seconds for a resume. That’s all you have to get the person interested in you. So write short two-page resumes.

Identify your core strengths, cull your key responsibilities and list your important accomplishments only.

Use bulled points to highlight. No tables or unwanted graphics.

Rewrite resumes for each position
Not every role you apply for require the same strengths or match the same set of responsibilities. Depending upon the position applied for, tailor-make each resume putting down only the strengths required specifically for that role. This ensures your chances of earning an interview is bright.

Summarize your capabilities and accomplishments
If you don’t catch their eye in 5 seconds all is lost. The first para must be the best. Highlight the best of abilities, experiences and accomplishments. Put your best stuff right at the top.

Don’t write your expected salary
The slowdown has led to job cuts and there are many fighting for few jobs. Don’t blow your chances by quoting a fancy figure that companies aren’t willing to pay right now. Make it “willing to discuss”.

Use Positive Language
In negative times such as these, the power of positive words can be magical. Write with zest, infectious zest. Use words like strategized, channelized, executed etc. But no fluff, just enough to draw attention.

Good luck.

How to Build Trust and Influence People

Trust is the most important component in any relationship. If there’s mistrust between two people, man and wife, boss and subordinate, teacher and student, then the value of the relationship is eroded over time. Learn how to build trust and win relationships.

Communicate well
There are many ways to earn a person’s trust. A simple way is to communicate well. Give space for the other person to air views, accommodate divergent thoughts. Once a person feels confident of speaking one’s thoughts in your presence, then you have earned his or her trust.

Accept mistakes at once
Your reputation is not tarnished if you own up a mistake. The image is only enhanced by your admission. Be humble and vow never to repeat the error.

Keep your word
If you have told your wife you’ll take her out on Sunday evening, make all efforts towards that. If the frequency of such lapses increases, she’ll lose trust in you. And will begin to mistrust everything you say and do. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Build confidence
How can you build confidence about yourself in the other person’s heart. The best way is to be inclusive. Listen to the view points of others – be it a team, family or club members. Accommodate the views, elicit opinion, discuss the best alternates to a problem. Get their concurrence and proceed. This goes a long way in building confidence and trust.

Time to change
If people don’t trust you. There must be a reason. Find that reason – non-performance, not keeping your word, negativism, frequent absenteeism, lack of interest… Once you have identified the cause. Work on it hard. If you want to change the way people look at you, change their perception of you as a person.

Develop a positive attitude
A warm personality earns trust very easily. Everyone loves folks who bubble with energy, exhibit a radiant smile and have a good word for everyone around. This positive attitude and the ability to see the good side of things connects you to family, friends, love rather quickly.

Always speak the truth
Never hide or hesitate to speak up. As they say, when you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything. This earns you trust like no other.

google43eeca9923f7ac18.html

Enrich your life – pursue those hobbies you enjoyed

Most of us, particularly those who are employed full time in companies often find monotony and stress taking a toll on us. We lose energy at the end of the day and feel it is too much for us.

One definite way to rejuvenate our lives is to pursue the hobbies we had as a child. Parents are so keen to encourage and nurture the talent of their children in those extra curricular ones. (In fact may parents force their children even when the children are reluctant. Well that is another story.) But how much do they pursue interests of their own.

Maybe you learnt swimming as a child. Maybe you collected stamps – one of worlds popular hobbies. Maybe you did paper art. Maybe you indulged in ham radio. Maybe you were part of the aero modeling club. Sure, there must be one or more hobbies you indulged, which you gave lot of joy. But after a while, given the rigour of education, priorities in adulthood and then responsibilities as a parent, we gave them up for something else. It is a good idea for more than one reason. You enjoyed indulging it then and you will enjoy it now. You need those moments of joy. Those hobbies occupy you physically, mentally and emotionally. They will relax you and channelize your energies for a while into them. And then what more, when we see ourselves making improvements in these hobbies we feel better, don’t we. No Boss to judge and do a performance appraisal, but ourselves.

Children will grow and move on. Jobs will cease. Your personal possession – your hobbies will continue to keep you meaningfully engaged. There are those advertisements of pension funds which scare you with what will happen after retirement and lead you to think of saving for the retirement. That’s about money. But imagine money replaced with talent. If you invest in them now and always, they will give you a purpose even when you have retired from work.

20 Billion Dollar Investment Tips from Warren Buffet

A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.

Don’t worry about what the stock market will do, focus on what the company will do.

Find companies with endless demand for their products.

Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.

I enjoy what I do, I tap dance to work every day. I work with people I love, doing what I love. I spend my time thinking about the future, not the past.

It’s not about the biggest motor, but the most efficient motor.

Do business with people you like and who share your objectives.

Be flexible enough to change or evolve your investment strategies when sound judgment and conditions deter.

If we forced ourselves to write down why we were purchasing a stock it might keep us from making some dumb decisions.

We have no exit to strategy –we buy to keep

Our favorite holding period is forever.

Learn as much as possible about the people managing the business.

I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years."

Bad news is an investor's best friend. It lets you buy a slice of America's future at a marked-down price.

A business you understand, favorable long-term economics, able and trustworthy management, and a sensible price tag.

I'm a big believer in betting on what you know about instead of some unknown.

In stocks, it’s the only place where when things go on sale, people get unhappy. If I like a business, then it makes sense to buy more at 20 than at 30.

Be suspicious of companies that trumpet earnings projections and growth expectations.

Whenever we buy common stocks for Berkshire's insurance companies (leaving aside arbitrage purchases), we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business. We look at the economic prospects of the business, the people in charge of running it, and the price we must pay.

Almost everything we learn is from public documents. ... We do not find it particularly helpful to talk to managements. ... The numbers tell us a lot more than the managements. We don't give a hoot about anyone's projections. We don't want even want to hear about it.

We are willing to hold a stock indefinitely so long as we expect the business to increase in intrinsic value at a satisfactory rate . . . we do not sell our holdings just because they have appreciated or because we have held them for a long time.

If you expect to be a net saver during the next five years, should you hope for a higher or lower stock market during that period? Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they feel elated when stock prices rise and depressed when they fall. Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices.

If you are a know-something investor, able to understand business economics and to find five to ten sensibly priced companies that possess important long-term competitive advantage, conventional diversification makes no sense for you.

Charlie and I let our marketable equities tell us by their operating results, not by their daily, or even yearly, price quotations, whether our investments are successful. The market may ignore business success for a while, but eventually will confirm it.

We have $16 billion in cash not because of any predictions [about a market decline], but because we can't find anything that makes us want to part with that cash. We're not positioning ourselves. We just try to do smart things every day, and if there's nothing smart, then we sit on cash.

Stress Solutions and Positive Management

How does the body respond to stress?
When we first experience stress, our brain signals for release of adrenalin and cortisol, hormones that increases blood sugar and oxygen content. More blood is pumped into the brain. This adrenalin is results in enough glucose to run a mile or two. An excess of cortisol affects our ability to think clearly. And extra adrenalin affects our system.

You can clearly see that this kind of response over the years will lead to illnesses, breakdowns, chronic headaches, rapid beating of the heart, dizziness, heartburn and fatigue.

Isn’t a little bit of stress good for us?
Yes, sportsmen, businessmen and managers find that challenges push them to perform better, discover new things, make them learn and revs up their systems. But these should not be too frequent and prolonged for long periods of time. In the “jungle days”, when man ran with the hounds and hunted the deer and defended the attacks of wild cats, they experienced plenty of stress – fighting, defending and living in hostile conditions in the forests. The modern man, however, has acquired a variety of other challenges. Rising expectations, anger, rivalry, frustration and more. This is much more damaging to the health. And a good reason why we need to watch for the warning signs and take action.

Signs of stress
Feeling of hopelessness
Anxiety
Chronic sleep disturbances
Loss of Self Esteem
Headaches
Emotional exhaustion
Peptic Ulcers
Memory Loss
Heavy substance abuse
Falling sick too often

Responding to stress
Changing our environment
Is the current place of work bit too tiring. Is the pressure too much to handle. Some may feel the only respite can come from a change of job.

Adapting to the environment
Let’s assume someone’s moved from an organized large corporation to a highly agile and sometimes crazy start-up environment. The pressure in a start-up atmosphere can break people not used to it. In smaller companies, the role may not be well defined. One may need to wear different hats at different points in the day. The smart employee may see this as an opportunity to learn new things, handle pressure better and therefore may prioritize his tasks, work on his time management skills and draw upon his patience to lower the pressure building up inside him.

This adaptation can considerably reduce stress levels and make him happy.

Changing our response
This is by far the best route to managing stress. Quite often we react to pressures, we don’t act. The reaction to stress could range from anger, frustration, withdrawal or feeling depressed. Instead if we learn to understand the root causes of stress. And worked out a plan to resolve, it’d be great.

But this needs “re-wiring” of the brain. The mind needs to perceive things correctly. And respond slowly but steadily. Only a calm mind that understands and assesses the situation can respond positively. But this calmness comes with meditation, yoga and sometimes therapy. One needs a deep understanding of causes and responses. But internal change is the most recommended tip for permanently resolving stress.

This needs acceptance of our faults, this needs us to be non judgemental about others, this warrants us to be cool under stress without reacting. What it does is lowers the hormone build-up inside our system. And keeps our energy intact.

Try it and you’ll feel relieved.

Learn to relax
It’s very important to relax – slow down the pace of life, reduce the tension of worrying, exercise, go for massages, develop a hobby, connect to people and lower expectations.

Decision Making Tips to Resolve Problems of Managers

Can’t seem to decide on a course of action? Pull up your socks and find the way out. Quite often managers are stuck when confronted by a problem. The immediate “reaction” is either to pass the buck or look at ways it in which similar issues were resolved earlier. And jump to conclusions.

That may not be the best course though. Problems need to be look at freshly each time. Since the attendant complexities change over time. So, how does one decide the best course of action?

Define the problem
You can’t resolve anything unless you understand it completely. Write down the problem on a paper or board.
Why do you think there’s a problem?
How did you know there was a problem?
When did it occur?
How did it happen?
Who was around when it happened?
Are there known instances of such occurrences?
The how, what, why, where, when need to be understood.

Find possible quality parameters or standards to judge the issue
How are you going to measure the quality of the solution? Lay down the standards and guidelines, so that team mates know what to monitor during problem solving.

Identify a list of possible actions
Get your team and peers together. Generate multiple ways to fix the issue. Hear the guys who have hands on experience. Welcome suggestions.

Evaluate each alternate
Make it a point to debate and discuss each possible path to resolution. Debate consequences of each idea.

Choose the best option
Having gone through an elaborate exercise in defining the problem, identifying the parameters to resolve, listing solutions, it’s time to choose the best action plan.

Lay down a plan of action
The above steps are much easy compared to execution of the chosen plan. Lay emphasis on the various aspects that need to be monitored. Identify resources and technology to work on each component of the problem. Evolve a mechanism to follow-up, record and report the outcome.

Have a back-up plan
Often complex problems bypass existing or known solutions. So, you must have a solid plan 2. And make your team aware of the same.

Learn the lessons
If the decisions you took were correct and resolved the problem, great. But, you need to sit together again and identify the process of resolution. How did the team solve it. What were the factors being monitored. Did you correct course midway? Record these in a system for future reference. That’s a lesson learnt in decision making.

How Can Short People Build Self Confidence in 30 Days

Are you Nervous. Fumble Often. Reluctant to Voice Opinions
Then you certainly need help.

First Accept that you are Short
Denying doesn’t take you anywhere. You must understand and be aware that you are short. Never hate yourself for being a few inches less or wallow in self pity. Learn to be normal. Don’t be self conscious. The way you see yourself is the way the world begins seeing you. So change the way you see yourself, and the world changes the way it’s seeing you. Sounds simple!

Build your Self Esteem
Respect your own self. A bit of extra energy and focus in sport and studies will go a long way in building self esteem. Cultivating a good hobby will improve your stature. This helps in shrugging off taunts and jibes from people around.

Charm People during Small Conversations
One of the proven ways to attract people to you is through the ability to engage people for an hour in dinner conversations. A crash course in public speaking is a MUST. Being well informed about things adds to it. Remember, women are turned on by intelligent men with a sense of humor. Think of all the people who were admired at college. Invariably each one of them was a good speaker.

Famous Short Men
Being short isn’t sin. Being short isn’t bad. Being short isn’t ugly. Napoloen Bonaparte, the famous French ruler, led France to victory in many battles. Alexander Pope, the British essayist and poet, is credited with well known essays and poems. Al Pacino famous for his portrayal of the don in Godfather was only 5`5”. Richard Burton, Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Bob Dylan, Mel Gibson, Alfred Hitchcock, Elton John, Ross Perot and even Martin Luther King were short people. Short by height, tall by stature. Most of these guys had enduring sex appeal and entertained and inspired millions the world over.

They never thought they were SMALL. They dreamt BIG.

Small Things could Change your Confidence
Learn to perform well at work. Deliver on time. Put in a little extra effort to pick up new skills. These will not only make colleagues look at you with respect, but also pumps up your self esteem. A smile on your face always helps. So does a sense of humor.

Never Isolate Yourself
Get along with folks, normally. Enjoy being in a group. Contribute meaningfully. Be helpful. Talk less, if you want, but talk intelligently. And most importantly make your opinions heard in a crowd.

Walk at your Own Pace
Scurrying across is seen as a way to keep pace with taller people and also displays lack of confidence. Walk confidently at a pace that’s normal for you. That enhances your image.

Never Look up too often at Tall People
Whenever you’re in a group of tall people, do at people’s faces and talk, but it’s not necessary to sprain your neck by looking up all the time. Be smart, find a place to sit and feel comfortable.

Ready for little efforts to Change. Good Luck.

Related Motivational Articles

Dealing with Lack of Motivation

Tips to Gain Motivation

Motivating your team in bad times

Loss of Motivation – How to Bounce Back

How to Overcome Lack of Motivation

Guide to Resumes that get a Job in a day

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Tips to Write Resumes that Fetch a Job in 24 Hours

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: resume writing)

How to Overcome Lack of Motivation I Solutions for Lack of Self Drive

Let’s first understand what is motivation. And then resolve it.

Motivation is the internal condition of our mind that determines or fuels the direction of our behaviour.

Why are people motivated?
People are motivated by the fear of failure or the thirst for success.

Reasons for Lack of Motivation
Professionals do not have a committed (I mean written) set of goals
People think they don’t have the skills and capabilities to achieve future goals
The current activities they at work is not going to lead them to their dreams
Work they do presently may be conflicting with their future plans
Incentives at workplace may be low, therefore demotivating
Emotional issues clash with workplace activities
There’s a general lack of drive, and persisting negative feelings

Solutions to lack of motivation
It’s best to write down a set of goals (for a three year window). Break then down to simple tasks.
For example: Clear credit card outstandings by year end
Buy a home next year
Quit day job and do home based business by third year

Note: Ask any achiever from Obama to Steve Jobs to Magic Johnson, all of them had a dream. They were passionate about getting there. They dreamt out it. They committed it in words. Wrote them on a diary or stuck it on the bedroom walls.

If you doubt your capabilities, then there could be some history to it.
Maybe you were not an achiever at high school or didn’t do well at sports.But past doesn’t matter. If you can identify areas for development. Work out a three month plan to upgrade those skills, you’re on the way to success.

In cases where folks want to move to a higher level, but the scope of current work prevents them, a hard look at things is necessary.
Can you discuss with your supervisor regarding your desires. Seek his help in getting into a role that would ultimately help in reaching your goal. Change your role, move to another department, do a part time course – but head towards your stated goal.

Many a time we do certain things that don’t keep us happy. Or worse still we know that are hearts actually lie elsewhere.
A customer support executive may desire to become a pianist, but the lack of financial backup prevents them from pushing towards music. The best solution for this is to first look at honing the skills in piano. Move from being a student to a master’s level. Practice with a small group of students. Build enough resources to take a plunge into a fulltime music career.

Mere external incentives should not motivate you. There are things you need to achieve to build confidence and feel good about your capabilities. But if you still feel dreadfully low because you are not rewarded for work done, you must find a way to get the reward. Or move out to another role.

General feeling of negativeness is dangerous for your health. Spur yourself to motivation by doing things that you love – aerobics, heading to a move or enjoy your favourite at Mcdonald’s. Reward yourself for every small achievement – get your ice cold coffee or homemade chocolates. Spend time with your cat or pub. Curl up and read a book. First feel good.

I hope these solutions for motivating yourself should do you wonders. Stay motivated.

Related Motivational Articles

Dealing with Lack of Motivation

Tips to Gain Motivation

Motivating your team in bad times

Loss of Motivation – How to Bounce Back

How Can Short People Build Self Confidence in 30 Days

Best of Barack Obama's Quotes

Obama is America's hope in the hour of distress. Read some pearls from Obama.. the glimmer of hope. Man's got character to take not just America to Glory but the whole world.

The true test of the American ideal is whether we’re able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them. Whether chance of birth or circumstance decides life’s big winners and losers, or whether we build a community where, at the very least, everyone has a chance to work hard, get ahead, and reach their dreams.

Americans ... still believe in an America where anything's possible -- they just don't think their leaders do.

YES WE CAN!
Obama Campaign Slogan

We've got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money.

Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.

If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

I will never forget that the only reason I'm standing here today is because somebody, somewhere stood up for me when it was risky. Stood up when it was hard. Stood up when it wasn't popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up. And then a few thousand stood up. And then a few million stood up. And standing up, with courage and clear purpose, they somehow managed to change the world.

Faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts.

I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure, that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time.
Barack Obama

To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn: I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President, too.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual -- uninvolved, uninformed.

John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded.

My job is not to represent Washington to you, but to represent you to Washington.

That is the true genius of America, a faith in the simple dreams of its people, the insistence on small miracles. That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door. That we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe or hiring somebody's son. That we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution, and that our votes will be counted -- or at least, most of the time.

Change has come to America

Change doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington.

I have seen, the desperation and disorder of the powerless: how it twists the lives of children on the streets of Jakarta or Nairobi in much the same way as it does the lives of children on Chicago’s South Side, how narrow the path is for them between humiliation and untrammeled fury, how easily they slip into violence and despair. I know that the response of the powerful to this disorder -- alternating as it does between a dull complacency and, when the disorder spills out of its proscribed confines, a steady, unthinking application of force, of longer prison sentences and more sophisticated military hardware -- is inadequate to the task. I know that the hardening of lines, the embrace of fundamentalism and tribe, dooms us all.

I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and latino America and asian America - there's the United States of America.

100 Happiness Quotes Guaranteed to Keep You Happy Every Day

The slowdown is depressing no doubt. Read over 100 Motivational Happiness Quotes to Help you Fight Depression and keep you happy every day. Don't worry, be happy. I've chosen each one of these with care to delight. Don't forget to bookmark.

Happiness is actually a state of mind. Mere purchase of material comforts is like trying to fill a huge void. The self, things that please our five sense are all fine. But they do not lead to inner peace or happiness.

Real happiness comes with enjoying nature, being happy with what we have (even as we pursue what we want), going beyond self, family and helping society.

Positive happiness comes from sharing things with others (I mean in whatever little way you can), giving is joy and more peace results than when we receive.

The belief, hope we have leads us to be happy. With ourselves, our family, our surroundings and our community.

Give. Share. Live Happily. Go on read my collection of over 100 Happiness Quotes, Sayings, Proverbs and Quotations.

We were not sent into this world to do anything into which we can not put our heart.
Jhon Ruskin

To live happily is an inward power of the soul.
Aristotle

Seek first to understand, then to be understood
Stephen R. Covey

Nothing is worth more than this day
Goethe

Happiness is like a kiss. You must share it to enjoy it.
Bernard Meltzer.

I’ve decided that the key to happiness is low expectations.
Laura Moncur

Happiness is like a cat, If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you; it will never come. But if you pay not attention to it and go about your business, you'll find it rubbing against your legs and jumping into your lap."
William Bennett

Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.
Eddie Cantor

If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.
Chinese Proverb

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes to do, but in liking what one has to do.
James Barrie

We always have enough to be happy if we are enjoying what we do have--and not worrying about what we don't have.
Ken Keyes, Jr.

Looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them.
Lucy Mand Montgomery

The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Happiness is a habit—cultivate it.
Elbert Hubbard

Did you ever see an unhappy horse? Did you ever see bird that had the blues? One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses.
Dale Carnegie

Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved.
Victor Hugo

That is happiness - to be dissolved into something complete and great.
Willa Cather

A happy life consists in tranquility of mind.
Cicero

A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
Proverb

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.
Oscar Wilde

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.
Helen Keller

Happiness adds and multiplies as we divide it with others.
Anonymous

Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.
Jim Rohn

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
Albert Camus

One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.
Rita Mae Brown

In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it: They must not do too much of it: And they must have a sense of success in it.
John Ruskin

Some people walk in the rain. Others just get wet.
Roger Miller

Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth... Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it.
John Templeton

The purpose of life is the expansion of happiness.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Seek not happiness too greedily, and be not fearful of happiness.
Lao-tzu

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.
Albert Schweitzer

Happiness: a good bank account, a good cook and a good digestion.
Jean Jacques Rousseau

Until you make peace with who you are, you'll never be content with what you have.
Doris Mortman

When you relinquish the desire to control your future, you can have more happiness.
Nicole Kidman

Perceive and rejoice that life is abundant, that beauty and goodness are amply available . . . that your happiness is in your hands.
Paul Hodges

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.
Earl Nightingale

Happiness is a continuous creative activity.
Baba Amte

Happiness grows at our own firesides, and is not to be picked in strangers' gardens.
Douglas Jerrold

The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have, and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach.
Lin Yutang

Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age.
Christopher Morley

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller

Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.
Anonymous

The happiest people seem to be those who have no particular reason for being so except that they are so.
William Ralph Inge

Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
Robert Heinlein

Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.
Anonymous

When you're really happy, the birds chirp and the sun shines even on cold dark winter nights - and flowers will bloom on a barren land.
Grey Livingston

You don't have to know how to sing, it's feeling as though you want to that makes the day happy and successful.
Monica Crane

Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.
George Washington

Happiness is not having what you want. It is wanting what you have.
Anonymous

Gather the crumbs of happiness and they will make you a loaf of contentment.
Anonymous

Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn't stop to enjoy it.
William Feather

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
Albert Schweitzer

Happiness is not being pained in body or troubled in mind.
Thomas Jefferson

Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling.
Anonymous

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
Benjamin Disraeli

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness.. it is generally the by-product of other activities.
Aldous Huxley

Happiness is the best medicine.
Anonymous

When you finally allow yourself to trust joy and embrace it, you will find you dance with everything.
Emanuel

Act happy, feel happy, be happy, without a reason in the world. Then you can love, and do what you will.
Dan Millman

I can only think of one thing greater than being happy and that is to help another to be happy, too.
Margaret Lee Runbeck

Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.
Aristotle

I just lucked into things. I used to think that if I made $50,000 I'd be the happiest guy in the world.
Kirk Kerkorian

It doesn't matter how long we may have been stuck in a sense of our limitations. If we go into a darkened room and turn on the light, it doesn't matter if the room has been dark for a day, a week, or ten thousand years - we turn on the light and it is illuminated. Once we control our capacity for love and happiness, the light has been turned on.
Sharon Salzberg

Life is a matter of passing the time enjoyably. There may be other things in life, but I've been too busy passing my time enjoyably to think very deeply about them.
Peter Cook

Experience praises the most happy the one who made the most people happy."
Karl Marx

The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.
Allan K Chalmers

Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient
Aristotle

The more we express our gratitude to God for our blessings, the more he will bring to our mind other blessings. The more we are aware of to be grateful for, the happier we become.
Ezra Taft Benson

Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response.
Mildred Barthel

Independence is happiness.
Susan B. Anthony

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
Dalai Lama

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
Mark Twain

Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others.
Buddha

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
George Sand

If you want to be happy, be.
Leo Tolstoy

When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.
Dalai Lama

Happiness cannot come from without. It must come from within. It is not what we see and touch or that which others do for us which makes us happy; it is that which we think and feel and do, first for the other fellow and then for ourselves.
Helen Keller

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.
John Barrymore

All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within.
Horace Friess

Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy.
Wayne Dyer

Man must search for what is right, and let happiness come on its own.
Johann Pestalozzi

Happiness is... usually attributed by adults to children, and by children to adults.
Thomas Szasz

People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy.
Anton Chekhov

Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy.
Bertrand Russell

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Pleasure is spread through the earth
In stray gifts to be claimed by whoever shall find.
William Wordsworth

May you be truly blessed to always glitter with a radiance that shines from deep within you.
Barbara Becker Holstein

Happiness is always a by-product. It is probably a matter of temperament, and for anything I know it may be glandular. But it is not something that can be demanded from life, and if you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness.
Robertson Davies

What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.
Leo Buscalgia

Enjoy your life without comparing it to others.
Condobcet

When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way.
Wayne Dyer

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Mahatma Gandhi

Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
Norman Macewan

People take different roads seeking fulfilment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

To fill the hour -- that is happiness.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.
Hugh Downs

You've got to love what you do to really make things happen.
Philip Green

Happiness is an expression of the soul in considered actions.
Aristotle

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.
Thomas Jefferson

Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young. A good laugh makes better friends with ourselves and everybody around.
Orison Marden

Happiness is a warm puppy.
Charles Schulz

Finding happiness is like finding yourself. You don't find happiness, you make happiness. You choose happiness. Self-actualization is a process of discovering who you are, who you want to be and paving the way to happiness by doing what brings YOU the most meaning and contentment to your life over the long run.
David Leonhardt

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.
Marcus Aurelius

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Helen Keller

You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them.
Albert Camus

The aim of life is to live and to live means to be aware - joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.
Henry Miller

If you have nothing else to do, look about you and see if there isn't something close at hand that you can improve! It may make you wealthy, though it is more likely that it will make you happy.
George Matthew Adams

The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a purpose.
William Cowper

If my heart can become pure and simple, like that of a child, I think there probably can be no greater happiness than this.
Kitaro Nishida

Anybody who thinks money will make you happy, hasn't got money.
David Geffen

How to Manage Your Boss and Get Him Running Behind You

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

How to Manage Your Boss and Get Him Running Behind You

View more presentations or upload your own. (tags: relationship boss)

Manpower can do to India what Oil did to the Gulf

I keep saying is that India is at a point as the Gulf was at the time of discovery of oil. Manpower will do to India what oil did to the Gulf.

Gulf prospered with the discovery of oil in the regions. Suddenly coutries there became rich. Propserity zoomed.

Lets consider some facts:
1. Indian population makes up for one sixth of the gloabl population. Our population is one billion in the world's population of six billion.
2. I quote here exhaustively from the article "The battle for brainpower" in the Economist, Oct 5th, 2006. Ageing population will have dramtic effect in Europe and Japan. By 2025 the number of people aged 15 - 64 is projected to fall by 7% in Germany, 9% in Italy and 14% in Japan. Im America retitrement of the baby-boomers which has just started will mean companies will lose large numbers of experienced workers over a short period of time. Biggest companies will lose half their senior managers in the next 5 years or so.

Economics will require manpower in the countries which will face large scale shortfall of manpower. This will mean that Indian manpower will be sought after. This may not be just in the area of IT, but even at the lower level jobs. Legislation will be the biggest restricting factor. But economics will govern. Politics will follow economics. Legislation will follow politics. Economics will mean that people will find ways of getting the necessary labour where they need to keep the economic engine going. Maybe illegally too.

But population itself is only a raw material like crude oil. Unless crude is refined it is of no use. So also with the manpower. Unless it is educated, skilled and employable the numbers itself mean nothing.

But the good thing is that the awareness of Indian talent has been increasing over the years and will increase over the coming years. Fifteen to twenty years later those who are good at refining the raw material into meaningful skilled talent, like the large Indian IT companies, will tend to benefit. MNCs or anyone ouside will have to give up the view of being able to get trained resources off the shelf. If they want talent in large numbers they will have to be able to invest in the refining process.

Govt will not be in a position to create adequate infrastructure to provide the right kind of education. Private investment has been happening in the post-schooling education, but the primary education is still a big domain of the government and this is not going to move fast enough to keep pace with the need. Economics will find its own path for fulfilling its course.

Know and Manage Your Anger from Attacking Your Health

Postpone your activity when you feel angry. Cool down for clarity of thought. Minutes later you will be able to take a better decision.

Find out the root cause of your anger. Work on it to improve. Search for answers, it's not the person who makes you angry, but what the person does.

Anger is one letter short of danger. You tend to take wrong decisions when you're angry. And those might harm you professionally or personally.

Remember, anger hurts YOU first. Not the target of your anger. Be wise, reflect on a better way to handle the situation.

Be aware of your feelings when you turn angry. Doesn't it leave a bad taste in you. Makes you feel bad. Stop being angry. Respect your feelings.

How to control anger? Analyze why you get angry. Expecting too much from others? Unable to tolerate mediocrity. Tone down expectations. Help others improve.

Did you know that anger churns the stomach and kicks up the production of acidic gastric juices. That it pushes up your blood pressure. It hurts your health.

Meditation is one way of getting anger out of your system. It helps you dissipate your negative anger. And focus on your positive energy. Try it today.

How can you tackle anger? When you get angry, quickly do the things you like. Play music, shake a leg, take a walk. Call your best friend. Soon it subsides.

There is no way but to Question the Truth

That which is true cannot be proved to be untrue
That which is proved to be untrue cannot be true

Therefore question the truth. If it is the truth it will stand the test of questioning and still prove to be the truth. If it is not able to stand the questioning then it is not the truth.

If we say there is oneness or rather there is only one. Let us say someone says this is the truth. Question it. How can there be oneness in everything/ How can we say that Ramu and John are one? Are they not two different people? Fine, they are two different people? How do we know they are different? Because something is evlauting them and finding them to be different? If that something is evaluating the two of them, does it not mean it is able to relate to both, otherwise it can not show the similarity or dissimilarity in the two. If there is something which is evaluating them both, it means that both are related to that. If they are related to that they are related to each other.

There’s another way of looking at this. Fine, John and Ramu are different. What is John? What is Ramu? Physical constitution are same – blood, parts etc. But what are these? Atoms? Are the atoms not the same in both. Ok but they think differently, they behave differently. Fine what is thought. What is behaviour? In final analysis are they not the same.

There is something about the truth. Something inside knows what is the truth. If for example we are unable to go beyond a stage in an argument and we stop there and at that point, the conclusion is that what we started with seems to be untrue, a continued nagging feeling is there which continues to ponder over the issue further even after we think we have laid the issue to rest.

So we get on to the argument at some later point and continue. Till we reach a point when calm prevails and truth prevails (remember if it is not the truth, it cannot be referred to as truth)

So questioning is not bad. In fact questioning should be encouraged. If one does not find meaning in rituals and religious practices then one should be allowed to question them. If they are indeed true they will prevail, why fear.

Everything happens for a reason

There is in fact a reason behind everything that happens. Can something happen if there is no cause. There has to be a cause for something to happen. Whether it is do with emotional outburst, illness, accident, lottery, cyclone, stock market fall, bomb blast, nobel prize – anything. Whether the event is small or big. Whether the event is personal or impersonal. Whether the event affects one or many or millions. Whether the event is good or bad. Whether the happening is beneficial or disastrous. Whether the event is planned or unexpected. Everyone of them has a cause behind it.

How can we say this? Simple, how can something happen without a cause.

Lets take a lottery where the event can be totally unforeseen and impossible to predict. Can we say that there is a cause behind it? Of course, yes. There is a programme which was written which made this occurrence to be random. It was a random choice. But something made that random event happen. Lets say I am shuffling cards and am distributing cards to different people. None of us know which cards come to us. Yet does that mean there is no cause for the cards which each of us received. What made me shuffle. Something made me stop the shuffling at some point. Something thus made the cards land up in the pack where they were before I distributed them.

The most difficult to explain – our emotional behaviour - does have a cause. The variables of the cause could be numerous including things like what we inherited as genes, what we learnt sometime in our lives, learnings reinforced in the family,

Whatever, the fact that there is a cause. There is a reason cannot be denied.

This logic, this rationale, this cause all this is Divine.

Measuring Wealth, Let's Get Real

"XYZ company loses 350 crores in market capitalisation", "450 crores wealth eroded" - these are typical headlines when the stock market goes down or a company's share price goes down. But I wonder what is the meaning of market capitalisation and the releavance of this virtual wealth. To me there this nothing real about either the wealth or the wealth inferred from the so called market capitalisation.

Are these real? Let us assume that share price of a company goes up and thus the "wealth". What can I do with this wealth? The moment people try to realise the wealth by selling the shares, the prices are going to come down. Market ecomonomics - share prices will come down when there are sellers and go up when more people want to buy. Which means that the wealth is a mirage. When I go near it it will not be there anymore. Can I use this "wealth" for creating real wealth? Let us say I pledge the shares at the current high prices and take a loan. Let us say I buy some real assets. This is fraught with risk because the moment the prices come down. I will have to repay the loan which I took and if there is no other option then I will have to sell the asset to pay back the loan. So I cannot use the "wealth" to create real wealth because it is very risky.

So of what good is this wealth and market cap. At best it is a feel good factor making one feel like a king. But one needs to beware that one cannot and should not act like a king because then one will become a pauper.

Only Entrepreneurs can save Indian Economy

Entrepreneurship is the single most powerful quality that differentiates the US and the Indian economy. The development of the economy, improvement in the quality of lives and innovation into the future will happen only if entrepreneurship is fostered.

Is India low down on the entrepreneurship? After all don’t we see so many entrepreneurs all around us – the chai wallahs and dhabba wallahs to the small time vendor in our locality on a smaller scale; and to the Mittals and Bhartis at the larger end of the scale. At the same time, the world recognizes the enterprising spirit of the Gujaratis and the Punjabis who have penetrated the corners of the world seeing opportunities where none saw.

Despite these evidences of entrepreneurship, my point is that we lack the so called educated or professional entrepreneurs. If I take the batchmates of mine from school, college and post graduation, I find a small percentage – about 5% only having taken the route of entrepreneurship. This is what needs correction. We need more of these educated professionals taking the plunge into starting and running their own enterprises. Given their education background they should, at least theoretically, stand a better chance of making it in comparison to those who have not had opportunity of good education.

But why do these professionals not take up entrepreneurship? The reason is that Indians have traditionally been averse to taking risks. This is particularly true of a large section of the middle class. The other reason is that the we have been conditioned to obey and not to venture out to explore. Right from school days we are told and made to obey. So when we grow up we would be more comfortable to work under the instructions of a Boss rather than be a Boss ourselves. We do not know how to fly. We have not grown our wings.

The other problem is security. The generation before the current one lived in times where they were hardly able to meet their ends. They just about managed to give a comfortable life to themselves and their children. But the fear of not getting a job itself ran high. So the first thing that came to the minds of parents was to ensure that their children somehow got a job. In such situations it was just not possible for the children to think of earning on their own. Only the rebels amongst these youngsters did start something on their own.

But, now, times have changed. Youngsters have a lot more independent thinking these days. They are able to express and experience their potential much better these days. Career choices are much higher than at any time in the past. They are also able to take risks.

But the scale of such movement towards entrepreneurship is not enough to see the kind of development of the economy we would desire. We need a revolution to see a large percentage of professionals take to entrepreneurship. Students at the college levels should be encouraged to look at entrepreneurship as a clear career option. The spirit of adventurism in this age should be guided towards business.

The future of India lies in entrepreneurs and not in “employees”.

Spirituality, Not to be Confused with Religion

What is spirituality? What does it mean? I have wondered for long. My readings, observations and introspections lead me to some thoughts. I am no master and scholar on spirituality. At best it is my interpretation.

The starting point in understanding spirituality has to be to overlook religion. Religion is contextual. Spirituality is eternal. For example human nature is same across the world. However, language varies based on nationality, region etc. Human nature can be compared to spirituality. Laguages to religions.

Instead of defining spirituality which is not a thing, which is not a theory, which is not a phenomenon, which is a form, maybe I will be more comfortable in some attributes of spirituality.

1. Everything and everyone is connected. People, events, objects everything.
2. There is one divine and the world which comprises of name and form is differntiated expression of the Divine.
3. The Divine is ever pervasive and is present in everything - organic beings, non-organic objects and the values in them and that relate to them
4. There is a sense and meaning in the occurences and processes in the world. Trying to make sense of these is futile. But having a faith in the basis of the occurence is a strength.
5. The Divine is perfect. The differentiated expression of the Divine is not. The imperfect constantly evolves to achieve the perfection.
6. The dharma, the rules of the Divine will always prevail. Truth prevails. What prevails is the truth. Satyamevajayathe.
7. Relating to the Divine is Bliss. Being able to relate to the Divine is a process of evolution which matures with age, experience, learning, introspection, and practice.

In Defence of Politicians

Politicians are probably the most hated set of people. We condemn them for their cynical attitude, poor leadership qualities, hypocrisy, spinelessness, putting self interest before that of people, betrayal of national interest, hunger for power, corruption, poor foresight, and all that.

My issue is that if they are so bad indeed, why do they exist? Why have they not been done away with? Are they like friction - necessary evil? If so what is their necessity in the society? Why do we need politicians to rule over people? Here is an attempt to explore what good they contribute to the society.

Politicians exist in an area where the inellectuals, professionals, entrepreneurs do not want to tread. This can be seen from the fact that very few people from these areas have really made it to the political theatre. Why is that they refuse to get into this area even though they have been successful in what they have been doing. Maybe there are couple of reasons for this. Managing people and lack of control.

Managing or rather leading people is an onerous task. People can have different views, different opinions, different needs, different segments of people have varied set of priorities, difference on ideologies, differences on priorities, different expectations of the government which rules them. No one decision suits everyone. Any decision leads to someone losing something while someone else gains something. Please one section and there is another which feels cheated.

In business or professional life, there is a fair level of control coming from ones sphere of influence - knowledge, technical expertise, business acumen. But in a political arena, there is much which is not in ones control. Yet there is accountability.

At the end of it there is this fear or discomfort with losing. No professional or businessman is used to losing his/her job, seeing things going bad. But politicians run a serious risk of losing their job every some years through the elections. They have to go back to the people and beg to bring them back to power. Can we imagine, for a change, a CEO going to the employees to elect him for one more term and accept loss of vote of the employees? It is a different ball game to go to people and plead for their vote with there being a clear possibility of a loss.

They may have become hard skinned to take flak from a section of people who are upset with the decisions they take - remember that there is no decision which win-win-win. Promote policy of encouraging production of ethanol from soya and then we have the section which cries foul on the ground that the food is going to become costlier as agriculturist will grow corn rather than foodgrains. But still they keep going with such decisions. Maybe they take the safest route, nevertheless the fact is that they keep going despite drawing the flak of a siginifact section which is unhappy with their decisions.

A businessman can make a product and maybe some customers will choose not to buy the product but they can still go on selling to the other sections which accepts their product. Here it is ok if you do not like my product. They do not have to stand in front of the segment which is unhappy with the product and justify why they made the product they way they did. They do not have to assuage the feelings of the section which has ignored the product. But a politician is answerable (theoretically) and questionable (practically) by every section.

Key to Happiness is not "More", But Just "Enough"

The key to happiness is enough and not more. When we carry this feeling that what we have is enough, we feel adequate and complete and thus happy. When we feel that we need more, then we feel inadequate and incomplete and thus unhappy. Students are made to get more marks and better ranks. They cannot feel happy with what they have got. Employees want more salary and more responsibility and better positions. Thus they are unhappy with their current and salary. Wife wants more time, display of love and affection and participation in domestic affairs from the husband. Thus the husband never feels that he can ever fulfill the needs of the wife. The same is true the other way round.

We want to pack more things into the 24 hours we have. There are books which we have not read, movies not seen, channels not watched, friends not met, tasks not attended to, physical not taken up. We seem to have a perennial backlog in our to-do list. Companies want more and more - revenue, profit, growth, size. More flights cause jams at airports - 25% of flights are delayed. More cars and two wheelers on the roads lead to traffic jams.

Lets for a minute consider a different scenario where we feel enough. I have enough number of good friends around me. I am getting enough love and affection from those near and dear to me. I am getting enough respect, money and responsibility in my work place. People are putting in enough effort to the tasks assigned to them. The number of flights are enough and lets not have more of them in the airports. Whatever personal work and interests I pursue are enough given my time availability and capabilities. The marks which the child gets is enough as he has done his best. The current levels of growth of the company are enough and let us not push for more for some more time. The current level of speed at which things are enough.

I am sure the latter will ensure calmness in us. There will be peace. We will relish what we do. We will be in the present and the present moments will be sheer joy. Relationships with our friends, family and colleagues will seem a lot more pleasant. Our respect for and self esteem will get a boost.

The same world will seem a lot more blissful. Maybe we will see smiles on our faces more than ever. Enough will lead to more happiness.

Are US and India made for each other?

Do the West and East ever meet? No but maybe they will be a complete whole together. Maybe they will be together to complement each other for their strengths and weaknesses. Yin and yang? Maybe.

The two cultures have many commonalities and differences. While analysing these, there is a risk of stereotyping and loose generalisations. However, these when viewed from a broad level can be said to be true of their cultures. We also have to factor in that in the last decade the Indian culture has been undergoing Westnerization. This is however, in my opinion, more at the urban educated segment and cannot be said to be true of the mass in general.

In US there is a greater emphasis on analysis, whereas in India it is skewed towards generalizations. In US people are more objective while in India people are more subjective. When we look at the subjects that have flourished in the US they are primarily those of science, technology or economics and related subjects which lean on analytical depths. On the other hand, the Indian contribution to the world has been largely in the realms of the philosophical and metaphysical. When it comes to discussions and decisions, say on business, Americans bank on facts and figures to make inferences, while Indians are comfortable going by perceptions and intuitions.

In the US, materialism is at the core of the culture whereas Indians have been historically been preached to shun materialism; though this has been changing in the last decade or so. Frugality, either due to poor economic conditions or Hindu philosophy is a way of life in India. In the US ostenatiousness is a way of life. Success is measured in terms of wealth. Both sides have had their share of problems coming from this cultural characteristic. Rampant consumerism and materialism led to spending beyond means, pldeging of the future for the sake of the present. Whereas the frugalism, in its negative conotation, did not push people to achieve and create value or wealth, depriving of prosperity to a large segment of population.

In the US individualism is strongly advocated and nourished whereas in India indivisualism is still not highly encouraged, though we cannot claim that Indians partonise collectivism overtly. In US transactions are purely business or professional whereas in India people put emotions before these. Probably, this is the reason why Indians find it difficult to say NO. Incidentally, this an area which can be countered from the fact that almost all the social networking sites have come from the US and are also most popular there. How can one then say that Americans are more individualistic when they are championing networking. In my opinion the argument against such an interpretation come from two points.

One, social networking came from a void - a void of not being socially that well connected. In Indian culture, people are socially well knit at family, friends and social group levels. So in a way there was anyway no need for one more strucutured mechanism of networking. Two, in America networking is very strong when it comes to business and professional cause. Whereas Indians are pretty poor at this while they are good at the social level.

Locus of control, are more likely to be internal and external in American and Indian culture, respectively. Results are perceived to be in the control of the individual, whereas the results being out of control of one self is common in India. On the positive side, the internal locus of control, has pushed people to be accountable for their actions and incited them to act. On the negative side, this has led to brashness and arrogance with lowering of acceptance of other side of the story. For the Indians, the external locus of control led to greater level of acceptance but has also held them back from pushing themselves harder or more intelligently.

We examined some of the differences in the cultures of the two nations. Now we explore some of the common characteristics.

Yet there are some very strong commonlaities. One is that both the cultures have accepted and have lived with pluralism. Acceptance of differences based on various social, regional and religious factors is very high. In India there are many factors of differences compared to that in the US given its longer history. Language, for example. The number of languages is mind blogging for any one nation. Then there is this commonality of entrepreneurship. We have seen flourishing of ability to take risk, innovate, create value. Of course the scale and the level of entrepreneurship is far higher,evident from the GDP and also the command over most successful organisations. Only now are Indian businessmen acting at global scale. Both Indians and the Americans have been very comfortable in venturing out to other geographies and the remotest corners of the world. Even in the remotest or remote part of the world, one can find a sardar or a malayalee.

India and the US can together be a strong team. A team like that of good bowlers and batsmen. Or mabe a good team of husband and wife, with each supporting the other to bring the best in the other and ensuring that neither is spoilt by his or her own limitations. India and the US, however, have not had a very healthy relationship in the past, particularly from the stand point of the Governments. Ideological and geo-political matters kept them from trusting each other. Slowly, however, economics is leading to a better partnership at the people level.

A higher level of participation between the two natures given the differences and the commonalities will go a long way for people of both the countries and the people of the world.

Employer - employee relationships post global recession

Employer employee relationships will undergo a permanent change. In good times every company proclaimed employees to be their most important asset and when the good times became history, the most important assets have turned to become the most important liability to be pruned with immediate effect. So what do employees have to make out of this mixed signal?

As it is the relationship between the employer and the employee has been eroding from that of a life long one to that of a few years. Individuals found more options of employers and chose not to stick to any one employer right through their career. This transient nature of relationship between the employees and the employers is only going to get accentuated with the current round of lay offs. Employees are going to ask why is that we should pledge our loyalty to companies when companies themselves follow a use and throw or rather a hire and fire policy.

Engagement of employees cannot be seen in isolation or an absolute. It is relative to the business performance of the company. Business comes first. Employees have never been and can never be first. The claims to the contrary could be considered hollow with intentions to mislead or made sincerely with no appreciation of business realities. But when one sees the behaviour of the large seasoned and mature organisations who also follow the same ways as that of young upcoming organisations, in misleading the employees to believe that they come first and forever, one wonders whether this is fraud or oversight.

Acceptance of such a contactual service centric relationship between the individual and organisation is good for both. Organisation need not spend their time and energy on the frills like outings, get togethers, training, tonnes of feel good activities. They can be very focused on the work which is at the core of the service centric relationship. Similalry individuals will not expect such frills and will judge organisations by the quality of work. The quality of work will attract the quality of talent.

Individuals will grow and see things in the right way. That they are service providers and employers are service seekers. As long as there is honorable give and take they will be together. Else goodbye, we will find our way. Employers do not have an obligation to support in me in good and bad times. Neither do I have an obligation to support organisations in good and bad times. Let each of us find what is best for us. Individuals therefore need to behave like service providers. Be current and up to date, hone your skills and be marketable, develop the skills and talent which is wanted in the market, be aware of the various service seekers who will want your talent, plan your finances in a manner that businesses should - build reserves for the bad times, invest wisely, spend within your means,

Next time someone tells you that you are an asset to the organisation, you know it is a juvenile joke.

Where are the leaders, what is Leadership?

One of the hallmarks of good leadership, we were made to believe, is having a good foresight. By this measure, there is no doubt that we are having a drought of leadership. Look at the behaviour of the so called leaders of organisations in the last one year.

We heard statements like we are going to be growing at 20%, we are going to be making investments of 10,000 crores, we will be hiring 10,000 people in the coming fiscal year and so on. The same companies today are fighting to survive after laying off people in big numbers.

So what's wrong. Agreed that external senario cannot be always forseen. So going by that logic it is difficult to have predicted that the company would have to go through tough times. But then by the same i.e. external scenario cannot be predicted, even the rosy picture which was painted should not have been made. What was the basis of those ever increasing numbers? Was it wishful thinking of linearity of progression. Were they playing to the galleries of analysts? Were they consciously misleading their employees?

It would have been much more satsifying if leaders said - our business depends on these three factors - exchange rate, interest rate of the Federal Reserve. If a goes up then this is what we be doing, if a goes down this is the action we will be taking.

Leaders should shun from making this kind of external focused statements which are contingent on conditions prevailing such and such. Instead they should be saying that this year we are going to create these new products, we are going to develop these competencies, we are going to be taking risks on X, Y or Z investments, we are going to make.

If leaders cannot display leadership how wan they expect their staff to display leadership, after they are only following the leaders.