DSarathy : On Inspirations, Learnings & Reflections

According to dictionary.com, A Leader is a person who rules or guides or inspires others. So what makes a person to be a Leader?

Together, it takes all the qualities of a Philanthropist, Warrior and a Human being. It is kindness that makes a better philanthropist. Duty consciousness makes one a better warrior. And patience makes one a better human being.

So it takes, kindness, duty consciousness and patience to make a good Leader.

Feedback is an output of a process or system which serves as an input of another process or a system. Successful people are those who constantly process relevant feedbacks, to tweak them for good. While handling a feedback, we should take care of the following :

1. Focus on the context of the feedback rather than the content
2. Focus on the feedback rather than who has said it?
3. Focus on the perspective with which the feedback is given
4. and many more…

If we carefully analyse, could find that for a proper analysis of a feedback one has to spend some good quality time. When the number of feedbacks are more in number, it would suck out our productive time. So, can we decide not to analyse any of the feedback ? It looks like we are caught in between .. right? So how to handle this?

Generally, when the feedback is raised for the first time, I politely say a thanks. When we get to hear the same issue (second time) from a different user, should try to pay more attention. Probe more questions and watch out for the same set of past expressions or words / phrases. And for the third time, if the same feedback is being raised, now it’s the time to roll our sleeves and act on it.

And I call this as “3T Rule“.

In my experience, only less than 5% of issues fall in this category. It saved lot of time for me, and I know would save you too.

As a mentor over several years, worked with varied types of talents, background, expectations, knowledge etc., Basically to me there are only three broad category of learners.
They are :

(1) The Surface Learners

(2) The Shallow Learners and

(3) The Deep Learners.

The surface learners are “also ran” types. Sooner are later they are going to withdraw themselves. And it’s not worth discussing about this category. The shallow learners are those who would like to learn faster, but could not because of varied reasons. These are those who spend their maximum energy towards their assignments. They are most committed, hardworking with lots of perseverance. The deep learners are those, who excel amongst the three category. They are self learners, result oriented with lots of passion and a good attitude. As a mentor, we have no job with this category. Infact, in some cases we get to learn new things from these types.

It is with this shallow learners where the maximum time and energy being spent by any mentor. And as a mentor, our job is to identify the disconnect, make them realize and push them on track. Once it’s done (they are on track), they turn to be a deep learner and thereon, nothing stops them.

What have you got to say?

‘Work’ according to dictionary.com is an exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something. When we choose to do a work it is done with ‘Commitment’ and when we have to do the same work, it is done with Compliance. To do a work in compliance is to like working for someone’s goal with obedience.

However, to work with commitment is like working for one’s own goal with passion. The magic of the work with commitment is beyond words that it speaks it loud through it’s end outcome. It’s easy to make people to comply but it requires lot more for them to be committed.

People who work for you can either take charge or be obedient? How would you like them to be?

Eduction System across the countries are being evaluated and tweaked regularly. ‘What is the purpose of any Education System?’ is one of the question which I’m been thinking for a while. Is it the Language Proficiency? Is it the Mathematical Ability ? Is it the Physical Capability ? etc.,

To me, the primary purpose of any Education System is to keep the children engaged or rather keep them away from wrong activities.

An idle mind is devil’s workshop. What you say ??

Happened to see a television interview by Charles Correa, the contemporary architect from South India. Towards the end of the interview, the anchor asked Mr. Correa, his message to the young architects. Mr. Correa politely said the following,

Whenever you go to a Railway Station,
There is always a Train to leave the station.
Smartness lies in identifying the right train and
Greatness is in getting down in the next station, when it’s not yours.

A gist of all his wisdom. Really experience matters.

Have I boarded into my train or already in one ;~)??

While reading a book, came across this nice quote by Wayne Gretzky, a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player.

“Don’t go where the puck is,
Go where it’s going to be” ~ Wayne Gretzky

A though provoking statement to ponder in depth. The masses alway go where the puck is and this differentiates the winners from the crowd. Proactive thinking always have an edge over the reactive thinking. Both are unique in their own dimensions. The grand successes of all the small experiments were attributed to this idea of betting on the future - a proactive move.

So get ready and be prepared to be proactive to succeed.

Jon Penn, a 11 year old is the Network Administrator of an Arkansas school

The moment I read this information, was struck for a while and was thinking - what I was when 11 years old?. There were never such high responsibilties on my shoulders at 11. And it was twice as much this age, I became the Network Administrator of Corporate Network.

It’s been a while that I wrote a blog here. Some catching up activities were there. Also some shifting in priorities. Now I’m back with a new dimension. Stay tuned and keep watching this space.

Diwali - a festival of lights is one of the important festivals celebrated all across India. This festival denotes the victory of good over the bad.