Listen to your heart and keep the faith

Listen to your heart

Society and financial conditions direct us to be logical and "use our brains". When you live and work only using our brain and not paying heed to our inner voice, we miss out on the vital purpose of life. The inner voice is a second "brain" and the epic center. Listening to our brain and heart is crucial to good decision-making about life, business and relationships as a whole. Our inner voice simply knows something without knowing exactly, how we know it, which is a "gut level feeling". That inner voice is directing you. The following is a true story about listening to your heart as a part of “Walk the talk”:

“Everyone needs to feel protected…”

Dear Wellendorff family,

Many years ago, while I was vacationing on the west coast of Denmark, I found an amulet with a hand-painted angel on it. A name and year had been engraved on the back. Since no one claimed the amulet, it became mine, and a talisman that I wore every day. Several years later I met an Englishman in Munich. He scrutinized my pendant and told me that his late wife used to have an angel just like mine. When we parted he gave me his business card, and my heart almost stood still.. Not only did he live in Denmark, his name was same as the one engraved on the back of the amulet. Yes, it was the same angel that he had given to his wife on their wedding day. Without hesitation I returned the angel to its proper owner. The situation was upsetting for both of us, I no longer had the guardian angel I had become so fond of and he was reliving sad memories. A few weeks later he announced he was coming to Munich over Christmas. He brought me the amulet back and proposed to me! Despite the objections of my parents and my son, who was then 20, I married the man who was still almost a stranger, in a very quite ceremony in Denmark. In our case the amulet was a cupid that has kept us together for 29 happy years.

Sincerely yours, Heidi Thomas Wellendorff the finest jewelry since 1893 

[Reference:Boeing 747-8 Lufthansa, special Magazine, 2012]

When we come across hurdles, challenges and the dream looks difficult, do not behave like rats abandoning a sinking ship. You will have to listen to your inner heart to sail forward to reach to your destination.

Run every minute for a cultural shift

Cultural shift

We have no choice but to change. The world is moving and shifting fast; you know that.  Take for example a multi-national company having a mix of cultures and backgrounds working towards identical goals. In working with multi-cultural setups, it happens that each culture is pointing fingers about the shortcomings of another’s culture, rather than trying to imbibe the best of both cultures that enables them to progress toward their common goals. Therefore the need for a cultural shift will start only when all agree and actually practice in their daily actions – rather every minute.

One good example is how meetings proceed during cross country people participation?   First of all other country men will be at meeting venue at least a minute early. As usual some of our Indian colleagues will arrive at the venue very late giving excuses of late arrival of the train, traffic and flight delay. This is a cultural issue where we don’t respect others time and commitment. It’s because of our casual approach. During discussion on any point some of our Indian colleagues will respond in chaos and in groups we speak tend to very loud this is also a systemic cultural habit we need to break. When it comes to the actions of other country men, they spend too much time in discussions and clarifications, and are never ready to deal with changes and uncertainties, which is also a big cultural issue for them, which they need to break.

When I was a kid my mother gave me a responsibility to feed cows everyday being a south Indian family rice was the main dish for food for the family and cows too. Every day I was very eager to feed them, cows were very keen to eat and I was enjoying those moments. About 20 years later: I wanted to feed cows with same type of food (rice dishes) but they were not eager to eat delicious rice items. I was upset with that reaction from cows because an anticipated joy moment became a sad moment for a while when I discussed with neighbors and they educated me that they feed cows “Roti”, which is an Indian bread.  

As a kid I was feeding an Andhra southern part of India cow and 20 years later initially I failed to feed them because I never understood the culture and/or eating habits of a Gujarati cow.

One more example: How the world class companies perpetuate the culture?

• By systematic indoctrination of new members in the cultural fundamentals
• By screening and selecting new employees that mesh well with the culture
• By the efforts of senior group members to reiterate core values in daily conversations and pronouncements
• By telling and retelling of the company legends
• By regular ceremonies honoring members who display desired cultural values and practices under complex conditions and situations
• By visibly rewarding those who display cultural norms and penalizing who do not

We must to align our behavior for the change, which we would like to attain as a cultural shift.No more casual behavior will work to win our dreams.

Define, write and live your values

Write down your values

The founders of great, enduring organizations like TATA, 3M and Johnson & Johnson often did not have a vision statement when they started out. They usually began with a set of strong personal core values and a relentless drive for progress and most importantly—a remarkable ability to translate these values into solid mechanisms.  “If these are our core values and this is fundamentally why we exist, what are the obstacles that get in our way? Defined values give us confidence and will help to have the courage and confidence to make choices. There’s something about actually writing down your values that makes you more committed to living them. When you don’t know or you haven’t clearly defined your values, you end up drifting along in life. Instead of basing your decisions on an internal compass, you make choices based on circumstances and social pressures.

Consider, for example, Granite Rock Company, a small construction-materials outfit that won the Baldrige award in 1992. The company espouses continuous improvement in customer satisfaction.[7] They tell their customers, “If there’s anything about an order you don’t like, simply don’t pay us for it. Deduct that amount from the invoice and send us a check for the balance.” They call it short pay.

Likewise, 3M could simply say, “We don’t get in the way of innovators,” fine. But that’s very different from creating mechanisms—like requiring that 30 percent of revenues be generated by new products—to actually stimulate innovation.

People would examine horse teeth to check whether it was a young horse or an old one. People would check values whether we are actually doing what we talked?

People and intelligent species pay attention to our actions

Preaching and Practicing must match

You cannot hide behind any facade telling to yourself that you are in fact “Walking your talk”, even though your conscience keeps pricking that “no”, you are not walking your talk completely. If such a situation should arise, stop and reflect on what is it in your talk that you are not able to walk? Cut out what you are not able to practice in action - for people and all intelligent species will pay attention to your actions rather than your words. Our actions will let the cat out of the bag. We can’t hide them. Even our pets pay attention to our actions.

Pay attention for a week on any street dog that you have been feeding and petting on your way.  On the eighth day, you can see it's waiting in anticipation of your feeding and petting. For example, each morning at 6.30. a.m., my wife goes to the balcony with the intention of feeding some grains to the pigeons sitting on our balcony. Initially the pigeons used to fly away, but gradually, they came to anticipate and realize the actions of my wife and after approximately 20 days, we found the pigeons waiting in our balcony at 6.30 in anticipation of being fed.

Fix Habits to live in “Winning stream”

Daily rhythm

Once we are certain of what is it that we seek to find or believe there is a need to change, define our expectation and convert those expectations in the form of values that can be written down and then translated into every day actions. Firstly with everything we do in life we need to ask ourselves, why we are doing this, how does it benefit us and the people we love?  

Don't hold back on positive appreciation.

Do something nice not just for the sake of doing it.

Help an elderly person lift or carry a parcel.

Clear the table after a meal if it's not your normal practice.

Answer to messages, calls and mail just in time.

Bring rhythm to our daily routine.

Refrain from a negative pointer. 

Positive habit generates and promotes good will. One small step towards your positive habit can have a tremendous positive effect on our overall day. No matter what problems occur during the day, remind ourselves of how we started with a positive habit and nothing can upset our day otherwise we will be a dead duck.

I want to fix my habits

In my office at APTECH (Business Consulting and Computer Education group) in the year 1994 I was receiving a heavy daily mail covering a wide variety of matters examinations, curriculum, student complaints, and business issues and so on. I was operating on the policy that every letter must gets an answer. Nonetheless I used to come to my office and find a formidable pile of letters and get dismayed. Visualizing the amount of labor of having to think out replies to those letters, my mind would internally start grumbling “Why do people write so many letters do they not have any other work, other than writing letters?”, but I learnt that the only way to effectively answer letters would be to answer them no sooner they arrive. If I keep it in the pending folder it would get old and then I would have to re-open all letters, to gain the back ground on the content and so it was very painful than answering them as they arrive. Similarly any activity not if I don’t done regularly it starts piling up till one day it looks like a night mare to even attempt the huge pile. That’s when our mind will prick saying we are incapable for our role and job, and eventually we may have to probably quit the job itself. So I therefore continued that habit of answering the email as it arrives at a fixed interval which helped me live peacefully.

Cultivation of a careful and consistent regular rhythm of positive habits is the key to becoming successful not the other way round.

Stay on with the purpose in life with bells on

Google the purpose

When you think deeply and try to contemplate on why you exist, what your purpose in life is, what do you endeavor to achieve, you need to listen. Reach out within the deepest recesses of your mind, heart and there you would find the answer on why do you feel the need to change, improve, excel, win in your endeavors, in your relations, in your expectations of yourself and of others. The kernel and shell of life is work. We need to be happy workers. The purpose of work is happiness, which certainly includes taking care of our basic needs. Foremost among them is the need to attain fulfillment which involves growth and climbing ladders having purpose of life is not lost somewhere down the life. We have a duty to show the world to which we belong in a better light. I believe that change is possible.  The creative expression of our power lies in growing into the better as a human and a person. Our rich potential future will go to dogs if lose the purpose in life.

Story of Buckminster Fuller’s life was once like most people, full of going to parties, football etc. He was a “wild lad" in his early days.  Then something happened which changed his life forever.  His daughter Alexandra who was only around 6 years old was very sick at that time. He left the house one day, promising to be back soon. Before he left, he promised Alexandra, he would bring her back one of the small flags that they have at the football, as it was her birthday. Buckminster Fuller didn't return home after the football. He didn't return home for three days. Presumably he was partying. When he finally arrived home, his wife told him to not to waste time apologizing to her, but to go upstairs and see his daughter immediately. Alexandra had taken a turn for the worse. When Fuller picked his daughter up in his arms, he said hello to her. Then she asked him if he had brought the flag. The disappointment was enough to end her slender hold on life. She died in his arms.

After that Fuller felt so bad, he went for a walk, and decided to end his life. But as the story goes, he heard a voice saying something along these lines -``you do not have the right to end your life. It is not yours to end. Your life has a purpose. You have not yet done what you came here to do."

Guru Nanak Sahib was born on 15th April, 1469 at Rai-Bhoi-di Talwandi in the present distrect of Shekhupura (Pakistan), now Nanakana Sahib. Guru Nanak's father, Mehta Kalyan Das, popularly known as Mehta Kalu was the agent and Chief Accountant of Rai Bular. Guru Nanak 's mother was Mata Tripta, a simple, pious and extremely religious woman. At the age of 38, in August 1507, Guru Nanak Sahib heard God 's call to dedicate himself to the service of humanity after bathing in "Vain Nadi" (a small river). The very first sentence which he uttered then was, "There is no Hindu, no Musalman". He then undertook long travels to preach his unique and divine doctrine (Sikhism). He rejected the path of renunciation Tyaga or Yoga, the authority of the Vedas and the Hindu caste system. Guru Nanak Sahib emphasized the leading of householder's life (Grista), unattached to gross materialism. He attacked the citadel of caste system of Hindus and theocracy of Muslim rulers. He was a born poet. He wrote 974 hyms and these were included in Guru Granth. He was also a perfect musician. He with the company of Bhai Mardana composed such tunes in various Indian classical Ragas that charmed and awed wild creatures like Babar, subdued saging kings, raved bigots and tyrants, converted thugs and robbers saints. He was a reformer as well as a revolutionary.

Begin with small steps

Eager & Beaver

Dream big, however winning can only start with small steps. Don’t wait for the big win, bigger moments to come in your way. Rather you need to begin with small steps of progress, step by step, we keep moving towards our dream, till one day it becomes a dream come true. When we are aiming for dream to be accomplished we must start with small and when it comes to finishing off our tasks, we can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Citing an example, History of IBM:

1880: Starting various technologies came into existence that would form part of IBM's predecessor company.

1890: The U.S. Census Bureau contracts to use Herman Hollerith's punched card tabulating technology in the 1890 United States Census. Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company is later merged into what becomes IBM today.

1914: Flint recruited Thomas J. Watson, Sr., from the National Cash Register Company to help lead the company. Watson implemented "generous sales incentives, a focus on customer service, an insistence on well-groomed, dark-suited salesmen and an evangelical fervor for instilling company pride and loyalty in every worker".

1924: C-T-R was renamed the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), citing the need to align its name with the "growth and extension of its activities".

1937: IBM's tabulating equipment enabled organizations to process unprecedented amounts of data, its clients including the U.S. Government, during its first effort to maintain the employment records for 26 million people. During the Second World War the company produced small arms for the American war effort.

1952: Thomas J. Watson, Jr., became president of the company, ending almost 40 years of leadership by his father.

1973: IBM engineer George J. Laurer developed the Universal Product Code. 1973, IBM introduced the IBM 3660, a laser-scanning point-of-sale barcode reader which would become the workhorse of retail checkouts.

1981: The IBM PC, originally designated IBM 5150, was introduced and it soon became the industry standard.

1991:  IBM sold Lexmark, and in 2002, it acquired PwC consulting.

2005:  The company sold its personal computer business to Lenovo, and in the same year, agreed to acquire Micromuse.

2009: IBM acquired software company SPSS Inc. Later in 2009, IBM's Blue Gene supercomputing program was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by U.S. President Barack Obama.

2011: IBM's closing value of $214 billion surpassed Microsoft which was valued at $213.2 billion.

2012: Fortune ranked IBM the #2 largest U.S. firm in terms of number of employees, the #4 largest in terms of market capitalization, the #9 most profitable, and the #19 largest firm in terms of revenue. Other rankings for 2011/2012 include the following:

#1 company for leaders (Fortune)

#1 green company worldwide (Newsweek)

#2 best global brand (Interbrand)

#2 most respected company (Barron's)

#5 most admired company (Fortune)

#18 most innovative company (Fast Company)

IBM present with over 388,000 employees worldwide in 170 countries. IBM employees have earned five “Nobel Prizes”, four “Turing Awards”, five “National Medals of Technology”, and five “National Medals of Science”.

Success never came in a day or one year. There were many ups and downs in the history of IBM and many leaders lead the company through times of challenges, mistakes, revivals, technology drivers, environment and competitive hurdles. Fact remains that each and every big moment starts with a humble small step.