Failures leads to Achievement

Some last two months back, I along with three other guys prepared a small business plan for the prestigious Tata Business Leadership award. We all had worked equally hard and had lot of discussion on what things we need to include. The best part & the irony was that none of us knew how to prepare a Business Plan and though we tried to get some sample Business plans, there was not much of help other than depending on "Google."

Finally when the presentation was ready with all the stuff put in correct places, we had sent it for review to some senior people in our organization. The comment was - "Excellent, good etc...etc.." All of them were happy and surprised that some 4 guys who are abt 2-3 yrs of IT experience were able to come up with such a work. This was pretty big motivational factor.

As a part of first level screening, the TBLA had invited business plans from across TATA Group companies. Our presenation was selected and we were invited for defending our case. Our entry was among 25 entries selected from a total of 300+ entries.

We went to Bangalore for case defense. Though our presentation was excellent in terms of animations, quality and coupled with our presentation skills, we fell apart & our team couldn't make it in the next round. I still remember when the COO of Titan Industries (who was an honorable judge in the jury) personally approached me and told that your presentation was excellent.. I was flying in seventh heaven.. I thought we are through..... but @ the end we were told we were not.

Finally we all applied some thought as to where we lagged. The following are the outcomes:

1. Not enough practice: We literally couldnt practice, because of location & project work constraints. We had only one rehearsal before going to the main presentation.

2. Dressing ettiquette. None of us had a suite to wear. We realized that this matters a lot for important occassions. Purchasing it would be costly though, but wud have improved our chances to secure a place in next round.

3. Finishing on time. We exceeded the time limit by abt 1 minute which I guess has a problem with the judges.

Next came was Madras Management Association's Young Manager Competition. TCS normally participates in these competitions but hadnt secured any place in last two years. Our GL offered us to participate and win this competition. There came an absolute pressure to do some thing miraculous. So we started to slog. But this time, we ensured that the last time mistakes were not repeated and additional steps taken to resolve any problem. The final outcome - We got the first Prize in the competition, and got recognized by TCS CFO S.Mahalingam. The failure @ TBLA was one of the driving reasons for a success @ MMA Competition.

(Starting from Left - Ravi V, VP, Chennai Head, Nikhil, myself, Satish, S Mahalingam, CFO, TCS)

Some of the key lessons that one can infer from this experience.

1. Team work. One should keep the ego factor apart when working in a team. You win as a team and not as an individual. Any extra performance by one individual will not bring additional benefits. The judges count the team effort more than an individual performance. There could be a little disagreement between people, but its better if one person shows a little maturity and let the things go in favor of the team.

2. Dressing Ettiquete. Buy/Borrow/Steal a suite for such an occassion. Proper formal dressing is a must in such occassions. It conveys to the judges that you are serious about winning the game.

3. Lots of Practice. We practiced it atleast 5 - 6 times before we finally presented it before judges. We were able to do a lot more justice to the time factor and were able to finish it before time & at the same time conveyed all what we wanted to. This definitely makes a difference.

4. Memorize Key Data & put small keypoints on PPT. On the presentation PPT, we had little key points which we wanted to highlight and talk about. Eg. Our theme was to discuss on CHallenges of Emergent India. So rather than just discussing about challenges, we had come up Strategies and Action Plans to solve these challenges. This we had highlighted in columnar fashion (with little bit of jazzy effects in background) and used only key points. While talking about the points, we tried not to look towards the PPT and keep the flow going. This saves time and prevents audience from diverting their attention. Also, if any data you want to express, spill it out by talking. The exact data source can be revealed in Q/A Session.

The above is a jst a gist of the experiences we had. May be I am unable to express them now.. as I remember I will be updating this blog..

Prayers and Karma

Sometime back, One of my friend told me about a buddhist community which is working for peace across the world, by bringing every individual to higher energy level. The community feels that we humans have been degraded a lot, and by means of prayers they can achieve happiness in their lives. The prayers were in a different language, which I couldnt understand. My friend tried really hard to convince me for the power of prayers that they offer every sunday. She used to go to this community common place and pray for the peace.

It is ok to spend the weekend praying for others welfare.. but were the things going the correct way ? I mean the energy that she was putting in prayers for others, was it coming back for her and helping her out? I had my doubts. I believe in prayers, but I am a more stronger believer in Karma. The energy that you can send out and receive is much more intense in Karma than prayers. It can be well said that I have learnt this thing the hard way.. prayers have never yielded much to me.. its more my karma.. my actions that have given me benefits.  But it really doesnt mean we shouldnt pray... bt probably we shouldnt just depend on prayers for the good of others. If you want to do something good for others, go for action which will help others, rather sitting and praying for help. That will always create a sphere of positive energy influence around yourself.. resulting in addition of self confidence.. to do something in life.

This life demands more.. and every day it demands a new facet of yourself by bringing up new and new challenges. How do we react to it ? Prayers are no means of reactions.. Even Lord Krishna had suggested to go for Karma than simply prayers in Bhagwad Geetha.. 

Coming back to the original theme of this blog -- the buddhist community and my friend. Interestingly when she was in a dire situation. (a very tough situation which none of us would like to face ever) not many from that community came to help her out. Interestingly, most of them had same comment -- "We are praying for you..". 

Amazing right ? 

Nonetheless, she eventually overcame all the issues. But do you believe it happened because of prayers;atleast I dont think so. I strongly believe it was her own will and help in form of Karma of some people around her which enabled her to come out from that problem. People who are part of action in the help, are the true people who help out. If praying alone could solve the problem, probably the world wouldnt have been engulfed in so many problems throughout.

The concept of praying alone as a solution to your problem has also yielded the belief of "Luck as lever for your success and failure'".  Many people when confronted with real tough situations, feel that luck is going bad. Though we think that luck puts us in winning situations by turning around the tables, but then it has more to do with the failure of the other person. The other loses, and so you win the game. In the same way, when you fail, it is all your own work.. your own attitude... You face defeat only when your work and attitude fails.  Nothing else. Its easier to shift the blame, probably we believe in blame game by our nature.. bt the reality is something else. There is no harm in playing this blame game, but we should be well aware of what is the reality right ?

Actually, it is not luck, but Karma which determines our fate.. its just control over the mind, which can make you a winner throughout. Think about it, we normally blame the luck, when we made a mistake by not executing a task properly or the way it should have been worked. It could be well because of lack of knowledge or awareness; but again that is our mistake and not some one elses. Analysing the situation carefully and reacting towards it is in our control. But it just doesnt happen sometimes. May be because we cannot control it all the times.

I dont think there is any body in this world, who can control his senses to 100%. We just cannot do it, because of the innumerous distractions that we have around us and inside us.. but where we should focus is to control the mind. A stronger mind, will result in a better Karma and better luck around us. Praying is the best way I believe to get a stronger mind, but to get results and to achieve what we want, there is no substitute for Karma..

Patience and Achievements

Everybody in this world has desires. Many people prefer to stay in the dreamworld fulfilling their desires in their dreams, but there are others who come out to try their luck against the hard realities. The latter category of people are known to achieving success. But is this the only pre-requisite for success? I dont think so.

Ambitious people make plans and strategies for achieving their goals. But many times, the realities, become a big obstacle in materializing their dreams. Things may even go to an extent that their dream project may have to be shelved even before it starts taking full shape. This is the point where the character of the person comes into picture. The one who loses hope, loses the game.

Recently, a close friend of mine told me that she was frustrated for few days. When asked upon the reason, she simply said - "I am planning for my future". I wondered how is future planning related to frustration and asked her the same. She replied - "I am confused". Confusion comes because of lack of clear knowledge about a subject and frustration comes because of lack of patience. I realised that she was both confused and frustrated, because she had huge plans for herself, but was not willing to offer patience for the things to happen.

Success has a different definition for each & every individual. For many, achieving a milestone along the path is also a success. However, the irony is that its impossible to realise this path at the beginning of the journey. At the best, we can visualise the path with a fade idea of the efforts and time required to complete it.

Under such conditions, what could be done to make the journey more simpler and happier. Patience becomes the right ingredient under such conditions. The ability of the person to wait and hit when the iron is hot makes him different from other people. Everybody knows that this funda works. But people are not willing to wait!

The best way to understand the importance of patience is by remembering your past success stories. Try remembering the times, when you craved hard for something, and you wanted to achieve it desperately. Slowly move to the times, when you work hard to achieve it and finally you got it. You would feel that sense of achievement again. Imagining those events without the time factor involved, will make you feel that everything happened in few moments. Now come to reality; see the time gap between the times when you craved for something and you finally achieved. You will realise the importance of patience then.