Allergic to mediocrity

Hugh MacLeod talks about being allergic to mediocrity. Read on for his version. Read here for my version!

Is Mediocrity really all that bad?

You already know the answer.

Mediocrity is so poisonous because no one really complains about it. It envelops and sucks us in. Before we know it our standards are lowered and it sets us in the death spiral.  

So how can this be when the truth is that we take delight in the amazingness we come across in our daily lives?

It's because fighting the entropy of mediocrity is hard, and that is what this image is about. 

It's a reminder about standards. It is a reminder about the extra 1% that will make the difference. It is a reminder that 'good enough', just isn't.

We all know that we have a choice. Do you want to bring light, sparkle, or not?

You already know the answer.

Urgency and accountability are two sides of the innovation coin

Seth seems to be thinking on the same lines as I am or someone is irritating him with questions running in my mind!

As organizations and individuals succeed, it gets more difficult to innovate. There are issues of coordination, sure, but mostly it's about fear. The fear of failing is greater, because it seems as though you've got more to lose.

So urgency disappears first. Why ship it today if you can ship it next week instead? There are a myriad of excuses, but ultimately it comes down to this: if every innovation is likely to fail, or at the very least, be criticized, why be in such a hurry? Go to some more meetings, socialize it, polish it and then, one day, you can ship it.

Part of the loss of urgency comes from a desire to avoid accountability. Many meetings are events in which an organization sits in a room until someone finally says, "okay, I'll take responsibility for this." If you're willing to own it, do you actually need a meeting, or can you just email a question or two to the people you need information from?

Thus, we see the two symptoms of the organization unable to move forward with alacrity, the two warning signs of the person in the grip of the resistance.  "I can take my time, and if I'm lucky, I can get you to wonder who to blame."

You don't need more time, you just need to decide.

Read the history of the original Mac and you'll be amazed at just how fast it got done. Willie Nelson wrote three hit songs in one day. To save the first brand I was responsible for, I redesigned five products in less than a day. It takes a team of six at Lays potato chips a year to do one.

The urgent dynamic is to ask for signoffs and to push forward, relentlessly. The accountable mantra is, "I've got this." You can feel this happening when you're around it. It's a special sort of teamwork, a confident desperation... not the desperation of hopelessness, but the desperate effort that comes from being hopeful.

What's happening at your shop?

Light up!

Light!

Am suddenly drawn to them. Like bug to the fire. Like bees to honey. Like Tiger to chicken. Wherever I go, I am amused with the different types of lights. Or should I say glass?
Amazing forms, sizes, shapes and prices :)


Strange that they can't move, change, correct. Just stay and let the dust get collected. Interestingly enough, they let the light' brighten them inside out. No dust, darkness, shade or dullness lets their hope come down or stay gloomy.

Can you be a light? Can you make someone's day shine up? Or would you contribute to the gloom?

You choose.

Guess what. In the process of lighting up for others, they glow and shine themselves too!

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

Lessons from Adaah

Adaah!

That's my name. And I am pretty.
I have a pink watch, pink glasses, blue hairband, steel ear rings, white tee, blue jeans and a broken tooth. 

That's the intro given by this little girl in Bahrain where we met in the hall of an exhibition center. She was to the point and clear on what she had to say or rather who she was. 

Sometimes I think we as adults loose our identity when we choose to follow someone else. Time to stop and see what you really are and what you want to be. Is there a gap between what you dreamed of and thought about yourself and what you have become?

Then you should wake up and start moving in the direction of what you want to be.

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.


 

Messengers or Leaders?

What is your leadership style? Do you want to create messengers or leaders?
You already know the answer!

Let me list the differences for you here and then you decide what you want to be.

Messengers:

• Do the job
• Are dull and boring
• Are slow
• Not closers
• Are easy to handle
• Don't ask questions
• Agree with you always
• Think what you want them to
• Are easy to mould
• Obey
• Stick to pattern
• Are submissive
• Cannot think outside the box
• Cannot bring you new business
• Cannot bring you revenue
• Are a dumber, older version of you!
• Are mediocre at best
• Don't give their best shot
• Are afraid
• Are dime a dozen

Leaders are the opposite!

So what kind of a manager are you? Are you creating messengers or leaders?
You know the answer.

What should you be doing?
You know the answer.

Pic is from MKG media

Wait upon the Lord!

I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.

Psalm 34 4

Monday Blues: Has the Water entered my Ship?

Got this mail from a colleague today and how true can it be? 

Has the Water entered my Ship? 

 

In 1923, nine of the wealthiest people in the world met at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel. 

Their estimated  combined wealth, exceeded the wealth of the Government of the US at that time. 

These men certainly knew how to make a living and accumulate wealth.
Attending the meeting were the following men: 

1. The President of the largest steel company, 

2. The President of the largest utility company,

3. The President of the largest gas company, 

4. The President of the New York Stock Exchange, 

5. The President of the Bank of International Settlements, 

6. The greatest wheat speculator, 

7. The greatest bear on Wall Street, 

8. A member of President Harding's cabinet. 

9. The head of the World's greatest monopoly 

That's a pretty impressive line-up of people by anyone's yardstick.

Yet, let’s examine what happened to them 25 years later: 

1. The President of the then largest steel company  (Bethlehem Steel Corp), Charles M Schwab lived on borrowed capital for 5 years before he died bankrupt.                                    

2. The President of the largest utility company,  Samuel Insull, died penniless! 

3. The President of the then largest gas company,  Howard Hubson, went insane. 

4. The then President of the New York Stock Exchange,  Richard Whitney, was sent to jail. 

5. The President of the Bank of International Settlement,  Leon Fraser, committed suicide. 

6. One of the greatest commodity traders (Wheat Speculator) ,  Arthur Cutten, died insolvent. 

7. The greatest “bear” on Wall Street, Jesse Livermore  committed suicide. 

8. The member of the US President’s Cabinet (President Harding's cabinet), Albert Fall,  was pardoned from jail just to be able to go home 

and die in peace. 

9. The President of the then world’s greatest monopoly, Ivar Krueger, committed suicide. 

What they forgot was how to "make" life  while they got busy making money ! 

 

Money in itself is not evil. It is only a medium of exchange. 

 We need two kinds of education. 

 

One that teaches us how to make a living and the second how to live. 

Many of us get so engrossed in professional life that we neglect our family, health, social responsibilities. 

And when asked why we do it, we would reply "For our family" 

However, our kids are sleeping when we leave home. They are sleeping when we come home!  25years later, we’ll turn back and they’ll be gone to pursue their own dreams and lives. 

Lessons from a Ship: 

Without water, a ship cannot move. It needs water but if the water gets into the ship, it will face existential problem. 

 What was a “means of living” becomes a “means of destruction”. 

Similarly we live in time where earning is a necessity but let not the earning enter our hearts, for what was once a means of living will surely become a means of destruction for us as well ! 

 

 

So take a moment to ask yourself: 

“Has the water entered my ship?” 

 

·  Work for a cause, not for applause. 

·  Live life to express not to impress. 

·  Don’t strive to make your presence noticed, just make your absence felt

Monday Blues: Care... it helps

One more for the Monday Blues series.

My friend, Pooja Rajpal shared a video today and am sharing here.

The video has a simple message. Everyone has a problem and is trying to fight it and yet going along on his way through the day. Control your emotions, anger when someone is at your mercy. After all, sometimes all we need is a good hug.

Is wife a gorilla?

Is wife a gorilla? No I am not hinting about the weight but is she angry, irritating and aggressive like a 1000 pound gorilla? I doubt so. But isn't some exaggerating good enough to ignore and smile about? After all everyone seems to love a wife joke once in a while.

Century ply came up with this ad campaign to commemorate the and to my surprise I found several people found it funny and not at all offensive and that it crossed a million views on youtube!

Though few of the reviews online talk about the durability, strength and finesse, the most it makes is focusing on the anger. I think it is fair enough to suggest that the ad made me remember the brand and hence won its share of my mindspace.

Ok here are the takeaways from this TVC:

1. You can be funny without hurting
2. Reality(or the lack of it) is accepted
3. Sometimes a twist is not needed
4. Subtle mentioning of the brand is good
5. Wife is not a gorilla! You are, if you forget your anniversary :)

Good job Century ply.

Rating: 2/5

Don’t Just Collect Data; Create Value

Ron's article on Service  Metrics. Read on...

The purpose of this building block is to drive new actions that create and deliver greater service value. This purpose is perfectly aligned with our definition of service as taking action to create value for someone else.

Your actions can generate positive results in many different areas: performance, profitability, market share, reputation, customer loyalty, employee engagement, and more. Understanding the data can help you track progress, identify trends, and provide a baseline for future improvement. The right measures will also help you catch problems early and avoid pitfalls before they happen.

Service Measures and Metrics are most effective when they help you prioritize what’s most important. What new commitments should you make? What new actions should you take? What can you do next, or do right now, to increase satisfaction, secure future business, or generate greater loyalty for your organization? If your current measures and methods of reporting do not achieve these goals, then it is time to review and revise.

Don’t let your Service Measures and Metrics become disconnected from the practical levers of power. Collecting data and crunching numbers can easily become a separate function or a department, fueled by the urge to gather even more data and encouraged by the suppliers of surveys, facilitators of focus groups, and purveyors of mystery shopping. I am not against any of these practices; they all have their time, place, and function—so long as they lead you to new action.
Make sure the people on your team know what you are measuring and why. Be sure they understand which numbers you are tracking, and which needle you want them to move every day.

Don't ask me what you know already

Often I have been asked by people the same things. Again and again. Usually this is when you are in the nick of closing something. I try and control my agitated mind which is perplexed as I would have shared the same data, excel file or numbers time and again. Can you send me again is the next question! I am short of an expression here. Why would I send you the same thing again? I would share it hadn't I given you that last week/month and sometimes in the last hour.

What is my takeaway from this? Well, here it goes...

Either you are too dull or slow or lazy to keep asking for the same thing again and again or you are too smart and keep asking things to show that because you didn't have that and didn't have this you are allowed to delay the delivery.

I have on solution for this. Create or move on.

Volunteer for a cause

Do you know that most of the tough tasks are handled by people who usually don't have a choice. These are delegated, thrust upon and are handled with a grunt and it is not at all good. Can you think of one occasion when you wished you were not picked for a particular task? We all have some of such moments. I have some too. Nothing to be ashamed off but something to think about. How did you respond? I for one chose to face them and handle them. When will you get trained for pressure otherwise?

Let me give you an example. When I was in college, the professor used to come up with extra assignments and look for volunteers and hardly any hand would go up except mine and I would take it up gladly and though this was an extra burden, I would finish it up burning midnight oil and present it the next day. Again I would be ready to take up extra work if it was there. This happened quite often that I was by default nominated to handle these tasks. By the end of the semester, the professor called me to his cabin and gave me a pen and a recommendation letter and thanked me for being that person who will take up the extra work.

When I moved to workplace, I was always willing and still take up extra work to ease pressure on others. It is fun actually and you should do that too. Take up extra work and finish it in style. When we see a sportstar take up extra work and put in those additional hours to win the game for the team, he is celebrated and recognized for that work. Can you be your team's superstar? Be a volunteer for a cause and you will enjoy ultimate satisfaction that you usually cannot derive from your daily work.   

#PositivePsychologist
#ConsumerPsyche
#Volunteer
#AtoZChallenge
#WorkBlues

Fix it

Is it broken?

or is it ready to be fixed?
You choose!

Swagger

Seth's post today is very apt. Show me the money!

One way that marketers (of any stripe) make an impact is by displaying confidence. Consumers figure that if a marketer is confident in their offering, they ought to be confident in the marketer as return. We often assume that confidence means that something big is on offer.

The problem with swagger is that if you're the swaggering marketer, you might run into a competitor with even more swagger than you. When that happens, it's time to show your cards, the justification for your confidence. And if you don't deliver, you've done nothing but disappoint the person who believed in you.

Substance without swagger slows you down. But swagger without substance can be fatal. Right now, we're seeing more swagger than ever—but it's rarely accompanied by an increase in substance...

The rule is simple: it's essential to act the part. And it's even more important for it to be real.

Fight Envy!

Envy can ruin reputations, split churches, and cause murders. 

Envy can shrink our circle of friends, ruin our business, and dwarf our souls. 

I have seen hundreds cursed by it! 

 (Billy Graham)

Aducation or education

Saw this on a school bus in btm, Bangalore.

Interesting to see so many spelling mistakes and yet being reused this year.

Brilliance can be selfless

MJ shared this link and I couldn't just resist sharing it with you.  Unilever has come with some brilliant ads in the past but this is beautiful and simply made.

Some takeaways from this ad:

1. I am definitely washing my hands more frequently
2. Ads that say I don't need to buy anything attract more shares
3. You needn't be a buyer now, you needn't be a beneficiary now to like this
4. Look at advertisement as an investment

In the name of discipline!

What is discipline anyway? Is it related to what you ask me to abide by or is it something that is good to do? Now how do you determine what is good to do? Is it because the majority is doing it? I am seriously looking for an answer.

 If discipline is what the majority has chosen or made to do then there is no need for everyone to follow it. You are defeating the principle of the creativity. Thinking out of the box is encouraged in all the modern day workplaces where you are supposed to be one step ahead of everyone else and be resourceful where in you are needed to fill in to other departments when required. If you do not teach the kids to be proactive, creative and responsive where is the chance for them to learn about being creative?

If you are wounding up children to a strict stupid rule, like wearing an uniform like it is the military, then where is the notion of creativity. How does one decide what a child should grow up to when you could decide your next meal without a consent/consultation from several members of your social fabric?\

Today's Bangalore Mirror cover page spoke of a child being sent home for not wearing the school-issued-footwear. Though the article was about the way the child was sent home during working hours and was dropped outside her gated community and the issues related to safety which I completely agree, the issue is about adherence of some stupid rules which clearly points out to what kind of education would be taught in a school headed by a headstrong principal who felt it was wise to penalize the child  for a mismatch of the school uniform.

While I agree that enforcing uniform to a certain extent encourages discipline, it shouldn't be the primary focus. Schools should focus on mentoring talent, encourage kids to think beyond the cover to cover syllabus and learn more by exploration, research.

Would you send your child to conform to the rhetoric, a mundane, military like system run by a dull methodical system thereby killing/curbing the child's creativity? Or would you like your child to think out of the box, be creative, spontaneous and lively where you would have a living human being and not a zombie?

Doubt?

This is my dear friend Pooja's facebook status today. I can't agree more.

" If it is true faith, let it shake. Truth will never go, and if the faith is with the truth, let it shake. It will never get lost. In fact, you should doubt as much as possible. You can say, 'Don’t doubt', only when a thing is not a genuine thing. If it is genuine gold, I tell you, go on scratching as much as possible. But if it is just rolled in gold, or gold polished, and then you say, 'Don’t scratch too much because it will disappear.' With true gold, any amount of scratching will not make it go away. Doubt is simply lack of energy. When you are high in energy, where is the doubt? Doubt comes when the energy is low. True faith is that which you shake a hundred times and it still stays on. That is true faith, and it will remain. "

Work for free?

(Click on the image to enlarge)

From Seth's blog:

Some of the factors to consider:

• Do they pay other people who do this work? Do their competitors?
• Am I learning enough from this interaction to call this part of my education?
• Is this public work with my name on it, or am I just saving them cash to do a job they should pay for?
• If I get paid, is it more likely the organization will pay closer attention, promote it better and treat it more seriously?
• Do I care about their mission? Can they afford to do this professionally?
• Will I get noticed by the right people, people who will help me spread the word to the point where I can get hired to do this professionally?
• What's the risk to me, my internal monologue and my reputation if I do this work?

The invisible truth

Just because you didn't see doesn't mean it's not there.

Monday Blues: Ways to be creative

Found this online... beat monday blues with some creativity :)

Monday Blues: Stay inspired

Art by Gapingvoid

Monday blues: Keys to Synergy

Synergy does not just happen between people. There are certain things that they need to do which help it to manifest.

Some keys to achieving synergy are

1. "LISTEN ACTIVELY". If anyone in your group (or your relationship) is an 'expert' then you are unlikely to achieve synergy. If you want to achieve synergy, then the ego has to be put to one side. The 'expert' is the kiss of death to synergy. 
2. "TRUST YOUR INTUITION - SPEAK UP". The second kiss of death for synergy is not as obvious as the expert. This is the person who knows the answers but KEEPS IT TO THEMSELVES. These people need to speak up and be heard. 
3. "AGREE TO AGREE". The third key to synergy is to "agree to agree". This means to agree to reach a resolution. Compromise is not an option. What does compromise mean? A settlement of a disagreement where each side makes concessions. The end result is usually unsatisfactory to both. What does Resolution mean? Both sides are happy. In order for this to happen, what do you usually need? A third option. If you are going to achieve synergy, you are going to start being creative thinking up 'third options'. 
4. 'BE FLEXIBLE. The fourth key to achieving synergy is to "Be flexible". The first solution proposed is not necessarily the best one. Groups that fail to acknowledge and consider multiple courses of action run the risk of accepting a suboptimal solution. 
5. "BE COMPASSIONATE". The fifth key to achieving synergy is to be compassionate. We tend to put other people's ideas down. When we do this, we stop people from thinking and contributing. Thinking is the hardest work there is, so we need to encourage people to do it. To get synergy we need to support others efforts to do well. When we differ from others we need to do it in a manner which is constructive rather than defensive.

Taken from here.

Lesson from nothing

Keep smiling & have a nice day!

Be a farmer

One of the oldest and simplest professions of all time. Farming! Here is one of the best videos I have seen in a long time!

Do something that your child would like to follow and be proud of!

How to listen?

Seth nails it...

Live interaction still matters. Teachers, meetings, presentations, one on one brainstorms--they can lead to real change. The listener has nearly as big a responsibility as the speaker does, though. And yet, Google reports four times as many matches for "how to speak" as "how to listen." It's not a passive act, not if you want to do it right.

If listening better leads to better speaking, then it becomes a competitive advantage.

Ask an entrepreneur leaving the office of a great VC like Fred Wilson. She'll tell you that she gave the best pitch of her career--largely because of the audience. The hardest step in better listening is the first one: do it on purpose. Make the effort to actually be good at it.

Don't worry so much about taking notes. Notes can be summarized in a memo (or a book) later.
Pay the person who's speaking back with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm shown by the expression on your face, in your posture, in your questions.

Play back what you hear but in your own words, using your own situation. Don't ask questions as much as make statements, building on what you just heard but making it your own. Take what you heard and make it the foundation for what you are trying on as your next idea.

If you disagree, wait a few beats, let the thought finish, and then explain why. Don't challenge the speaker, challenge the idea.

The best way to honor someone who has said something smart and useful is to say something back that is smart and useful. The other way to honor them is to go do something with what you learned.

Good listeners get what they deserve--better speakers.

Touch souls!

To succeed

To succeed...

1. Find a good driver
2. Grow stimulation
3. Embrace courage

Indians?

Stay young

You are as old as you feel you are.
Stay young, stay charged :)

Consumer Psyche

Seth's Blog : Owning vs. renting

You don't own attention or trust or shelf space. You don't even own tomorrow's plans.
It's all for rent, with a cancellation clause that can kick in at any time.
The moment you start treating the rental like a right, it disappears.

Secret to success

Whatever excites you, go do it.
Whatever drains you, stop doing it.

School of life!

Sometimes life teaches us better things than all the bookish education can do. 

Life teaches us to be simple, to be real, to be down to earth and to be ever optimistic.

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography. 

Indiblogger meet: HP - Stay Original!

I was at the The Original IndiBlogger Meet by HP #OriginalCopy yesterday and it was fun to meet up with all the bloggers. Over the years, Indiblogger has grown to a substantial community with a lot of users turning up to the meets. Met most of my friends and it is great to meet someone you know online and actually speak to them. We had quite a bunch of new bloggers at the meet who were introduced to the fun of blogging and the importance of being original.

Originality is what makes you stand out, get readers, appreciation and recognition. HP was also pointing out that it is important to use original cartridges in your printer, it will not just spoil your printer but also have an huge fail percentage. The figures shown were mindblowing with almost 50% failure rates to start up just out of the box and about 70% failure rates(stopping in between, uneven print and so on). You can also order them online/phone and get the cartridges delivered at home in 6-8 hrs. It seems prices have come down too to 449/- per cartridge and they don't charge you for shipping(Rs. 25 if the order is under 500) if it is more than 500 bucks. I didn't know that it was so cheap to own a printer!

Harper Collins was supporting the event and was talking about how original content would be a hit and not the plagarized, lifted versions. I agree with this too. The fact that my blog is popular is because I have tried keeping it as clean and original as possible.

Stay original. Stay popular and keep your head high. Amen!

Monday Blues: Live. Learn. Love

Gapingvoid makes it clear!

One step...

Copied from Prem's blog.

It’s a daunting journey!
One that probably has no destination.
How the heck do you march ahead then?
One step at a time!

Consumer Psyche

Here is a simple solution to understand human behavior.
Spend time with people! You will be surprised.

Give us this day our daily bread!

Simple things matter a lot when done with love. What can be a small piece of bread with a cup of tea to a hungry one is more than what a hearty meal to a satiated person. This is a pic of my breakfast today. 

 Do simple things to show you care, you love and you remember and people will fall in love with you. Make 2013 a chance to build relationships, make new friends, mend bridges and win!

This works in business too!

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography. 

Five steps of meditation

My dear friend Pooja Venugopal posted this on her facebook page and it reflects what I was about to post here. Read on...

The Five Steps of Meditation

1. In the beginning, meditation is just a relaxation
2. In the second step, meditation is something that gives you energy; you feel more energetic
3. In the third step, meditation brings creativity
4. In the fourth step, mediation brings enthusiasm and joy
5. The fifth step of meditation is indescribable, you simply can't describe it. It is that oneness with the whole universe. This is the fifth step of meditation, and don’t stop before that.

Img is from here.

Go off grid and rethink

You need to focus what you want to do and stay focused. Prioritize and then plan ahead. Spend sometime every time to plan and them go for the kill.

Going off grid, reading a book, thinking what you have done this year and what you want to do the next and planning ahead gives you an advantage you never knew!

All pics displayed here can be downloaded and used for free. Just give a link here. You can find more pics here: t3i photography.

2013: Year of Diving Favor!

Promise in our church this year! 

Keep running!

Right place at the right time is lucky. Nothing worked because of you. You need to be constantly adding, chasing, running, improving, creating and contributing. Unless you add value, you aren't worthy. 

Found this pic online and it makes perfect sense. 

• What are you contributing to your work, your family and to your self? 
• What are your goals for this year?

2013

What an year 2012 was!

I moved to a completely new sector from what I was doing and and started working at Samskruti Builders. By the grace of God, a good team and wonderful product excelled at many things this year. God has been good to me as he always is and he blessed me more than what I could ever ask for! Thank you Lord.

I have started running again and lost a lot of weight I had gained over the last two years! That's about 17 kgs in 60 days(42 to 34 on the jeans size scale).

2013 is here and here is wishing you a happy new year, new challenges and a lot of plans, dreams, commitments and promises.