Whom does 21st century belong to?

Many of us have been talking about growth of India for past few years. In this post, I will talk about Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector enterprise and a Fortune 500 company. I read an article about Mukesh Ambani's views on 21st century and India. He said that 21st century is destined to be India’s century, while addressing a conference on “Taking India to the next millennium” at the International Bar Association (IBA). He also said that responsibility of eradicating poverty lies “with all of us”, adding it is not fair to hold only the government or the industry responsible for it.

He outlined following four advantages that India has today:
(1) Demographics - World is becoming Older and India is becoming younger, which provides tremendous growth opportunities for us.
(2) The ability of Indians to believe in democracy
(3) Technology is going to drive more value creation in the world and India has embraced technology.
(4) Globalization and growth despite of slowdown, led by younger people

You can also see following video to see his views.



After reading this news article, I started thinking about whom does 21st Century belong to and where India stands today. In my view, 21st century belongs to each one of us. It depends on us, what we want to see in tomorrow. We all can bring the change in the society.

India has witnessed tremendous growth in recent years and it is result of talent and effort of each one of us. Now, the onus is on each one of us to take it to next level. India needs true leaders, who can guide others. I am sure, each one of us has lots of innovative ideas to fill this gap. While we, the people in respectable jobs are growing to better living standards, each one of us needs to share this growth with at least few other people. Imagine, if each one of us makes sure to take few more people along on this growth path, it can do wonders. There are various ways like supporting education or vocational training of underprivileged people. If we help in their growth, tomorrow they too will can contribute for growth of the country. Let's use our full potential for continuing growth story of India and be part of the change. Remember, our true potential is much more than what we are doing everyday. So, it is time to realize the power within and make 21st century belong to ourselves.

Thanks for dropping by. Your comments are source of encouragement for me. I will be glad to hear from you.
You can also indicate your opinion using the check box below.
You can share this article with your contact(s) using the link below.

What is value based Leadership?

Recently I read an article about new book of Mr NRN Murthy, titled "A Better India, A Better World". The book is a collection of Murthy's speeches over the years. The book was released by Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. At the time of release of the book, Mr Murthy said: "For the first time in 300 years, India has seen a resurgence of its caliber; it was now time to take the fruits of growth and wealth creation to the masses." In his book, Mr Murthy seeks to show that a society that works for the welfare of the most number of people, based on the principle of let everyone experience joy, must focus on two simple things: Values and good leadership. Below is the video showing message from NRN Murthy about the book.



Talking about the book, he says that while India has made considerable progress in the last 18 years after the first wave of economic reforms, we are still lagging. So the real challenge we have is to bring inclusive growth. In order to bring inclusive growth in a country like India we need to solve three pieces of development -- first is creating a public opinion that values good work ethic, honesty, discipline, secularism. Second, we need to develop a cadre of leadership who espouse these values and serve as role models and demonstrate leadership by example. Third, we need the determination of the elite and the powerful in the society to eschew creation of asymmetry of benefits in their favor vis-à-vis the common man. Only when these three conditions are fulfilled will we be able to create a fair, just, equitable and inclusive growth in our society. In essence this is the fundamental thesis on which the book is based.

I have always been admirer of Mr Murthy. He has always displayed leadership with values, along with philanthropy. I have been with Infosys for past five years and always felt that Mr Murthy's value system reached employees of Infosys. In my view, leadership with values keeps one on right track and in some way, it also helps to identify one's responsibilities towards the underprivileged section of the society. Mr Murthy has been living simple life for many years and is always supported by his wife Mrs Sudha Murthy, who is also chairperson of Infosys Foundation. Recently I read about pledge by Murthys for giving Crores of their personal wealth for benefiting underprivileged people for basic education and basic health care.

I am sure, if each one of the aspiring leaders in India decides to focus on values in leadership, it can contribute tremendously for growth of India at grass root level. We all need to make values, discipline and leadership an integral part of life, for true development of India. Our collective actions can bring change in the society and it has already begun. Let's aim for bringing this change in our lives and lead by example.

Thanks for dropping by. Your comments are source of encouragement for me. I will be glad to hear from you.
You can also indicate your opinion using the check box below.
You can share this article with your contact(s) using the link below.

Does time really matter for a new start?

We often think about, when is the right time for a change or a new beginning in life? Recently I read an article about experience of Jagdish Khattar, former Managing Director of Maruti Udyog, a leading four-wheeler automobile manufacturer in South Asia.

Khattar was responsible for changing the fortunes of Maruti Udyog by helping it to achieve over 55 per cent market share despite the competition and market slump the company had to face in 2001. Prior to joining Maruti, Khattar has been an officer of the Indian Administrative Service with more than 37 years of experience. He is currently the vice-president of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

I was highly impressed by his views presented at the annual Business Technology forum, CIOL Dataquest C Change 2009. Khattar attributed his success to his ability to handle the team as well as the support given to him by his employees and customers alike. He said that the leaders need to be developed within a team and "it all lies in the attitude". Khattar added that the handicap of not having no formal training as either an MBA or an engineer proved a blessing for him as he learned a lot of things.

Outlining his mantras for successful leadership, Khattar said individuals who wish to be seen as successful leaders need to think beyond the obvious. He stressed on "Think Big, Think opportunity". He also added that a leader will bring a mindset of success through innovation. A successful leader is one who will challenge the team to think of opportunities and beyond.

In addition to above views of Khattar, I am listing down key points that I strongly agree with for true leadership.
(1) Every problem has a solution and we should keep working on finding solution of the problem we face everyday.
(2) Today's world is all about collaboration and a great team can produce tremendous and unbelievable results.
(3) One should be receptive of ideas and a good listener can benefit from inputs from team members or customers.
(4) One needs to be optimistic even in times of crisis and be ready to take risks.

Let me also add that Khattar accepted the challenges even at age of 65 and never took a step back. The point I want to stress here is that let's not be afraid of trying something new in life. Remember that innovative ideas can show you a new world and time is always right for a new start. It is all in mind. Difficult times give us opportunity to bring in revolutionary ideas and make things happen. So, let's choose path of leadership and find our own way.

Thanks for dropping by. Your comments are source of encouragement for me. I will be glad to hear from you.
You can also indicate your opinion using the check box below.
You can share this article with your contact(s) using the link below.

What does leading fund raiser event mean to me?

Though I led many mega events in college and organized may parties at Infosys, but this time I got opportunity to lead Vibha's Bowl for a Child event for year 2009 in Minneapolis. I would like to share my experience with you.

It started in December last year, when me and Shreejith were named as the lead for this event. Shreejith gave it a great start and then he had to visit India in January. I called managers of different bowling lanes in Minneapolis to find out which one suits best for the event. I had to look at many aspects like cost, number of lanes, distance from Minneapolis downtown, availability of pizza/pop etc., for finalizing the bowling lanes. Finally AMF at Brooklyn Center was chosen and Vibha-MN team gave green signal for it. The event date was finalized as 04-Apr. The ticket price was kept at $25 for two games of bowling, pizza and unlimited pop.

The next step was to prepare the flyer and publicize the event. We contacted different media agencies in Minneapolis. Shreejith designed the flyer and ticket. In March, we had to sell all the tickets. We had target of selling 216 tickets. Everyone in Vibha-MN team helped us a lot in selling the tickets. I remember, me and Shreejith used to approach people everyday in our office, explaining them about the event. That really helped. Most of the people are too busy with work schedule and we are not able to remember about such events. But when approached one by one, we get good response. We also had to make sure that tickets returning from Vibha volunteers or our contacts get sold to someone else quickly. We distributed tickets to Vibha volunteers during potluck at Veeresh' house. Also, we had two conference calls in between to check the status of the tickets and planning for the event. We also had Vibha-MN meeting on 28-Mar at the bowling venue itself, to plan for organizing the event and assigning responsibilities like Registration desk, Vibha booth, food counter etc. Just two days before the event, we were able to finish selling all the tickets. It was great relief, as we had reached our target. Actually there were more requests, but we had to say no to those. It really feels great when you reach the target. I must thank everyone who bought the tickets for the bowling event.

On 4th of April, we reached the venue at 1:00 PM and everyone got into action for their assigned responsibilities. Next eight hours at the bowling venue were awesome. With so many people at the venue, it was great seeing everyone having fun. At about 9:00 PM, we had finished our calculations and the result was great. We found that we had raised $3550 from this event. I had great pleasure in announcing this to Vibha volunteers (you can see the video below). This was more than double of last year's revenue from the same event at Minneapolis. Some of us went to Denny's for coffee and dinner, for a nice break after the day-long event.

The next Vibha event at Minneapolis is Taal, a dance and music competition for children. Everybody is invited and there is no entry fee for viewers. For any questions about the event or more information, you can contact Sindhu Nair at 763.221.5337 or sindhuknair@gmail.com



The satisfaction of leading a fund raiser event can not be expressed in words. I feel that each one of us has immense energy & capabilities and we should use that in right direction. I gained very valuable experience to lead event for a very well structured organization like Vibha and I am going to take it forward wherever I am. More importantly, I am more than glad to spend my time and effort for helping the underprivileged section of the society.

We are lucky that we can buy what we want, but not everyone in this world is fortunate. Some need our help. Give it a thought !!! Think beyond luxury of life and help the needy in some way. Please contact me, if you need a direction to go forward and it will be my great pleasure to do my best for the cause.

Thanks for dropping by. Your comments are source of encouragement for me. I will be glad to hear from you.
You can also indicate your opinion using the check box below.
You can share this article with your contact(s) using the link below.