Everyday Life Champion - A Book by Dinesh Chandrasekar

Everyday Life
Champion
It’s about your Life
Leadership
Dinesh Chandrasekar DC*
Published by FastPencil

Copyright © 2015 Dinesh Chandrasekar DC*
Published by FastPencil
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Suite 210
Campbell CA 95008 USA
info@fastpencil.com
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(408) 540-7572 (Fax)
http://www.fastpencil.com
This book is a collection of thoughts and messages from Life Champions across the globe and Author is instrumental in collecting and
presenting this as a book and no way he is the sole owner of the content produced or reproduced in this book.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.
The Publisher makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifi-
cally disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable
for any loss of profit or any commercial damages.
Printed in the United States of America.
First Life Leadership Edition

I dedicate this book to my Family , Friends , Colleagues and Organizations who made
me what I am today. What would I do without you :)
Yours truly,
❧

Acknowledgments
My sincere gratitude to all the Authors for the reference content
from their self help blogs, websites, online forums and other
digital media.
&
My special thanks to Lunch Time Friends @ Hitachi Consulting. They
are my inspiration.

Contents
Preface ....................................................................... ix
Chapter 1 What is Success in Life ? ................................................... 1
Chapter 2 How you live your Life ? By Choice or By Compulsion ............. 5
Chapter 3 What’s your RQ ? (Relationship Quotient) ........................... 9
Chapter 4 You are the Master’s piece .............................................. 13
Chapter 5 Krishna’s Choice : Why Arjuna over 3 Other Great Legends ..... 17
Chapter 6 Choices and your consequences “> < = X” .......................... 23
Chapter 7 In Pursuit of a Pursuit .................................................... 27
Chapter 8 Success is just one more try ! ........................................... 31
Chapter 9 F.L.Y First Love Yourself ................................................ 35
Chapter 10 What Inspires Us? ........................................................ 39
Chapter 11 You got to Believe! (YGB) .............................................. 43
Chapter 12 Love is a Life Leadership Skill .......................................... 47
Chapter 13 Leader in You ............................................................. 51
Chapter 14 You Live Only Once as “You” .......................................... 55
Chapter 15 Everyday Champions .................................................... 59
Chapter 16 Because of me Only …Syndrome ..................................... 63
Chapter 17 Buddha in You ............................................................ 67
Chapter 18 Measuring your Growth ................................................. 73
Chapter 19 Innovation is the LifeLine ............................................... 77
Chapter 20 Achieving Greatness in Life ............................................. 81
Chapter 21 What’s Inside you matters .............................................. 83
Chapter 22 Are you that Dragon Fly ? ............................................... 85
Chapter 23 Change is Changeless .................................................... 89
Chapter 24 Are we the Goliath of our Times ? ..................................... 91
Chapter 25 Start Living and Stop Worrying ........................................ 95
Chapter 26 Good in Good Out ( GiGo) and Bad In Bad Out (BiBo) ......... 99
Chapter 27 CAR Teachings ......................................................... 103
Chapter 28 D’Anger .................................................................. 105
Chapter 29 Delegation is an Art .................................................... 109
Chapter 30 Aeroplane view (of our Life) ......................................... 113
Chapter 31 Let’s have FUN ......................................................... 117
Chapter 32 My Life is My Responsibility ......................................... 121

Chapter 33 The Power of “One” ................................................... 125
Chapter 34 Opportunity to Learn vs Opportunity to Earn .................... 127
Chapter 35 Know your “Self” & Honor the “Self” ............................... 131
Chapter 36 Beginning will End & In every End there will be a New
Beginning ................................................................ 133
Chapter 37 Find your Greatness ................................................... 137
Chapter 38 Life ........................................................................ 145
Chapter 39 Grow Peacefully ........................................................ 149
Chapter 40 Keep it Simple Sweetheart “K.I.S.S” ................................ 151
Chapter 41 Competence in Life .................................................... 155
Chapter 42 When you stop to rise, you start to fall. ............................. 159
Chapter 43 I(E)nter Relationship .................................................. 163
Chapter 44 First U Turn ............................................................. 167
Chapter 45 U Turns are Life Turning Points .................................... 171
Chapter 46 You Don’t Get What You Desire, You Get What You Deserve ...175
Chapter 47 Right ways to feel like Hero ........................................... 179
Chapter 48 Being a Hero is living your “Life Right” ............................ 183
Chapter 49 Procrastination = The goals you missed ............................ 187
Chapter 50 You are Beautiful, No matter what other’s Say .................... 191
Chapter 51 *Timing your Future* .................................................. 195
Chapter 52 Life is made up of Time and Time of your Life is happening
now!!! .................................................................... 199
Chapter 53 Muddle in the Middle ................................................. 203
Chapter 54 Would you save the Titanic? ......................................... 207
Chapter 55 Pursuit of Happiness and Secret of Love ........................... 209
Chapter 56 Sic Transit Gloria Mundis ............................................ 213
Chapter 57 Live not to Finish your Life Empty .................................. 217
Chapter 58 Golden Casket - The Comfort Zone ................................ 221
Chapter 59 My next will be my Best ............................................... 225
Everyday Life Champion

Preface
Hearty Welcome to all Life Champions. It’s my pleasure and gratitude
to share with you all my thoughts on Life Leadership through this book
“Everyday Life Champion”.
You live only once as you, and if you miss this chance you will never have
another opportunity to be yourself so make best use of this gift called Life.
Your Goals must be big enough for you to remark: “I don’t know
HOW?” & Your Beliefs must be strong enough to make a remark: “I
know I will”.
This book is a compilation of Life Leadership messages and every day
motivational thoughts that would keep you going irrespective of the chal-
lenge we face today in this highly competitive world.
* It’s a collection of 60 chapters of life transforming messages & stories
that will help you sail through your tough times and reflect your inherent
strengths and limitations.
* This book will transform your life if you are really interested to make a
difference to this world of being “You and You only”.
*Finally you got to believe that you are a “Life Champion”.
There is no sequence as such to read this book but you may choose to
read what would benefit you in respective roles of life you play today. Hope
you will enjoy the content and Look forward to your feedback/comment
Author
Dr.Dinesh Chandrasekar has over 17 years of rich IT & Consulting expe-
rience in CRM, Analytics, Management Consulting, IP Development and
Strategic Advisory services to CXOs. He is currently heading the Hitachi
Consulting IDC’s Innovation & Digital Enterprise group.

* Author of the Book “Everyday Customer Experience (CX) Cham-
pion, a Revolutionary Journey from CRM to CX World” http://pothi.com/
pothi/book/ebook-dinesh-chandrasekar-dc-everyday-cx-champion-0
• MIMC (Member of the Institute of Management Consultant)
• Conferred Honorary Doctorate, PhD by Univ.of S.Kenya (March
2015)
* Passionate about coaching, innovation and digital art
Wishing you Most and More of Life.
Best Regards,
Dinesh Chandrasekar DC★ Ph.D(h.c.)
Everyday Life Champion
dinwin@gmail.com

1
What is Success in Life ?
15 years back during my campus interview the first question in
the questionnaire was “What is your definition of success?” To
which I had replied, “To live a peaceful, harmonious life of ful-
fillment in all spheres of life both personal and professional.”
Today, 15 years later, my definition of success has changed a great deal. I
do not believe in everlasting peace. Anything which has a note of perma-
nence to it stagnates. The world functions on duality – positive and nega-
tive, success and failures, light and darkness, pain and pleasure, happiness
and misery. Before I understood this, I used to wish things were easy when
they were difficult. I used to wish for happiness when I felt sad. I used to feel
bad that I was being challenged. Now I don’t wish that I am never chal-
lenged, for I realise I will never grow that way. I will never know the value of
success if I do not face failure; never know the value of happiness if I do not
feel sad now and then. To know the depth of the ocean you have to come to
the surface of the ocean. Today I wish to be wiser and better. I don’t wish to
1

have fewer problems, but I wish to gain more skills. I don’t wish for a dis-
turbance-free life, but wish for the strength to face these disturbances.
You set your target on something, say a project and when you have ach-
ieved it or very near achieving it, you are at peace with yourself for a while,
but very soon a tremendous sense of restlessness sets in and you are looking
at new possibilities – new heights to scale.
Truly, anytime, life can be a beginning, an opportunity. You have already
reset your axis and you feel you are back in step one in your scale and have a
long upward climb in front of you. It does not mean you have achieved
nothing, but it simply means your target has been reset. Success in the out-
side world is a temporary phenomenon. When you live depending on public
opinion you are garlanded and welcomed one minute and discarded the
next. It is easy to live in this world based on the world’s opinion, it is easy to
live in solitude based on our own opinions, but greatness is when one learns
to live with sensitivity in the midst of the crowd, but manages to retain the
independence of his solitude.
Society, in general, tends to equate success with material wealth and pos-
sessions. And while those things can be an outward sign of our own career
or business success – or that of our family – it reflects only a small piece of
the bigger picture that is our life. Rather than allowing others to define suc-
cess for us, let’s take time to create our own definition and have the courage
to measure our success in our own eyes, by standards that are meaningful
for our lives. For, the world judges you by what you have achieved so far,
whereas you judge yourself by what you are capable of achieving.
Your newSuccess is a very personal feeling in that sense. So let us make a
list of what success means to us by asking a few simple questions:
Do I enjoy my life? Let us identify those little favorite things that bring us
joy in our life, and be sure to incorporate them into our everyday life.
Am I making a difference in the lives of others? Life becomes meaningful
only when our actions impact others more than just us. Whether the gift we
give is a listening ear, a skill we teach or an encouraging word, let us make a
difference to at least one person every single day.
Do I have enough perseverance to withstand challenges? If we focus only
on our challenges without asking, “What am I to learn from this?” then we
will continually feel frustrated and sorry for ourselves. Those who persevere,
2 Everyday Life Champion

grow. And as we grow, we increase our capacity to handle more and have
more opportunities that come into our life.
Do I have an abundance of the things I need? Let us not aim for ‘enough’,
but ‘more than enough’ of what we need – whether it’s time, money, love,
space or other precious resources. It is only when we live in abundance, can
we focus more clearly on what we want and share our time, talent, and love
more generously.
Am I successful in the eyes of the creator? When you are at peace with
yourself HE is with you. When there is no split between what you are saying
and doing, and what you want to be and do, you are living your life in align-
ment with the Creator. When you are able to quieten your noisy mind into
silence, you hear the voice of the Creator and then your plans are but his
plans for you.
We may face many challenges and changes, but we will continue to have
all the four seasons each year. Much of our success will lie in our attitude
and ability to plant a new at the time of opportunity, to weed and remove
the unwanted during testing times, to harvest and enjoy in moments of suc-
cess, to get stronger, wiser, and better during times of transition. It is not
what happens to us that determines our future, but it is how we respond to
what happens to us and what we do about it.
Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving.
We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it – but sail
we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor. In all areas, what we put into this
world, we get back from it. So regardless of the results, we should be able to
take full responsibility for our crop. Indeed, the highest form of maturity is
accepting full responsibility for our lives.
What is Success in Life ? 3

2
How you live your Life ? By
Choice or By Compulsion
When any work is done as a choice, you tend to enjoy what you
do, and when it is finally completed, you experience a sense of
fulfillment. That which gives you fulfilment you look forward to
doing it again and again and again…
On the contrary, when any work is undertaken as a compulsion,
you tend to struggle doing what you do, and when it is finally
5

completed, you experience only a sense of relief. That which
gives you relief, you just want to avoid it in the future. Even if
you do it again, you will only do it reluctantly.
People who do everything as a choice are always fulfilled in life
and hence they thirst for more and more of life. People who do
everything as a compulsion are tired of living and hence they
even go to the extent of desiring to be relieved from this life.
People have become reluctant even to take care of their daily
chores… In how many homes the morning is filled will persua-
sion to take bath? People have become reluctant to cook…
Haven’t precooked foods, fast foods, frozen foods and ready-
made foods invaded every kitchen? People are becoming reluc-
tant to sit and enjoy their eating… Isn’t skipping of breakfast
and not finding time to have lunch becoming so common?
People are in such road rage during their commuting… Aren’t
the choicest of vocabulary reserved for the road? Adults are
becoming more reluctant to go to their work than their children
to their school… How else do you explain the increase in the
number of heart attacks on Monday mornings and the crowds of
late goers to office?
If everything essential about life is seen as a compulsion, if
everything is pursued as a struggle and if everything is com-
pleted with a sigh of relief… how can we improve the quality of
our life?
Please! Let us add celebration to everything that we do. Let us
shift from the attitude of “I must do. I should do.” to “I WANT
to do.” Let every action of ours start as a choice; be filled with

enjoyment and end with fulfillment. If we have to anyhow do,
might as well, let us enjoy what we do.
The disciple asked, “Master, now that you are enlightened, what
do you do?” The Master replied, “I draw water from the well
and chop woods.” The disciple further enquired, “Before you
got enlightened, what you used to do?” The Master replied, “I
used to draw water from the well and chop woods.” The puzzled
disciple questioned, “There seem to be no difference in your
actions, then and now!!!” The Master said, “Oh, there is no dif-
ference in my actions but the quality with which I do my actions
have changed. I do it with peace and bliss today.
Remember, there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.
How you live your Life ? By Choice or… 7

3
What’s your RQ ?
(Relationship Quotient)
Relationships are very vital in one’s life. Not every relationship
that we come across in life stands forever. Some comes and
goes, some stays only for a period, some stands forever.
Although we align ourselves with different relationships in a day
to day life, why is that we still do not understand the 1s and 0s of
it, good and bad of it sometimes and lead that to a disaster?
9

There’s a well-known saying along these lines “Relationship is
like a glass! Once it breaks, you can still fix it but the shape will
always be distorted after that”
The principle is very simple in words but hard to even think of it
and apply for many people. Nevertheless to mention, people
think that we are in a fast paced world and we don’t have time to
think and make a relationship work. That’s the first failure! If
you need something to last long, you have to work it out. There
is no ifs and buts…
Relationships in my perspective has 3 key items:
1. Don’t be too judgmental and form a opinion on the other
person because someone else said so
2. There is no return or exchange policy – If you do this for me, I
will do that for you
3. Selfless, unconditional love – Unconditional love does not
mean that whatever good or bad you do, I will still love you; It
means, whatever person you are, I will show you good and bad
through my love for you
There are certain responsibilities for each relationship in life…
How we take it, nurture it, is the effect! With all these key fac-
tors in mind, what I truly believe as a cause of failure for some
key relationships in life, is here…
As a Parent, you fail…
When you don’t make the child understand what is good and
what is bad
When you don’t make the child grow with confidence
When you introduce partiality towards anything in life
When you let the child tell a lie

When you let the child see you and your spouse not in good
terms [Children grow by what they see and not by what they
hear]
When the child chooses someone else other than you as a role
model
As a son/daughter, you fail…
When you don’t take care of your parents after you grow big
when you take money from your parents after you start earning
when you let your parents crib about you to someone else
when you hurt or make your parents cry
when you take big decisions in life without their knowledge
as a spouse, you fail…
When you are not behind each other’s success
When you don’t correct each other when things go wrong
When you don’t respect each other and each other’s family
When you hide things from each other
When you are self-centered or possessive
As a friend, you fail…
When you leave a friend in tough times
when you bring ego into picture
when you deceive
when you get in touch only when there is a need
when you don’t enjoy the success of your friend
I always believe explanations should be given only for misunder-
standings and not mistakes. A mistake will always be a mistake –
It’s better to learn from the mistake than to explain it. Even if
you fail to learn, you will be made to learn from the mistake
some way or the other. People with a great deal of maturity
What’s your RQ ? (Relationship Quotient) 11

learns from the mistakes quicker than the others and never
repeats the same mistake.
Whatever goes around, comes around! Why to err and suffer
when there is a vivid life to enjoy? Life is obnoxious in terms of
relationships sometimes, but there are always ways to make it
beautiful! It’s in our own hands!

4
You are the Master’s piece
Only when you learn to like yourself, the world will begin to like
you.
Only when you learn to love yourself, you will begin to recog-
nize the love the world has for you. Simply put, how the world
sees you will make only a small difference to you, but how you
see yourself will make all the difference to you……
Every seed has in it the potential to become a forest, every rock
has in it the potential to become a statue, and every human has
13

in him the potential to become a Legend. And, you are that
sleeping legend. Wake up to the sleeping potential within you.
Do you know what a blessing it is to be born as a human being?
If God wanted, he could have created you as a mosquito or as a
monkey or as a pig. But God chose to create you as a human
being – the greatest of all His creations. Abusing the gift is
abusing the giver. Cherishing the gift is cherishing the giver.
Cherishing yourself is your way of saying, “Thank you God, for
creating me as me, and as no one else.”
You begin to cherish yourself only when you begin to cherish
your originality. It seems the plum fruit once said, just because a
banana lover came by, I converted myself into a banana.
Unfortunately, his taste changed after a few months and so I
became an orange. When he said I was bitter I became an apple,
but he went in search of grapes. Yielding to the opinions of so
many people, I have changed so many times that I no more
know who I am. How much I wish I had remained a plum and
waited for a plum lover.
This is the story of most people. Just because a group of friends
do not accept you as you are, there is no necessity for you to
drop your originality. Never stoop down in order to gain recog-
nition. Never lose yourself to gain someone else. It is not worth
it. This is the only chance you have got to be yourself. Live to
express and not impress. The group that doesn’t accept you as
you is not your world. There is a world for each one of you,
where you shall reign as the king, as the queen – by just being
yourself. Find that world… in fact, that world will find you. And
only that world is your world.

What water can do, gasoline cannot and what copper can, gold
cannot. The fragility of the ant enables it to move and the
rigidity of the tree enables it to stay rooted. Everything and
everybody has been designed with a proportion of uniqueness
to serve a purpose. You, as you alone can serve your purpose
and I, as I alone can serve my purpose. You are here to be you…
just you. You don’t have to try to be anybody else. Be yourself
and be the best you can be. Don’t miss yourself and let the world
not miss you.
Above all, celebrate your uniqueness. So what if you are imper-
fect. You are still the only one of your kind. So what if have erred
in the past. There is no saint without a past, and no sinner
without a future. So what if there are blemishes in your person-
ality. What’s the future there for? You can become what you
choose to become. This is you. Period. Of course, you have the
responsibility to strive to become the best ‘you’ that you can be.
This universe is made up of millions of galaxies and our galaxy,
the Milky Way, is just one of them. Our galaxy, the Milky Way,
is made up of millions of solar systems and our solar system is
just one of them. Compared to the size of our solar system, our
planet earth is just a small speck of dust. And, in our planet earth
YOU are just a speck of dust.
And yet, in the entirety of this Universe, there has never been
anyone like you and there will never be anyone like you. You are
the only one of your kind. You are unique. You are original.
You are the Master’s piece. So, simply live as a masterpiece.
Note to all my lovely friends!!!
Sometimes you are
unsatisfied with your life,
You are the Master’s piece 15

while many people in
this world are dreaming
of living your life..
A child on a farm sees
a plane fly overhead &
dreams of flying. But,
A pilot on the plane sees
the farmhouse & dreams
of returning home.
That’s life!! Enjoy yours…
If wealth is the secret to
happiness, then the rich
should be dancing on the
streets. But only poor kids
do that.
If power ensures security,
then officials should walk
unguarded. But those who
live simply, sleep soundly.
If beauty and fame bring
ideal relationships, then
celebrities should have
the best marriages.
Live simply. Walk humbly.
And love genuinely..!
All good will come back
to you…!!

5
Krishna’s Choice : Why
Arjuna over 3 Other Great
Legends
The Mahabharata is one of the greatest literatures in the world
and an Indian epic of great life leadership lessons. No other
work brings out the complexity of human problems in such a
profound and entertaining way. It shows us the application of
17

philosophy when it comes to deciding between the right and
wrong in such cases where the answer is not straightforward.
Four of the most striking characters in the Mahabharata are
Arjuna,Karna,Drona and Bhishma . These men were perhaps the four
greatest warriors of the era and were also well learned and had firm princi-
ples by which they lived.
They lived their life by different values and their lives came to very dif-
ferent ends. The Mahabharata shows that all four men were great in their
own way, but three of them failed in doing what is truly right and therefore
came to futile ends, their lives not serving the greater good.
Out of the four characters, Arjuna is the character who stands out as the
hero who future generations of Hindus admire the most. The other three
are remembered as tragic heroes. Their names are not associated with the
same awe and respect as that of Arjuna. They all met sad deaths on the bat-
tlefield, fighting on the side of evil despite knowing in their hearts that they
were doing wrong
There is a fundamental difference in the outlook and character of these four
great men that was responsible for their different outcomes.
Karna
Karna was a great warrior, in many ways greater than Arjuna. They may
have been equal as archers, but physically, Karna was by far the stronger of
the two. And even in sticking to one’s principles, Karna appeared more
steadfast compared with Arjuna. But in Karna’s life there was one fatal flaw.
He made his friendship and loyalty to Duryodhan higher than anything else,
even higher than right and wrong, and even higher than God. While loyalty
is a great value in such cases when it overrides a sense of dharma and even
the direct calling of the Divine in the form of Shri Krishna, such loyalty leads
one to a tragic end.
Karna used all his strength to serve his friend Duryodhan, without even one
selfish thought for himself. However, his loyalty was so blind that he would
even follow his friend when he was doing something totally wrong, selfish
and harmful to others. This shows that loyalty to another person can lead
even a great man to a tragic end. Dharma, and the call of God, must always

be greater than loyalty to another. Karna knew what he was doing was
wrong and paid the price for it.
Karna put loyalty to Duryodhan as his highest loyalty. His tragic story warns
us to choose loyalties wisely. Only Krishna deserves such unflinching loy-
alty.
Bhishma
Bhishma was another person who never performed a selfish action in his
whole life. He was mighty, learned and respected. But he too ended up
fighting on the side of adharma, and came to a tragic end. He was actually an
impediment to the establishment of a righteous kingdom. Why? Because he
put his personal oath on a pedestal and made it the focus and obsession of
his life.
That oath was that he would unquestioningly follow and do the bidding of
whoever was the king of Hastinapur (Delhi). This vow, he would never
break as long as he lived, even when it involved fighting his own beloved
nephews who he knew had done nothing wrong.
Sticking to a vow is important, especially today when people make promises
and break them the very next day (or even the very next second). But the
Mahabharata demonstrates that if your attachment to a personal vow stops
you from doing what is blatantly right, and ends up making you serve evil,
such a vow should be discarded and set aside.
Bhishma put his personal vow above anything else, even when that vow
became an instrument of evil. He disregarded Krishna’s advice, which was
that to drop the vow for the greater good.
Drona
Drona was an employee of the king of Hastinapur, who happened to be
Dhitirashtra, the father of Duryodhana. He was employed to teach all the
princes of that kingdom in the art of warfare and statecraft, and was consid-
ered the very greatest teacher of the era. For his services, he was remuner-
ated handsomely. Before he got this job, he was very poor and therefore was
very grateful to the King for employing him.
When Duryodhan was doing wrong, Drona was fully aware of it. On some
occasions he even tried to stop Duryodhan, at which Duryodhan would say:
“Do not bite the hand that feeds you.”
Krishna’s Choice : Why Arjuna over 3 Other… 19

When the battle finally dawned, Drona fought on Duryodhan’ s behalf and
was eventually slain in a scheme engineered by Krishna. Drona, despite
being an outstanding warrior, and well versed in morality, put his loyalty
towards his employer before the more important and fundamental question
of dharma. Despite knowing better, he never quite had the guts to just leave
and tell the king – “Enough is enough, what you are doing is wrong, I will
not support you anymore.” He was too afraid of being called ungrateful.
Drona put his loyalty towards his employer above the bidding of Shri
Krishna who tried to tell Drona not to keep supporting the side of evil just
because of his loyalty to his employer.
Arjuna
Arjuna was a great man. Yet he had weaknesses that were actually absent in
Karna, Bhishma and Drona. He was in some ways foolhardy, saying and
doing several stupid things that could have landed his brothers and himself
in serious trouble.
For example, at one point, Arjuna had made a vow that he would take the
life of anybody who insulted his ‘Gandiva bow’, which he was exceedingly
proud of. During the Mahabharata war, it happened to be Arjuna’s eldest
brother and leader, Yuddhistir, who dealt the fatal insult.
Arjuna drew his sword and was about to kill his own brother, and was
restrained only by Krishna’s presence. Instead of killing Yuddhistir, Arjuna
instead insulted him in public. But then, Arjuna felt bad for insulting such a
virtuous person as Yuddhistir, and said that he would commit suicide as
there was no point even being alive after doing something so vile as
insulting his own brother in public! Once again, it was only Krishna’s pres-
ence which restrained Arjuna. Krishna eventually talked Arjuna out of sui-
cide, but Arjuna was sad that he had not kept his own word,and felt very
bad. Krishna gave Arjuna a loophole. According to dharma, praising your-
self in public is a sin that is as bad as one’s own death. So Krishna said to
Arjuna that just praise yourself in public, and your vow will be fulfilled. And
thus were the lives of both Arjuna and Yuddhistir saved.
Yet despite this foolhardy streak in his character, Arjuna is the one who is
etched upon the heart of humanity as the ideal to which to aspire.

This story illustrates that while Arjuna was far from perfect, he had one over
riding quality which sets him above and apart from the others. To Arjuna, it
was Krishna’s words that were absolute.
He would follow Krishna’s words even at the expense of other principles or
promises that he held dear. Therefore he had the grace and favor of
Krishna’s guidance throughout his life.
Therefore, Arjuna’s fate was to be the hero of the era, and the instrument
of God in being the restorer of dharma to society, rather than a tragic figure
who ended up wasting their huge life potential in fighting on behalf of a fake
cause. Arjuna put Krishna as his highest guide and ideal, and despite his
faults, stands out as the most successful and glorious of the four.
The Choice:
The comparison between Karna, Drona, Bhishma and Arjuna shows us that
while we can admire a person’s loyalty to a friend, loyalty to their employer
and dedication to their principles or promises, all of these things must never
be allowed to become an obstacle in doing what is truly for the benefit of
the greater good.
The divine guide and Interventions, will always shower his grace on
people who will also put Righteousness first, and thus we remember Arjuna
as the true hero above any of his contemporaries.
Krishna’s Choice : Why Arjuna over 3 Other… 21

6
Choices and your
consequences “> < = X”
Birth was not your choice and death will not be your choice but
the way you live your life between these two terminals, the one
which has already happened (birth) and the one which will
23

happen (death), but how to life you love in between is abso-
lutely your choice.
Life is nothing more than a series of choices, resultant consequences, and
executing counter-choices to those consequences… Life is keeping the
‘choice - consequence - counter-choice’ cycle on / No “Off”
Every moment of life offers innumerable choices. With every choice exe-
cuted, you invite a consequence. While you have control over your choices,
you can only have expectations over the consequences.
All consequences can be classified into four possibilities:
1. I will get more than what I expect (>)
2. I will get what I expect (=)
3. I will get less than what I expect (
4. I will get the opposite of what I expect (x)
Whichever of the four consequences I receive, I still have the power to
once again execute another counter-choice and keep this cycle of ‘choice -
consequence - counter-choice’ going. Every time you have to execute a
choice on any major aspect of life, play in your own mind the four possibili-
ties, the best scenario, the worst scenario and the two in-between. Playing
the four possibilities in your own mind will create a mental comfort zone
and thus when reality the four possibilities in your mind will also help you
to come out of your indecisiveness. Most people keep postponing the most
important decisions of their lives due to the uncertainty of consequences.
Even in the most uncertain circumstances, knowing that there are only four
possibilities creates a lot of certainty.
You have a choice over your choice, but you are absolutely choiceless
over the consequences. Neither can you choose which of the four you want
nor there is a fifth possibility. Maturity is to gracefully and choicelessly
accept the consequence and then go ahead executing the next counter-
choice.
While choices are born out of your intelligence, the consequences are a
feedback from Infinite Intelligence. Your microcosmic intelligence operates
out of the data that is available at your disposal. The macrocosmic intelli-
gence operates out of universal data. When the whole universe operates

zero-defect because of Infinite Intelligence, the consequences you receive
are as they should be in the larger scheme of things. To use your intelligence
when it comes to executing choices and to surrender the same intelligence
to the Infinite Intelligence in accepting the consequences is intelligent
living.
So what if you and I are mere specks of dust in this Universe? There are
still only four possible consequences to every choice and to that extent this
design of life is very very simple. Do we need to know more than this to take
charge of our life?
Destiny Designing
❋ Row, row, row your boat
❋ Gently down the stream.
❋ Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
❋ Life is but a dream.
❋ Row, row, row your boat
Row your boat. Do not waste time rowing other’s boat and do not expect
others to row your boat. To build your life you have to execute your choices
and you cannot expect others to do it for you. Relentlessly choose from the
infinite options life offers you in every moment. Rowing your boat is your
responsibility.
Gently down the stream
Do not go against the stream of life (against the design of life). It is a
worthless struggle. Remember, just four possibilities. If you ask for the fifth,
you suffer. If you resist any of the four, you suffer. Have the maturity to
choicelessly accept the consequences of life and then go ahead and execute
the next counter-choice. To every intelligent choice of yours, the conse-
quences are feedback from the Infinite Intelligence. The cycle of ‘choice -
consequence - counter-choice’ will enable you to go with the flow of life.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily…
Enjoy this flowing through life. So what if the water current is shifting the
direction of the boat? Accept the consequence and execute counter choices.
Enjoy this mysterious ‘choice - consequence - counter-choice’ cycle of life
and sail through life merrily, merrily…
Life is but a dream.
Choices and your consequences “> < = X” 25

Life is just a macrocosmic dream. Like the microcosmic dreams that you
have in your sleep out of your finite intelligence, life is a macrocosmic
dream born out the Infinite Intelligence. Surrender yourself to the flow of
life and experience the experience of this experience.
Life is, as simple or as complex, as you make it. Anytime again, you find
yourself lost in life, just whistle, “Row row Row your boat…”

7
In Pursuit of a Pursuit
I’m fond of fiction; I read a lot of books and watch a lot of
movies. I think that a large part of the appeal of fiction comes
from the single-minded focus of the principal characters in the
plot. When the hero of the book or movie is trying to track
down a secret or elude his pursuers or find the murderer, he is
solely focused on the task at hand. You seldom see the hero stop
to pay his bills or clean up the house or even go to the bath-
room. No, our hero has only one goal for the duration of the
book or movie, and he is totally absorbed by the effort of ach-
ieving that one goal.
27

This single-minded focus sometimes occurs in real life. I’ve been
involved in a number of projects over the years that made me feel like I was
part of something bigger — the kind of thing that they make movies about.
You get a wonderful feeling when you’re part of something like that. You
start each day at work knowing your purpose and knowing what you’re sup-
posed to do that day. You see the goal in the distance and you see your team
getting closer and closer to the goal as time goes by. You feel the excitement
as the goal approaches. You don’t stop the everyday stuff — caring for the
kids, indulge in your hobbies — but you go through those things on auto-
pilot because your thoughts and attention are focused on the goal.
Whether it’s putting a man on the moon or something much more ordi-
nary like delivering a new software product, the focus of a Pursuit seems to
boost your concentration and fuel your productivity. Petty issues get
resolved quickly and smoothly when everyone understands the real purpose
of your mission. When your entire team is heading in the same direction
there is far less disagreement over mundane trivia. With a Pursuit comes a
new perspective, a different frame of reference. Everything is defined in
terms of whether it takes us closer to our goal or further away from it. Life is
simple — at least for the duration of the project — and decisions are easy
when the objective is clear.
In one of the book I read the author describes an altered sense of time
where we get so caught up in what we’re doing that we don’t notice time
passing. We start working on something and then “wake up” hours later,
wondering why it’s so dark outside. Flow comes from focus, total involve-
ment, and deep concentration on something that completely absorbs us.
Flow is part of the reason that a Pursuit is so appealing. We go into a flow
mode when we’re working on something associated with a Pursuit. Flow is
enjoyable; it feels good to be so focused.This focus also lets us use both our
conscious and subconscious mind to deal with challenges we encounter
during the Pursuit. We work on a problem during the day, and finding the
solution to the problem becomes so important to us that we devote our sub-
conscious to the task as well. We have ideas while we’re sleeping, while
taking a shower, or when we’re doing something that has nothing to do with
the Pursuit itself. Thus the Pursuit helps us devote some of our subcon-
scious energy to the achievement of our objective.

The Pursuit approach is used by many great companies. Look at the his-
tory of Apple, for example, and you’ll see that all of its major products were
built using a Pursuit approach. You’ll see the same thing at Pixar, at Sun, at
GE and at IBM. The best products were built using a Pursuit approach, and
the best employee experiences came from participating in those Pursuits.If
you have a really big objective — something that’s important to a significant
number of people — then I highly recommend the Pursuit approach. But
while it’s extremely valuable, the Pursuit approach can also be misused if
you violate the rules I’ve defined in this article. Make sure you include a
clear objective, an emotional tie, a time component and a clear delineation
of work. And make absolutely sure that employees only participate in one
Pursuit at a time. Otherwise you’ll just discourage your employees, and
you’ll hurt your reputation as a leader and as a motivator.Life can be a series
of Pursuits, just like in books and in the movies. It can be fun to focus if
we’re truly allowed to focus on one thing. We’ve still got a life to lead, and
we’ll still have to do all of those mundane day-to-day things in our non-work
time. But participating in a Pursuit gives us something to be proud of, and it
contributes to the meaning in our lives
In Pursuit of a Pursuit 29

8
Success is just one more
try !
Which great man hasn’t walked the stairs of failures before suc-
ceeding? You are not a failure. Go on and go on!
I met a man with swollen eyes and tears flowing down his
cheeks in the Chennai Airport few months back. His com-
pressed cry ( he was trying his best to control his emotions) still
linger in my ears. He was returning from the cremation grounds,
31

where his only brother’s body was rested, who terminated his
life by committing suicide. An IITian, he got sixth rank in his
class, which he couldn’t take as he was always the No:1 since
childhood. A young entrepreneur in Madurai hung himself in
his business premises, for the reason the girl whom he thought
to be his life had walked away from his life. A girl in Bangalore
attempted suicide for she didn’t get admission in medicine.
Actresses and celebrities end their life by committing suicide.
And there are thousands and thousands of such stories from
across the world.I personally don’t know any of them, but I
strongly believe that these people have come to a conclusion
that they are a FAILURE, which they could not take. So, they
decided to end their life. And today – someone out their in the
verge to end their life.
Listen to me for a few minutes and decide what you want to do.
A relationship goes away from you and you feel you are a failure.
You get into endless depression. You failed in competitive, you
missed your much deserved promotion in your job and you feel
low about yourself? Are you a failure?
You do something expecting a result, and when the result
doesn’t match your or the world’s expectation… you call it a
failure. A child starting with his baby steps to walk falls after
every other step. The child is not able to walk even two steps.
Would you call the child a failure? It is life’s way of preparing the
child to walk. One day the child will walk effortlessly and the
child is thus prevented from all future falls. Are you struggling to
walk today? Did you fall today? Life makes you fall infinite times
to prepare you to walk miles later. Even the Ethiopian athlete

Usain Bolt who ran the 100 meter sprint like lightning in the
recent Summer Olympics would have fallen so many times and
would have struggled to walk during his childhood. It’s life’s
way! of teaching
With every fall, life is preparing us for something big. You have
read the success story of the Bollywood icon Amitabh; but are
you aware of the failures before he succeeded? You have read
about the success of the great scientist Thomas Edison; but are
you aware of the failures before he succeeded? Even Gandhi had
to face failures before he triumphed eventually over the British!
Which great man hadn’t walked the stairs of failures before suc-
ceeding?I wish to tell you that you are not a failure. Failure is an
event and it is not you. Your life is constituted by many events
and what you call as failure are some of those events… It is not
you. Failure in maths doesn’t make you a failure. Failure in a
relationship doesn’t make you a failure. You cannot burn the
garden because you found a few weeds in the garden. Can you?
Chatrapathi Shivaji and his son Shambaji were arrested and
imprisoned by Mughal King Aurangzeb. Shambaji had decided
that his life was over in that Agra prison. Shivaji told Shambaji to
send a message to the king to arrange for baskets of fruits to con-
tinue his custom of doing pooja to goddess on Thursdays and
sending the prasadam to the people of the kingdom. Shambaji
got angry and shouted at his father about what’s the necessity
for pooja and customs when life was going to end? Shivaji
looked into the eyes of his son and said, “For the one who had
decided to go against all the odds, there is no failure.” Message
was sent, the king made the arrangements for baskets of fruits
Success is just one more try ! 33

and for weekly pooja. On one of those Thursdays and in one of
those baskets, Shivaji and his son escaped. For Shambaji it
appeared to be the END; but, for Shivaji it was only a BEND.
Charlie Chaplin’s life was a series of miseries, chained one after
another. His father was an alcoholic, then his parents parted
away, his mother became mentally challenged. But he had this
to say, “Life is a beautiful, magnificent thing, even to a jelly fish.
The trouble is you won’t fight. You give up. But there’s some-
thing just as inevitable as death. And that’s life. Think of the
power of the universe – turning the earth, growing the trees.
That’s the same power within you – if you’ll only have the
courage and the will to use it. You have to believe in yourself,
that’s the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was
roaming in the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I
thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world. Nothing is
permanent in this wicked world – not even our troubles. You’ll
never find rainbows if you’re looking down. Life is a tragedy
when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”
My friend, keep learning, keep changing and keep proceeding.
Keep going! Don’t stop. It is only when you stop, it becomes a
failure. That’s why Edison said, “Success is just one more try.”
Go one more mile. Success is just at the corner. Go and get it.

9
F.L.Y First Love Yourself
Life primarily hinges on three relationships:
❋ Intra relationship: Your relationship with yourself.
❋ Inter relationship: Your relationship with others.
❋ Transcendental relationship: Your relationship with the force above.
Your life will be complete only when you develop yourself in all the three rela-
tionships. This article is on the first relationship.
This I call F.L.Y First Love Yourself.
Intra-relationship
35

I can only give you what I have. If I have wisdom, I can share my wisdom
with you. If I only have ignorance, I can only share my ignorance with you.
If I am full of love, I can share my love with you. If I am full of hate, I can
only share my hatred with you. I can only give you what I have.
Similarly, only if I enjoy a good relationship with myself, I can enjoy a good
relationship with others. If I am too critical about myself, if I have a complex
about myself, if I keep thinking “I am not good enough”, if I constantly feel
low about myself in the presence of others… when my own relationship
with myself is lousy, there is no way I can enjoy a good relationship with
others.
Unless I have a good relationship with myself, I cannot have a good rela-
tionship with even god. Swami Vivekananda said, “He is not an atheist who
does not believe in god. He is an atheist who does not believe in himself.”
Basically, Swami Vivekananda wanted you to realize, your belief in the cre-
ator can’t help you much, unless you also believe in his creation – that’s
yourself. So, I want to tell you, even if no one likes you, you got to like your-
self. In fact, only when you learn to like yourself, the world will begin to like
you.
The plum fruit once said, just because a banana lover came by, I con-
verted myself into a banana. Unfortunately, his taste changed after a few
months and so I became an orange. When he said I was bitter I became an
apple, but he went in search of grapes. Yielding to the opinions of so many
people, I have changed so many times that I no more know who I am. How
much I wish I had remained a plum and waited for a plum lover.
Even if no one loves you, you got to love yourself. In fact, only when you
learn to love yourself, the world will begin to love you. All-in-all, how the
world sees you will make only a small difference to you, but how you see
yourself will make all the difference to you.
It seems the marble flooring in a temple told the marble idol in the
temple, “This is not fair. Both of us came from Rajasthan in the same truck.
But see what’s happening. People are standing on me and are worshiping
you.”
It seems the idol replied, “True, we came together from Rajasthan in the
same truck. However, when the sculptor was about to chisel you, you
screamed saying ‘I can’t take these blows.’ So he laid you as the flooring. I

was willing to take millions of blows and that’s why I became a statue,
worthy of being worshiped.” It’s time to chisel ourselves and make limitless
possibilities for growth.
How can you feel proud of yourself, if you cannot even accept the appre-
ciation of others?So the next time anybody appreciates you, gracefully say,
“Thank you.” Whisper unto yourself, “I deserved this appreciation.” Learn
to feel good about yourself.
Also, to feel proud about yourself, you have to learn to see good in others
and appreciate it. Express to your parents how good you feel about being
their child. Give a ‘Thank you’ note to your Peers. Appreciate the top per-
formers in your workplace. Tell the driver how safe you feel while he is
driving. Thank the servant for all that he is doing for you. Whenever you
enjoy good food, never miss mentioning it to whoever had cooked it. Win a
lot of medals, cups and awards and tell your coaches, “That you dedicate the
victory to them.”
Learn to appreciate. Learnt to enjoy it when you are appreciated. Just F.L.Y
F.L.Y First Love Yourself 37

Inspiration is about the people who will stop at nothing to make
a positive difference to other people’s lives, they inspire us. As
Steve Jobs famously said: “The ones who are crazy enough to
think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
There are lots of these crazy ones at work today trying to make
the world a better place, but there is always room for more.
We get major inspiration hits when we are expressing ourselves,
becoming more self-aware and pushing ourselves to achieve new levels of
capability. This is why two of the top five most inspiration rich industries
are fine art and sports. Both require a ton of self-expression, self-awareness
and growth to succeed. It is also achieved through enabling others to grow.
The remaining top three industries where professionals express a high fre-
quency of inspiration are religious institutions, non-profit management and
professional training & coaching. All of these industries are about helping
others realize their potential.
I am inspired by one of the leaders who dare to dream and have the grit,
resilience and determination to see those dreams through, regardless of the
many times they fall down along the way. Dr Venkataswamy founded the
amazing Aravind Eye Hospital when he was 58 years old, a successful eye
surgeon despite being crippled from rheumatoid arthritis, a former physi-
cian in the Indian Army. His mission was audacious: to eradicate unneces-
sary blindness. His start was humble: a tiny “hospital” with just eleven beds.
Nearly 40 years later, Aravind has treated more than 32 million people per-
forming more than 4 million surgeries. Called Dr V by most, he would say,
“Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing
something beautiful.” You cannot help but feel the spirituality expressed by
the best of the human heart and mind in the halls of this most extraordinary
dream, made real simple by starting and then doing.
To do good work, we often reach for a vague thing we call inspiration.
It’s hard to pin it down, but you know it when you see it. Inspiration adds
joy and meaning to the process of creation, whether you’re writing a piece
of code or preparing PowerPoint presentation. So why is it that some of us
are visited by only rare and fleeting spurts of inspiration, while others seem

permanently driven by a grand sense of purpose? The reason is we don’t see
a purpose of our work and we see it as a burden to complete every day. The
purpose of our work is a source of our inspiration. However the little you
think you do is making a big difference to a person in other corner of this
world.
As you are reading this post about inspiration keep in mind that you
need to identify your own personal source of inspiration. Go into it with an
open mind, it might be something unexpected or it might be a more
nuanced combination of factors that are hard to cover in one blog post.
Once you do, I can’t promise the road will be easy, but I can guarantee that
you will surprise yourself with the energy and passion that you bring to bear
on your work. For me, however, inspiration comes from solving meaningful
problems with people I admire and love to work with. Deep, far-reaching
challenges that keep me thinking, engaged, and ultimately energized.
Looking back, I can see time and again I was most inspired and did my best
work when I was trying to solve meaningful problems with people whom I
love to work with.
If there has been one lesson I’ve learned in my career it is to forget the
external pressures you may have, and just focus on one thing: doing what
you love. Hone your skills. Each one of you has hopefully through your
experience found a passion, and now your future is about continuing to
learn and polish your skills. The skill without inspiration is a Job and skill
with inspiration is a passion @ work.
What Inspires Us? 41

11
You got to Believe! (YGB)
The disciple asked the master how do I see you. The master
responded saying
“ If you see me as your teacher, You are my student
If you see me as your God, You are my devotee
If you see me as your Father, You are my Son
If you see me as Friend, you are my friend”
And then said “Your belief will make no difference to me but it
makes all the difference to you”.
43

Rain fills the size of your vessel you are holding. You can either
to perform to your belief or under perform to your belief but
you cannot outperform your belief. God thyself cannot give
more than what you believe you are capable of.
There is abundant potential, but people lack a sense of direc-
tion. Gross human potential is diluted when they don’t know
what to do with their potential. If there is power in your
tomorrow, there will be strength in your today. Goals awaken
the sleeping potential within each one of us and they provide
direction to our potential. Goals are the accelerants of growth.
Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.
And, it doesn’t matter whether others believe in your idea or
not. What really matters is your own conviction about your idea.
The energy for the fulfilment of an idea has to come from the
source from which the idea was born. If you are willing to go
along, sure enough, others will come along. It does not matter
how much I have, but what really matters is what I do with what
I have. The strength with which an idea is pursued will mag-
netize the resources that are required for the accomplishment of
the idea. The world can stop you only temporarily. The only
one who can stop you permanently is yourself. I can experiential
validate the dialogue in the movie ‘In Pursuit of Happiness’
Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. You
got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something
themselves, and they want to tell you - you can’t do it. You want
something, go get it. Period.”
There will be issues. People will come and go. You will be dis-
couraged. The world will sometimes be vindictive. You will be

judged, belittled and laughed at. Friends will turn into foes. You
will have ‘You too, Brutus…’ moments. But all-in-all, whether
something is a stumbling block or a stepping stone depends on
how you use it. Strength of character is born out of the obstacles
overcome. The bullet having left the gun cannot return to the
gun. It has to hit the target. A venture begun must be a venture
accomplished. Failure is not an option. Above all, I have realized
the power of ONE. One idea, one thought, one insight, one rev-
elation, one existential intervention, one experience, one inci-
dent, one accident, and that’s all is required.
One human being, in one lifetime, can have a bearing on the rest
of the world. In that sense, you need to have that ONE initiative
that has to make a difference to hundreds of thousands of lives.
Sister Agnes evolved into Mother Teresa. Mohandas
evolved into Mahatma Gandhi. Narendra evolved into
Swami Vivekananda. Siddhartha evolved into Gautama
Buddha. There is someone within you waiting , You got to
believe!
You got to Believe! (YGB) 45

12
Love is a Life Leadership
Skill
During a seminar, a woman asked Life Coach ,” How do I know
if I am with the right person?”
The author then noticed that there was a large man sitting next
to her so he said, “It depends. Is that your partner?” In all seri-
ousness, she answered “How do you know?” Let me answer this
47

question because the chances are good that it’s weighing on
your mind replied the author.
Here’s the answer.
Every relationship has a cycle… In the beginning; you fall in
love with your partner. You anticipate their calls, want their
touch, and like their idiosyncrasies. Falling in love wasn’t hard.
In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience.
You didn’t have to DO anything. That’s why it’s called “falling”
in love.
People in love sometimes say, “I was swept of my feet.”Picture
the expression. It implies that you were just standing there;
doing nothing, and then something happened TO YOU.
Falling in love is a passive and spontaneous experience. But after
a few months or years of being together, the euphoria of love
fades. It’s a natural cycle of EVERY relationship.
Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at
all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your
spouse’s idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts.
The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship; you
will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when
you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent
stage.
At this point, you and/or your partner might start asking, “Am I
with the right person?” And as you reflect on the euphoria of the
love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with
someone else. This is when relationships breakdown.
The key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right
person; it’s learning to love the person you found.

People blame their partners for their unhappiness and look out-
side for fulfillment. Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes
and sizes.
Infidelity is the most common. But sometimes people turn to
work, a hobby, friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances.
But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your rela-
tionship. It lies within it.
I’m not saying that you couldn’t fall in love with someone else.
You could. And TEMPORARILY you’d feel better. But you’d
be in the same situation a few years later.
Because (listen carefully to this):
The key to succeeding in a Relationship is not finding the right
person; it’s learning to love the Person you found.
SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience.
You have to work on it day in and day out. It takes time, effort,
and energy. And most importantly, it demands WISDOM. You
have to know WHAT TO DO to make it work. Make no mis-
take about it.
Love is NOT a mystery. There are specific things you can do
(with or without your partner), Just as there are physical laws Of
the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relation-
ships. If you know how to apply these laws, the results are pre-
dictable.
Love is therefore a “decision”. Not just a feeling.
Remember this always: Higher Conscious determines who
walks into your life but It is up to you to decide who you let walk
away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let GO. Loving
Love is a Life Leadership Skill 49

and Being Loved is a Life Leadership skill, Give it more and
most in your Life.

13
Leader in You
I believe we are all natural born leaders, but have been depro-
grammed along the way. As children, we were natural leaders -
curious and humble, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge,
with an incredibly vivid imagination; we knew exactly what we
wanted, were persistent and determined in getting what we
wanted, and had the ability to motivate, inspire, and influence
everyone around us to help us in accomplishing our mission. So
why is this so difficult to do as adults? What happened?
51

Then many of us got hit with the institutionalized formal education
known as college or university. Unfortunately, the traditional educational
system doesn’t teach students how to become leaders; it teaches students
how to become polite order takers for the corporate world. Instead of
learning to become creative, independent, self-reliant, and think for them-
selves, most people learn how to obey and intelligently follow rules to keep
the corporate machine humming. Today most of us want to follow and very
few of us want to lead. Leadership is not a designation it is a privilege to do
more. An effective leader creates Leaders not followers. There is leader in
every one of us just waiting to be unleashed but we would never let him
come out if you want to be follower forever. So first believe that you can
lead it doesn’t matter who you are and where you are at this point of life.
Developing the Leader in you to live your highest life, then, requires a
process of unlearning by self-remembering and self-honoring. Being an
effective leader again will require you to be brave and unlock the door to
your inner attic, where your childhood dreams lie, going inside to the heart.
I have listed few pointers for you to consider in your leadership journey.
Leadership starts with Humility. To be a highly successful leader, you
must first humble yourself like a little child and be willing to serve others.
When you are humble, you become genuinely interested in people because
you want to learn from them. And because you want to learn and grow, you
will be a far more effective listener, which is the #1 leadership communica-
tion tools. When people sense you are genuinely interested in them, and lis-
tening to them, they will naturally be interested in you and listen to what
you have to say.
SWOT Yourself. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats. Start by listing all your Strengths including
your accomplishments. Then write down all your Weaknesses and what
needs to be improved. Make sure to include any doubts, anxieties, fears, and
worries that you may have. These are the demons and dragons guarding the
door to your inner attic. By bringing them to conscious awareness you can
begin to slay them. Then proceed by listing all the Opportunities you see
available to you for using your strengths. Finally, write down all the Threats
or obstacles that are currently blocking you or that you think you will
encounter along the way to achieving your dreams.

Live with Passion. Regardless of how busy you are, always take time to
do what you love doing. Being an alive and vital person vitalizes others.
When you are pursuing your passions, people around you cannot help but
feel impassioned by your presence. This will make you a charismatic leader.
Dream Big. If you want to be larger than life, you need a dream that is
larger than life. Small dreams won’t serve you or anyone else. It takes the
same amount of time to dream small than it does to dream big. So be Big
and be Bold! Write down your One Biggest Dream. The one that excites
you the most and pursue it every day, come what may.
Vision. Without a vision, we perish. If you can’t see yourself winning that
award and feel the tears of triumph streaming down your face, it is unlikely
you will be able to lead yourself or others to victory. Visualize what it would
be like accomplishing your dream. See it, smell it, taste it, hear it, feel it in
your gut.
Endurance .Victory belongs to those who want it the most and stay in it
the longest. Now that you have a dream, make sure you take consistent
action every day. I recommend doing at least 5 things every day that will
move you closer to your dream.
Honor Your Word. Every time you break your word, you lose power.
Successful leaders keep their word and their promises. You can accumulate
all the toys and riches in the world, but you only have one reputation in life.
Your word is gold. Honor it.
Get a Mentor. Find yourself a mentor. Preferably someone who has
already achieved a high degree of success in your ecosystem. Don’t be afraid
to ask. You’ve got nothing to lose. Learn everything you can from their lives
and model some of their successful behaviors.
Be Yourself. Use your relationships with mentors as models or reference
points to work from, but never copy or imitate them like a parrot. Everyone
has vastly different leadership styles. History books are filled with leaders
who are soft-spoken, introverted, and quiet, all the way to the other extreme
of being outspoken, extroverted, and loud, and everything in between. A
quiet and simple Gandhi made a great difference as a leader and not neces-
sarily you need to be extrovert and outspoken.
Give. Finally, be a giver. Leaders are givers. By giving, you activate a uni-
versal law as sound as gravity: life gives to the giver, and takes from the
Leader in You 53

taker. The more you give, the more you get. If you want more love, respect,
support, and compassion, give love, give respect, give support, and give
compassion. Be a mentor to others. Give back to your community. As a
leader, the only way to get what you want, is by helping enough people get
what they want first

14
You Live Only Once as “You”
You live only once as you, and if you miss this chance you will
never have another opportunity to be yourself.Somehow, from
the beginning, reputation has been put above character in most
of your minds. Character is ‘who you are’ and reputation is
‘what the world thinks of you’.
You have been, time and again, asked to ensure that you earn a
good name at school, a good name with your teachers, a good
name in your neighborhood, a good name with your relatives –
55

a good name here, a good name there, a good name everywhere
and every time. Such is the focus on earning a good name that
the very first thought for most of you is – ‘what will the world
think of me if I do this or don’t do it’, and not ‘what will I
become or not become by doing this or not doing it’.
Most of you are ‘other people conscious’. Your life is not lived
through your spectacles, but through others’ spectacles. ‘How
should the world see me?’ – the answer to this question defines
the context of your life. Sometimes, it isn’t necessarily about
earning a good name for yourself, but about earning a good
name for your family, for your parents – what will the society say
if I do this or don’t do it? In the entire process, most of you
become puppets in the hands of the public. You do things not
because you want to do them, not because you are convinced
about them, not even because you think they are right, but
because they give you scope for enhancing your reputation. The
potential possibility of a good name is very high. More than
your desire for a good name, it is the fear of earning a bad name
that drives most of your lives.
Expand the definition of your life. Stand above the crowd. Live
above the average man. Inspire future generations by the way
you live your life. Let your life be a message to the next genera-
tion. Wake up!
I am not advocating being a rebel without a cause. I am not
talking about being irresponsible with an ‘I don’t care’ attitude. I
am not talking about being apathetic to the feelings and emo-
tions of one’s family. I am not talking about tearing off a social

checklist and in turn living a characterless life. I am not talking
about a ‘me, mine and myself’ – an absolutely selfish – life.
How can a beggar help others to become rich? Which slave can
liberate others? How can you give to this world something that
you haven’t first gifted to yourself? As long as you are striving for
the larger good, striving for personal good doesn’t make you
selfish. You have the right to your fight in this planet. This earth
is yours as well. This life is yours too. Use it. Don’t abuse it.
If you do 100 things in life, do 80 things for the sake of the
world, for the sake of the happiness of your family, for the sake
of your parents’ gratification, for the sake of social fulfillment
and for the sake of your environment. Do at least 20 things in
life for your own sake. Put all the aspects of your life that are of
consequence, that can have an effect on your life, into this 20 –
like the education you want to pursue, the career you are pas-
sionate about, the marriage you wish to settle into, the city you
choose to live in. In all these consequential aspects of life, don’t
give in to the confines of social definition. Write your own defi-
nition of life. Create your own checklist. Don’t live by a social
script. Write your own script. In the other 80 inconsequential
aspects of life, go with the world, by the world. If even after you
do 80 things for the sake of the world and only 20 things for
your own sake, the world still calls you selfish – so be it. It
appears that you live in an unreasonable world. If in spite of
your doing 80 things for them they are still not satisfied, then
nothing is anyhow going to satisfy them. At least, satisfy yourself
by doing those 20 things on your terms.
You Live Only Once as “You” 57

It is better to earn a bad name and live a good life, than to earn a
good name and live a bad life.

15
Everyday Champions
Life Champions live among us. We can see them, hear them,
and be inspired by them. In fact, look within, maybe a champion
is closer than you ever believed.
In all probability, he has brushed an elbow with you on a packed street.
Or was she the one you sat next to in the theatre? Wasn’t he just behind you
in the supermarket? So ordinary, so commonplace… and yet a champion.
The people you will read about below, have never made media flashes – no
TV channel extolled their greatness, and yet, in their own right, they are
59

extraordinary. Everyday Champions, I like to call them. For in becoming
champions, they did not lose their ‘everydayness’; they did not become
intangible or inaccessible to the common man, but rather while living
among them, they crested their ego and touched the lives of others.
Did you too look at Steve Jobs and Gandhi with tremendous awe? If yes,
you probably felt the same pangs of frustration. These legends led such ide-
alistic lives that their greatness becomes a hurdle for people like me, bound
by weaknesses, and a will-power subject to temptation. I admire these his-
tory-makers, but the gap between them and me is too far to be crossed right
away. What I need, for now, is a peek into lives of those around me, those
seemingly ordinary people who achieve extraordinary feats while jostling
with their jobs, bosses, deadlines, families and responsibilities. Their acts
seem do-able, their lives live-able.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I
can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse
to do something that I can do.” – Helen Keller
To give you a jest of what it takes to be a Life Champion I sited an
example of Hamara Footpath , an Inspirational real life experience.
Hamara Footpath
Can a dream to teach kids of the footpath, on the footpath, ever become a
reality? Is it even possible to collect people of all ages belonging to various
professions – vets, journalists and MBAs, and unite them for one cause sev-
eral days a week? “Yes!” is Shubangi Swarup’s reply.
Having worked for NGOs, including the UN, made 25-year-old Shub-
hangi realize just what was ‘not working’ in these social communities. She
disapproved of the formality of the organizations, the form-filling required,
and sometimes, the distance created between a volunteer and the one being
helped. For instance, one may sponsor a child, without ever meeting them.
What mattered for her was that both the receiver and giver should be trans-
formed by their interactions. Consequently, she started a small get-together
of friends at Churchgate station, in Mumbai, to teach street kids.
This small initiative has grown into a full-fledged centre. It was simple,
actually. Seeing one child being taught by ‘didi’ on the footpath attracted
more pupils. ‘Students’came in scores, bright-eyed, barefoot. Passersby
stopped to ask. And slowly, the circle swelled.

Hamara Foothpath, the name given to Shubhangi’s initiative, today con-
sists of over 20 volunteers meeting thrice a week for two hours on the foot-
paths to teach kids. The method is through games and drawings. The execu-
tion is done with love, and one sees shabby street urchins perched happily
on a volunteer’s lap, or clinging to their neck as they learn.
Fun is part of the curriculum. Like the recent trip to the circus. Ten thou-
sand rupees were required. Shubhangi sent out an e-mail forward asking
people to contribute. Amazingly, donations poured in, and soon the ‘circus
day’ arrived! The air was palpable with excitement as about 65 kids, volun-
teers, a few mothers and a dog (one of the kid’s pet) wove their way to the
colorful circus. Saraswati, a young mother, predicted – and was thrilled
when her predictions came true – that the elephant skit would be about one
elephant falling ill and another injecting him. She had seen a circus when
she was nine! The next trip is to the zoo, and the kids are so excited, they
can’t stop ‘monkeying’ around.
No formal classroom. No chairs or tables. And yet everyone involved is
learning some of the most important lessons of life: compassion, empathy,
and simply the joy in giving selflessly.
Log on to www.hamarafootpath.org to know more
So many heroes all around. Need we look further for inspiration? Any day
could be the last day of your life ,but make today as one of the best day of your
life and make that difference to yourself and to others.
Everyday Champions 61

16
Because of me Only …
Syndrome
Marcus Aurelius, one of the wisest men who ever ruled the
Roman Empire, wrote in his diary, “I am going to meet people
today who talk too much; people who are selfish, egotistical,
ungrateful. But I won’t be surprised or disturbed, for I couldn’t
imagine a world without such people.”
63

Human nature has always been human nature. Most of our rela-
tionship-based troubles aren’t because of human nature, but
because of our ignorance in expecting human nature to be other
than what it is. If we are willing to accept others as they are, and
if we are willing to change our approach towards others, then
there can be no relationship-based disturbances. Unfortunately,
we expect others to accept us as we are, and we expect them to
change their approach towards us. In the latter, you are at the
mercy of the world. In the former, you are in control. When you
have a choice, why settle for a consequence?
One such quality in human nature is the “Because of me
only…” syndrome.
Without the goal scorers, the match would not have been won.
Without the goal keeper saving some of the kicks, the match
would not have been won. Without the strength of your
defence, without the weakness in the opponent’s defence,
without the referee’s efficiency, without the linesman’s fairness,
without that coach in the background, without the crowd’s
cheering, and many more intangible factors to add to this list -
the match would not have been won.
For a phenomenon like Mahatma Gandhi to happen in bone
and flesh, was it because of his mother’s parenting, or was it that
incident in South Africa, was it his principles of Satyagraha and
Ahimsa, was it his spiritual alignment, was it a divine provi-
dence, was it the contexts the British provided for the transfor-
mation of Mohandas Karamchand into a Mahatma - which one
factor can you isolate?

Too many factors, tangible and intangible, play a part in the
making of anyone or anything. Everything has to be in sync to
cause success and even if one factor is not in sync, it can cause
the failure. Yet, when success happens, everybody wants a share
of credit, and there goes, “Because of me only…”
Like all relationship-based issues, the solution is two-fold, one,
an approach for yourself and two, an approach for the
others.When it comes to you, give up and transcend this
“Because of me only…” craving and you will cease to be an
emotional beggar. The joy of giving is in giving. Find a way to be
useful in everything and with everybody, and leave it at that.
Being useful is a purpose in itself. Even with your children, with
your organisation, with anything and everything… give up and
transcend the “Because of me only…” craving. There is true
emotional freedom in it.
Of course, when it comes to others, never ever miss an opportu-
nity to tell them, “Because of you only…” and say it with all
your heart. It gladdens the heart of others so much, the sheer joy
and fulfillment it brings to others is worth saying a million times,
“Because of you only…”.
The greatness is in the painting, and not in the painter’s signa-
ture.
Because of me Only …Syndrome 65

17
Buddha in You
Each of us would either become a Buddha or aid in a ‘Buddha
becoming’; either become an Osama Bin Laden or aid in a ‘Bin
Laden becoming’. The collective thoughts and vibrations of
human consciousness crystallise in one human being - positive
or negative, divine or evil, prosperous or poor.
So many times the course of mankind has been completely
changed by a single discovery, a single invention, a single event
or a single man.It is the seeking of thousands of people for
67

enlightenment that crystallises in one Gauthama Buddha; it is
the desire of thousands of people for prosperity that crystallises
in one JRD Tata; it is the longing of thousands for divine music
that crystallises in one M S Subbulakshmi; it is the craving of
thousands of Indians to become a cricketer that crystallises in
one Sachin Tendulkar; it is the compassion of thousands of
people to make a difference that crystallises in one Mother
Teresa; it is the yearning of thousands of people for a free India
that crystallises in one Mahatma Gandhi; it is the greed of thou-
sands of people for quick money that crystallises in one Ketan
Parekh; it is the ‘voice of dissent’ of thousands of people that
crystallises in one Adolph Hitler. The questions in our mind
“How to become a Buddha” rather than merely aid in a ‘Buddha
becoming’, and more importantly, “How to ensure that I do not
aid in a ‘Bin Laden becoming’.”
Not only in the spiritual context but also with science, intense
research only builds the pedestal of ‘questions’ for the clicks,
triggers, insights, sparks and ideas to emerge. Despite all the
research Archimedes had done, he yet needed the quietude he
experienced in his bath for ‘Eureka - I have found it!’ Answers
are always born in the silent chambers.
This world is a magnetic field, constructed and held together by
forces attracting and repelling in all directions. Every human
being is a product of this magnetic field. The fundamental prop-
erty of a magnet is to either attract or repel… the manifestation
of this magnetic field is the sixth sense of discrimination - ‘Either
Or’. Every human being is a bio-magnetic field and the forces
within are all the time attracting or repelling.

We constantly send vibrations into the universe and the uni-
verse multiplies the same and returns it to us. When we exude
feelings of anger, fear, hatred and worry… more of it is on the
way. When we exude feelings of love, celebration, joy, grati-
tude… then too, more of it is on the way. Like attracts like. This
is the law of metaphysics and this is the law of life. The law of
metaphysics is that everything has a consciousness and both
positive and negative are bound by the same law - The law of
attraction and repulsion.
Every human is bio-magnetic system attract the same energy
that we release into the universe. This universe is our partner in
getting us exactly what we want… totally depending on what we
attract. While thousands of men have the heart to make a differ-
ence, their compassionate heart is also adulterated with hatred.
So, one human being out in the world centred on love, with a
conviction that love and hatred cannot coexist, magnetises the
‘vibrations of love’ of millions and that crystallises in one
Mother Teresa. While millions seek enlightenment, their heart
still shuttles between their spiritual and materialistic needs. So,
one human being out in the world seeking self-realisation more
than the oxygen needed for survival magnetises the vibrations of
all the seekers and that crystallises in one Gauthama Buddha.
Just be the person you want to become, process only right
thoughts and right feelings and you will attract whatever you
want unto yourself. If you want prosperity… process only
thoughts and feelings of prosperity and abundance… However,
in processing the thoughts and feelings of prosperity, a BIG No-
No to thoughts of poverty… A person belonging to the middle
Buddha in You 69

class is a typical example of mixed thoughts and feelings of both
abundance and scarcity.
Remember when I process poverty, I am not only attracting
poverty but also repelling prosperity. When I process hatred, I
am not only attracting hatred but also repelling love.
When your inner magnet is positioned to attract the negative,
your system is simultaneously repelling the positive. In pro-
cessing thoughts of hatred and hurt, you are repelling love. In
processing worries, you are repelling happiness. Similarly, when
you repel the positive, you are simultaneously attracting the
negative. In your inability to handle appreciation, you are
attracting criticism. I know of people who become very guilty
when they experience prolonged periods of happiness, and as a
result their system attracts more and more of guilt, thereby jeop-
ardising their happiness. It is such a common sight to see people
lose all the riches that they had accumulated when they begin to
process thoughts of insecurity about their riches. “Will this last?”
is the most dangerous question you can ask yourself… It means
you are beginning to resist what you have… soon your bio-mag-
netic system will begin to repel what you have.
There is no justification for anger, hatred, doubt, jealousy, frus-
tration, envy, worry, tension… for that matter any of the nega-
tive feelings, for you are not only going to attract them to your-
self but also send those vibrations into existence. As Tom Volkar
bluntly put it, “Shit happens because we vibrate shit.”
Love even those who have hurt you… if you want love in your
life. Process thoughts of riches even during recession… if you
want prosperity in your life. Think faith even when you have

failed… if you want success in your life. Feel positive even
during the most negative of circumstances… therein lies the
secret of crystallization.
‘Purity in thoughts and purity in feelings at all times’ will ensure
that you become a Buddha… any deviation, and you will only
aid in a ’Buddha becoming’.
Buddha in You 71

18
Measuring your Growth
In your life journey you need to make yourself accountable to
these three questions.
1. Am I doing justice to my potential?
2. Year after year, in how many more lives am I becoming useful?
73

3. Day by day, am I living my life in a way that I am moving closer to my final
destination ?
Firstly, no matter where you reach in life, still keep asking yourself, ‘Am I
doing justice to my potential?’
Man was created to create. Man was designed to design his life. By the
very process of creation, and then through parents, relatives, teachers, and
society – too much of an investment has gone in the making of a man. As a
result, every man has a moral responsibility to live a life worthy of his poten-
tial. Remember, success is not what you achieve compared to others, but
what you achieve compared to what you are capable of – and what you are
capable of is defined by the infinite sleeping potential within you.”
Now the question is, how will I know I am doing justice to my potential?
There comes the second question – year after year, in how many more lives
am I becoming useful? Even a cow, a bull, a parrot feeds a family of humans.
It would be pure shame to live a life of mediocrity – a life of mere me, mine
and myself. Measure your success by the usefulness of your life. Remember,
none of us are useless – just that, we are used less.
We are living in a time when people believe even murder is okay if you can
produce results. But it’s not okay! Without ethical and moral accountability
success may be possible, but being happily successful is not. Bible states, ‘It
is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of God.’ Here ‘rich man’ isn’t an absolute reference, but a
reference to men who choose to be rich by hook or by crook. Let’s not trade
God for the kingdom of God. Arjuna sought Krishna and Duryodhana
chose Krishna’s resources – the rest is history – we all know who tri-
umphed.
If lower ideals can produce so much results, then trust me, the higher ideals
will only give you a lot more in life. So never go to sleep without answering
the third question, ‘Day by day, am I living my life in such a way that I am
moving closer to my Destination ?’ if you be worthy of these three questions
and life will give you everything else as natural byproducts – and money will
be just one of them.
Life is best described in the ‘Present Continuous Tense’ - loving,
learning, improving, growing, arriving, seeking, realizing, becoming…In
almost all the aspects, professional and personal, expect more from yourself

than you expect from the world. Also ensure, the standards you set for your-
self is higher than the standards the world expects of you. . When the
striving stops, the fall begins.Buddha repeatedly said, “Charaiveti Charai-
veti,” meaning, “go on, go on, and never stop; become an eternal journey.
Let your life be a never-ending quest.”
Till your heart stops you don’t stop. If the body is still breathing, then
you should be still striving… You go as far as you can see, and when you reach
there, you will always see further
Measuring your Growth 75

19
Innovation is the LifeLine
When I look around and see the once great companies sliding
and they hardly have nothing to sustain, it shows how important
is to keep up the Innovation quotient in an organization. The
inspiration for this article has come from an interesting hypoth-
esis by name Technology mudslide. What makes an individual
or organization a great innovator? If you are at Harvard, it’s not
a single person that makes you better, it’s the System. The inno-
77

vation is a function of a model which enables you to dream,
imagine, feel excited and be passionate about your idea. The
organization failed to innovate when the people in the top man-
agement distance themselves far away from Innovation (R&D).
The top guns should have a direct link to the people behind new
ideas and innovation. Any organization no matter how small or
prosaic its business can make the grassroots transformation if it
really wants to. The best creating thinking happens on a com-
pany’s front lines. The next level leaders are the Innovation cata-
lysts and the sphere around them watching them grow and ach-
ieve are the Innovation Sponsors/Leaders.
There are 2 types of innovation paths Sustained and Disruptive innova-
tions. The sustained innovations are the improvements to the current tech-
nology that continuous to improve the service/product performance. Dis-
ruptive innovation is challenging the current service /product performance
and bound to create new uses, new markets and disrupts the current tech-
nology. Today every organization requires continuous innovation to sur-
vive.
Nokia has sold three million units of its Lumina phone since October
2011. That may sound quite good, but over the same period Apple sold
over 72 million iPhones and Nokia is going through its 4.9 billion euros
cash mountain at a pretty scary pace. It blew 2.1 billion euros over the last
five quarters and few weeks back announced 10,000 job cuts, but that may
well be insufficient.
All is not lost. There is talk of a new operating system called Tizen that
involves Nokia technology that may rival Android. But the truth is that
Nokia suffers from what’s called innovators’ dilemma. To put it in other
terms, it is what Clayton M Christensen called the “technology mudslide
hypothesis.” In his model, established companies in a position of market
dominance reinforce their position of strength through their specialization,
but when a new so-called disruptive technology emerges, they miss it. They
get relegated to backwaters or go out of business.

Christensen himself took the disc drive industry as an example, and
looked at every major change – for example from 14 inch disk drives used
for mainframes to 8 inch inches for mini computers, 5.25 inches with the
emergence of PCs and then 3.5 inch as laptops were developed. He showed
that with the emergence of a new disc drive standard, there was a change in
market leadership; previously dominant players started doing impersona-
tions.
What is especially interesting about the Christensen study is that the
companies themselves were often aware of the danger, researched the new
burgeoning technology, but their existent client base showed no interest,
urged them to stick to what they already knew.Nokia faces in its own inno-
vators’ dilemma, but so too do the other Industry giants.
After all, they do say that “mud sticks” but for how long?
At its core of this hypothesis is about how successful, well-led companies
carefully pay attention to what customers need. These same companies
invest heavily in new technologies, delivering more performance to those
clients but will still lose their market leadership suddenly.
This can happen when disruptive technologies enter the arena. Most
technologies improve the performance of existing products in relation to
the criteria which existing customers have always used. These technologies
are called sustaining technologies. Whereas, disruptive technologies do
something different. They create a completely new value proposition. This
will often entail worse product performance per se, but improved product
performance in relation to new criteria; for example:
❋ smaller ( handy )
❋ more user friendly (convergence of phones and video streaming cam-
eras)
❋ Cheaper (storage devices).
That is to say…
1. Customers and investors will dictate their resource allocation; i.e.
middle managers will tend not to invest in technologies that are not
directly appreciated by significant clients because they will not be able
to get the quick ROI that investors require.
Innovation is the LifeLine 79

2. Small markets cannot fulfill the growth need of large companies. Bigger,
more successful companies will look at smaller niche and emerging mar-
kets (full of those early adopters and pragmatists) as simply not large
enough to fulfill growth requirements.
3. Markets that do not exist cannot be analyzed. Well-governed businesses
will discount such opportunities for the risk of likely failure.
4. Technology supply does not always equal the market demand. Due to
its speed, technological progress often overshoots customer demand.
This opens the door to products today that underperform the market,
but which might meet customer demand tomorrow, particularly when
delivered as a new value proposition.
Success breeds failure & Innovation is the Line Line that keeps the
Organization growing and it gives the oxygen for the talents to aspire and
Innovate.

20
Achieving Greatness in Life
Shakespeare said, “Some have greatness thrust upon
them.” That’s the King on the chessboard. No capabilities; can’t
move more than one square; rarely knocks down the oppo-
nents; yet, it is that piece on the board which defines the game.
The capabilities of all other pieces on the board have relevance
only as long as the king exists. That’s why I said the king repre-
sents that category of people who have Greatness thrust upon
them. I can’t identify myself with that lazy piece on the board.
81

Shakespeare also said, “Some are born great.”The queen, the pair of
bishops, the pair of knights, the pair of rooks, they represent the category.
Born with powers, born with capabilities. Their presence and absence
would define the strength and weakness of the game. I can’t identify myself
with this category either. If I am born great, then what is my part in it?
The third category: “Some achieve greatness.” The very names that have
found inspirational reference the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa,
Sachin Tendulkar, Viswanathan Anand, APJ Abdul Kalam, etc., none of
them were born great. They all achieved greatness.
Pawn is just a pawn in the beginning. It appears so insignificant. Yet, it is
just a few squares away from achieving greatness. If this insignificant pawn,
with the help of all the powers and an intelligence that plays the game, can
move those few squares it will become the most powerful coin on the
board.
I can identify myself with that pawn.
I can identify each one of you with that pawn.
And, I want each one of you to identify yourself with the pawn.
We may be insignificant in the beginning. We may be nothing now. We may
not have been born great. We may not have greatness thrust upon us, but
we can achieve greatness.
With THAT intelligence supporting us, with the support and blessings of all
our near and dear ones, square-by-square, day-by-day, we can achieve great-
ness. Of course, the pawn will face challenges from all the directions. It’s not
going to be easy. But, if greatness is going to be easy then what is great about
greatness? If everybody can be great, then who’s great?
Everybody cannot be great. But I want you to believe that we can be great.

21
What’s Inside you matters
There was a time when blacks were treated as slaves by the
whites. Richard was a ten-year-old Negro boy. His parents were
slaves. All his growing years Richard had seen that the blacks
were not allowed to do what the whites did. He grew up with
this belief, what the whites can the blacks cannot. One day
Richard observed a gas-balloon vendor releasing a cluster of bal-
loons into the air, which were red, blue and white in colour.
Seeing the white balloon go up, Richard approached the gas-bal-
83

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