Archives for posts with tag: Tips

Azim Premjis speech highlights – IIT Delhi Convocation

January 8, 10 //
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Azim Premji. Wipro Founder. Billionaire. Great guy. Wise man. A little old. Very conservative. Very sharp. Often Brilliant. Azim Premji

As chairman of Wipro he has served for a long time in leading and establishing the IT revolution. His name is served in the same respect Narayana Murthys is. Recently at IIT Delhi he was there to address the students and give them advice on graduation. It’s a tough world out there. Ratan Tata had given the speech at my brothers convocation. 2 great men with very similar messages. I’m posting what Azim Premjis speech contained. Thanks to Rachana for the email!

Azim Premjis speech to IIT Delhi students.

The funny thing about life is that you realise the value of something only when it begins to leave you. As my hair turned from black, to salt and pepper and finally salt without the pepper, I have begun to realise the enthusiasm and excitement of youth. At the same time, I have begun to truly appreciate some of the lessons I have learnt along the way. As you embark on your careers, I would like to share them with you. I am hoping that you will find them as useful as I have.

The world you are entering is in many ways very different now from what it was when I began my career. It was the late sixties and India still depended on other countries for something as basic as food. We aroused sympathy, not admiration whenever we went overseas. Recently, someone told me, that when visitors came to India then, they came to see what they could do for India. Now, they come to see what India can do for them. As a hopeful Indian, I look at our country as one which is rich in ethnic and cultural diversity and one that has an effective, secular democracy which will help us build an enduring society.

Lesson 1: Take charge

This was the first thought that came to me, when over four decades ago, I stepped into Wipro factory at Amalner. I was 21 and had spent the last few years in Stanford University Engineering School at California. Many people advised me to take up a nice, cushy job rather than face the challenges of running a hydrogenated oil business. Looking back, I am glad I decided to take charge instead. Essentially, leadership begins from within. It is a small voice that tells you where to go when you feel lost. If you believe in that voice, you believe in yourself. When it comes to choosing your careers, you have to take charge of your own destiny.

Lesson 2: Earn your happiness
The second lesson I have learnt is that a rupee earned is of far more value than five found. In fact, what is gifted or inherited follows the old rule of come easy, go easy. I guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to earn it.

Lesson 3: Nothing succeeds like failure
The third lesson I have learnt is no one bats a hundred every time. Life has many challenges. You win some and lose some. You must enjoy winning. But do not let it go to the head. The moment it does, you are already on your way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. The important thing is, when you lose, do not lose the lesson.

Lesson 4: Nothing fails like success
The fourth lesson I have learnt is the importance of humility. There is a thin line of difference between confidence and arrogance. Confident people are always open to learn. A recent survey of executives in Europe showed that the single most important quality needed for leadership success was the willingness to learn from any situation. Arrogance on the other hand stops learning. It comes with a feeling that one knows all that needs to be known and has done all that needs to be done.

Lesson 5: There has to be a better way
Partly as a corollary to what I have just said, we must remember that no matter how well we do something there has to be a better way! Excellence is not a destination but a journey. Creativity and innovation sometimes need inspiration from other disciplines. It is probably not a chance that Einstein’s interest in music was as much as his interest in Physics. Bertrand Russell was as much a mathematician as a philosopher. Excellence and creativity go hand in hand.

Lesson 6: Respond, not react
There is a world of difference between the two and in terms of success and failure. The difference is that the mind comes in between responding and reacting. When we respond, we evaluate with a calm mind and do whatever is most appropriate. We are in control of our actions. When we react, we are still doing what the other person wants us to do.

Lesson 7: Remain physically active
It is easy to take health for granted when you are young. I have found that exercise not only improves the quality of time but also reduces the time you need for sleep. The truth is that stress will only increase in a global world. You must have your own mechanism to deal with it.

Lesson 8: Never compromise on your core values
Mahatma Gandhiji often said that you must open the windows of your mind, but you must not be swept off your feet by the breeze. One must define what you stand for. This is not difficult. But values lie, not in the words used to describe them, as much as in the simple acts. And that is the hard part. Like someone said, “I could not hear what you said because what you did was coming out far too loud”.

Lesson 9: Play to win
Playing to win brings out the best in us and in our teams. It brings out the desire to stretch, to achieve that which seems beyond our grasp. However, it is not about winning at any cost. It is not about winning every time. It is not about winning at the expense of others. It is about innovating all the time. It is a continuous endeavour to do better than last time.

Lesson 10: Give back to society
All of us have a collective social responsibility towards doing our bit to address them. Of all the challenges, the key to me is education. We have a paradoxical situation, where on the one hand we have jobs chasing scarce talent and on the other, rampant unemployment and poverty. The only way to bridge these two ends of the pole is by providing quality education that is accessible by all.

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Some quick Gmail tips in case you haven’t used them

November 21, 08 //
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I live my life on Google mail aka Gmail. So obviously there are certain things I use. I have been wanting to write this post many times, but that all changed when I read Colin Powell’s quote which says, ”

Part I: “Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands for the probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired.”

Part II: “Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.”

– display all unread messages through “is:unread”
sometimes you forget to star or label them and you can have many messages on the front page (since you don’t archive nor follow an inbox zero policy  buster..) so therefore you need to access the unread messages. In the gmail search bar on the top type in “is:unread” and that will display all your unread messages.

– display messages from users with attachment through “from:username has:attachment”
If you need to search a particular mail attachment from someone that has a .zip file or a .doc file and you have many emails from them then search with from:jenna has:attachment jpeg/doc/xls (whatever you choose to search) will list down only those attachments from the particular user. Super useful.


– search through a timeline of the email sent to you by someone with in:anywhere from:jenna filename:JPG before:2005/02/14
The only problem is the stupid format of yyyy dd mm, instead of the indianised dd/mm/yyyy. But this is a really useful feature for you to search mailbox/trash/archived items for an email from jenna with an attachment that ends with .jpg before the 14th of February.

– if you have a message under a label, then type label:To-Do for all messages marked with To-Do
An important tip here. The labels aren’t case sensitive (you can use capital or small letters) but if the labels are more than one word then you need a hyphen to see the rest. For example To Do label won’t show up if you use label:To Do, instead you should use label:to-do or label:To-Do or label:tO-dO to show up results.

Ya, so that’s about it.. by the way, for more cool reading about the 18 laws of leadership from Powel, read this link.

Tips on crafting a speech: Obama’s acceptance speech.

November 7, 08 //
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If there was one day I wished I was American and a part of that soil, it would have been November 4th. The day Barack Obama won. Obama is hope symbolised. Has the gab, the discipline, the controlled emotion and the direction. Most of all he is a hope bringer to everyone. That’s why a lot of people cried at the convention (I didn’t in case you are wondering,  I tend to disappoint like that.), even Oprah!

I used to think this he is an overconfident, rail thin, basketball trouting punk that had a good run. The reason I wanted Hillary Clinton to win was the exact reason people say that he hadn’t chosen her to be running mate: Bill Clinton. I can’t understand why. But he proved me wrong. He showed that he can run a campaign like a President. And if this is the sort of stuff he can continue, he might be even better than Clinton.

Here is the speech he gave which you must watch and allocate 45 mins of your day (if possible every day..) to see what this man is truly about. I have watched it twice and have favourited it, dugg it, stumbled it,  sphunn it and you get the point…

Things you can learn from the speech.

Hold composure.
It’s not a plastered smile he wears, he has an assured walk to the podium and doesn’t get over excited like that bimbo VP-elect from the Republicans. He walks graciously as a man who is rightfully taking his place. Lesson: Be calm in victory and defeat.

Acknowledge the crowd.
When you are celebrating your moment of victory and over 150k+ people have been waiting for over 4 hours to see you, there’s no harm in spending time cheering with them. I think the daughters thought they were the center of the attention but that’s ok. They are both less than 15.

Acknowledge your enemy, even if you thrashed his old ass silly.

I congratulate him (McCain); I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they’ve achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead.

Be Funny yo
No matter where the place, humour strikes a great chord with the audience. You don’t have to be a goofball laughing at your own hockey mom jokes and cheers (please refer to the bimbo from the Republican party again), but you should have that class. Another person who does that really well is Bill Clinton.

Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the new White House.

Never forget the family. This is da hood.
Put family first, win christian votes. Or something like that as the saying goes. Here is a wonderful man who loves his family. That means he cares.  That means he can be president.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady Michelle Obama.To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you’ve given me. I am grateful to them.

Stick to a theme
I’m not getting Seth Godin here, but there’s a very important thing that must be known. His story was that of change. An underlying racism current he wanted to change, an underlying goverment filled with corruption led by an incompetent idiot that he wanted to change, an economy he wanted to change. Theme is consistent, he wants to bring hope, he wants to bring a change.

Weave a story.
This was bit of an overkill but he made his point and was consistent with this theme AND struck a powerful thought. He is Jesus.

But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

Don’t think the task is over and remind people the need for their support.
Wow verbose title.. Make sure you let people know that there is work to be done and this is the start. This is not a spin off yarn to cover your ass, it’s something that you should always add as a disclaimer. Because team players are more important than the solo rapper.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can’t solve every problem.But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

And when you do all of that, the world stands up and cheers for you. I know I did and I’m one of the staunchest Indians around.

Some other great links

– Newspapers around the world paste front page stories of Obama.
– Full transcript of the speech
– Campaign Insider stories

How to remove the Nav Bar from Blogger

September 23, 08 //
1

There’s a cheesy nav bar on the top. Now you shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Sergei Brin from Google uses it on his blogger and so does the whole of Google (but they created it so …). Anyway the point of this post is if you want to remove the Nav Bar from your blogger to give it a more aesthetic appeal, then all you have to do is to add this small code into your template that is accessible in Layout (under customise option).

#navbar-iframe {
display: none;
visibility: hidden;
}

There that’s it. Nothing more required and this instantly helps you remove the nav bar (short for navigation bar, which is actually pretty useful now that I have removed it hmm…).