My Qtrly Visit to Kolkata

This time to my surprise air deccan ran on time. I made it a point to visit my ancestral village home, where I spent my inititial days. I saw lot of changes in the primary school building. You have In and Exit stairs for handicap students with wheel chair. I was surprised again. I asked one of the teachers. It seems Govt. gave funds of around Rs. 12k to rural schools to build those. I also saw a tube well of their own. They also had cricket kit, Football & other sports items for the students.

Is it the result of education cess? I was happy.

I was invited to a lunch to one of my relative's house. I could enjoy CD music, Solar fan, full signal of Hutch rest of bengal connection all powered by Solar energy. I think solar power is DC energy. So electrical equipments are different made by separate manufacturers than what we normally use in cities.

There is a bridge in the river to connect it to Kolkata. Traders are buying commodities directly from villagers and getting it transported by truck directly to the city.

I did enjoy Charak (Chaitra Sankranti) Lord Shiv puja. I took some pictures. let me figure it out how I can put some of those in this blog.

Rural India is changing. I could see the increased aspiration levels to consume good quality products & services. A huge market to be tapped.

CRM is more of an attitude less of technology

Recently I had strange experiences while interacting with two large companies, one a reputed name in real estate and other in life insurance.

The real estate company adveritsed in a leading daily for a big project which is coming up. they have provided one tata indicom number to find out more details. But when I called up it says the number is switched off, after trying many times it said number no longer exists. I was wondering why at the first place the company given that number in the AD. Later I saw some hoardings in the city, where they have mentioned the same number. I think its a cardinal mistake to provide a number in the ad which is not functional.

The next example is my experience with e-business strategy of a leading life insurer. well, they have a portal, where you can enroll your policies and pay online premium. But it needed submission of a form to the local branch office. When I visited the local brach office and met Sr. manager. He looked like he never heard of this online strategy of this company. Though it was fairly a suburban branch but atleast you expect Sr. manager to be aware of this.

Article on Leadership by a 9th standard student

I came across this beautiful article on Leadership sent by one of my colleagues. This is an award winning article. I was surprised to see the understanding this student of St. Ann's School, hyd had.

“I do not know what leadership is. But I know when I feel it, do it and see it”
--Hema Corrieten
Part of the universal challenge of leadership is defining it in a way that will apply to virtually everyone. We apply different definitions of leadership to elected officials, to family and societal leaders, and to religious figures. At some point, a single definition of leadership must be applied to all leaders, no matter who or what they lead. At its core, leadership is achieving specific & beneficial results through men, machinery, money and methods. It is not a title, position, particular style, particular set of personality traits, or a particular set of skills. These are merely the external trappings of leadership, not the true essence of leadership. Essence of Leadership is a highly personal enterprise. If there is no transformation inside each of us, all the structural change in the world will have no impact on our home, society and institution. Leadership is about behavior first, skills second. Always remember the philosophical platform – this ethical platform is not a technique or a process – it’s the person of honorable character on which all the techniques and methodologies are based.
Today we enjoy fruits of independence due to efforts taken by our great leaders and their leadership, sacrifices, tireless efforts, inspiring life style. Let us understand how our leaders influenced the country (multiple groups) to a larger extent.

Gandhiji, who is timid in nature but built confidence across the country to overcome the bondage of British. Raja Rama Mohan Roy who strived to abolish “Sati”. Alluri Sita Rama Raju is the personification of audacity, who came from a poor background, but was a terror to the Britishers with a bow & arrow. Dr BR Ambedkar, a dalit, who chaired the drafting constitution for a second largest democratic country was began his life very small. Is it not inspiring us to give back to the country, the best of us?

Ratan Tata who tuned himself from a shy and reclusive man into confident chieftain also made his car to run on Indian roads with pride. He was honored with Padmabhushan in 2000 and with man of the year 2004. President Kalam, who was a paper boy and not meritorious in his higher education dreamt for India, transformed his dreams into action and wrote nuclear odyssey for India which lead India to be in the exclusive space club. He humbled himself at Rohini-1 Failure but with greater humility worked hard to prove it a success and later he was honored with ‘Bharat Ratna. Think of a paper boy and you will be challenged by President of India.

Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan, “Oxford don from a small village”, was best known as the man who introduced the thinking of western idealist philosophers into Indian thought. Every student and teacher of India is influenced by him and celebrates his Birthday as teacher’s day on 5 September.

Narayan Murthy, Ajim Premji, Ramalinga Raju who are giants in Indian Software Industry brought tremendous impact on Indian Economy. Their honesty, transparency, hard work, and moral integrity are not at variance with business acumen. They have developed most respected SW industry across the globe and they have become admired leaders in the world.
Oh! What a glorious leaders India has produced! A true leadership will be more valuable than successful as he sets vision, keeps direction and moves forward with determination for the group’s success. Our leaders motivated various groups to be grand successful using simple 6 steps…
· Creating Vision –set predetermined personal and team goals.
· Crystallizing Thinking – where you stand now and where you want your team to be
· Developing a Written Plan of Action – set deadlines for their attainment
· Creating Desire and Passion – development of sincere desire & passion among team members
· Developing Confidence and Trust – creating clear cut knowledge of planned actions and the order in which they should be taken up.
· Fostering Commitment and Responsibility – developing sincere commitment to follow in spite of what others say, think, or do.
A Leader means a person of noble character who influences team to reach the desired height. The empowerment of individual team members can only happen when leaders display
· Integrity-balanced goals, consistent commitment and transparent,
· a servant’s Heart – genuinely care about other people / customers
· Stewardship – think all the time to make every person as valuable.
This is called “SHI leadership” or “ABC leadership of influence”.
Research at Harvard University indicates that 84% of a leader’s performance depends on personal character. Another important characteristic of a leader is to focus on six areas of life of his team members (- Family, Career, Mental & Educational, Health, Social & Cultural and Spiritual & Ethical) along with other characteristics such as use fullest potential, Influence others by personal testimony, empower team, instruct and persuade in love, facilitates relationships models practical living, dreams-inspires-supports, takes courageous stand in the face of opposition, manages conflict, shares leadership.
The way he perceives, the way he presents, the way he performs a task is totally different.
And finally a big question arises – whether leaders are born or self made? According to Satyam Computer Services Limited – “Every Satyamite is a Leader”. Effective leadership is a noble pursuit. Any one can become a leader – any one who has courage and will to step upward, accept the change and begin helping others transform themselves. Effective leadership is not about playing God. Instead, it focuses on the God given potential inherent in every man, woman and a child. Proven leadership finds the potential within a person and brings it forth. The challenge of modern leadership is to find that potential and make constructive use of it. To that cause, anyone can aspire, and every one should try. If it is true that everyone leads, then it is also true that all of us could do a better job.

By
Hema Corrieten; IX Standard of St. Ann’s High School.