Thought for the Day..!!

Always try to get what you like, otherwise you will be forced to like what you get.

How to Manage Failure@Leaderships

Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India’s satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India’s “Rohini” satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources — but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

By 1979 — I think the month was August — we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts — I had four or five of them with me — told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference — where journalists from around the world were present — was at 7:45 am at ISRO’s satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure — he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.

The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite — and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, “You conduct the press conference today.”

I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience.

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Frog Stories really Inspiring..!!

The story about the tiny frogs….
Life's lesson

No. 1







There once was a bunch of tiny frogs,...



… who arranged a running competition.

The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower.

A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants...



The race began...





Honestly:

No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.

You heard statements such as:

"Oh, WAY too difficult!!

They will NEVER make it to the top."

or:

"Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!"




The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one...

... Except for those who in a fresh tempo were climbing higher and higher...

The crowd continued to yell

"It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!"




More tiny frogs got tired and gave up...

...But ONE continued higher and higher and higher...

This one wouldn't give up!






At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who after a big effort was the only one who reached the top!

THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?




A contestant asked the tiny frog how the one who succeeded had found the strength to reach the goal?




It turned out...

That the winner was DEAF!!!!





The wisdom of this story is:

Never listen to other people's tendencies to be

negative or pessimistic...

…cause they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you. The ones you have in your heart!





Always think of the power words have.

Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!



Therefore:







ALWAYS be…





POSITIVE!





And above all:



Be DEAF when people tell YOU that YOU can not fulfil YOUR dreams!

Always think:

I can do this!



"Be deaf to the people who say's its recession, be determined to your goal and optimistic to get more opportunities„

Are we heading in the right direction?

The greatest gift given by GOD is the gift of life. Unfortunately most of us take our lives for granted. We just exist not LIVE. Thus we fail to appreciate the simple joys of life. From morning to evening we are just running around. We are simply running to achieve one goal and then start on with the next one. Life has become a rat race. No time to stop, think and contemplate where our life is heading? Where are we going? It might so happen that in this race of life we reach the top of the ladder, just to realize that the ladder is facing the wrong wall. This reminds me of a story of an architect.

Once upon a time there was a world renowned architect. He had constructed some of the finest buildings and structures. However, he got bored of his work and wanted to quit and live a life in peace and comfort. When he told his boss about his decision, his boss got very sad and requested him to make one last house. Very reluctantly the architect accepted the offer and started with his work giving less than his best efforts. When the house got constructed his boss came to see his last and final creation. On meeting the architect, the boss handed over the house keys to him as a token of appreciation for his years of service and excellence. This came as a shock to the architect. The house didn’t match with the excellence of any of his creations. He lamented thinking had he known that this would be his house, he would have made it so very differently.

Isn’t this the same with all of us. We build our lives step by step often putting in less than our best. And then with a shock we realize on a later date that we have to live in the house that we have built. Like the architect in the story we are tempted to rebuild our house. But Alas we cannot go back. We are the carpenter of our house, the architect of our building. Each day we hammer a nail, place a board or erect a wall. Our attitude and choices of today will build our ‘house’ for tomorrow. So build wisely!!!

Keep questioning yourself ‘Is our activities of today incongruence with our goals of tomorrow?’, ‘Are we heading in the right direction?’, ‘Are we giving our best shot?’. Let us enjoy and live each and every moment of our lives to its fullest because ultimately ‘Its Our Life.’

Azim Premji’s speech at the Pratibha Puraskar awards

Respected President, Mr Behar, Guest of Honour Mr. G Ramesh, the office bearers of the Karnataka State Secondary Teachers’ Association, Bangalore South, ladies and gentlemen,

It is indeed a pleasure to be present here among so many young achievers who are being felicitated by the Karnataka State Secondary Teachers’ Association Bangalore South District. I heartily congratulate all the young achievers, their teachers and also their parents and family members. Believe me, the pleasure of being here is far higher than the pleasure of achieving accolades in the boardroom. I must say that the idea of felicitating the achievers under Pratibha Puraskar Felicitation is an outstanding idea and I thank the organisers for inviting me here.

I sincerely believe that these young achievers are the future leaders of our country and they need to be looked at as role models by the other children present here.

If those who are being felicitated here carefully think through, they will realise that their success is a result of some of the common ingredients that are normally responsible for any success. In my opinion, those are

Hard Work

This debate whether hard work is necessary or smart work is necessary has long been settled and everyone now knows that both are required. Believe me that the world out there is very competitive and there is no substitute to hard work. Even today, I find it difficult to fully cope with the demands of my responsibility despite putting in the work of over 16 hours a day, six days a week. It is possible that today some of you get good results even with less than hard work, but as you grow, you will find that you will have to put in more and more work to get better grades. If you have other interests such as sports and recreation, the number of hours you have to put in only go up. Whether it is Mr. Amitabh Bachchan or Sachin Tendulkar, one of the key ingredients of their success is hard work.

Sincerity and Consistency

Only if you take your responsibilities seriously, you will concentrate and do justice to what you are supposed to do. Whether it is studies or sports activities or any other form of art, you will realise that you need sincerity of purpose and a consistent effort towards the goal. There is no individual or organisation in this world that can sit on its laurels and enjoy permanently in life. Many a times, it is easy to achieve peak performance but very difficult to remain there unless you have a consistency of effort. This requires a lot of will power and urge to excel in what you are doing all the time. The world around you has very short memory. Even a Sachin Tendulkar will be quickly forgotten if he does not score runs for five consecutive matches. There is no alternative to consistency for continued success.

Unflinching Faith in Yourself, Your Teacher and in Your Parents

To start with, you must believe that you will be able to achieve excellence in life. Self-confidence plays a vital role in doing anything well in life. And self-confidence has to be maintained despite a few failures in life. In the corporate world, we give a lot of importance to self-confidence as a leadership quality.
Remember that the chances of the patient getting cured of illness are far higher if that patient has faith in the doctor that he/she consults. Similarly, you must have full faith in your teachers and parents that they mean well for you. You must strongly believe that your teacher or your parents are the best in the world and must carry the highest respect for them. You are where you are, only because of your teacher and your parents.

You have achieved something because you wanted to achieve it

Please realise that the success you have achieved is not by default or by sheer coincidence but is a result of what you set out to achieve consciously. Anything that happens by accident does not last long. You have huge challenges before you in life and you are just entering the battlefield of competition. You can continue to be successful, only if you do continue to put in hard work, with the same sincerity, integrity of purpose and complete same confidence about self.

Many people say I am successful in what I am doing, though I personally feel that I have to achieve so much more. I sincerely believe that there are some fundamental reasons that help in achieving results in life:

The first contributor is upbringing. Our first learning happens at home. Our parents sacrifice so many things for us and ensure that we get the best of everything. My parents very consciously taught me the middle class values of respecting the elders, respecting the good values in life and above all respecting the value of money. So if your parents also make efforts to inculcate these values in you, embrace these values willingly.

The second contributor is the educational institutions we study in. I loved my school and my college. I learnt so many things there. The teachers were very kind and paid individual attention to me. I also learnt a lot from my co-students. I would urge each one of you to get the best out of your schools and colleges since this period in life will not return.

The next important thing in life is to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve in life. Your vision will act as a lighthouse that guides the path for you all the time. Even in the organisations, we find that vision helps us in guiding our actions.

No vision can work unless you have a clear plan of execution. I always found that a vision is meaningless unless it is backed by a clear action plan. So if you have a vision to become a doctor or a lawyer or an astronaut, you must think through and plan what actions are required to achieve this vision. There has to be a complete alignment of your vision and your actions. You cannot become a doctor or an engineer if you spend most of your time in playing cricket. Nor can you become a top class cricketer if you spend most of your time indoors.

The next element I want to share with you is the need for speed in life. The world around us is moving at an unbelievable pace and if you feel to keep pace with the world, you will be left behind. So whatever you do has to be done quickly and now. There is no place for tomorrow if you have to do something today.

The world of today is not simple but very complex. It will constantly throw at you challenges, paradoxes and conflicting messages. Nothing will be available for you in an easy way. You will have to develop the ability to make meaning out of this and choose what is right for you. In other words, you will have to develop the ability to deal with ambiguity.

Above all, my suggestion to you is to play to win. The new meaning for playing to win is to understand the depth of your potential and utilise it to the fullest. Winning does not mean playing dirty. Cutting corners would not give you the satisfaction of a real win. At Wipro, we achieved what we achieved without compromising in any manner on integrity. We believe in certain values strongly and do not compromise on them in any situation.

It is only a well-meaning education system that develops the competence and self-confidence among human beings. As you might have heard, in Azim Premji Foundation we have a dream of impacting the life of millions of children through universalisation of elementary education under Azim Premji Foundation. We strongly believe that every child in this country has a fundamental right to education and therefore, must be in school. We also believe that every child must remain in school and joyfully learn. My personal experience, after having worked in this area is that we have in our country a huge number of passionate teachers who, in a self-less manner are carrying out the responsibility of educating children in thousands of school. Especially in the government schools there is a lot of talent among the teachers and they are trying to make the best of their limited resources all the time. You are really fortunate that some of these teachers are taking cognisance of your achievements and are felicitating you. I would like to salute and respect the contributions of teachers across the country in shaping the future of the youth of this country.

I once again thank the teachers’ association for inviting me and wish all of you the very best for your future.

Abraham Lincoln’s letter to headmaster

A letter written by Abraham Lincoln to the Headmaster of a school in which his son was studying. It contains an advice, which is still relevant today for executives, workers, teachers, parents and students.

Teach him that for every enemy there is a friend.

It will take time, I know; but teach him, if you can, that a dollar earned is of far more value than five found.

Teach him to learn to lose and also enjoy the winning.

Steer him away from envy, if you can .

Teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Let him learn early that bullies are easiest to lick.

Teach him if you can the wonder of books…but also give him quiet time to ponder over the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on the green hill-side.

In school teach him it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat.

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong.

Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with the tough.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the band wagon.

Teach him to listen to all men but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him if you can how to laugh when he is sad.

Teach him there is no shame in tears.

Teach him to scoff at cynics and be aware of too much sweetness.

Teach him to sell of his brawn and brain to the highest bidders; but never put a price tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob…and to stand and fight if he thinks he’s right.

Treat him gently; but do not cuddle him because only the test of fire makes fine steel .

Let him have the courage to be impatient, let him have the patience to be brave.

Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order; but see what you can do…he is such a fine little fellow, my son

~Abraham Lincol

Words of Wisdom

Just now, got a meaningful (rarely so) forward (e-mail). These are the words of wisdom by Swami Vivekananda! I really find this interesting!


"

When I asked God for strength
He gave me difficult situation to face.

When I asked God for Brain & Brawn
He gave me puzzle in life to solve.

When I asked God for Happiness
He showed me some unhappy people.

When I asked God for Wealth
He showed me how to work hard.

When I asked God for Favors
He showed me opportunities to work hard.

When I asked God for Peace
He showed me how to help others.

God gave me nothing I wanted
He gave me everything I needed.