Do you wish to be a leader?

We are built upon our identities. We are lost without them. As long as we feel we’re a separate entity, a unique individual, we’ll hold on to that distinction. We’re all, each one of us, a part of the Collective Consciousness that unifies the entire universe. Holding on to the individual identity simply compounds our problems. When we cling to the idea of being separate, we bring many problems. At the physical level, if we think we’re separate from nature or universe, we’ll be inviting diseases. In our mind, at the mental level, if we think that we’re unconnected then we’re sowing the seeds of violence. We turn selfish, dogmatic, and violent. We become terrorists. We can unite only when we work within the spirit of Collective Consciousness. When we work from the level of individual consciousness, we begin to dissect. We examine these bits and pieces. Logic always breaks. Intuition always unites. At the level of spirit, or the spiritual level, the Collective Consciousness operates to unite. If we think we each are individuals, there is no possibility of any spiritual growth. Spiritually, we can’t even take the first baby steps. Let us look at ourselves this way. At the physical level, we’re not individuals. Our body and nature are much closer than we think possible. For instance, the sun and our body are deeply interconnected. A small change in the sun triggers changes in our body. Logically, we might not be able to relate to it. This is true. We’re connected by thoughts, our mind. A thought from somebody’s mind comes and touches us. Similarly, a thought created in someone’s mind travels to touch another mind. A thought, sowed by someone else, can touch us. The thoughts have power to affect us. Thoughts are like ripples on the waters of a lake. If our ripples are strong, like a wave, we create a strong wave. We’ll create an impression with our thoughts. We’ll be leading and inspiring others by our thoughts. If our thoughts aren’t from our depth, other thought waves will impress upon us. We can be a leader or a follower. There is nothing in between. We always think, ‘I’ll not be a leader. I can’t do that much. I’ll not be a follower either. I’ll maintain my own stand.’ This is impractical. Lead or follow. You cannot stay in between. But, why would you want to be a follower when you can just easily be a leader? Be a leader. Think of yourself as the leader. Influence others with your thoughts. People will follow. It is that simple.

Bollywood king

With Singh is Kinng netting Rs 29 crore in its first weekend compared to Rs 26 crore for last year’s blockbuster Om Shanti Om, the most successful star in Bollywood need no longer be a Khan, a Bachchan or a Roshan. For over a decade, there seemed to be a smooth transition from Shahenshah Bachchan to Badshah Shahrukh, with an intermittent challenge from Aamir and Hrithik. If the 1970s and 80s were dominated by Amitabh’s roles of an angry young man called Vijay taking on the system in Deewaar and Agneepath, the last decade has been mostly about the fun guy next door called Rahul getting the girl even if Shahrukh started his career by literally killing her softly with his song in Baazigar or scaring her out of her wits in Darr! The more serious space was occupied by Aamir whose Lagaan was nominated for an Oscar in the category of the best foreign film. And the schoolkids were wowed by Hrithik playing Superman in Krrish. Now Akshay Kumar has broken into this charmed circle of those who rule Bollywood. Singh is Kinng has proved he can no longer be dismissed as a hero of the front-benchers and whose earthy humour appeals only to the masses — like in director Madhur Bhandarkar’s Aan: Men at Work where police-officer Akshay hurls a cop-killer to his doom from the top of a building and who, when asked where the baddie is, quietly replies “Voh oopar gaya hai” (“He has gone up”)! The last two years have seen six Akshay superhits grossing Rs 600 crore. It is difficult to typecast him even if his next release Chandni Chowk to China could be the closest to his heart since it tells the story of a bawarchi trying to make it big as a chef in China — Akshay grew up in Delhi and trained in martial arts in Bangkok, supporting himself by working as a cook. Bollywood’s latest superstar has proved that too many cooks needn’t spoil the blockbuster broth

Righteousness

Its a fact most of us don't like getting "involved". For instance, sometimes when we see a person being dragged out of a car by miscreants intent on making off with the vehicle, we look the other way. If we in formthe cops later about the place and timing and perhaps, we do so through an anonymous phone call. Even when the person offers resistance and is beaten up in broad daylight, we go on our way. After all,we reason what can one indivitual do to help--- especially since he or she stands a good chance of also being thrashed up in the process .

Maybe there's some logic there. But what about when we see a hit-and-run ening in front of our eyes and don't stop? or don't report in as a witness to a crime? actually, here too, maybe--- just maybe--- there's some logic. In a lot of places (and not apparently in India only), the authorities don't really treat good samaritians as persons wanting to aid an investigation. Instead, they instigate all manner of inquiries and investigation against them, often treating such people on par with the wrong-doers till absolutely proven otherwise. So, hey, who wants to get unnecessarily involved just to end up getting crapped on for trying to do the right thing?

Well, some people still do. Wanda Bulik was 18 when a conductor approached her on a train in Poland during the height of the Second World War. He asked her to take care tf an abandoned three-year-old Jewish boy found tarvelling alone. Without hesitation, the young non-Jew gave up her studies, convinced a young police officers who was in love with her to pose with her as the boys parents and devoted the next four year to sheltering him. This was at atime when nazi Germany had overrun the country and was busy rounding up Jews to send them to death camps. Anybody harbouring the jew ran the terrible risk of being snitched on and discovered and suffering a similar fate ---- preceded by torture to reveal other harbourers.

Recently, 85-year- old Bulik was honoured by Israel's Yad vashem memorial as "Righteous among the Natins" to remind her that she hasn't been forgotten for what she did. However,it's obvious the other nation have actually forgotten about the lady, as if her act was something simply country specific. It's only when we all begin to remember what a righteous act is, will we learn how toget involved

Management

Management innovative motion yields an enduring advantage when one or more of three condition are met: the innovation is based on a novel management principle which challengse some longstanding orthodoxy; the innovation is systemic, encompassing a range of processes and methods; and/or the innovation is part of an ongoing programme of rapid-fire invention where progress compounds over tim. Over the coming decades, an accelerating pace of change will test the resilience of every society, organisation and indivitual.

The balance of promise and peril confronting any organisation will depend of its capacity of adaptation. Hence the most important question aor any company s this: are we changing as fast as the world around us?Ibelieve we are now on the verge of a "post-managerial" society, perhaps even a "post-organisational" society.

Just as the coming of the knowlegde economy didn't herald the death of heavy industry,a"post-managerial"economy won"t be entirely free of executive, sipervisors, admministrators. But it does imply a future in which the "work of management "is less and less the responsibility of "managers."activities still need to be co-ordinated, indivitual efforts aligned and objectives decided upon. But incrasingly, this work will be distributed out to those on the periphery.

Strategy of Branding

It is a generally held wrong belief that branding is only for the big boy of industry and that SME's are better off foccussing on product and prising. Far from it. Branding has nothing to do with size ;it is about defining and regularly highlighting the proposition of a company in the customer's mind and in the market."however small the company, it must thing about its branding. Only then will it be able to attract talent, forge alliances and achieve growth.
Being an SME can in fact be advantageous as it giyes more flexibility for the adoption and implement of any strategy or policy."as an SME, we are more flexible and innovative to leverage marketing strategies for entering new product markets and ciping with complex environments. With the help of our in-house marketing communication we have become more adept at accommodating brand management pratices that produce positive result.
Branding includes but goes beyond the tangible element like the companyname,logo,tagline,etc. An organisation's brand image is definitely reflected in its products and/or services but it is also reflected in its internal proceesses and philosophies as well as at its various points of contact with customers and other business partners.In other words branding is everything that a company does.Therefore,it is crtical to determine right from the beginning - the brand imege that a company wants to communicate ."You need to decide what your vision is and what your brand will stand for, thus ,you need to have a long-term brand strategy and it must be integrated with the overall business plan. Having a brand strategy doesn't necessarily mean having a huge advertising- It is the communicatin of the brand. Good branding is about putting the difference into everything-from receiving phone calls ti packaging & delivering the product and from training employees to providing after sales service! "The vision or goal statement should be visible to all at all times to create a belief in the same all levels. Proper branding creates loyalty from customers and employees." True branding at times may mean spending on something that is not a core business; something that SME's are known to detest. However SME's need to look at is as an investment and not as expenditure. "Even if the investment in brand building is significant, the return can be huge if the company knows what kind of a brand it as aspiring to become."
Engaging employees at every level with the branding process is indeed very critical. Many times, the brand vision doesn't permeate beyond the senior management of a company and therefore it becomes blurred. Thus, it is essential that each employee - irrespective of his/her position in the organisational structure - internalises tha brand value and carries forward the vision. It may sound complicated but it can be a very interesting and useful exercise in the long run. Involving employees in the branding exercise will give them a sense of belonging as well as a sense of ownership and will prove very beneficial in retaining them. Attracting the right talent and retaining it is indeed a huge challenge for most SME's. Just as people love to buy well known brands, they also love to work for well known brands. Sadly, SME's usually not looked upon as ideal employers even if they have employee friendly policies. " SME's follow best of the class HR practices, employee welfare and provide extensive trainings but still end up loosing people to a large company thereby end up being training grounds for bigger brands". That's whyhe too insists that SME's should focus on branding. Branding can do wonders in attracting and retaining the right people.
By not creating a strong brand image, many SME's could actually be losing out on good business opportunities even if they have the right products or services at a competitive price. Being focused on the core area SME's are able to maintain good quality of service delivery, Despite this, most of the large customers choose to go with a bigger brand and not a small company. Many times the proposal from an SME is not looked at by an enterprise customer because the top decision makers have not heard of that name.

Voters Ignorance

In theory, democracy is a bulwark against socially harmful policies. In practice, however, democracies frequently adopt and maintain policies that are damaging. How can this paradox be explained? The influence of special interests and voter ignorance are two leading explanations. I offer an alternative story of how and why democracy fails. The central idea is that voters are worse than ignorant; they are, in a word, irrational - and they vote accordingly. Despite their lack of knowledge, Voters are not humble agnostics; instead, they confidently embrace a long list of misconceptions.
Economy policy is the primary activity of the modern state. And if there is one thing that the public deeply misunderstands, it is economics. People do not grasp the "invisible hand" of the market, with its ability to harmonise private greed and the public interest. They underestimate the benefits of interaction with foreigners. Finally, they are overly prone to think that economic conditions are bad and getting worse. Government varys in scope as well as form. Pundits often blame citizens 'apathy on an elections' exceptionally insipid candidates. Deeper thinkers blame voters ignorance on lack of democracy itself. Voter ignorance is a product of natural human selfishness, not a transient cultural aberration.

Optical fibres

When you are looking for something in a corner of a shelf, you naturally put on the light in a room ---only to find that the light does not reach into the shelf,Then you remember the science lesson which tells you that light travels in straight lines.So the rays from the bulb cannot bend around the door of the cupboard and inside the shelf !
Don't you wish then that light didn't follow such rules ? Remember Mulla Nasiruddin? How easy it would have been for him to find his lost ring if only he could have piped the done it, because scientists in his time had not learnt to make light bend.Optical fibres were only developed after the 1950's.
An optical fibre is a glass or plastic fibre. It is much, much finer even than a hair and very flexible. It can be bent any way we like. When light rays enter it at one end, they are repeatedly reflected from its sides back into the fibre by a process called total internal raflection (TIR). The rays yravel in a zig-zag manner through the fibre. They can come out only from the other tiop of the fibre. hence, the can be bent or twisted or wound in any way and the lightr rays go wherever the fibre goes !
Wonderful things can be bending or 'piping' light in this way. Researchers at the University of Michigan first used optical fibre bundles to make a 'gastroscope' in 1956. Doctors use the gastroscope to guide light into the drakness of our stomach to find out what is wrong inside Now-a-days, 'fibrescopes' help docterto look into almost all parts of our digestive tract. The gastroscope is made of two,bundlestogether form akind of rope which is about 8 mm thick,
This rope is slowly and carefully pushed inside the patient's body tioll it reaches the part thet the doctor wants to examine. One bundle carries light inside the patient's body. The other bundle carries the image of the inner part to the doctor's eyes or to a camera!Thus, using the optical fibres the doctorcan 'see' insidethe body of the patient without cuttiong it open!
Optical fibres have many amazing uses. They are very useful in communications .Today, they have almost entirely replaced coppert cadles in telephone and computer networks.Cables of optical fibres are lighter and thinner.So,less space is needed in laying them underground. They are much,more efficient than copper cables in carrying voice or computer data over thousands of kilometers.
The miracle of millons of people speaking to other all over the world at the same moment, the hundreds of TV channels that we can see, the unlimited loads of datawe send using the internet ----none of thus would have been possible without optical fibres.
But that's not all.Optical fibres are used in meny other advanced instruments which are required in fiendsa like chemical and engineering.
In some buildings, optical fibres are used to route sunlight from the roof to other parts of the building.(No electricity needed!)
Optical fibres are used to light up showcases which display things made of crystal glass. Anumber of fibre-bundles light up the glasswares from different angles. Can you imagine what abrillant sight that would make?
You have made seen the beautiful fibre optic 'light fountain' in shop window. Numerous glass fibres rise like a fountain from a base.There is a bulb inside the base.When it is switched on, the tip of each fibre shines like a tiny spark.If it is darj around the lamp, you might also faintly see the light 'flowing' throught the fibres. In some lamps, even the colour of the changes continuously.It makes a pretty picture indeed.
Optical fibres can do all kinds from saving life to making life beautiful.