No Deal is Better Than a Bad Deal

A problem can either make you or break you.The hammer that breaks glass can shape steel. It’s up to us to be Glass or Steel.

We’ve all had our fair share of problems, failures and hardships. We’ve succeeded at some, lost some but hopefully never failed to learn from them. They say it’s easier to learn from a failure than from a success. It would be strikingly evident what went wrong. So here are a few of the lessons I learnt from my failures- the HARD way. Some were due to the lack of focus, some were due to the lack of foresight and the like.

I’ve truly understood the relevance of this famous American quote recently. Its simple- if you don’t like it, don’t take it. People would try to push things through the way they want but if you feel it’s not what you’re looking for, let it pass. Don’t settle for anything less than what you want as you’re bound to repent it later on. It’s common to find Russian negotiating tactics to get things through. The Russian style of deal making relies on making you believe that their’s is THE ONLY way out. Even when you’re cornered with your back against the wall, settle for nothing less!

Similarly, unemployment is Half as Bad as an Awful Job

I’ve been there and I can very confidently tell you that no matter what people tell you about being unemployed, it’s not as bad. Its atleast not half as bad as keeping a job that you don’t want to do, a job that gives you nothing more than money. If keeping yourself occupied throughout the day is your excuse to hold on to such a job, you should be looking for something called a hobby. It’s perfectly fine to take up a job and then realize that you’re misfit and then move on to another. But again, if your next move is purely based on the compensation then, we can confidently radio ‘Houston, we’ve a problem’. Unless you’ve compelling reasons to stay, I would suggest that you NOT waste time. If you feel that you’ve stayed on the job for a significant while and you’ve started to stagnate, move on! It’s unfair to operate on a reduced effectiveness and penalize the team for the same. Once you feel that your best days in the job have past, it’s the best to move on rather than spend time and effort simply dragging your feet just for the sake of keeping yourself occupied.

Chasing Money Can Be an Epic Disaster

Unless chasing money is your profession, don’t try to chase a profession for the sake of money. It’s a fad to opt for higher paying jobs turning a blind eye to the functions of the job itself. Many commit this fallacy, few rise above it, the others sink in this destructive sea. Don’t take up any job that comes your way. Take up only what you really want to do. Those were the words of wisdom from a relative of mine. But alas! It failed to make a significant impression on me back then. I’ve learnt that if you’re passionate and sincere about what you do, money, success and power WILL automatically follow you.

People Can Say What They Want To

You’re the one living your life and not others. I’ve reached a stage where I don’t care being judged by the society. They can say what they want and I’ll do what I want. I truly don’t care. It has been my observation that when you’re truly in trouble, very few lend you a helping hand while the so-called society stands by and does nothing more than pass comments. Personally, I feel that its more than enough to stand by these people. But let that not stop you from helping anyone who needs your help. Just don’t expect them to reciprocate. Keep it that way. There has to be a difference between ‘the others’ and you. Society exists purely to add fun, glitter and glamour to parties, weddings and other functions and for sociologists to study their behaviours and make money out of it (NOM to Sociologists here).

Be Ambitious!

Have a dream and wake up to make it a reality. Too often people succumb to societal pressures to stay normal, like them, to be ordinary. If you’ve a burning ambition, protect it with all you have and work tirelessly to achieve it at any cost- no matter how foolishly expensive it might seem to others.Its YOURS and not theirs. Accept no compromise and don’t be mediocre. And above all, make sure that what you’re living for is worth dying for. Remember, only the toughest steel goes through the hottest fire!

And Finally…

Never be afraid to fail as if you have to succeed, failure is a pre-requisite- in one form or the other. Failure is never final. True failure is when you give up or fail to learn. As Albert Einstein puts it “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new” and “Try and fail, but don’t fail to try”.  Every successful person has a painful story. Every painful story has a successful ending. Accept the pain, And get ready for success. Be a dreamer, stand out of the crowd, stand tall and rise above the ordinary! Have will power of Steel & vision of Glass and surge ahead! You only get one chance at life, live it to the fullest!

I leave you guys with a great response to an epic failure. Here’s Eugene Francis “Gene” Kranz’s (he was also the flight director for Apollo 13) response to the Apollo 1 launch pad fire. This is also popularly called ‘The Kranz Dictum’. From Wikipedia:

Kranz called a meeting of his branch and flight control team on the Monday morning following the Apollo 1 disaster that killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. Kranz made the following address to the gathering (The Kranz Dictum), in which his expression of values and admonishments for future spaceflight are his legacy to NASA:

Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been in design, build, or test. Whatever it was, we should have caught it. We were too gung ho about the schedule and we locked out all of the problems we saw each day in our work. Every element of the program was in trouble and so were we. The simulators were not working, Mission Control was behind in virtually every area, and the flight and test procedures changed daily. Nothing we did had any shelf life. Not one of us stood up and said, ‘Dammit, stop!’ I don’t know what Thompson’s committee will find as the cause, but I know what I find. We are the cause! We were not ready! We did not do our job. We were rolling the dice, hoping that things would come together by launch day, when in our hearts we knew it would take a miracle. We were pushing the schedule and betting that the Cape would slip before we did. From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: ‘Tough’ and ‘Competent.’ Tough means we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect. When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is to write ‘Tough and Competent’ on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control. 

Have similar stories? Have other words of wisdom? disagree to any of my learnings? Feel free to use the comments section!

A Sorry State

In today’s fast paced, information packed, busy lives, we often feel that ignorance is bliss. True, life has become very complicated, cluttered and cumbersome and the luxury of living a simple life is restricted to few. In fact a simple life is simply not a luxury most can afford. When we open the newspapers in the morning, we actually have a CHOICE of reading what interests us and skim through the remaining or completely ignore if its something like Indian politics where couple of guys in their death beds make their way to Delhi to hurl abuses at each other. In other words, we control how knowledgable we can be. Its our choice to keep ourselves informed about what is really going on EVEN though We may have no control on those.

India grows at an amazing rate. It technically, was never in recession, it was just experiencing a slowdown. Our IT sector leads the growth and employment numbers. We’re busy test firing nuclear warhead carriers off the coast with a striking precision. Our real estate and infrastructure industry grows at a feverish pace. But all is not well. For example, our esteemed President took a flight in a Sukhoi fighter jet and has reportedly put half of the world’s airforce pilots to shame. She has gone so far to comment that there should be no reason why women combat pilots shouldn’t be restricted from flying such combat aircraft. Just because she flew it? Most countries don’t allow that. Please click here to know about the one on top (it’s a must read!).

Varying Degrees of Ignorance

The other day I was SHELL SHOCKED to learn that a colleague of mine who had worked with IBM for two long years, didn’t think that IBM had a full form until a month back! YES! He didn’t realize until recently that IBM was an abbreviation. Turns out that he tried arguing with a cousin of his who asked him about the abbreviation of IBM. He tried to convince his cousin that IBM doesn’t mean anything. Like CTS (Cognizant Tech Solutions) has no full forms or meanings, IBM also does not. The only problem here was that the cousin knew what IBM stood for. Please keep in mind that this is someone who has been in the industry for close to 10 long years. I wonder what might have happened had someone referred to his employer as The Big Blue. I leave that to your imagination (which must be active and running post the Wikipedia page I suggested).

What is the difference between a designation and ownership of a company? Simple. Right? Apparently, not so to certain guys. When asked for his designation, he promptly responds ‘Employee’. I tried making him realize that his relation with the company is much more than an employee employer relation. He would be assigned a specific designation, a title for the function he performs. He replies saying that he’s not the owner of the company. He also tells me that I’m hard-nosed like the Jihadists – my opinions don’t change or I don’t listen to anyone else! Interesting, never thought of it that way.

You can only take a horse to the water, you cannot make it drink. You’re not expected to rocket science or how an open heart surgery is performed or about weird things like high frequency trading. But display of such brazen ignorance is simply astounding. I remember someone as saying that 20 years later, everything around us might change, but we won’t! Looks like thats all too true. Seen or heard equally similar cases of ignorance? Share it. Use the comments section.

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First Impression is the Best Impression

Let’s face it. Despite all the claims about being non-judgemental and impartial, we ALWAYS tend to judge people. We might end up keeping the verdicts to ourselves, but judge, we do all the time. We tend to judge different things differently. We don’t judge a person by their color and socks by their character. Or do we? What all do we consider when we meet someone for the first time? Do looks deceive? Do we fall for the smooth talker? Lets see.

This is definitely true by and large but by my own experiences, I find this one a tad misleading! They say that it takes a lifetime to know a person. Must be true but you don’t even need an hour to test the ground with a new person. Most people put up a very good composure when met for the very first time. And most of them try to impress.

Now my question here is, is that really necessary? Should you be aggressive about impressing someone? Shouldn’t that be happening naturally? I mean, I’ve met a good number of people who try to push themselves and impress. They don’t care about whom they speak to, they don’t listen- they just behave like telemarketers. They have their own idiotic egos which hover 4 feet above their shoulders, almost begging for attention. What they end up getting is a snub or even worse- have their egos decimated, if they cross the limits!

Looks Can Really deceive

Humans make for wonderful test subjects. No, seriously they do. I usually dress pretty shabbily (only marginally better than a beggar) on quite a few (well, most) of my journeys JUST to observe how people react. I guess the only things that give me away or more appropriately, blow my cover are my watch and my cellphone.

I always pay close attention to the language they choose, the tone and the behaviour they exhibit. Most of them sound a bit confused at the first. Thankfully they speak to me in english anyway. Even the Mallus take the pain to convey some simple message in their typical trademark mallu accent when they could’ve tried their luck with me speaking in malayalam itself! Of course, most of them just shut up and stay away from me but those who do overcome those deceptive barriers I set up, find me interesting and impressive. Quite a few of them, have in fact, kept in touch with me.

Looks can deceive. Few of the most important parameters I heavily rely on, while gauging a person’s potential including  their speech, substance, attitude, outlook and strength of character. The depth of a person can easily be gauged in a matter of minutes if you know what to ask, what to listen and what to observe. You can always judge a person by the questions they ask and not so much by the answers they offer.

So?

While, it might take a lot of time to get to the core of a person, going by experience, I believe it would be fair to judge a person by the way he treats people. A surefire way of differentiating between a fool and an intellect is by the way of their speech. He could be rich but if he’s flaunting that big time, it’s also an indicator that he’s got no idea to manage money. Handling smooth talkers gets a lot difficult as they can talk their way out. It is also said that the measure of a man is by the shine of his shoes. But as I said earlier, it takes a lifetime to know a person as an exception to these rules would be Hitler! He was impeccable along the lines I mentioned here. So how would you judge a person?

And I really hope that this doesn’t sound like a dating handbook!

 

What do you call the slugfest we’re trapped in?

The Army leadership isn’t about barking orders- it almost never is. Yet, they’re so effective in what they do that ,often, the clock work precision with which an op is executed, leave the very men who planned, in awe. So what do they have that the civilian leadership misses out? What is it that their officers do or say to get their men to fight the enemy instead of fighting among themselves like in the civilian world? IS it Discipline? Maybe, but that’s not THE ONLY thing. Turns out that we’ve lots more to borrow from the military than discipline and although I’ve been in the workforce only for a short while, I believe I’ve seen enough of good and bad leadership styles and skills to comment on this issue, if not to profess about it.

It is a widely acknowledged fact that a team is only as effective as its leader. Nothing could be further from the truth. We often find ourselves led by spineless manipulators who lean on to the stronger side whenever something goes wrong so as to protect themselves and egoists who believe they’re doing a splendid job by bossing over when it’s totally uncalled for. While they have a great time satisfying their egos, they have little idea about the amount of damage they cause. Aren’t they supposed to give the team their freedom to operate in a level they’re comfortable in? Isn’t getting what I want in a way they want to do it, leadership?

How to lead- the Army way?

Their definition of leadership is: influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization. A small yet insightful article titled ‘Leadership, the Army Way‘ details the account of an officer with the army who was forced to handle a sensitive situation. Dave - an officer with the 82nd airborne division, was briefing his men on an operation when one of the tasks allocated was turned down by someone under his command. Considering the discipline and the image, Dave could have as well shouted at the person and got it done. But he didn’t! He instead chose to follow a three-pronged approach- Acknowledge, thank, praise — give the tough feedback — then acknowledge and praise some more (in his own words). He acknowledged the great work and the role the Lieutenant had played, told him that his command relies on him, went on to tell him why Dave thought it was unreasonable of him to refuse it in front of everyone and then again praised him for his dedication and great work.

 As my friend Amit points out in his post, the key difference lies in the way they’re groomed for their tasks. Although, the defence and the civilian world are very different, its more than just apparent that their style seems to be working even when under extreme pressures. Amit, who is doing his MBA at the famed Hong Kong University, feels that the military trains their officers FOR leadership and NOT ABOUT leadership, as is the case with MBAs and other courses. Unlike the MBAs where there would be courses on leadership, for the military, leadership IS the course. He also goes on to point out that the military relies on action centric approach to leadership wherein the commander is expected to perform his duties, manage his team and pay close attention to the development of the men under his command.

Where do we go wrong?

In the recruitment process! If you look at the recruitment process of the defence forces, it would become immediately apparent that it’s very demanding and only the candidates actually poised for the role make it through the screening. But is that the case, in the civilian world? Most often than not, it’s a NO. Most candidates are recruited purely for their aptitude and skill for the immediate task at hand. They never keep in mind that these people will have to go on to lead teams later and if they’re not good with leadership, the entire team would inexplicably fail. Such people might make for brilliant subordinates but might make for lousy leaders. It is unfair of their superiors to expect them to do something they’re not good at. Promotions are purely awarded on a person’s merit to perform the task at hand, his manipulation skills and his relationship with the manager and not by keeping in mind, the bigger picture about future leadership. And this is precisely how incompetence is promoted.

It’s certainly true that while our jobs do not involve the use of weapons, tanks, explosives, gallantry and courage, we all have plenty to learn from the men in uniform including the way they treat and lead their subordinates. If only our recruiters show a bit of foresight during the selection process, work would become a lot more easier to manage and handle. So have you been a victim of lousy leadership? How did you handle it? How important do you personally think, leadership is all about?

If only people could borrow something from my favorite quote- the Chetwode motto:

“The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time. The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next. Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time.”

IMDB Info:

User Rating: 8.6/10

Director and Writer: Quentin Tarantino

Star Cast: Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Christoph Waltz, Diana Kruger

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/

Review:

When the movie began, the theatre roared to life with the claps of the audience as soon as Quentin Tarantino’s and Brad Pitt’s names were displayed. It’s not often that you get to watch great movies these days. Inglorious Basterds fits the ‘great’ movies bill perfectly. A thoroughly entertaining, thrilling, gripping and humorous movie it is. The movie adequately captures the atrocities committed by the SS in France and the ill feelings the French had for the Germans especially when they wore the uniform.

The movie bears all the trademarks of a Quentin Tarantino movie. His uncanny ability to bring out humour even in the darkest of the situations were adequately supported by the able acting of Brad Pitt whose thick accent kept many of us confused! The movie surprisingly has very little portions of English conversations. Bulk of the conversations happen in German and French with subtitles in English, so this one should be easy for the Europeans anyway! The star cast does complete justice to the story line, script and of course, above all to the work of Quentin himself! The movie has some traits of Babel, which features different mini stories that happen at different timelines but are connected with each other at a deeper level.

Although this is a Brad Pitt starrer, I personally feel that Col Hans Landa played by Christoph Waltz was the central character. The part was so brilliantly played by Christoph that he would have put an actual German SS officer to shame with his ‘The Jew Hunter’ acting and attitude. And ironical as it might seem, Col. Hans Landa’s role is the only one that remains consistent and constant throughout all the ‘chapters’ in the movie. Brad Pitt never fails to entertain or tickle the funny bone with his thick accent, cool attitude and his uncanny sense of humour in any situation. There’s NEVER a boring moment in the movie. There were no loose ends that makes you think. All the characters were very well portrayed by the actors.

Verdict:

Don’t miss this movie at any cost. This Quentin movie won’t disappoint at all no matter what you’re looking for. Trust me, the movie remains dangerously unpredictable ALWAYS. It’s a VERY entertaining movie to say the least. I’m very impressed! My rating would be 4.5 out of 5!