What A Prayer!

I recently came across a prayer by E Hubbard.  I was completely mesmerized by the words and the intention of its author.  Here it is…

“The supreme prayer of my heart is not to be learned, rich, famous, powerful, or “good,” but simply to be radiant. I desire to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and good will. I wish to live without hate, whim, jealousy, envy, fear. I wish to be simple, honest, frank, natural, clean in mind and clean in body, unaffected—ready to say “I do not know,” if it be so, and to meet all men on an absolute equality—to face any obstacle and meet every difficulty unabashed and unafraid.”

“I wish others to live their lives, too—up to their highest, fullest and best. To that end I pray that I may never meddle, interfere, dictate, and give advice that is not wanted, or assist when my services are not needed. If I can help people, I’ll do it by giving them a chance to help themselves; and if I can uplift or inspire, let it be by example, inference, and suggestion, rather than by injunction and dictation. That is to say, I desire to be radiant—to radiate life.”

Observe the desire here – to radiate life.  This is such a great departure from the mundane desires that people bundle as a shopping list in their prayers.

I cannot comment much about the above as doing so will take the charm out of the eloquence with which it is written.  The intention of the prayer is as noble as any other prayer – but somehow it has a heart.  I found peace.  I hope you all too…

Copyright© Nitesh Kotecha

Why Meditate?

In the daily motion of our life, we are bound to be emotionally high-jacked.  We could be surrounded by emotions such as greed, anger, spite, envy, jealousy, etc.  Our body moves towards its death, every second.  We fall ill – sometimes seriously ill, and the whole world comes crashing down.

Alternative healing presupposes that most of our illness spring from our disorderly and negative emotions.  Mood swings, depression and negativity cause real damage.  Programs have been designed to induce relaxation in our body so as to alter our mental and physical state.  However, there is only so much that it can do.

Meditation is used to defy the above condition and induce a state of thoughtlessness.  The idea is to overcome thought.  A saying goes “The lesser the traffic of thoughts in our mind, the smoother the journey”.  The monkey mind no longer stirs and we are introduced to an alpha state.  Meditation refocuses our energy to the higher self where greed, anger, spite, envy, jealousy, etc have no place.  The energy used up by the lower values is now free for attaining the highest state of consciousness.

All education must first begin with the introduction to meditation.  The rest follows just like the shadow follows the person.

Copyright© Nitesh Kotecha

The Title Trauma

This incident happened to a friend of mine.  His production in-charge was due for a raise and review.  The manager insisted that irrespective of the rise in salary, he now wanted the post of “President - Operations”.

The fact of the matter is that he was the boss of the department.  He has two assistants and then there were the labor.  The fellow had joined my friend's  organization by retiring from the post of “Vice -President” and so he wanted to look good on the resume by an apparent "President" Title.

Here is the issue.  Why are these executives crazy about the post titles?  I am not planning to throw a Robin Sharma on you here with this question. I would like to approach it differently.

An executive is a person who, by virtue of his knowledge, skill, or capacity, contributes in such a way that he or she positively affects the capacity of the organization to perform and to obtain results.  In this sense, just about every person is potentially an executive.  There may be some who approach their task in a lackadaisical manner but let’s leave them aside.

A higher title in an organizational hierarchy must result into an enhanced potential for strategic decision making – and the person must be equipped to take those decisions better than anyone else suitable  for the job.  The higher title must have more latitude and be more empowering.  Under these conditions, a higher title is desirable and may be sought.

In sum and substance, a blue collar worker is an executive too.  The scope of his work and the latitude in decision making may be limited – but I don’t see this fellow any different from the CEO of a company.


The idea is to be effective and have an impact.  Nothing less.  Other than that, a title for namesake is a trip to fantasy land via the vehicle of self deception.

Copyright © Nitesh Kotecha

Not Being The Permanent Doormat

I have met many who live the lives of a doormat – they allow people to walk all over them.  I can understand that we may be tolerant and considerate; especially with the ones we love and care about.  However, to have somebody run over you is a pathological condition.

India, as a country, has been invaded so often, that our culture has adopted aggression as the norm.  Our mindsets have been attuned towards respect for power.  Power displays by our elected representatives is hangover from the British era.  The lack of accountability of Indians in public service adds glamour to holding power.

These factors damage our ability to assert ourselves.  Our schools project the teacher as not someone who teaches but someone who must be revered.  This conditioning of the child during the primary years creates a non-assertive mass where the group norms of submission get programmed and validated.

Religion and religious norms are oppressive and laden with guilt.  The rites and rituals are designed to bring about conformity.  The focus on the academic performance has been made so critical to life that independence in thought and action is short of a crime.

Success lies in our ability to assert ourselves.  We may assertively choose not to assert ourselves, and that is fine too.  However, we must cross over the various cultural and religious boundaries of thought and protect our individual rights.

Here is a short story to illustrate this point –

A man slapped a Christian monk. The monk was just as a monk should be; he gave him the other cheek: according to the rule.  The man slapped the other cheek too – and hit him even harder. He thought this is a great opportunity, if the fellow offers the other cheek then why leave it?

He hit him harder. But as soon as he had hit hard he was very surprised. More surprised than when the other cheek was offered because then the monk immediately pounced on him, sat on his chest and began beating.

The man said, “Brother, you are a monk, a Christian monk, what are you doing?”

The monk said, “There is no third cheek, now I will give you a taste of fun. Jesus’ rule is fulfilled now. Now it is me against you.”

The monk was very zestful.  He gave him a good thrashing.  He said, “Jesus said offer the other cheek – I have done that.  Now I am on my own.”

If you are offering the other cheek to defeat someone then you are in the situation of this monk.  

Soon you will have to spring...

Copyright© Nitesh Kotecha

Move Beyond Personal Growth

A need for leaders in a group is to have the ability to move beyond personal growth.  What are the conditions that will not allow a person to embrace the ability to support others?

Insecurity – Insecurity can permeate any leader on any competitive point.  Insecure leaders put checks and controls on the team under clever disguises.  They complain about insubordination, prior approvals and the like.  Insecure people feel vulnerable and look inward - and this coerces them to restrict the development of the potential of his team.

Trust Issues – A leader, especially an inexperienced one, will have trust issues in a group.  The ability to foster a spirit of trust is the hallmark of a leader. Humans are naturally disposed to trust and our ability is marred by bad parenting, conditioning in schools and media related negativity.  Trust is integral to our area of influence while biases and prejudices developed from the social environment chip away at our ability to work and lead.

Commitment – The cultural messages that we get from our mythological stories stress the fact that small things done consistently carry more value than loud actions take sporadically.  The leader’s commitment to bringing out the best in the group requires consistency in thought and action.  The behavior and tone of the leader must demonstrate this commitment.

The leader has to commit to various leadership roles within an organization.  Bringing out the best in others will require a mindset that will allow, on one hand, the leader to assert his position in a group in, say, managing a subordinate’s behavior in the presence of the group while supplementing his own goals for growth and development.

Copyright © Nitesh Kotecha

Your Broker As A Cheat (Part 3)

There is a joke...

"I hear that you lost some money on Dalal Street. Were you a bull or a bear?"
"Neither, just a plain simple ass."

The whole IPO (Not “Initial Public Offer” but “Its Positively Overpriced”) business is a business about an inside job.  Let us break it down in steps and understand it.

It begins with an insincere company wanting public money.  It may have a business model in place.  The next job is to meet a venture capitalist or a private investor.  The “critical investor” will now “develop” the business model and make it more market savvy.

It is at the above the stage that the business has value or creates value.  However, the private investor or the venture capitalist would have negotiated hard and acquired shares in this company at a dirt cheap price from its promoters.

It is at this stage that big brokers and /or financial service providers take a stake in this stock.  The stock is then placed privately with them – either directly or indirectly through benami companies or other off- shore companies.  Please remember that most corporates have huge amount of benami companies that they own through some back-hand way.  It is rumored that many of our Sensex and Nifty companies have more than 25000+ benami companies that help the main company adjust their books of accounts, amongst other things.

This is the part where the game is set.  The financial service providers or brokers have a team that markets this stock heavily.  Your broker will be a part of this racket.

The retail investor now subscribes to this IPO.  Newspapers and the news channels join this game and create a perception for the retail investor.  Your broker will sing a song to you about how great this stock and its future are.  He will talk about valuations, long term growth, value investing, Peter Lynch and Warren Buffet – basically any nonsense through which he can increase his own credibility with you and persuade you.

You and your money are soon toast.

Read more of this in the way “critical investors” exited Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines stock immediately after an IPO.  You will know more.

Beware of the broker who asks you subscribe to an IPO.  Ask him why you should subscribe to the IPO and he will tell you that he has got news about it from "the smartest guys" in Mumbai.  He will succeed on you because of your greed.

If you like IPOs, make your own choices.  Junk your broker.  He is a humbug who is more interested in the turnover in his account than your money.

The current financial environment sucks.  So, why are there no IPOs?  Are there not many companies out there that honestly need the public money to grow and take part in the India story?  Are there no good companies that are riddled with debt and could do with some equity to get rid of it?


The problem is that the private investor / the financial services company will not get the 500%+ return that they are expecting on their money as the retail investor is currently not participating in the markets.

The last year, Indian investors lost over INR 10,640,000,000 (USD 221,666,667) PER HOUR OF TRADING.  Are you guessing where the money went?


Well, it’s the private investor, the venture capitalist, the financial service providers, the bank.

And your broker.

Happy Investing !!!

Copyright © Nitesh Kotecha

Prosperity Quote # 1

A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity 'til he has tasted adversity.

Sa'Di

When You Have Got God, Why Would You Want Anything Else?

Our most typical agenda for prayers is a demand for a wish or a desire that is unfulfilled.  The other reason for prayers is a state – the state of fear. If I leave aside conformism and parental conditioning, the above two reasons – a menu or a fearful state - are the most typical motivators for prayers.

God does not run errands.  He is not somebody who takes orders.  In fact, God appreciates the fact that there is no demand (representing absence of desire) and no fear (representing karma consciousness).  In fact, the pearly gates of heaven are open to those who want God for God’s sake.

Below is a short anecdote by Osho.

A person died. He had spent his whole life praying. He went to the synagogue and shouted his prayers out loudly. When he went to bed at night he would again shout out his prayers. If his sleep was broken, again he would shout his prayers –“Listen God!”

In front of him lived an atheist, who never prayed and never went to the temple. The person thought in his heart – he was religious – he thought, “Child, enjoy your two or four more days of fun and then you will fall into hell, then the score will be settled.” And he was happy that, “I will be in heaven. I have done so many prayers, I have earned so much virtue. You will fall into hell. Now enjoy your four days pleasure and delights. Enjoy playing on your flute. But after these four days of moonlight come dark nights.”

Thus he thought to himself, doing his prayers more and more loudly. In his prayers he asked heaven for himself and in addition asked hell for his atheist neighbor. By coincidence they both died the same day. The angels came to take them. They took the religious man off towards hell. He screamed loudly, what are you doing?

And they took the unreligious man towards heaven. The man said, ”This is unfair. My whole life it was unfair and now injustice again. I was suffering then, but I kept patient in every way, assuring myself, ’It is nothing, endure it. Just four days of suffering, then heaven.’ And you are taking this sensualist off to heaven? Certainly there has been some mistake. You must be carrying orders to deliver me to heaven, look at your letter. Take him instead, you have made a mistake.”

But they said, “There is no mistake. If you are too upset we will take you both to meet god.” He said, “Take us. Certainly. It can be decided there.”

Coming in front of god he shouted again, it was his old habit. God said, “I am in front of you, now why are you shouting? What do you want?”

He said, “Some mistake has happened; they were supposed to take me to heaven and took this knave. He is a sensualist, and he spent his whole life doing wrong things. He has never prayed. I was always praying, why was I being taken off to hell?”

God said, “Because of your prayers. You have been eating my brains. Should I invite you to stay in heaven now and put my life in danger, in this harassment? This is the fruit of your prayers. This fellow I am inviting because he plays flute, he lives in music and melody. He will bring a little gaiety to heaven. Your staying would not add gaiety, what little gaiety there is here would disappear.”

When you have got God, why would you want anything else?

Copyright © Nitesh Kotecha

Do You Collaborate?

Most of us, by nature do not collaborate.  However, I would like to qualify this assertion.

What is the probability of a group of people collaborating with each other on a train journey?  Or on a trip?  I would say that there is a good probability for a conspicuous amount of collaboration.  However, the collaboration that we normally exhibit in such situations takes a back seat in an organization.

Why is our employment in an organization not a journey?  Why do we not think of it as one?  Answers like organizational structure and dynamics are antique.  The change in the situation from a relatively riskless (and a fixed time frame) one to an ongoing and challenging one alters our behavior and approach.

The Bhagvad Gita extols steady wisdom in the Sankhya yoga.  Collaboration stems from a determination to work together towards a goal.  The determination to work together is rooted in the ability to remain steadfast.

Here are certain strategies that may be employed in order to enhance our collaborative nature:

1)       It is suggested that one be trained in the RIGHT skills.  Collaboration would entail reasonable command over people skills and the ability to manage your own behavior.

2)      Conflict can never be personal.  Every organization or every decision making hierarchical order may have at least one certified ignoramus who may have a personal or a hidden agenda.  The ability to steer the communication away from such agendas and refocusing on the issue at hand is a prerequisite for collaborative teams.

3)      The leader must assist the members in getting to know each other so that a deep collective determination develops as a part of the work environment.  People who know each other collaborate more.  The leader must invest time in social events and other forms of networking for his team.

4)      The leader must have the vision to manage and reinterpret the rewards that the team may receive.  This is the most vulnerable moment for any team.  Promises await those teams who can successfully handle success.

5)      Communication in the team must be purposeful.  Gossip and other trivial discussions create perceptions and these perceptions may interfere with our ability to know and relate to other people in the group.

6)      Mahatma Gandhi suggested that“be the change you want to see in the world”.  The leader must demonstrate his ability to collaborate and model that behavior across situations.

Copyright © Nitesh Kotecha

Creativity In Schools - A Speech To Remember

I am currently reading this book called “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson.  This book is about the trials and struggles that a teenage girl faces in a “typical” school in United States.  The book mentions her Art Teachers Welcome Speech on the first day of her art class.

I was bowled over and I thought of sharing this with you all.  Below is the speech, partially modified in terms of sentence structure in order to maintain continuity and flow.

“Welcome to the only class that will teach you how to survive.  Welcome to Art.”

“Soul – this is where you can find your soul, if you dare.  Where you can touch that part of you that you have never dared to look at before.  Do not come here to ask me to show you how to draw a face.  Ask me to help you find the wind.”

“You will graduate knowing how to read and write because you will spend a million hours learning how to read and write.  Why not spend that time on art:  painting, sculpting, charcoal, pastel, oils?  Are words and numbers more important than images?  Who decided this? Does Algebra move you?  Can the plural possessive express the feelings in your heart?  If you don’t learn art now, you will never learn how to breathe!!!”

“Here is an old broken globe that I used to let my daughters use as a football and kick around the studio when it was too wet to play outside.  One day Jenny put her foot right through Texas and United States crumbled in to sea.  

Voila! An idea!  This broken ball could be used to express powerful visions – you could paint a picture of it with people feeling from the hole – the opportunities are endless…”

“ You will each pick a piece of paper out of the globe.”  On the paper, you will find one word – the name of an object.  I hope you will like it.  You will spend the rest of the year learning how to turn that object into a piece of art.  You will sculpt it.  You will sketch it, carve it or use the computer lab for computer aided designs.  But there is a catch – by the end of the year, you must figure out how to make your object say something, express an emotion; speak to every person who looks at it.”

“Welcome to the Journey!”

I have been dreaming and hoping all my life to see Boards and Schools that allow teachers to work with this kind of latitude.  I know there are some that come close to allowing this kind of creative expression – but like I said, there are only some.

The above speech related mostly to art, but I am sure such kind of work can be for social studies, environmental science, and science, including the most agonizing of all subjects – Mathematics.

Here is to wishful thinking.

Copyright© Nitesh Kotecha

Planet Earth Has 5 Years

The world has five years to avoid being trapped in a scenario of severe climate changes and extreme weather events.


Below is a Yahoo! link


http://news.yahoo.com/world-five-years-avoid-severe-warming-iea-170519443.html

The Fox Will Kill The Lion

AltaVista was the world’s most popular search engine by 1998.  The site had recorded 80 million hits a day in 1997.  Yahoo! Inc, via Overture, bought over AltaVista.  AltaVista died and Yahoo! lived.  Google came in and as of today Yahoo! is up for sale.

What does all this mean?  AltaVista set up the multi threaded crawler – the ability to search more web pages than were believed to exist at that time.  What happened to AltaVista’s drive and ambition to remain at the top?  Why did Yahoo! take over and why is the same Yahoo! up for sale today?

Leadership of the fox kind is the key.  There is no way that a fox can fight the lion – certainly not in the traditional sense of jaws and paws.  It is only a dumb competitor who would fight the mighty with tools that yield a competitive advantage only to the mighty.  The fox would challenge the “institutional skills” of the lion and instead rely on his “strategic resources”.  This would necessarily include an opportunity where the lion displays a “weakness” and the inability to fight back.

The above allegory summarizes what happens when the young and the fresh challenge and take over those with power over them.   Failure to focus on strategic leadership and its eventual result of strengthening the competition is well documented in business history.

The question then is what prompts one to take advantage and make better use of an opportunity while the mighty sit back and look on?

The motivation to supersede and win, despite the presence of market heavyweights, along with dissatisfaction with the status quo seems to be the basis of this leadership.

This attitude influences creative output as one is suddenly focused into the task at hand.  There seems to be fireworks not just in our ability to concentrate but also in our capacity to take risks. 

Motivated individuals are able to override programmed modes of thought in order to reflect critically and positively on the situation at hand.  I am sure this also has a lot to do with the ability to find meaning in a task.

Google is the world’s number one search engine.  Google became number one as the promoters were interested in a search engine that ranked websites in terms of importance and quantity of pages rather than the number of times the search items appeared on the page.

Google knew why they had to do it before they knew how they would do it.  The entire motivation seems to stem from altering the status quo and creating new ways of handling resources.

To end the allegory –

a)      The fox does not worry about claws and paws

b)      The fox does not feel the need to fight the lion in the traditional sense

c)       The lion is the king of the jungle and is fixed in his methods

Google is the Lion today.  Here’s to Google – Have a foxy day!

Copyright © Nitesh Kotecha

Keep Going and Find Something Better to Do

David Packard, the co founder of Hewlett Packard always said that he was a human being first and CEO second.  He was a very quiet man and avoided publicity and limelight.  He is quoted as saying “You should not gloat about anything you have done; you ought to keep going and find something better to do”.

There are some lessons here.  Keep going means we cannot rest on our laurels.  This is a trap.  There are many celebrities who have ruined their lives only because they were too proud of their achievements.

Nature has shown that every great invention has been refined and improved upon.  There is nothing in this world that is so perfect that we cannot improve it (well maybe not with the Mona Lisa Smile – but you know what I am talking about).  Thus we may savor the moment of our success and glory but it would be prudent to heed the words of David and see if we can improve upon our last achievement – before our competition does!

Finding something better to do symbolizes that there is always a higher value that we can achieve and aspire to.  An author can write a book and enjoy his new found celebrity status.  However, finding something better to do would mean that the author must now go beyond his last work and once again challenge himself.  The same would apply to a sportsman, a student or a businessman.

There are many benefits to what David advised us.  It improves our relationships across all levels, reduces anxiety and stress, encourages an open approach and attitude – and as paradoxically as it may seem, it enhances one’s self-confidence.

Copyright – Nitesh Kotecha

Are You A Gentleman?

"You can see whether a person is a gentleman or not by seeing how he treats those who can be of absolutely no use to him" – as the saying goes.

We all know how we treat those whom we need or have use of.  Why does a person mistreat, ignore or be otherwise indifferent to those who can be of absolutely no use to him or her?  The root of the behaviour can be safely generalized to the absence of humility.

On a detached and spiritual level, humility as a quality allows us to consider our own defects, be modest in how we describe ourselves and be conscious of the higher powers that may be. If I were to define humility, I would say something like this - "Humility is the quality of being courteous and respectful to others."

This working definition of humility does not qualify what “others” means - and this lack of clarity seems to allow us to be selective about our humility and our disposition.

Indians are conditioned to a phrase - "Your Humble Servant". This is ridiculous. This is a hangover from the Princely and the British era where humility was confused with servility.  Humility is about maintaining our pride about who we are, what our accomplishments are, our self worth - but not about how superior we are to others.

I have always maintained that the higher a person rises in terms of knowledge, wealth, status, power, etc - the more humble a person must be.  Humility means that you are aware of your achievements that have given you knowledge, wealth, status, power, etc – but there is no arrogance.  We all admire people with these traits.  Our admiration for these people does not come from acknowleding their achievements but rather from the absence of arrogance.

There are mountains of materials on leadership.  Management text books go about describing leadership in all its managerial aspect.  However, to lead you must have someone to follow - and nobody follows arrogance.

Copyright - Nitesh Kotecha

A Lovely Video About Foodchains

My daughter Samruddhhi was learning about food chains.  We were searching the web for some resource material that would enhance her knowledge.

We were browsing throught the national geographic website and we came upon a lovely video that clearly explains the food chain.  My daughter loved it and I am sure your children will like it too...

Below is the link. Enjoy

magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0309/quickflicks/brainpop/foodchain/mysteries.swf

Copyright  - Nitesh Kotecha

Effective Managers Are Not Necessarily True Leaders

Effective Managers and True Leaders differ in their

a)    Management Style – Good Managers limit their concerns to the day to day complexities of an organization, while true leaders orchestrate important changes in the organization.  For example, true leadership goes beyond management’s responsibility of planning and budgeting routines, structuring the organization, staffing and monitoring activities by creating a vision for the firm and inspiring individuals to reach for that goal.

b)   Management Traits – A good leader posses a drive, that is, a high regard for achievement and are constantly striving for improvement.   Secondly the good leader exerts leadership motivation – they show interest and desire to lead individuals.  In addition, a good leader ins concerned with his or her integrity, shows self esteem and finally has a high level of knowledge about the industry or company he or she is working for.

c)    Management behavior – A good manager’s behavioral approach centers  on task performance (getting the job done) while good leaders also focus on group maintenance and the concern over their follower’s participation in decision making.  A good leader exhibits behavior that demonstrates concern towards a group as a whole and towards individuals on a personal level; they express concern over areas such as trust, open communication, mutual respect and royalty.

In order to succeed in establishing a positive atmosphere and a culture where employees are encouraged to thrive, it is essential that managers go beyond good management and become great leaders

Source: Bateman and Snell (2007)

Your Broker As A Cheat (Part 2)

There are many reasons why your broker would recommend a stock to you.  

However, the reasons may not necessarily conclude that you are making a prudent long term or a short term investment.  In fact the recommendation may come to you only because you have an account with the broker and that you have cash – and that you are financially dense.

Your broker may have invested in the stock for his other clients, or for his family or for herself.  The stock may not be performing well.  The broker is now experiencing stress and cannot decide her current condition.  The stock is not performing and the broker’s reputation is on the line.  Our internal state of harmony is challenged if she is to conclude that it was a bad stock.

It is at this moment that you ask your broker about a good stock and pop!  She just names the stock that she is stuck in.  Your investment in this stock not only induces conformity in your behaviour – the broker also feels good that money is pouring into the stock.  She now does not have to think that she could be a certified dud.

Your broker could be hand in glove with the main broker at the exchange and there could be a mutual understanding between them to encourage retail participation in the stock thus allowing the company and its operators to offload the stock.

Now, depending on the stock, you may book your losses at some 30% to 40% loss.  This is the time the company and its operators pick up the stock again and look around for fresh idiots to fall prey to the game.

Some stocks in this category are Prakash Industries Ltd, Shree Precoated Steel Limited, Sturdy Industries, India Lease Dev, Shree Rayalseema, Anus Lab, Zyden, Arvind Remedies, Karuturi Global, Alok Ind, Assam Co  and similar certified junk.

Please note that such a game plan is first initiated by a good looking “Research” Report or some model portfolio gibberish.  Your broker will produce such a report before you in order to add authenticity to an otherwise junk proposal.  If you are greedy, you are game.

A giver is a person who gives, a donor is a person who donates and a broker is a person who gets you broke!

In dealing with brokers, it may pay to heed to the words of Alexander Pope:

Be wise,

Be discreet,

But mark that point,

Where sense and dullness meet.

Happy Investing !

Copyright – Nitesh Kotecha