Time to think

I am back from two weeks of business trip to Norway/Sweden, perhaps most hectic one. I got to chat with different people, at different level and there were few interesting discussions around what customers need in this globalized world.


One common factor emerging out of these discussions is today’s customers need ‘More for less’; they want vendor to be more proactive, suggest ideas to improve the ‘Customer Experience of their end Customer’. Basically they want vendors to be their business partners such that vendor can help them in driving more revenue.

There is a very powerful concept called ‘Client Partner’.

However, the most interesting discussion I had was something to do with personal growth, as how to manage the professional life. This discussion was very interesting.

I met a business unit head and discussion was around ‘Making time to think’. Very simple strategy in life, but to me it sounded very interesting.

Basically what this means is to take out time of a particular working week or some time of the day, out of operational issues and think about a big picture. Think about your strategy towards business; think about how you want to build the team; think about how you can add value to your customers; think about how you want to drive more revenue; think about a great product idea which will help the business or simply think how you can be effective at work.

Making time to think is a superb strategy for success at leadership and in life. Most of leaders spend the best hours in ‘doing things’, in execution part of it. Sometimes by end of the day we feel we are busy and we don’t even notice with what we are busy with. Thinking and reflecting makes sure we are on the right path. By thinking more we will have a better sense of our priorities and what we need to focus on. This ensures we are on the correct path. We can make better decisions and wiser choices.

More time in thinking will make us more reactive as we will have better control. We will become clearer in what we need to do with our time and thus achieve better time management. And our ‘think time’ will provoke some amazing ideas and inspire some big dreams.

And I know the fact for sure as this is how most of the top executives work and strategize. It might look simple but strategizing for the business and devising the vision of the business is not simple. In today’s ever demanding world of customers, being ahead of the curve of customer satisfaction needs a deep thinking and great strategy. And in my opinion this thinking time will help in that.

From personal front this helps in understanding the purpose of life; from broad level perspective. And it helps in cleaning the clutter of mind and helps in having a focused vision on what I want from my life.

Time to learn more!

A Coach

Started thinking when I saw role of coaches in on-going Olympics. Why we need couches?

Coach will help you have both the big picture view and focused attention to details. A coach can help you see patterns that you might forget to notice.

Sometimes we are not even aware of the potential of creating a minute change that could lead into a major breakthrough in our lives. Imagine: a ship sets sail from London to Venezuela and its compass bearing is 5 degrees out, the ship would reach New York.

So a 5-degree course correction in our life now can lead us to a very different place. A coach can help identify this area and support you in creating the 5-degree change today. This change could be in the area of a relationship, breaking out from a habit or addiction, creating certain changes in lifestyle etc.

Again, despite being successful and achieving important goals, you might still feel a certain emptiness inside, or feel that you are not in the flow. This is when we are not really connected to our life purpose. A coach can help you explore your life purpose, what gives more meaning to your life and the legacy and contribution that you want to leave behind.

The coach is non-judgmental and does not have an agenda.

The coach is not an expert of your field. If you are an actor, the coach does not know how to act like you or direct a film. If you tell a close friend something you are going to do, he/she will have an opinion about it. But the coach supports you non-judgmentally and confidentially.

The Coach creates awareness and accountability.

A Coach helps you increase awareness and see why you do things the way you do. Awareness about our patterns is the first step towards creating change. The coach then holds you responsible for making the changes. It's a self-directed journey.

Coach is an expert in his/her field

A coach is a professional trained in the process of coaching, holding unconditional space for your growth, guiding you through ups and downs of the journey and holding you responsible for your actions

We all know it's lonely at the top. Highly successful people lead a complex and high-pressure life, and often they have no one they can reach out to. A coach can help them be more aware of who they are, help them align their physical, mental and spiritual self. A coach can thus reduce burn out, help develop more emotional intelligence and enable them to manage success effectively.

Fate of Social Movements in India

I don’t want to sound pessimistic about future of my country, but why it seems that a noble anti-corruption movement appears to be reaching dead-end where as it has just started?


Yes, I am talking about Anna Hajare’s anti-corruption movement and team’s sudden decision to end the fast and launch a political party.

In first place, I was not completely convinced the way in which ‘fasting’ was used as an instrument to arm-twist the government. I completely agree corruption is the major problem and like you I also hate my hard earned money is being wasted. But, listen-to-me–otherwise-I-will fast approach is a bit going an extra distance.

The Mastermind of Team Anna, Aravinda Kejriwal, who had called for total revolution on the final day of the 10-day fast, said, "People will select the candidates... they will decide the manifesto." For her part, IAC (India Against Corruption group) media coordinator Aswathi Muralidharan says Team Anna will look into the issue of discontent among volunteers.

She says, "However, I didn't sense much anger against calling off the fast which was done when we realised that the government is not ready to even listen to us... our leaders will now tour the entire country to collect people's views." Asked how long it may take for IAC to float a political party, she said, "We are not in a hurry."

This it-self is so unclear as how this movement is going to get converted in to as political party? Such plans are easier said than done. It is not easy to get people select candidates for polls, imagine the confusion when you have to select an unanimous candidature, support that candidate and see him/her through to Parliament?

While the UPA government's wait-and-watch policy has clearly made the Anna agitation transform from a roar to a grunt and then to a whimper over the past one year, many political analysts feel that Team Anna was meant to peter out, especially following the "Mumbai debacle" of last year. Many feel, Team Anna has no ideology. It has no clear-cut agenda. It has no ingredients of being a political party. It is merely a forum. And Anna is no Gandhi to transform a forum into a movement.

Team Anna did achieve one purpose: further dent the government's image. While we are seeing many setbacks to the current UPA government like, policy reform paralysis, sudden drop in the investment world confidence and inability to handle many issues effectively. Team Anna further dented the image.

Having said that, I do support any movement which brings any change; I firmly believe that change should start with me, myself. And Anna’s agitation, if not done anything else, has certainly given a wakeup call to us, to common people who wanted to see the change. Good part is; there are some changes happening, perhaps more silently. And personally I am very delighted to see how the social fabric of India has been changing since last two decades, as how our young leaders have started bringing the change, as how new industry sectors have bought in a revolution.

Question I am asking is all these socials movements are short lived in India? In seventies India witnessed Jayaprakash Narayan’s social movement and which set started to bring the social justice to all. It was short lived practically, though the disciples of JP have left that route long back.

Let the change begin with me/myself to bring the change.