Corporate Chanakya

Think of Chanakya... Wittiness, Intelligence and a great Strategist- these adjectives comes to one’s mind. Can we use Arthashastra in corporate world? This question came to my mind when I saw “Corporate Chankaya’ at ‘Crossword Best-Sellers bookshelf. I was inquisitive when I understood that Mr.Radhakrishnan Pillai (author) conducts workshops for students and corporates based on the teachings of Chanakya.

I found this author’s story very motivating. Mr.Pillai is like one of those successful new age entrepreneurs who venture into a unique business. He dares into realms of Spiritual Tourism- a soul fulfilling endeavor. I admire him because he diligently followed his clairvoyance at Lake Manasarovar and has dedicated his life in preaching Arthashastra. I can relate to author’s experience because I was also fortunate to visit Manasarovar last year and it is very overwhelming.

‘Corporate Chanakya’ dwells broadly on Leadership, Management and Training. Author quotes 175 verses from Arthashastra and explains the meaning and relevance to the respective field in Management.

I found few chapters well written for the corporate world but others are just useful to management graduates.

For instance a section on ‘Advice to Entrepreneurs’ is very apt for budding business executives. It starts with the importance of Entrepreneurship in the current business environment, then a relevant Chanakya’s verse along with Mr.Pillai's view. Examples of Bill Gates, Narayana Murthy and Madam C.J.Walker are quoted who displayed the attitude of ‘make it happen’.

But I did not find the same flow in most of the segments of this book.

The section on ‘Ethics in Business’ could have been scripted in a more appealing manner. Mr.Pillai could have quoted more examples to highlight the magnitude of ‘ethics’ in the corporate world. He just explains the meaning of Chanakya’s verse and his interpretation about it. He refers to Peter Drucker view on value system and subtly mentions about an successful Indian Company which has high score on ethics. (Reader has to guess the company!!!)

Author could have mentioned names from the most ethical companies in the corporate world and explained their value system.

http://ethisphere.com/2011-worlds-most-ethical-companies/

He could have taken examples of Enron and Bernard Madoff to substantiate the significance of Arthashastra in competitive business world.

But we need to applaud author’s effort to master Arthashastra and share this in a lucid style. Certainly after I read this book I was influenced that Arthashastra is pertinent in these times.

Man's Search For Meaning

I was very inquisitive to know more about Dr.Viktor Frankl on learning that he inspired Dr.Stephen Covey (author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) after Mahatma Gandhi.

There must be something about Dr.Frankl to have been placed in the same pedestal as Mahatma Gandhi.

‘Man’s Search For Meaning’ is mentioned in the first habit – ‘Be Proactive’ in Dr.Covey's book. The first edition of this book was published in German in 1946 and author was professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School.

He was imprisoned into Nazi concentration and extradition camp and was one among 1500captives in a shed where hardly 200 could be accommodated. After he clears the first selection at the camp for survival he is given a customary bath and full body shave, both in just 2 minutes!!!

This marked his induction into the camp.

The only way a captive can survive in the camp is to look fit to work. Even small blister can lead one to gas chambers. Dr.Frankl strives to survive in spite of all odds. The first part of this book is full of his spine chilling experiences and tactics to endure. The second is a summary about Logotherapy - a psychoanalysis method to help the dependent to find meaning his/her life

We cannot even perceive hostage’s life at Nazi camp; this book is a great insight to the humanity – ‘power of choice during horrific situations’. ‘An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is a normal behavior. Author displayed this attitude in an utter desolation.

Unlike other self-help books which are generally a well thought rhetoric, this is a factual incident. I realize that many self-help books are derived from this book and hence a classic.

Apart from his experiences these below maxims were energizing…
- ‘I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved’. The Salvation of man is through love and in love.
- Humor was another of soul’s weapons in the fight of self preservation.
- He who has a ‘why’ to live for can bear almost any ‘how’.
- Live as if you were living already for the second time

Author says meaning of one’s life is a like a movie: it consists of thousands of individual pictures, and each of them makes sense and carries a meaning, yet the meaning of the whole film cannot be seen before its last sequence is shown.

The Leader Who Had No Title

After ‘The monk who sold his Ferrari’, Robin Sharma wrote many books. My view those
were derivatives of the same ‘monk’ story or his learning’s. But this one is distinct. ‘The Leader Who Had No Title’ is his new modern fable.

Author connects very well with readers by beginning – how a jaded employee experiences a dull Monday morning at his workplace.

This story is all about how a mentor transforms this jaded employee into a motivated one.

Modus Operandi:
Author introduces these four ‘special leaders’
1) Housekeeper at a hotel
2) Skiing Champion
3) CEO of multibillion dollar technology outfit
4) Massage Therapist

Each one of them has thrived in their business and shares their secret formulae of their success. If you were to browse these formulae’s, many books have mentioned but the story adjoins.

But the key point is how these special leaders use it in their respective profession to inspire people around them. My view - choosing these special leaders was a thoughtful one.

Inspiring words from the book:
How ‘business and life itself are so unpredictable’
No matter what we do in business, we all need to be entertainers inspiring our customers to love doing business with us.
You will never know how high you climb, if you don’t even try.
This is outstanding – the more time you spend outside of your comfort zone, the wider it grows.

Author’s message – complacency is the enemy for victory.

Apart from personal leadership, author does mention about organization culture about communication.

Author says – organization should ‘over-communicate’ with all stake holders and listen intensely to customers. I suppose, this is a relevant idea as it develops a straightforward culture.

Authors say – no one’s unimportant, every person and every job matters, and all work can be made meaningful with the Lead Without a Title Philosophy.

My take – a good book for personal leadership.

CONNECT THE DOTS

Rashmi Bansal’s previous book ‘Stay Hungry Stay Foolish’ was very inspiring, but whenever I spoke about this book to my friends. They said great but ‘they all have an IIM tag’. But in ‘Connect the Dots’ none have one.
This book is all about 20 entrepreneurs who have made it big following their passion and ideas.

My top 3 from these 20 are,
1) Prem Ganapathy, Dosa Plaza
2) Raghu Khanna, Cashudrive
3) Kalyan Varma, Wildlife Photographer

These 3 are incredible…

Dosa Plaza:
Prem Ganapathy, born in Tuticorin studied only till class 10 and at the age of 17 he moved to Mumbai without any acquaintances and became successful. He joined a bakery for cleaning vessels and today he has 26 outlets with Rs.5 Crores turnover.

Cashudrive:
Raghu Khanna , 24 years old from Shimla who joined IIT G. Later on he hatched a simple idea, but a brilliant one – ‘Brand on Wheels’. Used Orkut to sell his idea and today 21 brands use this campaign and drives revenue of Rs.86 lakhs.

Wildlife Photographer:
Kalyan Varma, a techie from Bangalore who quit Yahoo and worked for eco-tourism resort to follow his passion – wild life. He followed his passion and coupled with his photography skills. Now, he works for BBC as consultant and gets paid 300 pounds per day.

All the 20 stories in this book are must read for all of us as there is key learning in each story. If I were to paraphrase their advice to young entrepreneurs, they are as follows,

1) Be Optimistic.
2) Design ‘an idea’ which can add value to customer. Subsequently stick to the idea as it may take couple of years to gain acceptance.
3) Do you homework, in other words – ‘attention to details’.
4) Stand Out and Think different !!!

Eat,Pray,Love

Eat, Pray, Love – Few months back Crossword Bookstores recommended this. I was very inquisitive about this because of its title and it had ‘108 sections’. As per Hindu scriptures this number is very sacred, ‘Rudraksh’ (Utrasum bead tree) also has 108 beads. This is an autobiography of Elizabeth Gilbert a notable writer in New York. On the lighter side, reading autobiographies for me was always a challenge, because when we write about ourselves – we become more creative to overstate ourselves.

But this one was entertaining. Her writing skills are terrific; it is the centre of attention of this book. Her life journey from ‘depression to delight’ is also very inspiring. After author’s horrid divorce, she copes with the separation pangs and falls in love with another person. After sometime he also deserts her. Hence, the author travels to Italy, India & Indonesia in pursuit of happiness.

She explains her state of life before she starts the journey– when the drug is withheld; you promptly turn sick, crazy and depleted. You have now reached infatuation final destination – the complete and merciless devaluation of self.

Eat:
Author explores Italy to seek pleasure– she learns Italian, meets locals, visits all the nearby places of Rome and makes friends in the new country, but still grapples with dejection. She visits the best restaurants and converts herself into a gourmet. She makes an attempt to understand the culture but realizes she likes Italy but was longing for something which is more fulfilling.

Pray:
Author spends her time in an Ashram in India. I appreciate the author for not revealing the true identity of Ashram and her Guru. If she had, then our focus would have gone on evaluation –based on hearsay and media. Initially, author struggles to acclimatize to Ashram life style, attempts to meditate but fails miserably, but after few weeks she finds tranquility and synergizes the religious learning of East & West and feel blessed for her stay at Ashram. There is vast transformation in her outlook towards life.

Love:
Author travels to Bali to meet a ‘native medicine man’. She interprets the social culture of Balinese. I found this very unique in Bali – every one would ask these 3 questions to every stranger. a) Where are you going?, b)Where are you coming from? c)Are you married? Bali’s culture is a matrix of invisible grid, every Balinese knows where exactly where he or she belongs.

Later on author finds her Mr.Right and falls in love and moves back to U.S. Few parts of this section is very engaging but the later part of this section is like ‘me-too’ category.

Every modern woman will love this book and the movie ‘Eat Pray Love’ enacted by Julia Roberts. Elizabeth has exceptional writing skills and cherry picked wise quotes from different ethos.

This one was very profound – Philospher Rumi once advised his students to write down three things they most wanted in life. If any item one the list clashes with any other item, Rumi warned, you are destined for unhappiness.

In case you missed the trailer of this movie, please click the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crNaJjfY57g

I AM another YOU

I was fortunate to be part of Ms.Priya Kumar’s workshop at Mumbai. At the end of the session it stirred up a passion in all participants, as this is a key variable between a winner and a passenger. (in corporate world)
At the end of the session, she distributed her book ‘I AM another YOU’ to all of us.
I was very curious about this book and after I read this, I was compelled to write this in my blog.

The book is highly motivating and a simple read.

It is difficult to summarize key learning’s in few lines as this book is a power house of learning’s/experiences, but these were one’s which really moved me.

1) Each spiritual test mentioned the book has a deep significance and for instance - ‘The Salt Cleanse’ – Accepting waste with no judgment is respecting life to its fullest. The author realized the judgment of good or bad and right or wrong does not exist. The only thing exists – acceptance or denial. Life is indeed can be blissful if one thinks this way…

Quotes like these..
2) Life is strange; we acknowledge our pain but we often do not see our own actions damaging the life of another.

3) You cannot solve problems from the same place that you created them. You need a neutral ground to find a solution.

Brilliant anecdotes…
4) we are like a majestic peacock – bright feathers, proud gait, a bird of envy and admiration- who walks very intently into a cage. And then, when no one is looking, he cleverly locks the cage from the inside and throws the key far away. And for the rest of its life he lives in self pity and defeat.

Enumerative definition like this …
5) ‘Love is in allowing and love is in granting life to be…’. I believe, Today, a relationship gets sour because we don’t act this way. Priya’s advise is the need of the hour for building cordial relationships.

These quotes and anecdotes are not claptrap in her book but gospel truth as she writes this after completing a spiritual test.

I recommend reading this book to get insights about the spiritual tests of natives of Netherlands. These are so telling that we can relate to our life and as a result ‘I AM another YOU’ goes down a treat for book lovers in ‘Self Help’ category.

Beyond The Secret

Beyond The Secret by Brenda Barnaby ISBN 978814992021
Summary
The author has made an admirable attempt to compile profound teachings of ancient and modern philosophy. This book delves literature on ancient wisdom and connects to contemporary literature. It has rich and relevant quotes of great philosophers which make the book very motivating.
One of the chapters focuses on steps to transform our life. Several steps have been discussed to apply these teachings to improve our well being.
My favourite was “Overcome your fears”
Excerpt.
“According to Dr.Jeffers’ system, fear is felt at three levels. The fears at each level can be divided into two categories: fear of things that occur and fear of things that demand action from the individual”.
The author lists all three levels of fears and connects to three decades of study psychologists on fear and its influence on different aspects of our life. These psychologists have suggested steps to classify and analyse the fears.

To my mind “The Secret” is like a main course and “Beyond the Secret” is a dessert.