Year: 2020

  • The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 1

    The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 1

    Believe it or not, the first time that color television sets became freely available in India was after the Asian Games in 1985. Almost everyone I knew in the plantations immediately bought a color TV and a VCP (no VCRs yet), so that the lonely evenings in the plantations could be spent watching films. There…

  • The Flood and its Aftermath

    The Flood and its Aftermath

    That is where the beauty of the Hindustan Ambassador internal cabin design was such a help. The Ambassador has no frills. Unlike modern cars which have a whole console between the driver’s and passenger’s seat over which it is simply impossible to climb, in the Ambassador there is a straight-backed, non-reclining bench seat in the…

  • As you sow, so you reap

    As you sow, so you reap

    In my entire career as a general manager, it is a matter of pride for me that I did not give a single paisa as a bribe to any union leader to get what I wanted. I always stood on principle and was able to win every single matter that went for arbitration simply based…

  • Ambadi, the turn-around strategy

    Ambadi, the turn-around strategy

    When you are working in a high conflict environment a particularly important strategy is to proactively reduce the issues on which conflict may happen. The fewer the conflicting issues, the easier your role in resolving them. Remember, the key is to do this proactively without being asked. The more issues you resolve unilaterally, the more…

  • Leadership is content independent

    Leadership is content independent

    I stressed in my Staff meeting that if my Staff did what I asked them to do wholeheartedly, I would take responsibility for any failures. I learnt from experience that when you have a team that is skilled, but not motivated and afraid, then you as the leader need to be able to take the…

  • The power of the extraordinary goal

    The power of the extraordinary goal

    Any great enterprise needs people. People who you can share your vision with, people who resonate to your tune, people who can hear the drumbeat to which you are marching. This is the biggest challenge that any leader faces. How do you make others dream your dream? Like most things in life, this also involves…

  • Shift in Education from IA to AI

    Shift in Education from IA to AI

    Covid has brought us face to face with the reality of what is truly important in life. Thanks to the enforced isolation of home quarantine and the shut-down of all public life, we have been forced to face ourselves. Education, like other things has had to change in the way it is experienced – teaching…

  • Manners make the man & woman

    Manners make the man & woman

    As was the custom of the plantations when anyone got married and returned with his wife, there was a round of parties to meet the couple. So also, in our case and since I was the Secretary of the Anamallai Club, I had more than my fair share of friends and so we had a…

  • If it can’t make you cry, it can’t make you work

    If it can’t make you cry, it can’t make you work

    Fear of failure has many respectable names: Consolidation of gains, Stability, Creating Permanence and so on. What is forgotten is that life is about change and positive change is growth. That growth is not looking in with a satisfied glow at what exists, but always to seek what might be. And that all growth is…

  • Hit the road running

    Hit the road running

    A senior manager in Dubai who I am coaching asked me this question. Question: I want to be able to improve my self-belief the way you did this while in the plantation industry and later on in America when you stuck to your guns to become a highly paid consultant. Increasing my Imaan would be one…