- As a HR professional for the last decade and half, one thing I have realized is Human Resource as a function is ever evolving and still has many unchartered territories to explore. During 2007-08, in the early summer as we were rolling out strategic initiatives of HR function, one of the responsibilities I had was to create an OD charter & implement some of the unique practices in my organization. It was very challenging and unique, as none has traversed this path and I was the first one to take a plunge into this assignment. After a lot of research & discussions I realized that the development and implementation of a winning mindset is the core to be able to build and sustain OD intervention in any organization. OD charter can be a way to transform your HR organization. A true HR transformation is an integrated, aligned, innovative, and business focused approach to redefining how HR functions within an organization so that it enables the organization to deliver its value proposition to its primary customers, stake holders and society at large.
There is a perception in the industry today that HR functions are all about creating JOY events, feel good factor and not really providing strategic direction & handling critical issues of people development. HR functions/professionals are working towards creating best practices to enable a strong people centric culture (Culture is the nucleus of a true people organization) that make employees more competitive, comfortable and helps to create a sustained high energy levels across the organization.
One of my first assignments was to create a home for young Minds at MindTree. This was a special need of all young mothers/fathers who have young infant who needs a caring & nurturing home away from home. It was an assignment of creating a Daycare to create inclusivity and support system for oung parents. I felt it was the most interesting and challenging assignment I ever had in the last 13 years of career. It was very fascinating for me as I also had a little son Nishcal who is 2 years who would play in this DayCare once it is ready.
Evolution of DayCare appeared in the early 1840’s in France, Originating in Europe in the late 18th and 19th century, day cares were established in the United States by private charities in the 1850s. Daycare’s in India evolved because of the need to create support system for all nuclear families. More and more people in India have started living in major cities where both husband & wife are career oriented and have no one to take care of their future (Children). This has lead to starting daycare centre’s in India.
At MindTree, we have a Baby’s Day Out facility where all young parents bring their kids to work, while parents work children play around, in a beautifully decorated place with lots of toys, games etc. This facility accommodates only handful of people and not made to cater to larger needs. Suddenly young parents have to depend on care takers who need to nurture children & hence they were not sure if they will go to office on any given day, since they have to wait till the care taker comes. This issue started impacting young parent’s work/professional and personal life. Many minds were not keen to send their children to outside daycare centres as they were not comfortable & logistically it was a nightmare to manage family issues on a daily basis. All parents went and approached people function to help in this situation. Ideas starting pouring in from everyone, then we started thinking of a facility which can help the parents. There arose the idea of having Toddlers Park at MindTree.
First task was to find out the facts about what it takes to start a DayCare centre, the needs of MindTree Minds and capacity planning to be able to empanel a vendor who will run this DayCare. I broadly created a project plan to execute this assignment and roped in few young mothers Mitali, Shyamala to help me with scoping & requirement gathering. I started an extensive research on what it takes to create a DayCare, spoke to lot of agencies who run daycare, companies who have DayCare, people planning to start daycare. I did quite a lot of networking among the HR community to find out what it takes to set up a DayCare. I met many HR professionals, child specialists, entrepreneurs in DayCare domain to understand how, what, why, where etc. I also visited corporate DayCare centre’s of Honeywell, Infosys, IBM etc. along with Mitali & Vanita. During my discussions I realized it’s not very simple to start a daycare, It needs a complete different mindset to set up a daycare.
Key special requirements for DayCare are;
- Soft Flooring with special material with mat finish & not necessarily carpet
- Walls need to have soft padding to ensure that children do not get hurt while
crawling, walking, playing etc.
- All equipments in the Daycare to have smooth edges
- Enough cross air circulation & no Air Condition
- Special clothing’s, crockery & mattresses along with special floor mats
- Special Cradle’s for different age groups
- Need to have unique child to care taker ratio to ensure appropriate hygienic
environment
- Special toys, special books, CDs etc.
You will never realize how help is often available just when you need it, One day while visiting Infosys DayCare I met Mrs.Meena Sivaram from Bright Vistas who had done some excellent work in setting up and running successful daycare centres across Bangalore. The way she presented her story was a mesmerizing experience for me, her love for children & understanding of child psychology helped me to narrow down on my search for a partner. This 30 minute conversation led to many longer discussions to see if we can work together and she can help me to set up MindTree’s daycare Centre in Global Village.
We briefed our requirements to Bright Vistas MD, Meena Sivaraman and introduced her to all young parents at MindTree so that they are comfortable with the service provider. A team of young mothers & myself started looking for the space run this facility. We were given many different options but none were suitable to host young children. At last we found space below Coffee day in the Global village premises. While we searched for space, we gave the specifications to our Administration team to work out a layout plan, furnishing etc. I must admit that we pushed them to deliver with stiff deadline but they worked day and night to bring the infrastructure. At last with an effort of 4 months we started our daycare 3rd week of September’2007 we had Toddlers Park ready for inauguration to host young minds of the future.
After the daycare started Kids were very happy since they could learn new things and have lot of friends. But soon we realized that we hit the dead end with no of children registering with Toddlers Park was diminishing as we didn’t get the minimum Nos to to run a DayCare and Meena was getting worried as she started incurring losses within 3 months. We did not know what do and decided to create a marketing collaterals, conducting events at DayCare to educate people about the facilities, services and happiness for children. It took few months before we managed to get the required children to come to Toddlers Park..
As the happiness quotient started spreading a wave within Global Village and in a year’s time many requests came for the toddler’s park that lead to the extension of the facility to accommodate mmore than 25 children. This has lead to a full-fledged toddler’s park which accommodates tiny babies from 3 months to 6 year old kids and evolved various services such as full day, half day and hourly basis engagement of young children to suit different needs of different parents.
Presence of Toddlers Park with in the walk-able distance of work place brings the feeling of near the dear ones and one could just meet them, cuddle them when you wish; play with them whenever required and comeback to work with absolute freshness. This gave us a sense of work life balance and erased the feeling of way from the loved ones. This facility has helped not only MindTree parents but also given employment to many people for their survival. Most of the people employed are from surrounding areas & have got an opportunity to serve the best creation of almighty and in the process then can lead a more meaningful life for their loves ones with the help of Bright Vistas. People never forget that helping hand especially when times are tough. In helping others, we indirectly help ourselves, for whatever good we do to others completes the circle and comes back to us in some form or the other. Hard times hit us at some point in life, Enjoy everything in life, good & bad, Let your fortune help others, only People helping people makes this world a better place to live.
It was an experience of a life time to create a home for little prince & princess who will rule this world some day. Children will not remember us for the material things that we provide them but the feeling that we cherished them. Children are the most valuable gifts of god as they the best hope of a better future… Long live the generation next…
Saturday, November 21, 2009
HR OD Initiative - Toddlers Park – Building a home for the Generation Next
Monday, August 10, 2009
Wonder Children – Defined the destiny and found Happiness in MUSIC….
India is a land where miracles do happen in this time & age to people, it’s true that the spirit of people, ability to deal with uncertainty, ambiguity, and abundant challenges makes this country an Incredible place to live. I am about to share a miraculous story about 2 young visually impaired (Blind) sisters born to an average middle class family, living in a small village in southern India in Karnataka. A journey of an extraordinary set of people with abundant determination, committment, passion and confidence to win over ostacles in life.
The family of 5 children; 3 girls who were blind by birth. This family had no exposure to the external world and was grappling with misery, pain and sufferings by raising the blind children and felt that it’s an end of the world for them. These girls were special children and were gifted by god (6th sense) with many special skills and qualities. No one knew what they will do when they grow up, how they will manage their life. One fine day these young girls decided to learn Music & took up the challenge of learning Hindustani Classical Music at the age of 10. Their parents took that bold decision of encouraging them to learn music inspite of societal pressure not to send their children to learn Music. This single choice of their parents to make a happy journey shaped their destiny and life took an unexpected turn and rest is history now.
They learnt music day and night and it became their lifeline over the years. It was heartening to see those tiny fingers trying to play various musical instruments like Harmonium, Tabla, Thamboora etc. In no time they mastered all these instruments and were ready to challenge the world. In the last 10 years they have developed into acclaimed Musicians and started performing across the country, won many accolades, awards and prizes. They have performed in Mysore Dasara, Lakkundi Utsav, Bagalakot Utsav, Youth Festivals, Udaya TV & many more music festivals across many districts in Karnataka. In-spite of their visual impairment they were able to complete Bachelors and Masters Degree in Music with top honors, to the extent that one girl won a University Gold Medal in her Bachelors, she received award from governer of Karnakata Sri. TN Chaturvedi. Today she has opened a Music Academy for those who want to learn Music, she has taught many children and able to inspire people to take up Music. She is the most precious jewel in the family and everyone loves her.
Another girl is a profound writer and she has written more than 150 poems, short stories and has composed all her poems on her own. She uses the script for the blind Braille. she is also a Music teacher in a High School where she teaches Music to hundreds of students every year. She proudly calls herself the messenger of love and peace as you will find Love and peace in MUSIC. She travels 50 Kilometers (35 Miles) everyday to teach Music to young and vibrant Indian children. She is very happy and cheerful as blindness does not bother her anymore as she herself is guiding light for thousands of students who want to learn Music.
Over the years, the family which was helpless and gone through misery, has transformed itself into a Happy environment and proud to have been part of this journey, to have brought delight and smiles on the faces of their loved ones. Over night, everyone in the society who were cursing them took a notice and started praising their courage, commitment, passion and dedication towards Music. When adversity hits you, only few will survive and win over & rest will perish, situations like these will distinguish between the best & the rest.
The true hero’s are the parents who dedicated their life to support these children and now are very Proud and Happy of what their children have achieved. Even though they did not understand the nuances of Music, but devoted their whole life to support these blind children be it taking them to temples at 3:00 am in the morning, or returning home mid night every now & then to help them to complete their Music concerts. The astonishing fact about their parents has the grit, hope, optimism & belief in their children’s abilities that they will win over challenges in-spite of their disability.
In the summer of 2005 one girl had developed a serious health issues and doctors had diagnosed serious infection to her lungs & throat and feared that she may not be able to sing in future for the rest of her life. Doctors advised her to give up Music till she recovers from the infection for about 8 – 12 months. These were the most difficult times for her as she was devastated by the news and was in no mood to give up Music. She challenged her inner self and did not give up Music, but continued her studies practicing Pranayam (Breathing exercises), Yoga and meditation to overcome the infection. Ultimately she could conquer victory over the lung & throat infection and gave several stage performances with all health issues. She was highly determined and never wanted to let her parent’s efforts to go waste.
If you ask them what’s their best moment of life she smiles and says ”I am grateful to god that I was born blind else we would never have found my HAPPINESS and says she never regrets for being blind”. She goes on and says “If there is another life, I want to serve my parents because I need more than one life to serve them.”
The other girl says “She is not blind at all, because she always sees her parents as her eyes, they have always guided her to brightest life which has given her HAPPINESS”
These Sisters found happiness in Music; they are very happy and love their profession and very passionate about their talent.
So happiness quotient is all in the mind, if one decides to be happy, happiness will find you the way these young sisters found their happiness in Music. You have to make efforts to be happy and life will change for ever!!!
Life is a journey and physical inabilities are not obstacles for your ambition. The real inabilities are the huger to achieve, succeed and hunger to win over challenges in life on a daily basis. So simple message in life is “Learn as if you are going to live forever, live everyday as if you are going to die tomorrow”.
The family of 5 children; 3 girls who were blind by birth. This family had no exposure to the external world and was grappling with misery, pain and sufferings by raising the blind children and felt that it’s an end of the world for them. These girls were special children and were gifted by god (6th sense) with many special skills and qualities. No one knew what they will do when they grow up, how they will manage their life. One fine day these young girls decided to learn Music & took up the challenge of learning Hindustani Classical Music at the age of 10. Their parents took that bold decision of encouraging them to learn music inspite of societal pressure not to send their children to learn Music. This single choice of their parents to make a happy journey shaped their destiny and life took an unexpected turn and rest is history now.
They learnt music day and night and it became their lifeline over the years. It was heartening to see those tiny fingers trying to play various musical instruments like Harmonium, Tabla, Thamboora etc. In no time they mastered all these instruments and were ready to challenge the world. In the last 10 years they have developed into acclaimed Musicians and started performing across the country, won many accolades, awards and prizes. They have performed in Mysore Dasara, Lakkundi Utsav, Bagalakot Utsav, Youth Festivals, Udaya TV & many more music festivals across many districts in Karnataka. In-spite of their visual impairment they were able to complete Bachelors and Masters Degree in Music with top honors, to the extent that one girl won a University Gold Medal in her Bachelors, she received award from governer of Karnakata Sri. TN Chaturvedi. Today she has opened a Music Academy for those who want to learn Music, she has taught many children and able to inspire people to take up Music. She is the most precious jewel in the family and everyone loves her.
Another girl is a profound writer and she has written more than 150 poems, short stories and has composed all her poems on her own. She uses the script for the blind Braille. she is also a Music teacher in a High School where she teaches Music to hundreds of students every year. She proudly calls herself the messenger of love and peace as you will find Love and peace in MUSIC. She travels 50 Kilometers (35 Miles) everyday to teach Music to young and vibrant Indian children. She is very happy and cheerful as blindness does not bother her anymore as she herself is guiding light for thousands of students who want to learn Music.
Over the years, the family which was helpless and gone through misery, has transformed itself into a Happy environment and proud to have been part of this journey, to have brought delight and smiles on the faces of their loved ones. Over night, everyone in the society who were cursing them took a notice and started praising their courage, commitment, passion and dedication towards Music. When adversity hits you, only few will survive and win over & rest will perish, situations like these will distinguish between the best & the rest.
The true hero’s are the parents who dedicated their life to support these children and now are very Proud and Happy of what their children have achieved. Even though they did not understand the nuances of Music, but devoted their whole life to support these blind children be it taking them to temples at 3:00 am in the morning, or returning home mid night every now & then to help them to complete their Music concerts. The astonishing fact about their parents has the grit, hope, optimism & belief in their children’s abilities that they will win over challenges in-spite of their disability.
In the summer of 2005 one girl had developed a serious health issues and doctors had diagnosed serious infection to her lungs & throat and feared that she may not be able to sing in future for the rest of her life. Doctors advised her to give up Music till she recovers from the infection for about 8 – 12 months. These were the most difficult times for her as she was devastated by the news and was in no mood to give up Music. She challenged her inner self and did not give up Music, but continued her studies practicing Pranayam (Breathing exercises), Yoga and meditation to overcome the infection. Ultimately she could conquer victory over the lung & throat infection and gave several stage performances with all health issues. She was highly determined and never wanted to let her parent’s efforts to go waste.
If you ask them what’s their best moment of life she smiles and says ”I am grateful to god that I was born blind else we would never have found my HAPPINESS and says she never regrets for being blind”. She goes on and says “If there is another life, I want to serve my parents because I need more than one life to serve them.”
The other girl says “She is not blind at all, because she always sees her parents as her eyes, they have always guided her to brightest life which has given her HAPPINESS”
These Sisters found happiness in Music; they are very happy and love their profession and very passionate about their talent.
So happiness quotient is all in the mind, if one decides to be happy, happiness will find you the way these young sisters found their happiness in Music. You have to make efforts to be happy and life will change for ever!!!
Life is a journey and physical inabilities are not obstacles for your ambition. The real inabilities are the huger to achieve, succeed and hunger to win over challenges in life on a daily basis. So simple message in life is “Learn as if you are going to live forever, live everyday as if you are going to die tomorrow”.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Incredible India – It happens only in India (Small Car with a Big Heart)
11-Apr-2009
I dedicate this article to my son Nischal who is celebrating his 3rd birthday today. He has been an inspiration for me in my life and he has been influencing through his pure selfless love and affection.
Ever since I have come to this earth I wanted to trace the evolution of Mother India and after many years of struggle, I realized that the story of India began almost thousands of years ago, when man first appeared in this part of the world. There are many stories of a Stone Age man occupying the entire Indian subcontinent. It’s very interesting to note that Indian exploration of tools & technology also took shape in those early years of human civilization. Man was continuously struggling to survive and this survival instinct forced him to invent tools and techniques as he started making smaller but more effective tools of stones & bones for his hunting (Survival Instinct). This innovation led to expressing ideas through rock paintings, building shelters etc. From ancient civilization to till date India has come a long way. Today India has more than 1 billion population and has developed enormous strength and capability to show a new way to the world.
India is known for its intellectual super power in more than one instance where we have proved our ability to guide the world in a new direction. Aryabhata is greatest astronomer and a mathematician of India. He was born in 476 AD and introduced to the world a magical digit called "0" (zero) and rest is history. I am sure we all know that Sushruta was the first Plastic surgeon in the world and lived in 6th century. Sushruta was a surgeon and teacher of Ayurveda . There are many incredible great stories about India and Indians which world can study and understand the contributions and power of Mother India.
India is not just another piece of earth of this planet, she is a Super power, a goddess of many cultures, religions, languages but she is ONE. Today India is the second largest country on earth in population, and seventh largest in geographical area. From an image of the land of yoga, tigers, snake charmers and elephants, India has acquired an enchanting image of "The most happening place in the world”. The image cannot be brighter than the object, and the fact that there is a visible change in India's image. In this modern world, India is known for its ability to innovate, champion Change and lead the IT revolution in the world arena. You will be pleasantly surprised to know farthest & deepest reach of Indians across industry segments in USA. A total of 35% of Doctors, Scientists, Engineers, and start up champions in America are Indians. So brand Made in India or Indian is shining brighter than ever before.
While India was progressing well on all fronts to compete, collaborate and innovate greatest technological inventions with the rest of the world, there were few Indians in India who were deciding to gift India a new age Small Car with a Big Heart called Nano. The very concept of Nano evolved with a strange thought from Mr.Ratan Tata. Not sure how true this story is, it was one of those rainy days in Mumbai when Ratan Tata was traveling and saw a small middle class family getting fully drenched in rain as they were traveling in a scooter. A strange thought crossed his mind “Why not make a Car for a common man?”. In Ratan Tata’s words “It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family”
Everyday when we step out of our home to office, work, near by city etc., how often we pay attention to what’s happening around us, who is responsible for the mess around us, how can we help to make a living better for self & others. Does anyone of us think on these lines, it’s not that only a rich man like Ratan Tata who can think and make a NANO dream come true in 6 years. I think all of us in our own way can make a difference, provided we care for our environment, neighborhood and fellow citizens and the country we live in. Our village, town, state, country is not just a lump of earth but it’s our Motherland, if we desire its progress we must take responsibility of promoting wellness of everyone.
House of Tata’s are known for their Corporate Social Responsibility in India, if anyone would like to get first hand information one needs to visit Jamshedpur and enter Tata Nagar. Ratan Tata has said in an interview that his company does not want to grow “Over Everybody’s Dead Bodies.” Close to 66% of the profits of Tata’s investment arm, Tata Sons, go to charity and they do not publicize much about it. They believe in transforming in millions of people in India and across the globe. Truly Tata’s are no comparison to any Indian Company till date.
Summer of Mar’2003 in Geneva Ratan Tata announced to the world that they will present a common Man’s car to India which will be affordable by any middle class family for a sum of Rs.100,000 ($2000). When the world heard him, people said Tata’s have lost their senses and ready to destroy the empire that they have built, some Japanese engineers said “By joining 2 bikes it does not become a CAR”, some said “Will it be a TOY or will it move on road” and so on.. But Ratan Tata had this determination, commitment and his empathy for Indian Middle Class family that made him chase his dream with a bunch of indigenous team of young engineers to work on a plan to create a People’s CAR for Indians by Indians. It took 6 years for the team to narrow down on a dream project and they were ready to unleash the dream of their beloved young (72 years) chairman.
Back home in India when the world was busy celebrating the success of NANO, Mr.Ratan Tata was busy planning for his Dream plant in West Bengal, and he did not know that he would have to wage a war with his own countrymen to set up his dream project plant. He is a roaring tiger and was not willing to give up his fight, but he was loosing time as he had to keep up his promise which he had made to the Indian Middle Class. Later he found a new home for NANO in Gujarat. Once the plant is ready, this will make the car affordable to an additional 14 million families, including a section of 58+ million two-wheeler owners in India.
It’s the irony of this greatest democracy in the world where politics/politicians are out in public to ruin the socio economic growth of the country for their selfish motives. I am not sure when & how we will learn to bring in a change in Indian political system.
The Indian Middle Class would never have dreamt of owning a car someday, 23-Mar-2009 is a Dream come true for millions of Indians who had never thought of having their own car. Undoubtly the star of the moment is Ratan Tata’s Pretty Woman NANO. Many people may argue that Nano will create more problems in India than helping Middle Class. I strongly disagree with this logic of some intelligent thinkers that it will add to the tumbling poor infrastructure in the country. But I would like to remind them of an old adage “When the going gets tough, tough gets going”. Let the 21st century thinkers, politicians, scientists, citizens find better ways to solve these problems rather than blaming NANO invention. If Ratan Tata would not have dreamt about NANO somebody would have done that in some corner of the world. Let us be proud of what Indians have given to the world and celebrate the Indian Nerds who are leading the world automotive innovation through NANO.
I am an avid fan of house of Tata’s because I had the fortune of working with Tata’s in the early days of my career and as I write this article sitting thousands of miles away in England I overjoyed by the noble idea & vision of Mr.Rata Tata which has made Indians proud. I have met several people across Europe in UK, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland any conversation does not end without discussing NANO story. We are proud of you Mr.Ratan Tata, you are the Real Hero of India and I am sure Mother India is very proud of her son.
Read more about NANO :
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Finally-history-on-wheels-gets-rolling/articleshow/4307704.cms
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200903221651.htm
Watch Ratan Tata’s passionate Story of NANO in his own words Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3brUB8IZhAo Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Mw6BuMJEM&feature=related Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvjhg2Zh84k&feature=related
Lessons learnt from this mind-blowing experience of Human Spirit, Passion, commitment, determination, Team work and uncompromising character are;
Its all about Human spirit of Change
Challenge your limits and embrace change all the time.
Nothing is constant but Change, be open to change and you can change your destiny. Man the maker of his own destiny.
11-Apr-2009
I dedicate this article to my son Nischal who is celebrating his 3rd birthday today. He has been an inspiration for me in my life and he has been influencing through his pure selfless love and affection.
Ever since I have come to this earth I wanted to trace the evolution of Mother India and after many years of struggle, I realized that the story of India began almost thousands of years ago, when man first appeared in this part of the world. There are many stories of a Stone Age man occupying the entire Indian subcontinent. It’s very interesting to note that Indian exploration of tools & technology also took shape in those early years of human civilization. Man was continuously struggling to survive and this survival instinct forced him to invent tools and techniques as he started making smaller but more effective tools of stones & bones for his hunting (Survival Instinct). This innovation led to expressing ideas through rock paintings, building shelters etc. From ancient civilization to till date India has come a long way. Today India has more than 1 billion population and has developed enormous strength and capability to show a new way to the world.
India is known for its intellectual super power in more than one instance where we have proved our ability to guide the world in a new direction. Aryabhata is greatest astronomer and a mathematician of India. He was born in 476 AD and introduced to the world a magical digit called "0" (zero) and rest is history. I am sure we all know that Sushruta was the first Plastic surgeon in the world and lived in 6th century. Sushruta was a surgeon and teacher of Ayurveda . There are many incredible great stories about India and Indians which world can study and understand the contributions and power of Mother India.
India is not just another piece of earth of this planet, she is a Super power, a goddess of many cultures, religions, languages but she is ONE. Today India is the second largest country on earth in population, and seventh largest in geographical area. From an image of the land of yoga, tigers, snake charmers and elephants, India has acquired an enchanting image of "The most happening place in the world”. The image cannot be brighter than the object, and the fact that there is a visible change in India's image. In this modern world, India is known for its ability to innovate, champion Change and lead the IT revolution in the world arena. You will be pleasantly surprised to know farthest & deepest reach of Indians across industry segments in USA. A total of 35% of Doctors, Scientists, Engineers, and start up champions in America are Indians. So brand Made in India or Indian is shining brighter than ever before.
While India was progressing well on all fronts to compete, collaborate and innovate greatest technological inventions with the rest of the world, there were few Indians in India who were deciding to gift India a new age Small Car with a Big Heart called Nano. The very concept of Nano evolved with a strange thought from Mr.Ratan Tata. Not sure how true this story is, it was one of those rainy days in Mumbai when Ratan Tata was traveling and saw a small middle class family getting fully drenched in rain as they were traveling in a scooter. A strange thought crossed his mind “Why not make a Car for a common man?”. In Ratan Tata’s words “It led me to wonder whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family”
Everyday when we step out of our home to office, work, near by city etc., how often we pay attention to what’s happening around us, who is responsible for the mess around us, how can we help to make a living better for self & others. Does anyone of us think on these lines, it’s not that only a rich man like Ratan Tata who can think and make a NANO dream come true in 6 years. I think all of us in our own way can make a difference, provided we care for our environment, neighborhood and fellow citizens and the country we live in. Our village, town, state, country is not just a lump of earth but it’s our Motherland, if we desire its progress we must take responsibility of promoting wellness of everyone.House of Tata’s are known for their Corporate Social Responsibility in India, if anyone would like to get first hand information one needs to visit Jamshedpur and enter Tata Nagar. Ratan Tata has said in an interview that his company does not want to grow “Over Everybody’s Dead Bodies.” Close to 66% of the profits of Tata’s investment arm, Tata Sons, go to charity and they do not publicize much about it. They believe in transforming in millions of people in India and across the globe. Truly Tata’s are no comparison to any Indian Company till date.
Summer of Mar’2003 in Geneva Ratan Tata announced to the world that they will present a common Man’s car to India which will be affordable by any middle class family for a sum of Rs.100,000 ($2000). When the world heard him, people said Tata’s have lost their senses and ready to destroy the empire that they have built, some Japanese engineers said “By joining 2 bikes it does not become a CAR”, some said “Will it be a TOY or will it move on road” and so on.. But Ratan Tata had this determination, commitment and his empathy for Indian Middle Class family that made him chase his dream with a bunch of indigenous team of young engineers to work on a plan to create a People’s CAR for Indians by Indians. It took 6 years for the team to narrow down on a dream project and they were ready to unleash the dream of their beloved young (72 years) chairman.
Back home in India when the world was busy celebrating the success of NANO, Mr.Ratan Tata was busy planning for his Dream plant in West Bengal, and he did not know that he would have to wage a war with his own countrymen to set up his dream project plant. He is a roaring tiger and was not willing to give up his fight, but he was loosing time as he had to keep up his promise which he had made to the Indian Middle Class. Later he found a new home for NANO in Gujarat. Once the plant is ready, this will make the car affordable to an additional 14 million families, including a section of 58+ million two-wheeler owners in India.
It’s the irony of this greatest democracy in the world where politics/politicians are out in public to ruin the socio economic growth of the country for their selfish motives. I am not sure when & how we will learn to bring in a change in Indian political system.
The Indian Middle Class would never have dreamt of owning a car someday, 23-Mar-2009 is a Dream come true for millions of Indians who had never thought of having their own car. Undoubtly the star of the moment is Ratan Tata’s Pretty Woman NANO. Many people may argue that Nano will create more problems in India than helping Middle Class. I strongly disagree with this logic of some intelligent thinkers that it will add to the tumbling poor infrastructure in the country. But I would like to remind them of an old adage “When the going gets tough, tough gets going”. Let the 21st century thinkers, politicians, scientists, citizens find better ways to solve these problems rather than blaming NANO invention. If Ratan Tata would not have dreamt about NANO somebody would have done that in some corner of the world. Let us be proud of what Indians have given to the world and celebrate the Indian Nerds who are leading the world automotive innovation through NANO.
I am an avid fan of house of Tata’s because I had the fortune of working with Tata’s in the early days of my career and as I write this article sitting thousands of miles away in England I overjoyed by the noble idea & vision of Mr.Rata Tata which has made Indians proud. I have met several people across Europe in UK, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland any conversation does not end without discussing NANO story. We are proud of you Mr.Ratan Tata, you are the Real Hero of India and I am sure Mother India is very proud of her son.
Read more about NANO :
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Finally-history-on-wheels-gets-rolling/articleshow/4307704.cms
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200903221651.htm
Watch Ratan Tata’s passionate Story of NANO in his own words Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3brUB8IZhAo Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9Mw6BuMJEM&feature=related Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xvjhg2Zh84k&feature=related
Lessons learnt from this mind-blowing experience of Human Spirit, Passion, commitment, determination, Team work and uncompromising character are;
Its all about Human spirit of Change
Challenge your limits and embrace change all the time.
Nothing is constant but Change, be open to change and you can change your destiny. Man the maker of his own destiny.
Learn to Question the unquestionable
Never accept things as they are, challenge the unchallenged. Question status quo all the time
Develop deep questioning ability, questions lead to clarity and clarity leads to destiny
The quest to lead & the quest to conquer will bring the best in you
Develop a killer instinct and always innovate, explore to lead by example
The achievement of your goal is assured the moment you commit yourself to it, give your 100% in whatever you do, success will be yours
Dream the impossible.. Dreams translate into actions
Keep your dreams alive to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, your vision, hard work, determination, and dedication.
Remember everything is possible for those who believe in their abilities
If you want to bring change, you need to lead by example, path to success is not easy.. but not impossible either
Great ideas can come from every corner of India, you need to channelise your energy by starting something small
You are the vehicle of change, if you cannot change, no one else will.. so never give up!!
Learn to love what you do – Believe that you are doing a great work & you will deliver great results
Keep looking for new things, never settle for something simple
Do not let the others opinions to drown your ideas
Hunger for success leads to development/growth/newer competencies
Always think different & learn from everybody around you, knowledge is all around you. Create space for knowledge in your mind and acquire survival & life skills
Never think you know everything, be humble and willing to adopt, change to accomplish your dreams.
We need to live our life as if we were to die tomorrow (Live life to the fullest extent everyday). We need to learn as if we were to live forever. In life knowing is not enough; we must apply our mind to everything that happen around us. Most of us have the willingness but we do not do anything. While others wait for opportunities to come by but some people create opportunities to impact our world. I firmly believe, through continuous learning & innovation we can solve any problem, overcome any obstacle and achieve any goal that we can dream of. A real & a new living successful example is NANO. Jai Hind……
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
SKIP – A Powerful tool for Self Transformation
The performance and results achieved by an organization, whether it is product or service based, are a direct reflection of the thinking, creativity, and efforts of its members. Optimizing the capabilities of every member of the organization makes good management sense. In our emerging "knowledge society," information on one's 'ability to deliver' is invaluable for staying sharp and responsive. 360° feedback awakens the need and strengthens the drive for increased productivity.
When organizations are growing at a rapid pace and there is a need to build good Managerial Traits among leaders. Many leading organizations have developed thier own leadership development programs, models at company level. I feel implementing some simple & effective Self Development tools like 360 degree feedback will really help in developing overall personality of every leader.
SKIP Program is intended to provide overall feedback by the team members/supervisors. SKIP feedback provides performance data from multiple points of reference, not just one. It can help to fill the gaps that invariably exist between how you see yourself and how others see you. Its purpose is, First, to gain deeper insight into how we, and others, see our performance and, Second, to reinforce and accelerate the need for continuous development.
Compared to traditional, single source feedback processes, 360° feedback is significantly more powerful, reliable, and accurate. The added dimension of 360° is its ability to compile multiple assessments from team members and contrast that data with your own self perceptions. Because it comes from a broader base of perception and interaction, it is less likely to be biased or skewed by one person's opinion.
SKIP feedback levels the playing field by soliciting input from a different sources: The Supervisors, peers and team members. The feedback tends to not only be more balanced, but harder to dismiss due to its' broader range of input and perspectives.
SKIP feedback strengthens accountability and self-management. When a person receives high quality, reliable feedback from team members/supervisor it highlights and reinforces the connection between individual performance and team results. Through a process of self assessment, teams can identify their developmental needs and provide their own direction for improving the level and quality of their performance.
SKIP Program methodology is very simple.
SKIP sessions need to be conducted by a well trained facilitator who is a neutral person and will not influence either on the feedback given by the team members/supervisor and captures the right messages. The person who is receiving the feedback will invite the team members, supervisors. All the members including the person who is receiving SKIP feedback will be called to a room and they will be briefed on the intent, format, Do’s & Don’t’s of the program. After the initial briefing the person receiving feedback leaves the room to enable the SKIP session. Its extremely essential to create a open minded & stress free environment to facilitate open discussions without any bias, prejudice, animity & hatredness towards the person receiving feedback. In these sessions confidentiality is of great importance and facilitator needs to take all people into confidence and ensure any views expressed during SKIP sessions will not become a topic of discussions in the organization.
Facilitator will initiate the discussion on the following points
What the Person should CONTINUE doing
What the Person must STOP doing
What the Person should START doing
All the discussions needs to be captured in on all the parameters, without reference to source such as person, instance, situation, story etc.
Once the feedback discussions are completed, the person will be called into the room and the data is shared with him/her in presence of the whole team. The person is free to respond and seek clarification only from facilitator and not with anyone.
The person will take action points based on the inputs given by the team and committs himself/herself to work in improvement areas.
This simple process can actually transform the overall organizational culture and can really bring in fairness, transperency and openness. SKIP can truly become an exploration journey of human transformation. This also reinforces the fact that one need to comapre only with yourself and not with others, because no two people are equal and their priorities, goals & aspirations can be completely different.
SKIP can be the first step towards igniting change from within to become a true professional.
When organizations are growing at a rapid pace and there is a need to build good Managerial Traits among leaders. Many leading organizations have developed thier own leadership development programs, models at company level. I feel implementing some simple & effective Self Development tools like 360 degree feedback will really help in developing overall personality of every leader.
SKIP Program is intended to provide overall feedback by the team members/supervisors. SKIP feedback provides performance data from multiple points of reference, not just one. It can help to fill the gaps that invariably exist between how you see yourself and how others see you. Its purpose is, First, to gain deeper insight into how we, and others, see our performance and, Second, to reinforce and accelerate the need for continuous development.
Compared to traditional, single source feedback processes, 360° feedback is significantly more powerful, reliable, and accurate. The added dimension of 360° is its ability to compile multiple assessments from team members and contrast that data with your own self perceptions. Because it comes from a broader base of perception and interaction, it is less likely to be biased or skewed by one person's opinion.
SKIP feedback levels the playing field by soliciting input from a different sources: The Supervisors, peers and team members. The feedback tends to not only be more balanced, but harder to dismiss due to its' broader range of input and perspectives.
SKIP feedback strengthens accountability and self-management. When a person receives high quality, reliable feedback from team members/supervisor it highlights and reinforces the connection between individual performance and team results. Through a process of self assessment, teams can identify their developmental needs and provide their own direction for improving the level and quality of their performance.
SKIP Program methodology is very simple.
SKIP sessions need to be conducted by a well trained facilitator who is a neutral person and will not influence either on the feedback given by the team members/supervisor and captures the right messages. The person who is receiving the feedback will invite the team members, supervisors. All the members including the person who is receiving SKIP feedback will be called to a room and they will be briefed on the intent, format, Do’s & Don’t’s of the program. After the initial briefing the person receiving feedback leaves the room to enable the SKIP session. Its extremely essential to create a open minded & stress free environment to facilitate open discussions without any bias, prejudice, animity & hatredness towards the person receiving feedback. In these sessions confidentiality is of great importance and facilitator needs to take all people into confidence and ensure any views expressed during SKIP sessions will not become a topic of discussions in the organization.
Facilitator will initiate the discussion on the following points
What the Person should CONTINUE doing
What the Person must STOP doing
What the Person should START doing
All the discussions needs to be captured in on all the parameters, without reference to source such as person, instance, situation, story etc.
Once the feedback discussions are completed, the person will be called into the room and the data is shared with him/her in presence of the whole team. The person is free to respond and seek clarification only from facilitator and not with anyone.
The person will take action points based on the inputs given by the team and committs himself/herself to work in improvement areas.
This simple process can actually transform the overall organizational culture and can really bring in fairness, transperency and openness. SKIP can truly become an exploration journey of human transformation. This also reinforces the fact that one need to comapre only with yourself and not with others, because no two people are equal and their priorities, goals & aspirations can be completely different.
SKIP can be the first step towards igniting change from within to become a true professional.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Awake Arise & Achieve Unity.....
INDIA is one of the oldest civilizations with a kaleidoscopic variety and rich cultural heritage. It has achieved multifaceted socio-economic progress during the last 60 years of its Independence
Even since I have come to this world I am trying to find the meaning of a religion which has created so much of havoc across the globe. I am global citizen from India and still searching for a meaning of religion. The reason why I am searching is because of too many things that are happening in front of our eyes in the name of religion.
I will list some of the following incidents that I have seen & heard in the last few months.
- Someone is creating hatred against their own country men
- One religious group burnt churches & rapes servants of god & burns people alive
- Across many states (Gujarat, Orissa, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala & many many more.) in
India people have targeted churches & burnt people alive - Religion has become political agenda and people of India have fallen to this trap and
allowed politicians to divide the country into pieces - A ghastly terrorist attack in the city of Mumbai on 26-Nov-08 which killed more than
180 people and left 300 wounded. - Politics did not even spare the war zone; while our real hero’s were fighting the enemy
tirelessly, politicians were busy making their allegations to gain mileage.
If you pay close attention to what is causing all these mayhems in our country, you will soon realize that there are no direct answers. You start probing deeper then you start getting some answers such as political parties, politicians, racial divide etc. Still this is not the correct reason.. you really have to dive deep into your inner heart and mind to find the real answer. According to me it’s WE THE PEOPLE who are responsible for this mess.
As a country we are able to eradicate illiteracy to large extent in a true sense, but we have become complete real illiterates when it comes to understanding our self consciousness.
No religion has ever taught us hateredness, be it Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism, Buddhism etc. We have become intelligent enough to twist the pages of holy scripts in our favor to score points and spread the divide & rule philosophy.
I am not sure by when & how we will be ever wake up to realize these simple tricks of some so called leaders who do not know the meaning of LEADER. They are completely illogical, uneducated directionless & does not posses any professionalism to be called a real leader.
Let’s see things around us and see is there any religion exists. When Sun shines every day he does not look at a Muslim or a Hindu house, but selflessly shies all through the day to provide direction to make the right moves in life. Look at Jasmine flower that spreads fragrance, aroma all across and creates such a wonderful atmosphere to live and so on. I can give 100’s of examples which does not have any religion, caste or a community.
Look at our own lifeline; I do not think a Christian’s blood colour is different from a Hindu or a Muslim. When god has not made any difference, why create temporary boundaries and ruin our lives. We have only one life to live and I think we all should make use of this golden opportunity to develop universal brotherhood and lead a very meaningful life.
I firmly believe that mother earth is a large family (Vasudhaivakutumbakam) has only one religion which is humanity. I am proud to belong to the religion called INDIAN which has sheltered and is still fostering hundreds of different religions, languages, cultures, traditions and still able to present a bold face to the world.
I think it’s essential that we erase all these tiny boundaries which are creating so much of hatred amongst all of us. We need take the ctarter of creating harmony, love, peace & brotherhood among the fellow countrymen to change the way we lead our life forever.
We have a very limited life to battle many wars which needs to be won and we should not waste our time to prove each other who is better & stronger. We need to prove to everyone that INDIA is a country of billion people who speak many languages and present diverse cultures but still can live as one nation. I think we have a chance of a lifetime to prove to the world at large on our Unity in Diversity.
I pray to all Mighty Gods of all religions in this world to shower enormous Strength, Courage & Will to spread PEACE, HARMONY and LOVE among all Citizens of this world.
"As fellow countrymen we need to understand and appreciate diversity. We need to bow our Head in MOSQUE's, Kneel in our TEMPLE's and Pray in CHURCH's. You & I are the sons of ONE RELIGION and that's the SPIRIT of ONE NATION, Dear fellow country men, the time has come to get united and fight for universal brotherhood. "
AWAKE, ARISE and STOP NOT till we achieve UNITY … Jai Hind…
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