Thursday, August 17

Path to excellence

There are four steps in the path to excellence - Passion ->Science->Luck ->Killer Instinct. And strictly in that order!

Let me dive a little deeper.

Passion

The first step to achieving excellence in any field is being passionate about it. Ask any top performer in any field, they enjoy what they are doing, and are deeply passionate about it.

Its no point doing something that you are not passionate about, because you may start, but would be just another person doing the same thing. I think this is what plagues most people... they do things that they are supposed to do, rather than things they are passionate about. This leads to them not being too excited about going to work in the morning, or cribbing about the day on return in the evening. The reason cited for still doing it is ‘money’, or 'something like it'; we all need to make our living after all, and we all have our reasons!

Another argument could be, ‘if everyone starts doing what they want to do… then who would do the necessary things that nobody wants to do… such as cleaning shit!!’

My answer is, ‘Absolutely right, so please continue to clean shit!!’ J

Science

Passion can take you only that far. Then comes in science - figuring out the technicalities.

Sachin Tendulkar would have been only that good, unless he was taught how to correctly hold the bat. Lance Armstrong would not have stood a chance in hell to win the Tour-de-France if he had used those standard ‘doodhwaali’ bicycles, or went in without thaose fancy gears, or he dint know how to time his effort through the course of the race. Science gives passion a direction… the most optimal direction, which gives maximum leverage for the given input.

In case of academics, science is getting the right teachers, surrounding yourself with the right kind of people, getting the right environment that lets you focus on the task at hand.

Luck

Passion and science take you to the next level. Now you are competing with the best. The journey from here to excellence has a lot of external factors. However, there is some merit in the saying, ‘harder you work, luckier you get’. Of course, you cannot control an earthquake or a Tsunami. Luck includes the fact that you were born with some talent. That talent is a waste if you aren’t passionate about what you do.

There is only one thing that can dilute the effect of luck… killer instinct.

Killer Instinct

Faith can move mountains. Strong killer instinct can make you achieve anything… even if it is flying. Yes, I firmly believe that you can fly if that’s all you want to do…and deeply believe in it. You’ll figure out a way to do it. At IIT we used to call it ‘jehad’. Though never made meaning of it.

Reason, logic, technically speaking etc. are words for those that lack killer instinct… or the desire to excel. Excellence is for those that seek no reason and defy all logic!! That’s the way to excel!!

Friday, August 11

Trust Recovery

I came across this very interesting piece on some research done by a bunch of Wharton profs on Trust.

Definition of trust: "Willingness to accept vulnerability based upon positive expectations about another’s behavior"

Key Findings:
1. "While trust can recover from a period of untrustworthy actions, deception causes significant and enduring harm
"
2. "Promise helps in speeding trust recovery much more than an apology"

Five key components of an apology: a statement of apology (I’m sorry), remorse (I feel badly), an offer of restitution , self castigation (I was an idiot), and a request for forgiveness.

You can read the enire article at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1882887,curpg-1.cms

...there is a science to any and everything!

Wednesday, August 9

Matters of wisdom

...excerpt from an article written by one of the best profs I learnt from...

'The lessons I learned went beyond the technical to matters of wisdom, many gathered from conversations with Mr Murthy -- how one has to be engaged with the system before one attempted to reform it, how idealism needed to be channelled into action rather than be allowed to succumb to defeatist hand-wringing, and how every small act had to be governed by an overarching commitment to integrity.'

You can see the complete article at: http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2006/aug/01mguest.htm

Sunday, August 6

JK and me

We went to Nagarjuna Sagar for an early dinner today. This is an Andhra style restaurant... I thought it would be a good experience for mom-dad. JK was with us too. Mom mentioned that maybe this is the first time JK is out eating in a restaurant. Then it occurred to me, what is it about me that I am here so well off... and JK still struggling for a miserly salary -an amount he earns in a month more than which I have at times spent in an evening.

JK kind of grew up with me. He came to our house when I was still a kid... and was about my age... maybe a year or two younger. Then he was earning some 1000-2000 rupees per month. I ofcourse wasn’t supposed to earn then. Over the years, JK went his own way, and recently, managed to find his way to work at my place. He was earning just about as much as he did (in his last job) almost a decade back. Even a 4% rate of inflation implies a growth of atleast 50% in income. Clearly, he had not seen that.

WHY?

At a very fundamental level, there is not much of a difference between JK and me. Except for the opportunities I had.

I had the opportunity to explore what I am capable of, and what I am not. I had the platform to build a good career for myself. JK had neither. I had the cushion to invest my energy, and time in education... which is clearly a launch pad for a great future. JK, in the meanwhile, was struggling to make ends meet. It is quite possible that given the opportunity he would have done much better than I did. But he was more involved in feeding his family...clearly his parents thought that he is better off helping the family make that little bit of extra money so that can they all can live to see the tomorrow... the tomorrow I was preparing to build!!

...so what can be done?

I do not have any point of view on the 'reservation' issue. However, I do not subscribe to the meritocracy point of view. Not because I don't believe in merit, but because, I think the current system has an inherent selection bias... as in, we are testing the merit of a bunch of 'privileged' people, and not the 'true' merit of an individual with respect to the society as a whole - a large section of which never got to hear of such thing as 'merit'. Given an opportunity, I am sure that of the 10 JKs, atleast one would do much better than me...if not most of them. And there are millions of JKs in this country.

...so what can be done?

We all know the answer…don’t we?

Saturday, August 5

There are some days...

...when I really can't think of anything to write. Or there are so many things happening that I just don't know where to begin.

work... some good things did happen... but the uncertainity continues to lingers - and at times it is not fun.
life... some good things did happen... but the uncertainity continues to lingers - and at times it is not fun.

the best part is living through all this.

Cheers to life!!
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