Have K-Karizma (Charisma)

“Leaders are magnetically charsmatic”

Opening Case Study :

Satya Nadella –ACharismatic Leader

Satya Nadella is Chief Executive Ofﬁcer of Microsoft. Before being named CEO in February 2014, Nadella held leadership roles in both enterprise and consumer businesses across the company.Joining Microsoft in 1992, he quickly became known as a leader who could span a breadth of technologies and businesses to transform some of Microsoft’s biggest product offerings.

Most recently, Nadella was executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group. In this role he led the transformation to the cloud infrastructure and services business, which outperformed the market and took share from competition. Previously, Nadella led R&D for the Online Services Division and was vice president of the Microsoft Business Division. Before joining Microsoft, Nadella was a member of the technology staff at Sun Microsystems.

Originally from Hyderabad, India, Nadella lives in Bellevue, Wash. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Mangalore University, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and a master ’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago. He is married and has three children.

Satya Nadella is a leader on the rise—for the last ﬁve years, he’s served as the CEO of Microsoft, quickly earning a name for himself in the world beyond tech. Because of his alternative approach to leadership, Nadella is so special and he’s a leader to look out for. In his short time as CEO, Nadella has overseen and driven outstanding growth and proﬁts—even more impressive considering this is Microsoft, already a giant in the business world and creators of Windows and Xbox.

So how did he do it? And what can his leadership tell us about how current and future leaders can go from good to great—or better yet, great to the unimaginable? In short, Nadella believes in the power of positive leadership and uses terms such as “growth mind set” and “empathy” that are reinforced by action. As we’ve seen before with leaders who upend command-and-control leadership styles, positive leadership is just one style that can inﬂuence a thriving workplace culture where employees feel inspired and trusting, motivated by purpose, and ready to work with others to achieve common goals.

He embraces leadership outside the norm to completely revolutionize leadership to create a world that works for all. Nadella is also a proponent of the growth mind set philosophy, exploring how individuals and teams can develop and thrive rather than what’s holding them back. This philosophy is why he believes success, or key learnings, can be found in any situation. A culture with a growth mind set “requires us to truly understand and share the feelings of another person,” he wrote in an email to Microsoft employees.

The culture change at Microsoft, spearheaded by Nadella, is impressive to say the least, but any organization and any leader can achieve a transformation that inspires people and increases productivity. All you need to do is to decide to get started, which can simply mean ﬁguring out how to ask the right kind of question.

Many of history’s most effective leaders are labeled charismatic. Yet, there is a great deal of controversy about whether charisma is made or born, and if charismatic leaders are actually effective. Charismatic leaders are essentially very skilled communicators

– individuals who are both verbally eloquent, but also able to communicate to followers on a deep, emotional level. They are able to articulate a compelling or captivating vision, and are able to arouse strong emotions in followers.

Charismatic leadership is basically the method of encouraging particular behaviors in others by way of eloquent communication, persuasion and force of personality. Charismatic leaders motivate followers to get things done or improve the way certain things are done. This is accomplished by conjuring up eagerness in others to achieve a stated goal or vision. In essence, the charismatic leadership style has its basis in a form of heroism. This leadership style is almost of divine origin.

In addition, charismatic leaders have the distinct ability to dissect and decipher any inefﬁciency within an organization. These visionary traits attributed to this leadership style often result from critical thinking, the compilation of facts and ﬁnding ways to solve a variety of problems.

Charisma is essentially a process – an interface between the characteristics of a charismatic leader, the group that is being led, their identiﬁcation with their leader, their needs and the circumstances that require a charismatic leader like a crisis or need for change. However, as it relates to the charismatic traits of leader, prominence is placed on the way they communicate with members of the group and their ability to gain the trust of followers and inspire these individuals to perform.

By understanding the characteristics that charismatic leaders have in common, you can work to develop your own charisma and become a better leader in your organization. Here are the ﬁve qualities that all charismatic leaders possess:

1. Belief in Self

Charismatic leaders have powerful personalities that people are drawn to. Much of that attraction stems from the fact that they exude conﬁdence. Conﬁdent leaders have a strong sense of self and rarely express self-doubt. They understand who they are and are comfortable in their own skin.

Charismatic leaders are also optimists. They see the glass as half full instead of half empty and are always looking on the bright side. To be a stronger leader, you need to practice self- conﬁdence. If you’re always second-guessing yourself and feeling shy around your coworkers, they won’t follow you. If you aren’t conﬁdent about your own actions, who will be?

2. Creativity

Charismatic leaders think outside the box and aren’t afraid to push the limits. While others may see this kind of push as risky, these leaders are the ones leading the way and driving innovation.

When a problem arises, leaders don’t see only the difﬁculties. Instead, they rise to the challenge and see it as an opportunity. In business, this creativity can lead to powerful change and transformation, which can inspire and motivate others.

Simon Sinek wrote: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

3. Vision

Because leaders value innovation, they are focused on the future

and how they can improve it. They have a dream and direction that motivates and inspires others. A report from Universum revealed that 41 percent of executives polled said the top quality they looked for in future leaders is the ability to empower employees.

Sinek wrote “Leadership requires two things: a vision of the world that does not yet exist and the ability to communicate it.” How can you improve things at your organization? Share your ideas with others. When you have vision, others will take note.

1. Willpower

Vision, in fact, becomes the drive and main purpose for many leaders. Everything they do revolves around making their vision a reality. To achieve their dream, leaders set speciﬁc goals and work to achieve them by bringing their teams together, developing an organized strategy and working hard.

Charismatic Leaders are focused on getting results and accomplishing what they set out to do. They don’t give up when things get tough. Instead, they push through and continue even when they encounter challenges.

Are you committed to your goals? Your hard work and determination can inspire others if you follow through on your goals.

2. Positive Body Language

When leaders speak, they communicate with conﬁdence and charisma, which makes people sit up and pay attention. They are clear and articulate with their words and ensure that each statement has a purpose.

Charismatic leaders are also aware of their body language. They have good posture and maintain eye contact with the people they are talking to. They are comfortable speaking in front of large groups as well as one on one. No matter what the situation, they articulate their goals and vision.

CONCLUSION:

Charismatic leaders are visionaries. They have a big dream and work towards making it happen. They look beyond the big picture to see what others are unable to see beyond the horizon. Then they imagine different ways to create a successful result.

Try to Be Judicious

“Leaders are always alert towards fairness”

Opening Case Study :

Henry Ford –AJudicious Leader

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. He was a proliﬁc inventor and was awarded 161 U.S. patents. As owner of the Ford Motor Company he became one of the richest and best-known leader in the world. He is credited with “Fordism”, that is, the mass production of large numbers of inexpensive automobiles using the assembly line, coupled with high wages for his workers.

Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. Ford did not believe in accountants; he amassed one of the world’s largest fortunes without ever having his company audited under his administration. Henry Ford’s intense commitment to lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put a dealership in every city in North America, and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation but arranged for his family to control the company permanently. There are many values visible in the life of Henry Ford that enabled him to be a highly successful business leader. However, it seems that his judgement regarding value of employees, belief in equality and emotional intelligence truly set him apart from others. Henry Ford’s leadership quality of sound judgement enabled him to change the trajectory of workplace practices.

Ford set a terriﬁc example for valuing human capital. Though it was a shock to Wall Street, he increased worker’s wages to ﬁve dollars a day and instituted an eight-hour workday. He recognized that increasing wages and offering reasonable hours would serve to retain and motivate employees. “Because Ford had lowered his costs per car, the high wages didn’t matter – except for making it feasible for more people to buy cars”. Henry Ford even said “There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible”.

Henry Ford’s business decisions in the realm of diversity were a catalyst for the growth of equality in the workplace. He offered employment to women, African Americans, and disabled individuals long before most other businesses did so. In 1916, Ford employed individuals representing 62 different nationalities. At that time, the company also employed over 900 people with disabilities. Through the years, Ford went on to set standards of non-discrimination and equalize opportunities in many ways.

Before the term emotionally intelligent was even coined, Henry Ford appeared to embody this quality. His ability to understand that saving clients money made them feel more valued was a sure sign of emotional intelligence. He was sensitive to economic needs and took action to respond to customers in ways that showed he cared. Similarly, he was in-tune with the ﬁnancial and work life balance needs of employees. Because he hoped to show appreciation and understanding toward them, he implemented positive wage and shift changes. Ford even said “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle, as well as your own.”

Like many leaders, Henry Ford broke away from standards. He was the ﬁsh that ventured away from its school and tried something different. He was also keenly in touch with people’s needs, which enabled him to know how to help them and in turn run a successful business.

The judicious leader displays maturity and thoughtfulness in decision making. Judicious maturity of judgment is highly signiﬁcant for professionals making judgments in contexts of risk and uncertainty.One of the most difﬁcult but necessary skills we need to develop as leaders is learning how to be judicious without being judgmental. As a preliminary step to developing that skill, it’s good to reﬂect on the difference between the two.

Being judgmental is basically an effort to get rid of something we don’t understand and probably don’t want to understand. We see something we don’t like and we try to dismiss it, to stamp it out without taking the time to understand it. we’re impatient. Whatever we’re being judgmental about, we just want to get rid of it quickly.

Being judicious, however, requires patience together with understanding. A judicious choice is one you’ve made after understanding all the options, all the sides of a question. That way your choice is based on knowledge, not on greed, aversion, or delusion. A leader’s most important role in any organization is making good judgments—well-informed, wise decisions that produce the desired outcomes. When a leader shows consistently good

judgment, little else matters. When he or she shows poor judgment, nothing else matters. Of course, it isn’t humanly possible to make the right call every single time. But the most effective leaders make a high percentage of successful judgment calls, at the times when it counts the most.

Over the course of our lives, each one of us makes thousands of judgment calls. Some are trivial, such as what kind of cereal to buy; some are monumental, such as whom to marry. Our ability to make the right calls has an obvious impact on the quality of our own lives; for leaders, the signiﬁcance and consequences of judgment calls are magniﬁed exponentially, because they inﬂuence the lives and livelihoods of others. In the end, it is a leader’s judgment that determines an organization’s success or failure. On a more personal level, it is the sum of a leader’s judgment calls that will deliver the verdict on his or her career—and life.

As a leader, we just have to learn to make better judgments and ﬁlter them with experience and wisdom and then use that to make smarter and more thoughtful decisions. Here’s what to keep in mind:

Conduct decisions with an air of wonder. Ask yourself, “Do I have all the facts I’d like to have?” “Am I missing anything?”.Are there unconscious biases creeping in? Ask: “Have I thought of everything else?” and go back and reconsider.
Ask others for their opinions on what they would do if they were you. Make sure you are not insular—don’t think you always know better. Don’t be afraid of asking for help if you don’t know the answer and you have time. This doesn’t mean you will not make the decision, but gathering more input is often helpful. And the real mastery when is everyone else thinks they made the decision, but you did!

Determine if this is a decision that you have to make. If someone else can do it, that’s good; it’s an opportunity for them to hone their judgment. As a leader, you should always be working to enable that.
Understand the time constraints of the decision and proactively decide whether to make a decision or not. Does the situation require an answer now? If so, make it. Too many people delay making decisions, but that is, in essence, making a decision.
Learn how to keep honing your judgment so you keep getting better. If you make the wrong decision, learn from it. Judgment gets better with age, experience, practice and an open mind.

We all must realize that we are all judging everyone, every day. Do your best to have pure and transparent motives, which will help you make fair and better judgments and clear and correct decisions.

CONCLUSION:

Thus, a wise leader embraces the value of judiciousness and avoids the pitfalls that lead to becoming judgmental. As a leader, you can develop good judgement as you do the muscles of your body – by judicious, daily exercise.

Be Innovative

“Leaders do not do different things; they do things differently”

Opening Case Study :

Thomas Edison –A True Innovator

Thomas Edison was born in 1847 in Milan, Ohio, and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. There are many stories about what Edison was like as a child. They all show that from an early age, he was curious about the world around him and always tried to teach himself through reading and experiments. As a boy, he worked as a gatekeeper at his father’s observatory for tourists, and worked on a railway selling newspapers and candy to passengers. When Edison was 22, in 1869, he patented his ﬁrst invention and advertised that he “would hereafter devote his full time to bringing out his inventions.”

With 1,093 patents to his name, Thomas Edison remains the most proliﬁc inventor in American history. It wasn’t just the huge number of patents that propelled him to greatness, though. Rather, it was the fact that so many of his breakthroughs had such profound impacts on our everyday lives.

His best-known invention was the ﬁrst commercially viable incandescent light bulb. But much of what afforded Edison’s light bulb its success was his brilliance in creating equally viable electrical systems – the widespread systems on which electricity is distributed throughout our communities.

Edison had an uncanny knack for recognizing a consumer need, then creating a product to satisfy that need. It was a

gift that revealed itself in his youth. As a young boy, he traveled back and forth on trains between Detroit and his home in Port Huron, 60 miles away. He sold fresh vegetables when he arrived in Detroit, then returned to Port Huron with copies of the very latest editions of Detroit newspapers. Before long, he hired other young people to help expand his burgeoning empire.

Supremely conﬁdent and unfailingly optimistic, Edison was consumed by a need to ﬁnd solutions. And not just any solutions. They had to be practical, level-headed solutions that had some likelihood of being accepted by consumers. If not, Edison wasn’t interested.

It was a point of view he developed early in his career. Edison’s very ﬁrst patent was for a vote recording machine. It was a clever device that would radically reduce the time it took to tabulate votes. More important, it was accurate and promised to eliminate the possibility of vote fraud.

But as Edison soon learned, 19th century politicians weren’t enthusiastic about a machine that would ensure honest ballot-counting. As a result, there was absolutely no market for his brilliant invention.

“So, he learned a very early lesson from that,” says Marc Greuther, Chief Curator at The Henry Ford, “which is there’s no point inventing something that people really don’t want.”

Edison was an eminently practical technologist, though he was guided more by instinct than book-learned knowledge. As a result, he mastered the art of selling himself as much as he did any one product. He understood that, to the mass audience he was determined to serve, the Edison name was one that evoked a sense of ingenuity and progress.

Who are innovative leaders? What are their qualities and how do they drive innovation within an organization? Here is an attempt to explain.

The word “innovator,” to describe a leader, is used far too widely these days. Usually, when people speak of innovators, what they really mean are “creative thinkers.” in other words, people who are able to generate creative ideas that become the basis of innovations. Sometimes, however, what people mean by “innovator” is what we will call an “innovative leader.” Classic examples of innovative leaders include people like Steve Jobs (Past CEO of Apple) and Thomas Alva Edison (who commercialized electric lighting and many related things). Innovative leaders are creative visionaries who have big ideas and, most importantly, can motivate people around them to turn those ideas into reality.

The innovative leader needs a powerful imagination and excellent communications skills. He also needs to have conﬁdence in his team and their ability to work together to achieve that dream.The innovative leader is not a micro- manager. He focuses on the big picture and works with creative thinkers who can add to that vision and make it greater. Micro- managers, on the other hand, tend to stiﬂe creativity and focus far too much on the details – causing them and their teams to lose sight of the big picture.

Perhaps most importantly, the innovative leader needs to be able to communicate his vision and generate enthusiasm for it. His team needs to be able to see the vision themselves and be willing to invest their own time and resources into making it happen. Innovative leaders know that leadership by demand is far less effective at encouraging creativity and innovation than is leadership through motivation and inspiration.

The 5 Skills That Innovative Leaders Have in Common are as follows:

1. Manage Risk

Innovative leaders scored 25% higher than their non-innovative counterparts on managing risk. Innovative leaders are bold when it comes to experimenting with new approaches. However, they will initiate reasonable action when potentially negative consequences are expected. When risks do present themselves, they develop plans to minimize the risk and identify where it is needed most.

2. Demonstrate Curiosity

Innovative leaders also scored higher in terms of demonstrating curiosity. They exhibit an underlying curiosity and desire to know more. These leaders will actively take the initiative to learn new information, which demonstrates engagement and loyalty to company goals. Keeping their skills and knowledge current gives them the competitive edge they need to lead effectively, and also stimulates new ways of thinking in other workers.

3. Lead Courageously

Innovative leaders are proactive and lead with conﬁdence and authority. They turn tough circumstances into prime opportunities to demonstrate their decisive capabilities and take responsibility for difﬁcult decision making. These leaders are sure to engage and maintain audience attention in high-stakes meetings and discussions, and they do not avoid conﬂicts and differences of opinion.

4. Seize Opportunities

Innovative leaders are good at seizing opportunities. They are proactive and take initiative and ownership for success. These CEOs anticipate potential obstacles before taking action, but avoid over-analysis. They push for personal performance and are able to work independently for extended periods of time with minimal support. They are also able to change directions quickly to take advantage of new opportunities when they come up.

1. Maintain a Strategic Business Perspective

Innovative leaders do maintain a strategic business perspective. These leaders demonstrate a keen understanding of industry trends and their implications for the organization. They thoroughly understand the business, the marketplace, and the customer base and are adept at identifying strategic opportunities or threats for the business. They actively participate in community, industry and leadership organizations to understand the external environment, and have an ability to articulate convincing approaches to moving their business forward.

CONCLUSION:

Most innovative leaders don’t ignore risks – they manage them. These leaders anticipate what can go wrong without getting boxed in. They’re curious, and they seize on clear opportunities, balancing exploration with being opportunistic. The leaders who are most likely to lead innovation are driving, high-impact individuals, who aren’t afraid to be assertive, independent, and above all, curious.

Practice Humbleness

“Leaders mix with people like water in the milk.”

Opening Case Study :

Charlie Chaplin –A Humble Leader to the Core

The reason why Sir Charlie is one of the great leaders is that even after all what he has been through like after the sudden mental illness of his mother she was put in a mental hospital and early death of his father at a very young age he and his brother were sent to the orphanage. Even after allthishe was able to follow his dream of becoming a Comedian. This gives us a lesson that you should not let your past or present get in your way of accomplishing things in your life because the depression is always temporary and happiness lasts forever.

The Legacy of Charlie Chaplin was that he really believed that even in the middle of the GreatDepression of World War II it was important to make everyone laugh and ease the depression that people had of losing all that they owned. Since he had sympathy for social outcasts of the time and conveyed a comedic light to circumstances that normal people confronted in a day by day premise. Laughter appeared to be the main cure during that time in history. In one of his famous quotes he said “A day without laughter is a day wasted” (Charlie Chaplin).

Charlie Chaplin became a king of comedy though he had to undergo great struggles in the initial stages of his career due to acute poverty and lack of parental support. He built up his career independently and charted a new course though he lacked any formal training. His rags to riches story will deﬁnitely inspire us to achieve success by overcoming all obstacles.

Chaplin began his acting career at his age of eight and at 18 started to touring with Fred karno’s troupe. Chaplin quoted “I was well aware of the social stigma of our poverty”. His life was really lonely and had to face many struggles. Chaplin began performing in his early years His ﬁrst appearances in music halls and as clown with a group of people. Chaplin was a clown that with his face and body made a lot of people laugh.He was a master of pantomime-silence was the domain over which he was most assuredly the king.

Chaplin signed with Fred Karno Company which it took him to America and that’s when he developed the character the tramp. His ﬁrst movie “Little Tramp “his character was a little man with old shoes, baggy pants moustache, cane and the pride he had towards his character was what made him a unique character. The Little tramp made millions of people laugh of joy. Chaplin continued to play with the same character, tramp to many other short ﬁlms. Later in the silent era it was considered an international character. “The Tramp was Chaplin’s alter ego. He played him for twenty-ﬁve years during that time Chaplin never stopped developing the tramp”. His great perseverance as an artist he called himself as the time went by, a unique clown from other clowns.

Charlie Chaplin was not only a comedian but he was also a great philosopher there are many of his quotes which proves that Sir Charlie had qualities of a great leader. Charlie Chaplin was a born leader, with extra-ordinary drive and determination. Insisting on his right to make up his own mind, he demanded freedom of thought and action, and did not let anything or anyone stand in his way once he was committed to his goal.

Research shows the effectiveness of humble leadership: Humble leaders have more inﬂuence, they attract better people, and they earn more conﬁdence, respect and loyalty than those who rely upon ego and power.They lead to serve. Humble leaders shift attention away from themselves and focus on the contributions and needs of those around them.They have reserves of inner strength. Being a humble leader isn’t a sign of meekness or powerlessness but of great inner strength.

The best leaders are humble on the outside and conﬁdent on the inside.They admit to their mistakes. All leaders are human, which means they all make mistakes from time to time. When you are willing to share your own missteps and mistakes, it allows others to connect to you in a deeper way. Humility is a quality that lets others see your humanity.They seek input from others. The ﬁrst step of turning to others for input is being vulnerable enough to admit that you need the help and insight of others—which is a sign of great character on its own.

Humble leaders know who they are and behave in a way that’s consistent with that knowledge. They also recognize where there’s room for improvement.They are genuine. Humble leaders know the importance of being authentic. They are the same person in private, in public, and in personal life, in every situation and with every kind of people.

They invite trust& know that trust—earning it, giving it and building it—is the foundation of great leadership.Humble leaders are consistent and disciplined in their treatment of others. They treat everyone with respect regardless of their position, role or title.Humble leaders have the conﬁdence to recognize their own weaknesses. Rather than viewing their limits as a threat or a sign of frailty, they surround themselves with others who have complementary skills.

Here are ﬁve ways using which you can be a more humble leader:

1. Recognize your faults.

There are times when we judge other people for the ﬂaws they have, but what good are we getting out of it? Rather, we should introspect and ﬁnd out what’s wrong with us. Being judgmental would only cause trouble in relationships and we forget we need to improve ourselves as well. One must consider how they can bring change in themselves instead of pinpointing and cribbing about others’ faults.

2. When you are wrong, admit it.

Apologizing for your mistakes won’t make you a less of a person. People might be angry or frustrated over things that you did, but it is better to admit your mistake than to cover it up with a lie. People appreciate if you are willing to admit that you need to improve. It shows how you are not stubborn and not even selﬁsh (even if your insides are burning with anger over the issue). People don’t lose your respect, instead, have it more and are empathetic towards you.

3. While having a conversation, be more considerate.

You better not talk down to anyone while giving your opinion. Many times we all might have seen how people start abusing each other if someone doesn’t agree with their theory but it is absolutely insane! Everyone has their own thinking process and their own likes and dislikes. It doesn’t mean that they have the worst choice or that you should be rude to them. Be considerate enough to not interrupt when someone else gives their point of view and let them ﬁnish before you speak up.

4. Appreciate others.

It might be the easiest way to gain a sense of humility. If you see someone doing better than you, or someone being good at something, you must give them a compliment for their work. Understand how they are different from you and try to learn something from everyone who you meet in your life. If you change your mindset and be a bit more open-minded to the ideas of other people, you would be able to appreciate others more than ever.

1. Admit that you might not be the best in everything.

You are talented, we get that! But, keep in mind there is always going to be someone who is better than you, in doing what you are best at. It might be your key talent, but it doesn’t mean you are “best” in the whole world. You need to keep this thought down a notch. Even if you are, supposedly and completely “hypothetically”, there are other tasks you cannot do. You have your limitations and you must acknowledge it, while you learn everything out there in the world.

CONCLUSION:

Humble leaders lead by example. They lead from within. There is always room to be a better person and leader. If you can cultivate humility as a skill, you will be a popular leader and your follower’s favorite.

Exhibit Greatness

“Leaders know well that greatness only can make them great.”

Opening Case Study :

George Washington –The Greatest Leader of All Time

Leadership is something that many aspire to, but few achieve in full measure. It has been deﬁned as being a combination of charisma, integrity, determination, ﬂexibility, resourcefulness, creativity, self-conﬁdence, a sense of responsibility, the ability to communicate, and consistency. George Washington had all these qualities, and he was truly a great leader.

Washington’s greatness can be judged by the way in which he fulﬁlled three important roles during the foundation and early years of the United States; Firstly, as commander in chief of the Continental Army, secondly as president of the Constitutional Convention, and thirdly as the ﬁrst President of the country. Washington was unanimously elected by the delegates to the Continental Congress “to command all the continental forces, raised, or to be raised for the defense of American liberty.” on June 15, 1775.

The reasons given can be gleaned from the writings of those who were there, and in the main they appear to be George Washington’s character, his trustworthiness, and his reputation as being the best colonial military commander. Washington created the Continental Army; his organization and administrative skills, coupled with the trust of his citizen soldiers, enabled him to weld them into a ﬁghting force able to take on the British and win.

Had it not been for Washington, a large part of the Continental Army would have left at the end of their enlistments just after the Battle of Trenton, and his leadership on the battleﬁeld was never better demonstrated than at the Battle of Monmouth, when he took command and not only stopped the American retreat but forced the British to fall back to New York. In the end, Washington’s determination to win the war was greater than that of the British not to lose it.

As president of the Constitutional Convention, George Washington exhibited the same leadership qualities he had shown on the battleﬁeld, and it is little wonder that his ideas

– a written constitution, a strong union with an elected legislature, an executive with the power to enforce the rule of law, the supremacy of national laws over state laws, and the creation of a permanent army controlled by the civil power – became central to the creation of the United States. It is small wonder, therefore, that Washington was unanimously elected to be the ﬁrst President of the United States of American, and that four years later he was re- elected.

Washington was the catalyst for modern day freedom and the embodiment of a great leader. He believed in his men. He was a man of exemplary character. He treated others with the utmost respect. He held his men accountable. He placed the welfare of his men ahead of his own. He did not waver from his guiding principles. He was a man of deep faith who demonstrated that via his actions.

Leadership is not a great mystery. Great leaders have speciﬁc traits in common. Great leaders lead by example with an overriding guiding vision or purpose. They possess an unquenchable passion for successfully implementing the vision of the company regardless of the disapproval of those individuals who fail to see the bigger picture. They don’t waste time worrying about day to day responsibilities or problems. Instead, they focus on where the organization needs to go.

Great leaders know how to be themselves and are proud of who they are. Because they are comfortable with who they are, they are able to do what they need to do and say what they need to say with conviction — and without caring about what anyone else thinks. Great leaders have the ability to inspire conﬁdence in others. They can clearly and concisely communicate their message to motivate those around them to greater heights of achievement. People will do more for leaders they respect than they would do for anyone else.

Also, great leaders are never self-serving. Unlike the star employee, they aren’t focused on proving themselves but are focused unconditionally (and not selﬁshly) on what is best for the organization. They put their vision for the company above their own interests. Great leaders rarely question themselves. Instead, they listen to their inner voice and trust it completely, allowing it to be their guide with each step they take, even as they move in directions that no one has gone before. To be a great leader, you must believe in this voice and trust that it will always be there to guide you.

5 Essential Characteristics of a Great Leader

Being a good leader isn’t easy. While a leader’s actions may be scrutinized when things are going bad, it is their leadership qualities that shine through the worst of times. It is these same qualities that employees look up to, respect, and work very hard for. This is why it is so important for every leader to work hard to gain the qualities of great leadership.

The best leaders exhibit certain qualities that make them hugely successful. Here are 5 attributes of some of today’s truly great leaders.

1. Clarity

They are clear and concise at all times–there is no question of their vision and what needs to be accomplished. This gives others the opportunity to digest their goals and decide whether or not they will support their cause. Generally, very few people know what they want, much less how to get there, so they will gravitate towards those who appear to have a clear picture in mind–good clarity leads to great achievement.

2. Decisiveness

Once they have made up their mind, they don’t hesitate to commit–it’s all hands on deck. They show great consistency with their decisions, rarely backing out or changing their minds unless it is absolutely necessary. Being decisive shows commitment, a quality very high in demand for a great leader.

3. Courage

Boldness is both something you can develop and something that is blessed as a virtue. Although some people are naturally more fearless than others, practicing how to be fearless–or at least project fearlessness–is a completely doable task, one many have achieved in order to fulﬁll their role as an amazing leader.

4. Passion

There’s nothing more inspirational than seeing someone who cares about what they do–the best leaders exhibit boundless energy and passion for what they do. Don’t be shy about your passion for whatever it is you are leading, be it a book reading or a laboratory experiment. As long as you are passionate about what you know, or care about, it’ll shine through and people will follow.

1. Humility

While conﬁdence is a very attractive trait in leaders, there’s nothing like a humble character for creating a lovable persona. Great leaders admit when they are wrong and take criticism as an opportunity for growth. Show the world how grateful you are to be where you are. This, in turn, will demonstrate how much you deserve the leadership role.

CONCLUSION

By focusing on these 5 key attributes, leaders can begin to understand, practice, and internalize the behaviors that buildagreatcharacter.The best leaders exhibit the above- mentioned certain traits that make them hugely successful. Embrace these qualities and you can be a great leader too.

Be Fearless

“Leaders are bold enough to express their mind”

Opening Case Study :
An Exemplary Fearless Leader –Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

Subhash was born at Cuttack in Orissa, in an upper middle- class family. His father was a leader who rose to be the Government leader and public prosecutor of Cuttack. Subhash was one of a large family of brothers.

He had a distinguished educational career and always topped the list. He went to England and there he competed for the Indian Civil Service, standing ﬁrst. But the glamour of Indian Civil Service did not hold his heart. He was burning with a patriotic zeal to serve Mother India. He resigned the I.C.S. within a year and became a soldier in the struggle for India’s freedom.

He was a born leader of men. He was a revolutionary of the type of Mazzini and Garibaldi. He possessed all the sterling qualities of head and heart. He combined with the patriot’s enthusiasm and inspiration, the adventurer’s love of daring and decision.

He was a man of daring schemes and unﬂinching determination. His self-discipline and spiritual inspiration were remarkable. Destiny had cut him out for great things. He never hankered after fame, ease, comfort, money and family. He cheerfully renounced all as if to fulﬁll a mission for which he was born and destined. In the beginning, he was an ardent follower of Gandhi. With

the speed of lightning, he rose from one distinction to another. In 1938, he became the President of the Indian National Congress for the second time. As the President of the India National Congress, he had some sharp differences with Gandhi. The rift between the two widened.

He resigned from the Congress and founded the Forward Bloc. He never slackened his duty towards India. The World War II had, about this time reached a critical stage. The Allies were having a difﬁcult time. This foremost adventurer and revolutionary ran away from his home in Kolkata eluding the police.

To sum up, Subhash was a born leader of men. He was cast by nature in the mold of greatness. He fought the forces of evil with the straightforwardness and boldness of a missionary. His gifts were God- given. He was cut out by nature as the pre-appointed agent for great things. Few men can equal him in the absolute purity of character, consistency of principle and grim determination to see things through. He refused to be cowed down by any person. He clung to the last, little caring for the consequences, to what he considered to be right, morally and ethically. “I stand for truth; I ﬁght for truth and I shall die for truth,” said Subhash in one of his memorable speeches in Singapore. He did not fear even death. “I am immortal till my work is done”, he used to say. May the soul of the mighty architect of India’s liberation lead us and show us light in the country’s moments of frustration, disappointment and dejection.

If you want to understand fear and trust in the workplace, the ﬁrst thing to know is that everybody feels fear.We all feel it. People we think of as fearless, feel fear the same fear we all do, but they handle it differently than other people.Fearless leaders feel the same adrenaline racing through their veins that other people feel when they get fearful.A fearless leader feels the same anxiety but keeps breathing. He or she knows that everything happens for a reason, and that mistakes teach us more than our successes do.

Strong leaders take responsibility for everything that happens in their departments — the good and the bad. They don’t blame their employees for mishaps. It isn’t hard to shift your focus from fear and control to trust. It only takes patience and self-awareness.It requires you to trust yourself enough to trust your teammates.

Since fear is always about the future outcome, most of the time it is imaginary and psychological rather than logical. Fear leads to worry. Few fears may be genetic but most of the fears we learn during our nurturing, from parents, teachers, fellow students and surroundings.

Want to Be a Fearless Leader? Follow These 5 Steps. The following tips apply to all leaders who want to stop fearing and start leading:

1. Embrace your inner boss

To be a fearless leader, you need to embrace the role. The ﬁrst step to embracing your inner boss is to believe in yourself.

Some people believe that leaders are born, while others believe they are made. Whether you were born with a special talent for leading or you’ve acquired the skills along the way, don’t let anyone make you doubt your role. Both men and women can sometimes perceive leaders negatively, and this is not a reﬂection on your true character.

Fight the notion that you are being too “bossy” when you assert yourself. Being conﬁdent and embracing your inner boss is what will allow you to make better decisions that beneﬁt your entire team.

1. Say no without regret

As a business owner, you’re presented with more invitations, requests for meetings, and invitations than you can accept. Giving yourself permission to unapologetically say no to the opportunities you don’t want to take can be challenging. You might not want to hurt someone’s feelings or don’t want to come across as ungrateful.

When you’re feeling tempted to say yes when you really want to say no, pause and consider the impact. Overcommitting to things that distract you from what you care about most can drain your energy and leave you feeling resentful. Getting comfortable with saying no takes practice, but you’ll discover people respect you for the honesty and decisiveness.

2. Have a core set of values

As a business leader, it’s important to have a core set of values by which you stand ﬁrm. These values will help you make tough decisions and keep pushing you towards your goals.Know what means the most to you and be transparent about it. People look up to those who stand by their beliefs and will respect you as both a leader and a business owner.

3. Share praise

One of the most underrated qualities of a great leader is their ability to share praise with their team. Although it may be your vision or strategy that is propelling your company forward, your

Be Emotionally Intelligent

Leaders are expert in reading mind of others.

Opening Case Study :

ALeader with High Emotional Intelligence – Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, or “Madiba” as he was affectionately known died December 5, 2013. Not only did we lose a great man and a great leader for his country, but also a shining example of the kind of leadership we so desperately need today. He left a huge inspirational vacuum.

Mandala once said, “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.” In many ways, Mandela was a mindful leader, having invested hugely in developing his self-awareness and managing his emotions. The truly mindful leader gets their own life in order ﬁrst before engaging in advising others to do the same.

He was a man of quiet dignity to match his towering achievements; a man with an ever-radiant smile and immense and humble sense of humor. Mandela was a rare visionary who would see beyond the current struggles and pain. He was convinced that one day the best parts of humanity would prevail over the worst parts. He even inspired his enemies to be better than they had been through forgiveness and reconciliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission he established is a great model for achieving justice in all nations where human rights abuses occurred and pain needs to be healed.

One of the clear things that propelled Mandela to greatness amidst his suffering and depersonalization in prison, was forgiving his jailors, feeling compassion for those who had caused him pain and his desire for reconciliation. Mandela had the capacity to transcend himself for the sake of those around him and higher causes. His personal pain at causing his family to suffer, seeing the nation he led sink into corruption, and admitting his own mistakes, after all he fought for after his release from prison, never overwhelmed him nor stopped his resolve to make things better. Mandela was not a perfect man, and in acknowledging his ﬂaws, he becomes even greater.

What a stark contrast Mandel’s life was compared to the behavior of many political and business leaders today who take credit and want the limelight when things are going well, and blame others and avoid responsibility when things go badly. The predominant leadership style today in many organizations continues to be egocentric, aggressive, self- serving and lacking in empathy and compassion for others.

Nelson Mandala was a beacon of hope, and like Gandhi before him, a shining example of what a leader can and should be. A man of great compassion and forgiveness and humilty. He will be sorely missed, but as has been said, ““When you live on the hearts of those you love, you will never die.”

Emotional intelligence has recently become one of the key talking points when it comes to leadership. One thing we know for sure is that it is a trait that can be measured and developed. But what exactly is it and how does it inﬂuence the concept of leadership?

Emotional intelligence has to do with one’s ability to both recognize and control their own emotions, while harnessing said emotions appropriately to have the most optimum reaction as situations dictate. It also has to do with one’s awareness of and sensitivity towards others’ emotions.

Emotional intelligence is therefore an important characteristic for anyone at any level of an organization but it is particularly important for those who occupy positions of leadership. A leader’s emotional intelligence can have sweeping inﬂuence over their relationships, how they manage their teams, and all in all how they interact with individuals in the workplace.

What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence or EI is the ability to recognise, understand and handle your own emotions, and those of the people around you. People with a high degree of emotional intelligence know what they are feeling, what their emotions mean, and how these emotions can affect other people.

For leaders, having emotional intelligence is vital for success. Think about it: who is more likely to succeed at taking the organization forward – a leader who shouts at their team when under stress, or one who stays in control of their emotions and those of others, and calmly assesses the situation?

The original deﬁnition, as coined by the team of Salovey and Mayer (1990) is: emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the collection of abilities used to identify, understand, control and assess the emotions of the self and others. According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped to popularize emotional intelligence, there are ﬁve key elements to it:

5 Key Elements of Emotional Intelligence

Self-awareness;
Self-regulation;
Self – Motivation;
Empathy, and;
Social skills.

The more a leader manages each of these areas, the higher their emotional intelligence.

1. Self-awareness

Self-awareness means you are always fully aware of how you feel, and you understand the effect your feelings and your actions can have on the people around you.

A self-aware leader maintains a clear picture of their strengths and weaknesses, and despite their position of authority and power still operates from a mindset of humility.

2. Self-regulation

Self-regulation prevents you from abusing your privilege of leadership to attack and/or stereotype others and making hurried or whimsical decisions that compromise your values. It calls for you to keep control of your emotions and how they affect others as well as stay committed to personal accountability.

3. Self – Motivation

Self-motivated leaders work consistently toward their goals, motivate their employees and they have extremely high standards for the quality of their work.

They develop a healthy emotional connection to the results they seek from their efforts, harnessing them to drive them forward without being obsessive.

1. Empathy

Empathy is what allows you to put yourself in other people’s shoes and consider their unique perspectives. It is very important when it comes to successfully leading a team or organization.

Leaders with empathy actively support the career and personal growth of their team members, offer criticism without crushing the recipient, and solicit regular feedback from their employees. Such leaders are what it takes to motivate employees to perform above expectations.

2. Social skills

Leaders with good social skills are great at communication, which comes in very handy when it comes to getting their team pumped about a new project or objective.

They are emotionally intelligent enough to receive both good and bad news with the same clarity of mind and this makes their subordinates conﬁdent enough to update them on anything.

Leaders with good social skills are also great at planning, effecting and overseeing major changes in the workplace as well as resolving any arising disputes fairly and promptly.

CONCLUSION:

All the great leaders know there is a lot power in their emotions so they make sure to learn how to identify, understand and manage them, and also go ahead to teach those they lead how to do the same.

This is referred to as having emotional intelligence and is one of the most important traits for any leader in any modern-day organization to have.

Follow the 5D-Path

Dreams->Desire->Determination->Disciplined Dedication->Destiny

Opening Case Study :
A Visionary Leader–Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, popularly known as “Missile Man” was born in a middle class family, seen and faced problems and hardships of middle class, never daunted and depressed of failures, rose to the height of ﬁrst citizen of India, the president of India, a visionary, a pragmatist, a poet, a good human being, a complete man. He is the architect of India’s integrated missile development program, recipient of Bharat Ratna award, a rare example in today’s world where most of the people are engulfed by mediocrity, hypocrisy & corruption. Born on 15th October 1931 At Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. AvulPakirJainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology. Dr. Kalam made signiﬁcant contribution as Project Director to Develop India’s ﬁrst indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully injected the Rohini Satellite in the near-earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of Space Club.
Dr. Kalamwas religious to a fault and was a rapacious reader of both BhagwadGeeta and the Kuran of the great Tamil Saint Tirvuallurvar. He always shared his achievements and success with his teachers and colleagues. When the award of Bharat Ratna was bestowed on Dr. Kalam, for his splendid achievements, he said, “I couldn’t have done it by myself. Behind me there were thousands of scientists. I only shaped the program.” In a span of 14 years, he lined up.

Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash, and Nag and ﬁnished the long pending Arjun Project, pushed forward with an indigenous aircraft engine Kaveri. He vowed to make India self-reliant in military war fare by 2005 AD. An apostle of unparalleled genius, he never took excuses of lack of funds or lack of cooperation etc. in the gloriﬁed path of achieving his goal. This dreamer of making India a super power, tells his countrymen and colleagues: “Dream, dream, dream and dream. Turn the dream into thoughts and thoughts will transform into action.”

Dr. AvilPakirJalaluddin Abdul Kalam, is also known for his zest for life and pursuits that might make other scientists astonished. Areader, a lover of classical music and a poet of Tamil, a great scientist, a religiously theist personality and what not, he can be termed as an ideal person, enviable by all. A leading columnist wrote about Dr. Kalam that “India needs a Kalam in every Institution.” He was directing and guiding a team of 7000 brilliant, dedicated scientists and researcher at 50 laboratories of the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization).

In his literary pursuit four of Dr. Kalam’s books – “Wings of Fire”, “India 2020-Avision for the New Millennium”, “My journey” and “Ignited Minds-Unleashing the power within India” have become household names in India and among the Indian nationals abroad. These books have been translated in many Indian Languages.

India is indebted to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and proud of such a brilliant and complete man.

Everyone has the ability to dream, but only Leaders have the willingness to truly chase their dreams.

When we aren’t living our dreams, we often have limited belief systems and are not true leaders. We believe that our current circumstances and/or surroundings are keeping us from achieving the things we want to do in life.

We all have unique sets of circumstances in our lives that we can use as excuses, but learning to ﬁnd those workarounds in our life that give us the ability to succeed, can inspire us to start implementing changes in our lives that need to be made, to make our dreams come true.

Following the 5-D-Path is the way to go for Leaders. Step 1: DREAM

You are never too old, too poor, too young, or too sick to live your dreams. You might not get there the same way as others but if you start chasing your dreams now you eventually will get there.Dreams are just dreams, until you decide they are going to be something more. When you add passion to your dreams your life circumstances will not keep you from achieving them.

Dream chasing is not something everyone is cut out to do. Dream chasing is for those who dare to take a chance to believe, that their dream is something more, than a thought or possibility. Dream chasers know their dreams are worth chasing.

Dream big. The desire to reach greater heights, pass tougher tests or acquire something more than you have now drives you to work and persist. It gets you up in the morning. It drives you do everything you can to succeed. You need to have a vision of something greater than you now have.

Step 2: DESIRE

Leaders have a burning desire to make a difference. Passionate leaders have a fervent need to make a difference in the world. They aspire for more than the next promotion or acquisition. Their focus is on the organization, its people and its impact. They have an irrepressible desire to enrich people’s lives and recognize that the best way to make a difference is to continually feed the strengths of the organization’s people.

Just being around a passionate leader helps people discover what really makes them tick – their purpose and passion at work. The passionate leader doesn’t just assume that this inspiration will happen on its own; she orchestrates it through getting to know her colleagues and tapping into what really drives them to be their best.

Step 3: DETERMINATION

Determination is a key trait of successful Leaders. Determined leaders are the strongest and most successful. The most determined leaders are the ones with emotional strength that is not easily shaken. You can see this in business, sports or even certain people ﬁghting illness. Determination is not about the absence of fear, but rather the ability to be brave in the face of fear.

Developing determination is the process of building your mental muscle the way an athlete builds their physical muscles. It requires practice, energy and consistency along with the belief that you’re becoming a stronger leader. It’s ironic, but you must be determined that you can develop your determination before you begin.

Step 4: DISCIPLINED DEDICATION

Self-disciplined leaders are successful and ultimately become better at what they do. They are active, self-controlled, organized, are able to censor themselves and to build great relationships.

Leaders use self-discipline to sharpen their willpower and decisions making skills, to command respect from others and to lead by example, to achieve their goals regardless of their feelings, to gain proﬁt and to look beyond hard work, to stick to their decisions, to evaluate themselves and place boundaries, to compartmentalize their emotions.

Furthermore, self-disciplined leaders have no fear of the future, are respected and dependable.Self-disciplined leaders practice thoughts management, emotional intelligence, time management, character building, self-awareness and team building until they turn those soft skills into habits.

Step 5: DESTINY

Leaders write their fate with their own hands and if they don’t like it, they erase it and write it again. This is a powerful secret of life of successful leaders. We have such potential, such power that we can write or rewrite our destiny! All we need to know is what we want to do with our life.

By saying “It is my destiny, I cannot change it” we are limiting ourselves in a self-made cell. We are building walls around us. See even someone born physically handicapped, his disability isn’t his destiny. There is a purpose for everything. Find out your purpose of your life. Every-one can improve their situation by careful analysis and adoption of suitable strategies. Believe in yourself.

CONCLUSION:

“All successful leaders – men and women – are big dreamers,” wrote author Brian Tracey. “They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.”

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. When you cease to dream you cease to live.

Build Character

Character is foundation of strong leadership

Opening Case Study :

A Leader with Character–Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was a very empowering and Visionary leader. He empowered all Indians on a salt march to corrupt the British economic system. Since he was pioneer of Satyagraha, he also inspired all Indians to understand and learn resistance through non-violent civil disobedience. Gandhi was a leader of character. He gave Indians a new spirit, a sense of self-respect and a feeling of pride in their civilization; he is something more than a mere politician. He is a great statesman and a man of vision.

In India, Gandhi established the acknowledgment by leading through example, he established himself as a servant of the people of India, empowering the general public. He made it his policy to practice what he preached, even the small things like spinning yarn to make his clothes. He resorted to simple and poor living, just like millions in the country, hence people looked at Gandhi as one of their own, they could see their own sufferings in him.

Gandhi had already been recognized through his work and movements in South Africa. People already had great honor and hopes from him due to what he had achieved, his non- violent methods were also very well respected within the Indian society. Since he was already visionary, Mahatma Gandhi was a Transformational leader. He always empowered his followers towards success, he gave them hope where there may be none. One of the most outstanding

qualities of Gandhi which makes him a great transfor- mational leader of modern history was his long-term vision, self-conﬁdence which was perhaps perceived as someone who was stubborn and strong principles of righteousness.

Mahatma Gandhi is universally accepted as an exemplary model of ethical and moral life, with a rare blending of personal and public life, the principles and practices, the immediate and the eternal. He considered life to be an integrated whole, growing from ‘truth to truth’ every day in moral and spiritual status.

He believed in a single standard of conduct founded on dharma of truth and nonviolence. He successfully led nonviolent struggles against racial discrimination, colonial rule, economic and social exploitation and moral degradation. So long as these manifestations of violence remain, Gandhi will remain relevant. Gandhi was “a good man in a world where few resists the corroding inﬂuence of power, wealth and vanity”.

Among the vital messages of Gandhi’s leadership are: even one person can make a difference; strength comes not from physical capacity but from an indomitable will; given a just cause, nonviolence and capacity for self-suffering, and fearlessness, victory is certain; leadership by example is the one most effective.

Gandhi’s 7 social sins are a comprehensive list of behaviors that cause serious harm to society. Convinced that morality is a superior force, the spiritual and political leader created a list of factors that degrade it in order to warn against them.

The following are the biggest social sins that Gandhi warned against.
1. Politics without principles
2.Business without morals
3.Well-being without work
4.Education without character
5. Science without humanity
7. Religion without sacriﬁce

The late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged his followers not to judge people by their appearance, but by the content of their character. A person’s character, good or bad, can inspire others to greatness or discourage them from trying. In business, the role of leadership character can’t be understated. Authentic leaders lead from a strong, personal, moral value that can have a profound effect on your organization. You need to understand how character affects your organization and how it can attract top performers.

Scratch the surface of a true leader, or look beneath his or her personality, and you’ll ﬁnd character. The traits and values that make up the character of a good business leader are, for the most part, similar to those that make up the character of an outstanding human being.

Leaders do not command excellence; they build excellence. Excellence is “being all you can be” within the bounds of doing what is right for your organization. To reach excellence you must ﬁrst be a leader of good character. You must do everything you are supposed to do.

A strong person can be good or bad. A gang leader is an example of a strong person with a bad character, while an outstanding community leader is one with both strong and good characteristics. An organization needs leaders with both strong and good characteristics — people who will guide them to the future and show that they can be trusted.

Leaders with character achieve results that transcend everyday organizational imperatives and outcomes. A study of world leaders over the past 150 years asserts that managers who possess strong character will create a better world for everyone, while leadership generally is vital to the social, moral, economic, and political fabrics of society.

Here are Five Reasons Why Character Plays A Major Role in Leadership:

Matter of Trust

Leadership must be trusted to make the smartest decisions and do the right thing, especially in difﬁcult conditions. Trust is achieved by demonstrating competence and through strong character. Hiring executives must believe they can trust the leader as must employees who follow her. Once a leader’s character is proven untrustworthy, her ability to lead will diminish. Keeping leaders who have poor character and can’t be trusted will diminish morale.

2. Commands Respect

Good character in leadership commands respect. Besides being trusted, these leaders have the respect of their teams and even the competition. A person with good character is courteous, never demeaning. He is accepting of others and appreciates hearing opposing viewpoints. As a result of his willingness to listen and accept, his respect increases. People with poor character aren’t

respected because they have shown that they will not make good choices or make decisions that are in the interest of the team.

3. Brings Excellence

Leadership with good character brings a spirit of excellence to any business. These leaders expect more than the status quo from themselves and the people they lead. This character attribute encourages team members to learn more and do more. With excellence comes responsibility. This leader takes responsibility for their actions, even when it means owning up to mistakes. They have a strong sense of accountability and expect the same from their team members.

4. Genuine Care

People with good character genuinely care about the people they work with. While a respectful distance must be maintained in working relationships, genuine concern for others is important for all business. Teams are often smaller than groups in large companies, commanding a greater need for stronger inner- company ties. This character attribute may manifest as caring concern, helpfulness and compassion.

5. Optimism

This is the tendency to take the most hopeful and cheerful view and to expect the best outcome. Optimists see opportunities, possibilities and silver linings in every situation. They often contend that, with hard work, focus, resilience and a bit of luck, a positive outcome is possible. People are naturally drawn to leaders who are positive, upbeat and cheerful – who have a “We can do this!” type of attitude.

CONCLUSION:

Organizations want leaders who were both ethical and who

Do Not Blame Others

Blame is driving in reverse gear.

Opening Case Study :

Warren Buffet: A Responsible Leader

Someone who epitomizes our principle of not playing the blame game is American businessman, successful leader and dedicated philanthropist, Warren Buffet. Since his childhood, Buffet has held himself accountable for not only his successes and failures, but for everything in between. Known as the “Wizard of Omaha” or “Oracle of Omaha”, Buffet was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the second of three children. From a very young age, Buffet set his sights on his goals. He identiﬁed what he wanted, he held himself accountable for results and he made it happen.

As a youngster, Buffet sold gum, Coca-Cola or magazines door to door, all while also holding a job in his grandfather’s grocery store. To make extra money, he sold golf balls and stamps, and detailed cars. Buffet made everything count—in 1944, on his ﬁrst income tax return, he took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle and watch on his paper route. Talk about accountability! In high school, he bought a farm and invested in a business his father owned. After completing his BS in Business Administration, he was rejected by Harvard Business School. Again, though, his persistence won out, as he was eventually accepted to Columbia Business School, where he earned his MS in Economics in 1951.

In 1962, Buffet ofﬁcially became a millionaire. He eventually took control of a textile manufacturing ﬁrm, Berkshire Hathaway, where he gained even more wealth

through his savvy investments. In 2008, he was named the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $62 billion, surpassing Bill Gates on the Forbes list.

The enormous success of Warren Buffet is a testament to his personal accountability—of relying on nobody but himself to see his goals through and leading his team on the right path. But please be aware: success here does not equal money. Success is when you realize that your life is all about accountability, and that only you can make things happen for yourself. Whatever your goal is in life, and in business, do it and do it well. You can only rely on yourself to get these goals accomplished. Accountability leads to accomplishment.

Despite Buffet’s enormous wealth, as further evidence of his commitment to personal accountability, he doesn’t plan on leaving his money to his three children. Buffet wants them to be accountable and responsible for their own successes in this world, just as he was. He once said, “I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing.”

Good leaders take responsibility and never place blame. Everyone is ready to take credit when things go well. Yet, it is all ﬁnger pointing at others when things go south. Blame is easy. Bad leaders blame someone or something else. But blame is unproductive and detrimental. Being a productive leader means taking responsibility. There is a difference between blame or fault and being a strong leader and taking responsibility. Truly stepping up and taking responsibility creates the opportunity to innovate and build value. So, don’t place blame. Take responsibility!

How do you know if you’re a blamer?

You’re hesitant to accept any kind of responsibility for your choices and actions, especially if they’ve led to an unfavorable result.A blamer also tries to get out of a sticky situation. They’ll intentionally make it appear to be somebody else’s fault, even if they’re partly or fully to blame.

But the crazy thing is, these same people that continue to point the ﬁnger and make their employees feel insecure, are also usually the ﬁrst to take the credit when everything pans out the way it should and champagne bottles are popped open.

The short of it is: bad leaders blame, great leaders don’t!

Here are 5 reasons why successful leaders never blame others:

REASON #1: When You Don’t Blame Others, You Become Resilient

To be resilient is to recognize that if you are dissatisﬁed with certain aspects of your team then it is your responsibility to take the initiative and do something about it.

TIP: Take responsibility for your actions—stop whining, blaming others, and pointing ﬁngers if you don’t get what you want.

REASON #2: When You Don’t Blame Others, You Become More Conﬁdent

Lack of conﬁdence in ourselves and our abilities is a major reason we blame others when something goes wrong.Instead of

being open or curious about learning more, a part of us shuts down. Sometimes we blame ourselves as much as blaming others. Focusing on why we failed at something does nothing more than chip away at our conﬁdence; instead, dig down and uncover what we can learn from the experience.

TIP : Consciously and deliberately move into an exploratory frame of mind that is more curious about learning than shameful of making mistakes.

REASON #3: When You Don’t Blame Others, You Stop Making Excuses for Yourself

Blaming others for our own actions is nothing more than making excuses for ourselves. In the process, we will have learned nothing from what has transpired and so the lesson inevitably will have to be learned again…and on it goes.

TIP : Start to question your thoughts and probe deeper into why you default to “blaming others.” Ask yourself, “Is this really true?” Often you will ﬁnd the basis of those thought are just plain silly! The key is to question your thinking because once you do, you often discover that what you think you believe really isn’t true at all.

REASON #4: When You Don’t Blame Others, You Allow Space for Personal Growth

If you don’t, you will wake up some day and realize that you are no closer to being the person you want to be than you were years ago. You will ﬁnd that you’ve aged, but never grown into your potential.

TIP: Realize that the next step in living a life full of value and meaning for you will not reveal itself in the future—it is to be taken now.

REASON #5: When You Do Not Blame Others You Become The Victor, Not the Victim

When you feel the victim, you gain power over the situation by blaming other people for your situation.

Loss of control over one’s life is always associated with feelings of helplessness. There is a very clear link between mental toughness and the way we approach our helplessness.

TIP: With each problem you face, you can learn a new skill or new fact.

CONCLUSION

Look at how you lead in a situation when things don’t go according to plan. Monitor your speech and how you say things. Avoid using pronouns and words that suggest blame and learn how to say: “Yes, it was my mistake, and I’m working on the solution.” Remember mistakes happen all the time. We’re human after all. Just don’t let the same mistake happen twice; learn from it.

Be Able

Ability without dependability, responsibility and ﬂexibility is liability.

Opening Case Study :

Narendra Modi: A Truly Able Leader

Chanakya believes that “A man is great by deeds, not by birth.”

Belonging to the backward Ghanchi community, Narendra Modi started selling tea at Vadnagar railway station at a very young age, after which he set up a tea stall near a bus terminus with his brother. He rose from a poverty-stricken tea-selling boy to a development-oriented leader, eventually becoming the longest-serving chief minister of Gujarat for 12 years. Now you can see as where does he stand. Narendra Modi is the world’s third most popular leader, according to a survey done by Gallup International.

Here is a leader who has both power and passion. We have seen political leaders who had visionary thinking and we have seen some leaders who had an eye for the details, but Narendra Modi can do both. While his eyes are focused on the stars his feet are ﬁrmly on the ground. The 16th and current Prime Minister of India, Narendra Damodardas Modi is considered a famous and powerful leader not just in India, but in the world.

Narendra Modi is considered one of the most respected leaders in the world not because of his position, but because he set the example as a great leader. He is the man that everyone looks up to and respect because of his personality, his characters, traits, and qualities.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been”. Henry Kissinger

Modi has presented himself as an example of a great leader. Even to this day, he is still a well-behaved man who does not misuse his status quo to garner false-respect from others. And this is what a leader is all about.

One of the most important leadership qualities one can learn from Modi is his intense passion and enthusiasm for his work. He loves serving his country so much that he spends 18 hours every day at work.

Besides being a workaholic, Modi also shows his ability to adapt to the current technology. He has been using social media since years ago and is the second most-followed leader in the world, with over 34 million followers on Twitter.

Modi has made his appearance not only on Twitter but also Google Hangouts. His appearance there made him the ﬁrst Indian politician to interact with netizens on live chat.

Modern management deﬁnes Leadership as the ability to set a new direction or vision for a group to follow, and a Leader has to be the spearhead for that new direction. Like in a ship, although the crew knows their tasks well and performs them diligently, they still need a Captain who directs, coordinates, navigates and owns up the responsibility in case of any unexpected calamity. The ability to Lead and management goes hand in hand. Leadership without ability is only setting a direction without considering how it has to be achieved. Management without leadership ability is managing status-quo of resources without knowing in which direction to drive a change. So, a manager also needs to be an able leader and vice-versa to strike a balance and achieve the objectives.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been”. Henry Kissinger

We all admire people who display high competence and ability, whether they are precision craftsmen, world-class athletes, or successful business leaders. And most of us want to be seen as able at our work. For leaders, ability is especially important. It can determine whether followers respect and follow you — or don’t.

Able leaders perform through every season of leadership, during the good, bad, and ugly times of leading. They know how to nourish themselves and remain self-motivated. The most important role of a leader is to produce results, primarily by inﬂuencing those around them to perform.

Able leaders never settle for good or average results whether it’s in a product, service, or the effort of the team or themselves. They are driven to put in the effort to produce great results and work. This mindset strives for great work but does not allow perfectionism to cause them not to deliver results. Never settle for the average when you can produce greatness.

In every task they do, able leaders pay attention to the details. Dale Carnegie said,“Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.”

Leaders understand the small tasks compiled together produce large and successful results. Even in the small or routine tasks, they never cut corners or overlook the details. This leads to the success of everyone on the team and the entire organization.

The role of the leader has never been as important or demanding as it is today. Leaders at all levels must deliver consistent, sustainable results in leaner organizations and get things done day to day with fewer resources. There is an increased emphasis on maintaining employee morale and high levels of productivity

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell

in an increasingly complex and changing business environment. And leaders must ensure that the right people with the right skills are in the right roles.

Some people are known to be born leaders. The quality runs in their family; it is in their genes. Others are inspired by such people and work upon embedding this quality. Some fail at achieving it others are successful in attaining it through continual efforts. While leadership is a powerful quality, leaders possess various other qualities in addition to it that make for their popularity.

Competencies of a Good Leader

Here are the ﬁve main competencies of a good leader:

1. Clarity of Vision

A visionary leader who clearly and passionately communicates his or her vision can motivate employees to act with passion and purpose, thereby ensuring that everyone is working toward a common goal. The end result is that everyone contributes to the organization’s forward momentum.

2. Effective Communication

A leader does not think of himself as superior to you and thus does not believe in maintaining a distance. He rather ensures a ﬂow of two-way communication to share ideas, discuss issues and maintain a cordial relation.

3. Expertise of Subject

Studies suggest that the best leaders know a lot about the domain in which they are leading, and part of what makes them successful in a management role is subject expertise. As a leader, you’re expected to do more than just manage people. Your

employees and colleagues look to you as a subject matter expert.

Choosing Right People

Company’s most important asset is its people. Having the right people with the right skills in the right positions makes the difference between business success and failure. Bad hires can damage your business. Organizations can reap success by hiring the right person tin the ﬁrst go.

Problem Solving Skills

Effective problem solving is one of the key attributes that separate great leaders from average ones.Being a successful leader doesn’t mean that you don’t have any problems. Rather, it means that you know how to solve problems effectively as they arise.

CONCLUSION

A good leader has the ability to inspire others and instill leadership qualities in his subordinates to generate future leaders.

Have Unending Zeal

Nothing great is ever achieved without zeal.
Entrepreneurs are highly enthusiastic about their dreams.

Man with Unending Zeal: Kishore Biyani
A true Indian retail czar, Kishore Biyani is the Group CEO of Future Group and Managing Director of Pantaloon Retail. Popularly known as KB, he is the man who triggered the concept of retail supermarkets in India like Big Bazaar, Pantaloon, Mega Mart and Bangalore Central. With his sheer ‘zealous instincts’ he created Future Group, a USD 1 billion enterprise and spearheaded the emergence of Pantaloon Retail as the leading retailer in the country. The story of Big Bazaar is a story of unbridled entrepreneurship, the courage of conviction, and the unending zeal for change and innovation. It is also a testimony to the new face of retail in India where now, a plethora of hypermarkets, supermarkets, departmental stores, shopping malls, and discount stores compete with another. A typical Big Bazaar store is seen as a one-stop destination for products belonging to a wide range of categories including food products, lifestyle, fashion, furniture, electronics, leisure, and entertainment. The retail space of these stores in metros can range between 50,000 square feet and 160,000 square feet. Since its launch in 2001 in Kolkata, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, Big Bazaar stores have spread across 80 towns and cities across the country over the past decade. Not surprisingly, Big Bazaar has strong competition to other major retailers in the domestic market such as Reliance, Tata Group, RPGGroup, and AV Birla Group.

Starting a business is a tough decision to make—a decision filled with the excitement of embarking on a new journey but also filled with concerns about the risks ahead and the uncertainty involved. Usually starting a business means working long hours; often well into the night during the phase of building the business’s foundation.

In order to keep working hard, one has to be motivated. A lot of people tend to dismiss the importance of zeal. They may acknowledge it as a factor, but not as an important factor—at least not as important as capabilities, a good business plan, etc. But what is zeal? To simplify: Zeal is the desire to do things. From a business perspective zeal is considered to be “the internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in entrepreneurs to continually have interest in and be committed to a job, role, or subject and to exert persistent effort in attaining a goal.”

For an entrepreneur, zeal is the driving force of it all; it is what makes him get up in the morning ready to work those long hours and execute a business plan or make the most out of his capabilities. Since the first few months of a new business are usually also the most critical, it is important to recognize the impact zeal has on the future of business.

At the core of zeal lies passion. If zeal is the motor that gets the car moving, then passion is the fuel. Sure, there are other factors that can increase zeal—such as incentives (usually in the form of cash). But speaking from experience, it is usually noticed that there is a difference in the quality of work of someone who does something because it is his or her passion and someone who does something because he or she gets a lot of money to do it.

Passion also means dedication. A lot of new enterprises close because their owners lose faith and give up too early or aren’t willing to work harder. On the other hand, there are many success stories of people who say, “I couldn’t give up on my dream, so I kept going and eventually succeeded.”

All in all, zeal and passion will help an entrepreneur get things done. And getting things done is crucial when a business is in its infancy. When an entrepreneur is zealous and shows the love for what he does, customers will notice, and they will reward for it.

So as an entrepreneur, when opening a new business, make sure you have a lot of fuel of zeal to keep the motor of your venture running, and it will help you reach the zenith.

Yes I Can!

Entrepreneurs believe in the Power of YES.

The Power of ‘Yes I Can’: Colonel Sanders
The success story of Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken aka KFC displays a level of persistence and the belief in the power of ‘Yes I can’ that few can match. Sanders was born in 1890 in Henryville, Indiana. His father passed away when he was just five and his mother worked in a tomato-canning factory. In 1902, Sanders dropped out of school, his mother got married to a second husband and he was beaten by his stepfather, this was when Sanders left home to live with his uncle in Albany, Indiana. At the age of 15, Colonel Sanders enlisted in the army; he completed service as a mule handler in Cuba and then, used his remaining early years to work a variety of jobs including an insurance salesman, boat pilot and farmer. When he was 18, he got married but his wife later left him as a “no-good fellow who can’t hold a job”. Colonel Sanders was 65 years old when he received his first social security cheque of $99. He was broke, and owned a small house and a beat up car. He made a decision that he has got to change. The only idea he had was a chicken recipe, which his friends liked. With that idea in mind, he took massive action. He left his home in Kentucky and traveled to many states in the US to sell his idea. He told the restaurant owners that he had a chicken recipe that people liked and he was giving it to them for free. What he wanted in return was for the restaurant owners to pay him a small percentage on the pieces of chicken sold. He got rejections after rejections, but did not give up. In fact, he got over 1000 rejections. He got 1009 no’s before he got his first yes. With that one success Colonel Hartland Sanders changed the eating habits of the whole world with Kentucky Fried Chicken, popularly known as KFC. Today, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is a very well known restaurant in the world. It is rated at number 60 as the world’s most well known brand by Business Week. Sanders proved that age is no barrier to success, and so is capital. What is needed is an idea put into action and belief in ‘Yes I can’, followed with proper planning and persistency.

There is great power in the word ‘Yes’. It means we agree, we commit, we accept, we will, we can. The energy of No is a resistance, and creates a block. Its okay by
all means to say No when it’s appropriate, although the power of saying Yes to
the energy of acknowledging whatever it is that is showing up, can move
mountains.

Say yes because:

It makes you instantly responsible. Many entrepreneurs say no to new opportunities, ideas and so on — both at work and in relationships — because they don’t want the burden of responsibility that comes with saying yes. Responsibility is heavy, and it can weigh you down if you’re not careful. But responsibility can also be a doorway, a capacity builder, a way of strengthening your capabilities. As writer Joseph Campbell once said, “The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.” So learn to say yes more and accept the responsibilities and the journey that follows.

It gives you an opportunity to learn. One of the best pieces of advice ever for budding entrepreneurs, is to say yes first and then figure out later how to do what you agreed to. At first it may seem deceptive. How could you say yes to something you didn’t know how to do? But then you must realize that it would be an opportunity for you to learn to do something you haven’t yet done. You must reassure yourself that you are very capable, and you will find out what you need. Take the opportunity to learn what you need to learn in order to get the job done and get noticed.

It invites positivity. Saying yes can be an affirmation of positivity. It can mean that you have decided to say yes to hope, to possibility and to the potential for something better. Simply saying yes can mean you’re willing to give something a try. And when you invite that kind of possibility for something better, you invite a positive energy to permeate your life. As Gandhi reportedly once said, “Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.”

It makes you learn that it’s OK to fail. Entrepreneurs usually are afraid of saying yes because they are scared of what will happen if something goes wrong. They ponder: What if I say yes to start a multi-cuisine restaurant and the food ends up tasting not up to the mark? What if I say yes to new responsibilities at work and I don’t do well? What if I say yes to a new partnership and it doesn’t work out? Constantly having these thoughts can be toxic. It will pollute your mind with the fear of failure. As an entrepreneur, you need to learn that you are trying your best to be successful, and everything will be OK. Even if you fail, you will have learned a lesson and can move on. It’s better to rather try and fail than fail to try.

Taking advantage of opportunities in life starts with simply saying yes to them when they come around. Saying yes to yourself also helps. Great opportunities often come from your own great ideas so don’t say no to them. If you’re negative about yourself, you’ll just limit your own options. This is not a good state of mind to be in. Opportunities are, by definition, short-lived. You need to be quick in order to get the most out of them. When you say yes, you can gain insight to new business opportunities you might not have thought about before. Saying yes can be a very eye-opening experience.

So say YES! Say Yes to opportunities! Say Yes to potential clients! Use the yes mentality to build the life you want. The joy, the freedom, and the money…it’s all there waiting for you to claim it

Travel the Extra Mile

Entrepreneurs know that little extra effort will make them extraordinary.

Going the Extra Mile: Jack Canfield
Rejected by more than 130 publishers, Chicken Soup for the Soul became a worldwide sensation only because of persistence and the attitude of going the extra mile. When others might have given up, Chicken Soup creator Jack Canfield pushed on—just as he advises others to do. “People told Elvis he couldn’t sing. People said the Beatles were no good,” he says. Chicken Soup for the Soul, a collection of 101 inspiring fables, parables and real-life short stories, was finally published in 1993. Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, his collaborator, fed a grassroots marketing effort that made the book an international best-seller and spawned about 200 spinoffs. Chicken Soup titles have sold more than 112 million copies and been translated into 40-plus languages, according to ChickenSoup.com. Canfield says persistence is probably the single most common quality of high achievers. “The longer you hang in there, the greater the chance that something will happen in your favor. No matter how hard it seems, the longer you persist the more likely your success,” he writes in The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, his 2003 best-seller that sold some 700,000 copies. As founder and chairman of The Canfield Training Group in Santa Barbara, Calif., he has helped more than 1 million people through his personal and professional development seminars. He draws blueprints and shares techniques for achievement with the unemployed, wealthy executives, struggling and comfortable entrepreneurs, prison inmates, and Mr. and Ms. Average Reader—all who wish to follow their passions to successful, goal-directed lives.

An important principle of success in all walks of life and in all occupations is a willingness to “Go The Extra Mile “; which means the rendering of more and better service than that for which one is paid, and giving it in a positive mental attitude.

The Extra Mile Formula

Render more and better service than you are paid for, and sooner or later you will receive compound interest from your investment. It is inevitable that every seed of useful service you sow will sprout and reward you with an abundant harvest.

Going the extra mile is not the sort of principle that can be put into practice in a few easy steps. Instead it is a state of mind that you must develop, so that it is a part of everything you do. There is a subtle, but powerful, mental attitude connected with it. The story that follows will demonstrate that attitude and show you the concrete benefits if brings. Remember, your best recommendation is the one you give yourself by rendering superior service in the right mental attitude.

Thomas Edison’s Only Partner

Edward C. Barnes was a man of much determination but few resources. He was determined to ally himself with the greatest mind of his day, Thomas Edison. When he arrived in Edison’s office unannounced, his poor appearance made the clerks laugh, especially when he revealed that he had come to be Mr. Edison’s partner. Edison had never had a partner. But his persistence got him an interview with Edison, and that interview got him a job as a handyman.

Edison was impressed with Barnes’s determination, but that alone was insufficient to convince him to take the extraordinary step of making him a partner. Instead Barnes spent years cleaning and repairing equipment, until one day he heard Edison’s sales force laughing over the latest invention, the dictaphone.

They said it would never sell. Why replace a secretary with a machine? But Barnes, the handyman, jumped up and cried, “I can sell it!” He got the job. For a month Barnes pounded the New York City pavement on a handyman’s salary. At the end of that month he had sold seven machines. When he returned to Edison, full of ideas for selling more machines all across the country, Edison made him his partner in the dictaphone business, the only partner Edison ever had.

What made Barnes so important to Edison? The inventor had thousands of people working for him, but only Barnes was willing to display his faith in Edison’s work and to put that faith into action. He didn’t demand a fancy expense account and a big salary to do it either. Barnes focused favorable attention on himself by rendering service far beyond a handyman’s responsibility. As the only one of Edison’s employees to render this service, he was the only one who uncovered such tremendous benefits for himself.

Here are some of the benefits of going the extra mile:

It could bring you to the favorable attention of those around you who could help you to advance yourself in both personal or business ventures. But you must not do it to gain this attention you must do it because you truly wish to help those around you.
It will help you in all that you do because as you undertake each task you will be thinking ‘how I can do a better job than I did last time’. In so doing you increase your imagination and your creativity.
By the law of contrast you will stand out against others as they will not be going the first mile let alone going the extra mile.
By developing the habit of going the extra mile you will improve your personality and you will find that you are liked more by others.
It will inspire you to work on your own personal initiative instead of waiting to be told what to do, you will be thinking what can I do next to improve my service. This is the first step in true leadership in all callings.
This habit alone can help you to master the destructive habit of procrastination. Procrastination is one of the reasons why so many fail in their endeavors.
It helps you to develop definiteness of purpose and this is the starting point of all personal success and stops you from drifting through life without know what you want and where you are going.
It conditions your mind to maintain a mastermind alliance with others and in so doing you create your own favorable breaks simply by using this small but huge habit.

Going the extra mile sets committed entrepreneurs apart from those who would simply be fine to cut corners.

Act Win-Win

Acting win-win is one of the most important habits of great Entrepreneurs.

A Win-Win Strategy: Amit Jatia
You will hardly see him at retail conferences or read about him in print. He works silently and prefers it that way. But meet him in person and you just cannot help yourself being in awe of the magnificent persona he carries. Amit Jatia is the man behind bringing McDonald’s to India and can leave you at loss of words when he gets talking. McDonald’s a truly global company established its first restaurant in 13th October 1996 at Basant lok, New Delhi. The major hurdle for McDonalds to establish itself in India was the culture barrier. Indians consider consuming beef and pork as taboo. Keeping in mind the cultural sensitivity in India, McDonald’s changed its complete menu. For example, in India, the menu has no beef dishes since it is not considered religiously correct to eat cow‘s meat: there is the very popular McAlooTikki, a potato-based patty in burger buns; the Big Mac is replaced by the Maharaja Mac, the Big Mac in chicken; there is also the paneer (cottage cheese) McVeggie burger. It was McDonald’s first experience to serve vegetarian Burgers rather than serving Beef and pork items. McDonald’s team in India did many years of extensive research in India before launching their product in the Indian market and they found many critical issues to look after. It has carefully kept the culture sensitivities in mind and today McDonalds is a huge success and a favorite food-joint among youth. The win-win strategy adopted by McDonald’s is worth emulating by entrepreneurs. The mantra of ‘Think Globally Act Locally’ has been at the heart of McDonald’s success in India.

The win-win approach is about changing the point of attention from adversarial attack and defence, to co-operation. It is a powerful shift of attitude that alters the whole course of communication. A win-win approach requires an entrepreneur to express his thoughts, feelings, beliefs and opinions in ways that are direct, honest and appropriate. It also means respecting the rights and needs of others. (I’M OK – YOU’RE OK)

What are the Benefits of a Win-Win Approach?

A win-win approach attempts to find a solution that meets the needs of both parties. In this case, the entrepreneur and the customer. Here the reference point is I win AND you win. Where both people win, both are tied to the solution. They feel committed to the solution because it actually suits them.

How can an Entrepreneur Develop a Win-Win Approach?

The entrepreneur should begin by discussing underlying needs, rather than only looking at solutions. Using a win-win approach can help two sets of needs to dovetail together.

Addressing customer’s underlying needs means that the entrepreneur builds solutions that acknowledge and value those needs, rather than denying them. Even where solutions cannot be “perfect”, the entrepreneur feels quite differently about the outcome.

He should ask questions like “Why does that seem to be the best solution to the customer?”, “What’s the customer’s real need here?”, “What interests need to be served in this situation?”, “What values are important to the customer here?”, “What’s the outcome or result the customer wants?”

This approach leads to opportunities for the entrepreneur to say what he needs and for the customer to say what they need too. It creates the foundation for co-operative problem-solving.

A win-win approach rests on strategies involving:

Focusing on underlying needs rather than solutions
Recognition of individual differences
Openness to adapting your position resulting from shared information and attitudes
Attacking the problem, not people.

When an entrepreneur thinks in terms of Lose & Win life becomes a zero-sum game. On the other hand, win-win sees business as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one. Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all business interactions. Win-win means agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and satisfying.

An entrepreneur who approaches with a win-win attitude possesses three vital character traits:

Integrity: sticking with true feelings, values, and commitments
Maturity: expressing ideas and feelings with courage and consideration for the ideas and feelings of others
Abundance Mentality: believing there is plenty for everyone

Many entrepreneur’s think in terms of either/or: either you’re nice or you’re tough. Win-win requires that you be both. It is a balancing act between courage and consideration. To go for win-win, an entrepreneur needs not only have to be empathic, but also confident. He not only has to be considerate and sensitive, but also has to be brave. To do that–to achieve that balance between courage and consideration–is the essence of real maturity and is fundamental to win-win.

Acting Win-Win isn’t about being nice, nor is it a quick-fix technique. It is a character-based code for human interaction and collaboration.

Develop a Vision

Success in entrepreneurship depends upon two important things.
VISION: Seeing the invisible &
MISSION: Doing the impossible.

Wal-Mart Visionary: Sam Walton
The highly intelligent entrepreneur who was the sharp mind behind WalMart was Sam Walton. Founder of one of the most highly-recognized stores in the world, he was a visionary who understood the need for everyone to have access to goods without suffering financially. Living through the Great Depression, and working to help his parents make ends meet, Sam was given an education on the responsibilities of adulthood, from an early age. The very first Wal-Mart opened its doors in 1962 in Arkansas, and Sam Walton’s store domination began. The business world had no idea what was about to hit them. Stocking American products, Walton and his brothers – who joined the business later – went on to source American suppliers, which would compete with foreign industry, but also keep the prices down for locals. 1,900 Stores later, Walton’s concepts remain the same. Sam Walton passed away in 1992 due to Leukemia. His passing was mourned by his wife, children and everyone across the world of WalMart. This entrepreneur and business visionary left behind a legacy that his children could be exceedingly proud of.

The vision of an organization is “an image of the future‟. An image that is not yet real but that we can envisage in our minds; an image of what the organization should/could look like, partly analytical, partly emotional. An image that combines elements of the present situation with elements that can be envisaged. There is an inherent challenge in creating a vision.

Why organizations need a vision?

Why should organizations bother about having a vision? First of all, a clear and well-formulated vision gives all employees the feeling that the organization is carrying out a meaningful task. As such, having a vision is a motivating factor: it can give people a feeling of importance no matter how small their contribution to the realization of the task may seem. Furthermore, a vision gives the future a clearer and therefore nearly always a more positive shape. Having a vision of the future will make it easier for people to continue and to contribute positively whenever the organization is going through hard times. Even though they have to face difficulties, they still know why it is worthwhile to keep on going. Having a vision gives an organization the strength to withstand commotion, crises and growing complexity. If the environment becomes turbulent it helps if you are clear about the direction you go. The vision will then function as a beacon.

If people feel committed to the realization of a vision, this vision can be the foundation of a strong corporate culture. Then the vision gives direction to people in the organization and they will be able to recognize why certain rules and values exist to contribute to the image of the future. A strong corporate culture generates a corporate identity, a uniform image to the outside world reflecting the heart of the organization. People can explain to others what it is they make a stand for, what people can expect from them as member of the organization. It creates a strong feeling of solidarity that is mutually shared. This can motivate people to give really the full hundred percent of their energy.

A strong image to the outside world will help to attract clients, suppliers, potential employees, sponsors and other stakeholder. Having a well-developed vision will be beneficial in creating confidence of external parties. This is clearly seen at Wall street, where shareholders often let their decisions depend on clarity of visions of companies. The vision will streamline all activities and flows in the organization, and help in dealing with doubts and uncertainties.

There is a standard you can use to measure your activities against: is this still contributing to the realization of our vision? Similarly, a vision is a source of indicators, enabling the monitoring of the development of strategic fields of activities and potential areas of interventions.

Finally, if the development of a vision is a shared process, it enhances the mutual dialogue and cooperation in the organization. By sharing dreams and ambitions for the future people make themselves known. This creates better mutual understanding and clearly shows the need and willingness for cooperation. So the process of developing a vision can in itself be beneficial to the organization’s wellbeing.

What’s in a vision?

The vision of an organization comprises the following elements:

mission / core business
core activities / product and clients
working approach and core values
long-term goal

Mission/core business

The mission of an organization is in fact the reason for its existence. It is largely determined by its core business, its main field of activity. The mission is the answer to the question: why are we here, what purpose do we serve?

Core activities/products and clients

The core activities/products and clients of an organization are answer to the question: how does the organization try to realize its mission?

Working approach and core values

Working approach and core values go hand in hand. Core values determine how we want to carry out our work, how we deal with each other inside our organization and how we act in relation to people outside the organization.

Long-term goal

As a vision is future-oriented and somehow must direct the members of an organization, it is good practice to define one or more long-term goals. Depending on the dynamics of the business the organization, such long-term goals can be specified for a period between five to thirty years.

Characteristics of a well-developed vision

A well-developed vision shows a number of characteristics. It must be:

Challenging: The future as described in the vision should neither be too far nor too close by. In both cases the vision is not challenging. A vision must have an inherent tension between what is already there and what is not yet there.

Inspiring: This can partly be reached by stating the vision positively. Exclude everything the organization does not want to be, but, on the contrary, emphasize what it aspires to be. Whether a vision is inspiring also depends on the way it has been formulated and on whether it still lives in the organization.

Shared: In order to have the vision as a picture everyone can and wants to use and refer to, the vision must have been contributed to by the majority of the stakeholders.

Binding: The employees or staff members should feel to be part of team. For this reason it is necessary that everyone can recognize his/her own individual vision, at least partly, in the vision of the organization.

Giving direction: That means that the vision really visualizes the future in a picture that is clear enough to serve as a beacon.

A vision should be cautiously developed as it is a valuable instrument to guide an organization.

Seek to Understand

Entrepreneurs are good Listener. They can hear even which is not yet uttered leading to empathy and understanding.

Understanding the Need of Masses: Sudhir Hasija
It was an appetite for meeting the need of the mass population that prompted Sudhir Hasija to forsake a thriving business distributing mobile handsets to launch his own brand of phones. This year Karbonn, as the three-year-old company notches up turnover of Rs 1,200 crore, the benefit of listening to the customer is paying off handsomely for a brand that popularised the dual SIM concept amongst Indian mobilephone users. Since its inception in 2009, Karbonn Mobiles has made an effort to enter the lives of those thousands of people who have wished to own a mobile brand to make their lives simpler, but couldn’t afford owing to high costs. It is in here, that in a short span of time, Karbonn Mobiles has become an established name in the Indian mobile phone market with its wide array of attractively priced multimedia phones and feature rich Smartphones. In the words of Economic Times, “Karbonn Mobiles has in a short time become one of the leading mobile brands in India. Being an indigenous entity, it feels good to see them taking the competition to the competitors with their gamut of innovative products at a pocket-friendly price range which is a sure shot prosperity sign of the times to come.”

Communication is the most important skill in life. We spend years learning how to read and write, and years learning how to speak. But what about listening? What training do we undergo to enable us to listen so that we really, deeply understand another human being? Probably none, right?

Like most people, we probably seek first to be understood; to get our point across. And in doing so, we ignore the other person completely, pretending that we’re listening, selectively hearing only certain parts of the conversation or attentively focusing on only the words being said, but missing the meaning entirely. So why does this happen? It happens because we listen with the intent to reply, not to understand. We prepare in our mind what we are going to say, the questions we are going to ask, etc. We filter everything we hear through our life experiences, our frame of reference. We listen passively deciding prematurely what the other person means before he/she finishes communicating. Do any of the following sound familiar?

Because we so often listen without paying attention, we tend to respond in one of four ways:

Evaluating:	We judge and then either agree or disagree.
Probing:	We ask questions from your own frame of reference.
Advising:	We give counsel, advice, and solutions to problems.
Interpreting:	We analyze others’ motives and behaviors based on your own experiences.

The 10 Principles of Listening

A good listener will listen not only to what is being said, but also to what is left unsaid or only partially said. Effective listening involves observing body language and noticing inconsistencies between verbal and non-verbal messages. Here are 10 tips to aid in effective listening.

1. Stop Talking

“If we were supposed to talk more than we listen, we would have two tongues and one ear.” Mark Twain.

Don’t talk, listen. When somebody else is talking listen to what they are saying, do not interrupt, talk over them or finish their sentences for them. Stop, just listen. When the other person has finished talking you may need to clarify to ensure you have received their message accurately.

2. Prepare Yourself to Listen

Relax. Focus on the speaker. Put other things out of mind. The human mind is easily distracted by other thoughts – what’s for lunch, what time do I need to leave to catch my train, is it going to rain – try to put other thoughts out of mind and concentrate on the messages that are being communicated.

3. Put the Speaker at Ease

Help the speaker to feel free to speak. Remember their needs and concerns. Nod or use other gestures or words to encourage them to continue. Maintain eye contact but don’t stare – show you are listening and understanding what is being said.

4. Remove Distractions

Focus on what is being said: don’t doodle, shuffle papers, look out the window, pick your fingernails or similar. Avoid unnecessary interruptions. These behaviours disrupt the listening process and send messages to the speaker that you are bored or distracted.

5. Empathise

Try to understand the other person’s point of view. Look at issues from their perspective. Let go of preconceived ideas. By having an open mind we can more fully empathise with the speaker. If the speaker says something that you disagree with then wait and construct an argument to counter what is said but keep an open mind to the views and opinions of others.

6. Be Patient

A pause, even a long pause, does not necessarily mean that the speaker has finished. Be patient and let the speaker continue in their own time, sometimes it takes time to formulate what to say and how to say it. Never interrupt or finish a sentence for someone.

7. Avoid Personal Prejudice

Try to be impartial. Don’t become irritated and don’t let the person’s habits or mannerisms distract you from what they are really saying. Everybody has a different way of speaking – some people are for example more nervous or shy than others, some have regional accents or make excessive arm movements, some people like to pace whilst talking – others like to sit still. Focus on what is being said and try to ignore styles of delivery.

8. Listen to the Tone

Volume and tone both add to what someone is saying. A good speaker will use both volume and tone to their advantage to keep an audience attentive; everybody will use pitch, tone and volume of voice in certain situations – let these help you to understand the emphasis of what is being said.

9. Listen for Ideas – Not Just Words

You need to get the whole picture, not just isolated bits and pieces. Maybe one of the most difficult aspects of listening is the ability to link together pieces of information to reveal the ideas of others. With proper concentration, letting go of distractions, and focus this becomes easier.

10. Wait and Watch for Non-Verbal Communication

Gestures, facial expressions, and eye-movements can all be important. We don’t just listen with our ears but also with our eyes – watch and pick up the additional information being transmitted via non-verbal communication.

As an entrepreneur, effective listening involves listening with the intent to understand. It is free from biased judgments. It is as important to listen, as to speak.

Manage Time

Entrepreneurs manage time most effectively & efficiently because they know time is only thing which cannot be controlled.

Incredible Time-Management: Pawan Agrawal
The Mumbai Dabbawala is a 118 years old association. They are engaged in the delivery of homemade food to the working class at their offices. The success of this institution seems justified owing to the fact that Mumbai is a hugely sprawling place and transportation is generally crowded. Dabbawalas have become the quintessential example of hard work, supply chain management triumph, team work and time management. Their models have been a topic of interest for many national as well as international B-Schools. According to Dr.Pawan Agrawal, CEO OF Mumbai Dabbawalas, the three point formula which the organisation owes its success to is of Discipline, Unmatched Time-Management and Hard Work. Perhaps the only thing that differentiates the Mumbai Dabbawalas from other organisations according to Dr. Agrawal is the utmost importance they give to customer satisfaction. Without any technological backup and logistical support the dabbawalas are able to perform day-in and day-out with utmost precision, highlighting the reason why the organization is the only one in India and the second in the world to have got the elusive 6 Sigma rating i.e.1 error in 6 million transactions! Dr. Agrawal says that it is the passion and devotion towards work which drive the dabbawalas; else they couldnt have read the address in English, being illiterate. The best part about them is that they are still dedicated and devoted to their only motive that is: delivering Dabbas on time. Around 2, 00,000 dabbas get moved daily by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas, charging a pretty meager fee and with utmost punctuality.

As an entrepreneur, time can be one of your most precious assets. Effective time management involves planning the amount of time you spend on all of the tasks of running a business — and your personal life — to get things done in the most effective and productive manner.

You can improve your time management skills by using a range of tools and techniques used to accomplish specific tasks, projects and goals. Some of the elements of effective time management include creating a productive environment, setting of priorities and reducing distractions.

As a busy entrepreneur, here are some tips on how to manage time:

1. ‘Calendarize’ everything. Schedule everything you do in the day including studying business plans, reviewing documents, conducting meetings. Have a clear idea of your tasks at hand to plan effectively. While it may take time to schedule your day, doing this will allow you to make the most of every hour of your day and make efficient use of your limited time.

2. Face difficult tasks at your peak. Generally, it’s best to face the most challenging, tedious tasks in the morning. Why? Because counter to what you may think, the morning is generally when you are at your optimum performance level. Any follow up or repercussions can be managed during the same day, and you can breathe easier by putting the task behind you.

3. Organize. Don’t start a ‘file pile.’ File everything as soon as it is completed. This will save you from wasting time looking for documents later. The same goes for contact names. Scan them into Outlook along with specific notes about people you meet. For example, where you met them, what relevance they are to your business or people you may have in common, etc. This helps down the road when you want to quickly revisit that person’s profile to remind yourself of key details that they may have shared with you.

4. Delegate. Whether at the office or at home, when you have the right people working with you, you worry less. Delegating tasks is an essential art that every entrepreneur should learn. By delegation of work you save yourself from being overburdened and at the same time develop the skill set of your subordinates. Delegation clears some of the tasks off your plate and allows you to focus on those which require your personal attention.

5. Take advantage of technology. They call them smartphones, but are we smart enough to use them to their full capacity? Helpful apps and tools such as Skype, synching, calendar reminders, etc. are available at your fingertips – use them.

6. Prepare the night before. Take time in the evening to plan for the following day. Avoid a last minute scramble or risk forgetting something critical.

7. Every minute counts. If you are travelling or going somewhere where you will need to kill some time, download documents to a USB key and to your laptop. Long waits can be best filled by responding to e-mails or working through documents. Make sure your laptop is fully charged.

8. Reduce distractions. You can shut your door, turn down music or forward your phone messages, but this does not stop people from knocking on your door. Reducing distractions means training people around you to respect the time you have scheduled to focus on a task at hand.

9. Ask for an agenda or just say ‘no.’ The busier you are, the more people will demand your time. If you are invited to a meeting, ask for an agenda. If you learn that the meeting is about something that you are not suited for or is not in line with your business goals, then politely decline and suggest a person or company that may better suit their needs. You don’t want to waste your time or theirs. If you are not prepared for what will be addressed in the meeting, ask for a later date. When time is limited, you need to prioritize how to best use those valuable hours. By organizing your meetings ahead of time you will find them to be more effective and efficient.

10. Focus. If you choose to do something, then be prepared and focus. Give your undivided attention to the task at hand whether it is a meeting or an event. If you do not stay in the moment, you’ll miss something important and all of your preparedness will be for naught when you overlook a relevant detail.

Personal and financial success of an entrepreneur relies heavily on ability to manage his time effectively.

Success is a Journey

For Entrepreneurs success is journey, not the destination.

Journey of Success: Jamsetji Tata
Whenever we think of the name Jamsetji Tata, we think of the expansive Tata Group of companies which continue to rule the industrial world of India till today. Jamsetji Tata founded the vast industrial empire that has received an identity today all over the world. Jamsetji Tata belonged to a trading family and business ran in his blood, therefore it was quite natural that he chose to be a businessman very early in his life. However, little did anybody know that Jamsetji Tata would be successful in redefining the concept of industries in India and would be listed in the pages of history as the ‘Father of Indian Industry’! Post Jamshetji Tata’s death, The Tata Group was succeeded by his two sons, Dorabji Tata and Ratanji Tata. One of the most affluent, prosperous and well-to-do organizations, the Tata Group is today amongst the largest and most respected companies of the world. A pioneer of his field, the vision and aim of Jamsetji Tata came to life with time as his family gave wings to each of his dream projects. In fact, such was his contribution that the city of Jamshedpur in Jhakhand is today popularly known as Tatanagar, because of the many facilities that the group has endowed the city with. Today, the group boasts of being the founder of projects like Tata Steel, the Indian Institute of Science, the Tata Power Company Limited, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and many more.

Success means different things to different people. One of the best definition of success is “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal.” Let’s analyze the above sentence. “Progressive” means that success is a journey, not a destination. After we reach one goal, we go on to the next and the next and so on. “Realization” means it is experience. Outside forces cannot make us feel successful. We have to feel it within ourselves. That’s why what often appears as success externally may be total hollowness within.

“Worthiness” refers to our value system without which goals can be unworthy. Which way are we heading? Is it positive or negative goal? Worthiness determines the quality of the journey. That is what gives meaning and fulfillment. Goals are important because they give us a sense of direction. Success without fulfillment is empty. Goals are the very basis of any success. It means that anyone who’s on course toward the fulfillment of a goal is successful.

Now, success doesn’t lie in the achievement of a goal, although that’s what the world considers success; it lies in the journey toward the goal. We’re successful as long as we’re working toward something we want to bring about in our lives. That’s when the human being is at his or her best. That’s what Cervantes meant when he wrote, “The road is better than the inn.” We’re at our best when we’re climbing, thinking, planning, and working. When we’re on the road toward something we want to bring about.

If you have a goal that you find worthy of you as a person, a goal that fills you with joy at the thought of it, you’ll reach it. But as you draw near and see that the goal will soon be achieved, begin to think ahead to the next goal you’re going to set

Success never comes without struggle. Let’s give a classic example.

“A biology teacher was teaching his students how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. He told the students that in next couple of hours, the butterfly would struggle to come out of the cocoon, but no one should help the butterfly. Then he left.

The students were waiting and it happened. The butterfly struggled to get out of the cocoon and against the advice of the teacher; one of the students took pity on it and decided to help the butterfly so it didn’t have to struggle anymore. But shortly after wards, the butterfly died.

When the teacher returned, he was told what had happened. He explained to the student that it is a law of nature that the struggle to come out of the cocoon actually helps develop and strengthen the butterfly’s wings. By helping the butterfly, the boy had deprived the butterfly of its struggle and the butterfly died.”

Let’s apply the same principle to our lives. Nothing worthwhile in life comes without a struggle. A successful person is one who is constantly striving for growth and as they grow they are able to string together a series of successes. It is so true that a person is either constantly growing or, sad to say, stagnating. There is no static place where you suddenly one day arrive and are considered a success or a failure.

The very basis of personal growth and personal development is the concept of working towards a worthy ideal or in other words a “purpose”. A person who has no worthy idealistic purpose, for which he is constantly striving, really is nothing more than a lost soul who will probably never be considered to be successful.

So remember that in order to reach the level of the success we should be constantly moving forward or progressing in our lives. Individual successes are stepping stones toward fulfilling our ultimate idealistic purpose.

Be a Calculated Risk Taker

The difference between a Layman and an Entrepreneur is the ability to take risks.

A Smart Risk-Taker: Ajit Balakrishnan
Ajit Balakrishnan is known to be a man of indomitable spirit with an extraordinary ability of entrepreneurial risk-taking. His strong belief in the potential of web space in the world of media and communication, after his successful advertising agency business Rediffusion, led him to launch Rediff.com. It was his way of doing “different things” differently. Web space and portal business was a dark territory at the time, when the Internet services were barely launched in India. His extraordinary vision led him to success and prosperity, sooner than expected. After the completion of his MBA at IIM Kolkata, he preferred to launch his advertising business, whereas most of his colleagues joined Hindustan Lever and L&T, the companies which were considered to be a place for exceptional business leaders at the time. It was not only unthinkable, but also a rebellious step. He did a similar thing by launching Rediff.com later on in1996, when very few people in India actually knew about Internet. There was a huge risk of failure, but he successfully did it and created a history. Ajit Balakrishnan, the founder of Rediff.com, has an unusual success story. He has no western connection and no Silicon Valley background. He also does not have any resemblance to the likes of Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. He is not known for wearing jeans or asking employees to come to office in shorts and take home as much as they contribute towards profits. He did not start his business in the 80s and was not a computer geek. Yet, he was able to create a huge empire of $220 million (according to NASDAQ value of Rediff) through his ecommerce and social media site Rediff.com. Rediffmail.com is quite popular in India and despite international competition from Gmail, Yahoo mail and hotmail.com, around one third of web surfers in India use Rediffmail at least once a day. Many Internet leaders such as Google and Yahoo are eyeing for Rediff, as far as takeover and merger plans are concerned.

It is usual for a layman to relate the term ‘entrepreneurship’ to risks. Risk-taking is an integral part of entrepreneurial life. Business owners must know when to seek loans, when to expand, when to risk a steady salary in favor of self-employment and how to judge the potential benefits of taking a risk. Entrepreneurs have to have a risk-taking spirit, because not taking risks can kill a business before it gets off the ground. But they have to balance that impulse; excessive risk-taking can destroy a business and its owner’s credit, finances and personal life. In any business planning, entrepreneurs should take all the necessary risks to achieve the highest possible returns, but if the risks are not calculated, it becomes a recipe for failure.

For any start-up business, spelling success often turns out to be a seemingly impossible feat to accomplish. Every business involves risk, as it is a notion related to achieving the returns you have anticipated. This is where calculated risk-taking comes into the picture as it is the magical ingredient to concoct the perfect recipe of entrepreneurial success.

Risk-taking is inevitable, especially in the context of entrepreneurship. Therefore, it is essential to specify that calculated risk-taking is the key that will ultimately bring about the accomplishment of goals.

The question is what actually does calculated risk-taking imply? To be precise, it annotates a state of being well prepared in case of failure. A fool-proof plan, no matter how promising it may seem, does not exist. It is for such trying situations that it is imperative to have backup plans that significantly remedy the pain or setbacks that will be incurred as a result of the failure. Being in a state of preparation helps an entrepreneur get better grip of the situation encouraging him to handle it effortlessly. Business planning does not mean having a plan that you are hoping will work. It is about preparing, taking and expecting the business to face any challenges that may come about.

As they say ‘expect the unexpected’. A well-thought out plan is one where you not only keep an eye on the gains but are also aware of the chances of failure eclipsed by the promising nature of prospects. This way failure does not catch the entrepreneur completely off-guard who is still in the process of gaining his footing. This allows an individual to realize his true potential, not letting him succumb to the effects of the catastrophe. The point that needs to be established here is that the chances of failure for any start-up business are considerably higher as compared to that of its success. Embracing the mantra can help an entrepreneur stay aloof of the stress when the outcomes are other than those expected.

Calculated risk-taking does not mean that you plan to fail. Instead one should be able to bear the brunt in the event of failure. With a contingency plan up one’s sleeve, an entrepreneur will not be overwhelmed since he has already determined what needs to be done in case of crisis. Calculated risk-taking can also be termed fairly as the sorcerer’s stone for entrepreneurial success. The entrepreneur will be able to keep his focus on the appropriate execution of the business plan as opposed to always having to look behind his back for the fear of failure stabbing him.

Taking risks that are calculated can serve as a life-saving drug for any business. Not only do they prevent an entrepreneur from slowing down, with the assurance that there are survival plans already in place, an entrepreneur can bring out the best in him. This increases one’s chances of success. Calculated risk-taking revolves around the idea that one should hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Entrepreneurship is the art of organizing resources in the best possible manner and by taking calculated risks, helping entrepreneurs explore new realms of business that leads him to all the success desired.

Process of Risk Management

Risk management is a 5 stage process. These processes go simultaneously. These steps are to be followed for having a good risk management. These steps are listed and explained below:-

1- Risk Identification:-

This is the first and the most important step of risk management. One cannot do anything with the risk unless and until that risk has been clearly identified. Risk identification starts from where the problem originates. Risk identification can be objective based, scenario based, taxonomy based and common risk checking.

2- Risk Analysis:-

Risk analysis includes analyzing the risk and measuring its vulnerability or its impact. Frequency and severity of the risk will be analyzed as well. Risk management can be quantitative as well as qualitative. Numerically determining the probabilities of various adverse events and expected extent of losses if any unexpected event occurs is a Quantitative Analysis where as defining the various threats, devising countermeasures and determining the extent of vulnerabilities is referred to as Qualitative Risk Analysis.

3- Risk Control:-

After analyzing the risk then decided that how can the risk be controlled. If the risk can be controlled by in house then well and good, if not then decide on how to transfer that risk. Risk control is the entire process of procedures, systems, policies an organization needs to manage prudently for all the risks which are arising.

4- Risk Transfer:-

If the risk is not manageable and one cannot retain that risk, then we have to transfer that risk to a third party. This is the stage where insurance comes in action. Insurance will be willing to take on those risks which the organization can’t handle.

5- Risk Review:-

Risk review is the last step in which all the above mentioned steps are evaluated. Review must be regular as the conditions and the circumstances of the business and organizations changes continuously. It should be monitored that the desired results of the risk management are being achieved or not and if not then identifying that where the problem occurred and then reviewing all the steps and making the changed in the management according to scenario.The challenge with all risks is that they must be proactive, measured, and managed. If not, they automatically become ba

Strive for 3Q

Entrepreneurs continuously strive to achieve Quality, Quantity & Quickness

A 3Q Service Provider: Captain G.R. Gopinath
The self made entrepreneur and ex-army officer, G R Gopinath introduced the concept, what we call “the low cost, quality & quick airlines” in India in 2003 with the inception of Air Deccan. Prior to this, India’s largest private helicopter charter company Deccan Aviation was launched by him along with his colleague from army in 1997. Captain G R Gopinath, an award winning sericulturist ventured into the Indian domestic aviation sector, when it was monopolized by the Full Service Airlines working under strict government regulations. He chose the niche in charter helicopter business in India, which was picking up demand due to increased corporate travels. The success in the aviation industry was not that easy. After launching Deccan Aviation, he again had to wait for around four years to get the single helicopter, which is not a short time for an impatient entrepreneur. He faced a lot of resistance in the form of government control, competition, and adverse situations. In fact, the first Air Deccan flight caught fire and everybody was ready to write the company’s obituary. But, he was a diehard optimist and decided not to quit even in the face of the toughest circumstances and failures. Air Deccan was in fact his gift to Indian people, with the most competitive fares, quickest turnaround time, enhanced connectivity and easy ticketing process.

Quality

Quality is important to the success of any businesses but it is quite hard to define. Customers want quality that is appropriate to the price that they are prepared to pay and the level of competition in the market.

Key aspects of quality for the customer include:

Good design – looks and style
Good functionality – it does the job well
Reliable – acceptable level of breakdowns or failure
Consistency
Durable – lasts as long as it should
Good after sales service
Value for money

‘Value for money’ is especially important, because in most markets there is room for products of different overall levels of quality, and the customer must be satisfied that the price fairly reflects the quality. For the firm, good design is fundamental, so that the product can be produced efficiently, reliably and at the lowest possible cost.

Why is quality important?

Quality helps determine a firm’s success in a number of ways:

Customer loyalty – they return, make repeat purchases and recommend the product or service to others.
Strong brand reputation for quality
Retailers want to stock the product
As the product is perceived to be better value for money, it may command a premium price and will become more price inelastic
Fewer returns and replacements lead to reduced costs
Attracting and retaining good staff

These points can each help support the marketing function in a business. However, firms have to work hard to maintain and improve their reputation for quality, which can easily be damaged by a news story about a quality failure.

How is quality measured?

Aside from achievement of standards like BSI, firms can measure quality aspects such as:

Failure or reject rates
Level of product returns
Customer complaints
Customer satisfaction – usually measured by a survey
Customer loyalty – evident from repeat purchases, or renewal rates

A detailed analysis of these areas is an important part of Quality Improvement.

Quantity

In order to determine the quantity of production it is essential to calculate breakeven point. It is a key financial analysis tool used by business owners. Once you know the fixed and variable costs for the product your business produces, or a good approximation of them, you can use that information to calculate your company’s breakeven point. It is a popular tool used by small business owners to determine how much volume of their product they must sell in order to make a profit. It is also an important part of cost-volume-profit analysis.

One thing is sure. In order to know how price your product; you first have to know how to calculate breakeven point.

What is Breakeven Point?

A company’s breakeven point is the point at which its sales exactly cover its expenses. The company sells enough units of its product to cover its expenses without making a profit or taking a loss. If it sells more, then it makes a profit. On the other hand, if it sells less, it takes a loss.

To compute a company’s breakeven point in sales volume, you need to know the values of three variables. Those three variables are fixed costs, variable costs, and the price of the product. Fixed costs are those which do not change with the level of sales, such as overhead. Variable costs are those which do change with the level of sales, such as cost of goods sold. The price of the product has been set by the company through looking at the wholesale cost of the product, or the cost of manufacturing the product, and marking it up.

How to Calculate Breakeven Point?

In order to calculate your company’s breakeven point, use the following formula:

Fixed Costs/Price – Variable Costs = Breakeven Point in Units

In this formula, fixed costs are stated as a total — the total fixed costs for the firm. Basically, this means the total overhead for the firm. Price and variable costs, however, are stated as per unit costs – the price for each product sold and the variable cost for that unit of the product. The denominator of the equation, price minus variable costs, is called the contribution margin. In other words, this is the amount, per unit of product sold, that the firm can contribute to paying its fixed costs.

An Example of Breakeven Point

XYZ Corporation has calculated that it has fixed costs that consist of its lease, depreciation of its assets, executive salaries, and property taxes. Those fixed costs add up to $60,000. Their product is the widget. Their variable costs associated with producing the widget are raw material, factory labor, and sales commissions. Variable costs have been calculated to be $0.80 per unit. The widget is priced at $2.00 each.

Given this information, we can calculate the breakeven point for XYZ Corporation’s product, the widget.

Fixed Costs/Price – Variable Costs

$60,000/$2.00 – $0.80 = 50,000 units

XYZ Corporation has to produce and sell 50,000 widgets in order to cover their total expenses, fixed and variable. At this level of sales, they will make no profit but will just breakeven.

Quickness

A very important parameter that affects customer satisfaction in the service industry is the speed of service. Customers often want a service performed quickly, so slowness usually leads to poor satisfaction ratings. When a customer decides that he wants a service, he usually wants it performed as soon as possible. If he has to wait longer than originally expected, his experience can be negatively affected. While customers are usually more interested that the service be completed at a high quality than quickly, speed of service is an important aspect of customer satisfaction.

It may seem obvious that customers want services performed correctly and with a very high quality, and that they will not be satisfied when service is bad, but the importance of this is rarely overstated. Most industries include a number of different service providers, and customers will often switch to a different one if they experience bad or mediocre service. Although other factors influence customer satisfaction in the service industry, it is hard to find any that are more important than whether a job was completed properly.

Another factor that contributes to customer satisfaction is how well a service-oriented business presents itself. For instance, if a customer goes to a restaurant and is greeted by dirty floors and unkempt employees, it might not matter how good the food tastes. A bad appearance can lead the customer to expect poor service, leading to low satisfaction, even if the service was actually performed adequately. Likewise, a positive appearance can push customer satisfaction over the top or help turn a mediocre service experience into a good one.

How easily a customer can communicate and relate with the members of the service provider can also influence his or her overall satisfaction. When a name and a face are attached to a business, many customers naturally feel more connected to that provider. Furthermore, if a customer can relate to the employees performing a service for him or her, that customer is more likely to feel positive about the experience.

Plan Meticulously

Failing to plan is planning to fail ― Alan Lakein

Opening Case Study:

Man with a Plan: Dr.Prathap C Reddy
M.D, MBBS and entrepreneur; Dr Prathap C Reddy is widely known as the founder of the first ever corporate chain of hospitals in India: The Apollo Hospitals Group. He is credited for modernizing the private hospitals in India. On completion of his medical degree from the Stanley Medical College in Chennai, he went to UK and USA to be trained as a Cardiologist. Later, he completed Fellowship from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston and attended the Missouri State Chest Hospital where he led many research programs till 1978, after which he returned India. He felt the lack of modern and world-class health care system and felt inspired to set up something big and finally in 1983 he established the Apollo Hospitals in Chennai. His finest establishment inspired renowned medical talent from across India and from hospitals in the US and UK. The venture he started with a 150-bedded Hospital in 1983, persistently excelled and became one of the largest hospital group across the country. He is credited for modernizing the private hospitals in India. In 1991, Prathap C Reddy was conferred with the Padma Bhushan and in 2010, with the second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan for his important contribution in providing better health care system. He was also honored with ‘Life Time Achievement Award’ byHospimedica International, Mother St Teresa’s ‘Citizen of the Year Award’, the ‘Asia Pacific Bio Business Leadership Award’ by the University of Southern California, and Modern Medicare Excellence Award by the ICICI Group for his commendable accomplishments in the healthcare industry.

For majority of entrepreneurs, the term “business planning” may invoke up a feeling of fear. How is an entrepreneur supposed to know what is going to be the future of his venture even when he hasn’t even made a sale? How can he estimate future profits prior to investing in financial management software? Nevertheless, experienced entrepreneurs will approve the power of putting strategy to paper by chalking out a detailed plan in order to turn ideas into reality.

Planning for success

Business planning may be laborious, but missing out this step can leave an entrepreneur uninformed about his firm’s place in the market. The type of information drawn together during the planning process can help an entrepreneur to foresee latent risks and develop strategies for dealing with them before they occur. Many business owners return to their business plan even after their firm is up and running to help them refocus and chart a path for the future.

Additionally, a business plan is an instrument of communication. Banks and investors will consider an entrepreneur’s plan for evidence that his company can succeed. Prospective partners and employees will look at it as a blueprint for the future, bringing together disparate elements such as marketing, sales and operations into one document.

What type of plan?

The degree of detail incorporated in an entrepreneur’s business plan is majorly dependent on its intended audience. If the entrepreneur is a one-person start-up with limited capital needs, he may simply state and describe his business goals, the market conditions and a basic strategy for the future.

On the other hand, if the entrepreneur is seeking capital, in addition to the factors included above, he will make use of financial management software to prepare a workout. In order to lure investors, he needs to provide information on how he will give them a return on their money, as well as how he plans to grow using their funds. And a bank will likely be interested in factors such as risk assessment, profit and loss statements, and loan amounts.

Planning the plan

Before an entrepreneur starts writing a business plan, he needs to do some preparation. Here is a list of some of the main questions to focus on in the initial non-financial sections of his plan:

What is the rationale behind the company? Creating a vision & mission statement will help an entrepreneur focus on why his business exists in the first place. A vision describes the aspirations of the entrepreneur behind setting up the business venture while the mission details how the vision will be accomplished by offering the product or service.
Who are the potential customers? The entrepreneur’s marketing strategy will answer the question of who will buy his products or service. As much as possible, the entrepreneur should categorize his customers within separate market segments and analyze their particular behavior. What motivates them to buy? what they do? How much money do they want to spend? How do they respond to different types of marketing?
Who are the competitors? The entrepreneur must gather as much information as he can about other companies in his domain to prepare a competitive analysis. These are the folks that he will be studying to see how his business can do what they do – better than they do it, of course! He must make sure that he lists both direct and indirect competitors, describe their strengths and weaknesses, and detail their pricing plans. The entrepreneur needs to think about how he will distinguish his product or service within this group.
How will the business be run? In the section of description of operations, the entrepreneur must be prepared to set out exactly how he plans to manage his company on a day-to-day basis, as well as the physical necessities involved. Information included in this section relates to issues such as manufacturing, equipment, and business location. Who are his suppliers? How will he manage inventory? Will he employ staff?

What provides the money?

The final part of an entrepreneur’s business plan is where his financial management software can really come in handy. The financial section illustrates how much it will cost to run his company, as well as predicting when the business will become profitable.

Here are some factors to consider when planning this part of your business plan:

Start-up expenses: How much will it cost you to begin your business? Think about expenses such as rent, down payments on equipment, any licensing and registration fees, and initial inventory.

Operating expenses: Once you’re up and running, how much will you require on a regular basis to keep going each month? Consider costs such employee salaries, loan payments, materials purchase, storage fees, utilities and maintenance.

Cash flow: This section will help show you how much cash you will have access to on a regular basis – and determine whether you should seek additional financing. Included in a cash-flow projection for a given month are estimated sales figures, cash expenditures – and a reconciliation of the two figures.

Future profitability: By comparing how much money you expect to take in with how much you expect to pay out, you can come up with a prediction for when your business will break even and when it will become profitable.

Some entrepreneurs find the final section of a business plan frightening and seek out help from an expert who is skilled with financial management software and understands the needs of a small business. There are numerous resources available that can help an entrepreneur to write and hone his plan. The entrepreneur just needs to remember – don’t let uncertainty keep him away from completing this all-important step.

Importance of Planning

Now let’s understand why planning is important for every organization.

1. Improves efficiency: Planning makes best possible utilization of all available resources. It helps to decrease wastage of essential resources and avoids their duplication. It aims to give maximum returns at the minimum possible cost. Planning thus increases the overall efficiency.

2. Lowers business-related risks: There are numerous risks implicated in any modern business. Planning helps to anticipate these business-related risks. It also helps to take the needed precautions to keep away from these risks. Thus, planning reduces business risks.

3. Aids in proper coordination: Often, the plans of all departments of an organization are well coordinated with each other. Similarly, the short-term, medium-term and long-term plans of an organization are also coordinated with each other. Such proper coordination is possible only because of efficient planning.

4. Facilitates in organizing: Organizing means to bring together all available resources, i.e. 4Ms: Men, Material, Machine & Money. Organizing cannot be done with no planning. This is because planning tells us how much resources are required, when it is required, so on. This means that planning facilitates organizing.

5. Provides right direction: Direction implies giving proper information, accurate instructions and right guidance to the subordinates. Direction cannot be offered without planning. This is because planning tells us what to do, how to do it and when to do it. Therefore, planning helps to give right direction.

6. Maintains good control: In control, the actual performance of an employee is compared with the plans, and deviations (if any) are found out and corrected. It is impossible to achieve such a control without right planning. Therefore, planning becomes important to maintain a good control.

7. Helps to accomplish objectives: Every organization has certain goals or objectives or targets. It keeps working hard to fulfill these objectives. Planning helps an organization to achieve these objectives but with some ease and promptness. Planning also helps an organization to avoid doing some random (done by chance) activities.

8. Boosts the morale of personnel: A good plan offers various monetary and non-monetary incentives to both managers and employees. These incentives boost their morale and motivate them to work hard and achieve the objectives of the organization. Thus, planning through various incentives helps to motivate the personnel of an organization.

9. Promotes creativity and innovation: Planning gives confidence to managers to express and/or use their creativity and innovation. This brings satisfaction to the managers and success to the organization.

10. Aids in decision making: A manager makes many different plans. Then manager selects or chooses the best of all available plans. Doing a selection or choosing something means to take a decision. So, decision making is facilitated by planning.

Grab Opportunities

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises – Demosthenes

Opening Case Study:

Grabbing Opportunity: Sanjeev Bikhchandani
With the dynamics of the job market today, registering with one or more job sites has become imperative in any organization. Apparently, job market gossip is among the favourite topics in any organization. This market had been operating only based on referrals and recommendations for a long time. Hence, there existed a gap between the demanding employers and the deserving candidates. The intermediaries who could play a role in between were the consultancies, and the employers had to depend only on these sources for getting their requirement filled. In this stint, InfoEdge (better recognized with its brand called ‘naukri.com’) made its appearance as a research and survey company. InfoEdge surveyed on trademarks registered by pharmaceutical companies and the salary standards for all levels of employment. These analyses were further customized and sent as reports to organizations. Also, these reports were sent to the students of prime engineering colleges who were given job offers right after their graduation. Idea booming well, InfoEdge was encouraged to ponder more and this instigated the job portal called ‘Naukri.com’. Thus, Naukri.com clutched this unorganized sector and held it as its platform for pioneering in the field of job portal creation. This is where Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Co-founder and CEO, InfoEdge, found his food for thought. He capitalized on this idea and understood that exploring opportunities was not only in the area of job searches but also in the analysis of market standards and benchmarks in the industry. The idea, further, was to accumulate or create a database of vacancies and aspiring candidates to map the requirement accordingly. The process was to be devoid of intermediaries for the mapping to be perfect. The database collection was only one part of the job. Though the idea of this database seemed great, without placing it at the arm length of the, it proved no value to him. There was a better hit envisaged if it could be carried to reach the audience’s desktop more easily than sending it in couriers. In 1996, Sanjeev was exposed to the technology called ‘World Wide Web’. He used the financial aid received from his family to register a website. He named the website based on the Hindi word for a job called ‘naukri’. Thus, ‘Naukri.com’ made its inception in 1997. The biggest strength of Naukri.com was that it had pioneered in this field and created a new era. Nevertheless, there were many players later on, including the MNCs who came in with better innovations and utilities, but Naukri.com still retains the biggest pie of job portal market.

A key question that all would-be entrepreneurs face is discovering the business opportunity that is right for them. Should the new startup pay attention on introducing an innovative product or service based on an unmet need? Should the venture choose an existing product or service from one market and present it in another where it may not be available? Or should the firm depend on a tried and tested formula that has worked elsewhere, such as a franchise operation? The only way for the entrepreneurs to find answers to these questions is to evaluate a business opportunity & grab it by understanding its associated potential and risks.

There are many sources for new venture opportunities for entrepreneurs. Obviously, when an entrepreneur observes inefficiency in the market, and has an idea of how to correct that inefficiency, and has the resources and potential or at least the ability to bring together the resources and competence needed to correct that inefficiency — that could be a very appealing business idea. Additionally, if he discovers a product or service that is being consumed in one market, that product is not available in his market, he can possibly import that product or service, and start that business in his home country.

Here are a few guidelines that will aid an entrepreneur to grab a business opportunity:

Guideline 1: Identify an Unmet Customer Need

The question that confronts any entrepreneur who is thinking of starting a new business or company is how to find the opportunity that’s right for him? Many sources of ideas can be derived from existing businesses, such as franchises. An entrepreneur can license the right to provide a business idea. He can work on a concept with an employer who, for some reason, has interest in developing that business. He can tap numerous sources for new ideas for businesses. Conceivably the most promising source of ideas for new business comes from customers – paying attention to what customers say. That is something an entrepreneur ought to do continuously, in order to understand what customers want, where they want it, how they want a product or service supplied, when they want it supplied, and at what price.

There are several examples of a start-up that evaluated an opportunity and started a successful business venture. In the age of the Internet, there is no scarcity of instances of entrepreneurs who started a company based on a perceived need. For example, consider E-Bay. They saw an opportunity to connect people through launching a virtual flea market. It offered a platform that connected buyers and sellers directly. Other ventures have found parallel models. For example, take PayPal, a company whose co-founder Elon Musk was a Penn and Wharton graduate. The company offered people the prospect to pay online. Flycast is another business venture started by a former Wharton MBA student, Rick Thompson. It dealt with the issues of advertising on-line. All of these start-ups have one thing in common. They addressed an unmet need in the marketplace.

There is no alternative for understanding the unmet needs of customers. It allows an entrepreneur to discover whether he is capable to supply those needs, at the price customers want to pay, and still make a profit.

Guideline 2: Conduct Customer, Competitor & Industry Analysis

After a would-be entrepreneur has recognized what he or she thinks is a promising unmet need he has to move through the process of evaluating and identifying the risks that should be considered in deciding whether or not to chase that business opportunity.

The first step that every entrepreneur should follow is to ask the question, is the market real? In order to know that, the first thing he should do is conduct what is called a customer analysis. It can be done in a technical way by conducting surveys. Or perhaps, in a less technical way, he can attempt to answer the question, “Who is my customer?” What does the customer want to buy? When does the customer want to buy? What price is the customer willing to pay? So, asking the “W questions” — who, where, what, when — is the first step. At the end of the day, the one thing every entrepreneur is looking for is profits, and the profits will come from customers. That is why an entrepreneur needs to ask himself, is there a market here?

The second question that an entrepreneur should ask himself is: who else is supplying that particular market? That is termed as competitor analysis. An entrepreneur must ask himself who else are there in this market, and what are they doing for the customers. Are they supplying a similar substitute product or service as he has in mind? That is the second thing he needs to establish, and by doing that, he can understand better what need is not met at a given point of time. That will also give him the chance to zero in on the price points and feature points of where he can differentiate his product from existing players in the market.

Next, he also needs to conduct a broader industry analysis to comprehend the attractiveness of the industry he’s going to enter. Is the industry budding or dwindling? What influence do the suppliers have in this industry? How many consumers are there? Are there alternate products? Are there any hurdles to entry? If so, what are they? That is very significant for him to understand, as it will help him to realize whether the industry he’s thinking of entering is attractive.

Also, he may need to understand the rules & regulations that affect that industry. Are there any terms & conditions that he would be subject to? This in particular applies in the life sciences sector, where there are stringent regulations that control the supply of products into the market. In the United States, the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, is a major regulator. Every country around the world has a regulator in the life science sector. So, these are the high level questions that he may need to ask himself.

Once he has answered these questions, and identified the need, given the competition and all the regulatory constraints that exist in that market, it will offer him an opportunity to tailor his service or product — or combination of the service and product — to that marketplace. The logic that should be followed is first to identify & understand the need, and then tailor the product and/or service to that need, as opposed to saying, “Well, I have an idea. And now let me think how I can shove it down the distribution channel.” Typically, the latter plan doesn’t work. More often than not, the former approach works. This is the approach where the entrepreneur identifies the need, performs a rigorous analysis of understanding who else is there as a competitor and what constraints exist, and how he can differentiate his product or service in a meaningful way. When he approaches a new opportunity in this fashion, and when he introduces a product and/or service, he can expect to have substantial sales and growth for his company.

Guideline 3: Take Risks into Account

In addition to conducting market analysis and competitive analysis, and also looking at the industry and government, there are financial risks that entrepreneur should take into account. One method of thinking about the various risks an entrepreneur is faced with — or, for that matter, an investor in an entrepreneurial venture is faced with — is to divide them down into several buckets.

Let’s begin with the first bucket, the company risk. Well, here, the largest source of risk is the founders. Do they have the resources not just to start the company, but also grow the company? Practice has shown that the dominance of individuals such as Bill Gates or Michael Dell, Steve Jobs is essential, that can not only start companies, but also manage its growth. A second source of risk is technology risk. To the degree that an entrepreneur’s company employs technology, there are apparently issues of, how long will this technology be the leading edge? Secondly, are there any intellectual property issues that need to be addressed? Finally, there exists the product risk. If the entrepreneur hasn’t developed a product yet, can he manufacture it? Will it work? All these issues are under the bucket of company risk.

A second bucket for the sources of risk is the market for the product. An entrepreneur needs to be aware of two big uncertainties. First, what is the customer’s willingness to buy? And second, what is the pace, if he is successful, at which competitors will be able to imitate him? One of the things he has to think about when he enters that market is how he can create barriers to imitation, so that if he is successful, the competition won’t be able to imitate him very quickly.

A third bucket comprises of risks associated with the industry. Are there any factors in that industry that relate to availability of supply? In some cases, an entrepreneur needs to have certain raw materials that are in limited supply, and that some suppliers might be able to take advantage of that. Barriers to entry might change. Regulations might change, and adversely or positively affect his business.

Lastly, there are financial risks. And here, the question is, will the entrepreneur be able to raise the money early on? At what valuation will he be able to do it? Will he be able to raise follow-up money? And then, from the investor’s standpoint, obviously there’s a risk that if the company is very successful when it is time for, say, a public offering, will the public market be open? At the time an entrepreneur makes the investment, he doesn’t know what the state of the capital market will be in five to seven years from the date he makes the investment. That’s a big risk the investor is assuming. Obviously, it’s a big risk for the entrepreneur to be able to have some liquidity, and perhaps realize the fruits of his investment, of his time, talent, and in some cases the money he puts into that venture.

Guideline 4: Avoid Common Mistakes

In the history of establishing new ventures by entrepreneurs, there are some common biggest mistakes entrepreneurs are found to make at the initial stage of identifying business opportunities. The most frequent mistake that entrepreneur tend to make is to assume that everybody in the market is like them. If they like the product, everybody else will. Sometimes – rather too often — entrepreneurs, and especially entrepreneurs with an engineering background, are too focused on the engineering features or technology features of the particular product, rather than on the need that they are trying to fulfill. Customers don’t buy technology. Customers buy products that add value. Customers buy products that they need, in order to satisfy some issue that they wish to satisfy. But not the technology, per se; it is the services of the technology that matter.

Very often, entrepreneurs — particularly smart entrepreneurs — are overwhelmed by the technological aspect, and they pay too little attention to what the customers want. This is the most frequent issue at the early stage that entrepreneurs are faced with.

Guideline 5: A Piece of Advice for Start-ups

One advice for potential entrepreneurs who are thinking about starting their own venture is to overcome the hesitation of starting a new business. Mostly people are so secured in their 9 to 5 jobs that even the thought of leaving it and starting an own venture scares them. People are hesitant to start new businesses, because they think they don’t have the characteristics of what would make for a successful entrepreneur. Also, they assume it’s too risky to be an entrepreneur. Researches around the world have shown that there are no unique characteristics, or traits that distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs, and successful entrepreneurs from unsuccessful entrepreneurs.

The main message to entrepreneurs here is that each one of us has what it takes to be exceptionally successful entrepreneur. It is no more risky to start own business than working for General Motors. As one can recall, General Motors filed for bankruptcy not so long ago. So, the perception that working for a large company is somehow safer, is not, of course, borne out by the reality. The underlying message is, each one of us has what it takes; it is time to get started

Grab Opportunities

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises – Demosthenes

Opening Case Study:

Here are a few guidelines that will aid an entrepreneur to grab a business opportunity:

Guideline 1: Identify an Unmet Customer Need

Guideline 2: Conduct Customer, Competitor & Industry Analysis

Guideline 3: Take Risks into Account

Guideline 4: Avoid Common Mistakes

Guideline 5: A Piece of Advice for Start-ups

Create a Network

Nurturing and cultivating contacts is like growing a tree – if it is done successfully, the branches keep spreading and fruits keep falling.

Opening Case Study:

The Social Network Entrepreneur: Mark Zuckerberg
Born in 1984, Zuckerberg was interested in computers from an early age and could write software code before he was 12 years old. At high school he wrote a program he called ‘ZuckNet’, which allowed all the computers between the family home and his father’s dental office to communicate by ‘pinging’ each other. His next venture, which caught the attention of both Microsoft and AOL, was a music player that used artificial intelligence to learn the user’s listening habits. While studying computer science and psychology at Harvard University, Zuckerberg, aged 19, began working on a program which would allow students to contact one another via an online website. At first called ‘The Facebook’, the site launched from his dorm room on February 15 2004. Within two weeks, more than half of Harvard’s students had signed up for the service, and Zuckerberg, with the help of his roommate, opened it up to universities across the United States and Canada. In June of that year, after an influx of investment, he dropped out of Harvard and moved to Palo Alto in California to devote all his time and energy to the skyrocketing social network site. In September 2005, the high school version of Facebook was launched and by the following year anyone with a valid email address was allowed to access it. At 27, Zuckerberg has already achieved what many would be more than satisfied with in a lifetime in little over a quarter of a century. But the regular improvements and changes he makes to the website has succeeded where others failed (Orkut, Hifive) i.e.connecting the world almost seamlessly. Such is the case that today nothing is complete without associating one with Facebook. Zuckerberg has not even reached his 30th birthday and it is the only early days of his success story. It looks as years from now his biography will be looked upon as a defining moment in social networking and entrepreneurship history.

Majority of businesses and entrepreneurs are acquainted with the benefits of developing their knowledge and understanding of the market they work in. Networking with other businesses in his domain can allow an entrepreneur share experiences and ideas with one another, plus make some important contacts with prospective clients or partners. For small and start-up ventures in particular, networking can offer a lifeline of support and extensive business development, by providing that much needed backing in the early days. Meeting with like-minded entrepreneurs can be a chief source of information and support as it permits an entrepreneur to evaluate and converse on a broad variety of common issues, from legal and regulatory developments, to employment matters, supplier contacts and customer services.

Networking is also a great way to boost an entrepreneur’s business’ reputation and generate new contacts. By becoming a well-known and habitual networker, an entrepreneur can drive his business onto the radar of other companies and industry figures. This will permit an entrepreneur to build mutually beneficial associations not only with other ventures in his domain, but also with suppliers or potential customers, which in turn will aid to broaden the scope of his market. Global exhibitions and conferences can facilitate him to establish overseas partnerships.

There are a whole host of varied networking groups available today for businesses in every sector and each geographical location. Online networking has also evolved in last couple of years, with websites such as LinkedIn and Twitter being primary in the field of social networking. They are a fabulous means of making new contacts and staying in touch with the existing ones, as well as getting involved with customers instantaneously, which can do wonders for an entrepreneur’s business’ reputation. The extent to which all techniques of networking, both events-based and online, can benefit an entrepreneur depends on the events and networks he participates in and how actively he becomes involved.

The Etiquette of Networking

Every entrepreneur can profit from networking when he launches his new business. Acquiring the needed startup funds as well as finding potential customers for the business greatly depends upon the entrepreneurs’ networking skill. Networking goes ahead of simply meeting people and exchanging business cards with them. It is the knack of building relations and establishing firm trust between both parties concerned so that each can gain from one another’s strengths. The following guidelines will permit the entrepreneur to understand the etiquette of meeting people and how to successfully create contacts and trade ideas for networking.

1. Always look, act, and converse professionally

Appearance and mannerisms are preliminary constituents that people mostly rely on when judging an individual. Therefore, it is of prime importance that entrepreneurs create a positive, lasting impression on those whom he makes contact with. Entrepreneurs are supposed to appear clean and respectable as well as carry out their conversations in a sophisticated fashion so that others will take them seriously. The use of jargons should also be shunned by the entrepreneur when networking because the problem with jargons is that not everybody may comprehend it. Additionally, some people may regard it as rather offensive.

Well-dressed and well-spoken entrepreneurs are able to establish more trust and loyalty with business owners as opposed to the entrepreneurs whose appearance and actions are shabby. Efficient networking is about developing associations with others who can refer you once they have come to trust you, have faith in you, and feel loyal to you. This is the reason why looking and acting professional is central for successful networking.

2. Always carry business cards

One more good way to fruitfully network for the entrepreneur is to hold his personal business cards with him at all times. This makes the course of establishing contacts effortless since the entrepreneur can simply hand out the cards each time he meets a new associate in a social or professional setting. Business cards include pertinent contact information about the business owner, including his name, phone number, e-mail address, and website. The design of the business card should be simple, clean, and easy to read.

Also, part of business etiquette incorporates the fact that every time an entrepreneur gives out his business card, he is expected to request for a business card in return. This ascertains the mutual exchange of contact information, which is influential in expanding a solid network of contacts. Observations should be written on the back of each business card acquired, plus the time, date, topic(s) of discussion, interests, and any other important information vital for a follow up.

3. Always follow-up with contacts

Any prospective contacts that have been developed should always be followed up with telephone call, an e-mail, or personal hand written note. The entrepreneur should take the process of follow up critically since these vital contacts may be indispensable in the launch and growth of his company. It is also a very good technique of displaying an entrepreneur’s true purpose and authenticity when it comes to business rituals. Follow-ups should be made from a few to several days after the first encounter, assuring that the communication with the contact remains unspoiled. Any follow-up after a few weeks may be looked upon as too long a time for any party to accurately memorize any individuals, conversations, or any events that took place on a given day.

4. Be ready to pitch

Another chief characteristic of effective business networking is the talent of the entrepreneur to present his elevator pitch at all times. No matter whether it is a social or professional situation, he must be all set to “pitch” his plan to anyone and everyone in the hope of establishing a successful network of contacts. It is a good tradition to always be ready to present an elevator pitch for the reason that he may meet the prospect investors, customers, or professionals who can add value to his new business at any time. Continuous pitching will also facilitate an entrepreneur to refine his ideas and fortify his presentation through frequent practice.

As one’s elevator pitch requires ample homework, rehearsal will not only make it faultless but it will also incraese a business owner’s level of confidence. An elevator speech should be original and to the point, taking no more than one minute. Things such as body language, eye contact, speech volume, and emphasis of words are significant in grabbing the eye of audience members. It can also communicate the entrepreneur’s zeal for his ideas and his vibrant personality. The use of general statements and excessive statistics should be prevented. An entrepreneur who creates an ideal pitch that clearly states its objectives and strikes discussion will be able to effectively establish networking contacts over those whose pitch is boring and not well-constructed.

5. Contact current customers via telephone, e-mail, direct mail, newsletters

A brilliant method of establishing a good rapport with existing customers is to contact them and talk about their recent purchase. This can be made by means of e-mail, telephone, and direct mail. By casually asking existing customers to rate their shopping experience at their store and/or ideas on a particular product, an entrepreneur will be able to learn more about how his customers perceive his business and work on improving a customer’s overall shopping experience.

Additionally, an entrepreneur can simply establish ways of retaining customers by offering them special discounts and promotional offers through e-mail and direct mail. It is essential that an entrepreneur gets in touch with his customers and offer these bargains as it reflects a company’s loyalty to his customers. In a similar fashion, happily satisfied customers will pay more for items if a company makes them feel important and if they have had a positive customer service experience. Therefore, it is vital that business owners do things which will establish a loyal group of returning customers who will refer their friends and families to the same services. Customers should also be given the alternative to subscribe to newsletters advertising current sales and newly launched products and services. A solid relationship with existing customers through e-mail and direct mail interface is a sure-shot way of establishing new contacts, especially if the current customers are happy with the services.

6. Be culturally aware

Another significant constituent of network etiquette is cultural awareness. If the entrepreneur is thinking of establishing business in a foreign location or dealing with international contacts, then cultural differences should be stoutly taken into account. For instance, in the United States, Americans hand out their business cards rather informally, during social and professional events. The card is either placed in their pocket or bag immediately. The Japanese, in contrast, have a more formal approach when presenting their business cards. When they have developed a business contact, the Japanese make use of both hands to hold the top two corners of the card facing up and in front of the person receiving the card so that it can be easily viewed and read. The receiver should take the card by the lower two corners with both hands.

In addition, when networking, it is essential for an entrepreneur of a new business to comprehend the subtle, unspoken dynamics of social space (or separation) in every culture. Social space implies the distance and/or physical contact between two or more people conversing or interacting in a given situation. In USA, there are four important separations to consider. For instance, one’s public space can vary anywhere from 12 to 25 feet, while social space can be an area of 4 to 10 feet. Personal space can be 2 to 4 feet, while intimate space extends up to one foot. Americans often like to make physical contact with others, including handshakes, hand-gestures, hugs, and/ or innocent pats on the back. While it may seem normal in America, many cultures may feel uncomfortable and embarrassed with such contact.

In Saudi Arabia, the social space amid individuals is equal to the American intimate space; as a result, there is no need to be alarmed or disturbed if a Saudi business contact appears as if he is standing a little too close while conversing. The inhabitants of the Netherlands have a personal space that is equivalent to our social space; therefore, entrepreneurs who plan to meet with Dutch contacts should remain at such a distance during the course of their meeting.

7. Be involved on and offline

Entrepreneurs can also network by building alliances on and offline. By participating in meetings, workshops, and speaking at conferences, an entrepreneur can easily network with people in their industry and establish solid leads. In addition, by participating in online forums, chat rooms, mailing lists, and social networking sites designed for business owners, one can also maximize their chance of establishing new potential leads.

Optimize 4Ms

Entrepreneurs make optimum use of 4M (Man, Machine, Material & Money)

Opening Case Study:

Optimizing the use of 4Ms: Karsanbhai Patel
Karsanbhai Khodidas Patel (K.K.Patel) is a befitting example of a self made man making the best possible use of available resources. Coming from a humble farmer family he understood the need of the masses to serve a segment that was neglected but at the same time highly profitable. He established a position for his firm in the lower income segment of the detergent market, overtaking many heavy weights and multinationals, to emerge as a winner. Literally, he made money by washing other s’ dirty linens. He is the founder of the powerful brand ‘Nirma’ which he aptly positioned using all the 4 M’s of business(viz. Man, Machine, Material & Money) to his advantage. Karsanbhai Khodidas was born in 1945, in Ruppur village in north Gujarat in a family of farmers. He graduated in Chemistry at the age of 21. Initially, he worked as a lab technician and later served the state Government. In 1969 at the age of 24, Karsanbhai started manufacturing phosphate free detergent powder, Nirma (named after his daughter Nirupama) in his backyard. He dedicated after office hours for manufacturing Nirma and sold on his bicycle while going to his work place, which was 17km from his home. The handmade detergent packets were sold at Rs. 3 per kg, which was one-third of then least priced popular detergents. At that time domestic detergent market was limited only to premium segment and was dominated by MNCs. Karsanbhai Patel started door-to-door selling of Nirma and priced it at Rs. 3 per kg. The next available cheapest brand in the market at that time was Rs.13 per kg. Nirma revolutionized the whole detergent powder segment and in a short span of time created an entirely new market segment in the domestic detergent sector market. It gave the bigger established brands a run for their money and soon occupied the top market share. To add to all this, Nirma was made of an innovative formulation, which global detergent giants were later on compelled to emulate, it was phosphate free and hence environment friendly, and the process of manufacturing was labour intensive, which offered large scale employment. The company that was started in 1969 with just one man who used to deliver his product from one house to the other, today employs around 14 thousand people and has a turnover of more than $ 500 million.

Starting a business organization has always been a challenge for an entrepreneur since it became scientific. The most basic identified accounts of business management in man’s existence were inclined to be crude, brutish and short. Any process found to be an obstacle to any growth in entrepreneurship was either ridiculed or beheaded off for ‘progress’ to be made. Then industrial revolution occurred. It welcomed machines and bid goodbye to servitude. Slavery ended as people had causes to be more ‘humane’ in business. Then came the era of mass production. Products were manufactured at the touch of a button. Materials were optimally utilized. Time became shorter and physical exertion of force required to create utility became a thing of the past.

Since man became victorious in the industrial revolution, every business has been using these four M’s: man, materials, machines and money; to operate with success. To create any venture without any one of these M’s is simply impossible. It is sheer entrepreneurial waste to even attempt to start a venture in the absence of even one of these 4Ms. No one should even contemplate doing that. Failure awaits such business. It will also be devastating for organizations not to correctly and efficiently organize the 4M’s for business success. None of the M’s is futile no matter the point of view it is viewed from. A meta-analysis of business ventures that have survived over a period of time has revealed that careless regard to any of the four resulted in economic debacles, with some even affecting global business.

Man:

Man, the first of the four M’s is the most significant. The right person for the right position is a sure gamble for organizational effectiveness and efficiency. No two ways about that. Thus, lateness and absenteeism, unsafe acts, alcoholism, poor training, incompetence are just some of the attributes of man at work that could lead a business venture to failure. Human resource decides the workings of the other three basic business resources. Man ensures that materials, machines and money are made use of in a productive manner to achieve goals or aims and objectives of organizations and enterprises. Poor employment practices are unfavorable to the existence of such ventures. With the right man in the right job, effective business management can be achieved.

Materials:

Without materials, human resource is in vain. Thus every organization is aware of the fact that materials needed for any business or service must be in place before ‘man’ can be of use in any business venture. The birth of supply chain departments has grown out of this thinking and has been a very helpful and valuable aspect of business management. For instance, a group of cement factory workers awaiting supply of limestone may have nothing much to do for as long as the supply does not arrive. Even in the case it arrives, but in poor quality, the production is certainly destined for a loss. Quality compromised is business pauperized. Poor quality of materials potentially ruins entrepreneurship. This is an indisputable fact.

Machines:

The invention of machines has facilitated man to fulfill effortlessly various dreams of creating things that make existence more meaningful. Machines have substituted man in tilling, planting, and harvesting. Man has been replaced with looms in cotton and fabric processing. Innumerable other ventures that need physical exertions of force has been successfully taken over by things fixed with gears, bolts and nuts and conveyor belts. Lately, computers have aided in the battle of increasing production and reduction in time used up by man for manufacturing and general production of goods and services. Yet, without man and materials, machines will be worthless. They need to be operated by man and fed with materials.

Money:

Affluence and accomplishment are what majority of entrepreneurs envisage when they start their own business venture. For an entrepreneur’s business to succeed, though, demands more than a vision of success. Funds, the money required to start, run, and grow a business is vital, as is managing personal finances while balancing the demands of an entrepreneur’s business. Devoid of money, no venture or enterprise can encourage workers, get quality and adequate materials, get the right machines and retain them or even ensure that time is properly managed. Capital management, when not properly planned has been the most acknowledged factor involved in fall down of enterprises in history. The quantity and quality of money invested in ventures have a direct bearing on the prosperity of same over time. Accounts department have evolved over the years, by man, to ensure maximum operations of surviving business organizations. Where there is not adequate money, no quality workers, materials, or machines can be engaged or purchased or acquired. In other words, such a business venture will be waste of time.

How to Make Optimum Use of Business Resources?

A business resource is valuable for the successful operation of an enterprise. For example, an employee is an enormously valuable business resource, as is a computer, software program or a book that contains information that aids in producing business income. Business resources also comprise of financial assets, including checking accounts and credit cards. Following are the steps that you can follow as an entrepreneur to make optimum use of his business resources.

Step 1

Discover everything you can as an entrepreneur about a business resource so that you can make use of that resource completely. Having a complete understanding of the product, service or person at your disposal aids in deriving more value from your investment. For example, if you buy business equipment and don’t read the manual to learn that a few features can cut your production time in half, you’re wasting time and money.

Step 2

Take care of your human resource; treat your employees, with reverence, appreciation and recognition. When an entrepreneur displays respect, compassion and gratefulness for the work of the employees, it facilitates in boosting worker morale and productivity. Conduct an occasional party to remind employees that you value them.

Step 3

Operate your tangible business resources with care to make certain that you have them for as long duration as possible and get utmost use out of each item before having to get a replacement. Handle your computers with care and perform regular maintenance activities to keep them running at top capacity. Do the same with business vehicles and heavy equipment.

Step 4

Increase the operational life of equipments by turning off business machines or place them on standby when not in use.

Step 5

Bargain all business agreements to get the optimum price possible and shop around to make optimum use of your company’s financial resources. Check out at banks for the best deals for accounts and business credit cards.

Step 6

Evaluate how you use your office provisions as an additional way to make best possible use of business resources. Print documents double-sided to save paper, and explore purchasing quality recycled ink refills for printers.

Step 7

Prepare an inventory of all of your business resources in a spreadsheet program. Incorporate the name of each item, purchase date and estimated useful life. Make every attempt to make the most of all of those resources until the end of the estimated useful life before purchasing others.

Be a Leader

A Leader is one who knows the way, shows the way & goes the way.

Opening Case Study:

A Charismatic Business Leader: Sunil Mittal

One of the main driving forces behind the cellular revolution in India and a true business leader, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal is the chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Group, which owns India’s largest GSM-based mobile phone service, Airtel worth $9.5 million. Ranked as the sixth richest man in India, Mittal today heads the USD 5 billion Bharti Group. Forbes magazine ranks him among Asia’s self-made billionaires with a whopping net worth at some USD 11 billion. Born on June 15, 1950 in Ludhiana, Punjab, Mittal graduated from the Punjab University and with a degree in Bachelor of Arts and Science. He reclaimed the surname Mittal much later in life. His father Sam Paul Mittal was a parliamentarian but Sunil did not want to follow the beaten path and do something different. As a teenager Mittal always had an inclination to do business. After his graduation he teamed up with his friend to form a small bicycle business with borrowed capital of Rs. 20,000. By 1979, Mittal sensed that the business would remain small and therefore moved out of Ludhiana to Mumbai. By 1982, he had started a full-fledged business selling portable generators imported from Japan which gave him a good platform to involve himself in marketing and advertising. Things were going smooth until the government banned the import of generators as two Indian companies were awarded licenses to manufacture generators locally. As luck refused to part away Mittal’s lucky break came in 1992, when the government began issuing licenses for mobile phone services for the first time and he clinched a deal with the French telecom group Vivendi for the Delhi cellular circle. On his trip to Taiwan Mittal got fascinated by electronic push button phones and in 1982, introduced them to India, replacing the old fashioned, bulky rotary phones.
The year 1986 witnessed the launch of Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) and entered into a technical tie up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push button phones. By the early 1990s, Mittal was making fax machines, cordless phones and other telecom gear. In 1995, the Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was established and the brand ‘Airtel’ was launched. The rest as they say is history.. At the age of 55, Mittal can be rightly called as the ‘Business Leader’ because in a business where he is competing with Tata, Birla, Ambani and Vodafone, he is the biggest.

An entrepreneur must be a leader. Why? Because he or she must build and lead teams of people to accomplish the task, satisfy the customer, and do so at a price that leaves profit for the team members. In other words, ineffective leaders soon prove to be ineffective entrepreneurs because the customer isn’t satisfied nor the teams paid well. Nonetheless, many would-be entrepreneurs start business while ignoring the importance of leadership to the health of their enterprise.

Entrepreneurs should enter into markets where they feel they can satisfy the customers better than their competitors. For instance, Jack Welch, in his early days, was called “Neutron Jack” because he refused to be in a business sector where he couldn’t improve to either #1 or #2. His philosophy of business led him to get out of markets where he couldn’t be the best, and move into markets where he could be the best, thus maximizing profits for the company and ensuring employment for the workers. Incidentally, few seem to understand that only a profitable company can maintain its workers. Since profit is the life-blood of any business, when a company is losing money, it’s similar to a patient losing blood. In both instances, death results if the bleeding isn’t checked.

Accordingly, leaders are constantly studying the vital signs of their business, ensuring the business is not bleeding to death. In fact, leaders must be PDCA champions, constantly making adjustment in the areas where it can have the most impact. They don’t just change things to make change, however. Instead, they listen, study, and analyze until they determine which area of change could have the biggest impact on the bottom line. Then they do something unheard of in our modern world, namely, take massive action to drive the team and business forward.

The entrepreneur as leader should aspire to achieve the mentioned 10 key leadership qualities mentioned below and watch his business success skyrocket.

1. The successful leader has a vision: Think things through and know where you want to go and how you want to get there. Work with others to ensure a vision is followed through. Direct the actions and resources toward making it a reality.

2. The successful leader communicates well: Articulate a vision clearly to others. Encourage two-way communication between managers and non-managers and always be available to others. Strive to be succinct and specific about directions and instructions. Above all, a good leader avoids generalizations and ambiguities that can

lead to misunderstanding, conflict and poor performance.

3. The successful leader supports and guides the employees: Start by helping others clarify and achieve goals by identifying and removing any obstacles. Provide the resources (time, money, people, information and equipment) needed to complete the task. Don’t reprimand others who make mistakes when taking a well-calculated risk. Instead, critique and analyze what went wrong and what went right. Next, work with the employee to correct the error. Decide whether another attempt at a previous goal is necessary, and offer encouragement if it is. During the entire process, provide appropriate feedback to ensure positive attitudes and actions. Serve as a model of good attitude and use approaches that others can emulate.

4. The successful leader believes in his/herself: A good leader possesses a strong sense of confidence, built upon years of learning, experimenting and at times failing–but always growing. Be aware of personal strengths and limitations, and demonstrate those skills and talents without boasting. Assume responsibility for faults and personal errors without hiding them or blaming others, and know that if a mistake occurs, it does not equate inadequacy. A successful leader believes that he or she can turn around a negative situation by re-examining the variables and other circumstances–with input from others, when necessary.

5. The successful leader creates the atmosphere that encourages others to grow and thrive: Know that no one individual possesses all of the answers. By appreciating the role that motivational techniques can play in improving employee performance, you can work with others to increase organizational productivity and improve individual job satisfaction. Here are some tips on how to create a motivational atmosphere:

• Ask people their opinion rather than telling them yours

• When people ask you for solutions, have them come up with answers or options rather than telling them the best way to resolve a situation. Discuss the merits of their views and how to make them successful.

• Provide positive feedback when employees voice their opinions. Offer suggestions or try to resolve challenges. Reinforcing behavior on your part will encourage more spontaneity, thinking and innovation on their part

• Ask questions, even when you don’t know the answer. Ask employees challenging questions that encourage them to think, plan and react. Above all, encourage employees to challenge themselves.

• Encourage employees to take appropriate risks. Support them when they do and also when the outcome of risk-taking isn’t positive. In those cases, evaluate what went wrong and encourage other, more appropriate risks.

6. The successful leader manages by walking around: By getting out of the office and walking around the department, plant or building to interact with other employees, you get an opportunity to see people on the line doing daily tasks. Create an opportunity to informally chat with employees and learn something more about their work challenges and lives.

7. The successful leader acts and reacts in an honest manner: Honesty is the No. 1 characteristic of superior leaders. Honest leaders easily build trust and confidence. Their employees are more apt to work harder, ask questions and respect leaders who come across as honest. Employees will also accept critiques, whether positive or negative, from leaders they trust and believe.

8. The successful leader creates and fosters a learning environment: Recognize that increased knowledge, more job experience and challenging different mind-sets increases worker satisfaction, motivation and productivity. Frequently encourage others to think outside-the-box and see issues from alternate perspectives.

9. The successful leader perseveres: Don’t deflect from achieving goals simply because obstacles exist or no answer is readily available. Continue in your pursuit of excellence despite barriers and criticism, and encourage the same attitude in others.

10. The successful leader shares successes: Know that positive outcomes are rarely the result of only one person’s attempts or input. A self-confident entrepreneur shares the limelight and accolades with others who contributed to the final product or service.

After all, a leader must aim at creating more leaders, not followers.

Enhance Knowledge

Knowledge is like a garden; if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.

Opening Case Study:

Encashing Knowledge: Shantanu Prakash
Shantanu Prakash, MD & CEO of Educomp Solutions is the man who made ‘education’, a buzz word for the stock market. This is a story of a dreamer with a difference. He not only achieved his own dreams but also helps many others do it day in and day out. Shantanu Prakash, a middle class boy from Delhi decided to walk the road less travelled. After IIM-A, when most of his classmates opted to lucrative jobs at MNCs, Shantanu decided to set out on his own and 17 years later, he has no regrets and why would he? After founding Educomp in 1994, he has been changing the face of Indian education on a daily basis. Both teaching and learning has become more efficient and easier with technology enabled education system. In India, the trend was started by Educomp who implemented technology-enabled education services in schools for the first time. Shantanu Prakash, founder of Educomp, is the man who is responsible for bringing the much-awaited change in the Indian education system. A first generation entrepreneur who has almost single handedly redefined the concept of technology-enabled education delivery in India; he commands immense respect across the business spectrum for his visionary impact on the education sector in India and across the globe.

Knowledge is extremely important for the growth of any business. All businesses must have access to an extensive pool of knowledge – whether this is their understanding of customers’ needs and the business environment or the skills and experience of staff. The way a business collects, shares and utilizes this knowledge is essential to its ability to develop successfully. It is not merely applicable to huge multinational companies. Knowledge management can profit everyone from a local newsstand to a manufacturing firm.

Let us consider the following areas pertaining to knowledge

Basic forms of knowledge
Advantage of knowledge enhancement
Making knowledge the Pivot of Business
Sharing knowledge across business
Crafting a knowledge strategy for business

BASIC formS OF KNOWLEDGE

An entrepreneur’s business knowledge could comprise:

Customer knowledge – The entrepreneur must be aware of the customers’ needs and know what they think of the product or service offered. He must be in a position to share a relationship with customers and to fulfill their future requirements. The entrepreneur must conduct surveys so that he might be able to develop products or services that meet customer demands.

Employee and supplier opinions – By seeking the opinions of his employees and suppliers an entrepreneur comes to know how he is performing. He can make use of formal questionnaire to gather this knowledge or ask for their views on a more informal basis.

Market knowledge – Keeping abreast of the developments in his sector is a must for any entrepreneur. He must be aware of competitors, price strategies, new entrants, significant technologies launched in order to flourish in the market.

Knowledge of the business environment – Any business is impacted by a variety of external factors. Developments in politics, the economy, technology, society and the environment could all affect business’ development, so the entrepreneur needs to keep himself informed. A good option is to set up a team of employees to monitor and report on changes in the business world.

Professional associations and trade bodies – Entrepreneurs can gain a deep insight into business by associating with professional & trade organizations and studying their publications, reports & technical magazines.

Trade exhibitions and conferences – Trade fairs remain flooded with budding entrepreneurs. Participating in these exhibitions and conferences can provide an entrepreneur easy way of finding out what his competitors are doing and to see the latest innovations in his sector.

Product research and development – The entrepreneur must keep himself involved in studying latest scientific and technical research and development in the area of his developed product. Journals can be a vital source of knowledge that can aid the entrepreneur in manufacturing innovative new products and retaining his competitive edge.

Experience of Non-executive directors – One good way of enriching an organization by the rich experience of specialists is by inviting them on board. Specialized industry experience benefits the strategic decision making.

ADVANTAGE OF KNOWLEDGE ENHANCEMENT

Following are the measurable benefits of capturing and using knowledge effectively:

The most basic advantage is an improvement in the goods or services the entrepreneur offers and the processes that he uses to sell them. For example, identifying market trends before they happen might enable him to offer products and services to customers before his competitors.

Better customer satisfaction: As the entrepreneur has a greater understanding of their requirements through feedback from customer communications.

An exponential rise in the quality of his suppliers, resulting from better awareness of what customers want and what his staff requires.

Enhanced staff productivity, as employees are able to benefit from colleagues’ knowledge and expertise to find out the best way to get things done.

Increased business efficiency, by making better use of in-house expertise.

Better recruitment and staffing policies. For example, if the entrepreneur has improved knowledge of what his customers are looking for, he will be better able to find the right staff to serve them.

The ability to sell or license knowledge to other entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur may be able to use his knowledge and expertise in an advisory or consultancy capacity.

MAKing knowledge the pivot of business

In order to manage the collection and exploitation of knowledge in his business, an entrepreneur should try to build a culture in which knowledge is esteemed across the entire business. One method to implement this practice is by offering incentives to staff that provide useful market news or suggest techniques by which customers can be better served. The entrepreneur can utilize these knowledge management practices throughout his organization to build better processes.

As an essential component of knowledge enhancement, an entrepreneur must make sure that any intellectual property that his business holds is protected. This aids him to stop competitors from copying and also allows him to profit by licensing his business’ knowledge. Protecting and taking advantage of knowledge base will be more effective if the entrepreneur develops efficient systems for storing and retrieving information.

Keeping knowledge confidential is essential too during knowledge enhancement. The organizations employment policies play a central role in this. For instance, the entrepreneur may ask staff to sign non-disclosure agreements, also called confidentiality agreements, when they join the business as this ensures that they understand the importance of confidentiality from day one.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE ACROSS BUSINESS

It’s crucial to avoid important knowledge or skills being held by only a few people, because if they leave or retire that expertise could be lost to business. If the entrepreneur has efficient ways of sharing knowledge across the business, it will be more widely used and its value and effectiveness are likely to be maximized.

Knowledge sharingis one of the best ways of sharing new ideas and information with staff. Entrepreneurs must conduct regular meetings where they can brief employees and ask them to share ideas and best practice.
Entrepreneur’s may consider holding innovation workshops or brainstorming sessions at which staff are given the freedom and encouragement to think of ways in which the business could improve.

Another good way is to create knowledge bank that includes useful information and instructions on how to carry out key tasks. Putting this on an intranet is ideal as it will encourage staff to post news or suggestions.

Technology alone isn’t the solution to sharing knowledge – it has to be managed carefully so that information is channeled properly. The entrepreneur may choose to hire a senior manager as knowledge champion for his business.

Keep in mind that offering staff incentives to come up with suggestions for how the business can be improved is often an effective way of getting them to use and share knowledge. Training is a good way to spread key knowledge, skills and best practice across business.

CRAFTING A KNOWLEDGE STRATEGY FOR BUSINESS

An entrepreneur who wants to get the most from his business’ knowledge must take a strategic approach to discovering, collating and sharing it. This is achieved by knowledge strategy – a set of written guidelines to be applied across the business. In order to have an effective strategy, an entrepreneur must make sure that senior managers are committed to it and are fully aware of the benefits it can offer. Discussing with them is the best way of collecting and using knowledge.

When an entrepreneur is drawing up knowledge strategy he needs to:

consider how effective his business currently is at utilizing its knowledge and analyze his internal processes for gathering and sharing information. He must ask himself the question: Are there successful ways of generating ideas and do staff have a good grasp of what’s happening?

make sure that knowledge management, acquisition and distribution is a continuing process, so that it becomes central to your business’ strategy

an entrepreneur must also identify the value of knowledge to his business. Think of ways he could exploit his knowledge for financial gain – perhaps by gaining a larger market share, developing new products, or selling or licensing your protected intellectual property to others.

An entrepreneur must leave no stone unturned in enhancing knowledge. After all it is an element that offers the entreprene

Have Good Judgement

Fortune truly helps those who are of good judgment -Euripides

Opening Case Study:

Good Judgment: Warren Buffet
Known as the ‘Miracle of Omaha’, Warren Buffet is the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the wealthiest people of the world and a highly successful investor of the twentieth century with keen sense of judgment. In 2008 Buffet was ranked as the world’s richest person and third richest in 2011. Listed in Time magazine’s ‘most influential people of the world’, Buffet has made a mark for himself due to his exceptional judgment skills. When children of his age were busy playing he was busy making money. He sold various items door-to-door and also worked at a grocery store owned by his grandfather. Even when he was in high school, he managed to make quite a lot of money by selling stamps, golf balls and delivering newspapers. In 1945, which was his sophomore year in high school, Buffet bought a pinball machine for 25 dollars and placed it at a barber shop. In a few months’ time he owned several other pinball machines. Buffet’s interest in stock exchange grew and he bought his first shares at the age of 11. Warren, like many other hugely-successful entrepreneurs, was something of a genius as a child. Buffett’s forté was figures, and he was capable of adding up numerous columns of numbers right in his head. Onlookers often thought that he was a mathematical wizard. His father was a stockbroker, and this permitted Buffett to learn the inner workings of the stock market, which he embraced wholeheartedly. His father allowed him to write the stock prices on the blackboard at work, and by the time Buffett was only eleven years old, he started trading.

Take any Fortune 500 CEO into consideration. Chances are that you remember them for their best or worst judgment. Amongst CEOs, Coca-Cola’s Roberto Goizueta will eternally be associated to his devastating decision to launch New Coke. Carly Fiorina was a trend-setter in the race of female executives, but she’ll be recalled for destroying Hewlett-Packard’s culture. In contrast, Andy Grove and Gordon Moore made the right decision of calling off the memory chip business and steering Intel to become the powerhouse in microprocessors that it is today. In a nutshell, people who make good judgment calls are hailed as successful entrepreneurs. People who exercise poor judgment are considered failures. It’s that simple.

All through the life of the entrepreneur, he makes thousands of judgment calls. Some are trivial, such as deciding the color of the office walls. Others are critical, such as whom to appoint as board of directors and what domains to pursue in business. The measure of success in the life of an entrepreneur is the sum of all these judgment calls. It matters to ask, did one make good calls about the things that really mattered?

The ability to exercise good judgment determines the quality of an entrepreneur’s life. And, as he climbs up to positions of leadership, the significance and cost of his judgment calls are magnified exponentially by their rising impact on the lives of others. Put basically, entrepreneur’s judgment calls decide the success or failure of their organizations.

However what really makes a difference is not simply how many good judgment calls an entrepreneur makes. Rather, it is how many of the important ones he gets right. First-rate entrepreneurs not only make better calls, but they are capable to differentiate the truly essential ones and get a higher proportion of them right. They are better at a whole course of action that runs from observing the need for a call, to forming issues, to comprehending what is critical, to mobilizing and energizing employees.

How do we define judgment? It is an informed decision-making process that encompasses three areas:

Judgment regarding people
Judgment pertaining to strategy
Judgment in time of crisis

Within each area, entrepreneurial judgment follows a three-phase process:

Homework or what happens before the entrepreneur makes the decision.
The Call or what the entrepreneur does while making the decision to be right.
Implementation or what the entrepreneur oversees to make sure the call generates right results.

Good entrepreneurial judgment is assisted by knowledge of one’s self, network, organization, and circumstance.

Let’s understand the three phases of the judgment process in further detail and examine them from the viewpoint of the three domains of people, strategy, and crisis.

The Homework stage starts with discerning and identifying the need for a judgment call. In a people judgment call, the question is when an employee needs to be replaced. The judgment call involves letting go of the employees who shouldn’t be around. Many entrepreneurs fall short in making the right judgment call about firing an employee because they fail to see the need.

There have been many instances in the history of entrepreneurship, where entrepreneurs did not make out the need for strategic judgment calls. The best of strategic judgment calls involved the transition from telegraphs to telephones, railroads to automobiles, or IBM hardware to Microsoft software.

In the third domain of crisis judgments, it’s mostly straightforward to sense and make out the need for a judgment call. A lot of them appear with such urgency that it is not possible to ignore them. But others are more subtle. They should be handled with due care.

Once entrepreneurs identify the need for a judgment call in any of the domains, they must frame it and name it. There is great power in framing a concern and then giving it a name. When Jack Welch had the desire to get his business leaders to raise more services to counterbalance the pressures on product pricing in the 1990s, he framed and named the GE strategy as “We are a service company with competitive products, not a product company with services on the side.”

The Homework stage continues when the entrepreneur mobilizes and allies up the right people. It is essential to get the people who have something to contribute to your organization. The aligning part of the equation refers to getting on board only the people who can help you make a smart decision and execute it.

From the Homework stage, the leader must march towards the second stage: making the Judgment Call. As an entrepreneur who makes decisions affecting hundreds of thousands of people’s life, there is an added sense of responsibility and accountability on his shoulders.

The third phase is Implementation, or making it happen. Once a decision is made, then resources, people, capital, information, and technology must be mobilized to support it. If they aren’t, the decision doesn’t get carried out and any good preparation and decision making simply fails.

How is Sound Judgment related with Decision-Making?

Entrepreneurs who desire to build trust and rapport with their employees need to establish sound decision making skills that constantly produce fair and just judgments and evaluations.

Entrepreneurs who consistently make just and fair decisions and judgments will see their effectiveness and reliability enhance. Individual employees and customers will realize that they can depend on the entrepreneur to make a fair judgment and evaluation in spite of the fact that it may not be easy or popular.

When subordinates know they can rely on the equity of their entrepreneur’s judgments, trust is reinforced. The personal and professional standing of the entrepreneur thus enhanced, employees will rely on his judgment and be enthusiastic to work more closely with them.

Entrepreneurs must practice sound judgment in all of their decisions. Efficient decision-making plays a vital role in the improvement of good judgment skills. To begin with, entrepreneurs may require knowingly using a checklist of key points until they become well acquainted and habituated with it.

Increasing good judgment is based upon the entrepreneur’s talent to look at all sides of a problem or issue and to evaluate all of the options prior to reaching a final decision. Usually good judgments are:

Fact-Based

Facts make the foundation of all sound judgments. Judgments must not be based upon individual opinions, suppositions and personal biases.

Before a judgment can be made, entrepreneurs must take ample time to confidently establish the truth of the matter and filter out any opinions, assumptions and biases. When at all possible, facts should be fully documented.

Objective

Sound judgment is based upon an objective evaluation of the facts. Managers must be careful to ensure their emotions, assumptions, expectations, opinions and personal biases do not affect their objectivity. Where possible, managers should step outside of the immediate situation to view the facts from the other person’s perspective and gain objective insights into potential solutions.

Fair and Balanced

Sound judgment requires that all sides and viewpoints be carefully weighed and considered by managers. One pitfall in sound decision making lies in only considering one side of the issue and thereby limiting objectivity with opinions, assumptions or personal biases. When this occurs, the decision is intentionally slanted toward one side of the issue without fully considering other viewpoints and insights.

When entrepreneurs are focusing on making ethical judgments, they must take into account all sides of the issue and make sure the input they are considering is balanced. When balanced facts and viewpoints are objectively evaluated, the entrepreneur is able to arrive at a fair judgment.

Made When Entrepreneur Are Emotionally Stable

Entrepreneurs must abstain from making determinations and judgments in an emotionally unstable state of mind. Decisions made when an entrepreneur is angry or hostile will be rash and subjective. Before effective and sound judgments can be made, entrepreneurs must assure that their emotions are in check.

Meeting the Needs of All Parties

Sound judgments and decisions incorporate the needs of all those associated with the organization and affected by them. The final judgment should be in the best interests of all parties. Even when tough decisions are to be made, the best interests of all involved must be considered. For instance, if a entrepreneur must fire an employee due to poor performance, that decision – when based on facts – must be in his or her best interest. The employee may need a wake-up call or just may not have the necessary skills to be successful in their job, in which case it is best they pursue another profession.

Carefully Considering All Options

Sound judgments calls for entrepreneurs to consider all possible options. When a problem or issue is first looked at, only one viable option may be apparent; however, effective entrepreneurs will discover and consider all possible options before a decision is to be made.

Once entrepreneurs have collected all the facts, viewpoints, insights and options, they need to take the time to thoroughly consider all aspects of the problem or issue before a final judgment is made.

Fully Assessing Risks

Effective entrepreneurs fully assess all the risks associated with their decisions and judgments. They are not risk-averse, but instead weigh all facts and make their decisions based upon the judgment yielding the lowest risk and biggest payoff.

Trust Your Intuition

In business, decisions based on intuition are often superior to those based on analytical reasoning.

Opening Case Study:

The One who Trusted Intuition: Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs has been our generation’s quintessential entrepreneur. Visionary, inspiring, brilliant & mercurial. Perhaps the most astonishing fact about Jobs was his view that market research and focus groups only limited your ability to innovate. Asked how much research was done to guide Apple when he introduced the iPad, Jobs famously quipped, “None. It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want. It’s hard for [consumers] to tell you what they want when they’ve never seen anything remotely like it.” Instead, it was Jobs’ own intuition, his radar-like feel for emerging technologies and how they could be brought together to create, in his words, “insanely great” products, that ultimately made the difference. For Jobs, who died last year at 56, intuition was no mere gut call. It was, as he put it in his often-quoted commencement speech at Stanford, about “connecting the dots,” glimpsing the relationships among wildly disparate life experiences and changes in technology. It’s a safe bet to assume that none of Apple’s blockbuster products, from the Macintosh to the iPod and iTunes, from the iPhone to the iPad, would have come about if Jobs had relied heavily on consumer research. Fittingly enough, on the day Jobs launched the Macintosh, a reporter from Popular Science asked him what type of studies Apple had conducted to ensure there was a market for the computer. In a nearly offended tone, Jobs retorted, “Did Alexander Graham Bell do any market research before he invented the telephone?”

Intuition is a secret weapon that an entrepreneur possesses to make his business flourish. Entrepreneurship demands risk taking and frequently foraying into the area of the unknown. Not knowing where your next paycheck will be arriving from, assembling your ideas out into world, and facing “make it or break it” decisions on a day-to-day basis are all circumstances that entrepreneurs face. Developing and channeling your intuition is significant to your entrepreneurial victory. At times it’s all you’ve got.

Listening to intuition is a proficiency that can be developed and fortified, and it is an ability that is chiefly important in the most chaotic, fluid business environments. On occasions when high-pressure decisions must be made at a moment’s notice, intuition can often beat a thoughtful, rational analysis. By having faith in their gut feeling, entrepreneurs are encouraged to carry out original, unproven ideas and ventures, even when nobody else has faith in them. Intuition is all about observing the need for a product or new service and just having the impulse to know you can make it happen.

Entrepreneurs increase their intuition to make the several business decisions they face daily. They are frequently in the position of nee to plan and create products or services way in advance. Their instinct can aid them to ‘know’ which ideas are most prone to succeed. Actually intuition can repeatedly offer them with novel, innovative ideas to use in their business.

Successful, independent-minded entrepreneurs are aware when to have faith in their gut. An increasing number of researches from a variety of fields — including economics, neurology, and cognitive psychology — substantiate that intuition is a real form of knowledge. You may not have ready money at hand to carry out a market study or conduct a focus group, but you’re still enthusiastic to stake your reputation and money on that idea. Why? Because that’s what your gut tells you to do.

Following Your Intuition

Intuition means knowing something without being in a position to illustrate how you arrived at that conclusion rationally. It’s that strange “gut feeling” or “instinct” that over and over again turns out to be right, in retrospect. When you’ve marked upon your options and are trapped at a crossroad, getting in touch with your intuition can lend a helping hand. Learning how to take apart the wheat from the chaff is complex but intuition can be developed, principally by following some of these ideas.

# Trust your instincts. It can be complex to rely on something that you cannot comprehend, and you most likely shouldn’t base each of your decisions on intuition. For instance, if you’re hiring someone, you should consider qualifications primarily, or else you might accidentally discriminate. But when you’ve reflected upon all the viable options and there is no clear, rational choice, intuition is really all you’ve got. Think about the following:

Devoid of intuition, you’re no different than a computer. You simply make decisions derived from facts, and you don’t all the time have all the facts. So except you’re performing like a computer, you’re already making decisions based on various factors other than logic…why not learn the art of using your intuition as well?
Even many of the world’s greatest scientists, the most rational academicians of all time, have made their supreme discoveries based on flashes of intuition. Take example of Newton. Apple fell on his head and he discovered the law of gravitation. Archimedes shouted “Eureka!” in his bathtub when water displaced.

# Ask yourself questions: Raising questions and listening to the foremost answer that flashes into your mind is a good way to become aware of your intuitive abilities.

# Meditate: Emptying your mind of recurring thoughts and fears will make it easier to pay attention to your intuition. Discover a meditative technique you are at ease, using and practicing.

# Take note of your gut: There’s a motive why it is called a “gut feeling”. Time and again, a decision that you “know” is wrong makes you feel discomfort in your stomach.

# Listen and communicate: Listening and communicating with the multiple thoughts in your brain is a good exercise. It clears the clutter and offers lucidness.

# Prepare an intuition journal: Every day, pen down your intuition to make a guess about your business practices. As you discover further regarding how to recognize your intuition, and you see it leading you in the right direction, your self-reliance will grow and so will your intuitive power.

# Exercise your right brain: As intuition is drawn from the right hemisphere of the brain which is the same side that controls nonverbal, holistic thought and expression, exercising it will increase intuitive thoughts. Some ways to “work out” your intuition are creative thinking, visualizing, and brainstorming.

As Steve Jobs said: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

How to Trust Your Instincts?

Playing the role of a business leader, you persistently are required to discover new ideas. You’re weaving a vision for tomorrow of a world that doesn’t exist yet and in this journey your greatest resource for getting it right is your instincts.

Many of today’s successful entrepreneurs attribute their success to their intuition, Bill Gates says, “you cannot ignore your intuition.” Oprah states, “My business skills have come from being guided by my intuition”, and Donald Trump admits in his book, “I’ve built a multibillion dollar empire by relying on my gut instinct”.

Here are five ways to assist you in trusting your instincts and building a successful business.

1. Follow your interest. When you are obsessed with an idea in your head and can’t get it out of your mind, your gut is telling you it has merit. If you are spending every waking hour on something you want to do, then you should surely go ahead with the idea.

That instinct fuels your drive and work ethic. Instinct is simply said passion disguised as an idea. When you act on ideas you truly are keen about, you are more liable to be right and more likely to work hard enough to succeed.

2. Dedicate yourself fully. Mere intuitive thoughts do not meet with success. They have to be backed up with a lot of dedicated work. When you are willing to put the required efforts; that faith helps you to trust your instincts because you know you’d find a way to follow through.

To give that kind of commitment, live in the moment and focus on doing the best you can today

3. Engross yourself: You must indulge fully in the world around your idea. None of us is born with business instincts — we learn them over time. When you engross yourself in a subject or group, your mind pulls on all of that knowledge with very little effort. Your instincts become informed choices.

Instincts come from deep knowledge of the industry — a connection that comes from getting your hands dirty and knowing every aspect of your business.

4. Follow your own rules. Entrepreneurs who are leaders will trust their instincts and will be the ones who set the new rules — the ones who anticipate and solve tomorrow’s problems.

When you’re bucking the trend, even if you fail, use it as an opportunity to hone your instincts by noticing what mistakes you made that ultimately killed the idea. It will sharpen your business acumen.

5. Allow your idea to evolve over time. When taking action based on your instinct, be flexible about the implementation. What you start out to do is going to change over time. The basic instinct remains intact, but the idea changes and evolves.

As you expand your business, observe how people counter and amend your idea accordingly. You will have an easier time having faith in your instincts when you give yourself the freedom to adapt.

After all, intuition is the highest form of intelligence, transcending all individual abilities and skill.

Hire Smart People

When you hire people who are smarter than you, you prove you are smarter than they are.

Opening Case Study:

Hiring Smart People: Bill Gates
Gates is smart, but many Microsoft employees are equally smart. As Fortune magazine noted, “Microsoft has been led by a man widely recognized as a genius in his own right, who has had the foresight to recognize the genius in others.”While Gates has been the famous face of Microsoft for over thirty years, it took the help of numerous other trusted individuals to help realize the company’s success. When Allen and Gates first met as students at Lakeside, they instantly formed a strong bond over their passion for computers. And, it was a bond that would last for the rest of their lives. Knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses, interests and passions and having a strong sense of trust enabled these two entrepreneurs to form one of the most successful working relationships of the 20th century. Gates, recognizing the importance of a solid and trustworthy team, also brought on two former high school friends, Ric Weiland and Marc McDonald, to be part of the core Microsoft group. Gates knew that if Microsoft was going to get its feet off the ground, it was going to take the hard work and sweat that he trusted few others to put in. From day one, he understood the importance of having a small team that could join together each person’s enthusiasm around a common goal. Microsoft continues to seek out only the best in order to help it stay ahead of its increasingly fierce competition. “The key for us, number one, has always been hiring very smart people,” says Gates. “There is no way of getting around, that in terms of IQ, you’ve got to be very elitist in picking people who deserve to write software. Ninety-five percent of the people shouldn’t write complex software.” By hiring the best and the brightest and carrying out work in small teams that stimulate free and creative thinking, Microsoft has managed to retain its competitive edge for over three decades.

A founder can’t establish a winning enterprise singlehandedly. Some may try, but it is all in vain. Every renowned entrepreneur has built a flourishing company brick by brick with great employees by his or her side. Hiring the best employees is more important than ever.

An entrepreneur can formulate and even commercialize an idea as an enterprise of one. Over time, though, the task of running a business smoothly becomes too huge for the entrepreneur to manage himself. At this juncture, a savvy leader must find and hire the finest workers to help accomplish the entrepreneurial dream.

In today’s economy, hiring the best people is more significant than ever before. Entrepreneurs can’t make a choice that leads to loss of time, money and results in a bad hiring alternative. The price of screening, interviewing, engaging and training new employees is high. Employees also need a lot of resources in the form of desks, computers, phones and related equipment, let alone the largest costs of being an employer—salaries, benefits and taxes. Leaders look upon new employees as an investment and foresee an excellent monetary return in due course of time.

Over the course of a entrepreneur’s career, he hires hundreds of people. When the entrepreneur appoints exceptionally talented employees, they become major contributors to the success of the enterprise. Others who don’t perform have to be terminated. Being aware of how to properly hire new employees is essential.

What to look for in a Prospective Employee?

The one & only criteria to find the candidate with the best skills, experiences and ability is to look for the 7C’s in a prospective employee.

These seven categories should be considered to find the best new employees, which are as follows:

1. Competent: This is the most basic characteristic that is needed in a prospect. It is important to know whether or not the potential employee has the necessary skills, experiences and education to successfully complete the tasks you need performed?

2. Capable: Only competency is not enough. It also matters to know whether this person completes only the easy tasks or he or she is also capable to find ways to deliver on the functions that require more effort and creativity. Capability implies that the employee has talent for growth and the aptitude and keenness to take on more responsibility.

3. Compatible: An employee never functions in isolation. For him to be successful, he must be able to get along with a team. It pays to know whether this person can get along with colleagues, and more prominently, can he or she get along with existing and potential clients and partners. Having harmony in relations is needed. If the new employee can’t have harmony, there will be problems.

4. Commitment: How long does the employee foresee himself working with the organization? Is he serious about working for the long term? Or is he in search of always a better paying job? An account of past jobs and time spent at each provides clear insight on the issue.

5. Character: Does the value system of the prospect align with the organization’s value system? Is he honest in his dealings? Does he speak the truth and keep promises? Is he selfless and a team player? These questions determine the underlying character of the employee.

6. Culture: Every organization has an inherent culture. There is a certain way in which people behave and interact with each other. Culture is rooted in definite values, outlook, policies and procedures that influence the behavior of a leader and employees. Employees who don’t reflect a company’s culture tend to be disruptive and difficult.

7. Compensation: A major reason for under-performance is a compensation-package that is not competitive with the market-based compensation. If an employee feels unacknowledged he may not be able to do justice to his job.

While looking forward for this seven C’s in job applicants, they may modestly present the answers or exaggerate. A good way to find out the truth is to talk to former employment associates. The references a job candidate provides will nearly always provide a biased report. Instead, ask the candidate for the names of former bosses, peers and subordinates.

True references will reveal the truth and not play with words. With these names in hand, call former co-workers and ask them if the job applicant fits in the above listed seven characteristics.

How to ensure a Better Hire?

Simply said; talent matters. The difficulty is very small numbers of people actually have the aptitude to identify talent. Discovering and employing talent demands a much broader skill set than screening a resume and having a set of typical interviewing questions to direct you. The concerns of leadership, values, vision, culture, context etc., need to be resourcefully and instinctively tackled in the hiring process. If these issues are ignored and/or misunderstood, there will be a heavy cost down the road.

Smart hiring involves creating a talent advantage. Screening should never be left to people who are not adept at it. Smart leaders do more than just hire smart people by having a smart hiring procedure and/or methodology.

You can make the right hire by following the guidelines outlined below:

Define what you want: Ensure that you are aware of exactly what you are in search of, both in terms of the job description and job specification, and the profile of the prospect most likely to be successful in that role. If you can’t describe who and what you’re search of, you shouldn’t be looking.

Timing: There is insight in the old adage “hire slow and fire fast.” Avoid desperation and don’t panic as it may end-up in making a regrettable hire. Give yourself plenty of breathing time. It is far better to take your own good time and make a good hire rather than using the ready, fire, aim methodology.

ABH: Always Be Hiring: Great talent is rarely accessible on a moment’s notice. As an entrepreneur, your organization should always be on the look-out for great talent whether that talent is still in graduate school, working for competitors, or working outside the industry. Some of the best hires are made when you are in the always hiring mode.

Involve Talented Scouts: In the interview panel, look out for and involve the person within your organization who has the best nose for talent. Despite of what position this person holds; get them involved in the process. If you don’t have a natural talent scout internally, seek outside assistance in the form of an advisor/consultant.

Follow Team Based Hiring: Team-based hiring doesn’t mean management by committee. It means hiring based upon a team approach, where the team consists of your HR manager, your internal and external talent scout, the direct supervisor over the position being hired for and the senior executive who is the best at promoting your organization. Hiring in a team-based fashion eliminates many of the typical mistakes that can be made in the hiring process individually.

Hire Leaders: Majority of companies talk about the lack of leadership among employees. When raising this question, the solution is simple: Why not to hire a leader to begin with? Certainly, leadership can be learned, but not everyone is willing to learn, and even if they are, education takes time and has a very real cost. Development of an existing leader is faster, easier, and more effective than creating a leader.

Constantly Upgrade: You can hire the best talent in the world, but keep in mind that “best” is a subjective assessment mainly calculated within the context of a snapshot in time. Obsolescence can take root in anyone if growth and development are not focus points. Growth needs to occur at every level of the workforce – the top, middle, and bottom performance tiers. Top performers require to be stretched, mid-tier performers require to be challenged to up their game, and you should always consider upgrading the bottom 20% of your workforce. This goal can be achieved by training and development or via new hire. As an entrepreneur you must ask yourself the following question: Who are the least productive members of your team? Why? Coach them to productivity or replace them – there is no third option.

Hiring is a blend of art and science. The reality is that those organizations that identify, recruit, deploy, develop and retain the best talent will be the companies who thrive in the future.

Establish Goodwill

Entrepreneurs work on their reputation until it is established, when it is established, it works for them.

Opening Case Study:

Goodwill Established: Jyoti Naik
Everyone enjoys ‘rags to riches’ stories and everyone likes tales of stupendous success achieved through sheer determination. The story of Jyoti Naik, President, Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad is all that and much more. Today, Lijjat is more than just a household name for ‘papad’ (India’s most popular crispy bread). Started with a modest loan of Rs 80, the cooperative now has annual sales exceeding Rs 301 crore (Rs 3.1 billion). What’s more stunning than its stupendous success is its striking simplicity. And perhaps that is the most interesting lesson managers can pick up from Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad. Sticking to its core values for the past forty years, Jyoti Naik has ensured that every process runs smoothly, members earn a comfortable profit, agents get their due share, consumers get the assurance of quality at a good price, and society benefits from its donations to various causes. How has all this been possible? Its story shows how an organisation can infuse Gandhian simplicity in all its activities. Here we look at its distribution cycle. Every morning a group of women goes to the Lijjat branch to knead dough, which is then collected by other women who roll it into papads. When these women come in to collect the dough, they also give in the previous day’s production, which is tested for quality. Yet another team packs the tested papads. Every member gets her share of vanai (rolling charge) every day for the work she does and this is possible only because the rest of the system is geared to support it.

The goodwill of a business is essential to its survival. The trust and confidence of the consumer can have a direct and profound effect on a company’s bottom line. Recently, the importance of reputation has become increasingly apparent. In the past, businesses relied on word of mouth by their stakeholders in order to establish, build and maintain their goodwill. In this modern age of social networking, websites, and other methods of instant communication, businesses must be conscientious of their goodwill on a constant basis and be responsive to any crisis that may have an impact on their goodwill.

Although an intangible concept, having a great goodwill can benefit a business in a multitude of ways including: higher consumer preference; support for an organization in times of crisis or controversy; and increase the future value of an organization in the marketplace. If an organization has established goodwill in the marketplace, consumers may have a preference for that company even if there are similar businesses offering the same products or services for different prices. The goodwill of an organization can enable a company to differentiate its product in highly competitive markets, allow it to have premium pricing, and can become the ultimate factor in whether a customer decides to patronize one business over another.

If you build up and keep a good reputation everyone will be flocking to your door, and in times when competition is fierce and many skills are in short supply, that can make the difference between your firms’ survival or its untimely demise.

Executives know the importance of their companies’ reputations. Firms with strong positive reputations attract better people. They are perceived as providing more value, which often allows them to charge a premium. Their customers are more loyal and buy broader ranges of products and services. Because the market believes that such companies will deliver sustained earnings and future growth, they have higher price-earnings multiples and market values and lower costs of capital. Moreover, in an economy where 70% to 80% of market value comes from hard-to-assess intangible assets such as brand equity, intellectual capital, and reputation, organizations are especially vulnerable to anything that damages their goodwill.

10 GUIDELINES TO CREAT GOODWILL WITHIN MARKET

It’s incredible to believe what being nice to your customer can get you in your venture. It’s even more astounding what it will do to your brand and your business. Building upon goodwill and loyalty with your customer base should be a key area you focus on as an entrepreneur. When you take efforts to build upon goodwill for your audience they will crown you with loyalty and love. The tag line for goodwill is: ‘Treat people right and they will treat your brand right.’

Here is a list of ten guidelines that you can follow to establish goodwill with your market. Striving to work for your goodwill will pay you rich dividends in your venture.

#1: Aim for Customer Delight

Providing goods or services that meet the expectations of customer and give them satisfaction is a passed out trend. The current marketing trend calls for customer delight. Take the example of hotel industry. Providing free wallet parking can not only help in brand building in the initial phase but also show that you care for the comfort of your customer. People love little acts of care and when you can surprise a customer with something cool and unexpected they’ll talk about your brand for sure. The cost incurred due to providing these services is worth the trouble. You’ll end up making more money, generate strong word of mouth, and keep customers longer if you aim for customer delight.

#2: Walk the Talk

The word “transparent dealing” is the buzzword these days. You should look forward to build a brand that is completely open and transparent. If you fail to be honest and real with your audience, you are likely to step near to disaster. Keeping hidden costs, advertising falsely or trying to mislead the customers can completely damage your bond with them. They know you’re human and they’ll respect you a thousand times more for being upfront and real with them.

Don’t ever try to hide something or trick people. This is the kind of stuff that gives marketers a bad name and it makes you a first class douche-bag. Make sure everything you do and offer is crystal clear. You’ll do more business that way.

#3: Step the Extra Mile

The customer may not always be right. But valuing their opinion makes them feel important. Being open to receive feedback from them gives them a position of significance. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an email, blog post, video, product, or whatever, try to thank them for availing your service or buying your product and ask if they were happy with it. It’s incredibly important to make sure they’re happy they came in contact with you. If you win the loyalty of a customer he will come time and again to you and promote your venture through mouth of word.

#4: Be Consistent

Being consistent is the key when it comes to your building your brand or your business, as an entrepreneur. Customers don’t look forward for ventures that are here-today-gone-tomorrow. They want to know they can depend and rely on you. For a customer to become a fan of yours or your business you must let them know they can always count on you to deliver. Consistency builds confidence with consumers. Be sure to focus on being consistent and reliable.

#5: Deliver more than you promise

The art of marketing demands to deliver first. A strong brand is built on trust. No one wants to be pitched over and over again. No one will trust a brand that offers little content while throwing a pitch down their throat. I’m not saying you can’t pitch, by all means do. You’ll have to if you want to survive and thrive. But there has to be a balance. Follow the 80:20 rule. Promise 20 percent deliver 80percent. The golden rule is to under-promise and over-deliver.

#6: Build on a Relationship with Your Audience

Everything that you do about your business affects branding. Every interaction you have with your target audience either surges or dips your relation value with them. The more value you provide for your audience the stronger the relationship will be. You can’t build a sustainable brand without genuinely caring about your audience. Be aware that every email you send, every blog post, every Facebook or Twitter comment should add value to your audience. Care about them. It matters.

#7: Practice Corporate Social Responsibility

Without a doubt, giving to charity is a good marketing strategy. And there’s no harm associated with it. If your heart calls for charity and you are capable of giving back to the society then it’s your obligation. You must have come across product promotions that mention a certain percentage is going to X charity. This is a win-win situation.

The customer wins as they get the product/service they want and they can feel good about themselves for helping someone in need. The charity wins because they are getting donations and attention they wouldn’t have had otherwise. And you win because it’s showing the community that you care. And when you can involve your customers in giving back you’ll build a strong relationship with them.

#8: Price your Product Right

Don’t end up entering the price-war with competitors and providing unrealistic offers. People believe in getting value for their money. Pricing your product right means you do not try to under-price or over-price. Meeting the expectations of the customers is possible when they get value for what has been priced. If you follow this golden rule you will develop a customer-base who keep coming back because they know you’ll treat them right and meet their value expectations.

#9: Spend Time on Your Target Audience

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of believing that whole world is their prospective customer. Defining the target audience is essential so that you don’t make the mistake of focusing your time and energy on people who aren’t your area of concern. Un-focused, blanket marketing is a recipe for disaster. Focus on your prospects and focus on the people who can become prospects

The more time and energy you spend communicating with people who don’t fit your target market, the more you alienate the ones you really want. For example, authors ignore every positive comment on Amazon.com about their book. And then turn around and respond to all the negative comments offering them some time on the phone. This is a grave mistake. Spending time on target audience makes sense.

#10: Follow Up Post Purchase

What do you do when after someone purchases your product or service makes a huge difference. You may not be taking a follow up post purchase, but you should! Your product may be amazing but that doesn’t mean your customer will know how to properly use it or get the most out of it. A simple follow up phone call or email can go a long way towards strengthening the relationship with your customers.

Once someone makes a purchase they are a more likely to buy from you again. Don’t be ‘one and done’ when it comes to sales. You’re trying to build a stable business and you do that with repeat customers. Take care of them and help them get the most out of what you have to offer.

As you can see, it’s not hard to build goodwill with your market. Step back from your business and make a list of all the ways you will be building goodwill with your audience.

Learn from Failures

Failures are milestones of success provided we don’t quit.

Opening Case Study:

Failures to Success: Walt Disney

Walt Disney, an American film producer, director, voice over actor, animator, as well as international icon, created over 81 feature films and gave the world some of the most popular cartoon characters. During his lifetime, he received more than 950 honors that included 22 Academy Awards and four honorary Academy Awards. Disney built the California Institute of the Arts and Disneyland. However, his success story was full of painful events and failures. At the age of 22, he went bankrupt after the brutal failure of a cartoon series in Kansas City. He went bankrupt several times before he finally built Disneyland. He also wanted to become a Hollywood actor but it never happened. He was once fired by a newspaper editor who accused him to be lazy and lacking imagination and creative ideas. But setting criticism and failures aside, he never gave up trying or stepping forward. Once Walt Disney said:“I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn’t know how to get along without it.” He proved that success is not what opportunities bring to us but the perseverance and courage in failure that keeps us motivated to succeed. What matters the most is: Do you take lessons from failures? Do you fear struggle or take it as the best opportunity to move forward?
Do you dream everyday and try to make them come true? If you answer in affirmative, then be assured that your success story has begun. If you keep moving on against the odds and beyond all the disappointments and failures, success will welcome you with open arms.

Entrepreneurship is all about facing fears and marching ahead. Have you ever been so afraid of failing at starting your own venture that you decided not to try it at all? Or has a fear of failure meant that, subconsciously, you under-rated your own efforts to avoid the possibility of a larger failure? Majority of us have almost certainly experienced this at one time or another. The fear of failing can be paralyzing – it can cause us to do nothing, and therefore defy us from moving forward. However, when we allow fear to prevent our forward progress in life, we’re likely to miss some great opportunities along the way.

Reasons to appreciate Failure

Some of the most popular products we use today were failures stumbled on by clumsy scientists, chefs who spilled things, and misguided inventors who were trying to create the opposite of what they ended up with. But we can all take comfort in knowing even some huge mistakes can come with silver linings, sometimes big enough to change entire industries. Here are a few examples:

Fireworks

Lighting up the sky, bringing people together in celebration ‘ Fireworks’ are a magical creation that are enjoyed all over the world. This is all thanks to an unknown cook in China!

A cook in China, whose name is unknown, loved experimenting with food. One day of experimenting in his kitchen lead to the discovery of fireworks.

Mixing together common kitchen items charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter, the cook then compressed these ingredients into a bamboo tube and when heated up, it exploded, causing the birth or fireworks!

Corn Flakes

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and a good healthy breakfast fuels our body’s for the day ahead! Corn Flakes is a widely known cereal that a lot of us have come to love. You would never think leaving a pot of boiled grain on the stove for a few days by accident is how Corn Flakes came about. But it is!

The Kellogg Brothers, John and Will were trying to make a pot of boiled grain and they accidentally left the pot on the stove for a few days. The mixture turned moldy though what remained was dry and thick. Through further experimentation, they eliminated the mold part and created Corn Flakes.

Post-it notes

Spencer Silver, a researcher in 3M Laboratories invented the post-it notes. What he was trying to make was a strong adhesive. The story of how it was created goes like this: While working away, Silver created an adhesive that was actually weaker than what already existed. It stuck to objects but could be pulled off easily without leaving a mark. Years later a colleague spread the substance on little pieces of paper to mark his place in his choir hymn book, and the idea was born.

“Failure” – A Matter of Perception

It’s next to impossible to tread through life without coming across some kind of failure or the other. People who to do so perhaps live so vigilantly that they go nowhere. Put basically, they’re not really living at all.

The brilliant thing about failure is that it’s entirely up to us to decide how to look at it.

We can opt to consider failure as “the end of the world,” or as testimony of just how inadequate we are. Or, we can make a conscious choice of looking at failure as the unbelievable learning experience that it often is. Whenever we fail at something, we can choose to look for the lesson we’re intended to gain knowledge of. These lessons are very significant; they’re how we grow, and how we keep from making that same mistake again. Failures de-motivate us only if we let them.

All legends who have been successful, have experienced failure. For example:

Michael Jordan is widely considered to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time. And yet, he was cut from his high school basketball team because his coach didn’t think he had enough skill.
Warren Buffet, one of the world’s richest and most successful businessmen, was rejected by Harvard University.
Richard Branson, owner of the Virgin empire, is a high school dropout.

Most of us will trip up and fall in life. Doors will get banged in our faces, and we might make some terrible decisions. But visualize if Michael Jordan had given up on his dream to play basketball when he was cut from that team. Imagine if Richard Branson had listened to the people who told him he’d never do anything worthwhile without a high school diploma.

Imagine the opportunities you’ll miss if you let your failures stop you.

Failure can also make us aware of things about ourselves that we would never have learned otherwise. For example, failure can help you find out how strong a person you are. Failing at trying out a new venture can help you discover your true abilities, or help you find unexpected motivation to succeed.

Time and again, valuable insights come only after a failure. Accepting and learning from those insights is key to succeeding in life.

Defeating your Fear of Failure

It’s essential to understand that no matter what you do, there’s always a chance that you’ll fail. Taking that chance, and accepting the outcome, is not only courageous – it also gives you a richer, more rewarding life.

However, here are a few methods to diminish the fear of failing:

Examine all possible outcomes – Many people acknowledge fear of failure because they fear the unfamiliar. Get rid of that fear by considering all of the possible outcomes of your decision.
Discover how to think more optimistically – Positive thinking is an unbelievably powerful way to boost self-confidence and counterbalance self-sabotage. Through the practice of self-awareness, rational thinking, and positive thoughts you can get a comprehensive resource for dealing with failures.
Consider the worse-case scenario – In some instances, the worst case scenario may be truly disastrous, and it may be perfectly rational to fear failure. However by being prepared for the worst, anything that will happen will be better than the worst. Moreover, the worst case may actually not be that bad, and recognizing this can help.
Have emergency plans – If you’re afraid of failing at something, having a “Plan B” in place can help you feel more confident about moving forward. Emergency plans prepare you to take an action in case what you expected does not match with actual results.

Using Goal Setting to deal with Failures

If you have a fear of failure, you might be uncomfortable setting goals. But goals help entrepreneurs define where they want to go in life. Without goals, they have no sure objectives.

Many experts advocate forming a mental picture as a powerful tool for goal setting. Envisaging how life will be after you’ve reached your goal is a great motivator to keep you moving forward.

Begin by setting a few small goals. These should be goals that are somewhat, but not overpoweringly, challenging. Think of these goals as “early wins” that are designed to help boost your confidence.

For example, if you’ve been too afraid to talk to the new department head (who has the power to give you the promotion you want), then make that your first goal. Plan to stop by her office during the next week to introduce yourself.

Try to make your goals tiny steps on the route to much bigger goals. Don’t focus on the end picture: getting the promotion. Just focus on the next step: introducing yourself to the department head. That’s it.

Taking one small step at a time will help build your confidence, keep you moving forward, and prevent you from getting overwhelmed with visions of your final goal.After all failures are stepping stones on the road to achieveme

Aim for Excellence

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence- “http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/c/confucius.html”

Opening Case Study:

Excellence in practice: Azim Premji

Excellence in practice: Azim Premji
Azim Premji is Chairman of Wipro Technologies, one of the largest software companies in India. He is an icon among Indian businessmen and his success story is a source of inspiration to a number of budding entrepreneurs. Born on July 24, 1945, Azim Hashim Premji was studying Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA when due to the sudden demise of his father, he was called upon to handle the family business. Azim Premji took over the reins of family business in 1966 at the age of 21. At the first annual general meeting of the company attended by Azeem Premji, a shareholder doubted Premji’s ability to handle business at such a young age and publicly advised him to sell his shareholding and give it to a more mature management. This spurred Azim Premji and made him all the more determined to make Wipro a success story. And the rest is history. When Azim Premji occupied the hot seat, Wipro dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats and later diversified to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji made a focused shift from soaps to software. Under Azim Premji’s leadership Wipro has metamorphosed from a Rs.70 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats to a pioneer in providing integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform. Today, Wipro Technologies is the largest independent R&D service provider in the world. Azim Premji has several achievements to his credit. In 2000, Asiaweek magazine, voted Premji among the 20 most powerful men in the world. Azim Premji was among the 50 richest people in the world from 2001 to 2003 listed by Forbes. In April 2004, Times Magazine, rated him among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. He is also the richest Indian for the past several years. In 2005,Government of India honored Azim Premji with Padma Bhushan.

Real entrepreneurs strive for quality and merit in all that their endeavors. Being focused on excellence means we invest time, work diligently and give a careful thought to the undertaken project or activity. Excellence allows us to be proud of our accomplishments. The quality of excellence suggests that the entrepreneur is guided by a vision or an ideal, and he does his best to make it a reality.

Excellence must be complimented by balance, because when we seek excellence in one area, we are at a risk of neglecting our other values and priorities. Excellence doesn’t mean being perfect; it means using our abilities and opportunities in an optimized manner. No matter what our mission in life, a pledge to excellence brings us closer to living it well and to attaining our dreams.

A Story on Excellence

A gentleman was once visiting a temple under construction. In the temple premises, he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he saw, just a few meters away, another identical idol was lying.

Surprised he asked the sculptor, “Do you need two statutes of the same idol”. “No” said the sculptor. “We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage”.

The gentleman examined the idol. No apparent damage was visible. “Where is the damage?” asked the gentleman.

“There is a scratch on the nose of the idol.”

“Where are you going to keep the idol?”

The sculptor replied that it will be installed on a pillar 20 feet high. “When the idol will be 20 feet away from the eyes of the beholder, who is going to know that there is scratch on the nose?” The gentleman asked.

“The sculptor looked at the gentleman, smiled and said “God knows it and I know it”.

The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not.

Moral: Excellence is a drive from “Inside” not”Outside”.

At some point of time or other, every entrepreneur strives to achieve the best in his chosen profession. In case the entrepreneur is a manufacturer, excellence is needed in assembling the right people to design the product, applying the right management practices to manage the process and company and delivering to the market. Striving for excellence is a vital element of professionalism in any trade and involves putting quality into everything you do. Excellence separates the achievers from the also ran; by enhancing both process and operational excellence even as delivering real business value

As Harriet Braiker said “Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing”. Excellence is all the time budding and varying, valuing ourselves by measuring us against our own potential. Achieving excellence doesn’t stop at one level. It involves striving for the next as each activity offers new opportunities for excellence.

One of these great financial institutions that have attained a measure of success, Goldman Sachs, has as one of its business principles that, “We have an uncompromising determination to achieve excellence in everything we undertake. Though we may be involved in a wide variety and heavy volume of activity, we would, if it came to a choice, rather be best than biggest.”

Excellence demands assurance to endure through the ups and downs associated with becoming best and keeping up your best performance. Excellence also involves business reinvestment and positive growth along with sustained cost optimization. Financial excellence means striking the right balance between good stewardship and value creation, entrepreneurship, and focusing on the long term goal.

Tom Peters, who wrote the seminal book In Search of Excellence,once said, “The greatest danger is not that we aim too high and miss, but that we aim too low and reach it,” and that, “When you get older, you never regret your mistakes. You regret the things you didn’t try.”

To excel in any venture the entrepreneur needs to follow these guidelines:

1. To excel know what you truly want. When an entrepreneur is passionate about his enterprise, he is more likely to succeed. To excel in any endeavor, the best have a “Eureka!” moment when their vision becomes clear. Achievers realize what they really, truly want to achieve. They discover their passion. When that happens they are ready to strive for greatness. They are ready to pay the price. To excel you must know what you truly want and more than anything you must love your work. Take the example of Steve Jobs. It was his passion to innovate that gave birth to Apple and Pixar.

2. To excel strive for more. All entrepreneurs want to be legend. But what separates achievers from failures is that, the best don’t just think about their desire for greatness; they act on it. They have a high capability to put in more work. They do the things that others fail to do, and they invest more time doing it. When everyone else is sleeping, the best are practicing and thinking and improving. An insatiable desire to set the benchmark higher each time success is achieved is a pre-requisite for excellence. Success is a journey to strive for more, not a onetime destination.

3. To excel be better than your own self. Excellent entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to learn, apply, improve, and grow. They stay humble and hungry. They are lifelong learners. They never think they have “arrived”—because they know that once they think that, they’ll start sliding back to the place from which they came. Innovation is the buzzword. Competing against set standards and attempting to surpass them is the mantra to reach the zenith. Entrepreneurs who are aware of this fact always try to be better than the best.

4. To excel do ordinary things extraordinarily well. For all their greatness, the best aren’t that much better than the others. They are simply a little better at a lot of things. Everyone thinks that success is complex, but it’s really uncomplicated. In fact, the best don’t do anything unusual. They just do the ordinary things better. To excel is to see what everybody saw, but to observe what nobody did. An eye to catch everything by its detail differentiates an entrepreneur from the league. If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well.

5. To excel zoom focus. Two people look out from the same window bars, one sees the mud on the ground, and the other sees the stars. Success is all about the basics, and the basics are little and ordinary and often boring. It’s not just about practice, but focused practice. It’s not just about taking action, but taking zoom-focused action. It’s about practicing and perfecting the fundamentals. Focus is the act of channeling all our activities into achieving a desired objective. It’s now known to most people that Thomas Edison failed 999 times before he succeeded in inventing the lamp in the 1000th trial. But what if Thomas wasn’t focused on his goals? Focus differentiates achievers from losers.

6. To excel be mentally stronger. Today’s world is more than a sprint or a marathon. You’re not just a part of the race; but there is a fear of getting hit along the way. Mental & emotional sturdiness enables entrepreneurs to respond to and overcome all of these challenges. Even in turbulent times, mental toughness gives the ability to tune out the distractions and stay calm, focused, and energized. Mental toughness is about how effectively individuals respond to stress, pressure and challenge. Understanding this concept is essential to improving performance for both the entrepreneur & the enterprise.

7. To excel overcome your fear. Everyone has his own share of fears. Even the best of the best all have fear, but they conquer it. To overpower your enemy, you must identify your enemy. Mediocre people shy away from their fears. They either disregard them or hide from them. However, the best, hunt for them out and face them with the objective of conquering them. Fear is the enemy of success. Large rewards only result from taking comparably large risks. If you’re ruled by fear, you’ll never take enough risks and never achieve success you deserve. To conquer fear, you must consciously dethrone “security” as the thing that you value most in your life and replace it with the active virtue of “courage.”

8. To excel make the most of the moment. When the best entrepreneurs are in the midst of their performance, they are not thinking “What if I win?” or “What if I lose?” They are not concerned in what the moment produces but are concerned only with what they produce in the moment. As a result, the best define the moment rather than letting the moment define them. To excel, entrepreneurs must grab the moment and make the most of it. One must seize the day and make the most of every opportunity. Being proactive helps in making a difference. An entrepreneur’s work life is shaped by just a few key career moments. Successful entrepreneurs learn to recognize and make the most of them.

9. To excel leave a legacy. The best entrepreneurs live and work with a bigger purpose. They begin with the end in mind. They leave a legacy by making their lives about more than just themselves. This larger purpose is what inspires them to be the best and strive for greatness over the long term. It helps them move from success to significance. We all want to be remembered, to feel that we’ve contributed something to the world. For an entrepreneur, this can be a driving force leading to great accomplishments and extraordinary contributions to mankind. Leaving a legacy is about far more than material things. To leave a legacy of excellence, an entrepreneur must strive to be his best every day. As one strives for excellence he inspires excellence in others and serves as a role model for his children, friends and colleagues.

10. To excel make everyone around you better than before. Entrepreneurs do this through their own pursuit of excellence and in the excellence they inspire in others. One person in pursuit of excellence raises the standards of everyone around them. It’s in the striving where you find greatness, not in the outcome. A true entrepreneur is an individual who through his/her contribution not only helps the team reach its potential, but makes everyone on the team shine and look great on the way.

A life of excellence comes from continually making a contribution. You don’t have to strive to be the next Steve Jobs or Warren Buffet, but you can certainly make a difference by being your own true self. So look for ways to contribute.

Ask yourself what special skill or knowledge do you have, that can solve a problem or make the best of a situation?

Let us pursue excellence in whatever endeavor we find ourselves in, then financial rewards will surely follow.

Follow the D-Path

Dreams > Desire > Determination > Dedication > Destiny

If you can dream it, you can do it – Walt Disney

Opening Case Study:

Turning Dreams into Destiny: Ratan Tata
Renowned as India’s best brand ambassador and the former chairman of giant Tata Sons, conglomerate with interests in everything from tea to steel, Ratan Tata is an iconic Indian entrepreneur who adroitly guided the industrial giant through the tricky post-liberalization phase. Ratan Tata, a true dreamer to the core, wanted to fulfill the car dream of the two-wheeler drivers in India. Notably, the industrialist’s dream of launching the cheapest car in the world was realized with the launch of the “Tata Nano’, a vehicle considered by automobile experts to be the benchmark in frugal engineering design practices. He has been instrumental in raising the profile of the Tata industrial behemoth from a largely Indian based conglomerate to a truly global MNC with operations in almost all the key countries in the world. Tata is renowned for his acute business acumen and strategic vision. These qualities were fully showcased to the entire world by his acquisition of legendary British companies like steel giant Corus and marquee automobile brand Jaguar Land Rover. In recognition of his monumental achievements in the business world, he has been awarded with several prestigious honors like the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award and the British knighthood.

Dare to Dream

The biggest successes in the world of business have been those that once seemed as far-fetched dreams. When people heard for the very first time about a contraption that would let them fly through the air like birds, majority considered it impractical, not to mention impossible. When the legend Frederick Smith proposed his dream for an overnight delivery service to his professor at Yale, he could hardly make it to a passing grade. But by continuing on the path of his dreams which others projected as a dead end, he founded FedEx.

True entrepreneurs are those who shift their focus from the routine projects and venture outside their comfort zone. Entrepreneurs are at their best when they challenge themselves. An entrepreneur can kick-start his business by making a commitment to achieve big, next to impossible goal. The thrill of performing a daunting project aids in unleashing the potential within and raising the business to new heights. Here is a to-do list that guides you on your entrepreneurial dream:

1. Figure out your “mission impossible“: Make it a habit to enlist one or more dream projects that you are passionate about. Success usually favors a project that is well-planned with clear direction. Opt for a project that will enhance your business value and add a new dimension to it. Think of this project as an opportunity to adventure.

2. Value learning more than financial results: You can stay abreast of the latest trends and techniques in entrepreneurship by focusing your mind on achieving a worthy goal. Gaining insight of business acumen is the biggest learning that entrepreneurship offers. Discard any self-limiting thoughts and reservations by concentrating on what you will become skilled at rather than how much money you will generate.

3. Make real advancement on a daily basis. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but architects and craftsmen made progress each day and the city became famous worldwide. So act the Roman way, and set aside a particular time of the week to work on your dream project. Start your journey of achieving your dream by penning down your goal on paper and preparing a list of questions you will need to answer to achieve your objective.

4. Don’t look back. Success is not achieved overnight. But this fact should not bog you down. Take one step at a time confidently and do not fear results. Learn from setbacks you encounter and regard them as business lessons. At any cost don’t look back. Trust your imagination and try to find ways to formulate the growth strategy for your business

Create a “worthy” dream–and unleash your potential.

Desire to awaken the Entrepreneur Within

A variety of people are charmed by entrepreneurship, but it is an art that demands a hefty price in terms of variety of talents, aptitudes, and personal traits. The outlook, frame of mind, enthusiasm, and spirit that characterize the successful entrepreneur are at times hard to pinpoint, state, or encapsulate in a profile.

The simplest way to buildup your entrepreneurial desire is to identify an individual in action in the business arena. By exploring a few of the chief qualities of the true entrepreneur, it is likely to follow them, cultivate and build up them, or to recognize what is essentially apt or not for an entrepreneurial career.

An individual who is committed to be an entrepreneur needs to risk time, energy, effort, and money. To pursue this career path there needs to be an insatiable desire to excel in the chosen business venture that is best suited to them. Following the advice from mentors in the entrepreneurial field offers insight and understanding and makes all the months, years, and financial resources dedicated in pursuit of the career path worthwhile.

An entrepreneurial career is an ideal choice for those individuals for whom entrepreneurship represents the fulfillment of their potential, aspiration, and individual and economic dreams. The ability to articulate, list, and classify the fundamental aspiration of business venture nature can help a would-be entrepreneur tremendously. Learning about the personality and traits of the entrepreneur can offer additional hope, fuel the desire and fulfill aspirations. To clarify the sense of purpose, preparing a checklist of principally desirable qualities is great way.

An individual needs to have the winning attitude, the dream for greater achievement, attainment of higher goals and bigger benchmarks. Above everything what entrepreneurs need is – motivation, focus, hope, financing, marketing skill, a brilliant idea, etc.—which boils down to a burning craving.

A powerful desire turns idea into action. Without that desire, nothing else matters. Any dream that you wish to materialize starts with passionate desire. Thinking is great, but utterly nothing happens unless you have that desire to translate your idea into action.

Let your desire awaken the entrepreneur within & compel you to create something new.

Determination

Every entrepreneurial journey begins with a dream, but it is sheer determination to transform desire into reality that gives birth to business ventures. Entrepreneurs gain their determination from:

Focus – Majority of business schools talk about vision, mission and strategy. A vision results in an aim to aspire for. As the saying goes, ‘If you don’t know where you want to go, any road will take you there.’ Time is the biggest resource for an entrepreneur. It must be invested in focusing on dreams to turn into practicality. Having a determined focus aids in concentrating on things that matter most.

Belief – A strong belief in vision makes all the difference. Entrepreneurs should have robust self-belief that they can use their resources in an optimized manner to achieve their vision. If founders fail to believe in what they are doing no one else will and others aren’t going to help.

Commitment – There is no alternative to being a successful entrepreneur other than being committed. Beginners should be willing for hard work. The entrepreneur must wholeheartedly commit himself and be determined to make the startup work. Peter Drucker said “Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.”

Consistency – Startups rely heavily on trust. Prospective customers need to have faith that a supplier will deliver on their promises and that the venture will reap profits in the future. The difficulty however is that trust takes time to build up. Endurance and perseverance on a single course of action is necessary. Build trust consistently through each succeeding achievement.

Think skinned – People who cannot do something themselves are going to tell that you cannot do it. But you ought to believe in your dream. Entrepreneurs must be thick skinned in order to survive the startup emotional roller coaster. The entrepreneur has to be determined to press ahead if he believes in an idea.

If the entrepreneur marches ahead with determination believing that dreams will come true, they eventually will.

Dedication

Entrepreneurship is not restricted to any age, income level, gender or race. Entrepreneurs may differ in their education, experience, culture or country. But one quality that researches suggest all entrepreneurs commonly share is unrelenting dedication towards their goal.

• Creativity drives the development of new products or services. But constant improvement is possible only by having the dedication to learn, ask questions, and think in new ways.

• Dedication is what makes an entrepreneur work hard, often 12 hours a day or more, even seven days a week, especially in the beginning. Planning and ideas must have support from hard work to succeed.

• Dedication implies that you are keen to succeed. If something doesn’t work out, you don’t give up. Dedication persuades the entrepreneur to make one more try, or knock on one more door when one closes. For the real entrepreneur, money is the reward, but dedication is the price he pays for it.

• Dedication offers an entrepreneur the ability to make smart moves when situation demands. Dedication helps to opt for flexibility in modifying his or her original idea if customers push for something else.

• Leadership is the ability to create rules and set goals. Dedication is abiding to the set rules and making sure everyone follows it. Dedication is what gives entrepreneurs the ability to keep their spirit high.

• Passionate entrepreneurs can convince others to believe in their idea. But only dedicated entrepreneurs can stay focused and gets others to take their plans seriously.

•Dedicated entrepreneurs can stay focused in spite of difference of opinions and can listen to others without giving up their own point of view.

• A dedicated entrepreneur can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. In other words, every entrepreneur has this quality of dedication in spite of criticism.

• No entrepreneurial goal is unachievable for a dedicated individual. A determined mind moves past all difficulties.

Dedication is like steel, forged in fire between the hammer and the anvil but its reward is success.

Destiny

It is a myth that destiny is decided by fate. The truth is, destiny favors the mind that is prepared. The harder you work, the more luck favors you .Following the D-path ensures that your dreams turn into your destiny. Your dream should evolve into entrepreneurial accomplishment and insight. It is possible to reach the ultimate goal and realize one’s dreams in a really life-changing way by abiding to the D-path. The true entrepreneur experiences a paradigm shift that involves a five-step process of reaching destiny:

#1: Idealization of Dream – True dreams are not those that you see when you sleep. True dreams are those that you see with open eyes. Dreams are the foundation of great ventures. Entrepreneurs must idealize their dreams into desire.

#2: Visualization of Desire– Desire is the seed of destiny. Visualizing the desire as a reality and clarifying this vision on a daily basis, filling in more details each day takes one closer to reaching his goals.

#3: Verbalization of Determination – Determined entrepreneurs don’t shy away from verbalizing their dreams. They put words of determination to the dream and talk of it with courage and are sure that it will turn true. Having a personal dialog builds faith and is an ideal practice.

#4: Materialization though Dedication – Because of the dedication and intention of designing and believing in the ideal and the dream, things begin to fall into place and happen in a natural and automatic way.

#5 Reaching the Destiny: The idea becomes a real and tangible fact that materializes in the world and influences others while opening new doors to fresh opportunities and the birth of more dreams.

The real entrepreneur is a dreamer whose dreams come true by following the D-path.

Be Creative

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong!

Opening Case Study:

Creativity at its Best: Ekta Kapoor
Ekta Kapoor can be aptly called as the reigning queen of Indian television industry. The serials produced by her company Balaji Telefilms are a great hit with the masses and dominate all the major T.V. channels in India. Born on June 7, 1975, Ekta Kapoor is daughter of former Bollywood superstar Jeetendra and sister of current Bollywood hero Tusshar Kapoor. Ekta Kapoor did her schooling from Bombay Scottish School and later on joined Mithibai College. She was not interested in academics and on the advice of her father ventured into TV-serial production at the age of 19. And soon she changed the face of Indian television industry through her creativity and completely dominated it. Today, Ekta Kapoor is the creative director of Balaji Telefilms. Her company has produced more than 25 serials and each one is being shown, on an average, four times a week on different television channels. Ekta Kapoor’s serials have captured the imagination of masses. She broke all previous records of TV serial production and popularity in India. For her entrepreneurial skills and achievements Ekta Kapoor was awarded with Ernst & Young (E&Y) Startup Entrepreneur Of The Year award in 2001.

Creativity is a great motivator. It makes entrepreneurs interested in what they are doing. It raises hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. In the words of Steve Jobs, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. ”Majority of would-be entrepreneurs consider their primary idea and motivation requires the most important creative thinking. Skilled entrepreneurs will suggest you that the preliminary idea is the effortless part, and it’s the afterward execution, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges.

At the heart of any successful enterprise is a creative idea. Thinking creatively is a hard-hitting balance to achieve, owing to the fact that a large section of starting and running a business needs analytical, logical thinking. As a matter of fact, our education and training to rationally connect related concepts diminishes our ability to add the creative touch, although we were all born without that bias. Maybe that is the reason why “thinking outside the box” is so exceptional. Creative ideas don’t come on command. Inspiration needs to strike in order to accelerate the creative genius.

In his recent book “Creative Thinking,” Michael Michalko recommends the subsequent suggestions on how to cultivate and fabricate your creative business competencies:

Step 1: Try to find common prototypes in dissimilar subjects. Because of cultured habits and set patterns, new ideas sound similar to old ones. Creative thinkers get results by combining dissimilar subjects, like investors and competitors. For instance, startups looking for funding can think of asking strategic partners, rather than just venture capitalists.

Step 2: Transform the way you look at things, and the things you look at transform. Stereotyped philosophy obstructs clear vision and crowd out imagination. Sometimes it’s helpful to imagine contradictory approaches, or working with opposites. Many businesses have found that raising the price of a product to give it status can win more customers than a price war.

Step 3: Think the unthinkable. We all need ways to let loose our imaginations to discover the outer limits of options, so that we can think past the typical solutions. In business, this may be as simple as swapping a product line that is still profitable, or a recent startup making a takeover bid for a large company

Step 4: Intention is the starting point of creative thoughts. Intention has a method of bringing to our awareness those things that our brains consider important. One way to prime for creativity is to produce an understanding of what you want to achieve.

Step 5: Alter the way you speak, and you revolutionize the way you think. Many entrepreneurs concentrate on deficiencies, and express their thoughts and ideas with negatives, such as no, never, and don’t. Make a cognizant choice to become a positive-thinking person by creating positive speaking patterns. Ten customer recommendations are superior to “no complaints.”

Step 6: You become what you imagine to be. Attitudes control behavior, but behavior also inspires attitudes. Reality has repeatedly been revealed to be conventional to beliefs, whether they are positive or negative. In business on the Internet today, successful startups can showcase themselves to be a creative and mature company.

Step 7: Innovation, ideation, thinking outside the box, interference, creative thinking – whatever you want to call the process of developing successful new business approaches – it is something that you must explore every day in your business. You have to let go of things that are holding you back, and take chances in business, particularly after that first great idea.

Step 8: You cannot force yourself to think a new idea. But you can train your imagination, like a muscle with daily exercise, to conceptually blend dissimilar concepts from different contexts, leading to original ideas and insights. How long has it been since you have conceived and implemented a really creative idea in your business?

For a skilled entrepreneur, being a bright creative thinker who follows through and gets things done is important. Everybody loves an entrepreneur who treats everyone he works with, big and small, as a valued collaborator and potential ally. Creativity is not limited to the artistic sphere – entrepreneurial vision allows an entrepreneur to summon new prospects out of thin air, and has the business savvy to make his dreams a reality.

An entrepreneur’s success depends on his ability to master three critical skill-sets:

Creativity – producing new ideas, assessing them effectively, taking action to turn them into new products and services.

Alliance – networking and operating with partners, clients, and other major players in your network, which will probably be scattered across the globe and contain more ‘virtual’ relationships than face-to-face ones.

Entrepreneurship – recognizing prospects in the marketplace and using business skills to turn ideas into products into profits.

Of course, entrepreneurs have always depended on their creativity to generate wealth, but the modern creative entrepreneur goes past. John Howkins identifies creative entrepreneurs as people who utilize creativity to unlock the wealth that lies within themselves’ rather than external capital.

The value they create lies not in their physical products, but in subtle assets such as their brand, reputation, network and intellectual property. They are skilled at projecting a preferred image and creating a successful individual brand, both online and offline. They also understand the principles of intellectual property law and use copyrights, trademarks, patents and licenses to exploit the full potential of their ideas.

It pays to be an Entrepreneur Now

As the young generation is finding out the wonders of creative entrepreneurship, the steady job and predictable career path are now historical relics. The only genuine security lies in taking an entrepreneurial approach to our own careers, by taking accountability for enhancing our skills, building our network and reputation, and creating opportunities for ourselves. Taking a nine to five job can be a great learning experience and a valuable investment in yourself – just don’t be under the impression that it will be there forever. Of course this is grand news to a layman who is looking forward to gain independence and always has dreamed of having his own venture, because the new economy is founded on creativity.

Creative Entrepreneurship is about putting on your thinking hats and answering the question: How can my skills of creativity, collaboration and entrepreneurship contribute to my success as a creative entrepreneur?

Think Big

One can be as big as he can think.

Opening Case Study:

A Truly Big Thinker: Dhiru Bhai Ambani

Born on December 28, 1932, Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India’s largest private sector company through his attitude of thinking big. He created an equity cult in the Indian capital market. Reliance is the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list. Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur who believed in the power of big thinking. His life journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. He is remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history and built a truly global corporate group. Dhirubhai Ambani alias Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born at Chorwad, Gujarat, into a Modh family. His father was a school teacher. Dhirubhai Ambani started his entrepreneurial career by selling “bhajias” to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends. After doing his matriculation at the age of 16, Dhirubhai moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked there as a gas-station attendant, and as a clerk in an oil company. He returned to India in 1958 with Rs 50,000 and set up a textile trading company. Assisted by his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India’s largest private sector company, Reliance India Limited, from a scratch. Over time his business has diversified into a core specialisation in petrochemicals with additional interests in telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics. Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with shaping India’s equity culture, attracting millions of retail investors in a market till then dominated by financial institutions. Dhirubhai Ambani died on July 6, 2002, at Mumbai. His success story is a live example of entrepreneurial success through big thoughts.

Most people are scared of thinking big, they’re afraid to be successful, frightened to be rich. For most people, being a successful entrepreneur is a pleasant dream, but they’re contented with the dream – it’s pleasant and it makes them feel good. But really successful and wealthy entrepreneurs take it to the next altitude – they are devoted to being a rich entrepreneur, to being a successful professional, and they’re all set to keep on moving until the dream becomes reality.

Thinking big and starting small is the key to entrepreneurship. Even the longest and most difficult ventures have started with a thought in mind. Taking a shot into entrepreneurship is at the same time exciting and paralyzing. In case you’re like most entrepreneurs you’ve been living and breathing your business idea for what feels like an era, growing its potential in your head with each passing minute. And in spite of the eagerness and enthusiasm, when the time comes for action, you feel trapped. Where do you even begin? How do you accomplish building an empire, revolutionizing an industry, or creating a renowned business?

But thinking big comes with a word of caution. Merely wishful thinking is not enough. It’s also important to dismantle your own myths of the overnight success. Keeping an eye on developing long term impetus, setting up good habits and carrying out small steps can help build energy that will take you faster to your business goals. We’ve been habituated to think small, simplify, not to be greedy, and by and large anticipate less and demand less from life. We’ve been taught that we should be happy and grateful about what we have and that there are many others less privileged than ourselves.

There was an article somewhere that, as an experiment, someone put two advertisements in a newspaper. They were for the same job, doing the same work with the same hours, but one of them offered to pay a salary many times the other. Guess what? About ten times more people applied for the lower paid job! People think small. And that’s one of the reasons they fail.

You can achieve anything you desire – ask for it, opt for it, be dedicated to it. Start thinking big. Demand MORE. Life is like that – by its very character it grows, it changes, it seeks to be more than it is, it attains. That’s not an awful thing. The awful thing is that we’ve been trained to be small and to agree to less. The catastrophe of many people’s lives is that they think there’s not enough to go round and they mustn’t take more than their fair share. But there is adequate – enough money and sufficient success and enough of everything – the universe never runs out, it just keeps on making more and more. What a misfortune we don’t ask for it! The more you acquire, the more you can motivate others, the more you can share, the more you can donate to everyone around you, and the more you can enrich the world.

There is a quote in the book A Course in Miracles by Helen Schucman, which summarizes all of this:

Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God; your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone, and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

What a wonderful quotation! You can achieve and be anything you want. Why limit yourself? There are no limits. That’s the power of thinking big!

What does it actually mean to think big? If you have something worthy in mind, a service to offer, an idea to expand, or even your own raw flair to use, then you owe it to yourself – and to others – to enhance its scope. Why opt for anything less than the full potential of what you can do with it?

But as a matter of fact, thinking big needs:

Vision: To think big, you need to see big.

Guts: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Thick skin: You must do if what you have in mind is at all worth doing. Be wary of others who express doubts about it along the way.

The truth is, when you have a strong enough vision, the guts takes care of itself. When you can see, hear, and feel your vision every moment, then you simply needtopursue it, however crazy it might seem to others.

The answer to how to achieve success for most entrepreneurs lies in equipping him to gear back and forth between thinking big and moving things ahead, which often necessitate taking small manageable steps.

If you believe you’ve been thinking too small, here are six guidelines to help you think bigger and make progress.

We have Unlimited Potential

Every human being, regardless of race, sex or spiritual belief, has the incredible capacity to accomplish far beyond what they think their limits are. Great achievers have one thing in common – they tap into the potential of the mind. There is much truth to the old adage, “you can if you think you can.” You may have heard it said that we only use about ten percent of our brain power. You can unlock your inner potential only when you’re doing something that you really love to do. You can fulfill your innermost aspirations only when you’re doing something that interests you, something that holds your attention, something in which you can become completely absorbed.

And this is the key to unlocking the giant within. You must dream big dreams and do what you love to do. You must decide what’s right for you, what will make you happiest, before you decide what’s possible. You must set ideal standards and goals and results as your aim and then determine how to accomplish them.

Find out what you are Passionate About

The more you are keenly interested in what you do, the better your chances of success. It really does not matter what you do — what counts is how much you enjoy what you are doing. Early on, attempt to identify the field of endeavor or occupation that gets you truly excited, that turns you on, that grabs and holds your attention. Is it cars, fashion, magazines, the restaurant business, teaching, construction, finance, electronics, computer games, engineering, medicine, scientific research, acting, music? Search for that one area that really kindles your passion and best uses your talents.

As Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, said in his Commencement Address to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford University:

You’ve got to find what you love … Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.

When you find your passion, become totally committed to mastering it

Destroy all Boundaries

Self limiting beliefs and boundaries force the mind into thinking that you are inferior and less than worthy. The mind is a very powerful machine capable of anything, helpful or harmful. Trying again at anything is the first step towards destroying your self limiting beliefs and destroying all boundaries.. Winners are winners because they try and try again and again until they finally have success. A winner fails one more time than a loser, this is true in every story of success you will ever read. All of these winners have destroyed their self limiting beliefs.

Look for Inspiration at role models

What entrepreneurs do you look forward for inspiration? It’s important to recognize businesses you want to be like when you grow up. But bear in mind, these entrepreneurial superheroes had beginnings too. Do some study to explore out what their early days were like. Gain knowledge from their lessons and take into consideration their milestones and decisions points. Seeing their journey aids in revealing the process and makes your business heroes human. It’s supportive to know that all business heroes had doubts and doubters of their own.

Discuss with people who have already reached there

The best way to become successful is to be in the proximity of successful people on a daily basis. This may seem pretentious, but the reality is that successful people lead the kind of life that you want to be a part of, so it is essential that you too be surrounded in such a lifestyle. Successful people have a certain way of doing things and if you copy these habits, they will become ingrained in you and eventually become second nature. For example, talking a certain way or interacting with other people can be habits that lead to certain successes.

6. Visualize your Dream

Visualize all the steps required to complete your dreams. You can do this exercise with another person. Believe for a moment that you have reached the stage where your enterprise has “gone big.” Now let the other person interview and question you as to how exactly you arrived at where you are now.

Let the other person ask you “What was your very first step towards becoming a successful entrepreneur? How did you get the initial money? Who helped you? What are their names? What happened next? What is the turnover of your company? How many offices you have across the globe?”

For this exercise to be fruitful, be as convincing as possible in your answers. Pretty soon you’ll find it starts to feel amazingly real to you. The interviewer’s job is to ask as many realistic questions as possible. This links vision to practicality in a very powerful way.

As you reply, let the interviewer write down all the steps, put them in chronological order, and number them. He can also ask “difficult questions” like: “What was the hardest thing about all this? What have you had to sacrifice?” (Watching TV? Procrastinating? Sleeping till late?). But also: “What does it feel like now?” and: “What’s the best thing about having started your own enterprise? Describe your typical day now.”

Now close your eyes whilst the interviewer talks you slowly through each step that you have drawn up together. Strongly imagine completing all the steps that you had envisioned during the “visualized interrogation.” Once you have done this, it will become much more likely that you will begin to actualize the real steps towards creating your own enterprise.

Be Action Oriented

Translation of thoughts into action is the only way to success.

Opening Case Study:

An Action-oriented Leader: Narayana Murthy

Taking timely action is an essential trait of Narayana Murthy, who founded the Indian software giant Infosys with just US$250 in 1981. Nearly three decades later, as Chairman of the US$4b company, Murthy still believes in taking action, and encourages entrepreneurs to do the same. Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, more popularly known as Narayana Murthy, is the co-founder of Infosys, a multinational corporation that provides services pertaining to technology, engineering, consulting and outsourcing. Narayana Murthy was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth; in fact, he had to work extremely hard to reach the top. He was born on August 20, 1946, in Mysore, Karnataka. He came from a poor but an educated family. From his childhood days, Narayana Murthy was academically brilliant. He was passionate about Mathematics and Physics and always had the thirst and the desire to gain more knowledge in these fields. Hence, he pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Mysore and later, received his Master’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Although Narayana Murthy was born into a poor family, his dreams were huge. From a young age, he dreamt of starting his own business venture. Narayana Murthy began his career as a chief systems programmer at IIM Ahmedabad. He then started a company called Softronics, which failed after 1.5 years of its inception. Despite the failures he encountered at an early age, he did not give up his dream of being an entrepreneur. He learnt from his previous mistakes and decided to start afresh in 1981. That year, he, together with six software professionals, put together Rs 10,000 to create a company called Infosys. From the beginning, the team kept the interests of the company ahead of their own interest. And each of the team members brought complementary strengths to the company. Today, Narayana Murthy is listed as one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time, alongside Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. In 2000, he was awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India for his significant contribution to the country’s IT sector and economy. In 2008, he was awarded Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award.

People at the top of every profession have an innate quality of getting things done. This ability surpasses intelligence, talent, and connections in determining the size of your salary and the speed of your advancement.

Despite this simple fact, there is a perpetual shortage of people who excel at getting results. The action habit — the habit of putting ideas into action now — is essential to getting things done.

Most successful entrepreneurs tend not to spend too much time when making business decisions. At every instance, their experience has taught them that getting results comes from actually taking action and not by looking over the possibilities. In fact spending too much time reflecting upon their decisions can actually ‘stop’ them from taking action at all and thereby experiencing any success!

Here are 3 reasons why getting ‘too’ caught up in trying to make a decision can severely limit your path to success.

Doubt Creeps in

The more time you spend into making business decisions the more likely you will develop reasons why you should NOT make that choice. At this junction the pace is set to slow motion! Finally if you take a decision and act upon the thought plan, it may still not deliver results as could have been if you acted more quickly. This is particularly true in the world of commerce where the business is done at the speed of thoughts.

Restrictive

Although it is natural to keep into account the ‘what if’s’, it introduces the imaginary problems or perceived barriers. Now your cautious consideration has developed into escaping problematic situations which apparently begins to dampen your zeal or even eagerness for taking action. Being exceedingly logical involves looking at something from every angle, good or bad, and this will definitely slow down your ability for making business decisions.

Complete Exclusion

Another factor that hampers taking action is ‘analysis paralysis’ which is not just a catchy phrase but a term that can have a negative blow on your life. Taking too much time to deliberate can easily ‘paralyze’ you with a lot of doubt, real or imagined thereby thwarting you from taking action at all! You have now completely skipped out on any potential the opportunity you were considering may have had. Even worse you are ‘deceiving’ yourself of the experience and lessons you would have profited from if you had chosen to get involved as opposed to remaining an onlooker!

Always keep in mind, life is NOT an onlooker sport and to get something out of it you must chip in!

Sitting on the sidelines doesn’t yield results. There is a reason many successful entrepreneurs got to where they are. Careful consideration is needed to make business decisions, but too much thought can restrict any action from being taken. The fear of unknown is natural to cause hesitation but as an entrepreneur this is something you must learn to overcome! Results are achieved by taking action and not just simply thinking about it! Overanalyzing things eliminate the chances of achieving success by taking action. This tends to set up doubt and also steal valuable time that could be put to better use! Always remember, no guts no glory!

Here are 10 ways you can grow the action habit:

Set aside time to Think and Plan:

Action oriented and successful entrepreneurs set aside time to reflect upon their goals and dreams, to graph their next steps and ways around potential obstacles and of course to set priorities in all these goals, dreams and next steps. The benefit of all this thinking, planning and priority setting is that, it equips them to focus on taking action on the key tasks and execute large chucks of work far earlier than the people that spend that same amount of thinking, planning and action time on activities that do not take them closer to their goals – assuming that those people even know what their goals are.

Stay Alert & Aware

True entrepreneurs keep a keen eye out for some of the interrelated ways that people and circumstances can be leveraged to help you achieve your wants, dreams and desires even faster. Helping other people along the way is one of the fastest ways to get what you want. So while you are in ‘the zone’ use that sharp state of creativity and mental precision to spot ways you can help others reach their dreams.

Keep your Action Plan in Writing

The action plan includes a list of the action steps (tactics) listed in chronological order. Those steps, taken together, accomplish the intended strategy. Clearly written action steps are essential. You need to know and agree upon exactly what is to be accomplished. Writing down your goals turns them into a plan, not a dream. An effective action plan should give you a concrete timetable and set of clearly defined steps to help you to reach your objective, rather than aimlessly wondering what to do next.

List the resources you will be needing

Naturally, you’re going to employ resources to accomplish each of your action steps. Those resources include financial, facilities and equipment, people and information. Also you’ll need to quantify the specific resources required to complete each of those action steps. And the earlier you quantify those resources, the better job you’ll later do in their allocation.

Allocate the resources

Resource allocation is the process of determining the best way to use available assets or resources for the completion of a given action plan. Companies attempt to allocate resources in a manner that helps to minimize costs while maximizing profits, typically by using strategic planning methods to structure the operation, establish operational guidelines, and implement policies and procedures that move the business toward the achievement of its goals.

Find out the right people who need to be involved in action-plan

The greatest resource in any organization is its people. It is important to align the right people for the right task in carrying out the action plan. Having the right people in the right position makes the difference between business success and failure.

Don’t wait until conditions are perfect. Implement your plan – If you wait for everything to get perfect, you will never be able to implement your plan. At every stage there would be something that isn’t quite right. May be the timing seems difficult or the market is down, or there’s too much competition. In the real world of business there is no perfect time to start. You have to take action and deal with problems as they arise. The best time to start was last year. The second best time is right now.

Periodically Review your Plan

You should periodically check that agreed actions are being undertaken, for example, that meetings are being held, or that there is evidence that certain activities have taken place. It is important to make a record of this progress against your action plan.

Take Corrective Action

Taking corrective action is one of the essential activities of the control process. If the process is measured and the results don’t meet company standards, then the process needs to be altered so that it can meet organizational goals

Live in the present

Regretting over the past failures or worrying about the future results will weaken your focus. Living in the present moment enhances your ability to work. Don’t worry about what you should have done last week or what you might be able to do tomorrow. The only time you can affect is the present. If you speculate too much about the past or the future you won’t get anything done. Tomorrow or next week frequently turns into never.

It takes courage to take action without instructions from the person in charge. Perhaps that’s why initiative is a rare quality that’s coveted by managers and executives everywhere. Seize the initiative. When you have a good idea, start implementing it without being told. Once people see you’re serious about getting things done they’ll want to join in. The people at the top don’t have anyone telling them what to do. If you want to join them, you should get used to acting independently.

Entrepreneurs and Self-made millionaires think cautiously and they make decisions swiftly. Their secret is ‘self-discipline.’ Entrepreneurs are quick to take action and to carry out the decisions they have made. Moving fast means getting quick feedback from their actions. If they find they’ve made a mistake, they self-correct and are not afraid to try something else. Entrepreneurs embrace change, innovation and new opportunities.

Trying is the secret of winning. Successful entrepreneurs always welcome a new idea, they are decisive and they try far more things than the common person. They are not scared of failure and recognize the law of probabilities. Successful entrepreneurs understand, ‘The Law Of Averages’, they understand if you try far more different ways to be successful, the odds are that you will find the right way for you at the right time.

Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity. To be in the right place at the right time, is not just luck. It is action in motion. There are innumerable ways to make a million dollars! Entrepreneurs know this and are always prepared to try more ways than unsuccessful people are.

Unsuccessful people are usually very uncertain. What differentiates them from successful entrepreneurs is that they don’t have the character or the willpower to make firm decisions. They are afraid of making mistakes, they are afraid of failure so therefore they usually miss out on the pleasures of success. As a consequence of not being prepared to take action, they drift through life never happy, never fulfilled, never particularly successful.

Being scared of failure is the chief reason they never become super wealthy or even accomplish financial independence. They finish up settling for far less than is truly possible for them. The lesson to learn here is to become decisive and action-oriented.

Once you learn this art, your entire life will shift into a higher gear. You will get far more done in a day than the average person ever will. You will observe that you are moving ahead far faster than the people around you. It is like you actually enter into a higher source of energy, enthusiasm, and motivation that fills you full of joy and exhilaration. It feels your enthusiasm is on Fire. This enthusiasm and renewed energy will drive you forward even faster toward your goals.

Now is the correct time. Make the decision to be a successful Entrepreneur. Make the decision to become a self made millionaire. Ask yourself the following question and be prepared to answer it honestly and make the decision to ‘take action’.

“What one action, if I did it immediately, could have the greatest positive impact on my results?” Only you have the answer to this question. Whatever your answer is to this question take action NOW! ‘Just Do It’!

Think Clearly & Take Action.

4.कवितायेँ

कविताएँ

कविता अज्ञात की यात्रा है और वही इसका सब कुछ है। कविता रेडियम की खदान की तरह है जिसमें एक ग्राम के लिए एक साल लगता है केवल एक शब्द के लिए हज़ारों टन शब्द खनिज फैलाना पड़ता है।

अभिमन्यु ‘अनत’ (मॉरीशस) जिस यात्रा का उल्लेख करते हैं, उसकी अंतर्यात्रा विविध पड़ावों से होकर अनुभूतियों को कविता तक पहुँचाती है। जीवन जगत की अश्रुत ध्वनियों को लपक लेती है। बनाती है मिश्रित रंगों का कोलाज। तीसरी आँख से अभिमंत्रित स्वरों को मर्म तक ले चलती है।

कविता कोश में ‘सायास’ शब्द नहीं होता। मन की शान्त झील में विद्युत आवेशित क्षण तरंगे उठाते हैं। जल काँपता है। जल में उतरा हुआ आसमान लरजता है। कम्पन में निहित सौंदर्य कविता में साकार होता है।

(गीली माटी से साभार)

– इंदिरा किसलय

(लेखिका/कवयित्री)

मो. 9371023625

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कौन कहता

फ़र्क़्र नहीं पड़ता!

खो गई गलियाँ बचपन की

कंचो की और

गेंद रबड़ की

वो गंदी नालियाँ

यारों की गालियाँ

कभी पतंग की डोर

कभी पुलिस चोर

ना फ्यूचर की चिंता

ना लगता कभी बोर

कौन कहता

फ़र्क़्र नहीं पड़ता !

पढ़ने में मन नहीं लगना

हर पल हो खेलना

मम्मी की डाँट

और पापा की मार

और उसमें छुपा

ढेर सारा प्यार

माँ का पीछे-पीछे भागना

पास होने की नहीं संभावना

भाई बहन को सताना

बीत गया वो ज़माना

कौन कहता

फ़र्क़्र नही पड़ता !

आने लगी समझ थोड़ी

नहीं पढ़े तो समस्या बड़ी

मिलेगी नही नौकरी

चढ़ ना पायेंगे घोड़ी

छोड़े खेल, की पढ़ाई

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छूटा बचपन राते काली

ना होली ना दीवाली

कभी दोस्तों के घर

होती चाय की प्याली

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छूटे दोस्त छूटी पढ़ाई

कालेज भी छूटा

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नया काम नये साथी

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आंकड़ो की बात

केसियो का साथ

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सिनेमा घर से प्यार

कभी हल्दीराम

कभी सब्ज़ी की दुकान

कभी पत्नी से झिक झिक

कभी बच्चों की पिकनिक

यादें रह गई

मस्ती छूट गई

कौन कहता

फ़र्क़्र नही पड़ता !

अंतिम लक्ष्य !

मन

कभी बूढ़ा क्यों नही होता

तमन्नायें

खामोश क्यों नही होती

तेल ख़त्म होने को है

तन-दीपक का

फिर भी इच्छायें

क्यों नही मरती

ढूँढता हूँ जवाब

इन सवालों का

बुद्धि हार जाती है

मन के आगे

मानो

ग़ुब्बारे सा हो गया हूँ

एक तरफ़ दबाता हूँ

दूसरी तरफ़

फूल जाता हूँ

कब अंत होगा

अनगिनत इच्छाओं का

शायद

चिता ही

अंतिम लक्ष्य हो।

आत्म चिंतन

ना पद चाहूँ

ना पदक

ना चाहूँ

मान सम्मान।

ना सुख में कोई

सुख मिले,

ना दुख में

पीड़ा भान।

राग किसी से

रखूँ नहीं,

द्वेष का

न हो नाम।

चित्र पटल

चलता रहे,

हो अंतर्मन

में ध्यान।

हो विलय

मैं की महिमा,

मिले आत्म

अमृत ज्ञान॥

मेरी कीमत

मैं वो

हीरा हूँ

जिसे अक्सर

पत्थर समझ के

ठुकरा देते हैं लोग,

जब खाते है

ठोकरें ज़माने की

मेरी क़्रीमत

समझते हैं लोग।

गालों की लाली

घटाएँ ये काली

होंठ मधु की प्याली

मदहोश कर देते है

तन को

मन को

सारे जीवन को।

कहाँ खो गई !

कहाँ खो गईं तुम

जन्म दिया

कार्तिकेय और

गणेश को

मार दिया

महिषासुर को

शक्ति की

प्रतीक तुम

हे दुर्गा

इस युग में

कहाँ खो गई तुम।

पद्मा कमला

या चंचला

अनेक नामों से

जाना तुझे

पूजा करता

हर कोई …

रावण ने भी

माना तुझे

तेरे बिना

निर्धन सभी

हर कोई चाहे

पाना तुझे

विष्णु की

पत्नी बनी

हे लक्ष्मी

इस युग में

कहाँ खो गई तुम।

सब वेदों की

जननी तुम

कला संगीत को

धारण किया

ज्ञान गंगा

तुमसे निकली

ब्रह्मा जी का

वरण किया

हे सरस्वती

इस युग में

कहाँ खो गई तुम।

विजयालक्ष्मी पंडित हो

या हो

सावित्री फुले

किट्टुर हो या

कमला देवी

सुचेता कृपलानी

कैसे भूलें

मत भूलो

अपनी गरिमा

चाहे यह युग बदले

क़्रलम उठाकर

जता दिया है

तुमसे न कोई है पहले

दबने मत दो

अपने मान को

तुम हो नही

अबला नारी

हे जगत जननी

इस युग में

कहाँ खो गई तुम।

जिंदगी दौड़ रही…

क्यूँ लगता है मुझे

कि ज़िंदगी दौड़ रही हैं

कल ही की तो बात है

एक नन्हा सा अंश

हमारी ख़ुशियाँ बनकर

प्राची की गोद में आया

कैलेंडर कहता है

भ्रम में मत रह

पाँच साल हो गये

क्यूँ लगता है मुझे

कि ज़िंदगी दौड़ रही हैं।

बच्चों का विवाह

एक बड़ी ज़िम्मेदारी

सालों की योजना

वर्षों की उमंग

उमड़ता उत्साह

परिवार के संग

और उसके बाद

पंछी उड़ गये

हर दिन इंतज़ार

तरसता प्यार

आठ साल गुज़र गये

क्यूँ लगता है मुझे

कि ज़िंदगी दौड़ रही हैं।

पापा का प्यार

जैसे वृक्ष की छाया

ज़िद में आकर

मुझे सी.ए. बनाया

त्यागा हर सुख

हमारे सुख के लिये

बस यही संतोष

अंत समय में

कुछ वर्ष साथ

गुज़ार पाये

समाज के काम में

जीवन लगाये

चल दिये छोड़ कर

मोक्ष की ओर

क्यूँ लगता है मुझे

कि ज़िंदगी दौड़ रही है।

कुछ पढ़ नहीं पाई

पर समझ

हर बात की

कोई दुख

हिला न पाया

जितना था

जैसा भी था

काम चलाया

ग़लत बात

न की

न करने दी

न कभी अनुमोदन किया

न लोभ

न लालच

न द्वेष

न ईर्ष्या

मेरी बाईजी (माँ)

बड़ी अनोखी

हम सबको

चलना सिखाया

आज लाठी का

सहारा

क्यूँ लगता है मुझे

कि ज़िंदगी दौड़ रही है।

सब कुछ छोड़

मेरे घर आई

और सबको

अपना बनाया

ज़िम्मेदारी को

ख़ूब निभाया

जाने कहा

खो गई हँसी

मैं कुछ खास

हँसा न पाया

क्यूँ लगता है मुझे

कि ज़िंदगी दौड़ रही है।

आपाधापी

भाग-दौड़ में

गुज़र गई

जाने जिंदगी कहाँ

फिसल गई

दाँत थे तो

चनें नहीं

अब चनें है तो

दाँत नहीं

क्यूँ लगता है मुझे

कि ज़िंदगी दौड़ रही है।

कभी-कभी

थक जाता हूँ कभी कभी

सबको मनाते-मनाते

समझ नहीं पाता क्या दूँ और

समय, साधन तन या मन

कुछ भी तो नहीं रखता

किसी से छुपा के।

थक जाता हूँ कभी कभी

नाटक करते-करते।

अहंकार मेरा मित्र नहीं

लेकिन छोड़ नहीं पाता

अपना स्वाभिमान,

चाहता हूँ सब ख़ुश रहे,

लेकिन समझ नहीं पाता

कैसे दूँ सबको आनंद तमाम ।

थक जाता हूँ कभी कभी

नाटक करते-करते।

कई मर्तबा लगता ऐसे

नहीं चाहिये मुझे कोई

जी लूँ तन्हाइयों मे

और सुकून से मर पाऊँ …

दौलत शोहरत की अहमियत क्या

जब रिश्ते बेमानी हो जाये।

थक जाता हूँ कभी कभी

नाटक करते करते।

हम एक !

फ़ितरत है

दिल की

जुड़ना

और

टूट के बिखर जाना

और

फिर से जुड़ जाना

आदत है ख़्यालों की

सुख-दुख देना

आना

और चले जान।

लेकिन

जब जुड़ जाय

रूह से रूह

रह नही जाती

अहमियत

दिल दिमाग़ की

सोच विचार की

और हो जाते हैं

हम एक।

तुम

ख्वाबों में तुम

ख़यालों में तुम

मेरे हर

सवालों में तुम ।

आँखों में तुम

बाहों में तुम

मेरी हर

साँसों में तुम ।

बातों में तुम

रातों में तुम

मेरी हर

कविता में तुम ।

पास हो

चाहे दूर रहो

मेरे हर एक

कण-कण में तुम ।

कहाँ गई ?

कहाँ गई मेरी मम्मी

आज सुबह

जब खुली

मेरी आँख

बिस्तर ख़ाली था

तुम नहीं थी पास ।

मुझे विश्वास था

तुम किचन में

मेरे लिए टिफ़िन

बना रही होगी

कुछ ख़ास ।

एक कोने में

पापा बैठे थे उदास

मुझे लगा शायद

आज दुकान का है अवकाश ।

मैंने सोचा जल्दी

हो जाओ तैयार

नहीं तो स्कूल में

पड़ेगी बहुत मार ।

घर में सन्नाटा

कुछ लगा मुझे अजीब

चलो ढूँढते हैं

मम्मी को कहीं क़्ररीब ।

सब जगह ढूँढा

नहीं मिली कहीं

दादी को पूछा

कहाँ है मेरी माँ

हमेशा चहचहाने वाली

दादी की आँखों में

तैर रहा था पानी

मुझे याद आ गई

उदास मेरी नानी

मैं सोच में पड़ गई

ऐसी सिचुएशन में

कहाँ गई मेरी मम्मी ।

जब कहीं ना दिखी मम्मी

तो याद आई बड़ी मम्मी

पर उनकी भी चुप्पी

और भीगी आँखे

बता ना पाई

कहाँ गई मेरी मम्मी ।

भागी भागी गई

बड़े पापा के पास

सवाल बस वही था

कहाँ गई मेरी मम्मी ।

उदास चेहेरे से

निकली भारी आवाज़

बेटा मत ढूँढों मम्मी को

कुछ दिनों के लिए

वो गई हैं ईश्वर के पास ।

कुछ समझी

कुछ ना समझी

मन में बस एक ही सवाल

जब हैं सब आसपास

कहाँ खो गई मेरी मम्मी

जो मेरी सबसे

ज़्यादा है ख़ास ।

सर झुका के

आँखे बन्द करके

हाथ जोड़ के

ऊपर वाले से

एक ही है दरख्वास्त

आप का काम हो जाय तो

जल्द से जल्द

मेरी माँ को वापस

भेज दो मेरे पास ।

एक मलाल !

मैं समझ ना सका और

तुम समझा नहीं पाई ।

तुम्हारी पसंद

तुम्हारी नापसंद,

मैं समझ ना सका और

तुम समझा नहीं पाई ।

तुम्हें कैसे प्यार करुँ

तुम्हें कैसे चाहूँ,

मैं समझ ना सका और

तुम समझा नहीं पाई ।

तुम्हारी भावनाएँ

मैं कब आहत करता हूँ,

मैं समझ ना सका और

तुम समझा नहीं पाई ।

तुम्हारी ख़ामोशी,

तुम्हारी मूक आवाज़,

मैं समझ ना सका और

तुम समझा नहीं पाई ।

तुम्हारी आँखों में

पिघलते आँसू,

मैं समझ ना सका और

तुम समझा नहीं पाई ।

तुम्हारी ख़्वाहिशें

तुम्हारे सपनें,

मैं समझ ना सका और

तुम समझा नहीं पाई ।

जब समझ आया

तो देर हो गई,

ना पसंद रही

ना नापसंद

ना ख़्वाहिशें

ना सपने

ना आँसू

ना शब्द

बस एक मला़़ल़

और ज़िंदगी

गुज़र गई ।

मैं प्रकृति !

नदी ने समंदर से कहा

मैं इठलाई

बलखाई

मदमस्त लहराई

जिस रुप में भी आई

हर वक़्त हर घड़ी

बाँहें फैलाए

स्वागत में

खड़ा है तू ।

प्रकृति ने पुरुष से कहा

मैं सकुचाई

शरमाई

हर घड़ी की

तेरी अगुवाई

फिर मैंने

ये सज़ा क्यूँ पाई

हर वक़्त हर घड़ी

मुझे मारने पे

तुला है तू ।

धरती ने सूरज से कहा

मैं गरमाई

कभी घबराई

कभी लावा बनके

आँख दिखाई

चाहे कैसी भी हो

सूरत लेके आई

अपनी आँख तरेर

मुझे सबक सिखाते

खड़ा है तू

प्रकृति ने पुरुष से कहा

खाना दिया

पानी दिया

सोना दिया

चाँदी दिया

जो माँगा

जो चाहा दिया

फिर मैंने

ये सज़ा क्यूँ पाई

हर वक़्त हर घड़ी

मुझे रौंदने पे

तुला है तू ।

मुश्किल है !

सीख ना पाया

मैं

आँखो को पढ़ना

कठिन है

मेरे लिये

मौन को

समझना

मुश्किल है

इन इशारों को

बूझना

इस दिल की

बातों पर

नहीं है

भरोसा

पर

मुश्किल है

इस दिल को

समझाना

कुछ रिश्ते !

हर गाँव

का नाम

होता है

हर गली की

पहचान

होती है

लेकिन

कुछ रिश्ते

ऐसे है

जिनका

कोई नाम

नहीं होता।

कुछ जन्म

से होते हैं

और कुछ को

समाज जोड़

देता है

लेकिन

कुछ रिश्तों की

डोर नहीं होती।

कुछ रिश्तों में

वात्सल्य बसता है

कुछ में स्नेह

और कुछ

में प्यार

पर कुछ

रिश्तों का

आधार ही नहीं

कुछ रिश्तों

में हँसी

बसती है

ओर कुछ में

दर्द

पर कुछ

में मौन

उम्र भर।

ना जाने

कौन सा

रिश्ता

तुझसे जोडूँ

समझ मेरी

बौनी हो जाती

तुझ तक

पहुँच कर।

चंचल मन की !

नहीं बनना मुझे मोती

धागा ही रहने दो,

बिखरे हुए मोतियों को

माला में पिरोने दो।

नहीं बनना मुझे क़्रलम

स्याही ही रहने दो,

बिखरी हुई भावनाओं को

शब्दों में संजोने दो।

नहीं बनना मुझे फूल

ख़ुशबू ही रहने दो,

टूटे हुए सपनों को

फिर से महकने दो।

नहीं बनना मुझे आँखें,

आँसू ही रहने दो,

चंचल मन की भावुकता में

अविरल बह जाने दो।

कभी ना छूटे

नहीं चाहिये मुझे

एवरेस्ट की

ऊँचाईयाँ,

जहाँ

न ज़िंदगी है

ना जीवन।

नहीं चाहिये

वो सूनापन

जहाँ

न बंदगी है

ना मानव मन।

नहीं चाहिये

वो वीरानियाँ

जहाँ

न चिड़िया है

ना उपवन।

नहीं चाहिये

वो दूरियाँ

न तुम हो

ना तुम्हारा

अपनापन।

रहने दो

मेरे पाँव

ज़मीं पर

हाथों में रहने दो

अपना हाथ

संग चलती रहो

इस जीवन में

कभी ना

छूटे

तुम्हारा साथ।

सोचो !

सब कुछ है व्याप्त

उसी से होगा प्राप्त

उसे ही समझो पर्याप्त

नहीं तो हो जाएगा समाप्त।

मुझे यह बता !

कोई उधार दे तो

वापस चुका दूँ

कोई उपकार करे तो

उपकार कर दूँ

कोई सुख दे तो

ख़ुशियाँ बाँट दूँ

कोई प्यार दे तो

मै प्यार दे दूँ

लेकिन मेरे रब

मुझे यह बता

जो मेरी जिंदगी में

आशीर्वाद बन कर आये तो

इज़्ज़त के सिवा

क्या दूँ …!

मंजुर नहीं !

किसी की निगाहों में चढ़ ना पाऊँ

इसका मुझे गिला नहीं,

किसी की आँखो से गिर जाऊँ

यह मुझे मंज़ूर नहीं।

इंतज़ार

खिड़की पर

नज़र टिकाये

करते थे इंतज़ार

डाकिये का

शायद उनका

पैग़ाम ले आये,

अब ऑनलाइन

रहना पड़ता है

वाट्सएप पर

कहीं बिना पोस्ट किये

चले न जाय।

संभालो !

अनमोल बनने की चाहत नहीं

ख़्वाहिश बस इतनी सी है

कि कोई मुझे अपना

ख़ास बना ले।

हम अनमोल तो नहीं

पर आँख से गिरे आँसू की तरह

ख़ास ज़रूर हैं

संभालो नहीं तो

गिर कर बिखर जायेंगे।

3.ताका

ताँका

ज़माना बीता

ना लाईट ना पंखा

खुले घरों में

हुए क़्रैद काँच में

सीमेंट की डिब्बियाँ

कवि उदास

शब्द रहे अधूरे

भाव गहरे

जाने कौन समझे

जाने क्या-क्या समझे

है विडम्बना

थी शक्ति की मूरत

हूँ स़िर्फ दुर्गा

है बचा बस नाम

केवल कोहराम

हो काला टीका

लगती नहीं नज़र

माता का प्यार

बन जाते हैं पिता

सब बच्चों के यार

मिलती नहीं

है हरदम साथ

हमारी आँख

बँटे है दो में हम

एक का अहसास

मैं रंगरेज

मैं ही हूँ चुनरिया

रंग भी हूँ मैं

रंगूँ मेरे रंग में

मैं जग, जग में मैं

मानव ठाने

कुछ ना असंभव

प्रभु भी माने

हो सतत प्रयत्न

मिलते ही है रत्न

काला जीवन

पुस्तक चमकायें

व्यक्तित्व महके

ज्ञान बढ़े जो पढ़े

तब आत्मा दमके

फल हो मीठा

अनुभव की बात

पेड़ पुराना

बड़ो का नहीं मान

आया नया ज़माना

खो गया हरा

चारों ओर है काला

मन या धुआँ

पानी हुआ दूषित

नदी नाला या कुआँ

मै जो हूँ ख़ुश

दुनिया भी हो ख़ुश

खूशबू फैले

छूत की है बीमारी

जो बाँटो वो ही फैले

जो देखूँ दिखे

रावण हो या राम

मन का काम

मैं जैसा सब वैसे

मैं रावण मैं राम

बुद्ध का पथ

चले ज्ञान का रथ

हो तथागत

भूल जाना विगत

बने करुणा पथ

विरोध छोड़ो

अवरोध हो दूर

जीना सहज

काँटे न बनो तुम

फूल न बन पाओ

जहाँ भी देखा.

हर कण-कण में

तुम को पाया

प्रभु तेरी है माया

बनूँ तेरा ही साया

ऐसा कीजिए

दुनिया याद करे

जाने के बाद

छाप छोड़ो कर्म की

रहे धर्म का स्वाद

पत्थर दिल

समझें मुझे सब

ऐसा ही हूँ मैं

पिघलता है दिल

लावा ना बन पाता

इतना उठो

कुर्सी रहे ना रहे

ऊंचाई रहे

ऊँचे घर न बने

दिल में बस जाओ

सुने कोई तो

खामोशी की आवाज़

वक्त है किसे

मन के तार जुड़े

शब्द भी कम पड़े

जियो ऐसे भी

पर्दा गिरे तो भी

तालियाँ रहे

काम कर लो ऐसे

पुश्तें भी याद करे

अहं आकार,

मिटा नहीं पाया

जीना बेकार

रंक मिले राजा से

कृष्ण सुदामा प्यार

ठोकर खाई

तोहमत मत दो

बढ़ते चलो

कोई नहीं ज़िम्मेदार

तेरी ही जीत-हार

अंधेरे में था

गुरुदेव नमन

दिन दिखाया

अज्ञान भी मिटाया

प्रभु से मिलवाया

इस घर में

सब एक हैं पर

भाग्य अलग

एक ही संरचना

है अलग अलग

मिट जाएगा

सारा अर्जित मान

क्रोध ना कर

खो जाए पहचान

क्रोध मिटा दे शान

सकारात्मक

सोच और शब्द

ऊँचा उठा दे

विवाद न उलझे

बिगड़ा भी सुलझे

क़्रदम उठे

जब सही दिशा में

मंज़िल मिलें

हो भ्रमित जो दिशा

असफलता ही मिले

पतझड़ से

मिलन हो आसान

भू व सूरज

है आलिंगनबद्घ

जग नवनिर्माण

प्यार मुश्किल

नफरत आसान

मान न मान

प्यार माँगता त्याग

नफरत यानि आग

जीव चींटी भी

आत्मा एक समान

धर्म अहिंसा

यही जीवन सार

धर्म का ये आधार

पर्यावरण

गंभीर है समस्या

रोक चरण

वरना बरबादी

समय की मुनादी

हाइकु ताँका

ये कही अनकही

हर कविता

मेरे मन की बात

यही मेरे जज़्बात

2.हायकू

हाइकु-ताँका

‘हाइकु’ अब किसी प्रकार अपरिचित विधा नहीं रह गयी है। ‘हाइकु’ जापानी पद्य शैली की एक अक्षरिक छन्द प्रणाली है, जो त्रिपदी, सारगर्भित, गुणात्मक, गरिमायुक्त, विराट सत्य की सांकेतिक अभिव्यक्ति है जिसमें बिम्ब स्पष्ट हो एवं ध्वन्यात्मकता, अनाभूत्यात्मकता, लयात्मकता आदि काव्यगुणों के साथ-साथ संप्रेषणीयता पूर्ण काव्य रचना है। यह आशु कविता भी मानी जा सकती है। यह एक चरम क्षण की कविता है जिसमें काव्य के सभी गुणों की अपेक्षा की जा सकती है। हिन्दी हाइकु की पृष्ठभूमि नि:संदेह जापानी काव्य से जुड़ी है। जापानी काव्य की पृष्ठभूमि की चर्चा करें तो सर्वप्रथम चतुर्थ शताब्दी से लेकर आठवीं शताब्दी तक की जापानी काव्य रचनाओं का प्रथम संकलन ‘मान्योशु’ में प्राप्त होता है। बाशो पूर्व की हाइकु कविताएँ ‘हाइकु’ के नाम से नहीं बल्कि ‘होक्कु’ के नाम से जानी जाती थी जो ताँका की प्रारंभिक तीन पंक्तियाँ होती हैं। इस ‘हाइकु’ विधा को काव्य विधा के रूप में प्रतिष्ठा प्रदान करने वाले कवि ‘मात्सुओ बाशो’ ही है। ‘हाइकु’ अब विश्व कविता बन चुकी है। इसकी लोकप्रियता दिनों दिन बढ़ती चली जा रही है। हाइकु काव्य सृजन व प्रकाशन एक आंदोलन बन चुका है।

(हाइकु की सुगंध से साभार)

– प्रदीप कुमार दाश ‘दीपक’

संपादक ‘हाइकु मंजुषा’

जो आप देंगे

उधार हैं मुझ पे

वापस दूँगी

क्षमा याचना

विनती है आपसे

क्षमा बाँटना

जब सुख में

याद करें मुझको

दुख हो ही क्यों

कमियाँ हैं सौ

अपने आप को चाहूँ

तुझे क्यूँ नही

ख़ामोशी भली

तुम्हारी कटुता से

आहत हूँ मैं

चाह है मुझे

रिश्ता निभ जायेगा

तुम जो चाहो

भू, जल, आग

पवन न आकाश

तू तत्व नहीं

मेरा अमृत

मिटा नहीं सकता

तेरे विष को

खोद ले मुझे

इंतज़ार करना

गाड़ूँगी तुझे

अज्ञानता है

व्यर्थ कुछ भी नहीं

ज्ञान को बढ़ा

पसंद मुझे,

बारिश में भीगना

बड़ा क्यूँ हुआ

अपना लिया

छू कर मन मेरा

कहाँ थी तुम

तू भी हैं ख़ुश

संयोग हुआ ऐसा

मैं भी हूँ ख़ुश

देने के लिये

जियो सारी ज़िंदगी

लेते सब हैं

बनो चुम्बक

मंत्रमुग्ध हो जाए

दुनिया सारी

अब से तुम

जियो अपनी तरह

मैं तो जी लूँगा

आइना हूँ मैं

ख़ुद को ही पाओगी

जब देखोगी

आग को देखा

उसकी तपन में

तुम को पाया

फूलों को देखा

नशीली महक में

तुम को पाया

चाँद को देखा

शीतल चाँदनी में

तुम को पाया

पानी में देखा

अपने चेहरे में

तुम को पाया

ना मैं हूँ खुदा

इंसान बन जाए

ना तू है खुदा

पन्ने लिखे जो

पसीने की स्याही से

वो सिकंदर

ख़ुदगर्ज हूँ

भला कर ना सका

बुरा भी नहीं

न जन्म कुछ

आँख का झपकना

ना मृत्यु कुछ

जी हर पल

ये आँख क्यूँ हो नम

कल हो ना हो

भटक नहीं

पथ कर्म अडिग

है कर्म योग

वार्तालाप हो

कभी भी आपस में

हाइकु में हो

बातों मे सार

हाइकु का प्रचार

बढ़ता प्यार

ना मेरा वक़्त

किसी का सगा नहीं

ना तेरा वक़्त

नशा कोई भी

तकलीफ़ करेगा

हो किसी को भी

जो हम में है

वो बात ना तुम में

ना मुझ में है

ईश्वर तू है

सबके भीतर में

हर में तू है

देखो नीयत

आत्मा के आइने में

हो ख़ैरियत

मजबूत थी

डोर कच्चे धागे की

मोहब्बत थी

प्रेरणा आप

मेरे आदर्श रहे

अनंत काल

चाँद ओझल

आशा भरी किरणें

सूर्य निकला

माँ का आशीष

हमेशा है हाज़िर

ना कोई फ़ीस

प्रात: नमन

जीवन में सुमन

खिले आपके

सुख-दुख में

आप सबका साथ

धूप-छाँव मे

आत्मा अटल

जन्म मृत्यु से परे

कभी ना मरे

सुख व दुख

सिक्के के दो पहलू

भाग्य अपना

संभाल लूँ मैं

सामने करे वार

पीठ छलनी

कर्मो का हल

सफल या विफल

चलते रहो

ना उड़े कभी

पहुँचे लक्ष्य तक

प्राण पखेरु

आज का प्रण

सम्मान स्नेह प्रेम

स्त्री को अर्पण

बुद्ध शरण

दलितों का उद्धार

भीम चरण

हम है हम

कैसा है ये वहम

मेरा अहम

पत्थर पूजे

उसमें प्राण फूंके

क्यों हो पत्थर

है सर्वभौम

प्रेम ज्ञान व कर्म

है मूलमंत्र

सूर्योदय है

देखने का भ्रम है

सूर्यास्त भी है

भटके सब

फिर गुरु है कौन

असमंजस

उच्च विचार

उत्तम हो उच्चार

शुभ आचार

मन ही गुरु

जलाओ ऐसी ज्योत

केवल ज्ञान

सक्षम जिसे

प्रकृति ले परीक्षा

ये ही जीवन

कोख में जानी

अपनी पहचान

माँ तू महान

कम कमाना

निरंतर कमाना

यश कमाना

बादल चीर

थोड़ा है इंतज़ार

निकले नीर

सुनो चीत्कार

रोये है ये धरती

मानव जाग

है हर वक़्त

प्रतिक्षा भविष्य की

आज भी जी लो

प्रेम करुणा

परम्परा हमारी

भक्ति अहिंसा

दूध है हम

जो आये घुल जाये

शक्कर तुम

अष्टांग योग

यम से समाधी का

करे प्रयोग

छत टपके

किसान हाथ जोड़े

बरसो प्रभु

आई विपदा

वर्षा आँसू का पर्दा

लो दुख छुप

पेट में बंदा

चेहरा भी ना देखा

माँ प्रेम अंधा

आँख का पानी

गिरने मत देना

आँखो से पानी

जो दिल में हैं

आँखो मे तू क्यूँ झाँके

जुंबा पे भी है

आँखो में देखूँ

डर ख़ुद डरता

डर मरता

जन्नत क्यों

गुनहगार सब

बता ए रब

ज़र्रा या इंसा

खुदा की है नेमत

ख़फ़ा हो मत

तन या मन

चिकित्सक नमन

स्वस्थ करते

सेवा कर्तव्य

डाक्टर हो या सीए

किया किजिए

जड़ की छोड़ो

नींव की कौन सोचे

माँ भी भुला दे

खुदा के बंदे

आसान है डगर

खुदा से डर

शक्ति है एक

चलाती है सबको

नाम अनेक

समय चक्र

अभिमान न कर

भाग्य का खेल

सूरज जैसे

कैसे बनाये रखूँ

अतिउत्साह

बूँदों की लय

जब बीज से मिले

अंकुर फूटे

आएगी आँधी

विचारों का मंथन

इंतज़ार है

समन्वय है

चुप्पी और आँखों में

दिल समझे

उत्साह सदा

उदासी यदा-कदा

ख़ुशियाँ ज़्यादा

क्षितिज भ्रम

नभ से घिरी धरा

बाँहों में भरा

काम ही काम

कमाल के कलाम

तुम्हें सलाम

गुरु जला दे

ज्ञान मय दीपक

अज्ञान भागे

गूगल गुरु

अलादीन चिराग़

हर जवाब

मौन का अर्थ

जानेंगे जब हम

शब्द हों व्यर्थ

रक्षा का वादा

कच्चा धागा जो बांधा

प्रेम बंधन

बप्पा मोरिया

स्वागत है आपका

लवकर या

बाप्पा मोर्या रे

हर घर पधारे

ख़ुशियाँ भरे

रचनाएँ है

चाय की चुस्कियाँ है

और क्या चाहूँ

ज्ञान गंगा है

अजर अमर है

अविनाशी है

हाँ हाँ हाँ हाँ हाँ

जैसा तुम समझो

ना ना ना ना ना

प्यार नहीं है

रिस-रिस के चले

ये कैसे रिश्ते

साल जाने दो

छोड़ो ना कभी साथ

थाम लो हाथ

मैं ही मैं बसा

मैं में शहर फँसा

गाँव में मैं था

प्रेम का रस

जब डालो सेवा में

सब सरस

स्वस्थ रहना

नैसर्गिक सौंदर्य

तन व मन

है बीती रात

जन्मी ढेर आशायें

हो सुप्रभात

नमन करूँ

तन मन चेतना

समर्पित हूँ

मन में सूर्य

हमेशा हो दर्शन

हर्षित मन

नया सवेरा

हो रोज नई आशा

भागे निराशा

ख़ुशी आसान

हो दूसरों से ज़्यादा

यह मुश्किल

सागर बनो

लहरें रहे अशांत

है ख़ुद शांत

दे प्राण सूर्य

ये सब है देवता

दे जल चंद्र

अंधेरा नष्ट

चुनाव है अपना

श्रेष्ठ या भ्रष्ट

सूरज पिता

चंदा मामा, भू माता

सह कुटुंब

है धन्यवाद

जो अब तक मिला

या नहीं मिला

हो मितभोगी

मितभाषी मितवा

मीत वो योगी

बुद्ध चमके

महावीर चमके

सोना भी फीका

मानव कर्म

है बादल भ्रमित

हुआ अहित

अपना राग

अपनी डफ़ली है

अपना ढोल

सितारा मैं भी

ईर्ष्या क्यों करनी

सितारा तू भी

सबकी सुनो

आप मन की करो

दिल की सुनो

प्रज्ञासूर्य है

प्रकाश ही प्रकाश

नये बुद्ध हैं

हो सब काम

आदर्श के प्रतीक

मन में राम

सागर जल

सारा विष पीजाये

अमृत फल

झरना जल

नयन लुभावन

सबका मन

नाली का जल

गंदगी अपना ले

सुंदर कल

कुएँ का जल

सब गाँव बसाये

समाज पाये

ताल का जल

सब प्यास बुझाये

सुधारे कल

नदी का जल

सतत है बहता

भाग्य बनाता

गंगोत्री जल

स्वच्छ और निर्मल

जीव सफल

ज्ञान बहता

जैसे जल की धारा

प्रेम हमारा

न टप-टप

कहाँ खो गये तुम

न कल-कल

है विलासिता

हो साप्ताहिक स्नान

पीते हैं आँसू

चहचहाना

मै भाषा नहीं जाना

प्यास या ख़ुशी

अपवित्रता

धरती पे दमन

सूर्य अगन

करो प्रार्थना

मिटे ग़ैर वेदना

हर सुबह

मैं हूँ भ्रमित

चलूँ सूर्य की चाल

या जल धार

माँ वसुंधरा

सदा रहेगी साथ

नतमस्तक

अमर नहीं

भाषा भी होती बूढ़ी

विचार वही

हरे का मूल्य

पतझड़ में छुपा

खोजने चला

रिश्ते है पानी

तारे मन का तार

शुद्ध हो प्यार

प्रभु सिखा दे

मुझे सबकी वाणी

दर्द तो बाँटू

नहीं दिखते

मछली जब रोये

जल में आँसू

समझूँ नहीं

पक्षी का दुख दर्द

पंख फैलाये

नहीं जानता

पेड़ का कराहना

फल जो टूटे

पिता प्रेरणा

कर्मठता का पाठ

मिलता है ठाठ

बीज से फल

जिया मरा व जिया

जीव सफल

चिड़ी या चिड़ा

चहचहाहट है

भोर मीठी है

अमरीकन

खोया अपनापन

सब अकेले

कहीं है रवि

धरती का आनन्द

कहीं है चाँद

है रात गई

नई किरण आस

है बात गई

है विडम्बना

थी विद्या की जननी

हूँ सरस्वती

है विडम्बना

थी वैभव की रानी

हूँ स़िर्फ लक्ष्मी

तुम में स्वर्ग

ना भागो, मत बनो

कस्तूरी मृग

हरसिंगार

रंग रूप खूशबू

सबका प्यार

हो असंभव

जब प्रयत्न नहीं

सब संभव

हो मनमानी

नेता जब अज्ञानी

जनता भोगे

रावण हारा

अहंकार भस्म हो

जीत राम की

रावण हारा

मानवता समझे

जीत राम की

रावण हारा

अन्याय करे नहीं

जीत राम की

रावण हारा

स्वार्थ समझे नही

जीत राम की

रावण हारा

जले चिता ईर्ष्या की

जीत राम की

रावण हारा

दफन घमंड हो

जीत राम की

रावण हारा

लोभ का नाम नही

जीत राम की

रावण हारा

मोह जब रहे ना

जीत राम की

रावण हारा

विनाश हो क्रोध का

जीत राम की

रावण हारा

मिटे जब वासना

जीत राम की

ज्ञान उड़ान

आत्मा से परमात्मा

मोक्ष की ओर

बहती रहूँ

मस्त हूँ मद नहीं

लक्ष्य अटल

ज्ञान दिवस

ये बसंत पंचमी

आओ मनाये।

होली आई रे

बरसे प्रेम रंग

मीठा बोलो रे।

है विडम्बना

बहती सीधी मीठी

मंज़िल खारी

मैं जग बिन्दु

है शून्य चारों ओर

अहं ब्रह्मास्मी

म्यान न देख

तलवार परख

ज्ञान जनक

विषय भोग

है विष की तरह

बंधन बड़ा

मौन से मुक्ति

न सोचो बोलो करो

मौन ही ध्यान।

जो खेल खत्म

सभी मोहरे जाते

एक डिब्बे में।

दाने दाने पे

खाने वाले का नाम

कर भरोसा।

पाँव पसारो

चादर के अंदर

संतोष धरो।

जड़ जो दिखे

चेतन ही सत है

जो दिखे नहीं।

कड़वा पीलो

दवा, शब्द या गम

स्वस्थ रहो।

मौन से मुक्ति

अंतर्मन की यात्रा

आत्मा को जानो

सौन्दर्य नहीं

रुप में, सौन्दर्य है

स्वरुप नम:

मेरी प्रभा हो

जीवन का प्रभात

दिन या रात।

हम पत्थर

छैनी और कल्पना

तराशे गुरु (हेमन्त)

ज्ञान है कहाँ ?

हिंसा समझे पाप

अहिंसा जाप

ज्ञान है कहाँ ?

चोरी समझे पाप

सब पराया

ज्ञान है कहाँ ?

सरल सत्य बात

झूठ निषेध

ज्ञान है कहाँ ?

ब्रह्म हो आचरण

नहीं कुशील

ज्ञान है कहाँ ?

परिग्रह का त्याग

साधन सीमा

ज्ञान है कहाँ ?

क्रोध पे नियंत्रण

क्षमा का भाव

ज्ञान है कहाँ ?

मान न अभिमान

सब समान

ज्ञान है कहाँ ?

माया की नहीं छाया

पारदर्शिता

ज्ञान है कहाँ ?

लोभ लालच नहीं

संतोष रहे

बच्चे का प्यार

सावन की फुहार

मन विभोर

1. दोहावली

सृजन बिंब के शैशवकाल से ही अपनी सृजन यात्रा को हमारे साथ जोड़ते हुये मानवीय संवेदनाओं से गहरे तक जुड़े हुए आदरणीय हेमंत लोढ़ा जी भगवत गीता – रूप कविता व अष्टावक्र महागीता के दोहा रूपांतरण के साथ ही साहित्यिक समूहों ‘‘हाइकु-ताँका प्रवाह’’ और ‘‘छंद-बद्घ : लय बद्घ’’ के माध्यम से बखूबी अभिव्यक्त होते आये हैं।

उनकी इतनी सारी कोमल कही-अनकही अभिव्यक्तियों को एक स्थान पर लाने का प्रयास ही उनका अगला सृजन पड़ाव है जिनमें उनकी कविताओं, हाइकु, ताँका व दोहों की जुगलबंदी है।

सतत धर्म के सार तत्वों को सरल दोहों में प्रस्तुत करने के प्रयासों के बीच हेमंत जी की ये कही-अनकही सृजन बिंब के माध्यम से आप तक पहुँच रही है।

आशा और विश्वास है कि उनकी इस कृति को भी आपका यथोचित स्नेह मिलेगा…

– अविनाश बागड़े

– रीमा दीवान चड्ढा

हाशिये पर…

श्री हेमंत लोढ़ा सुलझे हुए परिपक्व इंसान होने के साथ-साथ अनुभवी व्यवसायी और कविता के मर्म को समझने वाले प्रब्ाुद्ध कवि हैं। इसके पूर्व भी इनकी पुस्तकें प्रकाशित हो चुकी हैं। प्रस्तुत पुस्तक में इन्होंने दोहे के चमत्कार दिखाए हैं। दरअसल दोहा एक ऐसी काव्य विधा है जो लुप्त होने की कगार पर है । सृजन बिंब के सहयोग से हेमंत लोढ़ा जैसे कवि इस विधा को जीवित रखे हुए हैं । नागपुर क्षेत्र में दोहे पर बहुत कार्य हो रहा है… दोहा संग्रह प्रकाशित हो रहे हैं और इसमें सृजन बिंब प्रकाशन के हमारे अनुज अविनाश बागड़े और श्रीमती रीमा चड्ढा का विशेष योगदान है।

दोहे को लुप्त होती विधा मैं इसलिए कह रहा हूँ क्योंकि काव्य की कई विधाएं धीरे-धीरे इस तरह हमसे दूर हो गई हैं कि हममें से कइयों को आज उनके नाम और स्वरूप का भी ज्ञान नहीं है। एक समय था जब दोहा अपनी लोकप्रियता की चरम सीमा पर था पर धीरे-धीरे इसकी उपयोगिता कम होती चली गई। मंचों पर दोहों को वह स्थान नहीं मिला जो मिलना चाहिए था। काफी पहले से पत्र-पत्रिकाओं तथा संचार के अन्य माध्यमों में दोहे ने अपनी उपस्थिति खोनी शुरू कर दी है और भविष्य में यह निश्चित रूप से गायब हो जायेगा यदि हेमंत लोढा जैसे कवि तथा सृजन बिंब जैसे प्रकाशन संस्थान इसके समर्थन में खड़े नहीं होंगे। दोहा मानवता की भाषा बोलता है। मानव जीवन तथा समाज के हर अंग से संबंधित कोई भी बात ऐसी नहीं है जिसे लोढ़ा जी ने अपने दोहों में स्थान न दिया हो। इसके साथ ही लोढ़ा जी ने ग़ज़लनुमा दोहे लिखकर एक चकित करने वाला अनूठा प्रयोग किया जिसमें वे काफी हद तक सफल भी रहे हैं।

साथ ही जापानी विधा हाइकु-ताँका पर हेमंत जी की सशक्त पकड़ दिखाई देती है। अपनी कविताओं में अपने मन के भाव सहज रूप से हेमंत जी ने अभिव्यक्त किये हैं। एक ही पुस्तक में दोहे, हाइकु-ताँका व कविताओं का सुंदर संगम हमें कही-अनकही में देखने मिलेगा।

मुझे विश्वास है कि लोढ़ा जी की यह पुस्तक निश्चित ही साहित्य जगत में बहुत पसंद की जाएगी।

मैं उन्हें शुभकामनाएँ देता हूँ और साथ ही बधाई और शुभकामनाएँ देता हूँ सृजन बिंब के अविनाश और रीमा को जिन्होंने इतनी अच्छी पुस्तक प्रकाशित कर साहित्य प्रेमियों को उपकृत किया है।

– डॉ सागर खादीवाला

वरिष्ठ साहित्यकार

मोबा. 9422848484

मंतव्य

अगर मैं पीछे मुड़ कर देखता हूँ तो अहसास होता है कि मन कविमय शुरु से ही रहा। हमारे ज़माने मे प्रेम पत्र लिखने का चलन था और मैने प्रभा को सगाई होने के बाद जब भी पत्र लिखा, कुछ छोटी कविताएँ मन के उद्गार के रुप मे हमेशा लिखता था। आज भी उसने वो प्रेम पत्र संभाल के रखे हैं। हिंदी मीडियम मे पढ़ाई होने के कारण व राजस्थान से जुड़े होने से हिंदी भाषा से हमेशा नाता रहा है।

५-६ वर्ष पूर्व एक हाइकु पुस्तक के विमोचन में जाने का अवसर मिला और मेरी भी रुचि हाइकु लिखने में जागृत हुई। फिर अविनाश जी से मुलाक़्रात हुई और हमने हाइकु व छंदबद्ध व्हाट्सएप ग्रुप शुरु किया तो दोहे लिखने की कला भी आ गई। श्रीमद्भगवदगीता, अष्टावक्र महागीता व समणसुत्तं का रुपांतरण दोहों में करते हुए कभी-कभी हाइकु, कविता व दोहे भी लिख लेता हूँ।

दोहों में विदुषी सुधा राठौर जी ने संशोधन करने में मनोयोग से जो कार्य किया है उन्हें धन्यवाद करने के लिए मेरे पास कोई शब्द नहीं है।

कही-अनकही उन्हीं सब कविताओं, हाइकु व दोहों का संग्रह है। आशा है आप लोगों को पसंद आएगा।

– हेमंत लोढ़ा

जीवन संगिनी

प्रभा लोढ़ा

को

सम्मानार्थ समर्पित…

‘‘गागर में सागर’’ भरने का उदाहरण देना हो तो जानकार लोग ‘दोहे’ का नाम लेते है। कमाल का मात्रिक छंद है ये। तेरह-ग्यारह, तेरह-ग्यारह मात्राओं वाला यह छंद अपनी दो पंक्तियों में जीवन-दर्शन उंडेल देता है। छान्दस रचना होने के कारण पढ़ने और सुनने वाले को सहज रूप से याद भी रह जाती है। आज अगर कबीर, तुलसी और रहीम के दोहे स्मृति-पटल पर अंकित हैं, तो इसका यही एक कारण है कि वे न केवल सहज-सरल हैं, वरन उनमें हमारे मर्म को छूने की ताकत भी है। शताब्दियाँ बीत गई, कितने राजे-महाराजे मर-खप गए, लेकिन सच्चे कवियों ने जो दोहे-चौपाइयाँ रचीं, वे हमारे जीवन के मन्त्र बन गए। आज भी जब हम परेशानियों में होते हैं या किसी को समझाने की कोशिश करते हैं तो हमारे पास चंद दोहे होते हैं, जो बड़े सटीक बैठते हैं।

दोहा शक्तिशाली छंद है। यह कालजयी हो सकता हैं। बशर्ते वैसी साधना भी हो। मेरा मानना है कि कबीर, तुलसी और रहीम जैसे कवि एक बार ही पैदा होते है, लेकिन हम उनकी परंपरा को आगे बढ़ाने की कोशिश तो कर ही सकते हैं। बेशक यह हो सकता है, कि हम उनके स्तर तक पहुँच ही न पायें मगर उस दिशा में साधना तो की ही जा सकती है। यही बड़ी बात है।

(अविनाश दोहावली से साभार)

– गिरीश पंकज

संपादक ‘सद्भावना दर्पण’

पहला क़्रदम बढ़ाइये, चलना मील हज़ार ।

रुको कभी ना राह में, जय – जय बारंबार ॥1॥

असली नेता है वही, ले जो गलती मान ।

और सफलता के लिए, दे सबको सम्मान ॥2॥

नहीं रखा तुमने अगर, लालच से मन दूर ।

अवसर जायेंगे सदा, चिड़िया जैसे फूर ॥3॥

पाना है तुमको अगर, प्यार व यश सम्मान ।

दोनों हाथ लुटाइये, प्रेम सहज ये दान ॥4॥

वादों से होता नहीं, कर्मों का संचार ।

अगर सफलता चाहिये, कर लो काम हज़ार ॥5॥

क्या भविष्य के गर्भ में, छिपा न जाने कोय ।

रखिये तीर संभाल के, कभी ज़रूरत होय ॥6॥

जो तरकश में बाण हो, साहस का हो भान ।

मिट जातीं सब मुश्किलें, हो अगर रामबाण ॥7॥

कौन रोक दु:ख को सके, किसकी रहे कमान ।

सहना हम जो सीख लें, जीवन हो आसान ॥8॥

सम्मानित होते नहीं, आप ज्ञान गुण जान ।

व्यवहारिकता ज्ञान की, दिलवाती सम्मान ॥9॥

मन में जो विश्वास हो, रहे खुदा भी साथ ।

घाटी का फिर क्या कहें, चढ़ना अपने हाथ ॥10॥

अंधकार से जो हमें, हाथ पकड़ ले जाय ।

चाहे जीव अजीव हो, वही गुरु कहलाय ॥11।

निम्बोड़ी सा धैर्य है, कड़वा इक अहसास ।

साध्य इसे जो कर सके, जीवन घुले मिठास ॥12॥

निंदा करनी हो अगर, सोचें बारम्बार ।

करें प्रशंसा वक़्त पर, मत कतराना यार ॥13॥

कहाँ गई बुद्धि तेरी, कहाँ खो गया ज्ञान ।

मोह वस्तुओं का करे, हरे जीव के प्राण ॥14॥

दुखी समझ मुझको सभी, हमदर्दी दिखलाय ।

मगर ख्ाुशी उनके कभी, गले उतर ना पाय ॥15॥

पड़े – पड़े लगने लगे, लोहे में भी जंग ।

अगर योग भी ना किया, लकड़ी होगी संग ॥16॥

गुस्सा कभी न कीजिए, होगा ख़ाक तमाम ।

कारण से घातक रहे, सदा क्रोध परिणाम ॥17॥

मिथ्या फैली इस तरह, जैसे मायाजाल ।

चेहरों पर चेहरे चढ़े, सच का पड़ा अकाल ॥18॥

जब भी देखू पेड़ को, मन माने आभार ।

वृक्षारोपण जो करूँ, उतरेगा ये भार ॥19॥

पता उसी से पूछिए, जो मंज़िल हो आय ।

अज्ञानी को पूछ के, मोक्ष कभी ना पाय ॥20॥

लगे धरा को प्यास जब, नभ अमृत बरसाय ।

तकलीफों के नाम पे, तू क्यों आड़े आय ॥21॥

हमको तुम पर नाज़ है, सेना वीर – जवान ।

भले साथ तन से नहीं, मन से है सम्मान ॥22॥

मन वचन और कर्म में, न्याय सत्य का वास ।

बढ़े साख और मित्रता, सकल जैन विश्वास ॥23॥

चाहत सुख-आनंद की, रखिए सरल स्वभाव ।

सादा जीवन जो जिये, देते हैं सब भाव ॥24॥

रंग, रूप औ धैर्य की, अलग – अलग पहचान ।

अनेकता में एकता, ऐसा हिंदुस्तान ॥25॥

माफ़ी की महिमा बड़ी, रहे गलतियाँ बाद ।

जो तोड़ा विश्वास तो, माफ़ी रहे न याद ॥26॥

पूजन पाहन का किया, जगत हुआ पाषाण ।

कंकर से जो प्रीत की, संकट में हो प्राण ॥27॥

हर पल अमृत मान के, करिए शब्द प्रयोग ।

मौन से बेहतर तभी, शब्दों का उपयोग ॥28॥

पढ़ना हमको इस तरह, जीना अनंत काल ।

जीना भी ऐसे हमें, पल में मृत्यु अकाल ॥29॥

अगर सफलता चाहिए, छोड़ बहाने यार ।

कर्म और आलस्य में, कभी न होगा प्यार ॥30॥

विजय-रथी बढ़ता रहे, युद्घ कर रहे आप ।

लड़ना अपने आप से, दुश्मन भी हैं आप ॥31।

अगर सफलता चाहिए, करिए सतत प्रयास ।

चींटी सा चलते रहें, कभी न छोड़े आस ॥32॥

जो सेवन तुलसी करे, तन पाए आराम ।

शुद्ध सुधा तुलसी बने, मन धारे श्री राम ॥33॥

कड़वे अनुभव ही मिलें, फिसले अगर जुबान ।

सीमाओं में शब्द हों, बनी रहे मुस्कान ॥34॥

अर्थ मिले जब मौन को, पाए शब्द विराम ।

लोक वासना से निकल, मन भाये श्री राम ॥35॥

अज्ञानी के शब्द से, हुआ सत्य का नाश ।

ऐसे वचनों पर कभी, करें नहीं विश्वास ॥36॥

माखन दिखे न दूध में, बूदन बीच छुपाय ।

ऐसे ही हरि नाम भी, कण-कण रहत समाय ॥37॥

कथा सफलता की सदा, देती है उपदेश ।

असफलता भी काम की, इसमें भी सन्देश ॥38॥

शब्दों की महिमा बड़ी, सुर-लय से संगीत ।

सुर बिगड़े जो आपके, डूबी सबकी प्रीत ॥39॥

ज्ञानी की संगत रहे, मिले सदा ही सीख ।

जो संगत हो मूढ़ की, भीख मिले ना सीख ॥40॥

मिल जाये पारस तुझे, पल में कनक बनाय ।

सतग्ाुरु ऐसा खोजिए, पारस तू बन जाय ॥41

खुली जगत में आँख जो, मिला कोष अनमोल ।

रहो समर्पित कर्म में, बजे नाम के ढोल ॥42॥

कहती देह पुकार के, समय मुझे दो आज ।

जब आयेंगे रोग तो, आऊँ तेरे काज ॥43॥

हीरा उसे न बेचिए, जो ना समझे मोल ।

छोड़ो उनका साथ जो, बुद्धि सके ना तोल ॥44॥

एक झूठ से आपके, लगे सत्य पर प्रश्न ।

साथ न छोड़ें सत्य का, जीवन होगा जश्न ॥45॥

तज मत अपने काज को, जारी रहे प्रयास ।

चलें निरन्तर जो अगर, रहे विजय की आस ॥46॥

चले सत्य के मार्ग जो, सतगुरु वो बन जाय ।

जो सतगुरु के साथ है, भव से वो तर जाय ॥47॥

रहे चपल जो सोच में, रखते चित्त सचेत ।

वाणी पर अंकुश रखे, तो फल भगवन देत ॥48॥

दो और दो पाँच बने, मिलकर कर लें काम ।

आपस में झगड़े अगर, लग जायेंगे दाम ॥49॥

खुशियों के कारण कई, नई नहीं यह बात ।

बिन कारण हम खुश रहें, उत्तम मानव जात ॥50॥

सोच नियंत्रण में रखें, व्यक्ति बने विशेष ।

बुद्धि बिना लगाम रहे, बचे न कुछ भी शेष ॥51॥

बदलेंगे कल मानिए, भाषा देश समाज ।

दूरद़ृष्टि रखकर सदा, कर्म करेंगे आज ॥52॥

मालिक वही भविष्य का, सपने बुने हज़ार ।

रहे इरादे ठोस तो, जय हो बारम्बार ॥53॥

खुशियाँ घर में भर गए, आँगन आप पधार ।

ॠद्घि-सिद्घि द्वारे खड़ी, आदर पालनहार ॥54॥

क्षमा वीरस्य भूषणम, क्षमा वीर की शान ।

पर्यूषण के पर्व पे, करिये क्षमा निधान ॥55॥

अन्तरमन को जो सुने, बढ़े क़्रदम के साथ ।

नतमस्त सद्बुद्धि हो, लगे सफलता हाथ ॥56॥

तन मन बुद्धि से बँधे, रिश्ते बने अनेक ।

परम आत्मा से जुड़े, बिरला कोई एक ॥57॥

भेद नहीं है प्राण में, जीवों में दिखलाय ।

काट किसी की देह को, कैसे तू सुख पाय ॥58॥

रामानंद मिले जिसे, वो कबिरा हो जाय ।

तब अविनाशी रुप ही, दोहा बने सुहाय ॥59॥

खुली खिड़कियाँ बुद्धि की, जो रखते श्रीमान ।

नई निराली सोच को, रस्ता दे भगवान ॥60॥

आज कहे मिथ्या वचन, करें हमें मजबूर ।

बने पिरामिड झूठ के, अपने भागें दूर ॥61॥

पथ को रौशन कर सके, गुरु ज्ञान की ज्योत ।

पर मंजिल की प्राप्ति को, खुद ही चलना होत ॥62॥

मन की पहुँच असीम है, शक्तिवान है ज्ञान ।

कायनात को खींच ले, सपनों में हो जान ॥63॥

जो तेरे अधिकार में, दाता कर दे दान ।

तेरी हद से है परे, विधि का सदा विधान ॥64॥

नहीं प्रगति हासिल हमें, राहें जो आसान ।

करती हैं कठिनाइयाँ, हर विकास गतिमान ॥65॥

सूरज जो सम्मान दे, लौ को अपना मान ।

हो विभोर मन भाव सब, जीवन हो वरदान ॥66॥

तन से पत्थर हो भले, कहलाता भगवान ।

मन से जो पत्थर बने, फिर भी वो इंसान ॥67॥

रहना हो आनंद से, मन को समझो तात ।

अंतर्मन को जान लो, शांति मिले पर्याप्त ॥68॥

मानवता एकात्म की, मुखर होय हर हाल ।

अंत्योदय से ही बढ़े, कहते दीनदयाल ॥69॥

तरल रहूँ जल की तरह, अपना लूँ हर पात्र ।

तज्ाूँ धर्म अपना नहीं, रहूँ मैं मानव मात्र ॥70॥

निज क्षमता सन्देह से, बढ़े भावना हीन ।

सपन सदा साकार हो, रहें काम में लीन ॥71॥

पाना जो सम्मान हो, पहल कीजिये आप ।

दोगे अपना प्यार तो, फैलेगा परताप ॥72॥

घ्ाुन जैसे खा जाएँगे, मोह माया व द्वेष ।

प्रेम दवाई दो मिला, कुछ न रहेगा शेष ॥73॥

दुश्मन सम्मुख नत रहें, अवसर किया प्रदान ।

दुश्मन के बिन है नहीं, कभी जीत की शान ॥74॥

दु:ख पहाड़ लगने लगे, पर्वत लगे तनाव ।

जल तल पर रखिए उसे, तैरे जैसे नाव ॥75॥

कृषक रोज मरते रहें, अनशन करें जवान ।

बापू तेरे देश में, नेता अब हैवान ॥76॥

भूख प्यास सब भूल कर, कठिन चढ़ाई पार ।

प्राणों की चिंता नहीं, फिर भी है तैय्यार ॥77॥

राज़ सफलता का यही, अभी करो शुरुआत ।

पग आगे बढ़ते रहें, दिन देखो ना रात ॥78॥

जो अपनाना हो नया, त्याग भूत को आज ।

पतझड़ के आग़ोश में, सावन का आग़ाज़ ॥79॥

मिट जाती है दूरियाँ, इंसानों के बीच ।

शब्द ज़रूरी हैं नहीं, मुस्कानों को सींच ॥80॥

बिना रुके चलता रहे, बिना अहं आवाज़ ।

सूरज से कुछ सीख ले, उम्दा जीवन-राज़ ॥81॥

समय तभी आराम का, समय नहीं जब पास ।

मिलता तन-मन बुद्धि को, अपना-अपना ग्रास ॥82॥

रचनात्मक ही कर्म में, मन और बुद्धि होय ।

ऐसे यज्ञों का फलित, सचमुच अद्भुत होय ॥83॥

अगर प्यास हो ज्ञान की, मिले ज्ञान चहुँ ओर ।

कविता हो या हो कथा, लेखन करे विभोर ॥84॥

दो बातें अपनाइये, दोनों बड़ी महान ।

कारज़ अपने जानिये, छिड़को सब पे जान ॥85॥

दो बातें अपनाइये, दोनों बड़ी महान ।

बुरा कभी ना देखना, दो न बुरे पे कान ॥86॥

दो बातें अपनाइये, दोनों बड़ी महान ।

फल की आशा छोड़ के, करे कर्म इंसान ॥87॥

दो बातें अपनाइये, दोनों बड़ी महान ।

माफ़ी दे दो भूल को, निर्धन को दो दान ॥88॥

दो बातें अपनाइयें, दोनों बड़ी महान ।

मात-पिता को मान दो, बच्चों को दो ज्ञान ॥89॥

दो बातें अपनाइये, दोनों बड़ी महान ।

गुरु समझ हर जीव में, कण-कण में भगवान ॥90॥

दो बातें अपनाइये, दोनों बड़ी महान ।

निर्बल को सहयोग दो, बल को दो सम्मान ॥91॥

किसने समझा भाग्य का, जटिल हिसाब-किताब ।

लगे रहो सत्कर्म में, देना ‘उसे’ जवाब ॥92॥

लेकर छाया भाग्य की, मूरख-मति कहलाय ।

अच्छे कर्मों से सदा, भाग्यवान बन जाय ॥93॥

गम की करें नुमाइशें, होता सदा मज़ाक ।

कुछ को आता है मज़ा, बाकी समझे खाक ॥94॥

दुखी नहीं दु:ख कर सके, सुख का भी ना भान ।

ऐसे जातक को नरक, लगता स्वर्ग समान ॥95॥

ना जादा ना कम कहीं, सबके पास समान ।

करे समय उपयोग जो, बनता वही महान ॥96॥

ना ना करके काम में, मत डालो व्यवधान ।

मुख पर ताले डाल लो, होता कर्म प्रधान ॥97॥

मन जब भी मन्दिर बने, भटके कहीं न और ।

अन्तर्मन में झाँक ले, ईश्वर का है ठौर ॥98॥

चिंतन कर के सोच ले, सब कुछ अपने हाथ ।

कर्म आपके आज के, कल को होंगे साथ ॥99॥

विडम्बना कैसी हुई, माँग रहे विश्वास ।

वार मुझे जीवन दिया, तुम हो मेरी आस ॥100॥

मैं ही अर्जुन – केशवा, कौरव-पाण्डु जान ।

गीता, महाभारत हूँ, मुझे कर्म फल मान ॥101॥

भीतर ही शैतान है, भीतर है भगवान ।

मगर प्रेम जिससे करें, वो ही रखता ध्यान ॥102॥

वस्तु-मोह व्यक्तित्व का, बस अपना आकार ।

जो देखू बिन राग के, सब कुछ बिन आकार ॥103॥

शब्द-शब्द जब तौल के, बाहर निकलें तात ।

जनता समझे लोक में, ज्ञानी उसकी जात ॥104॥

खुशियाँ जीवन में भरे, दीपों का त्योहार ।

हो आपस में प्रेम भी, दुख का हो संहार ॥105॥

गीत छंद कविता, ग़ज़ल, बन जब मिलते मीत ।

अद्भुत यह संगम सदा, ज्ञान और संगीत ॥106॥

उठे नहीं पहला क़्रदम, लगे असंभव काम ।

शुरू करें अंताक्षरी, लेकर प्रभु का नाम ॥107॥

पत्थर मारा पेड़ को, देता फल टपकाय ।

जो समझे इस बात को, बुद्ध वही बन पाय ॥108॥

बिन चरित्र के योग्यता, प्राण विहीन शरीर ।

साथी उत्तम है वही, जहाँ सत्य है पीर ॥109॥

सुख-दुख तो आते रहें, समझें एक समान ।

ऐसे ही मन में रहें, खुशियाँ सीना तान ॥110॥

अमर नहीं कोई हुआ, आती जीवन शाम ।

काम करे निष्काम तो, सदा रहेगा नाम ॥111॥

सुख की ज्योत जलाइये, हो खुशियाँ चहुँ ओर ।

सच्ची सेवा है यही, नाचे मन का मोर ॥112॥

भय से कुछ हासिल नहीं, हो आशा-विश्वास ।

अगर सफलता चाहिए, रख उम्मीदें पास ॥113॥

जब सह, ईश व अनु मिले, हो सहिष्णु निर्माण ।

बाहर से हम हैं अलग, भीतर एक ही प्राण ॥114॥

ज्ञान बढ़े ना बोल से, भूल बोल का ज्ञान ।

वो जन ही पंडित बने, खुले रखे जो कान ॥115॥

रखे काम से काम जो, उसके सब हों काम ।

नहीं काम की कामना, काम रहित हो काम ॥116॥

कलयुग के इस दौर में, कौन है बुद्धिमान ।

ज्ञानार्जन जो कर रहें, खोले आँख व कान ॥117॥

वर्ण वर्ग जाति धरम, हो कैसा भी भेद ।

प्रेम बसे मन में यदि, नहीं रहेगा ख़ेद ॥118॥

चोट लिखो जो रेत पे, जल्दी से मिट जाय ।

पत्थर पे लिख दो अगर, कभी न मिटने पाय ॥119॥

‘अच्छा’ जब सम्भव लगे, रोको नहीं प्रयास ।

चाहे फल हो ठीक भी, ‘उत्तम’ की हो आस ॥120॥

ज्ञान उतरता शास्त्र में, शास्त्र पुस्तक रुप ।

किंडल अब पुस्तक हुई, ये भी ज्ञान स्वरूप ॥121॥

उम्मीदें दुनिया करे, जब तुम से श्रीमान ।

खुद को आभारी समझ, जग से पाया मान ॥122॥

जगत भरोसा ना करे, ना खुद पे विश्वास ।

जगत विजय जो चाहिए, रखो आत्मविश्वास ॥123॥

हाथ मेरे आयु नहीं, निर्णय ले भगवान ।

उत्तम मानव बन सकूँ, बना रहे सम्मान ॥124॥

शब्द निरर्थक हों अगर, करें न ज्ञानी व्यर्थ ।

मितव्ययता हो शब्द में, बनता वही समर्थ ॥125॥

जहाँ जीतना लक्ष्य है, करते रहते काम ।

कर्म अगर वश में नहीं, उनका काम तमाम ॥126॥

आप कदाचित हों सही, सही आपकी बात ।

इसका मतलब यह नहीं, ग़लत और की बात ॥127॥

नहीं ज़रूरी नाम हो, करने से कुछ काम ।

काम ज़रूरी है मगर, तभी बनेगा नाम ॥128॥

सपन मान कर लक्ष्य को, क़्रदम उठे उस ओर ।

मंज़िल होगी आपकी, करिए कर्म कठोर ॥129॥

चारदिवारी में सदा, रखो धर्म को कैद ।

हिन्दू-मुस्लिम सिक्ख का, रहे न बाहर भेद ॥130॥

होती झूठे मीत की, परछाई आभास ।

साथी तब तक ही रहें, जब तक पड़े प्रकाश ॥131॥

ख़ुशी मिले उस काम में, जग ना माने हार ।

अगर सफलता मिल गई, चमत्कार के पार ॥132॥

तम को करती दूर ज्यों, नन्हीं सी इक ज्योत ।

भय रहता त्यों दूर ही, ज्ञान संग जो होत ॥133॥

सद्गुण जल से लीजिये, जिसका ना आकार ।

पात्र कैसा भी मिले, अपना ले संसार ॥134॥

मन मिला हर जीव को, मिले ढेर से भाव ।

पर मुद्रा इंसान की, जग पर करे प्रभाव ॥135॥

भाषा है हर जीव की, लिपि मानव का ज्ञान ।

पशु मानव में फर्क यह, इसने दी पहचान ॥136॥

भाषा है हर जीव की, लिपि मनुज का ज्ञान ।

मुख-मुद्रा इंसान की, जग में दे पहचान ॥137॥

प्रतिक्रिया सब ही करें, करें अकारण काज ।

कर्म करे निष्काम जो, समझे वो ही राज ॥138॥

पत्ता रहता पेड़ पे, देता ठंडी छाँव ।

क़्रदमों में जब वो गिरे, नहीं अहं का भाव ॥139॥

कब कैसे औ क्यूँ कहाँ, कौन करे क्या काम ।

जो सोचे हर बात को, उसका होगा नाम ॥140॥

मुश्किल है करना खड़ी, एक सफल मीनार ।

जब तक गारे में नहीं, असफलता के हार ॥141।

ना छोटा ना है बड़ा, तेरा कहीं मकान ।

तेरे मन की कल्पना, तेरा झूठा ज्ञान ॥142॥

कड़वे शब्दों का करें, उसी समय उपयोग ।

जब भी मीठे शब्द का, धीमा पड़े प्रयोग ॥143॥

असर करे शुभकामना, दे अमृत का काम ।

व्याप्त कहीं विष हो अगर, करता काम तमाम ॥144॥

चिल्लाओगे क्रोध में, समझेंगे यह लोग ।

नहीं नियंत्रण सोच पे, है इसको यह रोग ॥145॥

रखना सच्चे मित्र का, एक अनोखा राग ।

निभे तभी यह मित्रता, करें अहं का त्याग ॥146॥

तिमिर बड़ा घनघोर है, तल हो या आकाश ।

गुरु अविनाशी जब मिलें, फैले जगत प्रकाश ॥147॥

चलने के पहले हमें, मंज़िल का हो ज्ञान ।

लक्ष्यहीन हो सोच तो, होय कर्म अपमान ॥148॥

दोनों आँखे बंद कर, कर लो शिव का ध्यान ।

तीजी जब खुल जायगी, होय आत्म का ज्ञान ॥149॥

सुन्दर वह मुस्कान है, आए जब हो हार ।

मुस्काता मुख देख कर, हार मानती हार ॥150॥

सुंदर या बदशक्ल हो, ख़ुशबू हो या बास ।

नाद शंख, भौंके कहीं, फर्क पड़े ना ख़ास ॥151॥

माँ, बहना, पत्नी, सखा, चाहें सब सम्मान ।

प्रेम उन्हें सादर करें, तभी बढ़ेगा मान ॥152॥

वशीभूत मन-बुद्धि के, कहना उसका मान ।

इंद्रिय वश जो मन रहे, सुनना मत श्रीमान ॥153॥

जो मितभाषी मितव्ययी, बन जाते हैं मीत ।

मितभोगी जब है बने, समझो जग पर जीत ॥154॥

अपना दूजा कौन है, भान नहीं हो पाय ।

मिले परम आनन्द तब, अन्तर जब मिट जाय ॥155॥

चींटी हो या शेर हो, सब में मीत समाय ।

मिले परम आनन्द तब, अन्तर जब मिट जाय ॥156॥

राजा हो या रंक हो, सभी गले लग जाय ।

मिले परम आनन्द तब, अन्तर जब मिट जाय ॥157॥

रात रहे या दिन रहे, चन्दा-सूरज भाय ।

मिले परम आनन्द तब, अन्तर जब मिट जाय ॥158॥

मीठा तीखा सम लगे, स्वाद एक ही आय ।

मिले परम आनन्द तब, अन्तर जब मिट जाय ॥159॥

राग-द्वेष बचते नहीं, मन समग्र हो जाय ।

मिले परम आनन्द तब, अन्तर जब मिट जाय ॥160॥

सुख-दुख क्या समझूँ नहीं, दोनों एक उपाय ।

मिले परम आनन्द तब, अन्तर जब मिट जाय ॥161॥

लोग कहे मैं जानता, मैं ना जानूँ आप ।

हम सब भ्रम में ही रहे, मिथ्या वार्तालाप ॥162॥

उचित दिशा आशा उचित, जगमग मन के दीप ।

अपना आज न खोइये, आस ख़ुशी की सीप ॥163॥

त्यागो मत उत्साह को, मिले कभी जो हार ।

ना हीं उछलो जोश में, ताली मिले हज़ार ॥164॥

लक्ष्य कभी भटके नहीं, धर्म न छोड़े साथ ।

नर में नहीं विवेक जिस, नियति छोड़े हाथ ॥165॥

राग द्वेष का हो हवन, पनपे दिल में प्यार ।

रंग संग खुशियाँ मिले, होली का त्यौहार ॥166॥

फड़के सारी इन्द्रियाँ, तेरा हुआ ख़याल ।

मिलो मुझे हर जन्म में, बिछड़ो किसी न काल ॥167॥

मन छूने का है करे, होती जब तू पास ।

आलिंगन में लूँ तुझे, रह ना जाए आस ॥168॥

खुशबू तेरी पास में, महके फूल गुलाब ।

चढ़े नशा इस ज़हन ज्यों, मादक तरल शराब ॥169॥

पाने को तेरी झलक, अँखियाँ देखे बाट ।

तुम जब आओ सामने, दूजे मन को काट ॥170॥

आहट तेरी कान में, लगती है झंकार ।

शब्द निकलते होंठ से, मन को मिले क़्ररार ॥171॥

चित्रों की ताक़्रत बड़ी, कह दे शब्द हज़ार ।

शब्द जाल बुनते बड़े, कहते चित्र विचार ॥172॥

वादा करता मैं यही, फ़िकर न करना यार ।

जब तक मेरी साँस है, होगा मेरा प्यार ॥173॥

तुम से हैं रिश्ते कई, तुम हो अनुपम यार ।

जब चाहे भाई बनो, कभी पुत्र का प्यार ॥174॥

सफ़र-ज़िंदगी में मिले, तुम हो अद्भुत यार ।

सच्चे मन इंसान हो, बना रहे यह प्यार ॥175॥

देखा सपना साथ ही, शुरू किया व्यापार ।

चलते-चलते बन गये, सुख-दुख भागीदार ॥176॥

फल की चिंता हो नहीं, कभी कर्म ना भाय ।

ज्ञान कर्म में लीन हो, महावीर बन जाय ॥177॥

लालच ईर्ष्या से बचे, सीमित हो यदि आय ।

दान पुण्य करता रहे, महावीर बन जाय ॥178॥

स्त्री का जो आदर करे, संयम गुण अपनाय ।

इन्द्रियां वश में रखे, महावीर बन जाय ॥179॥

चोरी का सोचे नहीं, अस्तेय को अपनाय ।

लोभ पराये का नहीं, महावीर बन जाय ॥180॥

चले सत्य के मार्ग पे, त्यागे सभी कसाय ।

मिथ्या ना बोले कभी, महावीर बन जाय ॥181॥

हार-जीत, सुख-दुख रहे, लाभो-हानि समान ।

भाव रहित जो युद्ध लड़े, मिले पुण्य का मान ॥182॥

चले अहिंसा मार्ग पे, कभी न जीव सताय ।

प्रेम करे हर जीव को, महावीर बन जाय ॥183॥

बने चित्र सत-रंग से, सात सुरों से गीत ।

ढाई अक्षर प्रेम के, जीवन का संगीत ॥184॥

लक्ष्मी, दुर्गा, शारदा, जो हो मन में ध्यान ।

समय भले ही हो कठिन, मन से हम बलवान ॥185॥

हुई उपेक्षा हर समय, रही अपेक्षा साथ ।

संयम-मूरत भी तुम ही, बना रहे यह साथ ॥186॥

सुख-दुख तो आते रहे, दिया हमेशा साथ ।

कल का है किसको पता, रहे आपका साथ ॥187॥

लो मैं आज नहीं रहा, सुन मेरी आवाज़ ।

इस कविता में हैं लिखे, सफल जीव के राज ॥188॥

जाने क्या कुछ सोच कर, दिया आपने हाथ ।

स़िर्फ तमन्ना अब यही, रहे आपका साथ ॥189॥

उत्तम वाणी के लिये, सोच उच्चतम होय ।

भाग्य उत्तम चाहिये, बीज तो उत्तम बोय ॥190॥

फल मीठा है सब्र का, मन करता ये जाप ।

वश में कर ले सोच को, धीरज मिलता आप ॥191॥

साथी ऐसे ढूँढ लो, जिसे कर्म से प्यार ।

धरा हिले या आसमां, माने कभी न हार ॥192॥

करो नहीं आलोचना, और न हो आरोप ।

असफलता को फल समझ, व्यक्ति पर मत थोप ॥193॥

निश्चय में द़ृढ़ता रखे, करते सतत प्रयास ।

पथ को वो त्यागे नहीं, लक्ष्य न जब तक पास ॥194॥

विनिमय करो विचार का, रोको वाद – विवाद ।

हर हल चर्चा से मिले, तर्क बिगाड़े स्वाद ॥195॥

मत सोचो मैं मर गया, सब के दिल में आज ।

मुझे मिले संस्कार जो, बन जाओ हमराज ॥196॥

जो वश में रह ना सके, ऐसी जीभ कटार ।

बुद्धिमान संयम करे, करे न बढ़कर वार ॥197॥

पागल और फ़क़्रीर ये, दोनों एक समान ।

साधक बुद्धि से परे, मूढ़ न बुझे ज्ञान ॥198॥

मन अपना सागर सरिस, लहरों सा आवेश ।

करम करोगे मूढ़ सा, शून्य रहेगा शेष ॥199॥

निर्देशन आवश्यक है, पथ करना हो पार ।

ऊँचा उठना हो जिसे, नक़्शे में ना सार ॥200॥

अर्जुन खुद को मानकर, केशव भाव समान ।

गीता को तब जो पढ़े, गूढ़ अर्थ तू जान ॥201॥

पानी मित्र बचाइये, पानी सबकी जान ।

पानी उतरे जीव से, मिट जाए पहचान ॥202॥

प्रतिभाएँ छुपती नहीं, हो जो सतत प्रयास ।

महिमा सारा जग करे, गौरव होता ख़ास ॥203॥

जन्म न बैरी ले कभी, करते हम निर्माण ।

दुश्मन नहीं बनाइये, संकट घिरते प्राण ॥204॥

बचपन पे है वश नहीं, छूट हाथ से जाय ।

छीन नहीं मुझसे सके, मुझे बचपना भाय ॥205॥

चलना आवश्यक सदा, रखनी है जो आस ।

बैठे तो कुचले गये, पथ हो चाहे ख़ास ॥206॥

आशा उत्तम की रखो, जब भी करना काम ।

सर्वनाश के वक्त भी, रखना मन को थाम ॥207॥

मम्मी अनपढ़ थीं मेरी, लेकिन समझ अपार ।

प्रेम करो हर जीव से, उनका यही विचार ॥208॥

नारी महिमा भूल कर, पग-पग पे अपमान ।

लक्ष्मी दुर्गा शारदा, रूठे यह सब जान ॥209॥

सदा अहं को सींचते, बढ़ जाता आकार ।

खेती करिये ज्ञान की, अहंकार बेकार ॥210॥

पक्की धुन, मेहनत कड़ी, मिले कई सम्मान ।

अंत काल तक थे रहे, पापी कर्म प्रधान ॥211॥

ज्ञान बहुत है लोक में, पुस्तक नहीं समाय ।

बाइबिल या कुरान हो, गीता बाँध न पाय ॥212॥

अच्छे दिन का लक्ष्य है, काम नहीं आसान ।

बुरे दिनों को रोकना, पहला पग तू मान ॥213॥

सन्त सुरक्षा मांगते! युग कैसा यह आय ।

जो भय को ना तज सके, सन्त नही कहलाय ॥214॥

पीपल हो या नीम हो, रखना सब का मान ।

अगर हुई नाराज़ माँ, नहीं बचेगी जान ॥215॥

व्यक्ति नया जो भी मिले, गुरुजन उसको मान ।

चाह सीखने की अगर, व्यक्ति हरेक महान ॥216॥

कचरा बाहर का मिटे, झाड़ू फेरे कोय ।

शुद्धिकरण मन बुद्धि का, स्वच्छ ये भारत होय ॥217॥

करम करे निष्काम तो, बन जाती है बात ।

छोड़े ना कर्तव्य को, मेरे घर की बात ॥218॥

चलती चर्चा ज्ञान की, नहीं धरम की रात ।

सभी समस्या हल करे, मेरे घर की बात ॥219॥

प्रेम रूप कण-कण बसे, प्रिय लगता हर पात ।

बहे प्यार की गंग में, मेरे घर की बात ॥220॥

इस शतरंज के खेल में, पैदल हो या ताज ।

अंतकाल जब आय तो, पेटी एक इलाज ॥221॥

तम को जो समझा नहीं, ज्योति समझ ना पाय ।

समझे जो अज्ञात को, ज्ञात समझ में आय ॥222॥

कितने आये चल दिये, है सबका सम्मान ।

शक्ति हमारी प्रेम है, भारत सदा महान ॥223॥

बुद्धि तलक जो ना रुके, करे आत्म पहचान ।

होड़ न पश्चिम की करे, भारत सदा महान ॥224॥

जहाँ ज्ञान गंगा बहे, वैश्विक गुरु पहचान ।

वेद और गीता जहाँ, भारत सदा महान ॥225॥

सब धर्मों का वास है, यहाँ धर्म सम जान ।

प्रेम धागे से बँधा, भारत सदा महान ॥226॥

संख्या का दर्शन दिया, मिली शून्य-पहचान ।

नाप लिया ब्रह्माण्ड को, भारत सदा महान ॥227॥

क्षमता बादल की नहीं, बाँधे सूरज डोर ।

दुख की बदरी क्या करे, सुख है चारों ओर ॥228॥

राजा हो या रंक हो, गये मोक्ष के धाम ।

समझो हर इक भोर के, जीवन की हो शाम ॥229॥

पशु भूखा रहता नहीं, पैसा रखे न पास ।

भरे पेट मनु का नहीं, भरे तिजोरी ख़ास ॥230॥

हार, हार पर डाल के, अतिथि का दो प्यार ।

दिन ज़्यादा ठहरे नहीं, जीत बने दीवार ॥231॥

बिन माँगे देना नहीं, नमक नसीहत कोय ।

लोग लगाये ज़ख़्म पे, साथ ब्याज के तोय ॥232॥

जैसे को तैसा मिले, बैर रहे या प्रीत ।

जो बोये वो ही कटे, जीवन की यह रीत ॥233॥

पैसा हो या हो समय, देते रहना दान ।

जीवन में बहते रहे, ये इनकी पहचान ॥234॥

अणु हो या परमाणु हो, सब में मेरा वास ।

मुझ में है बसते सभी, मैं ही अणु प्रवास ॥235॥

मित्र मन तारक बनें, ज्यों जल तारे नाव ।

कलयुग में दुर्लभ मिले, मिले न छोड़ो पाव ॥236॥

विष अमृत का भाग है, मिले साथ ही साथ ।

दोनों का सम्मान कर, लग जाये जब हाथ ॥237॥

रोज करे जो प्रार्थना, देता कृपानिधान ।

अपना लालच छोड़ के, औरों पर दे ध्यान ॥238॥

इच्छाएं अपनी रखें, लिखकर अपने पास ।

मुहर लगे कानून की, पारदर्शिता खास ॥239॥

जीवन की उपलब्धियाँ, घर भी एक मक़्राम ।

रखिये अंतिम साँस तक, बस अपने ही नाम ॥240॥

जीवन की इस दौड़ में, ग्राहक सुबहो-शाम ।

अधिक दिया जो आस से, बन जाएगा काम ॥241॥

कर्म है अपने हाथ में, फल के देव अनेक ।

फल मिलते उपयोग हो, मालिक सबका एक ॥242॥

कर्म सदा करते रहो, मिल जाएगा ठाठ ॥

पापा जाते काम पे, यही फ़र्ज़ का पाठ ॥243॥

धर्म स्वयं का जानकर, करो लक्ष्य निर्माण ।

अगर सफलता चाहिये, झोंको अपने प्राण ॥244॥

रिश्तों में परिपक्वता, आपस में विश्वास ।

छोटी-छोटी बात को, कभी न डालें घास ॥245॥

जीवन की पूंजी बड़ी, रहे मित्र जो ख़ास ।

सच्चे साथी तब बने, अहंकार जब नाश ॥246॥

बच्चों को जो नेह दो, नहीं जताओ यार ।

आशा देगी यातना, मिट जाएगा प्यार ॥247॥

जीवन में शिक्षा सदा, बच्चों के संस्कार ।

अनुशासन व प्यार का, रहे संतुलन यार ॥248॥

भ्रात-बहन रिश्ता सदा, उसका आशीर्वाद ।

लाभ न हानि देखिये, करे न वाद – विवाद ॥249॥

सदा समर्पण भाव हो, परिणय माँगे त्याग ।

समझो तुम, बदलो नहीं, मीठा जीवन राग ॥250॥

नहीं उतरता ऋण कभी, सेवा करो हज़ार ।

प्रभु समझ माँ-बाप को, भक्ति करो अपार ॥251॥

प्रेम जीव का मूल है, माँ से जानी बात ।

प्यार करो हर जीव से, ख़ुशी मिले दिन रात ॥252॥

नहीं छोर है सृष्टि का, क्या अपना आकार ।

अहंकार किस बात का, चलो अहं को मार ॥253॥

मित्र बने दुश्मन घटे, आये जब मुस्कान ।

हंस कर सबसे बोलिये, रखिये सबका मान ॥254॥

लोभ लालच करो नहीं, करो क्रोध का त्याग ।

दुश्मन है ये सब बड़े, घर-घर लगती आग ॥255॥

सदुपयोगी है समय, क़्रीमत है अनमोल ।

सबके पास समान ये, करिये इसका मोल ॥256॥

बीत गया बस में नहीं, नहीं काल का भान ।

वर्तमान जीते चलो, निकले कब ये जान ॥257॥

सुख-दुख तो आते रहे, मत घबराना यार ।

आशा कभी न छोड़ना, होती नैय्या पार ॥258॥

धन, बल हो या नाम हो, जीवन का यह सार ।

खुशियाँ जीवन में मिले, बाकी सब बेकार ॥259॥

जल सेवन नियमित रहे, दिन में बीस गिलास ।

आगत को जल दीजिये, बाकी रहे न प्यास ॥260॥

भोजन ज्यादा मत करो, ख़ाली हो कुछ पेट ।

रोज़ा हो उपवास हो, शुद्ध वस्तु हो भेंट ॥261॥

रोगरहित काया रहे, पहली है यह बात ।

खेलकूद करते रहो, योग करो दिन-रात ॥262॥

साठ बरस का मैं हुआ, पाठ सीख के साठ ।

सोचा तुम से बाँट लू, जीवन की ये गांठ ॥263॥

धन, बल, बुद्धि साथ रहे, जीवन में हो शान ।

जीवन साधन हो सरल, मत ईश्वर-सा मान ॥264॥

क्षत्रिय का मैं वीर्य लिये, वैश्य रूप धनवान ।

सेवारत मैं शूद्र सा, सूरज मुझको मान ॥265॥

ग्ाुरु माना हर एक को, ज्ञान मिला चहुँ ओर ।

शिष्य बना जब तक रहा, नहीं ज्ञान का छोर ॥266॥

डिग्री बस पहचान है, सब कुछ उसे न मान ।

ज्ञान सूरज की तरह, जन्मों की है शान ॥267॥

मौक़्रा पढ़ने का मिला, ले ली बाज़ी जीत ।

मेहनतकश है लड़कियाँ, बनी पुस्तकें मीत ॥268॥

ना महत्त्व इस बात का, तू कहता क्या बात ।

कैसे और कहाँ कही, तय करती कुछ जात ॥269॥

क्रोध अगर है मित्र तो, दुश्मन का क्या काम ।

रिश्ते हो या काम हो, होता काम तमाम ॥270॥

शब्द अलग भाषा अलग, भाव भंगिमा एक ।

सुख दुख लगता एक सा, जग में जीव अनेक ॥271॥

निर्णायक तुम क्यूँ बनो, ना हो तुम भगवान ।

जो जैसा अपना बने, सब में इक सी जान ॥272॥

नग्न सत्य ही है भला, मत करिये श्रृंगार ।

जोड़ घटाना सत्य का, यानी भ्रष्टाचार ॥273॥

मौसम में वो दम नहीं, बदल सके जो हाल ।

मुस्कानें चिपकी रहें, काल चले हर चाल ॥274॥

तन मन को चंगा करे, नियमित करना योग ।

होय मित्रता योग से, कभी न लागे रोग ॥275॥

सपने सच होंगे तभी, पाएँगे वो जान ।

भय को डालो क़्रब्र में, ऱाह बने आसान ॥276॥

रहे खड़े तूफ़ान में, टूटोगे तुम यार ।

उड़ जाओगे साथ यदि, घट जाएगा भार ॥277॥

पूजा ऐसी मत करो, भय व लोभ हो साथ ।

परहित ही मन में रहे, जोड़ प्रभु को हाथ ॥278॥

सफल रहे हर काम में, मन में रहता जोश ।

बल के साथ दबाव में, मिट जाते हैं होश ॥279॥

करे इश्क़्र जो देह से, जाय देह के साथ ।

मन से मन का इश्क़्र हो, सदा हाथ में हाथ ॥280॥

तमगे मारे कोख में, हमने कई हज़ार ।

मित्र बचा लो बेटियाँ, सिंधु साक्षी झंकार ॥281॥

हाथी सूअर से लड़े, हाथी का अपमान ।

कूटनीति तो यह कहे, चल तू सीना तान ॥282॥

रहे अस्त या हो उदय, कौन सका पहचान ।

धरती के हैं ये जनक, अलग-अलग पहचान ॥283॥

गुल होती कड़वाहटें, हो जाती जब प्रीत ।

सकल भूल को भूलकर, बन जाओ मनमीत ॥284॥

भूख मिटे या ना मिटे, करना नहीं बखान ।

जीना ऐसा सीख लो, देश पे हो क़्रुर्बान ॥285॥

काला कभी न राखिए, तन मन धन का पाथ ।

दुख देगा इस लोक में, दे परलोक न साथ ॥286॥

परेशान है आम-जन, फिर भी है तैयार ।

ना कोई भी बच सके, इंतज़ार में सार ॥287॥

बूँद जानती है सदा, सागर मेरा धाम ।

कोशिश वो करती रहे, आवे जग के काम ॥288॥

है मालूम पतंग को, कटना है हर हाल ।

छूना चाहे आसमाँ, डोरी संग है चाल ॥289॥

पेड़ जानता है सदा, फल ना मेरा पान ।

मगर ताज़गी के लिये, देता अपनी जान ॥290॥

रिश्तों की क्या पूछिये, दिल की है वो जान ।

उनके बिन मिलती नहीं, मानव की पहचान ॥291॥

कृतज्ञता की भावना, हर पल रखिये ध्यान ।

धन्यवाद करते रहें, बढ़ता है सम्मान ॥292॥

भिन्न – भिन्न है पत्तियाँ, भाँति – भाँति के फूल ।

चौरासी लख योनियाँ, भिन्न वृत्तियाँ मूल ॥293॥

जल तो बहती धार है, स्वच्छ हो अपने आप ।

दूषित करना छोड़ दे, नहीं लगेगा पाप ॥294॥

सोच समझ कर देख लूँ, मंथन हो आधार ।

कलमबद्घ से पूर्व ही, चिंतन बारम्बार ॥295॥

आँखें चमके प्यार से, होंठों पे मुस्कान ।

जीवन में ख़ुशियाँ रहे, रिश्तों में हो शान ॥296॥

महापुरुष का साथ हो, जीवन में हो आस ।

कमल पत्र पे बूँद ज्यों, मोती का आभास ॥297॥

माँगे से मिलती नहीं, ना ही बढ़ती शान ।

काम अनोखा कीजिये, बने वही पहचान ॥298॥

धर्मनिष्ठ पत्नी मिली, भाई – बहन संसार ।

प्राची और प्रतीक से, जीवन का उद्घार ॥299॥

फल पक जाए फिर गिरे, सबसे उत्तम होय ।

फल को भी पीड़ा नहीं, ना डंठल ही रोय ॥300॥

सुख चाहो तो सुख मिले, दुख चाहो संताप ।

जैसी जिसकी कामना, ईश्वर का परताप ॥301॥

उद्यम कर, सिद्धी मिले, मात्र चाह ना पाय ।

मृग जाये ना सिंह-मुख, कर्म करे फल भाय ॥302॥

जूठा खाना छोड़ना, भोजन का अपमान ।

थाली धोकर पीजिये, ईश्वर का सम्मान ॥303॥

क्षय नहीं होता कभी, लो अक्षर का ज्ञान ।

पढ़ लिख कर बढ़ती समझ, जीवन की पहचान ॥304॥

ख़ुशियाँ बाँटे से बढ़े, दुख बाँटे कम होय ।

इस जीवन में फल मिले, बीज जिस तरह बोय ॥305॥

अपना धर्म निभाइये, सकल गर्व के साथ ।

प्रेम कर्म का मेल हो, मिले प्रभु का हाथ ॥306॥

मधुर रहे बोली अगर, मन में हो ईमान ।

जग जन सब वश में रहे, मिलता है सम्मान ॥307॥

हिंदी भाषा है गहन, शब्द – शब्द विज्ञान ।

संस्कृत की अनुजा यही, छुपा है गहरा ज्ञान ॥308॥

भाव सदा आसक्ति का, सकल दुखों का मूल ।

चाहत हो जो मुक्ति की, बदलो इसे समूल ॥309॥

अंधकार चहुँ ओर है, ज्ञानी करे प्रकाश ।

पढ़ा-लिखा ही गिर पड़े, सकल समाज विनाश ॥310॥

देखे जब हर साँस को, चेतन मन हो ध्यान ।

शांत चित्त तन-मन भये, जीवन बने महान ॥311॥

पितृ गये सब मोक्ष को, कर अपने सब काम ।

हम उलझे अब काम में, जीवन ना आराम ॥312॥

ज्ञानी ऐसा जीव है, जो जैसा है मान ।

चार तरह के जीव ये, करे जगत उत्थान ॥313॥

जोड़ – घटाने में रहे, वो गणितज्ञ कमाल ।

हर पल करता हो नया, कलाकार की ताल ॥314॥

चार लोग से जग बना, जाने विधिवत चार ।

करता अणु की खोज जो, बने ॠषि संसार ॥315॥

तत्व वही है जान ले, है उपयोग हज़ार ।

दिखे न महिमा तत्व की, दिखता महज़ प्रसार ॥316॥

जो हो ख़ुशबू आप में, फैलेगी चहुँ ओर ।

धर्म – कर्म प्रेरित करें, नहीं ख्याति का छोर ॥317॥

पलकों में आँसू बसे, निर्मल जल का वास ।

जैसी मन की भावना, आँसू केवल खरे ॥318॥

काग बिना कोयल नहीं, हर पक्षी का मान ।

भला-बुरा अपनाइये, कर गहरी पहचान ॥319॥

गंगा को माता कहा, सागर पिता समान ।

मैला जो उनको करें, हो कपूत संतान ॥320॥

सेवा के प्रतिबिम्ब है, मानवता अवतार ।

छंदबद्ध सब को नमन, प्यार करें स्वीकार ॥321॥

धरम – युद्घ से जूझते, रंक रहे या शाह ।

साम दाम व दंड भेद, कृष्णार्र्जुन की राह ॥322॥

अर्थ हीन, स्व-अर्थ जहाँ, परम-अर्थ भरमाय ।

स्व अर्थ बिन व्यर्थ सब, अर्थ अनर्थ सहाय ॥323॥

उगता सूरज देखिए, फिर ना आँख मिलाय ।

बाल्यावस्था साथ हो, शिखर चढ़े खो जाय ॥324॥

जीवन जीने की कला, इक सूरज समझाय ।

दिन भर जो बाँटे चमक, रात चाँद चमकाय ॥325॥

कविता लेखन का नशा, फिर क्यूँ चखे शराब ।

ख़्यालों में हर पल रहें, छलके छंद शबाब ॥326॥

अहंकार मन में रहे, नहीं दया का भाव ।

अहं समंदर को रहे, बहे न काग़ज़ नाव ॥327॥

पार्थ तू माटी नहीं, ना तन अपना मान ।

जड़ में फूंके जान जो, वो शक्ति वही पहचान ॥328॥

माटी माँ का रूप है, बीज पिता का मान ।

दोनों के आशीष से, जीव चढ़े परवान ॥329॥

बाढ़ जो आये यहाँ, सरवर का क्या काम ।

परम ब्रह्म का बोध हो, नहीं वेद का नाम ॥330॥

फल पर तेरा वश नहीं, कर्मों पर अधिकार ।

फल की आशा हो नहीं, ना अकर्म आचार ॥331॥

मोह जाल के जंगल से, बुद्धि लगेगी पार ।

यात्राएँ सन्यास की, सुना हुईं बेकार ॥332॥

जो भौतिक चिंतन करे, आसक्ति हिय होय ।

राग जगाती कामना, काम क्रोध को बोय ॥333॥

क्रोध मोह को जन्म दे, चेतन मारा जाय ।

चित्त नाश बुद्धि हरता, पौरुष ही गिर जाय ॥334॥

जीना मरना तय सदा, सतत लोक परलोक ।

बच पाना संभव नहीं, अनुचित तेरा शोक ॥335॥

नाश न कोई कर सके, व्यापक जो चहुँ ओर ।

अविनाशी यह आत्मा, चले न जिस पर ज़ोर ॥336॥

२. सांख्ययोग ॐ

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द्वितीयोऽध्याय: सांख्ययोग ॐ

संजय उवाच

तं     तथा     कृपयाविष्टमश्रुपूर्णाकुलेक्षणम् ।
विषीदन्तमिदं      वाक्यमुवाच      मधुसूदन: ॥
करुणा से परिपूर्ण है, शोकाकुल है पार्थ ।
मधुसूदन   समझा रहे, कर सतत् शास्त्रार्थ ॥2-1॥

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श्री भगवानुवाच

कुतस्त्वा कश्मलमिदं विषमे समुपस्थितम् ।
अनार्यजुष्टमस्वर्ग्यमकीतिंकरमर्जुन॥
क्यों आया अज्ञान तुम्हें, असमय सारी बात।
लोक ना परलोक बने, पार्थ अपयशी रात ॥2-2॥

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क्लैब्यं मा स्म गम: पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते।
क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यत्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप ॥
पार्थ नपुंसक मतबनो, उचित नहीं पहचान।
दुर्बलताबिल्कुल नहीं, गांडीवतेरी शान॥2-3॥

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अर्जुन उवाच

कथं भीष्ममहं संख्ये द्रोणं च मधुसूदन।
इषुभि: प्रति योत्स्यामि पूजार्हावरिसूदन॥
पूजनीय सब हैंखड़े,भीष्मपितामह द्रोण।
हेमधुसूदनयह बता,बाण चले किसकोण॥2-4॥

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गुरूनहत्वा हि महानुभावान् श्रेयो भोक्तुं भैक्ष्यमपीह लोके।
हत्वार्थकामांस्तु गुरूनिहैव भुञ्जीय भोगान् रुधिरप्रदिग्धान् ॥
मांगूँखाऊँठीकहै,गुरुमारनापाप।
भोगऐसे ठीक नहीं,गुरुहत्याकाशाप॥2-5॥

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न चैतद्विद्म: कतरन्नो गरीयो यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयु:।
यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषाम- स्तेऽवस्थिता: प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्रा:॥
क्याअच्छायहपतानहीं,हम जीतेंयातात।
प्राणहरणभ्राताकरूँ,जीवनजैसेरात॥2-6॥

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कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभाव: पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेता:।
यच्छ्रेय: स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम्॥
दुर्बलता के बंधन में, भूला मेरा काम।
शरणागत मैं आपका, पथ दिखलाओ श्याम॥2-7॥

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न हि प्रपश्यामि ममापनुद्याद् ।
यच्छोकमुच्छोषणमिन्द्रियाणाम् ।
अवाप्य भूमावसपत्नमृद्धं राज्यं सुराणामपि चाधिपत्यम् ॥
मिट पायेगा ना कभी,मेरेमनकाशोक।
चाहेयहधरतीमिले,यासमस्तपरलोक॥2-8॥

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संजय उवाच

एवमुक्त्वा हृषीकेशं गुडाकेश: परन्तप ।
न योत्स्य इति गोविन्दमुक्त्वा तूष्णीं बभूव ह ॥
कृष्णसेअर्जुनकहे,ठीकनही संग्राम।
बैठगयेरथमेंपुन:,अपनीचुप्पीथाम॥2-9॥

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तमुवाच हृषीकेश: प्रहसन्निव भारत ।
सेनयोरुभयोर्मध्ये विषीदन्तमिदं वच:॥
हे राजन!गोविंदकहे,मोहित धर मुस्कान।
शोकाकुल अर्जुनसुने,मध्यसैन्य भगवान॥2-10॥

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श्रीभगवानुवाच

अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे ।
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिता:॥
बातें करताज्ञानकी,करे व्यर्थका शोक।
शोक न ज्ञानीजनकरें, जिये मरे यह लोक ॥2-11 ॥

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न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपा: ।
न चैव न भविष्याम: सर्वे वयमत: परम् ॥
काल नहीं ऐसाकभी, हमना थे इस लोक।
कालनहींहोगा कभी,नहीं लोक परलोक ॥2-12॥

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देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा ।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥
भूतजवानीबालपन, नवजीवन सबपाय।
धीरवीरसोचेनहीं,क्यों तू शोक मनाय॥2-13॥

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मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदु:खदा:।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥
सर्दीगर्मी सुखवदु:ख, सहने की है बात।
संग इन्द्रियों के विषय,हैअनित्यहालात॥2-14॥

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यं हि न व्यथयन्त्येते पुरुषं पुरुषर्षभ ।
समदु:खसुखं धीरं सोऽमृतत्वाय कल्पते ॥
ज्ञानी विचलित हो नहीं,सुखदुखसभी समान।
चाहत जो वशमें करे,मिलेमोक्षसम्मान॥2-15॥

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नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सत:।
उभयोरपि द़ृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभि:॥
आयुनहींअसत्यकी,सत्य सनातन काल।
ज्ञानीजन तो समझ गए,जीवनमायाजाल॥2-16॥

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अविनाशि तु तद्विद्धि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ।
विनाशमव्ययस्यास्य न कश्चित्कर्तुमर्हति ॥
नाश न कोई कर सके,व्यापक जो चहुँ ओर।
अविनाशी यह आत्मा,चले न जिस पर ज़ोर॥2-17॥

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अन्तवन्त इमे देहा नित्यस्योक्ता: शरीरिण: ।
अनाशिनोऽप्रमेयस्य तस्माद्युध्यस्व भारत ॥
अजरअमरजीवात्मा,नाशवान यहदेह ।
अर्जुन जन्मे मरेनहीं, रखो युद्ध से नेह॥2-18॥
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य एनं वेत्ति हन्तारं यश्चैनं मन्यते हतम् ।
उभौ तौ न विजानीतो नायं हन्ति न हन्यते ॥
मरा समझना–मारना,दोऊआधेज्ञान।
मरतीहैनामारती,अमर आत्माजान॥2-19॥

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न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि-न्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूय: ।
अजो नित्य: शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
नित्य सनातन आत्मा, नहीं देह के साथ ।
मरती ना ये जन्मती, कभी समय के हाथ ॥2-20॥

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वेदाविनाशिनं नित्यं य एनमजमव्ययम् ।
कथं स पुरुष: पार्थ कं घातयति हन्ति कम् ॥
जाने जो यह आत्मा, नाशरहित और नित्य ।
मरवाने या मारने, नहीं करेगा कृत्य ॥2-21॥

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वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्यति नरोऽपराणि ।
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥
बदल पुराने वस्त्रको,लेते नया चढ़ाय।
वैसेहीजीवात्मा,नईदेह पाजाय॥2-22॥

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नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावक:।
न चैनं क्लेदयन्त्यापो न शोषयति मारुत:॥
मार सके ना शस्त्र जिसे, जला सके ना आग।
जल गीला ना करसके, वायु करेना भाग॥2-23॥

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अच्छेद्योऽयमदाह्योऽयमक्लेद्योऽशोष्य एव च ।
नित्य: सर्वगत: स्थाणुरचलोऽयं सनातन:॥
गले जलेना आत्मा, और टूट नापाय ।
नित्य सनातन है सभी, अचल व स्थिर कहलाय ॥2-24॥

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अव्यक्तोऽयमचिन्त्योऽयमविकार्योऽयमुच्यते ।
तस्मादेवं विदित्वैनं नानुशोचितुमर्हसि ॥
व्यक्त नहीं होती कभी,होता नहीं विकार।
ऐसी है जब आत्मा,शोक करे बेकार ॥2-25॥

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अथ चैनं नित्यजातं नित्यं वा मन्यसे मृतम् ।
तथापि त्वं महाबाली नैवं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥
किन्तु कहे तू आत्मा, फिरे लोक परलोक।
तो भी महाबली सुनो, उचितनहीं यह शोक॥2-26॥

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जातस्य हि ध्रुवो मृत्युर्ध्रुवं जन्म मृतस्य च।
तस्मादपरिहार्येऽर्थे न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि ॥
जीना मरना तयसदा,सतत लोक परलोक ।
बच पाना संभवनहीं, अनुचित तेरा शोक॥2-27॥

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अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत ।
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ॥
प्रगट नहीं प्रारंभ में, नहीं मृत्यु के बाद ।
प्रगट मध्य में ही रहे, फिर क्यों शोक – विवाद ॥2-28॥

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आश्चर्यवत्पश्यति कश्चिदेन- माश्चर्यवद्वदति तथैव चान्य:।
आश्चर्यवच्चौनमन्य: शृणोति श्रुत्वाप्येनं वेद न चैव कश्चित् ॥
कोई अचरज से लखे, करे आत्म की बात।
या फिर अचरज से सुने, समझ न पाये जात॥2-29॥

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देही नित्यमवध्योऽयं देहे सर्वस्य भारत।
तस्मात्सर्वाणि भूतानि न त्वं शोचितुमर्हसि॥
पार्थ अमर यह आत्मा, रहती सबके देह।
तुझे नहीं अधिकार ये, करे शोक संदेह ॥2-30॥

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स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि ।
धर्माद्धि युद्धाच्छ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते ॥
सउचित यह संकोच नहीं, भय न धर्म अनुसार।
धर्मयुद्ध में जबलड़े, होक्षत्रिय उद्धार॥2-31॥

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यद़ृच्छया चोपपन्नं स्वर्गद्वारमपावृतम् ।
सुखिन: क्षत्रिया: पार्थ लभन्ते युद्धमीद़ृशम् ॥
हे पार्थ!अवसर यही, खुला स्वर्ग का द्वार।
भाग्यवान क्षत्रिय वही, मिले युद्ध काभार॥2-32॥

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अथ   चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्य संग्रामं न करिष्यसि   ।
तत: स्वधर्मं कीतिर्ं च हित्वा   पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥
छोड़ेगा   जोयुद्धतू, खुले पाप के द्वार।
छोड़ स्वधर्म न यश मिले, जीवन का यह सार॥2-33॥

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अकीर्तिं चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययाम् ।
सम्भावितस्य चाकीर्तिर्मरणादतिरिच्यते ॥
होनिन्दा इतिहासमें,अपयशबारंबार।
मृत्युसे भी बदतरहै, बदनामी का भार॥2-34॥

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भयाद्रणादुपरतं   मंस्यन्ते    त्वां    महारथा:।
येषां च   त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम् ॥
छोड़ युद्ध जो भागता, लोग कहें डरपोक।
कायर कहें महारथी, बिगड़ें दोनों   लोक ॥2-35॥

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अवाच्यवादांश्च बहून्वदिष्यन्ति तवाहिता:।
निन्दन्तस्तव सामर्थ्य ततो दु:खतरं नु किम्॥
क्षमता पर शंका करें, बोल वचन के तीर।
व्यंग्य बाण तुझ पर चले, घाव करें गंभीर॥2-36॥

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हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वगर्ं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम्।
तस्मादुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चय:॥
मरणगति से स्वर्ग मिले,विजय मिली तो राज ।
कौन्तेय! तू होखड़ा, कर रण का आग़ाज़ ॥2-37॥

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सुखदु:खे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ ।
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥
हार–जीत, सुख–दुख रहे, लाभो–हानि समान।
भाव रहित जो युद्ध लड़े,मिले पुण्य का मान॥2-38॥

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एषा तेऽभिहिता सांख्ये बुद्धिर्योगे त्विमां शृणु ।
बुद्ध्या युक्तो यया पार्थ कर्मबन्धं प्रहास्यसि ॥
पार्थ! जो अबतक सुना, सांख्ययोग का बोध।
कर्मयोग से काम लो, मिटे मोक्ष अवरोध ॥2-39॥

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नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते ।
स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ॥
कर्मयोग के मायने, नहीं हानि या नाश।
थोड़ा भी जो कर्म करे, मुक्त हो भय विश्वास॥2-40॥

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व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धिरेकेह कुरुनन्दन ।
बहुशाखा ह्यनन्ताश्च बुद्धयोऽव्यवसायिनाम् ॥
लक्ष्य कभी भटके नहीं, धर्म न छोड़े साथ।
नर में नहीं विवेक जिस, नियति छोड़े हाथ॥2-41॥

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यामिमां पुष्पितां वाचं प्रवदन्त्यविपश्चित:।
वेदवादरता: पार्थ नान्यदस्तीति वादिन:॥
लिपटा है जोभोग में, कर्म फलों की आस ।
स्वर्ग गमन के मोह में,वेद वाक् का दास॥2-42॥

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कामात्मान: स्वर्गपरा जन्मकर्मफलप्रदाम्।
क्रियाविशेषबहुलां भोगैश्वर्यगतिं प्रति॥
फँसा काम के जाल में, पुनर्जन्म का फेर।
अर्जुन ऐसे जातक में, है लालच अति ढेर ॥2-43॥

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भोगैश्वर्यप्रसक्तानां तयापहृतचेतसाम् ।
व्यवसायात्मिका बुद्धि: समाधौ न विधीयते॥
यहीं भटकता मन कहीं, लिपटा भोग विलास ।
सम्भव नहींसमाधि हो, होय बुद्धि का नास॥2-44॥

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त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा निस्त्रैगुण्यो भवार्जुन ।
निर्द्वन्द्वो नित्यसत्त्वस्थो निर्योगक्षेम आत्मवान् ॥
तीनगुणों काफेर है, वेदविषय का ज्ञान।
रागद्वेषको छोड़के, अर्जुन सत्को जान॥2-45॥

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यावानर्थ उदपाने सर्वत: संप्लुतोदके ।
तावान्सर्वेषु वेदेषु ब्राह्मणस्य विजानत: ॥
बाढ़जोआयेयहाँ, सरवर का क्या काम।
परमब्रह्मकाबोध हो, नहींवेद का नाम॥2-46॥

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कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
फल पर तेरा वश नहीं, कर्मों पर अधिकार।
फल की आशा हो नहीं, ना अकर्म आचार॥2-47॥

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योगस्थ: कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनंजय ।
सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्यो: समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते॥
नहीं धनंजय लिप्त न हो, मन की समता साध ।
सफल विफल जो भी रहे, कर कर्तव्य अबाध ॥2-48॥

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दूरेण ह्यवरं कर्म बुद्धियोगाद्धनंजय।
बुद्धौ शरणमन्विच्छ कृपणा:फलहेतव:॥
बुद्धि योग से धनंजय,बुरे कर्म को त्याग ।
बुद्ध शरण की कामना, कृपण करे अनुराग ॥2-49॥

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बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते।
तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योग: कर्मसु कौशलम्॥
कर्म करे समभाव जो, पाप–पुण्य तज जाय।
कर्म कुशलता सेकरें, जीव मुक्त हो पाय ॥2-50

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कर्मजं बुद्धियुक्ता हि फलं त्यक्त्वा मनीषिण:।
जन्मबन्धविनिर्मुक्ता:पदं गच्छन्त्यनामयम् ॥
भक्तिभाव से कर्म करे, ज्ञानी फल को त्याग ।
जन्म चक्र से मुक्त रहे, मिलता मोक्ष सुभाग ॥2-51॥

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यदा ते मोहकलिलं बुद्धिवर्यतितरिष्यति ।
तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च ॥
मोह जाल के जंगल से, बुद्धि लगेगी पार ।
यात्राएँ सन्यास की, सुनाहुईं बेकार ॥2-52॥

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श्रुतिविप्रतिपन्ना ते यदा स्थास्यति निश्चला ।
समाधावचला बुद्धिस्तदा योगमवाप्स्यसि ॥
सुन अज्ञान से हो परे, हो मन निश्चित स्थान ।
ईश्वर में बुद्धि रहे, मिले योग तू जान ॥2-53॥

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अर्जुन उवाच

स्थितप्रज्ञस्य का भाषा समाधिस्थस्य केशव ।
स्थितधी: किं प्रभाषेत किमासीत व्रजेत किम्॥
स्थितप्रज्ञ है आदमी, भाषा क्या भगवान ।
जो स्थिर कैसे बोलता, किसविध से पहचान ॥2-54॥

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श्रीभगवानुवाच

प्रजहाति   यदा   कामान्सर्वान्पार्थ मनोगतान् ।
आत्मन्येवात्मना    तुष्ट:   स्थितप्रज्ञस्तदोच्यते॥
कामनाएँ   त्याग दे, समता मन कहलाय।
आत्मज्ञान पहचान ले,स्थिरबुद्धि कहलाय॥2-55॥

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दु:खेष्वनुद्विग्नमना: सुखेषु विगतस्पृह:।
वीतरागभयक्रोध: स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते
दुखी नहीं दुख कर सके, सुख का ना हो भान ।
राग क्रोध भय ना रहे, स्थिर बुद्धि हो जान ॥2-56॥

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य: सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य शुभाशुभम् ।
नाभिनन्दति न द्वेष्टि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥
मोह नहीं बाँधे जिसे, है शुभ अशुभ समान ।
नहीं खुशी ना द्वेष हो, स्थिर बुद्धि हो जान॥2-57॥

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यदा संहरते चायं कूर्मोऽङ्गानीव सर्वश: ।
इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥
कछुआ ज्यों भीतर छुपे, हो विषयों से दूर ।
अंकुश जो मन पे रखे, स्थिर है बुद्धि ज़रूर ॥2-58॥

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विषया    विनिवर्तन्ते   निराहारस्य    देहिन:।
रसवर्जं   रसोऽप्यस्य   परं   द़ृष्टा   निवर्तते ॥
रहे   विषय जो दूर जो, पाले प्रत्याहार ।
रस जाने पर त्याग दे, होवे बेड़ा पार ॥2-59॥

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यततो ह्यपि कौन्तेय पुरुषस्य विपश्चित:।
इन्द्रियाणि प्रमाथीनि हरन्ति प्रसभं मन:॥
सदा प्रभावी इन्द्रियाँ, विचलित रहे विवेक।
अर्जुन हार न मानना, करना यत्न अनेक॥2-60॥

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तानि सर्वाणि संयम्य युक्त आसीत मत्पर:।
वशे हि यस्येन्द्रियाणि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥
जो मुझमें तल्लीन हो, मन पर अंकुश होय ।
वश में रख के इंद्रियाँ, स्थिर बुद्धि वह होय॥2-61॥

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ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंस: सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते ।
सङ्गात्संजायते काम: कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते ॥
जो भौतिक चिंतन करे, आसक्ति हिय होय।
राग जगाती कामना, काम क्रोध को बोय॥2-62॥

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क्रोधाद्भवति संमोह: संमोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रम:।
स्मृतिभ्रंशाद्बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ॥
क्रोध मोह को जन्म दे, चेतन मारा जाय ।
चित्त नाश बुद्धि हरता,पौरुष ही गिर जाय ॥2-63॥

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रागद्वेषविमुक्तैस्तु विषयानिन्द्रियैश्चरन् ।
आत्मवश्यैर्विधेयात्मा प्रसादमधिगच्छति ॥
राग द्वेष से मुक्त हो, हों इंद्रियाँ अधीन।
आत्मा को वश में रखे, रहे वही स्वाधीन ॥2-64॥

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प्रसादे सर्वदु:खानां हानिरस्योपजायते ।
प्रसन्नचेतसो ह्याशु बुद्धि: पर्यवतिष्ठते ॥
कृपा प्रभु की जब मिले, भागें सब दुख दूर।
मानवस्थिरबुद्धि बने, खुशियाँ रहेंन दूर ॥2-65॥

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नास्ति बुद्धिरयुक्तस्य न चायुक्तस्य भावना ।
न चाभावयत: शान्तिरशान्तस्य कुत: सुखम् ॥
संयत बुद्धि की कमी, शांति कभी ना होय ।
जो शांति की हो कमी, आनंदित क्या होय॥2-66॥

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इन्द्रियाणां हि चरतां यन्मनोऽनु विधीयते ।
तदस्य हरति प्रज्ञां वायुर्नावमिवाम्भसि ॥
वायु बहाकर ले चले, जल संग बहती नाव।
वैसेइन्द्रिय ले चले,आसक्ति संग भाव॥2-67॥

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तस्माद्यस्य महाबाहो निगृहीतानि सर्वश: ।
इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥
हे अर्जुन! उसकी समझ,स्थिर बुद्धि का राज ।
रहे नियंत्रित इंद्रियाँ,विषयबन्द आवाज़ ॥2-68॥

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या निशा सर्वभूतानां तस्यां जागर्ति संयमी ।
यस्यां जाग्रति भूतानि सा निशा पश्यतो मुने:॥
सोते हैं सब लोग जब, ज्ञानी करते गात ।
अगर जागते लोग सब, ज्ञानी समझेरात ॥2-69॥

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आपूर्यमाणमचलप्रतिष्ठं समुद्रमाप: प्रविशन्ति यद्वत् ।
तद्वत्कामा यं प्रविशन्ति सर्वे स शान्तिमाप्नोति न कामकामी ॥
विचलितनासागरहुआ, नदियाँमिलेंहज़ार।
बनीशांतबुद्धिरहे,इच्छाउठेअपार ॥2-70॥

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विहाय कामान्य: सर्वान् पुमांश्चरति नि:स्पृह:।
निर्ममो निरहंकार: स शान्तिमधिगच्छति ॥
कामनाएँ जो तज दे,तजे अहं और मोह ।
उसको हीशांति मिले, आनंदित आरोह॥2-71॥

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एषा ब्राह्मी स्थिति: पार्थ नैनां प्राप्य विमुह्यति ।
स्थित्वास्यामन्तकालेऽपि ब्रह्मनिर्वाणमृच्छति ॥
पाये जो यह दिव्यदशा, नहीं मोह का ध्यान ।
परमानंद उसकोमिले,मिलें अंत निर्वान॥2-72॥

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ॐ तत्सदिति श्रीमद्भगवद्गीतासूपनिषत्सु ब्रह्मविद्यायां योगशास्त्रे
श्रीकृष्णार्जुन संवादे सांख्ययोगो नाम द्वितीयोऽध्याय: ॥

॥ ॐ ॐ ॐ ॥

Righteousness is Dharma

Often we face dilemma, whether we are performing right actions or not. Most of the time it is easy to distinguish between right and wrong but very difficult to differentiate between right and more right or wrong and more wrong. Right or wrong can vary on scale of universal truth and individual perceptions. Since it is subjective and depends on society, religion and profession we belong to; it is very confusing. If we leave apart the universal truth, most of the value system is governed by country, religion, society and work groups. Keeping 4 wives is considered doing dharma in one religion whereas in other religion it is not at all accepted. Eating non-veg food is well accepted in one society but in another society it may be strictly prohibited. Such a paradoxical system we have.

According to Stephen Covey, principles are universal and they are like the light houses. They never change but values and belief system change as per time, individual, group and circumstances. This is the main reason that definition of righteousness also changes from person to person. Righteousness needs to be understood at different levels and from various points of view. In my view righteousness can be explained at following 6 levels.

Universal Righteousness: There are certain universal principle and practices such as honesty, love, duty etc. that are acknowledged by all the religions and societies in every part of the world. Every human being is expected to follow these principles otherwise that person may not be treated with respect. So keep walking on the path of Dharma.

National Righteousness: Every nation has its own constitution and legal system. Every citizen of that country is expected to follow and abide them.
Religious Righteousness: Every religion has its own belief/faith system and if you belong to that religion then you are expected to follow their principles and holy book of that religion.
Social Righteousness: Every community and society has its own value system and if you are part of it, you are expected to follow otherwise that community may disown you.
Professional Righteousness: Every profession has code of conduct and ethics defined and if you belong to that profession you are advised to follow the same.
Individual Righteousness: Individuals can have his own moral system based on their education, society, personal beliefs etc. However, same may not be acceptable to others.

5 tips to decide the path of righteousness:
1. Identify all the groups you belong to. Find out their code of conduct and follow them.
2. Don’t worry if you are not on right path, having knowledge that you are on wrong path is the first stage of awakening. Most of the people are ignorant.
3. Sudden change in behavior and attitude is not possible. It’s a slow process. As long as you are progressing on right path, it is a good enough.
4. Identify which is the most dangerous value system you are ignoring and first work on those so that you can be saved from major consequences.
5. It is a continuous process till you get enlightenment and liberation. So keep on walking on the right path.

दोहा by अविनाश बागड़े

सात्विकता के साथ में, करिए अपना कर्म ।
दुनिया में कुछ है नहीं, सदाचार ही धर्म।।

For Hindi Blog: http://nectarofwisdom.in/2019/12/23/rid/

धार्मिकता ही धर्म है

अक्सर हम दुविधा का सामना करते हैं कि हम सही कार्य कर रहे है या नहीं । ज्यादातर समय सही और गलत के बीच अंतर करना आसान होता है लेकिन सही और अधिक सही या गलत और अधिक गलत के बीच अंतर करना बहुत मुश्किल होता है । सही या गलत का पैमाना सार्वभौमिक सत्य और व्यक्तिगत धारणाओं के अनुसार अलग-अलग हो सकता हैं । चूँकि यह व्यक्तिपरक है तथा समाज, धर्म और पेशे पर निर्भर करता है; यह बहुत ही भ्रामक है । यदि हम सार्वभौमिक सत्य को छोड़ दें, तो अधिकांश मूल्य प्रणाली देश, धर्म, समाज और कार्य समूहों द्वारा ही शासित है । 4 पत्नियों को रखना एक धर्म में धर्म माना जाता है जबकि दूसरे धर्म में इसे स्वीकार नहीं किया जाता । नॉन-वेज खाना खाना एक समाज में अच्छी तरह से स्वीकार किया जाता है, जबकी दूसरे समाज में इसे सख्ती से प्रतिबंधित किया जाता है । हमारे पास ऐसी विडंबनापूर्ण व्यवस्था है ।

स्टीफन कोवे के अनुसार, सिद्धांत सार्वभौमिक हैं और वे प्रकाश घरों की तरह होते हैं । वे कभी नहीं बदलते लेकिन वैल्यू तथा विश्वास प्रणालियां समय, व्यक्ति, समूह और परिस्थितियों के अनुसार बदलते रहते हैं । यही मुख्य कारण है कि धार्मिकता की परिभाषा भी व्यक्ति दर व्यक्ति बदल जाती है । धार्मिकता को विभिन्न स्तरों पर और विभिन्न दृष्टिकोणों से समझने की आवश्यकता है । मेरे विचार में धार्मिकता को 6 स्तरों पर समझाया जा सकता है ।

सार्वभौमिक धार्मिकता: कुछ सार्वभौमिक सिद्धांत और प्रथाएं जैसे कि ईमानदारी, प्रेम, कर्तव्य आदि दुनिया के हर हिस्से में सभी धर्मों और समाजों द्वारा स्वीकार किये जाते हैं । प्रत्येक मनुष्य से अपेक्षा की जाती है कि वह इन सिद्धांतों का पालन करे अन्यथा उस व्यक्ति के साथ सम्मान का व्यवहार नहीं भी किया जा सकता है । इसलिए धर्म मार्ग पर चलते रहो ।

राष्ट्रीय धर्म: हर देश का अपना संविधान और कानूनी व्यवस्था होती है । उस देश के प्रत्येक नागरिक से अपेक्षा की जाती है कि वे उस व्यवस्था को अपनाएं तथा उसका पालन करें ।

धार्मिक धार्मिकता: प्रत्येक धर्म की अपनी आस्था / विश्वास प्रणाली होती है और यदि आप उस धर्म से संबंध रखते हैं तो आपसे अपेक्षा की जाती है कि आप उस धर्म के सिद्धांतों तथा उस धर्म की पवित्र पुस्तक का पालन करें ।

सामाजिक धार्मिकता: प्रत्येक समुदाय और समाज की अपनी एक वैल्यू सिस्टम होटा है और यदि आप इसका हिस्सा हैं, तो आपसे अपेक्षा की जाती है कि आप उसका अनुसरण करें अन्यथा समुदाय आपको बहिष्कृत कर सकता हैं ।

व्यावसायिक धार्मिकता: प्रत्येक पेशे की आचार संहिता और नैतिकता परिभाषित होती है और यदि आप उस पेशे से संबंधित हैं, तो आपको उसके पालन करने की सलाह दी जाती है ।

व्यक्तिगत धार्मिकता: व्यक्तियों की अपनी शिक्षा, समाज, व्यक्तिगत मान्यताओं आदि के आधार पर अपनी नैतिक प्रणाली हो भी सकती है, हो सकता है वह दूसरों के लिए स्वीकार्य नहीं भी हो ।

धार्मिकता का रास्ता तय करने के लिए 5 टिप्स :

1. आपसे संबंधित सभी समूहों को पहचानें । उनकी आचार संहिता का पता लगाएं और उनका पालन करें ।

2. अगर आप सही रास्ते पर नहीं हैं तो चिंतित ना हों क्योकि यह आपका जागरूकता की और पहला कदम है । अधिकतर लोग अज्ञानी बने रहते है ।

3. व्यवहार और दृष्टिकोण में अचानक परिवर्तन संभव नहीं है । यह एक धीमी प्रक्रिया है । जब तक आप सही रास्ते पर आगे बढ़ रहे हैं, यह काफी अच्छा है ।

4. जिसे आप अनदेखा कर रहे हैं उस सबसे खतरनाक वैल्यू सिस्टम है को पहचाने और सबसे पहले उन पर काम करें ताकि आप स्वयं को उनके परिणामों से बचा सके ।

5. आपको आत्मज्ञान या मुक्ति नहीं मिलने तक यह एक सतत प्रक्रिया है । इसलिए सही राह पर चलते रहें ।

For English Blog: http://nectarofwisdom.in/2019/12/23/righteousness-is-dharma/

Rational or Emotional

Our behaviour fall between highly rational to highly emotional/irrational. On 1-9 scale say 9 is for highly rational and 1 is for highly emotional. Geeta explains it beautifully. Every living being have combination of 3 qualities. रज, तम व सत. I will relate highly rational as rajoguni and highly emotional as tamoguni. If you balance between rational and emotional than you can be termed as satoguni.

Whether we will act as rajoguni, tamoguni or satoguni depends on 4 aspects. Self, other person, time and circumstances. The problem with humans is that in same circumstances they may act differently with different people or different time. That way we are unpredictable.

Self is guided by gene, upbringing, education, experiences and self interest. Our tuning with other person also plays big role. What phase of time we are going through can also change our behaviour and what circumstances we are going through also decides our actions and reactions.

So our behaviour or behaviour of other person depends on complexity of time, situation, person and self (emotions and intellect). It is easy to predict satoguni (balanced person) compared to rajoguni (rational) or tamoguni (emotional).

तर्क संगत, भावुक हम, करते जो व्यवहार
परिस्थित्तिया, समय, स्वयं , सब है जिम्मेदार

For Hindi Blog: http://nectarofwisdom.in/2019/12/23/roe/

तर्कसंगत या भावनात्मक

हमारा व्यवहार अत्यधिक तर्कसंगत से अत्यधिक भावनात्मक / तर्कहीन के बीच कही होता है । 1 से 9 पैमाने पर हम कह सकते है कि 9 अत्यधिक तर्कसंगत तथा 1 अत्यधिक भावनात्मक के लिए है । गीता इसे बड़ी खूबसूरती से समझाया गया है । हर जीवित प्राणी में 3 गुण होते हैं । राज, तम व सत । इसे रजोगुण की वजह से अत्यधिक तर्कसंगत और तमोगुण की वजह से अत्यधिक भावुक से जोड़ा जा सकता है । यदि आप तर्कसंगत और भावनात्मक के बीच संतुलन बना लेते हैं तो उस स्तिथि को सतोगुण की स्थिति कहा जाएगा ।

हम रजोगुणी, तमोगुणी या सतोगुणी के रूप में कार्य करेंगे यह 4 पहलुओं पर निर्भर करता है । स्वयं, अन्य व्यक्ति, समय और परिस्थितियाँ । मनुष्यों के साथ समस्या यह है कि वे एक ही परिस्थिति में अलग-अलग लोगों के साथ अलग-अलग समय पर अलग-अलग तरीके से बर्ताव कर सकते हैं । इसी वजह से हम अप्रत्याशित हैं ।

व्यक्ति जीन, परवरिश, शिक्षा, अनुभवों और स्वयं के हित द्वारा घड़ा हुआ पुतला है । दूसरे व्यक्ति के साथ हमारी ट्यूनिंग भी बड़ी भूमिका निभाती है । हमारा बदला हुआ व्यवहार यह बताता है कि हम किस दौर से गुजर रहे हैं और हमारी परिस्थितियां हमारे कार्यों और प्रतिक्रियाओं को तय करती है ।

अतः हमारा व्यवहार तथा अन्य व्यक्तियों का व्यवहार समय, स्थिति, व्यक्ति और स्वयं की (भावनाओं और बुद्धि) की जटिलता पर निर्भर करता है । रजोगुणी (तर्कसंगत) या तमोगुणी (भावनात्मक) की तुलना में सतोगुणी (संतुलित व्यक्ति) बनना आसान है ।

For English Blog: http://nectarofwisdom.in/2019/12/23/rational-or-emotional/

1. Belief in Self

2. Creativity

3. Vision

1. Willpower

2. Positive Body Language

CONCLUSION:

1. Manage Risk

2. Demonstrate Curiosity

3. Lead Courageously

4. Seize Opportunities

1. Maintain a Strategic Business Perspective

CONCLUSION:

1. Recognize your faults.

2. When you are wrong, admit it.

3. While having a conversation, be more considerate.

4. Appreciate others.

1. Admit that you might not be the best in everything.

CONCLUSION:

5 Essential Characteristics of a Great Leader

1. Clarity

2. Decisiveness

3. Courage

4. Passion

1. Humility

CONCLUSION

1. Embrace your inner boss

1. Say no without regret

2. Have a core set of values

3. Share praise

What is emotional intelligence?

5 Key Elements of Emotional Intelligence

1. Self-awareness

2. Self-regulation

3. Self – Motivation

1. Empathy

2. Social skills

CONCLUSION:

Following the 5-D-Path is the way to go for Leaders. Step 1: DREAM

Step 2: DESIRE

Step 3: DETERMINATION

Step 4: DISCIPLINED DEDICATION

Step 5: DESTINY

Here are Five Reasons Why Character Plays A Major Role in Leadership:

2. Commands Respect

3. Brings Excellence

4. Genuine Care

5. Optimism

CONCLUSION:

How do you know if you’re a blamer?

The short of it is: bad leaders blame, great leaders don’t!

REASON #2: When You Don’t Blame Others, You Become More Conﬁdent

REASON #3: When You Don’t Blame Others, You Stop Making Excuses for Yourself

REASON #4: When You Don’t Blame Others, You Allow Space for Personal Growth

REASON #5: When You Do Not Blame Others You Become The Victor, Not the Victim

CONCLUSION

Competencies of a Good Leader

1. Clarity of Vision

2. Effective Communication

3. Expertise of Subject

Process of Risk Management

What is Breakeven Point?

How to Calculate Breakeven Point?

An Example of Breakeven Point

Quickness

Failing to plan is planning to fail ― Alan Lakein

Fact-Based

Objective

Fair and Balanced

Made When Entrepreneur Are Emotionally Stable

Meeting the Needs of All Parties

Carefully Considering All Options

Fully Assessing Risks

Following Your Intuition

Dare to Dream

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