The grapevine communication

More than 50% of the productivity of companies is lost due to grapevine communication. For those who are unaware about grapevine communication, you can Google for a lot of information and statistics out there. In simple words I can explain that grapevine communication is the portion of communication during our work time which doesn't result in any kind of results or progress. Simple examples of grapevine communication are; two colleagues gossiping about the clothes of their manager or someone sharing about review of a movie with his teammate during work timings. Such stuff doesn't lead to any progress of the work or the individuals involved, and definitely not that of the company.

People join companies and work only with an intention to progress ahead in life and to maintain a well-sustained livelihood. Being so, still they involve in grapevine communication and cut down on the productivity of the company. This is quite a paradox for many of us. Well! It’s all but natural for us, human beings. We are not machines. We have an extra emotional part to us. Machines keep doing the work as per the instructions given, whereas humans need an environment that is lively enough and congenial for their style of work. A laughing or sniggering environment is generally preferred to keep our moods high. Sometimes just to drain away the home strain with a third person like colleague makes people feel much relaxed to work. To cater to the emotional states of oneself or that of others people jump into grapevine communication discussing about all the stuff apart from work. That is where one of the individuals involved in the communication must be at least aware of recognising the trap that each one is jumping into knowingly or unknowingly, and cut short on the unnecessary discussion. Unfortunately, people hinder away from putting the full stop in such conversations with the fear that they might attract the scorn of their fellow-mates which is the case most of the times in work places. A person who thinks of work is termed as a killer of happiness for employees. As a result, many managers and directors are hated because of their seriousness towards work resulting from their in-depth understanding of the consequences of grapevine communication.

People, while working, must realise that they are in the workplace not to deviate from work. They have to focus on what is the next target or which is the next deadline. That shall keep all of us in regular momentum so that we don't stray away into non-essential chit-chats. Even if our colleagues are getting into such stuff we must take the initiative to reorient them towards their work. Only then an organization can become a giant. Though there might be resistance initially, people shall understand your true intentions towards progress of the work for the unintended interruption in their conversations and shall start following the suite very soon.

Bigger reason than black money for underdeveloped India

Debates and discussions have been going on from decades together as to why India has still remained as an underdeveloped country, why the rupee value against dollar is consistently falling, why are the middle class people still struggling and the poor still suffering. Politics has been blamed, governments have been blamed, and the entire system has been blamed. One of the prominent reasons always blamed by majority is the black money. Politicians, people in government, people having black money are way lesser than the entire population of the country. This small knit of people cannot be alone responsible for an entire country to lag behind in development. The problem of underdevelopment is deeper and has its roots in every household of the country. Few people cannot hold the nation back from development. Majority of the Indian population is a part of this process to keep India still a developing country. Wondering how?

The culture in Indian families plays a crucial role in the development of India. Development of any nation can happen when the people belonging to it are bringing out ideas and business ventures that not only satisfy the nation’s population but also bring in customers from outside the country. More profits earned by the nation’s citizens only increase the taxes collected by the same nation. The same money can be used for better development and infrastructure of the country by the government. This means that more and fresher businesses must start in the country which is nothing but pure entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship comes with its own challenges. It takes time and money to build an idea into a financial viable systematic business model. This requires the entrepreneur to be free from any other burden apart from funding his own basic necessities of life and his idea. Unfortunately, in Indian middle class family system, parents bring up children with good education mainly to secure a good job which can yield enough income to take the responsibility of the household. With lack of financial planning, even the parents would have invested all their earnings to bring up their children with an expectation that they would take up a good job post education and take care of the financial liabilities of the family. This is a check-mate option for a person who dreams about entrepreneurship because, while setting up a business one cannot expect returns instantly that a high paying job can give though there is a higher possibility of the same business yielding multiple times the job income 5 years down the lane.

This being the typical scenario in majority of the middle class and poor families of India which accounts for the majority of the Indian population, not many new ventures are springing up which can rise the economy standards of India. Rather, all the youngsters from such families are ready to work as cheap labour in jobs for the multinational companies which make more profits by earning their profits in dollars and paying these people in rupees. The pay scales offered also satisfy the family constraints of such people and hence there is no push towards entrepreneurship. As a result, the entire country is running slow in the race towards development. The entire population is holding the reigns of development of India than a mere few people in governance or business.

This is where the western world races ahead in development as the family culture over there makes youngsters find their livelihood on their own by getting into part-time jobs rather than depending on parents. Adults are wise enough to plan their retirement and don’t depend on their children. As a result, entrepreneurship finds a fertile soil to germinate seeds of ideas and harvests of profits amongst these young entrepreneurs who enjoy the freedom of experimentation along with the shoulders free of any family liabilities. Naturally, more ideas convert into business solutions which reach out to the entire world’s population bringing in foreign money into the country improving the economy standards of the western nations.

Until the present generation parents realise this hidden truth, and stop blaming all the umpteen number of reasons for an underdeveloped India and provide the scope of freedom for their children to walk on the route of entrepreneurship to bring their ideas into reality, India is only going to delay its own progress and process of achieving the expected development standards. India is not the only country suffering from the issue of black money. There are so many developed countries of the world too that are facing the same issue. The roots for underdeveloped India are not superficial in the reasons seen by the bare eyes. The roots are deeper knotted in every family household of the Indian population.

Professionals define the profession

In today's world, with the surmounting amount of information flow from all directions people have a huge question on mind as to which profession to take up. Different opportunities present different scales of returns and the number of such opportunities is limited in case of those who aren't prepared and trained to enter the work world while for those who are pre-equipped, they are just too big in number and variety. Too many options only confuse our choices. Which profession to choose is of great question and the debate about the goodness and badness of a profession is never ending. That's where I need to jump in and tell that your profession can't define you; you will've to give a new meaning to the profession you get into.

I had heard my lecturer say in my college days that, "everyone is good, everyone is bad but only the percentage varies." Likewise profession is also something that's innovated by man. No profession is good or bad. It's the people in the profession who shall define the quality and fame of the  profession. Let's take two simple examples of Sir Richard Branson and Sachin Tendulkar. to understand the concept better. Sir Richard Branson is a true serial entrepreneur who has made people feel that entrepreneurship is the cloud nine of life. He has given his adventurous touch to the business world. In the same way, Sachin Tendulkar has displayed the true spirit of sportsmanship by taking cricket records to new heights which people might not even defeat for ages to come. He has inspired and influenced hordes of others to take up cricket as the profession just like how Sir Richard Branson has triggered plenty of youth to jump into the ocean of entrepreneurship and business.

We can find so many frauds and cheats in both the fields of cricket and business. Still people opt for such fields because of the personalities who have made those professions noble. Hence we must not have any bias towards any profession. We must think about what value we can add to the profession we are in and how we can influence lots more to take up the same profession and benefit themselves. Only then you become a true professional in your profession and a leader who sets new benchmarks and standards.

Practical entrepreneurship

With the advent of internet, opportunities to be your own boss sitting at home have increased multifold. Information is available just a click away and resources to build a company are easily accessible at your doorsteps by way of ordering at your fingertips. The craze of owning something has forgone a long way more than just mere desire to form a kind of psychological lock. One who doesn't have to take others orders is considered to be great. As a result of all such factors, today's youth is jumping into entrepreneurship without having any practical insight into it just out of excitement. MBA books have introduced so many complicated terms just by knowing which people believe that they can become entrepreneurs.

Today, the word 'entrepreneur' has taken up various forms for people in different fields. For working people, entrepreneurship turns into something called intrapreneurship. For people in fields other than business there's a wide variety to choose from such as social entrepreneurship, political entrepreneurship, knowledge entrepreneurship and a lot more. In any form of entrepreneurship the most important thing to be taken care of is practicality. Any work can be printed on paper and conceptualized to the best idealistic extent. The true roots of success or failure can only be witnessed when we jump into the practical field of implementation of the intended idea. I have heard so many MBA students who come to the conclusion by the time they start working that they just need to take all their textbooks, tear them apart and throw away once they are in the real world. Books were written based on the real world scenario of the past.

Having graphs of thousands of dollars scaling their way up with every passing year or charting out tables and pie-charts indicating the expected investments or the profit/loss statements do not alone suffice to build a practical B-plan. One has to get a first hand experience on field about business, about working with people, about understanding the relationship between demand and supply and many more practical aspects related to business. Without basic understanding for at least a couple of years one will only be devastated to see his/her paper plans crushing down into ashes if the practicality of implementation is sidelined. Let's get realistic friends!

Business on mind

This morning I was accompanied by my brother for breakfast at a hotel. We ordered the staple food of South India, Idly+Vada (Idly and Vada are dishes made for breakfast across many parts of South India). We got our orders served. Once we finished with Idlies, we tasted the Vada. It was crispy and amazingly tasteful. I was totally impressed with the taste and feel of the Vada. Immediately, I extended my heart full of appreciation towards the server and appreciated the good quality of the Vada. Instantly the reply came from him, which was, "Shall I serve you one more Vada?"

 

The server didn't forget business just because he was flattered by an appreciation. Most of us resort to saying a humble 'Thank You' whenever we are appreciated for some good work of ours. The time of flattery takes us on cloud 9 and we forget everything else at that time. But the server was not of one of that kind of people. He had a presence of mind to convert the appreciation received into a sale which could benefit his hotel. Presence of mind on what is the need of the hour should be more on our mind before any flattery tries to take its place. There are lot of tricksters out there in the market who will try to take everything from you just by flattering you with their sweet and nice words. We must be shielded to such flattery. Even if it's a genuine appreciation we must try to take advantage of it as to how it can benefit our business and organization. Only then do we make the right us of what comes our way.

 

Taking advantage of an appreciation to convert into a sale is no mean job to do. In fact it's the right thing to do because when a customer is happy, he is bound to appreciate your product/service. At that time, if you can serve him with more facilities which might come at a cost, it will definitely serve the customer. As long as the king is served he loves to be the king. Since customer is the king, servitude attitude towards him is an important requirement to grow your business. No matter how many appreciations or humiliations come your way, make sure to have your business and its targets keep running on your mind continuously.

Don't complain if you can't change it

Oftentimes not all things that are happening around and with us are always right as per our expectations. Be it with our studies or work or business or even relationships with our colleagues or classmates or family. Whenever expectations of people are not met, they start complaining or whenever things are bit easier for others than that for them, people start complaining about those. Complaining will eat away only your mental energy and time. Instead of complaining, use the same to change the situation as per your needs if you can.

 

One who can set things as per his ambitions shall strive hard and hence will be able to set some things as per his will and wish. The same is not possible by everyone because not everyone is motivated enough towards working for the kind of life that they desire to have. Let's look at a very simple example. I am sure that you would have found people complaining about how far their office or college is from their homes. They just feel jealous of all those who live nearby the office or college. Whatever wrong happens they start blaming on the distance factor and the lot of time getting wasted in travel. It's the decision of the company owner or the owner of the institution to place the office or college as per his comfort w.r.t not only distance but even business and financial factors. If you are dependent on the office or college for your work or studies better go through the travel and not complain when you have no strength to build a business of yours which you can run in your own home or can study on your own without any college support.

 

If you want to really live a life as per your own comfort, better create such a life as well by yourself. You can never expect that all things shall be made as per your expectations everywhere. People create things for their own comfort and as per their requirements and not for someone else. If you still find certain stuff created by others that can make you feel happy just be grateful to such people. You can definitely not complain but may comment about this blog on

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The triangle of life

Our life is balanced on three main factors. They are time, money and health. Humans wish to lead a very well-balanced life. It's difficult to
balance a see-saw which has two sides. Then you can imagine how difficult it is to balance something that has three sides. Our life is meant to be balanced on these three important factors. Let's see further as to how these 3 fulcrums of our lives control us.

 

If one wishes to have a very healthy life, s/he must be ready to invest good amount of money on good nutrition and proper medication alongwith sufficient amount of time for rest and recovery. On the other hand, if one wishes to have a lot of money in life then one should be ready to sacrifice health as long as s/he can manage to survive decently with medicinally controllable ailments and also will have to invest most of the time only in earning money rather than on family or friends or recreation or even self for that matter. On the third hand, if one wishes to just have sufficient time for his/her business or family then s/he must be ready to spend enough on quick transports and take risks of life to save enough time. Only those people who can find the best balance among all these 3 controlling factors of life can lead a happy successful life. Fortunately or unfortunately not every person seeming successful to your eyes is able to accomplish the best of the balance in life and is always in the pursuit of the same.

At any point in your life if you are feeling depressed or stressed out just ask yourself as to which of these three you are missing out on? Is it money or time or health. If you can point out anyone of these immediately try to lower the other two to regain the balance of life. Your opinions do matter to me on is.mohanbn@gmail.com
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Prospecting can lead to business

Prospecting happens when you encounter a prospect and build a relation of knowing each other. Prospect means a stranger basically. Prospecting is a method of building new contacts. Business doesn't have any rules.  It doesn't restrict you to a certain set of people only. It's all about how many contacts you make and how well you make use of them. You can build business with any person you see on the street if you are able to model out something that can fulfill either your or his/her needs. So let me connect prospect and business now.

The basic underline rule before I move forward is that anything that can satisfy or fulfill one's needs or desires can give rise to a business. Every person on this planet has certain set of needs and desires which s/he wants to satisfy/fulfill if someone can offer a fair deal withing the person's budget. If you have a valid product then you have a customer for sure. You just have to find the right customer base and prospecting is the alternative of referral marketing. I will touch referral marketing topic in another blog. Let's see prospecting for now. Everyone on this earth can be your friend. So how did you make new friends when you were a kid. You probably went out of your home or to school and found another kid and started talking. The common with both of you was the environment. So with any stranger, find out the common ground where you both stand. It might be just the traffic in front of both of you. It might be the cold weather or the same showroom you visit or just the same bus in which you're travelling.

Once the common ground is identified just put across your view about it which should ask for a reply or a nod from the other person. The moment the other person replies, the conversation begins based on which you just build a simple 3-4 minute conversation. Introduce yourself and exchange cards. Your one more friend for life and one more customer for business is ready right in front of you. This easy is prospecting. Do pour in your questions on prospecting on is.mohanbn@gmail.com

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Every pie counts

Financial crunch is the best time to teach the value of each and every pie left in your pocket. Unfortunately today's generation has been cursed from understanding the value of each pie courtesy the pampering parents who want to provide the best life for their children. I remember this famous incident which repeated in two entirely different places. When a small kid of age around 14 was asked as to what would he do if he got hundred rupees from his father, he replied that he would party with his friends. When asked what would he do with the same hundred rupees if he earned it from his own efforts, he replied instantly that he would save it.

The value of money is known to the one who earns it by him/herself. Just think of those poor people who earn their food only by the daily wages they earn. If a day goes without work they have to go without food. They don't have the choice of choosing the tastiest food out of the umpteen choices available. They can only afford what can fill their stomach at the lowest cost. They clearly understand that every pie counts. Not just them even the people who jump into the field of business and entrepreneurship also learn the same lesson repeatedly. A job may give you the necessary income of constant flow irrespective of whether you like or dislike the work. Unfortunately 'every dream counts' is the lesson that majority of the job-goers fail to realise. However when you are in business you are the owner of your time and money and no one else is their to guide you or push you in this regard. You have to choose wisely on how you spend or invest each of the two. That is when you realise that every pie/second counts.

The lavish lifestyle shown on movies and the company of few rich brats have unfortunately spoilt the young minds who fail to recognise the value of each hard-earned pie of their parents. Some children take it for granted that parents are there only to spend on them and suffer due to this mindset when they grow up. IS THERE A SOLUTION FOR THIS?

Definitely YES!!!!!!!!!!! watch out for my next blog. Till then keep writing to me on is.mohanbn@gmail.com

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20 years for overnight success

I think it was Mukesh Ambani sir who said that the overnight success of Reliance was because of 20 years of persistent hardwork and efforts. No wonder that it takes 14 years to build a Taj Mahal which stands as the epitome and symbol of LOVE till date. Monuments always take time to take shape. So are you building a normal building out of your life or are you aiming at reaching the pinnacles of glory that can be paralleled only by something like Taj Mahal in monuments or Reliance in business?

When we are born, none of us know or even plann as to what we will make out of our lives. As we grow, based on the influence of our environment and our exposure we decide to aim and achieve bigger things in life. In the pursuit of such dreams sometimes we tend to forget that life was meant to be just a path to help us reach from where we are to where we dream to be. We feel that success keeps eluding us in spite of our consistent efforts for years together. No one in this world has been able to estimate the exact amount of time required to traverse the path of experience and learning in the pursuit of achieving dreams. The quicker one gets accustomed to the new learning and adapts himself to the situation the sooner one can be closer to his destiny. This process is what that brings the true INDIVIDUAL out of you who is eligible to hold the realised dreams in his hands. This journey is what that will take a lot of time when the dreams are not ordinary but are BIG enough.

It's a myth that success happens overnight due to luck or fate or by chance. Do you remember any of the lottery ticket winners who has impacted success all around him after winning a lottery? You would have heard of such people who became rich overnight but the memory would have soon faded away for sure. It's not the 20 years of hardwork alone that led to the Reliance empire today, it was the service delivered by Reliance and the large mass of population on the earth that was positively impacted in last 20 years that makes Reliance a household name today and a grand success. I am happy to convey this message to you. Are you happy reading this? Please let me know on is.mohanbn@gmail.com

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Not just another brick in the wall

This blog is based on one of the pictures that I came across facebook today. Infact just two days before I had this thought on my mind. I don't want to just live a life like any other normal ordinary individual whose presence or absence doesn't make a major difference to the world except at the elementary level. I want to be a significant contributor wherever I am and in whatever I am doing. I should be the outstanding figure in any group I am and I must strive hard to live these thoughts in reality. The photo that coincided with this thought was of a wall where all bricks were red in colour except for one. This one was blue in colour hoarding the quote which is the title of this blog.

That's when I decided to pen down this blog. No wonder that perfection is hard to achieve and almost impossible in many cases. But you can be sure that when you're marching towards perfection you'll meet excellence on the way for sure. There were so many freedom figthers but how many of them do we really remember barring a few names? No doubt that the contribution of each and every freedom fighter towards freedom struggle was important but there were a few names who made a major significant contribution and hence they are not just one among the rest others. Similarly if you are a student in school or college, do you prefer to be just another student in the class or do you want to be the best student who is also the class monitor depends upon your choice. If you're an employee in a job or a partner in a business, the choice to be the best employee of the company or the best employer of the business is in your hands. To be the best you need to contribute the most. Most of them are in the delusion that, more the one is provided with chances and resources, more can one contribute and be the best. I pity at such low thoughtful people. When the resources are restricted and limited, the one who extends and expands himself to the maximum to contribute in the most efficient manner becomes the best. Everyone can work and produce results when sufficient chances and resources are provided but only the champions who just don't want to be one among such everyones, work hard to produce the same results with lesser chances and resources. To not be just another brick in the wall, this brick was painted blue and also was embossed with the quote on it. So what more can you do than the others and what distinctive positive differences can be found between you and the ordinary normals are what that determine your speciality.

Life is once my dear friends! There is no point in living it away like the others do. Let's be differently eye-catching in some way atleast. Also let this difference be shown in the work that we produce with positive results with much more impact than that done by anyone else. Try to be special in some or the other way of your choice. You don't have to think out of the box to be extraordinary. Just do a little bit extra than the ordinary and you will be extraordinary.
I hope that this blog has added a little special thought to your mind. Looking forward for your early feedback on is.mohanbn@gmail.com
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A daily affair

Let me clear the general misconception first. An affair means "anything done or to be done; anything requiring action or effort; business; concern:". I hope I can proceed with a clear picture now. We must know that everyday is precious to us and every affair we take up in a day is as precious as the day itself. So what is this daily affair? We are used to routine monotonous work of doing the same things day after day. How about we add some spice into this!

An affair is just some simple act that you decide to take up. Apart from all the repeated stuff that we are into everyday we can think of some new activity which consumes the least amount of time and energy but still can provide the thrill of having done something new. It can even be a learning of something new. Everytime when you are getting ready to go for a movie that you haven't watched before or the crux of which you don't know there is always some sense of excitment and curiosity about it. If there's an urgent work told by your mom even before going to the movie, you will still complete it quicker because you don't want to miss the movie. The best part is that you carry the same enthusiasm that you have for watching the new movie while doing the work just before the movie even when the work itself is not so exciting. Similarly when you have assigned an affair of a new task for a day which you will be doing in the latter part of the day there will always be an excitement about doing the new thing which will keep you pepped up all throughout the day. This pepped up feeling fills your complete focus in any work that you perform at any point of the day. Moreover having done something new on each day however small the activity is will definitely keep adding to your experience and learning of life.

Since I write a blog everyday before I go to sleep, my mind keeps searching for anything interesting around me all throughout the day because I have a daily affair of coming up with something new in my blogs everyday. This keeps me alert in everything that I am involved in throughout the day. I hope I have executed my daily affair for today with this blog. Would love to know what are the daily affairs that you will be taking up on is.mohanbn@gmail.com
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Keep trying but differently

"Try and try again till you succeed" is one of our childhood lessons of life. No wonder that we need to reinforce this lesson time and again in ourselves to solve many problems. I remember of the mythological stories that I used to hear in my childhood wherein there would be fights between mythological heroes and the asuras, I mean the villians. Mythology involves magical powers as all of us know. So these asuras used to have magical powers due to which killing them would be very difficult. Then our hero used to try different weapons (astras) and different mantras to kill the enemy. Finally the hero would return victorious killing the asura.

Similarly we face different challenges and problems in our day to day life. Be it health issues or financial crisis or problems on the professional front etc. Everywhere solution can be found only by trying to solve the problem. The same old medicine prescribed last time for the same health disorder doesn't work anymore and you have to find out an alternative medicine to better the health. The same old deal doesn't solve the same new business problem. So you need to chalk out one more better deal to resolve the issue. Ultimately there is no other solution other than trying out different methods because problem needs to be solved however simple or complex it is. Many give up in these trials because they get frustrated trying out the same methods again and again in vain. Most of them don't think of alternate methods but just try sticking to the conventional solutions which work no more in resolving the modern age problems. One gets bored of trying out the same solution many a times and gives up. Hence I recommend to keep trying until you solve the problem but make sure that you try differently each time the earlier trial fails.

In doing so, there is innovation all the time to discover a new solution and also the motivation and hope do not go down easily as we keep trying something new. Life is a maze set by God to solve. Whether you try solving it or just keep quiet, it doesn't matter to life. Life keeps adding challeneges one upon the other for you to resolve only to help evolution take a faster progress. Everyday I try to chart out some or the other new thought in my blogs to kill my own stagnancy of mindset. Hope to see your reviews on the same on is.mohanbn@gmail.com
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