Quality Excellence

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor,

"Do you need two statues of the same idol?"
"No," said the sculptor without looking up,

"We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage.

500 Rupee Note : Lesson - 2

Prakash Iyer, MD, Kimberly-Clark Lever and Executive Coach shares two important management lessons he learnt from a 500-rupee note.

Several years later, it was another day, another time and another motivational guru.

As I watched him pull out a five hundred rupee note and hold it up for all to see, I thought I knew what he was going to do next.

But he just asked a simple question. "How much is this worth?"

500 Rupee Note : Lesson - 1

Prakash Iyer, MD, Kimberly-Clark Lever and Executive Coach shares two important management lessons he learnt from a 500-rupee note. Read on. 

It happened some years ago but I can recall the evening like it happened just last week. I was in an audience listening to a motivational guru.

The speaker whipped out his wallet and pulled out a five hundred-rupee note. Holding it up, he asked, "Who wants this five hundred rupee note?"

Don't We All

I was parked in front of the mall wiping off my car. I had just come from the car wash and was about to get out of work. Coming my way from across the parking lot was what society would consider a bum. From the looks of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no money.

There are times when you feel generous but there are other times that you just don’t want to be bothered. This was one of those “don’t want to be bothered times.”

“I hope he doesn’t ask me for any money,” I thought. He didn’t.

He came and sat on the curb in front of the bus stop but he didn’t look like he could have enough money to even ride the bus. After a few minutes he spoke.

Cherish Your Uniqueness

Unique
Have you ever stopped to think what an awesome, exceptional, and remarkable human being you are?

Of all the people who ever lived on this earth, not one of them is just like you. No one who ever lived had the abilities, limits, talents, appearance, happiness, sorrows, opportunities, burdens, and possibilities that you have.

No one has exactly the same thoughts as you do. No one seeks exactly as you do. No one prays just as you do. No one loves all the same people that love you. Even the ones who laugh like you, don't sneeze like you. The ones who cry like you, don't have the same sorrow you do. The ones who smile like you, don't know the same joys that you do.

Believe in Struggle

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.

But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Pride has a Fall

Gorelal was a famous sculptor. His sculptures looked real ones. One day he saw a dream that after fifteen days, the demon of Death would come to take him.

Gorelal prepared four statues of himself and when on the 15th day he heard the Demon of Death coming, he took his place between the statues. The Demon could not recognize him and was astonished to see five Gorelals instead of one. He rushed back to the God of death and told the matter.

Sharpening Skills

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job with a timber merchant, and he got it. The salary was really good and so were the work conditions.

For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees.

"Congratulations," the boss said. "Go on that way!"

Bag of Nails

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence.

Over the next few weeks as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Patience and Persistence

In an Indian temple, when the priest had gone for lunch, the Idol of the Lord and the Stepping Stone were conversing.

Stepping Stone: What a good fate you have. We both were the same lump of rock for millions of years. The sculptor carved an idol out of you and everyone is worshipping you. And look at me, I am a stepping stone and every one stands on me and stamps on. What kind of life is this?

Window of our Mind

Once upon a time, A young couple moved to a new home. The next morning, while they are eating their breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hang the wash outside.

Wife: The laundry is not very clean. She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps She needs better laundry shop.

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Club 99

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content. One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the servant, "Why are you so happy?"

The man replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies."

The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the servant's story, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."

Practice with Confidence

Meet Terry, a high-school freshman who wanted to tryout for the boy's basketball team. He was the last guy you would wanna pick on your team. He had no ball-handle, no speed, missed most of his shots, and could not jump for anything. When he tried out, the coach told him, "Forget about basketball, try chess". Now Terry was a very confident kid who had it in his mind he would be not only make the team but be better than everyone on the team. He looked at the list to see if he made the team. Not even close. He was upset, but he knew that he had three more years to make the team and that's when he trained. When the team had practice he would watch. After they practiced he would take shots. Mostly misses. He practiced dribbling. Kept losing the ball. Frustrated but not giving up he came up with a strategy.

Dream stealer

A person named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.

The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

Power of Positive Talk

A man was lost while driving through the countryside. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help.

“Warwick can get you out of that ditch,” said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field.

Natural Motivator

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.

Umbrellas and Noodles

There was once an old lady who cried all the time. Her elder daughter was married to an umbrella merchant while the younger daughter was the wife of a noodle vendor.

On sunny days, she worried, "Oh no! The weather is so nice and sunny. No one is going to buy any umbrellas. What will happen if the shop has to be closed?" These worries made her sad. She just could not help but cry.

Dream to Fly

Once upon a time, there was an ant who had a big dream. He wanted to fly! His little colony of ants told him,”Hey Tommy! That's impossible, an ant cannot fly!”

But Tommy replied firmly, “You can say whatever you want to. I want to fly!”

Shovel Dirt into the well

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for ...hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

Where to make an Effort ?

A Giant Ship Engine Failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another but none of them could figure but how to fix the Engine.

Lessons on Life

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the winter,
The second in the spring,

Control your attention to Control your mind

A disciple and his teacher were walking through the forest. The disciple was disturbed by the fact that his mind was in constant unrest.

He asked his teacher: "Why most people's minds are restless, and only a few possess a calm mind? What can one do to still the mind?"

Mistake worth Doing !

There were two childhood buddies who went through school and college together and even joined the army together. War broke out and both were in the same unit. One night they were ambushed. Bullets were flying all over and out of the darkness came a voice, "Harry, please come and help me."

Harry immediately recognized the voice of his childhood buddy, Bill. He asked the captain if he could go.

Weakness become Strength

This is a story of one 10-year old boy who decided to practice judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well but, even after three months of training, the master had taught him only one move.

"Master, shouldn't I be learning more moves?" the boy asked.

Someone to Understand

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.

Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."

Cracked Pot and it's purpose

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on an end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of his pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accompolish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream

"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

Elephant and Seven Blind men

Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today."

They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was.

Every one of them touched the elephant.



"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first man who touched his leg.

Experience of True Leader

(Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum , Philadelphia , March 22,2008 )

Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?

Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India ‘s satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India ‘s ‘Rohini’ satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources — but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

One moment of happiness

It was a hectic day. Full of tiring activities at office, escalations, calls, emails, trying to explain that it was not our fault.

I left office with the same bad mood, only to find a huge traffic jam starting from the office gate. My anger increased when I saw how people were trying to pull their cars, 2 wheelers from wrong side etc trying to reach home fast. But they were actually adding to the chaos which could not be solved by anyone.

A Chance to start over

It was a cold December night in West Orange, New Jersey. Thomas Edison’s factory was humming with activity. Work was proceeding on a variety of fronts as the great inventor was trying to turn more of his dreams into practical realities. Edison’s plant, made of concrete and steel, was deemed “fireproof”. As you may have already guessed, it wasn’t!

On that frigid night in 1914, the sky was lit up by a sensational blaze that had burst through the plant roof.

Acres of Diamonds

There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy. One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along with them. The wise man said, "If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country." And then he went away. That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent because he was unhappy.

The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn't find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke.

The Fern and the Bamboo

One day, a small business owner decided he’d had enough. Enough of the unremitting workload, enough of the lack of response, enough of the crushing loneliness.

He went into the woods to have one last talk to God. “God,” he said. “Can you give me one good reason why I shouldn’t quit?”

The answer took him by surprise. “Look around you,” it said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”

Dedication

An old carpenter about to retire was telling his boss about his plans to stop working with construction and enjoy life with his wife and kids. He was so excited about retiring that he wasn't even looking forward to the paycheck of that month..... All he wanted was to retire.

The boss was upset about losing a good worker and as a personal favor asked the man to work on the construction of one last house.