The fallen Tomato Cart

The fallen Tomato Cart

SUBROTO BAGCHI

(Subroto Bagchi is co-founder & CEO of MindTree Consulting)

I pass through this very intersection every morning with so much ease. Today, the pace is skewed. There is a sense of disarray as motorists try to push past each other through the traffic light. The light here always tests their agility because if you miss the green, you have to wait for another three minutes before it lets you go past again. Those three minutes become eternity for an otherwise time-insensitive nation
on the move. Today, there is a sense of chaos here. People are honking, skirting each other and rushing past. I look out of my window to seek the reason. It is not difficult to find because it is lying strewn all over the place.

A tomato seller's cart has overturned. There are tomatoes everywhere and the rushing motorists are making pulp of it. The man is trying to get his cart back on its four rickety wheels and a few passersby are picking up what they can in an attempt to save him total loss. Though symbolic in the larger scheme of things, it is not a substantive gesture. His business for the day is over.

The way this man's economics works is very simple. There is a money lender who lends him money for just one day, at an interest rate of Rs 10 per day per Rs 100 lent. With the money, he wakes up at 4 am to go to the wholesale market for vegetables. He returns, pushing his cart a good five miles, and by 7 am when the locality wakes up, he is ready to sell his day's merchandise. By the end of the morning, some of it remains unsold. This his wife sells by the afternoon and takes home the remainder, which becomes part of his meal. With the day's proceeds, he returns the interest to the money lender and goes back to the routine the next day.

If he does not sell for a day, his chain breaks.Where does he go from here? He goes back to the money lender, raises capital at an even more penal interest and gets back on his feet. This is not the only time that destiny has upset his tomato cart. This happens to him at least six times every year. Once he returned with a loaded cart of ripe tomatoes and it rained heavily for the next three days. No one came to the market and his stock rotted in front of his own eyes. Another time, instead of the weather, it was a political rally that snowballed into a confrontation between two rival groups and the locality closed down. And he is not alone in this game of extraneous factors that seize not only his business but also his life. He sees this happen to the "gol-gappa" seller, the peanut seller and the "vada pao" seller all the time. When their product does not sell, it just turns soggy.
Sometimes they eat some of it. But how much of that stuff can you eat by yourself? So, they just give away some and there is always that one time when they have to simply throw it away.

Away from the street-vendor selling perishable commodity with little or no life support system, the corporate world is an altogether different place. Here we have some of the most educated people in the country. We don the best garbs. We do not have to push carts; our carts push us. We have our salary, perquisites, bonuses, stock options, gratuities, pensions and our medical insurance and the group accident
benefit schemes. Yet, all the while, we worry about our risks and think about our professional insecurity. We wonder, what would happen if the company shifted offices to another city? What would happen if the department closed down? What would happen if you were to take maternity leave and the temporary substitute delivered better work than you did? What would happen if the product line you are
dealing with simply failed? In any of those eventualities, the worst that could happen would still be a lot less than having to see your cartful of tomatoes getting pulped under the screeching wheels of absolute strangers who have nothing personal against you.

All too often we exaggerate our risks. We keep justifying our professional concerns till they trap us in their vicious downward spiral. Devoid of education, sophisticated reasoning and any financial safety net, the man with the cart is often able to deal with life much better than many of us. Is it time to look out of the window, into the eyes of that man to ask him, where does he get it from?

In his simple stoicism, is probably, our lost resilience.

Building Stronger Teams

Exactly 5 Tips to build stronger Teams

1. Never give up when faced with failure.
2. Fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady.
3. Work to your competencies.
4. Compete against the situation, not against a rival.
5. Pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers.

Stress Management Tips and AdviceBy: Leslie Hardy

Stress is commonplace in western societies. A modicum of stress in the workplace can provide a stimulus to motivation and help achieve work tasks and objectives. However, many people visit their doctor and report high levels of stress which are incapacitating and are likely to lead to illness. Stress is not confined to work. Many parents who work and have young families report high levels of stress in trying to balance the competing claims of their spouse, children and workplace.If you are suffering from stress, there are several steps you can take -1 Self Affirmation.Stress drains our energy and undermines our self esteem. In order to combat stress, it is essential to rebuild our self esteem. People under stress tend to focus on things which have gone wrong in their lives. What they fail to appreciate is that everyone can look back at the past and ponder on what might have been. Successful people ruminate on what happened in the past as well, either in their personal life or at work. Rather than dwell on failures or lost opportunities, they concentrate of why things went wrong, with a view to understanding the matter and thereby ensuring it does not happen again.Everyone, whatever their circumstances, can think of something in their lives of which they can be rightly proud. It may be related to their family, home, car, children, hobbies or work. All of us can also remember something we have done which has brought forth praise or appreciation from another person. Thinking of these things will enable to all of us to realise the value we have added to the lives of other people around us. It also helps us to identify and focus on things we have done which are meritorious. Doing similar things will hopefully bring forth the same welcome effects.It is up to an individual him/herself to raise their self esteem. It cannot be built up by doctors or medication. Self esteem is a prerequisite for making a contribution to the family, the workplace or society as a whole. If a person thinks he is useless, then he/she is unlikely to make an effort to do anything in life. So, self esteem is a vital facet of stress management. It gives us the motivation and resolve to face challenges and conquer them.2 Talk about things.Although stress is a medical condition, there are invariably one or more problems facing a person which have increased his/her stress levels. If there are many problems facing a person, such that he/she feels overwhelmed, then the first thing to do is make a written list. This simple exercise adds focus and structure to problems. If possible, sort the list by the urgency of the problems, so you can see at a glance when things need to be dealt with.With respect to each and every problem, a useful starting point is to consider the matter in a calm and neutral environment. If the problem relates to work, it may be best to think about it at home. Alternatively, if there is a problem at home, then a walk round the block may help to put matters in perspective.We all have different conceptual and intellectual abilities to examine problems and explore solutions. Regardless of these abilities, it is always useful to talk to someone about your problems, real or imagined. Choosing an appropriate person is vitally important. Some men are known to go to a bar or pub and parade their problems to male peers who are in an equally inebriated state. While these peers will invariably take the view that you are right and the other person is wrong, especially if you have just bought a round of drinks, it is rare for practical suggestions to emanate from such dialogues.Some companies have a Personnel Department and often have counsellors available who deal with stress at work. If so, contacting them is doubly useful. Firstly, they should have some professional training in how to deal with stress and problems at work, and secondly, should be able to speak to other people who may be instrumental in aggravating the stress, provided you give your consent for this to take place.Many people are blessed with good friends. These friends are invaluable when problems arise. Many of us are reluctant to speak with friends about our problems as we feel that we are imposing on them. This is true, but then again, this is what friends are for. All of us must be able to recall instances when a friend, close of otherwise, confided in us concerning a problem and requested our advice. Well, friendship is based on reciprocity. Although our friends may not be able to provide definitive solutions to problems, the old adage, a problem shared is a problem halved, remains true. The simple exercise of telling a receptive listener about a problem assists us to articulate matters clearly and succinctly. This, in itself, is a benefit and a friend will invariably have something interesting and relevant to say about things.3 Take a break.The author regularly visits North Cyprus and spends time in rural areas. For people who live in the northern hemisphere, the winter season can be a contributor to high stress levels. This is not due to the cold, but rather the shortness of the day and the lack of natural sunlight. If possible, try to take a break in the winter, rather than use up all your annual leave in the summer. When you are on holiday, it is preferable to leave problems of work behind. For many of us, this means we should not take our mobile phone and laptop with us. If you are on holiday in a warm, sunny climate, then it is important to take advantage of these natural conditions. In other words, taking long walks along the beach is more beneficial than drinking cheap alcohol in the evening. In many parts of the Mediterranean, old men spend hours each day sitting at tables in outdoor coffee shops. It should be noted that the average age in some establishments will be 80 plus. While their lifestyle may have been rather different from ours in their younger years, this is not the sole reason for their longevity. They are part of a community which respects the modest contribution each person makes to the public good. They realise that for every talented and exceptional individual, there will be a dozen ordinary folk who will live relatively modest and uneventful lives. The lesson from the coffee shop is that we should learn to value who we are and what we have been given and/or have achieved. Moving beyond this, our ambitions should be realistic and within our capabilities. A happy and contented person does not suffer from undue stress.

Creating Brand value

During my childhood i used to wonder why people spend lots of money for buying a branded one while they can get the same at cheaper rate. I was asked umpteen number of times what’s the brand? by my colleagues and friends and sometimes people rate you on the brands you use. I understood that people are brand conscious, some of them are brand raving. This is the reason why companies are spending millions of dollars to strengthen their brands.

It’s not just a matter of price; it’s got more than that! I strongly believe that strong brands will never compete on price, its will be their last option. Let me illustrate through an example, there's a luxurious hotel in my city which offers a room at 500 bucks. Recently a new hotel came up offering at 450 bucks. One obvious choice for the first hotel is to cut down their price by 50 bucks so that it can compete with the new one. Amazingly they renovated the existing hotel and increased their price to 700 bucks (off course they provided extra facilities). If you sense it correctly, first thing the old hotel is able to do is avoid competing on price since it will impact their profit margins for sure. The next thing is they attached luxurious to their hotel successfully.
You need to sort out options to compete, never have your brand at stake. If an arrow shirt is priced at 500 bucks, that’s the end of their road. Instead you can choose to use promotional offers to sell your stock. I remember during my sixth standard, big babool was priced at 1 rupee while other babool gums are offered at 50 paisa. we thought we can buy 2 babool gums instead of getting one big babool, The sales of big babool are not so good. Big babool came up with a terrific idea, collect 10 stories ( these are enclosed inside the pack) and exchange them for three new big babool’s. The result is extraordinary sales, they are able to chuck out others successfully and at the same stage they are able to protect their brand

Creating Brand value is about how big you are able to think.

satya
A paranoid

Spritiual

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DO YOUR BEST TODAY

Do your best today
Friends, I would like to share with you a great message given by my teacher from Kalidasa's Shakuntalam 2000 years ago.
Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course Lie all the verities and realities of your existence;
The bliss of growth
The glory of action
Splendor of achievement,
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day!
Such is the salutation to the dawn.
Every day is very important in a student's life.
If you do the best today, you will harvest the best.
Next, you should also build confidence.
When I was in the 5th standard, many of us used to get less than 40 marks in mathematics. My maths teacher evolved a method of teaching and creation of confidence for the whole class. He conducteda class and gave us an exercise of 10 problems. In that exercise, more than 90% of the class including me, got 100 out of 100. That day onwards our mathematics performance improved.

Only after a few years we realized that our teacher injected confidence in us, to
feel that "I can do it".

To succeed in life each of you has to cultivate the confidencethat
"I can do it",
then the nation will buildthe confidence that
"we can do it".
II T ’’ S P O S S II B LL E
---------------------APJ Abdul Kalam