N R Narayana Murthy, chief mentor and chairman of the board, Infosys Technologies, delivered a pre-commencement lecture at the New York University (Stern School of Business) on May 9. It is a scintillating speech, Murthy speaks about the lessons he learnt from his life and career. We present it for our readers:
Dean Cooley, faculty, staff, distinguished guests, and, most importantly, the graduating class of 2007, it is a great privilege to speak at your commencement ceremonies.
I thank Dean Cooley and Prof Marti Subrahmanyam for their kind invitation. I am exhilarated to be part of such a joyous occasion. Congratulations to you, the class of 2007, on completing an important milestone in your life journey.
After some thought, I have decided to share with you some of my life lessons. I learned these lessons in the context of my early career struggles, a life lived under the influence of sometimes unplanned events which were the crucibles that tempered my character and reshaped my future.
I would like first to share some of these key life events with you, in the hope that these may help you understand my struggles and how chance events and unplanned encounters with influential persons shaped my life and career.
Later, I will share the deeper life lessons that I have learned. My sincere hope is that this sharing will help you see your own trials and tribulations for the hidden blessings they can be.
The first event occurred when I was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT, Kanpur, in India. At breakfast on a bright Sunday morning in 1968, I had a chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a well-known US university.
He was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science with a large group of students and how such developments would alter our future. He was articulate, passionate and quite convincing. I was hooked. I went straight from breakfast to the library, read four or five papers he had suggested, and left the library determined to study computer science.
Friends, when I look back today at that pivotal meeting, I marvel at how one role model can alter for the better the future of a young student. This experience taught me that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and chance events can sometimes open new doors.
The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974. The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town.
By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in.
The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who thought we were criticising the communist government of Bulgaria.
The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for over 72 hours.
I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard's compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard's final words still ring in my ears -- "You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting you go!"
The journey to Istanbul was lonely, and I was starving. This long, lonely, cold journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about Communism. Early on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours, I was purged of any last vestiges of affinity for the Left.
I concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.
Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist! Inevitably, this sequence of events led to the eventual founding of Infosys in 1981.
While these first two events were rather fortuitous, the next two, both concerning the Infosys journey, were more planned and profoundly influenced my career trajectory.
On a chilly Saturday morning in winter 1990, five of the seven founders of Infosys met in our small office in a leafy Bangalore suburb. The decision at hand was the possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. After nine years of toil in the then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at the prospect of seeing at least some money.
I let my younger colleagues talk about their future plans. Discussions about the travails of our journey thus far and our future challenges went on for about four hours. I had not yet spoken a word.
Finally, it was my turn. I spoke about our journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 that had been beset with many challenges, but also of how I believed we were at the darkest hour before the dawn. I then took an audacious step. If they were all bent upon selling the company, I said, I would buy out all my colleagues, though I did not have a cent in my pocket.
There was a stunned silence in the room. My colleagues wondered aloud about my foolhardiness. But I remained silent. However, after an hour of my arguments, my colleagues changed their minds to my way of thinking. I urged them that if we wanted to create a great company, we should be optimistic and confident. They have more than lived up to their promise of that day.
In the seventeen years since that day, Infosys has grown to revenues in excess of $3.0 billion, a net income of more than $800 million and a market capitalisation of more than $28 billion, 28,000 times richer than the offer of $1 million on that day.
In the process, Infosys has created more than 70,000 well-paying jobs, 2,000-plus dollar-millionaires and 20,000-plus rupee millionaires.
A final story: On a hot summer morning in 1995, a Fortune-10 corporation had sequestered all their Indian software vendors, including Infosys, in different rooms at the Taj Residency hotel in Bangalore so that the vendors could not communicate with one another. This customer's propensity for tough negotiations was well-known. Our team was very nervous.
First of all, with revenues of only around $5 million, we were minnows compared to the customer.
Second, this customer contributed fully 25% of our revenues. The loss of this business would potentially devastate our recently-listed company.
Third, the customer's negotiation style was very aggressive. The customer team would go from room to room, get the best terms out of each vendor and then pit one vendor against the other. This went on for several rounds. Our various arguments why a fair price -- one that allowed us to invest in good people, R&D, infrastructure, technology and training -- was actually in their interest failed to cut any ice with the customer.
By 5 p.m. on the last day, we had to make a decision right on the spot whether to accept the customer's terms or to walk out.
All eyes were on me as I mulled over the decision. I closed my eyes, and reflected upon our journey until then. Through many a tough call, we had always thought about the long-term interests of Infosys. I communicated clearly to the customer team that we could not accept their terms, since it could well lead us to letting them down later. But I promised a smooth, professional transition to a vendor of customer's choice.
This was a turning point for Infosys.
Subsequently, we created a Risk Mitigation Council which ensured that we would never again depend too much on any one client, technology, country, application area or key employee. The crisis was a blessing in disguise. Today, Infosys has a sound de-risking strategy that has stabilised its revenues and profits.
I want to share with you, next, the life lessons these events have taught me.
1. I will begin with the importance of learning from experience. It is less important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you learn. If the quality of the learning is high, the development gradient is steep, and, given time, you can find yourself in a previously unattainable place. I believe the Infosys story is living proof of this.
Learning from experience, however, can be complicated. It can be much more difficult to learn from success than from failure. If we fail, we think carefully about the precise cause. Success can indiscriminately reinforce all our prior actions.
2. A second theme concerns the power of chance events. As I think across a wide variety of settings in my life, I am struck by the incredible role played by the interplay of chance events with intentional choices. While the turning points themselves are indeed often fortuitous, how we respond to them is anything but so. It is this very quality of how we respond systematically to chance events that is crucial.
3. Of course, the mindset one works with is also quite critical. As recent work by the psychologist, Carol Dweck, has shown, it matters greatly whether one believes in ability as inherent or that it can be developed. Put simply, the former view, a fixed mindset, creates a tendency to avoid challenges, to ignore useful negative feedback and leads such people to plateau early and not achieve their full potential.
The latter view, a growth mindset, leads to a tendency to embrace challenges, to learn from criticism and such people reach ever higher levels of achievement (Krakovsky, 2007: page 48).
4. The fourth theme is a cornerstone of the Indian spiritual tradition: self-knowledge. Indeed, the highest form of knowledge, it is said, is self-knowledge. I believe this greater awareness and knowledge of oneself is what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in oneself, courage, determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities which enable one to wear one's success with dignity and grace.
Based on my life experiences, I can assert that it is this belief in learning from experience, a growth mindset, the power of chance events, and self-reflection that have helped me grow to the present.
Back in the 1960s, the odds of my being in front of you today would have been zero. Yet here I stand before you! With every successive step, the odds kept changing in my favour, and it is these life lessons that made all the difference.
My young friends, I would like to end with some words of advice. Do you believe that your future is pre-ordained, and is already set? Or, do you believe that your future is yet to be written and that it will depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events?
Do you believe that these events can provide turning points to which you will respond with your energy and enthusiasm? Do you believe that you will learn from these events and that you will reflect on your setbacks? Do you believe that you will examine your successes with even greater care?
I hope you believe that the future will be shaped by several turning points with great learning opportunities. In fact, this is the path I have walked to much advantage.
A final word: When, one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate, whether it be financial, intellectual, or emotional. The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate.
I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time.
Thank you for your patience. Go forth and embrace your future with open arms, and pursue enthusiastically your own life journey of discovery!
Friday, March 07, 2008
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
You gotta break the LAW if you want to get RICH
I'm talking about breaking a law that keeps poor people poor. There is a specific "law" you must break or you will stay on your financial knees forever!
This "law" is a guarded secret that the wealthy know about but the poor do not. This SECRET is not known by the average person. The only people who know about it were told by other rich people. That's how I found out!
It’s secrets like this that make the wealthy, wealthy right? The rich know things that the average person doesn’t know. The incredible system you are about to discover comes from a very rich man. He is a multi-millionaire who was kind enough to share it with me when he saw how hard I was struggling.
Just like some of you, I have made and lost a lot of money. As hard as I tried, no matter what I tried, the money vanished before my eyes! Has that ever happened to YOU? Is it still happening? Today, I am proud to say that I am back on track. I now break the law with a huge smile on my face!
Before we get into this amazing wealth plan, let's talk about a few things and go over a few questions to get you thinking about why you are where you are today.
Ever heard the saying that “money is the root of all evil?” If you really think about it, just the opposite is true. "The LACK of money is the true root of all evil". Lack of money comes from poor financial habits.
Let's take a closer look. What’s the real reason people don’t live the kind of life they want to live? Lack of money. Why do people rob and steal from each other? Lack of money. Otherwise, they would simply go out and buy what they wanted rather than steal it from someone else. That’s the wrong law to break!
What’s the answer? Would it make things better if we took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everyone? That would level the playing field and we would all live happily ever after, right?
Wrong! It's been said that if you took all the money in the world and divided it up equally, it wouldn’t be long before all the money ended up right back where it started in the first place, in the hands of the RICH!
Why is that statement true? It’s true because most people don’t know what to do with their money. Most people blow their paycheck while keeping their fingers crossed hoping for the best.
Rather than take responsibility for themselves and their future, most people would rather blame anything but themselves for their problems. “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Ever heard that one before?
Someone once asked Henry Ford what he would do if he lost everything. His reply was that he would have it all back within 5 years. He understood that his wealth was not his possessions, but himself and his ability to break the law effectively.
John Jacob Astor once said, “the second million is easier to get than the first thousand.” It's hard to understand why until you understand that until you break the law, it’s IMPOSSIBLE make your fortune!
Of course, attaining monetary wealth aren’t the only goals you should set for your life, but they are important. Zig Ziglar says “Money isn’t everything, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen.”
WHY do you want a lot of money? Are you excited about collecting strips of paper with dead presidents on them? No! You don't want a lot of MONEY; you want what a lot of money can give you.................FREEDOM!
Having lots of money gives you freedom. If you have more than enough money to pay your expenses, you can go where you want to go and do what you want to do.
An important distinction to make here is that having a lot of money is not a cure-all! Don't let yourself fall prey to that line of thinking. If you think money will make you happy, you're in for a major disappointment.
It's important to point out here that the way you think and believe (your philosophy) is the guiding force that determines how your life works out. Correcting these errors in judgment is paramount to your success in life.
The naked truth is you are where you are today financially because of the plan you have been following. Even if you think you don't have a plan, you're still following a "no-plan" plan.
If you’re POOR it’s because you work for your money.
If you’re RICH, you know how to make money work for you...!!
MUST READ:
"Think and Grow Rich" - by Napolean Hill
"Rich Dad - Poor Dad" - by Robeart Kiyosaki
[ I had gone through both the books, we cant afford-not reading them ]
So let's make it ..... :-)
~# See You At The TOP # ~
This "law" is a guarded secret that the wealthy know about but the poor do not. This SECRET is not known by the average person. The only people who know about it were told by other rich people. That's how I found out!
It’s secrets like this that make the wealthy, wealthy right? The rich know things that the average person doesn’t know. The incredible system you are about to discover comes from a very rich man. He is a multi-millionaire who was kind enough to share it with me when he saw how hard I was struggling.
Just like some of you, I have made and lost a lot of money. As hard as I tried, no matter what I tried, the money vanished before my eyes! Has that ever happened to YOU? Is it still happening? Today, I am proud to say that I am back on track. I now break the law with a huge smile on my face!
Before we get into this amazing wealth plan, let's talk about a few things and go over a few questions to get you thinking about why you are where you are today.
Ever heard the saying that “money is the root of all evil?” If you really think about it, just the opposite is true. "The LACK of money is the true root of all evil". Lack of money comes from poor financial habits.
Let's take a closer look. What’s the real reason people don’t live the kind of life they want to live? Lack of money. Why do people rob and steal from each other? Lack of money. Otherwise, they would simply go out and buy what they wanted rather than steal it from someone else. That’s the wrong law to break!
What’s the answer? Would it make things better if we took all the money in the world and divided it equally among everyone? That would level the playing field and we would all live happily ever after, right?
Wrong! It's been said that if you took all the money in the world and divided it up equally, it wouldn’t be long before all the money ended up right back where it started in the first place, in the hands of the RICH!
Why is that statement true? It’s true because most people don’t know what to do with their money. Most people blow their paycheck while keeping their fingers crossed hoping for the best.
Rather than take responsibility for themselves and their future, most people would rather blame anything but themselves for their problems. “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Ever heard that one before?
Someone once asked Henry Ford what he would do if he lost everything. His reply was that he would have it all back within 5 years. He understood that his wealth was not his possessions, but himself and his ability to break the law effectively.
John Jacob Astor once said, “the second million is easier to get than the first thousand.” It's hard to understand why until you understand that until you break the law, it’s IMPOSSIBLE make your fortune!
Of course, attaining monetary wealth aren’t the only goals you should set for your life, but they are important. Zig Ziglar says “Money isn’t everything, but it’s reasonably close to oxygen.”
WHY do you want a lot of money? Are you excited about collecting strips of paper with dead presidents on them? No! You don't want a lot of MONEY; you want what a lot of money can give you.................FREEDOM!
Having lots of money gives you freedom. If you have more than enough money to pay your expenses, you can go where you want to go and do what you want to do.
An important distinction to make here is that having a lot of money is not a cure-all! Don't let yourself fall prey to that line of thinking. If you think money will make you happy, you're in for a major disappointment.
It's important to point out here that the way you think and believe (your philosophy) is the guiding force that determines how your life works out. Correcting these errors in judgment is paramount to your success in life.
The naked truth is you are where you are today financially because of the plan you have been following. Even if you think you don't have a plan, you're still following a "no-plan" plan.
If you’re POOR it’s because you work for your money.
If you’re RICH, you know how to make money work for you...!!
MUST READ:
"Think and Grow Rich" - by Napolean Hill
"Rich Dad - Poor Dad" - by Robeart Kiyosaki
[ I had gone through both the books, we cant afford-not reading them ]
So let's make it ..... :-)
~# See You At The TOP # ~
Sunday, December 16, 2007
wanna propose.....some best ways
Just some funny ways to propose her/him ............(at your own risk!!!)
1. (Walk up behind girl and point fingers shaped like gun into her back)
"You're under arrest!"
(For what?)
"For stealing my heart."
2. Hi, my name is Chance, Do I have one?
3. are your legs tired?
( girl: Why?)
because you have been running through my mind all day!
4. "I lost my phone number, can I borrow yours?"
5. Can you give me directions to your heart?
I've seemed to have lost myself in your eyes
6. (Take a look at the tag on the girls shirt,jacket, etc.)
She would say,"What are doing"
respond,"Oh, just checking to see if you were made in Heaven."
7. (Pick up a flower and walk over to girl.)
"I was just showing this flower how beautiful you are."
8. Is it hot in here or is it just you?
9. Walk up to a guy and say: "Are you from Greece?"
"No" he answers.
"Oh, I thought all the gods were from Greece"
10. I could be born in your eye, run down your cheek,and die on your lips.
11. Did you know they changed the alphabet? They put U and I together.
12. Are you lost?
'cause it's so strange to see an angel so far from heaven.
13. Do you believe in love at first sight, or do I have to walk by you again?
14. What's that in your eye? Oh...it's a sparkle.
15. Do you have a map?
I just got lost in your eyes.
16. You can forget about going to heaven because it's sin to look that good.
17. If I had eleven roses and you, I'd have a dozen.
1. (Walk up behind girl and point fingers shaped like gun into her back)
"You're under arrest!"
(For what?)
"For stealing my heart."
2. Hi, my name is Chance, Do I have one?
3. are your legs tired?
( girl: Why?)
because you have been running through my mind all day!
4. "I lost my phone number, can I borrow yours?"
5. Can you give me directions to your heart?
I've seemed to have lost myself in your eyes
6. (Take a look at the tag on the girls shirt,jacket, etc.)
She would say,"What are doing"
respond,"Oh, just checking to see if you were made in Heaven."
7. (Pick up a flower and walk over to girl.)
"I was just showing this flower how beautiful you are."
8. Is it hot in here or is it just you?
9. Walk up to a guy and say: "Are you from Greece?"
"No" he answers.
"Oh, I thought all the gods were from Greece"
10. I could be born in your eye, run down your cheek,and die on your lips.
11. Did you know they changed the alphabet? They put U and I together.
12. Are you lost?
'cause it's so strange to see an angel so far from heaven.
13. Do you believe in love at first sight, or do I have to walk by you again?
14. What's that in your eye? Oh...it's a sparkle.
15. Do you have a map?
I just got lost in your eyes.
16. You can forget about going to heaven because it's sin to look that good.
17. If I had eleven roses and you, I'd have a dozen.
Wonderful Speech - Ganex Steve Jobs [CEO - Apple]
I found this article while surfing internet, please read it ! You will never regret you wasted time !!! I loved the simplicity of Steve !!!
It’s Awesome
The following is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer, Inc., delivered on June 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. 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. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
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. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
It’s Awesome
The following is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer, Inc., delivered on June 2005.
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. 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. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
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. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Thank you all very much.
486 Dolls ..... Toching one
I have a boyfriend who grew up with me. His name is Jin. I always thought of him as a friend until last year, when we went to a trip from a club. I found that I fell in love with him. Before that trip was over, I took a step and confessed my love for him.
And soon, we became a pair of lovers, but we loved each other in different ways. I always concentrated on him only, but by his side, there were so many other girls. To me, he was the only one, but to him, maybe I was just another girl.
Jin, do you want to go watch a movie? I asked.
Jin "I can't"
Why? You need to study at home?I felt disappointment grabbing me.
No I am going to meet a friend
He was always like that.
He met girls in front of me, like it was nothing. To him, I was just a girlfriend. The word "love" only came out from my mouth. Since I knew him, I had never heard him say "I love you" before.
To us, there weren't any anniversaries at all.
He didn't say anything from the first day and it continued till 100 days,200 days. Everyday, before we say goodbye, he would just hand me a doll, everyday, without fail. I don't know why. Then one day...
Me Um, Jin, I...
Jin What?don't drag, just say..
Me I love you.
Jin you...um, just take this doll and go home.
That was how he ignored my three words and handed me the doll.
Then he disappeared, like he was running away.
The dolls I received from him everyday, filled my room, one by one. There were many...
Then one day came, my 15th year old birthday. When I got up in the morning, I pictured a party with him, and stranded myself in my room, waiting for his call.
But ...lunch passed, dinner passed...and soon the sky was dark he still didn't call.
It was already tiring to look at the phone anymore.
Then around 2am in the morning, he suddenly called me and woke me from my sleep. He told me to come out of the house. Still, I felt joy and I ran out happily.
Me Jin...
Jin Here...take this...
Again, he handed me a little doll.
Me What's this?
Jin I didn't give it to you yesterday, so I am giving it to you now. I'm going home now, bye.
Me Wait, wait! Do you know what today is?
Jin Today? Huh?
I felt so sad, I thought he would remember my birthday. He turned around and walked away like nothing had happen. when I shouted..."Wait..."
Jin You have something to say?
Me Tell me, tell me you love me...
Jin What?!
Me Tell me
I put my pathetic self behind and clung on to him. But he just said simple cold words and left.
"I don't want to say that I love someone so easily, if you are desperate to hear it, then find someone else." That was what he said. Then he ran off.
My legs felt numb...and I collapsed to the ground. He didn't want to say it easily...How could he!.
I felt that... Maybe he is not the right guy for me...
After that day, I stranded myself at home crying, just crying. He didn't call me, although I was waiting. He just continued handing me a little doll every morning outside my house.
That's how those dolls piled up in my room... everyday
After a month, I got myself together and went to school. But what made the pain resurface was that... I saw him on a street...with another girl...
He had a smile on his face, one that he never showed me...as he touched the doll... I ran straight back home and looked at the dolls in my room, and tears fell... Why did he gave these to me??
Those dolls are probably picked out by some other girls. In a fit of anger, I threw the dolls around.
Then suddenly, the phone rang. It was him. He told me to come out to the bus stop outside my house. I tried to calm myself down and walked to the bus stop. I kept reminding myself that I am going to forget him, that it's going to end.
Then he came into my sight, holding a big doll.
Jin Jo, I thought you were pissed, you really came?
I couldn't help hating him, acting like nothing had happen and joking around. Soon, he held out the doll as usual
Me I don't need it.
Jin What?.why?
I grabbed the doll from his hands and threw it on the road.
Me I don't need this doll, I don't need it anymore!! I don't want to see a person like you again!
I spitted out all the words that were inside me. But unlike other days, his eyes very shaking.
"I'm sorry..." He apologized in a tiny voice. He then walked over to the road to pick up the doll...
Me You stupid! Why are you picking up the doll?! Just throw it away!!!
But he ignored me and just went to pick the doll.
Then...
Honk Honk
With a loud honk, a big truck was heading towards him.
"Jin! Move! Move away!" I shouted....
But he didn't hear me, he squatted down and picked up the doll.
"Jin, move!"
HONK!!
*Boom!* That sound, so terrifying.
That's how he went away from me.
That's how he went away without even opening his eyes to say one word to me. After that day, I had to go through everyday with guiltiness and the sadness of losing him.
And after spending two months like a crazy person
I took out the dolls. Those were the only gifts he left me since the day we started going out.I remembered the days I spent with him and started to count the days- when we were in love..
"One...two... three..."
That was how I started to count the dolls...
"Four hundred and eighty four... four hundred and eighty five..."
It all ended with 485 dolls.
I then started to cry again, with a doll in my arms.
I hugged it tightly, then suddenly...
"I love you, I love you"
I dropped the dolls,shocked.
"I...lo..ve..you??"
I picked up the dolls and pressed its stomach.
"I love you I love you"
It can"t be!
I pressed all the dolls' stomach as it piled on the side.
"I love you"
"I love you"
"I love you"
Those words came out non-stop.
"I love you"
Why didn't I realize that???.
That his heart was always by my side, protecting me.
Why didn't I realize that he love me this much...
I took out the doll under the bed and pressed it's stomach, that was the last doll, the one that fell on the road. It had his blood stain on it.
The voice came out, the on that I was missing so much....
"Jo...Do you know what today is? We've been loving each other for 486 days. Do you know what 486 is?
I couldn't say I love you..... Um... since I was too shy. If you forgive me and take this doll, I will say that I love you.. Everyday...till I die.. Jo... I love you!"
The tears came flowing out of me. Why? Why? I asked
god, why do I only know about all this now?
He can't be by my side, but he loved me until his last minute.
For that.. and for that reason... to me..... it became courage... to live a beautiful life...
It's better to lose your ego for the one you love …..instead loosing the one you love for your ego.
And soon, we became a pair of lovers, but we loved each other in different ways. I always concentrated on him only, but by his side, there were so many other girls. To me, he was the only one, but to him, maybe I was just another girl.
Jin, do you want to go watch a movie? I asked.
Jin "I can't"
Why? You need to study at home?I felt disappointment grabbing me.
No I am going to meet a friend
He was always like that.
He met girls in front of me, like it was nothing. To him, I was just a girlfriend. The word "love" only came out from my mouth. Since I knew him, I had never heard him say "I love you" before.
To us, there weren't any anniversaries at all.
He didn't say anything from the first day and it continued till 100 days,200 days. Everyday, before we say goodbye, he would just hand me a doll, everyday, without fail. I don't know why. Then one day...
Me Um, Jin, I...
Jin What?don't drag, just say..
Me I love you.
Jin you...um, just take this doll and go home.
That was how he ignored my three words and handed me the doll.
Then he disappeared, like he was running away.
The dolls I received from him everyday, filled my room, one by one. There were many...
Then one day came, my 15th year old birthday. When I got up in the morning, I pictured a party with him, and stranded myself in my room, waiting for his call.
But ...lunch passed, dinner passed...and soon the sky was dark he still didn't call.
It was already tiring to look at the phone anymore.
Then around 2am in the morning, he suddenly called me and woke me from my sleep. He told me to come out of the house. Still, I felt joy and I ran out happily.
Me Jin...
Jin Here...take this...
Again, he handed me a little doll.
Me What's this?
Jin I didn't give it to you yesterday, so I am giving it to you now. I'm going home now, bye.
Me Wait, wait! Do you know what today is?
Jin Today? Huh?
I felt so sad, I thought he would remember my birthday. He turned around and walked away like nothing had happen. when I shouted..."Wait..."
Jin You have something to say?
Me Tell me, tell me you love me...
Jin What?!
Me Tell me
I put my pathetic self behind and clung on to him. But he just said simple cold words and left.
"I don't want to say that I love someone so easily, if you are desperate to hear it, then find someone else." That was what he said. Then he ran off.
My legs felt numb...and I collapsed to the ground. He didn't want to say it easily...How could he!.
I felt that... Maybe he is not the right guy for me...
After that day, I stranded myself at home crying, just crying. He didn't call me, although I was waiting. He just continued handing me a little doll every morning outside my house.
That's how those dolls piled up in my room... everyday
After a month, I got myself together and went to school. But what made the pain resurface was that... I saw him on a street...with another girl...
He had a smile on his face, one that he never showed me...as he touched the doll... I ran straight back home and looked at the dolls in my room, and tears fell... Why did he gave these to me??
Those dolls are probably picked out by some other girls. In a fit of anger, I threw the dolls around.
Then suddenly, the phone rang. It was him. He told me to come out to the bus stop outside my house. I tried to calm myself down and walked to the bus stop. I kept reminding myself that I am going to forget him, that it's going to end.
Then he came into my sight, holding a big doll.
Jin Jo, I thought you were pissed, you really came?
I couldn't help hating him, acting like nothing had happen and joking around. Soon, he held out the doll as usual
Me I don't need it.
Jin What?.why?
I grabbed the doll from his hands and threw it on the road.
Me I don't need this doll, I don't need it anymore!! I don't want to see a person like you again!
I spitted out all the words that were inside me. But unlike other days, his eyes very shaking.
"I'm sorry..." He apologized in a tiny voice. He then walked over to the road to pick up the doll...
Me You stupid! Why are you picking up the doll?! Just throw it away!!!
But he ignored me and just went to pick the doll.
Then...
Honk Honk
With a loud honk, a big truck was heading towards him.
"Jin! Move! Move away!" I shouted....
But he didn't hear me, he squatted down and picked up the doll.
"Jin, move!"
HONK!!
*Boom!* That sound, so terrifying.
That's how he went away from me.
That's how he went away without even opening his eyes to say one word to me. After that day, I had to go through everyday with guiltiness and the sadness of losing him.
And after spending two months like a crazy person
I took out the dolls. Those were the only gifts he left me since the day we started going out.I remembered the days I spent with him and started to count the days- when we were in love..
"One...two... three..."
That was how I started to count the dolls...
"Four hundred and eighty four... four hundred and eighty five..."
It all ended with 485 dolls.
I then started to cry again, with a doll in my arms.
I hugged it tightly, then suddenly...
"I love you, I love you"
I dropped the dolls,shocked.
"I...lo..ve..you??"
I picked up the dolls and pressed its stomach.
"I love you I love you"
It can"t be!
I pressed all the dolls' stomach as it piled on the side.
"I love you"
"I love you"
"I love you"
Those words came out non-stop.
"I love you"
Why didn't I realize that???.
That his heart was always by my side, protecting me.
Why didn't I realize that he love me this much...
I took out the doll under the bed and pressed it's stomach, that was the last doll, the one that fell on the road. It had his blood stain on it.
The voice came out, the on that I was missing so much....
"Jo...Do you know what today is? We've been loving each other for 486 days. Do you know what 486 is?
I couldn't say I love you..... Um... since I was too shy. If you forgive me and take this doll, I will say that I love you.. Everyday...till I die.. Jo... I love you!"
The tears came flowing out of me. Why? Why? I asked
god, why do I only know about all this now?
He can't be by my side, but he loved me until his last minute.
For that.. and for that reason... to me..... it became courage... to live a beautiful life...
It's better to lose your ego for the one you love …..instead loosing the one you love for your ego.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Corporate Lessons ......Superb
CORPORATE LESSON # 1
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. After a few seconds of arguing over which one should go and answer the doorbell, the wife gives up, quickly wraps herself up in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbor.
Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 just to drop that towel that you have on”. After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands in front of Bob. Bob has a close look at her for a few seconds, hands over $800 and quietly leaves.
Confused, but excited about her good fortune, the woman wraps back up in the towel and goes upstairs. When she gets back to the bathroom, her husband asks from the shower “Who was that?”
“It was Bob the next door neighbor,” she replies.
“Great,” the husband says, “did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”
LESSON:
We must share critical credit information of our customer/debtors with our colleagues to prevent avoidable exposure & probable opened eye exploitation!
CORPORATE LESSON # 2
A priest was driving along and saw a nun on the side of the road; he stopped and offered her a lift which she gladly accepted. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to open and reveal
a lovely leg. The priest had a look and nearly had an accident. After controlling the car,
he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun looked at him and immediately said, “Father, remember psalm 129(Chapter/ section 129 of Bible)?”
The priest was flustered and apologized profusely.
He forced himself to remove his hand. However, he was unable to remove his eyes from her leg.
Further on, while changing gear, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, “Father, remember psalm 129?”
Once again the priest apologized. “Sorry sister, but the mind is weak.”
Arriving at the convent, the nun got out, gave him a meaningful glance and went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to retrieve a bible and looked up psalm 129. It Said,” Go forth and seek; further up, you will find glory.”
LESSON:
Always be well informed in your job; or, you might miss great Opportunities!
CORPORATE LESSON # 3
A young executive was leaving the office at 6 PM when he found the CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand. “Listen,” said the CEO, “this is a very sensitive and important document and my secretary has left. Can you make this thing work?”
“Certainly, Sir” said the young executive. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button.
“Excellent, excellent!” said the CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine.” I just need one copy.”
LESSON:
Respect boss’ knowledge but Never, Never assume that your BOSS knows everything.
CORPORATE LESSON # 4
There were these 4 guys, a Russian, a German, an American and a French, who found this small genie bottle. When they rubbed the bottle, a genie appears. Thankful that the 4 guys had released him out of the bottle, he said, “Next to you all are 4 swimming pools, I will give each of you a wish. When you run towards the pool and jump, you shout what you want the pool of water to become, then your wish will come true.”
The French wanted to start. He ran towards the pool, jumped and shouted WINE”. The pool immediately changed into a pool of wine. The Frenchman was so happy swimming and drinking from the pool.
Next is the Russian’s turn, he did the same and shouted, “VODKA” and immersed himself into a pool of vodka.
The German was next and he jumped and shouted, “BEER”. He was so contented with his beer pool.
The last is the American. He was running towards the pool when suddenly he steps on a banana peel. He slipped towards the pool and shouted, “SH! Γ**!!!!!!!………”
LESSON:
Mind your language; you never Know what it will land you in !!
2 Choices in Life!
READ THIS :::::::LET IT REALLY SINK IN - THEN CHOOSE .
John 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 natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!
You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"
He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood
I choose to be in a good mood."
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.
You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw him about six months after the accident.
When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked
He continued, "..the paramedics were great.
They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."
Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.
John 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 natural motivator.
If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!
You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"
He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood
I choose to be in a good mood."
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.
You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw him about six months after the accident.
When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"
I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked
He continued, "..the paramedics were great.
They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."
Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.
Ques .....Do you have the Answers
1.If all the nations in the world are in debt (am not joking. Even US has got debts), where did all the money go? (weird)
3.What is the speed of darkness? (absurd)
4.If the "black box" flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn't the whole airplane made out of that stuff? (very good thinking)
5.Who copyrighted the copyright symbol? (who knows)
6.Can you cry under water? (let me try)
7.Why do people say, "you've been working like a dog" when dogs just sitaround all day? (I think they meant something else)
8.Why are the numbers on a calculator and a phone reversed? (God knows)
9.Do fish ever get thirsty? (let me ask and tell)
10.Can you get cornered in a round room? (by oneseyes)
11.Why do birds not fall out of trees when they sleep? (tonight I will stay and watch)
12.What came first, the fruit or the color orange? (seed)
13.If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables,then what is baby oil made from? (No comments)
14.What should one call a male ladybird? (No comments)
15.If a person suffered from amnesia and then was cured would they remember that they forgot? (can somebody help )
16.Can you blow a balloon up under water? (yes u can)
17.Why is it called a "building" when it is already built? (strange isn't it)
18.If you were traveling at the speed of sound and you turned on your radio would you be ! Able to hear it? (got to think scientifically)
19.If you're traveling at the speed of light and you turn your headlights on, what happens?
20.Why is it called a TV set when theres only one? (very nice)
21.If a person owns a piece of land do they own it all the way down to the core of the earth? (this is nice)
22.Why do most cars have speedometers that go up to at least 130 when you legally can't go that fast on any road? (stupid, break the law)
23. If drink & drive is not allowed why do bars have parking?(good one)
Hindi meaning of english sayings .....superb
How wud sum common english sayings translate in hindi???
Have a nice day!
----- * Achcha din lo!
What's up?
----- *Uppar kya hai?
You're kidding!
----- *Tum bachcha bana rahe ho!
Don't kid me!
----- * Mera bachcha mat banaao!
Yo, baby! What's up?
-----* Beti Yo, uppar kya hai?
Cool man!
-----* Thandaa aadmi!
Check this out, man!
----* Iskee chaanbeen karo, aadmi!
Don't mess with me, dude.
----- * Mere saath gandagi mat karo, e vyakti.
She's so fine!
----- * Woh itnee baareek hai!
Listen buddy, that chick's mine, okay!?
----- * Suno dost, woh chooza mera hai, theek?
Hey good looking; what's cooking?
----* Arrey sundari; kya pakaa rahee ho?
Are you nuts?
----- * Kya aap akhrot hain?
Son of a gun.
----- * Bachcha bandook ka.
Rock the party.
---- * Party mein patthar feko.
How do you do?
----- * Kaise karte ho?
Keep in touch!
----- * Chhoote Raho.
Lets hang out!
----- * Chalo bahar latakte
Professionals who regularly changed their jobs are more confident
This is interesting… & you must read it....
In a recent survey it was found that professionals who regularly changed their jobs are more confident and financially secured than their counterparts. To find out the truth we decided to have a conversation with some of our friends who are working in engineering and construction companies. We began with some professionals who had changed their jobs an year ago.
We talked to Mr S.V.Anil. This is what he had to say:
"I started my career in a company and worked in the same company for 10 years. During this period I developed very good relations with my seniors, HOD and also with admin dept. This created a sense of security in my mind and I started loving my company. During this period I came across many job opportunities from other companies and also from foreign lands. But the sense of security was so deep rooted in my mind that I never bothered to even attend a walk-in-interview. Forget about thinking of going abroad. I watched many of my colleagues resign and join other companies on a higher salary and a higher position. Some even went abroad and are settled there. Meanwhile I also saw some young engineers almost 5 years junior to me joined my company with same pay as what I was earning. It was then I was disturbed and started looking for alternatives. I had good relations with my HOD and also with administration dept so I decided to put up my case against this "injustice". Everybody showed sympathy to me but nobody took any action. All what they would say was "we will revise your scale in the next appraisal". I had faith in my company so I waited for the appraisal and to my shock I was given only an average increment the same was given to the new chaps too. The same story repeated the following year. It was then I decided to quite. But leaving was not so easy. I had a lot of sleepless nights before I actually resigned. I had built a shell of "sense of security" around me and it was very difficult to break. Worse I had lost confidence that I would be able to adjust and perform in a different environment. But later I found out it is not so difficult to get adjusted to the new environment. I am happy now that I earn better and have a good position."
This is just an example. Almost all the professionals we talked to had a similar experience.
We conclude that working in any company for more than 7 years have following disadvantages:
1. You are taken for granted by the company.
2. You get used to working in an environment which is unique to that company this makes you less confident for taking up new opportunities.
3. Personal growth is hampered as there is very little new to learn after 5-7 years.
4. You become complacent reducing your own market value.
The only benefit it offers is so called "security" (And that too is imaginary)
Here are some benefits of changing the job regularly:
1. You join the company satisfied with your needs ( pay and position ) and on your own terms.
2. Work in a different environment and learn to negotiate different problems and situations.
3. Often you get a chance to attend a new course/seminar thereby increasing your professional knowledge.
4. You are always conscious about your performance keeping your market value intact.
The professional companies do not operate on emotions. They are least bothered about your loyalty all they want is performance. You won't be awarded anything extraordinary for your loyalty. It is always performance that counts. If you are in a company serving for too long then the chances are you not one of the best performers because of the inevitable complacency.
Also such people presented with an opportunity of lifetime are incapable to grab it. It is impossible for these people to break their shell of "security" and grab the new opportunity. The situation is worse for the people who have worked for more than 15 years in only one company. They can't even dream of quitting their job, it is like fish out of water.
In a recent survey it was found that professionals who regularly changed their jobs are more confident and financially secured than their counterparts. To find out the truth we decided to have a conversation with some of our friends who are working in engineering and construction companies. We began with some professionals who had changed their jobs an year ago.
We talked to Mr S.V.Anil. This is what he had to say:
"I started my career in a company and worked in the same company for 10 years. During this period I developed very good relations with my seniors, HOD and also with admin dept. This created a sense of security in my mind and I started loving my company. During this period I came across many job opportunities from other companies and also from foreign lands. But the sense of security was so deep rooted in my mind that I never bothered to even attend a walk-in-interview. Forget about thinking of going abroad. I watched many of my colleagues resign and join other companies on a higher salary and a higher position. Some even went abroad and are settled there. Meanwhile I also saw some young engineers almost 5 years junior to me joined my company with same pay as what I was earning. It was then I was disturbed and started looking for alternatives. I had good relations with my HOD and also with administration dept so I decided to put up my case against this "injustice". Everybody showed sympathy to me but nobody took any action. All what they would say was "we will revise your scale in the next appraisal". I had faith in my company so I waited for the appraisal and to my shock I was given only an average increment the same was given to the new chaps too. The same story repeated the following year. It was then I decided to quite. But leaving was not so easy. I had a lot of sleepless nights before I actually resigned. I had built a shell of "sense of security" around me and it was very difficult to break. Worse I had lost confidence that I would be able to adjust and perform in a different environment. But later I found out it is not so difficult to get adjusted to the new environment. I am happy now that I earn better and have a good position."
This is just an example. Almost all the professionals we talked to had a similar experience.
We conclude that working in any company for more than 7 years have following disadvantages:
1. You are taken for granted by the company.
2. You get used to working in an environment which is unique to that company this makes you less confident for taking up new opportunities.
3. Personal growth is hampered as there is very little new to learn after 5-7 years.
4. You become complacent reducing your own market value.
The only benefit it offers is so called "security" (And that too is imaginary)
Here are some benefits of changing the job regularly:
1. You join the company satisfied with your needs ( pay and position ) and on your own terms.
2. Work in a different environment and learn to negotiate different problems and situations.
3. Often you get a chance to attend a new course/seminar thereby increasing your professional knowledge.
4. You are always conscious about your performance keeping your market value intact.
The professional companies do not operate on emotions. They are least bothered about your loyalty all they want is performance. You won't be awarded anything extraordinary for your loyalty. It is always performance that counts. If you are in a company serving for too long then the chances are you not one of the best performers because of the inevitable complacency.
Also such people presented with an opportunity of lifetime are incapable to grab it. It is impossible for these people to break their shell of "security" and grab the new opportunity. The situation is worse for the people who have worked for more than 15 years in only one company. They can't even dream of quitting their job, it is like fish out of water.
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