Lakhon main ek (One in a million)

कच्चे कन्धों पे पापा ने लादा
पेंडिंग सपनों का भोज

उसको भी करो भेड़ों में शामिल
शेरोन सी जिसकी हो सोच

नाचना तुझे होगा बसंती
पैरों हो चाहे मोच

फिर उजाले में पढ़ गया ताला
चाबी अँधेरे मैं खोज

मांगी बिरयानी
हाय टिंडे मिले

फ्राइडे बीता नहीं
सीधे मंडे मिले

गिरगिटों मैं सभी
रंग बदलते नहीं ।

बर्फ की रोड पर
ुण्ठ चलते नहीं

जो गिरेगा सो खायेगा टप्पा
अगर हो इरादे हो नेक

लाखों आये लगाने ये ठप्पा
तू भी लाखों मैं एक

Kacche kandho pe papa ne laada

Pending sapno ka bojh

Usko bhi karo bhedo mein shaamil

Shero si jiski soch

 

Naachna tujhe hoga basanti,

Ho chahe pairo mein moch

Fir ujaale pe pad gaya taala,

Chaabi andhere mein khoj

Maangi biryani 

Haaye Tindey mile

Friday beeta nahi, 

Seedhe Monday mile

Girgito mein sabhi

Rang badalte hai

Barf ki road par

Ooth chalet nahi

Jo girega so khyayega tappa 

Agar iraade ho nek

Laakhon aaya laagane yeh thappa

Tu bhi Laakhon Mein Ek

Poet: Abhishek Chatterjee

 

Leadership and what are the fundamental traits of a good leader?



If there is one thing there isn’t enough of in the world - it is leadership. Having enough leadership bandwidth can solve world hunger and climate change, I believe.


What is leadership, though? Everyone knows what is leadership and is able to identify a leader from a crowd. There are many definitions of leadership and we read will all those on the internet. All these definitions are right but, in my opinion, don’t necessarily click.


Leadership is the ability of a person to take a group of people, this could be a group of 2 people i.e. 1 more other than you, towards a common goal. That sounds a lot like slavery but it isn’t. The key difference is that the people working with you should be co-owners of Goal. That for me is leadership.


What are the key traits of a leader? How does one become a leader? In my opinion, there are 4 fundamentals to learn to be a leader. When one learns these, they have the raw material to be a leader.

1. Professional Competence
2. Integrity and Courage
3. Have a vision - Take a problem head-on.
4. Communication skills

Professional Competence
Excellence. You have to be good at your job. Professional knowledge has to be acquired the hard way. It doesn’t come easy; its the act of life long learning. If a person is mediocre or incompetent at what they do, why will people look up to the person? Why will people follow this person? Unless you have professional competence, you cannot be a leader. People don’t have a reason to believe this person to be the/leader.


Integrity and Courage
Absolute justice and impartiality. Always focus on what is right. The leader’s conduct should be above suspicion. The leader should have the courage to do what is right irrespective of the repercussions. As the old saying goes “Ceaser’s wife should be above suspicion”.


Vision
People want hope. People have hope for doing something beyond themselves; a goal that is worth their time. These are not day-to-day tasks. Who wakes up from bed excited, to do something that is mundane? However, the mundane task aligned to a larger goal can and will drive up the energy of the person performing that task.


A leader is always looking for challenges. Always looking to make things better. Maybe even looking for trouble (in a good way). They do this in search of excellence and the feeling of greatness. The feeling of wonder.


If you want to be a leader, you should have the ability to take up challenges. See the problem and look at solving it. Don’t be tied to the harbor; sail the rough seas. For a smooth sea never made a skillful sailor or sail crew.


Communication
This is the tough one. There are multiple levels of communication.
The first level is about ensuring people see you as honest. How does a person ensure his/her integrity is unquestionable? A leader does that by consulting with people and being open with people on the thought process behind his decision. They do this by communicating their thoughts and allowing themselves to be open for feedback.


At the second level, it is about communicating your thoughts and ideas and goals and vision. A person may have amazing visions and ideas; but what use are they if he can’t communicate to people he wants to lead? He/She has to have the ability to communicate their vision and ask for feedback to bring about alignment.


Remember, you may have all 4 of them but still may not be a leader… yet. These 4 traits are what starts you on a journey to be a great leader. It is an amazing journey, keep learning.

Book Review: Make Your Own Luck

This is a book review of Make Your Own Luck by Bob Miglani and Rehan Yar Khan.

This was an interesting read for the ideas it presents on tilting luck in your favour. Who doesn't need luck!
It's written from the perspective of two people; one a Corporate citizen and other entrepreneurs, both trying to make it big and succeeding in their endeavors.

Bob was a senior executive in Pfizer before he decided to take plug into the startup world. Rehan started as an entrepreneur; his bigger successes are as an angel investor in some startups like Ola Cabs and Dhruva.

Here are my key takeaways from the book and quotes from the book

Be Obsessively curious

Learn. Get deeply immersed in a specific area, even if it doesn't have a compelling reason for the short term return. Unique opportunities are only found when you are in search of knowledge and understanding

In your quest to learn, do not be afraid of calling successful people.

TIP (From Rehan): If there is a phenomenal founder, he/she will find a way to make the company successful.

Give. Create Value. Solve a problem for others.
When you give, you will receive
Figure out what problem can I solve? who can I serve? what value can I create for this specific person? (Talk to people to see if the problem needs to be solved)
Luck is accelerated when a value is created


Diverge. Take the road less traveled.
Biggest destroyer of startups: Marketing expense of customer acquisition. You have to spend a lot of money to acquire a customer in a crowded market.

Be unique. Find your niche. Be different. Niche attracts customers.

Find an unexplored area and go deep. Learn, understand, get a granular and laser-like focus on a specific field and become a master - at the smallest and narrowest part of your industry. Once you do that you will have people asking you advice, thoughts and ideas

Have a beginners mindset
A full cup can't be filled with more knowledge.

Recognize that what got you here won't take you there.


Do what is hard
Smooth seas never made a skilled sailor
The hard path creates a moat. To accelerate the chance of success/luck, always choose the hard path. You know it is hard when it scares you and makes you uncomfortable.
Force yourself to delay gratification

Practice Randomness
Proactively reach out to people you wouldn't normally meet
Don't allow the mind to tell you that it won't work. Try first. It's ok to fail.
Make a conscious effort to try a non-traditional approach.
Expand the diversity of the pool of people you deal with.
Say yes to speaking to people or going to places which seem unrelated to what you are working on
Overshare your thoughts with random people.

Have multiple Plan As
Always be experimenting
Key: Try 2- things with a limited budget at the same time.
Make small bets on multiple initiatives and implement them simultaneously


That is a good book! Highly recommended