How to Inspire Happiness Come Running After You!

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Why, apparently wise people, who always talk about achieving an ego-less state of mind, are themselves more egoistic than the normal population? This thought came to mind when I noticed someone I know, supposed to be a torch bearer of this enlightened philosophy, himself succumbed to the evils of a demanding ego.

As there can never be a day without a night, there can never be a living entity without duality of thoughts and actions. It's absolutely normal and natural according to the Law of Nature. However, what matters most for living an accomplished life is to keep this difference between what we talk and we practice as minimum as possible.

Being perfectly idealistic may be theoretically possible, but living in a complex and materialistic human society it is practically impossible to attain and practice such a perfect and pure state of mind and soul. So the best thing one can do is to avoid the avoidable duality, and the right approach towards attaining that goal is enhanced by embracing the of 'Zero expectation' concept of life.

Focus on giving as much as you can to people from your area of influence -- but, without expecting anything in return.  No doubt, that's where most of us fail. Numerous times I have done it and watched many doing it: "I did so much for him but he didn't bother to reciprocate," is perhaps the most popular complaint of entire humanity.

I agree that  every relationship is more or less performance based, and failing to live up to the expectation of others normally bring an end to most of the associations. However, my point is, you do your best to fulfill others' expectations out of you but never expect anything in return. Treat whatever you get back as a bonus, not as your rights.

More you reduce your expectation, less would be the need to practice duality, as your mind would be free of those confusion and doubts that force you to talk and act differently.  Because, when you stop bothering about others' reaction, you are left with nothing but improving your own selfless action. And I strongly believe that any selfless action is always transparent like water.

That's why, people who practice the art of unleashing selfless action, gradually move toward achieving an ego-less state of mind -- with a minimum of duality: Neither of thoughts, nor in action! Difficult to practice, but not impossible if you can tame your ego down.

Reduce your own expectation from others as much as you can; you would move a bit closer to living a better duality-free life. And I'm sure, others, watching your act, would follow your path sooner or later, making this world a better place to live in.

The day you learn to live a self-less life with 'zero expectation,' from others, believe me, happiness would declare a never-ending chase for you. Because, when you have nothing to expect, rather nothing to lose, standing on zero, everything that you receive in life is always positive.

Loss of Confidence: The Story of Relationship Fallout!

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Recently I lost a decade old client to my competitors and, at the same time, experienced a relationship fallout with an otherwise good connection on social media. Why that happened is a million dollar question but, I'm sure, it keeps happening with most of us.

One was in professional front and the other in personal life, but the contributing factors could be same in both the cases. Much have been written about relationship fallout and I don't want repeat those points again, but I've done some introspection to find out where did I gone wrong and sharing my observations with you.

One of the most important reasons could be: Loss of confidence.

Most of the successful associations, both professional and personal, are primarily fueled by a continuous flow of mutual trust and confidence. Things go wrong, only when this confidence factor experiences a downfall for some reasons.

Life is very complex like a spider web and full of puzzles that keep revolving around us on daily basis. Despite our best efforts, some of them remained unsolved for a long time and negatively influence our external behavior and quality of action as well.

Affecting our efficiency those unsolved issues bring down our performance in real life, ultimately leading towards erosion of confidence that others have in us. Neither we can clearly explain the reasons behind such deterioration to our associates, nor all of them are bothered about it. Gradually, confidence level reaches the point of no return and concerned associate silently backs out of the relationship.

However, I must say, most of us are invariably blessed with a few connections who demonstrate remarkable maturity in terms of understanding our situation and never hesitate to give us another chance. The wiser people make the best use of this opportunity and change the tide in favor. But a few, fail to read the writing on wall and pay the price.

I think, same must have happened in my case as far as losing the old client is concerned. Somewhere, I might have failed to deliver according to his expectations, shattering his confidence in me, forcing him to retreat and look out for someone who could deliver better. May be he had indicated his displeasure also, but I failed to notice them. However, he never clearly pointed it out to me and suddenly disappeared from my radar. And that really pains!

Well, if you are on the other side of the table and watching someone who had earlier lived up to your confidence but failing to deliver now, don't erase him completely out of your life -- rather talk to him and sort out the issues. If he understands, takes corrective action and makes it up, you have surely done a good deed of saving a relationship which is no less precious than a life.

There are a few more critical factors that equally influence the sustenance and prosperity of human relationship, but I would discuss them some other time.

A Virtual Joker!

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What is the spirit of a virtual relationship, after all?

Nothing, but a shot of marijuana that temporarily elevates your sense of attachment.

But to whom?

To people you hardly know, but still care about!

And, over a period of time, your depth of virtual attachment to them supersedes the limitations of practical understanding.

It keeps flourishing - not forever though - until one fine morning, when you wake up to realize a simple fact: Your real emotion is being perceived as virtual!

Then you realize, everything that you assumed in your virtual world has no practical relevance.

Nothing comes next, but a huge frustration germinated from your inability to differentiate between the Beauty of the real world and the Beast from the virtual.

In the end, you stand a virtual joker!

professional Relationship: How to be Most Wanted in Job Market

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Earlier, I told you about the importance of joining a big player right at the start of your career if you want make it happen in the corporate world.

Well, that's only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more dimensions of the crystal 'Success' and your ultimate achievement depends on understanding the importance of all of them.

One of them is how you manage your Professional Relationship.

Corporates are very vigilant these days and before making an offer to any candidate they would normally go through extensive background checks.

So, even if you are sponsored by an external recruiter, sometime, even before calling you for an interview they would obtain as much information as possible regarding your functional and behavioral performance through every known source from your current and previous organisations.

Several times, during my decade-and-half executive search career, I have noticed that many good candidates who're more than matching the job requirements were sidelined at the last moment just because they failed to pass the referral checks.

It means, some of your current or ex-colleagues, known to the interviewers, must have responded with some negative remarks about you. Those could be valid to some extent, and invalid as well in case you didn't enjoy a good working relationship with them.

Unfortunately, in the corporate circle, lot of people mix-up between professional misunderstanding and personal differences to facilitate their own progress - or abort others' - by hook or by crook.

To be in the safer side, you must maintain a healthy relationship with people from your professional circles and that includes external connections also.

And that's possible, only if you take your job seriously and control your emotional outbursts event at the most provoking situation.

Company Culture: How to be Most Wanted in Job Market!

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With too many candidates looking for a better job and too few enjoying the unique privilege of having multiple offers in hand, how many of you, belonging to former category, are seriously looking into finding out the difference between two sides of the same coin?

Being into the business of "Executive Search and Recruitment" for more than a decade and half, I can safely assume: Very few.

Most of you are going by conventional wisdom and traditional methods of career advancement, without realizing how dramatically the corporate world has changed in last couple of years. One hand we have a high unemployment rate, and on the other hand a huge talent shortage.

Isn't it high time to do little home work and renovate your profile, so that instead of you desperately looking out for a better assignment a host of dream companies come running after you -- either directly, or through their recruitment agencies?

Does it make sense? If so, read further!

The following suggestion is applicable to only those, who're newcomers to the corporate world: From freshers to professionals having a few years of work experience.

Very few brands are built overnight, but through a well planned strategic and tactical initiatives. What you are today in your professional life, one of the important reasons could be the size and reputation of the companies you have worked so far. Size and reputation matter, at least in the corporate world.

So always make it a point to join a big and reputed company in the beginning of your career - or switch over as soon as possible, if you have joined a small company - and apply the same principle to your next couple of changes covering at least a decade of your professional life.

You might get much better opportunities from smaller and less reputed companies with a higher designation and more money, but don't give in to greed; don't run after money during those formative years.

As you know the importance of first few years of your life - in terms of quality of upbringing - to help you grow successful as a human; remember, the same applies to career development as well.

Learning about organizational dynamics - while working in a big and reputed company - could be an invaluable asset, that would always help you later to look at every professional conflicts with a wider and down-to-earth perspective.

After a decade of successful stints with a few big and reputed companies, you can certainly command an astonishing market price - if you truly deserve it - from smaller and less reputed organizations -- may be some good start-ups also.

The person that you're today, is the resultant of the quality of upbringing during first few years of your life; the professional that you're are likely to be tomorrow, would be governed mostly by what you have learned during the first few years of your career.

Personal or professional, success is mostly governed by the quality of upbringing! And in the corporate world, these days, both internal and external recruiters strictly go by this principle.

3 Essential Social Media Rules!

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One of my Facebook friends, commenting against an article I recently posted on my blog highlighting some of my life experiences, thrown in a question: "what made you think that you're a 'Life Management' expert?"

Despite being a personal attack, I didn't feel bad about it. In fact, his statement lighted up my thought process for identifying the dark shades of social media interactions: Online negativity!

Social media communication is a game that we play for various reasons: Entertainment, education, self-expression etc to name a few. And like every game, it too has certain rules and regulation that participants must follow to make it worthwhile for all.

I'm not a social media experts but, being an avid Facebook user, some of the effective rules in my opinion are:

1. Respect others' freedom of expression

Freedom of expression is at its best on social media, where people are encouraged to disclose their views on a variety of topics. Obviously, opinions would vary from north to south pole depending upon individual's belief-system and life-values.

So if someone's view doesn't fall in line with your take on the same issue, you may share own and get into a healthy debate -- but you should never show any disrespect to him, may be through offending remarks.

2. Never launch personal attack

This is by far the most notorious negative shade of social media interaction. Quite often I notice people responding arrogantly to others' posts and comments, sometime even crossing decency limits. And a few, going further, launch personal attacks through stinking comments.

Remember, on social media sites you must control naked emotional outbursts, more so targeted at others, if you wish to get the best out it and let others have the same. This would help you develop  quite a few meaningful associations.

3. Make others Feel happier

People come to social media sites for taking a break from a demanding life. They come here to refresh themselves and recharge. Hence, you must try your best to make them feel better through interesting and inspiring posts and comments.

More you respect others and add values to their social media life, more you will feel happy, as, according to a latest research: Humans feel happier while giving it away, than consuming it themselves. And it, could be both tangible and intangible benefits.

If  you look at every interaction on social media sites with nothing but a strong positive feeling, I'm sure you'd enjoy your time over there and let others too.

Is Life, A Punishment for Committing No Crime?

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Life is a punishment, without committing a crime;

Life is a reward, without any achievement.

Life is a commitment, that rewards you nothing;

Life is nothing, but living for the sake of others.

Life is a never ending flow of tears, that make no sense to others;

Still we live pretend to be happy, and make others happy as well.

Life is all about unconditional giving, wiping out the expectation of a return;

Lfe is a journey that never ends, forgetting everything that you truly deserve.

life is all about giving, but receiving noting in return;

Life is nothing about gains, but loses that you learn to sustain.

Life is larger than a hero, that makes you the most dreaded villain;

Life is the best gift of nature, that you receive but never return.

Life is all about a few drops of tears, that you hide and keep moving;

Silently digesting a punishment, for committing no crime.

Life is after all, a punishment for committing no crime;

With a hope to come back, and prove it all wrong!

Money Management, I'm Still Learning!

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My father, walking the talk, used to highlight the concept of living a simple life where ethical values outweigh monetary quest. For him, financial growth was not the benchmark for counting degree of success in life but setting an example of a strong and spotless character.

Truly embracing his teachings, I grew up, hardly having any interest for monetary success and focusing more on general excellence. However, this disinterest in making money, in my case, went to such an extent that I could never realize the importance of saving a part of my earnings.

Truly amazing, as it appears now: how could I, a married person with two daughters to look after, be so ignorant about basic money management skill? I mean, saving a part of income for rainy days! Earning a lot but spending recklessly, I, not so long ago, realised the importance of a balanced cash flow when recession suddenly and unexpectedly dried up my source of income.

Struggling through mother of all difficulties for more than two years, I realized, how important is -- not just earning money but, more than that, saving a part of it.

Money still doesn't excite me, but the thought of not having enough of it sends chills down my spine. Human values are still much more important to me, mainly because it's impossible to change my upbringing induced belief system, but achieving financial freedom has definitely taken a front seat in the show of life.

Money can't buy us happiness, but lack of a bare minimum can surely makes us extremely unhappy. Who knows it better than me? And that bare minimum, even though varies according to individual lifestyle, should never go skyrocketing!

Earn as much as you can, without sacrificing your social life; spend as less as you can, without sacrificing a decent living; save as much as you can, without sacrificing the pleasures you can afford to provide to your family members -- but never let money take driver's seat in your life!

Why You Must Write Down the Life Experience, and Share!

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All of us struggle in life, in different ways, on a wide range of platforms, through out the life. Some manage to break-even and go up the life-ladder. The remaining continue their fight against destiny with a hope to make it happen as soon as possible.

Every struggle, in a way, represents an epic story of human's in-built quest for achieving a better quality of living. Success or failure is another issue, but the experience earned during this process is unique and invaluable.

I strongly believe that no other social service would be more accomplishing than the pleasure of sharing one's knowledge with others: whatever we have learned out of our life journey so far. And the best way to do so is to go down the memory lane and remember each and every incident that changed the way we used to look at our own life and that of others, pen down those lessons and publish them as blogs.

Having completed 3 years of memorable journey as a blogger, writing more than 300 original articles on life experiences so far, I have now made my personal blog a common platform for sharing life experiences of others as well.

It doesn't matter whether you have written an article earlier or not, as long as you are driven by a genuine desire to share your learning with others.

Try it once and watch the impact it makes on your quality of living. Trust me, more you share more happy you'd be. Because, more you give more you get: Law of nature!  Also, who knows, your life lessons might entirely change the life direction of many others.

So what are you waiting for? Make the beginning right now!

5 Basic Ingredients of Effective Leadership

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Some time ago I met the CEO of a fairly large organization who had recently joined the company. Being a good listener - developed this habit with great difficulties - I gave a patient hearing to his future plans: how is he planning to make the company highly profitable etc in a year or so etc..

In a few minutes during the course of our discussion I got impressed, not because he spoke confidently but he appeared to be a highly intelligent person also. So, from learning point of view,  I decided to make him feel more comfortable and  initiated a general discussion on his strategic initiatives.

Gradually he opened up and we had an interesting brain-storming session lasting for more than an hour,  although my appointment was for 15 minutes only.

Apart from other issues, we discussed at length about essential ingredients of effective leadership for successfully navigating through unrelenting business uncertainties.

Let me highlight the Gist of our discussion:

According to him, you can taste considerable success even in a difficult situation if you remain focused on the following objectives -- continuously and consistently.

1. Get involved in everything that matters: Leadership success is like a chain and ignoring even one link may lead to breaking its continuity. Identify the links that matter and do your best to maintain them.

2. Improve self-knowledge: For helping the poor you have to be rich. So for guiding your team members, you must have a strong knowledge base.

3. Eliminate fear of failure: Battles are not won on the ground but in thoughts. You must win over the fear of failure by strictly controlling your thought processes.

4. Improve confidence level: Nothing can be achieved unless you are convinced that you can achieve it. You must remain confident while navigating through the worst situations.

5. Develop an inspired team: You must develop a team of self-motivated performers. Always remember that, more than you, it's your team members who actually make it happen for you.

It was a good learning experience and one of the best meetings I ever had with industry leaders.

If you think that there are a few more essential ingredients to making an effective leader, please share them here.

Why You Must Worry, Sometime!

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Don't worry be happy, is the statement universally quoted by all of us to calm down worried friends or relatives. That's fine. But the question is, can we live without really getting worried about certain developments in our life.

No job, a serious illness or personality conflict with some close friend; Can we just remain happy without worrying for working out a solution? Not at all!

Does it mean, unless we worry about something greatly affecting our physical and emotional existence we can never achieve happiness? Yes I think, but to a limited extent!

We must worry for the right reason and convert its negative energy into positive for inspiring us to find out an amicable solution.We must worry, but for energizing us to initiate positive actions. Because, worry, I believe, is the right nutrients for keeping our survival instincts healthy.

However, many of us remain worried in every situation -- making it a habit. And that habit of worrying unnecessarily is what makes our life miserable.

These days life is not so simple that you can just stop worrying. So you must worry if there is a genuine reason, but use it to turn around the situation that's causing it.

Perception Compatibility, Key to Success!

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You are an idiot. But the advantage is, others don't know about it. You are not an idiot. But the issue is, others think that you are.

In both the situation, your perception and that of majority of others about you don't match, and that's a huge non-conformity in life's quality system!

Either way, none of these two situation would ever let you achieve and sustain what you want to.

In the first case, even if you achieve success due to others' wrong perception of you, sooner or later you'd fail to sustain it because basically you're an idiot.

In the second case, even though you're capable of achieving success, others' negative perception of you would stop your growth very soon.

So the ideal situation, if you are not an idiot, is, both others and you shouldn't perceive yourself as an idiot -- rather intelligent.

Because, success, either in personal or in professional life, is directly governed by both self-confidence and that of others in you.

And this confidence is greatly influenced by perception.

So perception compatibility, on a positive mode, of self and that of others, within your area of influence, is another key to success in life.

How to Raise Happiness Index in Relationship Management

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I have two different yardsticks for measuring the impacts of Motion picture on me and I always try my best to apply one at a time and only to the relevant entity.

One category is, what gives me food for thought; the other is, that takes thoughts out of my mind while watching the movie. But the problem arises when I use it wrongly. Like, looking for pure entertainment from a movie which is meant to be thought-provoking.

It happens with all of us, and in every domain of life, in terms of wrongly placing the loads of expectations on others. Invariably this mismatch creates some unhappiness in our life and without realising the reason behind we keep blaming others for no fault of theirs.

I think the root cause of major unhappiness is this mismatch between expectation and achievement: Both from self and from others within our area of influence.

Interestingly what we expect from self and get in return is still manageable with a self improvement drive. However, what we get in return from others is beyond our complete control.

In this scenario, the best method to avoid relationship bitterness is to assess and practically define our expectation from each and every association -- keeping it as minimum as possible.

Having gone through several tidal waves of relationship conflicts so far, now I know better than ever, what to expect from whom, and that has made my life little more peaceful and raised my happiness index considerably.

I'm sure most of you must have surfed through such relationship Tsunamis in your life and designed your own unique ways to counter them as well. If so, please share your experience with others readers to make their life little better than ever.

How to be A Complete Human!

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Yesterday night, just before falling asleep, a thought came to my mind: Is life all about a few million dollar in cash and few houses here and there, or something more meaningful?

Today morning, while going to the office, the answer came up:

Nothing wrong in going for 'more,' if it doesn't spoil your basic quality of living. However, an uncontrolled quest for 'more and more' sets in motion an irreversible process of self-destruction.

You must work hard to achieve financial independence first. But there after, you should focus more on earning intellectual recognition through creativity and/or social service.

Because, that's more meaningful than making tons of wealth!

There is no point in running after money only; there is no point in running after fame only; but innovate a strategy that delivers both and use them for making the world a better place.

Only then, you become a Complete Human!

Talent Shortage: Myth, or Reality?

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"What's your salary expectation?" Asked HR manager of a company to a candidate sitting across the table who has already been approved by key decision makers including the Business Head.

"At least 40 percent hike over current take home salary," candidate replied, confidently.

HR Manager frowned and shoot back, "isn't it too high?"

"I don't think," candidate said. "Since this assignment requires relocating from another apart of the country, and also because I already have an offer in hand with 30 percent hike."

A blunt and to the point justification that didn't really make the other person happy at all, but he responded.

"Look, ours is a renowned company and we growing very fast. If you do well, you can grow as well."

"Also, if we give you the hike that you're demanding it'd completely disrupt our internal salary structure. So, we can offer you a maximum hike of 20 percent only. " He finished, bringing their discussion to an end.

"Is it the final offer?" candidate inquired, in an attempt to stretch it a bit further.

" Well, I'll try to take a special approval for another 5 percent, but that's maximum."

"Okay, let me think it over for a day and come back to you."

"Thanks," said HR manager, concluding their discussion inconclusively.

Nothing happened there after, and that candidate joined another organization with a 30 percent hike.

So all efforts to identify and recruit a candidate who would have made a lot of difference to the bottom line of the company went down the drain, just because existing structure couldn't  allow him to be in!

Above discussion, more or less, represents a typical negotiation process prevailing in most of the talent starving companies, clearly indicating that it's not a talent crunch but their inability to afford candidates with right skills at the market price is what makes them suffer most.

From HR perspective, as the HR manager explained during the above mentioned interview, recruiting someone with a much higher salary than what are other employees drawing at that level would certainly create a demotivational environment in the organization.

And I agree, it will. But then, what's the solution?

Please share your take on this issue, highlighting a few practical solutions to this problem. In the following post, I shall let you know about mine and that would be something revolutionary!

Innovation is What Makes You Rich And Famous!

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Something must keep bothering you, even if there is no definite reason nor the need, if you are serious about moving up the ladder of life in totality.

Well, I'm not talking about earning lots of money but about global recognition of your skills in whichever field you are.

When you focus on earning lots of money, and invest wisely, no doubt your net worth goes up and exponentially too, but at some point of time it becomes a matter of habit for you to keep adding more and more to an overflowing kitty.

Busy over securing your life and that of your family members, often much beyond what is really required, you lose sight of an important accomplishment which is an essential part your existence: Intellectual recognition!

Remember, money doesn't make one rich and famous but a successful product or service that he or she innovates.

Money follows!

Also, people don't acknowledge your being rich and famous on the basis of net-worth but what's your contributions to humanity for making the world a better and simpler place to live in.

What could be a better example than that of Steve Jobs, who left behind a meager 6 billion dollars worth assets. But, can we calculate his accomplishments?

Never forget, when you innovate a successful cutting edge product or impacting service: A best selling book, or mobile phones, or something entirely new -- it fulfills your need for intellectual recognition as well as materialistic gains. 

So focus more on innovation rather than earning a few millions. If you succeed, not millions but billions would follow you.

Cruel Verdict of Unpredictable Destiny!

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It was a disappointing day, today, that begun with the news of unfortunate demise of a young relative, only child of old parents.

She had been struggling for more than a couple of years against a disease that affects one in a billion globally.

Doctors at AIIMS, as a last resort, operated upon her, but unsuccessfully, and today at 6 AM she finally succumbed to the cruel verdict of destiny.

In a way she was relieved from unbearable pains and agonies, but for parents, it happened to be an abrupt end of a wonderful relationship that life can ever bless us with: Parents and children.

The pains of losing only child can never be described in words, but having watched it for several hours, behind a composed face of her father, I wonder how fragile and unpredictable is life as such.

Life will never be same again for them, her parents, especially at this age, accepting the fact and then living with it.

All I can hope and pray is: May God give them enough strength and courage to look beyond and live a peaceful life!

How Can Time be More Precious than Life?

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This thought came to my mind while watching a program on 'Discovery Channel' on 'how busy is life at Mumbai.' In fact, one of respondent went to make a statement that in Mumbai Time is more precious than Life!

Simply amazing and painful to notice, how our inability to manage time has transcended into such a destructive belief.

I think its a negative mind set, cultivating a deeply embedded belief in our amygdala, that the best way to project our success in professional life is to let others know how terribly busy we are!

Actually, if everything is going well in your department and also in the organization you are currently working for, I think there should never be a situation when you're so hard-pressed for time. Even if not, you can still find out numerous ways to reduce your inefficiencies at least.

Long ago I wrote a blog highlighting the lesson I had learned from one of my seniors at Bajaj Auto Ltd, Aurangabad, regarding effective time management. Since then I have never faced similar situation in my career so far, despite working hard for several hours a day.

Time management is not so difficult, if we know how to focus on what really matter and filter out less useful activities from our daily agenda.

I vividly remember the words of inspiration from that senior, " Abhijit, if I'm able to manage sitting idle for several hours day while managing such a big show, how can you fall short of time?"

It's high time to look for a solution that would save your time, which, in turn, you invest in your personal life for making some useful contributions to the welfare of your near and dear ones.

A simple Google search with key words 'Time Management' would pop up numerous article on your computer screen; read a few with attention, understand the concept, try them out sincerely, and then notice the difference.

Time is more precious than life, is perhaps the most stupid statement I have ever come across in my life.

Always remember, under any circumstances, nothing, absolutely nothing is more precious than life!

How I'm Preparing for Another Recession!

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Not yet completely recovered from bone-chilling impact of the recession in 2008, that almost shattered an otherwise not so problematic professional life, the sign of another downturn looming large on the horizon has made me seriously think about designing a few effective counter-measures as soon as possible.

Being an entrepreneur my thought-processes may not perfectly align with what is required to be done by those in job; however, the fundamental message, I believe, is pertinent to both the categories.

Expand the horizon:

Most of us, either in business or in job, remain contented with our current state of affairs without bothering much about a future shock that might dislodge our foundation in no time.

That's exactly what happened with me in 2008!

I was happily married to a few large and rewarding clients, generating enough revenues to successfully run a small organization having half a dozen employees. So much was my confidence in those clients that I never bothered to widen my area of operation.

Another way of putting it could be, that, I perhaps was a bit less ambitious or may be I was earning beyond my expectation.

Whatever it was, but I certainly had restricted myself to a narrow zone of business operation.

And when recession struck, most my clients completely froze their recruitment drive, bringing my cash flow to almost nil for several months thereafter. With residual hiring still going on, I could survive the nightmare but not without paying a huge price in terms of a complete erosion of my net worth.

So this time I'm not taking any chance and going all out to increase my clients-base as much as possible.

Create an alternate source of income:

Creating an alternate source of income requires a lot of advance planning, and most of us never bother to invest the time required for figuring out an appropriate strategy.

Last time I failed to innovate a result oriented strategy that really works when needed, and wasted precious time in establishing a blog that couldn't even generate 10 percent of the money I needed to keep my life moving.

So this time I'm looking for expanding into retained search business in partnership with a highly competent HR professional.

If we are able to execute even half a dozen assignments in next 6 months, being a high value service that would generate enough cash for painless surfing through another recession if at all that happens.

There are a few more areas of improvements I have identified, and working hard to seal off every loophole in the system that might again expose me to the cruelties of another devastating recession.

You too must think it over, in advance, and design your own strategy as soon as possible!

Steve Jobs: Successful Leadership Thrive on A Cocktail of Love And Fear!

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Steve Jobs, the most successful CEO in the modern business world, had once fired an employee in the elevator and another for bringing a wrong brand of mineral water.

At the same time, he continued inspiring several thousand employees of a sinking giant and - in less than a decade - made it the world's most admired company.

Sounds contradictory?

Yes it is, on the surface though, but that's what: two different shades of Steve's character, made him immortal in the corporate world in terms of driving people to utilize their hidden potential for achieving stupendous success.

I'm sure that people in Apple must have loved Steve Jobs, and still do, for being such an inspirational leader. Nothing could be a better example of his true character than the incident, when he dropped his own idea that he found inferior to another suggested by a team member.

At the same time, they must have feared him deep down their soul, because he never believed in anything less than perfect.

I think a successful CEO is not only immensely loved by his employees for demonstrating the power of true character but feared as well for his dis-likings towards the performance that fall short of his huge expectations from them.

Just being kind to your employees wouldn't make you a successful business leader, but a combination of love and fear!

However, the composition of this amazing cocktail is unique for every situation and the leader must keep changing it according to the need of the hour, always putting love on the higher side.

Are You A Predator, or A Prey?

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Predator and Prey were there, are there, and will always be -- until the world goes bust.

Let's not put forward some bull-shit arguments against this 'Law of Nature.' Because, whether we accept it or not, this universally applicable arrangement of survival for the fittest wouldn't change.

However, what's more important is: You belong to which category; are you predator, or a prey?

In a civilized society, Predator means people with more power: Authority or monetary, ideally both, and Prey means the less fortunates. Unless you decide to embrace the sainthood, you don't have a third option but to fall in either of these two categories.

So look at your current state of affairs and evaluate, which category you belong to. Most likely, like me, you are a Prey -- unless you are very rich and/or famous.

Now the issue is: Would you like to remain a helpless and always scared Prey, or upgrade yourself to be a powerful Predator? Psychologically, and naturally, no humans like to live like a Prey. So, by saying otherwise, don't fool yourself as well as others!

Now that we can safely assume, that you are keen to transform yourself into Predator, what steps are you taking to make it happen?

Frankly speaking, most of us just keep talking about being a Predator (hugely successful) in life without really doing anything about it.

For discussions sake, ignoring those by-birth predators, the remaining, that we currently have in the society, were helpless Prey like you and me. But through a series innovative approach and with an unrelenting never give up attitude, they could ultimately cross over.

I'm not writing this post to offer you a few tips that would bring about a sudden change in your category, but to remind you that if you wish you can certainly become a Predator and live life king-size.

However, let me share with you an observation: If you watch Discover/ Animal Planet channels on TV, you'd notice that every predator has a unique set of skill that they keep sharpening for making the best kill with minimum effort. I mean, using the techniques that they are best at, produce the best result.

You too must do the same: Identify what are your strength areas and keep developing them continuously. Also, you can never be a successful predator unless you develop your skills faster than others.

It's like choosing the right stream and achieving a certain percentile to qualify as successful, as we see in competitive examinations.

If you think you can't, no problem, remain a vulnerable prey throughout your life until falling victim to a predator.

Life is not as simple as we assume it to be, but a jungle full of predator and prey living by a simple rule: Kill or get killed - unlike animals - through self-upgradation or vice-versa!

The Grand Finale of An Amazing Dance in the Moonlit Night!

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Things were going fine for an hour with all of us gradually adapting to the situation, perhaps enjoying it too.

Seniors were keeping close watch on the quality of dance and to impress them some of the boys even started treating their partners as real females. And, my own partner was one of them!

Then I heard someone shouting loud, 'stop it, stop it.'

'Oh my God, it's warden,' said my partner and ran down to the corner of the terrace to pick his cloths. Instantly bell broke loose, with juniors jostling against each other for putting their dress on and seniors running for cover.

Warden was not alone, in fact he had brought a few staff members also with him and they were standing at the sole entrance/exit point.

Suddenly predators turned prey, and to avoid getting caught red-handed some of them didn't hesitate to try an otherwise impossible escape route: Jumping onto the extended part of the windows at floors down below.

Most of them managed to escape, but a few who couldn't were threatened with dire consequences and were asked to report to the Principal's office next morning.

With dust settling down, Warden asked us to go back to our rooms and report to him the occurrence of any such incident in future without fail.

Overall it was an amazing experience of an unique combination of fear and entertainment, but it would be inappropriate to say that we didn't enjoy it.

'College days' is perhaps the best period of a student's life, especially for a hosteler like me, in terms of learning a few unforgettable lessons.

I'm sure, that adds tremendous values to one's ability to facing life's ruthless side with a never give up attitude.

Helpless Parents Fighting Against Destiny's Blow!

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Both of them were sitting on the floor, outside the Emergency dept at AIIMS, New Delhi, when I met them in the morning.

And their only child, a daughter aged 22 years, still kept in ICU, after a panel of doctors at the institute operated upon her for six hours to cure a rare cardio-vascular disorder, continued fighting against the blow of destiny.

Both of them almost broke down, with tears running down their checks, the moment they saw me and my wife and we too couldn't hold it back. 

Her mother is my wife's first cousin and one of most loving characters in their whole family. Her father, a highly knowledgeable person and a school teacher, is a simple person by nature.

I'm sure, none of them would have harmed anyone in their whole life, and here, in one of the worsts situations that life can ever dump upon human: Awaiting the demise of their only child, they represent the utter helplessness of any living being against the verdict of destiny!

With a remote chance for survival, known to her even, she, before the operation begun, was consoling her mother, saying, "Mom, don't worry, nothing would happen to me and I would come back to you."

Why I don't know, but a flame of hope is still alive in my mind for the simple reason, that, destiny is not such a heartless entity that it could inflict upon these two helpless humans a life worth dying thousand times everyday.

Many people go through similar ordeals, many will, but I haven't seen such from so close so far. Even the thought of getting into their shoes, sends chills down my spine!

How come they're living with it, is what making my eyes moist -- while concluding this post. I still believe she would survive, and she must!

To Get Something, First Give a Little Thing!

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One wrong brick, added to the foundation of life, can make it crumbling down when you least expect it; one right choice, made at the beginning, can help you smile through the pains of life! You always live, the consequences of your own choice.

Nobody likes to be disliked, but only a handful are immensely liked by many! Why? Because, liking is the manifestation of a sense respect that one person develop in his mind for the other.

Frankly speaking, none can like you -- without first respecting you. We leave no stone unturned to be liked by others, without really focusing on earning some respect from them. And there we go wrong, wondering what went wrong!

Neither being a CEO in organizational hierarchy, nor holding the position of a head of the family, can catalyze the process of being liked in that domain -- unless you command some respect from your team, and family members.

And that respect is the child of unconditional giving - without expectations - that you must practice genuinely, not just pretend! Give away, as much as you can, sincerely, without expectations, and watch how people start liking you even beyond your expectations.

Nothing comes free of cost in life, not even the 'LIKINGs.' Always remember, to get something, first you must give something. Trust me, once you master the art of giving without expectation, life starts rewarding you with everything that you may expect least.

Personally speaking, I have suffered, and hugely, while practicing this concept, however, in the long run, I found it to be exceptionally rewarding in terms of earning respect from others.

So what, if I have failed to save a lot of money; so what, if my net-worth is shamefully disclosable, but what makes my my life meaningful is a few note of thanks, uttered by some -- with RESPECT!

Are You A Great Life-Gambler?

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Often you put in your best efforts, but results don't follow; and sometime even if you just do it, results start pouring in. I'm sure, most of you must have noticed it. In fact, I first noticed it three decades ago, while gambling with 3-cards in engineering college hostel.

So what's that?

Well, I think, we can call it 'Favorable Time,' may be 'Luck' also. Whatever we call it, but it greatly influences our performance matrix in a given time: Either way!

I don't think it's difficult to identify when is the time not really in favor, if we know how to integrate intuition with evidence: Effort vs Result curve!

The more we sharpen our intuitions to precisely sense the onset of good times - and make it a point to maximize our efforts during that period - higher would be the "Return on Investment." But we must also identify when does the favorable time start turning around, to reduce unproductive investment of genuine efforts and the resultant frustrations.

He who can correctly identify these multiple favorable periods through out his life-cycle and use them to the best of his capacity, proves to be a great Life Gambler!