Month: October 2013

Sachin Tendulkar started playing cricket for India the year I was born. He was synonymous with cricket in a cricket obsessed country. “Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our god” is what we would say. Many of us would switch on our TV sets when Sachin came to bat and switch off when he was dismissed. We knew all his statistics, remembered all his big performances, grudgingly admitted his failures, and fought hard against any criticism.

It’s been many years since I’ve watched cricket regularly. Yet, I tuned in when he broke another cricketing record to be the first person to score 200 in a one day international game, watched him in the world cup, and cheered loudly when India finally won the world cup making Tendulkar a world cup winner at last.

Tendulkar has been an ever present in the Indian cricket team every year of my life. For me, he represents my last thread of connection with the game. He stands for so much – excellence, dedication to a cause, humility, hard work, and the ability to exhibit fierce determination while keeping absolutely calm. He always changed with the times, always improvised, and always adapted to the needs. Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t perfect. He was, after all, just a human being. But, to those of us who grew up watching him, he represented perfection. I go all misty eyed remembering Sachin’s many great performances and his 98 off 75 balls against Pakistan in the 2003 world cup still sends chills up my spine. The match build up involved Shoaib Akhtar, the fastest bowler in the world, promising to get the better off Tendulkar. Tendulkar’s answer came on the pitch when he dispatched his first ball for a six. It was a one way contest after that..

It’s hard to believe Sachin is finally retiring. Every time he was written off after a bad run of form, he would bounce back to do better. He’s had more Indian summers than most could hope for. One part of me would like to believe he isn’t really gone after all..

I have a lump in my throat as I say goodbye. Thank you Sachin for the memories.

You tried something and it didn’t work? Share it. Share it..

.. because you might inadvertently help someone avoid your mistakes.

.. because you will learn not to take your own mistakes too seriously

.. because you will remember the lesson on humility that failure always teachers

.. because you will learn to be vulnerable

.. because someone might drop a tip or a learning that ends up helping you a great deal in what might be your next attempt

.. because someone might offer to be of genuine help and you might have just found yourself a closer friend

.. because someone might just feel closer and more connected with you as you’ve shared something that hurts

.. because the only way to really get over failures is to accept it – what better way to speed up your acceptance?

Running away from failures don’t make them go away. Facing up to them and dealing with them are what are helpful. There’s hardly ever any success without a long preceding tail of failures. And isn’t that a good thing? Most success goes only to those who prove themselves worthy?

Share. Get better. Help others get better. Make the world a bit better. Smile. Happy.

When was the last time you had a problem when Google did not have an answer to your problem? If it didn’t provide an answer, it enabled to you find and connect with others who have the same problem.

When I was looking for a solution for my recurring WIFI issue, I found a forum of people using Rogers.com (an internet service provider in Canada) who also had the exact same issue. Their ISP had teamed up with Cisco to provide modems that were functioning poorly. A guy on the forum explained that the modem would need to be switched to “bridging mode” and connected to a separate router because the Cisco modems don’t function well as routers beyond 2-3 connections (the marketing clearly overreached on the product’s capabilities). I tried it – the solution works. I also let Starhub – my ISP – know. The lady from the support team was pleased to know she finally had a solution she could share with other customers facing the same problem.

Every time we face a problem, we have 2 choices – kick, stamp, and complain about being alone or do some research to find others who had the same problem and learn from them. The second one is a no brainer. You just have to remind yourself of one of the many wonderful aspects of the connected age – you always have others who’ve shared your misery and made it through.

Oh, and thank you to the good Samaritan in Canada..

A friend recounted a story of a relative who was very hard to live with. She had a really bad attitude and was always picking on people’s mistakes. This didn’t go down well with the others of course and someone pointed out this out to her. In a fit of frustration, she said “You think it’s hard to live with me? It’s much harder to be me.”

We’ve all experienced bad attitude. I’m sure we all have tales of that service provider who had a disgusting attitude or that teammate who was just so hard to work with. Hopefully we’ve doled out less of this behaviour but hey, we all get carried away by illusions of our own genius at times.

Of late, every time I find myself struggling to keep my temper in check because of bad attitude from somebody who does it often, the story of my friend’s relative comes to mind. As hard as it is to receive bad attitude, it must be much harder to be the person constantly doling it out. If you are close enough to the person, perhaps you can even replace irritation with a willingness to help as there’s clearly a deeper problem.

That never occurred to me until I heard this story. Walking a mile in the other person’s shoes is easier said than done.

This week’s learning is part 4 of a 12 part series on The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson. (Parts 1, 2, 3)

In the early 1800s, the English had developed a really strong bond market based on debt while the French had an anarchic financial system that made money by plundering colonies. The famous battle of Waterloo, as a result, was as much a fight between financials systems.

Enter Nathan Rothschild – an adept smuggler of gold coins. This skill was critical because armies needed cash in foreign lands and hence, Britain engaged Nathan who did a fantastic job by stationing a brother in prominent locations across Europe. This was the first example of “arbitrage” – they used their network to take advantage of favorable exchange rates.

While it is believed that the Rothschild’s made their fortune betting on Napoleons loss, the truth is a far cry. The moment they heard of war, Nathan Rothschild invested heavily into gold in preparation for a long war that would make him rich. The famous war, however, was incredibly short and this meant Nathan was left with mounds of gold nobody needed.

But, as his couriers were 2 days ahead of the official news of the victory, Nathan made a huge bet – he used his gold to buy British government bonds. Buoyed by the victory, the value of these bonds began to rise. Despite his brothers pestering him to sell, Nathan held on for 1 year – eventually selling them for a profit of 600 million pounds – $1 billion USD today – the greatest trade ever made.

Sketch by EB

This was a revolutionary time since bond markets lead to paper assets. Paper assets, in turn, meant that for the first time in human history, people could live anywhere and were not tied to the land they owned. Aristocracy suffered most because it was the first big shift in the owning of wealth and resulted in the coming of globalization as people began moving their assets easily. Next week, we will dive into the importance of the Rothschild in determining the key events in the history (not just finance) of the world..

How does a corporate CEO keep his shareholders happy? Promise them more. More customers, more profits, more new releases, more dividends, and more growth. If you believe CEO’s notes on annual reports, you might even be led to believe that more is the answer to the eternal question – what is the purpose of life?

You’re not playing the shareholders game in your life though. You are your most important shareholder and while more might be a tempting thing to wish for, I urge you to wish for less.

What good is more food if it isn’t cooked with love?

What good is a longer vacation if it isn’t fun?

What good is a long relationship if it is one that only brings negativity?

You don’t need more readers on your blog. more money, or more possessions. Some of these might be nice to have but you’ll probably be happier with less and better. Work to delight one customer instead of hoping for ten, to enjoy one great friendship instead of ten shallow ones, and to five productive hours per day instead of unproductive sixteen hour days. The more quality becomes a part of your life, the better and more fulfilled your life becomes.

Stop wishing for more. Work towards less….but better.

We tried making a close family member quit smoking for many years. He never budged. He always pointed out that it was a vice that had become a habit. We tried all sorts of methods and there was no change for a few decades.

One day, he had a severe congestion followed by many days of pain. And, just like that, he quit. No motivational talks needed.

A few years ago, I believed you could convince people to do what they don’t want to do as long as it’s good for them. Now, I believe this is best not done. You may get lucky 10-15% of the time but the change you desire will not last till the person at the other end really wants it.

So, if you really want someone close to you to change, first ask the person if they want to change. If they don’t, give it up. If you care a lot, make a 5 minute case and see if that changes anything but be prepared to walk away. Ask more questions, give fewer answers, and you might just be able to help.

We get the concept of push naturally. Learning to create pull is much harder. It helps you spend your energy effectively though.

I’ve had a very inspiring last 12 hours as I just interviewed Dan Pink (“A Whole New Mind,” “Drive,” and “To Sell is Human”) and Patricia Ryan Madson (“Improv Wisdom”). These interviews will be up on RealLeaders.tv in the coming week and I’m looking forward to revisiting some of the great ideas both of them have shared.

For today, I’d like to leave you with an idea from Patricia Madson – notice your gifts. We can all get so wound up in our world and our problems that we forget to notice the number of gifts we receive every day. There’s a farmer toiling many thousands of miles away thanks to whom we have food on our table. We use technology created by others in large parts of our days. All of what we use in a day is created by someone else, managed by someone else, and improved by someone else for our benefit.

Take 5 minutes to notice these gifts today and say thank you where possible. Writing thank you notes is amongst the best things we can do..

I experienced bad service at a hotel the other day and pointed it out to the manager. The manager apologized and said my next meal would be on them. That’s it. Problem solved.

This may be much better than most services that put you through bad customer service and do nothing to make you feel better. But, it does surprise me that we think that throwing money at the problem is a solution.

You were treated badly? Sorry about that – your next drink is on me. Problem solved.

Does throwing money at a problem ever help? Does taking your spouse or girlfriend out for an expensive meal ever solve an underlying issue?

Money is a tool. It can help. But, what we’re really looking for is care and attention. If we can’t get that sorted, money only aggravates the problem.

(On a hilarious note, the hotel ended up charging for my next meal anyway and I was too tired to point it out. So much for the communication between the manager and the rest of the hotel)