Archives for August 2006

Philanthropy: Collaborative Initiatives to Transfer Corporate Values to the Social Sector

August 30, 2006 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Traditional philanthropy, whether personal, institutional or corporate, takes three forms: cash capital, volunteer-time in programming support, and cause-related sponsorship. I believe a fourth avenue, corporate and non-profit collaboration, can make an important difference in the society.

Following last year’s Katrina hurricane, Wal-Mart [WMT], Home Depot [HD] and FedEx [FDX] reached out to vulnerable victims by providing hundreds of truckloads of vital supplies, thanks to their immense supply chain infrastructures. These companies highlighted one promising area of effective corporate outreach and community collaboration. Can the corporate sector transfer logistical knowledge to relief agencies and aid them to set-up an infrastructure to support nimble disaster planning in the future?

One of the most significant characteristics of successful corporate leaders is their ability to clearly recognize new social, political and economic influences and to adapt their enterprises to developing circumstances rapidly and economically. These corporate leaders possess the dynamism, the ability to innovate and the mechanisms for spurring efficiency and allocating resources in entirely new channels.

Non-profits have limited access to such visionary individuals and the expertise necessary for social investments to overcome barriers in resources and operational efficiencies. Therefore, there is a pressing need for corporate leaders from all levels to collaborate with the social sector. I expect innovative corporations to launch and expand their philanthropy programs to create partnerships for sustainable initiatives and transfer corporate practices, values, oversight and accountability measures to non-profits.

*Keyword(s): Philanthropy, outreach, non-profits, Katrina, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, FedEx

Inspirational Quotations #131

August 28, 2006 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

^We Forget^|We ask for a piece of sand and he gives us a beach.|We ask for a drop of water and he gives us an ocean.|We ask for time and he gives us life eternal.|And it is so easy for us to fall in love with the gift|and forget the Giver.
—Edward Farrell (American Sportsperson)

The creation of art is not the fulfillment of a need but the creation of a need. The world never needed Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony until he created it. Now we could not live without it.
—Louis Kahn (American Architect)

Affliction comes to us all not to make us sad, but sober; not to make us sorry, but wise; not to make us despondent, but by its darkness to refresh us, as the night refreshes the day; not to impoverish, but to enrich us, as the plough enriches the field; to multiply our joy, as the seed, by planting, is multiplied a thousand-fold.
—Henry Ward Beecher (American Protestant Clergyman)

Be such a man, and live such a life, that if every man were such as you, and every life a life like yours, this earth would be God’s Paradise.
—Phillips Brooks (American Episcopal Clergyman)

Please all, and you will please none.
—Aesop (Greek Fabulist)

The most natural beauty in the world is honesty and moral truth; for all beauty is truth. True features make the beauty of a face; and true proportions the beauty of architecture; as true measures that of harmony and music. In poetry, which is all fable, truth still is the perfection.
—Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury

People who want the most approval get the least and people who need approval the least get the most.
—Wayne Dyer (American Motivational Writer)

What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous…
—Thomas Merton (French-born American Clergyman)

The average estimate themselves by what they do, the above average by what they are.
—Friedrich Schiller (German Poet)

Dissatisfied at Work? Are You Really a Square Peg in a Round Hole?

August 22, 2006 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

If you are not happy at work, you may believe that your dissatisfaction is rooted in your position—in the relationships, the workflows and the demands of the role. You may feel that if you were in a different position or were associated with another organization, you would be more content.

However, there is a good chance that the problem is not with your position per se, but with your attitudes toward various elements of work-life: people you interact with, responsibilities, bureaucracy, office politics, etc. You may not have realized and/or capitalized on the various opportunities that the current position presents.

If you feel your work is not challenging enough or if you do not sense career progression, you can request additional responsibilities at work. You can analyze colleagues who have succeeded in similar positions and learn from them. If you want to be promoted, you could assume some of the responsibilities of the position you desire.
Even if you do not like your boss, colleagues, subordinates or customers, you still need to get along with them by being open-minded or by discovering common ground. In extreme cases, you need to accept that people will not change and just suck up, no matter how frustrating their actions are.
If you want to change to another line of work, you need to realize that the grass on the other side of the fence always looks greener until you jump over. There is no guarantee that the new position or the new organization will be any better. There will be a considerable lead-time to reestablish yourself in the new workplace before you can be eligible to move up. Organizations realize that there is a significant penalty to losing an experienced person and are likely to accommodate your needs and aspirations.

Professional success is often not simply a matter of choosing the right career path or the right company, although these are important factors. The attitudes you bring to your work-life define your career development and contentment. Change your attitudes, adjust, discover opportunities available and thrive in the given circumstances.

Inspirational Quotations #130

August 20, 2006 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.
—Chinese Proverb

Study as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow.
—Maria Mitchell

Whatever you’re ready for is ready for you.
—Mark Victor Hansen (American Public Speaker)

There is only one group of people who don’t have problems and they’re all dead. Problems are a sign of life. So the more problems you have, the more alive you are.
—Norman Vincent Peale (American Clergyman, Self-Help Author)

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
—Thomas Jefferson (American Head of State)

A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the
blame and a little less than his share of the credit.
—John C. Maxwell (American Christian Professional Speaker)

Who never ate his bread in sorrow, who never spent the darksome hours weeping, and watching for the morrow, He knows ye not, ye gloomy Powers.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German Poet)

You can have everything in life you want if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

Why should we worry about what others think of us? Do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do in our own?
—Brigham Young (American Mormon Religious Leader)

The Legacy of Infosys’ Narayana Murthy

August 20, 2006 By Nagesh Belludi 11 Comments

Mr. N R Narayana Murthy, executive chairman of Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies, retired today on his sixtieth birthday. He was one of the six founders who started Infosys [INFY] with a small investment of Rs. 10,000 and nurtured the organization to a world-class company currently valued at Rs. 50,000 crores ($10.75 billion).

Caption: A shareholder describes Infosys’ achievements at a Shareholders’ Meeting in Bangalore (Dec ’04)

Globally, Mr. Murthy is a widely-admired business leader. Much has been written about his background, discipline and his ‘simple living, high thinking’ philosophy. His biggest legacy will be the dreams and confidence his company’s success has fostered in a whole generation of middle-class India. In creating a highly respected, world-class company that provides top quality services and adopts best management practices from around the world (a strong corporate brand, transparency in operations and financial reporting, sharing wealth, best training practices,) his team has offered a blue-print for entrepreneurial success in the new economy.

Mr. Murthy will transit into the role of a non-executive chairman at Infosys. His retirement will enable him to expand his endeavors with various institutions, viz., administrative (India, Thailand, United Nations Foundation), financial (RBI, DBS, SEBI), educational (IIM-A, IIIT, Cornell, Wharton, Singapore Management University) and corporate (NDTV, TiE). He is widely rumored to be nominated to the role of the President of India. He has himself expressed an interest in being designated the Ambassador of India to the United States. We should hope to continue hearing his ideas on various fronts. He may author a book or two on management practices in the global economy or the story of Infosys.

Congratulations on your retirement, Mr. Murthy.

Inspirational Quotations #129

August 13, 2006 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Be a lamp to yourself. Be your own confidence. Hold to the truth within yourself, as to the only truth.
—Buddhist Teaching

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Philosopher)

Never allow the integrity of your own way of seeing things and saying things to be swamped by the influence of a master, however great.
—George Parsons Lathrop

True wealth can not be found in your bank account.|It can only be found in those you call friends.|Those with whom you share your deepest feelings.|And those who accept you for who you really are.
—Unknown

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (Persian Muslim Mystic)

Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.
—Stephen Vincent Benet

The great thing about experience is that you can’t borrow it, buy it or steal it, you must earn it.
—Unknown

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
—Oscar Wilde (Irish Poet)

A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.
—Chinese Proverb

You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.
—Henry Ford (American Businessperson)

Four Keys to an Excellent Relationship with Your Boss

August 10, 2006 By Nagesh Belludi 2 Comments

The relationship with your boss is a critical aspect of a favorable work atmosphere and your job satisfaction. The boss forms a vital link between you and the upper management and thus represents the entire organization to you. Below are four key principles to build and sustain an excellent relationship with your boss.

The relationship between you and your boss is likely a circular relationship: if you like your boss, your boss likes you; if your boss likes you, you like your boss. Overlook actions of your boss that may disappoint you and be conscious of how you react to conflicts.
Suit his/her work style. Understand your boss’s thought processes, preferences and pet-peeves. If your boss is hands-on, favors raw data for making decisions, resists confrontations or avoids risk, you must be sensitive and suit his/her style. You may be able to sell your boss on the merits of changes to his/her style; however, realize that change takes time and is not guaranteed.
When your boss succeeds, you succeed. Understand your boss’s role, his/her strengths, weaknesses and goals. Ask how you can support his/her objectives and the organization’s goals. Do not assume his/her expectations of you. Communicate continually by detailing progress on your assignments and by giving prompt feedback on challenges you face and asking for support.
Realize that one hand cannot clap. Fundamentally, people are different; their perspectives and work-styles are different. You are very lucky if you have a boss who is competent and supportive—somebody who is genuinely interested in your assignments and career advancement. Recognize early if things are not going well; be open and straight-forward in communicating your thoughts and if changes you made have not improved the situation appreciably, be prepared to leave.

Success in building relationships does not come easily. Co-operating with your boss involves being proactive and tolerant, making mistakes and learning from them. The onus is on you to effectively manage this key relationship and achieve the best results for yourself, your boss and the organization.

Inspirational Quotations #128

August 6, 2006 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.
—Abraham Lincoln (American Head of State)

The problem with communication is the illusion that it has been achieved.
—George Bernard Shaw (Irish Playwright)

There is nothing permanent except change.
—Heraclitus (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

You get the best out of others when you give the best of yourself.
—Harvey Samuel Firestone (American Businessperson)

You may not have perfect teeth, or a nose to ever match, but if you’re smiling through your heart, that smile will be nothing less than beautiful.
—Unknown

All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.
—Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic)

The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.
—Vidal Sassoon

Next to doing a good job yourself, the greatest joy is in having someone else do a first-class job under your direction.
—William Feather (American Publisher)

Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.
—Abraham Lincoln (American Head of State)

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the nonessentials.
—Lin Yutang (Chinese Writer)

The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.
—Arthur Brisbane (American Journalist)

Archives for August 2006

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