Archives for January 2008

Source of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s Quote, ‘You Must be the Change’

January 30, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Mahatma Gandhi on Change

Today, (30-Jan-08,) is the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. A few months after India secured her independence from Britain, an extremist shot Gandhi point-blank after a prayer meeting at the Birla House in Delhi. Richard Attenborough’s much-admired motion picture ‘Gandhi’ narrates this event twice: once at the start of the movie illustrating the assassin walking towards Gandhi and a second time at the end of the movie depicting Gandhi walking out from the prayer meeting and facing the assassin.

A Quote, a Fable

One of Mahatma Gandhi’s most popular quotations is, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Here is a widely believed—although unverified—story of the origin of this quotation.

During the 1930s, a young boy had become obsessed with eating sugar. His mother failed to convince him to kick the habit. She decided to take him to Gandhi. The Mahatma (Great Soul) was highly revered across the country—perhaps his instruction could convince her son to cut back on sugar.

At Gandhi’s ashram (hermitage,) the mother recounted her difficulty and requested Gandhi to direct her son. Gandhi deliberated for a minute and replied, “Please come back after a week. I will talk to your son.”

The mother and her son revisited Gandhi the following week. Gandhi smiled at the boy and directed him, “You must stop eating sugar.” The boy admitted, “Forgive me, bapu (father.) I will follow your advice.”

The mother was puzzled. She enquired, “Bapu, you could have asked my son to stop eating sugar when we visited you last week. Why did you ask us to come back this week?” Gandhi answered, “Ben (Sister,) last week, I, too, was eating a lot of sugar. … You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Effective Leaders ‘Walk the Talk’

Consider the following case. Ian joined a financial services company and assumed leadership of a group of analysts. In his first staff meeting, he declared, “Our people are our greatest asset.” He asserted that his primary objective as the manager of the organization was to keep them engaged, motivated and happy.

When one of Ian’s employees returned to work after a three-month maternity leave (she had had her first child,) Ian never enquired her about her child or her experiences. Becoming a mother was the most significant event of her life to date. The day she returned to work, Ian assigned her critical projects and demanded her full attention to these projects. Clearly, Ian’s behavior was incongruent with his stated mission of appreciating his people.

As the above example illustrates, frequently, leaders announce personal and organizational values and goals but fail to act on their words—their behaviors do not match their stated missions. Defining values and goals is often rather easy—conforming and getting others to conform to these initiatives is challenging. Leaders quickly lose their credibility by failing to ‘walk the talk.’

Call for Action

Audit yourself. At home or work, write down your objectives. Reflect on your actions. Analyze your behaviors. Do your actions uphold your objectives? Gather feedback from your people. Ask what you can do to achieve your objectives. Ask how you can walk your talk.

Inspirational Quotations #205

January 28, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Accentuate the positive, Eliminate the negative, Latch on to the affirmative, And don’t mess with mister-in-between.
—Unknown

It is almost impossible to smile on the outside without feeling better on the inside.
—Unknown

It is Good to know; it is better to do; it is best to be. To be pure and strong, to be honest and earnest, to be kindly and thoughtful, and in all to be true, to be manly and womanly and Christly—this is the greatest ambition in life. It is not in knowing or having or doing, but through knowing and having and doing the best, it is in being, in what a man is in himself. He can do more for others who has done most with himself. Mastery of circumstances comes only through mastery of self.
—Samuel Dickey Gordon

Failure accepts no alibis. Success requires no explanation.
—Unknown

Two stonecutters were asked what they were doing.|The first said, I’m cutting this stone into blocks”.|The second replied, “I’m on a team that’s building a catherdral”.”
—Anonymous

There is material enough in a single flower for the ornament of a score of cathedrals.
—John Ruskin (English Art Critic)

Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry, all things easy.—He that rises late must trot all day, and hall scarce overtake his business at night, while laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.
—Benjamin Franklin (American Political leader)

There are no unimportant jobs, no unimportant people, no unimportant acts of kindness.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (American Author)

I have come one step away from everything. And here I stay, far from everything, one step away.
—Antonio Porchia (Italian Poet)

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.
—Buddhist Teaching

Inspirational Quotations #204

January 22, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

In some measure all that comes after you is going to be influenced and determined by the kind of life you make in your business of living. When viewed from such a height of vision, even the seemingly least important life gathers round it a glory which truly passes understanding.
—Unknown

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (American First Lady)

A man takes a drink, the drink takes another, and the drink takes the man.
—Sinclair Lewis

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
—Mother Teresa (Albanian Catholic Humanitarian)

Silence is ever-speaking; it is a perennial flow of language; it is interrupted by (human) speaking. These words obstruct that mute language.
—Ramana Maharshi (Indian Hindu Mystic)

Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival.
—W. Edwards Deming

Aspire, break bounds. Endeavor to be good, and better still, best.
—Robert Browning (English Poet)

If your dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.
—Don Ward

If you’re not using your smile, you’re like a man with a million dollars in the bank and no checkbook.
—Les Giblin

All you’ll get from strangers is surface pleasantry or indifference. Only someone who loves you will criticize you.
—Judith Crist

Use Active Voice for Persuasive Communication

January 21, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi 1 Comment

Passive Voice Tends to be Indirect and Difficult

Consider the following messages.

In an email to a supplier, my engineer declared, “It was determined to use cast-iron instead of aluminum for this component.”
In a thank-you card, my colleague acknowledged, “Your thoughtfulness and assistance are greatly appreciated.”
In a facsimile cover letter, my attorney confirmed, “A copy of this letter will be sent to you by post.”

These sentences are in passive voice. Each sentence, although grammatically correct, seems impersonal and is rather obscure about responsibility of the respective actions or feelings conveyed.

In general, sentences in passive voice tend to be long-winded and indirect in expression.

Structures of Active and Passive Sentences

Sentences in active voice have the owner-verb-recipient structure. Here is an example: “Our assistant lost your project report.”

Sentences in the passive voice have the recipient-verb-owner structure. Sometimes, the owner is absent, leading to recipient-verb structures. Here are examples: “Your project report was lost by our assistant,” or just, “your project report was lost.”

‘Grammar Girl’ Promotes Active Voice

Grammar Girl, a popular blog for better written-communication skills, advocates active voice over passive voice.

Passive sentences aren’t incorrect; it’s just that they often aren’t the best way to phrase your thoughts. Sometimes passive voice is awkward and other times it’s vague.

When you put sentences in passive voice, it’s easy to leave out the agent doing the action. For example, “Amy is loved” is passive. The problem with that sentence is that you don’t know who loves Amy. In fact, politicians often use passive voice to intentionally obscure the idea of who is taking the action.

So, these are some of the reasons to avoid passive voice: the form can lead to awkward sentences and obscured meaning. Also, passive voice is wordy. You can tighten up your writing a lot if you use active voice more often than passive.

Active Voice is Ideal

Active voice is direct, simple and shorter in structure. Therefore, communications in active voice convey clarity of thought and hence are easier to understand.

Here are enhancements to the three examples in the first section of this article.

In his email to a supplier, the engineer could declare, “We determined to use cast iron instead of aluminum for this component.”
In her thank-you card, the colleague could acknowledge, “I appreciate your thoughtfulness and assistance.”
In her facsimile cover sheet, the attorney could confirm, “I will send you a copy of this letter by post.”

Concluding Thoughts

In our professional and personal lives, how we convey a message is just as important as the message itself. Communication is effective only when a speaker or writer and his/her audience can connect and understand the message alike. Consequently, clarity and ease-of-comprehension are two of the most important requisites to effective communication. Active voice can facilitate effective communication.

Inspirational Quotations #203

January 14, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.
—Frank Tibolt

Let us, if we must have great actions, make our own so. All action is of infinite elasticity, and the least admits of being inflated with celestial air, until it eclipses the sun and moon.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Philosopher)

When we remember that we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
—Mark Twain (American Humorist)

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (Roman Poet)

The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for.
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (Austrian Philosopher)

When you can’t change the direction of the wind—adjust your sails.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (American Author)

Our noisy years seem moments in the being of the eternal silence.
—William Wordsworth (English Poet)

Skills are not copyright – they are transferable.
—Unknown

Better Management. Don’t manage stress or nuisances—get rid of them.
—Unknown

‘Inbox Zero’ Technique for Productivity with Email

January 10, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi 1 Comment

Concept of ‘Inbox Zero’

In a seminar at Google (see video on YouTube or slides at Slideshare,) productivity guru Merlin Mann discusses the prevalent practice of misuse of email systems.

A number of us check email too frequently, retain too many unread emails in our inboxes or set aside emails without processing them completely, and, habitually organize our work around our email inboxes.

Merlin emphasizes that one of the most important soft-skills a knowledge worker could possess is the ability to productively process a high volume of email. He advocates effectively handling email by implementing and maintaining a system whereby, regardless of the sender or the content, you could process all incoming email by choosing one of the actions described below.

‘Process to Zero’

The core idea behind Merlin’s system of productivity with emails is the practice of maintaining a blank inbox by processing all emails each time you check email. “You never check your email without processing to zero.”

Merlin advocates checking two or three times a day and processing every email through one of these actions: deleting or archiving, delegating, responding, deferring or just ‘doing.’

Here is a system that I personalized and have practiced for the last two years or so.

Delete: Many emails that you receive are intended to update or inform you of some development. Or, they could be about commercial promotions, reminders or automatic notifications of certain events in our organization. Immediately delete these and all other emails of questionable value.
Archive: If you need to store an incoming email for future reference, move it to an appropriate folder. Develop an organization scheme that works best for you. For instance, you may create a system of folders based on projects you are responsible for; each folder could then store emails related to its project.
Note to Gmail users: Gmail does not support the concept of folders. Instead try the system of labels. See this FAQ.
Respond Immediately: If you can act on an incoming email in a minute or two, act on the email immediately. If you need to respond, compose and send a response immediately.
Defer: If you cannot act on an email in a minute or two, hit the ‘Reply’ button to start responding to the email and then save a draft of the reply for future action. Then, delete the original (incoming) email or move it to an appropriate folder. Add the task to your to-do list. When you have completed the task and have all the information necessary to respond, resume composing the draft email and send the email. Your ‘Draft’ folder thus supplements to your to-do list. If appropriate, reserve an hour or two each afternoon to collect information, complete all such tasks and clear your ‘Draft’ folder.
Delegate: If another person could best act on an incoming email, forward the message. If you would like to track the delegatee’s response, record an action item in your to-do list or calendar. Then, delete the incoming email or move it to an appropriate folder.

Supporting Actions

Turn off the ‘notify me when new mail arrives‘ feature on your email software to avoid interruptions and help you focus on your work outside of email.
Do not open email until later in the morning. A majority of us tend to be more productive earlier in the day. Hence, use your mornings to focus on your more-important responsibilities and priority tasks.
Check email twice or thrice a day only, or more frequently depending on nature of your job. Process to zero and close your email software when done checking email.
By the end of each day, target to clear all your incoming mails and try to maintain a zero inbox.

Concluding Thoughts

Evaluate the ‘Zero Inbox‘ and ‘Process to Zero‘ practices and customize these ideas to suit your particular circumstances. Implementing and maintaining a system of productive email practice can help you feel better organize your responsibilities and tasks.

Inspirational Quotations #202

January 7, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Change is the end result of all true learning. Change involves three things: First, a dissatisfaction with self—a felt void or need; second, a decision to change to fill the void or need; and third, a conscious dedication to the process of growth and change—the willful act of making the change, doing something.
—Leo Buscaglia (American Motivational Speaker)

Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.
—Alexander Pope (English Poet)

Make your life itself a creative work of art.
—Michael Ray

Let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes.
—Walt Whitman (American Poet)

A friend is a person who tells you all the nice things you always knew about yourself.
—Anonymous

People buy what they want when they want it more than the money it costs.
—Zig Ziglar (American Author)

The world belongs to the enthusiast who keeps cool.
—William McFee

Always be a little kinder than necessary.
—J. M. Barrie (Scottish Novelist)

Depression is frozen rage—anger that has never been dealt with.
—Unknown

There is no room for road-rage on the straight and narrow.
—Unknown

Resumé Tips #3: References Not Necessary

January 6, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi 1 Comment

A number of résumés list two or three professional references. Others may contain a variation of the phrase “References available upon request.”

Neither is necessary. Here are four reasons.

References are pertinent only during the later part of the job-search process: after a potential employer has interviewed you and desires to check others’ impressions of you prior to extending you a job-offer.
As a candidate, you would want to be the first person to describe yourself to the potential employer. You would not like the employer to contact your references beforehand and form an opinion of you ahead of your interview.
If you post your résumé online (on your college’s career website or at a job-search site such as monster.com,) you would not want to make public your references’ contact information.
Employers understand that you will give them a list of references when asked for.

Best Practice on Résumé References

Listing references is not the best use of space on a one-page résumé. Eliminate the list of references or the “available upon request” phrase from your résumé.

Instead, on a separate sheet of paper, prepare a list of two or three professional references. For each reference, include name, contact information and a phrase about the nature of your relationship with the reference. Bring this sheet to your interview and present it when the potential employer asks for references.

Use the valuable space to enhance your résumé either by adding further details of your accomplishments or by increasing white space around various sections of your résumé to make it more visually appealing.

A Manager Badmouths an Employee

January 2, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi 1 Comment

Recently, I observed the following instance of a manager’s poor attitude towards an employee.

Here is the case of Sandy, a manager, and Clark, her employee.

Clark had joined Sandy’s team four months previously. She did not get to interview and select him into her team.

Clark was not one of Sandy’s favorite employees. They had little in common and had difficulty getting-along. A communication break-down ensued.

Sandy paid little attention to Clark and did not train him well. Nor did she elaborate her expectations of his performance. Over time, Clark’s sub-standard work resulted in serious consequences for the organization.

Every time customers approached Sandy and complained of problems stemming from Clark’s carelessness, Sandy underscored those complaints. She portrayed him in a negative light: a troublemaker, a nonconformist, and obstinate to feedback. In due course, she exclaimed she was helpless and recommended laying-off Clark.

Eventually, Sandy’s badmouthing Clark did not go unnoticed. The leader of the organization reprimanded Sandy for her poor attitudes toward Clark and demanded correction of her behavior. When Clark learned of Sandy’s recurring badmouthing, he was upset and lost confidence in her. He requested a transfer to another organization.

Badmouthing is Disrespectful

In venting her grievances about Clark to the organization’s customers and peers, Sandy was perhaps trying to draw sympathy towards her helplessness—for not being able to change Clark’s behavior. On balance, she did not have a say in interviewing or selecting him.

Sandy did not realize, however, that by openly criticizing Clark, she was drawing unnecessary attention to her own shortcomings in two important aspects of her role as a manager. Firstly, with the communication break-down, she did not anticipate problems with Clark’s projects and take timely measures to mitigate potential negative consequences. Secondly, she failed to coach Clark, provide corrective feedback, and help him to change his behavior.

Take-Away Lessons for Managers

Do not openly criticize or air grievances about your employee in public. In addition to creating employee frustration, you draw unnecessary attention to your own managerial failure.
When people approach you with problems they face with your employees, acknowledge the problem, pledge to study further and correct the problem immediately. Show support for your employee. Ask what steps you could take to avoid such problems in the future. Promptly follow-up with your employee and help him/her overcome the problem.
Recognize that trust is the foundation of a good working relationship between a manager and an employee. An employee looks to a manager for support, feedback and opportunities for improvement. Not supporting—and worse, badmouthing—your employee can be detrimental to this manager-employee relationship. As we have discussed in previous blog articles here and here, an employee’s relationship with the boss is a key determinant of the employee’s satisfaction with his/her job.

Handling criticisms of employees is a routine part of a manager’s job. By acknowledging an employee’s shortcomings, being supportive of the employee and encouraging corrective actions, a manager can earn respect from all quarters of the organization—employees, peers and superiors.

Archives for January 2008

A Quote, a Fable

Effective Leaders ‘Walk the Talk’

Call for Action

Wondering what to read next?

Passive Voice Tends to be Indirect and Difficult

Structures of Active and Passive Sentences

‘Grammar Girl’ Promotes Active Voice

Active Voice is Ideal

Concluding Thoughts

Wondering what to read next?

Concept of ‘Inbox Zero’

‘Process to Zero’

Supporting Actions

Concluding Thoughts

Best Practice on Résumé References

Wondering what to read next?

Badmouthing is Disrespectful

Take-Away Lessons for Managers

Wondering what to read next?