One of the things my spouse enjoys the most ,is to dance in the first rains, after the summer. This give her relief from the heat and instant child like joy. If we look at it metaphorically, it is to enjoy every moment of life, as and when it occurs and whenever we feel like.

We tend to postpone almost everything in life. When we are young, we have the excuse that we do not have money or we cannot afford it. Then we are busy with our children or at work and hence no time to enjoy life. Then we are not physically fit enough in our sunset years ,to enjoy life this way.

In my view, this is more of our doing, rather than anyone else. We cannot blame the world for not dancing in the rain. If we look at it literally, we do not dance – may be because ,we do not want to get wet. It may be because, we are worried what others will think.

The reality is that, nobody is bothered about our behaviour. The best thing about our childhood is that we behave the way we want to, without worrying about what others would think. As we grow older, we are conscious of what others will think and how the society will react and so on and hence suppress our instinctive behaviour.

This is true in every aspect of life. As children, we climb a tree or jump from heights and willing to take all risks ,without much worry about the consequences. But, as we grow older, our risk taking ability diminishes and we are conservative, in whatever we do in life. I am not for one saying that we need to jump from trees as a senior citizen but live life, as if tomorrow does not exist . It is more an attitude to life and living ,rather than a particular action of ours.

As youngsters, we are willing to try out new things and learn from everyone around us. As we grow older, we are self-conscious and are reluctant to learn from youngsters or people less educated than us since we start believing ,as if we have conquered the world of knowledge ,with our qualifications and experience.

The reality is otherwise. We need to unlearn, learn and relearn right through our lives and this is the axiom of life. We cannot be exceptions. The day we realise ,this basic premise of life ,we may learn to live and enjoy every moment of life.

Let me illustrate this through a simple example ,from my life experience. I always enjoyed travelling and visiting new places in my life. As a kid, I used to cycle around and explore places I could go to. Then as I started working, I had a scooter and hence went on short trips on weekends, whenever I could afford. As I graduated to buy a car, it evolved into family trips once in a few months. Today, I can afford to drive around and fly around my country and the world.

So my limitation of resources ,need not limit me to explore the world or do anything else, which I want to. If I am passionate about reading, I could borrow books and read or visit public libraries ,before I could afford to buy my own books of choice or digital content. If we are not able to read, it is more of our own limitation, rather than our inability to buy books at the early stages of our career.

Life gives us moments to enjoy ,every day. Either we can learn to dance in the rain or sit inside and crib that we are not able to go out and play and spend the rest of our lives, only crying foul.

Let us learn to dance in the rain from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

19th May 2025

I have been working with the corporate world for the last four decades. One thing ,I am convinced on leadership is that ,there is no substitute for “Walking the talk”. We, as leaders in society or the corporate world have to learn to walk ,before we talk. If we walk our talk, we would always be more respected.

I loved visiting campuses for recruitment of graduate engineers and management students. Every interaction in the campus, energised me and made me feel young. One of the oft asked questions in campus is – “ which career should I choose ? I would always suggest that ,choose a career, where you can learn to dirty your hands, at least in the first five years of your corporate life.

One of the temptations at the campus ,is to start your career as a consultant. There is nothing wrong with this ,since consulting companies pay very well and every young engineer or management graduate ,would be tempted to join them. They give you opportunities to work in different assignments and may be even in global exposure.

I would still urge all students to resist this temptation and join an organisation, where they can learn to dirty their hands, in their area of interest/domain. For example ,if you are in the production area, join a manufacturing organisation or if you are from sales, join an organisation where you have to meet customers and sell products or services.

This way ,you will learn the nuts and bolts of your job. Once you are able to learn the basics, it may be easier to master it and then later in your career, you could evolve as a high paying consultant , in your domain of work. But never do the mistake of becoming a consultant in the beginning of your career, where you will be advising others without even knowing the basics of your subject.

This will be like going to college ,without going to school. This may be possible for some geniuses but ordinary people like us ,need to learn and grow ,step by step. If we jump the steps, we may either miss some steps or may have a fall and it may be difficult to recover.

Life is no different. We need to practise before we preach. Whether it is family or friends, we are respected ,only when we give advice after we have done it or experienced it ,and not otherwise. We need to walk before we start talking.

It is interesting that life and work intermingles, in all aspects of management and leadership. A good leader in life may generally be a good leader at work and the other way around. All great leaders I have worked with ,always led by example and not by words.

It is like a marathon. Is it possible to run a marathon by reading a book. It may not be feasible. We need to start walking, then running a few kilometres a day and then may be half marathon before we attempt our first full marathon in life.

A coach who has practised what she is preaching, is more respected than a coach who is like a theoretical preacher. Just as in sports , players respect coaches who can show “how” rather than, those who tell you “what” to do.

Let us learn to walk before we talk from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

17th May 2025

The simple and basic things in life ,are the most difficult. If you ask a teenager ,how difficult it is to jump out of the bed ,on a cold winter morning and brush his teeth, he could possibly explain this better, than me. This is a fact ,most of us keep denying ,right through our lives.

God has given us two ears and one mouth. This amply explains that , God as the ultimate designer of the human body ,expected us to listen more than we speak. But the reality of life ,is the other way around. We generally end up speaking more ,than we listen.

We possibly do that ,since many of us believe ,that if we do not speak before the others in the room, we may never be heard. Our parents, teachers and friends, have always encouraged us to speak and make our first impressions, on every occasion. This may not be wrong ,but if we listen before we speak, we may possibly make a better impression.

A simple analogy from a real life situation – if we buy a new product, we do not read through the instructions, before we start using the product. Some of us at least, read the quick fix guide ,before we assemble the product. Life is no different. We seem to be running a 100 meters race ,all the time. We do not have the time to listen .before we speak.

We are wired to speak ,before we listen. But imagine a situation, where we are forced to listen, before we speak. The first time my wife attended a “Vipasana” ( a deep mediation course) , she told me ,on her return ,of how they were compelled not to speak to anyone ,for a week or ten days ,at a stretch. Some of us may need such an intervention to understand the value of “listening” before we speak.

I once attended a training programme on “Communication”, where the facilitator demonstrated the power of “listening” ,through a simple exercise. Imagine a situation, where we have to convey something very important in our life ,to someone and nobody is listening to us. It is at this juncture, we understand the value of listening.

We can easily learn the art of listening ,from our mothers. They listen to the new born kid ,even before their kid is able to speak. Every one of us communicate both verbally and non verbally. According to the experts in kinesics, we communicate more non verbally than verbally. This means ,that unless we listen actively ,before we speak, we can never get the message, as we will not observe ,most of the non verbal communications ,from the sender.

On the other hand, imagine chatting with an active listener. A counsellor for example ,is generally a great listener. When we go to them for help, they listen to us, more than they talk. Their listening itself heals us and enables us, to deal with our own issues. At home, our parents, especially our mothers play this role very well.

The reality of life is that, if we listen twice as much as we speak, we may understand more, speak more articulately and our listeners will be keen to interact with us. If we recall from our own personal lives, we always love to interact with people, who are great listeners and not the other way around.

Let us listen before we speak from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

4th May 2025