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