Author: S Ramesh Shankar

Born in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India, I have been brought up in different parts of India. Graduate in chemistry and post graduate in personnel management and industrial relations. Have been a HR practitioner for 38 years in the industry and have experience in working in steel , automobiles, FMCG and engineering industry. Was head of HR for Siemens in South Asia based out of Mumbai till March 2019. Currently founded hrishti - joy forever, a social enterprise to give back to society and work as Chief Joy Officer.

Strategy versus Execution


Strategy & execution are like the two words – thought and action.  The issue is which comes first.  Thought or action.  We have people around the world, who believe that action leads to thought.  On the other hand, purists believe that thought has to precede action.  We need to plan first before we go for execution. It is like in the photo above, any amount of study of wind direction and planning to play the frisbee on the sea shore is of no use unless you try it and learn by your failures and successes.

It is similar to the debate on Theory versus practise.     After having worked in industry for more than three decades, my learning is that both are equally important and they complement each other.  You need to have a plan to execute it.  However, on the other hand, if we spend our entire life planning of a dream future, it may remain a dream in our life.  Hence, execution is as important as planning itself.

Let us look back at every stage of our life.  As a child, we are trained to dream big.  Aim for the moon we are told.  However, if we aim for the moon and do not work hard to achieve our mission, we may reach nowhere.  Whether it academic or sports, we have to have a dream and then we need to evolve milestones to realise our dream. No plan leads to action until executed with discipline.

The work life is no different.  We all are ambitious and want to become the CEO within years of our starting our career in an organization.  There is nothing wrong in having such aspirations.  However, we need to have a plan, work towards executing that plan through hard work and discipline.  As we progress, we may face obstacles.  This should not deter us from proceeding with our plan execution with necessary changes and perseverance.  However, if we give up mid way, we can neither blame the plan, nor our exection for our failure.

Life is no different.  We all have a dream.  We may be born in lower middle class families.  But, we want to conquer the world in our own sphere.  Its great to have such dream.  It would be wise to plan meticulously to realise this vision of ours.  After visioning, we need to put our neck out and experiment.  We need to take the risk associated with our actions and be willing to learn from our failures.  No wonder they say failures are the stepping stones to success.

Most of the time, we neither plan nor we are willing to try.  We give up even before we begin.  Let us take a simple example from our lives, which happens to most of us every year.  We make grandiose new year resolutions.  We want to be fit and healthy.  We resolve that we will walk or jog for ten kilometres every day before the dawn of the new year on the 31st of December, while we are still rejoicing welcoming the new year.

The very next day we do not get up and postpone our plan for the next day and then the next week and may be the next month.  This way it never happens and the next year arrives before we realise it.  Now, in this scenario, can we blame the plan or the execution.  We need to blame ourselves as we neither were serious in planning or in implementing what we planned.  

I recently met an Olympics bronze medalist in swimming.  She told us that she practises for ten kilometres of swimming every day.  She does this for four years before the next Olympics and thus plans for winning a medal.  We need to plan to walk for at least one kilometre every day before we dream of being fit.   This teaches that meticulous planning and relentless execution is the key to success.

Let us start today.

S Ramesh Shankar
January 2017

End of a century


In cricket, if you hit 100 runs, it is considered a century and a milestone for a batsman.  In life, if you live for hundred years it is indeed a landmark of your life.  Not many people live up to that age and not many survive to live that way.  What significance is it for me if I say that this is my hundredth blog.  It could signify that I do not have enough to do at work and in life that I have started writing blogs.  It could also mean that I have enough to share based on my learnings in life.

I was always wondering what to write on the hundredth blog.  Its a question for which I have no answer.  I can only state that the journey of writing blogs began a year back.  It has been an eventful journey.  Every time I get to reflect and think, the words flow as water from a tap.  It could be a summer evening watching the sunset or a long haul flight.  The words flow as if there is no gravity.  It is joyful and reflective.

I also post my blogs on my company social media platform.  I get a lot of feedback wherever I travel around the world.  People have encouraged me to write more and given me ideas on what to write.  They have commented on my blogs and made me think differently.  Words are a great expression of feelings.  What we cannot express in person can sometimes be better expressed in words.

As I look back I realise that my life has been a great learning workshop.  It has had its ups and downs.  But every experience has taught me something.  Even writing blogs has been one such experience.  So, I have dedicated this blog to sharing my learning.  As I pen down my thoughts, I learn from it.  It also helps me pour out my feelings on issues, beliefs and values.

In the history of a nation, a century of existence could mean a lot.  It could mean heritage.  It could mean its richness of civilisation.  It could mean the culture and values of the organisation getting institutionalised.  Similarly in the life of an individual an event could mean something.  For me writing my hundredth blog is one such event.  It has brought out something in me.  It has enabled me to express myself in more ways than one.

I am grateful to all the people around me who have made this happen.  My family members, my team members, my readers and my mentors.  All of them have encouraged me to write and share.  I may not be perfect in my writing but I promise that I try to be authentic.  I try to narrate my experiences of life in my own way.  I try to put myself in every readers’ shoes and narrate events as they would experience it.

Just as the historical building above is more than a century old, this blog signifies my completing the hundredth piece.

I hope this energy within me blossoms.  I hope to live up to the expectations of my readers.  I hope to reflect realities of life.  I hope to share what cannot be shared easily.  I hope to bring in positive change in society.  I believe that even if one person changes there could be an impact of my writing and it is worth it.  I do believe that change begins with me and hence this first step.

Do you believe it ?

S Ramesh Shankar
November 2016

Life

Do we live life to its full ? Most of us are not willing to enjoy the moment. We are not investing in our own happiness. We are spending more time worrying about things beyond our control rather than rejoicing all that God has bestowed us with to enjoy life.

We live life comparing ourselves with others and dying out of jealousy. God has given equal capacity to all of us. Each of us craft our destiny by our own hard work. Why are we worried about others ? It is like a sprinter looking at all his co-participants behind him while running a race. The chances of his failing are higher than his success. The best sprinters in the world trust their capabilities and focus on their efforts. They are always confident of their success as they are determined in the efforts they put in every day. They are confident that the results have to follow their efforts.

Life is a journey. Every day is like the page of a book. We need to read every page of the book and move on to the next page. Most of us tend to turn back and not move forward. While, it may be useful to learn from the mistakes of the past, it is more important to focus on shaping our future. If we keep turning to the back pages, we may never move forward and read the whole book in our lifetime.

Life is full of possibilities. We have to make the best of everything in life. We have to dream big, work hard and aim for the impossible in life. If we put in our best, we can make the impossible, possible. After all, it is mankind who dreamt of walking on the moon and made it possible almost five decades back.

It may be inspirational to look at achievers in life. The successful people in life we are not born with silver spoons. Most of them were born in families with limited resources. But, they had a clear vision of what they want to achieve in life and they worked zealously to achieve it.

I have met people in life who have represented my country in Olympics and could not even afford the sports kit when they started learning their sport. Nothing is impossible for the human mind. It is our own limitations in the mind, which makes the possible look impossible. We draw our own curtains and encircle ourselves with self created limitations.

If we look at life as half full glass rather than half empty, the impossible looks possible to us. It is all about our attitude to life. We have to be clear in our mind. We need to set our goals, work hard and always believe in ourselves and our team. Our family, friends and colleagues will always support us if we believe in them and in ourselves.

We need to make life exciting for us. Imagine taking a train without a destination in mind. While we may travel a distance but may be moving in the wrong direction. So, lets set our vision, work conscientiously towards achieving it by believing in ourselves and all people around us.  Life is colourful (as in the photo above) if we live it that way.

We can make the impossible, possible.

S Ramesh Shankar
November 2016