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.

Words, thoughts & action

Someone said, “ Words may inspire you, thoughts may provoke you but only action can lead your dreams to reality”. I found this very profound. Many of us are guilty of articulating words on new year through resolutions and even thinking about the same for some days. But mostly we do not act on those resolutions and they remain dreams in our lives.

Life is no different. We need to express ourselves in words and then think about those ideas. However, unless we act on them, we may never achieve what we want to. It is like strategic planning exercise in many organisations. Most strategic plans remain in power point presentations and in think tank discussions since no action is taken to make it a reality on ground.

In this regard, we have a lot to learn from the start ups. They spend less time in expressing what they want to do and thinking about it . They take the risk and experiment with their ideas and are not afraid of failure. Most organisations spend years on strategic planning and evaluation of alternative options and take no risks or action on the ground to try out their plans to make them real.

Imagine a student writing an essay on what she wants to become in her life. Then thinking and dreaming of how she wants to become a pilot and go to ISRO or NASA in her life. Unless, this is followed up with internships and courses in space research and visits to these institutions or similar ones, such dreams will remain a dream.

I have found employees are no different in organisations. They express their ideas quite eloquently and even think about their ideas and share them. However, they fail to act on them. This means that in most cases it remains a great idea or thought but will never see the light of the day.

We are no different in our day to day lives. As parents, teachers or leaders in organisations, if we focus only on sharing ideas in words or thoughts and do not have the courage to experiment and fail, it will remain a fantasy or dream in our lives.

This characteristic is learnt by our children, students or team members and they also spend all their time in expressing their ideas in words or thoughts but do not put in the efforts to translate those thoughts into deeds through concerted actions.

In many organisations, there is always a debate between the time spent on planning and execution. Many purists will tell us that if we spend enough time in planning, then execution becomes simpler. I do not disagree. However, my experience teaches me that many of us stop with expressing our ideas and thoughts in paper and fail to experiment through actions and execution on the ground. This means plans remain great plans on paper and never see fruition.

We need to dream. Then express our dreams in words. This could be followed by thinking about those dreams and words. However, the critical step for success is working hard and acting on those thoughts to make those dreams a reality in our lifetime. Otherwise, they will always remain dreams and fantasies in our lives.

Let us act today to convert all our dreams into reality.

S Ramesh Shankar

8th August 2022

Winning or losing is part of the game

We had the final of the World Cup One day International cricket held in India last week. While India had an enviable record of winning all their league matches against all the participating countries in a very convincing manner, they lost in the finals to Australia, who were the better team on the final day.

Millions of people across India were shocked and rightly so since cricket is one of the most popular sport in India. I am also an ardent cricket fan and felt highly disappointed on India losing the finals after a great record right through the tournament.

However, what many fans forgot is that the final is also like any other game and you could either win or lose and whichever team plays better on that day wins the game. Australia played better and we lost. We need to learn to gracefully accept this result and still laud our team India for a consistent performance right through the tournament.

Many cricket gurus started analysing the result and gave their expert opinion on what the captain could have done in terms of strategy. In hindsight, everyone can become an expert. We need to remember that the 11 players representing the country in the game give their heart out and are clearly playing to win the game for the country. They are aware that a billion Indians may miss a heart beat if they lose.

We need to remember that our life is also like a game. We may win on some days and lose on others. This whole incident taught me five life lessons, which I thought may help us reflect on how to deal with failures in life :

A. Give your best : We need to strive to give our best for every thing we pursue in life. We may succeed in some things and not in others. However, even if we fail, it should not stop us from trying out something else.

B. Celebrate success : Many fans forgot that the Indian team won ten matches on the trot and most convincingly. Yes, they lost the finals and everyone was pouncing on them with vague theories and funny hypothesis on why we lost. Imagine a child topping the class from standard one to ten and misses the first rank in the next class. Will the parents or teachers disown the child ? We need to learn to celebrate success and learn from failure.

C. A game is a game : We always need to remember that a game is a game. We should not get overjoyed by winning a game nor get exasperated by losing a game. Life is no different. We may win on some days and lose on others. Our ability to be grounded in success and learn from failure will always make us a winner.

D. Focus on the future: We may win or lose a game. However a sportsperson will focus on the next game more than wasting time on the past ones. Similarly in life, we need to learn from our mistakes and our successes and learn to move on into the future.

E. Start all over again: The Indian team members may have got over the disappointment of losing the finals and moved on to prepare for the next World Cup. So would the Australian team. Champions do not rest after a win or a loss. Similarly in life, we need to start all over again. Life is not lost with one failure nor made with one success. Both successes and failures are part of life and we need to learn to deal with them magnanimously and start to live life all over again.

Let us start all over again.

S Ramesh Shankar

24th Nov 2023

When people take your goodness for granted ???

In my long corporate career, one question I have not yet found an answer to is when people ask me – “Do you need to continue to be good to people, even if they take your goodness for granted “. Honestly, I have not yet found the response but I would still take the risk of saying – please continue to be good to people since if they do not reciprocate it is their problem, not yours.

I recall once a CEO told me that he was very kind and affectionate to his staff. However, he finds that his driver and some other staff take him for granted. He noticed that both his predecessor and successor did not treat their staff with respect but they were never taken for granted. This may be true in many instances in life – both within family circles, with friends and in society at large. But I would still recommend, let us be good to others the way we want others to be good to us.

I should confess that I cannot claim that I have the virtues of Mahatma Gandhi, who could forgive even his worst enemies. Gandhi believed forgiveness is Godliness. I am less human than Gandhi but I can profess that being good to others ultimately brings you good things in life.

I can share at least two real life experiences, which have reinforced my belief that being good to others irrespective of their being not considerate to you, could be difficult but worth trying. I recall once one of my senior colleagues did something unpardonable to me. I was hurt and distraught but realised that I had done no wrong. So I decided to forgive him and move on in my career and continued to be good to him. He faced one of the most difficult situations in his personal life after this incident. God has his own way of dealing with people who treat you unfairly. This senior came back to me after this incident and sought my help for some issue to which I responded positively.

In the second instance, another senior colleague almost misbehaved with me for no fault of mine in front of my boss. I was deeply hurt but decided to forget the incident and move on in life and my career. This person met with a serious road accident and was bed ridden for almost a year. So God finds his own way to give feedback to people, who treat others with disdain. Inspite of the unpardonable behaviour of my senior colleague, I called the person concerned and enquired about his health.

Incidences like these may happen both in personal and professional life. We all feel hurt and annoyed as well and it is human to feel that way. However, if we are honest and believe we had not made any mistake, we need to learn to forgive such indecent human beings and move on in life. God takes care of them in his own way and teaches them life lessons.

Our ability to believe in ourselves and being honest to ourself and people around us is important. This gives us the moral courage and authority to move on and forgive the unforgivable. Some things in life are challenging although can be dealt with in a human way. Our ability to forgive and forget helps us get back on track.

One of the best quotes I have heard is -“To err is human, to forgive divine”.

Lets keep trying

S Ramesh Shankar