A common saying from our childhood days ,will always remind us that we need to “Look before you leap”. This may look simpler than we can imagine. In the competitive world of today, where we want to ,out beat one another ,in minutes, rather than months or years, the need to jump into action ,may be irresistible.

The risk-return analysis ,may need time and we may imagine ,we do not have it. So, we tend to jump ,at every possible opportunity before we realise ,where we have landed ourselves in. In my book, there is space for every individual, in this world.

But some of us ,may not agree to this. We may believe that we are not running a marathon but a short distance race and hence we need to leap ,before we can even look. The risk of jumping before we look ,may be deeper ,than we could imagine.

Let me illustrate this point ,with some real life examples ,I have come across ,in my life. The first time I experienced this, was when the Y2K phenomenon hit the corporate world. Everyone believed that the world will come to a halt with the advent of Y2K ,since our computers were not designed for this transition and hence they need to do something about it.

Many dotcom companies spurned up in the late nineties and the best of talent from the corporate world, jumped into this bandwagon. They were enticed with swanky cars and huge salary packages. The Y2K ,did not shake the world as anticipated and thereby ,many of these dotcoms disappeared as fast ,as they came up. Thereby ,many of these talented employees lost their jobs ,along with their benefits. They had come to back to the real world and their real pay packages.

The next phenomenon ,was in the early part ,of this century. The IT and services industry ,boomed in India and the world. Many youngsters got posting in the developed world ,with great salary packages and ended up ,investing in multiple flats and other assets at home. This resulted in monthly EMIs to bank and lending institutions .when some of these people lost their jobs during the next recession, they had to sell their flats ,at below market prices and came crashing down to mother reality.

So ,the lessons of life are real. We need to look before we leap ,always. Today is the age of start ups, they appear even before the sun dawns in the east. Many of us at various stages of our career ,are jumping into this scenario. Some of them wind up ,even before the sun sets in the horizon.

The start ups provide a great environment to take risks and also experiment and try out new things. So, there may be nothing wrong to try out this way of working. But, we need to realise ,that the start up world is different from the rest of the corporate world, before we join them. They may start, grow and flourish and we may become millionaires. On the other hand, they may wind up ,even before they launch their product or service and hence we need to have the financial capability ,to survive this storm .

Life is the art of balancing risk and reward. We need to learn to look before we leap. We can leap if we have ,all the grounds covered and are ready to take the risks ,associated with them.

Let us learn to look before we leap from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

4th May 2025

We all love to dream for the best things to happen in our lives. As kids, we dream about ,what we want to become in life. As we turn teenagers, we dream for more material things, for our comforts. Then, as adults we want the best of cars and our own home to live in. I think, it is human to dream and all of us ,love to do it.

There is nothing wrong to dream. Even the visionaries in life or in corporates ,dream of where they want ,to take their organisations. Then they work on ,how to convert those dreams into reality. The problem with most of us is that ,we dream and we allow it ,to remain a dream. Even before realising a dream, we start dreaming about the next and they become like the gas balloons we played ,during our childhood.

I recall my childhood when I was playing with a gas baloon, my parents had bought me, to play with. As the baloon went higher in the sky, I was over joyed at the bouyancy of the baloon. But very soon, the thread tied to the baloon, got cut and it flew away. I ran after it for a few kilometers, till it disappeared into the cloudy sky.

Dreaming for most of us , is like the gas baloon. We keep buying more gas baloons and let them off in the air and it disappears. We need to realise that dreaming could be the first step for success in life but it is by no stretch of imagination, the last step.

The difference between “Dream”& “Reality” is “Action”. If we have to put it in the form of a formula , it would be – Dream + Action = Reality. If we do not act on our dream, they would remain dreams forever. It is almost like the new year resolutions for many of us. We resolve to lose 10 kgs in six months. We plan to jog or walk for 5 kms every day. But, as winter sets in, we dream more ,by sleeping more rather than walking or jogging , as we had planned. So, our goal of reducing weight remains a dream.

Even in corporates, many employees make grandiose plans and set goals to achieve them. But, if there is no systematic planning, action steps and tracking mechanism to measure progress, the plans remain on paper and have to be reviewed every quarter and may be become the plan again ,for the next year.

Life is no different. Every dream has to be followed up with systematic planning, evolving actions ,measuring them to track progress and take corrective actions, in case our actions are not sufficient ,to achieve our desired goals.

A dream will remain a dream ,if there is no consequent action.

S Ramesh Shankar

18th March 2025

Excellence is a never ending journey in life. It is like a journey ,with no destination in sight. We can improve ourselves every day of our lives and in every way. The best examples of practising excellence ,are our sportspersons. Even the world champions in any sport, never think they have arrived. They always think, they have a lot more to learn and do to excel in their sport.

Being in the HR function, I have been asked by many employees as to -“how do i plan my career ?” . I would always say – try to excel in whatever you do. Be the best that you can be and nobody can ignore you ,in your career. Imagine a cricketer scoring consistently in domestic tournaments ,year after year. The selectors may find it difficult to ignore him for the national team ,unless they are open to public criticism ,after they have selected the team.

The path to excellence is a quest in quality. We can and may be ,we should never consider ourselves, as arrived ,in whatever we do. If we are a painter, we could be the best in the state or the country. We could even become one of the best in the world. But, the journey cannot end there. What do you need to do to remain ,on top of the world ?

The best musicians across the world in vocal or instrumental will not rest with a grammy award or any other world recognition. They are aware that although they may have attained global recognition, there is still a lot to learn and grow. They will continue to practise every single day and strive for excellence ,in whichever branch of music they pursue.

Life is no different. We may be working in any field. We may be a student, a junior at the work place or the CEO of a company. We may be running a successful business or even a sportsperson, who has won the gold at the last Olympics. It does not matter. We need to realise that the quest for excellence ,for all of us , is a never ending journey.

We need to continually strive to be the best we can be ,at a particular time . If we relax at that point of time, we may be left behind and others may overtake us. The journey to excellence is a life long one. We cannot rest ,unless we do not want to be the best.

I have met people from different walks of life. Ordinary people with extra ordinary dreams. They set their goal and work towards it, with zest. They do not rest even after they have achieved their best. This is because they realise ,that even a world record ,does not remain static for ever. What was the best and a world record in the last olympics ,may not even qualify for the next olympics.

We need to learn and grow every single day ,of our lives. We need to reset our goals ,as soon as we achieve them ,if we strive to be the best in whatever we do. There is no end game ,for excellence. There could be milestones along the way but the end will always be ,like an elusive dream. We need to strive to achieve the impossible ,by continuously striving to be the best.

Let the journey of excellence for us begin today.

S Ramesh Shankar

20th Jan 2025