Category: Concepts

Dreams Unlimited

Is it a good idea to dream ?


I think so.  After all, life is full of possiblities.  It is up to us to dream, dedicate our efforts and be disciplined to realize those dreams in our life time.  One interesting facet of life is that anyone can dream.  You need not be rich or poor, educated or uneducated, man or woman, living in a developed world or a developing world.  The only condition has to be the ability to dream and dream big in life.

I also realize that the journey from dreams to reality are similar for all.  The best thing I have experienced in life is the ability of a poor person to dream big and then zealously work towards fulfilling the dream.  One of my colleagues was working with a group of young girls in an orphanage.  She was helping these girls to plan for their career.  She  was inspired by the dreams narrated by these young kids in their school.  One of them wanted to be a pilot while the other a police commissioner.  What this teaches us is that dreams can be unlimited and unhindered.  However, the journey to convert dreams to reality is arduous and tough.

I have seen young school children from the lowest strata of society dream big and accomplish their dreams through hard work and discipline in their life time.  I have also seen rich kids ruin their life with no dreams or desires and burning their inherited wealth till they reach a point of no return.  It is up to us to dream big and then work towards it.

This is equally true in our work life.  Many of us start our career at a lower level in the organisation and with meagre salaries.  We bury our dreams like the ostrich in the sand.  The world moves on and we are left behind.  On the other hand, you hear great inspiring stories of how employees joining as a workmen in a manufacturing organisation end up becoming the CEO of the same organisation by sheer dedication, discipline and dogged pursuit of their dreams.

If we reflect in our personal life, the story is not very different.  We all start our career or business and have limited earnings.  We dream big and want to be wealthy and wise.  Some of us may work towards our dreams and make them a reality.  While others may continue to dream without any focused efforts.  Thus dreaming in life is the first step.  It is like setting a vision and mission for an organisation.  The next step is to work towards making that dream a reality.  It could mean adding qualifications, skills and expertise.  It could mean moving around the country or the world.  It could mean taking risks in life.  It could mean thinking of the impossible and working towards making it possible.

So, life is like a dream and it is up to us to make it a reality. The picture of marine drive above in Mumbai at night is like a dream come true.

What do you think ?

S Ramesh Shankar

I believe in myself


In anything I do, the first step is to believe in myself.  A colleague commented on my previous blog and stated that while others may believe in you, you have first to believe in yourself.  He further shared an interesting quote – After failing to climb Mount Everest, the reply of a great man – “I will come again and conquer you because as a mountain you cannot grow, but as a human I can.”

In my view that is the spirit of a positive human being.  I fully agree with my colleague that belief in oneself is the first step to success in life.  I can share many life memories, where my self belief has indeed been the first step to success.  I passed out of college in 1981 and my father had  retired from service.  Being the eldest son in the family I had to start my career to support my family as by then my two elder sisters had got married and left our home.  In the eighties in India, getting a job was not that easy.  There were hardly any placements in college or campus recruitment. 

I was pursuing my post graduation in personnel management.  I had completed two stints of internships at two different industries.  I had done my best at both the companies but was not sure if I would get a job offer.  I was worried since being without a job at home was not a choice.  I had a responsibility to support my parents.  I had the self confidence that I will get an offer from somewhere.  I always tried my best and believed in myself at all times.  As soon as I finished my second internship, this company offered me a job within a week of my passing out of college.  

At another instance, I was working in a fast moving consumer goods company.  We had gone for a outbound along with the sales team.  There was an exercise wherein we were asked to climb a tree which was 50 feet high and jump to the ground, where a safety net was laid.  We had been given safety belts and there were expert trainers to take care of our safety.  Most of the team members refused to jump down except two of us.  Interestingly the two of us were the oldest members of the team.  We were 50 plus in age.  We believed in ourselves and also in our trainer and hence took the plunge and succeeded.  The other team members possibly did not trust themselves nor the coach and hence did not. 

In life, we may have many tough situations.  We may fail multiple times but the self belief should never get eroded.  The best examples are from the field of sports.  We see sports women and men lose multiple times but they never give up till they win.   I recently met a colleague from my company in a global conference.  She is an Olympic silver medalist in swimming.  She was narrating her own story.  She had lost a medal in the previous world championship and then practised for four years and won the silver in the next Olympics. She shared that she always believed that she could make it to the Olympic medal podium and hence never looked back.

Success in life is based on the foundation of self belief.  If we believe in ourselves, we will believe in others and we will never give up.  We may have crests  and troughs in life but our goal is clear and our self confidence is energising.  As in the photo above this young guy seems to brimming in self confidence.

Let the journey of a thousand miles begin with a small step and in my view the small step is to believe in yourself.

S Ramesh Shankar

“I believe in you”


” I believe in you” seems a very simple statement but a very powerful one.  I was recently in an internal global hr workshop when some of my colleagues gave me this idea.  We were discussing of trust and then someone said that I should write on this subject – ” I believe in you”.  I was touched by the power of the statement and hence readily agreed to reflect on it and write about it.

Let us start to examine as to why this simple statement is so powerful ?  When was the first experience of this statement for most of us ?  I would first start with our family.  In most cases, our mothers more than our fathers would have expressed this to us as a kid in both verbal and non verbal behaviour.  Most mothers believe that their kids can do the impossible.  This belief in itself empowers the kid and creates a sense of self belief.  They encourage their kids not only to study but play every possible sport and also try their luck in co curricular activities.  Like in the photo above, a mother will always give a thumbs up to a child in all his actions and always believe he will succeed.  The eyes of the mother speak and encourages her child.

If we move to the school,  the best teachers repose their trust in their students and make them believe that they can excel in anything.  As a student I recall a very interesting incident in my childhood days.  I was interested in debating but had never done one.  One day my English teacher made me participate in a school debate and made me believe that I could do it.  I was very nervous since I had never debated before.  But the confidence of the teacher in me made me go ahead and not only participate but win a prize in the very first competition I participated.  The invisible pat of the teacher may motivate the student.

If we move to the workplace, many of us will recall that the best managers and leaders infuse confidence in us by their actions more than their words.  They are always willing to take the risk and allow us to experiment and fail.  They may or may not say to us that they believe in us always.  This encourages us to take the plunge in areas, which we never would have even dreamt of.  The words and actions of the manager should inspire the team member.

If we examine the behaviour of our mother, teacher or manager who believed in us, there are  some attributes common in all of them.  They give more than they take from others.  They are unconditional in praise and stingy in criticism.  They are always positive in their attitude and optimistic in their beliefs.  They encourage us to experiment and are willing to support us if we fail.  They will always come forward to take the blame on our behalf if something goes wrong.

If this is so simple, why do many of us fail to practise such a simple thing in life as parents, teachers, managers or leaders.  I believe the simple things in life are the most difficult to practise.  It is like telling the truth.  I am yet to meet anyone in life who does not want to be truthful all the time.  But most of us falter at some stage of life or their and learn from our mistakes.  Some times we may say it verbally but still it does not have any impact.  I believe this may be because there is no congruence between our words and our actions on the ground.  Our actions do not reflect our beliefs and hence our words do not mean anything to anybody.

I think  I learnt a simple lesson in life today.  I promise that I will infuse this spirit of ” I believe in you ” in myself as a leader from today and will always try to display it in my verbal and non verbal behaviour with my family, friends and colleagues.

It is indeed a good insight !.  What do you think ?

S Ramesh Shankar