We are all born with natural intelligence. We develop this in our childhood. I am told that the human brain grows only up to a certain age in childhood and then possibly ,we need to exercise our brain to sharpen our intelligence.

In our early childhood, we are asked to memorise poems and debates at school and also some religious texts at home. This way our brain gets to exercise and perhaps helps us to keep ourselves alert.

As we move to college, we still get opportunities to test our brain and intelligence ,through projects and assignments. This continues at our workplace in corporates and in our own businesses.

However, as technology has developed ,we have started depending more on it, than on human brain. In the past, we remembered the phone numbers of all our friends and relatives ,since the landline we had ,did not have memory and it possibly compelled us to do so. Today we may not even remember our own numbers ,since the mobile stores everything for us and retrieves in a jiffy.

Human intelligence is natural and is possibly given in equal measure ,to all of us ,by the Almighty. Some of us exercise our brain enough and hence become more intelligent than others. Some may let laziness overcome them and hence their brains possibly degenerates faster.

Today we hear and talk of Artificial intelligence . As the name suggests, artificial intelligence is developed by mankind. It is artificial by nature and responds the same way. It is like a database ,developed over a period of time and can at best do repetitive tasks better than human beings.

Let us take an example. We all are aware of self driving cars. I understand that the artificial intelligence for these cars are developed by human beings ,by studying and feeding data over a period of time in all possible situations, in which a human being drives a car. So ,this AI enabled self driving car ,is able to reach its destination through the route fed into it and responds as is needed ,in all possible situations ,it can encounter on the way.

However, imagine a child tries to play prank on the road or the power fails due to a major grid failure and the traffic signals do not operate the way it should. A human being driving a car ,may be in a better position to respond in such a situation and drive to her destination safely. A self driving car may struggle to do the same.

In my view, artificial intelligence can do repetitive tasks possibly better than human beings can. However when complex human emotions come into play, artificial intelligence may not be able to adapt to the same and respond.

Another example could be that an AI enabled bot could possibly diagnose a cancer patient based on all possible cancer cases recorded all around the world. However, if a new variant of cancer comes in, like the Covid pandemic hit us, only Human intelligence will be able to respond and manage it.

We need to strike the right balance between ,natural or human intelligence and artificial intelligence ,to be happier in life.

Lets start today.

S Ramesh Shankar

13th Sep 2023

Everyone says “Excellence” is a journey that never ends. I sometimes ask as to how to discover this journey in life. It looks like it is easier said than done.

I was watching a TV show recently and realised what this could mean to us in our everyday lives. I saw a flautist, who played the flute as if God was playing the flute through his fingers.

I have seen sportspersons win match after match and still never feel they have arrived. They always think ,that there is something better to play in the next match, than whatever they have done so far. This is true for individual players as well as teams.

I have met subject matter experts, who can speak endlessly on their subject and can answer all your questions ,as if the subject was discovered by them on earth. Their quest to learn is never ending and their thirst for knowledge is limitless.

One meets common men and women in everyday life who excel in whatever they do and we imagine they have peaked in their domain. However, when we meet them each time, they make you realise that their journey has just begun.

A sculptor is not happy with a masterpiece nor a musician with a Grammy winning song. An actor does not end his journey with an Oscar nor a sportsperson with an Olympic medal. What makes us pause our journey when we do not even excel at our city level, leave alone district, state or country level.

After observing people, who excel in different walks of life I realise that they have some discerning qualities, which may be worth emulating. The first amongst all of these qualities, is their unequalled passion for whatever they do.

A sculptor may spend years to create a masterpiece but is never satisfied with just one. Similarly a sportsperson may have won laurels around the world in Olympics or World championships , but still doesn’t stop trying to improve always.

The second quality of a person who excels , is their limitless learning in life. A sportsperson person recently said in a press conference – “There is no failure in sports”. There are good days and bad days. You win some and you lose some but you never give up to do better all over again.

The third quality which I would love to imbibe is that their quest to do better every day of their lives. You never see them resting on their past laurels. What they did yesterday is over and what they are doing today is for a better tomorrow.

Now, let us look as to how we could apply these basic principles in our every day lives. First we need to identify what we are passionate about. Sometimes, we may not be sure and that is fine. We may discover along the way and sometimes even by chance. Once you are passionate about something, your zeal to excel increases.

Secondly, we need to learn to learn, unlearn and re-learn everyday of our lives. What we learnt in our childhood may not be relevant today. What we know today may not be applicable tomorrow , with the changing technologies impacting our lives. So , we need to have limitless quest for learning always.

The third quality is to compete with the best and to begin, compete with oneself. We all can be a better version of what we were yesterday. It could be as simple as the speed of our walking or the way we play a game. As long as we have the passion to excel, our journey never ends.

Life is a journey to excel in whatever we do and then its fun all the way.

S Ramesh Shankar

1st May 2023

One of the questions often asked in my career is -“What style of leadership will make you a successful leader ?. The answer is simple. Lead by example as your followers follow what you do and not what you say. This is true in family, organisations or in society at large.

Let us understand how we can lead by example in a family setting. Many parents think that because of their age gap, children may listen to whatever they say. This may be true up to the age of 10 or so but thereafter as they turn an adolescent they tend to rebel and are not interested in following your boring advice day in and night out.

Let us keep it simple. If we want our kids to brush their teeth before they have their morning cup of milk, coffee or tea, we need to practise it. If we have a bed coffee without brushing our teeth in our bed and expect our children to brush their teeth before they have it, it may never happen.

If we work or play with our mobile while having our breakfast, our children may never eat breakfast without a mobile in hand. If we watch TV while having our food, they are likely to do the same. On the other hand, if we want them to be away from mobile while having food or while studying, we need to practise it before we preach.

Then while we are driving, if we speak on the mobile for work or otherwise, our children observe our actions and repeat the same when their turn comes. No lecture on road safety can be given to a child whose parents do not practise it on the road.

If we move to the organisation again, our actions will always speak louder than our words. If we want our team members to be punctual to work, we need to arrive before time and show them what we expect. If we want them to attend meetings on time, we need to start and end meetings on time. If we want them to respond to emails promptly, we have to first reply to all our emails instantly. If we expect impeccable behaviour with our colleagues, suppliers or customers , then the way we deal with these stakeholders, sets the role model for them.

Society is a mirror image of families and organisations as social units. We can expect citizens to be law abiding and dutiful ,if we practise it within our families and organisations. Even the politicians with high personal credibility will always be respected and regarded and not otherwise. Even if we look back at history, the leaders we admired are those who always led by example and not because of their oratory skills or execution skills alone.

Let us not complicate a simple subject like “Leadership”. We do not need books or lectures to understand leadership. It is as simple as “Learning by doing”. If we practise before we preach, we may never need to preach to anybody. One can recall teachers, managers and family members whom we adore. We admire them not because they ordered us what to do, but they always showed us what to do and how to do it and we happily followed them.

Let us lead by example from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

30th March 2023