Category: Nature/Environment

Spectacle of our eyes


I have always wondered as to how God created our eyes as the best camera in the world.  No technology in the world has been able to beat our eyes to capture pictures around us.  The best of cameras I have tried in my life so far have not come even near the beautiful capture of our eyes.  It captures in three dimension or may be four.  As apart from the three dimensional picture, it also conveys an emotion to our brain to appreciate the beauty.

Let us start with nature.  We can neither capture sunrise nor sunset with a camera as well as our eyes displays it to us.  The clouds in the sky, the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the valleys and et all are picturized by our eyes like no camera ever can.  The birds, the animals, the insects or even the landscape around us is best visualised by our eyes.  I sometimes wonder as how to express my gratitude to God to bestow me with such a beautiful pair of eyes.

In my view the beauty of a human being is best seen through their eyes.  As they say, the eyes speak more than a thousand words.  We can feel the emotions of a person through their eyes.  When in joy, our eyes sparkle.  When in sorrow, our eyes are moist and give away our sadness.  A mother’s eyes expresses care without a word uttered to her child.  Similarly a father’s stern eyes may deter a child from doing a wrong.

At the workplace, we also speak through our eyes.  Many a times we need not utter a word to say we agree or disagree on any issue as our eyes will convey it to the other person even before we utter a word on the subject. Eyes symbolise words through expressions.  If you look at pieces of art – a painting or a sculpture, the artist conveys her or his emotions through the eyes of the art.  Just by changing the design of the eyes the meaning of an art piece can be changed.

The communication between a small kid and her parents are primarily through the eyes especially when the kid is yet to utter her first word in life.  Children can express all forms of emotions through their eyes easily.  They laugh, cry, get angry or express sorrow by the wink of their eyes.  Eyes express more than words.   Words do not carry emotions with them but eyes do.

Most of us have experienced or seen lovers communicating through their eyes. It may be classmates in college or colleagues at the workplace.  They may not even talk to each other in the presence of others.  But the communication through their eyes signifies the intensity of their love for each other.  This has been picturized very well in movies and plays and described eloquently in songs and poetry around the world.

As in the photo above, the eyes speak for themselves.

While all senses of the human body – sight, touch, sound, taste and smell are equally significant , sight through our eyes is the most beautiful.   Let us be blessed to admire nature and beauty in life through our eyes forever.  Let our eyes inspire us to look at the world through the beauty of other human beings, animals and things.  Let us learn to love other humans, animals and plants through the positive expression of our eyes.

Let our eyes give us sight and insight.

S Ramesh Shankar

Politics at the workplace

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“Politics” could be defined as the art of weaving your way in the organisational context.  Does politics exist in organizations ?  The answer is a resounding “yes”.  Do you need to indulge in politics to be successful in your career ?  My answer would be a resounding “no” from my life experiences.  While behavioural scientists may say that “politics” is not a dirty word and they may be right.  According to them, politics is the art of using the ogranization’s human networks to your advantage.  

I am not against “networking” and using your networks to get your things done as suggested by the social scientists.  What I am against is to indulge in “political behaviour” in your day to day work.  This means simply that you are indulging in “behind the back” gossip.  This results in lack of trust in your team members and saps away the energy of the team.  A lot of organisational energy is used in resolving conflicts and misunderstandings rather than building bonds.

How can one avoid politics as a leader ?  This is a question many people leaders have asked me during the course of my career.   My answer is simple.  As a leader, one needs to clarify the “Dos & Don’ts” of behaviour expected in your team.  Further, one needs to lead by example what you expect from others.  For eg. I clearly encourage my team to raise any issue with anyone and sort it out face to face rather than talk behind the back.  Gossip or talking behind one’s back may be the fountain head of organisational politics.  This needs to be actively discouraged and even punished, if necessary.

On the other hand, if someone wants to build relationships so as to get things done, it is not politics in my definition.  After all organizations are nothing but a network of relationships between people working in different functions.  It is essential to build networks and relationships to get things done effectively.  We need to do everything to enable our team members to network across the organisation and build these relationships.

It is only when a team member ends up misusing a relationship or a network to gossip, politics sets in.  Politics in my view is like a wild fire in a dry summer forest. If not nipped in the bud, it can spread across the organisation and will be very difficult to put off.  I have been asked many a time as to how one can avoid these webs of organisational politics.  It is up to us.  If we want to stay clear of it, we can clearly and unambiguously communicate the same to our team members and colleagues and it works.

I have also been asked if one can be successful in one’s career without being political.  I believe so and have practised it all through my career.  Being a HR professional, I have seen most successful people do not indulge in politics, as I have defined it.  Further, this also ensures that your energy is chanelized to do more creative work in your domain.  Teams work with high energy and enjoy their work without any fear or barriers.

In my view, “politics” in the organisational context is counter productive if not channelised to build networks and relationships.  As a leader, it is up to us to define the rules of the game for our team and ensure nobody crosses the line.  If many of our team members play foul, we not only lose the game but also create poor team spirit and negative energy within the team.

Let us define the rules of our game today and lead by example to ensure others follow it.

S Ramesh Shankar

Travelling around


One of my passions in life is to travel.  I love visiting new places and meeting people.  I also love to understand the culture and crafts of that new place.  I have been lucky to visit different parts of the world and of my wonderful country as well. Every time I have travelled to a new place, it has been a new insight for me. The place, the people and the practices indeed teaches me many life lessons, which no education in the world can.

It does not matter which part of the world I am visiting or during which time of the year.  Every new place has a new meaning for me in life.  Every new location teaches me new things.  I wish I could have been a travel writer, visiting places around my country and the world and sharing my experiences with everyone.  Although, I have almost visited all the states of my country , I am yet to cover all the treasures of my native country.

I remember my first travel out of my country.  It was way back in 1989, when I visited UK for a three month training programme.  Apart from the learnings in the programme, which changed my perspectives on being a trainer, it was indeed great insights into a different country with varied cultures, norms and behaviours.  I still remember how I enjoyed the Big Ben to see the UK parliament or the Buckingham palace and these brought back vivid memories of my limited knowledge of history studied in school.

Another wonderful visit was my first visit to the state of Jammu & Kashmir, the northern most state of my country.  It was way back in 2004 and many of friends cautioned me against the travel since there was tension between ethnic groups and also the state was seized with terror attacks.  Both me and my wife felt that terror is a world wide phenonomenon today.  It can happen in your backyard where you are staying and hence we decided to go ahead.  This was one of the best decisions of my life.

This state gives you the best glimpses of nature.  Its warm and flat at Jammu, cold and chilly in the valley and solemn and snowy at Ladakh(as in the photo above).     As you land into Srinagar, you feel you have arrived in a fairy land.  You can see snow capped mountains around you and the warmth of the people you meet is unbelievable.  All the people you meet here are hospitable and are always keen to make you comfortable.  They call it “Kashmiriyat”.  It means the culture of secularism in simple terms. It is such lessons, no book in management or psychology can teach you.

One of the best states I have visited so far is Sikkim, one of the smallest states of India.  The capital Gangtok is again surrounded by snow capped Himalayas and the city is spotlessly clean.  You have foot paths all around the city and you can enjoy walking around without worrying about any road mishaps.  I sometimes wonder why all of us living in different parts of the country in other states cannot learn from this wonderful state.

Last but not the least, I would urge everyone to travel around whenever you can.  I would urge parents and elders to take your kids around the world and around India whenever you can.  A visit to a new place and meeting new people can never be substituted by books or the television.  My wife and kids have travelled around with me in my country and around the world wherever I could afford to go.  Each visit has brought in a new lesson for each of us.

Lets start our learning journey today.

S Ramesh Shankar