Retirement – when is the right age and time?

We have read about young billionaires retiring early from active work and enjoying the sun set days that was advanced on their own volition.

A young billionaire with prudent investment decisions is assured of passive income that keeps the life going with not much change in life style.

We have also heard of wealthy individuals, though not in great numbers, turning into a spiritual or a philanthropic life spending their life earnings on poor people. That indeed is a laudable and noble achievement.

Could everyone aspire to be in any of the above categories? Definitely not.

How do we and when do we make that decision to retire from active work? There are some possible scenarios that look adequately safe to take that decision:

– you are in mid 30’s and you are left with a fortune in the form of real estate and stocks that could only swell year on year. The earnings keep you going as long as you are not a lavish spender.

– you have landed in a job due to your technical / business acumen and that you earn a high compensation. You work there for 12-15 years, save enough money with wise investment decisions and retirement year seems nearer when you are not avarice to earn more and more. Yours is a high pressure job that affects your health and you think of retirement . Your family fully supports you as your time is available to them all the time.

– you have worked for 25+ years, your children are in a position to take good care of themselves, saved enough money, created good assets but don’t want to continue in the high pressure work environment, has a liking towards travel with your spouse. Retirement is no problem for you.

– you are running your own business, have grown it to a reasonable size, created successor from within or outside the family to run the business, takes good returns from the business, finds it no longer exciting, takes a liking towards starting NGOs to help social causes. Retirement is not a hard decision for you.

– yours is a double engine run family of husband and wife with practically no commitments ( double income with no children, parents not with you). You have high savings that will sustain you for long years and hence retirement becomes a good option to take.

What could be other reasons or scenarios you think of ? Feel free to share your views.

#retirement

Digital Transformation

It is a catchall phrase these days for every business organisation, however small or large it may be. It is different from a Business Transformation initiative as it is not time bound and is a continuous exercise to become more agile, efficient and customer centric.

It is not an easy exercise to start unless the leadership of the organisation is clear about the following aspects:

ensuring the availability of business process knowledge upfront with documentation.
evolving a clear strategy to create a business value
assembling technical skills that work closely with the business teams
making available data about every aspect of the business – customers, vendors, products, markets, financials, machinery, infrastructure and competitors.
ensuring faster technology adoption or innovation that is best suited to the business.
driving the change management, frequently communicating with all the stakeholders and securing their buy-in.

Here is an interesting article about Digital Information ( courtesy: McKinsey & Company)

#digitaltransformation

https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-digital-transformation

Every day is a Happy day

It is bewildering to see, we Indians, attach so much importance to a new year when we have seen so many new years in the past. Both good things and not so good things happen every year and it is how our lives go on. By welcoming a new year in such a grand style, we are not going to control what is going to happen. It is a legacy left over to us by Britishers. They invented a long week of celebrations following Christmas until the New year eve, because the cold winter needed a respite for people to come together. We feel happy to spend the new year eve, rejoicing and regaling with friends and families. Some people go to church or a temple to pray and a few others make resolutions to do some great things but do we need a new year day to pray or do good deeds. Good things are meant to be done all the time. Every day is a happy day, if we think so.

⁃ Sivakumar Gopal ( http://www.beating.in)

Power is the ability to influence others and not to dictate to them

Power of an individual or a leader or a politician is like a two sided weapon that could motivate or harm others.

We have seen how power corrupts leaders especially politicians when they constantly indulge in abusing it.

In a social set-up, many individuals make an impact with their empathy and compassion . People remember them for long for their good work and the positive vibes they create around them. They are like good Samaritans that jump in for the right cause and help bring in sanity in thoughts, discussions and actions. In our midst we see only a few people doing it and others are just happy to tag alongwith them. Why do many of us refrain from involving deeper for a social cause or justice and creating an impact ? Time may be a constraint but 24 hours in a day is too much to do any good. The fear of failure or criticism makes them not to attempt a more vigorous approach to a just cause. A society, community, organisation and Government need many such people who could make those positive contributions. That person could be heading a government, a social service leader, an actor, a saint or a preacher.

In a business organisation a leader has to exercise power that doesn’t drive away his team out of fear but that gives them stability and makes their realise self- worth.

Power is the ability to influence others and not to dictate to them. True power is not having to use it. Cultivating a mind set is difficult for many of us but the fruits of reaching that state of mind is enormous and fulfilling.

#power

#influence

#powerabuse

Sustainable Agricultural Practices – SAP

We see a lot of stuff being written about sustainable business practices across many industry verticals but we hardly see any concern towards safe and sustainable agricultural practices in an industry that is being harped as the lifeline of India.

We hardly see any concerted effort by India’s retail conglomerates, agricultural bodies or Governments towards improving organic farming output besides educating the farmers the need for them to practice sustainable practices in farming.

We hear the agricultural produce that we buy today have metals and chemicals beyond permissible quantities and is it not an utter neglect by the people who are responsible for safe food to citizens?

India’s top business houses that deal in agricultural products should set aside funds under CSR to help the farming community to be made aware of sustainable agricultural practices that would save our next generations and they will continue to get edible food besides this saving our land from turning into barren lands of rock and stones.

Here is a sneak preview of what we have failed to do until now and what needs to be done towards SAP. A good read.

https://tractorkarvan.com/blog/sustainable-agriculture-in-india

#sustainableagriculture

#saveourland

#savenaturalresources

https://lnkd.in/e8HEEJJM

Celebrate achievements

Celebrate achievements, of your own and of others.

Your close friends, relations, peers and bosses expect you to be better at things what you do, when they are in fact short in those same areas.

People are always hesitant to praise others generously whenever it is due. Appreciation motivates everyone to do better and make them consistent in their efforts,actions and words.

Mediocrity needs to be only recognised but excellence needs to be both recognised and applauded.

Celebration of others’ achievements and accomplishments makes the connect between people stronger and healthier. You may need the same reciprocation of words of solace, comfort and praise in future.

#appreciation #applaud #celebratesuccess

People are different

Every person is different than the rest and creates his or her unique hue and colour. That person picks up the traits from people who had influenced him or her to do good or bad.

The attached video grab ( thanks to the person who posted in LinkedIn and to the original contributor) is a classic depiction of how we form our actions and thoughts by picking them up from our parents, teachers, leaders and mentors. We don’t ape them but try to make ourselves unique pieces.

If a person or society or nation is respected it is because how well we have been able to imbibe and integrate the good values of our ancestors and mythological characters to form a society that is always attempting to be fair and just to everyone under its wings. Let us strive hard to keep that balance surviving for many generations to come. We do what is required to be done to achieve it.

In a world that is seeing more chaos and hatred, we as Indians, maintain an equilibrium that sustains our life.

Human Brain – the greatest symphony creator

Our brain is like a symphony creator. It creates notes to each sinew of the body and instructs how to perform. It is like a symphony creator hands out notes to each section of the orchestra – the players playing piano ,violins, cellos, flutes, trumpets, violas, brass, clarinets etc to play a symphony in unison. If an unsuitable note is handed out to a violinist or a trumpet player, the output is jarring. Similarly the brain also can send a wrong signal that results in imperfect limb movement or incoherent speech. Dementia, Alzheimer, Parkinson’s, Paralysis, all these happen because of brain’s malfunction and it’s notes going haywire. Our physical ailments or well-being not withstanding, it also sends signals that make our emotions erupt in a joyful or violent manner. It makes us to be kind to fellow humans and but also makes us to act in a cruel manner to cause harm to others.

How do we better take care of this wonderful symphony creator called brain?

We, as ordinary humans still don’t know ways to directly control our brain functions that activates our body parts. The brain functions in a normal way when each of our body part does what it is supposed to do. There is a perfect rhythm and sync in what it does. So keeping our body parts in prime condition is one way of helping our brain to continue doing its work. The following tips form renowned gurus and doctors make our body and mind to stay healthy. Let us try.

Eat moderately, eat right and on time

Exercise or walk or jog or run daily for 20-30 mts

Surround yourself with people having positive energy

Create more family time

Control anger and let go your ego and jealous

Mindfulness or meditation helps to recharge yourself

Believe in THE supreme power

We have come to this world to do what we are supposed to do and do it right.

Opportunity Vs Effort

How often we have seen people cribbing about not being recognised or rewarded for their hard work. We also see them lamenting that others who don’t put much efforts are being recognised and rewarded. They feel that they always get a raw deal from their superiors.

Let us see how a typical corporate life and growth is seen by a top management:

Right opportunity —> wrong efforts—> failure
Wrong opportunity—>wrong efforts —> failure
Right opportunity—> right efforts —> success
Wrong opportunity—> right efforts —> failure

So the probability of success is one in four cases and we can see where people go wrong. It is obvious that there are more chances of failure if we don’t identify right opportunity and put in right efforts to to achieve success.

It is always not the case when you feel your bosses are against you and however efforts you put in, they notice only the failed outcomes.

In general, Longevity in corporate life is all about continued successful outcomes from an individual.

#corporatesuccess #recognitionawards

What makes people to grow and excel?

We all know a Comparison is a measure of how others perceive about performances. We also know that Competition is a measure of what outsiders see about individuals, organisations or countries.

Analysts compare and conclude who is competing with whom and who is doing better than whom. It is not an exact measure of the what they think these companies or countries are capable of. It is a measure of a relative performance and they conclude with a limited data and information. It also reveals the perceived weakness that may not be correct.

For an individual or an organisation or a country, it may be a motivating factor that ranking helps them to know where do they stand in a competitive world. But it is not a defining factor. They know their capability and the opportunities in front of them and take a self-assessment of how these potentially are to be put into action to derive the maximum outcome.

An individual should realise his or her capability and how it needs to be enhanced to achieve the goal. A good mentor will help achieve that objective.
An organisation should dwelve on its capabilities and limitations that inhibit its growth and strive to work on them to improve its standing in the market place. A good strategy needs to be revolved that considers all aspects of business that grinder the growth.
A country needs to tap all its resources and channelise them to unleash its hidden potential to achieve progress. Implementation of policies and achieving outcomes must be the focus for the bureaucrats and ministers.

We don’t grow because others want us.
We grow at our own will and show the world that we have ‘it’ in us to excel. It is always the potential that we would want to showcase not the weakness. Great individuals, Famous organisations and Developed countries have demonstrated that nothing succeeds like the focus,determination and hard work.