e-Panorama

6th Jan 07. Year2,Vol.8

Newsletter of Bharuch District Management Association

Let another man praise thee,

and not thine own mouth.
Capital is not so important in business.
Experience is not so important.
You can get both these things.
What is important is IDEAS.
If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need,
and there is not any limit to what you can do with
your business and your life.
Harvey Firestone.
THINK BIG.. THINK FAST.. THINK AHEAD..
Ideas are no Ones Monopoly..
Our ambitions... higher, Our committments...deeper
and
Our efforts... Greater..
Dhirubhai Ambani
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e-Panorama

6th Jan 07. Year2,Vol.8

Newsletter of Bharuch District Management Association

Tips on climbing the corporate ladder

{The article is meant for Professionally run organisations and readers in Govt./ Semi-Govt
organisations may pls excuse, where other criteria have priority over performance.}
There probably isn't a person in the world who would not wish for a fair chance, and an
opportunity to succeed. We would all prefer to be measured by the content of our character.
In the business world, this translates into an opportunity for a rewarding career. For that to
happen, both individuals and corporations need to take responsibility to effect change. There
have always been differences between perception and reality. During my career, I have
observed that the perception of a successful leader in a small, entrepreneurial company can
be quite different from the perception of a successful leader in a large corporation. In an
entrepreneurial organisation, one's success is almost always the result of individual
performance. Measurement of success is absolute -- and can be tied to the amount of money
one makes, or the amount of individual recognition one achieves. In a large corporation,
success is somewhat dependent on individual abilities, but also heavily reliant upon team
performance and influence skills. Here, success is relative -- one's degree of success is
measured against the performance of others, before the next move up the corporate career
ladder.
Ultimately, we are all responsible for our own careers. However, it is important to know and
understand the impact of perceptions, and a willingness to recognise that companies expect
different skills at different points in one's career.
As a man of Indian ancestry, I have developed my own beliefs about the perceptions of
Indian professionals. These are my personal opinions, and may not reflect reality, but when I
mentor or speak with Indian groups, these are some of the perceptions we discuss:
Excellent academic credentials
Smart and aggressive
Ambitious
Very good individual contributors
Good communication skills
Good functional leaders
Not necessarily good leaders of large, diverse organisations.
What's the missing link here? Strong influence skills.
Early in your career, you are known for specific, often specialised skills. For example, you
know the intricacies of tax law especially well, or you are up to date on the latest generally
accepted accounting rules. People seek you out for your expertise, individual knowledge and
aptitude. Those incredible skills you had at the beginning and middle part of your career -in accounting or tax -- become less important as you move higher up in an organisation.
These skills are replaced by your ability to influence and persuade people -- often your
peers, or people higher in the organisation than yourself. In these later stages, people seek
you out because of your collective experience across many endeavours, and for the people
you know both within and outside of your company. Your ability to move a project forward
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e-Panorama

6th Jan 07. Year2,Vol.8

Newsletter of Bharuch District Management Association

that involves many team members is valued. You bring solutions to the organisation even
before they realise that a problem exists.
These are the skills to develop in order to reach these higher levels of performance:
Learning agility: The ability to learn new things even as you let go of outdated concepts
Flexibility: Being multidimensional
Risk-taking: Get out of your comfort zone and try something new
Focus on results/performance
Surround yourself with positive thinkers
Form deep and meaningful relationships, personally and professionally
Find mentors/sponsors within and outside the organisation
Deliver on your commitments
Behave transparently
Confront reality
Find the right balance between work and the rest of your life
These are characteristics to avoid:
Rigidity, being one dimensional
Playing organisational politics to the exclusion of developing your own skills.
Cynical/negative thinking
Making false promises
Harbouring hidden agendas
Above all, as you make this journey, be true to yourself. You will not get ahead by trying
to act like, talk like or behave like anyone else. You must be sincere, open and

straightforward.
A good company will value the differences it sees in the workforce. A smart manager will
understand that there are legitimately effective ways to get things done that might look
different than the path he or she would have chosen. A smart employee who wants to be a
successful manager will understand that influence skills really are a combination of aptitude,
attitude and approach. Jack Welch, the former chairman of General Electric, made an
observation that I happen to agree with wholeheartedly. It sums up my belief in what every
leader needs to do to ensure success: 'We spend all of our time on people. The day we
screw up the people thing, the company's over.' The discovery, deployment and

development of talent is the lifeblood of any company, and the competitive

difference in the ability to bring innovation to the global market. If we believe
we should all be judged by the content of our character, then an ongoing
commitment to diversity is an integral part of being citizens and companies of
the world.
I have a dream that my children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of
their skin, but by the content of their character. -- Martin Luther King

(Inputs from Mr. Mukesh Mehta Heubach-India)

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e-Panorama

6th Jan 07. Year2,Vol.8

Newsletter of Bharuch District Management Association

Letter from Abraham Lincoln to his sons teacher

My son starts school today. It is all going to be strange and new to him for a
while and I wish you would treat him gently. It is an adventure that might take
him across continents. All adventures that probably include wars, tragedy and
sorrow. To live this life will require faith, love and courage.
So dear Teacher, will you please take him by his hand and teach him things he
will have to know, teaching him - but gently, if you can. Teach him that for
every enemy, there is a friend. He will have to know that all men are not just,
that all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a
hero, that for every crooked politician, there is a dedicated leader.
Teach him if you can that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar
found. In school, teacher, it is far more honourable to fail than to cheat. Teach
him to learn how to gracefully lose, and enjoy winning when he does win.
Teach him to be gentle with people, tough with tough people. Steer him away
from envy if you can and teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Teach him if
you can - how to laugh when he is sad, teach him there is no shame in tears.
Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success. Teach him to
scoff at cynics.
Teach him if you can the wonders of books, but also give time to ponder the
extreme mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green
hill. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if every one tell him they
are wrong.
Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is
doing it. Teach him to listen to every one, but teach him also to filters all that
he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.
Teach him to sell his talents and brains to the highest bidder but never to put a
price tag on his heart and soul. Let him have the courage to be impatient, let
him have the patient to be brave. Teach him to have sublime faith in himself,
because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind, in God.
This is the order, teacher but see what best you can do. He is such a nice little
boy and he is my son.

(inputs from Ms. Sheela Mistry, Insight Associates)

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e-Panorama

6th Jan 07. Year2,Vol.8

Newsletter of Bharuch District Management Association

10 ways to suppress creativity

1. Always pretend to know more than everybody around you.
2. Get employees to fill in time sheets.
3. Run daily checks on progress of everyone's work.
4. Ensure that highly qualified people do ordinary work for long periods.
5. Put barriers up between departments.
6. Don't speak personally to employees, except when announcing
increased targets, shortened deadlines and tightened cost restraints.
7. Ask for a 200-page document to justify every new idea.
8. Call lots of meetings.
9. Place the biggest emphasis on the budget.
10. Buy lots of computers.
(Inputs from Mr. Vijay Mistry, Remi Metals Gujarat Ltd, Jhagadia)

*****************************
Q :: Do you know.. name of this place? ... country?

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e-Panorama

6th Jan 07. Year2,Vol.8

Newsletter of Bharuch District Management Association

In the new year lets Be like a Japanese Garden
Be the still pool. Let your face reflect the glory, the wonder.
Be the dragonfly, silent but joyful.
Be the bud. Prepare to blossom.
Be the tree. Grant shelter.
Be the butterfly. Accept the riches of the moment.
Be the moth. Seek the light.
Be the lantern. Guide the lost.
Be the path. Open the way for another.
Be the wind chime. Let the breeze blow through you. Turn the storms into song.
Be the rain. Wash away, cleanse, forgive.
Be the grass. Grow back when you are tread upon.
Be the bridge. Reach in peace towards the other side.
Be the moss. Temper your strength with softness and mercy.
Be the soil. Bear fruit.
Be the gardener. Create order.
Be the temple. Let the spirit dwell in you.
Be the seasons. Welcome change.
Be the moon. Shine through the darkness.
Be the pebble. Let time shape and smooth you.
Be the leaf. Fall gracefully when your time comes to let go.
Trust in the circle. To end is to begin.

******************************

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e-Panorama

6th Jan 07. Year2,Vol.8

Newsletter of Bharuch District Management Association

e-mails that have educated me

A Summary of 2006 e-mails
I must send my thanks to whomever sent me the one about rat poop in the glue on
envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs
sealing.
Also, now I have to scrub the top of every drink bottle / Can I open for the same
reason.
I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Susie Brown) who is about
to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.
I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that
Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail
program.
I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me,
and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.
Thanks to email, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I
email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

forward an

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet
stains. I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car so a
serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.
I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.
And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup water in the microwave anymore
because it will blow up in my face..disfiguring me for life.
I no longer eat Pani Puri because I could be infected with AIDS.
I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which
I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.
Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider
is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

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e-Panorama

6th Jan 07. Year2,Vol.8

Newsletter of Bharuch District Management Association

After the game, the king & the pawns, all go in the same box!
Behind every successful person....there is always he........himself!
Chances always favor..............a prepared mind!
Nothing is as far away ...............as one minute ago!
Nobody is perfect.................that is why pencils have erasers!
Imagination is more important.........than knowledge!
You stay connected......only when you're plugged!
They (color pencils) are different colors ..........yet they stay in the same box!
If you think you can, you can...................if you think you can't, you can never!
Choice, not circumstances ...............determine your success!

:: Editorial Committee ::
Chairman
Mr. Jayen Mehta, GNFC Ltd.
Members
Mr. Mukesh Mehta, Heubach Colour,
Ms. Sheela Mistry, Insight Associates,
Mr. G M Patel
and
Mr. R V Revar, GNFC Ltd.

ePanorama Advisory committee

Mr. R P Vyas -President,
Mr.Kamlesh Udani -Past President,
Mr.Ashok Panjwani -Vice President,
Mr.K A Shah -Vice President.
Bharuch District Management Association
601/602 Vaikunth Township,
Opp: Polytechnic College
Bharuch - 392 002 Gujarat - India
Readers are welcome to send feedback, suggestions
and articles/inputs by e-mail
Jayen@GNFC.IN
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