Words Are Overrated: Use Your Discrimination

Posted on September 8, 2010 by

In a world that is already confusing for many, overloaded with information for a large number of people and filled with “happenings” all the time across the globe, we add to our woes by giving the written word even more authority, often a prominence higher than our own experience/s. You see words are the basics and fundamental formation of the basis of the “illusionary” nature of the universe. We comprehend and begin composing words right when we are 1.5 to 2 years old. From our ultimate and merged bliss (which is the state a baby comes into), we formulate and “learn” words and through that we slowly and steadily learn to form coherent thoughts and form ideas and concepts and plans and strategies. Now while nothing is wrong with all of that; we forget in the process that “words” are just “words”. They are not the thing actually i.e. we can say the name of the fruit “orange”, but the word “orange” is not the fruit – the fruit is the fruit (not the word orange, got it?). The word “orange”  is our mental approximation/label of what the thing “orange” is. The fruit/thing orange can only be known when you hold it, touch it, eat it and taste its juice in your mouth. The word “orange” is still not the fruit; it’s just the word – it can connote all of that (taste, juiciness, orange flavor) etc., but it’s still just a word. Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Marketing & Advertising, Media, Spirituality | 12 Comments

Power Love: The Missing Ingredient in the Corporate World?

Posted on August 18, 2010 by

A much abused and over used term – love. Most shy away from using this term. And in the corporate world, this term does not even come up. How can we talk about love, amongst profits, markets, shareholders, stakeholders, growth rates, HR models and hierarchies. Wouldn’t that make you a “softy”, perhaps even a “flake”?

Now, that would be the case, if one were talking about love within the context of its most common associations – romantic love, family love, love within the context of a single or sometimes multiple relationships, love to the country or even love for the world. But there is another kind of love present in the depths of your being. For the sake of a name lets call it POWER LOVE. This love, when experienced is literally “EARTH SHATTERING” and can penetrate the very fabric of your blood. This love, gives you the intuitive understanding of the universe, its principles, its knowledge and its mysteries. It’s the love that enables you to see breathing God in every being, in every thing. Few have experienced POWER LOVE, but those who have, have experienced a deep inner movement, a current that connects them to the universal. Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Marketing & Advertising, Spirituality | Leave a comment

My India – Potentially Flawed?

Posted on August 5, 2010 by

Yes, we all want to see India do well, especially those of us who stay in India and are brought up here. And yes, we have inherited a great culture as we like to say, 5000 years old say some. But when I look around me, either we are blinded by this great culture we have inherited or we are plain shitting on it – this applies literally as well. Remember Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt and many others are developing nations like India, but we have a unique reputation globally, of defecating on the streets. And I cannot ignore this. A nation that “allows” people to defecate on its streets on a regular basis, creating tons of organic waste left outside to rot, reflects an inner state within the cultural fabric of its soul. It communicates very simply – we don’t care, say what you like, when I want to shit, I will just defecate right there in front of you – that, is the inner feeling. Of course, the solution is not in having more public toilets (that is one of the outer effects of an inner change) , the solution is in changing our mindset first – both parties, the ones who shit and the ones who do not – need to care about the country. But do we really? Continue reading →

Posted in India, Management, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Do PR Agencies Need Multiple Offices?

Posted on July 29, 2010 by

When I was working as the Marketing Head of large format organizations, I always found it amusing that PR agencies would present to us ”we have 7 or 14 or 32 (whatever maybe the actual number), offices in India” and then go on to show an India map with the infamous dots on them, for each office. As the marketing head I always wanted to know two things:

1. Who will be the people working on my account? The agency may have 52 offices in India for all I care, but give me 2 sub standard PR executives working on my account and I would have a fire on my hands.

2. How did PR agencies manage so many offices anyways (given that PR agencies are always on the bottom end of the marketing spectrum -:))? Were their rates being increased more by the amounts they would be spending on office rent and housing all the people, rather than good talent? Continue reading →

Posted in India, Management, Marketing & Advertising, Media | 9 Comments

The Awareness of “Lack”

Posted on July 26, 2010 by

The human mind is a trickster.  It not only takes itself too seriously, it is also in a continous state/awareness of “lack”. ‘Not enough money’, ‘not enough of adulation’, ‘my pictures are not taken’, ‘my play is not reviewed’, ‘my career is frustrating’, ‘my spouse is not responding’ and the mental dialouges are endless. And when the mind takes such a posture, it inevitably blames everyone around it for its stress – ‘you did not publish it’, ‘you are holding back my career’, ’you do not notice me’ etc.

The constant awareness of “lack” in all aspects of life, becomes a self fulfilling propecy, Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Spirituality | 2 Comments

Mastery and Practice

Posted on July 25, 2010 by

Most people see success or see people who have achieved mastery in some aspect of their life and make statements like “he is lucky”, “oh he inherited this”, “ah, that’s just a result of circumstance”, “oh whatever he wants just comes his way” or “he has a knack of getting his way”. For me this reflects a very fundamental point – that most people shy away from giving credit where it is due and often people do not even understand what leads to success or mastery (note: I do not define success only in monetary or other socially conditioned terms). While its easy to pin “luck” onto people, most do not see the long hours of discipline, practice and dedication which leads a person into a state where the right things attract themselves to their lives, where either their work, art or service become easeful as a result of their mastery and things happen because they are open to the cues being given by the universe. Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Spirituality | 26 Comments

Are You Addicted to Online News?

Posted on June 23, 2010 by

Image FileYou are working on an assignment, or perhaps a PowerPoint presentation and then suddenly you feel the urge to check your favorite newspaper website for the latest updated news. It could be the BBC, CNN, The Boston Globe, The Straits Times or the Times of India. The question is – do you really need to be constantly updated about somebody else’s take regarding the events happening in the world? Are your online news reading habits becoming an interruption to you, your work and the flow of your thoughts?

Now I do not blame the news providers for this, they are following and doing what they do best. The problem lies in our own mind and the habits we have created. We are addicted to news reading – or least a vast majority of business owners and professionals are. Earlier it was just the morning fix of news. But now with wireless internet coupled with laptop warriors around the place, it is continuous. You can keep checking the news 24 hours and keep reading endlessly about what is happening all over the world. The question is do we really need to know so much about everything? Continue reading →

Posted in Media, Spirituality, Technology | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments