The Issue of Quality

Everything is a chain reaction and quality is no exception.

Let me attempt to describe this chain.

A fairly simple one : – one that follows the rule : the person at the top is responsible. Unfair though it may sound, it’s the best practice to get good results.

For responsibility is a fact that we should be proud and not afraid of.

When do we have a quality problem?

- when we have people whose skills are not suited for the job in question,

- when we have skilled but disinterested people,

- when we have skilled, interested people with bad managers.

Consider a situation where everyone at the top does an incredible job managing his set of sub-ordinates – and each of his sub-ordinates emulate their manager – this is how quality is improved.

Finding the right people for every single link of the chain is the job of the HR team – and that’s why human relations is at the bottom of every business success story.

To end, good management is good quality – at every micro – level.

What Works? Hard Work or Smart Work?

What ‘works’?

Hard work – works. Always.

And when it doesn’t work, it means that more work needs to be done.

The concept of ‘smart work’ does not exist independently as against hard work.

I don’t believe any smart work can happen without the person already having exhausted himself with some good, hard work.

Smart work or let us say smartness, is the result of years of hard work and toil; when all the hard work has identified and rectified our mistakes, so that they don’t happen any more.

It is improper to construe smart work, as meaning ‘no or less’ hard work, and that goals can be attained through shortcuts.

True learning does not arise out of short-cuts but by an analysis and appreciation of how they came to be created.

Also, short-cuts are only temporarily helpful. They might well lead to failure in the future, because, in effect, they are eliminating the need to think.

A brain that has disciplined itself to stick on, plough on, fight on and brave the odds is built “inch by inch”.

This requires a lot of patience, hard work and above all, a tremendous will to fight distraction and fears of failure.

Only such a brain has the capability and discipline to think smart and find a way out, even when the heavens seem to be falling on everybody else’s heads.

“The true purpose of education is to train the mind to think” – Einstein

We need to train the mind. It just cannot start behaving ‘smartly’ all of a sudden.

When the mind is trained well enough to think its way out of any situation, we will work smarter. And failure will be a thing of the past.

P.S A lot of people think working smartly means eliminating ‘unnecessary’ work and saving time. However who’s the best judge to decide what’s necessary and what’s not?When uncertainty regarding extra work prevails, people tend to abstain from it and the ‘time saved’ could actually mean a loss of something more valuable.Knowledge.

No-one is a Genius (part-ii)

In continuation with my previous post on the concept of genius, I’d like to add some more thoughts here.

This is an attempt to study the mental aspects of it.

Are we ready to concede that somebody is a genius that easily?

What are the decisions that influence us in this perception? Peer pressure? Media glare? 

Possibly.

My question is :

Mentally, is it not an insult to our intelligence that we indulge in hero-worship without reason?

Because hero-worship is, in my opinion, killing the competitive side of us.

We blindly take it for granted that XXX is a genius.

If some of us bother to examine his credentials or go through his achievements and start comparing these with our own innate abilities, we maybe justified in making a conclusion.

Further, if we start doing this and start comparing ourselves with perceived ‘great people’ (again I cannot bring myself to use the word ‘genius’), we might end up being perceived as great people ourselves in future!

Unfortunately, maybe in accordance with Paretto I guess, only few people attempt to do this.

Most people are just blind believers and hence susceptible to external influence.

As long as these blind believers that form the majority of our population exist, ‘geniuses’ will also co-exist.

No-one is a Genius

Blame me for being crazy, I do keep getting these rather disturbing, abstract thoughts every now and then.

Given my love for writing, it is but natural that I store these reminiscenses somewhere safely.

The latest of these dramatic thoughts led me to the conclusion that the oft-repeated word ‘genius’ has no absolute meaning.

People’s perspectives of the word vary, more often than not, according to their inner-most heartfelt desires.

[ For example, I am a person who believes that a 'true teacher' is a genius.

By a 'true teacher', I mean one who can spot and tap potential even in people who are perceived to be dumb by the world.

One who can inspire anybody to realize their dreams. One who sees potential ineverybody.

One such person was the deeply spiritual and tremendously inspirational Swami Vivekananda ]

Readers can quite guess that my perception of genius is driven by my inner-most desires –  of being a teacher myself – of helping people out.

And again, someone else might think, “Who the hell is this Swami Vivek-who-ever??”

Bill Gates might be ‘genius’ material for him. Assuming he is an aspiring computer-geek turned businessman.

Poor Bill might not be a genius so much to Paul Allen, say.

To conclude, there is no one who can be decided as a genius by everyone in the world.

Perceptions, though possibly naive, are never absolute.

P.S :

I am not finished as yet with my thoughts on ‘genius’.

I will save these for my next post, because they explore a different line of thought and thereby demand separate space.

Perfectionists and Their Enviable Breed

I have long been fascinated with perfectionists and their remarkable ability to succeed consistently.

How do they do it? Is it through sheer hard-work or just inexplicable brilliance?

 Let me make an attempt to explore.

You will remember a Tiger Woods or a Roger Federer or even for that matter an Aamir Khan or an A.R.Rahman and their genius, long after this era’s over – and not their contemporaries – only for the fact they have managed to win consistently.

Every performance outscores their own previous efforts. Perfection of their art eliminates any possibility of failure. They compete with their own ego to get it right everytime – rather than the so called competition.

They achieve because they never care about achievement. 

It’s not that they never feel pressure. Everyone feels pressure in this world. There is no person without a problem either. It is only that the love for their work impregnates their sub-conscious – so that when it matters, when the stakes high, when it’s do or die – they perform. And how!

Final conclusion: Perfectionism is a blend of everything – natural talents placed in the field of their choice, circumstances, besides Mother desitny herself.

We need more drop-outs

At least that’s the kind of mentality that could cure many of society’s ills.

What’s the world coming to? What’s education coming to?

Colleges and schools popping out by the dozen – there’s commercialization everywhere. And not enough quality.

The system has to be broken. Well, it at least needs some serious ratification.

There’s going to be a serious shortfall of thought leaders, if we do not change ourselves.

Masking ourselves with capitalistic tendencies and failing to recognize the purpose of unity in humanitarianism is disastrous.

We live in a very small world, far smaller than we could possibly ever force ourselves to believe – given the grasps of technology.

Funny how technology kills itself while keeping us alive. For how long more are we going to restrict access to technology that could be a potential to the human race? When, technology by itself makes that so much easier?

We need to take note of the fact that frustrations are on the rise because of this. There are and will be more and more frustrations, given the fact that our thoughts and thereby our actions are governed more by materialistic needs than by any creative, progressive ones.

This is because maybe we are not creating such opportunities anymore. Opportunities and forums that encourage creative thought and freedom of choice.

We need to infuse a  more spirtual side to the system at large. It’s not just the money, it’s not just you.

We need to preach the notion of universal love. It will get us results, bringing with it refreshing change and hope.

We need more drop-outs. They don’t give a damn to the system.

The signs are definitely worrying.

High hopes – Pink floyd

“Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young
In a world of magnets and miracles
Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary
The ringing of the division bell had begun
Along the long road and on down the causeway
Do they still meet there by the cut
There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps
Running before time took our dreams away
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
To a life consumed by slow decay

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
With friends surrounded
The nights of wonder

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us
To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again
Dragged by the force of some inner tide
At a higher altitude with flag unfurled
We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition
There’s a hunger still unsatisfied
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
Though down this road we’ve been so many times

The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river

Forever and ever….”

This is a song that connects with my soul everytime I listen to it. A song that has given me hope and solace when the whole world seems to be spinning around me…

The poetry and the music seem to lift you to new heights…Amazing stuff…

The grass was greener…forever n ever…

The martyr

A thousand whips and lashings,

But spurred the battle

Chains and bonds barely visible

Blood, sweat and tears amid,

The mind focusses for the fight.

The fruit is near and close,

- freedom to rejoice

Bells clamour and the doors open…

He roars, a thousand

For company – Ours is Ours.

Limbs refusing he

Arises, stands a  tall rock –

The servant’s salute,

A kiss on the soil, so

satisfying, sweet –

He falls back limp and dead.

(Independence day celebrations; a HAIKU structured on a 5-7-5 syllable basis.The theme was “Indian freedom fighters/national leaders”)

India’s road to be a super-power.

The road has been laid clear – let’s make it a highway!

The first step lies in determining how super-powers are built. Economically? Politically? Or these, and much more?

I would back the last option and elaborate on it, looking at it top-down.(Gandhiji wanted it from the bottom-up which never happened and we have but ourselves to blame.)

The first thing we need to do is to make use of our resources. The census places our current population estimate of at nearly 1.12 billion. Good management can decide whether this astronomical figure is going to be an asset or a liability.

The ability to lead, manage and inspire people with vision, at every micro level, will determine our growth as a country.In business, these people are called entrepreneurs who manage to provide employment and experience to millions thus forming the crux of a cycle.To sum we need good, intelligent leaders to be our politicians and smart businessmen to run our economy.

Next, how do we get these good managers at every level?

1)       By implementing a fool-proof education system and weeding corruption of any form altogether, although this is easier said than done.

2)       By providing enough incentives to keep the educated folk within the country.

Quite evidently, education is the tap root of the tree.Our teachers and their students form the most invaluable assets of the country.Isn’t it true that the four walls of a school or a house can decide the future of a country? Every person has the potential to change the world in some way – we must find the right people to give direction to these dreams – a la top down.

Once we have raised valuable human potential, we need to use them to create opportunities, consolidate, and grow from there on.When this happens, the perfect scenario of balance between all concerned – the judiciary, the government and the public can be achieved.Also, the ‘world’s largest democracy’ would then be able to get the much-needed harmony and consensus to solve all its problems.The constitution of India is our pride – once the public abide by the law and natural justice is allowed to take its course, governance becomes easy and industry will flourish.

Finally, every Indian must pledge himself to abide by the law and serve the country, by serving himself. We need to applaud every individual who comes forward to make a difference, for starters.

Until then, the super-power dream will continue to be what it is – a dream – and a subject of conjecture and hypothesis with no action.

Nevertheless, the fact that the country is a force to reckon with and also the second fastest growing economy in the world makes me proud as an Indian.

(A write-up for Independence day celebrations.The topic was”India’s road to be a super-power”. I have borrowed the premise from my earlier post on education)

Education and teaching

Is education business? Do teachers come at a price?

Unfortunately-  yes.

And an emphatic ‘yes’ at that. I speak in the Indian context.

And herein lies the answer to another troubling question, ” Why are we still not a developed nation?”

We might be the second most populous country in the world – but that’s not something which we can credit our mind with.

But pray where are the numbers,  when we take a count of achievers at the international scenario in any field?

I will attribute this poor ‘total achiever count’ / total number of people ratio – not to the often-blamed ‘Indian’ mentality or to bad politics either ( though they are also partly responsible) – but to the atrociously poor system of education in this country.

An education that discplines – but cripples creativity. An education that only prepares you for examinations evaluated by substandard means.

When Einstein said, ” Education ruined me”, you can be sure he meant it.

Let’s face it. We have a huge shortage of quality teachers and that’s why we’re short in the achievements on the international front as well. Which brings me to my main theme : the noble profession of teaching, inspirational teachers and the utter rarity of their breed.

There are questions aplenty in the quest for true knowledge; sadly, many are answered by repeated mistakes, rather than by any form of teaching.

Is there anyone who is truly and completely willing to share everything he knows? Or does his insecurity prevent him from giving away everything he knows?

What is spoon-feeding? Does such a concept really exist and if it does exist, should it?

Now why should curiosity kill the cat, I ask you? If there are answers, to further that curiosity.

An ancient hindu philosophy credits teachers with the third highest position in a person’s life – next only to his parents. The notion does seem a tad exaggerated today – especially when the true guru needs to defy monetary desires and an education system like ours?

When the ‘true’ teacher is no more, true learning is killed. And the curious disciple is no more. Hence achievements are all the more creditworthy coming from India.

And so, if there’s no olympic gold medal, please don’t complain. We simply don’t encourage the right kind of thinking. Because It’s as much in the mind as in the body.

And Indians will continue to trail behind the west, unless we come to terms with this realization.

As for me, however, I hope to teach someday –  when I feel I have learnt enough of the world.

I will feel proud of it, I don’t give a damn to the system of education and I will persuade others to do the same.