Adverse to advantage

Sridhar was expecting a promotion that year. When the results came, he was shocked to know that he was not chosen for the position as he expected. He felt bad that his hard work was not recognized. It was a great set back in his career. He took this as a challenge, resigned his job and started his own company. Due to his bold decision, trust in his own strength and the cooperation of the employees, his company grew much bigger than his competitors in five years time. In another two years, Sridhar purchased the company where he was working previously and dominated the market in his domain. Like Sridhar most of us have come across situations which we thought as adverse turned to be advantageous.

As individuals we are limited and cannot understand all that happen around us. But anything that happens has a meaning and purpose. There is nothing called accident. When we do not know the cause, we call it an accident.  When it rains during a lawn party, the host thinks it is bad but for a farmer expecting rain, it is a blessing. Rain itself is not bad. When it rains without our expectation, we consider it as bad. So adverse or advantage depends on how we perceive a given situation. It is the difference between what we expected and what we got. It does not mean that we are helpless. Every one of us has a great potential to convert an adverse situation to advantage. How?

There are two ways to approach this problem of adverse situation. First you should use your free will, look at things objectively and put your efforts unceasingly to convert any given situation to your advantage. As human beings, we are blessed with free will and have the capacity to convert negative into positive. You should develop an attitude to be calm in difficult situations and think of alternate solutions. An agitated mind magnifies difficulties. Believe in yourself and the great weapon with you-‘free will’. Think of Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. They all have excelled in adverse conditions. Prisons have produced some of the best writers. Successful people did not have best of everything, they made best of everything. In fact it is an interesting game to convert negative to positive. You just need to look at things differently and work towards your goal with focus. It is just like the story of two sales guys who were asked to sell shoes in an island where people never wore shoes. The first one said it is hopeless and returned back. The second one was jubilant and ordered for thousand pairs. He saw the opportunity of so many people wanting shoes. I have a friend who became the CEO of a leading company from the position of an ordinary employee. He chose to go to Japan when all others refused to go there fearing communication problems as they did not know the language. This guy saw the opportunity, went there, learnt the language and climbed up the ladder. What did he do differently? He saw the opportunity in a situation where all others saw difficulties and he worked hard in the right direction. Looking at things objectively, using free will with determination and cool mind gives you the advantage.

 Now let us see how the second approach works. There are some situations where you don’t find an immediate solution. When you find no working alternative, undergo the difficult situation patiently as a learning period and improve yourself. Keep an eye for the right time to take advantage. In creation there is no positive without negative. If you have a body, you will have pleasure and pain. Anything that comes must go. No human being is exempted from suffering. With patience, what appeared to be adverse becomes normal and then advantageous. Most of us think difficult situations are bad. We blame our horoscope and planets for our suffering. In fact difficult situations teach us lot things which we would have never learnt in normal situations. We understand the world better in difficult times. We will come to know who our true friends are. We will also know our real strength. This is the real learning period. Who will find time to learn the lessons of living if everything goes well? Whenever a difficult situation is given, think it is given by God for your learning. Accept it and undergo the situation with courage. Look at nature. There are four seasons. Which season is better than the other? The cool breeze of autumn relieves you from the scorching sun of summer. The warmth of spring relieves you from the freezing cold of winter. In summer you love playing out door and in winter you have fun in snow. All seasons are interesting as they keep changing. Life will be meaningless and boring without challenges. Look at your own past. Every situation you thought as difficult had passed. Now they don’t bother you.  You may realize most of such situations were in fact opportunities not adverse situations. Periodical review of your own life in the past is a great way to understand your potential and take advantage of what is available in present.

 Change what you can, accept what you cannot. Pray the Lord to give you the strength to do the right thing at right time. All situations are to your advantage when you have the courage to face them.

-Arasu Ramanujam

In a word-Business

It was a regular busy morning in our Tokyo office . The secretary said there was a customer waiting to see me. I was little surprised as I had no appointment with a customer at that time. In Japan it is rare that someone coming to see you without an appointment. I thought it must be something important. With all kinds of guess work I went to the meeting room. What a surprise! It was the senior Vice President of a global giant in Electronics, one of our most important customers. He was with his General Manager, a kind lady always helpful to us. I could sense the seriousness in spite of the customary smile on their faces. After exchange of greetings the VP gave me a gift and apologized. I could not understand the situation. Later I came to know that whenever some damage is done to you, the Japanese express their regret by offering you a gift. He said,"Unfortunately the project has to be stopped in middle due to some problems on our side. Your team has done an excellent job. We are very thankful to you and your team for this. We are sure to come back with some solution later and engage your team again.”It was difficult to digest this information as this was a major project involving several hundred engineers. But my respect to the customer for his courteous behavior dominated my own thoughts about lost revenue.

One year later the same customer called me and surprised me by giving a huge project much bigger in size. “Why he did this?”, I asked my colleagues. They all said in chorus,"trust”. Yes, trust is the magic word in business. This word can do wonders. There were also other customers who helped us even when we goofed up at some points due to our ignorance. They know we can be trusted and we will never let them down. Whether it is trade, marketing, buying or selling, with trust even blunders are excused. There is no business running smooth and profitable all the time. There are ups and down. The seller, buyer and service provider all must trust each other in business. All other qualities put together cannot make you successful if you are not trusted.

You can never pretend to be trust worthy. It is self evident. However we can see some pointers here on how trust is built based on experience.

·    Be honest first to yourself and then to others. Do not try to defend your side when there is a fault. Telling the fact is invariably better than bending the truth to justify your act.

·    Never be late to a meeting. Nobody can trust a person who cannot keep his own commitment to time. You may give thousand reasons for being late. But trust and so your business is already lost.

·    Empathize with your partner. Even great companies have difficult times. Size does not matter. Elephants slip. Be with your partner in difficult times. In better times, he will come to you.

·    In business, sweet words don’t always mean business. Be firm on your principles, if you believe it will help your partner. Flexibility does not mean accepting everything.

·    Think of the benefit of your customer, you will in turn be trusted and benefitted.

·    Be consistent. Even a broken clock can show right timing twice a day. All your figures should be consistent and supported by facts. Consistent growth is better than great show and down fall.

·    Build a relationship sincerely and steadily. Tough start, growing sweeter and stronger is always better than sweet start and bitter end.

·    While in discussion with your customer, explain your shortcomings as well as your strengths. Remember the customer has heard the statement, “I am the best” from all prospects before you met him. Openness leads to trust.

·    Say always “I can do only this and only I can do this.” Nobody will trust you when you try to do everything.

·    Do not just say all bad things about your competitor. Be honest in appreciating the good points as well. Explain how you are unique and why you are even better.

New business models, management techniques, quality improvements, information updates are all in the superstructure. They all need a foundation called trust. Everything else can change in business but not trust. Where trust is- there is business. 

-Arasu Ramanujam 

Ten steps for stress-free living

1. Control your mind

The cause of stress is your mind, not the external world. You have the switch to control your thoughts. You can turn it on or off. The first step towards stress-free living is not to let the mind take control of you. You are not the mind but you have a mind to work for you. Use it as you would a pair of glasses to see the world.

2. Accept the universal law

Accept the universal law as you may not understand everything that happens around you. You have control over your action but not on the result. Once you have performed the action, accept the result as the result is subject to universal law.

3. Plan your time

Time pressure is an important factor for stress. Think before committing your time. Your time is in your control. The President of a country and a gardener has the same 24 hours with them in a day. How you spend your time makes the difference. Allocate time for admiring nature, physical exercise and family.

4. Face the unacceptable

 Change what you can and accept what you cannot change. Pray whenever you face a difficult situation. Prayer gives you the strength to face the unacceptable and accept it. Listen to contrary views. Learn from opponents as they may have better ideas.

5. Don’t procrastinate

 Procrastination is a major cause of burden. Take up most difficult work first and complete it. Rest will be easy. Delegate work to deserving people around you; don’t try to do everything by yourself.

6. Live in harmony

 Living in harmony is human nature. Understand the needs of the people around you and help them. Just a smiling face and a hello will do wonders. You can melt even stones by your kindness and care.

7. Enjoy your role

Remember that you are always playing a role as father, son, manager, customer, consumer etc. Just play the role and enjoy the role. You have no stress when you know that you are different from the role.

8. Act, don’t react

 Act as per the demand of situation, do not react. Anger is a sign of weakness. It reflects the incapacity of the mind to face difficult situations. When anger and irritation grows into hatred, mind cannot relax. You can be stern in dealing with a situation but should not develop hatred. A strong mind withstands displeasure and discomfort.

9. Meditate

 Meditate by allotting time for yourself and bring your mind under your control. Think of the vast sky and stars, your problems will just vanish. Whenever any incident makes you unpleasant, imagine that it happened many years ago and at a faraway place. Time and distance have strong impact on my mind. Remember everything passes; anything that came must also go.

10. Sleep

 No one has ever complained of stress while sleeping. Sleep does the magic and you feel it when you are awake after a sound sleep. Make it a habit to sleep in time and rise early in the morning to have stress- free day, every day.

-Arasu Ramanujam