Sadhna Sudershana

ego

Ego:  The fallacy whereby a goose thinks he is a swan.

Well, we all possess this 3 letter destructive word to some degree or the other and in some form or the other. While pride harms only the proud, arrogance due to overbearing pride brings contempt for others. An arrogant man is often rude and very fond of offending his friends, relatives, colleagues and everyone else who comes in contact with him.

Continue reading this post!

English is the most widely used language in the history of our planet. One in every 7 humans can speak it. More than half of the world’s books and 3 quarters of international mail is in English. Of all the languages, it has the largest vocabulary - perhaps as many as 2 MILLION words. Nonetheless, let’s face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant or ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat…. Continue reading this post!

Bobby Patnaik, Manager HR, Infosys

Last week I attended an interesting workshop on Talent Management.  One of the sessions facilitated by the head of one of the foremost consultancies in the area of HR in the globe today, started off with an interesting anecdote from history.  For all of you who have not heard of Mission Endurance by Shackleton, that is probably the most ancient story on talent management.  To put it in a nutshell, in 1914, explorer Ernest Shackleton set out to attempt the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent. The notice (read recruitment ad in today’s lingo) for the expedition ran as below:

Men wanted for hazardous journey.
Small wages. Bitter cold.
Long months of complete darkness.
Constant danger. Safe return doubtful.
Honour and recognition in case of success.

Well, what do you think would have been the response?  He had a long list waiting to be taken on board!  Finally 27 men out of that list were selected. 

Unfortunately 100 miles from the Antarctic coast, the wooden ship Endurance was trapped in encroaching pack ice.

To cut a long story short, they did not finally make it to the Antarctic, but the lesson here is different.  What is remarkable is that Shackleton’s ability to keep his team together through long and cold months, bereft of resources, in a chilling environment, holed up in the trapped ship.  It is said; Shackleton kept the crew from going insane with a regime of dog races, theater performances and regular chores. The crew finally made it safe, but what was unique about the Endurance voyage was that no one actually died, despite odds that would favor some if not all the crew ending up in an icy grave. One of the major accomplishments of Shackleton, we are reminded time and time again by excited polar historians, is that through remarkable leadership not one crew member was lost.

For all of us who are perennially caught in the leadership debate - of what it comprises, whether the building blocks of the trait have changed over time, what mystery it is - the instance was very revealing, personally to me at least.  What I felt is, the basic tenets of leadership remain today what they were ages before - personal sacrifice, courage in the face of fire and an innate ability to motivate the rank and file irrespective of the conditions.  Which if you extrapolate a little more, basically means the ability to keep the flock engaged, charged and highly productive even when the compensation perks and benefits may not be something to write home about?  That is what leadership is all about, and if that makes it something of an enigma, so be it.

self confidence

I have come across many people who are excellent in their field but due to low confidence they are not able to perform to their potential and often follow the pack than to lead them. I have compiled an article which can be very useful to those suffering from this disease. So what are you waiting for, go, jump into the confidence pool and rediscover yourself… Continue reading this post!

Contributed by : Sadhna Sudershana

This write - up does not pertain to the ‘Human Resource domain merely as a subject but on the basis of ‘human relations’ and its latest trends.

 In today’s e-era, words like trust , love , relationships have taken a back seat and what is more famous are words like ‘Britney’ , ‘Tiffany ‘, career , profession , moolah glitz and glam……… Continue reading this post!

Contributed by: Sadhna Sudershana

‘Your children are not yours. They are life longing for itself. Give them love but don’t give them your thoughts. House their bodies but not their souls. Strive to be like them but don’t try to make them like you. This is because they are born through you not from you’. These were the eternal words of the wordsmith Khalil Gibran in his best seller ‘The Prophet’. Continue reading this post!