Dear Friend,

It gives me tremendous pleasure to write to you and share the happenings around with all of you with our latest edition of The Redwood Edge Newsletter.

‘Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be!’

The last few months have been months where, after interacting with lots of friends, colleagues, participants and clients, I have to come to realize that it’s been a period for people where they have had to fight harder and hence the inspiration our current title FLIGHT , FRIGHT OR FIGHT……

FIGHT, is a part of our life, we are all there to live and fight one more battle. This newsletter is dedicated to and comes straight from the heart to all of you who have, at some point of time fought and won the innumerable battles of life. May you continue to inspire yourselves and us on this exciting journey of life – after all, life is all about challenges and overcoming them, becoming stronger in the process.

I look around the world and it reinforces the word – FIGHT which has an added new dimension – Japan the tsunami /earthquake along with recession,  Libya, Egypt, Syria all fighting oppressive regimes, Europe and USA  fighting the economic instability and most importantly, closer home we are constantly fighting terrorism and corruption. We all are part of this one world and along with this we are fighting our individual battles on our individual playing turfs… The match has truly begun and results are awaited …..

Have you ever wondered what creates a winning equation in personal and professional challenges? In the constant endeavor to enhance our current applied abilities, we all need to reinvent ourselves and stride ahead towards our goals. The only constant is change, and it only by being optimistic that we will be able to sustain and win these battles – I know its so much easier said than done, but HEY! Isn’t this the best option….!!!!

 Staying charged in Challenging Times

Recent economic events in the US and Europe have not been encouraging unfortunately. Europe’s response to the sovereign crisis and the events around lifting the US debt ceiling have negatively impacted the financial markets and substantially eroded business and consumer confidence. As we hear more predictions of an economy showing signs of weakening, managers around the country are asking a couple of key questions: Are we prepared to face it once again? Can we take economic and political instability in our stride? Are we Ready to fight one more time… However, believe you me, the ONLY WAY, one wins is by trying …. As Jack Welch had said;

‘CONTROL YOUR DESTINY OR SOMEBODY ELSE WILL’

I feel the real challenge for Leaders and Managers is to develop strategies aimed at protecting employee motivation, despite the fear and concerns. Too many companies over-hire in good times and quickly look to downsizing as a temporary fix to slowing demand for their services. Though it has long been acknowledged that employees are a company’s most valuable assets, but many are slow to recognize the full impact of these tough decisions on the motivation of employees. A carefully thought out plan can go a long way in being ready to fight the potential economic battles.

According to me, the biggest threat to employee motivation may be a shift in focus to self- preservation rather than team performance. What once was a finely tuned machine may break down as the individual parts become more concerned with whether they can meet their own goals, while failing to recognize that the team’s performance may be their greatest hope for individual survival.

• The most important aspects is clarify. The students should be clear about their career aspirations.
• Secondly, presentation scores high with interviewers. Students should know their content perfectly.
• Also, keep yourself updated about current affairs and general knowledge.
• Always sound and look relaxed while facing the interviewers. Try to keep the interview conversational and give it your best shot.
• For an interviewee, the two most important qualities are honesty and transparency. When I say honesty, I do not just mean the body language. You have to be honest with your knowledge too. Do not pretend that you know everything under the sky because it’s not humanly possible. If you do not have answer to a few questions, just let the person know and this will be appreciated. Be transparent and show your true personality. Do not get bogged down by peer pressure.

Do you think introducing personality development programmes in colleges will really help?

Yes, they will. These programmes infuse a little more confidence in a person. It’s all a part of developing  process. We must remember that when facing someone in an interview, it’s a mix of attitude and aptitude. Treat these programmes as value addition to your life. If they are unable to do so, then there is no point in attending such programmes.

What you have to say about the youth today?

The positive attributes in youngster today are that they are aware about self and the environment; they are confident as well as independent. However they also are restless, short term goal oriented and impatient, which shows in their body language.

   Greetings!
It gives me tremendous pleasure to write to you and share the happenings around with all of you with our 6th Edition of The Redwood Edge   Newsletter.

At times I wonder, “What does it take to shake off pessimism and embrace optimism?”  What makes people work harder and “Reach Higher”?  It’s not just a simple switch of personality but a sustained concerted approach that facilitates the transformation… slowly but surely we start witnessing a change…a change so profound that it leads us to the next level…..we start believing in ourselves and the environment..we move away from being just Dreaming to Executing … We embark on a new journey to Reach Higher..

This article is a tribute to each one of us who has in some form or the other fought, endured and finally conquered to REACH HIGHER.

As Mark Twain had said… For every Failure there are thousand excuses, but never a good Reason!  
When it comes to leading everyday lives, we often try to keep pace with changing times by doing something different .We try and surpass    our abilities to reach the best. We look at scaling new heights and “Reaching Higher”. It’s our conscience that brings about this    realization. When we are inspired that’s when we dream big and when we dream big that’s when victory carves its way.

 After 28 years the World Cup is ours again!

                 “Success happens when Preparation meets Opportunity”

And what would be the prime example other than M.S. Dhoni’s winning six and India creating history after 28 years. Sachin Tendulkar was carried like a triumphant king as India’s World Cup winners dedicated victory to their country’s cricketing icon. Team-mate Virat Kohli admitted: “Sachin has carried the burden of a nation for 21 years, so it was time for us to carry him.” An emotional Tendulkar finally earned the trophy and said: “I couldn’t have asked for anything better than this. I was not able to control my tears, but they were happy tears so I don’t mind crying. To be a part of this team is a great honour.” “Expect victory and you make victory”. His 21-year long career can be readily referred to for excellence in Leadership and Self –Management.

 Today, the world cup stands as a tribute to all of us for Reaching Higher. The magic that Dhoni’s winning six created will remain one of     the most cherished moments for all of us.

  Things to learn from Japan

The 23-foot tsunami and a 9.0 Richter scale magnitude earthquake that hit Japan, its shockwaves still linger in the minds of people. With    shores washed away, thousands of lives lost, and billions of dollars destruction, the Japanese and the economy are being tested.

Five critical words define Japan. CALMNESS, DIGNITY, ABILITY, SACRIFICE and DISCIPLINE.

The Calmness that not a single visual of wild grief is seen, seems like sorrow itself has been elevated to a different level. The Dignity that there were queues for essentials and no rough words or crude gestures. The Ability that Japanese infrastructure remained intact by and large with the engineering expertise and world class technology. The Sacrifice that workers stayed at the nuclear reactors for pumping sea water without thinking about personal safety and the Discipline that from a child to an adult everyone was well aware of their duties and expectations. Citizens make a country and I am sure as our fellow world citizens our hearts go out to them and we believe that Japanese will fight the odds and “Reach Higher”.

  Social Change begins!

Anna Hazare, a social reformer has just won a major victory for the citizens of India, reeling under season upon season of scams of all shades and hues. Coming on the back of the cricket World Cup victory, suddenly April 2011 looked like a month of great hope. Millions cheered MS Dhoni’s winning Shot and millions cheered Anna’s crusade against corruption. Whether it becomes a movement and whether the Lokpal Bill takes shape has to been, like Neil Armstrong had said while landing on the moon – “ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, BUT A GIANT

   Leadership and Market

Times have completely changed. In my belief, when you look for growth, you require simplicity, you require speed and for that we need to make sure that we have a structure that’s simple to understand.

Companies are witnessing total re-shuffling of top management… Primary examples being Wipro and Infosys….. with “an outsider” Mr. KV Kamath as Chairman and Mr. Shibulal as the next CEO….. while at TATAs the succession search is on. Transparency and Market Empowerment are the two primary challenges for Leadership. The economic environment is changing and that is really at the heart of this change. No structure on top is permanent and it has to change and adapt to changing business context.  Leadership is the crux of any organization or business and it provides business continuity.

Toyota, plagued by Japan Crisis and cars being recalled, may have to give up its top position to GM and Volkswagen … such is the dynamism of the market. To think Toyota became number one only a couple of years back…..   

  Quick Flashes

India – A VIP Destination: India now features on VIP destination list. Warren Buffett quoted during his visit to India that “India offers all kinds of opportunities and that India has not only been working hard but also smart”. India is on a dream run and one of favoured places by VIP’s.
   India influential in Time 100:  Five Indians figure in the top 100 influential people in the world. M.S. Dhoni secures top notch above    Mukesh Ambani, Azim Premji, V.S. Ramchandran and Aruna Roy.

Ground Reality: Economic Survey 2011 reveals India has showed robust growth and steady fiscal consolidation. It is a hallmark of Indian economy due to impressive economic growth in the farm sector. Country’s GDP has been worked out at 8.6 per cent in 2010-11.

 Some of the highlights of the reports were as follows:

1.   Agriculture growth in 2010-11 has been estimated at 5.4 per cent.
2.   Food grain production for the current year is 232.07 million tonnes.

Dedicated Freight Corridor: The Rs 77,000 crore Dedicated Freight Corridor project, scheduled to be built by 2016/17, is expected to ease infrastructure bottlenecks and boost industrial development and international trade as existing railway lines in these regions are running up to 50% more than the designed capacity.

Sports brands and Social Media: It is an era of “Social Media Optimization”. India’s most prominent brands have jumped on the social media bandwagon more aggressively. 2011 Cricket World Cup was called as the first ever “Social World Cup”. Nike India’s “Bleed Blue” campaign saw over 10 million `handprints’, with over 1 million coming from Facebook.  The excitement of Social Media continues with DLF IPL 2011.

  Challenges ahead for Training Corporate India 2011

I guess the focus would be on creating new benchmarks in terms of both delivery and more critically in Post Training Implementation. Innovation and Creativity, Market and Business Alignment, Value Creation and Training Leadership would be the key focus areas going forward and something that will never go out of vogue is to be able to create Universal Connectivity with the audience at both the Heart and the Mind level. More and more organizations and participants would seek specific inputs and feedback on the individuals in the training room… what would exactly work for each employee. And I firmly believe that the Trainer’s Fraternity would have to be ready with solutions.

  The Redwood Edge Strokes – 2010- 11

Year 2010 was indeed a very eventful one at The Redwood Edge. We have had some wonderful experiences of training across India and outside in Singapore, Dubai, Bahrain, London, Istanbul, Vietnam, etc at various levels. The main focus of the organizations was in conducting Leadership and Motivational Workshops for senior team members. We have enriched our client base with new Clients tie-ups namely ,  YES Bank  , Karur Vysya Bank, GE Energy , VE Commercial Vehicles, India Medtronic, MTS, CAMS, Mahindra 2 – Wheelers,  Finolex Cables, Anandabazar Patrika,  Intelenet Global Services etc.

I had the privilege of being awarded the “International Achiever’s Award” for Excellence in Education by the Indian Achiever’s Forum, 2010. 

My team and I would like to thank each one of you for your contribution in making it possible.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new initiative. In response to requests from young executives, we are introducing an open workshop titled “Success Here I Come”. The workshop is meant for aspiring youngsters as well as new entrants into the corporate life and aims at developing their personality to face the challenges of the competitive world.
We look forward to your support for this initiative and our continued relationship.

I hope you enjoyed reading the 6th News letter edition and we look forward to receiving your comments at:  prakash@redwoodedge.com.

Keep up the good spirits …. Until we meet again with our Next Edition.

  Cheers!!!!!!

Every new year brings in hope and a desire to do something new. And especially as trainers , I guess the focus would  be on creating new benchmarks in terms of both delivery and more critically in Post Training Implementation.

Innovation and Creativity , Market and Business Alignment, Value Creation and  Training Leadership would be the  key focus areas going forward in the new year. And something that will never go out of vogue is to be able to create  Universal Connectivity with the audience at both  the Heart and the Mind  level. More and more  organizations and participants would seek  specific inputs and feedback on the individuals in the training room… what would  exactly work for each employee. And we as trainers would have to be ready with solutions.

Here is wishing the fellow training community a great 2011 and let us  all achieve many more milestones and become even more integral part of Business Functions.

We attain Expertise from the knowledge we gain, through time. Competition ensures that we continuously raise the bar of performance. Lastly, Inspiration ensures Motivation for Life – be it at work or home. Good time management enables a tremendous sense of achievement, it makes one feel calmer and increases productivity and the quality of work being done also enhances.  And most importantly, it makes people more energetic, by perfect work – life balance.

I think the lines from the famous TIME song sung by Pink Floyd shall emphasize the importance of time in our lives…..”And then one day you find ; Ten years have got behind you ; No one told you when to run ; You missed the starting gun.”

No one is born to be a winner, we all strive hard and then transform into winners, by the sheer efforts we put in. People have varying definitions of winning. For one person, being able to complete a five-kilometer walk every day is winning, while for someone else it’s simply incidental activity that happens in the course of the typical day.

We all  in variably believe that great success in our present time are just only on the people who have a blessing of good fate on them. But in reality this is not true. Great people or successful people become who they are by simply following a well studied and strategic plan. They learn what it takes to go ahead. We all know that to build a building it takes a lot of preparation like a plan, its blueprint, but sometimes we forget that to build a successful life, it also takes a plan or a blueprint.

Winning on an individual level depends on our desires, goals and the amount of effort we are willing to put in.  In my opinion our lives our governed by 3 F’s –“Flight – Fright – Fight”. We aim to fly high in life….get frightened by obstacles in the way, but develop the fighting spirit to challenge all the odds and reach our goals. Thereby, we get transformed into WINNERS. All it takes is the Winning Spirit. “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” (Quoted by Zig Ziglar)

Leadership is an attitude, not a routine. It is about inspiration—of oneself and of others. There is no real perfect leadership story to talk about, per say as Leadership has unfurled, unfolded and unraveled again and again. But one thing is common about leadership – “It is a journey from Vision to Execution”. Leadership is 70% about people and 30% management.

No leader can be complete unless there is Execution of the desired Vision. Leadership is essentially about being “Flexible and Adaptable”. In other word being Role Model. Each and every link in leadership has to create a long term growth for the organization. Qualities like “Visionary, Innovative, Ethical, Charismatic and Dreamer” are more appropriate to describe a Leadership Style of the modern age. Companies like GE, South West Airlines, Infosys, HDFC Bank, TATA and Birla groups may vary in leadership style, but one thing is for sure that – “The Top Line has to deliver the Bottom Line”. Today, Leadership spans from encouraging an entreprenual mindset, customerizing the corporation, reengineering, having CSR focus to creating a competitive advantage for the organization.

The leadership dimension has become extremely broad based and to me a true leader is the one who is able” to raise the bar of performance for Employees and increase the Talent Pool”. Leadership has passed through various stages from Understanding Leadership to Developing Leadership and in this journey; The Leader is the primary mover.

So the true Leader in Tom Peter’s line is a combination of BRAND INSIDE AND BRAND OUTSIDE.

It was a moment of tremendous pride and joy…when I recently won the “International Achievers Award for Excellence in Education” in August 2010. The award ceremony was presented by the Indian Achievers Forum and was a part of the Indo- Thai Entrepreneurship Summit 2010, held in Bangkok.

The Indian Achievers Forum is a partnership of business, political, professional and other representatives of India to promote achievements that benefit businesses and communities. The forum drew attention on the theme “How successful Achievers can help the social & economic infrastructural development in and around the country”.

The summit was presided over by H.E Korn Dabbaransi, Ex. Dy. Prime Minister of Thailand, Mrs. Nagma Mallick, Dy. Chief of Mission, Embassy of India in Thailand, Dr. Kiran Bedi, Director of India Thai Chamber of Commerce.

“I believe that talent is vested in each and every individual, and training is a key means which streamlines, channelizes and aligns an individual’s capabilities to the organizational performance expectations and execution. It gives me immense satisfaction to be able to make a difference.”

At the end of each day I am glad that I can contribute to the development of Individual skills …and I encourage the youth of today to tread the road less traveled and device new ways to improve skills and enhance effectiveness.

Cheers!!

Prakash