Ducks Quack.....Eagles Soar.....

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

I was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing I noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for me.

He handed me a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wasu, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.' Taken aback, I read the card. 

It said: 

Wasu's Mission Statement: "To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment."

This blew me away. Especially when I noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!. As he slid behind the wheel, Wasu said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.'

I said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.'

Wasu smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, lassi, water and orange juice.' Almost stuttering, I said, 'I'll take a Lassi.'

Handing me my drink, Wasu said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Hindu, Times  of India, ET and India Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wasu handed me another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wasu told me that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised me of the best route to my destination for that time of day. He also let me know that he'd be happy to chat and tell me about some of the sights or, if I preferred, to leave me with my own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wasu,' I was amazed and asked him, 'have you always served customers like this?'

Wasu smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I  spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard about power of choice one day.'

'Power of choice is that you can be a duck or an eagle.'

'If you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. Stop complaining!'

'Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'

'That hit me right,' said Wasu.

'It is about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' I said.

'It sure has,' Wasu replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on it.'

Wasu made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. And lastly
 

A great Thought..

"You don't die if you fall in water, you die only if you don't swim.

 

Thats the real meaning of life .

Millionaire Samosa Vendor

Image Courtesy: Google Images

The Samosa Vendor

       City: Bombay...                      Location: Local Train 

It was my regular train journey (from work) to home. I boarded 18:50 pm local from Churchgate. When the train was about to leave Marine Lines, a samosa vendor with an empty basket got in and took the seat next to me. As the compartment was sparsely occupied and my destination was still far away, I got into a conversation with him.

Me: "Seems like you've sold all your samosas today."
Vendor (smiling): "Yes. By God's grace, full sales today."

Me: "I really feel sorry for you people. Don't you get tired doing this tiresome job the whole day?"

Vendor: "What to do, sir? Only by selling samosas like this every day, we get a commission of 75 paise for each samosa that we sell."

Me: "Oh, is that so ? How many samosas do you sell on an average each day?"
Vendor: "On peak days, we sell 4,000 to 5,000 samosas per day. On an average, we sell about 3,000 samosas a day."

I was speechless.....for a few seconds. The guy says he sells 3,000 samosas a day; at  75 paise each, he makes about 2,000 rupees daily, or 60,000 rupees a month. That's Rs. 60,000 a month. OMG.  I intensified my questioning and this time it was not for time pass.
 

Me: "Do you make the samosas yourself?"
Vendor: "No Sir. we gets the samosas through a samosa manufacturer and we just sell them. After selling we give him the money and he gives us 75 paise for each samosa that we sell."

I was unable to speak a single word more but the vendor continued...
"But one thing...most of our earnings are spent on living expenses. Only with the remaining money are we able to take care of other business."

Me: "Other business? What is that?"

Vendor: "It is a land business. In 2007 I bought 1.5 acres in Palghar for 10 lakh rupees and I sold it a few months back for 60 lakhs. Now I have bought land in umroli for 20 lakh rupees."

Me: "What did you do with the remaining amount?

Vendor: "Of the remaining amount, I have set aside 20 lakhs for my daughter's wedding. I have deposited the other 20 lakhs in the bank."

Me: "How much schooling have you had?"

Vendor: "I studied up to third standard; I stopped my studies when I was in the 4th standard. But I know how to read and write. 
he continued....Sir, there are many people like yourself, Who dress well, wear a tie, wear shoes, speak English fluently and work in air-conditioned rooms. But I don't think you guys earn as much as we do wearing dirty clothes and selling samosas."

At this point, what could I reply. After all, I was talking to a Millionaire! The train chugged into khar station And the samosa vendor got up from his seat.

Vendor: "Sir, this is my station...have a good day." 

Me: "Take care."                                                                        

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

12 lessons from the life of Steve Jobs

What Apple co-founder’s achievements tell - Are there any life lessons for the rest of us from the career, and legacy, of Steve Jobs? 

The death of the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)  co-founder has dominated the news from Cupertino, Calif., to Kuala Lumpur. Many are focusing on the way his products and services changed our world. Others are talking about Jobs, the man.

But this was the most successful business leader of his era, and one of the greats. Few have achieved so much, so quickly, and so publicly. It got me thinking: What are the lessons we can all take away? What do his extraordinary achievements tell the rest of us?

Here are 12 lessons from the life of Jobs:

1. Yes, you can make a difference

Anyone trying to achieve real change - in life, in a company or in any organization - probably feels the urge to give up half a dozen times a day. The naysayers and seat polishers will do everything to slow you down. No one is suggesting that what Apple achieved was the result of Jobs alone, but his career is proof of just how much one individual can change things.

2. You need a vision

It’s not enough to conduct opinion polls and customer surveys, and rely on consultants’ projections. Those are all based on the conventional wisdom and the world as it is today. Jobs imagined things - most obviously the iPod, and the iTunes services - that didn’t yet exist and for which the market was uncertain. While his competitors were still building the products of yesterday, he was imagining, and building, those of tomorrow.

3. It’s not about you

It’s horrifying how many business decisions are still made on the assumption that “well, we have to do something with the XYZ division, so let’s give them this project” or “Buggins has seniority, so he’s in charge.” Do you think the customer cares about Buggins or XYZ? Jobs built Apple into a streamlined operation, focused on the output, nothing else.

4. Focus, focus, focus

Hard to believe, but mediocre managers everywhere like to keep their staff “busy” because they think that’s “productive.” It isn’t. (Ask them what their top priority is, and they’ll name two things. Or four. Or 16.) Apple sure was “busy, busy, busy” when Jobs arrived. And it was going bust. One of the first things he did was ax about 90% of the company’s activities and focus — first on the iMac, then on the iPod.

5. ‘OK’ is not OK

Look at the way Apple’s competitors keep putting out mediocre or unfinished products and thinking they’ll get away with it. Are they for real? The days when you could get by with second best are so over. Jobs was famous for a fanatical perfectionism. It was a core element of Apple’s success.

6. It’s not about the money

Steve Jobs’s life was a thumping rebuttal to all those who are obsessed with cash. The guy had billions: far more than he could ever spend, even if he had lived to 100. Yet he kept working, and striving to achieve greater things. Money? Bah. Something to think about the next time a CEO demands another $20 million a year as an incentive to show up.

7. It ain’t over till it’s over

Fifteen years ago Steve Jobs appeared to be a has-been in Silicon Valley. And Apple was circling the drain: plagued with losses, executive turnover, reorganizations, desperate asset sales and research cuts. Apple’s stock hit a low of $3.23 in 1996, and hardly anyone wanted it even at that price.

8. Give people what they really want

Sounds obvious, right? But most companies don’t do it. They simply produce what they’ve always produced, or what’s comfortable, or what Buggins thinks people want. For years the computer industry churned out ugly, clunky beige products with complicated operating systems. They all did it, and they all assumed that’s what people wanted. Turns out it wasn’t at all.

9. Destroy your own products — before someone else does

Jobs made sure that Apple kept innovating, and rendering its own products obsolete. Creative destruction came from within! That’s why Apple is a $354 billion company, and, say, Palm has vanished from Earth, even though a 2004 iPod is just as out of date as a 2004 Treo. How rare is this? Jobs knew full well that his $500 iPad threatens to cannibalize sales of $1,000 laptops. But he moved forward nonetheless. Most companies wouldn’t.

10. We are all spin doctors now

Critics point out that a lot of what Jobs achieved at Apple was put down to hype and hustle. But that was the point. And Jobs was a master at it — the product teasers, the showmanship on stage, even the black turtlenecks. Truth be told, we live in a superficial age of infinite media. We are all in the spin business. Deal with it.

11. Most people don’t know what they’re doing

It takes nothing away from Steve Jobs to point out that he couldn’t have done it without his competitors. Microsoft, Palm, Nokia, Dell, H-P — the list goes on. They missed opportunities, stayed complacent, failed to innovate and generally mishandled the ways their industries changed. It’s normal to assume that the people around us — and in power — know what they are doing. As Jobs proved, they often don’t.

12. Your time is precious — don’t waste it

Steve Jobs was just 56 when he died — a comparatively young man — and yet during his short spell on Earth he revolutionized the way we live, several times over. What are we doing with our time? It is the resource we waste the most — and it’s the one we cannot buy. Make the most of your short spell on this planet. Make each day and hour count.

Source courtesy- Marketwatch.com

Chess Board and The Power of Compounding.

It is been long ...not finding time to update though there are lots and lots to share.... Today was cleaning up old papers and suddenly old advertisement of SUNDARAM BNP PARIBAS Mutual fund attracted me. The advertisement very beautifully and effectively teaches the power of compounding. I have read many articles on compounding of returns but none equals this as its simplicity makes understanding very easy even for lay man. Now you read, understand and start implementing....essential for becoming millionaire..

Chess Board and The Power of Compounding

 

There was once a poet who fell upon such hard times that he was no longer able to feed his family. Hearing that the king greatly encouraged talent and was famed for his generosity, the poet set off for the Royal Palace.

When brought before the king, he bowed low and asked that he may recite a poem. On hearing his recitation, the king, well pleased, asked him to name his reward.

The poet, pointing to a finely wrought chess board before the king said " Your Highness, if you place just one grain of rice on the first square of this chess board, and double it for every square, I will consider myself well rewarded."

"Are you sure?" asked the king, greatly surprised. "Just grains of rice, not gold?"

"Yes, your highness" affirmed the humble poet.

"So it shall be" ordered the king and his courtiers started placing the grain on the chess board. One grain on the first square, 2 on the second, 4 on the third, 8 on the fourth and so on. By the time they came to 10th square, they had to place 512 grains of rice. The number swelled to 5,24,288 grains on the 20th square. When they came to the half way number mark, 32nd square, the grain count was 214,74,83,648 - that is over 214 crores! Soon the count increased to lakhs of crores and eventually the hapless king had to hand over his entire kingdom to the clever poet. And it all began with just one grain of rice!

Moral of the Story: Never underestimate the power of compounding. If you stay invested long enough, it will work for you. A small sum invested every month from the beginning of your work-life can lead to a very impressive amount at time of your retirement.