Back Office of a Bank reflects the reality !

Recently I visited the Back Office of a Bank and it was quite different from the Corporate Office.
There was not enough place to be seated, and there were many people floating around the place and the seats taken at the reception of the bank's back office included vendors of various hues.
The corporate office was all glitzy and nice and had the trappings of  power and confidence, but the Back Office had a different story to tell.
At the Back Office there was no effort made to be customer friendly, since most visitors were vendors of the bank who came here to provide the bank services. Somehow I believe the way a banks treats its vendors will be the way it will treat its customers. If you treat vendors well and with respect you will carry the same attitude to your customers else the crack will show sooner of later.

You cannot have a colored view of the world, with one set of rules for vendors and another for customers, the code of conduct and etiquette need to be consistent across the bank and must be constant irrespective of the relationship.
Banking is about relationship, trust and consistency whoever the entity maybe, you cannot get on a high horse and wield a whip on a vendor because you are in a position of strength and in the same breath you cannot fawn and get on all fours to please a customers.
Banks must work in uniformity in dealing with their customers and vendors with the same courtesy and care and respect. How does your bank conduct itself ?

Honesty

In a fast changing world Honesty is the victim which is discarded as a liability by citizens who want to grow rich and accumulate wealth by all means.

The old adage Honesty is the Best Policy is under threat, as you look around you may be convinced that the Dishonest are prospering while the Honest are still at the Starting Line.

But then one can justify that dishonest people do not reap the benefits of their actions which is advocated by most religions or to quote the Bible "As you Sow so shall you Reap".

At school we used to have a weekly class of Moral Science where the virtue of honesty was imbibed for eternity into our souls forever.

The question which one asks in today's situation is Does Being Honest essential and is a good attitude to life.

As I look around me I find the Honest People more content and balanced and managing with what they have earned within their abilities and genuine labor.

Dishonest people stand out in a crowd,  for some strange reason it becomes easy to identify them even if we hardly know on how they operate, this is brought out by their very behavior and attitude in a social setting.

If you are known to be an Honest Person then the dishonest groups do not want you among  them , but being dishonest to be accepted is not the solution.

What is honesty, is is just not robbing , when we explore the attribute of Honesty it is more than money, it is an attitude of being fair, virtuous and respecting the fellow human who live with us.

[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Dishonesty lives a trail, like the shadows in the picture.[/caption]

Honesty is not about putting your fingers into the money jar, it is much more, it is your action, your behavior, your thoughts and your outcomes in  your life.

Next time when you decide to call yourself an honest person, check on all your attributes of honesty and you will find that you can be a better person by working on your shortcomings.

And when if you are ever in doubt about Honesty, thing of  what you have achieved by being honest and that will justify the need to remain Honest.

 

 

Remembering My Teachers on Teachers Day!

Today is celebrated as Teachers Day in India in honor of the late President
Dr.  S. Radhakrishnan who was a celebrated academic and today is his birthday.
Wiki : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan

Teachers are the single largest influence-rs of Society in the way the citizens think act and their value systems and attitude to their fellow citizens. 

In an ever changing world the teacher stands like a bedrock supporting and nourishing their students. 

Our first formal educations starts with the teachers who teach us in primary, middle and senior school, they set our future course and direction for excellence and a thirst for knowledge. 

Then we have another set of teachers in college at our graduate studies and then as we decided to pursue more knowledge in our post graduate studies and beyond. 

As we progress in life we would be lost without the guidance of our teachers, they are the singular beacon of light that infuse knowledge and thought in our minds. 

As a teacher myself I owe my giving back to my teachers who imbibed the quality of sharing and giving knowledge when they taught me.

Today I am connected in social media to my teachers who taught me in school and gives me immense pleasure to see that they still retain the zest and enthusiasm for sharing even as they get ready to fade in the sunset. Once a teacher always a teacher.

Let us take a few minutes to remember  all the Teachers who have given their time and effort on this Teachers Day and say a silent prayer of gratitude for their selfless service to society!

 

Gratitude recieved for being gratuitous is a Joyful experience.

I suddenly have a flurry of people thanking me for what I have done for them ages ago, I am quite surprised and did not realize that being gratuitous was a rare virtue.

There were more then four people in the last ten days thanking me in person or phone stating that they are where they are because of the heads up I gave them in their career or personal life.

The more I think about these favors, they were done to help people who were competent, confident and had fire in their belly to succeed. My role was that of a catalyst, though I had been firm with some of them in convincing them to make the transition.

In a changing world receiving gratitude for past gratuitous deeds is indeed refreshing and is a joy which money may not be able to buy. 

If someone has been gratuitous to you in your life, maybe now is the time to reach out to them and thank them, if may cost you nothing, but for the recipient is it is pure joy and happiness.

Go ahead and pick up the phone and dial up someone today and make the difference. Remember what you give always comes back to you !

Baggage of Life !

We all carry our baggage of failures, bitter memories, and more from our past which is  like carrying a heavy bag as we trod along with the adventure called life.

We all know the lighter the baggage easier it is travel,  the old adage goes "Less Luggage More Comfort".

Then what motivates us to carry this baggage of life with us, which we know will hamper our progress and inhibit the joy and happiness we are entitled to you.

Maybe it is time to drop your baggage of life and go forth light and with a free mind and with no worry of the past and into a vision of a glorious, joyful future in your life.

Start today by slowly emptying your baggage of life by forgiving those against whom you harbor grudge and anything else that adds weight to your  baggage of life.

You will soon feel the difference and transform into a much better human being and will also have a more rewarding and satisfying life !

The Gold ornament seller

Earlier this week I was with my wife to buy some gold ornaments at Tanishq (http://titan.co.in/Tanishq/)  and all went well until we paid the money for the ornaments.  There was scheme of gold coins as a promotion  and the salesmen told us that we would get two small coins but once we had paid the money the cashier insisted we were eligible only for one. After about fifteen minutes the cashier relented and give my wife the two coins, 

When I told my friend about this he told me the cashier was smart, because by denying us the gold coin, he would have been richer by one gold coin from the promotion.

It sounded strange to me that a company that spent  money on branding and marketing would have the customers buying experience marred by the cashier at the closure of the transaction.

All i could do at that time was to tweet about the experience

LS Subramanian ‏@lssubramanian13 May

Tanishq staff at Oberoi mall need training on customer closure at cash section!

But receiving no response to my tweet  I am convinced that Tanishq has no Social media presence !

This brought back memories of about 40 years ago when the jeweler visited my home.
A special place was made for him in the living room with a table on which he would set up his scale to weigh the gold ornaments he had to deliver or take back to be recycled.

I was always curious about the balance but he would always have a small weight on one side, my suspicion was that there was a flaw in the balance, but I was too young to ascertain that by forcing the jeweler to balance his two pans.

The jeweler was a great marketer and would always increase my mother's budget substantially during every visit. He carried no jewelry with him rather a catalog of designs and my mother would choose what she liked.  Today  we go the high street or mall to buy the gold ornaments.

But in conclusion nothing has changed, whether trying to pocket one gold coin or not balancing the scale, the finer points of the business remain same.

Gold, Gold ....all that glitters is not gold !

You see the Ball when you hit it right !

I was in the putting range this morning and the sun was just rising in the horizon and I could not see where the yellow colored balls were going.
I complained to my fellow golfer at the range I cannot see where the ball is going, it is because of the bright sunlight ?

He told me "you see the ball when you hit it right !

And guess what as I concentrated and focused on my shots, presto the BALL  was clearly visible as it went into trajectory.



My strokes were getting better and I could see the Ball !

I told my fellow golfer you are my ZEN Master, you have unraveled the secret  of seeing the ball .

It is the same about life, when we do not concentrate and focus on our goals they slip and you lose sight of them.

Your life becomes miserable because you cannot achieve what you set out to do and you go about blaming the world,even the sun!

When we accept our limitations and work on overcoming them with focus and concentration we will see the light (ball).

Try this out in whatever you do and do share the difference it makes to your life !

Remember " You see the Ball when you hit it right !"

Road Sense and Governance

Every day we get into the real world and encounter traffic as we ride to our place of work or for pleasure.
The way people behave in the roads gives us a sense of governance of the place we live in. 
If people park where they like irrespective of it being a no parking zone or double parking, it is clear that they care two hoots for courtesy or the law. It is not that they do not understand the consequence of not following the law, rather it is the nonchalant attitude knowing well that there will be  enforcement. of the law. 

This is where good governance steps in , when the law is enforced and punishment is meted out quickly without fear or favor then you will see citizens who comply with the laws of the land . But remove the element of governance and it you will see its impact reflected in the rowdy traffic on our roads. 

A simple measure of governance and road behavior is easy to observe,  all you need is to observe how people behave in the traffic and you will find the  governance barometer. 

When I travel from State to State in India it is so easy to map the behavior of its drivers to the governance, the same applies to other countries too. 

Try this the next time you are in a new city observe the drivers in the road and you will understand the effectiveness of governance in that city.   

Do share your thoughts !

Alcoholic Anonymous

This post is dedicated to my relative who recently passed away and devoted most of his adult life to Alcoholic Anonymous.

He was an alcoholic himself who with the help and support of his wife was able to overcome the disease and lived sober to cure others of this dreaded disease.

Nobody wants to accept that one  is an alcoholic, relatives and friends push alcoholism under the carpet and ignore to recognize it as a disease.

 

[caption id="attachment_327" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Alcoholism is a tunnel with darkness @ the end.[/caption]

Who is an alcoholic, the Medical Dictionary  -( http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/alcoholism) defines alcoholism as :

Alcoholism or alcohol dependence is defined by the American Medical Association (AMA) as "a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations."

A complex definition, but in simple terms anyone who craves for a drink at any time of the day and cannot limit oneself to moderate consumption of alcohol is an alcoholic.

Alcoholism is gender neutral and both Men and Women succumb to the disease, many famous personalities have faded into sunset with a glass of alcohol as a companion to revile in their days of glory and adulation.

Alcoholism destroys the alcoholic, their family, relationships, career and much more. It also brings in economic hardship and a sometime leads to a path of crime and other related activities to keep the habit alive and creates a sense of gloom and hopelessness.

Alcoholic Anonymous is the foremost group of sobered/former alcoholics and their families who help other alcoholics to give up their dependence on alcohol and help themselves to be liberated them from alcoholism.

If you have any friend or a family member who is an alcoholic do make sure that you contact your local Alcoholic Anonymous (AA)  Chapter so that they can help the alcoholic.

First recognize that alcoholism  is a problem and then act on it, you will be saving a life a family a career and much more.

Here are some useful links about AA.

http://www.aa.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholics_Anonymous

http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/12steps/a/aa030315a.htm

Please share this post with your friends and family, there is always someone who needs help, love and care.

P.S. : I am not a teetotaler.

Looking Ahead Looking Behind

Every year we ring in the new and ring out the old at New Year, with pomp and celebration.
But let us pause to think ! We have lots to learn from what we have left behind.
Some are tangible but many are intangible, taking stock of this will help us to focus on our future.
We see people passing on, we make new friends, families expand and some contract, jobs are changed, we see ourselves different in the mirror based on our cycle of life.
For a teenager it is coming out into the world and learning to be an adult, for twenty plus time to start life in a job and as a bread-winner,  for someone in their thirties it is time to  work harder to achieve their goals, for someone in their forties it is time to discover the first grey hair and wrinkles and for those above fifty time to plan their retirement or reminiscence on how the world has gone by despite them and those over sixty it is time to start the downhill ride out of this world living and savoring every day they live and those who are luck to have crossed eighty every hour is a boon.

[caption id="attachment_319" align="aligncenter" width="300"]  [/caption]

Whatever your age maybe is it is a time to look behind in the year gone by and take stock.
The lessons of success and failure  is our experience and is our most valuable Teacher.
Write down the best moments, best relationships, best success and also the worst moments, worst relationships and the failures in the year 2012 and make sure you learn from them so that you have a Wonderful and  Fruitful  year ahead in 2013.

Looking Ahead Looking Behind maybe the one of the best investments you can make for  your future.