Creating the first impression

When two people meet, the initial few minutes are very important. These two or three minutes set the pace of the entire meeting. As both the parties tend to form an opinion about the other one during this period, it's very crucial to have it right. If i am allowed to use cliche, one must try to make a very positive first impression because one never gets a second chance to do the same.

So, what can be done to initiate a successful meeting? Can there be some golden principles for the same? Let me share a simple observation with you all today through this post. My eight year old son, who never gets tired claiming to be my best friend, refreshed this lesson to me yesterday.

I normally get back to my home by nine o'clock. As i am a family man and i know that a successful family life is a precondition for your professional success too, we have some traditions amongst us. One unwritten rule is that everyone of us can express one expectation in a day and others must try to fulfil it, if it's not utterly impossible or undesirable. And as must be the case in many Indian families, i am sure, the man returning from the work place is mostly at the receiving end of these expectations.

So, when i returned home last evening by a quarter past nine, my eight year old son, Astitva, came out running and shouting happily. He greeted me and announced, "Chalo! Sab ready ho jao. Mere partner ke liye paani lao aur ab hum sab khana khayenge!" At the same time, my daughter, thirteen, came out in a very pensive mood and informed me about some electronic breakdown. She also informed me about some problem in our home PC caused by this and requested me to get it repaired as soon as possible. To this, our little master commented, "Arre didi! Abhi kyon bolti ho? Unko andar aane to do, baithne to do. Khana khane ke baad wo mana nahi karenge. Pahle unko smile dekar greet karna chahiye."

Oh! It was a revelation to me. I got a pleasant surprise and many thoughts. The first thought, How quickly do children grow up? The second one, It's really important to start a meeting with positivity. The third one, It's always easy for all of us to listen to demands after a warm welcome. And of course, energy and enthusiasm are the key to create a positive first impression.

Let us try to phrase the management learning out of this. The success of a meeting depends on many things. One of them is the supportive mindset of the two parties. And the initial warmth is instrumental to this. When we meet someone, display of energy, enthusiasm, warmth and sincere pleasure is a must. It not only sets the tone of the meeting, but also increases the possibility of a favourable agreement!

Let it be a positive promise! Every beginning of every interaction - will begin with an enthusiastic smile!

A case for balancing contradictory hopes!

Young minds are full of hope. Hope, it seems, justifies their existence and energy. Sometimes they have many hopes - contradicting with one another. And this causes tremendous confusion.

Today i met one such mind. He is very active and smart. He always makes his presence felt by his original and intellectually-rich contributions in any ongoing discussion. I have interacted with him in Entrepreneurship class. We normally discuss successful first generation entrepreneurs and their success secrets in the class. Every discussion starts with taking the case of a successful business idea. We also discuss how it was executed and then we proceed to a brain storming session. Everybody presents his or her thoughts about some other possible versions and formats of the same idea. Normally we end up generating tens of exciting business ideas. This young mind whom i mentioned earlier always participates in this amrit manthan and any observer can easily judge his hunger for material growth in such discussions.

But today was a different day. The discussion took a very interesting turn and soon we found ourselves discussing about spirituality and meditation. Everybody had a lot to say. Someone also commented, "This field also offers tremendous entrepreneurial opportunities". Everybody agreed. And i noted that the subject of discussion in this blog post today, the young mind, was becoming restless and asking a lot of questions. The struggle inside was clearly visible on his face. We discussed a lot of things. We discussed science, philosophy and religion. We agreed on the following issues :

1. Total disbelief in all superstitions is also a superstition!

2. Science is systematic knowledge of any branch of study. Philosophy is systematised science and religion is systematised philosophy.

3. Astrology can be a science but a very large number of available practitioners are quacks.

4. Meditation is a way to concentrate our entire attention at one target.

5. We have many beliefs prevalent in our society. There can be three categories of these beliefs : proved ones, disproved ones and those which are neither proved nor disproved. Not following the first category is ignorance. Following the second category is sheer superstition. Well, regarding the third category, we concluded that considering the long customary usage, following them will be a little more logical than not trusting them.

6. If having non-vegetarian food is a sin, why not eating grains too? Of course, they are also seeds and thus they do contain possibility of life!

When the class was over, he came to me and expressed his desire to ask a few questions. Both of us sat at Chaupaal for the same. He asked me a direct question, "Sir! I hope to be a very successful and rich entrepreneur. I also hope to reach spiritual heights. Aren't they contradictory?" He also informed me that this confusion had existed for the last four years or so. These hopes definitely look conflicting. The situation apparently offers a choice. After some discussion we decided to search for some examples. We found some astonishing ones. A politician, a scientist and a scientist cum thought leader. Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, to be precise. And drawing the conclusion was very simple. It is the game of maintaining balance. But many great people have successfully done so.

The lessons for me: First, two contradictory hopes can be fulfilled simultaneously. And the second, the young minds today are very much aware and full of enquiry.

The future of great Indian quest for truth is safe!

That's life - in a classroom!

Life is a gift of God!

Life is a war!

Life is a continuous struggle!

Life is a positive opportunity to realize the best out of us!

Life is a reward of past Karma!

Life is a punishment of past misdeeds!

*****

This is something we never know of and always want to comment on. Everyone views life differently and sometimes the same person views different phases of life differently. And hence it was very interesting to listen to young boys and girls discuss the topic "For me, life is .........." as a classroom exercise. Normally, we allow the discussion to go on for about 30 minutes, but this went on for more than 50 minutes. I was spellbound while listening to various viewpoints as listed above. Then suddenly this bright mind spoke up, "Life is just life. The canvass of life is so big that it just cannot be put in any watertight compartment. Life has various colours. It is a collection of all possible moods and variations. No other word can define it. Life is just life."

Everybody was stunned for a moment. Then all of them began to clap and the discussion was successfully over. For me, it was a new experience. A discussion evolves so naturally, proceeds so interestingly and ends so beautifully.

All discussions do contain a golden mean. There is always a fundamental truth waiting to be explored. As a knowledge society, we must encourage all sort of intellectual debates on all topics. A self evident fact is always there. Open discussion facilitates it to come on the surface.

Shouldn't our classrooms be more interactive? Isn't it time for teachers to take a back seat and let the students uncover the truth for themselves?