Leadership

We had a interesting interaction with the CEO of D&B Trans Union India Mr.N T ArunKumar about Leadership. He emphazised on the following traits

1. Have Passion towards the work

2. Do little things to the perfection. Be a hedgehog rather than a Fox

3. Take risks at the right time

4. Have common sense

5. Be a leader who transforms business

Varnam Deepavali Celebrations @ MGR School for Deaf

Going the extra mile ... Yes varnam is going the extra mile in every sense. Varnam distributed clothes,towels and sweets for all the students at MGR school. 

More Details .....Coming Soon !!

Wings of Fire !!

This autobiography clearly shows that Dr.Kalam is a level 5 leader. He tasted success only after numerous failures.It does substantiates the words of Jack Welch " If you do not know how to lose , you will never know how to win".

Mr.Bharath , CEO of a manaufacturing company said "What is different is not what is wrong" , the life style of Dr.Kalam substantiates it. When he took responsibility for the failure of SLV-3 , he made himself a great leader. I also believe that Prof.Vikram Sarabhi has played great role in designing the art called Dr.APJ. Finally this art projected india to the world. Another great leader was Prof.Sarabhai. I feel he laid the foundation for everything.He not only laid the foundation,but he identified the right successors for the indian space projects. I feel the whole rocket engineering has got transformed because of these great personalities. The Level 5 leadership defined by Jim Collinsin good to great is superb ! It definitely makes all the difference.

I admired the discipline of Dr.APJ. He is just unbelievable when it comes to passion and truthfulness.He made the right platform for himself to prove.When Dr.Kalam formed his team for Prithvi,Trsihul and Agni , he did concentrate to get the right people and things got executed for him one after the other successfully.

The positive environment and family members motivation had a huge impact on his performance.Dr.APJ forms a great example for a level 5 leader. Not only Dr.APJ , but also Prof.Vikram Sarabhai.

Key take away

The right idea at the right time with a courage to take a decision or chance will make all the difference. Enjoy Reading !!

Going the Extra Mile - Varnam !!!

My last article on varnam was on july'08.  I did mention that we were working towards making VARNAM as a NGO. Today, we are heading towards the transformation with a great momentum. On 26thSept'08 we launched VARNAM as a professional community working for the betterment of people and we did make a promise to every one that we will go the extra mile !!

It was a beautiful event at SMOT Business School Campus , Chennai. We did invite our director Dr.Narasimhan to be the chief guest. Our director was excited about the whole idea and extended his support towards the project. We did work out with the rotary club of temple city and Isha Foundation to get saplings . We donated 50 saplings to SMOT Business School. We also plant to launch a PLANT INDEX as a part of Varnam to evaluate our work against global warming.  We came up with a cool model for Varnam. We mapped different social activities with VIBGYOR in tune with our name ( Varnam means COLORS in tamil language). We have planned to intensify our activities in each and every vertical and spread our wings. I personally feel VANRAM as a movement to spread love and we are sure that we will go the extra mile very soon !! Our dearest prof.RTN called VARNAM way as PAY IT FORWARD. Today, all the trustees are working towards this. 

On 26th Sept'08 Prof. RTN gave Rs.10,000 for a student pursuing BA Nursing at MA Chidambaram college for Nursing, giving birth to varnam scholarship. In the last few months my respect towards Prof.RTN has grown exponentially. Infact, i plan to compile the series of learnings from him at Cup & Saucers into a book. 

Today , we have our own website and we have 15 trustees ( Varnam about to be registered as a Public Charitable Trust) and i am proud to be a varnamite !!! We are planning to launch a operational team based on the Varnam Model. We strongly believe that technology can enable us to achieve more and we are spreading our wings towards many activities. Check our website www.varnam.co.in for the recent updates. 

Register to our newsletter and events alert. Join the movement to spread love !!!

Randy's Last Lecture

I completed reading "Last Lecture" on 30th June'08! Its a great book by Randy Pausch .I was excited by the following quote in the book " Experience is what you get when you do not get what you wanted " - Fantastic.I downloaded the complete lecturegiven by Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon Univesity from Internet. Its fabulous ! You can get it with a simple search in youtube !!

Randy was affected by pancreatic cancer and he is about to die in few months. He did write this book for his children and to create an awarness about the cancer. The video series of the lecture at Carnegie Mellom University is simply superb !!! I just loved watching it !!! He is super cool and humorous.It a a must watch for every one !!

I was touched, when he called up his wife to celebrate her birthday in front of 400 students!He introduces to the Head Fake concept. It's interesting - It says Indirect learning is essential ! I did download the software ALICE and used it. Its good! I have also mailed my Undergraduate College Head Of Department,IT to use this software for the 3D programming course and also adviced the college to download the 3.0 version for teaching java. Its a software developed with randy's expertise.

This book truly emphasizes on the purpose of life. He has related things beautifully. Oh my god ! The girl who took the Elephant stuffed doll (Even she had pancreatic cancer) had run carrying olympic torch. I found this stuff in the internet.(You will understand this once you read the book)

He has a great love towards his family.The pre-recorded message in his telephone is awesome. The whole lecture comes to about 1 Hr 15 Min. I liked the way he emphasized on being truthful.

Enjoy reading !!