Lucky you....

Luck…

How often we refer to this phrase and yet we don’t give it much thought. Luck carries a positive & a negative connotation. It also brings about a sense of mysticism & hope.
Have you ever wondered on many occasions that it was sheer Luck that helped you get something or achieve something? Maybe it’s a stroke of Lucj that got you reading this article now! The answer would be YES. In case, your answer is NO, then think harder!

We often hear things like “He is lucky to be in that position?”, “He is not as good as you are but he is Lucky to get the opportunity”, “ It was sheer Luck that helped complete the project on time!” & so on. So, I believe somewhere we do acknowledge that it’s not only talent & ability that counts for your success. It’s also a critical factor called – LUCK!

Now if that sounds like blasphemy, you must read on.

Does Luck follow any scientific law or is it a natural occurrence or is it sheer superstition? Whatever it is, Luck is Universal & plays on all. We always refer to Luck as though it has nothing to do with us in reality and more like a phrase while reflecting on situations.
But I see Luck as a force on which you have no direct control yet it plays a very big role in all that you do & don’t.

In today’s Management world, we look at things very technically. That’s what we have been taught in B-schools & in our jobs. They say, if you do the right things the right way, you achieve success. The Western style of management preaches this. It states that achieving success is completely in your hands. If you want to you can! That’s erring on the side of arrogance.
But on the contrary, have you ever wondered that there is an uncontrolled factor that always has an influence on the things you do and on the outcome? The traditional Indian style of Management in fact accounts this as one of the success factor. Now this is not going to be a debate about Indian Management style versus the Western. But, I am trying to bring forth an important factor that we tend to ignore more often.
You would have heard or sometime said it yourself; when things have gone well that it was because of hard work and your ability, but when things have not, you would blame it on your bad luck.
I would say, that if there is humility then every good thing or successful achievement has an element of Luck in it. Take any of your achievements, however big or small, and analyze the number of elements or factors that could have gone wrong to deprive you of your achievement. Now, you would definitely say – YES, I was lucky!

As per Chanakya (he was one of the best Management Gurus, though highly underrated), who quotes from the Sankhya philosophy dating 3000 BC, he states Success always comes from Action; and Action comes from 5 factors:
• The Basis of Action or the Objective
• The Doer of Action or the Person responsible
• Means of Action or the Process
• Efforts of the Doer
• Chance or LUCK

It’s a combination of all the 5 factors that the Action results in Success. Devoid of any one, there isn’t success!
It’s very interesting to see even at that era, there was a conscious recognition of the element of LUCK!

This continues till date across cultures and regions in many forms. Aren’t there Lucky Numbers, Lucky colors for all of us or for people we know? How does that work? I fondly recollect during my Engineering days, one of my friends wore the same shirt for all the exams he appeared. And that was across 8 to 10 papers for each semester. And he wore the same shirt everyday of the exams for all the 8 semesters we had!!! The Shirt was preserved for 4 good years and worn only during exams. Obviously, this was his Lucky shirt. I am sure you can recount similar instances.

I am true believer in Luck & I realized that the harder I work, the more I get of it!
Good Luck in your Life !

IRDA-SEBI face-off

For those who keenly follow the Indian financial market or those whose livelihood is linked to the Indian Insurace industry, a recent stand-off between the 2 Regulators recently would have come as a surprise. What do we make of it...

We have seen that in the last decade or so, with the privitization of the Insurance industry, many macro level changes have been weatherd by the industry players. Many of them have been for the better, but many of them have been retrograde in a sense.

However, given the greenfield nature of the domestic market, it was the Private players who have brough about a stronger focus on Insurance & Financial planning. Needless to say, the numerous employment opportunities it created, both directly & indirectly.

I do believe we are at the threshold of stronger & robust growth in this industry. Its in this context, that I would like to see how the IRDA-SEBI ordeal pans out.

My views...
* The fact that SEBI wanted to control some (or many) aspects of the Insurance industry does spell good news to the industry. In fact, they have taken notice of the impact that the Insurance players have on the overall market, though it is limited at this stage. Everytime we see the FII pulling out monies from the market, its the DIIs who come to the rescue.
* This tussle between the 2 regulators is, in the long run, for the interest of the Customer. Currently its the vested interest at play more than the "Customer Service" factor. The industry business numbers are high because of the focus on garnering market share. Very few players have a well setup system for proper financial planning, training, Customer service & Persistency management. This would change in the due course of time with the fight bringing in some clear direction
* Without the presence of a single financial regulator in India, there is bound to be areas where the multiple regulators would see a face-off. The multitude of regulators is clearly an area that the Government needs to take stock of. A similar paradigm can be seen in many of our town planning, where each civic authority carries out its activities with the possibilty of damaging some others

As someone rightfully said "Change is the only Constant". So with this IRDA-SEBI, we would see many changes coming about. The question is if this is beneficial to the industry. Or more importantly, where does your (or your company's) position be with respect to the changes

Another One Bites the Dust !!!

My first blog, after nearly 3 decades of reading & writing, got me thinking on what the topic should be. Is'nt it apt that I actually write about blogging in iteself. Am sure all the netizens have heard about 'Blogging' but have had their share of reservations or opinions.
But is'nt this the 'web' ? The web which sticks to you !
And therefore, the title of my blog - "Another One Bites the Dust"
To the Queen fans, maybe this is a tribute to the band. Yes, there are some of the numbers that I did like. Now, who would not tap their feet to "We will rock you" ?
Back to blogging....
Sharing ideas & thoughts are something that this new free world is about. Like someone said, the new age wars are now gonna be fought, not with guns and bombs, but with information and knowledge. At a different level, story telling and preaching are second nature to mankind. With the opportunity of Blogging, all (well nearly all !) can tell their side of the story, their perspective of the things around them.
Well, with this profound thoughts (time now being way beyond the stroke of midnight...), I have decided to share my views and yarn some stories that I believe the readers would love to read. Like in everything you start there has to be a plan and goal, my blogging endeavor too has a plan and goal.
The PLAN is to keep my posts simple yet compelling to read.
The GOAL is to ensure that for each of my blog there is at least one of my readers who would connect with it & says (either to himself /herself or to others, though I prefer the latter) that this blog was really interesting and that somewhere down the line s/he recounts my blog.
I sure do hope you will enjoy my blogs and would share your opinions on the same. Well, why not start with this one, after all this is my first one !
Am looking forward to it.