My  resolution for new year is to write more frequently…!!!

Lots of things happened meanwhile , lovely year…!

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.

Understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls – Family, Health, Friends and Spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.

Wish you a very happy 2010…remember what  Bryan Dyson said!

Work is important but not at the cost of family, friends and your own health…

TaaraGo Logo

This is exciting concept and we have been receiving tremendous response.  In just 3 weeks of launch we are 1914 ‘Seekers’ strong community with 98 active ‘Providers’.  Seekers are the participants like you who wish to ‘ Do Something New’ with your free time (from Salsa to Bungee Jumping, from Pottery to Yoga, from Painting to playing the flute, whatever your passion we make it easy for you to find and get involved in activities in your city. ) and providers are individuals/groups who organize /conduct all such activities…

Come n have a look at TaaraGo…I am sure you will love it……any suggestions/ feedback/queries write on archana[at]taarago[dot]com

heyy n let me know about the logo as well…i just loved this logo…I know i know this is self praise but i couldn’t control… n people wonder about name ‘TaaraGo’ …but its secret n i am not telling you!!!

will update you all shortly…

Small baby steps days are over…now they have started walking!

Let’s be with them  on the exciting path of Innovation…making ideas successful is  dream for them.

Good times and bad times, times of prosperity and times of poverty, times when the future looked so secure and times when you didn’t know from where the tomorrow will come… life has been in one way or the other a roller-coaster ride for everyone. Beyond all that abundance and beyond all that deprivation, what remains is the memory of experiences. Sometimes the wallet was full…. sometimes even the pocket was empty. There was enough and you still had reasons to frown. There wasn’t enough and you still had reasons to smile. Today, you can look back with tears of gratitude for all the times you had laughed together, and also look back with a smile at all the times you cried alone. All in all, life filled you with experiences to create a history of your own self, and you alone can remember them all.

The first time you balanced yourself on your cycle without support… The first time s/he said ‘yes’ and it was two years since you proposed… The first cry… the first steps… the first word…. the first kiss… all of your child…. The first gift you bought for your parents and the first gift your daughter/son gave you… The first award… the first public appreciation… the first stage performance… And the list is endless… Experiences, with timeless memory… No denying that anything that’s material cost money, but the fact remains the cost of the experience will be forgotten, but the experience never.

So, what if it’s economic recession? Let it be, but let there not be a recession to the quality of your life. You can still take your parents, if not on a pilgrimage, at least to the local temple. You can still play with your children, if not on an international holiday, at least in the local park. Nice time to train the employees, create leadership availability and be ready for the wonderful times when they arrive. Hey! Aspects like your health, knowledge development and spiritual growth are not economy dependent.

Time will pass… economy will revive… currency will soon be in current… and in all this; I don’t want you to look back and realize you did nothing but stayed in gloom.. Recession can make you lose out on money. Let it not make you lose out on experiences… If you are not happy with what you have, no matter how much more you have, you will still not be happy.

Make a statement with the way you live your life: How I feel has nothing to do with how much I have.

This thought come to me by an email form a dear friend…thought you will love it…

1) “Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change,” by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael Overdorf, explains why so few established companies innovate successfully.

2) “Competing on Analytics,” by Thomas H. Davenport, explains how to use data-collection technology and analysis to discern what your customers want, how much they’re willing to pay, and what keeps them loyal.

3) “Managing Oneself,” by Peter F. Drucker, encourages us to carve our own paths by asking questions such as, “What are my strengths?” and “Where do I belong?”

4) “What Makes a Leader?” Not IQ or technical skills, says Daniel Goleman, but emotional intelligence.

5) “Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work,” by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, includes practical steps and examples from companies that use the balanced scorecard to measure performance and set strategy.

6) “Innovation: The Classic Traps,” by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, advocates applying lessons from past failures to your innovation efforts. She explores four problems and offers remedies for each.

7) “Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail,” by John P. Kotter, argues that transformation is a process, not an event. It takes years, not weeks, and you can’t skip any steps.

8.) “Marketing Myopia,” by Theodore Levitt, introduces the quintessential strategy question, “What business are you really in?”

9) “What Is Strategy?” by Michael E. Porter, argues that rivals can easily copy your operational effectiveness, but they can’t copy your strategic positioning-what distinguishes you from all the rest.

10) “The Core Competence of the Corporation,” by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel, argues that a diversified company is like a tree: the trunk and major limbs its core products, branches its business units, leaves and fruit its end products. Nourishing and stabilizing everything is the root system: its core competencies.

Sustained growth depends on how broadly you define your business—and how carefully you gauge your customers’ needs.

Marketing Myopia -by Theodore Levitt

From: Harvard Business Review Classics.

Open Innovation is the key to stay ahead in such tough times.  These are some good articles on Open Innovation.

http://stefanlindegaard.com/2009/06/25/oiapproach/

Open to innovative Ideas

http://www.rockwellcollins.com/horizons/volume12-issue2/features-extras/open-to-innovative-ideas.asp

He told them that he once had a neighbour who found himself in a tight situation. He was travelling home one dark and rainy night. There were few bridges in the country and he came to a stream that he would have to ford. But because of the darkness and the rain, he couldn’t see well enough to know just where to cross.

Lightning flashed and he saw his way for the briefest moment. But the man was perplexed because there seemed to be more thunder than lightning. He was convinced that every lightning flash was followed by several loud peals of thunder. The poor man just stood at the edge of the stream in his confusion about how to proceed. He finally prayed, “O Lord, if it is just the same to you, give me more light and less noise.” The delegation clearly got the point that the president needed more solutions and less complaining – more light and less noise.

*****

Some people are more like light and others are more like noise.

Some people shed light on solutions. Others only make a din about the way things are.

Some people help us to see the situation more clearly. Others just sound off about who’s to blame.

Some people show a better way. Others clamour about the present course of action.

Some people offer to help. Others wail about the problem.

*****

The sun rises every morning and sheds light, vanquishing the night’s darkness. The rooster also rises every morning and makes noise, which does nothing about the darkness.How could things be different if you were more like the sun than the rooster? What if you decided today to contribute to the light?

Sc: Heartspeak