Everyone gets to meet the favourite stars ones in a while, IPL gave me opportunity to see Sachin, Harbhajan and Zaheer in Mumbai Indian colors and 25th May marked my first closeup meeting with Harsha Bhogle. With the new locks of hair covering his past, jokes about Cricket, Tiger Woods to great sayings from the past, Harsha brought the house down as part of the Leadership Talks which my company organizes.
To start with let me sum up the 10 important points which he explained us. These points are very simple, basic stuff which we all know, yet somehow during our workload, problems at home and under stress fail to acknowledge:
#1: Practice: A picture of Ricky Pointing fielding was painting the picture correctly. It is the small 1% of easy things which distinguish the great from the good. An ability can remain an assets until we keep practising. That is why Ricky Pointing hits the stump more than any one in international cricket.
#2: 100% Effort: A picture of Anil Kumble reminds of the umpteen times we saw the big fellow from India giving his max. Harsha said there is no 110%, 120%, but only 100%. We can't give more than we have, can we? A contradiction from how our assessment is done in IT industry. Every company have policy to measure employees who have performed more than 100%.
#3: Adapt: Saurav Ganguly facing a bouncer presented us the most difficult question. For a personal choice it is the most important one. Number of times in our career we face conditions not at all familiar to us and we are expected to perform. A person who can "Adapt" to all conditions, how or away (something like football), will excel far more.
#4: Being part of a winning side: Ricky Pointing and Michael Clark, the two Aussies smiling after collecting the world cup medallion. Harsha compared Asharaful (Bangaladeshi) and Clarks career, stating they started same and yet they are world apart now. Being part of a winning side will prepare anyone how to react or how to even act when there is chance of winning. It is all about the attitude, body language. Personally, representing myself in Cricket teams in the past or standing on the Tennis court, I know how it feels to win and hence I enjoy my game more now.
#5: Thierry Henry: Personally I am not a football crazy hence know little about the strategy; so will post what Harsha said, Why Henry is such an important cog in the wheel because he not only will score for you, but also will provide opportunity for others to perform and score for his team. Something like when a team is presenting some project, not just the team lead takes the opportunity but also allow team members, developers to stand up and present.
#6: Badge in the front is far more important to the one in the back: True, very true. Something I have seen in the movie - GOAL, Chak de India. For a team game, like life, work and almost everything we do, personal goals are met by working towards the team goal. It is really easy to follow this point at office (personally), because I always have a personal goal outside office work/time. Keeps me happy :)
#7: Celebrate Individual Success: Dada, hugging all the India team members after successfully taking a wicket gives me a headache. It is hard to do this in professional field, cause Infosys has taught me to be tough competitor. And the hard crust of competition on me, makes it very hard for me to enjoy other's success (of course it has to be something I was looking for). For the first 2yrs of my professional life, I saw people will do anything to just beat you in the appraisal or to get the new project. My new company has changed me a little bit, yet the remains of the early learning still puts me in a difficult position. That is why I said, Adapting in all condition remains the tough task.
#8: One-man Team is a bad combination: Jersey # 23, Micheal Jordan. Six Chicago Bulls title, three in a row. That is how I remember him from my early days of childhood. What harsha told us could be added to the memory. Before Chicago Bulls became the all the superstar team of NBA, the coach said, everyone in the team expects you to score and hence everyone is not performing. There is no "I" in the word "Team". MJ, replied accepting all the coach has said. You are right coach, MJ said. But the problem is "I" is bang in middle of the word "WIN".
#9: Improve Constantly: Monty Panesar was shown in the picture with a line, "Are you playing your 33rd Test for the first time, or your First test for the 33rd time." A very important line which reminds us to improve every time we work. Something my Senior Anirudh told me soon after joining the company. He said, "every few years there happens a paradigm shift, some try to adapt to it as and when it happens, some wait till the shift completes and some never do. The one who are really ready to handle it are the one who knows will be a paradigm shift and are prepared for it." It was a light comment during a boring training. I know I have tried over the years and will continue to try.
#10: Attitude + Passion + Ability = Success (may be) : If we have the right honest attitude, we have passion (irrespective of 5yrs into the job or 20yrs) and we know our limits and our abilities, we may churn out a recipe for success. A picture of Sachin to end the presentation, Harsha said Sachin is not just the ideal of being a great cricketer, but also a benchmark for a better human being. He was not made my God with an Ability to score 100-hundreds. Sachin has worked towards it, with Attitude, Passion and the nurtured Abilities.
Sometime it is easy to understand speech from people like Harsha, due to the Religious like belief towards Cricket. I can go on and on with this post, but I believe it is sufficient for the time being.
Note: Sorry the points may be out of order.
