Singapore chapter of alumni association organised a talk by Sangeet Paul Choudary in July 2018

He  is an  alumnus of PGP ‘2006, founder of platformation labs.He is keynote speaker at leading global events including the G20 Summit 2014, UN, ILO, World Economic Forum, and World50 and for leading global brands, incl. Microsoft, GE, Autodesk, Huawei, AT&T, Schnieder Electric etc.

Click here to watch the video of the talk.

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Ramesh Kuppuswamy, EEP 2008, an alumnus of IIMB was a Colonel in the India Army with over twenty years of service to the Country before he switched over to the Corporate World. He is the Program Manager-Implementation at CISCO Advanced Systems, India. He is the author of the Book “Revelation of Path Walked” & is the founder of Aikya-Oneness Foundation.

He gives us an opportunity to see his brilliant display of his talent in writing through the below article-

Measure Twice, Cut Once….

A carpenter’s rule. The one, which is familiar to all of us, but dearer to carpenters. Why he has to measure twice to cut once. A wisdom inherited through past mistakes in a hard way. The wood was valued very high and wastage was kept at a minimum. The planning has to be accurate that every inch of wood is fully utilized or left over for another purpose. Not merely the material, but time was costly to redo if anything went wrong. It was much obvious that an oblivious action would cost his reputation too.

Many others in their professions adopted this rule. Getting a dress stitched has become more or like a history with readymade dresses coming in. Maybe, I must have exaggerated a bit in my statement. Just to make a point that visiting a tailor shop has almost become rare. Why do I talk about a tailor, when I started with the carpenter? As a kid, when I use to visit a tailor shop along with my father to get my dresses stitched, he measured twice and the same he did while cutting the clothes. To be sure, that he was rightly making the dress as per the requirement. The carpenter’s rule in practice.

Is this rule applicable to our daily life? The visualization becomes the first step in our measurement to do something when an action required is of importance. We consciously repeat this taking care of any wrongs that could happen. Once executed, we measure with the feedback to understand whether it was as per the plan. Certain wrongs could have been beyond our perception or negligently left out.

Even at the workplace, this becomes so important. Most of us must have faced moments of embarrassment by our wrong decisions. Leaving behind trails of regrets for not doing due diligence before making such decisions. A knock to our confidence. That does not mean that one has to become over cautious. He has to regard his knowledge and intuitiveness, which are built over the years of experiences to make a prompt decision.

This practice is in place in many organizations by default without naming this rule. One among them may be the client’s meeting. This is very critical in a business point of view. We have an internal review of outstanding issues and preparedness for any new leads, which can become an opportunity for new business. A devil’s advocate is the role-play happens to understand the client’s point of view. The preparedness brings in value to customer and their confidence in us.

Let us step into more on what more happens in the organization. The change is the only constant in this Universe and suitably necessary for the survival of a good business. Do I step-in to make every change that I feel is right and learn from the outcome. That would be a costly proposition to follow. Then, how should I do it? Every change has an impact i.e. either positive or negative. One should be able to quantify the outcome if that change is implemented. What is not measurable is just a waste of effort and time. Multiple metrics are in place to measure the outcome to have any course corrections, if not sailing in the direction desired to. Before implementing the change, one has to measure the plan at least twice keeping the outcome in mind. Implementing multiple changes in parallel may have a cascading impact at a later stage to sustain the changes. Such changes implemented should have no correlation to the outcomes of the two to have a favorable outcome. That calls for, cutting it once. The carpenter rule becomes appropriate.

More correlation of this into one’s personal life as to how one connects to use this rule in achieving major milestones. A professional carrier, education, marriage, house, car and so on. Endless list as he walks through his life. No decision measured diligently has caused any regrets. The acceptance becomes easier, even if one deemed it was wrong.

Measuring twice means making sure that one has thought of all the things that could go wrong before acting or making a decision. Let the carpenter’s wisdom light us in making the right decisions.

“Diligence is the mother of good luck.” – Benjamin Franklin

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You Are Our Pride

We knew for sure, since you started journey, it is not an easy ride.
But we tell you now, be happy & feel inspired to see your own stride.

Don’t go after success, make foot prints on sand walking in desert.
Your determination & toil will make success follow your heart.

It is not about your parents trying to put on you an extra pressure.
It is just showing you your grit & potential, which is your treasure.

Set your goals high, let people laugh when u try touching the bars.

Always dream for the moon my darling, at least you will get stars.

Difficult times & ailments will come & make you weak though.
It is our blood in your veins that will make you overcome and Go.

Failing once in life is not unusual, nor having a difficult time.
Remember, not learning from failure, not trying again is a crime.

You have not failed so far, learn lessons of life and will never fail.
Bring best out of you, however difficult, and leave a success trail.

Friends & relatives should be part of life, weather in love or strife.
Value relationship always, but not let others hinder your path of life.

We will not repeat mistake of seeing our dream through your eyes.
We enable you to live your dreams, decisions we took, prove it wise.

People around you may judge by your failure, you cannot hide.
For both of us, you will still be our motive of life, you are our Pride.

Your Dad

Shashank K , alumnus of GMITE’8 2014 batch