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Here I am sharing the important criteria listed by P&G for its senior executives and leaders. P&G says the following list of criteria is must have and is critical for all it’s senior most positions in the organisation. This list clearly shows that P&G goes beyond the obvious business and financial results and asses potential performance based on intangibles. Unfortunately no B-school teaches these intangible skills that is the most important for one to become a perfect leader.

P&G’s 10-point Criteria for Leaders:

1. Character, values and integrity

2. Proven track record; business, financial, and organisation performance

3. Capability and capacity builder

4. High energy and high endurance

5. Visionary and strategic leader

6. Inspiring, courageous and compassionate

7. Productive relationships with colleagues, partners and other external stake holders

8. Embraces change, leads transformational change

9. Calm, cool and resilient in the face of conflict and criticisim

10. Institution builder, prioritizes greater good and longer-term health of company

(Source: Harvard Business Review, October 2011)

I am sure this list is greatly applicable to each one of us if we want to be good leaders. In my opinion we are the leader for our self, our children, our family and friends. If we could learn these intangibles in life then it becomes easier to move forward in any situation.

Thanks for Visiting My Page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog.

When I was pondering on my new year resolutions, I received an e-mail from my Boss which contained what I was exactly thinking about.

Though he shared it from professional context, I decided to take this up seriously in my personal life as well in this new year 2012. Find below my 6 point agenda for the year 2012.

be Responsive
(each communication received, will be acknowledged and responded)

be Expert
(be more informed & the subject-matter-expert in the area of work that am responsible for)

be Here & Now
(anything than can be done today will not be deferred for tomorrow)

be Gratified
(celebrate both success and failures – for joy and learning respectively)

be Organized
(increased control on my tasks through planning)

be Invested
(re-invest in making self a better person for tomorrow)

I am going to track this sincerely throughout this year and will update at the end of 2012.

Thanks for Visiting My Page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog.

I completed my Project 7 in Competent Communicators Manual this week in our Coimbatore Toastmasters Club .

Title of my Project 7 Speech is “Loneliness – The Most Terrible Poverty”. The key objectives of Project 7 are research a topic and support the topic with relevant data and information. I thought this topic enough scope to research and collect relevant data to support. Below is the transcript of my P7 from CC Manual.

Dear Mr.Toastmaster, Fellow Members and Guests – Very Good Evening.

Can any one tell me, what is going to be the greatest epidemic of this century…???

Cancer…? AIDS…? Swine Flu…? Malaria…? NO.

According to recent research in US by the National Office of Statistics, one in five people will go a whole week without speaking to anyone, with a staggering one in ten people spending up to a month without any human connection.

The World Health Organisation has rated “LONELINESS” as a higher risk to health than smoking and as great a risk as obesity.

When I was living in Bangalore, a neighbor of 3 yrs years was taken to hospital in middle of the night. He never returned… I since learned that he has terminal brain cancer and is living out his final days. He had passed me in the street many times, but had only uttered a quick “hello” to me before continuing on his way. We never shared anything beyond just a “hello” for all those 3 yrs. We hardly take time even to know our neighbors, we are engrossed into our iPods, iPads and gizmos these day.

Two major impacts of loneliness are suicide and divorce.

According to the report from Home Ministry of India, 15 commit suicide every hour in India. Of the half million people reported to die of suicide worldwide every year, 20% are Indians.

It is said “Marriages are made in Heaven”, I don’t know to what extent that is true, but I’ve no doubt that divorces are made in earth.

On divorce, recent statistics shows that close to 8000 divorce cases are filed in Delhi this year, number of divorces in Mumbai rose to 7500 a spike of over 13% from previous year, Chennai with 4500 divorces and Bangalore with 6000 divorce cases. On an average more than 150 cases are filed in family courts every day across the country.

Loneliness is increasing due to nuclear families, youngsters working away from home living on their own, both husband and wife working with no time for togetherness . Especially elders in the society are affected the most. More than half of those over the age of 75 live alone and about one in ten suffers ‘intense’ loneliness that leads to Alzheimer.

It is a well-known fact, psychologically established, that if a person is left alone in isolation for seven days he keeps talking inside, keeps himself engaged in the mind, but then it becomes too much after seven days he starts talking… things start coming out of his mind through his mouth and he starts whispering. After fourteen days you can hear him clearly, what he is saying. After twenty-one days he does not bother about anybody, he has gone insane; now he is talking to walls, to pillars. He is trying to find some relationship. If he cannot find it in reality, he will create a hallucination.

In this age of social networking, you’d wonder how anyone could ever feel lonely. I have a friend who has close to 1000 Facebook friends, but very few people he can honestly call real friends, and even fewer with whom he could connect on a deeper level.

With facebook, twitter and other social networking tools, we have more and more ways to connect with others through the advances in technology, but the level of connection that is happening is becoming increasingly superficial. All of the technology in the world can’t change the fact that we are growing more and more socially isolated in our society.

“While it’s nice to be in touch with your cousin in England over Facebook, that can’t replace a more intimate face-to-face relationship…, you need to balance this with relationships within the community you are actually living in,”

Once, my mom asked me to attend a wedding. That was a marriage reception of my dad’s friend’s daughter and had to attend as my dad was out of town that day for an official trip. I knew none other than that uncle, it was a grand function with lots of people wishing the couple, children playing and families talking and laughing. In-spite of all that I felt terribly alone there as I was not knowing anyone in the function.

It isn’t merely the physical presence of others that will solve the problem. It is the lack of emotional connection with other people that creates the feeling of isolation and loneliness. It isn’t as simple as just getting out there and meeting new people.  It’s no point in having more acquaintances…but a real deep connection and emotional bonding is important. It requires time, effort, and at least a moderate level of risk.  One has to put him or herself out there in order to gain closeness with another human being.

Some simple tips to overcome loneliness could be;

1.     Go for a daily morning walk, talk to elders and play with little children around.

2.     Try to be open with your close friends and family members. Tell them about your feelings, emotions, fears and worries instead of running the usual superficial conversations.

3.     Get involved in some community projects/activities that involve deeper emotional bonding with people.

4.     Join a “Toastmasters Club”

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” Mother Teresa

Back to Mr.Toastmaster.

Thanks for Visiting My Page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

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With reference to my earlier posts on Toastmasters, now a club in Coimbatore City has become the reality.  Below is the coverage in The Hindu onthe installation and charter ceremony of Coimbatore Toastmasters Club.

Find below further details:

Thanks for Visiting my Page.

With Love,

Anbusivam

Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog.

Are you in the final year of your graduation…? Are you waiting for your placements…? Are you a fresh graduates appearing for an interview…?

Here are some thoughts and experiences based on my encounters with thousands of engineering graduates in my profession. Some general Interview Tips for Fresh Engineering Graduates in their final year appearing for campus interviews.

First and foremost, “What is an Interview…?”.  From placement perspective, “Interview is a formal meeting, in which one or more persons from an organisation evaluate or assess the qualifications and abilities of a person who could be a prospective employee of the organisation”.  From my grandfather’s, the first and foremost question asked in any interview is “Tell me about your self”. Most of the times students are trained by some external training agencies who teach in a systematic way of how to handle this first question. Students write down few points about themselves in the same systematic order and memorize the same. When they fail to clear the the interview, then they think “Why am I not selected inspite of me answering the way I was taught..?”.

I am listing down some important Interview Tips for Freshers as below:

1. Decide what you want in life:

Many of the young graduates I’ve interacted are not really clear on what they want in life.  They just attend the first company that comes for hiring in their campus and go on until they are placed. Very rarely I see students preparing seriously and sincerely for one or two core engineering companies of their area of interest. Most of the others just go with the crowd without any great ambitions. Kindly remember “A ship without a clear target destination will be taken by the natural strides to any unwanted shore”.

“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.”

You are the captain of your own ship called career, decide where you want to go, understand the ways and means to reach that destination, work hard with sincere commitment towards reaching the goal.

- Identify your core area of interest

- Identify few of the best companies working in that area

- Check who are all hiring among them

- Talk to some of your seniors who are working there already

- Understand their hiring process, written test question patterns, interview pattern, selection process, etc

- Spend all your time and energy, with sincere commitment and ambition to prepare for the interview

2. Do Your Homework:

Just don’t walk into campus hiring programme without knowing anything about the organisation. Do a simple Google search  just to see what you can find about the company in the web, it’s history, business, products and services, customers and it’s leadership team. Visit the company’s website, search for it in social media sites, talk to the existing and former employees of the organisation to understand it better. Make sure that you also use the information collected during the interview appropriately.

3. Rehearse Beforehand:

Some of the very commonly asked questions are “Tell me about yourself”, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”, “Why do you want to work in this company?”, “Why should we hire you?”, “What are your hobbies?”, “What are your career goals?” etc. Conduct mock interviews with your teachers or trusted friends. Do as many rounds as possible. Do a through rehearsal beforehand. Also be prepared to face some unexpected questions as well.

4. Tell me about yourself:

Answer this question in a most creative way, rather than going by the same monotonous, boring, systematic details which is already there clearly printed in your resume. Please understand that the very purpose of this question is just to make you comfortable and to start the conversation. Interviewer will get to know more about you based on which he will ask his next further questions.

- Clearly pronounce your name and tell how you would like to be called.

- Give a precise and only relevant information about yourself, your education, academic achievements, interests, hobbies and family.

- Very personal details are not really important.

5. Come with a Pleasant Smile:

As you enter the interview room, look straight into the eyes of the interviewer with a pleasant smile. Simple smile opens up the bridge between two persons and that also makes each other comfortable for further discussions.  A smile shows not only confidence, but a pleasant nature.  As a human being, it is very common that we would love to talk to a person who has a good smile rather than a stiff person.  Smiling will actually help you feel more relaxed, feel positive, and good about any situation. It will also reduce your interview fear and anxieties.

6. Be Confident and Energetic:

Bring in lots of energy when you enter the interview room, have a firm hand shake and be confident. Entering the interview room with full of energy, enthusiasm and motivation is always wonderful. Energy must be sparkling from your body, there must be this sparkle in your eyes.  It should automatically demonstrate your determination and enthusiasm about the job.

7. It’s Really Ok to Say “I Don’t Know”:

Please remember, it is not that you are supposed to know everything. It is absolutely fine to say “Sorry, I Don’t Know”. Having said that, please also remember that you should also show the confidence that given a chance you will be able to quickly learn the same. Do not ever try to fabricate the answer with what you really don’t know. Most interviewers will appreciate your honesty if you say I don’t know rather than trying to give some worthless attempt to fabricate the answer which will obviously understood by the interviewer.

Please share your interview experiene here as comments for the benefit of other students.

Wishing you all a wonderful placements.

Thanks for Visiting my Page.

With Love,

Anbusivam

Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog.

Coimbatore Toastmasters Club has just started crawling slowly with few more visitors coming for the meetings. I attempted Project 5 from Competent Communicator Manual, in our yesterday’s meeting.

Title of my Project 5 Speech is “Toastmasters – The Swimming Pool of Public Speaking”. I deliberately took swimming as my topic because I thought it will have larger scope of body movement so as to achieve project 5 objectives. Below is the transcript of the speech I delivered in Coimbator Toastmasters Club.

 

Dear Madam Toastmaster, Fellow Members and Distinguished Guests Very Good Evening.

I think it was in the year 1989, I was enjoying my summer holidays in my lush, green native village. There is a common well in the village which was primarily used for swimming and playing by the young and old. I was really scared of water and always used to sit on the sidewalls of the well watching my cousins, brothers and sisters swimming and playing. One fine day, as I was watching some one from behind pushed me into the well. I tried something with my hands and legs, but nothing was working and I was drowning in the water. I thought, yes this is my last moment in life and I am gonna die. Luckily someone pulled me out of the well and I ran home to my mother crying all the way. After a while when I came to know that the the person who pushed me inside the well was none other that my Grandfather, I was so furious and angry with him. I did not event talk to him for more than a week. After this incident, I never thought of learning to swim in my life until the year 2006.

After so many years, in 2006 I went out for a team building with my office colleagues to a nice resort in outskirts of Bangalore. The best attraction of the resort was it’s large, clean swimming pool. I was the only odd man out who was not knowing to swim an all others were happily enjoying in the pool. That day I decided, “I am going to learn to swim in next 3 months. I will and I can.”

Soon after coming back to Bangalore, I enrolled myself in a nice swimming pool in Indiranagar. Next morning my room partners were really surprised, as I was getting ready for my swimming class like a soldier getting ready for the battle field, with all swimming cap, googles, swimming nickers etc. As I entered the pool premises, I saw few advanced swimmers effortlessly gliding through the water. I watched with envy, thinking “When I am I going to learn to swim like this..???”

To my good the coach there was a national level champion and he taught me to swim in a step by step systematic manner. The first lesson was to make friends with water and get acquainted with the pool. I still remember what he said on the first day. He said to me “Water is your friend, you have to fight with it, you just have to share the same spirits as water and it will help you move”. The second lesson was to hold on to the sidewalls and flap your legs so that the body will float in the water. The third lesson was to keep the head inside water for sometime and bring it out to breathe. The fourth lesson was to kick the side wall of the pool and as you move in the water also push the water backwards such that you will get more forward thrust to reach the other side of the wall. I was practicing this in the breadth wise of the pool for more than a week.

Now after more than 3 week I had to do all the above in a same time and that was really challenging. Somehow I manged to learn that too. You must note that all these adventures were happening only in the 4feet level of the swimming pool. After few days, I slowly sneaked into the 6feet level holding on the the sidewalls. When I started to try out my swimming skills there, oops I was again back to 1989. I started drowning in the water and this time the coach pulled me out. He said one should not be in a hurry to learn to swim, it should be learnt slowly step by step. I my happiness at the end of 3 months, I could comfortably glide through the water though not effortlessly. In another was also able to different strokes like freestyle, butterfly stroke, breast stroke and even back stoke.

Believe me Toastmasters, Public Speaking is no different than swimming. We have to come in front of a group of people, we know they are judging us, we forget our flow of thoughts, we are nervous, it is terrifying and it all happens in a single moment. If we really wish to learn to swim we cannot keep one foot on the ground. We just have to jump inside the water, drown at times, only then we will be able to learn to swim.

Toastmasters Club is a safe, secured and very conducive swimming pool, and if we can effortlessly swim here in this pool then any other big ocean will be just a matter of little more effort for us.

Friends, I welcome you all to jump into this wonderful swimming pool called Coimbatore Toastmasters Club, let  us together learn the best strokes of public speaking.

Back to Madam Toastmaster.

Please spread the word of Coimbatore Toastmasters Club to your friends and colleagues if they are in Coimbatore region.

Thanks for Visiting My Page.

With Love,
Anbusivam

Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog.

Happiest Minds Technologies a new generation IT services company has listed six important qualities that they would look for from each prospective employee.  I am sure it is greatly very relevant for any organisation and every job seeker should know in detail.

Six Important Qualities for Job Seekers – SMILES

1. SHARING:
A person who is a team player, who is willing to share knowledge and help others

2. MINDFULNESS:
Someone who is attentive, caring and heedful.

3. INTEGRITY:
Every Happiest Mind should respect commitments, not just in letter but also in spirit and should exhibit professional, social and financial integrity.

4. LEARNING:
A person who is willing to acquire new skills and knowledge continuously and consistently

5. EXCELLENCE:
High aspirations for excellence backed by a strong action orientation

6. SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
A responsible corporate citizen who is aware of her/his environmental responsibility; someone who is willing to give back to the community.

I am sure, one with these qualities/skills will not be the job seeker, instead great jobs will seek him/her.

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With Love,
Anbusivam

Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog Page.

With reference to my earlier post Toastmasters in Coimbatore City I am very happy and thanks for all the wonderful responses.

Now I’ve gathered few details regarding Toastmasters into the following ppt.

Coimbatore Toastmaster’s

Let’s get started with our great Coimbatore Toastmasters movement.

Feel free to get in touch with me for any relevant questions.

Thanks for Visiting My Page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog Page.

What about starting a club in Coimbatore City…?

COIMBATORE TOASTMASTERS CLUB

Please Visit: http://www.toastmasters.org/

Join “Coimbatore Toastmasters Club” @ facebook groups for further details.
https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_113865678706438

Call me or SMS me at +91 96009 24929

Some Leading Clubs in India:

http://www.bangaloretoastmasters.org.in/

http://www.chennaitoastmastersclub.org/

http://www.smedleys.org/

http://gardencity.freetoasthost.ws/

Thanks for Visiting My Page.

With Love
Anbusivam

Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog Page.

One of my earlier articles in October 2007, was on “Doing What We Love Vs Loving What We Do”. Last evening I just remembered this post and was looking back at what I’ve written then, almost 3 years ago.

Indeed the same page I’ve mentioned is still present in my journal with dog’s ears now, I don’t know how many thousand times I have read this again and again and again….

It goes like this:

“Siva, you are here to do what you love to do, don’t ever settle for anything less than doing what you really love.”

These words kept me moving ahead in life all these years, towards what I love. At this juncture of my life, I am very happy that I’ve come close to what I love and very excited that I am going to start my journey in The Road Less Traveled.

I’ve heard motivational gurus saying “Come on, just go ahead and do what you love. If you do it the best, it will automatically pay you great results”. But unfortunately the reality to me was not that simple. I had my own commitments in life, need to build a house at my native town, my sister’s wedding, my aging parents to take care, my wife’s expectations, social compulsions and so on. It was not really easy to just jump out and start doing what I love simply because I love. It took very long and careful planning, considering all the problems and constraints around in life. I took one step at a time slowly and steadily towards my goal. Now I see, the present situation in my life is a one big step I am taking with all the learning’s I had from all the previous small steps I had come across in life.

Here are some tips from my own life experience on how to get towards what you love?

1. Find your passion:
Do a thorough self analysis to identify all about your great love in life. Just think about “what you are greatly passionate about?” , “what you are keenly interested in?” , “what you would love to do for the rest of your life with fullest potential and abundant happiness?”, “what you would think about, talk about and diligently do for hours together?”

2. Find your finances:
Ultimately your finances is what this world looks for to determine your success? If you have that big car, luxury home, big bank balance etc. then you are considered to be a very successful person in this society irrespective of how happy you are in life. Think about the real happiness that you are going to get from doing what you love to do. But also don’t forget that, this world runs on economics and money is an essential commodity to live here.

It’s really worth spending time to understand, how you are going to economically sustain doing what you love. Will people pay for what you are going to do…? What is the value you are going to add to yourself and the people around you…?

3. Find your core strengths:
Now you are 100% convinced with what you want to do and how it is going to add value. Next is, to look for your strengths that would naturally take you towards what you love. Look out for the unique strengths, qualities and abilities you have. Take a genuine feedback about yourself from your parents, siblings, teachers, friends and colleagues. Ask them what are the things those you are good at and naturally talented at. Identify, nurture and develop those strengths.

4. Find your weaknesses:
This is a very important and critical step. I am sure Ignorance is definitely not a bless in case of one’s weakness. Becoming aware of your own weakness and accepting your own limitations is the first step to conquer and overcome them effectively. Ask for very critical and frank opinions from people around, take the critical feedback very graciously, which will enable you to work on them. Identify, scrap them if not really useful and work on it to improve upon if it is going to be of use in life.

5. Have the commitment:
Not having that sincere commitment and dedication towards your own goal is a great recipe for failure in life. Have an uncompromising commitment towards what you want to achieve and keep working diligently towards your goal without any procrastination in life. Think about the words from Brian Tracy, “Do something each day about your goal such that you move an inch closer towards your goal at the end of the day”.

Ultimately “It’s not what you say, but what you do that counts.”

6. Don’t ignore the present:
Don’t forget the task at hand by just dreaming about the future. Remember that there will be no energy, enthusiasm and fun in pursuing the dreams when there is a sense of dissatisfaction about what you have at present. Yes, you may not love your work at present; irrespective of that learn to do the work at present with 100% diligence. Think about the saying “There is always a choice about the way we do our work, even if there is not much choice about the work itself.”

While accomplishing the tasks at present, look out for ways in which you can work towards your ultimate goal in life.

7. Get ready to give up:
If you are fully occupied and busy in life, then how are you going to spend time for what you love?. Make priorities accordingly and learn to give up certain comforts and explore new areas in life. Without touching that extra mile nothing is achieved in this world. Remember, “No Pain, No Gain”.

Don’t get stuck in your old patterns of thinking and ways of doing things. As we say in NLP, “If you are not getting the result you want, do something different.”

Take out your weekends, evenings and free time from your day job in learning, thinking and doing something about what you love to do. Pursue it like a very serious and sincere hobby. I am sure you would be able to turn your hobby into a full time profession one day in the future.

8. Have a strong belief in yourself:
Have a very strong belief in yourself, what you love to do and what you want to become. You may want to become a great singer, excellent painter, wonderful photographer, awesome dancer, great teacher, inspiring public speaker. Just call yourself with that name/title, make your future visiting cards already, talk to people as if you are one already. Have keen interest about it and seek to learn from whatever ways you could and share your insights. Ultimately have a very great self confidence and belief in yourself such that, nothing in this world can change that.

There could be much more that the tips above based upon where you are now at present in life and what you love to do in life. Always remember the words of Robert Frost in his Stopping by Woods, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep.”

If you have that irresistible passion within, I am sure no one or nothing can stop you from reaching what you want in life.

My heartfelt wishes to you in the wonderful journey of doing what you love to do in life. I assure you that, Anbusivam.com will always be there for your motivation and support.

Thanks for Visiting My Page.

With Love,
Anbusivam