'I know it all' attitude is the biggest enemy of an individual. Every day, every incident, every challenge, every success, every individual … is a learning opportunity. 'Food for Thought' is a series that helps me learn more.

I will be sharing a series of thoughts over the next few weeks. If these thoughts are a learning for someone, I am happy. However, I will be happier with the feedback I get on each of these thoughts, as it will be my learning. Looking forward for a great learning experience.

It is human nature to be critical of everything & everybody around us. We want things to be better and keep hoping they get better. What misses our thought process is that things do not get better by themselves, someone has to make them better and that someone needs to be you!

This attitudinal transformation makes an individual better, happier, and more satisfied.

Successful individuals and institutions are an inspiration for others. Success is not the real inspiration, the challenges that the individual or institution surmounted are the true inspiration. One needs to make every effort to understand what went into the success particularly the challenges and learn from them.

Success is the sum total of the challenges encountered in the journey.

In every individual / institutions journey, there will be multiple obstacles. The usual response when an obstacle is encountered is anger, despondency, helplessness, dejection. these are the responses obstacles thrive on. Perseverance, resilience and undiluted focus are the attributes that help in getting over the obstacles.

When one encounters obstacles in their journey, reaching the ultimate goal successfully is the best revenge against the obstacles.

There is no success without failure. The best learning from a successful individuals / institutions is understanding their failures and how they converted the failures into opportunities. Failures are a wealth of knowledge and those who mine this knowledge meaningfully are laying their path to success.

Failure is difficult, but without that there is no success.

Being static is in reality the beginning of sliding southwards. Growth should be continuous, consistent and sustainable. Very often the dilemma of how to grow engulfs us. The propeller for growth is within us, it comes from something we have done in the past, thought in the past, seen in the past or experienced in the past.

Being static is not an option, search for growth within.

Being static is in reality the beginning of sliding southwards. Growth should be continuous, consistent and sustainable. Very often the dilemma of how to grow engulfs us. The propeller for growth is within us, it comes from something we have done in the past, thought in the past, seen in the past or experienced in the past.

Being static is not an option, search for growth within.

Our parents, life partner, siblings, children, friends colleagues, teachers, well-wishers and institutions like our school, college & workplaces, are responsible for whatever we have achieved in life. Very often we take our support systems for granted, not realizing their contribution to where we are and what we are today.

Gratitude is an attitude for successful people.

In today's world, the success of an individual is often a measure of his/her bank balance. Money is important but there are other aspects of life that precede money in the order of importance. However, money seems to have crept up the priority ladder and to become the primary and only objective of living. Optimal prioritization is the mantra of a successful human being.

Making a difference to others must be a priority and it costs nothing.

There is a mad rush to reach the top. Aggression is a mandatory ingredient for success, but it needs to be tempered with hard work, dedication, integrity and ethics. Those who take shortcuts are bound to be entangled in a web of difficulties sooner or later.

One is not judged by the height he/she rises, but from the depth they have climbed

Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan, Bill Gates, Maradona … are all people who are icons in their respective fields and have achieved what few others across generations have achieved. None of them are different from others who have not created distinct identities for themselves. All of them are ordinary people who have done extraordinary things.

It is possible for ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things provided they believe they can and work towards it

Having a vision is the beginning, executing it and delivering results is the destination. While one can start off on a journey individually with a vision, it is practically impossible to reach the destination without people who share the vision.

Visionaries surround themselves with smart people who share the vision and have the emotional connect with it to execute it successfully.

Good leaders are often known as 'personalities' with their main attribute of leadership being their personality. As all of us know good is the enemy of great and very often we see good leaders being limited by their personality.

The difference between a good leader and a greater leader is not their personality, but it is their humility

Designation, hierarchy, position, organogram, reporting structure, title etc are often viewed as critical ingredients of leadership. People often give importance to such ingredients as the popular belief is that this is what makes them leaders. However true leaders evolve with the way they influence the others (internal & external stakeholders) and the value they deliver. Leadership is all about influencing the ecosystem to deliver value

However, true leaders evolve with the way they influence the others (internal & external stakeholders) and the value they deliver. Leadership is all about influencing the ecosystem to deliver value.

Oratory skills are often perceived to be an essential prerequisite for leadership. Great leaders are not necessarily great orators but are always great at communication. Orators speak well, attract the attention of the listeners and create a feel-good impact on the audience. On the other hand, great communicators are first good listeners and speak with purpose, clarity, honesty, and transparency.

The art of communication is the language of leadership

The stature of a leader is often gauged by the number of followers he/she has garnered. Yes, a good leader has a good number of followers, but the capability of a leader is not directly proportional to the number of followers, he/she has and, in many instances, it could be inversely proportional.

The best measure of the caliber of a leader is the number of leaders he/she has created. It is much easier to create a follower than a leader

The terms 'manager' and 'leader' are often used interchangeably and mean the same to many. However, there is a significant difference between a 'manager' and a 'leader'.

A good manager does things right, while a good leader does the right things. This is the subtle difference between a 'manager' and 'leader' and organizations thrive on good leaders, not managers

There are multiple ways in which knowledge and skills are imparted. Irrespective of the tool used in imparting this knowledge, the ultimate outcome is what the student learned from it and how he used it.

A good teacher never dishes out knowledge on a platter for the students as this deprives the student a critical intrinsic skill of thinking. A good teacher always makes his/her disciple think to acquire the knowledge as knowledge acquired using the thinking tool stays with the disciple and he/she is more likely to use it to create value.

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