The Learning and Growth Cycle

  Our most important possession P Rajagopal Tampi   Introduction The most important thing we possess is our reputation. It outlives us. Some may argue that health is the most important thing we possess. I say yes too, but we do not actually possess it a hundred percent. It is not fully in our hands in the sense that one cannot guarantee health by one's thoughts and actions. Therefore, health drops out of contention. Reputation is created by how much we achieve in our lives, the quality of our work and how we achieve it. Quality of our work is unquestionably the mandatory criterion for building our reputations. This article will focus only with how we achieve what we achieve, assuming that we have done high quality work. How is reputation built up?   Whether at work or socially or in the family, the secret sauce is the same. Reputation is built upon your character. We are all given the same powers of discrimination, evaluation and ethics when we are born. I...

  Unlocking the gate of Quality to enter India’s Golden Era   P Rajagopal Tampi   Introduction In my last blogpost, I had written about overcoming the barrier of “Low integrity” so that India can achieve its full potential in the upcoming Golden Era.   https://rajtampi.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-one-barrier-to-indias-coming-golden.html . In this post, I will be discussing an effective way to improve Integrity of the whole nation. For this purpose, I will be using the proxy of “Achieving High Quality” in every product and service originating or provided in India including human aspects. I will also list concrete actions which can be taken by India to achieve a quantum improvement in the Quality of everything we do. This will enable India to compete in premium products and services categories and thereby improve pricing power. It will also be help in raising our country’s levels of integrity and help achieving the full potential of our upcoming Golden Era. ...

  The one barrier to India’s coming Golden Era P Rajagopal Tampi What are the stakes involved for India? Since the end of the seventeenth century, India’s position amongst the leading global powers has deteriorated due to conquests and colonialization by England. Today, after many centuries, the Indian economy is growing fast and becoming globally relevant again. We stand on the cusp of entering a possible 300-year golden era and poised to become one of the top 3 global economies soon. We are also blessed with a supportive demographic dividend. What is the one factor which can destroy the chances of India reaching the highest peak and then staying there for the longest period of time? I am prepared to bet on the low levels of integrity of our citizens as that single “Damocles sword” factor. Our lackadaisical attitude, poor respect and obedience of the law, poor respect for fellow humans, corruption, lack of quest for excellence and quality, poor sense of accountability all ...

  Home Truths It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. - C. S. Lewis Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. - Gautam Buddha The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. - Albert Einstein When you act with true courage, true integrity, true desire to improve, true to helping others, to make our world a better place, you will find you are on a lonely journey. Have faith and steer the chosen path. The Universe will intervene to help you. -  Rajagopal Tampi We should enjoy all things without wanting to possess them.  -  Rajagopal Tampi I am true believer that our lives are largely engineered. You just got to do what you must. If it is not according to pla...

Why we should not be afraid of taking risks P Rajagopal Tampi This is a true story of the initial risks I have taken in my second career and how they panned out in my life.  In July 1997, as an Indian Navy Captain, 41 years of age, I had returned to India from Nigeria where I had completed my tenure as the Defence Advisor at the Indian High Commissions in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana. I had already put up my premature retirement from Service application seven months ago to Naval Headquarters. The Chief of Personnel, then Vice Admiral Arun Prakash had assured me that after a cooling period of three months in India, my premature retirement application would be approved by the Ministry of Defence and Naval Headquarters and I would be free to leave the service.  I waited patiently for three months. When the papers were not cleared even after three months, as is my wont, I decided to push my papers by myself. I was busy for the next three months pushing my papers till they were ...

A Tough Executive decision   In the year 2007, I was the Chief Delivery Officer of this medium sized global software company. One of my responsibilities was to recover software development projects which were unprofitable and going downhill .  Our projects used to be on average about US$15 to $20 million. They were large projects with a mix of re-usable and custom code. There was a project with a Bank in another country which was going downhill for the last two years before I took over my new job. One of my first tasks was to recover this $20 million project and bring it back to profitability while delivering successfully to the customer. Over the next year and a half, I made, several trips to this country to meet the CEO of the Bank. The CEO was pock marked, looked slick with dark hair gelled and combed back. He had a deep voice and piercing eyes. He appeared powerful, reticent to hand over control, had a reputation of arrogance and was feared by his employees. He was managin...