The Horse which could not fly

Several hundred years back, there lived a very strong and ambitious king. He had assembled a very powerful army, with the help of which he had built a huge empire. The most important part of this army was his cavalry – brave soldiers who rode on excellent horses. He himself would lead this army, moving around on a very special horse, whose speed was the envy of all. But being extremely ambitious, he was not satisfied even with such a fine horse. He would often dream of teaching this horse how to fly – so that those whom he was conquering would be mesmerized into surrendering meekly. But he knew this was only a dream, and could not be converted into reality.

Being a strong and ambitious person, he ruled over his subjects with an iron hand, dispensing justice without mercy. One day, a man accused of a crime was brought before him. Without too much investigation, the king concluded that he was guilty and ordered his execution. There being no way of appealing against this judgment, the man accepted his fate. But, as he was being led away, he let it be known to his captors that he had a special skill – he knew how to make a horse fly. Knowing how much the king was keen on having his horse learn to fly, this information was conveyed to the king by one of the soldiers. The king immediately ordered the man brought before him, and asked:

‘Is it true that you can teach a horse how to fly?’

‘Yes, your majesty, this is a special talent the Lord has bestowed on me’, he answered, with his head bowed.

‘I order you to use your special talent and teach my horse how to fly’, the king commanded

.

‘Your wish is my command, your majesty’, the man replied. ‘The only problem is, this learning process will take time, but I am going to be hanged today itself.’

“How long will it take?”, asked the king.

“One full year, your majesty. Every day, it will look like the horse has learnt nothing, but suddenly, after the year is over, you will see him flying.”, replied the man.

The king ordered that his execution be postponed by one full year, at the end of which he would be pardoned if the horse really starts flying. The man was then duly escorted out of the palace and set free. He started walking home in the company of a friend who had accompanied him.

When they were out of the earshot of the palace guards, his friend looked at him gravely, and said:

“What have you done? I know you have no such talent as you claimed to have. So, an year from now, you are going to be exposed as a fraudster. The king will be hopping mad at the trick you have played on him, and will have you killed in the most torturous manner. I shudder to think of you being trampled by one of his elephants, or, even worse, your body being torn apart limb by limb.”

The man answered:

“You are a true friend, my dear, so worried about what may happen to me an year from now. Special thanks for not telling anyone out there that I do not have that talent. They would have tortured me to death right away. Now, it will not happen for a full year. And, my friend, never forget that an year is a long time. Who knows what may happen in an year? The king might die, and with a new king at the helm this whole episode could be forgotten by everyone. Or, I might die – a natural and peaceful death. Or, who knows, the horse might even learn to fly! Let us not worry about what might happen an year from now and thus deprive ourselves of the great pleasure of being alive today. Let us learn to live in this moment and enjoy every bit of it.”

Apple in a Mango Tree

A monkey climbed a tree where Santa Singh was sitting.  Santa Singh asked: "Tu uper  kyon aaya?"   Monkey: "Apple Khane"  Santa Singh: "Yeh to mango tree hai" Monkey : "Idiot, apple saath laaya hoon

Knowledge Management In Ramayan and Mahabharata

In Both The Great Epics of India , Ramayan and Mahabharata, war ends not with celebration of victory but with transmission of knowledge. In the Ramayan, Ravan lies mortally wounded on the battlefield and the monkeys are celebrating their victory, when Ram turns to his brother, Lakshman, and says, “While Ravan was a brute, he was also a great scholar. Go to him quickly and request him to share whatever knowledge he can.” 

The obedient Lakshman rushes to Ravan’s side and whispers in his ears, “Demon king, all your life you have taken not given. Now the noble Ram gives you an opportunity to mend your ways. Share your vast wisdom. Do not let it die with you. For that you will be surely be blessed.” 

Ravan responds by simply turning away. An angry Lakshman goes back to Ram and says: “He is as arrogant as he always was, too proud to share anything.” Ram looks at his brother and asks him softly, “Where did you stand while asking him for knowledge?” “Next to his head so that I hear what he had to say clearly.” Ram smiles, places his bow on the ground and walks to where Ravan lies. Lakshman watches in astonishment as his brother kneels at Ravan’s feet. With palms joined, with extreme humility, Ram says, “Lord of Lanka, you abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now, you are no more my enemy. I see you now as you are known across the world, as the wise son of Rishi Vishrava. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world.” 

To Lakshman’s surprise, Ravan opens his eyes and raises his arms to salute Ram, “If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy. Standing at my feet as a student should, unlike your rude younger brother, you are a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learnt in my life. Things that are bad for you seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things are actually good for you fail to attract you; you shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but avoided meeting you. This is the wisdom of my life, Ram. My last words. I give it to you.” With these words, Ravan dies. 

There’s similar knowledge transmission after the Mahabharat war is over and the Kauravas are all dead. As the victorious Pandavas are about to assume control of Hastinapur, Krishna advises them to talk to Bhisma, their grand uncle, who lies mortally wounded on the battlefield. As a result of a blessing, death would elude him for some time. “Make him talk until his last breath. Ask him questions. He has a lot to tell,” says Krishna . 

Sure enough, when prompted, the dying Bhisma spends hours discussing various topics: history, geography, politics, economics, management, war, ethics, morality, sex, astronomy, metaphysics and spirituality. Bhisma’s discourse is captured in the Shanti Parva (discussions of peace) and Anushasan Parva (discussions on discipline) that makes up a quarter of the Mahabharata. After listening to their grandsire, the Pandavas have a better understanding of the world, and this makes them better kings. 

Ram asked ravan for his wisdom before his death. The pandavas listened to a lengthy discourse from bhisma as he lay dying on the battlefield. This in the context of organisations, is knowledge management. 

Both these stories draw attention to the value of knowledge.In triumph, it is easy to claim the material possessions of the defeated, but it is not easy to claim their knowledge. Knowledge does not outlive death. 

Every day, an organization churns out vast amounts of knowledge. Every day, people leave organisations, taking their knowledge with them – knowledge which they acquired because they are part of the organisation. They take with them knowledge of clients, markets, business processes, tricks of the trade. These may not be confidential information or patented information, but it is information that gives a competitive edge. 

Long has this knowledge drain been recognised. Over the past decade, a whole new business process known as knowledge management has evolved that seeks to harness, store, transmit this knowledge. Every CEO agrees that it is a valuable business process, that investment in it is critical. Policies have been made, people have been hired and systems have been deployed. 

Unfortunately, for all the initial enthusiasm, implementation has been lacking. Unlike retrieving cash, retrieving knowledge from employees, both current and future, is not easy. Often because they are like Sahadeva. 

Sahadeva was the youngest Pandava and, in the South Indian Mahabharata, he is described as an expert in many predictive sciences such as astrology, palmistry and face reading. But he is cursed: if he ever gave any information voluntarily, his head will split into a thousand pieces. That is why he is silent throughout the epic. He knows every fortune and misfortune that his family will go through, but he can never use his knowledge to forewarn anyone. When Yudhishtira finally learns of his brother’s prowess he is furious. “Why did you not tell me all that you knew?” All he gets in response is Sahadeva’s silence. Most employees in an organisation are Sahadevas. 

Sahadevas are of two types: either they are unwilling to share their knowledge or they don’t have the means to do so. The former category knows that knowledge is power and will not give it away under any circumstances. The latter category is willing to share knowledge but either no one asks them for it or there is no system where they can make it available for others. 

Knowledge Management is leadership driven. Only a Ram, not a Laskhman can do it. He must first believe in it. He must respect the fact that everyone in his organisation, even those who he does not particularly like, are repositories of great wisdom – not only knowledge of things that work but also knowledge of things that do not work. He must make conscious efforts to capture as much of it as possible. 

The simplest method is talking to people, while they are on the job and especially when they are leaving the organisation. An exit interviews must never be a ritual. Neither must it be an exercise to just get the venom out nor an exercise to expose the underbelly that has prompted the resignation. It must be a concerted effort to gather what was the knowledge acquired between joining and leaving the organisation. 

Interviews work if the organisation is small. As the organisation grows in size one needs a more formal system, at the very least a simple archival system managed by a clerk or secretary but on a larger scale, a sophisticated knowledge repository, a kind of electronic cupboard where at least the final version of presentations, documents and spreadsheets of key business events can be stored. 

This sounds very logical but most organisations do not do this. The effort involved is huge and the rewards are neither immediate nor tangible. A brand manager joining a reputed FMCG company, for example, once discovered that they did not have the brand deck (plans, tools, research, messages) of the past five years of a key product. What the organisation did have is the financial numbers – but not a clear history of marketing messages it had put out before the consumer. Previous brand managers had handed over all documents to someone and it was kept somewhere.

But no one knew who that someone was and what that somewhere was. In the absence of a simple archiving system, the new brand manager had to collate all brand related background information from scratch so that he could define the future brand positioning. A fully avoidable waste of energy and resources. 

Every organisation has a very powerful Finance Department that works round the clock to keep an eye on money flowing in and out of the organisation. Internal and external auditors, controllers and accountants keep a hawk’s eye on every bill and purchase order. But not even a fraction of that energy is used by companies to manage their knowledge.This indicates that most organisations do not believe that Lakshmi follows Saraswati: they do not believe that existence of knowledge systems improve efficiency and effectiveness and can provide raw materials to provoke new ideas or prevent old mistakes. Unless a leader believes that Saraswati is critical, he will end up with an organisation of Sahadevas. 

Take a step back. Check if you are creatively shunning this rather tedious matter of knowledge management. If you are, then remember the wise words of Ravan: it must be actually good for you.

WALKING WALKING WALKING

Walking 30 minutes a day cuts the rate of people becoming diabetic by more than half and it cuts the risk of people over 60 becoming diabetic by almost 70 percent. Walking cuts the risk of stroke by more than 25 percent. Walking reduces hypertension. The body has over 100,000 miles of blood vessels. Those blood vessels are more supple and healthier when we walk. Walking cuts the risk of cancer as well as diabetes and stroke. Women who walk have a 20 percent lower likelihood of getting breast cancer and a 31 percent lower risk of getting colon cancer. Women with breast cancer who walk regularly can reduce their recurrence rate and their mortality rate by over 50 percent. The human body works better when we walk. The body resists diseases better when we walk, and the body heals faster when we walk. We don't have to walk a lot. Thirty minutes a day has a huge impact on our health. Men who walk thirty minutes a day have a significantly lower level of prostate cancer. Men who walk regularly have a 60 percent lower risk of colon cancer. For men with prostate cancer, studies have shown that walkers have a 46 percent lower mortality rate. Walking also helps prevent depression, and people who walk regularly are more likely to see improvements in their depression. In one study, people who walked and took medication scored twice as well in 30 days as the women who only took the medication. Another study showed that depressed people who walked regularly had a significantly higher level of not being depressed in a year compared to depressed people who did not walk. The body generates endorphins when we walk. Endorphins help us feel good. Walking strengthens the heart. Walking strengthens bones. Walking improves the circulatory system. Walking generates positive neurochemicals. Healthy eating is important but dieting can trigger negative neurochemicals and can be hard to do. Walking generates positive neurochemicals. People look forward to walking and enjoy walking. And research shows that fit beats fat for many people. Walking half an hour a day has health benefits that exceed the benefits of losing 20 pounds. When we walk every day, our bodies are healthier and stronger. A single 30 minute walk can reduce blood pressure by five points for over 20 hours. Walking reduces the risk of blood clots in your legs. People who walk regularly have much lower risk of deep vein thrombosis. People who walk are less likely to catch colds, and when people get colds, walkers have a 46 percent shorter symptom time from their colds. Walking improves the health of our blood, as well. Walking is a good boost of high density cholesterol and people with high levels of HDL are less likely to have heart attacks and stroke. Walking significantly diminishes the risk of hip fracture and the need for gallstone surgery is 20 to 31 percent lower for walkers. Walking is the right thing to do. The best news is that the 30 minutes doesn't have to be done in one lump of time. Two 15 minute walks achieve the same goals. Three 10 minute walks achieve most of those goals. We can walk 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night and achieve our walking goals. Walking feels good. It helps the body heal. It keeps the body healthy. It improves our biological health, our physical health, our psychosocial health, and helps with our emotional health. Walking can literally add years entire years to your life. Its good to walk.

Sugar Test

Santa Singh enters kitchen, opens sugar box, looks inside and closes it.  This he does again and again.  Why?  Because the doctor told him to check sugar level regularly.