A silver lining in the darkest cloud

A silver lining in the darkest cloud

Recently, some alert message on the road-dividers in my city caught my attention. It says :

“ Speed thrills, but kills .”

Nice way to keep reminding those trying to soar high while sitting on the steering wheel ! Although it is a common knowledge that excessive speed could be dangerous, such constant reminders are required, coz. speed thrills and one tends to get addicted to it. It takes a lot within to resist thrills before it becomes an addiction. Another question came to my mind : does any driver ever see these alerts while driving ? I doubt ! In fact, I also saw this only when I was walking down to the stadium for my morning walk.

So, the points are:

a. Most of the times, common knowledge is very uncommon, in the sense that everybody knows it, but does not internalise - believing that the prophecy, especially if it is bad, will somehow never come true for him/her. (S)he can get away !!

b. Unless a fellow has high self-discipline with internalised values and ethics, one tends to chase thrills one after another, and ultimately loses control. Consequences ? Anybody’s guess !

Reminded me of the recently uncovered Satyam fraud here in my own country ! And the Madoff fraud in US !

On the 12^th of March, 2009, Bernard Madoff ( an American businessman and former Chairman of NASDAQ stock exchange - the man, by now world -(in)famous for the largest investor fraud ever committed by a single person involving fabricated gains of about US $ 65 billion), pled guilty and admitted to defrauding thousands of investors through a massive Ponzi scheme, “a big lie” as he puts it.

In his court statement he confessed to what he did and how he did it and how he got away with it .

Here is an excerpt from his court statement,as published in the media, that caught my attention like never before and really got me thinking:

“ To the best of my recollection, my fraud began in the early 1990s. At that time, the country was in a recession and this posed a problem for investments in securities markets. Nevertheless, I had received investment commitments from certain institutional clients and understood that these clients , like all professional investors, expected to see their investments out-perform the market. While I never promised a specific rate of return to any client, I felt compelled to satisfy my clients’ expectations at any cost. I, therefore, claimed that I employed an investment strategy I had developed, called a “split strike conversion strategy”, to falsely give appearance to clients that I have achieved the results I believed they expected.”

Madoff stated that he wanted to satisfy the expectations of high returns by his clients in spite of economic recession. He admitted that he had never invested any of his clients’ money since the inception of the scheme. Instead, he simply deposited the money into his business account at Chase Manhattan Bank. He admitted to false trading activities masked by foreign transfers and false SEC returns. He used the Chase Manhattan Bank account to pay clients who requested withdrawals, claiming the “profits” were the results of his own unique “split strike conversion strategy”. He declared that he had every intention of resuming legitimate activities in his asset management division, but it proved “difficult, and ultimately impossible” to catch up to the paper profits. ( Sounds familiar ?? Only recently B. Ramalinga Raju of Satyam had also stated his intentions in a similar vein – the essence of which is : keep fooling the gullible lot with false results, siphon funds elsewhere, make good the losses when an opportune time comes before it is about to get uncovered and do something legitimate to convert the paper profits to actual profit. )

How can they forget that they can never escape their day of reckoning ultimately !!!

Now, read the excerpt again … and highlight whatever you feel is crucial to note. I am reproducing the excerpt with parts, which hit me the hardest, highlighted:

“ To the best of my recollection, my fraud began in the early 1990s. At that time, the country was in a recession and this posed a problem for investments in securities markets. Nevertheless, I had received investment commitments from certain institutional clients and understood that these clients, like all professional investors, expected to see their investments out-perform the market. While I never promised a specific rate of return to any client, I felt compelled to satisfy my clients’ expectations at any cost. I, therefore, claimed that I employed an investment strategy I had developed, called a “split strike conversion strategy”, to falsely give appearance to clients that I have achieved the results I believed they expected.”

I felt compelled to satisfy my clients’ expectations at any cost. This one sentence perhaps says it all !! And if we as a people can take our lessons from this one sentence, I think I will call that the silver lining in the darkest cloud. YES !!

Analyse this way:

He felt compelled - that is not the same thing as he was compelled . He was perhaps not compelled by anyone, but still he felt that compulsion because of what he thought his clients expected from him .. ( refer back to the excerpt…. and understood that these clients, like all professional investors, expected to see their investments out-perform the market .)

And what did he think his clients’ expectations were ? To have returns much higher than the market normally churns out !!! ( The why to this question is the most significant dimension that this whole episode throws up for reflection – I will come back to that, after I complete dissecting this one highlighted statement of Madoff. )

And what did he feel compelled about ? To satisfy his clients’ expectations at any cost. In any business, feeling compelled to satisfy the clients’expectations is perhaps the most needed driving force to stay in business and get ahead of competition – in fact so far so good . But at any cost ??????? The problem actually starts here and can end here if you believe in doing good business and delivering high returns going out-of-box for efficiency and innovation, and NOT for unethical practices, i.e. business at any cost. He created all this mess because he played his game , at any cost – took to fraudulent ways and showed fake results to please the investors despite the recession.

Now, coming to “ why”s .

Why he thought what he thought ?

And why he got away for such long years until he, himself realised that it is impossible to carry on with the fraud any longer and surrendered through his own sons ?

Yes, blame it on competition, but the reality is : there is a catch on both sides – the businessmen as well as the clients. If Madoff thought that his investors expected him to out-perform the market ( i.e. to deliver dazzling results, not commensurate with those possible through running reasonable n good ( read ethical ) business in the market ), then he is not entirely to blame. The majority in the business world in today’s dog-eat-dog competition feel this kind of client pressure. Competition has somehow become synonymous with reckless speed – speed in business, speed in delivery, speed in growth in volume of business, speed in growth in return/profit – the greater the speed at which you move to capture the market, the greater the thrill, the greater the market rewards you !! And who to blame ??

A good share of the blame, in my view, should go to all of us .

We as investors/capital providers/customers/consumers/ the beneficiary at the other end have started demanding miraculous results till we have alternative shops – all in the name of competition. We have got into a habit of a dialogue like this : Okay, if you can not give me enough, there are many others. We get excited when we receive very high returns on money invested/spent and never bother asto how it became possible for such miraculous results to happen!

[For example: How many potential customers for loans ask questions about the financier’s asset-liability management and net margin if they are offered a ridiculously low rate of interest on loans vis-à-vis higher interest rate on deposits? ]

It seems concerns about Madoff’s business had surfaced as early as in 1999, when Harry Markopolos, a financial analyst, informed the SEC that he felt that it was legally and mathematically impossible to achieve the gains Madoff claimed to deliver. Did anybody listen to that ?? Not until very recently in December, 2008, when the present global financial crisis created a rising demand for cash withdrawals by Madoff’s investors and he knew, he can not carry on with his fraud any longer! Obviously, had Markopolos’ whistleblowing caught the attention of the authorities and the till-then happy investors getting very high returns, so much more loss to thousands of clients could have been averted !

So, it is greed, greed and greed on part of both sides – stakeholders concerned only with high returns and businessmen to stay in business by satisfying stakeholders’ expectation at any cost . The age-old chicken n egg syndrome !!

This push by client expectations in a competitive marketplace is good only so long as it leads to qualitative improvements or innovations. But what happens when this ( satisfying client expectations at any cost ) is (mis)taken by the businessman as the sole survival strategy? It starts allowing space to deceit, game-playing, scheming, misrepresentation of facts, figure fudging, fabricated gains, fake results and mind-boggling frauds !! The jet-set speed of their own creation ( read, manipulations) creates such a need for more and more speed ( read, further manipulations) just to stay on course that eventually, it becomes unsustainable and crashes !! Yes, speed thrills, but kills.

The saddest part is : it is not one Satyam or one Madoff - there are many in their family, including corporates, who can not plead all clean when it comes to accounting and fact-sheets! So far as corporates are concerned, apart from market competition, other dynamics relating to trade-off between the short-term and long-term, reward, recognition, financial incentives, career progression etc. come into play and make the leadership as well as ranks within to “project” market-expected performance. Who knows when what will assume which proportion ?? As someone said, truth is only a resting point until the next revelation!!

But how can I not see the silver lining in the darkest cloud ?

Courtesy these filthy episodes, a fresh wave of awakening has dawned upon the entire world.

Let us stop being greedy and irrational when it comes to our expectations about our own gains as investors or consumers or other stakeholders !

Let us demand more transparency and probity in affairs of the business world!

Let us listen to alarms bells; let us ring alarm bells !

Let us start questioning !

Knowingly, let us not be a party to a foul game !!

Let us stay away from the seven sins , as described by Gandhiji as under :

Seven sins

Politics without Principles;

Wealth without Work;

Pleasure without Conscience;

Knowledge without Character;

Commerce without Morality ;

Science without Humanity;

Worship without Sacrifice .

- Gandhiji

[ I think, if these stinking episodes can remind all of us, the world over, to reflect and drive us to act in a zone, free of the seven sins, that would be much more than just a silver lining in the darkest cloud, I swear !!!! ]

H..O..P..E..

HOPE

A 19yr old asked an 11 yr old : “ What is your goal in life ? ”

Pat came the reply from the latter, a cute smart boy : “ Oh ! to get admission into IIT .”

[ For those, who do not know what IIT stands for – it is Indian Institute of Technology – there are only a few of them and they are like the Jewels in the Crown of Mother India. It is believed that once you gain entry into an IIT somehow, your life is made (true if one goes by professional success the IITians have actually achieved from day one both nationally and internationally). It is the loftiest dream of most of the parents to have their kid in IIT and most of them have also seen to it that their child also sees the same dream ( alas !!). Children need to be exceptionally ‘bright’ in academics, scoring incredibly high in the qualifying exam( + 2) AND passing a really tough special Entrance Test to get into IITs, for which they start taking extremely rigorous coaching ( I really wonder, when these kids get to breathe… literally ? Class, coaching for usual course of 10^th/12^th, plus special coaching - I call it going through torture of the nth degree when you transcend all feelings and stop feeling the torture itself !! ]

So, back to the interesting conversation. The boy says that it is his goal to get into IIT . I just happened to be around there. The 19 yr old girl whispered to me : “ See!, how pathetic ! I asked him what is his “goal in life ”– that is, what would he like to become in life and he says getting into IIT. Is getting into IIT a goal in itself ? At the least, he could have said that he wants to become an Engineer ! How sad – parents these days are to blame – they only drill all this crap deep into the young minds – so deep that the children can not think clearly for themselves and just fall in line with the fad of the day !!” Incidentally, this girl is amongst those courageous few who have found their own calling on their own .

Well… I could not have agreed more on that. It is truly sad how the kids these days in our part of the world are being led to believe that “ the be all and end all ” of their lives is to gain admission into reputed institutes like IITs/ NITs/IIMs etc., understandably because gaining entry into these institutes would facilitate achieving their goal of becoming an engineer or management professional of top order. But the pity is, in their blind pursuit of joining the race, people fail to realise when some facilitating factor( getting admission to an Inst.) is turning into the goal itself ( becoming an engineer – although, I do not consider becoming an engineer can be anyone’s true goal in life ), thereby limiting all other wide possibilities of “ becoming” in life !! Very few are there who display the courage and true understanding as parents to encourage their kids to dance to a different drummer, if that be so required – to let the child discover her own true calling – to allow the child to decide if she would become just another face in the crowd or a face in the crowd !

Yes, I, too, felt sad to hear what the 11 yr old said. BUT … Guess what ! The next moment, I was inundated with a surge of happiness.

Hey, everything is not yet lost . There is still a lot of HOPE for this world of ours . Just think of what the 19 yr old remarked – how the 19yr old “thought” !!

Yes, if the 19 yr old could think with so much of clarity on “goal”, the difference between “ getting into IIT” and “ becoming an Engineer ” ; if the youth of her generation has started thinking with such discernment and meaningful insight, I am sure, in due course, these thinking minds will eventually know the difference between :

“ becoming an Engineer” and “ being able to Construct a Bridge ”

“ Constructing a Bridge” and “ being able to Connect geographical places”

“Connecting geographical places” and “being able to Connect people across geographical separation”

“ Connecting people and “being able to connect the hearts, minds and souls ”

It all boils down to knowing “what your goal is” and “ why you want that as your goal” (i.e. your ultimate purpose in life );

- above all, knowing the difference between the ecstacy of getting to the destination/goal ( connecting hearts, minds and souls )Vrs the joys n wonders of the journey itself ( getting into an IIT, becoming an Engineer, getting a fulfilling job, delivering value through projects and assignments that touch people’s lives !)

A lot of hope there , I swear ! Honestly, when we were 19 yrs old , we were never thoughtful and wise enough as today’s 19 yr olds !

Notwithstanding the negatives today, tomorrow will be really brighter and dazzling , and that’s what I truly believe.

LET HOPE permeate every life on this beautiful planet that we all live on !

Happiness

Optimism

Passion

Exploration

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PAUSE AND PONDER : SL. 3

PAUSE AND PONDER : 3

“There are some defeats more triumphant than victories .”

– Michel de Montaigne

SEQUEL TO PAUSE n PONDER 2

Sequel to Pause and Ponder sl no. 2

Please visit my last post first AND the comments, for reference, if you have not yet visited that.

A few days back, I received by email from my dear friend Veera, an inspirational story, which I am sharing below. I am amazed to discover how candidly and succinctly this real life story exemplifies what John Wooden might have tried to convey when he said “ Do not let what you can not do interfere with what you can do “. In fact, my own interpretation also leans heavily on this line of thinking, that advocates building on your strength and not letting your weak zone keep you blind to your strengths or too depressed to work on what you can. Most certainly, it does not say that you should not try the uncertain – that would amount to shifting the real focus of the thought from “ what you can” to “ what you can not”. It just says, do not bother too much if you can not do a few things – you still are endowed with unlimited potential and extra-ordinary talent in some other fields – try & find those out, work on those and be all that you can be, be all that you are here for !! And yes, it is most important to realize that it is not arrogance about our talents but an attitude of gratitude, which will awaken us to our true potentials through difficult times.

I am extremely thankful to my on-line friends for having pondered over this and brought out the perspectives from various angles. ( Hey, I find this way of blogging very interesting and very enriching as we get to benefit mutually when so many minds open up on a particular thought with new perspectives, newer dimensions!! Great. Further, as I am virtually hopping around now from place to place, and do not have the time for detailed posts ( I must admit, I can not write at lightening speed like some of my blogger friends do like Daphne, Middleway, Lifemadegreat etc. ); so this way, at least my blog won’t die !! Hence this PnP series. )

The Patrick Henry Hughes Story
[ Credit : Veera, my dear friend & Source of the story : simpletruths.com]

[ “The date was July 16, 2008. It was late in the afternoon and I was sitting in my hotel room in Louisville, Kentucky. I was scheduled to speak that evening for the Kentucky Association of School Administrators (KASA). I was a little "down in the dumps." I hadn't gotten to exercise lately because of my traveling schedule and recently I'd experienced some mild bouts of vertigo (that inner ear condition that can cause the room to start spinning.) You got it...speaking and "spinning" are not good partners!My keynote presentation was scheduled for 7:00 PM, but I had been invited to show up at 6:00 to see a performance they said I'd enjoy. Little did I know that I was about to see something I would never forget.They introduced the young musician.
Welcome...Mr. Patrick Henry Hughes. He was rolled onto the stage in his wheelchair, and began to play the piano. His fingers danced across the keys as he made beautiful music. NEW RELEASE:He then began to sing as he played, and it was even more beautiful. For some reason, however, I knew that I was seeing something special. There was this aura about him that I really can't explain and the smile...his smile was magic!About ten minutes into Patrick's performance, someone came on the stage and said..."I'd like to share a 7-minute video titled, The Patrick Henry Hughes story." And the lights went dim.Patrick Henry Hughes was born with no eyes, and a tightening of the joints which left him crippled for life. However, as a child, he was fitted with artificial eyes and placed in a wheelchair. Before his first birthday, he discovered the piano. His mom said, "I could hit any note on the piano, and within one or two tries, he'd get it." By his second birthday, he was playing requests (You Are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). His father was ecstatic. "We might not play baseball, but we can play music together."Today, Patrick is a junior at the University of Louisville. His father attends classes with him and he's made nearly all A's, with the exception of 3 B's He's also a part of the 214 member marching band. You read it right...the marching band! He's a blind, wheelchair-bound trumpet player; and he and his father do it together. They attend all the band practices and the half-time performance in front of thousands. His father rolls and rotates his son around the field to the cheers of Patrick's fans. In order to attend Patrick's classes and every band practice, his father works the graveyard shift at UPS. Patrick said..."My dad's my hero."But even more than his unbelievable musical talent, it was Patrick's "attitude of gratitude" that touched my soul. On stage, between songs, he would talk to the audience about his life and about how blessed he was. He said, "God made me blind and unable to walk. BIG DEAL! He gave me the ability...the musical gifts I have...the great opportunity to meet new people." When his performance was over, Patrick and his father were on the stage together. The crowd rose to their feet and cheered for over five minutes. It gave me giant goose bumps!My life was ready to meet Patrick Henry Hughes. I needed a hero, and I found one for the ages. If I live to be a hundred, I'll never forget that night, that smile, that music, but most importantly, that wonderful "attitude of gratitude."I returned to Chicago and shared Patrick's story with my wife, my friends, and our team at Simple Truths. About two weeks later, I received a letter from a friend. He said, "Mac, I don't know who said it, but I think you'll love this quote." "Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain!"I thought...that's it! We all face adversity in our life. However, it's not the adversity, but how we react to it that will determine the joy and happiness in our life. During tough times, do we spend too much time feeling sorry for ourselves, or, can we, with gratitude...learn how to dance in the rain?It almost sounds too simple to feel important, but one word...gratitude, can change your attitude, thus, your life, forever. Sarah Breathnack said it best..."When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present....we experience heaven on earth." ]



That’s it - do not focus too much on what is missing , what you are weak in, what you can not do …. ; Count your blessings, be grateful for what you have, what you are naturally talented in, what you can do … and give your best.

I strongly feel that if we get these perspectives clear - especially the younger generation in their formative stage- much of human despair and suffering can get converted to creative and constructive action. I love visualizing that world !!

PAUSE AND PONDER : sl. No. 2

PAUSE n PONDER

“ Do not let what you can not do interfere with what you can do . ”

John Wooden

Powerful thought , huh ??

What is your take on this ????

How often we waste our precious time, energy and resources on “fixing” or “ trying to prove otherwise” what we can not do , or to put it a little simpler, what we are naturally not wired for, in utter neglect of what we can, what we are naturally wired for ! Of course, that does not mean at all that we should be quick in quitting certain things assuming that we can not do this or do that . No, at times, we just know intuitively that we have a flair for doing certain things as against certain other things that we simply can not do to our satisfaction. And at other times, despite best of conscious & conscientious efforts, things just don’t work out giving enough indication that it’s not our cup of tea ; as against certain other things, that just come naturally to us and give us an “aha” feeling while doing them. Consciously watching out for these defining moments would have us gain insight into our true strengths and natural talents to build further on them and live a life of fulfilment. Focusing too much on our weaknesses would result in wasted opportunities for growth in our areas of strength. Wise people do not let that happen.

PAUSE N PONDER

Pause and Ponder
“You do not know who you are, until you encounter who you are not.”
( Sorry, can not give the credit as do not remember who exactly said it. )

I am deliberately withholding my own elaboration/interpretations for a reason.
I am sure, these words would have definitely created a lot of thought bubbles in your mind, if you have read so far.
PLEASE SHARE as comments .

OF BUMBLE BEES AND ELEPHANTS

Oh, that is a picture of the chocolates I had got for this New Year’s day. Just loved the funny bumble bee like wrappers with wings. Later at home, when I had a second look at these cute looking pieces, my mind started taking off ….

YES, there is a great message that bumble bees carry for all of us !

A bumble bee can fly (defying all laws of science as per which it should never be able to fly even an inch up) because it does not know that it can not fly . Forget about the fact that it’s flying capacity is very limited … just a little up the ground; but the fact remains that it flies !!

Contrast this with an elephant standing where it is with just a rope tied to a small little wooden pole, that it can very easily uproot and break free.

Forget about uprooting the pole and walking away, the elephant does not even try to pull out the pole because it knows (from past conditioning from childhood) that it can not do that. How ??

Elephants when they are very young are trained by their mahouts to stay at one place by tying them with thick ropes / iron chains to heavy beams or tree trunks. When the young elephant pulls to break free, it fails as it obviously can not move something like a big tree or a beam; soon it gets tired and gives up. Over a period of time, the mahout plays this trick using smaller trees and weaker poles and the elephant eventually believes that its attempts to pull out the pole will always fail. It merely gives up and stops even trying to break free whenever tied thereafter, irrespective of the size of the pole or chain.

Something similar happens with we human beings, too. People, who at tender age are too much protected or trained about what is possible and what is not, usually end up playing too safe as grown-ups, unwilling even to try out many of their goals and aspirations, as they somehow know that they can not ! Even at times, lessons we learn in our formal education which teach what can be done and what can not be done draw boundaries to our creativity and imagination. I wonder, would Thomas Edison have invented so many things , had he gone through the routine brainwashings of formal academics!! Well, not to suggest that education is bad – rather, each must appreciate what true education is . And to me, true education releases our ability to analyse, comprehend, put things to perspective and the infinite ability of one’s mind to open up beyond what has been taught .

Now coming back to my chocolates … err.. bumble bees …it occurs to me that, at times, it is much better not to know about your limitations … so that you do not limit what you can.

You limit what you can, if you think you know what you can not. Knowledge is power, no doubt about that. But do avoid this trap of knowledge !!

So, what would you like to be ?

A bumble bee

Or

A tied big elephant ( putting to shame all its might and intelligence ) staying tied to a weak pole

Or

A big elephant courageously ripping up the chains that are holding it down and

marching on into its own jungle of freedom !!

An advertisement by Nike reads as follows :

“All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you’re not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you’re the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM - YES.”

Everytime I read this ad, I feel a surge of renewed vigour and belief in myself. And now these bumble bee chocolates !!