So,How about Some POSITIVE THINKING!!!!!!!!!

Read this, and let it really sink in.................. Then, choose how you start your day tomorrow...

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.
The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.
I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes, it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."
I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.
I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live.""Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man.'
I knew I needed to take action." " What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

Positive thinking the the first step towards a happy life.
Attitude is everything
If everyone applies just these, the whole world will live in happiness and would be better able to pursue their DREAMZ!!!!Have a nice day.

Note:Sources internet.

A Million Dollar Lesson

A cab driver taught me a million dollar lesson in customer satisfaction and expectation. Motivational speakers charge thousands of dollars to impart his kind of training to corporate executives and staff. It cost me a $12 taxi ride. I had flown into Dallas for the sole purpose of calling on a client. Time was of the essence and my plan included a quick turnaround trip from and back to the airport. A spotless cab pulled up.
The driver rushed to open the passenger door for me and made sure I was comfortably seated before he closed the door. As he got in the driver's seat, he mentioned that the neatly folded Wall Street Journal next to me for my use. He then showed me several tapes and asked me what type of music I would enjoy.
Well! I looked around for a "Candid Camera!" Wouldn't you? I could not believe the service I was receiving! I took the opportunity to say, "Obviously you take great pride in your work. You must have a story to tell." "You bet," he replied, "I used to be in Corporate America. But I got tired of thinking my best would never be good enough. I decided to find my niche in life where I could feel proud of being the best I could be.
I knew I would never be a rocket scientist, but I love driving cars, being of service and feeling like I have done a full day's work and done it well. I evaluate my personal assets and... wham! I became a cab driver.
One thing I know for sure, to be good in my business I could simply just meet the expectations of my passengers. But, to be GREAT in my business, I have to EXCEED the customer's expectations! I like both the sound and the return of being 'great' better than just getting by on 'average'" Did I tip him big time? You bet! Corporate America's loss is the traveling folk's friend! -----
Lessons:
Go an Extra Mile when providing any Service to others.
The is no good or bad job. You can make any job good.
Good service always brings good return.

Note: Sources internet.

Thought of The Day

‎"If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed. The vision pulls you." - Steve Jobss

Sudha Murthy's Article - A Must Read

It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of Science.
I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a Doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from Universities in the US ... I had not thought of taking up a job in India .
One day, while on the way to my hostel from our Lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco (now Tata Motors).... It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.
At the bottom was a small line: 'Lady Candidates need Not apply.'
I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination. Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers... Little did I know then that in real life academic Excellence is not enough to be successful?
After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in Newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then) I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing.. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote.'The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India , such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives they have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender.' I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel-mate told me, I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap!

I collected Rs30 each from everyone who wanted a sari when I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.

It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city. To this day it remains dear to me.. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways. As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview. There were six people on the panel and I realized then that this was serious business. 'This is the girl who wrote to JRD,' I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. The realization abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, 'I hope this is only a technical interview.' They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude. The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them.

Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, 'Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-Ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories.

I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place. I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, 'But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories.'

Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.

It was only after joining Telco that I realized who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry.. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM.. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House (the Tata headquarters) when, suddenly JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. This was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, 'Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate. She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor.' JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it). Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. 'It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?'

'When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir,' I replied. 'Now I am Sudha Murthy.' He smiled kindly and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.

After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.

One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise, I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard.

Looking back, I realize JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.

'Young lady, why are you here?' he asked. 'Office time is over.' I said, 'Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up.' JRD said, 'It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor. I'll wait with you till your husband comes..'I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable. I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing.. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, 'Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee.'

Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, 'Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again.' In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused. Gently, he said, 'So what are you doing, Mrs. Kulkarni?' (That was the way he always addressed me..) 'Sir, I am leaving Telco.'

'Where are you going?' he asked. 'Pune, Sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune..'

'Oh! And what will you do when you are successful.'

'Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful.' 'Never start with diffidence,' he advised me always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. Wish you all the best.'Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.

Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, 'It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today.'
I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters everyday. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.

Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and magnificence. (Sudha Murthy is a widely published writer and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation involved in a number of social development initiatives. Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy is her husband.)

sourced : Lasting Legacies (Tata Review- Special Commemorative Issue 2004), brought out by the house of Tatas to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of JRD Tata on July 29,2004.

A Good Speech:"Writing for CEOs"

Presented by James L.Horton

Jim Horton developed and maintains www.online-pr.com to help public relations and marketing professionals serve clients better, faster and less expensively. He is a principal at Robert Marston And Associates where he serves clients in corporate communications and Internet/online public relations. He has crossed between high tech and corporate/financial relations for his 25+-year career, and he has been an educator in both fields.

What is a good speech? A good speech moves an audience where a speaker wants it to go. Style is not important nor the length nor the parts of the speech, but results are. There are many kinds of speeches and many speakers, some articulate and some barely able to deliver coherent sentences. Both can deliver a good speech, as long as they focus on its purpose and strive to achieve the purpose in the minds and hearts of an audience.

One of the more effective speeches I can recall was delivered decades ago at a high school graduation. In my fading memory, the speaker was one of the wealthiest of cattlemen in South Sacramento County, California, a man who owned square miles of land on which he ran beef. This fellow came to the podium after speeches from a number of educators, politicians and the valedictorian. His remarks were along this line: There have been plenty of speeches already. It’s time to hand out diplomas. And, that’s what he did to the relief of those of us who had heard too much rhetoric already about the potential of the graduating class.

As Aristotle wrote in 350 BC, Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion. (Book 1, Part 2). The cattleman persuaded me that his point of view was correct as he started to call names. He understood Aristotle’s idea. How one persuades is at the core of good speeches. Aristotle was partial to a logical approach – a dialectic. He scorned sophists who believed emotional appeals were all that mattered. The arousing of prejudice, pity, anger, and similar emotions has nothing to do with the essential facts, but is merely a personal appeal to the man who is judging the case.(Book 1, Part 1) Aristotle would be uncomfortable with much of what passes for speaking today, as would Plato and Cicero who held the same views. To them, speaking had a moral component, a search for truth, that offsets showmanship. They would recognize and be uncomfortable with orators who are good entertainers, but not necessarily effective speakers.

The measure of a good speech is its effect on individuals comprising an audience. That is certainly true for CEOs who almost always speak for a purpose.

Harvard professor Edward T. Channing, Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory from 1819 to 1851, summed rhetoric in this way: …a body of rules derived from experience and observation, extending to all communication by language and designed to make it efficient. Good speeches, in other words, are efficient communications. They achieve an end with a minimum of wasted energy. Few speeches should be entertaining for the sole purpose of amusing an audience. Some are long because an audience needs to be brought step-by-step to the point of persuasion. Some are short because an audience is persuaded but needs motivation. Some are emotional like memorials, to raise the identification of an audience with a person or event. Most are a mix of logic and emotion to carry an audience with the speaker.

"A key skill of a speaker lies in knowing where the sentiment of individuals in an audience is at any given moment. Content is what a speechwriter is usually concerned with when writing. But content does not exist by itself. Content exists in a relationship between audience and speaker. A hostile audience and a poor speaker are a disastrous pairing, no matter the value of content nor written expression of it. It follows then that the two most important tasks of the speechwriter, even more than creating content to be delivered, is to understand the audience and speaker. A speechwriter should seek answers to a number of questions about the audience. Who are these people? What do they think, if anything, about the topic to be discussed? What are their backgrounds and cultures? Why are they listening to this speech? How does one reach them effectively? Sadly, it is often difficult, even in an internet age to get satisfactory answers, so one writes a generic speech for a generic audience. And, it sounds like it. A disciplined speechwriter interviews members of the future audience, observes earlier speeches given to the audience, listens to individuals’ comments and more. When a speechwriter knows an audience, the type of speech and preparation suggest themselves."

CEO speakers run the gamut from excellent to awful. Some are comfortable in front of a crowd and others shrink in fear at the thought of standing alone in front of a sea of eyes staring at them. Some believe themselves to be good speakers when they aren’t and poor speakers when they are effective. Some know what they want to say and some don’t. I recall one CEO who fancied himself a philosopher and speaker and who did not have the gift of knowing when to sit down. He was notorious for delivering lengthy speeches that were filled with references to various thinkers to prove tedious points late at night after long dinners to tired executives. Then, he wanted the speeches published somewhere. (We were never successful at this.) Another CEO was terrified for much of his career to speak in front of audiences but was, by all accounts, compelling in one-on-one encounters. He was best at being himself and carrying on a conversation. A CEO’s conviction is as important as words the CEO articulates. An audience doesn’t just listen but looks at the whole person and what that person communicates through expression, body movement and confidence – or lack of it. That is why it is important to place words in a CEO’s mouth that a CEO is likely to say in a way the CEO expresses ideas. There is no cognitive dissonance for the CEO and none for the audience that observes the CEO. This, however, can lead to a condition of saying the same things repeatedly. There are CEOs who use phrases like Buddhist mantras. They say the same statements so often that one gets bored writing them and wonders whether audiences are bored hearing them. However, leaders, like parents, know humans don’t hear things the first time or even the third or fourth or fifth time. One has to say the same things over and over until individuals pattern behavior after it. Variability is interesting, but it confuses audiences. CEOs know that even small changes in the way they present concepts can lead to major and unintended shifts on the part of confused employees. (Murphy’s Law applies to speaking as it does to just about everything else.) While an audience dictates how one delivers a speech, a speaker sets parameters of what one can and should say to ensure an effective speech. One can media train CEOs to help their delivery. It assists some in getting over nerves. It improves the mechanics of others, but the make-up of some CEOs resists anything related to effectiveness. With these CEOs, one wishes for adequacy, not mastery. Still, it is better to work with CEOs who know they are bad speakers when they are willing to work on delivery. They are open-minded and less caught up in themselves and their work. A speechwriter learns a CEO intimately and studies a CEO’s delivery and mannerisms. Are there words and concepts the CEO dislikes? Are there sounds the CEO cannot pronounce well? (The current President Bush is vocally challenged by his West Texas accent and often ridiculed.) A speechwriter writes for positive aspects of a person’s speaking style and around elements likely to create problems. Fantasies of developing ringing mnemonic phrases that crystallize a CEO’s thoughts may be just that. Some CEOs have no gift for delivering mnemonic phrases and their plodding delivery all but ruins intent and effect. If a CEO is comfortable with a pedestrian style, that is what a speechwriter should provide – as long as the CEO keeps the audience in tow. Such speeches might not look good in a portfolio, but the key is whether they were effective. In my own speechwriting, I follow one rule. Keep it short. Expose an idea, defend it and motivate the audience quickly, then get off the stage. However, this rule has limits. For CEOs who can indeed charm audiences, asking them to leave the stage quickly is a disservice to the CEOs and their audiences.

"Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan had an orator’s gift, and they often wrote their own speeches because they knew what worked for them. So too did Cicero, one of the greatest orators of ancient times." (The idea that a speaker has a writer to assist him would have horrified Cicero. Few CEOs are gifted writers and fewer still have time to pen speeches. Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is one of the most widely quoted of CEOs for his blunt but humorous style. More, however, are like a CEO I once served. He fancied himself a writer, but he couldn’t get past commas and semicolons to the intent of the text. He would agonize over words and sentence parts to the distraction of his staff and those trying to get a project done. The majority of CEOs, however, are likely to take what is given to them, make a few tweaks and deliver the speech without thinking much about it. To use a management term, they satisfice. They have better things to do than discuss subtleties of communications with a speechwriter. It is up to the speechwriter to take care of fine points before a CEO ever sees a speech. The importance of a speech dictates preparation. Not all speeches are equal. A CEO might need to give a ceremonial talk to a group of employees who have just reached five years service then deliver a justification for a business strategy to directors and shareholders. While one speech can be impromptu, jocular and homey, the other had better be buttressed with evidence. A speechwriter may supply material for both speeches. In the former case, the speechwriter might list a few bullet points on an index card for the CEO. In the latter case, the speechwriter might work for days with the CFO, the strategic planner and others to fine-tune a document. For a busy speechwriter, it is a question of time management, especially if the writer is serving more executives than the CEO. How does a CEO, or speechwriter, know if a speech has hit its mark? Surprisingly, this is not easy. Most of the time one has to listen to the audience surreptitiously to gauge how a speech has been received. Asking an audience to fill out surveys is practical only in a few cases.

More than likely, one won’t know whether a speech has been well received until days later. Early opinions are often kind but not truthful. Realistic assessments filter in. In ancient times, the result of a speech was a vote for or against the speaker or his proposal. Feedback was instantaneous. Today, a speech is one communication among others: It rarely decides the fate of anything. It is part of a larger act of persuasion. One looks for feedback that indicates a positive regard for what a CEO had to say, if not a change in behavior. Positive regard is a first step in changing behavior.

There are rules for how to structure a good speech, but rules bend to an audience because an audience and the final state of mind of its individuals are what one is attempting to influence. A CEO can speak daringly to someaudiences but not to others. A CEO can be informal with some individuals but must be conservative with others. There is a time for ringing phrases, a time for blunt language, a time for humor and a time for audience interaction. There are guidelines one should consider when writing a speech. The first is to talk to an audience’s level. For an audience that understands a topic well, starting in media res is OK. For an audience that doesn’t understand an issue, the old rule of “Tell them what you are going to tell them. Tell them. Tell them what you told them,” is effective. For all audiences, showing is better than telling because eyes have primacy over ears, but numerous and tedious PowerPoint slides are tiring and defeat the purpose of what one is trying to do. Showing can be telling when one writes for the ear and paints a picture of what one is trying to say. However, this can be deadly if a speaker does not have the skill or energy to deliver such a speech well. Studying ancient rhetoric is useful in learning options one has in presenting and illustrating ideas, but using rhetorical principles without judgment is dangerous. As Aristotle said, one must have the “faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion.”

The speechwriter who is unable to do that is of little value to a CEO. Good speeches are never written in vacuums. They fit a place, time, a speakerand audience. Few speeches or speakers ever rise above audiences they persuade at a given moment in time. Speechwriting, therefore, is mostly a practical craft and not one of poetry or expression. Only a few speakers are remembered from any generation for their ability to rise above place and time and to speak across them both. Rarely are CEOs ever called upon to do that.

Note-We can learn something more aout James L.Horton and his work at http://www.online-pr.com/bio.htm .Thanks for reading!!!!!