Success That Lasts

Shatru & Nirav

(ITM-XMBA-Batch#41)

What is Success ?
Dictionary : The accomplishment of an aim or purpose

How do you define success?

Sustaining success is it possible?

Are you really a successful if you achieve one or many of :
Material/emotional/spiritual/relations/achievement/ status all these ingredients for success that last?

How much is JUST ENOUGH to know that you have achieved?

Laura Nash & Howard Stevenson

Laura Nash & Howard Stevenson published a book on their research Just Enough : Tools for Creating Success in Your Work & Life.

In that they try to suggest 4 essential components/ingredients for a holistic approach for building enduring success

 Happiness

Significance

Success

Success

Success

Success

Achievement

Legacy

Kaleidoscope Strategy
Laura and Howard suggested a model to achieve same whether it is at personal level or at business/organization level : Kaleidoscope Strategy What is Kaleidoscope? How it can be adopted for above 4 ingredients?

Kaleidoscope
An optical instrument in which bits of glass, held loosely at the end of a rotating tube, are shown in continually changing symmetrical forms by reflections in two or more mirrors set an angle to each other.

Kaleidoscope Strategy for Yourself

Just like a kaleidoscope, you have to hold this pattern up to the light. By regularly assessing the picture you are creating in all four chambers, you can quickly spot holesplaces you feel require more attentionin your activities and be assured that you are justified in interrupting other work to attend to them.

Kaleidoscope Strategy for Business

Businesses prosper when they enable individuals and society to achieve all four categories of enduring success Companies that take responsibility for teaching their employees to pursue the four categories of success and to develop their switching and linking skills their ability to shift focus quickly from one task to another- will create the conditions for commitment, happiness, satisfaction, and continuity in their organizations.

Kaleidoscope Strategy for Business

To determine how well your business is performing in the four categories of success, consider the following tests: Happiness. Does your corporate culture allow employees to let down their guard and enjoy the momentboth individually and collectively? Achievement. Are your financial victories the reward for genuine mastery of important new problems or a numbers game with no real results? Significance. Does your product or service create real value for others? Legacy. Are you preparing the organization for the next generation of success by investing in people, innovation, customer needs, and systems?

A good place to work is no accident but Googlers are allowed to slip now and then. It is part of the 'Googliness' that all employees must have in their DNA "Failure is encouraged here," software engineer Deepak Raghuwanshi says. He recounted that learnings from misses in product development to bad canteen food are taken up with equal amount of participation. "It feels like working in a start-up where there are no boundaries and the mission is to have one Google moment a day," says Rajan Anandan, VP, India Sales & Operations. "We are obsessed with the user," says Kiran Bapna, Senior Manager, New Business Development. She was unsure if she could continue working after bearing twins but was asked to set her own pace. "It was very different to be allowed to work in any team you want, ask for role changes, which may stretch to other geographies," says Raghuvanshi The recruitment process is being shortened and the task is to think local and go beyond search, says Sunil Malik, HR head of Google India. "The well-rounded and adaptable ones are more welcome than those who may be experts but cannot work in a team," he says.
Source : Economic Times : Best Companies To Work For 2011 in India

"There are no right or wrong answers in our interviews, it depends on the situation," R Anish, HR Director of South Asia, Intel, says. The interviewee is given case studies and gauged on how he would react to that situation. A foot inside Intel is not the result of mastery over the art of making motherboards. Adaptability, openness and an ability to speak in acronyms is a must. At every stage, there are focus group discussions. 'Anubhava', a programme where managers they share their 'Best Known Methods' every quarter CAIR (Careers At Intel Realised), where employees are provided with resources, tools and support to work on areas they are passionate about. Some, for instance, are seen solving math problems on online tutorials for their colleagues' children. 'Arambh' bring in the new employees to Intel with all the paraphernalia intact, including setting up their workstations All managers are made to interact with the newcomers who get to know their company and its brass on the very first day. Peer recognition : 'well-done mail' from the global head had been once sent to a worker for helping a newbie settle in with her new BlackBerry. During the slowdown, Intel gave a cheque of $1,000 to every employee. "Getting the right talent on board who want to hone their technological and leadership skills instead of changing jobs, is a task," says Praveen Vishakantaiah, President, Intel India.

Source : Economic Times : Best Companies To Work For 2011 in India

A line of business heads come up with revenue projections for the subsequent year, which is then given to finance for compilation and vetting. "This ensures a lot of ownership of KRAs," points out Rohit Hasteer, Head of HR at the Rs 274.50-crore travel node. And ownership, as Founder-CEO Deep Kalra firmly believes, cannot happen without fun at work. "If you're having fun, you'll give more," he says, rattling off a clutch of fun-filled activities in the company that makes it a buoyant workplace. Autonomy is the fulcrum that steers the ship at makemytrip. Take the case of the 32-year-old Venkatesh Chennaraj. I'm an entrepreneur managing a Rs 20 crore business without any interference," he says. With a $4 million acquisition in Singapore and more in the pipeline, the company is also flanking itself out, empowering its workforce to manage such centers "Not very many websites do 2,000 transactions a day and in the online product space, it is rare for a 20-something to run the business, which happens only here," points out Chief Products Officer Amit Somani.
Source : Economic Times : Best Companies To Work For 2011 in India

Conclusion : Getting to JUST ENOUGH for enduring success leading Nirvana

If you have a firm idea of the big picture in your kaleidoscope of success, it becomes easier to determine and appreciate enough in any one activity. Without losing your energy for high aspirations, you set reachable goals. Just enough is the antidote to societys addiction to the infinite more. It is a Journey When defining your success, remember this important thing. Success is a journey. It has multiple peaks and not one ultimate pinnacle. One success builds on another. Setbacks and mistake will also help you build success. At different periods of your life, success is defined differently.

Reference
Success that Lasts by Laura Nash & Howard Stevenson, HBR Economic Times : Best Companies To Work For 2011 in India