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A manager is responsible for the application and performance of knowledge. Accept the fact that we have to treat almost anybody as a volunteer. Business, that's easily defined - it's other people's money. Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information. Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got. Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes. Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs. Few companies that installed computers to reduce the employment of clerks have realized their expectations... They now need more, and more expensive clerks even though they

Gandhi : The Accidental Leader Take one of the most charismatic individuals of the twentieth century: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. (Mahatma, meaning “great soul,” was an honorific title he acquired.) Gandhi led an extraordinary life, fusing the ascetic ideals of the ancient Hindu religion and culture with some revolutionary ideas for generating political change through satyagraha: “force born of truth and love or nonviolence.”His efforts were successful in mobilizing the Indian population of South Africa and then in leading the entire Indian nation to independence. His example, preaching truth and nonviolence, inspired leaders in many countries around the world to emulate his example. When he was assassinated in 1948, practically the whole world mourned him. He was compared to Socrates, to Buddha, to Jesus and St. Francis of Assisi.His life has been the subject of hundreds of biographies. Jawaharlal Nehru has written: “No man can write a real life of Gandhi, unless he is as a big as Gan

Throughout history, wars have left an indelible mark on human psyche. Serious debates have been held on the morality of and the strategic necessity for war. And yet, like every dark cloud that has a silver lining, wars too at times leave a society wiser. India is no stranger to wars. And there are many lessons to be learnt from each of those battles -- management lessons, to be precise. Here we present the fourth in a series of articles on management lessons drawn from Indian history. This one looks at the Battle of Plassey. Read on. . . The Battle of Plassey (1757 AD) Mir Jafar, alias Sayyid Mir Muhammed Jafar Ali Khan, is to India's history what Benedict Arnold is to that of the United States. Mir Jafar came to Bengal as a traveller and took up a job in the army of Ali Vardi Khan, then Nawab of Murshidabad (near Kolkata). He fought many successful battles for the Nawab. This earned him a promotion and his career saw a meteoric rise under Khan. Apart from showering many favours on

1. Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind. 2. The color of the object illuminated partakes of the color of that which illuminates it. 3. He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss. 4. A good painter has two main objects to paint, man and the intention of his soul. The former is easy, the latter hard as he has to represent it by the attitude and movement of the limbs. 5. Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. 6. One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. 7. Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master. 8. Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. 9. You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand. 10. Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer sin

Behind a three-storey white house in this village north of Paris, a rickety garden table, its top painted red, is preserved from the elements in a glass cage. Battered and scarred, it is one of the world's best known pieces of furniture, immortalised in Vincent van Gogh's portrait of Dr Paul Gachet, the most expensive painting ever sold. Now Gachet's house and gardens have been opened to the public to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Van Gogh's birth, a key event in the multi-million-pound industry surrounding the penniless Dutch painter. Gachet posed for two near-identical portraits. One now belong to Paris's Musée d'Orsay and the other to a Japanese businessman who paid $82 million (£51.5m) for the version in which yellow books obscure much of the table top. A few days after the paintings were completed, Gachet was called toVan Gogh's bedside as he lay dying at the village's Auberge Ravoux from a self-inflicted bullet wound. Yet Auvers was until rece

When Albert Einstein was making the rounds of the speaker's circuit, he usually found himself eagerly longing to get back to his laboratory work. One night as they were driving to yet another rubber-chicken dinner, Einstein mentioned to his chauffeur (a man who somewhat resembled Einstein in looks & manner) that he was tired of speechmaking. "I have and idea, boss," his chauffeur said. "I've heard you give this speech so many times. I'll bet I could give it for you." Einstein laughed loudly and said, "Why not? Let's do it!" When they arrive at the dinner, Einstein donned the chauffeur's cap and jacket and sat in the back of the room. The chauffeur gave a beautiful rendition of Einstein's speech and even answered a few questions expertly. Then a supremely pompous professor ask an extremely esoteric question about anti-matter formation, digressing here and there to let everyone in the audience know that he was nobody's fool. W

"When you are in the valley, keep your goal firmly in view and you will get the renewed energy to continue the climb." - Denis Waitley " Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them, for they’re always there." - Norman Vincent Peale "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." - Nelson Mandela "Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results." - James Allen "You can give in to the failure messages and be a bitter deadbeat of excuses. Or you can choose to be happy and positive and excited about life." - A.L. Williams "Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success." - Dr. Joyce Brothers "Very often a chan