The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow

This was one of the first videos to have gone viral long before the word went viral. I remember seeing the video, all one hour plus of it and being riveted at the message given by Randy Pausch, an accomplished computer science professor, in his final days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The lecture was part of a 'Last Lecture' series organised in Carnegie Mellon by Profs who were retiring - Randy's was also one - in different circumstances.

The lecture was  was titled 'Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams'. Randy's and Jai's three children were aged between eighteen months and seven years so it was also his message to them. The book goes through his Last Lecture and how he prepared and gave it despite many constraints, stories about his childhood and his dreams and how they came true. how he enabled the dreams of others. There are many life lessons that he shares - his insights into how things work.

As you read the book you realise how this passionate young man who convinced his parents to draw stuff on the walls of his room - and then filled them up with interesting questions and thoughts - accomplished much. His dream of floating in space, being in the book his father used to buy for him, meeting William Shatner his hero from Star Wars, or working in Disney's Imageering team were some of his childhood dreams that came true. I loved the story of how he says his father spent close to 100000 USD on Disney trips simply because someone in Disney was kind to his children who broke a salt and pepper shaker they had bought for him and replaced it for free (customer service has its benefits). Little nuggets like the stuff about Thank You notes, about how to get attention (he did by breaking a VCR). Or the advise on people "In the end people will show you their good side. Just keep waiting." Or even what his female colleague told him about her insight on men "When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, its really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do." Or "Don't complain, just work harder", or "Treat the Disease not the symptom", or showing gratitude to his team of fifteen by taking them on a trip to Disney World for a week or "Tell the truth" or "Get in touch with your crayons".

Lovely stuff. Nice easy read. Makes me want to watch his Last Lecture again. 

The Bridge on the River Kwai - Movie Review

Once again goes to prove that great movies, great stories suck you in. All I needed to do was watch one scene and I ended up watching the whole movie. 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' has childhood memories and I wondered how differently I watched movies then and how I view them now. Then, all I remembered was some war scenes and the bridge being blown up. Now I can see all the nuances of human drama and human conflict at all levels.

Colonel Saito of the Japanese army commands British prisoners of war to work on the building of a bridge irrespective of rank. Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson of the British army cites the Geneva convention and refuses to work despite the harshest punishment. Realising that the bridge will never be made if the Colonel does not have his way Colonel Saito agrees to his terms much against his wishes (he breaks down in private at his surrender to his own prisoners). The Britisher then embarks on building the best bridge possible (instead of the worst bridge as one would think) to keep the morale of his troops up and also to show what they are capable of. So involved does he get that he forgets whose side he is on and actually stops the team of British and American soldiers who have been sent to blow up the bridge, killing all of them except one. In a moment of realisation when he understands what he has done Colonel Nicholson finds himself shot and falls on the contraption that blows up the bridge.

It's not a real story like I thought it was. The screenwriters Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson were blacklisted by Hollywood so they wrote it in secret and when it won an Academy Award, Pierre Boulle (a French novelist who did not speak English) and who was the novelist of the book on which the film was made, received the award. Years later both Foreman and Wilson received the award posthumously.

America has its share of rotten secrets like the blacklisting of writers. Anyway, enough drama within and without. Alec Guinness as Colonel Nicholson, William Holden as Commander Shears are perfect.

Talk at the Institute of Public Enterprise - January 12, 2017

Prof. Narendranath Menon remains one of our favorite Profs from our MBA days at the Osmania University College of Commerce and Business Management (1989-91). Prof. Menon is still the same, hasn't aged seemingly, has that restless gait, a mischievous grin and an air of sharp intelligence around him. He is also the kind who remembers things and people simply because he is thoughtful enough and pays attention and I was glad he remembered me after all these years.  After we renewed contact at our Alumni meet he was kind enough to invite me over to speak at the IPE where he now teaches. The IPE is a huge, handsome building right opposite NALSAR in Shameerpet and I loved the campus and the building.

Me and prof. Narendranath Menon - This is where it started

I wanted to share the concept of the 'Mindset' with the students because I think it helps a lot at this stage on their career to be aware of the learning mindset and the fixed mindset. And thereon create a path based on growth and learning.

The speech flowed in this fashion

Life - Pre-Mindset and Post- Mindset
That my life has been pre-mindset and post-mindset and so could theirs.

In the pre-mindset stage we have the following questions
1) How to succeed?
2) Are we are good enough? and
3) If we are not good enough, is there any way we can become good enough.

Do we have the intelligence and the talent to make it big? To achieve the life we are scared of dreaming up for ourselves?

Its a frustrating experience to not know the answers while we struggle along. And when we are at the end of our academic career almost.

The Mindset answers these questions and shows an empowering way out of this confusion.  It shows a clear path to the chap at the bottom of the class to outperform those who are leading the pack today.

My Story - Fixed Mindset and Failure
I shared my cricketing story. Of how I walked the path to be a first class cricketer rather easily and then lost my way at the final hurdle. The things that had stood me in good stead - a good coach and mentor, a good peer group, a good work ethic - were abandoned and my performance dipped. Instead of seeking answers and correcting myself I slowly sabotaged my career even before it began. End of story. The wrong mindset is purely to blame. Not politics as a lot of people think.

How The Mindset Could Have saved Me - And Can Save The Students Now
"The Mindset - A New Psychology of Winning" by Dr. Carol Dweck opened my eyes to what I had missed. I had been infected by the Fixed Mindset (thoughts that I could not ask for help or work hard because I was 'talented' or because I was 'supposed to know') so much that I could not seek help when I knew I badly needed it. If I had adopted the learning mindset I could have rectified the debilitating mistake in one hour with a good coach. I could have then worked hard at it with the new guidance and recovered lost ground. What could have been set right in a session or a month cost me an entire career. As simple as that - what had come in the way was my belief that I 'should know' and hence 'I will not ask'. Also that since I am 'talented' I cannot not know such basic issues. And if I am talented I should not be working hard because talented people do not work hard.

Highlights of The Mindset
Intelligence grows as you use it. So don't paint yourself into a corner based on your performance now.

A failure is not the end of the world. It is a blip in a long journey you have ahead of you. All growth comes through failures anyway so don't worry about one failure. (However try not to make the same mistake twice. Make new mistakes which is a sign of growth. Making the same old mistakes shows that you are not learning.)

The key to success is: hard work + growth oriented learning.

The Fixed Mindset
Let's consider the The Fixed Mindset.

• A desire to look smart (Smart here is defined as doing things easily, the short cut seekers who believe they can show up and things get done easily by mere attitude or posturing. In our mind the hero is someone who walks in simply and scores the perfect ten, hits a hundred, saves the world - easily. So we mistakenly assume that's how it is done - easily. However what we miss is the fact that it is the result of hard work over the years. The heroes work very hard behind the scenes. Even the hero would have failed in his first attempt.)
• By making such wrong connections, the Fixed Mindset person believes that hard work is pointless - definitely not for talented people like him or her.
• Lack of effort leads to failure at a higher standard. 
• Repeated failure and dropping performances at higher levels makes the person avoid bigger challenges and give up easily. 
• This reflects in compromised ability, stagnation and even regression in skill, mental and physical capability. 
• Gets defensive when pointed mistakes are out and ignores feedback.
• This person is likely to get jealous of others success. 
• The Fixed Mindset is about knowing the answers and showing how much he knows.

In the end, due to lack of a correcting mechanism, lack of purposeful, growth oriented effort the person fails to achieve his potential.

The Learning Mindset or the Growth Mindset
On the other hand the growth or learning mindset is highly empowering.

• Here the person has no desire to prove that he is smart - the only desire is to learn. He has no desire to say he knows everything. 
• He believes in effort, and not fancy words like intelligence and talent. When the results are not to satisfaction he will work doubly hard.
• Since he works hard at his work, he loves challenges and likes to test his learning. 
• He loves taking tougher challenges and grappling with them. How-far-can-I-go is his mindset and not how-will-I-look-to-the-others-if-I-fail.
• The Learning Mindset people persist in the face of setbacks because they are keen to know how to crack the problem. 
• This allows them to seek help to improve from any source, including competitors, without any ego issues. 
• They learn from all criticism, from those who are doing better than themselves. 
• They take lessons and inspiration from others and in the end do better than their potential

The learning mindset is about questions and increasing the limits of learning.

The learning mindset allows you to say you don;t know what you do not know and know what you know. The moment you say you do not know you buy yourself a lot of freedom to learn. All you need to do is say I do not know and the world is ready to help you. You can ask anyone.

The Growth Mindset is about hard work, high standards and equipping oneself with the right tools to handle the process.
This is their biggest strength. they do not hide their shortcomings.

How To Change from Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset

• Ask for help
• Learn the process
• Do small acts that change things
• Get mentors and coaches
• Get over the-world-owes-me and denial (that you don't know)
• Play against better players
• Set high standards
• Don't give up and instead make small progress daily
• Find something harder to do when things are achieved easily.

The guy at the end of the line can slowly worm his way up the chain.
Success is a given for someone with this attitude and who puts in the effort. Clearly there is no escape from effort. But effort that is filled with learning makes the ride enjoyable - its no effort at all.

I left them with a thought - to look at themselves like a product, to price themselves based on their value, to position themselves and to promote themselves. If possible I would love to do the workshop for them on the 4 Ps that will help them gain more clarity in that process. The idea for me is to create secure people who can then easily become secure leaders.

Good luck then, students of the IPE. I would love to come back to the campus and interact with you all in a more relaxed manner. Thank you Prof. Narendranath Menon and hope to see you soon.

Nice Link - Virat Kohli's Interview

Anything Dhoni or Kohli say is worth its weight in gold.
http://www.rediff.com/cricket/report/the-secrets-of-virat-kohlis-success-england-tour-india/20170116.htm

Nice Talk - Unwavering Focus by Dandapani at TEDx Reno

TEDx Reno
Unwavering Focus - Dandapani

• Practice concentration
• Don't simply tell others to concentrate harder, show them how to do it
• If the mind has many areas or segments, awareness is like an orb of light that focuses your mind on any segment it chooses
• All you need to do it practice how to focus your awareness for longer and you will manifest what you want
• To teach your children how to concentrate, first learn to concentrate and they will copy you

Chinatown - Movie Review

The much acclaimed 1974 movie starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, not to forget the centre of evil John Huston, is as good as it gets. I have not seen a more evil character than Huston in movies and I get what Robert McKee says - greatness is found in the writer's treatment of the negative side. The movie runs through so many plots, layers and characters and is always ahead of you which keeps you glued to the end.

It starts with a bang as all good things do. A lady hires a detective Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) to investigate her husband who is philandering. Gittes gets her pictures of the husband, who is incidentally the Chief Engineer of the Water Works department, and the girl. The pictures promptly get into the newspapers. Another woman Evelyn (Faye Dunaway) comes to Gittes and tells him that she is the real wife of the Chief Engineer and she will sue Gittes for dragging her husband's name through mud. Gittes realises he has been taken for a ride. He finds the Chief Engineer dead before he can meet him - drowned in a lake - likely suicide after the public humiliation. Soon Gittes figures that there is more to the story than he thought - the water is being let out to select parts of the valley while drought like situations continue in some, Evelyn is the daughter of John Cross an influential man who owns the water department and who seems to make Evelyn nervous. That the Chief Engineer was Cross's partner. While putting the pieces together he finds that Evelyn is actually taking care of the Chief Engineer's supposed lover, that Cross wants to pay a huge sum for Gittes to trace that girl. To make things worse Gittes and Evelyn get involved. Cross is also seemingly the beneficiary of the water department's plans.

The ending is something I have not seen or imagined ever, as layer after layer peels away and you are left stunned at the complicity of it all and the  injustice of it all. 'Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown' sums it all up. It's also life at its unjust best.

Hotel - Arthur Hailey

Finally an Arthur Hailey book. I never read his books, mainly because I was intimidated by their size and the seriousness of the titles. But I knew he was a great storyteller and heard from people around me who were great fans of his work. So when I saw the book at Mythily's house I just had to pick it up.

It's a racy story. Peter McDermott is the young AGM of Hotel St. Gregory in New Orleans (of which we get some history too) which is slowly going down. He starts the proceedings with a love interest Christine, a co worker, one fine day. An old customer falls seriously ill, there's a rape attempt in an orgy, a VVIP customer is in trouble, there are thieving employees, a takeover tycoon and his mistress, a creaky lift hanging by a thread, a professional thief, a customer who falls in love with the AGM (history), a dentist's convention that is almost called off because of a racist issue, a hit and run case - enough to keep it going for 400 pages I guess. Love, sex, violence, intrigue, conspiracy, dishonesty, strong characters - all played out in the crucible of the hotel. Some things can be seen a long way ahead  like the romance between Peter and Christine and the distraction with Marsha. In the end the author plays god and delivers his brand of justice.

Like all Arthur Hailey readers say - he takes us into a specific setting and we know all about it by the end. So now I have a fair idea of what happens in hotels. As a read, its racy and entertaining, but for me, not the greatest. It skims along superficially and sometimes predictably. But I would like to read more of his books - next time perhaps pick his best known works.