Usually speeches in my school are mostly about business and speakers are all successful business people we read about in newspapers and magazines. But day before yesterday's speaker was a lot different. She is successful, her success measured by her happiness and what she wanted to achieve. She is none other than Mrs. Sudha Murthy, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation, an organisation that is doing wonders for the country through philanthrophy.
Since I will not be able to do justice on a wonderful speech lasting almost an hour, I urge you to read Sudha Murthy- Woman of Destiny. It has most of what she said today. For a story on how Infosys was born, read How Infosys was born.
Summarising, her major points were
1. Be very ambitious and work very very hard at this age.
2. Have compassion and give back to society what you get from it.
3. Philanthrophy is different from charity in that it is
a. In doing favours to society without expecting anything back
b. In doing favours without any preference to particular communities, religion etc: who needs most should get first
4. Too much money must not be kept as it will otherwise ruin the family and children. Dont spend too much, as the more you spend, the more you will find to buy. Either give it to your alma mater, your parents, guru or to philanthrophy.
5. Staying in a small growing company is better than joining a very large company as you might never be able to reach top positions in a very big company and responsibilities will be slower in coming to you.
6. Never do anything that is against your value system or that undermines your integrity.
Last year Narayana Murthy had come to campus and left us with a mesmerising speech, that was simple and humble. This too was matching it in every way.
The many business speeches that we hear clearly come from the mind but these two came from the heart, and that creates the huge difference that sets the Murthys way apart.
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Mrs. Sudha Murthy and Compassion
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5 comments:
A very interesting read da...But many a times,I really have wondered if such speeches really do make any difference to a person ?? We listen to it, appreciate it,talk highly about it for 2 days and then coolly forget it and get on with our life.So, at the end of it, does it serve any purpose at all ??
Now that's very true. I too have thought on similar lines. This is also applicable to reading books, listening to advices and learning through making mistakes. People realise what needs to be done or how things need to be done better.
But most of them simply forget the good lessons that experience teaches. People are all great strategisers in that they know what all needs to be done and how to do them. But the real success lies in implementing these ideas, and that's where the biggest challenge lies. People just like to learn lessons as it is easy. But they arent able to follow them as it's difficult.
But this doesnt take away the importance of good counsel. You might stray away, but you atleast are aware you need to get back to the right course. It is said that Gandhi read just 3 books as he felt what cannot be implemented shouldnt be read. There are only few people who are able to do what they thought they should, which is a reason why we have few successful people, a large number of stay-ons and few losers. Note that "successful" here is simply the state of happiness, which comes when you do what you think you should be doing.
Hi Tarr,
I have realised point number five da.
and coming to what Sekar said. Yeah its true. In most occasions we just hear it and leave it alone. But, I believe listening to such lectures/ speeches is very important. If you need to practice something, the thought should get reinforced in your system, and for that this would be the first step.
~Magesh G
Hi Magesh and Sekar,
Felt great to read your comments. Hope we can continue discussing about such issues time and again. Will certainly help us do better. See you till your next valuable comments.
Regds,
Arvind.
It is said the we are or use only 10% of our mind...the rest 90% gets classified as subconscious mind...which is listening when we aren’t even paying attention to details in and around our surroundings....It absorbs everything....good or bad...and fills our mind with random thoughts based on what we have seen or experienced...Depending upon the control that we have over our mind we are able to pick up from these thoughts and implement or ignore....Hence listening to good thoughts and music or being in good company prepares the flow of good thoughts into our minds which then decides our behaviour and gestures.
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