Root Cause Analysis | Mythology vs. Management !!

In Business Management, there is something called "Root Cause Analysis", which is widely used to do the analysis to all problems. One of the effective method for root cause analysis is '5 Whys Analysis'.

Let's take you through a lovely conversation between a teacher and a student, on the '5 Whys of Root Cause Analysis', however the case study was on 'Ramayana'.

On a discussion while talking about quality, the management lecturer was critically expressing that "Ramayana did happen due to the poor 'Quality' issue".

Lecturer : We all know Lord Ram went to spend 14 years in forest and Sita was kidnapped because of a "quality issue". 

Student : How is this anything to do with quality? 

Lecturer : Tell me why did Sita go to forest with Ram ?

Student : Because she was his wife and respected his every decision. 

Lecturer : OK but why did Ram go to forest ?

Student : Because his father Dasharatha told him to do so and he never disobeyed his father. 

Lecturer : OK why did Dasharatha send his son to forest ?

Student : Dasharatha offered his wife (Kaikeyi) two boons, and she chose to make use of them in the future. And she wanted her son to be king, so on the day of Rama's crowning, she asked Dasharatha to send Rama to forest and crown her son; reminding him of his promised boons.

Lecturer : So why did Dasharatha offer his wife two boons ?

Student : Because during a military campaign against Sambarasura, the wheel of Dasharatha's chariot broke and and kaikeyi inserted her hand to hold the wheel in place. Touched by her courage and timely service, Dasharatha offered her two boons.

Lecturer: Hence Proved. The quality of Chariot's wheel was not up to the mark .. leading to kidnapping of Sita...!!!! 

So, using the "5 Whys" technique we see that Quality is very important and if the quality of Chariot's wheel was good, the Ramayana wouldn't have happened!

Although, it sounds little funny about the above root cause analysis, however everything happens for a reason. Mythologically, it was all pre-decided by Lord Vishnu, every actions, every scenarios and the happenings. But what could be better to give the relevant example to the today's young generations who think in logical way. After all, management principles are based in logical thinking.

An enlightening story | The Sun and The Cave

We all love to stay inspired every moment, be it in any way, whether interacting with the achievers or leaders, or by hearing the stories. Today I am going share an awesome story which will certainly inspire you. 

This story is about 'the Sun and the Cave'.

One day the sun and a cave struck up with a conversation. 

The sun had trouble understanding what 'dark' means and the cave didn’t quite get the hang of 'light and clear' so they decided to change places. 

The cave went up to the sun and said, “Ah, I see, this is beyond wonderful. Now come down and see where I have been living.” 

The sun went down to the cave and said, “I don’t see any difference.”

But the cave didn't understand why! 

When the sun went down, it took its light along and even the darkest corners were illuminated. That's why the sun couldn't see any difference. 

➥ Moral of the story: The enlightened ones can never be sent to hell or pushed into darkness. They carry their heaven on their shoulders all the time.

We thought that heaven is a place where were we are supposed to go; perhaps it was a state of mind we were supposed to achieve. 

If you are full of darkness within, full of negativity, fear and doubt, you become a cave unknowingly. It's a hell within and no matter how much you accumulate, you still remain hollow. 

If you are illuminated like the sun, then the darkness of the cave wouldn't matter. You could be in the worse of circumstances, you'll still be able to find a blessing somewhere. You'll be carrying your heaven with you. 

Surrender - A Positive and Inspiring Story

Today I am going to share an inspiring story of Surrender.  

Surrender - most commonly misunderstood. Surrender means, to allow life to happen as it is. It means, that you do what's required for you to do,  follow your heart and not worry about the future. Future is not under your control and will unfold as its meant to be. You can only do what needs to be done in this moment. This moment, is all that you have, so live in this moment and trust that you are taken care, as it's meant to be.

The story is taken from the face book post of DR.SOPHIA RANGWALA (no changes in description) 

--------------- Surrender --------

I will share a personal experience of total surrender, because I feel that through sharing personal stories, it's easier to understand these difficult concepts.

It was the year 2009, my father was diagnosed with recurrence of Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. It's a cancer of the lymph nodes. He had already gone through complete chemotherapy and radiotherapy in 2006 when it was diagnosed. This was a devastating news for us. Being the eldest child and a doctor, the responsibility always fell upon me to take the right medically related decisions. My father had developed so much confidence in me that he would take my decision over the best doctors also. There is a reason for this conviction that he had in me, which is another story. Anyways, so I consulted one of the best oncologists in Bangalore. His advice was to start treatment as soon as possible because with every  delay, the risk of beyond return metastasis (cancer spread all over the body) was looming dangerously. The treatment that he suggested numbed me. It would require extremely aggressive chemotherapy which would force my father to be admitted into total isolation, as along with the cancer cells, all other vital cells also would get destroyed. He would become vulnerable even to a common cold virus.

I left the good doctor's office with a heavy heart. This was at HCG, Bangalore. I had taken a cab that day. I sat numbed in the cab, with no thoughts, because I didn't even know what to think. At that moment, I surrendered to a God, I didn't understand then. I had no religion or faith, but still deep at the core of my Being, I always knew that this entire Creation and I was not a product of accident. There was a Force, even if I didn't understand it. Tears rolled through my eyes and my mind was blank. Then something happened. I knew what had to be done. 

Something, inside me told me to allow this situation to progress naturally on its own and not to opt for chemotherapy this time. I realized that death is eventual, and if not today then someday, my father, my mother and everyone that I know and my self, are going to go, so why resist this truth? Why hold on to something which is transient anyways? If my father was meant to go, then he will go while at home with all of us around him, and not leave from an isolated hospital room.

A Divine Force had taken over my mind at that time. I didn't know anything about Yoga then as I myself didn't practice any Yogic practice and yet... Read ahead what unfolded when I reached back home.. So I came home and told dad, that it's decided that we will not opt for chemotherapy this time. He will do pranayama and consume a totally vegetarian diet, and gave him a powerful visualization meditation practice. He agreed, and didn't ask a word also. He is someone who is extremely intelligent and  not someone who can be easily convinced. Yet, he just agreed easily and did exactly as I had asked him to do. Let me emphasize here, that I had no idea about Yoga, Ayurveda or meditation back then. I was a very regular person and I was pursuing MD Dermatology then, so logically I should have opted for chemotherapy but I went in a total opposite direction!

The journey of surrender began. I had left it on time and my father also began to follow my advice. My mother played most crucial role in taking care of his health and supporting him. He was so weak to do pranayam, that in the start it was only for 5-10 minutes but with consistent will power, he continued and build it up to 4 hours a day! Yes, you read it right.. 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening! He consumed certain powerful Ayurvedic herbs like giloy, neem, aloe vera, wheatgrass and plenty of green veggies daily. He remained optimistic and had strong faith in God. During this time, he dropped his attachment to his business also completely and focused only on his health. 

We would get periodic PET Scan done. Initially there was no change, but the cancer was not showing signs of spread, which itself was a huge positive. Slowly the hot spots began to disappear and in about 20 months, his cancer had totally disappeared. The last scan was done in May 2011. My father is still very much with us today, living a healthy life.

Going back in time, I had no idea what the outcome of that decision would be. It could have gone in either direction but I chose to surrender. For long, I had wondered what made me take such a decision but it's much later that I understood that it was not my decision because decisions are taken using the mind. Without being aware, I had gone beyond the mind and in that moment, the Divine took over and the rest just happened. This is the miracle of surrender. Allow yourself to surrender when all doors seem to be closed. Let Divine hold your hand and walk you through darkness. Trust me, there is light always at the end. Also, sometimes what we think should happen may not happen, but we don't realize that, that is also God's way of taking care of us.

Always trust that all is well. When you can't think what to do because mind is so limited and so foolish, meditate and you will be guided to do what needs to be done.

Two Golden Hearts of India | An Amazing Story !!

Today, I am going to share a story of two Golden Hearts of India. This story I got to know from my professional guru, Mr. Ashwin Shirali, during a fruitful interaction over internet.

The story goes in this way......

Image courtesy to this site.

Once, as Indian President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam visited Coonoor and came to know that Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw was in the Military Hospital there. APJ wanted to visit Sam, which was unscheduled. 

Arrangements were made. At the bedside, APJ spent 15 minutes talking to Sam, enquiring of his health. Just before leaving Kalam asked Sam: “Are you comfortable? Is there anything I can do? Are there any issues?  Or anything that would make you more comfortable?”

Sam said: “Yes, Your Excellency, I have a grievance!" .

Shocked with concern and anguish, Kalam asked what it was.

Sam replied: “Sir, my grievance is that I am unable to get up and salute my most respected President of my beloved country". 

Kalam held Sam's hand; both were in tears. But the remaining part of the tale is that Sam did tell APJ that his pension of the Field Marshall’s rank remained unpaid till then, for nearly 20 years. An aghast President went to Delhi and passed the pension with arrears within a week and sent the cheque of nearly Rs 1.25 CR through the Defense Secretary by a special plane!

That is the greatness of APJ. But when Sam received the cheque he promptly donated it to the Army Relief fund!!

Whom will you salute now? 

Dr. Kalam and Marshall Sam during a lighter moment of conversation. Image courtesy to this site.

They are our two Heros with Golden Hearts, unmatchable. 

The Management Learnings from 'The Dead Horse Theory'

The Dead Horse Theory - quite interesting but hilarious..

Let's get to know what is this theory all about.

Let us assume that you are riding a horse. And, unfortunately the horse dies. Common sense dictates that you dismount it. Sadly but true, this is not what happens in most cases. A lot of people will assume that the horse can kick back to life. The high hope with exceptional belief is that the horse is experiencing a short term trauma and will get back soon to life and need to be helped to get back in line. 

Sadly, in reality, we all have seen some of this happen before our eyes. We have witnessed that we sometimes are riding a dead horse. We see our businesses, education, work life, and government take more 'advanced and political strategies' to nurture the dead horse back to life. 

The strategy comes in various excuses...

➥  Buying a stronger whip

➥  Changing riders

➥  Threating the horse with termination

➥  Appointing a committee to study the horse.

➥  Arranging to visit other countries to see how others ride dead horses.

➥  Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.

➥  Re-classifying the dead horse as ‘living impaired’.

➥  Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

➥  Harnessing several dead horses together to increase the speed.

➥  Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance.

➥  Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.

➥  Declaring that the dead horse doesn’t have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

➥  Re-writing the expected performance requirements for all horses.

➥  Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position of hiring another horse.

Picture courtesy to Kevin Nicoll. Refer the site.. 

As depicted in the above picture, the Dakota Indians passed down the paradigm, generation to generation. 

Unfortunately, the right mindset is not found in a lot of organizations, with right management approach. As a result, the management (leaders) gets trapped with the short term solutions like,

➥  Unexpected overload of work which needs immediate response

➥  Firefighting culture at every action

➥  Toxic behaviour at workplace

➥  Frequent blame game and scapegoating

➥  Long and ineffective meetings more frequent 

➥  Poor work culture and exploitation  

➥  Poor time management

➥  Lack of personal and professional development

➥  Lack of efficient and effective execution

The lesson from this 'dead horse theory' is to dismount every dead horse. The focus must be on the long term benefits of the organization. 

Organic | Mexican Coriander Garden

 Mexican Coriander, also known as 'Bandhania', 'Culantro', 'Sawtooth Coriander'. It is native to Mexico, Central and South America, and Caribbean; but it is cultivated worldwide. 

It is used as fresh as well as dried herb. It has been used is traditional medicine in tropical regions for burns, fevers, hypertension, earache, constipation, snake bites, constipation, stomachaches, diarrhea, etc.

Culantro's look is extremely different from the regular coriander leaves; although it looks more like spinach, but the leaf edges has shark tooth like texture. 

Here is a glimpse of the 'Mexican Coriander' from my own organic vegetable garden. 

Betel Leaf Firm - An amazing experience !!

Betel Leaf, commonly known as 'paan' in India, is significant in it's use. In India, Betel Leaf plays an important role since ancient culture. As per Ayurveda, Charaka, Sushruta Samhitas, the practice of chewing betel leaves after meals become common between 70 AD and 300 AD. In Chinese folk medicine betel leaves are used for the treatment of various disorders and claimed to have detoxification. 

Chewing betel leaves have changed over the period of time. The betel leaves are chewed together with areca nut (supari) and soaked lime.

In Hindu traditions, betel leaves are used during religious rituals, as it is considered to be auspicious. 

The 'paan' leaves are rich in Vitamin C, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, carotene, and also a great source of calcium. 

It has many health benefits also, such as..

➥ It is used to treat wounds, inflammation.

➥ It is taken after meal (as tradition) to digest the meal.

➥ It has anti-microbial, anti-cancer and anti-diabetic properties.

➥ It also prevents cardio vascular disease, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

Cultivation of betel leaves are not so easy and can only be done in specific areas which has porous soils (mix with sand). The betel garden is called as 'Paan Baroz'; it is typically a square shaped area covered with straws and sticks so that the ventilation can be there. Inside the Baroz the plants are farmed in rows with the support of jute sticks/bamboo sticks. The baroz is located bit high from the ground so that water can't be hold at the roots; which damages the plant. 

There must be trained workers to nurture the plants regularly and also to pluck the leaves. Generally throughout the year 'paan' can be farmed. After plucking the leaves, sorting is done based on sizes, then a set of 100 paans are kept in circular sequential manner. All the pans are beautifully kept in a bamboo basket covered with banana leaves. The extreme cares are taken to preserve the leaves until transported to various cities.

I visited a 'paan baroz' very recently and was amazed to see it. It was in Odisha, in one of my relative's house. I was explained step by step the cultivation process in details. Sharing with you few glimpses...

08 Leadership Learnings from Mr. Barrack Obama, former president of US.

"Change is Never Easy, but Always Possible".........

 Barrack Obama

 I was not that keen on knowing who were the US presidents till date, neither was I preparing for any competitive examination, so! But somehow during my professional career since few years back I got fascinated by former US President Barrack Obama's characters and leadership styles. 

I have these wonderful key leadership takeaways from his style of leadership...

➽ Being humble - Once president Obama said during his presidential tenure that "I actually found I became more humble the longer I was in office". He also become less fearful. He said that as president of US, you make mistakes everyday, everyone has seen you fail, and 'large portion of country feels that you are an idiot'. But he said it was a 'liberating feeling' when you realize it's ok, you are still here and you have the chance to do good. 

 

➽ Find the middle ground - We live in a time where there is contest, arguments and a race to win always. There are powers and authority, yet there are talents as well. What is required the most is to "find the middle ground - that reunites the thought". Society works better when everybody has a voice. The culture should allow it. It certainly finds an 'Win-win' situation in all perspective. 

 

➽ Listen - It is important to keep our egos and opinions aside before putting it forward, but LISTEN. When you pay attention to someone or to the community, you discover many hidden potentials which may change your strategy and thinking power. You have to pay respect to others by lending your ears and that is how people feel comfortable to you. 

 

➽ Find balance when you are young - Obama said that 'There is no perfect formula, but i think it starts  with recognizing that on your deathbed, you will not remember work. I will not remember any bill I passed or any big crowds  or the inauguration, I will be thinking about holding hands with my daughters and seeing them laugh. This is going to be the things that last, the thing that sticks."  So true he is. We mostly forget our real happiness, why are we earning money and fame. It is extremely important to find the balance in the early stage itself. 

➽ Never feel Hopeless - There will be resistance, new things to adopt, new things to implement. Some may challenge you, some will not support you, yet you need to carry on and never feel hopeless. We will have to anticipate some of the consequences of that. We have to be optimistic and show our care to the planet. There will be problems and disruptions, but we should not feel hopeless. 

➽ Understand that where you grow up, shapes your perspective - "Where you grow up changes that way you look at the world, and that doesn't make you better or worse than somebody else, just different".

➽ Be a fun loving person  - Always be a fun loving person, which will detox your mind and make you to be a better thinker. No matter which ever power you hold, whichever designation you pose, always  make yourself to have fun. Life is not always serious. 

 

➽ Keep Inspiring Others - Not all the people born perfect, some needs direction, some needs motivation, some needs coaching or mentoring. Be the one to inspire others. Take time out to inspire people with your own values and personality. 

 I am glad that few traits of Mr. Obama, I am able to follow and implement for myself professionally as well as personally. In simple words, he has been an amazing leader to inspire many leaders of the world. Very simple yet very rich in personal characteristics the former president is. 

Last, but not the least, citing a famous quote from him,

"Keep exploring. Keep dreaming. Keep asking why. Don't settle for what you already know.

 Never stop believing in the power of your own ideas, your imagination, your hard work to change the world"...

Picture References: https://www.usnews.com/photos/obama-behind-the-scenes. You can catch up 171 glimpses of former president Barrack Obama on his various 'avatars'.

Organic 'Papaya' from my Home Garden !!

It is believed that papaya was considered previously as an exotic and rare fruit, but now is available at most of the times in a year. It is also known as 'Papaws' or 'Pawpaws'.

Papaya is native to Mexico, however now it grows in many countries including India. 

It is one of the best breakfast fruit served in many catering establishments. It's sweet taste, vibrant color, and the wide variety of health benefits make them a popular fruit.

➥ It improves eye's health. Zeaxanthin, an antioxidant found in papaya, filters out the harmful blue light rays.

➥ It lowers the risk of asthma due to the nutrients (especially beta-carotene) 

➥ It regulates diabetes and improves bone health.

➥ Papaya is very good food for digestion due to the enzyme called 'papain' present in the fruit.

➥ It prevents heart disease. 

➥ It is good for the skin and it can heal the burn areas as well.

It also has many other indirect health benefits, however papaya has few strong nutrients which triggers to benefit for the health. Papaya is rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Vitamin K, Vitamin E, fiber, copper, magnesium, folate, Calcium, lycopene.

Papaya can be eaten in ripe form as well as raw form. Ripe papaya is eaten as fruit, shake, juice, and other sweet dishes.

We are blessed to have this wonderful fruit in our home garden and it grows throughout the year. Sharing some lovely pictures of papaya plants..

 

Two different species of papaya in our garden

Paddy Field - God gifted Golden Crops..

 Rice is one of the chief grains of India, as the country has the largest area under rice cultivation. India is one of the largest producers of Rice and West Bengal being the top most state ranking number one in Rice production. 

Our family members (extended) have many farming lands which are extensively used to cultivate rice. Seasonally it is the main crop which we do cultivate, and here are some glimpses of our paddy field with such a lovely golden colored crops on its way to ripening.

There is lot of precautions taken to cultivate the rice, as it is a step by step process which needs thorough attention. A farmer understands it better. We have been witnessing this for years although I have been out of sight in cities for my work, still I am close to my filed and I am proud of it.

Picture courtesy to Self...

Basils from my Organic Garden !!

 Basil, an herb in the mint family, it adds flavour to the meal and has many health benefits. 

Basil is known as 'Tulasi' in our Indian context, and is widely worshipped as God (feminine) as well. It is believed that holi basil plant must be there in every home and in the evening it must be worshipped by offering 'diya' and 'agarwatis'. 

There are many varieties of basil cultivated across the world, namely Anise Basil, Purple Basil, Lettuce leaf basil, Rubin basil, Thai Basil, Globe basil, etc.

Traditionally basil is used to treat cold, snakebites, and inflammation within nasal passages. However basil is rich in few minerals like Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Iron, Manganese; also some vitamins present in Tulasi are Vitamin C, Vitamin B3, Vitamin K.

Basil is widely used in culinary preparations from Thai cuisine, Italian cuisine, Mexican Cuisine. Basil is also used in cocktail preparations, used as dry powder.

Basil has some wonderful medicinal uses:

➥ It reduces inflammation and swelling

➥ Mostly used to heal common cold and flus

➥ Boosts mental health. Helps to reduce depression and anxiety.

➥ Reduce high blood sugar level.

➥ Supports cardiovascular health

➥ Supports liver health

➥ Fights as anti-ageing on skins

Here is few glimpses of organic basil from my own home garden.

Picture courtesy to SELF...

Garden Flowers which touches our Heart !!

"Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a Flower and draws all good things towards You"....

You can find many flower species planted in every house, to increase the beauty of the garden, so as in my house. I have many varieties of seasonal flowers and round-the-year flowers in  my home garden, to name a few - hibiscus ('Jaba ful' in Bengali), Datura ('Dhutura ful' in Bengali), China Rose ('Laaljoba ful' in Bengali), Hibiscus Trionum ('Flower of an hour'), Mango Liqueur (hybrid hibiscus), Champagne hibiscus (Yellow Jaba), Vinca rosea (white & pink colour), Rosy Hibiscus ('Golapjoba ful' in Bengali), Bougainvillea ('Kagaj ful' in Bengali) and many more. 

However, the beauty part of these flowers are you just need to plant it once and it remain with its stem forever, just you need to do it watering the plants regularly. And the result, an amazing positive colour vibes you will get from your own garden.

In Hindu custom, it is believed that for any puja (offering prayer to the deity God), you must offer plenty of flowers which should be blending of colors and varieties. 

Here are some flowers form my own garden, as available in this season.  

Picture Courtesy to Self...