Here's a nice, refreshing article on Thinking Big !!!
The person that I will be referencing to aspired to be an air force pilot. He passed the air
force examination at the age of 15, but failed the medical, being just five feet tall and
with a small chest measurement. Undeterred, he applied again after undergoing through a
rigorous training program and a special diet devised by a physical training instructor to
build up his physique. This time he passed the physical and started his three-year training
program. After that he suffered from stress-related ailments such as eczema and heart
palpitations, while his weight dropped to less that 55 kg and had a nervous breakdown,
all by the age of 23. This is the real life incident of Sir Frank Whittle, the genius inventor
behind the development of modern jet engines.
Dear president, toastmasters and esteemed guests, good afternoon: Successful people
perform well even in the face of adversity. Why are some people more successful than
others? What prevents us to be super achievers? I am here today to inspire you to think
BIG that will enable you to take charge of your careers.
I will present 7 vital inspirational traits of highly successful people which, when
cultivated will elevate you to achieve bigger things in life.
1. BEGIN WITH YOUR STRENGTHS
The first thing I have learnt is that we must always begin with our strengths. From the
earliest years of our schooling, focus was on: what is wrong with us and many times we
overlooked our strengths.
There is an imaginary story of a monkey. The monkey was enrolled in a monkey school.
Like all monkies, it could hop from one tree to another very well but it could not sing.
The monkey got high grades in hopping but low in singing. The parents were concerned.
They said, "Forget about hopping. You are anyway good at it. Concentrate on singing."
They sent the monkey for tuitions in classical music, and guess what happened? The
monkey forgot how to hop! As for singing, have you ever seen a monkey singing? While
it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good
in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our
weaknesses. Develop a core competency in your chosen field from which great careers
can be built and sustained.
2. HAVE A LINE OF SIGHT
Having a line of sight will set the course to your destination. Let me share the story of
Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the illustrious son of India. Dr. Sarabhai during his student days at
IISc, Bangalore realized the importance of space technology to the development of
independent India. But there was no infrastructure to support it at that time. Being
influential and persuasive, he established IIM (Indian Institute of Management) to churn
out and train people in program management, set up PRL (Physical Research Laboratory)
to incubate fundamental research, before setting up ISRO (Indian Space Research
Organization). Dr. Sarabhai was a strong advocate of external focus. He believed that
Indian establishments cannot work in isolation, so he set up collaborations with NASA
and MIT to learn from them. He coined the term "Leap-frogging", a term we use for
leveraging. He encouraged the scientists on an exchange program with MIT
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology). He invited NASA (National Aeronautics and
Space Administration) scientists to visit ISRO facilities in order to get their feedback.
Neil Armstrong, the man who landed on the moon visited India in 1970 and offered his
advise to the space programs. Due to Dr. Sarabhai's foresight, India is strategically
positioned to take on superior nations in space technology.
3. HAVE A KEEN SENSE OF OBSERVATION
As engineers and scientists, we need to have a keen sense of observation for driving
simplicity in our work. While Whittle was working on the jet design – a thought came to
his mind "Why not substitute a turbine for the piston engine?" What a great thought?
This thought lead to another one "Reciprocating engines are exhausted. They have
hundreds of parts jerking to and fro, and they cannot be made more powerful without
being too complicated. The engine of the future must produce > 2000 hp with one
moving part; a spinning turbine and compressor". These thoughts saw the seeds for the
development of gas turbines powered flight. As Einstein rightly said "Anybody can make
a simple thing complicated, but it takes a genius to simplify complicated things".
4. NEVER FEAR SETBACKS
Set backs are essential to keep us grounded, teaches us humility and makes us stronger
and resilient.
Whittle came up with his engine concept and sent the design to the British air ministry.
The experts in the ministry remarked that Whittle's "simple" design could not achieve the
sort of efficiencies needed for a practical engine. They further commented that the design
would be too large for aircraft use and termed it as "impracticable". Hadn't Whittle
persisted in his effort to realize his dream of driving simplicity in jet engine, today's gas
turbines would not have seen the light of the day.
5.GET INSPIRED
We need to draw inspiration from people around us and from history. Your inspiration
should be infectious and felt by everyone you come across.
William (Bill) Edward Boeing was a timber merchant. When William Boeing witnessed
an air show in 1910 inspired by the Wright Brothers' feats, aviation became an instant
obsession. The show was a catalyst that would lead him to build his own plane and start
his own airplane company, Pacific Aero Products, in 1916, which later became Boeing,
the company that gave the world some of the advanced commercial and military planes.
His motto was "I think I can build a better airplane" – and has led the aviation industry
with a century of innovation and excellence.
6. STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE
Each one of us in this room is working in a professional environment that fosters
customer excellence.
I once met a room service boy in a hotel, whose job was to make beds. When asked
whether he derives satisfaction from his work – he replied in the affirmative. I was
curious what he did differently on a job so mundane as making a bed. It seems, every
time, he makes a bed, he first sleeps on the bed and checks the positions of cobwebs, and
ensures that the cobwebs are removed from the ceiling and that his master gets a
comfortable sleep. This is the demonstration of excellence. How many times have we
thought from our customer's perspective or peeped into our customer's minds and
thought from their angle? How many times have we thought of adding value to the
services rendered to our customers? If you are doing it consistently, you are
demonstrating excellence.
7. AVOID SHORT CUTS… NATURE ABHORS SHORT CUTS
There was once a biology teacher who was teaching her students on how a caterpillar
turns into a butterfly. She told them that in the next couple of hours, the butterfly would
struggle to come out of the cocoon, but no one should help the butterfly. Then she left.
The students were waiting and it happened. The butterfly struggled to get out of the
cocoon and one of the students took pity on it and decided to help the butterfly out of the
cocoon against the advise of the teacher. He broke the cocoon to help the butterfly so it
didn't have to struggle anymore. But shortly afterwards, the butterfly died. When the
teacher returned, she was told what happened. She explained to them that by helping the
butterfly, he had actually killed it, because it is the law of nature that the struggle to come
of the cocoon actually helps develop and strengthen its wings. The boy had deprived the
butterfly of its struggle and it died. Apply this same principle to our lives. Nothing
worthwhile in life comes without a struggle. Always keep in mind that it is only the test
of fire that makes fine steel.
Dear Toastmasters and friends,
As professionals, we need to inculcate these seven traits of successful leaders, namely,
beginning with our strengths, having a line of sight, having a keen sense of observation,
never fearing setbacks, getting inspired, striving for excellence and avoiding shortcuts.
This is essential to think BIG, to persuade and collaborate with others, to do the right
thing, to share and learn for the success of the program that will enable you to take charge
of your careers.
If you think that you have too many imperfections and successful people were born
perfect, read this. "Neil Armsstrong, the man who landed on the moon was an average
student in his class; Srinivasa Ramanujam, world renowed mathametician and Bill Gates
the man who gave personal computers were school drop outs; and that Thomas Edison
had only three months of formal schooling and he was partially deaf". Get inspired from
these individuals and from history, which is replete with lots of examples, where ordinary
men and women made extraordinary efforts to make the world a better place to live. Best
wishes to all of you through a wonderful journey called "life".
A really nice, cool and refreshing article !!! sent to me by L. J Thanks L. I really need such articles when I go low on spirits !!
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