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November 2008

Giving it all: Business Ownership Mentality

-Karthik Gurumurthy

I consider myself very fortunate to see entrepreneur up close and personal yesterday.Raj Shah said "Give it all at what you do that they can't ignore you.” Love it. Life and success runs according to timeless and immutable natural laws. Just like a garden reflects the care and nurturing that's gone into it, a career/business as well as a life reflects how much has been put in. The more you give to life, the more it will send back. It's just not possible for you to be great at what you do, always reaching for your best and representing excellence and not win in the end.

Sometimes discouragement sets in. Happens to all of us. We try hard, stay true to our dreams and pursue our ideals. Yet nothing happens. Or so it seems. But every choice matters. And every step counts. Life runs according to its own agenda - not yours. Be patient. Trust. Be like the stone cutter - steadily chipping away, day after day. Eventually, a single blow will crack the stone and reveal the diamond. A good person just cannot be denied.

Multimillionaire, Entrepreneur Raj Shah's wisdom speaks deeply to me. “Be so good they can't ignore you.” Apply that philosophy at business. Apply it at home. Apply it in your community. Apply it to your world. Having the courage to present your gifts and brilliance will always yield magnificent rewards. Life is always fair in the end.


Working on yourself

-Karthik Gurumurthy

Leadership starts and ends with you.

Majority of people spend their time and energy fixing others.

The only fix which works is fixing yourself. If you spend more time working on yourselves becoming the "better you", everything else will fall in place. You can't do good at work until you feel good. You can't make someone feel great about themselves until you feel good about yourself. You can't be a source of positive energy if you have no energy.

While your are taking the next flight, listen to the flight attendant. “Put the oxygen mask on your mouth before you try to help anyone else.” The idea is clear: if you can't breathe, you are useless to everyone else. Nice metaphor for personal leadership.

Make the time to care for yourself. Get into great shape. Read good business books and inspiring autobiographies. Plan and improve your skills. Enjoy life while you chase success. By caring for yourself, you will be able to give more to others. By ensuring that you are on your best game, your leadership effectiveness will be guaranteed. And by making the time to enjoy life, you'll be more enjoyable to be around.


Someday I will....

-Karthik Gurumurthy
A day seldom passes without someone telling me that he or she wants to build a business. The person has a good idea and the desire to make a difference in others' lives. My recommendation is always the same: Great! People would love to hear your idea, so do it!
Building business takes time, commitment, and passion. It is done mainly based on how badly someone wants it. It takes persuasive persistence to act on the business idea and execute it into action.
Most of the time, that business idea remains an intention and never gets done. That person may have a great idea inside his or her head and may have decided to build a business, but the business will not build itself. Such people are vacationing in someday isle.
How do you leave this vacation spot? Get going and do something!
How many times did you decide to do something and then not follow through?
For many people, this is a routine choice- but how often have they looked back, regretting that they didn't pursue a goal, or take the time to explore a new idea, because they were waiting for some better or time.
"The only difference between a rut and the grave is the depth" says Brian Tracy.
Spend more time on action and less time on thinking about what you want to do. Those who take action usually fare much better than those who are swept along by whatever life brings.
Study successful people. What choices have they made to help them reach their level of success?
Keep learning. Read everyday. The difference between successful and the mediocre is that successful never stop learning.

Power of Focus

 by Karthik Gurumurthy 

One of the primary reasons that people and organizations fail to get to greatness is that they try to be too many things to too many people. I'll use the Confucius quote I often use here: “Man who chases two rabbits catches neither.”

The most successful human beings are wildly focused. They have a very clear picture of what it is they want to create by the time they reach the end of their lives and then they have the discipline (and courage) to stick to their knitting – saying “no” to everything that is not mission critical. TD mentioned in one of the Kate conferences that Michael Phelps the Olympics gold medalist did not do swimming, gymnastics and tonnes of other stuff. You focus on one and get the job done.

 So my gentle recommendation to you is to  have the single mindedness of purpose. Take away from your schedule all that is unimportant – these are the things keeping you from getting to your dreams. And then once you do your clean up, focus, focus, focus. You'll be surprised how good you will then get at being great.