Business to the Buddha

Tag: pandemic

  • Gyani in professional life

    The Bhagvad Geeta defines who is a gyani (sage) as follows – “One who remains unattached under all conditions, and is neither delighted by good fortune nor dejected by tribulation, he is a sage with perfect knowledge.” It is very difficult to implement in life. The practical approach for trying is – “Pandemic has happened, we are in lockdown. This is our current reality. We cannot change it, isn’t it? What we can do now is detach ourselves from this reality and look at what can we do as a professional and as a person.” If we approach situations in this manner we can be Gyani in professional life – a saint in suit. Here is a very small example with me how I failed in it recently and learnt a lesson.

    My recent experience

    My daughter – Adviti – has been kind enough to teach me some lessons on a regular basis. She reminded me of a Shloka of Bhagvad Geeta – “who is a Gyani (sage)?” Recently we gave her a slate and chalk so that she can scribble some things on it. She is too young – 2 years only – to write something useful. So, to keep her entertained, I make caricatures, animals or some drawings. It is a slate; it needs cleaning to scribble something next time. I am a very terrible painter, this has been a learning experience for me how to make something worth its salt. Slowly,2 I started drawing things that at least have some resemblance to the original. Now, I have started making something which is of at least some value – or I feel it is so.

    Adviti-Drawing-Lesson-Who-is-Gyani

    Initially it was ok for me, the drawings were awful and she was rubbing stuff. Yesterday I copied one of the drawings from her coloring book. I fell in love with that and as usual Adviti rubbed it clean. I tried to stop her, because I was very happy with the drawing. Probably for her there is no definition of beauty or ugliness. For her everything is equal. In fact there is a probability that the drawing I made was not worth it but I fell in love with it because I made it. So it was a lesson for me to let go and be equanimous in such situations. By the way, the picture on the side is about 2 month old, I make better drawing now 😀 😉

    http://business2buddha.com/2011/07/when-will-we-stop/

    Who is a Gyani (sage)?

    दु:खेष्वनुद्विग्नमना: सुखेषु विगतस्पृह: |
    वीतरागभयक्रोध: स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते || 56||

    duḥkheṣhv-anudvigna-manāḥ sukheṣhu vigata-spṛihaḥ
    vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhaḥ sthita-dhīr munir uchyate

    One whose mind remains undisturbed amidst misery, who does not crave for pleasure, and who is free from attachment, fear, and anger, is called a sage of steady wisdom.

    य: सर्वत्रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य शुभाशुभम् |
    नाभिनन्दति न द्वेष्टि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता || 57||

    yaḥ sarvatrānabhisnehas tat tat prāpya śhubhāśhubham
    nābhinandati na dveṣhṭi tasya prajñā pratiṣhṭhitā

    One who remains unattached under all conditions, and is neither delighted by good fortune nor dejected by tribulation, he is a sage with perfect knowledge.

    I remember above shlokas of Bhagvad Geeta that she is effectively teaching me without even realizing. The lesson is “who is a Gyani (sage)?” I got too attached to the drawings – very trifling things – that would be gone over time. Whenever she wiped those I felt miserable, though I know these drawings are transitory.

    It is easy to relate to the slate and scribbling. It becomes difficult to apply this wisdom to our daily life. In our daily lives we are attached to the “bigger things” be it our certificates, designations or possessions. It’d be good if we learn this lesson for our daily life.

    Source – Bhagvat Geeta and the translation (Holy Bhagavad Gita).

  • Change in belief

    Incidents shape our experience, experiences shape our opinions and opinions in long term shape our beliefs and set of belief become our religious practices. With time everything must evolve and must change! We must always remember – This too shall pass and should always be ready to accept change in belief, questioning our assumptions based on new experiences. Here is an incident that changed a laughing stock of our life into a serious affair after the Corona pandemic in which more than 2,00,000 reported deaths have happened until now.

    Our incident

    It was the year 2015, I had married to Simple – my wife – for only 8 months. In these 8 months, I had to travel out of India twice for a month or more. So before leaving for the second time, I had arranged for my wife’s travel to join me in Toronto. Due to her half-yearly audit preparation, she flew later. This is a story how things make or change us.

    While in flight, Simple sneezed. Fellow passenger, who was flying to the USA, was somewhat taken aback. She quickly took out her first aid box and gave a tablet to Simple. Initially, Simple was a bit hesitant to take this medicine. Remember we were told in our childhood – “while traveling do not eat anything given by others.” She said I am alright, it was due to the cabin temperature I do not have a cough or a cold. Probably the co-passenger was also told something like, don’t eat anything given by strangers, in her childhood. So the co-passenger read the content line by line and said it is just multivitamin. Somehow Simple got away this time. However, she sneezed again, this time she could not say no to her. Simple had realized by now how petrified the lady on her next seat was. So, this time around she took the medicine – unwillingly though. So, the whole flight afterward was peaceful for both – Simple and the passenger.

    Simple landed in Toronto and the first thing that she narrated was this incident. We laughed together on this and, I told her somehow in India it is not a big deal, I think we are so immune to it isn’t it? We remembered this incident whenever we flew, smiled at each other. Karma you call it. This small smile and fun started haunting me recently.

    Change-in-belief

    This Corona happened and we are all locked down at home. Now whenever we go out for buying essentials, we get hand sanitizer at the entrance of D-Mart as if it is a Prasad! Honestly speaking, touching the shopping trolley I feel scared and giving cash or card, I tell myself hope this person is safe. Now, I realize how that co-passenger must be feeling about sneezing of Simple. How life, experience and opinions change, isn’t it?

    One virus that is bothering everyone across the globe has given a new perspective to the joke we used to tell each other almost every time we flew. Small or big all types of incidents shape us as we grow up. So I changed my opinion about coughing, sneezing and more! If someone coughs around us now the eyebrows rise. Simple and I changed our opinion towards the fellow passenger of Simple in 2015.

    http://business2buddha.com/2019/11/10/this-too-shall-pass/

  • Pandemic – why companies should choose to spend

    Coronavirus pandemic is a global phenomenon, as of now 160 countries out of 193 recognized countries are affected. Many countries are in lockdown. All the developed countries are affected, therefore, the economy worldwide is severely affected. In this trying time, the whole world needs Keynesian economics. In nutshell, the concept says – “Increase government expenditures and lower taxes to stimulate demand and pull the global economy out of the depression.” Here I am going to discuss my opinion on why companies should choose to spend and continue working on their ongoing plus upcoming projects.

    http://business2buddha.com/2013/11/24/keynes/

    Keynesian economics considers or provides guidelines to the Governments. You can check India approves 1.70 lakh Crore package for poor, $2 trillion package US Congress has approved recently. Apparently, this is the biggest package US or for that matter, any government has approved. Government spending is only one part. I am of the opinion that every industry must seriously consider not only spending but also sustaining employees. Short term “shareholder value” can wait for better long terms sustenance. I know this sounds counter-intuitive – special when all companies are losing revenues due to lockdown, expecting retaining employees and to sustain a business. Surely this will impact the survival of many firms, projections and revenue targets of almost every company and shareholder returns. Let me give you some basic reasoning for my opinion of private firms too should continue their investment and how can it help bring the economy on wheels again.

    coronavirus-hospitality-industry-impacted

    Due to Coronavirus few industries are directly affected, namely; Airline, Hospitality and discretionary expense items e.g. beauty or apparel. People are going to spend on their basic necessities for the next few weeks or who knows months. The impacts revenue and therefore growth-related projects of these industries. Let us take an example as an explanation.

    Example

    An apparel company wanted to increase its footprints in a new region. That would require – finding retail space, employees for the store, furniture/store interiors design, products to put in the shelf and technology e.g. internet, hardware, POS and marketing to bring shoppers in-store. Due to the impact of a pandemic the apparel company will delay all these. The domino effect will be on – real estate, prospective employees, interior designers, producers (who produce for the apparel company in terms of aggregate demand), internet service provider, IT company planning to provide hardware and software and the marketing activation agency that was supposed to engage in the project – right from printing flyers. Why I brought flyers? Because this and interior decorators have many unskilled laborer working for them. The result – the domino engulfs many part-time workers. When these part-time workers do not have money they will have an impact on purchasing many other things. A self-fulfilling prophecy – read more about self-fulfilling prophecy here.

    At this time, what should private businesses do? At whatever negotiated discounts – they must continue their projects be it starting footprints in new regions as given in the above example. The companies must continue their spending because sooner or later things will fall in place. People will start consuming and the economy will be on track again. If spending is done as usual – the economy will come on its feet faster than it other would. Therefore I am suggesting that after the lockdown due to pandemic – why companies should choose to spend.

    Summary

    I fell in love with research of McKinsey and company, “Grow Fast or Die Slow” sustaining growth in technology companies. Paraphrase of this research is –

    1. Growth matters more than margin or cost structure
    2. No correlation between cost structure and growth rate

    Net-net one cannot cost cut to grow the business. Business growth requires “growth”. This is why I suggest that companies should choose to spend. Cost rationalization is important, questions are the discretion, putting costs in the right perspective and strategic decisions on these investments. This is the time when project costs will be more rational compared to a booming economy. At this tough time, many companies will look at cost reduction – what leadership across the globe must know is that – this is the time to look at a big picture and work towards completing the unfinished projects, starting the planned projects and reopen the businesses as usual after lockdown. Why? Because sooner we start spending on our planned projects, sooner economy will be back on track and most importantly we will be able to reach our projections, targets, and shareholder value.

    The concept of interdependent co-arising perfectly fits this conclusion. When we keep our investments on, the fund will be available to others to either spend or pay as salary. This spending results in moving the circle of growth.

    Related news – Cognizant to offer extra 25% of base salary