ness, and also helps in managing stress. Running teaches you perseverance, focus

and rigour. It has made me more patient and calm. It gives you enough time to think and reflect. There is a sense of commitment and you know you have to do things the right way to achieve your goal.

Like my company has diversified into financial markets, asset management, commodities, credit and life insurance, I ex-panded my horizons to step up to triathlons. I learnt swimming 3 years ago, after a run-ning injury forced me take a break from run-ning. I find swimming very relaxing and am happy that my swimming has improved to an extent that I now participate in Triathlons - mainly the standard Olympic format. I do about one full marathon, one triathlon and couple of half marathons every year.

The bond factorI joined the Striders running group which has helped me take my running to the next level and also made running more enjoy-able. We run as a group, and it’s a great bonding exercise too. Running on your own is a lonely affair, so good social bonding with a team while training always helps. People who practice in groups share tips on how to improve their stamina and speed, and some even get professional trainers to help them. I religiously get up at 4:45 in the morning, every day and practise four days a week for an hour. The rest of the week is dedicated to swimming, biking or hitting the gym depending on the weather and my work schedule for that day. Rest is also an important part of training and hence I take complete rest on Mondays.

It has had many spin off effects - on eating, sleeping, drinking water and even breath-ing. Most people we see are leading very unhealthy lifestyles and that has a direct

If you feel good about yourself, you will perform better, be it in business or any other field. Running makes you feel better about yourself, especially long distance running. Marathon

running requires diligence, commitment, strong work ethic and strategy. And these principles apply to running a successful business as well. Long distance running has helped me stay focused over a sustained period of time, no matter what the distrac-tions were. As I started training and par-ticipating in races I began to realise how important, at the same time difficult, it is to be both driven and patient.

Five years ago, I had injured my elbow while playing tennis. I loved tennis and used to play for almost 30 years. I was intro-duced to tennis at the age of 18, but had to stop it because of the elbow injury. But the sports enthusiast in me wasn’t hurt. A few of my friends told me to participate in the half marathon. That’s when I made my foray into marathon running.

I started preparing for my first half marathon by running five rounds of the Mahalaxmi Race Course (in Mumbai). The length of the track is almost 2.5 kilometres. Once I was able to run the five rounds, I was confident of completing the half marathon. It was exhilarating to finish the first half marathon, successfully. Since then there has been no looking back. I finished my first full marathon at Amsterdam and though I struggled with cramps, the sense of achieve-ment after touching the finishing line was unparalleled.

A stress busterNow, I have come to understand that mara-thon running has several learnings. It helps hone managerial and business skills, im-prove one’s fitness level to manage one’s busi-

(Compiled by Dearton Thomas Hector)

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Edit & Desk : Dibeyendu Ganguly, Moinak Mitra, Priyanka Sangani, Dearton Thomas Hector and TV Mahalingam; Design : Shubhra Dey, Sanjeev Raj Jain, Nitin Keer

and finally

:: wanderlust:: wanderlust:: exec salon:: exec salon

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Far Out Destination: Pristine lakes near Acadia National Park in Maine, sighted a moose that stood shoulder deep in the water, weeds shrouding his neck, looking at us with an expression of deep suspi-cion or extreme stupidity. Indian Surprise: Aravali Hills in the monsoon season, chock full of peacocks and deer -- within 20 minutes of Gurgaon Bon Vivant moment: New Year’s Eve at a resort in France with some wealthy 50-something divorcées.Emptied your pockets on: A Damascus steel sword in JodhpurPanoramic Views: First ski-lift of the morning at Val Thorens in France, right after a snow-storm. Unclear at the top whether one was looking at snow or sand dunesBest Drive: Costa-Brava in Western Spain, empty twisty roads, no speed cameras, outstanding little hotels and restaurantsGourmet Delight: A simple block of fois-gras, washed down with a semi-sweet Alsatian wineGourmet Gaffes: Sneeringly com-paring pastrami in London to that from the 2nd Avenue Deli in NYC. Being told, deadpan, that it was flown in from the 2nd Avenue Deli that morningStreet Food Surprise: Noodle Soup in front of the Police School in Bangkok. Whoever took the kick-back to let the vendor sit under the big Banyan tree knew what they were doing.Best Bar: The Goldenberg attached to the Haus de Kunst in Munich

Vivek GujralCo-founder and Chief Technology Officer, OneShield Inc

How to gel your hair?If you are a person who doesn’t want to be bothered about how your hair looks from time to time, it is a good idea to use gel on your hairdo. Hair gels usually have high alcohol concentration. So, try to find hair gel brands which are low in alcohol content as it may de-moisture your scalp and make the hair weaker. There are medium hold and strong hold gels available in the market. You can choose the product according to what style suits you the best. Be your hair wavy, curly or straight you can use the gel to suit your hairstyle. The more the amount of gel you apply the longer the hold, well, usually! Apply gel to towel dried hair. The hair should just be damp and not wet. Hair gels which contain aloe vera, jojoba or amlaare good for your hair and scalp. And to prevent hair loss, please remember to wash off your gel after office hours or just before you go to bed.

Write to us with your grooming queries at execsalon@gmail.com

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evening (or across the night in this case) is way harder than putting your body in motion in the morning. What happens is when you run in the morning you have slept for six to seven hours, you have been in a horizontal position, and your legs are fresh. Conversely, when you run in an evening competition - after standing or sitting most of the day - it becomes harder to reach your peak because your legs have carried your weight through the day.

The first time you run, you are just happy to complete it. But, once you have been a part of 3-4 marathons, you yearn for a big-ger challenge. I have been lucky as my wife Vidya also runs and has been a great sup-port. Many a times, we have planned our holidays around races in different parts of the world and have been a part of marathons in New York, Chicago, Boston and others.

Long distance running has taught me how to be patient in stressful times. I have learned the importance of pacing and incre-mental and constant improvement. For long term endurance, a measured sustainable pace is more important. All these things have many similarities to building a busi-ness. Ultimately, building an organisation is like running a marathon.

My biggest realisation, from running, was that your only competition is yourself. CD

The age of the Social CEO

ANAND MAHINDRAThe chairman and MD of the Mahindra Group is probably the most talk about tweeter in the Indian business world. He tweets on major happenings in the economy and pol-ity and has a tweet count of more than ten thousand. An avid motorsport lover, who has 2.3 million followers, he likes tweeting about Mahindra Racing and its achievements too.

GRAPHICA

RICHARD BRANSONThe British businessman who describes himself on Twitter as a ‘tie-loathing adventurer, philanthropist & troublemaker’ has 6.4 million followers. Meanwhile, his conglomerate Virgin Group has a twitter following of 198000 only. Branson is a prolific tweeter with special interests in travel and space and has 8986 tweets till date. (as on August 12, 2015)

These CEOs are more popular, on Twitter, than their companies

ELON MUSKThe real world “Iron Man” as he is popularly known as, Musk who be-gan tweeting in February 2008 has a fan following of 2.4 million followers. His companies Tesla Motors and SpaceX combined, has a twitter following of 1.6 million. Surprisingly, he has only around 1300 tweets.

MICHAEL DELLA regular tweeter about technology, Michael Dell, founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Inc. has a follower count of 9,53,000. The Texas based $56 bn company he founded in 1984 has 5,06,000 followers. Michael Dell has tweeted 2777 times to date.

RATAN N TATAThe former chairman of the salt to software conglomerate Tata Group has a huge twitter fan base of 4.4 mil-lion, while the official Twitter handle of the Tata group has little more than 2.65 lakh followers. Ratan Tata follows just 37 people and has only around 100 tweets.

HOW RUNNING KEEPSME GOINGRashesh Shah, Chairman & CEO of Edelweiss Group, on how running has made him a better leader

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implication on their productivity. In fact, I am glad that because of the marathon, people are at least becoming aware of the importance of physical activity.

It has been fun running in different parts of the world which had a variety of climatic conditions. I always carry my basic running gear which consists of water and change of clothes. I prefer a minimalist style of running, so have very few things in my sports bag. Once in a while when I go for long runs and when I am alone, I carry an iPod and listen to fast and motivating music.

The globetrotting sneakersI run wherever I travel. I might be in any part of the world or in any time zone, but I make it a point to wake up and run in the morning. I run 3-4 times a week, swim a couple of times a week and spend approxi-mately 7-8 hours a week working out. Running in a new city shows you a differ-ent side of the city - especially in the morn-ings. I got an opportunity to see different sides of New York, Zurich, Tokyo, Chicago and Bangalore.

The toughest marathon that I have run so far has been the Midnight Sun Marathon in Norway. Running in the

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04 Corporate Dossier August 21-27, 2015

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