Tips to enrich your VocabularyGeorge Bernard Shaw once said-Words are only postage stamps delivering the object for you to unwrap.

I got many messages as to how to improve our command over the usage of words. I am not an authority on it, not an expert orator too. But I would like to share my ideas that helped me in improving my vocabulary. I suggest you folks to give it a try. INTEREST:  The first thing that one has to possess is the interest for learning. This interest applies to every thing- be it learning a new language, a new skill, a new hobby or our own professional matters.  You see this is not something that can be forced or can be spoon fed. You should have absolute passion for the words, should be keenly involved in the process. If passion is not there, there is no point in proceeding further.

So if any of my friends are of the opinion that it is all a waste of time, I request you not to read further, because you may be wasting your time!!!!

READ:

Yes, you have come to the second step. You got interest, now what to do.Read buddies, read. But what to read??? Some may have a taste for paper backs, some opt for Dan Brown, some other swear by Chetan Bhagat and still some finds time to go through P.G.Woodhouse and Robin Sharma or Dale Carnegie. All these are best in their genre.

But being students, one hardly finds time to go through all the books. We are blessed with a dense volume of study material. Begin with that!!! I had found that our study material contains more than enough words and usages that can enrich our vocabulary. In fact it is always advisable to keep a dictionary in hand while going through it.

News papers and magazines: You don’t have to read from the first page to the last page. Just browse through the headlines. Hit the editorial section, go through it. Skim through the letters and feed back to the editor. Keep a dictionary and thesaurus handy.  In every paper, the editor’s note contains the best words and usages, the current situations. By giving a look at the letters section, you can have an idea about what others opinions are. So even if tomorrow one of you going to face a GD or interview, we can keeps the ball rolling by having awareness about the topic.

I don’t intend to favor any newspaper or criticize others. But I had found The Hindu, The Times of India, The Business Line and The Economic Times outstanding. If you are still scratching your head as to where can one get hold of the soft copies of these papers, go through this url

http://www.caclubindia.com/ca_newspaper.asp

In the case of magazines, there is some thing that we always take for granted-The Chartered Accountant Magazine. Majority of the students go through the newsletter leaving the CA magazine far behind. We may find some words and articles difficult to comprehend. We may say that we don’t have time to go through them. But there is an option to play the audio of the articles too if you are going for the soft copy, do we need to ask for more??

And you can always browse other magazines like The Business Today, The Sunday Indian or anything of your choice. It is all a personal choice.

Television:

Although termed as the idiot box, this innovation too is quite useful. You can learn a lot of words and diction if you watch talk shows. You don’t have to watch each and every show aired on air. If your pick of channel is some thing else like music channels Nikhil Chinnappa and Cyrus got an enviable command over the language and excellent presentation skills. If your interest is in the tinsel town, most of the English movie channels offer sub titles in English.Capitalize the opportunity, folks!!!  And who can forget the gem from our own fraternity, Prannoy Roy, who airs every show with an aura of grace????

If one has a taste for music, English songs can play a part too. It can help in framing pneumonic codes too while studying.

I don’t want to drag the topic, so am moving on to the next tool.

Internet:For today’s generation, every thing is available at the click of a mouse.

There are lots of sites that deliver a word and its usage daily to your inbox. The top among it is http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html. One can make use of sites like www.yourdictionary.com

Lots of sites provide us with the blessing of good e books and lots of members here have shared them. Make use of them.Follow blogs of writers and teachers. Listen to podcasts.Even some articles posted in this site too are really outstanding, perfect in every aspect, got sumptuous collection of new words.  Read them, familiarize with the words you are not aware of.  Social networking sites too contain pages for enriching the vocabulary and usage. It all depends on how you make use of all the resources. And you can even play Scrabble online.  

The kick start: So we have done all that we can, we have made use of all possible available resource. Now what next?? Put into practice. Talk with your friends and clients you meet.   Write. You can write into this platform and ask suggestions from fellow mates. You can use them in mails or chat. Net lingo is something very different. I do agree.  Suggest, make corrections and ask doubts: We can always ask for suggestions for improvement and ask doubts. Don’t be ashamed to ask doubts. We all are part of one family-Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. Many veteran stalwarts are always here to help others. So make proper use of the opportunity.

Hope you find my tips useful. If any one got more tips and suggestions, please share it with us so that we all can learn and grow. As some one said-There is always someone who can benefit from knowledge you are willing to share.

How to handle a GD/PI

The primary thing considered by many to get admitted for a MBA program in one of the reputed B schools in India, is excellent marks in the CAT exams, better known as Common Admission Test.  Despite of this there are many candidates who are unable to make it to the final stage of getting themselves rolled in their dream college. The answer to this is that scoring only good marks in CAT is not sufficient enough to help you get into your dream college. Before the final admission takes place, the candidate has to go through a round of GD and PI. Better known as Group discussion and Personal Interview, these two are rigorous screening process that more or less every reputed B school follows. If you can overcome these two hurdles, then only you can get admitted for the MBA course. 

Tips to crack a Group Discussion

• GD is not an elimination procedure:

Most of the students think GD as an elimination round where the evaluator finds scope to eliminate the candidates. This is a very wrong perception. GD is more of an evaluation process than an elimination round. In a group discussion round, the evaluator evaluates the candidates on certain skills like communication, assertiveness, patience to listen, etc. The evaluator mainly wants to see how well you can communicate, but make sure that whatever you are saying makes sense.

• Make good points

In case of GD, after you get to hear the topic on which all the candidate's need to discuss, try to think the topic from different perspectives like economic, political, social, technological, legal, etc. By doing this, you will get a number of good points to speak on. Don't hurry in making the points. 

• Understand the topic first and then speakUntil and unless you are very confident about the topic, don't be the one to start. If you do not understand what the topic is all about, then hear what the others are saying. From there, you can make out what the topic is all about and then plan out your points and presentation.

• Get into the discussion

While being the first one to speak has its own share of risks, it is not advisable to remain quite for a long time. After you have gathered enough points you can get into the discussion. To get yourself noticed, you can start by agreeing or disagreeing to a particular candidate's points and then begin speaking on your points. At the same time, don't be the last one to speak as this might make a negative impression on the judging panel. It is always advisable to be the second or the third speaker.

• Leadership quality

In case of GD, try to highlight your leadership quality but don't portray a bossy attitude. Try to motivate others to speak so that it brings out your abilities as a leader before the interview panel.

Some Common Tips

• Check the body language

Always remember that the evaluator is not only listening to you, but at the same time checking your body language. Body language, mannerisms, gestures speak a lot about the person. So, try to maintain a positive body language. Tapping your feet, playing with the pen, pointing the fingers, sitting with legs crossed should be avoided. In case of PI, you should have a smiling face but avoid laughing unnecessarily.

• Knock before you enter

In case of PI, always knock and ask for permission to enter the room. After you have entered, wish every member in the panel. Don't just enter and grab the chair to sit. Wait for the interviewer to ask you to take your seat.

• Eye contact

While the GD is going on, you should maintain a proper eye contact with the person with whom you are talking. If you are sitting in front of the interviewer, then maintain eye contact with him. But make sure that the other person does not feel that you are staring at him/her.

• Sharpen your language skills

Before coming for a PI or GD, you should sharpen your language skills so that you can express your words and thoughts clearly and fluently. In such places, fluency in English is considered must.

A means to an endA means to an end:

My mind is at present cluttered with too many concepts at present, so thought of penning down a few lines. I do not know what cauldron of ideas would flow out in the next hour or so.

I was reading a blog, (do not remember which one), when my mind got stuck to the phrase,’ A means to an end’, which gave my mind a myriad of questions on myself and about the world. What is the whole melodrama of life, or say the job that I am at present, or the future of India or any Corporate big or small? With the advent of newer and newer stuffs that we call technologies, concepts, ideas, strategies, we are singing a lot more about ourselves, and there are others to join the bandwagon, which we aptly call Competitors. There is always a race everywhere, oh! Even in the Social Media Circle (or should I call it Circus).  

Undoubtedly, the way Social Media and Online Advertising is changing the world of communication and creativity, very soon Cannes Lions, EFFIE (to mention the well-known, besides other award platforms) would have prominent accolades for such budding fields of communication and creativity.

But the thought at the back of the mind is, do all the accolades help in consistency? Does all the fame, brand name earned go down the drains due to the slightest of tarnishes (probably because Media has the trait of blowing up things, which breeds somewhere down in our culture). 

I am not very good at Cross Cultural Knowledge, but that’s for sure that no continent is immune from lobbying, manipulations, tampering of laws and regulations, finding loopholes in the system, etc... And most of it results in Rich becoming Richer and Poor becoming Poorer. 

Everything is connected or somehow it’s a cycle of good and bad interlinked (some connoisseur in some part of the globe must be doing a thesis on the same, of which I am sure.) Natural disasters are aloof this idea, they occur as they wish. Even though Man tries to tame the most impossible of the feats, his management is still not transcendental.

Then there are those IT and Techie Guys, who keep inventing newer things, and help Corporate earn through various ways, for example: Even though the share of iphones worldwide is not much, Steve Jobs is making money by selling apps. That’s a smart thing indeed (the vision of ‘think different’ pays off).

Whereas, researchers have found smarter ways to push their products with the advent of data mining and with the booming online industry; all is not glorified in the cyber world though. It has given newer dimensions to the word ‘Crime’.

To add to the mayhem there are those Ostentatious Consultants who call themselves solution providers, trainers, motivators, etc., who will advise you in a manner that, which hits to your Subconscious something like this,” Boss, If I am not at it, my competitor will grab it and move ahead in the race’. Did we ever cross check if we have not jumped the lanes of races, from say 200 mt races to a 400 mt race, before and after the consultation with that prestigious so called solutions provider? 

It’s good to have newer missions and objectives but not at the expense of the whole idea of selling and making money. We get so busy talking about ourselves that we forget to analyze if we have sold enough for the day. I know there are those Analytics that the Sales Manager would circulate every now and then, so what?

Now this phrase ‘So what’, reminds me of my favorite Marketing Professor, Mr.M.D Rao at my B-School, who in his SWOT lecture, explained to us to bank upon Strengths and look out for Opportunities (SO)  and keeping the weaknesses in mind dodge the Threats to the organization. To extrapolate this concept to what I have written above would be: all the planners and managers in an organization, under numerous departments, are looking at the latest trends, ideas of selling, strategies to sell, motivate, create a brand name, enhance the valuation, etc. , for the single Big Objective- make more money, and when something does not seem appropriate, modify accounting sheets to make the ratios seem justified with the current economic scenario, industrial progress, management change, etc., etc.

Now does all of the above seem to be excuses to making yourself big, and then ask yourself this question? What are the excuses you are giving to yourself? Whatever we are doing, there has to be an account to it, and there has to be credibility and responsibility in life. Do not forget there will be those Others, aptly called Competitors, to drag you down, but do not brag about this as an excuse is my advice to all. Stop blaming others and stop cribbing. We get so much carried away by professional aims, missions in life, that the ultimate vision is lost, vision of serving your customers, and making money ethically. As again, a though crawls in my mind- The ground rule to be ambitious is to learn to control your aims.

This was the food my brain was feeding on, hope you get some morsels too.

Sense of Humour and Spirituality What is sense of Humour?

We have five basic senses, but people speak also of a "sense of humour", "sense of self", etc -- there are countless "senses" actually.

When you say that so-and-so has a good sense of humour, what you probably mean is”Their sense of humour agrees with mine -- they laugh at the things I find funny" (for e.g.  Good judgment, good taste...). So in this respect a good sense of humour alias GSOH isn't so different from good eyesight -- it's a question of perceiving.

But it doesn’t just perceive. "GSOH" could have plenty of other implications -- that the person can tell jokes as well as recognize them that they have an appreciation of quality jokes that they laugh at frequently, that they're optimistic, that they don't take themselves or life too seriously, that they can be the butt of a joke without raging, and so forth. 

God’s way of gifting sense of humour to humanity

At the end of Dwapar Yug and just before the start of Kaliyug, God created a new energy called “Laughing Buddha”. This energy personified is often available in the market as a part of Feng Shui in the house or office or anywhere really. He looks like: 

Laughing Buddha was made as an enlightened soul and Gautam Buddha’s energy was one of the principal energies used to create him. On top of that Lord Brahma added additional powers of laughter and absorption of negativity. There were many wars (including Mahabharata) that were fought just before Laughing Buddha descended on earth and hence his role was to relax the masses and give them a reason to laugh and smile and restart their lives.

I have had the good fortune of being blessed with his live vision and also seen him in my meditations a lot. By the grace of God, my sense of humour is above average as it is and it has further improved by the grace of Master Laughing Buddha.

Countering negativity with laughter

The whole world has a mix of positivity and negativity and all of us play positive as well as negative depending upon the situation and our level of energy. Often, when we are dealing with a person or persons who are negatively charged, they tend to deplete our meditational and or positive energies through their thought process or verbal communication. Sense of humour is a great tool that is available to us to create a diversion to that negative attack by finding a common ground where both sides can relax and laugh with each other. It helps in facilitating a superior Relationship Management with professional and or social stakeholders in one’s life.

Interesting funny incidents:

a) A Toilet incident: A few months ago, I was suffering from constipation and I was roaming around in a local shopping mall in Melbourne. Suddenly, I had to attend to a call of nature and hence I entered gents cubical. I sat down and started pushing my system to get rid of unmentionable waste…no luck yet. A few minutes later, I heard that another person entered and occupied the neighbouring cubical. He was having better health then I at that point of time. Within seconds I heard a decent bombardment and he was out of there within no time while I was still hammering my back side and cursing my health. A few minutes later my prayers were answered and I became lighter in weight by about a kilogram or so.

What a relief that was but I thought what an inspirational showoff my cubical neighbour was and the time he took to relieve his system is a benchmark since then for me in terms of gauging the level of my health.

b) Bakri Ke sath Muh kala karate pakde gaye: Many years ago, I read in a local Hindi newspaper in Delhi and it said: “Ek Adedh Umar ke purush din dahare Bakri Ke sath Muh kala karate pakde gaye” – which means in the English that a middle aged man was caught red handed (by Police) getting intimate with a Goat. It is a crime against animals and hence the man must have been punished amply for it by law and order. I wish the Law and Order takes similar crime committed against humans seriously as well and punish the guilty without harassing the victims be it rape, theft or assault etc.

Because cows are considered holy and no one would dare to touch them with a bad intention. 

c) Illegal Farting in public places should be punishable by Law: I remember about 13 years ago, I was working as a part time hospitality staff in a Christmas party to pay off bills while I was studying in a University in Melbourne, Australia. There were about 15-20 tables that we had to serve and we were about 5-7 Waitering staff. There was a good looking local girl who was serving a couple of tables as well. A guest at one of the tables gestured to her to come to him as he had a request. The moment she reached the table, the guy got up little bit and intentionally farted and held her hand as if transferring the dirty energy to her.

The whole table started laughing at her and she was embarrassed to hell. She was obviously hurt and told me about it and asked me what one should do in such a situation. I asked her to carry a cigarette lighter with her next time and if he repeats the behaviour then:

a. Advise the other guests on the table that our food is top quality but we can’t control the added flavours - courtesy of the culprit (gentleman). 

b. If he looks drunk then switch on the lighter and laugh with him (refer to the photo below).

 

Reindeers farting and a mischievous man lights it on fire…good use of lighter and keeps the snow effect under check!

Some of the Hollywood Comedy movies to watch may be:

Chitty – Chitty Bang – Bang

Stir Crazy

See no evil, Hear no evil

Charlie Chaplin

Tom and Jerry Cartoon

Some of the Bollywood Comedy movies that I recommend as must watch are:

Half Ticket – Kishore Kumar, Madhubala

Padosan – Kishore Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Saira Bano

Pyar Kiye Ja – Kishore Kumar, Shashi Kapoor

Jaane Bhi do Yaaron – Naseerudin Shah, Ravi Vasvani

Aansoo aur Muskaan – Kishore Kumar

Chalti Ka Naam Gadi – Kishore Kumar, Madhubala

Note: If you are undecided on what gift to give to a near and dear one on a happy occasion, nothing better than a statue of Laughing Buddha. It is considered lucky, brings positive energy and laughter to one’s life and is very affordable.

Reference: 

a) Knowledge blessed upon me by Masters in Meditation and Active Channeling with them

b) My personal experience

c) Free Google Images

How to Make Decisions: Six Hats ThinkingThe Six Hats Thinking technique enables you to break out of your habitual thinking style and make better quality decisions. Six Hats Thinking was created by Edward De Bono with the aim of looking at the effect of a decision from a number of important, different perspectives, and modifying your decision accordingly. This decision making approach can be successfully used individually or in a group. In short, you consider the effect of a decision by wearing six "hats", and in turn, articulating the aspirations and concerns of each group.

White Hat This is the data hat, where you consider facts, figures and information, identify any gaps in your knowledge and either fill or acknowledge them. For example, you use historical data or case studies to predict future behaviour, or do a cost benefit analysis. Red Hat This is the emotional hat, where intuition, instinct and irrational responses are considered. Black Hat is the negative, pessimistic, "the world is going to end" hat. This viewpoint is useful as flaws and assumptions can be flushed out and addressed, and contingency plans prepared. Yellow Hat Is the polar opposite of the black hat, where optimism prevails. This is where benefits and added value are considered. The Green Hat is used to put some creativity into the process. What other options exist? Is there a trickier, smarter solution? Blue Hat Is the hat worn by the person facilitating the decision making process, ensuring each hat is worn in turn and gets a fair amount of air-time. Here's an example of how Six Hats Thinking can be used. Small training companies are deciding on whether to deliver online training. This is new territory for them as they have historically only done face to face training. However, they need to grow the business and think this is what customers want.

 White Hat ThinkingThe team looks at their finances and sees face to face training numbers are generally stagnant, and declining for some courses. Feedback from customers suggest a growing proportion would prefer a training solution that could be delivered "on demand", wherever and whenever the trainee requires. There are already a considerable number of successful training companies with an online presence. Red Hat ThinkingThe team is nervous about their lack of experience in managing online training.They are concerned their roles will change into being technical support and no longer doing what they enjoy or are good at. Black Hat ThinkingBlack hat thinking flushes out concerns about the cost and complexity of building a website and creating an online training platform, particularly if not all courses are suited to an online environment. Also, how does this project fit with existing workload? Yellow Hat ThinkingYellow hat thinking frees the team up to believe that in a year's time they will be wondering what they were worried about. They break the project up into manageable chunks, with agreed deadlines and deliverables. They realise that if all goes to plan, there may be a new market in turning other companies training from off-line into on-line training. Green Hat ThinkingSpending some time wearing the green hat makes the team considers other ways to deliver training, both off and on-line. They create two different training solutions which they had not previously considered. 

Blue Hat ThinkingThroughout the discussion, one person wears the blue hat, ensuring no thinking style dominates or colours the others.Six Hats Thinking forces you to consider many different perspectives when making a decision, and break out of your habitual thinking style. This technique is particularly useful for both newly formed and established teams, as there is a transparent decision making process to be followed.  

Communication Skills

Every one enters the job market to find the very right job! Most of them are well qualified

and experienced. Yes, most of them possess the right skills too. Still a large population fails

to find the right job matching their qualification and skill sets.

Why? 

Recall your last shopping experience.  You buy anything only when you feel that the product is worth the price. Let us analyze your normal purchase decision in a Q&A format. 

How do you know that the product is worth the price?

You assess the usefulness, features, effectiveness, suitability etc. of the product and compare the price of similar products in the market.

Who tells and convince you that this specific product is superior, worth and apt for your purpose?

The salesman or the shop keeper.

Why the salesman takes pain to convince you?

He wants to sell his product.

Similarly, when you enter the job market the prospective employer is coming for a shopping. He is coming to acquire the right talent. Here also, the employer assesses you on certain parameters before taking a hiring decision. He looks whether you are useful, effective and suitable for his organisation. He will also see what value addition that you can offer to his organisation.

If he is convinced, no doubt, he will hire you. Let us analyses this situation. 

Who is going to convince him that you are the best?

Here is no salesman to support you. You are the product and salesman. You have to market yourself. If you succeed in that you will get the right job and the right compensation.

 

What is the pre - requisite for this marketing effort?

Like every marketing effort you must be able to communicate effectively. For that you have to use both written and oral communication.

 

What is the use of written communication here?

Written communication is very similar to a product brochure. Yes, you are going to use effective professional curriculum vitae, which is your product brochure.

 

What is the use of oral communication here?

An interview is an inevitable phase in every hiring process. This is the time for face to face interaction. You have to convince the employer that you are worth and suitable for his organization. After the face to face interaction he must feel that you are the candidate he was looking for. Here, you are using oral communication to market you.

Hope you got the significance of communication in landing the right job. Think about the pathetic situation of a job seeker, having enough qualification, experience etc. lack in communication skills.

Let us move further! Just ask a question yourself.

Do I possess proper communication skills to impress my prospective employer?

If your answer is negative; NO NEED TO WORRY. 

Boldly accept it. Then understand, you have attained certain academic and professional qualifications. So, there is no need to doubt your ability and competence. Recollect, that long way from your kindergarten days to this moment. During the first day in kindergarten, you did know nothing. But today, you know a lot of big things. It is a proof that you are competent and you can learn anything and acquire any skill, if you have a burning desire in your mind.

Take a committed resolution that I WILL BE AN EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATOR WITHIN MONTHS. I'm sure that you will.

You may be wondering why I have that much confidence on you.

I belong to an ordinary middle class family. I'm a first generation professional.  I had my schooling in an ordinary Malayalam medium school in my village. I have made a sincere effort to overcome my limitations in communication. My effort was a success and I am still trying to polish my communication skills.

I have successfully adopted certain techniques to improve my communication skills. Definitely, I wish to share them with you in the later parts of this write up.