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Penguin Books Ltd - Rekha Shetty

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101 pages

English

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Why should people be happy? How is the pursuit of happiness relevant to the corporate world? Studies show that happy people are the most innovative, and more productive. The Happiness Quotient is therefore integral to a successful corporate strategy. In Innovate Happily, bestselling innovation guru Rekha Shetty s new book, Junie, a bright young executive, meets Rags, a wise, hi-tech coach. Together they discover the secrets that create progressive and happy communities during a visit to Bhutan, the modern-day Shangri-La, a land that actually measures its Gross National Happiness. Through a series of analytical and self-actualization exercises, Innovate Happily shows you how to innovatively increase your Happiness Quotient and take it to your own town and organization.

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Entrepreneurship

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Publié par	Penguin Books Ltd
Date de parution	15 mai 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9788184756456
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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DR REKHA SHETTY, PHD
Innovate Happily!
A Blueprint for Shangri-La, the High Happiness Quotient City
Contents
About the Author
Beyond Certainty
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Epilogue
Copyright Page
PORTFOLIO
INNOVATE HAPPILY
Dr Rekha Shetty, PhD is the founder of the MindsPower brand and managing director of Farstar Distribution Network Ltd, a twenty-year-old consulting firm working exclusively on innovation initiatives, happiness and work-life balance. She consults for some of the region s foremost blue-chip companies and is keenly involved in social action for clean water and population development issues. She is one of the first women Rotary International governors in Asia and a recipient of Rotary s Service above Self award. Her other books include The Way to a Healthy Heart: The Zero Heart Attack Path ; Portable Roots, Corporate Strategy: Mindspower Innovation ; Innovate! 90 Days to Transform Your Business and The Happiness Quotient . Dr Rekha Shetty s thoughts come from a deep study of many disciplines including management, sociology, psychology, economics, history and spirituality. Her ideas are practised in over thirty countries.
You can get in touch with Dr Rekha Shetty at rekhashetty123@gmail.com or rekhasmindspower@airtelmail.in. You can also visit her blogs http://innovation90days.blogspot.com and http://thehappinessquotient123.blogspot.com , and join http://www.facebook.com/authorrekhashetty .
Beyond Certainty
Come, Where the imagination floats free- A butterfly in the wind
Listen, Beyond the certainty of words And hear the symphony Of a seashell in your ear
See, Beyond the known And fly a thousand leagues Into the heart of a sun-drenched flower
Forsake The certainty of black and white For the shadowed grey.
Prologue
There is a place in the distant mountains which is always calm and peaceful, where the earth is laden with luscious fruit and wholesome grain, where people are vibrant, healthy and happy, where every edifice is artistic and beauty clothes every home in the loveliness of handmade artifacts. Lush greenery carpets the land, dazzling your eyes with its colourful butterflies, exotic animals and birds. The air is fresh and the water is pure and the sound of holy mantras is carried on every gentle breeze. Here the whole community is a family and smiles bind the hearts of all. You too can live in Shangri-La
One
The first time I met him was in a bar. He was thoughtfully sipping a lime drink that might have contained vodka, gin or simply lime juice. What drew me to him was the quiet island of reflective silence he had created in the midst of the noise and the smoke.
I like the energy of this place, he said, smiling at me. The open, joyful smile decided it for me-I took the high stool next to him. I came here to drink myself into a stupor, I said. He responded with a gesture that said, Be my guest. I ordered a large whisky on the rocks and started my trip into oblivion.
So what happened? he asked quietly.
It s my boss BB, I said. I wished I could describe my first, fire-breathing, macho boss.
Well, he s the type who wears barbed wire next to his skin and eats broken bottles for breakfast, I said.
So you like P.G. Wodehouse too, he laughed. That was Aunt Agatha, I believe.
I tried to recreate for him the daily demolition of my ego that happened at the morning meetings at office, leaving me drained of all energy.
Hey, by the way, my name is Raghav. My friends call me Rags. My hand was engulfed in a warm handshake.
I am Arjun my friends call me Junie.
We sipped our drinks meditatively for a while.
What do you like or admire about your boss? he asked.
I looked at him aghast. Something good about that fire-breathing dragon! That gorgon whose glance could turn me into stone?
Stop being dramatic! said Raghav, responding to my thoughts as though it were the most natural thing in the world for him to hear my unspoken thoughts.
Well, he knows a lot. He should-since, as he says, his experience is more than my age.
How old are you? Twenty-eight? he asked.
Yes, I nodded.
He looked affectionately at me like I was his little brother. I had never had an elder brother and quite liked the feeling.
Maybe your boss would like to feel that you admire him.
I gave him a scornful, disbelieving look.
If you look at him like that, every line of your face shows your utter and total disregard for him, he said. I hadn t realized my feelings were so transparently displayed on my face.
Why don t you leave? he asked.
I can t leave two months after joining. It will look bad on my CV.
Okay-why don t you somehow express your respect for his knowledge and experience tomorrow? Everyone longs for affirmation. Your boss is not getting it from you.
He can also say something good about me. I was a college topper in business school. I was also captain of the football team.
You start the process and see what happens. It is a cycle that only the victim can start.
I looked at him disbelievingly. Suddenly, I didn t feel like continuing my binge any more. I ordered a cricket lime drink, and chatted about how it was to be in this brand new city: Chennai. It was strange, so different from my hometown, Patna, from Bihar, from IIT Kharagpur and IIM Bangalore. I really missed the easy affection of my friends at the Institute.
Everything changes, he said. Either you can be a victim of change or you can proactively create a tidal wave of change.
I goggled at him. Who are you? Michael Porter? I scoffed.
Just call me Rags, he said lightly.
And when I turned back after downing my drink he was gone.
No telephone number, no address, nothing.
Monday morning. Black Monday. One more day under the dark cloud of disregard that enveloped the review meetings.
So what does young Kotler have to say about our new product launch in Libya?
My head jerked up from my aimless doodling as BB s voice pierced the silence. He was talking to me. At his sarcastic best.
I struggled to keep quiet. Not willing to play his vicious cat and mouse game any more. The meeting moved into the structured and disciplined format where all participants presented their points of view. In spite of myself, I was impressed by the precise, focussed decision making process. Many decisions were made by BB, but he certainly made sure he had all the facts first.
When my turn came to present ideas for the advertising campaign, I suddenly felt Rags s voice in my head. Give him an affirmation.
This meeting and the presentations I have heard have given me a much clearer perspective for the proposed campaign, I said. I would like to rework the campaign with some ideas heard here. Here are a few ideas which all of you can think about and mail me.
There was a stunned silence; you could have heard a pin drop. Everyone was staring at me.
Okay, said BB, looking at me speculatively. Like, Maybe he is not as dumb as he looks. Maybe he can still listen to others and learn and stop acting like a hotshot brat.
I tried to process what was happening. Rima, the cute product executive who usually minuted the meetings, grinned at me. So, even you have something good to say about us.
Did I really seem like such an insufferable know-it-all? I had to know. So when I found Rima sitting over a cup of coffee in the canteen, I flopped down beside her and asked, Am I so bad?
No, you fool, she said, smiling sweetly. You are worse. With all your graphs and slick presentations that don t mean anything to these guys who have their brains fried in the hot, noisy factory every day.
I looked at her, chastened, and thought how lovely she looked, so intense and sincere.
I walked off with a vague wave. I looked at the messages on my cell phone. There was a message from an unknown number.

Ur ok
How did Rags know my phone number?
The year passed. And then another. My rough edges were smoothed out. My rise was described by some as meteoric. I had a great team which I led as Branch Head, I had a new car, lots of Saturday night friends, a neat pad. Life was good.
One day I was at the Hilton Hyatt Regency bar. I really enjoyed watching Naveen Fernandez juggling a dozen bottles in the air and miraculously pouring out the vodka from a bottle tucked neatly under his arm. Not once did he drop any of the dozen things he was juggling. I wished I could juggle the dozen priorities in my life as a branch manager. Some things would bounce back like the rubber ball he suddenly dropped, to add to the excitement. I imagined myself juggling the urgent and the important. My work, family, health, friends and myself. Some of those bottles could easily break. The last two years I had been mindful of that.
Suddenly my cell phone rang. Hey, said the unforgettable voice, so familiar even after all those months.
Rags! I cried. Where are you?
Just passing through, I heard you ve got your promotion and become Branch Manager. So you got everything you wanted. I could almost see his smile. He was teasing me as usual.
Rags I said.
Junie, I was wondering whether you would like to take a trip to Bhutan, the land of the Gross National Happiness, and play ping-pong with a few ideas on innovation.
What ?
Innovation is the most blissful thing you can do Do you want to come?
Yes, but
On 15 October. Just for a month. We can see Bhutan, too.
On the spot, I decided to go. And after that, things moved really fast.
Two
Taxiing into Paro airport, between mist-wreathed mountains and green valleys, seemed impossibly dream-like. It is a magical place, amidst gentle, undulating, grey-green mountains, where nature and man conspire to create an image of infinite beauty. Rich, terraced farmlands stretch into the horizon. Far away, I could see the snow-clad Mount Jhomolahari (7000 metres high). The glaciers on its distant mountain slopes melt to plunge down through deep gorges, resulting in a serpentine river: Pa-chu. The airport building i