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FTOTW113 – best links of the week ending 8-June-2014

Prolog

Here are the best links shared on my tweet stream this week.

Best Links

1. RT @zenrainman: A tsunami and no water to drink: how disaster inspired lifesaving invention http://t.co/IqqxfjGCM3 ~ amazing innovation – Original Tweet

2. RT @m_meenaks: Absolutely brilliant! ~ How different cultures understand Time. http://t.co/jrtknfGLrC – Original Tweet

3. /Via @krishvenkatesh single most important habit of successful people http://t.co/Txa6pSGyOZ ~ brilliant – Original Tweet

4. /Via @edyong209 injects blood from malarial patients directly into syphilitic patients & wins Nobel prize http://t.co/B5oho53HcA ~ Amazing – Original Tweet

5. /Via @rucsb: Amy Chua and the Triple Package for Success http://t.co/or0STdsgCL ~ vv interesting – Original Tweet

6. RT @dorait: Successful startups almost always start narrow and deep. http://t.co/CuTvfr8Lt8 ~ vv insightful – Original Tweet

7. Are you doing enough? – modern day manifesto for tech firms I saw at @Thoughtworks today ~ vv interesting #IN50HRS http://t.co/1QjRtDr3mz – Original Tweet

Epilog

Hope you enjoyed the links? Did you come across any good links you want to share? Please share in the comments below.

References

I use a certain ratings scale for my annotations which are explained here.

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FTOTW112 – best links of the week ending 1-June-2014

Prolog

Here are the best links shared on my tweet stream this week.

Best Links

1. RT @yarapavan: The best career advice you’ll never hear in a graduation speech http://t.co/zFZBZsIYz0 ~ brilliant – Original Tweet

2. /Via @kum72: 10 life lessons From a Navy SEAL -Very inspiring, For me #1 was an eye opener. http://t.co/J2dwq7gpkS ~ brilliant – Original Tweet

3. The science behind Bruce Lee’s famous 1-inch punch http://t.co/BmSAqC0cnR /Via @GarethIdeas ~ brilliant – Original Tweet

4. How the people around you impact your behavior http://t.co/YELrlEqPRM ~ vv insightful /Via @karticv – Original Tweet

5. One important thing to do to learn from failures http://t.co/KPrV4zsCKk ~ vv insightful /Via @SmartBrief – Original Tweet

6. RT @JAnbazhagan: A/C Bus stop in Kumbakonam,TN http://t.co/IWNtCWnLQC ~ vv cool. Big idea is co-locating ATM & prominent bank branding – Original Tweet

Epilog

Hope you enjoyed the links? Did you come across any good links you want to share? Please share in the comments below.

References

I use a certain ratings scale for my annotations which are explained here.

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FTOTW111 – best links of the week ending 25-May-2014

Prolog

Here are the best links shared on my tweet stream this week.

Best Links

1. RT @SudhaKanago Believe it or not, placebos can treat all sorts of pain, incl. migraine headaches http://t.co/p3tCpsNnE2 ~ vv interesting – Original Tweet

2. /Via @dscofield How to Stop De-energizing the team http://t.co/PeCPdHCbVT by @leadershipfreak ~ vv insightful – Original Tweet

3. RT @4Hpro: Get your stress levels under control as a speaker, not just for you, but for your audience http://t.co/ySYyP8E7vT ~ vv insightful – Original Tweet

4. RT @SameerPatel @esimoudis: Can the Nervous System Be Hacked?, via @nytimes http://t.co/0sGMjltvPy ~ vv interesting & fascinating – Original Tweet

Epilog

Hope you enjoyed the links? Did you come across any good links you want to share? Please share in the comments below.

References

I use a certain ratings scale for my annotations which are explained here.

Comments (6)

First Penguin – Dhruv Lakra

Thanks to Vinay Kuruvilla  for giving me this lead, I had the honor of interviewing Dhruv Lakra, the CEO of Mirakle Couriers.  He has won several awards including the prestigious CNN – IBN Young Indian Leader Award for 2011.

I asked him how he got the idea of employing the people with hearing loss in the courier business. He said, “First, stop referring to them as that, and call them deaf.”

“Wouldn’t that be rude?”

“As much as you are proud to say you are a Tamilian and speak Tamil, they are deaf and they use sign language to communicate, and they are proud of their community.”

That got me. We spoke further and this is his story.

Upon his return to Mumbai, after an MBA program at the Oxford University – Said Business School, he encountered a deaf boy’s difficulties and decided to direct his energy at helping this community. In the next few days, he received a courier at his home, and the delivery person didn’t speak a word – he merely gave him the package, had him sign the receipt and that was that.  Like many brilliant innovators, he connected the dots and decided to start a courier company Mirakle Couriers that now employs over 50 deaf people and delivers approximately 65,000 packages a month. While his firm can deliver anywhere in the world, it can do pickups only in the city of Mumbai.

I asked him about how he plans to scale his business and he said, “I want to grow steadily but profitably and with high quality.”  When asked about training his employees, he said it was mainly through a few weeks of on-the-job training.

Like any man on a mission, he is in a hurry to get more business because it is such a big challenge.  He lamented that the Government doesn’t give any support.

I wondered out aloud with him as to why India doesn’t have an MWBE law (Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise) that forces American firms to spend a certain percentage of their procurement dollars on minority and women owned enterprises. Perhaps our lawmakers working on the CSR Bill can take this up? We can only wait in hope.

He concluded the interview with a request to our readers – “Can you please help influence your company, or organization, or friends based in Mumbai to give my company some business?”

Good luck Dhruv.

And many thanks once again to Vinay for giving me this lead. If any one of you knows of other people that I can interview for this column, please let me know in the comments section. I would be happy to speak with them.

P.S. This series is featured  inside Cognizant in the Cpecial newsletter Good Life Guide.  If you  want to nominate someone as a First Penguin, please write a comment or email me.

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First Penguin – Reshma Sharma

To celebrate Women’s Day, I decided to interview Reshma Sharma, karate expert and winner of the Kalpana Chawla Award for Bravery. I called her on March 7th to interview her. After a few minutes she told me that her liver has completely failed and she is waiting for a liver transplant surgery. For the past 1.5 years she has been suffering due to a rare disease called the Wilson’s Disease . I said “I am sorry to hear that you are suffering”. And she said to me “Don’t be sorry, I don’t need your pity, I need you to pray for me”. Then I asked her about her Karate and she said “I am continuing to do all my activities like always”. Wow.

I wished her and then requested her to answer a couple of questions over email whenever she feels comfortable. Over the last few days she told me that she tried to respond to the email, but one time after typing out her responses, the computer crashed.  I offered to take down notes over a call, if it was okay for her to speak to me. However, yesterday she sent me four scanned pages of handwritten notes.

Here are the snippets from her notes:

She has several degrees and diplomas –   BACS, MA in Guidance Counseling, LLB, Diploma in Self Help Group Management.  Even a a child, she was always an Outstanding Student who bagged a lot of prizes.  From a very early age she was drawn to bravery and decided to choose Karate as her career option and is a student of famous Karate teacher Shihan Hussaini. Her first Karate teacher is Karate Mani, Hussaini is the 2nd teacher and then she got trained by Malaysian teacher Sunny Pope. She runs The Dojo Chakra, a karate school.

It is also very apparent that she possesses an extraordinary commitment to community service – she teaches people from financially disadvantaged communities, nuns, transgenders, people living with HIV/AIDS, sex workers, visually challenged and the specially abled.  She has even trained Police Officers.

Reshma is famous was for popularizing amongst women, the use of the humble Chilli Powder for self-defense. I had asked her how she came up with this idea of the Chilli Powder and she says in her notes “It is an age-old technique used by Queens in historical times”. She also teaches women simple techniques like using a stone tied to the dupatta, hair pins and clips as weapons.  In this day, when women’s safety is a big issue, we should try to teach all our women these simple techniques.

I am in total awe of Reshma Sharma’s indomitable will. Any one else with her condition, may not be able to stir out of the bed, but Reshma goes about her regular job as if nothing is wrong. She said that she attended the book release function of Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai’s new book Chanakya’s 7 Secrets of Leadership. There she met D.Sivanandan , the famous former commissioner of Mumbai who couldn’t believe that a liver transplant patient was attending an event.

Reshma, all of us are with you in your battle with the Wilson’s Disease. The noble soul that you are, you will come out successful.

I want to finish this post with an appeal from Reshma Sharma to all of you “Please take time from your busy schedule to pray for me”.

P.S. This series is featured  inside Cognizant in the Cpecial newsletter Good Life Guide.  If you  want to nominate someone as a First Penguin, please write a comment or email me.