If A equals success, then the Formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play and Z keeping your mouth shut! – Albert Einstein

Recently the IIFA  (The International Indian Film Academy ) Awards’ North American Premiere was hosted in Toronto,  Canada.  Indian cinema has frequently been touted as  superficial song and dance musicals with stereotyped one dimensional characters without original storylines.

However, in  recent times , the world’s attention has been drawn to Indian cinema of the finest calibre with multidimensional characters with nuanced performances in very original storylines rooted in the mystique and misery that is part of the authentic make up of India’s culture.

Slumdog Millionaire was one such thumping success and won several coveted Oscar awards and launched many international careers in its wake. Other noteworthy films have been Devdas , Lagaan and Mother India.

But  what do Bollywood formula films have to do with business? Read More→

We are all afraid for our confidence, for the future, for the world. That is the nature of the human imagination. Yet every man, every civilization, has gone forward because of its engagement with what it has set itself to do.  – Jacob Bronowski

On Nov 16th, 2010 we heard the news that Prince William and Kate Middleton were engaged to be married. Britain, and indeed the world, rejoiced at the news, because everyone loves a good romance that ends with the prince marrying the beautiful girl and living happily ever after. 

A business has to be involving , it has to be fun and it has to exercise your creative instincts.  – Richard Branson

Getting into Business is like getting onto a never ending Roller coaster ride. There will be highs and lows and your stomach will be tied up in knots most of the time, but there will also be that thrill and freedom of accomplishing something by yourself. But not all people like Roller Coasters, nor are all suited for a Business!

Every economic Recession has spawned a myriad new businesses. Of these only a few survive and even fewer become successful.  People write themselves or their businesses off as a failure when in fact other people are succeeding at the exact same business! What  then, makes some succeed and others fail?

My contention is that not enough time was spent in the Start up phase, in fact in the pre-start up phase of their Business . Most people go into Business for the wrong reasons  – predominantly to make money. However they don’t stay in business because that business was not right for them. Read More→

Without Trust there is nothing.

It is a basic fact of every relationship and that does not exclude business relationships. 

Without Trust every profitable business  deal will turn sour at some time, every promising business partnership will inevitably disintegrate and every satisfied client will eventually find another product or service to replace yours.

If you have ever wondered why a promising relationship, whether business or personal,  seems to have inexplicably crumbled before your eyes it is because the Trust element has been missing.

Sometimes it is a perceived lack of trust, but often times there are clues left, that although unspoken will indicate that there is a marked absence of trust on one or both sides of the relationship.  Ignoring it will not make the issue vanish. Read More→

Passing the torch is an ancient tradition with a modern twist.

The origins of the traditional lighting of the torch lies in Ancient Greece where the fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics to commemorate the memory of Prometheus, who as Greek mythology would have it, had stolen fire from the Greek God Zeus.

A ceremonial lighting of the torch was performed by eleven vestal virgins in ancient times at the Olympic site by kindling it by the pure rays of the sun, concentrated through a mirror.

Read More→