Monday, November 28, 2011

To have started and travelled everywhere, to come back at the place from where you started and knowing it for the first time, that will be the journey of your life...!


* I dedicate this post to the one whom I lost to in an argument recently, but who made me realize a whole new part of me.

So folks, long time since I wrote, eh. Actually there’s a lot that have been going on in my life and I am truly, honestly experiencing one of the most productive and happiest phase of my life. I along with my amazing friends and team am back with the pride and euphoria of having organized one of the biggest finance summits in Mumbai, have won a scholarship in my b-school and my personal life is at an all time high. Still I didn’t write about any of it, and I haven’t found a convincing enough reason yet for why I didn’t. These are all stories in themselves, must be told, each deserving their own space. May be their time hasn’t come yet. May be it is coming soon. But today something happened. As always I was sleeping till afternoon on a lazy Sunday but since I had my lunch, some thoughts, some light was beckoning me.

It had something to do with the quote I started this post with. When I came to do my MBA I had a clear outcome in my mind – I wanted to be an equity analyst. But it was not an end in itself. It was a stepping stone towards what I thought I would ultimately like to be – a portfolio manager (of which whatever limited knowledge I had at that time). And the process started – classes, interactions, research, videos and talking to as many people as possible from the industry and academia to know about it. Sometime during the first year may be the ultimate goal of portfolio management got faded away in the background, in pursuit of something I was chasing. And then came the turning point – INTERNSHIP.  I was getting something which was not close to being an analyst – Business Development in financial services. I knew this is not what I was looking for, but something somewhere was nudging me that I must go ahead with it. And there came my mentors – who advised me to do so. And during the period of my internship I realized something. I was exposed – to Myself. It came as clear as a lightning bolt, right in my face telling me that this is what I enjoy, which I have always enjoyed – being with people, talking & discussing about wealth creation, financial matters. By the end of it I was sure enough of myself, of what I wanted to do now. The realization that I am a finance guy who would like to be around people more than to sit in front of the laptop from day to night staring at financial statements. Meeting people, sales came naturally to me during the internship as I was right in the world which I loved the most – financial products and services and I was doing what came to me naturally – interacting with clients, trying to know their needs, trying to grow my business. Something which I read earlier was now manifesting in my life, that you don’t chase the things and people you need, you don’t chase success, you attract! Be attractive enough and you will attract the right kind of people, things, and opportunities.


But this too was not meant to be the end of it as the journey wasn’t to be completed yet. This too was a step towards something else, something bigger and something more meaningful. People oriented financial sales – yes, but as to what end. And the answer was right there in front of me, in everything I was reading, watching and what I wanted to be in the first instance. When I thought about being a Portfolio Manager before joining MBA, what deep inside I was looking towards was making people realize their goals through financial freedom, making help people generate, preserve and grow wealth, to make them live the life they have always wanted. Wealth Management was indeed the answer. Starting with getting clients for the business, making them realize what they actually want out of their lives and helping them live that kind of a life through financial plans, I know it all!! And I am sure somehow I am going to work my way up there.

The feeling and clarity by which I am proceeding towards it now was not as powerful and strong before I came to my b-school. As I was going through the list of my goals today, trying to figure and refigure what I am doing and actually want to do, this one thought came striking towards me.

I want to be known as the greatest wealth manager and motivational speaker in the world, who uses not just the laws of finance but Natural Laws of love and attraction to create wealth. I want to change the face of the wealth management industry which is right now totally focused on Ultra HNIs and HNIs. These are already great people who know the secret of wealth creation, who have achieved a lot in their life and just need some guidance on how to further grow and preserve it. Working with such people in itself is a great learning experience for wealth managers. Still I want to take it to people who deserve to live a great, outstanding life like the super rich but do not have a clue to what is going wrong and where. Creating and managing wealth is no rocket science, as the ones who have already created it in abundance would tell you, but just the application of natural laws, disciplines and common sense. Wealth is a mindset; it’s all about how you think. Every person has the capability to change the way their inner relationship and conversation with money happens.

The most important aspect of wealth creation is your “attitude” towards wealth. Whether you feel rich or poor? Do you love wealth and the thought of creating it or do you abhor the people who have enough of it? This is what matters more than the financial acumen per se. I am going to set up an organization which will redefine, or actually rediscover the process of wealth creation all over the world. A process which has always been there, the ancient Greeks knew it, it’s there in all the religions, all the Masters, and alchemists knew it. It is the philosophy of choosing LOVE over FEAR. The philosophy of joy, abundance and truth and focussing, believing and feeling about the outstanding life you are designed to have and nothing less than that. Combine it with the financial knowledge and techniques to make money in the present world, and you have an organization that could change the world, the fate of its people, forever. Great ideas come when you are trying to achieve something great. Tie ups can be made with likeminded organizations and people associated with them like Rhonda Byrne, Neale Donald Walsch, David Schirmer, Loral Langemeier, Robert Kiyosaki, Jack Canfield and the likes who are living examples of this approach of wealth creation. And who knows who all are there waiting to be tapped. There have been masters in the past like Dale Carnegie, John Earl Shoaff and Jim Rohn who changed the wealth discipline forever, who made it simple for people to understand and attract wealth. This needs to be done again, at an even larger scale. And in this information era where so much is available about the thoughts and works of these great minds, the impact that will be achieved by adding to it will be nothing short of a miracle. There was a time when India proved to be a melting pot for the religions and cultures of the world. There will be a time when an Indian organization will change the mindset of the world about wealth. It will make the people all over the globe empowered to attract and create wealth, and live the outstanding lives they so desire.

I started the journey before my MBA commenced, with a thought in mind, and now to come back here and again think about it, indeed I am knowing the place from where I started better than ever. Hope the beautiful journeys of life continue like this.

God Bless and Godspeed!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

THE JAMES BOND THEORY OF CAREER CHOICE


Alert: The ideas that I mention in the post below are peculiar to Financial Services industry but can be applied to any other industry as well.

So this time it’s Bond, James Bond. An action hero has found a place in my blog which by now you know I write on life’s philosophies, finance & economics and motivational stuff. All of us have seen Bond movies at one time or the other but if we take a closer look, there are two parallel but complementary sides moving along in the same direction in the film which ultimately leads the Bond & Team winning and punishing the bad guys. Firstly there is Bond’s team, which includes M - the boss of Bond and very motivated and efficient team-mates who apply their minds sitting in the high-tech office to the best of their ability, and then there is Bond – who does it on the field. This is what this post is about – to be a Bond or to be an M.

Let’s start with the second idea, for most of the people I know want to get into this vertical. Here you will be using your domain knowledge & skills to the maximum, like the guys you see on the silver screen who are working incessantly with newer ideas & technologies to be ahead of the curve, you will earn well and lead a plush and comfortable inside-the-office life. In this vertical in our real industry, these people are known as Equity Research Analysts, Treasury guys, Head of Research and who go on to become the Fund/Portfolio Managers or the Chief Financial Officer (CFOs).  These are the guys who work from the Intelligence Headquarters aka Corporate Office (in our cases, mostly Mumbai).This is the Technical side of the industry.


Now while the people above use their special education & training (which we know as MBA+CFA/FE) in doing their respective job, there is another dimension involved to the work of Bonds.  Like James Bond in his movies uses his domain knowledge combined with his physical skills to win, here being a Bond, you have to use along with your domain knowledge, the skills known as People Skills. Business skills come along with it. The technical knowledge will be used not to do research but to develop the business, to bring more clients whose funds are then managed by the Fund Managers. These Bonds in the real industry are known as Relationship Managers, Business Development Executives which move on the ladder of Area, Country Managers and become the CEO of the fund/company. These are the guys who are not stationary. They could be in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai or any other city and even in different countries later on plying around the globe looking for business relationships. This is the Business side of the industry.

But unlike the Reel world, in the Real world it’s not only the Bond’s role that is glamorous. The other side is loved as much. So it all boils down to where you see yourself, which kind of role do you see doing for the rest of your life, comfortably and most importantly, where you see yourself having fun and growing personally. Both require different advanced skills, one of technicals and the other of handling people and business, but basics are all the same as you need the same basics to do the research and manage funds as you need to convince clients and make them invest to manage the corpus.

One important thing here is that it’s not what you are currently but where you want to be. The Bond in the movie wins every time because of one thing, Training, which M is very proud of, always. Same way in life with training you can do well in either of the above fields. But there is a spark added when you know which are your dominant skills and your calling, and then everything you touch turns into gold. You will get the answers to this in your day-to-day life by seeing how you behave in certain situations, like when you are working in a team on projects, which are the preferable roles you want to take. Pay attention. Or otherwise, you can know it the best way, which is by Doing It. Internships or small work assignments with corporations are a great way to know about yourself and your calling.

Whether a 007 Agent or an M, be the best in whatever you do. GODSPEED!


Sunday, March 27, 2011

“COMFORTABLE” – A word to avoid for being Successful


Now why would I start this post by making a statement that has got two beautiful words, comfortable and successful, but not in a complementing way but by juxtaposing them! Well, that’s the way it is. This morning I was remembering an incident which happened way back when I was a child but somehow struck me today while I was just... let’s say relaxing. About of age 8 or 9, I was in car with my mom & dad in my home town and there on our way came a big store – which was closed permanently now. Dad told me that he used to know the guy who opened this store and that he belonged to a well-to do family, a standard that guy achieved on his own not having any kind of pedigree with him. Dad added that this is what happens when you take unnecessary risks or be too ambitious. Now this is what most of our parents would have said coming across such a story, called it a “failure”.

And here it was, a failure that should have been celebrated, for the sheer entrepreneurial spirit and unborrowed vision of a store that has never existed in the city, being called a failure and looked down upon. But why did it happen so? The answer lies in having a sense of comfort in your life. That day my parents, or most times most of the people in life want to live in a false sense of being comfortable. To them, being comfortable is more important than to win. They do not want to take risks, partly because they are scared of winning, of the mind boggling success that could blow their minds off, but most of the times to continue being comfortable, not to come out of the shell and feel the pulse of the world because that little shell is “good enough” to carry on rest of the life. And so by looking down upon and enjoying such failures of others, everyone gains a false sense of complacency that their way of life, of not taking risks and being comfortable is after all the right way to live. May be this is a kind of thinking which happens as a  result of the collectivist and socialist culture our Indian society has been through for a long time. But whatever may be the reasons; this needs to change for good.

I see young people, teenagers in schools, and I see a spark in them. The same spark that Chetan Bhagat referred to in his famous Symbiosis speech. The same spark that Kareena Kapoor had in Jab We Met in its first half. Those teenagers are passionate about their lives, about what they want to do in the days ahead and they are not scared of taking risks. But as soon as they are about to end their graduations and post-graduations, move into jobs, the spark starts withering away. The first big decision is the kind of job people take. Many of them while very excited in the school and college days, end up taking just a comfortable job, good enough to live on, then get married, and slowly getting entrapped in the day to day fights of the life, completely forgetting the whole excitement life was about. Another poor soul gets trapped in another shell. This story continues till death.

If in the same life the focus is on winning and feeling the exhilaration and not on being just comfortable, the entire life will be different. The spark, the excitement you have during your school and graduation will be always inside you, you will do things that really make you excited, you will work to learn new things and not just to earn and sustain yourselves and your dependents, you will come across spectacular successes and shattering failures, but in the end your life will be one big achievement, A BIG WIN, which will be much richer than a comfortable life. Now this is a fete not everyone is able to get and this is also the only way that life can come full circle and anyone can complete the journey of learning and living, of having experiences. Otherwise life becomes like the second-half of Jab We Met, living a comfortable life without the spark and excitement of being alive.

Living life like this is way too much fun but also you will have days when you will feel down and beaten and that is the time when your support systems come into place. I recommend having a list of 10-15 people whom you can always bank upon, who will stand by you no matter what, with whom you have always shared your life, your true friends and well-wishers. And whenever you feel lost, take a look at the list and as you go along, you will remember the times spent with those people, the amazing moments shared, you will remember how beautiful life actually is and slowly you will start coming back to what you are supposed to be, bouncing back with full confidence and enthusiasm.

And on the guy on whose story I started this post, I don’t know him personally, maybe he went broke for some time after that store, but one thing I am sure of – This kind of a man can go broke, but can never go poor (to use the words of Robert Kiyosaki) and there is a big difference between both. These are the people who make themselves rich and stay rich because being excited and ready to go out of comfort zones is the way they make up life, not scared to lose and be humiliated, but always excited about being happy and winning!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Want to win, Stop Caring!


As I write this post, some personal experiences with people in my past life are running in my mind and I can’t help but stop and notice how those people were so successful in whatever they were doing. Be it their professional life or personal, business or job, relationship or just having fun, I can’t help but recognize a subtle and common charm in all of them, whatever they do. So what’s the rub here? They are all good people, successful, some self made and some enjoying the pedigree (you still have to be good enough to do that) but what makes them so?

NOT CARING – is the answer I got. Not caring about the results, about the outcome whether it’s going to be in your favour or not. Not caring about failures. Because the only thing those successful people are concerned with is – Winning. They don’t mind losing in order to win. They hate losing, but they don’t fear losing - which is a big differentiator. Experience makes you learn and lose, don’t take it to heart. A Punjabi phrase I learnt quite early on in my life from one such man is – “Parwaah Ni Karni”. These three words essentially mean that do what you like, be fearless, follow your heart and don’t care about anything else, be it people (saying things about you which don’t matter anyways), failures (make you ready for the next win) and even the result of what you are doing.

Let’s take a little example at this point. Say you are a Porsche enthusiast. You really, badly want a Porsche Carrere GT you would drive all over the city and make people crazy. Now if you are working to get it, every night you think of whether the other day you will be able to lay your hands on it, drive it, own it. But would it be the same case if you already owned the same Porsche. Would you think every night after parking it in your home whether you will be able to enjoy it the next day or not. Simply no, because you know it’s yours. You will be able to enjoy it as long as you want it. You don’t burden yourself then with unnecessary doubts and questions.
So if there are two rules I want to end this post on those are -

1.  ACT AS IF

Act as if you already own what you want, you already are what you want to be, you already have what you think should be yours. Acting in this way only will take you closer to where you belong and desire to be, to get the things which you want to attract into your life.
As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you can’t, either way you are right”!

2. BURY THE FEAR

Stop Caring about the result, about the humiliation, about the defeat because it’s not worth it, act to win. As you win, all the negativities, the criticisms, the bitter people fade away and what is left is just the happiness and excitement of winning and the company of people who stood by you to enjoy your success with. Always make the Excitement of Winning take over the Fear of Losing. 



To say it in business terms, learn to be a great Salesman. Learn to sell ice to an Eskimo. Learn to sell what you have in order to get what you want. Learning to Sell is one of the biggest contributions you can make to yourself – professionally as well as personally – because it gives a new perspective to achieving things without caring.

These things helped people successfully achieve what they wanted and they still keep doing it, I am learning the same ropes and results do show themselves. Hope you gain some benefit out of it too. Customize it, and make it work for yourself in whatever way you want, just go out and – WIN.