Monday, 7 September 2015

Free Sample Chapter ― Professor M.S.Rao’s Award-Winning Book “Spirit of Indian Youth – Soft Skills for Young Managers”



Dear friends,

Here is the sample chapter of my award-winning book, “Spirit of Indian Youth – Soft Skills for Young Managers” Here is the link to buy this book: http://www.amazon.in/Soft-Skills-Young-Managers-Prof/dp/8177223771
You may share your thoughts about this book on social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. Also, I appreciate a review on your blogs, websites, Amazon or other online bookseller sites.  


Introduction

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success that is way great spiritual giants are produced.” - Swami Vivekananda

Indians are known for their inherent talent in mathematics internationally and Indian youth for their talent in information technology.  Indians are not only known for their interests in cinema and cricket but also for their passions in various other areas.  However, predominantly India is known for its excellence in IT and mathematics. We have the world class technical manpower and talent that is unparalleled.  We have the largest English speaking population in the world. But why are we still lacking our leadership position at the global level?  Small countries like Japan, Singapore and Germany marched ahead in various sectors despite their geographical limitations and constraints.  What ails India?  It is time to diagnose where we lack.  It is time to take stock of the situation by analyzing our strengths and overcoming weaknesses, managing threats and exploring opportunities.

In the past we blamed British for all the ills and the mess they had left for India at the time of independence. Sometimes we blame democracy for all the ills as politicians serve their interests than serving the interests of the people.  And few Indian politicians played the role of British and divided the country in religion, regional, linguistic, cultural and caste lines during post - independence era.  However, the silver lining over the dark cloud is that we have survived as a democratic country for more than 64 years and we are the largest democracy in the world. We are also going good economically because of our inherent hard working abilities and tenacity.

Most of the Indian youth are ambitious and driven.  In addition, most of the Indian youth who come out of educational institutions are quick learners and thinkers and conceptually agile.  They come out with simplistic models and numbers and have ability to diagnose the situations through given data.  Precisely, Indian youth are incisive, decisive and inclusive.  Their technological adaptability is amazing and their level of learning is unparalleled.  However, Indian youth still face several challenges to lead better life.


Challenges for Indian Youth

There are several challenges Indian youth are currently facing.  They are lack of employability skills, soft skills, entrepreneurial skills and leadership skills. These four skills are the four pillars for rapid progress of Indian youth. For instance, lack of employability skills lead to dearth of employment opportunities; lack of soft skills lead to losing the employment; lack of entrepreneurial skills lead to working under someone rather setting up their own enterprises and, finally, lack of leadership skills lead to mere managing the things than leading from front.   If Indian youth take care of these four skills sky is the limit for them.  They can achieve anything and everything as these skills equip them with adequate ammunition to take on challenges head-on.


Indian Youth – Unlock Your Potential

Indian youth have huge potential.  If they know their real potential and uncork they can achieve anything.  If they know their talents they can script their success stories. India’s growth lies in the hands of Indian youth as they constitute major portion of Indian population. If they get good guidance from educators, parents and society, they will be able to take India to greater heights of glory thus achieving super power status soon. Hence, the intellectuals, thinkers, educators and parents must work on their strengths to unlock their potential for the benefit of our country.  They must also channel their energies and efforts in a right direction.  We lost our super power status to the world several centuries ago.  It is the time where all responsible citizens and thinkers must work and ensure that India stages a smart come back as a super power.


Aspirations of Indian Youth

I wanted to know what is in the minds of Indian youth.  Therefore, I conducted a poll for a group of students who were pursuing their management education.  The students belonged to various multinational companies working in both in junior and middle level positions with an age group of 24 to 35.  They actively participated in the poll.  I asked them the following questions:

  1. What are the three main challenges the Indian youth facing currently?
  2. What are their expectations and aspirations?
  3. Where do they see India by 2030?

The responses for these questions are as follows:

Majority of the students feel the current challenges are due to outdated educational system followed by lack of guidance.  The other responses include, lack of employability skills, identity crisis, technology, excessive westernization, corruption, lack of opportunities, information overload, time management, lack of freedom, regional imbalances, lack of clarity in their goals and direction.  Finally, the other challenges facing them are health issues and losing moral values.  Therefore, we will discuss these challenges in the next chapters.  We will also discuss the challenges that prevent India from becoming a developed country and as a global super power. 

Here is an interesting case study that helps you think out of the box.


Case Study - What Is In It For You?

“The entrepreneur in us sees opportunities everywhere we look, but many people see only problems everywhere they look. The entrepreneur in us is more concerned with discriminating between opportunities than he or she is with failing to see the opportunities.” - Michael Gerber

Marshall was an ethical entrepreneur with vast experience.  He was bankrupt in business due to the external political problems in the host country leaving him insolvent.  However, he did not lose his heart as entrepreneurs are basically brave hearted.

He returned his home country and requested for help from couple of close friends.  They refused to help as they thought that extending hand was inviting problems for themselves.  However, a childhood friend, Robert came forward to lend him 100 bags of sugar with each bag containing 100 kilograms at a price of one dollar per kilogram.  But Robert imposed a condition that the amount should be paid within a week.   If the goods were not sold completely, the left over unsold stock along with the cash had to be refunded by the end of the week.   Marshall had agreed to take 100 bags containing sugar as per the terms and conditions of Robert.

He started selling the stocks of sugar in loose quantity at the cost of one dollar per kilogram.  That means at the cost price.  He liquidated the stocks and paid back the amount to Robert regularly within a week.  He did in this way regularly.  Did Marshall get any profit out of it?  If so, what were the other advantages out of such transactions for a businessperson?   Just think.


Solutions

For every problem there will be multiple solutions.  Similarly, in the given scenario, there are number of ideas hidden behind the business transactions of Marshall.  Let us briefly analyze few of them.

Since Marshall was taking the quantity of sugar in bags he could sell each empty bag and could make profit although he was selling the stocks at cost price in loose quantity.

Over a period of time, Marshall would generate goodwill as he was selling at reasonable rates. More customers would pour in to buy sugar and also they would ask for more related groceries/items so that everything would be available under one roof.  He could include other items in small quantity where he would sell at nominal profits thus enjoying profits directly in ancillary items without hiking the selling price of sugar.

He could also increase the volume of business and get profits by selling the empty bags.  Since the time frame given to pay either cash or unsold stocks was one week, there was another way to generate more profits.  For instance, he could sell his stocks in loose quantity within two days itself and negotiate with other suppliers at discounted price as he would buy the stocks against cash.  In any business transaction, cash is king.  In the given scenario, Marshall was taking stocks at a price of one dollar against credit.  Hence, he could buy at a price less than a dollar and sell the stocks at one dollar and enjoy the difference in profits per kilogram.  In volume business, the profits become more although the profits appear to be meager per each kilogram of sugar. 

If he could sell the stocks within two days against cash purchase from other suppliers, he could do another rotation resulting into more profits. Depending upon the sales, he could do multiple rotations resulting into more profits without any capital investment.   It may also happen that Marshall might get stocks from other suppliers against credit at the same cost he was taking against credit from Robert as he created a marketing base for himself.  He could sell the stocks at the same price he was selling earlier and also he could enjoy the profits as he was getting the stocks at a lower price and that too against credit.  Gradually Marshall could take the stocks from other suppliers instead of taking from Robert.  Marshall could also negotiate with Robert and take stocks at lesser price thus keeping friendship and doing business as well.

In the long run, other suppliers could approach Marshall for lending their other items on credit as he earned good will and trust from his suppliers and from the customers as well.

Marshall could provide the door delivery of the stocks by hiking the price thus enjoying profits on goods.   However, he had to hire extra manpower for door delivery of stocks.

He could also take the unbranded sugar in bulk, and brand them by adding value and sell at a higher price because of the branding and packaging.  Marshall could easily say that his products had superior quality with value added features and coolly enjoy the decent returns.   To go further, he could brand the items depending on the income level of the customers and sell the stocks accordingly.

Once he was flushed with his own capital Marshall could sell the products with little higher price on credit to customers depending on their credibility and goodwill thus enjoying at higher profits.  He could keep two prices for two types of customers – cash customers and credit customers.  Likewise he could eat the cake and have it too.

Once business gets established Marshall could sell the stocks as per the prevailing market rate without selling at discounted prices and without compromising the quality of goods and services as customers were habituated to buying from him.


Lessons

For the success of any business venture, business acumen is more important.  Although capital is the essence of any venture, we find several entrepreneurs reaching from nowhere to number one position without any capital investment.  It is basically because the values, principles, trust and goodwill apart from other things such as ability to see the invisible and the capability to go by the road less traveled.

Entrepreneurship is more of a passion than an option.  It is all about taking risks and willing to experiment with right business acumen. It is the ability to exhibit tenacity and resilience and staying focused on your goals.  It is the ability to hit the bulls’ eye without giving up.  To sum up, entrepreneurship is not for faint hearted but for brave hearted. 

References
Spirit of Indian Youth – Soft Skills for Young Managers
http://www.amazon.in/Soft-Skills-Young-Managers-Prof/dp/8177223771


Read my ‘Vision 2030 One Million Global Leaders’ URL: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030-one_31.html  


Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao, India
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India
Listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World in 2013
Vision 2030 Webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBCO-gWmTRk
Twitter: @professormsrao  
Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com
Blog: http://professormsraoguru.blogspot.com
Global Top Gurus 30: http://www.globalgurus.org/leadership/upcoming.php
21 Success Sutras for Leaders: Top 10 Leadership Books of the Year (San Diego University) Amazon URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI




Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



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1 comment:

  1. Unknown2 October 2015 at 17:33

    I read this inspiring book. I strongly recommend reading this book.

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