Professor M. S. Rao’s Vision 2030: One Million Global Leaders

© 2015 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in. This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.

Monday, 20 April 2026

Professor M. S. Rao’s Vision 2030: One Million Global Leaders : Diverse Workforce the Need of the Hour—Professor M...

Professor M. S. Rao’s Vision 2030: One Million Global Leaders : Diverse Workforce the Need of the Hour—Professor M...: “ If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so we...

Sunday, 19 April 2026

Diverse Workforce the Need of the Hour—Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.—21st-Century Philosopher & The Father of “Soft Leadership”

“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.” —Margaret Mead

The 21^st century has thrown several challenges to mankind. Which, managing a diversified workforce is one of them for corporate leaders. With the changing times and technologies and with the rising aspirations and expectations of the people, businesses find it tough to meet their demands. Innovation and creativity are one of the solutions to meet the growing expectations of the customers and to have the same it is essential to have a diversified workforce who can add value to organizations by bringing their diversified ideas and insights across the table.

What is Diversity?

"Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another's uniqueness." —Ola Joseph

As people are different they have different attitudes, behaviors, personalities, gifts, talents, abilities feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and appearances at the workplace. Diversity brings various individuals with diversified backgrounds such as culture, religion, region, ethnicity, and education working under one roof to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Diversity does not talk of the dilution of an individual's uniqueness, but it talks about recognizing and respecting others' uniqueness in terms of religions, regions, languages, creeds, caste, color, gender, cultures, and communities. Diversity clearly defines that individuals are not alike. It portrays knowing the differences among the employees and respecting them accordingly.

Cornell University defines, "Diversity is about learning from others who are not the same, about dignity and respect for all, and about creating workplace environments and practices that encourage learning from others and capture the advantage of diverse perspectives."

Diversity Management

Diversity management is all about fostering a conducive workplace ambiance by recognizing and respecting the differences among the employees. It is aimed at looking at the similarities rather than differences among the employees to promote organizational fraternity and prosperity. It is about appreciating the differences in gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation of the employees working under the same roof.

It is essential to attract, retain, and train a diverse workforce as it enhances creativity and innovation. Although it has several challenges arising out of diversity it has several strategic advantages as well for the organizations.

It is a great asset where people across the globe bring in their diversified thoughts, ideas, insights, and cultures to the corporate world leading to cultural assimilation and tolerance.
There is variety in diversity where people have different and divergent characteristics.
Diversity helps in capitalizing on all the strengths of each employee.
It promotes innovation and competition.
It furthers flexibility and tolerance towards other communities and cultures.
The workforce realizes where they stand in their performance vis-à-vis others in the organization.
It enhances production, productivity, performance, innovation, creativity, and corporate democracy.
A diversified workforce brings in diversified talent across the table in the organization resulting in the proliferation of ideas and innovation resulting in new products and services as per the needs and requirements of customers. It promotes out-of-the-box thinking thus adding value to the organization.

Here are some challenges.

Diversity has multiple challenges in the workplace such as communication, and cultural differences at the workplace.
Individuals may have less energy to contribute as they spend most of their energies in coping with an alien environment.
They may look at the differences but not the similarities.

What is Diversity Leadership?

“Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.” —Malcolm Stevenson Forbes

The leaders who lead a diversified team successfully by recognizing, respecting, and appreciating the cultural, racial, ethnic, gender, and other backgrounds at the workplace and by connecting them with a common thread are known as diversity leaders. The 21st century demands diverse leaders who can lead from the front with openness, trust, confidence, and magnanimity.

To put it precisely, diversity leadership is the process of setting the vision, influencing the people, building teams with a diversified workforce, motivating them through trust, and confidence with a global mindset, and aligning their energies and efforts towards organizational goals and objectives.

Dr. Martin Luther King demonstrated diversity leadership by championing for equality of blacks on par with whites where people need to live together with diversity. It is a diversity but with a limited perspective i.e. from a color perspective.

Characteristics of Diversity Leaders

Diversity leaders must set a practical example among their employees.
They must build trust and confidence among their employees.
They must walk their talk. That means there should not be any gap between their words and deeds.
They must have an open mind with a global mindset.
Above all, they must have a passion for diversity.

How to Excel as Diversity Leaders?

If you want to become a diversity leader you must wed truly to the principles and values of diversity. You must also check whether you have flair for it. You must be free and fair and should have respect towards others. You must demonstrate impeccable integrity and character.

Take the initiative to grab opportunities to coach and mentor employees. You must know how to give sandwich feedback and must learn to accept criticism gracefully. You must be a visionary. You must build trust and confidence amongst your employees. Above all, you must be a good listener and problem solver.

Challenges for Diversified Leaders

“Diversity without unity makes about as much sense as dishing up flour, sugar, water, eggs, shortening and baking powder on a plate and calling it a cake.” —C. William Pollard

Diversity is a gift from God without which our lives would be boring. God created people differently to add excitement and enthusiasm among the people. We shall now look at a few of the challenges for diversified leaders. It is very tough to please all as people belong to diversified categories. Conflicts are bound to erupt due to differences and it is a Herculean task for leaders. They need to reinvent themselves regularly in a dynamic global environment. They have to provide diversity training to the employees regularly. And to enable the same the leaders must have rich experience in diversity to make the diversity process effective.

Action for Diversity Leaders

Diversity leaders must stay ahead of times and technologies. They must stay ahead of the game as well which is possible through continuous learning and growing. They must

Never look at people with specific lenses. Sometimes they need to change your lenses. Therefore, flexibility in holding the lenses is essential.
Always look at the big picture.
Encourage second-rung leaders within the organization by bringing awareness about diversity.
Manage the anti-diversity employees constantly continuously and creatively because a bad apple can ruin the entire lot of good apples.
Praise the people who support diversity in public and correct them in private to ensure a successful diversity program.

Is Developing Diversity a Soft Skill?

Developing diversity is like developing soft skills among employees. It is easy to cultivate hard skills such as technical knowledge domain knowledge or core knowledge. However, it is highly challenging to develop soft skills as it depends on the personality, attitude, and behavior of the employees. It calls for the involvement of both formal and informal leadership as well.

One of the ways to develop diversity is to ask the employees to bring their own foods like potluck lunch to share at the workplace as it connects them emotionally as one family.

Educational institutions must foster diversity on the campus itself. For instance, business schools want to have the right mix of students globally in the classroom so that the students get to know one another and learn to appreciate the differences globally. They not only develop a global mindset but also develop tolerance and assimilation. People with different backgrounds think differently resulting in many more ideas and insights into the issues resulting in meaningful and realistic ideas.

Conclusion

“Love your mother but don't hate others' mother. Love your religion, region, community, culture, and creed but don't hate others' religion, region, community, culture, and creed." —Prof.M.S.Rao, Chief Consultant, MSR Leadership Consultants, India.

Technology and times have brought people together under one roof. Therefore, it is essential to gel well with others to ensure workplace survival and success. It is time to recognize, learn, understand, and appreciate others' cultures, languages, ethnicities, and races in the larger interests of individuals as well as institutions.

The days of looking from the lens of cultural racial regional or national background are over. Now these are the days of ‘perform or perish’. Businesses never look at your cultural, racial, linguistic, regional, or national background. They fundamentally look at your work and performance and the value you add to them.

To conclude in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr,

“Men hate each other because they fear each other,

and they fear each other because they don't know each other,

and they don't know each other

because they are often separated from each other."

Share if you care!

“Things You Don’t Know about Professor M. S. Rao” http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com/2015/10/things-you-dont-know-about-professor-m.html

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

Note: I had a brain hemorrhage. I was in bed for five months. My right hand has been numb and paralyzed. I am recovering. Thanks for empathizing with me. With gratitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFJrSRLHPUk&ab_channel=ProfessorM.S.Rao

Life is great!

Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.

Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/M.-S.-Rao/e/B00MB63BKM

Vision 2030: https://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professormsrao

Substack: https://professormsrao.substack.com

X: http://twitter.com/professormsrao

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorMSRao

Meta: https://www.facebook.com/Professor-MS-Rao-451516514937414

See the Light in You: https://www.amazon.com/See-Light-You-Spiritual-Mindfulness/dp/1949003132

Thanks for reading!

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

This nonprofit blog will share Professor M.S. Rao’s passion and vision to develop one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please do not cut articles from my blog; redistribute them via email or post them online. The use of this material is free, as long as the copyright is acknowledged and a reference or link is provided to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com. Without permission, this material may not be sold, published, or used to offer business services to third parties.

Characteristics of a Servant Leader Are You a Servant Leader?—Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.—21st-Century Philosopher & The Father of “Soft Leadership”

"Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." —Martin Luther King Jr.

Could you guess the common thread connecting leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Thomas Jefferson, and Dalai Lama? They are all servant leaders who serve others without expecting anything from others. Mahatma Gandhi never hankered for power. He fought for India's freedom. Martin Luther King served his life to bring equal rights to blacks. Mother Theresa served the patients and the poor. All these leaders are connected through one great trait which is servant hood. They felt that they were all servants to their people. They never felt like leaders but rather behaved like servants and that made them stand out from others as servant leaders. They derive pleasure from serving and empathizing with their collaborators. For them, followers are collaborators and partners. They have deep concern, commitment, and compassion for others.

The term servant leadership was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf (1904-1990) who retired as an executive of AT & T. He championed and practiced the concept during the rest of his life. It impressed several leadership gurus like Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, and others.

What is Servant Leadership?

In the words of Ken Blanchard, "Servant-leadership is all about making the goals clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them."

Leadership is the relationship between leaders and followers. Servant leadership is the relation between leaders and collaborators where leaders behave like servants to serve others. For instance, doctors are servants, engineers are servants and teachers are servants. All professions that serve others sincerely can be called servant professions and the professionals who serve others sincerely are known as servant leaders.

Serving the customers is a kind of servant leadership. Servant leadership should not be confused with a free service. Whatever you do must involve empathy, commitment, concern, and an attitude to help others. Firms can benefit a lot if they learn and adopt servant leadership. When all employees have the attitude of servanthood then there will be all-round productivity and performance resulting in organizational excellence and effectiveness.

Characteristics of Servant Leaders

"Being a leader who serves is very different from being a servant leader." —Isabel O. Lopez

All leaders possess certain qualities that are essential to excel as leaders. However, the qualities needed for servant leaders are unique and different. According to Larry Spears, the ten characteristics of servant leaders are listening receptively, acceptance of (and empathy with) others, foresight and intuition, awareness, and perception, highly-developed powers of persuasion, ability to conceptualize and communicate concepts, a healing influence upon people and institutions, ability to build a sense of community in the workplace, practice contemplation and willingness to change. Besides, servant leaders must possess qualities like patience, perseverance, commitment, concern, compassion, and communication to connect with their collaborators.

Servant leaders care about people more than anybody else. For them, means are more important than ends. They are born for the people. Religious leaders like Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed Prophet are born for the people. Servant leaders like Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Mahatma Gandhi are born to serve the people.

Humility is the hallmark of servant leaders. These leaders are against pride and always lie low and silently serve others without seeking any publicity.

Advantages of Servant Leadership

Servant leadership is essential under the current complexities and uncertainties. It sows the seeds of servanthood among the people. It replaces traditional competition with collaboration. It moves people more on a humanistic rather than on a materialistic perspective. It promotes love and fraternity. It binds and bonds people cutting across all barriers. It works for the betterment of humankind. In a nutshell, it makes the globe a small village through connectivity.

Teachers as Servant Leaders

Teachers should become servants. They shape students. They groom students. They are responsible for shaping the nation. Therefore, they need to become servant leaders by displaying utmost sincerity towards students. Instead of blaming students for poor performance, they must look at the issues of students objectively and provide the right solutions and suggestions for shaping them.

Conclusion

"People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care." —John C. Maxwell

When leaders become servants the entire humankind will remain in peace and prosperity. There will not be any ill will among the individuals. There will be fraternity all around and the entire world will become a small village where people live without any differences and disparities.

Don't ask what the nation gave you rather ask yourself what you give back to the country. It was a clarion call from John F Kennedy. Similarly, don't ask what humanity gave you instead ask yourself what you will give back to humanity and entire humankind.

Love yourself, love others, and love humanity. Serve others serve humanity and live like a legend.

Share if you care!

“Things You Don’t Know about Professor M. S. Rao” http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com/2015/10/things-you-dont-know-about-professor-m.html

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

Life is great!

Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.

Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/M.-S.-Rao/e/B00MB63BKM

Vision 2030: https://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professormsrao

Substack: https://professormsrao.substack.com

X: http://twitter.com/professormsrao

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorMSRao

Meta: https://www.facebook.com/Professor-MS-Rao-451516514937414

See the Light in You: https://www.amazon.com/See-Light-You-Spiritual-Mindfulness/dp/1949003132

Thanks for reading!

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

Friday, 17 April 2026

Professor M. S. Rao’s Vision 2030: One Million Global Leaders : How to Fix Profits on Products?—Professor M.S. Rao...

Professor M. S. Rao’s Vision 2030: One Million Global Leaders : How to Fix Profits on Products?—Professor M.S. Rao...: For every businessperson, fixing profits is a challenging task. However, experienced an individual might be there is always possibility ...

Thursday, 16 April 2026

How to Fix Profits on Products?—Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.—21st-Century Philosopher & The Father of “Soft Leadership”

For every businessperson, fixing profits is a challenging task. However, experienced an individual might be there is always possibility for failure in judgment. Let us look at the same in detail.

There is no standard yardstick by which we can fix profit margins on products. However, it all depends on the experience and expertise in the trade. It also depends on the business acumen and gut feeling.

When products are bought every trader expects to sell the entire stock based on intuition and gut feeling. But unfortunately, things do not work out the way one expects. Therefore, it is essential to discount some sales against the estimated and pre-judged purchases. If the gap between the judgment and reality in sales is vast then the stocks would pile thereby becoming dead stock. Profits or margins on the goods have to be set in such a way that the fast-moving products or goods are sold with nominal profits as the goods are sold immediately and also the rotation of stocks is faster thereby having the desired profits against the slow-moving products. In the case of slow-moving products, it is necessary to have higher margins as trading volumes are thin, and also stocks may result in dead stocks.

In the case of seasonal products, it is necessary to keep higher margins as failure to sell the stocks seasonally results in getting dead stocks. On the contrary, the non-seasonal stocks i.e. the ones that sell around the year can be charged with lower profits as there is immediate liquidity and quick rotation.

If the products or goods are not available in the market massively but very few traders hold such stocks it is necessary to fix little higher margins as there is less competition. Similarly if the products or goods or newly introduced, there would be the least sales initially and, therefore, it is advisable to keep decent profits.

Fixing of profits by manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers varies from product to product and from time to time and also depends on the availability of similar products with their competitors. Fixing profits also depends on the frequency of business rotations. Besides it also depends on the rate of turnover (volume). Usually higher the volume lower the margins fixed on the products.

Let us now look at fixing the profit margin for the products where there is a sudden spurt in demand.

Sudden Drop in Sales

Few products would have a fast pick up in sales as the demand suddenly spurts. Such products would have a sudden drop in sales as well. It is very difficult to anticipate the sales for such products. It is in this context there would be a piling up of stocks leading to dead stocks. As a result, it also minimizes the rotation of capital. Therefore, there is a strong need to liquidate the stocks. Overall, the trader has to be cautious in his approach while placing purchase orders as well as in fixing the profits on such items. If there is a monopoly in a specific product then the trader can enjoy higher profits. But in the present business scenario, there is no room for the monopoly of products as the market is wide open, and also every trader has access to information due to the rapidly growing technology and communication services. Hence, it is advisable to strike a balance during purchase to limit the losses. One should not be too greedy to make money as it may boomerang.

A Take-Home Message

Always satisfied customer is an asset to any business. Therefore, the traders have to fix their profits on the products at a reasonable level to have steady sales with steady revenues keeping both the customers and competitors in mind.

Share if you care!

“Things You Don’t Know about Professor M. S. Rao” http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com/2015/10/things-you-dont-know-about-professor-m.html

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

Life is great!

Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.

Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/M.-S.-Rao/e/B00MB63BKM

Vision 2030: https://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/professormsrao

Substack: https://professormsrao.substack.com

X: http://twitter.com/professormsrao

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ProfessorMSRao

Meta: https://www.facebook.com/Professor-MS-Rao-451516514937414

See the Light in You: https://www.amazon.com/See-Light-You-Spiritual-Mindfulness/dp/1949003132

Thanks for reading!

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