It might sound like basic common sense but it is not.  Each one of us is capable of becoming much better human beings, performing at our peak potential, and also developing into far better individuals, in terms of talents.

Yes, we tend to forget that we have at least one good talent, be that singing, or dancing or writing or acting, or whatever.  It is just that we need to become conscious of this fact.  Once this is done, the rest is far more easy to accomplish.  But for becoming aware, we need to understand that we alone will not be able to do it.  

Feedback is required.  For example, from parents, or friends or very close relatives.  Such feedback should be centered around what is really natural in us, what comes to us as a matter of routine, and what career can make sense, given our natural inclination for something that is already within us.

For instance, we often hear about some extrovert or the other making it very big in mass media, as director of television serials,or event managers or very creative advertising professionals.  The key is the reality that they had some natural inclination to become what they are capable of becoming.  They pursue a bachelor's degree course in Visual Communication, and become real experts in their chosen field.

The next big agenda is to relentlessly go about gathering key skills specific to that particular career.  Once this is in place, the rest becomes far more easy than ever before.  However, it is essential to note that value-addition is the name of the game.  Without value addition, nothing will happen.

In the first ten years of one's career, it is essential that the individual becomes very much alive to the fact that he or she needs to go after jobs that offer a good deal of really good experience in the chosen field.  A basket of skills will help him or her to become more versatile.

Becoming very conscious of the direction in which one is going, is also very important.  Once again feedback from good friends can be the key to success.

In ways more than one, self-awareness is the key.  Hard work comes next.  Without hard work, we will go nowhere.  We all need to understand that this is the back ground rule even in entrepreneurship, though the set of self-awareness skills would vastly differ.

For entrepreneurship, the individual needs to understand the emerging nature of the market more than anything else.  Is the market an expanding one, capable of serving many players?  If yes, half the battle is won.  For example, the food industry can cater to different tastes, and hence different customers.  It is one that will simply multiply, because of the huge population.  It can also expand, because it is human nature to eat different types of food.

Hence, self-awareness and hard work, are the first two steps.  The third is planning for both short-term and long-term goals.  If we do not plan properly, we cannot reach anywhere.  The fourth step is not only execution, but also self-evaluation. 

This might sound very simple, but it is not.  This requires a huge amount of skills centered around listening to others, observing others, having a check on whatever has happened in one week, and so on.  This process will help us focus on our strengths and eliminate weaknesses, as applicable.

Becoming more better human beings also requires that we become very humble, as success dawns upon us.  It is required to constantly tell us that we need not only have miles to go, but also have to forget our egos at every stage.

Humility is a big virtue of all great people.  In recent times, volumes have been written about the humility of Shri Narayanamurthy, the founder of Infosys Technologies, and Mr Azim Premji of Wipro.  We can always learn from them too.

The fifth step is to have in place an accurate estimate of all that we can put to commercial use, at any point in time.  Those who are trained in classical music or dance, for instance, are experts in this.  They travel all over the globe, simply selling their talent, and become very famous, mainly because they have done their homework very well.

It is always possible to learn from such people, or from similar people, who are known to us.

Unleashing the power of self, does not mean that we need to read each and every book on self development, available in the market.

Having good friends, hard work, constant feedback, and good evaluation skills, as described above, come with experience.  It is quite possible that experience teaches us far better things than books and what is written therein.

There are reasons for this step of action.  The world is far more complex, far become interdependent on several variables, and hence a bigger awareness of the reality is more important at any stage of life.  For instance, it is realistic to assume huge amounts of time, spent on travel, in big metros, and cities.  This has to be factored in, when we plan to achieve anything.

Becoming more alive to emerging opportunities, to anything that is commercially viable and so on, are other qualities that we need to develop, to unleashing our power in full. 

There are many people who always think they can do something about their lives, big or small.  There there many others who simply say "it is always my fate", literally shutting the door to any suggestion.

The latter group of people have to be reminded that most of what we make of our lives, is largely within us.  Of course in God, and doing all that one is bound to do, in terms of religious practices is always a good thing.  However, in the absence of planning, effort and hard work, even God cannot help any human being.

The famous director of Tamil film music, A R Rahman, has won several international awards for this work.  He is now a global music director, as he does music in many languages.  However, many do not know that he is one of the most hard working persons of his tribe.  His entire creativity, his innovative tunes and what he calls as "fusion music", comes out of several hours of terrible hard work, up to eighteen or even more hours per day.

Similarly, what the famous actor Rajnikant has achieved, can be attributed to hard work, of a tall order.  

So, the power to change ourselves, that particular urge to excel, is part of ourselves.  It is within us, a deeply embedded thought that needs to be ignited.  Only consistent, planned work, can help achieve success. 

Most business people are endowed with this terrible knack of getting the best of people, and scarce resources, in any given situation.  The plan to do the best and can be seen doing a lot of hard work, to execute their plans.  They even work on Sundays, and work is worship for them. 

It is always wise to learn from such wonderful people.

The first is self-belief, and the innate need to love oneself.  If we do not think highly of ourselves, who else will?  If we do not love ourselves, who else will?  This may seem like sheer common sense but it is not.  This common sense eludes us, and we fall into the trap of negative thoughts about ourselves.

The second most important learning is that we need detailed plans for each of our ambitions or goals and objectives.  For example, the moment one joins a college as a teacher, the first and most important plan that he needs to execute, is a plan to complete the doctorate degree.. This is an absolute necessity.  Unless one has a doctorate, he or she cannot succeed at all, in the teaching profession.

It is not only that a doctorate is required, a big focus on research is required as well.  If the teacher manages to get his or her research papers published in a reputed international journal on merit, he or she can rest assured that the whole world will open up, for a highly lucrative career.

The teacher then has to graduate towards writing books, and coming out with original thoughts on how to make the life of students, very interesting, how he or she can do value addition in terms of teaching and so on. 

It should be appreciated that value addition can happen only if the urge to excel is there.  Otherwise, like most other teachers, he or she will simply fall into the activity trap and not realize his or her ambition at all.

The urge to make a big difference is a must in all of us.  We should never be satisfied with the status quo.  If we do so, we are just fooling ourselves, we are missing all that is good about ourselves, we are not using our strengths at all.

Planning alone will not help.  Execution is as important as planning.  For example, many good teachers do spend their long journey hours in trains or buses, reading a book or two.  This helps them to save time.  They can jolly well go to sleep as well, which is a good alternative.  But this alternative, it should be noted, does not yield any result.

Once the plan is executed, we also need to analyse if everything went according to plan.  If we notice gaps, we should take corrective action, learn from mistakes, and ensure that mistakes are not repeated.

Documentation of experiences is also important.  The human mind is very nimble in nature.  We tend to forget what we had for breakfast, today, if we are questioned tomorrow.  This being human nature, we need to find out ways and means to ensure that meaningful documentation of our experiences is not only done, but also the learning is highlighted for our future use and action.

We can take conscious steps, we can also make a big difference.  We have within us.  We have it in a big way.  All that we need to do, is to explore our inner selves and take appropriate action.  We can indeed make a big difference, by developing an urge to excel, at any point in time.

A few decades ago, it was always assumed that labor, represented by strong Trade Unions, was the enemy number one of Management.  There used to be a massive distrust between the two parties and not a single day passed, when each party would try to create trouble for the other, through means, fair and foul.

The advent of the advanced behavioral sciences research and the professionals trained in the nuances of such research, that is, the MBAs from the very famous B schools such as the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, started making a huge difference, and the entire approach towards labor changed from the excessive importance given to implementation of labor laws, to approaches aimed at securing the voluntary contribution of labor at all levels.

In reality, such attempts have succeeded to some extent.  However, given the existing global environment where there is a huge amount of uncertain events, leading to increased cost of production and slowdown in global markets for most products, the relationship between Management and labor cannot be one of milk and honey flowing in all directions at any point in time. 

Yet, there are some common guidelines that one needs to follow, and if these guidelines are strictly followed, the relationship can be better.

The first guideline is to build a climate of trust and discipline.  If the Managers want labor to be disciplined, they need to be disciplined themselves.  They need to set an example,  Transparency and openness have to be really practiced.  There can be no compromise in this respect.

Similarly, there is also an urgent need to treat organized labor as a business partner.  The Japanese are experts in this field.  Through very simple Quality Circles, they have not only involved the labor, but also brought about dramatic improvements in the latter's outlook.  They have made a big difference to the quality of participation of labor in day to day work.  In fact, Quality Circles have been a big success in many other cases, and it is always wise to learn from such good examples.

The third guidelines is to give a thrust to cost control, but by involving labor.  Once this happens, their voluntary cooperation is very easy to obtain.  For instance, in many organizations of the TVS group, there are suggestion schemes, which are basically exercises designed to cut cost, through innovative practices.

The fourth guideline is to at least have one yearly event, where the employees get together and participate in what may be called the 'Annual Day", with members of their families.  Companies like BHEL have such exercises.  Even if there is some money involved, the money is well spent, as the average employee gets a big chance to involve his family and show them the surroundings in which he would work on a given day.

The fifth guideline is to make the work place an interesting one, by giving them a little scope to involve themselves in social groups.  Man is a social animal, and apart from the Quality Circles, if there are attempts to involve the labor in such groups, it can produce wonders.

The sixth guideline is to give away some small swards to workmen, like the Best Employee of the Month, Best Employee Suggestion for the Month, and so on.  Once these wards are instituted, the workmen will be more than motivated.

The seventh guideline is to enable the employees to have meaningful relationships with their family members at home.  When they have good relationships at home, they tend to have good relationships in the office as well.

Taking the help of professional counselors to wean away employees from very harmful practices like alcoholism, can indeed help a great deal.

The eighth guideline is to enable the employees to have a good say in community matters, particularly in social work in the immediate neighborhood.

For example, if the employees can contribute to blood donation camps, planting of trees, making the old age homes better places to live in through some work, and so on, the employees are very likely to develop mature outlook in work as well.

The next guideline is to institute some welfare measures to help employees to build their own homes, and save enough for the education of their children.  They should be constantly educated about some schemes where some small savings done today, will have a big effect tomorrow.  

These are days when every employee is worried about his future.  Given such realities, it is but essential that Managements do something very urgently to address such concerns and help labor see a good amount of light at the end of the tunnel.

Contrary to all public perception, particularly those of line managers, labor is not at all bad in both intent and in behavior.  If they are given meaningful space to do creative work, if they are involved, if they are listened to, and if their small grievances like quality of food in the canteen are resolved, we can make giant strides in inter-personal relationships.

The trick is to keep on trying.  The trick is to never give up.  Sincerity and honesty are very important indeed.  Once this happens, there is bound to be a massive thrust in improvement of inter-personal relationships.  In huge cities like New Delhi and Mumbai, the social life of workmen is subject to a huge amount of stress.  

Serious attempts need to be made to address these concerns.  Some short-sighted Managements attempt to cut costs drastically on canteen subsidy, and welfare measures.  These things lead to wrong perceptions and opinions of labor.  

There should be a very serious movement at securing the involvement of labor.  Many organizations like the Aditya Birla Group, the Tatas, the TVS group of Chennai, the Murugappa Group of Chennai, and so on, have made great strides at innovative experiments.  

These innovative measures often get discussed in various conferences as well.  The trick is to constantly learn from such experiences and evolve some common denominators that can be implemented in a big way.  Working around the problem, is much better than forgetting the problem.  

If there are serious efforts on the part of any Management, inter-personal relationships between Management and labor, can be very healthy indeed.

With each passing day, there are tensions all around.  Runaway inflation, which is now a real threat, seems to be simply zapping away all the energies of the middle class and the poor.  We do not have any respite from increasing oil prices, and this leads to further misery.

All talk of a below par monsoon, adds fuel to the fire.  It is in this context that we need to really take stock of our present situation.  Most have a temptation to blame everything on the "System".  This is actually a very easy out.

In fact, such a justification of the System, as it were, only helps to cut corners, or simply justify whatever mistakes we do.  We become corrupt and then blame the "System" for all our crimes and mistakes.

The question is : how then do I beat the "System"?  The answer is to look for alternatives.  For increased possibilities, in any given situation.  Once we open our eyes in such a situation, there will always be alternatives which can be used to our advantage.

Let us take one small example.  There is a rat race in our so-called educational "System" to get one hundred percent marks in the core subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics or Biology.  Well, a small percentage of students do succeed in getting this, and make it to the Government colleges for engineering or medicine.

Unfortunately, those who secure a bit low, for example, seventy marks or eighty marks, do not get into the Government colleges.  In fact, there is only one option for the parents.  Either pay a donation of even up to seven hundred or ten hundred thousand rupees for a secure seat in an engineering college, or even up to fifty hundred thousand rupees or even more, in a self-financing medical college.

That such huge amounts are paid is very much common knowledge, and is in the Public domain.  So, the "System" demands it.  Really? 

Well, there are a huge number of intelligent alternatives.  A relative of mine, a couple of years ago, had a similar problem.  Fortunately, a cousin of his, who had settled abroad, advised him to put his daughter through a good graduate course in microbiology, with the same marks obtained in the plus two examination.  He had to just pay the fees required to be paid, as per rules.

Today, the girl is so much interested in the subject that she plans to do the post-graduate course in the same college, and then go abroad, for higher studies.  So, a very intelligent alternative emerged from within the "System", without breaking any rule.  Most importantly, without contributing to corruption of a tall order.  In almost every single case, no receipt is given for the money given, and such money is black money, that gets positively invested in some building or some asset, under some trust and some accounting, that is basically devised to beat the regulatory authorities and their rules. 

If only every parent were to look for such alternatives, there will not be any corruption at all, in education.   

In certain cases, influence from some quarters needs to be taken, and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as the job is done without corruption.  For example, for registration of a piece of land, the concerned official demanded five thousand rupees, through they were just doing their duty.  This five thousand was termed as "incentive".

My friend, who was not willing to pay this amount, took the help of a higher official of the Police, who was his relative.  A single phone call from the police, threatening action was enough to bring the official to his knees.  The job was not only done, but the official had to apologize for this behavior.

So, for every problem of the "System", there is a solution.  For matters like lack of water supply, irregular breaks in power supply, lack of proper sanitation and so on, the public of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have devised a very good method, and also a very peaceful method --- social action.

A group of one hundred or even five hundred of affected families, simply block the road, and the Government is forced to act.  The local press reporters capture everything on camera, and things get flashed in all newspapers.  The collector comes running, or the Chief of police comes running.  Action that is promised, normally gets done.  This sort of social action is very much desirable, and should indeed be put into action.

The Government is itself coming up with some Systemic solutions. For example, the PF accounts have been completely computerized. Henceforth, it will become very easy for the person to even transfer PF accounts from one place to another, without any corruption.

One is told that the situation is really bad in some States like Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.  However, the people of such States have to compulsorily resort to social action, to get their politicians and officials reformed. 

It is always up to the individual to explore possibilities.  There are now a huge number of alternatives in many areas.  For example, the corruption in the Government-controlled telephone department, is now a thing of the past.  Land lines are now being surrendered, and the same Government department, is now forced to give incentives, thanks to private sector competition.

The 'System" had in it, a very highly irritating behavior of the bank officials, who simply took the public to ransom, and often demanded bribes for any action.  Thanks to private sector participation, and the advent of information technology, the behavior of staff of public sector banks has improved a great deal.  One can use internet banking and the ATM to withdraw money.  The customer interface is not only so easy, but is really good for us, the customers.  It is up to us to make us of the advanced facilities.  

There is another aspect of the "System".  What do very young people need to do, to tackle the issue of price rise?

The answer is simple -- become highly skilled in one or more areas.  And reduce conspicuous consumption, and save the money in small recurring deposits, for ten years.  Pump whatever little money is available, in good savings avenues like the Public Provident Fund, where one can save for fifteen years or more.

To conclude, let us not keep blaming the "System" all the time.  We do have alternatives, to change, to lead honest lives.  If we need to enter into social action, let us do so.  

If we are just, we do not need to fear anyone.  The "System" can then take care of itself.  In fact, this ought to be so, for ever.