Frankness of Speech

Frankness of speech has become a fashion amongst today's youth. The level of frankness in speech determines the style icon of today and not just the dressing sense or hair styling. It plays an important role in uplifting the social image of an individual, a common man and not only an entrepreneur. People are judged not only by their profile pictures or photo albums on the social networking websites, but also by their status messages, comments, etc.

I should better keep my focus on entrepreneurs. These individuals, with better frankness of speech (can't quantify) are more likely to play the roles of entrepreneurs in various organizations because of their ability to create a culture of openness which is the backbone of any organization. It increases overall productivity/efficiency of a group/organization by eliminating the not required formalities and pretensions and saves lot of time and effort.

We need to be cautious about using frankness in speech, because there is very little demarcation between frankness of speech and harshness. You won't realize sometimes when your frankness turns to harshness. It comes only after you practice it for long time. The type of people you are dealing with will be an important factor in determining the level of frankness in  your speech.

Frank and explicit--that is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and confuse the minds of others. - Benjamin Disraeli

When I was in the second year of my engineering, I came across a very funny situation. I was throwing light at the back of my mathematics teacher by reflecting light from my watch while she was writing on the black board . By mistake, it went on to the black board. She got infuriated, turned towards the class and asked in very loud voice "who was doing this?" I don't know what happened to me, but I raised my hand and without any fear accepted my mistake. "Madam, I was doing it". She said, "no, not you, someone else is also doing it. you please sit down." I was taken aback by her response and with my own action, but that day I realized the power of frankness in speech.

Physical Fitness and Entrepreneurship

Physical fitness is as important as leadership skills, creativity, art of execution and communication skills for an entrepreneur. You would have observed that we loose our capability to figure out good solutions when we are in pain or not physically fit. In other words, our mental fitness is a function of our physical fitness. What else? This should be a sufficient reason for an entrepreneur. 

An entrepreneur usually has a very busy schedule, has to travel a lot, most of the times. And if he is not in good health, how can we expect him to do well in his business meetings, brainstorming sessions, planning sessions, etc? We should forget about his vision and creativity. 

Besides, it is always advantageous to have  your body in good shape, because many people judge you by looks and decide whether they would want to talk to you or not. 

Few tips for staying physically fit, which are very easy to implement 

1. Consume 'Low Glycemic Index' Food; 
2. A little exercise everyday;
3. Consumption of little caffeine, in my opinion, is good;

Other benefits In your effort to stay fit, you lift your spirit as well, which you do not realize at the conscious level. For example, when you walk at more than normal speed, you would observe that you feel like never stopping. It happens to me usually. You may also observe it next time, if you have not already done so. You also feel very active and light weight after some exercise. 

You are most welcome to give your opinion on how physical fitness is very essential for an entrepreneur and how do you manage to achieve it in your life.

Are You a Leader?

Can you get the work done from a group of people? Do you have the capability to conduct meetings? Can you address a large group of people? Can you speak good English? If the answer is yes, don't just assume that you can become a good leader.

A leader in my opinion is not someone who can get work done from people by any means. Even a 'Thekadar' (contractor) can get the work done, but the important thing is how he treats his people. The leader is not some one who makes use of his superior position to get the work done from his juniors. The most important question – Is he/she able to live between people, inspire them to work in the desired direction without pushing them? Is he able to create willingness in the people to work in a particular direction?

Conducting meetings, of course, is very important skill which every leader should have? But it is often observed that the one conducting the meeting gets deviated from the agenda of  the meeting. If it is a discussion meeting, the agenda should be to find out the solutions, problems or whatever is intended, but most of the time the one conducting the meeting would put all his efforts to carry the day and show how smart he is and forget the real objective. The effectiveness of meeting is very important, if you want to become an expert in organizing good meetings.

Similarly, you might be able to create a lot of excitement in the people while addressing them by use of wit or humor. However, if you are not able to convey the right message, it is pointless.

Most of the time you would be told in an organization to get good communication skills, but the word communication skills is usually mistaken as good English. While English is important, it should always be kept in mind that it is just a medium of communication. Good leaders, emphasize on English but never forgets importance of manner of communication. It is your manner of communication which makes you likable amongst your people. If your manner of communication is good most of the people will willingly co-operate with you and help you in realizing your vision.


Leadership is understanding people and involving them to help you do a job. That takes all of the good characteristics, like integrity, dedication of purpose, selflessness, knowledge, skill, implacability, as well as determination not to accept failure.
~Admiral Arleigh A. Burke

Should You be an Entrepreneur?

The day you start realizing that you are wasting your time by serving others. You want to get rid of 9 to 6 duty. And you feel that you are not making the best use of your capabilities by sitting in that room, think of it as a wake up call. May be this career is not meant for you. May be you are living the life of others. But should you quit the job? No, I don't think that would be a wise decision. Find out what have you liked most in your life. 

For e.g., I enjoyed selling lotteries when I was 8 years old, selling video game slots when I was 12 years old, selling my drafting services to engineering students when I was 17, starting my own coaching classes when I was 18. I realized that thinking about business, selling the idea, implementing it, and success of it has always given me immense satisfaction. And at each stage of my life I had the desire to do something creative, to be specific something with business. Yes, finally I know, I want to be an entrepreneur. My other personality traits also underpin my conclusions. But is my desire strong enough? How do I know that? I ask myself about what I want in life. How can I achieve it? If I want plenty of money, will I be able to make that money by teaching in a school? No, of course not! Should I become a businessman? Will I be able to realize my dream? Yes, I can. So do, I have a plan? Yes, yes, I do! And I am desperate and very excited with this idea.

Desire which is often viewed by most of the religions as bad thing. Human existence is often seen as seething pool of desires, drives and impulses which give rise to vices and discontent. But, desire is the most important element of human existence. Though most of the religions consider desire as bad, Buddhism looks at it from a very different perspective.

Buddha suggests that desires are a fundamental and necessary aspect of our existence. Buddha encourages us to use them as a force that will enhance our own lives. He knew that our passions drive us onward. After all, Buddha himself had a passion to learn and to spread what he had learned to others. Surely, that's not a bad thing! 

Napoleon Hill, who is considered to be one of the first producers of modern genre of personal success literature also says "Desire truly is the starting point of all achievements". Success without desire has very less probability.

I am also trying to bring my desire to my conscious level so that I understand myself well. 

The other important thing to consider is 'belief'. As long as I won't believe honestly in my idea, I won't get the courage to take risks for it. I need to believe and not convince others. I have been facing this problem for long. I always had lot of idea and wanted to implement them, but never succeeded. The reason was simple, I always kept lot of alternatives. And because I had alternatives, I never pushed myself hard to put my best in to that idea. Having an alternative is good, but it can become a big obstruction, if you do not keep your self consciously aware of it. If you want to just to do OK in life then it's alright. But if you wanna go big, you need to take risk and for that you need courage and it will come only when you believe in something strongly.

These, in my opinion, are the stepping stones, if you want to become an entrepreneur. I have started working on them. You too should. 

"What a mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve" by Napoleon Hill