Sreeram Srinivasan

The Coronavirus or Covid-19 crisis has thrown up several possibilities. Am seeing several products and companies that were just about surviving or even dying get a sudden lease of life while the traditional businesses are locked down or sulking silently. Images of the mass migrations back to their villages in spite of a "curfew" by the migrants is also heart wrenching. They are braving not only the elements but possibly the risk of spreading the infection to their families and friends back in the villages. It remains to be seen if these migrants indeed migrate back to the cities post this crisis or simply decide to live on MGNREGA and other doles. If I may hazard a guess, the returns may be just about 60% but may take over a whole year if conditions do return to normal. Others may simply decide to "settle down" in their villages and not fight the inertia that would set in invariably. Herein lies our greatest opportunity and the positive fallout of the crisis as ...

Have you ever felt apprehensive about a chore or an assignment or a Project you absolutely need to finish but dreaded it for any number of reasons – starting trouble, the quantum of work involved, fear of the unknown, fear of failure knowing that others before you have, fear of facing uncertainty or unknown faces or a difficult person, physical strain, etc. Worry not for the "No mind" method will work for you! Read on. The insight of No Mind comes from the movie The Last Samurai (2003). In what I feel is the defining moment in the film when the protagonist Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) comes to understand his Japanese Captors. The scene is Capt. Algren having a "friendly duel" with a young officer in rebel army in the village where he is held captive. He is soundly defeated each time in spite of Capt. Algren's exemplary record as a soldier and a warrior. Unable to understand, he looks for answers only to find it the words of a village child, Nobutada - Too...

Execution for us in India is always a challenge. We come up with the best of plans and designs and conjure up awesome things but fall woefully short, mostly in time to delivery or quality of the work. Oftentimes it is not necessarily for want of resources but of the deep execution DNA - the rigor, the micro detailing and passion for the "checklist" and structured reviews.... Here are a few laws I came up with some years back to illustrate to my colleagues the importance of getting it done and may be nudge them towards better execution. The name Grams' Laws was coined out of gratitude and in dedication to my ex-colleague, Grams. He is a brilliant IT engineer and a great visionary when it came to dreaming up a scheme for a software program/module. He would tirelessly present the minutest of details of how this piece of code would work and what it would do and how it would be the mother of all programs that would solve not only our but even some of world's pr...

Its 100 years since Einstein published his general theory of relativity, truly a path-breaking discovery and postulate regarding this Universe. It is one of the secrets of the universe revealed, in effect. Einstein has been quoted as saying that he stumbled on to the General Theory of Relativity through deep thought and intuition but did not derive it via mathematical logic. The equations and math followed later.  Many of our rishis or great thinkers speak of the same deep meditation and thought that helped them to decipher the secrets of the universe. They probably revealed it to us but in cryptological terms that we fail to fathom. And they shrouded it in rituals, images, structures and even the "mantras" - the holy scripts that we see, hear and even chant without knowing the deep secrets within. In the book, The Da Vinci Code, the secret of Christ's bloodline is deeply encrypted in many ways and unravels ever so slowly through deep meditative thought, intuition and ...

Have been tempted to pen this follow-up blog to the one I wrote about Inner Engineering a few weeks back. So here I am succumbing to that temptation..... Every person (and all living things really) comes into this world with four essential ingredients, a) Body, b) Mind, c) Emotions, and d) Life Energy. We originate from an infinite energy source and revert back to it once our time is done here in this life. Now Karma, as we loosely refer to it, according to the learned and enlightened Masters is nothing but memory that we carry into this being or life. Yes. I know the word Karma is used by us in day to day vernacular with many connotations and often negatively. We use it to explain away our misery and suffering while forgetting about it in good times!!! The Karma or Memory is "written" into each of the four ingredients mentioned above of our being, viz., Body, Mind, Emotions and Life energy. Thus, how we act or react with our body, mind, emotions and the unseen...

Inner engineering - had heard so much about this program that I finally succumbed to my curiosity. Am also in a transition phase in my career and thought I had done so much of outer Engineering - Education, Networking, continuous learning of techniques and tools so felt it is time for some Inner Engineering. A three and a half day investment seemed quite appropriate as well at the Isha Centre in a scenic setting near Coimbatore. Here are some key learnings and insights for the ones interested….. First, it is a completely new journey into a realm that is beyond our normal logical, questioning mind. It calls for a leap of faith into a new dimension not easily explained by the axioms we are so familiar with in day to day life. However, it is done in a very "secular", non denominational, non-religious manner without pushing you too much. So well packaged and marketed in my view!! Second, it is an intense program both mentally and physically. You are in the program 24 hrs...

With many years of Corporate and work experience, have written quite a few Resignation letters and have also received many. Have noticed an interesting pattern and personality profiles in them and have listed them for you below for your ready reference 1. The Value Assessor 2. The Aspirer 3. The Mover on 4. The Boss Leaver 5. The Deliverance seeker 1. Value Assessor These guys come in and seriously "talk" about having got an awesome opportunity and of leaving the job and even ask how soon they can be relieved. As you talk to them more and more, they indulge in self-flagellation but quickly warm up when you speak of their strengths and achievements. They start to light up like a X'mas tree when you say how much value they add to the organisation. Finally, when you ask them to stay, they offer a token resistance and even say they have to discuss with family and come back on their decisions. Sometimes they will resist and wait for the Boss' boss to also sp...