Author: Dennis Taraporewala

Storyteller, Business Owner, Musician, Life Strategist.

Can We Truly Relax?

Life sets up a certain momentum. This is often innocuous and unseen. You finish your education, you meet a girl or boy, get married (or not), get deeper into your career, get closer to your passion, begin to earn money and wealth, start increasing your circle of power, perhaps have children, get involved with their education, upbringing etc. and  you are up and away.

And then suddenly (not immediately) its  not you who are guiding your life, but the process of life itself that has taken over. Activities, thoughts, counter activities, social pressures, personal pressure etc. start ruling the day. Its akin to putting a plane into auto pilot mode. You have become the “doer”, simply doing things one after the other – incessantly – from personal, to career, to official, to community, to global. You are busily conducting your earthly affairs one after the other or even simultaneously; and suddenly, without any conscious knowledge, this “doer ship” begins to consume you. It consumes you to the extent, where you cannot “relax”, where you cannot take a moment to enjoy the birds that sing, the sun that shines or even the air you breath. Simple things that keep us happy and alive, are missed under the garb of “doer ship”. Our activities begin clouding, the real reason we were born – to be awake to each present moment of our life. Continue reading “Can We Truly Relax?”

Microsoft Adds a Swashbuckling Email Interface @Outlook.Com

I tried Microsoft’s new Outlook.Com email interface this morning. Its cool, clean and clear. While I am a big apple fan (and a google lover), there is some good stuff coming out from the M stable. Outlook.Com combined with Skydrive, Office Apps Online and Skype, makes for a potent online productivity suite.

According to a company spokesperson: “Outlook.com has been designed using Microsoft’s Metro users interface. The fresh, clean user interface gets the clutter out of a user’s way. The header has 60% fewer pixels and there are 30% more messages visible in inbox than the webmail most people are used to. And there are no display ads or large search boxes that take up extra space”.

Their promo video is below and the site is live if one wants to check it out.

True Success, Needs An Eye for Detail

ET Image
Orientation to detail is critical

This mornings Economic Times in Mumbai misspells its title on page 18. This is not the only publication that has done it. I regularly see this in a few quality English publications in the country. The reason this is shocking, is having worked in the magazine and newspaper publishing business, I know how important this is to the editor/s. For an editor, the published word is sacrosanct and how it comes through, should be nothing short of perfect.

Even if the data entry operator has made a mistake in typing the correct word, the page proof reader should have picked it up and if not that, the page editor who finally signed off on the page should/could have picked it up, before the page moved for pre-press, pagination and printing. When this chain does not work, there is probably a larger issue at work.

Could it be, that in this fast paced life of ours, we have lost an eye for detail? Or perhaps we no longer care, for such outdated things like “spelling” and “sentence formation”? What with the new twitter, sms and chat cultures, correct spelling and sentence construction has become a lost art.

Perhaps its reflective of the Indian culture and its management practices? In field after field, one can see, we lack the “finishing touch” or the level of “detail orientation” true success requires. We will put up a swashbuckling building, but will not complete the interiors to “global standards”. We will put up a sea link, but not complete the entire design. We will create a new stadium, but leave it unpainted. True success, needs an eye for detail, and the ability to actually complete the job. Its called ‘execution’, all the way till the end.

Simply talking is no substitute for actual execution

Because we have all become broadcasters now – we Facebook, Tweet, Blog, give opinions and a lot of us keep jabbering away online – it seems like we talk more about what we do, than actually doing it.

We talk in many subtle ways, about our performances, our glories, our achievements or we become online advisors, giving our solutions, theories and perspectives on things. And while this is satisfying from making our ‘egos feel good’ point of view, often we mix this (both the reader and writer) for actual performance.

I see many writers and consultants in my industry (Communications and Public Relations) and a lot of self-proclaimed opinion makers and opinion gatherers. Most can ramble on, but I only respect the writers and consultants who have some actual performance behind them. Those who have worked deeply and closely with brands, who have delivered on key performance areas while working on these brands and have clients and references that would vouch for their abilities in execution.

Simply talking (online, offline or sideline) is no substitute for the ability to actually execute and deliver results.