Muralidharan Saravanamuthu

Mr. Rajinikanth has decided not to start his own political party. I respect his decision. Now what? This is the new reality.  One needs to recognize this and take right action. Also, it's time to set the context right: Why did I support Mr. Rajinikanth for a political role?  Is it because I am a fan? To answer these questions, I wish to share what I wrote on Facebook on October 8, 2010: We saw Enthiran yesterday. I have always liked Rajini for the person he is... not for his acting skills or the quality of his movies... some of his movies used to be so naive that it used to be difficult for some of us to defend why we like him so much... Enthiran is an answer to all that. Click to read It is a sensibly taken movie comparable to any good sci-fi movies. The special effects are very good. The storyline is similar to most other stories when man and machine are brought together. Story takes the lead here and Rajini has blended himself quite well. Unlike usual Rajini movie wihc...

"Leadership is influence." - John Maxwell Of all the definitions that I have come across about leadership, this is the simplest one. We usually overlook the simplest answers to questions in life due to our tendency to look for complex and convoluted answers. Leadership is influence - over oneself and others. When I interview a candidate for a role in the people practices function, I ask this question, "Why HR?" and the typical answer is, "I have discovered, while doing my MBA or MSW or whatever, that I have a flair for interacting with people and hence I chose a career in HR." Then I ask them, "If you have a flair for interacting with people, why didn't you consider a role in the sales function?" They squirm in their seats and display a horrified expression: "Me? In sales? No way." I wonder: Are they rejecting a career in sales because they truly think that it does not 'measure up to their standards' or because they dread t...

My understanding of this word "Integrity" transformed over the years. In my younger days, I used to equate integrity with honesty.   When we were conducting reference checks of candidates, one typical question used to be, "How would you rate the integrity of this person?" and the typical response used to be, "Impeccable" or "Beyond doubt" or "10 out of 10".  Both the questioner and the responder were asking and responding with an implicit assumption that integrity is same as honesty.  Over the years, I realized that it is much more than honesty. Integrity is unity or oneness - of one's thoughts, expressions and actions. Few days ago, I had this interesting insight which I wanted to validate with few people. So, the next day, while having a conversation with a friend, I asked her: "Do you remember that, in my workshops, I used to say that thinking, expressing and doing are all actions and integrity is unity of one's thinking...

Mr. Rajinikanth, as part of his announcement of entering active politics by starting his own political organization, mentioned about practicing “Aanmeega Arasiyal” or “Spiritual Politics” in Tamilnadu. This announcement stirred up a hornet’s nest.   People from various political organizations started speculating on what spiritual politics is.   They either welcomed it or criticized it depending on the stand that they wish to take as and when Mr. Rajinikanth starts his political organization. From the public comments made by some of the prominent politicians in Tamilnadu, it is clear that they have no clue of what spiritual politics is or they are cleverly and deliberately confusing the people for the sake of their own political survival. This article is my attempt to demystify spiritual politics. Spiritual Politics “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.   We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” - Teilhard de Chardin We are the...

What is opposite of fear? Way back in 2013, I initiated conversation with select few friends by abruptly asking this question. This question evoked a range of responses - from a mild surprise to being concerned about my emotional wellbeing.  One of my friend, who is a mental health professional, bombarded me with questions convinced that I was going through some kind of emotional trauma.  It took me some time to assure her that I was perfectly alright. I rephrased my question: What is the word that is opposite of the word "Fear"? Then they started responding. Some said "Fearless". I asked them whether this word means anything at all.  I mean, opposite of fear is... fearless? Oh, come on. Then they offered brave, courage, dare and similar meaning words. I responded by saying, "The word opposite to the word "fear" should mean "no fear" or "absence of fear".  Do any of these words - brave, courage, dare and so on, mean "absence o...

I have observed that in some organizations, what is commonly understood as mission is denoted as vision and vice versa.   So, let me clarify what mission and vision are: Mission What is a mission? Mission is the purpose of existence – of an individual, a family or an organization. It is generally understood that the purpose of existence is to serve or make meaningful contributions to our stakeholders, i.e., those who are impacted by us. Why do we need a mission? Mission gives us focus – we may be capable of contributing in multiple ways to multiple stakeholders but our contribution may produce the greatest positive impact when we focus and channelize our energy to those few activities that we enjoy doing and are really good at, are highly valued by our stakeholders and do not require us to compromise with the principles. Mission gives us a sense of direction – in our journey to make meaningful contribution, we are likely to come across obstacles and distractions....

Maraiporul is a Tamil word which may loosely be translated as “Hidden or subtler insights.” Many literary works, be it prose, poetry or drama, and artistic expressions, be it painting, sculpture, music or dance, adopt this style of presentation – they offer interesting insights at a grosser level which, by themselves, are quite meaningful.   However, when one chooses to delve deeper, they offer rare insights at a subtler level which, when one understands, are profound and perspective altering. I wish to share couple of such subtler insights that I realized from the Tamil movie, Thiruvilaiyadal: 1. Jnana pazham episode Synopsis of the story: Narada, the celestial sage, visits Lord Shiva in Kailash and offers him a rare fruit (pazham in Tamil) called “Jnana”.   Lord Shiva knows Narada's intention and offers the fruit to his consort, Parvati.   She plays along with him and volunteers to cut the fruit into two halves and offer the pieces to both their sons, Vinayaga...

Professional growth is the growth in the profession that we chose to pursue. Our profession may be as varied as private or public service, self-employment, professional services, creative pursuits, entrepreneurship and so on. Many a time, we chose our profession based on external factors like: It enables me to provide for my essential survival needs. It enables me to have adequate income to feel secure on a sustainable basis. It enables me to have higher income to improve my lifestyle. It enables me to appear respectable in my family and social circles. While I am fully sensitive to the need to choose our profession based on the above factors, growth may be a struggle if, in the process, we ignore internal factors like: Do I really enjoy what I am doing right now? Do I have the right skills to be effective in this profession? Do I have to compromise on principles to be effective in this profession? Do I make meaningful contribution to my stakeholders? Stakeholders are those w...

Personal growth is understood differently by different people. Growth is generally perceived in physical dimension as growth of a sapling into a fully grown tree or growth of a baby into a full-fledged adult and so on; in mental dimension as educational qualifications acquired or intellectual capabilities displayed and so on; in social dimension as important positions held, awards received, material possessions acquired, membership of premier clubs and so on. When we refer to personal growth, we refer to the growth in spiritual dimension – the growth within. We all understand that the stability and sustainability of a fully grown tree is dependent on the depth and strength of the roots of that tree.  We also understand that the stability and endurance of a skyscraper is dependent on the depth and strength of the foundation of that structure.  Similarly, the growth of a human being on physical, mental or social dimensions on a stable and sustainable basis is primarily dep...

This happened during my MBA days. On this particular morning, an erudite professor, whose religious affiliation was visible on his forehead, delivered a high-powered lecture on an important topic.    After the lecture, when one of my classmates asked a very basic doubt, the professor laughed and remarked, “Vidiya Vidiya Ramayanam Kettittu Seethaikku Raman Chittappanaanaam” which may loosely be translated as “After listening to Ramayana day in and day out, someone said Rama is Sita’s paternal uncle.”    Generally, this saying is used to mock someone who didn’t listen attentively to what is being said. I got up and told him that it's actually the other way round.  It denotes someone who listened attentively to what is being said.  He along with some of my classmates laughed at my claim.  Then I explained... There is a version of Ramayana wherein it says Sita is the daughter of Ravana: Legend about Sita's birth I have reproduced the relevant por...

Flexibility is our ability to be open to changes.   It enables us to adapt to changes with less effort. As we all know, our very survival depends on our ability to adapt to changes and from that perspective, flexibility is an important quality to have. Some of the other benefits of being flexible are: It improves our agility to respond quickly to any sudden changes within and around us. It improves our willingness to learn new skills which may be required to grow in our professions. It improves our ability to make friends easily which may be the most important skill to work in groups. It improves our ability to perceive things as they are as we are not tied down by ideas, beliefs, dogmas and so on. In my workshops, when I talk about flexibility, I usually quote few lines from the song ‘Amaithiyaana Nathiyinilae Odum’ written by Poet Kannadasan, a gifted lyricist, from the 1964 Tamil film, Aandavan Kattalai: To watch the song To read the lyrics both in English and ...