Cleveland -Tarang 11/20/11

Recently,I have moved to Cleveland on a long term client engagement. This has reduced my travel as a consultant to a great extent. I am quite excited about this as i get to spend some quality time after work for my personal chores. All of a sudden i felt i have all my Sundays for myself, unlike reading or sleeping or working while in transit at airports.

My dearest husband Vivek, is continuing his Phd at Case University. Being associated with Campus, we have some good friends in this area. To be honest this has made my transition so much fun! Case has an annual Diwali function called Tarang in which we both participated this year as master of ceremonies. Along with it I participated in a unique dance on India's national song called The light of India. Last two weeks were quite fun yet stressful managing work, practicing dance and our speech and all those late nights. It was all worth it as i had made some great connections for life! Now i am all relaxed and and looking forward to my thanks giving vacation!

New Orleans 03/14/10

I haven't been able to post lately. I have been travelling quite a lot these days for my work. One of my latest visits to New Orleans was a wonderful experience. New Orleans is really a unique city in America. I was amazed to learn and experience New Orleans' cuisine, music and Spanish architecture.

On my arrival, I had the opportuntity to meet my long lost friend Aneesha. We met after 10 years! We studied science together back home in India at Jai Hind College. I had no idea it would take so long for our paths to cross after graduation. We were thrilled to see each other and could not stop smiling and exchanging compliments. Aneesha, being local to New Orleans took me around the neighborhood. It was wonderful to have, Timsy (Aneesha's roomie) accompany us to explore New Orleans.

It was bright and sunny when we started walking from my hotel. Being from northeast, I was totally enjoying the warm weather of New Orleans. We went to downtown French Quarters, Bourbon street, Canal steet and Decatur. We dined at an italian restuarant followed by Cafe Du Monde's coffee and beignets:) We shopped some souvenirs and gifts and returned back full of joy and memories for our future.Thanks Aneesha for the wonderful pendant and a memorable evening spent in New Orleans.

Russellville, Kentucky visit Jan 2010

I was on a business visit to a small town Russellville, in Kentucky. This town is like a two hour drive from Nashville airport, TN. Being new in the area, I was given a warm welcome by the doctor and his staff. Kentucky is known for its blueglass music, tobacco farms and throughbred horses.

Steve was sweet enough to play the banjo and it gave me a whole new experience of the culture associated in that little town. Debby cooked Mediterranean food and we all relished it! Some memories which will be associated with me for the rest of my life.

Its always wonderful to meet such good people who touch your lives.

Thank you guys and I hope you see you all again:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you guys for being there! Thank you for your thoughtfulness.

Love you all!

Puja

Failure, a stepping stone to success

At times we fail at work, in relationships, meeting our own expectations etc. In fact, in trying to achieve the best we fail most of the time. Sometimes things just don't work the way you want them to and its beyond your control. Personally, I feel dejected, lost and alone. However, over time I gather my wits and get back to life. I take a deep breath and say "let it go!" It is hard to follow than said.Thanks to Marshall Goldsmith. I had attended his seminar last year in Boston and he gave me some good stuff to learn for the rest of my life. Oh his book "What got your here, won't get you there" is a must read. I thought of sharing a few tips to overcome failure

1. Remain calm

2. Keep your anger to yourself

3. Write down your personal goals, analyse what went wrong, or was it just that bad hair day

4. Be positive and work towards your goal

5. Smile :)

6. If you have the will, you will get there!

Life is a challenge, lets face it.

Take home from Winston Churchill

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage that counts."

Relationships

Building relationships with people can be a task for most. Often we run into new clients, coworkers, cross teams, and acquaintances. At times you feel very comfortable with some personalities on exchanging a genuine smile and a firm handshake. However, for some personalities the pitch just isn't set and you are at discomfort. It is important to connect with clients to understand their needs. I learn't a new technique to break the ice when two people meet and one has no clue where to initiate a conversation. This technique is called FORM. It states the areas in which one can ask questions to their clients or customers to make them feel at ease. FORM stands for

F-Family

O-Occupation

R- Recreation

M-Motivation

If you are in any occupation where you interact with clients, you can ask them a few questions about their family, their current occupation, recreational activities which interest them the most and questions on what motivates them the most. Try to ask questions which will put a smile on your clients face, keeping in mind where to draw the line. I hope you are as excited as I am in bringing the FORM method to practice.

Success, Motivation, Excellence

Things have been rolling fast as I have recently joined a healthcare IT company. It was a long wait as most graduates had to go through during this economic downturn. As every new joiner, I am very excited about my new role as a software specialist and motivated to learn and excel in my class of trainees. It’s a challenge learning the vast features our product has to offer our clients. I am amazed to learn how things are changing and becoming more streamlined in the healthcare sector. In one of our class assignments, we were asked to prepare a research overview of the various medical specialties. I developed a liking for research and presenting it to my class since my mba course work days. It was due in a week. Being task oriented I was prepared in advance. To my surprise, we had a senior management walk in for a product training lecture and randomly ask people to present if they were ready, although it wasn’t due that day! I was the only one prepared and went for it, although I had a few details to take care of on one slide. This may not be a big deal for most, but for me it was a live example of one of my reads by Gordon A. MacFarlane, where he mentions that success comes when opportunity meets with preparation. For me, success was a sense of satisfaction I had by the end of the day.

Take home from Gordon-

Excellence is a result of
caring more than others think is wise,
risking more than others think is safe,
dreaming more than others think is practical,
expecting more than others think is possible.