Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Effective Learning

Learning is any activity that leads to a relatively permanent change in behavior. It occurs through experience. Learning can take place through any of the four approaches:
  • Intuitive Learning : This takes place primarily through guesswork
  • Incidental Learning : This takes place through any unplanned event
  • Retrospective Learning : This takes place by reviewing one’s past experiences
  • Prospective Learning : This takes place by planning to learning ahead

David Kolb proposed the learning cycle which consists of four stages commencing from Concrete Experience leading to Reflective Observation transcending into Abstract Conceptualisation and culminating into Active Experimentation.

Peter Honey and Allan Mumford took the above findings forward and labeled the four categories of learners as under:

  • Activists : Concrete Experiencers
  • Reflectors : Reflective Observers
  • Theorists : Abstract Conceptualisers
  • Pragmatists : Active Experimenters

It therefore behoves on a trainer to appreciate that learners are not homogenous in their learning styles. Because of this heterogenecity, a trainer should tailor-make his/her presentation to match the interests of the concerned learner. So, Activists will prefer business games, outbound training, Reflectors will like case-studies, brainstorming through group discussions, Theorists will look forward to concept sharing, lecture methods, while Pragmatists will be comfortable with a blend of the foregoing techniques.

However, whatever is the technique, the following principles should be borne in mind to foster an effective training climate:

  • Learning takes place in a relatively relaxed and non-threatening environment
  • Learning takes place when a reward is associated with the learning process
  • Learning takes place when the learner is given sufficient time to practice the learning content
  • Learning takes place when the learner sees practical utility in what is being learnt
  • Learning takes place when reinforcement is provided to the learning process

Once the above measures are taken into consideration, it will result in a ‘win-win situation’ for both the trainer and the learner. This forms the fulcrum of effective learning.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

A Snippet

A snippet from the newsletter 'Breakthrough for Managers': October, 2010 issue
One day, all the employees reached the office and they saw a big notice on the door on which it was written:

"Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the Conference room."

At first everyone was sad to hear that one of their colleagues had died, but after a while they started getting curious about who this person might be. The excitement grew as the employees arrived at the Conference room to pay their last respects to the person.

Everyone wondered: "Who is this person who was hindering my progress? Thank God,he is no more." One by one the employees got closer to the coffin and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood over the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul.

There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself. There was also a sign next to the mirror that said: "There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: it is YOU."

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Management Lesson

When the former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was speaking at Wharton India Economic Forum, Philadelphia, on March 22, 2008, he was requested to cite an example of how leaders should manage failure.Dr. Kalam mentioned, in 1979 when "Rohini" satellite went haywire, though Dr. Kalam was the project director and morally owned this failure, Prof. Satish Dhawan, the leader of the organization, as Chairman, ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), in a press conference at 7.45am, 45 minutes after the faulty satellite-launch, in ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota (in Andhra Pradesh) where journalists from around the world were present, took responsibility for the failure saying that the team had worked assiduously, but needed more technological support, assuring the media that in another year, the team will surely succeed. The following year, in July 1980, when the satellite lauch was successful and the whole nation was in a celebration mood, Prof. Dhawan told, Dr.Kalam,"You conduct the press conference today".

Thus the management lesson from the above was, when failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned the failure; when success came, he gave it to his team.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Pic Source: www.dae.gov.in

Thursday, July 29, 2010

How to avoid being overlooked at your job

Have you ever come across a situation when you were overlooked by your boss while at your job ?

Try out the following which could prove worthwhile:
  • Simply ignore certain things : When you ignore certain things you do not want, such an approach constitutes your self-respect.
  • Learn to say 'No' : This is a skill you ought to develop. Be polite, yet firm to say 'No' to things you wish to avoid as this helps to conserve your energy for things you desire to do.
  • Keep you temper on ice : Never allow your temper to fly. In other words, always be composed as it enhances your interpersonal relationship with others.
  • Be resourceful : Organizations love to have employees who can make things happen. This will increase your 'visibility'.
  • Set priorities : Avoid running into a stage of over-stress and 'burnout'. Yet do a little extra which others might not. This would enable you to get noticed.
  • Emerge as a leader: Creativity and innovation would help on this front. Ingenuity matters.
  • Concentrate on key issues: Do not let the trivial bother you. Once you focus on right things, you will eventually become conspicuous.
  • Remember the 'P-O' fit: Success results when P(for Preparation) meets O(for Opportunity). So, do not get bogged down with failuresHone you skills : Expanding your expertise makes you 'wanted'.
  • Learn the art of co-determination : This means to imbibe the habit of collective problem-solving.

Happy Working !!!

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Culture is the King

In today’s context, Culture of an Organization is the prime differentiator between a good and not so good company, however it is the only differentiator between a good and GREAT company!!!

The reason for this is as follows:
  • All performance is driven by Culture
  • Competitors can copy Product/Services/Branding but cannot copy CULTURE (Sustainable Competitive advantage)
  • Convey right perspective to all Stakeholders
  • Help to imbibe Organizational Pride which is critical to hold on to the talents
    • Trust & Commitment
    • Loyalty & Passion
    • Emotional Bonding
    • Contribution to Success
    • Ability to reach out to clients
    • High Performance
    • Creativity to think differently
    • Sense of ownership

The best way to develop Culture in a Company is through the 4 way approach -

  1. Awareness & Reflection – Some of the tools for doing so are as follows
    • Employee Survey
    • Trust Index/Trust Audits
    • Benchmark Cultural Practices
    • Study Missions/Awareness Workshops
    • Action Planning Workshops
    • Communication – Communication - Communication
    • Ownership Building Events
    • Stakeholders Feedback
  2. Capability Building – can be managed through the following initiatives
    • Leadership Training & Coaching
    • Training of the Line Manager
    • Coaching & Mentoring Skills
    • HR (Gurukul/Sherpa Approach)
    • People Leadership Assessment
    • Incubation approach
    • Rituals & Programs
    • Repetition & Sustenance
  3. Promotion & Engagement – this is important and can be facilitated through the following measures
    • Vision/Mission/Core Values (Review periodically)
    • Culture Alignment
    • Internal Branding
    • External Branding
    • Leveraging Unique Attributes
    • Aligning EVP with Customer Value Proposition
    • EVP to Attract & Retain
    • Innovation@Workplace
  4. Institutionalization – last but not the least this approach creates sustainability and scalability
    • Design of People Systems & Processes
    • Implementation & Support
    • Create High Performance Culture which facilitates to execute Strategy
    • Align Total Reward Strategy to Business Outcomes
    • Establish Emerging People Paradigm – Employee as an Investor
    • Aligning Leadership to Culture Building

Contributed By:
Mr. Ranjan Sarkar
Senior Vice President - HR & Corporate Communication,
Acclaris Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

An Obituary printed in the London Times

Interesting and sadly rather true.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: -
  • Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
  • Why the early bird gets the worm;
  • Life isn't always fair;
  • and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Source: The London Times

Monday, May 31, 2010

The 5S of house-keeping

This is a Japanese concept which denotes seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke.

The English versions are sorting, straightening, systematic cleaning, standardizing, and sustaining. At times, another S. safety is included.

Briefly, the implications are:
  • Sorting: Eliminate things which are non-essential. Keep only those things which are necessary.
  • Straightening: Set things in order in such a way that it is easily accessible.
  • Systematic cleaning: Tidiness, cleanliness are the rules of the game.
  • Standardizing: Consistency should be maintained so everyone observes the first 3S's through awareness of responsibilities.
  • Sustaining: Prevent rollback to old ways;even think of better ways

The sixth S refers to workplace safety.

5S principle is observed by companies through signs and posters which help to educate employees on the 5S's.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Friday, May 14, 2010

Cardinal Principles of Discipline

Discipline is the key to success in whatever a person does. Here are five cardinal principles of discipline:
  • Showing respect to seniors: Talent itself will lead nowhere unless an individual is disciplined in this area. This improves one's acceptance and trustworthiness.
  • Commitment to work: Involvement in one's work and attention to details 'without looking at the watch for an early close' pays off phenomenally.
  • Punctuality: Meeting cut-off dates and setting priorities right is the rule of the game. Distinguishing between things urgent and things important is essential.
  • Being cooperative: Teamwork matters. It generates synergy and fosters a sense of togetherness which is necessary for mutual charm.
  • Ethicality in action: Rectitude 'keeps the house in order'. The voice of conscience should be listened to.This generates an atmosphere of sanctity and piousness.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

New Public Management

The public sector has always been at the vortex of controversy and debate as regards its style of functioning. A management philosophy,by way of modernisation, which is used by governments throughout the world is referred to as New Public Management(NPM). The key to NPM is more market orientation in the public sector. This will lead to greater cost efficiency in governments while being devoid of other deleterious effects resulting from such an approach. Bureaucracy is less and personal characteristics of employees are more customer-friendly. Hierarchy gives rise to networkedness and political influences in decision-making are minimal.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Organizational Citizenship Behaviour

One of the contemporary areas in the field of Organizational Behaviour and Development is Organizational Citizenship Behaviour under the acronym OCB.

OCB is unique in that it is non-traditional and out of the clutches of a formal reward system. Though it is beneficial to the organization,it is purely under the volition of the individual who indulges in behaviour triggered by personal choice and is non-mandatory in that it does not fetch any punishment lest such behviour is not displayed.OCB enhances the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization and enhances its productivity.Two specific examples in point would include an employee who is apolitical by nature at domestic or social life will also act likewise in her/his professional work in the organization.;alternately,an employee who voluntarily takes part in collective decision-making process will tend to be more involved in work and perform better than those who are indifferent when it comes to joint-decision-making.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

CII National Conclave

March 05, 2010. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized its national conclave on “IT for inclusive growth, at Hotel ITC Sonar, Kolkata. The event started with the inaugural session, outlining the importance of inclusive growth in a diverse economy like India; in this important era of globalization coupled with major technological changes. Mr. Tamal Dasgupta, Chairman Eastern Region, CII ICTE sub committee and Managing Director, WEBEL, mentioned the initiatives of CII member organizations in promoting inclusive growth as a point of focus among corporate India. Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman, CII National Committee on IT/ ITeS /E-commerce, and Vice Chairman & CEO, Zensar delivered the theme address of the conclave citing examples of how smart ICT interventions have led to social inclusion and how West Bengal has led the way for the rest of the nation. Dr. Debesh Das, Minister of IT, West Bengal, Mr. Siddharth, Principal Secretary-IT, West Bengal and Mr. Ashis Sanyal, Sr. Director-IT, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India; reiterated the various flagship programmes of the governments at the center and states, in promoting inclusive growth, including NREGA, NRHM, SSA and the role of IT in the same.

The following sessions were lively with presentations from senior corporates of KPIT Cummins, Cognizant, Beyondcore, Mckinsey, Zensar, Cisco, Canon, HP, Intel, Educomp, Deloitte, HSBC, Metalogic, Wipro, etc. the audience were appraised of the newer innovations in IT and its benefit to the masses. Mr. Arijit Sengupta, CEO, Beyondcore and Indian Ambassador to IAOP (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals) outlined the important measures taken by IAOP in certifying the aspirant organizations and individuals of outsourcing sector; hence decreasing costs of client organizations, prospective recruiters and also uplifting the employability factor. The themes hovered around India’s opportunities in leveraging its ICT potential, transforming the nation to a knowledge e-economy, etc.

A special session was focused on the improvement of the ICT scenario in the East and North-Eastern states of India. The sessions witnessed engrossing discussions, supported by thought provoking data, and the participative audience asked critical questions; thus leading to serious debates on certain issues; like “if government would incentivize entrepreneurship in underdeveloped areas for the cause of inclusive growth?”, etc. The need of using ICT for agriculture, education and healthcare were discussed in detail. The conclave ended with a lot of learning for the participants and in the concluding remarks, the chairman vowed to organize many similar events in future.

By:
Prof. Debajyoti Majumder
(Globsyn Business School)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a concept that is generally viewed as managing discretionary effort, that is, when employees have choices, they will act in a way that furthers their organization’s interests. An engaged employee is a person who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work. Engaged employees care about the future of the company and are willing to invest the discretionary effort. Engaged employees feel a strong emotional bond to the organization that employs them.

An organization’s productivity is measured not in terms of employee satisfaction but by employee engagement. Employees are said to be engaged when they show a positive attitude toward the organization and express a commitment to remain with the organization.
Organizations that believe in increasing employee engagement levels focus on:

  1. Culture: It consists of a foundation of leadership, vision, values, effective communication, a strategic plan, and HR policies that are focused on the employee.
  2. Continuous Reinforcement of People-Focused Policies: Continuous reinforcement exists when senior management provides staff with budgets and resources to accomplish their work, and empowers them.
  3. Meaningful Metrics: They measure the factors that are essential to the organization’s performance. Because so much of the organization’s performance is dependent on people, such metrics will naturally drive the people-focus of the organization and lead to beneficial change.
  4. Organizational Performance: It ultimately leads to high levels of trust, pride, satisfaction, success, and believe it or not, fun.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Monday, March 8, 2010

Tips for motivating employees

  • Give recognition to your employees
  • Treat them with mutual charm, dignity and respect
  • Be dispassionate and objective in your actions
  • Do not unduly enlarge one employee at the detriment of the other
  • Take care of employees' career path
  • Applause for major accomplishments
  • Inculcate teamspirit
  • Implement contests that earn your employees time off
  • Observe pizza/popcorn/cookie/rose days
  • Spend time evenly with each team member
  • Give on-the-spot praise
  • Never howl, scream or denigrate any team member in public view

Contibuted By:
Prof. DP Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Friday, February 26, 2010

Management Lessons from 3 - Idiots Movie

  1. Never Try To Be Successful Success is the bye-product. Excellence always creates success. So, never run after the success, let it happen automatically in the life.
  2. Freedom To Life Don’t die before actual death. Live every moment to the fullest as you are going to die today night. Life is gifted to humankind to live, live & live @ happiness.
  3. Passion Leads To Excellence When your hobby becomes your profession and passion becomes your profession. You will be able to lead up to excellence in the life. Satisfaction, pleasure, joy and love will be the outcome of following passion. Following your passion for years, you will surely become something one day.
  4. Learning Is Very Simple Teachers do fail. Learners never fail. Learning is never complicated or difficult. Learning is always possible whatever rule you apply.
  5. Pressure At Head Current education system is developing pressures on students’ head. University intelligence is useful and making some impact in the life but it cannot be at the cost of the life.
  6. Life Is Emotion Management Not Intelligence Optimization Memory and regular study have definite value and it always helps you in leading a life. You are able to survive even if you can make some mark in the path of the life. With artificial intelligence, you can survive and win but you cannot prove yourself genius. Therefore, in this process genius dies in you.
  7. Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention Necessity creates pressure and forces you to invent something or to make it happen or to use your potentiality. Aamir Khan in this film, 3 idiots, is able to prove in the film by using aqua guard pump at the last moment.
  8. Simplicity is Life Life is need base never want base. Desires have no ends. Simplicity is way of life and Indian culture highly stresses on simple living and high thinking, and this is the way of life: ‘Legs down to earth and eyes looking beyond the sky’ .
  9. Industrial Leadership Dean of the institute in 3 idiots is showing very typical leadership. He has his own principles, values and ideology, and he leads the whole institute accordingly. This is an example of current institutional leadership. In the present scenario, most of the institutes are fixed in a block or Squarish thinking.
  10. Importance Of One Word In Communication If communication dies, everything dies. Each word has impact and value in communication. One word if used wrongly or emphasized wrongly or paused at a wrong place in communication what effect it creates and how is it affected is demonstrated very well in this movie.
  11. Mediocrity Is Penalized Middle class family or average talent or average institute is going to suffer and has to pay maximum price in the life if they do not upgrade their living standards. To be born poor or as an average person is not a crime but to die as an average person with middle class talent is miserable and if you are unable to optimize your potentiality and die with unused potentiality then that is your shameful truth. One should not die as a mediocre. He/she has to bring out genius inside him/her and has to use his/her potentiality to the optimum level.

Contributed By:
Ms. Ipsita Patranabis
(Globsyn Business School)

Pix Source: www.idiotsacademy.zapak.com

Monday, February 15, 2010

Tips for achieving real success in life


  • Place Almighty & your family as the first priority.
  • Aspire for success.
  • Dream big, think big, and think differently.
  • Trust in Yourself and your dreams.
  • Remove fear and circumspection.
  • Be fully committed and determined.
  • Do not procrastinate.
  • Consider failures as opportunities for learning.
  • Be self-motivatedIntrospect, improve and look forward.
Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Friday, February 5, 2010

Seven Steps to Personal Mastery

by Gary Ryan Blair
  • Identify Your Three Greatest Accomplishments In 2009: Even if 2009 was a challenging year for you, odds are if you look close enough there's something somewhere to be proud of.
  • Analyze What You Learned from Each Accomplishment: Now that you have identified your three greatest accomplishments, go back to each one. This time though identify exactly what you learned or were reminded of by each of them.
  • Identify Your Biggest Disappointments of 2009: Practically every company and individual resists analyzing their mistakes. That's a shame because this is where the best learning comes from.
  • Analyze What You Learned from Each Failure or Disappointment: No matter how great everything in life is going - we all make mistakes. The trick here is to really analyze them, what preceded them, what could you have done differently, and how can you prevent them in the future.
  • Identify How You Limited Yourself and How Can You Stop It: Were there certain actions you took or didn't take that came back to haunt you? In order to make sure you don't limit yourself again - you need to bring these self-defeating actions to the surface, confront them, and most importantly determine what you must do differently to make sure you don't make the same mistakes all over again.
  • Pragmatically Review the Information You Have Gathered: The goal of this exercise is not simply to know yourself and your business better but to actually use the information to make certain 2010 far surpasses 2009. What are the big takeaways from answering each question? What do you know about yourself or your business that you didn't realize or weren't thinking about?
    Obviously, having this list isn't going to do it all, you still need to take this new knowledge and USE IT! Fortunately, that's what the last step is centered around. And here it is...
  • Use This Information to Astonish Yourself in 2010: The purpose here is to build in to your schedule, your interactions, your management style or whatever else you've surfaced in the previous questions and build yourself a new better approach.

Source: excerpts from: an e-journal,Trans4mind

Monday, January 25, 2010

Effective Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is one of the best motivation techniques for creating a positive attitude in the workplace - when it is handled properly.
Here are three tips:
  1. Have a genuine interest in the person you are appraising. Get to know what makes them tick. What is their life like outside the workplace? What do they enjoy most? what is important to them?
  2. Really listen to what they have to say. It is so easy to make assumptions. Do you take the time to ask your employees for their opinion? Would they come to you if something was bothering them?
  3. Stay in a constructive, positive mindset even if they are expressing a lot of negativity and treat them with respect at all times.

Always critique the performance as and when necessary, but do not critique the person.. Remember, it is easy to 'Catch people Wrong"; however, try to 'Catch people right'. Let the workplace be filled with joy and stimulate urge for achievement without hurting anyone unduly.

Contributed By:
Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay
(Globsyn Business School)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Seven Steps to Personal Mastery

By: Gary Ryan Blair
Source: Trans4mind

  • Identify Your Three Greatest Accomplishments In 2009: Even if 2009 was a challenging year for you, odds are if you look close enough there's something somewhere to be proud of.
  • Analyze What You Learned from Each Accomplishment: Now that you have identified your three greatest accomplishments, go back to each one. This time though identify exactly what you learned or were reminded of by each of them.
  • Identify Your Biggest Disappointments Of 2009: Practically every company and individual resists analyzing their mistakes. That's a shame because this is where the best learning comes from.
  • Analyze What You Learned from Each Failure or Disappointment: No matter how great everything in life is going - we all make mistakes. The trick here is to really analyze them, what preceded them, what could you have done differently, and how can you prevent them in the future.
  • Identify How You Limited Yourself and How Can You Stop It: Were there certain actions you took or didn't take that came back to haunt you? In order to make sure you don't limit yourself again - you need to bring these self-defeating actions to the surface, confront them, and most importantly determine what you must do differently to make sure you don't make the same mistakes all over again.
  • Pragmatically Review the Information You Have Gathered: The goal of this exercise is not simply to know yourself and your business better but to actually use the information to make certain 2010 far surpasses 2009. What are the big takeaways from answering each question? What do you know about yourself or your business that you didn't realize or weren't thinking about?
    Obviously, having this list isn't going to do it all, you still need to take this new knowledge and USE IT! Fortunately, that's what the last step is centered around. And here it is...
  • Use This Information to Astonish Yourself in 2010: The purpose here is to build in to your schedule, your interactions, your management style or whatever else you've surfaced in the previous questions and build yourself a new better approach.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life.
One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, 'What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?'He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers: 'Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.'To stress his point he said to another guest; 'You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you make?'
Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, 'You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...)
'Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.
You want to know what I make?' (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)
''I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them apologize and mean it. I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions. I teach them to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in math. They use their GOD given brain, not the man-made calculator. I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity. I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe. I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One Nation Under GOD, because we live in the United States of America.
Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.'(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.) 'Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant... You want to know what I make? I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?'
Contributed By:
Ms. Soma Dey
(Senior Manager-HR)
Acclaris Limited.