I attended a day-long seminar “Overcoming Challenges in Today’s Times” conducted by the big man, Stephen Covey himself, at Hyderabad, India early this year. At the end of it, when Steven asked the participants if they have any doubts, a man got up and shared his concern that though he is very proactive, his boss isn’t and doesn’t allow him to be! Steven did not make it easy for him. He asked him a few questions and left him at that. Probably Steven wanted the man to be proactive and find his own answers.

As my understanding goes, being proactive means being able to take responsibility for one’s behavior, whatever it may be – positive or negative. The underlying rationale is only when you take responsibility for your actions you will learn from them and use them to your advantage. Personally, whenever I am proactive, in addition to learning, I find myself energized and free.

“Proactivity – First Habit of Highly Effective People”

Coming back to the man at the seminar, who represents all of us, one time or the other, his question belongs to all of us – can we be proactive among people who are not at all proactive? How can we take initiative when our boss doesn’t allow us to? How long will we take responsibility of our behavior and actions when others don’t take responsibility for theirs?

I will be very interested to hear your comments.

RK Prasad

CEO

In 1986 as a rookie salesman, I was working for an electronic typewriter marketer and was posted in the port city of Vishakhapatnam in South India. I made my first sale to Director General of Naval Projects (DGNP), a Government of India joint venture with the erstwhile USSR. They were, according to my unconfirmed sources, involved in some hush-hush project on submarines. Anyway, I was thrilled at my first sale of a princely sum of INR 23000 (now about US$ 470; not much but compared to a manual typewriter costing US$100, it was a great introductory sale). My joy was short-lived as I wasn’t able to collect the check. The clerk was parrying it with a number of silly reasons, none of them justifying the delay. After innumerable trips to the Accounts Payable, it dawned on me that there was some other reason, which I was not able to figure out. I bet those of you who are from the above countries would have got it by now. Yes sir, the man wanted ‘baksheesh’, a euphemism for bribery. When I accosted him in the employee canteen, he told me that I should help him so that he can help me! I paid him INR100 (US$2) and collected my check.

Even today, the scene has not changed much. We still give ‘baksheesh’ and get things done, especially when we deal with government or quasi-government agencies. Most Indians consider this practice as a necessary evil and don’t give it a second thought.

When we were asked by 3 of our corporate customers – an electronics OEM manufacturer, a medical equipment major and an industrial gases market leader, all with a strong presence in more than 100 countries, to develop eLearning courses on FCPA, our teams went ahead. We even developed an off-the-shelf course on the Anti-corruption Laws for those who want a generic course.

Out of curiosity, I went through some of these courses. My immediate reaction was that this law is very difficult to follow in India. It will definitely be interesting to read the experiences of those who worked in these countries, setting up off-shore facilities or managing them.

If you are interested to know how much you know about FCPA, take a free quiz.

Thank you for reading my blog.

RK PRASAD

CEO

Online Training Course: Anticorruption Laws

Want to learn more about FCPA and understand the rights and wrongs of the corporate world?

Click here to get course details

Before starting CommLab I was a teacher. Then, 9 years ago, I decided to become a ‘tycoon’ and started CommLab India. I don’t think I became one but many a time, I caught myself in our company’s conference room, sharing my latest learning – be it Self-Actualization, Lateral Thinking, Quality Strategy, Management or Leadership – with my team. I realized I love to learn and share my learning.

My new-found avocation of social networking fueled my dreams again – I started dreaming big; to share my learning with as many of my colleagues, across the globe, as possible and help them propagate it further.

This is what I have in mind – using sound instructional design principles to design and develop a series of 30-minute training kits for classroom delivery. The training kit will include a Training Agenda, a PowerPoint Presentation or Webinar, Presenters’ Notes…the entire works, so to speak, ready for delivery. The topics, I am afraid, will be of my interest (Let me hasten to reassure you that they will be useful)

To test waters, I ventured (with trepidation) to develop a small off-line webinar of 6-7 minutes on “Get the Best Out of People”. May I request you to view it and give me (gentle) feedback? [Let me warn you that our web master requires you to fill a small form before you can download it; I hope you don't mind]

Here is the link to view the webinar: http://www.commlabindia.com/elearning-resources/elearning-webinars.php

Thank you very much for reading my blog.

Make a great day!

RK PRASAD

CEO