Walter Elias “Walt” Disney.

Walter Elias Disney was an American Business Magnate and a filmmaker. But he was one of the greatest Cartoonists this world has ever seen. It is particularly true when we are thinking of one cartoon. When we are thinking of one character created by a cartoonist which has survived more than a century. The character is Mickey Mouse.

 

 

Of and on Mickey Mouse makes fashion statements on t-shirts, sweat shirts and children pajamas. It appears that the character is going to live another century. Walter also created Donald duck and Goofy. These are also good but nothing to beat Mickey Mouse. He won 22 academy awards including a record of four in just one year. It gave him the honor of being one with maximum nominations (59) and 22 awards.

 

 

Disney Land theme parks in US, Japan, France and Hong Kong are the places which attract tourists from all over the world. If the family travels with children there is no way that they could miss the Disney lands if they are visiting that particular country.

 

He died on December 15 1996 from longue cancer in California. He had created a large number of animated shorts and future films. The company created these parks and animation studio which bears his name. At times we think how could a cartoonist create a cartoon that transcends the limits of time and space. What Shakespeare is to drama and literature, Walt Disney is to entertainment particularly for the children.

 

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The Great Sardar of India

Sardar Vallabhbhai Javerbhai Patel was born on 31^st October 1875. He left this world on 15^th December 1950. Every Indian needs to remember the great Sardar of our country on this day. He left us but not before completing his task. India as we see it today was creation of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He is also known as the Iron Man of India.

 

He was adet in negotiating skills. There were so many small and big princely states at the time of independence. But for his ability to unite all these states, we would not have seen our motherland as a mighty nation as reckoned today.

 

At one time there was a consideration in the party, among the senior leaders that he could be the Prime Minister. But the Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru was chosen to be the Prime Minister. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel acted as his strong deputy- the Deputy Prime Minister. He could take decision which possibly Pandit Nehru was not able to conclude.

He was the first Home Minister. He organized relief for the refugees in Punjab & Delhi. At the time of partition there was great confusion and intense riots. Law and order was totally disturbed. It required the strength and the leadership of Sardar Patel to handle the very difficult situation. He took charge of the task to forge a United India from the British Colonial provinces and more than 500 self governing princely states. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Nation had great regards for this “Iron Man of India”. Sometimes he also had known as “Bismarck of India”.

 

Let us all pay our hearty tribute to the great leader of our country.

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Guru Shishya Parampara 2

Today, I will talk to you about the qualities of a great Guru in the context of present day teaching. While in our country, our Education System seems to have drifted away from the traditions, some of the teachers in the US are following our traditions.

 

The Guru-shishya parampara always emphasized that the Guru should also be a mentor. It meant that he/she does not just give lectures. But the classroom sessions are made interactive and participative. Here in India, we see that most college students have to rely on private classes. It is not only unnecessary, but also wasteful. Students lose the time spent in the college. At the same time College Lecturers are also unhappy because they don’t find devoted students.

 

Now I will describe how a good and passionate teacher is rated in a typical US school or college. The teacher ensures that the class is interesting. He/she does not stick only to the text, but gives examples from life to ensure a clear understanding of the subject. The teacher is always willing, and in fact wanting to help. The teacher displays deeper understanding and carefully listens to the students. Polite and human, the teacher ensures that everyone in the class understands the material before he/she is subjected to any kind of tests. The message is given repeatedly that Teacher should never bring personal problems to school. The teacher should have great respect for the students.

 

At the same time, the teacher motivates the students to come to the class on time. They are mentally prepared to learn, in fact eager to learn, and to respect each other. Students must listen when another student is talking. Of course there should be no cross talking during the class. The teacher repeats to the students, never say I can’t. Further, the teacher reassures them not to be afraid to say “I don’t understand”.

I hope that the new government and the HRD Minister will take suitable steps to ensure that we go back to our tradition.

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Guru Shishya Parampara

The Education System in our country was based on Guru-Shishya Parampara (tradition). Each individual who was educated in this tradition was able to think for himself/herself. However, The British did not want this system to continue. They only wanted followers who blindly obeyed their diktat. They needed manpower in administration. So they disbanded this system. The present education system is based on recommendations of Lord Macaulay who felt it necessary to tame the citizens into becoming unthinking followers. This system continues till today.

 

The biggest problem of our current education system is that even though students have great imagination, extensive knowledge, they have difficulty to express themselves. They lack courage and confidence. In complete contrast, the Guru Shishya Parampara creates a bond between the teacher and the disciple which transcends the traditional teacher student relationship. The Guru acts as a mentor ensuring that each of his Shishya feels free to ask any questions which he considers duty bound to explain.

 

As a mentor, the Guru considers it his duty to ensure that the future of Shishya is well protected. The Guru ensures that Shishyas develop the capacity to think for themselves. Further, they inculcate the necessary skills to deal with each other and conduct themselves elegantly among people.

 

Great knowledge of our scriptures can be disseminated properly by bringing back the system even though in a new modern avtar.

 

The biggest challenge for the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is to give proper orientation to the teachers. Besides, the number of students in a class should be between 10 to 15 but never more than 20.

 

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Elevator Pitch

What is Elevator Pitch? Why it is called an Elevator Pitch? We know that we use Elevator for a very short time. In this short time if we can express a product or service, its need and create a desire to know more in the mind of the listener we have been able to create a good elevator pitch. Today it has assumed a great importance. Many a time people do not have time to go through long presentations. They just want to understand what the sales person is talking about briefly. Then they decide whether to go ahead with the proposal or not.

 

Time has become a scares commodity. It has to be used judiciously. It must create benefits that we are looking for. We must come up with the way of explaining the idea that will grab the attention of someone who had many other things in mind. This is where the Elevator Pitch comes in. The primary goal while creating and delivering Elevator Pitch is to get a potential investor, partner, or a customer to desire more knowledge about he said. Further the listener must be able to assimilate the idea the objective of the Elevator Pitch is that is such a statement which can trigger the listeners to involve more people. Because the idea is interesting and the listener has thoroughly understood it gives a listener a power to express to others.

The Elevator Pitch can be conscious one sentence summery. It can also a one paragraph summery or even a tagline. The important thing is that it must impress in a compelling manner. It further means that the person who delivers the Elevator Pitch must memorize it. More than that he should be able to express it with excellent modulation. The efficacy of the speaker is critical while delivering the Elevator Pitch. So, rehearse presenting Elevator Pitch again and again and again.

 

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Spin Selling Strategy

Shakespeare said that the world is a stage and we are all actors. It is true and will remain true. But today one can also say that the world is a market place and we are all salesman. We all try to sell something or the other. Sometimes it is a product, sometimes it is an idea and at another time it could be influencing people. But the element of selling is always there. Keeping this in view and realizing the importance of sales I am repeating the words of Mr. Neil Rackam -the creator of the Spin Selling Strategy.

What is Spin Selling Model?

Asking Questions that are important to the customer is what makes the SPIN model so powerful. Its questioning sequence taps directly into the psychology of the buying process. SPIN questions provide a road map for the seller, guiding the call through the steps of need development until Explicit Needs have been reached. And the more Explicit Needs you can you can obtain from buyers, the more likely the call is to succeed.

 

Here is an overview of the SPIN model. Successful sales people use the following sequence:

1. Initially, they ask Situation Questions to establish background facts. But they don’t ask too many, because Situational Questions can bore or irritate the buyer.

2. Next, they quickly move to Problem Questions to explore problems, difficulties, and dissatisfactions. By asking Problem Questions, they uncover the customer’s implied needs.

3. In smaller sales it could be appropriate to offer solutions at this point, but in successful larger sales the seller holds back and asks Implication Questions to make the Implied Needs larger and more urgent.

4. Then, once the buyer agrees that the problem is serious enough to justify action, successful sales people ask Need-payoff Questions to encourage the buyer to focus on solutions and to describe the benefits that the solution would bring.

On the whole, Need-payoff Questions are important because they focus attention on solutions, not problems. And they make customers tell you the benefits. Need-payoff questions are particularly powerful selling tools in the larger sale because they also increase the acceptability of your solution. Equally important, success in large sales depends upon internal selling by customers on your behalf, and Need-Payoff Questions are one of the best ways to rehearse the customer presenting your solutions convincingly to others.

 

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Voice Culture & 2015

Voice culture is training to enhance the quality of your voice. It also develops the ability to speak each and every word clearly, in any language. Verbal communication has assumed greater importance in the last few years. The changing business and telecom environment has made it necessary that we speak more effectively. The efficacy of speech has assumed center stage. In the coming year 2015 it will become imperative that we all improve our verbal communication skills. That will only enable us to create an impact on the social media sites.

 

What is Voice Culture? How do we go about it?

Voice is produced by the breath that is released from the lungs. The breath strikes the vocal cord and sound is produced. The sound travels in the cavities in the mouth and cavities in the nose. Resonance is added and sound becomes rich. But it is only sound not the words. The words are created by the speech organs.

5 speech organs that are critical to the creation of words in any language are: jaw, tongue, teeth, lips and palate. Any person whose speech is not clear is not using one or more of the speech organs in a manner in which these should be used.

Let us consider example of a flute player (Indian tradition flute). Flute is just a hollow tube. There is one hole for the flute player to blow. Other holes are for manipulating the fingers for producing various notes. We find that with the simple equipment some expert flute players are able to mesmerize their audience with exquisite music.

As compared to the flute our speech box is a fabulous musical instrument. Just as the success of the music produced by the flute depends on the expertise with which the musician plays the flute, the speaker can hold his/her audience spell bound with effective speech. It is necessary that the speaker must play his/her musical instrument with an expertise.


Voice culture enables you to acquire the expertise of using your musical instrument (the voice box).

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