PELE THE KING OF FOOTBALL

Pele is the king of Football and the most popular player in the world.  He is extremely talented and within a microsecond he used to come up with an improvisation.  His ability to improvise on the field was always an element of surprise for his opponents.  He invented several shots and the reverse somersault with which he scored a goal is the best of all.

He was moving like a leopard in the football field and there was very little chance for the opponent to block his moves.  He wore number 10 jersey and the number 10 on the jersey became a super hit because it was used by Pele.

It is difficult to express in words all the shots played by this great legend.  The statistics of how he performed on the filed speaks a million words.  He scored his first international goal when he was only 16 years and 10 months old which is an incredible record.  Thus he became the youngest player to score an international goal.  The very next year he scored his first World Cup Goal while he was only 17 years and 7 months old thus becoming the youngest every player to score a World Cup Goal.



He has scored 543 league goals and in total of 1363 games that he played he has scored a total of 1281 goals.  His strike rate in terms goals to matches is 94% which means in almost every single match that he played he has scored a goal.  This by itself is an unique record.  These goals also got him into the Guinness Book of World Records for highest number of goals scored by a player in his career.

He has represented Brazil in 92 matches and has scored for his country 77 goals which includes the 12 celebrated world cup goals.  The Brazilian team has won the football world cup several times and Pele has been part of the team on three occasions, viz., 1958, 1962 and 1970.  Playing in three world cup winning teams is yet another unique record that Pele is holding.

According to Pele the 1970 world cup winning team of Brazil was the best ever team as it was very well organised team.  He has been part of the national team of Brazil from 1957 to 1971 which is quite a long career.

Brazil is hosting the Football World Cup 2014 and the name Pele is synonymous with the country Brazil.  We will be having some great matches to watch from 12th June 2014 onwards in the World Cup 2014.

T.P.Anand
Chennai, India
4th June 2014

PASSPORT

Which country Passport do you carry.  Does it matter?  Yes.  It does matter as you could get easy entry in other countries depending on the Passport that you are holding.  Travel around the world has become so easy and common these days.  I have a friend, in Dubai Mr.Syeeduddin, who has travelled to all the Cricket playing countries and has watched a match in each of these countries.

The technological advancement in the last 20 years has been phenomenal and when the Internet boom happened we thought the travel will come down.  On the contrary over the last 20 years while we have advanced in technology the air travel has increased manifolds.

If we like to travel to different countries and explore, it is important for us to know whether we need a Visa to enter that country and how easy or how difficult it is to get the visa?

For instance out of the 218 country passports, the passport holders of Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom can have easy access and Visa-Free travel to 173 out of the total 217 other countries in the world.  Is that not incredible that you are having a comfortable and easy arrival into so many countries by virtue of holding a passport from one of these three countries.  They do not have to apply for visa in advance and they can just land up in any of those 173 countries and at the port of arrival they will be issued a visa to enter the country.

The second place is occupied by USA, Denmark, Germany and Luxemburg as these passport holders can have hazzle free and visa-free travel to 172 countries in the world.

The third place is occupied by Belgium, Italy and Netherlands as these three passport holders can land up in 171 countries of the world without a visa.

Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Portugal and Spain are joint fourth as they can easily travel to 170 countries in the world.

At the fifth place is Austria, New Zealand and Switzerland having easy access to 168 countries in the world.

The list goes on and I was keen to run through the entire list as I was looking for my status as I hold an Indian Passport.  My curiosity was quite high as I wanted to know if I can travel atleast to about 100 countries in the world without having to apply for a visa in advance.  I ended far lower in the list and finally found the name India along with Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan at Rank No.74.

For instance if you have Indian Passport you will have visa-free access to only 52 out of the 217 countries and India is on par with Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan.  Dominican Republic has a population of under 10 million and Uzbekistan has a population of just over 30 million.  In contrast to these two countries India has a population of more than 1.2 billion.

The only consolation for me when I went through the entire list is there are 93 ranks and India is in 74th Rank which is 19 ranks ahead of the last rank.

Whether the visa is applied in advance or on arrival we are not going to reduce our travel and let us enjoy travelling to various countries.  It is good to explore and understand different cultures around the world.

Pack your bags and head out for Summer Vacation.  Enjoy your holidays.

Regards,
T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
29th May 2014

FIRST DIGIT LAW - BENFORD'S LAW

The First Digit Law is an old theory which states that the number of times that 1 will be the first digit number in any random selection of numbers will be the highest.  The chances of the first digit being 1 is 30%.  Number 2 would occur on 17% of the cases.  The number of times that 9 will occur as the first digit is said to be only 4.6%.  The most interesting feature of this theory is that the chances of the first digit keeps decreasing from 1 right upto 9. 

Frank Benford stated this in 1938 and thus came to be known as the Benford Law since then.  He tested the theory on 20 different sets of data and came up with the finding that the first digit occurs more with smaller numbers.  However this has been previously propounded by Simon Newcomb in 1881.  Simon Newcomb said the earlier pages of a logarithm table were more worn than the later pages.

The Benford's law can be applied in real life situation for forensic accounting and auditing.  In the USA it is accepted by the Federal Courts when evidence is based on the Benford's Law.  Scrutiny of election results with the Benford's law has helped to find frauds in some countries.  When data is presented to us we can apply the Benford's Law to test if the data is reliable.

This theory can be applied to a wide variety of data like electricity bills; stock prices; national data on births/deaths, etc.  In the present world we are over loaded with data all the time and on many occasions I have wondered if there is a way of quickly checking the authenticity of the data.  The answer lies in the Benford's Law.

Regards,
T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
26th May 2014

INSTINCT

Instinct is sometimes natural as in the case of a new born turtle which moves towards the sea.  Instinct is something which is done without any previous experience.    Whether right or wrong and whether we like or not we have a tendency to follow the instinct.

The new born goslings follow the mother wherever she moves.  This is the natural instinct of goslings.
The instinctive behaviour sometimes is also weird and hard to explain.  For instance see this extraordinary video of how the group of bulls are running behind a remote control car:


We are all born with certain inner instinct.  Have you ever tried to bring out those instincts?

In sports, we often hear this phrase "killer instinct", which is used when the aggression required to take control of the game is not found in the player.

We need to create space for ourselves and find the time and concentration to bring out the innate capabilities and innovative thinking which is deep inside our mind.  In the modern world where we are controlled and consumed by digital devices and gadgets, the human mind is diverted and distracted very often.  It is upto us to find the time and move away from the gadgets to think.

I remember a caption that was on the T shirt of a dear friend of mine "When I knew all the answers they went and changed the questions".  You can still find the answers for the changed questions if you have the ability to think and use your natural instincts.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
22nd May 2014

BRAND VALUE

 

Interbrand has been publishing the report on Best Global Brands since 2000.  As per this list Coco-Cola has been the No.1 brand for several year until it got toppled to No.3 position in 2013.  Coco-Cola has held the top spot for nearly 13 years.  The brand value of Coco-Cola has increased by 2% over the last year but that was not good enough for it to retain the No.1 position. 







The No.1 brand as per the Interbrand report for 2013 is Apple with a brand value of $98.3 billion.  Apple was at No.2 position in 2012 and has climbed to the No.1 position in 2013.  The value of Apple has increased by 28% in just one year.  This is a company which is fast changing the lives of several million people across the globe.  People who do not know how to use a Calculator or any other digital device are very comfortable using the apple products like iPAD.

The second place has gone to Google with a valuation of $93.2 billion.  Incidentally, Google was in the fourth position last year but has now moved to second place and is quite close to Apple.

Out of the top ten brands in 2013, we find six of them being technology companies, viz., Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Samsung and Intel.  Though IBM is also a technology company it is considered as a Business Services company.  Apple, Google and Samsung have together brought about substantial change in our lives and are collectively responsible for the change in behaviour of mankind.  While the technology companies listed above have done very for themselves there are also some companies which have completely disappeared from the list, like Blackberry and Nokia.


In the top 20 brands we also find some other technology companies like Cisco, HP, Oracle and Amazon.

The top 20 list is as follows:

1. Apple - $98.3b
2. Google - $93.2b
3. Coco Cola - $79.2b
4. IBM - $78.8b
5. Microsoft - $59.5b
6. GE - $46.9b
7. McDonald's - $41.9b
8. Samsung - $39.6b
9. Intel - $37.2b
10. Toyota - $35.3b
11. Mercedes Benz - $31.9b
12. BMW - $31.8b
13. Cisco - $29b
14. Disney - $28.1b
15. HP - $25.8b
16. Gillette - $25.1b
17. Louis Vutton - $24.8b
18. Oracle - $24b
19. Amazon - $23.6b
20. Honda - $18.4b

The gap between the No.2 and No.3 is quite wide and same is the case between No.4 and No.5.  From the list it is quite clear that the Technology Companies have been ruling well over the last few years and will continue to do so for atleast another 5 years.  While the Technology makes its leaps and jumps ahead let us hope that the technology helps the core industries to have sustained growth.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
26th April 2014

LEAD WITHOUT A TITLE

Thanks to my client Manoj Narayanan of Seven Ocean Logistics, Dubai, I had the privilege of attending the Robin Sharma talk in Chennai on 2nd March 2014 on "Lead without a title".  It was a fantastic speech filled with lot of punch lines and useful tips.  It was a power packed and every effective speech.

I have listed below the 100 sentences that I picked up in the speech which I feel is useful for all:

1.     Leadership is all about how superbly you perform when no one is watching
2.     Only two things matter at the end – who you became and how many people you helped
3.     The most important job of a leader is to grow more leaders
4.     Leadership is all about growing more leaders
5.     Your competitive advantage is growing leaders at all levels faster
6.     Leadership is all about three things: Inspiration, Influence and Impact
7.     True leadership begins with self leadership
8.     Vague vision leads to vague behaviour
9.      A job is only a job if you see it as a job.
10.     You always rise or fall to the level of your conversation
11.     To lead is to serve; to contribute; to add value and to make a difference
12.     To lead you need to be MAD (Make A Difference)
13.      No idea is going to work if you are not doing the work
14.     Bring hope to the hopeless
15.     Follow the 90:90: 1 principle to succeed.  90 minutes of focused attention for 90 days on a singular objective.
16.      The essence of genius is simplicity
17.      An addiction to distraction is the death of a creative mind
18.     Brain’s focus should be on “Alpha State”
19.      Dream Big, Start Small and Act Now.
20.      Leadership is a mindset
21.     Your mindset is decided by triggers and cues
22.     Focus on opportunities rather than focus on problems
23.      Daily small seemingly insignificant little contributions leads to stunning results
24.     Every organisation needs a Leader who is the CIO of the Company – Chief Inspirational Officer
25.     Steve Jobs asked his design team to sign the circuit board.  His father told him “Son paint the inside of the fence as we will see it”.
26.      When you go to the edge of your limits, your limits expand.
27.      Go to where your fear lives, that is where your power lies
28.      When you lean into your fear, you commit to the mountain
29.      Seduction of safety is more dangerous than the perception of uncertainty
30.      Are you passionate about what you are doing or are you exhausted
31.      Ideation without execution is no more than delusion
32.     Are you part of the 95% of the society who lead a mechanical, repetitive life or the 5% who are always busy learning new skills
33.     5 per centers do things so different to stay in the 5%
34.     Ordinary people make excuses and extraordinary people make a difference
35.      Get up at 5 a.m. every day if you want to be a leader
36.      Genius is 10% talent and 90% discipline
37.      Genius is earned and not gifted to us
38.      Aim for Genius and exude passion in whatever you do
39.     Grit is all about Practice, Persistence and Focus
40.      Failure is the price genius pays for greatness
41.      You need to follow the “10 year rule” to become an expert
42.      A person who sweats more in practice will bleed less in a war.
43.      Invest in coaching and training
44.      Failure is greatness waiting to happen
45.      Have one conversation at a time and focus on one thing at a time.
46.      Business is a conversation.  If you lose a conversation you lose your business
47.     Your job is your craft and your life is your art.  Be Yourself.
48.      Less Ego will lead to more leadership and more mastery
49.      Leave the club of mediocrity and join the cult of mastery
50.     Do the best; none is perfect; be proud of your work; do not worry about title; do not retire; enjoy what you do
51.       Avoid the arrogance of success.  Do not rest on your laurels
52.      The humblest is the greatest
53.      Customer has a choice but a fan doesn’t.  Build a fan and create a fan not a customer
54.      Give ten times value to your customer so that they turn into your fan
55.      At every touch point of user experience give ten times value
56.      Better awareness leads to smarter choices and hence better results
57.      There has to be a mighty “WHY” to guide your life
58.      A potential that is unexpressed will turn into pain
59.      Every visionary was first ridiculed
60.     Clarity is Power
61.     No one will ever forget how you made them feel
62.      “Change” is hard at first; messy in the middle but beautiful at the end
63.     You can develop your brain and increase brain power – proved by the London Taxi Drivers
64.      Do different things – e.g. read a difficult book
65.      After 90 minutes of intense work take a 10 minute rest
66.      Every week for one day do not engage in any work
67.      Get grateful, this day comes only once in your life
68.      Don’t be successful but alone
69.     To double your earning, triple your learning
70.      Practice the art of “no excuses and no complaints”
71.      Risk more than is required
72.      Learn more than is normal
73.      Speak your truth
74.      Live your values
75.      Constantly aim for genius but stay humble
76.      Be kinder than expected
77.      Deliver more than is needed
78.      Shatter your limits
79.      Transcend your fears
80.      Inspire others by your bigness
81.      Less ego more humility
82.     Be on time
83.      Keep your promises
84.      Listen and be present
85.      Look people in their eyes and use their name
86.     The fastest way to change yourself is to hangout with people who are already the way you   want to be
87.     The goal isn’t to live forever.  The goal is to create something that will
88.      Transform your fitness to transform your career
89.      Victims love entertainment, leaders love education
90.      Real wealth is peak health
91.      Life’s short.  Be of use
92.      Adore mastery
93.      Remember that words have power
94.      Be strong
95.      Build a beautiful lifestyle
96.      Smile
97.      Say “Please” and “Thank you”
98.      Be likeable
99.      Change the world around you
100.      Lead without a title

     All the best.

     Regards,

     T.P.Anand

     Dubai, U.A.E.

     31st March 2014

SHOLAY 3D

I saw Sholay in 3D and it was a mesmerizing 3 hours 25 minutes of non-stop entertainment.  The film is so fresh and the story line and the screenplay is so intriguing.  Though I have seen the film several times in the past it was still very entertaining and enjoyable.

The characterisation and the depiction of these characters by the legendary actors and actresses is so good. The line up of artistes in this film is very impressive:

1. Sanjeev Kumar as the tough police officer - Thakur Saab
2. Dharmendra as the enthusiastic Veeru
3. Amitabh Bachan as the quiet and composed Jay
4. Jaya Bachan as the quiet Bhahu Raani of Sanjeev Kumar
5. Hemamalini as the talkative Basanthi
6. Amjad Khan as Gabbar Singh
7. Satyan Kapoor as the loyal servant of Sanjiv Kumar
8. A.K.Hangal as the Muslim Priest
9. Jagdeep as the Timber Merchant - Soorma Bhopali
10. Asrani as the Jailer Saab
11. Kestoo Mukherjee as the informer
12. Ifthikar as the father of Jaya Bhaduri

Each has a very clearly defined role and every single character stands out and stays in memory.  I would reckon this as one of the best made films in Indian Cinema and should get rated as one of the best films ever made.

In such a short role Asrani provides so much of laughter with his walk, dialogue and style.

How can we forget Soorma Bhopali character:

Sanjeev Kumar has done a fabulous job in the role of Thakur and he has always been a very good actor. Amjad Khan made a dream debut with his role as Ghabbar Singh:

While the actors like Sanjeev Kumar, Hemamalini, Amjad Khan and Asrani stood out as unforgettable performances, we also had a treat of so many good songs by legendary Music Director R.D.Burman.

Yeh Dosthi ham nahi chodenge - song on friendship which is so popular over the last four decades.

Mehbooba Mehbooba (helen's dance)

Koyi Hasina Jab (one of the best fast songs)

Aa Jab Thak he jaan (superb dance by Hemamalini)

The song sequences are captured very well and the music is so fresh even now.  Sholay will remain a hot favourite film for several years to come.  It is a perfectly blended masala film which will remain a hit for ever.

T.P.Anand

Chennai, India

3rd March 2014