Empathy works.

At noon, under scorching sun and sweat dripping, I entered the salon.
"Sorry, I am closing, going for lunch."

I said " Sure, it's damn hot, you should get a break and have lunch. I can wait till you come."
He stared at me in a surprised expression.
"What?" I asked.
"You are different. You said you can wait. I never heard it before from a customer. That's why I have gastric now. Anyways I'll be right back soon."

He was back in 20 minutes. There were 3 more customers behind me. 
He said to me " I usually close the saloon for 45 minutes for lunch. Today I did not close and have more customers. Thanks !"
I could feel he was energized. He took lesser time with my hair, than a typical day.

Empathy (the ability to understand and share the feelings of another) works. Both ways. Initiation matters a lot.

Say "Good Morning 2012!"

A hour early. That's it.

A perfect new year resolution one can ever make.  If you normally wake up at 6, make a habit to wake up at 5. Many, including me, are skeptic at first. We all know waking early is good. Many brilliant thinkers & leaders did that. Their bios tell the success of waking up early.

Yet we are not quite sure, until we wake up early. Then the question is 'what to do?'
There are many things, but the best tactic I found successful is starting with exercise. Do it for 10 minutes. Continue daily. That's the key. Daily.

If you are planning doing it or already doing, tell me your results :)

Related Article: Getting to work early morning - An example

Entreprenuership Lessons From A 12 Year Old Kid

A woman selling mangoes at Maho train station, pictured from moving train

Ram Charan says great entrepreneurs can be seen from street corners to board rooms. Yet it's a rare breed.

I agree with him. This story is another proof.

A 12 year old girl, from Anuradhapura came with a bucket full of mangoes. I asked “how much?” and was about to do the transaction. Another vendor (a mid aged male), from behind, started scolding her. All eyes in the train compartment turned towards the kid. I asked “why?” She quickly gave me mangoes, took money and turned back. Muditha also asked “why?”

“We are not supposed to be in this compartment.”

She went, and I got the point. First class compartment is out of bounds for vendors. A supervisor is always on guard to check intruders from taking vacant seats, theft etc. I watched her go past the scolding vendor, who feared wrath of the supervisor. Loud scolding and everyone looking at her - it was too much drama for a 12 year old kid.

I expected her to cry, to turn red, to yell out an explanation, to complain and run away.

Instead she calmly walked passed the vendor - her eyes fixed on the floor, maintaining her balance in the speeding train. She started selling in the next compartment as if nothing ever happened.

“Very good mangoes for just Rs. 50” Muditha said to me.The passenger behind me started moving out of first class to third class to buy mangoes from the kid. Few more moved out.

Then I saw a climax scene out of a movie - the supervisor welcoming the kid and directing her to first class. Almost everyone bought. Muditha also bought some more. Muditha gave her a bracelet as a gift. She folded it in her pocket, smiled back, and swiftly moved to her next customer.

Lessons I learnt from her...

How not to loose emotional balance, facing blame and appreciation.

How to focus on customers in turbulent times.

How to be patient, taking care of all the stakeholders, yet achieving the prime goal of sales.

How to communicate crisply, only the message that needed to be told.

Dr.Ari at 80 - Make a wish !

This is where it all started...Kanatholuwa, in 1958.

I heard of him in my school days at Mahinda. I heard him as a great social worker. At that time 'Sarvodaya' did not ring any bells in me.

After university I worked in many places - then I quit. I thought I will not work any more in an organization. Then I landed in Sarvodaya - by accident. People told me many negative stories. They asked me not to go there. I reflected - I wanted to do something new, I decided to be awakened.

I saw something amazing inside Sarvodaya. Something that you can experience wholeheartedly. I cannot put that in to words. It is a direct experience, that changed my life.

We all call Dr.Ari affectionately as "Loku Sir". I meet him always, when I am in trouble.

I learnt from him...
How to take my own initiative, and make my own goal
How to be humble in achieving my goal
How to see the big picture
How to be patient when everything crumbles around you
How to be a proactive listener
How to empower my self, before empowering anybody...

Happy Brithday Loku Sir ! I wish you all the very best and good health, to bring sanity in these troubled times. 

Fusion created a web space to collect thoughts from all around the world.
In creating this space, and looking at these comments now flowing through, I realized the far reaching effect of his global foot print.

Please leave your wish here > http://fusion.lk/wishdrari/

It takes only 2 minutes. I promise, it is very user friendly.

India, Get Your Business Online !

Google has started giving free websites to Indian small and medium enterprises.

Context: 

India is the world’s 2nd biggest mobile phone market with about 870 million. Internet penetration is about 100 million, or less than a tenth of a country of 1.2 billion, still making it the world’s 3rd-biggest Internet user market. 8 million small and medium businesses, of which about 400,000 have a website and 100,000 have active online presence.

What the Indian enterprise gets...

• Free, easy-to-build, professional website
• Free .in domain name and hosting for one year
• Free email addresses
• Free 365 days support

To register, the enterprise need...

an identification document, either a permanent account number, or a tax deduction account number or a corporate identification number. 

After the first year, the enterprise would have to pay a nominal charge if they wish to renew their domain name.

I think this is a neat initiative. Of course Google would have a business plan behind, ranging for years to come. They do have the investment muscle, so why not? Opening internet up for small and medium enterprises is a clever move. Wish we also had this for Sri Lankan enterprises.

Cancer: Steve Jobs and my neighborhood

Steve Jobs succumbed to cancer. He was one of the richest in the world. He left his empire, and loved ones - money could not make him live another day.

A 2 year old kid and a 50 year old lady in my neighborhood are diagnosed with cancer.
They are on treatment. I wish them good health.
While everyone in a state of shock, it reminds me, life is short - really short.

When you meet someone with cancer, do not try to share the pain. He’s already in pain. He does not need you also in pain. He needs to release his pain.

You can try to make him smile.

I remember the days, I used to visit my mother’s sister, who had just been amputated by diabetes. I meet her with all smiles and make her laugh. I did the same for other patients in the ward. Doctors did not like me first, but I made them laugh too.! Few days later, patients would share their funny stories with me. They were waiting for me to come - not for food - but for laughs.

As I said, life is short. It is the truth. You and I may never know - whether we may get cancer, or (I wish) not. But don’t live like you are bullet proof. Live each day as if it is your last.

Androids for village development

Kids at Maharatenna in Kandy, using an app in Google Nexus One phone

In January 2011, when Fusion was discussing with Tag ID, on our ambitious venture in to
"Smart Village" (using smart phones for village development in Sri Lanka), price of smart phones was a barrier at top of the list. Now in October, the project is moving forward with some refreshing learning's.

Read Tag ID post.

Read Fusion Blog.

Thanks to Android OS popularity, things have changed dramatically. Now android phones can be bought at Rs. 13,300 (roughly $ 120) in Sri Lanka. Amitha has done a good survey of models and prices below Rs. 35,000, in his blog post. Read Amitha's post.

Are you a android user? How do you think Androids can help meet challenges in rural Sri Lanka?

An inconvenient truth

I blog about building communities, because I enjoy it.
Your office is a community. Your family, relatives, and your neighborhood too.


We all like to contribute to our communities. Problem is - some may don't like what you do. Then you think they are either jealous or stupid, may be both. You harbor bad feelings. You crave for appreciation, but what you get is criticism and worse, sarcastic remarks. What can you do?


1. Ask Questions
Very simple. Yet you forget to ask important questions at a crucial point cos you forget, because you are busy- and have no time to think. Later you fire fight a lot because you did not ask a question.
"Who has time to ask all those questions?"
I hope you may not ask that question.


2. Then listen
This is the hardest part. You just listen. No questions, no emotions. Just listen. Take down few notes.


3. Think fresh
Go to a quite place, alone. Go through the notes. Make a new plan.

Let's focus !

We live in the age of distraction. Internet is a necessary evil. It makes us efficient. 

Bad news is - it can make us efficient in doing wrong things. 

That's when we have to gauge the effectiveness of work we do.

Steve Jobs : A celebration of Life

Brief Bio:

Abandoned by his own parents, given up for adoption by foster parents, Jobs dropped out of school to follow his instincts. At age 21, he founded a powerful computer company called "Apple" in 1976 - eventually to be thrown out by his own board in 1985.

Shattered, he goes on to make another tech company called " NeXT" and a breakthrough animation company called " Pixar ". Fate has it, NeXT was taken over by Apple and Jobs returns as CEO of Apple in 1997. He stepped down as CEO in August 2011- in the way, making Apple the best tech company in the world, overall, ranking only behind Exxon, the oil giant.