Kentucky Fried Chicken

When Colonel Harland Sanders retired at the age of sixty-five, he had little to show for himself, except an old Caddie roadster, a hundred and five dollars monthly pension check and a recipe for chicken.

Knowing he couldn't live on his pension, he took his chicken recipe in hand, got behind the wheel of his van and set out to make his fortune. His first plan was to sell his chicken recipe to restaurant owners, who would in turn give him a residual for every piece of chicken they sold - five cents per chicken. The first restaurateur he called on turned him down.

So did the second.

So did the third.

In fact, the first one thousand and eight sales calls Colonel Sanders made ended in rejection. Still, he continued to call on owners as he travelled across the U.S.A., sleeping in his car to save money. Prospect number one thousand and nine gave him his first "yes."

After two years of making daily sales, he had signed up a total of five restaurants. Still the Colonel pressed on, knowing that he had a great chicken recipe and that someday the idea would catch on.

Naturally, you know how the story ends. The idea Did catch on. By 1963, the Colonel had six hundred restaurants across the country selling his secret recipe of Kentucky Fried Chicken (with eleven herbs and spices).

In 1964, he was bought out by the future Kentucky governor, John Brown. Even though the sale made him a multi-millionaire, he continued to represent and promote Kentucky Fried Chicken until his death in 1990.

Colonel Sanders' story teaches an important lesson - it’s never too late to decide to never give up.

Earlier in his life, the Colonel was involved in other business ventures but they weren't successful. He had a gas station in the thirties, a restaurant in the forties and he gave up on both of them. However, at the age of sixty-five, Harland Sanders decided his chicken idea was the right idea and he refused to give up, even in spite of repeated rejection.

He knew that if he kept on knocking on doors, eventually someone would say "yes." It's never too late to become persistent. It's never too late to decide to never give up. Keep on knocking. Keep on asking. Keep on seeking.

Make a Difference

A man was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along he began to see another man in the distance.

As he grew nearer he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up, and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean.

As our friend approached even closer he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had washed up onto the beach, and one at a time, he was throwing them back into the ocean.

The first man was puzzled. He approached the man and said, "Good Evening Friend, I was wondering what are you doing?" And he replied, "I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right now and all these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they will die from the lack of oxygen."

"I understand," my friend replied "but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach and you couldn't possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many and don't you realize that this is happening on hundreds of beaches up and down this coast ... can't you see that that you can't possibly make a difference?

The local native smiled, bent down, picked up yet another starfish ... and as he threw it back out into the sea, he replied, "It made a difference to that one!"

You may feel like you cannot make a difference in the world today, but you CAN make a difference in one life at a time.

Excellence......... Nice One.... go ahead

A Gentleman once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby.

Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage."

The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked."There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work.

"Where are you going to install the idol?" The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked.

The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I know it and God knows it!"

This story stirred me from within and I had to share it with you all!

It’s so true that the desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not.

"Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excel at a task today - not necessarily for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction.

I would love to know your comments as well...

CORPORATE LESSON # 5

Once PVNR (PV Narasimha Rao), L.K.Advani and Laloo Prasad Yadav were travelling in a vehicle. They met with an accident and all 3 died.

Yama Raja was waiting for this moment at the doorstep of Deathgate. He asks PVNR and Advani to go to HEAVEN. But, for Laloo, Yama had already decided that he should be sent to HELL.

Laloo is not at all happy with this decision. He asks Yama as to why this discrimination is being made. All the three of them had served the public. Similarly, all took bribes, all misused public positions etc.

Then why the differential treatment?

He felt that there should be a formal test or an objective evaluation before a decision is made; and should not be just based on opinion or pre-conceived notions.

Yama agrees to this and asks all the three of them to appear for an

English test…

PVNR is asked to spell "INDIA" and he does it correctly.

Advani is asked to spell "ENGLAND" and he too passes.

It is Laloo's turn and he is asked to spell "CZECHOSLOVAKIA". Laloo protests that he doesn't know English. He says this is not fair and that he was given a tough question and thus forced to fail with false intent.

Yama then agrees to conduct a written test in Hindi (to give another chance assuming that Laloo should at least feel that Hindi would provide an equal platform for all three).

PVNR is asked to write "KUTTA BOLA BHOW BHOW". He writes it easily and passes.

Advani is asked to write "BILLY BOLI MYAUN MYAUN". He too passes.

Laloo is asked to write "BANDAR BOLA GURRRRRR....."

Tough one. He fails again. Laloo accepts defeat and agrees to go to HELL.

Moral of the story:

IF YOUR MANAGEMENT HAS DECIDED TO SCREW YOU, THERE IS NO ESCAPE

The 90/10 Principle of life

The 90/10 Principle will definitely change you life, and make it more enjoyable and stress free. Before going any further let us understand the Principle. We often believe that whatever is happening with and around us is ought to happen and it is our fate. But, this is not true, only 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. The rest 90% of life depends on how you react on a particular situation. This means that we really have no control on only 10% of things happening around us. We just cannot stop a car from breaking down; we cannot stop a train from arriving late just because we have an urgent meeting to attend. No, we just do have control over them. But we can certainly determine the other 90% by your reaction.

Let us try to understand it with an example. You are ready for your office and are having breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over the cup of coffee on to your shirt. You have no control over what happened. But now the consequences will be determined by your reactions. You scold your daughter and she breaks down in tears. Now, you turn to your spouse and blame her for placing the cup on the edge of the table. A verbal battle follows between both of you. You then storm into your room and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter too busy crying to finish her breakfast and get ready for school. She misses her school bus. You now rush to the car and drive your daughter to school, overlooking the speed limit.

After throwing a traffic fine, you arrive 10 minutes late to the school. Your daughter runs into the school without telling you goodbye. You arrive at office 20 minutes late and find you forgot the briefcase. You had a terrible start and it continues through out the day in office. When you arrive home, you find that your wife and daughter are not talking to you.

Now the question is why it happened? Why did you have a bad day? Did the coffee cause it or did your daughter cause it? The answer is ‘You’ caused it. You had no control with what happened with the coffee but you certainly had control on those 5 seconds that caused the bad day. It’s the reaction of those 5 seconds that matters.

Here is what could have happened if you had reacted in a different way. Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say “Its ok honey, you just need to be more careful next time". You go to your room, change your shirt and garb your briefcase. While coming down you see through the window your daughter getting into the bus. She turns and waves you back. You reach the office on time and greet everybody cheerfully. Your boss is also happy with your day’s work. Back home you see you wife and daughter eagerly waiting for you. You spend the rest of evening enjoying with family.

Now did you see the difference? Both the situations had same start but different ends, just because of your reactions. Proper reaction certainly makes a lot of difference.

The example would have given you a better understanding of the 90/10 Principle. It’s only your reactions that spoils or make a thing and 90% of your life is in your hand.

Let us all try this Principle in our life and see how it really changes our life and make it more joyful.

CORPORATE LESSON # 4

A young executive was leaving the office at 6 PM when he found the CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Listen," said the CEO, "this is a very sensitive and important document and my secretary has left. Can you make this thing work?"

"Certainly, Sir" said the young executive. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button.

"Excellent, excellent!" said the CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine."I just need one copy."


MORAL OF THE STORY:
Never, never assume that your BOSS knows everything

CORPORATE LESSON # 3

A sales rep, an administration clerk and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out in a puff of smoke. The Genie says, "I usually only grant three wishes, so I'll give each of you just one." "Me first! Me first!" says the admin clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world." Poof! She's gone. In astonishment, "Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an Endless supply of pina coladas and the love of my life." Poof! He's gone. "OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Always let your boss have the first say.

CORPORATE LESSON # 2

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. After a few seconds of arguing over which one should go and answer the doorbell, the wife gives up, quickly wraps herself up in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel that you have on" After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her 800 dollars and leaves. Confused, but excited about her good fortune, the woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets back to the bathroom, her husband asks from the shower, "Who was that?" "It was Bob the next door neighbor," she replies. "Great!" the husband says, "Did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?"

MORAL OF THE STORY :

If you share critical information pertaining to credit and exposure on time with your stakeholders, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure!

CORPORATE LESSON # 1

There were these 4 guys, a Russian, a German, an American and a French, who found this small genie bottle. When they rubbed the bottle, a genie appears. Thankful that the 4 guys had released him out of the bottle, he said, "Next to you all are 4 swimming pools, I will give each of you a wish. When you run towards the pool and jump, you shout What you want the pool of water to become, then your wish will come true."

The French wanted to start. He ran towards the pool, jumped and shouted WINE". The pool immediately changed into a pool of wine. The Frenchman was so happy swimming and drinking from the pool.

Next is the Russian's turn, he did the same and shouted, "VODKA" and immersed himself into a pool of vodka.

The German was next and he jumped and shouted, "BEER". He was so contented with his beer pool.

The last is the American. He was running towards the pool when suddenly he steps on a banana peel. He slipped towards the pool and shouted, "SH** !!!!!!!........."

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Mind your language, you never Know what it will land you in.

The World's Billionaires

After 13 years on top, Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. That honor now belongs to his friend and sometimes bridge partner Warren Buffett. Riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, Buffett has seen his fortune swell to an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago. Gates is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third richest in the world. He is up $2 billion from a year ago, but would have been as rich--or richer--than Buffett, had Microsoft not made an unsolicited bid for Yahoo! at the beginning of February. Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú now ranks as the world's second richest person with a net worth of $60 billion

Warren Buffett
Carlos Slim Helu
William Gates III
Lakshmi Mittal
Mukesh Ambani
Anil Ambani
Ingvar Kamprad
KP Singh
Oleg Deripaska
Karl Albrecht
Li Ka-shing
Sheldon Adelson
Bernard Arnault
Lawrence Ellison
Roman Abramovich
Theo Albrecht
Liliane Bettencourt
Alexei Mordashov
Prince Alwaleed
Mikhail Fridman