For those who want to follow well-worn paths, familiarity with what has been done before is important. This is the path of tradition, which to a great extent means a path of imitation. To follow this path, one needs knowledge, but doesn’t particularly need inspiration or energy. For success in any tradition, one needs the necessary education taught by people competent to instruct others in the basic “rules of the game.”
I remember the organist at the church where my mother’s funeral was held. The purpose of the ceremony was to comfort the bereaved and to send blessings to the departed. The organist’s job was simply to play a piece of music for the event. What I asked her to play was a composition of my own. She was graceless enough to tell me that she wouldn’t play it because, as she pointed out firmly, “This melody doesn’t end on the tonic note.” In fact she was right according to the “rules of the game.” Had she played the piece first, however, and listened with her heart, she would have seen that, in this case, she was wrong. (more…)
Brian Kernighan (pronounced ker-ni-han), Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University, co-authored The C Programming Language, which has sold millions of copies and has been translated into 27 languages.
C is one of the most popular computer programming languages, and it has influenced nearly all languages in use today, including C++, C#, Java, Javascript, Perl, PHP, and Python.
Before becoming a full-time professor at Princeton, you had a long and brilliant career at AT&T Bell Labs. But let’s go back further. Can you tell us about your childhood and early interests?
Professor Brian Kernighan
I was born in Canada and grew up in and around Toronto. My father was a chemical engineer, which gave me a bit of exposure to some kinds of science and engineering. I went to the University of Toronto in a program called “Engineering Physics”, which was meant for students who were pretty good in math and science but didn’t have any idea what they wanted to do. It was extremely tough because there was a heavy workload and a lot of material — academically, I don’t think I have ever worked as hard since. But it was a very good foundation for all kinds of later studies, and of course the experience of just working hard full time was good (though painful at the time). I didn’t really encounter computers until I was nearly done with my undergrad education, but when I did first start to play with computers, I found them great fun, and of course still do. (more…)
Money is something I myself have never sought for personal gain. Yet I have certainly had to earn it for the benefit of others. The spiritual communities I founded could not have come into being without money, and it was I myself who, in the early years, had to earn almost all of it. There were times, in fact, when my financial needs must have been as pressing as any family man faces whose interests are focused entirely on his personal needs. Indeed, mine may have been heavier, for hundreds of people came, in time, to depend for their material security on my activities, and thousands more for their spiritual well-being. The pressures on me to “perform” were sometimes, to my sighs of regret, intense. (more…)
There is an expression in America today: “the bottom line.” I don’t know if this expression is used in England or in other countries where, as in India, English is widely spoken. Usually the expression refers to monetary profit. By extension, it also indicates something of fundamental importance to an undertaking. Because profit is so often people’s concern, unless they make it clear that they mean something different it is generally understood that they are talking about money.
Let me clarify what I mean, then, in naming this lesson as I have. For this course of lessons serves a dual purpose, and may be said, in this sense, to have two “bottom lines.” First, it accepts the common equation of material success with monetary profit. It also attempts to show, however, that monetary profit, without corresponding inner satisfaction, is a hollow victory. As the Bible puts it, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?” (more…)
Thank you, Dharmaraj. It’s nice to be on the other side of the interview table, for a change!
How did the idea of the book come to you?
I have been an entrepreneur and have been fascinated by entrepreneurship. I have covered entrepreneurship extensively in my writing over the years. IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A) approached me and said, “We have this idea for a book, and what do you think?” I said, “I think it’s a great idea and I think I should do it.” I just knew that I had to do this book. It was also an opportunity to meet people and just understand what this whole journey is all about. (more…)
It takes courage to find your own path in life and to follow it. You may dream of starting your own business, but how to begin? If you’re looking for encouragement towards entrepreneurship, read Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish: The inspiring stories of 25 IIM Ahmedabad graduates who chose to tread a path of their own making.
This book, written by Rashmi Bansal and published by Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad CIIE (Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entreprneurship), tells the real stories of how 25 people each started with an idea and built it into a highly successful organization. The book itself has been highly successful, selling over 100,000 copies in 9 months. (more…)
An interview with Lloyd Mathias, Chief Marketing Officer of Tata Teleservices
Can tell us about the journey from school and your previous positions?
I grew up in Bombay but lived the bulk of my life outside of Bombay, largely in Delhi and Gurgaon, with a couple of stints outside the country. I did my business school from Bombay and then got working. I spent most of my work life in the fast moving consumer goods business. I used to work with PepsiCo in the beverage business. That was interesting and exciting because it was around the time that Pepsi re-entered India, and it was the first of the global companies coming back into the country. When I joined the company it was under 30 people. Today it has more than 5,000. (more…)
At a recent meeting, the CEO of a financial services company shared with me a conversation he had with one of his leadership team members. They were discussing ways to keep the staff motivated.
The CEO had said, “It’s important to be cheerful. I do my best to be cheerful every day. I may not always smile—if I am lost in thought, for example—but I am usually cheerful.”
“Boss,” said the other, “it’s always better when you smile.”
Whether we are bosses or not, we may not always be aware of the signals we are sending at the office. The rest of the team may be scrutinizing us, analyzing and interpreting our mannerisms, which, on our part, may be unconscious. (more…)
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