A few days back I stumbled on a twitter account thebookshelter and found that two young ladies in the Emirates have literally started and orphanage for BOOKS!! There are so many good things you could do one might wonder and better buy a new one rather then hording old stuff and also spending on the maintenance of the so called Book Shelter. Apart from that, since the flow of eBooks have begun people have just begun to forget the touch, feel and scent of paper. These are the first few thoughts that same up my mind.

Being a book lover with so many sitting on my bookshelf, personally I would not even think of parting with my books with any one. I love them. Just looking at the shelves filled with them makes me feel my hunger for learning. I took a breath and emailed thebookshelter.ae that I would like to donate. They replied promptly and had the few books that were ready with me, picked-up.

I started surfing their website and found a book that I had been wanting to have a glimpse at since some time but had not dared buy it for the simple reason that time would not permit to go through it.

People who love the written word would not part for it even though the digital world grows faster and feel of paper, its wonderful smell that one breathes in being engrossed in the book opens the doors of imagination, creativity and knowledge. Homes are growing smaller, and the price that once pays per square feet nowadays its much larger for someone to actually fall in love with having a library at home but then I would not dare speak the same having more then 150 books lying on my bookshelf and having known people who have collected newspapers and weeklys over years. The lust and hunger for knowledge in these people cannot be explain in words, for the written word would fall short of it.

For those who would like to know more about the work done by the two Emarati ladies or even have a book for yourself visit http://thebookshelter.ae

Hoping to write more blog posts then the past in 2012.

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The global economy is in a state of acute disruption. Competition has never been more fierce. Consumers have never been so well-informed and loudly demanding. And what worked yesterday just might be obsolete today.

But this time is also a great time, for the astonishing few who are ready to show leadership. Leaders are at their absolute best during messy cycles versus during the easy ones. And messy cycles bring with them gorgeous opportunities.

As I sit quietly on this airplane at 40,000 feet, away from the rallying cries of a wired world filled with endless interruptions, I’ve distilled what I’ve been sharing in my presentations to clients across the planet over the past months, from Kuwait and Dubai to Paris, London and Dusseldorf.

Here are 50 powerful rules to amp up your game so this business cycle is one of your best business cycles yet.

The 50 New Rules of Work

1. You are not just paid to work. You are paid to be uncomfortable – and to pursue projects that scare you.
2. Take care of your relationships and the money will take care of itself.
3. Lead you first. You can’t help others reach for their highest potential until you’re in the process of reaching for yours.
4. To double your income, triple your rate of learning.
5. While victims condemn change, leaders grow inspired by change.
6. Small daily improvements over time create stunning results.
7. Surround yourself with people courageous enough to speak truthfully about what’s best for your organization and the customers you serve.
8. Don’t fall in love with your press releases.
9. Every moment in front of a customer is a moment of truth (to either show you live by the values you profess – or you don’t).
10. Copying what your competition is doing just leads to being second best.
11. Become obsessed with the user experience such that every touchpoint of doing business with you leaves people speechless. No, breathless.
12. If you’re in business, you’re in show business. The moment you get to work, you’re on stage. Give us the performance of your life.
13. Be a Master of Your Craft. And practice + practice + practice.
14. Get fit like Madonna.
15. Read magazines you don’t usually read. Talk to people who you don’t usually speak to. Go to places you don’t commonly visit. Disrupt your thinking so it stays fresh + hungry + brilliant.
16. Remember that what makes a great business – in part – are the seemingly insignificant details. Obsess over them.
17. Good enough just isn’t good enough.
18. Brilliant things happen when you go the extra mile for every single customer.
19. An addiction to distraction is the death of creative production. Enough said.
20. If you’re not failing regularly, you’re definitely not making much progress.
21. Lift your teammates up versus tear your teammates down. Anyone can be a critic. What takes guts is to see the best in people.
22. Remember that a critic is a dreamer gone scared.
23. Leadership’s no longer about position. Now, it’s about passion. And having an impact through the genius-level work that you do.
24. The bigger the dream, the more important the team.
25. If you’re not thinking for yourself, you’re following – not leading.
26. Work hard. But build an exceptional family life. What’s the point of reaching the mountaintop but getting there alone.
27. The job of the leader is to develop more leaders.
28. The antidote to deep change is daily learning. Investing in your professional and personal development is the smartest investment you can make. Period.
29. Smile. It makes a difference.
30. Say “please” and “thank you”. It makes a difference.
31. Shift from doing mindless toil to doing valuable work.
32. Remember that a job is only just a job if all you see it as is a job.
33. Don’t do your best work for the applause it generates but for the personal pride it delivers.
34. The only standard worth reaching for is BIW (Best in World).
35. In the new world of business, everyone works in Human Resources.
36. In the new world of business, everyone’s part of the leadership team.
37. Words can inspire. And words can destroy. Choose yours well.
38. You become your excuses.
39. You’ll get your game-changing ideas away from the office versus in the middle of work. Make time for solitude. Creativity needs the space to present itself.
40. The people who gossip about others when they are not around are the people who will gossip about you when you’re not around.
41. It could take you 30 years to build a great reputation and 30 seconds of bad judgment to lose it.
42. The client is always watching.
43. The way you do one thing defines the way you’ll do everything. Every act matters.
44. To be radically optimistic isn’t soft. It’s hard. Crankiness is easy.
45. People want to be inspired to pursue a vision. It’s your job to give it to them.
46. Every visionary was initially called crazy.
47. The purpose of work is to help people. The other rewards are inevitable by-products of this singular focus.
48. Remember that the things that get scheduled are the things that get done.
49. Keep promises and be impeccable with your word. People buy more than just your products and services. They invest in your credibility.
50. Lead Without a Title.

I encourage you to share + discuss + debate these with your team and throughout your organization. Within a quick period of time, you’ll see some fantastic results.

Note: Robin Sharma is the author of the #1 international bestseller “The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life,” a book that is causing transformation in many of the best businesses in the world.

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A greater ‘hole in the wall’ you cannot imagine. A small fading sign on the top saying “Cellphoon reapars” barely visible through the street vendors crowding the Juhu Market in Mumbai. On my way to buy a new Blackberry, my innate sense of adventure made me stop my car and investigate. A shop not more than 6 feet by 6 feet. Grimy and uncleaned.
‘Can you fix a Blackberry ?”
‘Of course, show me”
”How old are you” ‘Sixteen’
Bullshit. He was no more than 10. Not handing my precious blackberry to a 10 year old in unwashed and torn T shirt and pyjamas! At least if I buy a new one, they would extract the data for me. Something I have been meaning to do for a year now.
‘What’s wrong with it?”
‘Well, the roller track ball does not respond. It’s kind of stuck and I cannot operate it”
He grabs it from my hand and looks at it
“You should wash your hands. Many customers have same problem. Roller ball get greasy and dirty, then no working’
Look who was telling me to wash my hands. He probably has not bathed for 10 days, I leaned out to snatch my useless blackberry back..
” You come back in one hour and I fix it’.
I am not leaving all my precious data in this unwashed kid’s hands for an hour. No way.
“Who will fix it?”
‘Big brother’
‘How big is ‘big brother?’
‘big …. Umm ..thirty’
Then suddenly big brother walks in. 30 ??? He is no more than 19.
‘What problem?’ He says grabbing the phone from my greasy hand into his greasier hand. Obviously not trained in etiquette by an upmarket retail store manager.
‘Normal blackberry problem. I replace with original part now. You must wash your hand before you use this’. What is this about me washing my hands suddenly??
19 year old big brother rummages through a dubious drawer full of junk and fishes out a spare roller ball packed in cheap cellophane wrapper. Original part? I doubt it.  But by now I am in the lap of the real India and there is no escape as he fishes out a couple of screwdrivers and sets about opening my Blackberry.
“How long will this take?”
”Six minutes”
This I have to see. After spending the whole morning trying to find a Blackberry service centre and getting vague answers about sending the phone in for an assessment that might take a week, I settle down next to his grubby cramped work space. At least I am going to be able to watch all my stored data vanish into virtual space. People crowd around to see what’s happening. I am not breathing easy anyway. I tell myself this is an adventure and literally have to stop myself grabbing my precious Blackberry back and making a quick escape. But in exactly six minutes this kid handed my Blackberry back. He had changed the part and cleaned and serviced the whole phone. Taken it apart, and put it together. As I turned the phone on there was a horrific 2 minutes where the phone would not come on. I looked at him with such hostility that he stepped back.
‘you have more than thousand phone numbers ?”
‘yes’.
‘backed up?’
‘no’
‘Must back up. I do it for you. Never open phone before backing up’
‘You tell me that now?’
But then the phone came on and my data was still there. Everyone watching laughed and clapped. This was becoming a show. A six minute show. I asked him how much.
‘500 rupees’ He ventured uncertainly. People around watched in glee expecting a negotiation.
That’s $10 dollars as against the Rs 30,000 ($ 600) I was about to spend on a new Blackberry or a couple of weeks without my phone. I looked suitably shocked at his ‘high price’ but calmly paid him. Much to the disappointment of the expectant crowd
‘do you have an I-Phone ? Even the new ‘4D one ?
‘no, why”
‘I break the code for you and load any ‘app’ or film you want. I give you 10 film on your memory stick on this one, and change every week for small fee’
I went home having discovered the true entrepreneurship that lies at what we call the ‘bottom of the pyramid’. Some may call it piracy, which of course it is, but what can you say about two uneducated and untrained brothers aged 10 and 19 that set up a ‘hole in the wall’ shop and can fix any technology that the greatest technologists in the world can throw at them. I smiled at the future of our country. If only we could learn to harness this potential.
‘Please wash your hands before use’ were his last words to me. Now I am feeling seriously unclean.

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Oil prices have hiked to record highs in the history of mankind and as the MENA region, especially countries like Libya still having political constrains it cannot be predicted to what, highest peak the oil price  finally reach. That said, most of our economical situation are now relying on oil as an energy source, the fossil fuel has caught human kind into a tight glitch.

During these though times it is the government’s role to ease and promote small scale industries and small businesses rather then trying to bail out giants on the costs of the near to getting unemployed common citizens. It would be more wiser for any government to ease the process of setting up small businesses and helping it reduce over heads in terms of fees and certification processes and so on, let the business create further employment opportunities and wider get more market share. It would be more wiser for the authorities to back businesses that grow and develop on non-borrowed capital rather then depend on banks and financial institutions for liquidity. Such borrowing would not only rise overheads and add to costs of commodities but add uncertainty in the stagnant market.

There are times when businesses can afford perfection and there are times when costs need be considered for the growth of an economy from a macro level.

How unwise would it be for authorities to simply issue fines and levy illogical fees and charges to fulfill their extravagant needs and expenses. If businesses are hit by fee hypes in accomplishing the legal aspects of running it, they will either pass-on the costs to the end user or cut down on operations by simply shifting to more preferable places. The most annoying of any additional overhead that a business could bare is the implementation of hidden charges which are levied every now and then. If the authorities do not consider setting up proper measures to its own act of ignorance, it would result in hurting the economy of the country at the end of the day.

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Have lived in the UAE for many years, right from schooling to adulthood and even being married here makes the country my home away from my birthplace which I haven’t even known for a tenth of my age. Indians in this country have really played a role in the socio-economic development of the nation and we do really feel to be proud of the fact. During childhood, I used to have Emarati friends and go to their homes, play Attari and stuff even. I remember my father’s sponsor and a friend rather, would insist him to visit often when we used to greet him on Eid. He was an old gentleman and we used to know of him as a distant relative and an uncle as kids rather then an Emarati who was our sponsor. Another Emarati uncle I remember from those days was a neighbor who used to help us with water during the hot summer days when it was scarcity. Those days were so peaceful and calm. We used to walk home from school 3 Kms away, play cricket and football but today at the same age my kids would never think of putting a foot out of the home due to the heavy traffic.

I remember seeing the then Ruler of Ajman, a simple and elderly figure sit in public and meet everyone with a friendly gesture. Today is an altogether different story, though having met the now Ruler several times during Eid and other occasions the protocol is different. He is down to Earth and have seen him drive his own car once as he waved from his Merc on a Red Signal stopping on our side.

We have always believed that this country has given us a different view of life, a different dimension to it and a life of prosperity and happiness.

Today as the country marches towards Emiratization in the private sector, I believe that best way to create a better workforce out of the countries youth is, not only to give them opportunities and security of job but also train them for dignity of labor. Uplift them to mingle freely within the corporate culture while not being foreigners in their own land. A skilled, learned, trained and hardworking employee is a corporation’s asset and such human resource are valuable for the entire nation as well as the community. I think the country should encourage the youth to work and have pride in doing so, as well as provide encourage the institutes that want to play a role in this endeavor. Together with all the love that the people here have for this land and nation, everyone can put their piece of brick as we grow.

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Certain policies of world governments have helped these extremists succeed in their evil intentions. These policies rip off the “aam aadmi - mangoman” with his basic human and civil rights and under the pretext of national security destroy the democratic and for the people, by the people, constitution of the nation.

India has implied stringent measures on visa applications of Pakistanis. The simple reason is that they are Pakistanis. A close Iranian family friend, now an American, whose mother was a Pakistani was denied Visa by the Indian Authorities to visit India with her Husband. Reason her mother was a Pakistani. Under the pretext of national security the story does not seem to be justified.

Wives are denied visit visas to accompany their Indian Husbands. The Indian Government officials have gone nuts by writing the nationality of a child’s mother in his or her passport only if the mother is a Pakistani. The mere stupidity of the undocumented rule was declared by another government official by saying that people with evil intent do not travel legally.

The people who sit in high offices do not see the plight of ordinary people who are being harassed and deprived of basic human and civil rights under the pretext of National Security which is more of a concern for the common man who is not being protected by body guards or commandos. The national budget in protecting the common man is far beyond the scale of the expenditure done towards protecting politicians and public figures. Instead pity rules are being placed to protect the civilians which further cause disturbances in their lives. The price of such incompetent national security measures is not only paid by the pockets of patriotic citizens but also by the suppression of their social and civil rights.

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Since the dawn of civilization man has always been obsessed of communicating his thoughts, the knowledge that he acquire through a long learning process of understanding, experimenting and experiencing. The hunger and thirst for knowledge is what differentiates us humans from all other species that dwell this planet and probably make us feel superior.

The revolutionary age of information has digitized these thoughts and turned the ink into bits and bytes nevertheless the urge for holding a book in ones hand and swallowing the vast knowledge implanted in ink never lessens. The scent of the books its lustful binding and bright pages with shinny ink is what attracts readers to love the hard copies. Mind well that ink is called “rosh’naee” in Urdu because it radiates the light of knowledge and enlightens the soul. Love of books has grown and deepened within my heart and I could hardly resist a wonderful title except when the dept of my pocket is shallower. The Sharjah Book Fair is a place where I find relaxation skimming through pages and titles over the bookshelves and in stalls, and at times the clock stops as I just swallow a finer piece of work rather then just window shopping. The love and passion is never ending.

Though I am a book lover and like spending on a good title but the purse is not quick to open up. Though we are growing in terms of knowledge, education and information which is readily available everyday our lives are becoming shorter and homes smaller, with no spare time nor enough space to store the thought provoking work of authors. Even today books are a luxury for those who could afford to maintain its high costs.

During my recent visit to the Sharjah Book Fair, a thought popped up my mind as I looked up on the large banners that declared “Love for the written word”. The thought of being fortunate to own some of the worlds lovely titles published and happy to have read through the minds of some of the worlds brilliant men time has known was the most prominent. While another thought did sneak in to declare that since the authorities of Sharjah and its leadership are braving such a huge and massive event why not arrange some sort of a pre-owned books fair as well. The reason this thought popped up was seeing the tons and tons of paper displayed at the fair. The rate at which we are producing paper and coping up with demand is growing at such a high pace that I dare to say we might be out of paper in a very near future.

A book fair where people could dispose their pre-owned collection, share, sell, exchange or even give away for recycling would be another such massive event of equivalent impact to the community and our culture as well as our environment. Maybe such a stand alone book fair would not be possible but a well organized section in the International Book Far event could make a huge difference.

To be very much frank and truthful I even do not have an idea of how such an event or a part-event could even be organized but such an initiative would surely be a step forward for the intellectual beings that we humans belong to.

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While studying theology and the philosophy of Islam one would run into the words of Amirul Mumineen Maulana Ali (AS) a devoted disciple of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (SAW) who was enlightened by wahye from Allah Subhanahu. Indeed, Amirul Mumineen was a master of paralinguistic subjects and the art of subjugating the minds of men, which he displayed in his art of warfare. A warrior he was and a master of swordsmanship. History is packed with the heroic victories of Amirul Mumineen (AS) , that led the armies of Rasulallah (SAW) before the battle was even won.

The art of suggestion was what had won these battles, if we were to study the battles from a view point of this subject, apart from being a “moayyad minallah” – helped by Allah, his aura of victory defeated his opponents. To cite a few examples, in Khandaq when Amirul Mumineen (AS) was sent by Rasulallah (SAW) to battle with Amr ibn Abd Wad, Rasulallah (SAW) exclaimed, برز الايمان كله الى الكفر كله, Ali (AS), faith embodied, has entered into war against Amr (who is a non-believer from head to toe). The suggestive sentence was not only in true praise of Ali (AS) but a blow on all those who has waged war on Madina. Then when Amirul Mumineen (AS) answered Amr, he repeated the fact about himself, and declared that he was willful and a visionary. He insisted that truth will prevail. These paraliminal suggestions weakened Amr and he was dead before the battle had even started.

Another example is the battle of Khaybar when Amirul Mumineen (AS) was described by Rasulallah (SAW) as a winner who would fight until he won but never leave the battlefield. While Ali (AS) on the other side pierced a spear in rock right before the fortress where the opponents could see. On seeing this an onlooker from the fortress inquired about the brave warrior and  exclaimed that they had already lost the battle.

The words of Rasulallah (SAW) نصرت بالرعب مصيرة شهر describe the psychological imprints that were laid on the minds of the Mushrikeen who came face to face with his victorious army in the battlefield.

This mastery of suggestive imprints is not limited to the battlefield but is clearly seen in all his instructions be it related to personal effects from eating habits to sleep and medication to the social lives of Muslims.

Amirul Mumineen’s (AS) words have always been the center of philosophical studies in Islam and have explanations to broader subjects since they are derived from the root of Wahye, The Quran. He says:

دوائك فيك وما تبـصر        ودائك منك وما تشعر

وانت الكتاب المبين الذي      بأحرفه يظهر المـضمر

اتحسب انك جرم صغير        وفيك انطوى العام الاكبر

Your medication is inside your own self and your disease is from within. You are the clear book that reveals the untold. While you might think that you are just a small particle but within you lies the entire universe.

Such wonderful words to explain the entire theory of people like Deepak Chopra who said in his “Secret of Enlightenment” that when one looks at the world it is the universe looking at itself through his eyes. These three stanzas of beautiful poetry explain the theory of quantum communication which suggests that each neuron and proton in the universe is communicating with each other. we might not even know but we are in continuous communication on a quantum level with the entire universe which is in fact within and internal rather that apart from us. The law of attraction is what these three stanzas explain in its depth. Facts and theories of healers using Reiki and what not are based on this theory put forward by Amirul Mumineen (AS). The masters of hypnosis and suggestive neuro linguistic programing, the yogis and gurus of meditation have understood the deeper meaning of these wonderful words of the disciple of Rasulallah (SAW).

I recently came across 2 anecdotes in a book called  اللطائف والظرائف which led reduce my thoughts to words and preserve them. The humorous stories of the past. In one of them it was mentioned that Nabiullah Eisa (AS) passed by a yogi who was engrossed in meditation and prayers under the heat of the sun. Upon his Nabi (AS) inquiry of why he would not carry ibadat under the shade he was told that another passerby Nabi before him had prophesied the age of the yogi as 500 years and he did not want to waste time building a shade for himself. To this Nabiullah Eisa (AS) exclaimed that what would the yogi do if he were to be during the era of Rasulallah whose ummat would live between 50 and 60 years of age. The Yogi was prompt in reply and insisted that he would spend such a small life in one sujud (prostration) itself. Indeed, Eisa (AS) was astonished by such a height of will.

Another anecdote is that a group of mischievous learners surrounded their teacher and started to exclaim that the master was ill. Each of them suggested in different words that he should rest, take a leave and visit the doctor. The suggestive words of the boys soon had its toll on the master who started to feel dizzy and weak, until he asked them to take him home. The mischief mongers on their return from his home recited the above stanzas of poetry that illness is from within rather than from an external source.

On reading these words of immense knowledge I recalled my long study of the subject of which I am no master nor a practitioner rather an interested learner and reader.

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His Highness, the ruler is always present on this spectacular event each year and finds time for it from his busy schedule which indeed reflects his love for education and imparting of knowledge. Personally I have been very lucky and fortunate to be present during the opening and visit of the Ruler. Its his humble self that any person, be it a citizen or an expat, can extend his greetings to the scholarly personality as well as accompany him as he scrolls past the hundreds of stalls erected by the participants from all over the world. His Highness Dr. Shiekh Sultan al-Qasimi, signed the English copy of his book (Sard al-Zatt) as well as the new book (Hadeeth al-Zakirah).

It was an overwhelming occasion as he skimmed through the booths, surfing through the titles exhibited on each stalls.

Personally I find great pleasure even window shopping at such a beautiful place and time passes by in such a way hours just seem to be minutes and there is never enough time to inspect each section of personal interest even let alone adventuring into a new field of growing knowledge.

Being a fan of this yearly event in Sharjah, there are a few critical points at mind do need to be considered by the organisers. On this very first day there were no carry bags with the publishers at the booths provided by the organisers nor were there any invoice books, no trolleys and so on. Buying the books was hard on the first day though its better later on. But the situation is the same year after year on the first day.

Once again all the applaud to this event for the sake of the love of knowledge and books.

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Although we might be in the age where Education and Knowledge is freely available everywhere there is a jungle of unknown out there, and people can be misled or get lost in the junk of duplication and sometimes even blunders and Urban legends. We often see these useless junk mails forwarded to us in the form of making us aware, just to find out later that it was a prank and there is no reality attached to it.

Having lived in the virtual world for years, in the form of a passion and a profession, spending hours on the Internet daily, it is often felt that the flow of Information over the Internet needs to be controlled. But then if it is really controlled then we would forfeit the freedom and right to information as well as expression.

However, there is one thing that is often bothering when I surf the internet that people just for some odd and unknown reason to copy and paste material from one site to the other. The copy paste business or adventure just leads to the expansion in the number of pages the internet has rather then real information.

Recently I came across a community site, which is much bothered with its PR than the flow of information due to is commercial aspect, that, it has announced the launch of  articles on historical events and dates according to the Hijri Calender. The website Zeninfosys, has installed Drupal to take care of its copy/paste business from another authentic website of the community mazaraat.com

Looking at the above scenario, one can see no reason for such work and nor does it have any importance other then adding more pages to the internet. It is not only the breach of intellectual rights which at times some authors or owners do not bother about but it does make a difference.

The reason for such acts of plagiarism can only be traced back to commercial benefits where a person might look-up for PR and visitor hits. Certainly the internet has grown to be a larger media version then the Television nowadays with people spending more time in front of their PCs rather then the TV screen.

On the other hand if anyone just wants to enter the internet world and be known the better and more sincere way would be to put forward original words. Content and Information can never be original unless one is a mass researcher but the words in which they are presented can be unique and the way its felt by the reader can be a standout form for each person has a different style of writing or conveying the information that might be useful in the internet jungle.

Apart from that “Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person who you originally are”, is a nice quote to fit the topic.

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