Handling the pressure of work, maintaining family relations with parents as well as the spouse and the kid can be a rather difficult job. A lot of people have to choose in between these, however, the one who juggle all of these can be called a pro at work-life balance. The movie “The Intern” gives us a look at what goes behind the corporate that apparently carries on smoothly and efficiently.

Corporate culture as we know it, is the entire work environment shared by the employees, the CEO, the manager and every other individual within the company. It is highly influenced by the societal norms yet may be unique to a company. It also defines the attitudes of employees, rites and rituals, resistance to certain alterations, and standards (policies and procedures). When we take the example of “The Intern”, a lot of things clear out in regard to a start-up set up by Jules and her partner Cameron. She was strict with her work, looked at everything closely from making and packaging of the garments. Jules used to cycle from one end to the other end of her office, just to save time, that’s how busy she was.

The work that went on in ‘About the Fit’ required the employees to be attentive during most hours of the day. Jules ran a company that operated with an open mind. There was rarely any hierarchy. In spite of being the CEO of the company she used to attend customer care calls and at times ended up over compensating for any mistake on their behalf. They were intelligent and accepting enough to take in elderly people as interns, mostly because they have a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge about the traditional method of working. As a result, the taste of change is brought in by Ben who is a 70-year-old man and previously worked in DEX One. One major traditional aspect brought in by Ben was of respecting the boss. In the past, everyone in the office used to wait for the boss and only leave after his departure, so Ben used to wait for Jules to leave before he did while the other employees left the premises. Ben always used to dress up in a way considered appropriate for a formal workplace whereas everyone mostly wore casuals. He used to communicate mostly verbally and had to ask for help with the online methods of communication. Moreover, Ben was a disciplined man who woke up at seven in the morning, dressed up neatly and was at work on time. He had also cleaned up the cluttered table which instantly cheered up Jules. This separated him from the others employees and instantly connection with the CEO. Some of the Gen Z aspects of the company was open offices, buzz and an in-house masseuse. It was uplifting for the employees when one of them go up to a bell and ring it when something good happens. In “The Intern”, getting 2,500 Instagram likes got the bell ringing. This action got the team excited.

Jules was a mother and had a mother. A lot of times she would have arguments with her mother or she would be upset about not being able to accompany her daughter to school which would result in a bad work day. The very covert operation they had to pull off in order to delete a message she by chance sent to her mother instead of a colleague emphasizes the fact that her mother meant a lot to her. This entire personal undertaking had taken a higher ground even if the company was going through a crisis. It was heart warming to see how her employees actually helped her in carrying out the entire task successfully, starting from breaking into the house, deleting the message and escaping the cops. She a good relationship with her employees which led them into going to such an extent. The striking change in Jules’ character could be seen when she talks to Ben about knowing about her husband cheating on her. She was ready to give up her post as CEO which she endeared more than anything, for the sake of saving her marriage. She started accusing herself for not giving enough time to her husband which in turn led him into adultery. Ben later talked her out of it, she just needed someone to believe in her and tell her it was not okay to hand over her position to a more seasoned CEO. However, she ended up keeping her post, resolved her marital issues and established a great trust in Ben.

Infosys and Google can be examples of two distinct types of work culture.

Google’s culture is flexible compared to most companies around the world and is known for it. Employees are encouraged to work when they like. They are just given a deadline to come up with the ideas and are not held back to work during office hours. They can work from home or in the office premises. While they are in the office, they can have fun- doze off on the nap pods, play video games or ping pong. This has improved the quality of work and helped in establishing trust. Collaboration is key – the that employees are encouraged to coach their colleagues in the ‘Googler to Googler’ programme. The CEO himself has a very friendly approach towards the people who areworking for him. He considers them as equals and gives them complete freedom of thought and ideation. The cumulative result has set an example among others as a culture to be referred to.

Work culture at Infosys helps one to get to know more people, socialize with them and most do projects with everyone’s coordination. However, it is very different from that of Google. Unlike Google, they prefer the traditional methods of management. They have buses arranged for employees who come in at a certain time and can leave only after office hours are over. Work from home is not seen in good light. Even the dress code is generic. The CEO is respected and the meetings are held very formally, mostly in the CEO’s office. Summed up they have a more formal approach when it comes to work culture.

“You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things so that all the small things go in the right direction.” Alvin Toffler

A skinny little boy of twelfth standard was returning from school. He came back home and bawled his eyes out about not going back anymore. It was disheartening for his mother to have worked for 12 hours daily at the construction site only to support his education and returning home to this tantrum. She asked for the reason but did not get any valid answers other than frequent sobs. The ‘man of the house’ was long gone, to another person or destination, unknown to the souls left behind. However, moving forward from the oblivion, she tried to cook, wash and mop, all at the same time. The son still had not agreed on going back to school. A piece of cloth separating the kitchen from the sleeping area was filled with clamour as the argumentative mother and son continued their fight.  It soon died off due to the pressing need for food. At night the mother found her son trying to read a book. The light from the torch had lit up their entire house. She found tears rolling down his cheeks, but it seemed different. The following morning, the boy did not go to school as promised but his mother nowhere to be seen. He woke up at his own good time. He freshened up walked around the house and stretching and in search of something to eat. The boy suddenly gave out a scream and it seemed like he had stepped on something. It was the broken pieces of the piggy bank in which his mother had been saving up.  He ran back to his bed to find a box lying beside his pillow along with a scribbly note written on it, saying, “Toh kal se school?”

Can every story have more than one sides to it? We need to open our eyes, the inner eyes. The world shall not tell us what the truth is, we need to find it for ourselves. Should we tell our stories? Yes! The world needs to know the story and the reason as to why the story is being told and in turn should open up avenues for us to look deeper and closer and think brighter.

Women across the globe have their unique narratives to share. They have conquered their fears and come out as victors. The scars on their bodies spell out their cries. It has been written in words of hope and need. But is it that women are weak and in want of assistance? No! They are fighters. Be it in the household, be it in the workplace or in other walks of life.

Men can cry? Men can cry! We have shoved the pills of gender roles too deep down their throats. So much so that if they come up to share their stories, they are mistaken for asking for sympathy. Men are assumed to be strong, all the time, every time – mentally, physically and emotionally and not showing their vulnerable side at any cost!

People have forgotten to feel good about themselves and have lived under a constant societal pressure only to learn that its farcical and short-lived. They feel threatened of getting judged at every moment in life which pushes should push everyone more towards thorough observation. Observing oneself, their own flaws before pointing it out to others is crucial yet lacking.

Coming back to our story – the boy had broken his pair of glasses and was too intimidated by their financial condition to ask for a new pair. However, there is nothing that the mother does not know of the child. She spent the little money she had saved up buy her son a new pair of ‘Titan- Eye Plus’ glasses. It was affordable for her because Titan aims to support the ones who want to build themselves. They push away any hinderance in the path of their success.

Titan believes that everyone deserves the wind, the sun, the birds, to be free from prejudice, to be free to live and to want what they deserve.

“Titan Eye Plus – Realizing Vision”

“One day the war will be over. And I hope that the people that use this bridge in years to come will remember how it was built and who built it. Not a gang of slaves, but soldiers, British soldiers, Clipton, even in captivity.” Colonel Nicholson.

The movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai” was released in 1957 and had the setting of World War 2. In the beginning of the movie we come across the character of Shears who was not meant to be a leader. He escaped from his prescribed work and bribed the Japanese officials in order to do so. Shears had no prerequisites in his life besides saving himself from atrocities. He was least bothered about his men around him in spite of holding a higher rank, he refused responsibilities. All these characteristics cumulatively disqualifies him as a leader.

Immediately following Shears, we encounter Colonel Saito and Colonel Nicholson. Saito was in charge of running the camp for the prisoners of war and his project was to build the bridge over Kwai which would complete the railroad- Bangkok through Rangoon. Nicholson on the other hand, was heading the imprisoned British troops brought in the camp. The Japanese Colonel was seen brimming with authority and confidence, commanding the prisoners with an iron hand. His objectives were clear, the prisoners of war shall be at the mercy of their then commanders and will have to work accordingly. In Saito’s opinion, the Brits were coward to have surrendered instead of fighting until death. Therefore, we can see that Saito is a man who is strict, he aims for the goal and treats his subordinates with utmost show of power and authority. He had ordered that everyone from the prisoners are bound to work as manual labourers towards the completion on the bridge.

Colonel Nicholson is a man leading the battalion who had just lost. His self-esteem should have been low and he should have been complaint. However, when Saito ordered him and his officials to work labourers, he disagreed. He was a man of discipline and would not function out of it. The Geneva Convention did not allow the officials to work as labourers. This is the first clash of opinions that take place between the two parties. As is expected, neither of them altered from their opinion. Nicholson was kept in the ‘Oven’ for several days and his officials were kept under harsh conditions, while the soldiers worked under the Japanese engineer. The camp doctor had tried to persuade Nicholson but was of no use. At the end, Saito had to give into the extremely determined colonel. Furthermore, when Saito saw that his engineers were faltering, were unable to build the bridge properly and the deadline was approaching, he gave the authority to Nicholson. This entire chain of events shows the vigour in Nicholson and putting up with adverse situation to the point that the enemy has to bow down to him at the end. Saito on the other hand was disheartened but his ulterior goal was to complete his project. He wanted to achieve the target no matter what path does he have to abide by. Saito was conceited but more concerned about ultimate motive.

After Nicholson came into power, he was spearheading the entire operation. He was the one controlling the British and the Japanese workforce, his engineers were framing each aspect. They changed the location of the bridge, the routine of the workers, made the men feel needed and gave them hope. In the sultry weather of Burma, in the rigorous living conditions, it was Nicholson who lead the way. Even quite a few men who were injured and were resting got inspired by the powerful words of the Colonel volunteered to work when the labour-force was lagging behind. The entire team came under order, there was a particular course of instructions followed by each one, Nicholson made the workers feel like humans and not just machines. He went around talking to the workers, asking if they were working fine. After the bridge was complete, a celebratory event was held to rejoice the fulfillment of their goal. He effectively made every loitering piece fall into place and unlike Saito who was trying to go by the bookish rules of leadership, set his own standards in regard to controlling the team.

In case of military, camp or any other sort of an organization, the members of the troop demand a leader to look up to. They want to follow orders and not take charge themselves. This stands as differentiating factor between a leader and non-leader or a follower. The leader must have the guts to make a decision and take uncompromised responsibility of the outcome. Similarly, in large companies there has to be a proprietor to be followed by his other group members. This is true for all sorts of groups, from family to multi-national conglomerates.

Summed up, Nicholson had all the qualities of being a good leader. However, the question remains, why was he doing this? It is as clear as day that this project was only going to help the Japanese commute faster and more conveniently. Was his pride taking over the larger picture of the situation? Nevertheless, according to him, when he was handed a job, it was against his morals to back out from a situation of crisis. However, he had to meet the fate written for him. Another British covet group was sent in to destroy the bridge as they were aware of the consequences of it. Blinded by his leadership streak, Nicholson did not realize the gravity of his undertakings and thus, he had to see his own creation turning into dust. Since he died shortly after seeing his masterwork getting destroyed, he really did not have deal with the aftermath of it. But, in real life most leaders have to go through this situation where they have to come across majorly testing circumstances. They have to keep their calm and go on and rebuild what is broken. If, as a leader, one ceases to get back up and start recreating, they stop being a leader as a whole. This is what is expected out a leader, as impossible as it may sound.

The movie closely talks about working as a team member and a team leader, the various circumstances that they come across and in spite of that, you can continue to conduct while abiding by your principles.  

‘From rags to riches’, that is the story of Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, popularly known as Dhirubhai Ambani. A couple of movies have been made on his incredible journey including ‘Guru’ directed by the renowned film maker Mani Ratnam. He has taken bits and pieces from Ambani’s life to construct the script. Thus, it can also be called an indirect biography of Ambani.

We now know Ambani, more popularly known as the Reliance Group, as an excessively well- established brand. It deals in information technology, energy, power, capital markets, logistics, textiles, telecommunications, oil, gas, retail and many more.

To begin with Dhirubhai’s story, he was born in Chorwad in Junagarh (Gujarat). His father was a school teacher in the village. However, the movie had shown Abhishek Bacchan playing the character of Gurukant Desai to be born in Idhar of Gujarat and his father being the headmaster of a school in the village.

Dhirubhai had later moved to Yemen at the age of 16. He would buy Rials, melt them in pure silver and sell them to traders in London. He then worked as a clerk and then in a Shell. Later he was promoted to the post of a manager in the oil-filling station at the Port of Aden. Dhirubhai made good use of his time and opportunity and learnt much about imports and exports, commodity trading, marketing, wholesale merchandising, and sales and distribution. He could meet people from various nationalities from whom he learnt currency trading and therefore, mastered accounting. In the process he discovered that he had a natural flair for speculative trading. Ambani understood the market trends over the years. He had an insatiable desire to be successful which is exactly what made him what he is today. As a young lad he lived in the boarding house with another twenty-five or so Gujarati clerks and office boys. He devoted most of his sleeping time in mastering English grammar, current affairs, essay writing and a host of subjects that interested him from week to week. He grabbed the English, Gujarati and Hindi daily papers and weeklies as soon as they arrived on the ship each day. He was an enthusiastic reader of all sorts of books, journals, magazines which the passengers left on the ship. Ten years after being in Yemen, he returned to India to start his own business, Reliance Commercial Corporation with a minimum capital of Rs.15,000. Champaklal Damani, his second cousin was his partner in his business who also stayed in Yemen with him. Initially the business of the Reliance Corporation was of importing polyester yarn and exporting spices in return. In the 1965, however, Champaklal and Ambani parted ways and Ambani started his own business. He started off with a minimal office 350 square feet. Damani was a cautious trader and was dicey about building yarn inventories, whereas, Ambani was known to take risks and believed in his plan of building inventories to heighten profit. Finally, Reliance Commercial Corporation was founded in 1966 and later became Reliance Industries on 08 May 1973. He launched ‘ Vimal ‘, a brand which sold polyester materials for suits, dresses, saris, shawls, etc.

Many aspects have been altered in the movie- Guru went to Turkey instead of Yemen, he started making money while playing ball tricks. But his working and promotions were kept intact.

Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with starting the equity cult in India. More than 58,000 investors from various parts (mainly rural) of India subscribed to Reliance’s IPO in 1977. Similarly, shown in the movie how huge gatherings were held in stadiums and fields like the Cross Maidan, Mumbai in 1986, attended by shareholders and people belonging from the Reliance Family.

In 1985, the name of the company was changed from Reliance Textiles Industries Ltd. to Reliance Industries Ltd. During the years 1985 to 1992, the company expanded its installed capacity for producing polyester yarn by over 145,000 tonnes per annum. The Hazira petrochemical plant was commissioned in 1991–92. In 1993, Reliance turned to the overseas capital markets for funds through a global depositary issue of Reliance Petroleum. In 1996, it became the first private sector company in India to be rated by international credit rating agencies. S&P rated Reliance “BB+, stable outlook, constrained by the sovereign ceiling”. Moody’s rated “Baa3, Investment grade, constrained by the sovereign ceiling”. In 1995/96, the company entered the telecom industry through a joint venture with NYNEX, USA and promoted Reliance Telecom Private Limited in India. In 1998/99, RIL introduced packaged LPG in 15 kg cylinders under the brand name Reliance Gas. The years 1998–2000 saw the construction of the integrated petrochemical complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, the largest refinery in the world.

In 2001, Reliance Industries Ltd. and Reliance Petroleum Ltd. became India’s two largest companies in terms of all major financial parameters. In 2001–02, Reliance Petroleum was merged with Reliance Industries. In 2002, Reliance announced India’s biggest gas discovery (at the Krishna Godavari basin) in nearly three decades and one of the largest gas discoveries in the world during 2002. The in-place volume of natural gas was in excess of 7 trillion cubic feet, equivalent to about 1.2 billion barrels of crude oil. This was the first ever discovery by an Indian private sector company. In 2002–03, RIL purchased a majority stake in Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (IPCL), India’s second largest petrochemicals company, from the government of India. IPCL was later merged with RIL in 2008. In 2005 and 2006, the company reorganized its business by demerging its investments in power generation and distribution, financial services and telecommunication services into four separate entities. In 2006, Reliance entered the organised retail market in India with the launch of its retail store format under the brand name of ‘Reliance Fresh’. By the end of 2008, Reliance retail had close to 600 stores across 57 cities in India. In November 2009, Reliance Industries issued 1:1 bonus shares to its shareholders. In 2010, Reliance entered the broadband services market with acquisition of Infotel Broadband Services Limited, which was the only successful bidder for pan-India fourth-generation (4G) spectrum auction held by the government of India. In the same year, Reliance and BP announced a partnership in the oil and gas business. BP took a 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including the KG-D6 block for $7.2 billion. Reliance also formed a 50:50 joint venture with BP for sourcing and marketing of gas in India. In 2017, RIL set up a joint venture with Russian Company Sibur for setting up a Butyl rubber plant in Jamnagar, Gujarat, to be operational by 2018.

He had to go through a lot of hardships before actually establishing his empire. The License Raj was rampant at the time Dhirubhai began his career. He had to break one rule after another in order to set up his business. As shown in the movie he had to create several dummy organizations so that he could prove his investors legitimate. Besides that, he had to face rivalry from another big businessman in his time, Nusli Wadia – chairman and majority owner of Bombay Dyeing who tried to but his entire company. On the other hand, Ramnath Goenka (owner and editor of the Indian Express) was very good friends with Ambani for quite some (which was performed by the character Manik Dasgupta), but after the dispute between Wadia, Goenka turned against Ambani and supported Wadia instead. Allegedly Ramnath Goenka is believed to have said, “Nusli is an Englishman. He cannot handle Ambani. I am a bania. I know how to finish him.”  Goenka chose S. Gurumurthy (close confidante, chartered accountant and advisor) instead of appointing anyone else from his staff. As early as 1996, Outlook magazine addressed other controversies related to fake and switched shares; insider trading; and a nexus with the state-owned Unit Trust of India. Five main allegations concerning Reliance, and which have plunged the Indian capital markets into a period of uncertainty unsurpassed since the days of the securities scam were- Reliance was behind issuing fake shares, it switched shares which were sent for transfer only to make illegal profits, Reliance was also accused of insider trading in shares, Ambani wanted to monopolise telecom services with the help of front companies. Finally, Reliance established an understanding with Unit Trust of India for raising an immense sum of money to the detriment of UTI subscribers. Seminar magazine (2003) detailed Reliance founder Dhirubhai Ambani’s proximity to politicians, his enmity with Bombay Dyeing’s Nusli Wadia, the exposes by the Indian Express and Arun Shourie about illegal imports by the company and overseas share transactions by shell companies, and the botched attempt to acquire Larsen & Toubro. His political connections were also the talk of the town. There had allegedly been a meeting between Rajiv Gandhi and Ambani himself. Gandhi initially refused to give time to Ambani but once they met, Gandhi could not deny the offer given to him. Nothing was proven on paper but rumour had it that he was gaining closeness to the Bharatiya Janata Party. This was the result of the atrocious License Raj (during the Congress regime under Indira Gandhi) due to which almost every individual was getting affected. Even today, the company continues to have close relations with the BJP and most people claim that it is Reliance who is funding the Government and therefore, the BJP is in turn helping the company to flourish by providing excessive allowances. Business involves ethical and unethical doing, it depends where it takes the businessman as well as how badly does it affect the employees and the society. The movie had clearly drawn a picture of Guru getting involved in unethical dealings but it resulted in the profit of their investors. Everything was going hunky dory until all their secrets were published in the paper. Being right or wrong in business is all a matter of perspective. This man had crawled his way through extreme conditions to reach where he was, even if he had taken the ‘wrong’ path, we are no one judge it who have nothing to do with it. We cannot give moral verdicts if we have not traversed the same route as they did.

Dhirubhai Ambani was the backbone of his company and dealt with every single aspect of it by himself. However, following his first stroke in 1986, Dhirubhai handed over his company to his sons, Mukesh (the elder one) and Anil (the younger one). Soon differences between the two brothers came in the fore front and in November 2004, in an interview Mukesh admitted it. There was a dispute over the ownership issues. He also claimed that the differences “are in the private domain”. After Dhirubhai Ambani’s death on suffering from the second stroke, the group was split into two halves- Reliance Industries Limited headed by Mukesh, and Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group headed by Anil. As of 2017, more than 250,000 employees work for the company. In 2012, Reliance Industries was one of the two Indian companies to be ranked among the top 100 in the Fortune 500 list of the world’s largest companies by revenue.

According to me, being able to dream big is one of the essential qualities that a leader should possess and Ambani had it. He belonged to a very humble background, around him not many people were ready to leave their simple life and travel abroad. Even after he had achieved quite a bit there, he decided to come back and start a business of his own. He was extremely strategic about his plans and a risk-taker. It was one of his capabilities to tackle crisis situations and say and do the right thing at the right time. He was an excessively smooth talker, depending on which he won over the various investors who crowd funded his enterprise. His connections and his ability to persuade and convince people was impeccable. He was very focused and confident about what he was about to do and knew exactly how to do it. Therefore, all these qualities make an ordinary person, a leader.

In the movie ‘A Few Good Men’ we are taken through the nitty gritty of the Naval forces placed in Cuba, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. There is a set code of conduct that every colonel, lance corporal, private etc. had to follow. At the top of this hierarchy was Commander Colonel Nathan Jessup. His was the last word in the entire base camp which if not followed could give rise to facing of serious consequences. The soldiers were taught to follow the rule book until death. This story revolves around U.S. Marines Lance Corporal Harold Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey who are facing a general court-martial, accused of murdering fellow Marine Private First Class William Santiago.

The movie gave us examples of two leaders. One was Lt. Daniel Kaffee who was appointed to take up Dawson and Downey’s case and the other is Jessep. A comparative analysis can be drawn of these two characters in order to understand the various ways in which a leader is followed or how the leader controls his followers. Jessep had ordered a Code Red against Santiago which was followed by Downey and Dawson word for word. In the process Santiago lost his life. Jessep, drunk in power and authority refused to take credit for it and misled his officials. Kaffee on the other hand was trying his best to guide his subordinates Galloway and Weinberg along with constantly coordinating with Dawson and Downey in order to prove them innocent with honour. Therefore, we have a leader with immense responsibility of heading a base camp who is extremely confident, proud and autocratic in nature and another leader who is hard-working, righteous and confident.

Lt. Daniel Kaffee’s character was much more effective than Lt. Cdr. Joanne Galloway’s character when it came to defending the accused. In the beginning of the movie we see how laid back was Kaffee with his playful attitude. He used to play baseball and seemed nonchalant. Galloway on the other hand was very much interested in the case, she wanted to handle the case herself because she wanted to prove her worth as an attorney. She was very particular about taking the case seriously but she did not see any such qualities that were required to pull off something of such grave importance. However, as the movie proceeded Kaffee’s character build up excelled. Everybody was witness of his prosecution skills inside the courtroom where he had not set a foot before this. He was great in heckling a witness, questioning the alibis and proving the facts. Towards the end of the movie when Kaffee placed two dummy witnesses in naval attire just to confuse Col. Jessep was a master stroke that actually coerced Jessep to indirectly own up to order of Code Red that he had given. As a conclusion, Kaffee’s attempt was not efficient as such but was downright effective.

Morality and ethics are component of one’s character. For being able to distinguish right and wrong one needs to understand what constitutes either. The soldiers were brainwashed so intensely that they had lost the power of deduction. They considered that they would rather die before disobeying their superior’s orders. Dawson and Downey had no idea of Santiago’s health condition, they in the least knew that Santiago had respiratory problems. They blindly followed what was asked out of them. Jessep did not allow Santiago to be shifted to another base according to his plea but wanted to make a stronger man out of him.  Jessep did what he deemed was rightful, so did the soldiers, no one thought out of the box, no one thought what was right or wrong. Captain Jack Ross, fighting for the Government, had given an offer to Kaffee which demanded the accused to accept their crime. In this case, they would receive minimum prison time. However, the accused were sure that they had not done anything wrong by complying with the orders to train Santiago, “Unit, Corp, God, Country” was their training. For them, duty was the utmost priority and they could not have committed a crime if they were just following orders and the mastermind was someone else. Therefore, they refused to accept what they did was murder.

Organisational achievement and individual welfare at some points fuse and are some times not taken into consideration at all. With regard to the movie organisational welfare was way ahead of personal benefits. This had led to many deaths in the Guantanamo Base in Cuba in the past. When an individual, refuses to continue with his training, he is forced to proceed in spite of health issues and against his willingness. The unit comes before everything. In conclusion, the agenda of the Guantanamo Base was greater than the agenda of Santiago himself.

“A leader is one knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell

There are two arguments that are hardly deniable, first, great leaders make great differences and second, movies are the reflection of life. Films have inspired us in more ways than we give them credit for. Leadership qualities can not only help one to reach their own goal but take a lot of people with them, make their dreams come true as well, or give them assurance for it. Therefore, one thing we have settled is, movies and leaders both inspire us in positive and negative ways, it is now upon us to imbibe what is useful and discard what is not!

Leadership is quality to be cherished, not many people can profess to have it. Business leaders, political leaders, social leaders and many other leaders in our daily life have some excellent skills. They say you cannot be a leader unless there are enough number of people following what you have to say. Therefore, for making your voice heard, you not only have to speak sense but also something that moves people.

‘Chak De India!’ and ‘Remember the Titans’ come from two different backgrounds- Bollywood and Hollywood respectively, but however they fuse in their ultimate goal of teaching the audience the importance and impact of leadership. Both the movies speak of lives of two coaches with different nature of challenges but very similar in essence. Yet both of them were able to reach their desired target. For someone to be able to achieve this, they need- honesty, integrity, confidence, decision making capabilities. The characters of Kabir Khan in ‘Chak De India!’ and Coach Boone in ‘Remember the Titans’ have exhibited them as per required in the time of need. Kabir Khan and Coach Boone had a strong sense of self which they dictated from the time they were appointed to coach their respective teams. Kabir Khan had a dialogue “Har team mein sirf ek hi gunda hota hain, aur iss team ka gunda main hoon”, whereas Boone said “This is not a democracy, this is a dictatorship and I am the law”. This shows confidence and self-reliance.

When we talk about ‘Chak de India!‘, Kabir Khan was always the backbone of his women’s Hockey team, he fought against the Association to push them up to the World Cup. He was ready to go at any lengths, even play a match against the men’s hockey team, if that could sanction their World Cup tour. Moreover, he worked on each player separately and tried to solve their differences and shortcomings individually. Coach Boone on the other hand, did not see individuals at all, he considered everyone equal and treated each one in the football team similarly. He stood up for the team as a whole and not only for his half of the team, he used to barge on the players on the offensive (his half) if they did not work according to him.

In ‘Chak de India!’, Kabir Khan forced everyone to play for the country, for each and the team before themselves which is why they were offended by him. Once they got know their own strength after having fought against the harassers, they understood how Khan was trying to consolidate as a team. He handled Bindya Nayak with strong hands when she argued with her team mate Suimui on the field. But when he thought that she was an integral part of the team, he convinced her to play in the match against Korea. As a coach he knew the capabilities and weaknesses of his players. She went on to play marvellously pertaining to her experience and won the match.

Coach Boone also tried to consolidate the team by forcing the offense and the defence team to stay together, eat together, know about each other and play by each other’s side. He made the white group of players to sit with the coloured bunch and get to know facts and stories of their families and about themselves. He inspired every player of how to play with each other beyond racial boundaries. Boone took them to the grave where the Gettysburg Cemetery just to make them understand the significance of being each other’s strength and not go against them. The civil war had killed people from same land which he metaphorized with the differences within the group.  Besides that, he gave equal chance to coach Yoast for guiding the boys through the game. He was humble and knew that Yoast could handle game situations better than him.

Along with being a leader comes a lot many challenges. The society in which they live in, the religion they follow, the politics that engulfs them and the culture around which they have grown up may all pose as barriers at some point or the other. Kabir Khan was a Muslim, he had played diligently against the Pakistani hockey team. Just because they did not win while he was taking the penalty shot and he shook hands with the Pakistani captain, he was questioned for being a sold out. He retaliated with violence and henceforth he was given the tag of a fraudster. The members of his team, the people of the association and the people from his locality saw him as a cheat until he proved himself by coaching the women’s hockey team to win the World Cup. At every step he was reminded of him being a failure. Moreover, there was sexism throughout the movie where the association was taking away the sponsors from the women’s team and giving it to the men’s team. Khan fought against that idea as well. He made the girls feel empowered, gave them the confidence to play against the very men who think that women are meant to stay at home do household chores. Every aspect of a sportsperson plays a part in her game and is essential to the team. Players like Suimui could not speak in English so Khan forced her to learn it, Balbeer was very short-tempered so he helped her cope with it as well.

The plot of ‘Remember the Titans’ was set in a time where racial conflicts were booming. It starts with the scene where a White American shopkeeper had killed an African American boy. Yoast was very much against the boys training under him to get involved in any such violent acts. Therefore, he came to pick them up from the area of conflict. Then comes Coach Boone who was appointed by school authority to for coaching the football team. Assistant coach of T.C. Williams High School as well as Yoast were disappointed with this. The boys refused to train under him. His house was attacked. Boone had great resilience and therefore stood firm against all this. There was politics regarding Boone’s position as coach. Yoast was given an offer to compromise the team so that Boone could be thrown out of the school and Yoast’s name would be put up in the Hall of Fame. The family of Bertie was against him hanging out with Campbell. Sheryl Yoast was also against Boone coming as the coach because her father’s nomination for the Hall of Fame would be doubtful. Boone’s family was different from Yoast’s. Yoast’s daughter was a crazy football fan and Boone’s daughters liked to play with dolls, both the girls grew up with a separate culture in their family which made it difficult for them to understand each other towards the beginning.

Never was I a person with brimming confidence and a strong personality. But the one quality that I have had since a young age is that I can overcome obstacles or last-minute cover ups. It has always been within my capacity to be able to solve problems. In that case, I am a leader who can pull someone out of a pickle with sincerity and accuracy.

I have never really headed a group except my basketball team in back in school. I was, to my surprise, made the captain. I have always been sceptic about such responsibilities but it was the day of the match and I had to take up the job at hand of guiding the team in the court. We were losing the match by 10 points. I consulted with the coach and finally took the decision of changing the playing positions. I placed one shooter and one defender in the zero line, and asked them to stick to that stance. The rest of the teammates had to just pass the ball to shooter and she would score baskets, the defender would secure the shooter’s position. The game went on and we kept scoring until we recovered the score, the team effort paid off and we won by 2 baskets. Such a decision was required in the crucial game point depending on which we made it to the end. However, there have been times where I have misled the team because of my own insecurities. In a different match I was asked take the penalty shoots. In spite of being the leader, I lacked confidence and refused to take it. It was a wrong decision on my part and we finally lost. From a third person point of view it would not seem like it was my mistake but the people who were intimate with the team, they know whose fault it was. This broke the spirits of the girls and the coach. I was apologetic of the outcome but it was too late for any action or gesture whatsoever.

Another incident that I can recall is that I was given the responsibility of choreographing a dance routine as the opening dance of the college fest. There were a set of instructions that were given to us taking in regard of which we had choose the song. I missed a few specifications and failed to communicate to my friends. The teachers upon learning about our mistakes asked us to correct it immediately, we were one day away from the event. However, I accepted my flaw and very humbly asked my fellow friends to stay back in college so that we could put up a proper performance and not let down the professors. I had a song memorised on which we practiced the entire day. We got the song on the CD player in the morning of the performance. After practicing for another 2 hours, we finally were able to pull through the situation of crisis. Our professors were proud of us and we were happy hence.

According to me my ideal leader will the “first lady of civil rights”, Rosa Louise McCauley Parks. Her rejection of a seat, a gesture so simple yet so powerful in 1955 America separated her from a crowd of subjugated individuals. She was recognised as a face of National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) as she had been arrested for civil disobedience. One woman was responsible for demanding basic yet equal rights for the African-Americans living in the United States. It comes off as more powerful than ever because she was a woman after all. If we can imagine the plight of an African-American man, it is not difficult to figure out the rotting condition of women of colour.

She said in her speech- “The bus boycott lasted for more than a year.  Then, on December 20, 1956, the city of Montgomery got an order from the United States Supreme Court.  It said that buses could no longer be segregated! This was a great victory.  But, many restaurants, stores and even hospitals were still not open to African Americans.  It took many years, and many battles, to end segregation.” Therefore, she not only fought against suppression, led many more to claim what was rightfully theirs (The Montgomery Bus Boycott), she also went on to achieve the goal. This is the identity of a true leader, getting results of the work that has been carried out. 

“Management is the art of knowing what to do, when to do and see that is done in the best and cheapest way”- F.W. Taylor.

The quote defines management as simply as possible. Management in some form is an integral part of living and is absolute wherever human efforts are to be undertaken to achieve desired goals. The basic components are always at play, whether it is a question of life or of business. Complexity arises when a particular method needs to be adopted to do what is to be done. The best process that gives the desired results using optimal resources. Over the years, this entire area of management has been dealt with in a different manner which was objective to the concerned era.

If we start with the commencement of human civilization, early humans had to manage the matters of food and shelter as more and more people joined their clan. ‘Family’ itself requires that life be organized and resources of food are apportioned in a manner so as to maximize the utility of such resources. Similarly, as the decades rolled by, with invention of newer materials to work on, various business ideas cropped up. There were kings and queens and memoirs had to be built in their honour. Taking examples of the Pyramids in Giza or the many Indian or Chinese temples, all required managerial skills to coordinate an entire workforce of hundreds of men over extended periods of time. The open markets in villages are a simpler form of the humongous departmental stores that the city dwellers are familiar with.

Management theory and the course of management science kickstarted with the Industrial Revolution followed by the World Wars. With invention of the modern factory along with several machines that could smoothen the process of production, profit motives started building up. The world was pushed towards a scramble for raw materials, labour and efficiency. Although the industrial revolution began in Europe, America would get the best of it in the coming years. The United States has always had a strict factory culture. As is shown in movies like “The Modern Times”, there was little value of human life and more value of time and money. The world had been plunged into a capitalist economy. In the time of World War 2, America had gained immense profits. The European nations were in a dearth of resources and thus they had to be dependent of the American guns and machineries to carry out their wars. A primary reason how America was able to revive from the Great Depression of 1929 was by supplying arms to the Europeans who were incapable to producing it themselves.

Management has seen a lot of changes and still undergoing variations. Chanakya’s “Arthashastra” was written in 3^rd century BC which focused on governance, formulation of policies and finally management of people. Sun Tzu’s (Chinese Army General) “The Art of War” written in 16^th century BC was one of the first books that gives managerial perspectives. Exploiting weakness of the rivals and organisation were given as two of the major criteria of winning wars. This is very close to the SWOT analysis done by the modern-day marketeer to enhance results. Professor Charles Babbage (UK. 1729-1871) combined guesswork with mathematics and science to come up with a full proof management system.  Robert Owen, (UK. 1771-1858) however, held employee welfare on a higher ground which would in turn improve their performance. F.W. Taylor, Emerson and others paved the way for scientific management which included labour division, job content, standardization to control large-scale industries. Along with these classical theories, neo-classical theory of management emphasizes on employee relationships in the work environment. Indian and Japanese methods are similar to what is said in this theory. These countries give more importance to the employees and push them to work better rather than merely firing them like the American way in which employees are dealt with. Finally, the bureaucratic model coined by German Sociologist, Max Weber, came up with a system that includes a series of rules, division of labour hinged on functional specialization, legal authority and placement of employees based on their technical competence.

Some primary qualities for management are leadership and intelligence, command over the employees and a sharp sense of intuition and understanding for coping with problems. This was previously carried out in large scales by the rulers which directly reflects upon the ministers of the country. On a comparatively smaller scale it is the industry owners. Nevertheless, each individual has to be efficient in management to be able to lead a smooth and resourceful life while performing critical tasks.

Syriana is a movie that can be traced back to years of complicated international relations between countries. America as we all know is considered to be the Big Brother of all nations. This big brotherly attitude has paved its way into committing a number of offenses to other countries and yet has maintained a positive connection with most of them. A few countries having serious problems with America are the Chinese and some of the Middle Eastern nations.

Iran is well known for its oil reserves and America needs a lot of fuel to keep up its factories and gather its oil reserves for future purposes. So, the movie mainly deals with American ownership of oil reserves in Iran and how Chinese intervention resulted in the turn of events in the course of the plot. Besides superpowers like America and China, immigrants from countries like India and Pakistan land up in the middle eastern countries in search of means to earn a livelihood. These individuals have to go through a lot living in a foreign land and in the fear of getting deported or losing their jobs in the event of minor problems at the most.

Syriana introduces to us an oil company, Connex, a huge US based energy giant. The Emirs of the al-Subaai family owned the oil fields in Iran. Prince Nasir, the foreign minister and the eldest son of the family, gave away the drilling rights to the Chinese instead of America. This had upset the US company and the US government. In turn, Connex decided to merge with Killen (who just owned drilling rights in Kazakhstan). Delegates had been appointed to smoothen the process– Bennett Holiday under the supervision of Dean Whitting, head of a Washington DC based law firm. In the meantime, Bryan Woodman, an American energy analyst based in Geneva, is hired to offer his company’s services to the Emirs in a private party in Spain. Unfortunately, Bryan’s son gets electrocuted in a swimming pool and dies. Therefore, Nasir, as a token of sympathy gave a 75 million dollars of worth contract to him. However, the Emirs have a rift within the family. The younger son of the family, Prince Meshal, wants to side with the American government opposing to his brother’s ideals. Nasir wanted a progressive reform and understood the importance not having oil dependency and looked forward to a strengthened economy from the oil profits. He was side-lined by his repressive father wanted the favour of the Americans for continuing his method of governance. As a result, Subaai declared Meshal as his successor.

Barnes was a CIA agent. He was trying to stop the illegal trafficking of arms to the Middle East. He had successfully killed two arm dealers (originally Iranian Intelligence agents) in Tehran but, one of his delivered anti-aircraft missiles were redirected to an Egyptian. Barnes was later given the task of assassinating Prince Nasir. The Americans did not pay heed to the missing missile which later resulted in a huge issue. Barnes went to the Hezbollah in Lebanon to get a clean chit that he was not against them. He appointed an ex-CIA agent Mussawi to kill Nasir but Mussawi turned against Barnes and kidnapped him instead. There must have been some discrepancy between the Iranians and the Americans that a CIA agent had become an Iranian agent. However, Barnes is saved by the Hezbollah. Interestingly, Barnes’ friend Goff was working with a group of businessmen called The Committee to Liberate Iran, who were to be blamed for Barnes’ abducted. However, Barnes was not dead but he wanted to inform Nasir about his assassination. At the end, Nasir is killed by a drone by the American Intelligence. As a matter of fact, Meshal was also involved in the assassination for he supported the Americans and wanted his brother out of his way.

Waseem on the other hand, is an immigrant from Pakistan, probably from Pakistan occupied Kashmir. He was working in the Iranian oil field. At the occasion of the Chinese intervention, Waseem and many others got laid off because they would recruit other people. Waseem was afraid of getting deported or not having a job at all. He was unable to get a job in this dire situation because he did not know the Arabic language. The teacher at the Madrasa took advantage of this situation. He manipulated him and convinced him, if he would give up his life for a good cause their family would be taken care of. This is how terrorism is born. Waseem was determined and he finally took to arms. The very missile that had gone missing was used by Waseem and his friend to blow up the oil field, the reason for their loss of livelihood.

All this information draws our attention to the blurred relationships between the powers that govern us. In so many ways the poor and the underprivileged are pushed to the brink of their surrender to evil by the forces that are supposed to protect them. Governments have been bought and sold in the name of superiority and control. We live in a world where strength has taken a higher ground.

“Business number nahi. Business log hain.. sirf log.”- Harpreet Singh Bedi

Constant movement, talking with a persuasive attitude, being positive, pushing oneself and adding to the skillset are the prerequisites of being a salesman. Needless to say, that social and psychological constructs have got to play a very important role at every step. ‘Rocket Singh’ is a movie that lets us get an insight of these aspects and hence helps us understand the concept of marketing in close quarters.

Talking about psychological and social side of the movie, we get umpteen examples where the character of Harpreet Singh Bedi is put through insult, humiliation and harassment which deeply affects him emotionally. To begin with, Bedi was a man with righteous principles and considered bribery as an offence which differed from his boss’s point of view. This very boss (named Sunil Puri) had appointed him for his never say die attitude, another very important quality that a salesman should possess. The society, according to Puri, worked on the institution of monetary exchange. But, Bedi was an honest man and he was proven correct towards the end of the film where his ways of serving his customers without any under the table transaction actually worked much better.

Loving one’s profession is the best way to cope with pressure of work and produce better results every time. This was not the case for most of the other employees working in the sales firm in question, AYS. They were working because they wanted to earn a living. Therefore, each employee took their targets as a challenge. They teased Harpreet for making the mistake of reporting against a long-term client for asking for bribe. He received tremendous criticism from his colleagues because their targets were doubled due to his fault. On the other hand, Harpreet loved his job and thus, he could gather like-minded and able people, who were being underestimated, to create a firm of his own – ‘Rocket Sales Corporation’. The best part about the company was that, every member was a partner and Harpreet did not repeat the similar kind of intimidation he had undergone.

The crux of the movie (as it is in the real world) is, in marketing only the people matter and not so much the strategies. A company will not work at all if there are no buyers. To achieve more and more clients, one has to see from the point of view of the customers. Any salesman, like Bedi, has to understand the psychological front of the customer. The protagonist deals with his clients with humility and gives them the assurance of a good service even after the sales part is done and this is how they managed huge profits, much more than AYS. Keeping a healthy communication takes care of the social relationship and satisfies the customers. This is why the clients acquired by Rocket Sales Corp couldn’t be handled by AYS after they bought it from Bedi. These customers could make out the difference between the two and decided not to deal with AYS.

From all this, we can conclude that certain qualities are essential for salesman to become successful. Harpreet does kick start his company but before the entrepreneurial skills, he had the skills of a good salesperson and he worked more on that to become more successful as an entrepreneur. He was ready to sacrifice his own career to save his partners’ when things went south. He respected his colleagues as equals (like Chotelaal Mishra), was true to his principles, didn’t get sold for money or opportunity and finally stuck to his customers throughout. He earned his company back with the same dignity and its clients and all because of his skillset.

It is strange how our lives have started revolving around things that were once oblivious to our knowledge. Internet was nowhere when we used to go to our nearest grocery stores to get ration. It did not matter if a particular shop was kilometres away, but we did take the effort of taking the time out and actually travelling to that place to get our favourite kind of clothing. The effect of E-commerce and M-commerce on our lives in inevitable and irreplaceable pertaining to the fast pace of development of transactions online.

(E-commerce is any online transactions, i.e. buying or selling of goods and services on the internet. Mobile commerce or M-commerce is a similar process but involves mobile phones only leaving out laptops and desktops.)  

As a kid, I would wake up every morning listening to the alarm ringing by my bedside. But guess what changed overtime, I am now awakened by the notifications buzzing off every time Flipkart or Myntra deems it fit to let me know about their new offers. The way we buy and sell things nowadays has taken a completely different turn. Local vendors have faced a major setback due to the availability of goods and services. Every brand, starting from Mango to Van Heusen to Forever 21 to Levi’s, all the variants are ne click away. The typical Sunday outing with parents included shopping, having a brunch at a restaurant, hanging out by the Ganges have lost meaning in today’s life where everything is delivered to our doorstep. Even my parents have got the hang of buying things online, as a result of which even they feel lethargic to go out in absence of an utmost requirement.

Besides buying and selling of luxury items, a lot of our bank transactions happens through online portals. In that case, tech-savvy people do not even have to go the banks even if they have to open an account. From bank transfers to payment to restaurants and purchase of online goods everything can be done via apps like Paytm. We even pay our DTH bills, electricity bills and mobile recharge through this app. Little fun chores like getting movie and concert tickets from the theatre itself or going to the bus station to book seats have become obsolete now. A local Wi-fi company also has made online recharge available and mandatory. They sit in their office only if someone does not know how to pay online. Other finance-oriented undertakings like dealing in shares, mutual funds and even LIC can be done online.

Along with buying, even selling (C2C company) has a scope when it comes to online transactions. But in these cases, it becomes very problematic because we do not know who is buying our product, there are arguments regarding the price and mostly, there is no certainty that a buyer will be interested or not. My family had personally taken up this task and random people would call or message us but never followed it up. Therefore, safety becomes an issue here.  

From all this, it is evident how e-commerce and m-commerce have enveloped our lives. The availability of internet can open doors to thousands of possibilities and they do not only pertain to entertainment. So many of our jobs have been eased out. In spite of the benefits, I sometimes cannot wrap my head around the fact how things are going to change in the future. If I have a mobile phone in my hand, I can literally operate most of my financial requirements.  It gives me chills to think of the advent of high-end technology and the way it will affect our day to day lives, the face of E-commerce and M-commerce and everything else.

Everything has a flip side to it. If E-commerce and M-commerce have helped us, they have also posed a threat from another aspect. It may not be very evident or may not seemingly affect us directly, but it does.

Advantages:

• Being able to control payments without actually having to go up to the office.
• Easy method of shopping as every sort of product is available online.
• Living in a remote place is not a problem, as all the E-commerce companies pledge to deliver wherever it is required to.
• We can very conveniently go cashless, so we don’t have to worry about our purse getting stolen.
• Online portals tend to give more discount since they sell directly from the manufacturers and price remains less due to the absence of the middleman, i.e. the retailer.

Disadvantages:

• There is a chance of leaking information due the company’s access to our contacts, gallery and even cameras.
• The goods, many a times, do not come with a guarantee and thus the customer has to either change it or suffer a loss.
• It hinders us from actually performing the task by going out of houses and thus makes us laid back.
• The local vendors and minor sellers do not get a chance.
• Disrupts personal contact between the individual and the bank.