Go Kiss the World

I read so many books, that blogging about all of them is impossible. I gave up on sites that share reading experiences, owing to lack of time. But when a book truly touches my soul, I blog and share the experience.

So here it is, a review on: “Go Kiss the World – Life Lessons for the Young Professional” by MindTree’s Subroto Bagchi, (the official Gardener).

I first fell in love with Subroto’s writings thanks to his erstwhile columns in The Times of India. In these columns, he spoke about the values that were instilled in him since childhood. Values that are important to lead a meaningful life in society. Subsequently I did get to meet him for the first time, at a packed seminar. What struck me the most was that he had time for everyone. Not many people have this ability to reach out to all and sundry.

The last chapter, which has the book title, sums up the entire ethos of the book. Listed are seventeen important lessons that Subroto learnt in his life. I can entirely identify with a few of them, a few others; I have yet to learn about.

While you must read the book, to read all of them, my favourites which I could identify with and found most meaningful are:
The power to receive: "The second lesson life has taught me is that the power to receive is far more important than the power to give." He illustrates a family with four children. The inputs from the partners were the same, yet they grew up to be very different people. “The power is then not in the giving; it is in the extended hand that receives What matters is the capability to catalyse what you have received.”
Connect with people: Like Subroto, I have been fortunate to get some really excellent bosses – some of whom continue to mentor me till this date. They come from diverse professions, such as journalism, law and chartered accountancy. But they had and continue to have this amazing ability to connect. Working with them, I delivered my best. “It is our empathy that helps us connect with the world. When a leader connects at the level of feelings, he can get his people to aspire to dizzying heights and create in them the will and ability to scale them.” This should be read with the other lesson – The marginal person is important – In other words, the lesson is – Be nice to your juniors and other subordinates and they will walk to the end of the world for you. Yes, the bosses I spoke about do have my loyalty till this date.
The slippery slope of overachievement: Sigh, I could so relate to this. The lesson for me: “You should only be pained to change things that you can take charge of and create a sustainable impact.” Once again, this relates to another lesson – Passion is what passion does – “What matters is making a small but real difference.”
I always knew that Real men say sorry and I am glad that Subroto also thinks so.

Also I learnt that the forties is a dangerous age. “…There is a confusion about who they are and where they are going. The most common outcome of this actue period of transition is a job change…” Hmmmmm, I wonder what I will be up to, very soon. Maybe I need to ask the Gardener to spare some time and help me out on this one.

PS: I thought I knew how the MindTree logo was created, but then there is an interesting story behind it, in full detail in this book.

Subroto also has an interesting blog, click here.