It is a given that each class that graduates is a little more knowledgeable than the earlier one. But this knowledge too becomes redundant in just two years like all others, Shiv Khera, founder of Qualified Learning Systems Inc, the United States, and an author, said here on Saturday.
Addressing the launch of the part-time Executive Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (E-PGDM) of the Park Global School of Business Excellence, he said while using knowledge and money technicians and technology could be bought, what made one the wealthiest person in the world was his ability to build relationships.
Taking the example of a taxi driver in Singapore, Mr. Khera said since he was the first person most people met after arriving in Singapore, he considered himself an ambassador of Singapore without a diplomatic passport.
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“He does not have a management degree or a Ph.D. but refrains from doing anything ‘that is legal yet unethical’. Drivers are made to undergo a two-month full-time customer service training before they can even apply for a driver license to operate a cab. And, every year, they have to undergo a one-week refresher course, which even our executives do not. It is important to note that Singapore attracts over one million tourists a month,” Mr. Khera said.
Pointing out that it was not right to generalise that all people were assets, he said only good people were assets while all others were liabilities.
“Those who have ‘people skills’ and ‘selling skills’ are the ones who succeed in life. Every person is selling something to someone. Success or failure of that person depends on how good his selling skills are,” Mr. Khera said.
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He urged the audience to understand the importance of people in all their activities. There were never business problems that could be larger than people problems. Once the latter was solved, the former too fell in place.
Stressing the significance of hard work, Mr. Khera said that though there was a debate as to whether hard work was better or smart work was better, there was no substitute to hard work, he said.
Urging the invitees to always strive to give more than what they got, he also encouraged them to accept criticism as long as the person criticising was doing it with concern and not sadism.
People who lacked integrity could neither be good leaders or good followers, because there was the risk of them compromising their values at any time. In other words, ability with dependability was a liability.
“Our country needs good leadership,” he said.