I’m a big believer in bucket-lists. I remember I made a list on the eve of the year 2000 and when I turn back and look at the list, it has really defined me as a person. It has given me the right clarity and focus in pushing forward.

I have been meaning to do a retreat focused on chalking out things that we truly want to pursue in our lives. Thus was born The Bucket-List Bootcamp. More info at http://Kiruba.com/bucketlist

While its easy for us to write down the list ourselves, its far more difficult to follow up and turn them into reality. Just like how training for a marathon as a group makes it easy, gunning for our goals makes it possible with the right team. The goal of the bootcamp is to invite 15 very motivated individuals with lots of hunger to pursue their passion together and help form a self-supporting group. Each of us will push others to achieve our goals.

The event takes place at my 9 acre farm, a nice, quiet, idyllic place to relax and plan our life. More about the place at http://Kiruba.com/farmstay

The event takes place on September 14 & 15, 2013. We are currently inviting application to select the best 15 people. If you are interested, I encourage to apply at http://Kiruba.com/bucketlist/bootcamp. Click on the ‘Apply’ button. Once selected, each participant makes a door donation of Rs.3000 which will be spent towards workshop materials, resource persons, fresh organic farm fresh meals, accommodation, local travel and excursion to Gingee Fort. There’s option to make the payment in installments if you need flexibility in payment.

Do you know a person who can benefit from this? Please do share the word around. Thank you in advance.

I have had a fascination towards customized business cards for a long time.  You might want to read this news coverage in INC magazine. There has been considerable interest from people wanting to use some of the designs.  I would mail them separately.  But then, it stuck me that I have nothing to lose by giving it all away.  After all,  most of my designs have been inspired by designs of other folks and so it’s only right for me to share it with others.

All I request is to give a link to my site or send an email if you use these designs. That’s it and nothing else.

Good luck and have fun. Cheers.

As part of my continuing journey to interview corporate head-honchos for Kiruba.TV, I’m meeting up with Mr.Soon Kwon, the Managing Director of LG Electronics India.

Soon Kwon is a LG veteran and has been with the organization for the past 25 years.  He has had a wealth of experience in managing international markets, sales and administration.

He was the President and CEO of LG Electronics Business Solutions company before being appointed to the new role. Earlier, he served as a Managing Director at LG Australia in 2009. He has also held senior positions within LG in the US and Canada.  He is passionate about Golf and enjoys reading.

I’m off to Delhi to meet up with him and if you have any questions for him, please send it to me at Kiruba@Kiruba.com. I would be happy to ask him on your behalf.

http://www.wwoofindia.org/home.htm WWOOF

Its great news that our Farm has been accepted to be part of the WWOOF network, a global volunteer group specializing in farming. WWOOF is present in 99 countries around the world. What this means is that it opens doors for international travelers visiting India to come stay and volunteer at our farm.

International Volunteers.

This is almost like Couchsurfing with a pure farming focus! Having been part of the Couchsurfing experience, I can vouch that the best part of this is the cultural exchange and the chance to get new ideas.

Volunteers get a chance to work at the farm for 5 to 6 hours a day and in return they get to experience the rural life and live the life of a farmer. They get to be part of the family.  Their stay and food are taken care of.   People can stay at the farm anywhere from two days to three months.

There are many farms in India that encourage this type of volunteering.  If you are interested in knowing more, visit WWOOF India

This volunteering opportunity would be ideal for people who are exploring farming as a way of life or for city folks who want to experience rural life.

Recently, I was part of an organic farming workshop where a bunch of people passionate about farming got-together. Working on the farm became such a fun activity because of the bonding and team work. That’s when I decided to open up my farm too for people. Its a great win-win situation.

So, here’s the plan. We leave for the farm from Chennai at 7pm on Friday evening. On Saturday and Sunday, we wake up early and get ourselves busy with lots of activities. We start back to Chennai at 6pm on Sunday evening.

Transportation
Option 1: We all meet up at Koyambedu bus stand at 7pm on Friday night and take a bus to Tindivanam and then to Rettanai. There are plenty of buses available. All buses that go to Villupuram, Trichy or Madurai is good for us. This is a cheaper option and all of us pay our own fares.

Option 2: We car-pool. It’ll be a fun road-trip. We share the fuel cost. Gives us flexibility for us to check out a few farms on the way.

Either of the two options is good.

Accommodation
Accommodation is taken care of. We have a lovely small house right in the middle of the farm. It has a large hall and a mezzanine dorm. There’s no electricity in the farm and this is a blessing in disguise. Its a very unique experience.

Food
We typically buy food from a hotel in the nearby town. We go dutch and food is fairly inexpensive. Alternatively, we have a working kitchen and we can attempt to do group cooking. Will be lots of fun.

Activities
OK, here’s what we plan to do over the weekend.
1) Plan and plant a complete living fence. ( a fence made completely from plants)
2) Take care of the Millet and Paddy nursery.
3) Plant mango and coconut saplings at the fruit orchard.
4) Mulch and manure the fruit tree saplings.
5) Crete a balcony railing from Bamboo stems.
6) Plough and till the land and create 3×10 feet vegetable beds.

If you are game, please call me at 9841597744 or email me at Kiruba @ Kiruba.com. Look forward to having a very productive, sweaty, fun weekend !!

Its a compilation of inspiring real life stories from Olympic Champions. Here is one very fascinating story. Read on.

Winning an Olympic Gold Medal is considered the ultimate in sports. Hundreds of elite athletes have done that across many Olympic events. We don’t remember them all. There are very few that stays in our memory.

Bobby Pearce’s Rowing victory at 1928 Amsterdam Olympics is one such.

But first, about the rower. Bobby hails from a family of accomplished rowers. Both his father and grandfather participated in the World Rowing Championships. His grandfather won it in 1885. Not surprisingly, Bobby took to rowing early in his life. By 14, he had already won his first open event and a few years later was crowned the National Single Sculls Rowing Champion. It was no surprise that Bobby was selected to represent Australia in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.

The Amsterdam 1928 rowing regatta was held on the Sloten Canal, and in the single sculls there were fifteen competitors from fifteen different countries.

Bobby easily beat his competitors in the initial rounds. His biggest challenge was to come during the quarter-finals Not from his rowing competitor but from a family of ducks !!

In the quarter-finals race, Bobby was easily leading Victor Saurin of France. While he was well ahead of the Frenchman, he heard the spectators on the river banks loudly shout out to him and gesturing wildly. He looked over his shoulders to find a duck and her ducklings right in the path of his boat. He stopped rowing, slowed down his boat to a halt and precariously leaned forward to rest on his oars. By the time the duck family had crossed to safety, his competitor had already overtaken him with a lead of five boat-lengths.

Bobby restarted his rowing and so good was his strength that he not only overtook his French rival but went on to beat him by over 30 seconds. Infact, Bobby’s time was the fastest among the eight scullers, even including the stoppage time for the ducks!!

Bobby then famously went on to win the 1928 sculling gold with a record time that stood for nearly half a century. He later become the first Australian to defend an Olympic title at the 1932 Los Angeles Games.

Even though Bobby is considered one of the greatest rowers in the word (Two Olympic Gold Medals, Three World Sculling Championship Titles), it is his humane consideration for the family of Ducks that won people’s hearts and made him popular.

Rajeev and I share a common passion. Podcasting and interviewing leaders. I pulled him aside to get him on my show but he laid a condition that I should appear on his show too. The deal was stuck. Here is the video of our conversation where Rajeev asks me some very interesting questions. My part of the deal is due soon.

You can watch more of Rajeev’s podcasts here.

Today I begin one of my favorite teaching courses. The Digital Marketing program at Great Lakes Institute of Management. Great Lakes is one of India’s top Management Schools present on the outskirts of Chennai.

There’s something about the enthusiasm of the students that brings out the best in me. Read about my experience of teaching last year’s course and why I truly love teaching here.

There’s has been a tremendous response to this year’s course. Last year, there were 65 students in the Digital Marketing course. This year, that number has more than doubled to 140 students. I’m told that’s a houseful.

Large classes bring in its own set of complexities in teaching and I really look forward to the challenge. I have been researching on effective teaching methods to actively engage large classes and can’t wait to implement them.

An unconference is an event where every participant proactively participates in the event. Each particpant must take up an active role in the event by helping with the organizing of the event, by blogging or recoding the event and speaking at the event. There are no passive audiences in the event. Only active participants.

Ever since I jumped into active farming, I have had the chance to meet up with other people who are passionate about farming. Each of them bring in years of experience and diverse skills.

Interestingly, all of them are eager to share their knowledge with others. We realized that its important to have an event that brings together these awesome people. That’s when an idea of doing an unconference cropped up.

We are currently looking for a good venue to host the event. We are hoping that we would get Spaces, a wonderful location in Besant Nagar, Chennai. With its tree laden open spaces, its vicinity to the beach and a cozy Kerala styled hut, its tailor made for an unconference. Hoping to get this approved soon.

The topics covered vary from Organic Farming, Raising Chicken & Goats, Preparing natural pesticide, marketing our produce, Growing Millets, Community Farming etc.

We are constantly striving to get people to come speak on unique topics at the event. So, if you know someone passionate about a particular type of farming, please do pass the word about the event to them. Or you can tell us and we will take the steps to get the person to the event.

Thank you and look forward to seeing you at the event

Mahesh Baxi is CEO of Compassites Software and earlier, Managing Director of ThoughtWorks, a company I have huge respect for. I have known Mahesh for a while now, mainly through online interactions and I like his attitude to life.

When I was approached to write the foreword for his new book titled ‘New Age Leadership’, I felt honored.

Knowing that forewords are usually not read ( I know. I skip that part always!!), I made sure that the one I write is brief and to the point. Here it is.

I have been a regular reader of Mahesh’s blog and I have both enjoyed and benefited from his perspectives as a business leader.

Mahesh is one of the very few CEOs in India who blogs often. I have always admired top management people who can write because I know there are lots of things that fight for their time. That’s why I appreciate them when they can devote their time to write and share ideas with others. Sharing one’s knowledge is a great way to build a brand. I like it that through this book, Mahesh has been able to walk the leadership talk.

As you read this book, you will notice that its written in first person. It’s as if Mahesh is having a conversation with you over a cup of coffee.

A good author is one who has the ability to deliver his message in all forms of media. In addition to his blog, Mahesh has made the right decision to morph it into a physical book and an ebook.

This is an easy book to read. You can flip to any page and land on an interesting leadership lesson. It’s a short book and I love it when I can actually finish the book on a short plane ride.

However, I suggest you don’t. Read a short chapter. Close the book. Mull over the leadership advice. Let it marinate. Put it to practice. Then move on to savor another one. And watch the impact it’s beginning to have in your life. You will thank yourself for picking this book.

Kiruba Shankar