Rajesh Setty - Upbeat: Cultivating the Right Attitude to Thrive in Tough Times

Cultivating the right attitude to thrive in tough times

PROSPECTA PRESS

Copyright 2009 by Rajesh C. Setty

Prospecta Press

8 Grays Farm Road, Weston, CT 06883 www.prospectapress.com

ISBN: 9781935212607

For bulk sales or custom publishing opportunities, please contact the publisher.

Cover, book design and composition by Purplepatch Services LLC (www.purplepatchservices.com)

To

my teacher

Shri G. Seetharam

who showed me how easy it is to stay upbeat.

I have not looked at life in any other way since 1986!

Rajesh Settys excellent book on starting and building companies during tough economic times is not simply another how-to book of good practices. It actually improves how you fundamentally think about building your business, both during good and bad times.

Abe Kleinfeld

President and CEO, nCircle Network Security, Inc.

Raj says, Giving up is easy. Anyone can do it. Hes almost right. It is easy, but youre not going to do it. This book outlines exactly why this is the very best moment to start something, to make an impact, to create a better world. Hurry. Start.

Seth Godin, author of Tribes

In this timely, yet tender work, Setty offers important advice for business people from all walks. His message is simple: Manage your attitude and outlook. During these perilous times, that may be the most important thing that leaders can coach in their people.

Tim Sanders

Author of Saving The World At Work and

former Chief Solutions Officer atYahoo!

M any companies today are worried about how to survive when their focus should be on how to thrive. Im a strong believer that the one thing all successful companies have in common is knowing how to execute on their core business. After all, its easy to become distracted. Some companies focus too much energy on internal issues, such as developing the perfect vision, dreaming up the most brilliant brand campaign, or fine-tuning the organization structure. They forget to put their customers needs and priorities first.

Other companies, in todays turbulent times, find themselves increasingly distracted by external factors. Lets face itwere all tempted to search the daily headlines for signs of further decline or a glimmer of hope for an economic recovery. It is difficult to contemplate growth, let alone plan for it, when basic survival seems in question.

Rajesh Settys latest book, Upbeat, sends a clear and compelling message to stay focused on what we can control and execute on a plan that is in tune with the changing marketplace. We must act to thrive, rather than just survive.

Upbeat brings together time-tested principles from the fields of biology, sociology, and psychology into a pragmatic guidebook for how to thrive at all times, but especially during this unprecedented economic downturn.

Drawing on his experiences as a dot com entrepreneur and a successful business leader and thinker, Rajesh begins by reminding us that our attitudes are a powerful tool for success. We can control our own negative talk and block out external sources that stop us from taking action.

I believe that if we make it acceptable for our organizations to fail, they will. We need to expect our companies to outperform the competition in tough times and provide the toolsand the attitudeto make results happen.

Even if we avoid the traps that can immobilize or derail us, we need the discipline, both mental and physical, to set and reach higher standards that will win over clients. Rajesh also reminds us that most humans function best in interconnected communities. We get help from our network by offering our own help. A solid network is about give-and-take. Now is the time to take stock of your network. Finally, Rajesh focuses on the challenge of developing a plan for achieving solid business results that is relevant to the changing marketplacewhat worked before doesnt necessarily work anymore. We must ruthlessly prioritize and take decisive action.

There will be winners and losers in the recession. Upbeat provides hope for leaders who dont want to watch from the sidelines. We must all be prepared to block out distractions, sharpen our focus, solidify our networks, and take advantage of new opportunities. I recommend you spend a few hours experiencing the unique way Rajesh Setty weaves together pragmatic and even familiar insights into a new playbook for what is turning out to be a game that none of us have ever played in our careers!

RUSS FRADIN

Chairman and CEO, Hewitt Associates

Mr. Russ Fradin is the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Hewitt Associates, the worlds largest provider of multiservice HR business process outsourcing (BPO), and the only firm fully integrating HR outsourcing and consulting. Mr. Fradin serves on the board of directors for both Gartner and the Executives Club of Chicago and is a member of the Illinois Business Roundtable.

He holds a masters degree in business administration from Harvard Business School and a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

I am really fortunate to have a loving family and a great set of friends, wonderful teachers and mentors, and terrific businesses associated. Without them, life would not be this meaningful. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart.

I first had the idea to write such a book was when I was building my first company in the middle of a recession. Not surprisingly, at that time there was no time to write a book. I also thought it was too early to write about issues dealing with a recession, as I didnt know whether I would make it through the recession in the first place. But I did get through itand in good shape. I want to thank everyone who helped me then.

A number of people (too many to list) in my personal network had a chance to review the early drafts for this book and provided their candid feedback. To all of them I just want to say, I love you and thank you.

Of course, I have to thank Karthik Sundaram, my close friend and editor and designer of the book. A big thanks to Karthik for making this book what it is today. Many thanks to Sunil Krishnan for designing the lovely cover. Shev Rush and Shelley Boose have been wonderful; they are helping me with PR and more for this and many other projects. Thanks to both of them.

I am deeply grateful to Mr. Russ Fradin, CEO of Hewitt Associates, who has kindly written the foreword.

My thanks also goes to David Wilk for taking care of a number of issues in getting this puppy out the door.

I founded my first company in the United States in late 2000, right at the onset of a recession. The recession was caused by a dot-com bust, popularly called the dot-bomb.

Looking back, I have to say that starting a company during that period was a blessing in disguise. But it definitely did not feel like a blessing when I was going through it.

Nothing seemed to be working the way it should have. If I were to sum it up in one sentence, Everyone was trying to sell anything and everything to someone, and nobody was buying anything from anyone.