Author: Yawar Baig

  • Leadership is a Personal Choice – Introduction

    My name is Yawar Baig. Mirza Yawar Baig. My motto is, “I will not allow what is not in my control to prevent me from doing what is, in my control.’ My mission is, “Opening the world, one mind at a time.” Welcome to our channel, “Leadership is a Personal Choice.” Because it is. I…

  • The meaning of ‘Covenant’

    The meaning of ‘Covenant’

    Anyone can teach you what to do. But hard taskmasters teach you standards. That is the biggest favor that anyone can do for you. That is what I owe to AVG and Ahmed. Both were the kindest of people off the job, but on the job, it was a different matter. If you did well,…

  • You can never relive the past

    You can never relive the past

    Raman and I would discuss the reasons for corruption in our system. Our people, the vast majority of them are good, simple, and have sincere hearts that have learned to become helpless. Every conversation ends with the same refrain, ‘Ah! But what can we do?’ The reality is that if anything can be done, it…

  • Blacksmiths, inheritors of Crossley

    Blacksmiths, inheritors of Crossley

    Our Blacksmiths kept machinery which should have legitimately been given a decent burial in the 19th century, alive and kicking – generating electricity, running pumps, factories and what-have-you. Amazing work, mostly unsung but hugely appreciated by those who benefited from it. These ‘Blacksmiths’ were able to keep not only the Crossley engines running but handled…

  • Of Butler English etc.

    Of Butler English etc.

    Life was simpler in those days. We had less technology and more time. People were more open, warm, and less complicated. People looked at commonalities and bonded on that basis. If I think about how many differences there were between me and some of my dearest friends, I can tell you that we differed on…

  • Learning from Life – Morsi

    Learning from Life – Morsi

    This is my attempt at trying to learn some lessons from history. Let me warn you in advance that if any analysis is to make meaning or prove useful, it must be divorced from emotion. I know that many of my readers, indeed I myself, can think of many excuses for what Morsi did and…

  • Leadership is about living your values

    Leadership is about living your values

    One cardinal fact of plantation life always took its toll – nothing in planting life was private. If you took a bribe, its exact amount, who gave it, and for what, was the subject of much conversation in the bazaar. If you refused to be corrupt and lived a life of honesty, that also became…

  • People listen with their eyes

    People listen with their eyes

    The plantation industry is perhaps the finest place in which to learn leadership in a very hands-on manner. It is hugely exciting, sometimes very painful and always beneficial; the lessons learnt of lasting benefit. It is a treasure-trove of memories that last all life long; decades after most of us left planting. It enriches us…

  • The Great Slide

    The Great Slide

    The 80’s sound like ancient history today in 2019 going on the magic number 2020. What do we have today? Hatred. We hate each other and that sells, that gets you elected, that gets you followers, it is chic, it is fashionable, and it works. That is the only thing that counts. So, our world…

  • Planting was a way of life

    Planting was a way of life

    The more time I spent with myself, the clearer it became that it is important to be ‘friends’ with yourself. The more you are self-aware and comfortable internally, the more you can enjoy the world outside. When you are not aware of what is happening to you inside or are unhappy with decisions you have…