"A house divided against itself cannot stand”

– Abraham Lincoln

(June 16, 1858, Republican State Convention)

There is no real victor in a civil war. For it is a war between brothers. One cannot defeat a brother without losing oneself and this is the explanation of the above phrase.

When two members of a family quarrel, it can either lead to a bitter feud or if managed properly can lead to an effective reconciliation. The American nation survived the civil war primarily because the efforts preceding the war were focussed upon rebuilding a nation, not one fraction subjugating another. Efforts should be made on rebuilding and restructuring the nation as a whole. Where is the need for any prolonged celebration when there has been no invader that has been thwarted? Nor has there been a foreign enemy defeated and the blood shed is the same on both sides. It is time for the nation to recognise that Sri Lanka has survived more than a millennia prior to western colonisation. Wars fought in this land but never on such a trivial basis as language! Civil wars throughout history, fought on distinctions based upon language, culture or religion, have never led to peace and prosperity.

Civil wars fought in Northern Ireland, Spain, Rwanda and the like, have left behind embers that continue to smoulder. What we do not want is a Kashmir in Sri Lanka. This war, in reality, has not been waged against race, colour, creed or language. It has always been a war against terrorism. And this needs to be recognised and propagated. This must be interwoven into the rebuilding of the nation. In this case, the American people have become an example to follow. A civil war that has been successfully laid to rest. The greatest Presidents of the United States from Lincoln to Kennedy to Obama have continued the healing process. If there is one thing that the election of President Obama has proclaimed to the world, it has been that we can coexist as a people despite caste, colour, creed and culture or even language.

War of any kind has never resulted in any long lasting benefit for any particular group, be it victors or losers throughout the history of man. The physical battlefield has always been at best merely a footnote in rebuilding a nation...

It is time to realise that the real war has only just begun. The only war worth fighting. The war that Sri Lanka really needs to win and that being Sri Lanka versus the rest of the world - an Economic War. A war, which is fought with laptops, cell phones, PCs and PDAs. A war by which Sri Lanka will finally be able to take its place amongst the nations of Man.

The real power today is economic strength. Iraq and Afghanistan had been lost long before the advent of troops. The troops merely helped to complete the debacle. The mighty Soviet Union with its numerous satellite states fell without a single shot. As did the monolithic Berlin Wall. Whatever happened to the impenetrable Iron Curtain? The UN has been effectively muzzled. First through GATT and then again by WTO. NATO has been overshadowed by the EU. Even the military might of China and US quaver before the OIC or APEC. Germany, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and even city states like Hong Kong and Singapore exert great influence over global affairs well beyond their military might due to economic clout.

Two of the world’s most industrially powerful nations, Japan and Germany who are the bulwark of the both the European and Asian economic resurgence respectively are nations that do not have physical existing standing armies per se. Both these nations with no military might whatsoever are, on the world platform, giants amongst nations. Both these nations have raised themselves from the ruins of a devastating war and turned themselves into industrial titans by virtue of one single fact – they chose to focus on a real war. An Economic War.

They focussed all their energy, resources and strategies towards rebuilding, renewing, re-energising and re-synergising all of their various resources. The primary resource being always the human capital. Ultimately, the human element in both of these nations have made them into what they are. Look historically at the nations that have commanded and controlled the world’s largest armies and empires. Where are they now? Classic examples of these being the British, the Roman and the Mongol Empire.

Great things can be rebuilt upon the nation coming together, not standing apart. If one wants to see the power of reconciliation, they need not look further than the United States. The coming together of the North and South, post the Civil War created the world’s largest economy. The European nations coming together in the aftermath of World War II created the might of the European Community. However, it must be recognised that it is going to be a long hard road forward. It is actually going to take a greater effort than the one used in the battlefield.

A classic case in point is the German unification. A powerful euphoria engulfed the nation at the time of the fall of the Berlin wall. But one can clearly see the cost of this unification has taken its toll on the nation. Having the economic tools does not by itself guarantee any success on the path to unification. It cannot even facilitate the event. It can at best only provide initial impetus. The real efforts of unification must be engaged in the hearts and minds of the nation. It must be personified via the strategies of rebuilding and restructuring. It is up to the leadership of the nation to clearly show their commitment towards unifying the nation as a whole. This would mean embracing all parts of the nation as one. When man is treated as an equal, he generally responds as one. It is only when inequality emerges that division also arises.

Sri Lanka has the greatest potential of any nation in Asia to turn itself into a strategic commercial hub and industrial powerhouse, sitting both along the east-west trade routes and on the brink of the Indian subcontinent thereby making it a natural gateway to 1.5 billion people. If only, a fragment of this is realised, Sri Lanka will overtake Singapore and possibly Hong Kong within the next decade. Sri Lanka will then with great pride be able to take its place among the brotherhood of nations. That would be the real victory...

Adjust to every situation. Adjusting is very different from adapting. Adapting is acquiring something new. Adjusting means to give up something. You adjust to a new person who comes into your life, you adjust when a guest comes. You adjust when you go to a new country. If you want to be a networker, you learn to adjust. You adjust wherever you go. Adjusting is a key component for a networker. You need to adjust because you are in the arena of people. Everything changes, all the time. So must you.

Accommodate every change. In accommodating, you tolerate. You accept, and that is the cardinal point of networking. If you want survive, you adapt, adjust and accommodate. And if you can just practice that, you will learn to network. When you can put these three together, you will inevitably achieve your destiny.

You are people who are yet to begin achieving. That’s why we’re here tonight. Because before you draw your last breathe on this planet, you want to achieve. You were born for a purpose. And if you were to leave this planet without achieving your destiny, why even be born? You have a destiny. And the whole purpose of life is to achieve it. And in the process of trying and trying, we stumble our way across to achieving it. Assuming that at some point, you get closer to achieving your destiny, never forget to appreciate everything you have. When you achieve any level of success, you do it in stages, and the biggest mistake we make in achieving step one, is forgetting how we got there. The biggest mistake you can have is pride. Pride always comes before a fall.

Acknowledge everyone who works with you. No success can be achieved alone. Acknowledge everyone else, everyone who contributed to you. Appreciate, hence acknowledge everyone who works with you and never forget to attribute all your success to HIM. For those of you who do not believe in God, attribute it to anything else, to luck, to chance, to destiny, to faith, but do not make the mistake of absorbing it yourself.

Ultimately, if you try to practice these 18 steps, you will lead a life that others will applaud. Never give up, keep on aspiring. Do at least one of these everyday. This is your life. Live it. If we could change here in this corner of the planet, then the world is ours.

Apply it daily. Whatever you don’t apply daily is lost. If you apply it daily, then you take your life back into your hands. You will start to chart your own path. You will go back to controlling the waves. Sometimes we look at the odds and say that it is just too much to do. “The odds are against me, why even bother, whey even try? It’s just too much.” And anytime you resign yourself to that, you forget one of the most fundamental principles in life. Success happens because it’s against the odds. It doesn’t happen because it’s easy. Every single time something was invented, every single company that is successful today, every gold medal won in the Olympics, every single record that’s been broken, Ravi climbing the Everest - is against the odds. So change the odds. Master the odds. Go against the odds. Stand there and say “It can be done, it will be done and I will be the one who will be doing it, and I’m doing it right now, today.” If you apply it daily, it becomes the single most powerful aid in your life.

Acquire experience through trial and error. Experience is not something you can assimilate. It’s not knowledge. It’s not books, it’s not notes. The only way you gain experience is by going out there, trying and failing. “How do I accept rejection? It’s so dampening. And I get rejected always by those who are closest to me. My friends and family, they laugh at me, they say it cannot be done.” How many of you can ride a bicycle? How many mastered the art of riding a bike without falling down? The only way you get to master riding a bike, is by falling down. You get to be good at riding a bike, the more you fall down. Acquire experience through trial and error. Try, means doing it everyday. Error is failure and failure is necessary. Failure is good, provided you learn from it. Failure is what makes the difference.

Accept your failures. Accepting your failures is hard. Most of us don’t even want to know we failed. We’d rather believe that somehow, we passed. Did you get the promotion? “I almost got it. I should have got it. I nearly got it. It should be mine.” Either you got it or you didn’t get it. Simple. First thing, accept your failures. Accept when you’re wrong. When you do something wrong, you should apologise for it. Instead, as soon as you do something wrong, you start off with “Actually I didn’t mean to do it.” And then after half an hour of explaining yourself, finally you say, “Ok, I’m sorry, but I really didn’t mean to do it.” Every single defense that you put into place removes that apology.

Accepting your failures means to adapt yourself to your existing reality. Accepting it is the first part. People who accept their failures actually say ‘sorry’ first. For thousands of times that you’ve not said it, for the millions of times that you needed to say it, for all the times you forgot to say it, the times you chose not to say it because you had too much pride, why not try saying it now? Start your conversation, whenever you’re at fault, with “I am sorry’, then go on. It’ll make the conversation so much easier. The minute you accept your failure, you’re automatically in a new reality. When you truly accept your failure, you’re on ground zero.

Assimilate as much knowledge as you can.Knowledge is the single most powerful weapon you can have. It does not mean you have to assimilate it by building a library. It does not mean you need piles and piles of notes to take back home. Assimilate it in your mind. The mind is the single most powerful instrument ever created in the universe. This planet has been around for millions of years, and in the past 2000 years, we have conquered it, changed the climate, changed the environment, changed the temperature, all with our mind. If you take a look at this planet from outer space, 2000 years ago, it was dark. 1000 years ago, there were little lights on it. It all started with the mind. And yet they say that we only use 1 percentage of our brain power. Einstein supposed used a few percentage of brain power, but if Einstein only used a few percent, what are you using? So don’t worry about the pieces of paper, get it into your mind. You need to train the mind to take it. The mind is the library that you need.

Adopt everything you need to learn.Assimilation is just acquiring knowledge in your mind, but adopting it is learning to use it. Imagine if you had to learn one new thing everyday. If you decided to learn a language, you just need to learn one word a day. If you learn one word a day, you’ll be surprised, in 30 days, you have 30 words. The problem in learning a new language is that we are so hyper sensitive. You try to speak a language, someone laughs at you, and you stop learning. If you could get past the laughter and try again until you get it right, you will keep on moving. If someone laughing at you can stop you, then you are a laughing stock. If you want to have the last laugh, you have to let them laugh first. They laughed at everybody, they laughed at Da Vinci, they laughed at Galileo, they laughed at Einstein, they even laughed at Mahatma Gandhi. Adopt everything you need to learn, even if it means you have to be a little different. If something needs to be changed, change it. If you need to adopt something new, adopt it. Because you surely cannot live like this every day. If it means prospect everyday, that’s what you do everyday, come rain or shine. Because you have decided to do it, you do it at all costs.

Aspire to be greater than what you are. You need to set a goal, and it must be done everyday. Aspire means, to say “One thing changes today. If I have one habit that’s holding me down, I will change it, one step at a time”. Everyday you change a little bit of you, just one thing…and you’ll be surprised how much can change. Whatever it is that you want to do with your life, must begin one stroke at a time, one climb at a time, one ledge at a time. It’s about the little victories. Don’t try to make the big leap forward. You do what you can do, and you keep on doing it.

Next, aspire to be greater than those around you. The people around you, they are your benchmark…they set your standards. So you either raise them to be higher that what you are, or you find new people to be your benchmark. If you’re the best among those around you, then what else do you need to aspire to do? You need to be beyond everybody around you, you need to be the best among everyone around you. And when you’re the best among everyone around you, you aspire to make them better. When that’s done, you look for the best that you can find…you find another benchmark. That’s the whole process.

Assess where you are today. You need to be real. You need to know where you are. You need to assess who you are in every sense of the word, because without assessing who you are, you cannot begin to know where you want go. Analyse where you need to go. That needs to change every single time. As you get better…as the people around you get better, as you become sharper, fitter, faster, swifter, as you become more intelligent. As you become smarter, so should your goal. If you have the same goals you had in high school, you’re still in high school. If you still have the same goals you had 5 years ago, where have you moved? In order to be able to grow, your goals should grow. The vision that we had for the group, for this company, grew each year. We did have a plan, but even that plan changed. We had a 5 year plan, a 10 year plan, a 25 year plan, and these plans kept changing. The 5 year plan changed every few years, it became better. But the 25 year plan is miles away from the one that we started with, but we still keep doing it.

I generally do not like the concept of a 7 step plan to success or a 6 step plan to make a million dollars, and so on. And I have never believed that there is a single formula that any one person can adapt to. There isn’t one. However, what I’ve tried to do is create a generic map that you can apply. It’s 18 steps today, but it was probably 9 steps 5 years ago, for me. As I grew, as I climbed my own mountain, as I went from plato to plato, I added to it, and maybe when we meet again, it might be 21 steps.

Hopefully some of these things within these steps can awaken a thought process within you, help you do some thinking, some planning, so that you can actually work on your mountain and start climbing it. Ifyou take even 3 steps from this 18, then I have succeeded. Can you do more? If you do it all, then I’ll see you at the top of the mountain. You need to start. Arise from you stupor of life. Stupor means sleep. In essence when you are awakening from sleep, you are in a stupor. It’s a period of half sleep, where you are groggy. Awaken from this stupor because now you are in a kind of automatic mode. The problem is we’re doing it every blooming day. You’re in an automatic mode even right now.