 Thank you. I am hoping you are very generous. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's an honor to be here. They have been invited to be part of your program today. I must admit, however, that I am overwhelmed by this audience. Not only because this is one of the biggest inter-institutional events in Nagaland, but this is my first time addressing such a hopeful and vibrant assembly. Who knows, to that sort of college, for envisioning and executing such a bigger event. Being among students today and being in a college campus, while it brings back a lot of memories, it has starkly reminded me that two decades have gone by since I graduated from university. Time passes in a twinkling of an eye. But like they say, learning is a lifetime process. Sorry, life-long process. And therefore, I am still very much a student of life. And as someone who is still learning, I am here today to teach you something fantastical or even give you a motivational speech on how you can become successful. But I would like to take this opportunity to share a few things from my life in hopes that you will find some additional insights to reflect upon. I grew up spending most of my student life in boarding school. I was sent away when I was nine years old, and by the time I finished my education and decided to come back, come back home permanently to settle down, I was 25 years old. Old enough to know what to do, but clueless on how to go about it. The pressure to do well in life and the responsibility that awaited was unfathomable. I now understand why my parents were so eager to marry me off at a young age of 27. Because even before I hit 30, my hairline started to recede. And whatever was left dirt-grained from the stress and responsibilities I had to show them. But I am only half-joking because I have so much to be grateful especially to my parents who nurtured me to ease into my responsibilities at the right time. And if I must share some valuable things that I learned from all my experiences in life so far, there are five things that I would like to share with you today. I will try to keep it as short as possible because I know it's been a long day. Everyone must be tired and I know I'm the most boring part of the program. Anyway, so the first point is that we must be humble. Whether you're a leader or a follower, humility is a virtue we all need to cultivate. Unfortunately for many of us, pride as a vice, a bad habit, comes more naturally. I have struggled with pride myself but I have come to learn that when you know yourself, accept yourself, you begin to treat yourself and others better. A well-known nada creature and a teacher and a good friend defines humility as the willingness to be known for who you are, not more, not less. In other words, be true to yourself and others. Being humble requires you to admit to your mistakes, your flaws and weaknesses without falling into self-pity. That is very important. And this is harder for some people than others. I have observed that we Nagas, especially when they're young and inexperienced, but you have some knowledge, you want to portray yourself as a confident person. And this is not bad in itself, but when pride seeps in and you refuse to accept that you do not know enough, you become arrogant. And arrogance breeds intent. There was a young man who worked for me some years ago. He was smart and confident but was arrogant. He didn't like being directed. He would listen to the advices but he wouldn't follow them. He thought he knew better than anyone, so he disregarded others and became disrespectful. I mean again, we would make mistakes and get into trouble. Ultimately, we had to let him go as the company could no longer take the responsibility for him. Believe me, in my line of work, I have encountered all types of people. I have also had the greatest privilege to meet some of the giants in the business world. Lord Anthony Bamford, the owner and chairman of JCB, Noel Tata, the step-brother of Ratan Tata, who is the chairman of Trends and Tata Investment Cooperation today with you. These men are the world's ultimate business leaders and yet their most striking quality was humility. And I have realized that some of the most successful people in the world are the most humble. So my advice to you and myself also is to be humble, to learn, to grow and to be successful. Secondly, we must have mentor role models. Someone who is inspired and help you to move better than you already have. I have been so fortunate to have people in my life that I look up to who are wiser, more knowledgeable and much more successful than I am. These people have shared their skills, knowledge and expertise to help me grow into a better version of myself. Sometimes your mentor will be brutally honest with you but with the best of intention and you might not like it, I have not. But the purpose is to help you overcome your shortcomings and to succeed. My dad is a perfectionist. He will keep pushing people to bring out the best that is possible. Some people would find him offensive because of this. But I have learned something very valuable. I used to tell my wife how my dad has never complimented me on jobs well done. I am not saying that he is not encouraging. But I don't recall him ever verbally praising me for my achievements. And in my defense, I have made some praiseworthy achievements. But my wife pointed out something to me the other day which got me thinking. She said, your dad's way of telling you that you have done well is by entrusting you with more responsibilities. Because he trusts you and therefore he believes you will be able to execute the next task successfully. This made me realize that he doesn't want me to be complacent, easily satisfied. He wants to keep pushing me to be better. Mentor role models will do this for you. They are people who have already experienced much of hardship, success and failures that are inevitable in life. So not only do you learn to do well and change to them, but you also learn from their mistakes not to repeat them. Remember that nobody is perfect. So do not look for perfection in your role models. But they must have the virtues that you want to emulate. Thirdly, we must work hard and persevere. Let me make a confession today. I failed my first year of BBA undergraduate degree. But I got two backpapers which I had here in the summer school which I did and I never looked back after that. I went on to finish my master's degree with distinction so much so that the university immediately offered me a PhD program. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to blow my own trumpet. I'm trying to say that perseverance and hard work plays off. It's so easy to allow failure to define you. It's easier to give up than try. Nobody wants to face disappointment and shame. Stephen Cooby, New York Times bestselling author, said, I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. How true? What this means is no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. Some of which you can control and others you cannot. The decision and choices you make will affect your life and those around you. If you fail, make a choice to try harder and smarter. Tweeter co-founder, this stone once said, Diming perseverance and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success. Understand this, earning a master's degree wasn't enough yet. When I came back home from my university, it seemed like all I had to do was assume my role as a partner in a firm that was set up by the family. I couldn't have been more wrong. It took 26 years to be where we are today and we are still learning and growing. Some of those, especially the last 15 years, have been gruesome. We've had setbacks and have even made very bad decisions. But we persevere. Over the years, I have observed that one of the biggest challenges the company faced was the lack of skilled, committed and reliable people. We would begin to train and teach. But when the going got tough, many gave up and resigned. We talk about lack of employment opportunities in our society. But let me be very honest with you. From where I stand, I see ample opportunities, but lack of commitment, insistency and perseverance. Let me give one more example. I don't know how many of you follow cricket here, but the game has been perceived to be a relatively mild sport for a physiological point of view, a pharmaceutical point of view. But interestingly, a recent study showed that cricket players are required to be fit as fit as rugby players, meaning the demands for physical fitness, endurance and power cannot be undermined. Our old players at the Nagaland Ricket Academy have to undergo rigorous training, not only cricket training, but aerobics, fitness and strain training. And without commitment and perseverance, players cannot advance to the playing 11th. Nagaland Ricket Association got full membership with BCCI. After many years of fighting for it, we have started playing at the national level, as many of you may know. But unless our players are committed to go the extra mile, we will never be good enough to compete with others. It's good to have dreams and essential to have a vision, but without hard work and perseverance, you will not achieve the end goal that you desire. Fourth week, we must develop the habit of reading. Beyond a doubt, reading has hugely impacted my life. So if I may be completely honest, I wish I had read much more and developed this habit much earlier. They say better late than never. You young people, you can start now if you have already haven't. In this day or stage and technology, we have information at the tip of our fingers. We have access to millions of cultures and entertainment online. And this in some way has belittled the importance of reading books, that an average CEO reads a book a week. I believe that reading is and always has been the habit of the highly successful. But it is safe that successful people don't read everything. They are very selective about what they read. Why? Because according to a popular writer, successful people see books as gateway to knowledge. As a result, they tend to read books that are going to help them improve their minds and improve their lives. He goes on to say that if you are not learning anything of value, how do you expect your life to change? This does not mean reading for leisure is bad for you. There are numerous benefits of reading for pleasure. But say you want to be successful in whatever profession or career you pursue. Or say you want to be financially stable. But you spend most of your time reading manga, comics or even Harry Potter. They aren't going to help you go in the direction you want to see yourself growing in. So unless you want to take up writing as a profession or even an animator, these books may be beneficial to you. But you get my point. Whatever it is you want to achieve in life, there is an ample supply of books that will teach you and guide you on how to do that. Last but not the least, the fifth and the most important thing I want to share with you from my personal experience is this. We must have a personal relationship with God. Everything I have shared so far culminates here. No matter how successful you may become or want to become, no matter how smart or wise you may be, you may have everything or nothing, but without true joy or peace that comes only through a relationship with God, you will have gained nothing. Depending on God and committing your life, then all that you do to Him, unimaginable blessings will flow in and in turn you will be a blessing to others around you. Without a doubt, I know that I am blessed and along with it much is expected of me. Like it says in Luke 12, 48, to whom much is given, much will be required. You are blessed, blessed to be a part of this wonderful gathering, blessed to be a student, blessed with talents, knowledge and so much more. And we need the grace, the wisdom and the strength that comes from God to carry the responsibilities that have been trust on us. As young people, there are many distractions I know. You will sometimes struggle to make the right choices, but trust God through prayer to accomplish and fulfill his purpose for you. Rely on God to give you humility to put the right mentor role models in your life to give you the strength and will to work hard and persevere. Even when the going gets tough and for you to find the right hooks to read at the right time. In conclusion, Thomas Edison once said that if we all did things that we were capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves. So let's go on and astonish. So go on and astonish yourself. Show yourself what you are capable of achieving. I wish each one of you the very best and the best of luck for your future. Thank you.