Story of two friends: Balraj and Joseph
  

Balraj  and Joseph were friends and colleagues and they worked with Bank of Bombay at NewDelhi. They were middle aged senior managers at the Bank’s zonal office. Both of them were married. Balraj’s wife Hema was working as an Accountant in a Hospital and they had two children, Rohan and Sandya. Rohan was studying for Mechanical Engineering at ICE NewDelhi and Sandya was in 11th studying at the Delhi Public school. Joseph’s wife Sarah was a House wife and had two sons, Romy and Stephen. They were twins and they studied for 12th at the same school where Sandya did her schooling.  

The families as well as the children and friends went for picnics together occasionally.  

Once Balraj and Joseph had gone to Bangalore for a  meeting of Senior Officers of the  Bank and were  staying  at Evoma Hotel. Joseph was having a tough time during the business meeting as he was not able meet the business targets for the last 3 quarters. He leads the banks zonal sales team for home loans.

While they were in the hotel lobby, they saw a young man who was conversing very enthusiastically with an elderly person about some new product. The conversation attracted Balraj and he went and enquired what the topic was all about.  

The young man introduced himself as Manoj, a student doing the role of a Customer Support Executive at The FOCUS as part of the college project.
He was promoting a new concept. A test, which can help you know what your talents are and how you could have a successful career if you chose your direction in alignment with your interests.  

Balraj called Joseph too to see what Manoj was explaining. But Joseph was caught in his own thoughts and was not really listening.

Manoj explained to Balraj that these tests can be taken by experienced persons as well as young candidates and students.  He said the test results can reveal one’s talents and personality and they could choose a more appropriate profession. He was also citing the examples of successful people.  All of them love what they do. Rather they took on a career which was the most interesting thing in their life.  

It was an eye opener for Balraj, he wanted to test himself as well as his friend Joseph. He had ordered for 2 tests straightaway. Since he wanted it immediately, he made an online payment with his credit card. Manoj had committed that he will get would get the tests send it to his e-mail id. Both thanked each other.  

Balraj joined Joseph and told him about the tests. He said we will try this after dinner tonight and see what comes out. After Dinner, they went to the hotel’s browsing centre and found that the Invitation to take a Test was already in their inbox. Both of them finished the test package in about 40 min.  

The results were instant. Joseph was stunned to see his results and showed it to Balraj. They looked at each other. The results showed, Joseph is not at all a man manager and he would be more successful in IT, audit and investigation related affairs than managing a sales team and struggling always.  

Balraj’s results were more in tune with what he was doing, but he realized that he had more leadership skills and could really do well in human resources development roles.  

That very night Balraj spoke to his boss Saleem, who heads the Bank’s northern zone. They discussed about Joseph and the test results. Saleem was curious about it and asked Balraj and Joseph to meet him in the morning.  

Next Day:  

Balraj and Joseph met Saleem after breakfast in the hotel and showed their test results. Saleem was quietly surprised seeing the results of Joseph. He told him about a vacancy in the IT department which will be an apt position for his talents and interests.

He congratulated Balraj for taking the initiative.

All of them left together in the afternoon to Delhi.  

That night both Balraj and Joseph were discussing the incident with their family.  

Sandya got interested about it immediately and she wanted to do it straightaway.  

After dinner she did the tests and was pleasantly surprised with the results. She found that her talents are around dance and music and she could have career around that. (She was already a winner in the inter-college dance competitions. She told Balraj that she would want to study at the National Institute of Dance in Delhi. Balraj nodded in affirmation, though Hema was not happy about it. She wanted Sandya to be a doctor. Rohan said, I don’t want to do any tests. I am already doing well in my Engineering and I know what I will be doing.  

At Joseph’s home too they were discussing about it and both sons Romy and Stephen had taken the tests.

The test revealed that Romy has traits to become a product designer while Stephen is more like a Sports person. He is already an ace tennis player and had been the inter school champion.

Seeing the results Sarah too wanted to take a test about the right careers as she was feeling bored being at home all the time. Her test results showed that she could be an entrepreneur doing business with flowers and plants. She always wanted to do some business from home and has a great liking for small plants and flowers. The house already had a good roof garden. She was thrilled and was wooing Joseph to help her set up a nursery at home.

3 years later.  

The Bank of Bombay was having their annual meeting at Bangalore. Joseph was given a special acclaim by the bank’s chairman for building the most user friendly banking software. After the meeting Balraj remembered Manoj and wanted to meet him.  

He had his no. and tried, but the no. seems changed. Suddenly he remembered about the e-mail and got his company name. He called The FOCUS to enquire about Manoj and  was informed that Manoj is conducting a training and shall call back. In the afternoon, Manoj returned the call and both agreed to meet in the evening.  

In the evening Manoj met Balraj and Joseph. Manoj is now a Team leader at The FOCUS and is doing well. He was glad to hear about the success story of Joseph and his wife Sarah who had set up Sarah’s Flowers in Delhi and recently won an award as the best upcoming women entrepreneur. She is also planning to set up another big nursery in Mumbai, which is their home town. Sandya is studying at the National Institute of Dance; Rohan is doing MTech in the US.  

Romi is doing graduation at NID, Baroda and Stephen doing a part time BA, while he was full time practicing tennis. He is getting ready for the Malaysian open and has plans championships around the world.  

They had dinner together and Manoj left afterwards.  

8 years later;  

India festival in London. Great celebration to facilitate Stephen Joseph, the first Indian to win the coveted Wimbledon Men’s title. The Wembly stadium is fully packed. The event is also special with Dance programs of Sandya, who run the FAIRDAMES Dance Troup. After an exciting evening the four of them met at their hotel in Kensington. Stephen is now mobbed wherever he goes and everyone knows him.  

Rohan is a Sr. Engineer with Robotics Inc US, while Romy is a product designer at IKEA in Spain.
All of them are together to meet each other and share some good time.  

After dinner they parted and Sandya was talking to Rohan as he was a little gloomy. He told Sandya he was having some problems at work and not really doing well. He did not say this to Balraj or mom as he did not want them to get worried. Sandya was concerned. They were discussing this matter till early morning and suddenly she remembered about the tests they did several years before. She said to Rohan to do that, to know what exactly the problem he was facing. She did not remember the name, except, it was some FOCUS. She said why not we speak to Joseph uncle. He too had a similar experience. She called Joseph and got him while he is having his breakfast in Mumbai.  

Joseph has been watching their programs live on TV and was very excited about his son’s achievement.  

When he heard about Rohan’s difficulties at work. He immediately assured Sandya that he will find the address of the test site. Joseph had Manoj’s business card and called him. In the card itself he got the site address www.thefocus.in still he called Manoj.  

Manoj have just landed Mumbai when he got the call. He is now posted as the Marketing Manger-Western India. He has married recently to Divya, his long time girl friend. They were coming together to start a new life in Mumbai. This is the first call he was receiving after landing. It was long time, but he could recollect quickly. He told him, yes, it is www.thefocus.in  

Joseph was glad to know about Manoj’s marriage and invited them for a dinner on next Saturday. Manoj was happy to know that Stephen is Joseph’s son. Divya was also thrilled to meet a celebrity so soon.

Manoj agreed to meet them.

Joseph immediately called Sandya and informed it is www.focus.in that they should try.

Rohan took the test and the results were on dot. Now he knows what to do. He is not a man manager at all. He should be doing more on product development and more into technical roles than the business development role he was currently engaged in.

He thanked Sandya and went back to the US.  

Saturday Evening.   

Special party at Balraj’s house. It was his 60th birth day. Only 2 families and 2 special guests. Manoj and Saleem, the ex-boss. Balraj had retired recently.

Everyone was busy since afternoon as Joseph’s family had come with his super star tennis player son Stephen recently returned from Wimbledon.. All of them meeting together after some time. They were expecting Rohan as he was returning from US for his annual vacation.  

Manoj and Divya had walked in followed by Saleem.  Joseph and Balraj greeted them and introduced them to all members. Divya was trilled shaking hands with Stephen, the Wimbledon champion.

Soon Rohan arrived. He had good news as he was now appointed as the senior Engineer R&D for their new plant at Pune. Sandya introduced Rohan to Manoj and Divya. Rohan hugged Manoj and told him that you have made a big difference to my life now. Divya was feeling proud about her husband.  

It was celebration time for all. Sarah got another award for the highest flower export company. She was by now, one of the well recognized faces of women entrepreneurs in the country.  

Joseph got a 2 year extension as his IT department had made Bank of Bombay the no.1 private bank in India. They had the friendliest Online Banking software. No customer wanted to leave them once they started to use it.  

Sandya is already nominated for a National award for her dance performances.  

Romy is considered a Brilliant brain for creative solutions in his company. He had created several award winning product designs for his company. . He was the highest earning designer in his company.  

Now, Saleem too wanted to take a test and see what was that he could focus on after retirement. He wanted his daughters and sons in law to do these tests as it can propel them to excellence in their careers, the way it helped Balraj’s and Joseph’s family.  

Hema was quick to join, saying, it’s never too late for me too, to see some of my strengths!

Balraj was looking at Manoj thinking of the positive impact of their chance meeting which touched so many people’s lives for the better.   

All were thanking Manoj and thanking www.theFOCUS.in for helping them in their direction.