<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47937094.cms" /> 
A study, conducted by San Francisco State University and published by the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, said people engaging in creative hobbies regularly do better at the workplace.
 Around the world, there are several examples of entrepreneurs with hobbies about as crazy as their ideas. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and <keyword id="156689" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tesla-Motors">Tesla Motors</keyword>, collects James Bond memorabilia. <keyword id="6354630" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mark-Zuckerberg">Mark Zuckerberg</keyword> of Facebook prefers eating what he kills. <keyword id="6629386" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Henry-Ford">Henry Ford</keyword> who built an automotive empire liked to restore historical buildings. For India's startup entrepreneurs and investors, too, tried and tested hobbies won't do. <keyword id="2933507" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Guhesh-Ramanathan">Guhesh Ramanathan</keyword>, who runs startup incubator Excubator, got hooked to scuba diving 17 years ago and is now an avid underwater photographer. "I think I've become pretty damn good at it," said Ramanathan, a former <keyword id="28115" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Intel">Intel</keyword> executive. Having founded and helped consult at many companies, Ramanathan was itching for a change in 1998. He discovered this hobby at 35 and decided to seriously invest in it. Plus, he wanted bragging rights to being the only one in his friends' circle to be a certified scuba diver. The effect was so overpowering that he combined his underwater lessons with his work experience and penned them into a book: "Scuba Sutras". 

	"The lessons for business leaders come from many different places. What if I could get business insights from my experiences with scuba diving?" said Ramanathan.
 Srikanth Nadhamuni, ceo of start-up incubator <keyword id="1959022" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Khosla-Labs">Khosla Labs</keyword> loves designing and creating nice and elegant things. His intricately designed garage is a proof of it. The four pillars adorning the wall were picked off a junkyard in Mysore, and he spent weekends removing paint, grime and fungi on the wood and carving it deeper to make the intricate patterns stand out. The garage is now an entertainment center for his family of four. 

	"Designing is about fixing things. Much like coding," said said Nadhamuni, who laboured eight months on the restoration. The pillars are topped off with protruding wooden arches that he designed on Adobe Illustrator. Between the pillars is a wooden door with intricate patterns, also designed using the same software. 
 <keyword id="2933506" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Sanjay-Parthasarathy">Sanjay Parthasarathy</keyword>, cofounder of big data firm Indix, gets his lessons from his habit of collecting contemporary art the past 25 years. His collection spans 700 photographs, sculptures and paintings, the latter two focused on contemporary Indian and modern genres. He showcased some of his collection at Seattle's Art Museum in December. "My challenge is how come I'm not spending all my time on it," said the former Microsoft veteran, who raised $15 million (.95 crore) from Nokia Growth Partners, Nexus Venture Partners and <keyword id="1626954" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Avalon-Ventures">Avalon Ventures</keyword> in June. 
	 
	(image credits: mobilyser)

Engaging in crazy hobbies help come up with creative solutions at work

The <keyword id="6380521" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="gmr" source="Orion">GMR</keyword> Group (co-owners of Delhi Capitals) and Microsoft chairman &amp; CEO <keyword id="276564" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="satya-nadella" source="Orion">Satya Nadella</keyword> and GMR Group-led consortium have bagged the rights to own and operate a team in Major League Cricket (<keyword id="6382182" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="mlc" source="Orion">MLC</keyword>), a new T20 franchise league in the USA, which is scheduled to be launched this July. In a media release issued on Thursday night, the MLC confirmed that the franchise would be called <keyword id="64863" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="seattle" source="Orion">Seattle</keyword> Orcas. Notably, Orcas, killer whale native to the ocean waters around Seattle, is considered a symbol of power and strength. Other than <keyword id="2045946" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="nadella" source="Orion">Nadella</keyword> and GMR, the other investors in the Orcas franchise comprise Soma Somasegar (managing director of Madrona Ventures), Samir Bodas (co-founder and CEO, Icertis), Ashok Krishnamurthi (managing partner, GreatPoint Ventures) and Sanjay Parthasarathy (a former senior executive at Microsoft and Avalara). "We see America as the new frontier for cricket's growth globally, and the Pacific Northwest provides an incredible opportunity for us to bring the resources of GMR Sports to the region and help the Seattle Orcas build a team competing for championships," said Kiran Kumar Grandhi, Managing Director, and CEO of GMR Group, a Co-Owner of Delhi Capitals. The Pacific Northwest is a hotbed for American cricket, with a vibrant youth scene and the current reigning Minor League Cricket champions, the Seattle Thunderbolts, hailing from the area. It's going to be exciting to see the Seattle Orcas build on that platform and compete in the inaugural Major League Cricket championship this summer," said Justin Geale, MLC Tournament Director. Meanwhile, other IPL franchises Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have also bought stakes in MLC. MI, who also have teams in the SA20 and the ILT20 apart from the IPL, will run the New York franchise while Super Kings, who also owns a team in the SA20 will run the Dallas franchise in Texas along with local investors Anurag Jain and Ross Petrot Jr. Notably, Kolkata Knight Riders were the first IPL franchise to enter the MLC circuit, associating themselves with Los Angeles. The arrival of three others means four out of the six teams in MLC overall will be helmed by IPL franchises, The two other franchises in the league are based out of Washington DC and San Francisco. The Washington DC franchise -- to be called Washington Freedom -- is owned by local American investor Sanjay Govil, who has tied up with New South Wales Cricket, to provide the operational expertise including helping set up the squad and putting a cricketing structure in place. A similar strategic tie-up has been struck between the San Francisco franchise, owned by Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, and Cricket Victoria. The inaugural season of MLC will be played between July 13 and 30 at the newly renovated facility in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie, Texas, with the player draft for local US players scheduled to be on March 19 at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. The squad size will comprise a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 18 players, of which nine can be overseas players. At least six players in the playing XI will need to be from the USA. The overseas players will be direct signings by the franchises, not part of the draft. It is understood that teams will have a purse of USD 800,000 for overseas signings and USD 300,000 for the US-based players. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/banks/news/idbi-bank-privatisation-on-track-says-dipam-secretary/articleshow/98726442.cms">IDBI Bank privatisation on track says DIPAM secretary</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/microsoft-introduces-ai-powered-copilot-for-word-outlook-and-more-heres-what-it-means/articleshow/98727634.cms">Microsoft introduces AI-powered 'Copilot' for Word, Outlook and more — here’s what it means</a>

Satya Nadella, GMR group bag rights for a team in US' T20 franchise Major League Cricket

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54861b586bb3f7e454e3dc50-5760-3840/satya-nadella-1-high-res.jpg" alt="Satya Nadella" data-mce-source="Microsoft" data-mce-caption="Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella" data-link="http://news.microsoft.com/?attachment_id=134653" /><a href="http://news.microsoft.com/?attachment_id=134653">Microsoft</a>Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella</div></div></div>When Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella first joined the company in 1992, he was one of only around 30 Indian immigrants employed by the company. That group of immigrants became pretty tight-knit, with everybody knowing each other, and they were all working hard to make their mark at the company."You have to remember, we were just a bunch of Indian immigrants working our asses off," says Indix CEO and former Microsoft executive Sanjay Parthasarathy.But Nadella's work ethic stood apart, Parthasarathy says - every Friday, right after work, he'd board a plane from Microsoft's Washington headquarters and jet over to Chicago, where he was working on his MBA at Chicago University's Booth School of Business. "It used to blow me away, how hard he used to work," Parthasarathy says. Nadella, for his part, had moved to the United States from India in 1988 to get his Computer Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milkwaukee, before going to work for Sun Microsystems in 1990. Parthasarathy, who had an illustrious career at the company from 1989 to 2009 of his own, actually recruited Nadella internally circa 1993 to work on <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-tv-vs-microsoft-xbox-one-2015-8">Microsoft's ill-fated interactive TV project</a>. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/564f953c8430761d008b46b0-5616-3744/sanjayparthasarathy_indix.jpg" alt="Sanjay Parthasarathy Indix Microsoft" data-mce-source="Indix" data-mce-caption="Indix CEO Sanjay Parthasarathy" />IndixIndix CEO Sanjay Parthasarathy</div></div></div>Parthasarathy would go on in 2000 to lead up the launch of the .NET programming framework, and started the Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism team, which played a crucial role in Microsoft's developer outreach.In the mid-nineties, he also ended moving his family back to India to head up Microsoft India, convincing the company to invest heavily in the region. When Bill Gates took his first tour of India in 1997, Parthasarathy was his tour guide.These days, Parthasarathy's Indix is going back to his early interests in commerce, providing an application programming interface, or "API," for developers to access a massive database of products. That data can be used for everything from simply embedding product information into an application, to helping stores gauge costs and availability for their products."I'd like to help to drive the business model of the Internet in a more efficient way," Parthasarathy says. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/funny-questions-to-ask-microsoft-cortana-2015-11">20 Easter egg questions you can ask Cortana to get a hilarious response</a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ptN2hveDqChq8i8yIRQHAKJKabK42hnz" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'ptN2hveDqChq8i8yIRQHAKJKabK42hnz',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

When Satya Nadella first started at Microsoft, he flew to Chicago every weekend to finish his MBA

New Delhi, Mar 27 () From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rating agencies and economists, all welcomed the Reserve Bank of India's steps to reduce the cost of borrowing and infusing liquidity in the market in its war against the impact of coronavirus pandemic. Following are the comments made by key leaders, businessmen and economists:* Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Today RBI has taken giant steps to safeguard our economy from the impact of the Coronavirus. The announcements will improve liquidity, reduce the cost of funds, help middle class and businesses.* Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman: Appreciate RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das' reassuring words on financial stability. The 3-month moratorium on payments of term loan installments (EMI) and interest on working capital give much-desired relief. The slashed interest rate needs quick transmission.* Alka Anbarasu of Moody's Investors Service: "RBI's guidelines permitting banks and non-bank financial institutions to grant a 3-month moratorium on loan repayments will soften the negative credit impact that the coronavirus has had on their borrowers in the near term. However, there are still material downside risks to asset quality given the halt in India's economy, the impact of which will not be known until a few quarters after the end of the moratorium.* SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar: The RBI policy announcements are bold, decisive, compelling and with a humane touch in attenuating to the needs of the economy to fight through the pandemic.The large rate cut, the adjustment in capital conservation buffer, the moratorium on repayments and the bazooka of conventional CRR cut and unconventional liquidity measure of incentivising banks to support CP market - all will help financial markets stabilise, lead to immediate rate transmission and address the credit needs of the real economy. Given that we are in exceptional times, RBI has played the role of championing the cause for the economy and financial system!* Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas: The RBI has unleashed a bazooka to deal with the economic pain and uncertainty prevailing. This provides a much-needed respite for borrowers and lenders in these trying circumstances and should soften the recovery period.* BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda: RBI decision will help the middle class. I welcome these progressive and timely measures.* Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan: Moratorium on payment of interest on loans and working capital will provide much-needed relief to both people and businesses. * Raymond Ltd chairman and managing director Gautam Hari Singhania: The moves announced by RBI today are decisive and a comprehensive package to ensure the stability of financial markets making borrowing costs as low as possible with businesses around the country are closed and the economy is showing recessionary trends.The steps to ease working capital pain, reduced liquidity costs and providing moratorium on term loans will alleviate stress across various sectors.* Essar Ports CEO Rajiv Agarwal: Moratorium of 3 months for interest and principle payments along with a sharp cut in the CRR will ease the liquidity and help industry as well other segments of the economy. More steps might be needed once the Government comes out with the much-needed stimulus package to overcome the economic crisis arising from COVID-19.* Anshuman Magazine, CBRE: RBI is in a mission mode to nurture the market, preserve financial stability and the timing here is crucial. The decision to defer installments of all term loans by three months will provide the necessary support to homebuyers as well.* Arun Singh, Chief Economist, Dun and Bradstreet: Strong proactive measures have been taken by RBI to address the need of the country in times of heightened uncertainty. Such robust measures were unanticipated and would restore the confidence of the market, restrict foreign capital outflows, both in the debt and equity market, and will help in arresting depreciation of rupee.Mitigating debt servicing burden to prevent transmission of financial stress to the real economy was much needed as various countries globally have deferred loan payments from three to six months. However, banks might face difficulties meeting the capital adequacy norms which we expect will be further relaxed by the RBI during the short term.* Gayathri Parthasarathy, KPMG: It is a good decision and the time is right for RBI to intervene and announce these measures. The steps to ease working capital pain, reduce liquidity costs and provide a moratorium on term loans will alleviate stress across various sectors. Liquidity will definitely help the current situation and I strongly believe the rates could go down further by 50 to 75 basis points.* Sanjay Doshi, KPMG: Onus is now on the financial institutions to ensure better credit support to the corporate. However, given the challenging times, many corporates will have significant pressure on their income stream. Banks will have a tough job in deciding the allocation of credit.* Muthoot Pappachan Group Chairman Thomas John Muthoot: Various measures to nudge banks to lend and to inject liquidity into the system, will help in passing the benefit to the potential borrowers.* Radhika Rao, Economist, DBS Group Research: RBI pulled all the stops, delivering an aggressive rate cut. Its moves provide the right tailwind for the economy once the lockdown is complete. ANZBAL

You Searched For "Sanjay Parthasarathy" and got 4 results

Engaging in crazy hobbies help come up with creative solutions at work

BI India Bureau

Satya Nadella, GMR group bag rights for a team in US' T20 franchise Major League Cricket

IANS

When Satya Nadella first started at Microsoft, he flew to Chicago every weekend to finish his MBA

Matt Weinberger

PM, FM, industry welcome RBI 'bazooka' of interest rate cut, liquidity measures

PTI