Leadership

Dilemma of Being Ethical

2021-04-28T20:02:00.001+05:30

Dilemma of Being Ethical

Have you ever been in a situation in your life where you feel like giving up on your moral standards or code of conduct that you live your life on? Did you ever felt that acting virtuously all the time has no significant imperative? Or dealing with circumstances where your plausible mind tells you that its to your best interest if you deviate from your ethical considerations? If you answer Yes to any of the above questions, then I want you to know that its perfectly normal and I should argue even justifiable to think on that account. Really? Yes, but the implications of these decisions might be sometimes fatal.

Fatal in terms of physiological, mental & psychological functioning of your body. You might be wondering: What else could be fatal in losing moral convictions other than just having dysfunctional trust in relationships which is the glue that binds them together? Well, there’s another aspect to that which is much more deeper than just trust of others. It’s more about losing trust in yourself. It has been evident by many studies that people who had strong convictions about their moral code of conduct had a lot more self-esteem and a sense of significance than those who tried to defy their conscience on a regular basis.

Part of which I am advocating is from my own personal experience & mostly from the experiences of people that I have read about or listened to. Even a decent or harmless act may seem insignificant at first, but when you fail to listen to your conscience and take the decision against it, then it’s the beginning of all the psychological trauma that ends up in community sin. And most people fail to understand or comprehend (rightly) this simple ideological fact that they don’t live with a group or any Individual, but they live with their conscience.

An important observation that I have had in my rather short life is that when you live right with alignment in your conscience, you have a good memory. Because when you think that you can defy your conscience, you can get away with it. But it’s a fabrication put on by people who have failed to do so and intend to force it on you to justify and dignify their course of action. Because your conscience always advocates for you when you act justly or not. Therefore, its rather more important to stick to your ethical imperative than to fool around with them. Share your thoughts on how listening to conscience is of vital importance!

The State of Flow

2021-03-21T20:37:00.006+05:30

The State of Flow

A question to you: How do you feel when you are doing something which you don’t love to do? How would you describe that state? That ebb and flow of frustration, discontent, anguish and perhaps even fear of not doing something significant is something that we all have encountered and witnessed several times. But that frustration turns into excitement when you are setting yourself up to do something that you thoroughly enjoy doing. Think of that state where every moment passes by without you being consciously aware of it and you being helpless to not let it be, only realizing it at the end of it all. That’s what is known as the ‘State of Flow’.

State of Flow is when you are whole heartedly connected with the task in hand considering even the disturbances of the outer world seemingly occurring just to distract you. But at that time, you are so much in togetherness with the work you are doing that all those disturbances seem to be of trivial importance to you. This state of flow is the reason for contentment and happiness of mortals who do what they are supposed to do, even iteratively. Happiness, like Success as they say, is not a pursuit but its presence is in the present. And to experience it, one must be able to find ‘flow’ in what they do. Some people even after working on certain skill sets for several years live a fulfilling life, however iterative that task may be. Why is that? Well, one of the reasons is that they enter into that state of flow whenever they set out on that task.

The Paradox of Work Life

· Lack of a clear direction:

Most people are living a life filled with almost every luxury that a man could think or possibly imagine but are still not fulfilled and find no meaning in what they do. This is possibly due to the fact that they had no sense of purpose for their life. And this what Logo therapy deals with. It looks into the future giving you a sense of hope and destiny that ignites the deepest desire of your heart to do something meaningful and significant. To learn, unlearn and then to relearn in ways never tested before and persevering through daunting situations making it the true essence of life. And it is in this continuous process of breaking up your bones and then standing up firm again that gives you that state of flow where despite the circumstances, you say to yourself, “It doesn’t matter anymore, bring it on!”

· Engagement in Multi-tasking:

With the advent of technology and scientific advancement, it has become normal for the younger generation (specifically) to drain themselves up with many activities all at once. It’s quite subtle and the effects of multi-tasking are detrimental. Many studies have been conducted over the years revealing that people who multi-tasked were far less productive than those who focused on the task at hand. Multi-tasking may seem to be a time saver but instead, it sucks up even more time and energy than if you were to focus on a single task. So Multi-tasking is a big detour to reaching the state of flow.

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The State of Flow

And as someone said, “Energy flows where attention goes”. So, you don’t want your energy to flow in different directions where it ends up being wasted. Make sure that you are focusing on that one BIG Thing and align your energies in that direction to be in a state of flow.

· Focus on being a Jack:

The post-modern society has played a massive role in advancing the belief system that a man or woman needs to be good at many things. So they have developed this idea of being a Jack of all trades. They want you to be a jack of all (or many) trades but don’t tell you to master something specifically. The average person is too concerned about being good at many things that they don’t have the luxury to spend their time on thinking about something which they could master and become the best at it. Whenever you master some trade in life, you always feel this state of feel. Even the top notch athletes have agreed upon this at some point in their life where they were at the top of their game. You might have heard they say about their exceptional performance as being normal or natural for them. It’s because they have become so good at it that it feels like another game or regular performance for them.

There is a Ladakh Leh highway signboard which signifies the true essence of state of flow. It reads, “ What is a lifetime adventure for you is a daily routine for us”.

The State of Flow

When you do something long enough, you become a master of it and reach that state of flow. You begin to enjoy every moment of doing that thing. You certainly would have done something in your life that you didn’t wanted to do it before because of your dislike for it but once you started doing it, you started enjoying it and then time just passes away quickly and you start enjoying it. That is the State of Flow.

Leadership Without Authority

2021-03-12T19:36:00.005+05:30

Leadership Without Authority

Much of today’s leadership thought revolves around the aspect of using the position provided by the organization to exercise authority over the team members or on followers to persuade them into doing what’s best for the organization. While that may prove helpful in some cases where the environment is too casual in the organization but it’s not quite promising to expect best results from Authoritarian leadership style. It’s not authority that drives and motivates people to achieve a desired task but the influence that the leader creates in the long run. Influence is a key element in any successful leadership strategy when executed in the right way. And influence is not generally manifested until & unless a leader stands their ground on the following three criteria:

1. Authenticity:

A leader needs to be precise in what they want from the followers. They need to have a clear purpose & a vision. They etymology of the word ‘authentic; can be traced back to the Greek word ‘authento’ which means to ‘have full power’. This reflects that when the word ‘authentic’ is attached with a leader, he or she is a master in his or her own domain and areas of competence. And it is this mastery in their domain which produces influence. To put this into perspective, we can consider an early reference to authentic functioning in Socrates view of self-enquiry as he argued that an ‘unexamined life’ is not worth living. So a leader constantly needs to pursue knowing themselves and refining their skills to become a master of their domain or areas of competence.

2. Integrity:

Integrity is arguably the most important component in your leadership journey if you want to make an impact on people despite your position or authority. To be an Integrated leader means to be completely aligned with your beliefs, values and convictions. It means that you won’t compromise on your moral values & ethical considerations despite of what circumstances you are facing at any moment of your personal or professional life.

The ethical part of leadership has been sharply questioned particularly by leaders who failed to live by some intact principles & standards. So, is it worth for a leader to remain ethical? Or can they just preach and not practice it? The answer is an absolute YES! Because leadership is an act which involves the trust of the followers. And in any given scenario, if you violate that basic entity which is the very foundation of a stable relationship between a leader & a follower, you have just uprooted yourself from being an Influential leader to merely an authoritative leader.

Great leaders of the history like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and many others showed an exemplary character which formed the foundation of their leadership abilities. They had this unique quality of leading the masses with their influence produced by their integrity to their convictions which separated them by a distance from leaders who had authority but no influence because of the fact that they failed to live by some intact moral principles & ethical boundaries. And to prevent that from happening, you must share your values with your team members so that it gets deeply ingrained in their mind and become a culture of the organization.

4. Share your values: This is generally one of the best practices that a leader must inculcate in order to stay ethically sound. Although this part comes in the transformational leadership also, but mainly it is based on the idea of creating an environment or culture within the organization where the followers, managers & the leaders have same belief patters & value system.

The core values are an integral part of sustaining and thriving an organization. And that’s the reason why core values must be assimilated by the leaders beginning from day one. And then shared with the followers. As the Roman philosophy goes, “if you can make a large group of people believe in something, you are actually creating a culture’. And if the culture in your organization is based on its core values, there is no better alternative than that. The inputs that you feed into your people, they return it in the form of their performance and help in thriving the organization and sustaining it in times of crisis because of the trust that has been established.

Put People First:

This is the point where Servant leadership comes into play. A Servant leader is one whose motivation is to meet the needs of his/her team members so that they could work without considering any ramifications, worries or poignancies of their professional or personal life

Authoritarian leadership does not necessarily guarantee the successful implementation of the ideas or the strategy of the leader. It is only when the leader leads with his own example that the team or the staff members can act on leaders mandate. When a leader leads by example, it can bring about both organizational change and also employee engagement. And since Employee engagement is directly linked with the organizational change, therefore, it is necessary for a leader to focus more on themselves and how they want to present themselves in front of people they lead. They need to carefully analyze themselves and regularly ask questions such as: What kind of qualities do I need my people to incorporate in themselves and do I have those qualities in me? Or What kind of a leader would I like to follow and then improve yourself to become that Ideal leader whom you would like to follow.

If the leader can release the abilities of the employees by having a healthy relationship with them and providing them more & more opportunities for growth, then the employees are automatically going to lead the organizational change even in the absence of authority and work collaboratively to thrive the organization.

A Servant leader completely transforms an organization which results in the establishment of trust within team members and effective management & allocation of resources in favor of the organization.

Beyond Good & Evil

2021-02-24T20:08:00.005+05:30

Beyond Good & Evil

The ideation of identifying what is good & evil has been consistently pertinent in the history of human existence. Reflecting and thinking on this aspect certainly helps one to channelize their thoughts in the sense of prioritizing things which are important to them, not just desirable, more tangible than the ideas that comforts them. And it sometimes becomes almost obsolete to think of the way you are passing through life mostly because of the busyness yet un-effective routine and partly because its part of the societal norm. The norm is to do what everybody else is doing even though it may have undesirable consequences & may not even make any sense at all. But due to its prevalence, its accepted as the generalized way of living however asinine that may seem upon careful consideration & observation. The evanescent nature of emotional trauma, suffering or even joy although seems to be very much rife but still its overlooked when it comes to using the same knowledge pragmatically.

Historically speaking, the view has not changed much even when compared the intention and the consequences that people of different ages & experiences go through. Even though, technological & scientific advancement is certainly considered the trigger for modernization but the principles that are required for a good life still stand a common ground. They are as old as the mountains as Gandhi would say. Its necessary to accept the vulnerabilities & loopholes and then make mind maps seeking relevant and consistent information from the past that makes it arguably efficient in determining the advancement of one’s life.

Apart from the uncertainty that lingers in the contemporary world, it is however explicitly possible to have predictability ‘cause of the consequences making much of what we know certain to a high degree even though not knowing what is necessary for us to know makes us vulnerable to threats. It’s not just acting on what we know that makes it good or evil but also the knowledge of that measure of good & evil for Adam & Eve ate of the tree of good & evil. Many argue and make the tree, the subject of discourse, its not the tree which makes this event important but the knowledge gained from the disobedience which made them know and distinguish in good and evil and consequently to act on it. So the argument is that even though what we say good or evil still was in existence but it was not triggered or came into applicability until they came to know about it.

For according to Shakespeare, “There is nothing good or bad, but our thinking makes it so.” It is the knowledge of good & evil but what is already known. The analogy is simple: You cannot act on what you don’t k now. So, you can’t know whether what you act upon is good or evil or based on truth or on ignorance unless there is a frame of reference set to identify it. And the likes of Freidrick Nietzsche have had plethora or discourse on this discipline criticizing the philosophies of many philosophers in his Beyond Good and Evil which reflects this ideation in a better way as to how it may be impossible to know what is truth or even ignorance, light or darkness, love or hatred without the establishment of a measure which standardizes what we value out of any given scenario.

Qualities to Look for In a Leader

2021-02-17T16:26:00.008+05:30

Qualities to Look for In a Leader

What are the qualities that you must look deep into a leader that separates him/her from the followers? What are the remarkable qualities an individual inculcate in themselves to take their organization to completely new heights? The following are six of the most important qualities that an irrepressible leader has who brings meaning to life and help their people become more effective and better performers in their areas of competence:

1. A Leader is a Problem Solver:

Most of us generally remember the people who either cause problems or solve them without a sweat. Every organization has to deal with many new problems every single day and the job of a leader is to address and uproot those problems which are a pest to the organization’s growth. And great leaders always love the challenges because it gives them an opportunity to harness and showcase their abilities. If a leader is not solving problems, then what is he getting paid for?

A leader must also be open-minded in order to bring quality to solution of the challenges that the organization faces. Most of the times, it happens that the things are not the way they first appear. Therefore, its necessary for the leader to think outside the box to look at the problem from a different perspective.

2. A Leader is always Authentic:

The word “Authentic” means to be genuine, real veritable, in sharing the sense fo actuality & lack of falsehood or misrepresentation. Many leaders fall into the temptation of copying others leadership styles and behaving the way other great leaders behave in a particular situation and eventually there comes a point where they lose their true identity. Its important for a leader to always learn form others but be themselves. Because Authenticity always breeds courage. If you are an authentic leader and always true to yourself, you will always be confident because you are not giving any other person the privilege to question your integrity.

3. A Leader is a Servant ( really!):

Robert Greenleaf is credited with coining the term “servant leadership” in modern times. Servant leadership focuses more than just the aspect of solving complex problems & coming forward with a solution. It demands from a leader to serve rather than to manage people whether serving customers, employees, investors or stakeholders. The emphasis of a ‘Servant Leader’ must be to empower those whom he lead. A servant leader completely transforms an organization which results in the establishment of trust within the team members which leads to an effective management and allocation of resources. While the leader takes complete responsibility and management of the task, they provide their people to make decisions on their behalf which empowers them to achieve the goals with a greater level of motivation.

4. A Leader takes over in times of Crisis:

The team is as good as the leader that leads it. People always look at how the leaders react to a particular situation and therefore leaders must commit to standards to ensure he sets the right example for his team. A leader must always Motivate people to get through not from organizational crisis but also personal crisis so that they maintain a commitment to company’s success. A leader must be willing to share and delegate responsibilities while maintaining understanding & analyzing the efforts of other team members. Great leaders always look at the hard and turbulent times in a unique way. They do not perceive crisis as a blockage to their leadership vision but seek it as an opportunity to strengthen themselves and the organization through the weaknesses that the crisis reveals to them.

5. A Leader is an Influencer:

Leadership is an act of influence. The very moment somebody’s thoughts, ideas or actions starts to influence our life in some way or the other, they are leading us. And thereof, we are always lead by somebody whether we are aware of it or not. You don’t necessarily have to be in a high-profile position to become a leader with influence. In fact, you can have influence on the people right where you are. Everything you do in your personal and professional life impacts and influences others. Influence is the key to unlocking closed doors and sign of a successful leader.

6. A Leader asks Good questions:

One of the most important quality of a good leader is to ask good questions. In his book, “Good leaders ask great questions” John C. Maxwell explains the importance of good questioning for a leader whether they are newly emerging or quite experienced in their field. Good questions gives new perception to the old ideologies. Great leaders are life-long learners. They never stop learning. And therefore, they first focus on themselves rather than to try to change others. IBM founder Thomas J. Watson said, “ The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the answer.” But that’s only true if you are willing to ask the question. So, a leader always asks the right question.

Developing Your Own Leadership Style

2021-02-15T20:02:00.006+05:30

Developing Your Leadership Style

Since organizational change has been topical in recent history, there is much researching surrounding the factors necessary to successfully execute organizational change. One of the primary focal areas in research within the content theme is the importance of a suitable leadership style as a key driver for successful organizational change. And this is one of the most important areas where a leader needs to focus to create and design the organizational change and the culture of the organization.

There are various styles of leading an organization and a common thread that can be observed across all styles is that whilst each has a domain to which it is well suited, none of them are suited to leading the organizational change. This is because organizational change requires leadership which can take the organization from a certain status quo to a new, different status quo – the very nature of this process is to put down, with leadership making employees believe in the long- term vision and tolerate the temporary discomfort. The position is further justified when taking into consideration that there is no theory which juxtaposes these styles of leadership with organizational change.

The major leadership styles which most leaders practice are as follows:

· Authoritarian leadership

· Laissez faire leadership

· Servant leadership

· Democratic leadership

The above mentioned leadership styles cannot necessarily fit in with every leader because:

· In authoritarian leadership, we find that employees are disengaged & disempowered under normal circumstances or situations demanding less attention.

· In Laissez faire leadership, the hands – off approach would likely mean that the change in the organization would come as a surprise to the group making them suspicious of the move & more likely to reject the proposed changes.

· In Servant leadership, the leaders would be averse to change given the negative impact that it has on employee engagement.

· In case of Democratic leadership, the inability to make decisions quickly renders this leadership style inadequate for situations requiring change.

DEVELOP YOUR OWN LEADERSHIP STYLE

Leadership is about answering the question why as well as what. A manager may tell you what to do in a specific way, but a leader will explain or convey to you why as a first and important step on the road to your free & willing cooperation which is the hallmark of all true leadership. You can develop your own unique leadership style as follows:

· Planning: Planning means building a mental bridge from where you are now to where you want to be when you have achieved the objective or task. From the leadership perspective, the key issue is how far you should share the planning function with your team. You should know what you are doing and how you are going to do it before starting the actual execution.

Power of Planning

· Know your strengths & weaknesses: It’s important for you as a leader, to do a litmus test of your strengths and also the weaknesses. What are the areas that you are good at? What are the things that you can do better than anybody else in the world? And look for opportunities to where you can make use of your strengths to get to your desired results.

Also, don’t shy away from monitoring your weaknesses to yourself. Look for the potential weaknesses in your personal and professional life and fill the holes to become a better version of yourself.

· Identify your Inspiration: When it comes to the dynamics of leadership like communication skills and the ability to exert influence over people, it is best to identify an inspiration for yourself. That inspiration might come from a prominent personality, your family, your associates or even from your friends. Look for different patterns in the behavior and communication of the people around you and try to learn from each of them. Sometimes, a leader does not identify their leadership style because they never go look out for someone whom they admire the most. So, look out for people who influence or inspire you and take hint from their leadership styles.

· Know Thyself: This is probably the most important aspect of discovering your leadership style. ‘Know Thyself” is a Greek concept of knowing yourself first before trying to know other things. Socrates in Plato’s ‘Philebus’ dialogue argues the point that people look absurd when they try to know obscure things before knowing themselves. If you really want to develop a unique and original leadership style, you must first be able to get along with yourself. Most leaders keep themselves so much busy that they do not even have the time to just sit with themselves alone. To balance powerful & attractive styles of leadership, you must desire to know yourself. Look inside yourself, spend some time with yourself on a daily basis, understand what you want from your people and the organization, understand your objectives and what you want to accomplish.

CONCLUSION

From the above discussion, we conclude that there are four major leadership styles which are powerful and impact followers which are namely: Authoritarian leadership, Laissez faire leadership, Servant leadership, Democratic leadership.

To develop your own unique leadership style, you must:

· Plan — so that you can understand your objectives and bridge the gaps between your starting point and your current position.

· Know your strengths and weaknesses — so that you can know the areas which needs improvement.

· Identify your Inspiration —to learn from them to lead more effectively.

· Know Thyself — so that you don’t fall in any kind of dilemmas whilst your leadership journey.

Powerful Leadership Styles

2021-02-11T20:00:00.006+05:30

Powerful Leadership Styles

While there have been plethora of theories over the past decades concerning the leadership styles and the patterns that impact and influences the followers and the organizations, still many leaders find it difficult to hone their leadership skills. This is due to many contradictions that arise between the leaders having different leadership styles. And some are even perplexed to decide which road to take.

However, a leader must always bear in mind that even though styles of leading an organization and manifesting the desired change might be different but the end is the same. And that is to reach to your objective, purpose or goals. A leadership style which is unique acts as a catalyst to your influence on the followers.

A leadership style can bring about two kinds of changes namely:

· Organizational Change

· Employee Engagement

Since Employee Engagement is directly linked with the organizational change, therefore, it is necessary for a leader to focus on people more than on the organization. If the leader can release the abilities of the employees by having a healthy relationship with them and providing them more & more opportunities for growth. Then the employees are automatically going to lead the organizational change. And therefore, employee engagement with its consequent impact on employee productivity is one of the key drivers of organizational performance; and organizational change often in turn have a significant impact on employee engagement.

The following are the different styles of leadership that a leader is given or sometimes inculcated by themselves. But before that, it should be kept in mind that no one style of leadership is universally applicable. Each of them has its own positives and drawbacks. A leader must choose his/her own leadership style depending upon the time of execution of a particular task.

1. Authoritarian Leadership: This type of leadership style is also referred to as the autocratic form of leadership. In this style of leadership, the leader is the head of the organization and takes control of all the decisions and dictates processes & tasks to the organization. Leaders with authority make decisions on the basis of their own judgment and ideas. They rarely accept the advice of their subordinates.

Powerful Leadership Styles

It’s a style In which a leader seeks complete control over a group or a task in hand. The following are the traits that can be observed in authoritarian leadership:

· Little input is taken from subordinates.

· Followers do not have a sense of significance with such leaders because of their rare engagement in the decision making process.

· Leaders with this style have an aim to just get the job done and hence, there is no growth environment or empowerment enablers in that organization.

· Relying on Authoritarian leadership over the long-term is generally not beneficial for the organization.

2. Laissez Faire Leadership: This type of leadership style is completely opposite to the authoritarian leadership. Unlike an authoritarian leader, a Laissez faire leader provides complete freedom for the people to work and to make their own decisions such a leader provides little to no input to the people.

While the leader takes complete responsibility and management of the task, they provide their people to make decisions on their behalf which empowers them to achieve the goals with a greater level of motivation.

Leaders with this style simply acts as an incubator for the growth of their employees which ends up in the growth of the organization. Therefore, success of the company is solely dependent on the performance of the employees which is dependent on freedom that the leader offers.

The only disadvantage of Laissez Faire leadership is that leaving the employee with very little guidance makes them much more vulnerable to mistakes and there is also an uncertainty regarding the completion of the task.

3. Servant Leadership: A servant leader is the one whose motivation is to meet the needs of his/her team members so that they could work without any ramifications or worries about their finances or other day to day activities.

A servant leader completely transforms an organizations which results in the establishment of trust within the team members which leads to an effective management and allocation of resources.

4. Democratic Leadership: As the name suggests, it is a type of leadership where the process of decision making, sharing of views and opinions is valued. The benefit of this style is that it facilitates open discussion and the sharing of views and opinions thereby increasing the potential of the innovators and the organization.

This style of leadership is beneficial for many leaders as it provides a balance which is required for successful implementation. The decision making may not be so quick in this style, but the decision made in the end are much rational and produce more growth.

CONCLUSION

From the above discussion, we came to know about the various leadership styles that a leladers can exercise in their organization to accomplish the desired goals.

· Authoritative leadership: This leadership style is totally based on the position aspect and does not promote employee engagement & growth.

· Laissez Faire Leadership: A leader with this style provides little input& encourage employee freedom.

· Servant Leadership: A servant leader is concerned about the needs of the people to create a healthy working environment

· Democratic Leadership: Decisions are made keeping the opinions and views of the members equally important as that of the leader.

The Art of Delegation

2021-02-10T20:05:00.001+05:30

The Art of Delegation

As a leader, we sometimes find that our days are long and hectic and that we often risk being derailed by unexpected developments that demand our attention. And in these kinds of scenarios, delegation is the best time-saving method in the long run. The ability to delegate is an essential skill for leaders that enhances their leadership skills and develops teamwork that lets individuals with different set of talents, roles & responsibilities to come together. If executed properly, delegation empowers the team to work collaboratively and create trust but if done poorly, creates distrust among the people. So, nearly all leaders agree that delegation is useful for them.

The question that tickles in a layman’s mind is that if delegation is useful, why don’t some leaders practice it? One reason for lack of delegation is the leaders hesitancy to give up control while being held accountable for the outcome. The leader may fear that the staff member lacks the knowledge and experience to complete a delegated task and consequently, it will not be done well. Or a leader may feel that doing a job differently means it is not done well.

And some leaders even hesitate to delegate because it threatens their power structure. Insecure leaders may believe that they will be perceived as less important or less capable than their subordinates who may prove more capable than them. Many leaders also do not realize what should be delegated and what not. And the unfamiliarity with the task in hand may leave the leader in a position where he will be too cautious about the delegation of that particular task. However, apart the restriction or things that refrain leaders from delegation, it is equally important for them to understand the importance and the need of delegation to produce more effective results.

· Effective delegation benefits the leader, the staff and the organization. Effective delegation demands feedback from the employee, and when there is more feedback, it will strengthen the decision-making ability of the leader. A key benefit of delegation is that the quantity & quality of work is improved even In the absence of leader.

· Delegation can act as a powerful motivator for team members. It can develop their decision making abilities which will contribute to more creative problem solving in the organization. It also results in improved self-esteem & morale of the staff and the team members have a more positive attitude and commitment to the organization.

· Delegation decreases the gap between the administration and staff members. Because delegation brings down the important decision closer to the frontline and the team members participate in it more and more which helps in creating a healthier work environment & positive image of the organization.

How to Delegate Effectively?

1. Set Objectives: To be effective in an organization, a leader needs to now their particular objectives- so that they know where they are heading. An effective objective is SMART. It stands for:

· Specific— stating exactly what needs to be achieved.

· Measurable— so that you can tell when the task has been done properly.

· Achievable—the objective has to be realistic within a certain time frame with the availability of the required resources.

· Relevant—which must be fitting in line with those who has the role to achieve the objective and also to the wider objectives of the organization.

· Time-bound—it is important to give some guidance about deadlines and time frames to achieve the objectives.

2. Monitoring the delegated task: By monitoring the delegated task, you will be able to see the potential problems at an early stage and you can guide your team members to make the necessary changes. It’s important also not to over-delegate the task on team members . Bear in mind how the team members are likely to respond to it if you show some confidence in their abilities and keep intervening in the job.

You can have informal discussion with the staff to get much better insights in the delegated task. If you uncover a potential problem while monitoring the delegated task, be tactful in pointing it out to the team member. Bear in mind that you do not have to criticize them in case they make some mistakes, your motive is to support them and help them become better.

3. Review the delegated task: Although you may review progress when the task is underway, it is also important to review it when its completed. It is an important time after the completion of task to consider its success with your team members so as to learn from the experience and to plan improvements for the future.

When reviewing a delegated task, it is best to let your team members get the praise for work successfully done, but to accept the blame yourself when things have gone wrong. As Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam once said, “ When failure comes, a great leader absorbs the failure, but when success comes, he gives it to his team members.”

CONCLUSION

Delegation is both an art and a science. The basic principles behind delegation as mentioned in the above discussion are as follows:

· Set Objectives; Define your objectives in accordance with the SMART. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound goals or objectives which a leader needs to decide while delegating a task to the staff or team members.

· Monitor the delegated task: Check the progress of the team by regular visitation or informal conversation.

· Review the delegated task: Check for areas of improvement and potential threats.

P.I.E Leadership

2021-02-07T19:31:00.001+05:30

P.I.E Leadership

There are some basic elements which an individual or a leader require and must cultivate in themselves to move up the ladder of their career success. These principles are woven into every job category, into every management decision, into every high stake conversation, into every advancement opportunity in which promotions are key contributing factor. These three-basic elements in the language of business are Performance, Image & Exposure (P.I.E). But the predicament is that most leaders are not aware of these three key factors contributing to their growth resulting in average results even with high input. Each of the three P.I.E elements are essential to promotion but have different roles & weights relative t their impact on long-term success. These elements are not only important in your career success but also helps you to harness your abilities & become a much better leader. So, let’s dig a little deeper and take a closer look at each of these elements:

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1. Performance (10%): Performance forms a key role in the P.I.E formula for career success because the first thing that an organization considers from analyzing your portfolio is how well you have performed and whether you are consistent with your previous track record or not. Although the weight of performance In career promotion is only 10% but still it’s the minimum qualification that you must have to appear for the real test. The first key to enhancing your organizational performance is to understand what does real performance means for your manager or boss? That might be different when weighed from his perspective. So, determine your managers key measurement and then link your duties to these measurements.

P.I.E Leadership

Be specific in your mind regarding what you need to accomplish to earn an outstanding ranking. Assign the amount of time to each task and manage it effectively by giving time to goals of more importance. This sounds simple but if you set your objectives right and specify them according to the ultimate goal, then your performance curve will increase exponentially. It’s important, however, to keep asking yourself some key questions about your finished work like: Is this the best that I could have done? And if not, then how can I make it my best work? Because the work you do must leave a positive message on your boss looking at which he might be able to tell that you are reliable, ambitious, creative thinker, productive, well-organized, striving to do your best & improving on every single opportunity you get to do something creative.

2. Image (30%): As they say, “You might not get a second chance to make a good first impression, so you might as well give it your best in the very first opportunity you get”. What other people in your organization think about you contributes a lot to your personal growth in that organization. When it comes to ‘Image’, most people confuse it with the word ‘reputation’. It is important to consider that your reputation is merely what you show others who you are. But your character is really judged by what they say and think about you in your absence. Most leaders never consider this aspect of ‘Image’ In their personal character and focus just on improving their skills & abilities which surely leads to a handsome performance but a poor Image.

P.I.E Leadership

Image includes many areas of personal expression, the way you talk, the way you walk, your pleasant or foul demeanor. An individual or a leader must take a look at these aspects periodically & see if they are aligned with these checkpoints or not. Dale Carnegie in his book “How to win friends & Influence people” tells that many great leaders like Abraham Lincoln contribute a lot of their success to how they treated other people. It normally may take 25 years to build an Image but 25 seconds to ruin it with a little act of misconduct. If you are a leader who is serious about building on high growth levels then you need to soberly & conscientiously think on how you communicate with others, dress yourself, talk and how you treat your colleagues, seniors and most importantly your subordinates for they make a whole lot of your Image as a leader.

P.I.E Leadership

3. Exposure (60%): As you can see, exposure is the element of P.I.E formula that has the greatest impact on your career. This is the area of the game where all of our choices are played and experienced. These experiences allow you to evaluate whether you are content at your current level or to decide to make choices that you need to make to change your current level. Therefore, it is extremely important to gain, maintain and enhance your personal visibility & exposure in the organization. To get the maximum exposure inside your organization, you must visibly demonstrate a team player spirit, be willing to learn new skills and experience different situations. It is natural for people t bond together with people that they already know, but it is of equal importance to get yoked up with people outside the organization who may have potential connections with your organization. If you need your leadership potential be developed 100% & also progress on your career ladder at the same time, you need to reflect on P.I.E formula and expose yourself more to new people, experiences & learn more from them because that is how people will know you more and reap the benefits of exposure.

Reflect on your WHY

2021-01-30T20:04:00.004+05:30

Reflect on your WHY

One thing that has become certain with the advent of modernization & technology is that the pace of life has increased to a considerable extent in terms of how people spend their time. And the results are chaos and uncertainty which is pretty much ubiquitous in the contemporary world. In the midst of all this, people have less time to reflect on their WHY. They keep searching for ways to get the most out of new opportunities, set new goals, collaborate with people to start startups & some hope for a turnaround to take place. While all these are good but if they do not look at the broader objective for manifesting their ideas, there will certainly be ramifications that cannot be avoided.

So the analogy is that if you take actions with a certain motive behind it intelligible in your mind then the probability of reaping the benefits from that action are higher than if you do it without any intangible plan. Therefore, its necessary for us to periodically keep reflecting on the ultimate purpose of our lives to get a crystal clear perspective on decisions that we make. The trick is to know when you are just busy and times where you are actually progressing towards your higher purpose.

The predicament is that most people are busy and not productive. They keep going to the same place where they receive no value addition in themselves as a person and then die working hard all their life but never ever tried to fulfill their purpose. And the reason is pretty simple: They did not reflected on their WHY. Sometimes we consume all our time in activities that make no sense at all and at the end of all that play, we realize that we have no more time to battle with the real thing (which is your purpose).

Reflect on your WHY

People get too much excited about festivals and events that they consider to be special but I wonder that they never consider every day as equally important as the others. They get excited about the new year, but never soberly & conscientiously ponder over what they did with the year that just passed by? But when you live your life in moving towards your ultimate purpose then each day in your life becomes important. It’s your purpose that not only makes you sit for late hours in the night but also wakes you up early in the morning. When you are learning something each day to get closer to your destiny, you experience true joy. It is that relentless pursuit of your vision that brings importance to each day of your life. When you are progressing towards your end (purpose), you say to yourself everyday, “This is the most important day of my life and I am going to live it like that!”. When you are sensible concerning your destiny, you choose who you associate with and the quality of your time that you use or to the worst squander. You choose it!

Reflect on your WHY

Generally, whenever a terrible act like suicide happens, the person usually leaves a note before they kill themselves. And the note usually says, “I had no reason for living!”. Probably they never had a strong WHY for living. Therefore, its vital to spend sometime every year, every month, every week and every day with yourself and ask a question to yourself: Am I still aligned with my WHY? Or do I need to adjust a little bit? Remember, your WHY is what gives your life its meaning. It gives you hope because as they say, “If you have a WHY, then you can bear almost ANYHOW!”. Share your perspective!

Reflect on your WHY

Leading with Influence

2021-01-29T19:19:00.000+05:30

Leading With Influence

1. Authenticity:

2. Integrity:

3. Put People First:

A Servant leader completely transforms an organization which results in the establishment of trust within team members and effective management & allocation of resources in favor of the organization.

Leadership-Build More Leaders

2021-01-16T14:47:00.002+05:30

Leadership-Build More Leaders

The purpose of true leadership is not to maintain followers but to produce leaders. The above line sums up the whole purpose of leadership. You cannot convince me that you are a leader and say that you do not have a plan for your succession. Coaching & Mentoring are an integral part of your success as a leader. Your responsibility as a leader is to produce people better than you. Coaching & Mentoring practices focus on self-development. And coaches and mentors, too, are expected to be in a perpetual state of learning.

· Put people first: When you decide to build people, your objective must also be to put people first. Shortsighted leadership focuses primarily on the bottom line. It’s not that the profits are not important—they are. But when they become the primary focus of a leader, then it inevitable results in self-interest and not in the interest of the team or the organization.

Sometimes, it may even cost you with some of your resources in developing people but it’s fine as long as you have made a decision to compromise on your bottom line in order to build effective leaders.

· Character: Most leaders place their value on the vision of the organization and sometimes even ignore the role of a strong and genuine character in their personal life. Character is however, more fundamental and essential to accomplishing your organizational vision. Character affects how we interact with people around us. It influences to a high extent the kind of people we choose to surround ourselves with.

George Washington is reported to have said, “Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.’ Why is this important? Because your character is who you are. And if you don’t have a reputable character as a leader, you cannot expect others to follow you and help them become better leaders. For that to happen, you need to have a good, genuine and noble character.

· Accountability & Trust: A leader must be accountable to a higher authority other than himself. He or she must submit to that authority without any terms or conditions in any situation. And this accountability is the prerequisite to building trust.

When you are accountable to yourself, to the people you lead and a higher authority, then people eventually place trust in you. Trust is a natural product of being accountable. If your desire is to build leaders, you need to be a good and reputable leaders yourself first and build the trust among your followers to transform them into leaders.

· Leadership Attributes: Leaders attributes are an obvious quality to a leader who is looking to build or mentor leaders. Leadership attributes include demonstrating courage; keeping others focused on the organization’s vision & mission; exercising faith, and always willing to examine and change paradigms. True leadership often comes on to the frontline when it’s necessary to hold up some decision even when others disagree.

· Influence & Impact: Mentor leaders look for opportunities in life to make an impact, because these opportunities to make difference in the lives of others will always be present. When you are a leader, you already have the positional advantage to influence others. Too often I hear people say that they will make a difference—later. They have a belief that they can change things once they have more time or once they have accomplished more. And therefore, they have a mentality that mentoring & coaching is only for experienced people. Don’t let your age – either young or old or your experience, or the call of success get in the way of your mission to touch the world for good. As a leader, you are obligated to help your people and make them better leaders for tomorrow. But you need to start somewhere. Just start and try to learn from other leadership models that produced great results.

· Lead with example: What could be the best way to develop leaders other than letting them follow on your own footsteps? There are mainly two kinds of leaders. One who say things, but do not really practice the same in their own life. Then there are those who live the words they speak. I don’t need to ask you which of the two will have more influence on you? Obviously, the former kind of leader will have influence but that influence will be short lived. The simple truth behind that is : you are known for your Actions & not just for your words.

Mentor leaders are known by their legacy. If you want to build leaders who will be known for their commitment to the beliefs and values of the organization, you too must have to live your life In a way which reflects the same. For that, examine yourself and ask yourself: Am I consistent with my words? Am I consistent with my actions? Am I consistent with my beliefs, values and standards? When you are consistent with the above traits, people will follow you and work on the principles that you live on and become much better leaders.

Choose the Right People!

2021-01-15T14:49:00.002+05:30

Choose the Right People!

One of the significant factors that contributes to high performance of a business portfolio, athletes, artists, or any other field for that matter, is the impact of the people that they surround themselves with. There are tons of people who are exceptionally talented with unique gifts but they never are able to release them because they arose from a part of the society where their talents were not appreciated or realized to even exist. Just think about it for a moment, if a particular environment or section of society doesn’t value some specific things, you naturally won’t be rewarded for your accomplishments however great they may be. But if you release your gifts to a place where people genuinely value your contribution because they need it, they would naturally reward you following the laws of economics.

Consider a colony who is fed and completely dependent on its ruling kingdom. The subjects living in that colony are oppressed by the rulers, but if collaboration of people results into a movement that liberates the subjects from the oppressive policies of the government, then you would be convinced that the people will value that movement or that people who collaborate to solve the issue. Now, if the same group of people advance in a democratic civilization, they wouldn’t be valued and exactly rewarded as they were in the former scenario.

In other words, even though you are carrying something which is valuable and can help people relive some kind of problems, still it does not guarantee that they will completely receive it. Because it also depends on the needs of the person at the receiving end. You might even end up squandering your valuable time, energy & put it into action to build something but if the receiver doesn’t demand or value it then your effort or time has no value at all!

The whole point of the above discussion is that you might have been with people all those years who told you, “You are nothing”, or “You can’t do this” or “You will never amount to something: and some of you might have even got discouraged and frustrated by these people’s remarks but still continued to associate with them or used most of your time to get their attention. But you need to understand from the above concept that not everyone can truly embrace or understand your worth. So, if you keep associating with such kind of people, even though you may not feel it but you slowly tend to lose trust in yourself that is your Self-Confidence. And the less you trust yourself, the more you will be persuaded and even coerced by other people.

Its also been seen that in case of professional athletes, the performance of an athlete changes dramatically when they get a spouse or make a friend. And most of the part on his/her coach. Yeah, we all know that stuff. But the major difference arises how the coach treats an athlete. Some coaches keep pointing out the mistakes without even bothering to suggest corrective measures. And this behavior arises partly because some coaches may consider the player overconfident or boastful and some of the coaches inculcate this behavior to feed their own ego. A good coach however, would not abstain from reflecting the mistakes but also facilitate correction and tries to understand the player’s uniqueness. And that is what makes all the difference.

The people you choose to use your time, determine the level of your motivation and your work ethic. If you associate with people who are given away to drunkenness ( not specifically alcohol but referring to anything that disturbs your mental faculty) , who are always complaining, or sluggards, then you can’t work with efficacy in that particular environment.

So, its important for you to choose the right people for you. Because life is not an experiment. You can’t keep experimenting with people for years and then decide whether you should live with them or not. It should straight away tickle you by analyzing their interests and most importantly their character. You can always tell what a person is like by the people he keep friendship with. The people you choose will be responsible for your intellectual growth, your finances, your character, your interests and eventually your destiny. You might end up being depressed & frustrating believing the shit people tell you and just get away with living an average life with average expectations getting average results. But if you live with people who always encourage you to push your limits, believe in yourself and helps you to become a better person then trust me, you will get through any circumstance in lie. What kind of people do you choose for your life?

The Power of an Idea!

2021-01-12T18:53:00.005+05:30

The Power of an Idea!

The Power of Ideas

Do you know that the world is ruled by Dead people? Yes! The world is the way we see it now is actually shaped & influenced by the people who are DEAD. Almost every system that operates on this planet governs on the principles that these Ancient people established. But how can someone rule the world without even being present in it? Why is it that the world is ruled by people in the cemetery? And the answer is not because they were powerful, wealthy or masters of the art of persuasion. Its because they influenced their contemporary world with their Ideas.

Ancient is so subtle that you do not even realize when you are under its influence and yet when that idea keeps multiplying, it manifests & metamorphoses itself into something what we usually call a Trend. And once this trend goes deep into the psyche of certain group, we call it a culture. Matter of fact, everything that you can see and cannot see was once an idea from the pencil on your desk to your electronic devices. All of them were an idea which got manifested at some point.

The Power of Ideas

Even the cultural clashes or the abuse on grounds of ethnicity or religion is an idea. Some groups somehow got an idea from an unreliable source that are better than the other group or they were bron to dominate the other group. They believed that their purpose was to oppress certain groups which they considered to be inferior than themselves. Now, due to this idea, they formed a concept which is actually a misconception of human misjudgment. Then their concept became their belief system. And their belief system led them to influence the nations.

When you read about Adolf Hitler, you would find out that the destruction that he caused to millions of lives started from a single idea which perhaps came from the wrong source. And this idea led to his misconception that God favors certain groups of people while others should be persecuted if they do not belong to that section of society.

The Power of Ideas

Still not Convinced? Okay. Let’s see a much more relevant example. We all live in Democratic Societies (hopefully). But the word ‘Democracy’ is actually a Greek Idea. Greeks invented this idea of ‘Demokratia’ where ‘demos’ refers to citizens and ‘kratos’ means to rule. When the Roman empire invaded the Greece, they demolished everything except the concepts of Greeks. So they put this Greek idea of “Democracy” into effect and now almost the whole world is governed by this idea that a few men created.

The Power of Ideas

This is why ideas are the most powerful thing in the world because ideas do not die with death. They keep perpetuating themselves even after that person’s demise. So the whole content about it is: where do you get your ideas from? Where do you form your philosophy of life? Where do you get information about sensitive topics that is available cheaply all over the Internet? The source of your ideas is important than the idea itself. You need to check the source which forms your ideology because that will form your reality. You need to keep check on people who influence you the most and contribute to a large amount of your Ideas. Share your Ideas below!

The One Thing!

2021-01-11T20:11:00.006+05:30

The One Thing!

The One Thing

What makes high-achievers differ from the people who are just looking to get through the day? What is the one thing that separates successful people from nay-Sayers, complainers and gossipers? Why do some people wake-up everyday filled with loads of energy & enthusiasm while the rest are depressed and have lost faith in their destiny? Why life seems so predictable & simple for some people while it is filled with complexities & unpredictability for others?

Well, the answer to these seemingly composite questions is pretty forthright to you particularly, if you spend some time reflecting on your own thoughts. And the simple truth is that these people focus on “ONE THING”. It’s that simple and yet that complex. The hard reality of the modern world is that most people try to be “Jack of all Trades:. And in the process of doing so, they end up mastering nothing. And one of the major cause of this belief system comes from the delusion that people on the social media platforms present. They create a delusion among the content consumers that they are highly competent people in various arenas of life.

The One Thing

However, if you look at any successful franchise, business or individual for that matter, you will find one thing in common and that is nearly all of them are masters of their particular domain. In other words, they don’t try to be good at everything. They are very well aware of their circle of competence and they stay within that particular circle of competence. They don’t compromise their passion just because someone in any other field is making more paper (money) than them. And this is the reason why most people stay average all their life because they try to do everything in their life or even try to become someone for somebody which they are not.

The One Thing

Not all things in life are important! You must understand this deep into your spirit. There are only a few things that are important in life. You must find those things and prioritize them over everything else. And if you don’t, you will lie all your life unfulfilled, unhappy & depressed with a sense of dissatisfaction. The Key to your greatness is to find that ONE THING and master it better than anybody else in the world.

The One Thing

Why do you think Bill Gates & the company that he founded is so successful? Because they focus on one thing. They are not trying to provide every other service to everybody. They are saying, “Look, we are successful because we dominate the software world”. They found their niche early on and then dominate the software industry. What do you think of when I say, “ Virat Kohli, Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Warren Buffett, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey or Stephen Hawking?” Isn’t this amazing that you already created a picture about these people in your mind & their areas of domain? Now, let me ask you another question: What will we remember you for? When we think of you, what comes to our mind first? Do not be so busy in becoming a jack of all trades that you have no time to become master of none of them. At the very least, find something to master. Find your ONE THING and set out on the journey to become a master of it. Share your thoughts!

The One Thing

Leadership & True North!

2021-01-11T16:02:00.004+05:30

Leadership & True North!

The most important component in the leadership development is certainly not accumulation of power or wealth, position or status, titles, high stake communication stills or even achievements. But the most important and arguably the most inseparable component of a leader is Character. And by Character, I do not by any means referring to reputation. By character, I am referring to your true-self. It is your character that determines the level of trust people place on you. You may be on the epitome or surge of success in your area of competence, but if you lack this ‘character’ aspect than everything else diminishes against it.

It is your character which acts as the “True North”. And therefore, it is of utmost importance to have a genuine character that reflects your values & belief system. There are many leaders who are just waiting to grab the opportunities to lead and most of them are motivated for material benefits or they have a fervor to feel important or approved by others. The purpose of a character based leadership is to discover our true north which acts as the lighthouse for others to follow.

Leadership & True North

There have been innumerable incidents in the past where leaders forsook the need of others and sell their integrity in times of pressure and eventually lost their True North. Your True north is what puts you in the right direction as a leader. Your True North determines your ethical standards. The Authenticity of your leadership is measured by your alignment with the True north. And when you survive the turbulent & nasty times which tests your character, only then you can really measure how much intact your True North Is.

Leadership & True North

Following your True North is the most important for any aspiring leader or for leaders who are already in positions of authority. It is important to note that your authenticity is never measured by your age or even experience. It may take 20 years to build yourself as an authentic person and an act of merely 20 seconds can ruin it. Building yourself as an Authentic leader helps you in many facets of life. Aristotle himself linked the notion of moral character to a virtuous life. And this is where habit formation comes into play. The more you practice it, the more natural it becomes to you.

Leadership & True North

Just like a habit is the result of perpetuity of certain definite actions. Similarly, forming & maintaining a genuine character is an act of repetition. The more you do it, the better you become at it. When you are consciously keeping yourself aligned with the True north, you are feeding the exact information right into your subconscious mind. And the more you do it, the better it fits into the subconscious. Remember, your True North is the key to your Authenticity!

The Principle of Rarity

2021-01-09T15:12:00.003+05:30

The Principle of Rarity

When I was in high school, the teacher said to the class one day, “Today, I’m going to teach you the most basic principle on which economies work”. He continued by saying, “I’ll teach you the principle of rarity”. And he went on to explain us that the more rare a thing is, the higher is its value. And the more common a thing is, the lesser is its value.

When I came to know about this, it ticked me on and I learned a very important principle not just in economics but one which is very much feasible in practical life as well. It is due to this principle that people do not have a self-image or self-esteem. It is due to this that people have a lack of self-confidence. It is because of this that people lack and even ignore their true self or identity. And the observation is this: Most people are so much consumed up by the temptation to be like others that they have literally lost their true identity. This is the reason why people are tempted to wear expensive clothing or to dress like others or even to become just like others.

The Principle of Rarity

Because they never discovered themselves, they never felt significant with who they really were. The underlying principle is that the more original you are, the higher is your value. Therefore, you should never try to be like others. Of course, there is always a possibility to learn from others but you should always make this a guideline to never become them. So, when you see a person trying to dress like someone, talk like someone or behave like someone, they are actually reducing their value. But if you just be yourself, you are unique in yourself, then you are more valuable as a consequence of it.

And I have literally seen people who cut their hair like other people to feel important. Let me tell you something, if you want to be like someone to feel important, you are sick (mentally). When you discover who you are, you discover that you are too valuable to be yoked up in someone else. And that is why, I believe that every person that exists in this world has something important to offer to the world. But whether they release it or not depends on whether they choose to be themselves and harness their talents or just to become a shadow of other people. Rocks are cheap because they are found everywhere, they are common. But diamonds are expensive and valuable because of the fact that they are rare. If you believe that you are a diamond, you won’t just throw yourself away to anybody.

The Principle of Rarity

Matter of fact, you will value yourself and treat yourself with much care. But you must believe that you are important to the world. You should know your value. Because if you don’t know how much valuable you are, we will tell you how much valuable you should be. You should know that you don’t need to be like SOMEBODY to be SOMEBODY, you are already SOMEBODY! Share your thoughts!

The Principle of Rarity

Authentic Leadership

2021-01-08T14:51:00.003+05:30

Authentic Leadership

Spurred by deep-rooted concerns about the ethical conduct of today’s leaders based on chilling examples of corporate & government malfeasance, many leadership thinkers have called the need for a new kind of leadership—Authentic Leadership. Manifested by the unethical conduct of many leaders in positions of authority, this discipline requires a thorough understanding of the underlying meaning of true leadership. Only then it can be exemplified in its true spirit.

Authenticity can be traced back to the ancient Greek philosophy which is also reflected by Greek aphorism ‘Know Thyself’. The root word for authenticity in the Greek language is the word ‘authento’ meaning to have “full power”. Socrates also argued the point that an ‘unexamined life’ is not worth living. Aristotle followed with a view of ethics through a concept of ‘self-realization’ following a pursuit of the ‘higher good’ when the soul is in alignment with the virtues for a complete life.

There have been numerous definitions of authenticity and how it’s measured in the conduct of an individual by keeping in accordance with the choices they make. Many believe that authenticity is about accountability & trust. Some argue the fact that it’s about doing the business while keeping intact with ethical considerations. Some focus on the end goal rather than on the materialistic benefits that it offers which is the mean.

If we take a broader view at it, we could probably say that authentic leadership should exemplify both behavioral consistencies and a positive ethical environment to draw out peak performance. Nalumbwa, Avolio, Gardner Wernsing and Peterson define authentic leadership as:

Authentic Leadership

A pattern of leader behavior that draws upon and promotes both positive psychological capacitie & a positive ethical climate, to foster greater self-awareness, an internalized moral perspective, balanced processing of information, and relational transparency on the part of leaders working with followers, fostering positive self development.^[1]

If you would have to simplify the above idea, it would be this: An Authentic leader is someone who consistently exercises a good work ethic while at the same time keeping themselves aligned with their moral compass which in turn leads to accountability and transparency. Most frequently the reason that leaders are not able to practice authentic leadership is because they are trying to grow without a well-understood mission. Without clarity of purpose, it is difficult to be authentic. Without clarity of mission, a leader can be busy most of the times and still not be productive. Therefore, its important to understand your purpose first before overlaying the plans for its execution.

Authentic Leadership

Your priorities should be crystal clear in your mind before you set out to do your task. For example, for many leaders their motivation to work is for the money that comes from their position and not necessarily to lead or guide people and help them become better. For how much and for how long do you expect from such a leader to perform their reserved duties and tasks? Certainly, such type is going to drain out soon. Of course, the motivation to work needs to be shifted from just monetary aspect to a point which provides maximum opportunity of growth not only for the leader but also for the followers and the organization alike.

If you want to be trusted & respected, you need to become authentic. And for that, you will have to introspect within yourself and be rational in your approach to make some changes to foster not only your own growth but others growth as well. What is your take on Authentic leadership and what are some of the practices that leads to being more authentic? Share your thoughts!

Bibliography

[1]	F.o., Avolio, B.J., Gardner, W.L., Wernsing, T.S., & Peterson, S.J. Walumba, "Authentic Leadership: Development and validation of a theory-based measure," Journal of Management, pp. 89-126, 2007.

Ruthless Consistency!

2021-01-07T20:51:00.003+05:30

Ruthless Consistency!

Ruthless Consistency

The notion that ideas must be promoted & old ones challenged explains to a significant degree, the evolution of science and paradigm shifts taking all across the globe. Unfortunately, this perceived notion does not characteristically explain the behavior and choices that people make every single day. The question is: Why don’t people learn from their poor choices? Why people don’t keep themselves consistent? Why they give in to some temporary situations so easily when they are on the verge of realizing their true potential? And what can they really do about it?

And matter of fact, I’m not just talking about consistency in your perseverance attitude to achieve your lucrative goals but also in terms of cognitive behaviors, actions & commitments.

The Psychology of Inconsistency

Ruthless Consistency

Have you ever met with a person who was doing very well with his life but after a few years, you meet him and he does not stand on your expectations? You would probably have that if this person could have just continued to work the way he did before, he must have been at a far better position right now than he is. The moment you say one thing but do another – you are bound to be fragile on others trust and more importantly - your own trust i.e. your self-confidence. Sometimes what makes life challenging for you after a great frame of time spent well in the past is just inconsistent act!

The simple truth is that you do not become a master of your work unless you are ready to sabotage or sacrifice some of the things that are precious to you like your leisure time. It’s that simple! What differentiates a world-champion from a spectator is CONSISTENCY! You may not be getting the results that you want, you might not be getting appreciated for what you do, you might not feel good while you do it. But the principle is that, if you keep hammering on it every single day, there will come a day when you will reap the benefits of what you sowed.

Ruthless Consistency

This is what I call the SEED Principle. When you sow a seed in the ground, you don’t expect a tree with fruits. Do you? Matter of fact, you know that it takes time for a seed to become a fruit-bearing tree. Even after knowing all this, you bury it in the ground, water it every day, give it some sunlight and a day comes when it fully manifests itself into a tree. The same principle holds true for you as well. You might not be observing any progress in what seems painful to you, but if you keep watering that desire, it manifests itself and then comes the day when the results show up. Your consistency is the key for great progress even though it may be small & steady. Remember the Kaizen concept? Share your thoughts!

The Power of Vision!

2021-01-06T15:39:00.005+05:30

The Power of vision!

The power of vision

Most of the people in the modern world are having a deceptive philosophy of being BUSY. But contrary to what may appear, their busyness does not make them productive. They keep doing their regular tasks getting their average results without inculcating a sense of awareness of why they are even doing it? They keep getting frustrated and depressed over and over again and at the end of it realise that it was a complete mess with their time. They have no acute sense of their purpose and vision in life. And where there is no vision, the people perish.

The most common perceived problem with people is that they are busy without being productive & effective. To be effective in what you do, you need to have a sense of purpose or meaning of why you do it? Now, you would be asking, "Is it necessary to have a purpose & vision for one's life?" and my answer is "Absolutely!". You cannot live life haphazardly without a meaning to it. That's why you feel a lack of clear & precise destiny of your life. You cannot expect to go through life just for the fun of it.

And therefore, I believe that if you do not have a vision for your life, then you are the poorest person in the whole world. You can be wealthy in terms of material riches or money but not in your significance of existence. Your vision shapes what you do with your life. Your vision dictates the decisions that you take. Your vision determines who you associate with or things where you spend most of your time and in the end, your vision determines your destiny and the achievements that you accomplish.

The difficulty with most people is that they do not see things beyond their present circumstances. And that is the reason behind their lack of enthusiasm in life. Somehow, they get this strange idea that their present environment or their past determines their future. However, this is not true. When you have a vision, you know that what you are going to accomplish in future is far more and much better than what you settled for in your past. You should never allow your experience to become a detour or hinderence to your progress. Vision gives you the hope that irrespective of what happened in the past, there is a certainty that you will accomplish what you set out to do.

The power of vision

When you find your purpose of living and a vision for your destination, you literally become free from expectations of other people. And this thing may sometimes look pretty miniscule, bit it is so much powerful that it overtakes your life and you become a free person. You are already independent but you do not become free (mentally) until you get a revelation behind your existence. And believe it or not, each of us is controlled by this very question every single day. What is your vision for your life? Have you discovered it yet? Share your thoughts!

Essential Mindset Traits of a Leader #2

2020-12-31T19:29:00.000+05:30

Essential Mindset Traits of a Leader #2

NEVER A LOSS, ALWAYS A LESSON!

Life is too short to spoil time by pondering over the things that we fail to accomplish. However, great leaders learn from the mistakes that they had made in the past and make it a lesson from which they learn something worthwhile. When you try something, only two things can happen. Either you succeed or you learn. Failure is never an option as long as you conceive it with right attitude.

Failure is important because it always teaches you a lesson. Therefore, it is said that success is a lousy teacher. Failure is more about analyzing your performance as a leader in our organization and to see what went wrong. Failure is about learning from mistakes.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is one of the riches women in the world with a net worth of about $1 billion. But before publishing her first book, she experienced personal failure on an epic scale. Her manuscript was rejected by 12 publishing houses. However, it didn’t stopped her and she learned from failure and published her book.

In her inspiring 2008 speech, she spoke about the benefits of failure. She said, “ It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way.”

True leaders never get disappointed by failure because they know that failure always brings a lesson with it from which they learn and grow themselves.

LEADERS PERCEIVE DIFFERENTLY

A good leader always knows the importance of having a perception other than just what the situation might seem. Most of the times, many leaders have a misconception that other people in the job are their competition. However, sometimes the competition comes from a completely different area of life. A leader must perceive the competition not just from their viewpoint but from the opponent’s perception as well. To put this into perspective, let’s consider the case of Remington Typewriters:

The first commercial typewriters were introduced in 1874 and became common in offices after mid-1880s. And the very famous Remington typewriter quickly became an indispensable tool for practically all writing. It was widely used by professional writers, in offices, and in business. However, Remington typewriters always thought that Brothers typewriter was their competition. But they never saw the advent of the personal computers and never adjusted themselves to it which led to the fall of typewriters.

This example clearly shows us that a leader should not confuse ‘competitor intelligence’ with ‘competitive intelligence.’ They need to be aware of the needs of the people rather than focusing too much on their competitor. Because it gives them a new perspective to the same situations. They must learn to look at the game from opponent’s perspective !

THEY KNOW WHAT RISK IS

One of the biggest challenge for a leader of the millennium generation is the Risk Management. Well, what is risk for you? Risk for me is when you don’t know what you are doing or doing it because of strain usually by the people or their expectations of you. It is necessary for a leader to take risk in there are of expertise or should they play safe by avoiding the risk factor whenever possible?

What could be best to describe misconceptions about risk other than looking at the investment world?

Billionaire American Investor, business tycoon, and philanthropist Warren Edward Buffet answers it the best way. He was a sober risk-taker from the beginning of his investment career. He took a risk by buying 7% of the Coca-Cola company shares in 1987 when it was not sailing so smooth opposing to what we see it today. He made many risk investments like in GEICO and American Express. Buffett was simply willing to take risk. He knew that it might be possible to lose his investments but if he had not taken a chance, he wouldn’t have gained all those profits!

Leaders can learn from this example by applying the principles of taking and managing risk. Buffet knew what he was doing and the job that he took in his command. Risk Management is an important factor in the success of any organization and leaders must have an understanding of the perfect timing to take risk rather than doing it any time haphazardly.

It is important for leaders to understand the situation carefully and take calculated risks accordingly keeping in mind the needs of the market or their industry. If you don’t take risk in your management, you might be deprived of the advantage that you can have over your competitor and the milestones that you could accomplish. The key is to identify whether the risk is acceptable or not. So leaders, don’t shy away from taking risk simply because of risk.

Essential Mindset Traits of a Leader

2020-12-30T20:25:00.003+05:30

Essential Mindset Traits of a Leader!

Leaders are the foundation of any sustainable organization and the strength of the company depends on them. It is therefore, important for leaders to maintain their level of thinking and align it in the direction where they need their organization to follow through. Here are some of the qualities of a great leader:

THINK BIG!

As a Man Thinketh, So is he.

James Allen, the author of “ As a Man Thinketh” explains the importance of thinking big to achieve success. He explains that you are only going to become what you think about yourself all day long! That means it is your responsibility as a leader to inculcate a positive thinking attitude in yourself and your team.

In a 2013 TED Talk, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk revealed his secret source to achieving extraordinary achievements. He reduced all things down to thoughts. He explained that he failed many times earlier in his career but never allowed the circumstances to overpower his thoughts and dreams. And now, he has a number of impressive accomplishments under his belt.

Rather than playing a ‘wait and see’ game and never getting anything done, they follow through on their ideas and thoughts and make them reality no matter how big their dreams or thinking is. To be a successful leader you need to sell yourself and your team, believe you can succeed and you will. If you think that you will fail even before you start, well you probably will! Most leaders hold themselves back not because of what they think they are, but because of what they think they are not and cannot become. Leaders must know the importance of thinking big and applying it in their lives.

So make sure that you think right. Think bigger, better and Bolder!

OPEN-MINDEDNESS

Change the way you perceive

Leaders with an open-mind have been time-tested to benefit their organizations than those with a fixed mindset. An open-mind is not only important for a leader in an organization but also for every individual they lead. An open-minded leader never stops growing.

Always learning: Great leaders are life-long learners. They are always committed to improve themselves. They never set a standard for their growth or their organization.

Consider the example of Bill Gates. When asked about the secret of success in one of his interviews, he simply said, “ I read 50 books a year”. He told that it’s important to keep learning all the time even after you succeed. A leader must be a reader and maintain a learning attitude towards everything life. This reminds us that even though we do great work, there is always an opportunity for improvement.

Perception: An open-minded leader looks at things differently from others. While others are frustrated when faced with a difficult circumstance in their life or their organization, an open-minded leader is busy figuring out the solution to that problem. They have different attitude towards their life and with this attitude, they create a good work-ethic in their company.

An open-mindset for a leader is necessary for their improvement and for the people they lead and ultimately their organization. Difficulties in life can only be converted into opportunities to do great things with an OPEN-MIND!

WINNERS FAIL FORWARD!

Much of today’s management literature fosters warm feelings and unimportant results. It has good intentions but it leads to sterile outcomes. Though the age-old natural human impulse is to recoil from failure, it is important for leaders to understand failure and use it effectively to achieve success. Perception of failure must be changed in order to manage failure effectively.

Perception of failure: Often, failure is seen as end of the road to our destiny. Failure is therefore, perceived as something to be avoided and not to be managed. Failure must only be seen as an interruption or a detour to your success. It should never be considered as a permanent problem. Failure provides the opportunity to the leaders to analyze their shortcomings and learn from their mistakes that they have made in the past.

Colonel Sanders was in his late 60s when he founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken(KFC). He suffered many failures and misfortunes. He tried to franchise his restaurant. His recipe was rejected 1,009 times before anyone accepted it. But he saw failure as just an interruption, never gave in and finally expanded his franchise internationally! He learned from his failures and used that wisdom to succeed. Leaders must learn from this example of Colonel Sanders and make it a testimony in their life.

It is not important how great you fail, but what matter is how you comeback after that failure. Winners will fail over and over again until they succeed!

The Kaizen Way!

2020-12-29T19:04:00.001+05:30

The Kaizen Way!

The Kaizen Way

Are you a Kaizen believer? Kaizen is a Japanese concept which means “change for the better” or continuous improvement”. It first started as a business philosophy but seemingly, it could be executed in almost any other area of life with the exact precision. This means continuous improvement in your preferred or areas of competence regardless of the odds against you.

It’s better sometimes to change the things if they don’t work appropriately or as per your requirements and keep on making the process better and more efficient. Toyota has even established the ‘Kaizen Way” as one of their principles to become better with each passing year. Many athletes & their coaches use this concept and produce astonishing results. So, how does it work? Let’s dive into it further:

The Kaizen Way

This is akin to 80/20 rule in some way. The improvements at the beginning may appear to be small but the results after a long or tedious process are mouth-watering. One of the reasons why most people don’t get to their goals is primarily because they want the end result but don’t feel it necessary to go through the required and necessary process. But the predicament is that you cannot achieve big results without small & continuous improvement every single day for these small & sustainable improvements add up to the BIG CHANGE!

The Kaizen Way

The Compound Effect is another idea that has the potential to manifest the real YOU if understood and then applied in the right context and set of circumstances. An Ukrainian pole vaulter, Sergey Bubka who first broke the world record in 1984 is famous for breaking his own world record 35 times- each time breaking his own previous record. And in less than 2 years, he improved his own previous mark—an astonishing 14 times! His final record remained unbroken for almost 20 years. I am sure you will be able to relate this anecdote to Kaizen and the compound effect. You can have a huge advantage over almost every body else if you could just keep learning everyday for the rest of your life which adds up to your skill sets or knowledge.

Leadership in changing Global Environment

2020-12-28T19:39:00.006+05:30

LEADERSHIP IN CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

Leadership in changing Global Environment

Even in the age of globalization and the internet, brand adaptation to foreign markets can be a tricky business. There may be less geographical distance in business terms, but cultural and linguistic distances still may remain. The differences in cultures in another community may sometimes prove to be an obstacle for leaders who aspire to expand their business Empire. But a true leader is the one who understands these differences and prevents them from hindering their growth in the business. Understanding the cultural diversity in another community allows a leader to think on the requirements of that particular community.

There are both positive and negative implications to these diversifications. The positive side is that if you understand the true nature of your targeted audience as a business leader, you have the opportunity to manage & grow your services because its not alienated to you. But the worst scenario is when you fail to adapt yourself to the changing environment.

Leadership in changing Global Environment

IMPLICATIONS OF LEADING WITHIN A CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

You may have heard the Darwinian saying “Survival of the fittest”. It does not only apply in terms of evolution but also in leadership. A leader must know, understand and have the wisdom about the need to adapt to the continuous changing environment of diversity. If you just limit your thinking to a specific group of people then you will only be confined to that smaller section.

Adapting in a different business environment also require you to apply proper strategies such as effective communication, motivating the team for team work and cooperation. It has been found that by adapting to a changing business environment, it is possible to cooperate between team members allowing greater responsibility and responsiveness in meeting the needs of the people & providing profit to the company ( Henrich & Betts, 2003). Leading your team in a changing business environment requires you to meditate about the proper implementation of the organization’s resources to succeed in managing different aspects of change.

Adapting to the changing business environment not only secures your present entity but also gives you a competitive edge in the future. The need to e adaptive isn’t new. Businesses have always faced challenges from competition and vicissitudes of the market. But the new thing in the contemporary market is the speed and flexibility with which the companies must respond to the change to secure their vision.

Leadership in changing Global Environment

TEAM LEADERSHIP MODEL AND HOW IT RELATES TO THE CURRENT BUSINESS PRACTICE

Team Leadership Model is an example that could be applied to such business transitions by keeping in accordance with the needs of the organizations and the individuals. Managing the levels of stress, building relationships, effective communication and crisis management comes under this leadership business model. The team leadership model is similar to the current business practices because it inculcates the exact level of thought leadership and mindset for growth and development of the organization.

Therefore, it is the responsibility of the leaders of each team to manage and coordinate the resources keeping in mind the purpose of the organization and by collaborating with one another. Rather than focusing their attention too much on the differences, they should work more on their common goals to establish a positive working climate.

OUTLINE OF POSITIVE ASPECTS OF GENDER, DIVERSITY, CULTURE AND TEAMWORK ON OVERALL BUSINESS PERFORMANCE.

Leadership in changing Global Environment

The barrier of diversity and differences can only be overcome when proper strategies are implemented. It is important for leaders to embrace and respect the individual identity of team members. It has been shown that by honest appreciation of the work that your team members do, they are more likely to like you, work with the company and put their genuine effort to advance the organization with teamwork (Carneige, 1936). Take into consideration the positive aspects of gender diversity, culture and teamwork that can improve overall business performance. By recognizing the positive aspects of diversity, it can help you to improve performance through collaborative work of team members and provide a learning opportunity for yourself ( Zaccoroet al., 2001, Heinrich & Betts, 2003).

APPLICATION OF MOTIVATIONAL LEADERSHIP WITHIN A DIVERSE CULTURE

True Leadership is all about influence. It is therefore, the responsibility of the leader to keep the team motivated by leading from the front. By leading by example, leaders can win the trust of their employees and influence their team members to do greater works even in a diversified culture. A leadership position is usually given to people because they have Leadership Potential ( Maxwell, 2011). And realization of this potential is what helps leaders to motivate their team to be united even in a diverse business culture.

REFERENCES:

1. Henrich & Betts, Adapt or Die: Transforming your supply chain into an adaptive business Network, Pub. 2003

2. Dale Carneige, How to win friends and influence people, Pub. 1936

3. John C. Maxwell, The 5 levels of leadership, Pub. 2011, Pg. 71

Authority of Learning & Mentorship

2020-12-25T19:31:00.002+05:30

The Authority of Learning & Mentorship

Authority of Learning & Mentorship

Mentorship is arguably one of the most important aspect of leadership. Many leadership thoughts, theories & plethora of research even indicates that the greatest act of leadership is mentoring. While it cannot be ignored that you get a lot of opportunities to mentor, coach or help others become better in a position of authority. However, it is also true that you don’t require any position or title to raise or help someone to reach a higher level in some areas of their life.

It’s critically important not only to mentor others but to be open for help when needed and heed it, in yourself. Sir Isaac Newton, is knows for having a poor start at his early age. Despite that, he was a man who assiduously learned from the work of his best predecessors and eventually, many of his work attracted enormous attraction. Once Newton said of his work, “If I have seen a little farther than other men. It is because I stood on the shoulders of giants”.^[1]

If you could just persevere & keep learning all your life, you would probably end up being one of the very few competent people in the world. And history has proven it time and again. The key is to become a continuous learning machine! The advantage that you get by learning from the work done by the best people before you is just very broad. A wise man learns from the follies of others but a fool wants to experience them all by himself.

Developing the whole student often requires identifying unique needs and helping the mentee recognize when they need mentoring, coaching or advising. While mentoring, coaching or advising are all developmental interactions, their scope, purpose & utility in leadership development are distinct.

The purpose of taking leadership advice is to develop your ability to acquire knowledge, skills and self confidence to become a better leader. Hallmarks of mentoring practice include a dyadic environment, long term dedication by mentor & mentee, regular interactions and both formal & informal investments in personal growth, career development, psychological development as well as leadership empowerment.

Taking leadership advice is a process and not an event or end, thus, mentoring is not designed for short term skill development. However, mentoring relationships could evolve from short term leadership skill programs or organizational experiences. Because mentoring involves investment in personal investment. Additionally mentoring cannot always be confined to scheduled meetings, but requires a willingness to take advice and execute it in the personal & professional life.

Accept your need for advice: The very first step and important step in getting mentoring or leadership advice is to accept that you are really in need of advice. Don’t look for what people say, think of feel that you need advice. Ask yourself whether you really need leadership advice or not.

Authority of Learning & Mentorship

Be responsible for your own learning: Do not set unrealistic expectation from your mentor. Be clear in approach and remember that you are responsible for your own learning. A mentor is just someone who acts as a catalyst to help you identify your potential. You are the only person who have to make sure how much you learn and act on the information provided by the mentor. You can get as much knowledge and understanding from the mentor but as long as you do not apply it in your personal, corporate and professional life, it is worthless. It is you who have to apply the knowledge, understanding and wisdom of the mentor. A mentor can only give you some advice but you are the one who needs to act on that advice. A mentor acts in the best interest of the mentee and a mentee needs to have this realization that whatever the mentor teaches him or her, it is for their benefit and must be seen soberly and conscientiously by them.

Accept your need for advice: The very first step and important step in getting mentoring or leadership advice is to accept that you are really in need of advice. Don’t look for what people say, think of feel that you need advice. Ask yourself whether you really need leadership advice or not.

References:

[1]	MARIA POPOVA. (2020, December ) brainpickings. [Online]. https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/02/16/newton-standing-on-the-shoulders-of-giants/