Work-Life. Or Just Life?

Are work and life two separate compartments? Do we need to maintain separate personal life-professional life lists? TCS chief N Chandrasekaran doesn't think so. He believes you have to keep a very simple priority list and keep it short. This, he says, makes life easier. His list comprises building a strong team and long-distance running, music and photography his interests.

Insight
Life's priorities can be sliced in many ways - there is no one best way to it. Just do what you feel comfortable doing.

Design life with Coach Uday.
Connect uday@arurbizcoach.com

Choosing Life Priorities

“.... a third measure of success that goes beyond the two metrics of money and power, and consists of four pillars: well-being, wisdom, wonder, and giving."
Together, those factors help you to take care of your psychological life and truly be successful….” - Arianna Huffington, Author and Columnist

Insight
This realisation dawned on Huffington after collapsing from overwork chasing money and power. Clarity on life's priorities usually comes after undergoing a life threatening experience. And that is something we understand only intellectually but fail to act on in time.

Tactical Withdrawal in Business

“You have to try different things & you define time frames within which you get to a certain milestone. And if you don't, it's OK to drop them and move to the next one.” Rishad Premji, Chief Strategy Officer WIPRO

Insight
Launching, and then withdrawing a project/product/service, is a difficult decision for leaders - it's a public sign of failure & their ego is on the line. Defining time frames & milestones, & withdrawing if the goals are not met, displays leadership maturity. E.g. Ola is to shut down its struggling grocery division barely a year into its launch as it failed to meet expectations.

The Scopes of Leadership

A leader needs many tools to be successful in our volatile world at the same time - a telescope, a microscope and a stethoscope. A telescope to view disruptive forces, a microscope to see the near term shocks and opportunities and a stethoscope to maintain their organisational health. - Noshir Kaka, MD McKinsey India

Insight
Each of us is a leader managing three dimensions of leadership:
1. Leading Oneself
2. Leading People and
3. Leading  the organisation
Each instrument has to be used discriminately & in the right context. Each plays out differently & with different levels of dominance at every level of the organisation.

Respect The Hierarchy

Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of Airasia says he makes it a point to be accessible to his staff. He recounts how a flight staff came up to him at Bengaluru and said,”Hey look,I have some issues. Can you look at it?’

Insight
In 2011, Airasia's employee force was 5000+, it may be more now. If every employee looks up to the CEO, and not his immediate superior for sorting issues, not only does he get overburdened with operational matters, but more critically, senior managers become less accountable, they also lose their morale because the dignity and sanctity of the hierarchy have not been respected.

Realising Individual Abilities

The symbol of infinity (a horizontal number 8) represents the loci of two energies, spiritual and physical, that meet in the middle at the point, the point around which energy flows. - V. N. Mittal in the Speaking Tree

Insight
The first of the two energies - the spiritual, represents the energy born of inner knowing and awareness, the second, the physical, is the energy born of the resultant behavior and actions. The two in right balance, provide the strength to realise our individual abilities.