The Irrational Mind

In the United States, net immigration from Mexico has been at zero since 2010, but Republican primary voters still cheered Donald Trump’s promise to build a wall on the southern border as though it would solve whatever was worrying them. - A New York Times report

INSIGHT
Human beings are predictably irrational, says author and professor of psychology Dan Ariely. A wise leader is one who can channel his people's irrational emotions into productive action, by focusing not on emotions, but on behaviour. 

A Leader's Most Powerful Weapon

After reviewing the lives of 11 leaders, from Margaret Thatcher to Martin Luther King, Jr.,Harvard social scientist Howard Gardner concluded that the single most powerful weapon in the leader’s literary arsenal, was their ability to communicate a compelling story, “narratives that help individuals think about and feel who they are, where they come from, and where they are headed.”

Insight
As a leader, what narratives are you paying attention to, and communicating to your people? How do you collect the stories you want to tell? What forums have you created to share them? #Connect2Coach

Picture: Bates Communication

Caring Leadrship

Mitu Chandilya, CEO, Air Asia India, left early from a recent business awards ceremony held in Mumbai. The reason? His people in Delhi, were having to cope with the problem of delayed flights due to the fog, and he wanted to offer them a much needed morale boost.

Insight
Not big gestures, but little ones like Chandilya’s go a long way to increase a leader's Personal #Leadership Power. They cost nothing, but show his human, caring side.
What does the Leader In You demonstrate to people? #CoachConnect

Sensitive Leadership

#LivingStories
When Shikha Sharma, MD and CEO, Axis Bank, moved to a new office, she took some radical decisions. Everybody, including the seniors in the organization, had desks of the same size. She was trying to demonstrate to the company the need to be more open.

#MyLearning
Symbolism in organization has a subtle and elusive nature but few organization members fail to notice differences in the size of offices and desks, quality of furnishings, parking privileges, and use of titles. Thoughtful leadership means being sensitive in dealing with the differences for organizational good.

Image:Jokeroo

The Identities We Own

#LivingStories
Business leaders often get carried away by the power their designations command. Nitin Nohria, Dean of the Harvard Business School understands well that position is not personality.  He is clear that the way people approach him today as the Dean of HBS may be different from the way they approach him as just the individual.

#MyLearning
Inside of us we carry several identities: inner and outer identity, professional (leader,follower), and personal (father, son, friend, subordinate) identity, and so on.

Be aware that the overlap of one identity by another, can be good or bad, or it can be something in between.

Picture: yzoedesigns

Humour - A Great Leadership Skill

#Livingstories
At a function of the industry body ASSOCHAM, CEO Rana Kapoor asked celebrity guest actor Shahrukh Khan how he would counter the Chinese film industry and take Bollywood to new heights. In a witty rejoinder to the challenging question, Khan, speaking gibberish with a Chinese twang said, “I have responded to the challenge to the Chinese. You will not understand it, but they will get what I said.“

#MyLearning
A sense of humour is a great skill for leaders to have. It can help to fend off awkward questions and also help defuse  tense situations in a non-threatening manner.

The Power of Questions

Physicist Richard Feynman found the atmosphere at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Princeton stultifying.  He found it sterile because there were no students to ask him questions - questions that would force him to rethink his beliefs and perhaps discover new theories.

#MyLearning
A leader who fosters a work culture of asking questions, opens the door to an engaging and collaborative environment for innovation and success.
Read the Forbes article below for ideas and suggestions for questions leaders can ask their people.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/hennainam/2013/07/30/why-oprah-is-worth-2-8-billion-the-power-of-questions/

Emotional Intelligence

Speaking about the making of her recent film Talvaar,  filmmaker Meghna Gulzar says for her, it was curiosity that triggered  the immediate, spontaneous urge to do the film.  Emotions started coming in during her research on the story. But she shut them down when when working and discussing the script with Vishal Bhardwaj and during the making of the film. Now that the film has been released, emotions are coming back.  And she is letting them.
#MyLearning
Emotions can lend sharpness and acuity to our thinking. They can also lead us astray by making us act in impulsive and unwanted ways. Wisdom lies in knowing when to engage with our emotions and when to keep them in check.

Size Doesn't Matter

In the human body,
the large intestine weighs 1.8 kg,
a lung weighs in at 1.13 kg,
liver: 1.5 kg,
brain: 1.7 kg.
But the heart weighs only 0.3 kg

#MyLearning
Size doesn't matter - your contribution does

Values Based Leadership

Narayan Murthy,  when asked what management ideas influenced him on his journey with Infosys, replied that more than management ideas, he "set store in values:fairness,accountability, transparency. The rest then fall into place." Citing an instance of fairness, which says you have to provide equal opportunity, he says he once had four women direct reports - an instance of diversity,  which flourishes in such an environment.

Call to #action
Which of my values are reflected in my leadership?

Wise Leadership

In the week in August that saw more than $1 trillion wiped out from the Asian markets making people around the world jittery, a memo went out from the CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz. The email to his employees urging them to be more sensitive to anxious customers, said,"Today's financial market volatility, combined with great uncertainty both at and abroad,  will undoubtedly have an effect on consumer confidence and perhaps even or customers'attitudes and behavior...Let's be very sensitive to the pressures our customers may be feeling, and do everything we can to individually and collectively exceed their expectations."

Wise leaders care for the needs and feelings of their people and customers. Their sensitivity makes them to respond at the right time and in the right way. In turn, people and customers return their gratitude, by helping wise leaders make their enterprise a success.