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

Overcoming the guilt of 'Why'

#LivingStories
At a recent art auction, artist Souza’s painting sold for $4m. Before fame and fortune came calling, he lived in poverty. In a letter to his second wife on her birthday,  he wrote,”I wish thank you for raising my daughters… for a decade or you have me great joy Lisolette. What did I give you? I gave you children and a load of misery with my alcoholism. I simply can't fathom why?

#MyLearning
Before undertaking an action, to lessen the guilt of the ‘Why's’, follow the rule of the Indian roads. Look left, look right, look above, look below, look back and then look front again.

Then let your karma do whatever it intends to do!

Doing and Being

LivingStories
American businessman Mark Cuban believes the worst advice he has received is, “Follow your passion.“ He says everyone has multiple passions, “but those don't lead to career success.” What does, he claims, is finding something hard to work at. By following your effort instead of your passion, you can develop skill and learn to appreciate it.

#MyLearning
Doership has shades of nishkama karma, effort without expectation. But behind every effort is an emotion; anger (vengeance), fear (of loss) or passion (happiness). I'd rather let passion the healthiest of them all, drive my efforts.

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.

Living With LSD

LivingStories
In 1997, a student Mahan Mitra was awarded a PhD in topology by the University of California,  Berkeley. The very next year, he renounced the world and joined the Ramakrishna Mission & became known as Mahan Maharaj.  This year,  he was awarded the Infosys Prize for 2015 in Mathematical Science. His reaction was , “I have little to do with awards. It is the recognition of the work which I value. “

MyLearning
Live with the right proportion of LSD in your life. Balance between:
Laxmi: wealth & prosperity,
Saraswati: knowledge seeking and
Durga: spiritual fulfilment & peace.

The Power of Boredom

Dr V K Kurien arrived at Anand in May 1949. Bored, and with nothing to do in the small sleepy town, he joined a band of tenacious dairy farmers in their  struggle against the exploitative practices followed by the local trade. Little did he know that he was actually sowing the seeds of a revolutionary cooperative movement. It went on to create the White Revolution, making India the largest milk producer in the world.

#MyLearning
Do not underestimate the power of boredom. Activities born of a state of boredom, could transform into passion and produce remarkable outcomes

Failure Is Success in Disguise

In 1917, Einstein set out to design a theoretical model to prove space is bent around itself like the sides of a tin can.

He failed.

But in the process, he succeeded in doing something very interesting - unifying the effect of acceleration and gravity.

#MyLearning
Treat failures like Edison, who in  the course of his journey of the invention of the incandescent light bulb, said he had succeeded in “finding 10,000 ways that won't work.” Discard the 10,000 ways that won't work, but do learn from the ones that did, and had ‘Einsteinian’ outcomes.

Picture Source : Paul S. Cavella

The Downsides of The Digital Age

The control & nurturing of an ecosystem takes patience  care, contrasting sharply with the immediacy of messaging or tweeting of the smartphone generation. In order to encourage them to slow down & take time out to take care of their plants, Samuel Wilkinson has designed a terrarium that links to your IPad or IPhone & can control the climate, water level & nutrient from your device.

MyLearning
The ‘convenience’ of being online 24/7 & the compulsive call of the social media adds up to a state of constant urgency & stress. Take time out and tend to life?

Think
What's your sense of the story?

Beliefs and Business

Patrizio Bertelli,  CEO of fashion and jewellery line Prada, believes the counterfeit trade has created jobs & they do not want to be a brand that nobody wants to copy.

On the other hand Caroline Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard believes that one had be desirable to be copied. But imitation is plagiarism and is annoying, hence they create patterns that are too elaborate to copy and have 10 lawyers constantly trying to stop the menace.

#MyLearning
Our Beliefs influence Behavior.
Behavior impacts Business

#Think
What's your sense of the story?

Channelising Energy Productively

Thimmakka is a native of Karnataka. She has no formal education and worked as a casual labourer in a nearby quarry. Married to Chikkaiah who is a cattle herder, they unfortunately have no children. She has filled the lack by planting and tending to 384 banyan trees along a four-kilometre stretch of highway between Hulikal and Kudur. Her work has been honoured with the National Citizen's Award of India.

#MyLearning
Mourning and lamenting a lack or loss is an unproductive use of our energies. Best to channelise them into working on the larger good, both for self and others.

Clearing Our Demons

“All my demons, all my monsters that I’d been carrying around forever… The light came through and I realized, 'Oh! They’re not demons, they’re not monsters, they’re not dragons. I’ve been making them more grandiose than they are. They’re just the orphaned parts of me. And they are throwing temper tantrums because of their fear. And now I have to tell them it’s going to be okay. And they will all go to sleep. I am the mother of all of these parts of me.'”.  Author Elizabeth Gilbert in an interview.

#MyLearning
We create monsters of our fears. We also have the power to put them to sleep.

Ideal Decision-Making

Ryoma, a 19th century samurai, played a key role in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate & end Japan's 300-year isolation. He established the nation's first trading company & helped Japan become a naval power.
A portrait of Ryoma, hangs in the office of SoftBank chief Masayoshi Son. Every morning when he comes to office, it reminds him to make a decision worthy of Ryoma.

#MyLearning
Ideals are born, not of logical analysis, but of feelings which have no language of words to measure them. Holding ourselves to the ideals of our heroes invests the ideals with a measure for our actions.

Intentional Living

“Intentional living, basically, is about choosing your spots. You can’t be on 24/7, but you can identify the spots when you are going to be on. So I think a lot of high energy is a result of intentionality, looking at your schedule and saying, OK, I’d better be good here, here, here and here. But hey, this is just lunch, and I can be 50 percent and be OK there.” - John Maxwell, Leadership Guru

#MyLearning
Clarity and strength of intention (aka purpose) can help us intuitively decide how much energy to expend in a situation.
Action
Clarify my Purpose, define my goals and set priorities. For a deeper analysis, talk to a coach.

Relationship Boundaries

Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir Eat, Pray, Love became a bestseller, and from being an artiste living close to the bone, she found herself in possession of a giant pile of money. Feeling lucky and wanting to do something for her friends who still lived in poor circumstances,  she gave away a lot of money to them.  But by doing this, she found that in many cases, far from strengthening relationships, it actually spoilt them.

#MyLearning
Money, religion and politics are divisive. Best to keep them out of relationships, both at home and work.

Picture Source : Souleylo

Lifework Results Calculator

Entrepreneur Kazuo Inamori believes the formula for calculating the results of someone's lifework is Attitude x Effort x Ability.

#My Learning   
To work the formula into my life I have to commit to an:
Attitude: Constantly demanded perfection for yourself.

Effort: When launching a new project start off with a dream. Once the planning stage begins, become a pessimist in order to recognize every possible difficulty, then it’s back to optimism for thee execution.

Ability: Live by the belief that you have the ability to do anything

The Elixir of Knowledge

In the 6th century, Borzuy, the personal physician of the Persian emperor came to India looking for the Mritsanjeevani, the mystical herb that could revive a corpse. He did not find the herb but found the Panchatantra instead. After reading it, he  realized that the magical herb was knowledge and the corpse was ignorance.

#MyLearning
May I have the  wisdom to use the elixir of knowledge, not only for my own benefit, but also for the benefit of others.
May it not instil in me the pride of knowing what I know, but the humility to understand that there is yet more to know and learn.

Time to Stand and Stare?

“Time is the new currency, “ says Pushkraj Shenai, CEO, Lakme Lever. Consumers are multitasking with buying groceries and hailing cabs on mobile phone apps, food is getting delivered in record time and household chores are being outsourced. ‘Busy’ consumers are even being offered express hair colouring along with manicure and pedicures in 10 minutes instead of 40 minutes earlier!

We are increasingly becoming a people in a hurry.

#MyLearning
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
                         - William Henry Davies

The Luxury of Freedom

Actor Ranveer Singh is considered the high priest of fashion, but he believes in the  luxury of freedom. Freedom such as walking back home through the by-lanes from the studio to his suburban Mumbai home.

#MyLearning
We perform the Laxmi Puja to propitiate the goddess of wealth, but the greatest wealth she could bestow on us is not money. It is the wealth of peace and happiness, and the luxury of  the freedom to do what one’s heart wants.

From Material to Sentimental Value

Jean-Marc Lacave, President and Regional Managing director,  Moet Hennessy Asia-Pacific, was  asked what is his most prized position. His reply,  “I am starting to think I need less and less. But my watch is sentimental to me. It's not worth too much,  it was given to me by my father when I was 18.”

#MyLearning
Aging after a life of craving and acquiring things, realisation dawns  that all our indulgent acquisitions are less valuable than say, the solitaire earrings bought with your first paycheck, the pair of sunglasses left to you by your granddad or the shawls passed on to you by your mom and grandma.

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/