when nothing seems to help i go look at a stonecutter who hammers 100 times at a rock without a crack showing in it. And he hammers it again and the rocks breaks into 2 at the 101's hit. And i know that it was not that stroke that did it, but the hits before that, which seemed to fail!!!!
Amazing, outstanding, fabulous
keep hitting.....one of your hits will break the rock and every single shot in the past would have then succeeded...
when edison was asked after having invested the bulb how did it feel to have failed 999 times and succeeded the 1000th time, he said:
i din't fail even once, it just turned out to be a 1000 step process
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Bill Gates' last day at Microsoft
From: Bill Gates
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 11:10 PM
To: Microsoft - All Employees (QBDG)
Subject: My last full-time day at Microsoft
I want to share some thoughts on my last day as a full-time Microsoft employee.
For the last 33 years, I’ve had the ideal job. It’s been incredibly exciting to come here every day to work with the smartest people in the world to develop breakthrough software. Together, we have built a great company that has profoundly changed the world for the better.
After today, I will be shifting my full-time focus to the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation while keeping a strong connection to Microsoft.
The fact that I am making a career change does not mean that our work at Microsoft is done. In fact, the most exciting impact of our software is still ahead of us. Everything we have done up to now is just the foundation for the more dramatic breakthroughs to come. As you apply the magic of software to delivering a new generation of innovations, this company will continue to transform the way people communicate, create, and share experiences.
Microsoft is in an incredible position because we have momentum and a great pipeline of products and technologies. Even more important, we have great people at every level. In research and development we have great engineers focused on solving the most pressing challenges in computer science and turning new ideas into innovative products. In marketing, sales, and customer service, our world-class organizations keep getting better.
We also have strong leadership. As Microsoft has grown, one of the most exciting and fulfilling things for me has been to watch new leaders develop.
It starts at the very top. For the last 28 years, I have loved working side by side with Steve. Even now after all these years I am regularly impressed with his energy and insight. I think he and I have enjoyed one of the great business partnerships of all time. Steve has done a great job leading the company since he became CEO in 2000. Steve’s passion for democratizing the power of technology and inspiring customers, partners, and employees will keep us driving ahead.
I am thrilled to have Ray and Craig playing key roles in guiding the company’s strategy. For over a decade I had hoped that we could convince Ray to join Microsoft—and in the three years he has been here, he has made a huge difference in helping us focus on the challenge and opportunity of software plus services. I have worked with Craig for more than 15 years. His ability to anticipate the future direction of technology is a key asset, as is his deep interest in and understanding of emerging markets.
Of course, I’ll continue to be involved in the work of the company as part-time Chairman. As part of this I will help with a handful of projects that Steve, Ray, and Craig select.
As I reflect on the last three decades, the thing I’m proudest of is the role that this company has played in making the power of digital technology accessible and affordable. Software running on personal computers and other devices is the best tool for empowerment in human history. Microsoft founded the personal computer software business and we built the platforms that enabled the software industry to develop. Without your contributions, we would not have succeeded in making our dream of a computer on every desk and in every home a reality for more than 1 billion people worldwide—a dream we will extend to everyone in the future.
As I make the transition to focus more of my time and energy on the Gates Foundation, I am looking forward to applying the lessons I’ve learned—and, in some cases, the technologies that we have developed—to help address some of the critical issues that people around the world face in education, economic development, and health.
I want to thank all of you for your hard work and your dedication. It has been a privilege and an inspiration to come to Microsoft every day. I look forward to the amazing, world-changing innovations you will deliver in the years ahead as you continue the great work this company has always done.
Bill
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 11:10 PM
To: Microsoft - All Employees (QBDG)
Subject: My last full-time day at Microsoft
I want to share some thoughts on my last day as a full-time Microsoft employee.
For the last 33 years, I’ve had the ideal job. It’s been incredibly exciting to come here every day to work with the smartest people in the world to develop breakthrough software. Together, we have built a great company that has profoundly changed the world for the better.
After today, I will be shifting my full-time focus to the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation while keeping a strong connection to Microsoft.
The fact that I am making a career change does not mean that our work at Microsoft is done. In fact, the most exciting impact of our software is still ahead of us. Everything we have done up to now is just the foundation for the more dramatic breakthroughs to come. As you apply the magic of software to delivering a new generation of innovations, this company will continue to transform the way people communicate, create, and share experiences.
Microsoft is in an incredible position because we have momentum and a great pipeline of products and technologies. Even more important, we have great people at every level. In research and development we have great engineers focused on solving the most pressing challenges in computer science and turning new ideas into innovative products. In marketing, sales, and customer service, our world-class organizations keep getting better.
We also have strong leadership. As Microsoft has grown, one of the most exciting and fulfilling things for me has been to watch new leaders develop.
It starts at the very top. For the last 28 years, I have loved working side by side with Steve. Even now after all these years I am regularly impressed with his energy and insight. I think he and I have enjoyed one of the great business partnerships of all time. Steve has done a great job leading the company since he became CEO in 2000. Steve’s passion for democratizing the power of technology and inspiring customers, partners, and employees will keep us driving ahead.
I am thrilled to have Ray and Craig playing key roles in guiding the company’s strategy. For over a decade I had hoped that we could convince Ray to join Microsoft—and in the three years he has been here, he has made a huge difference in helping us focus on the challenge and opportunity of software plus services. I have worked with Craig for more than 15 years. His ability to anticipate the future direction of technology is a key asset, as is his deep interest in and understanding of emerging markets.
Of course, I’ll continue to be involved in the work of the company as part-time Chairman. As part of this I will help with a handful of projects that Steve, Ray, and Craig select.
As I reflect on the last three decades, the thing I’m proudest of is the role that this company has played in making the power of digital technology accessible and affordable. Software running on personal computers and other devices is the best tool for empowerment in human history. Microsoft founded the personal computer software business and we built the platforms that enabled the software industry to develop. Without your contributions, we would not have succeeded in making our dream of a computer on every desk and in every home a reality for more than 1 billion people worldwide—a dream we will extend to everyone in the future.
As I make the transition to focus more of my time and energy on the Gates Foundation, I am looking forward to applying the lessons I’ve learned—and, in some cases, the technologies that we have developed—to help address some of the critical issues that people around the world face in education, economic development, and health.
I want to thank all of you for your hard work and your dedication. It has been a privilege and an inspiration to come to Microsoft every day. I look forward to the amazing, world-changing innovations you will deliver in the years ahead as you continue the great work this company has always done.
Bill
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Leaders are not appointed, they rise
I have made a mention of this insight on my other blog as well. Leaders are not appointed, they rise. This statement was made by our crativity and innovation professor. It's beautiful.
Another wonderful statement was "fail often, fail fast". It is just a re-inforcement of "Ready, FIRE, Aim"
Another wonderful statement was "fail often, fail fast". It is just a re-inforcement of "Ready, FIRE, Aim"
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
being a Man!
‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
decisions!!
what is a decision? A decision is a commitment to action, non-negotiable, case closed.
Once you decide to exercise for an hour every day, you just do it, no matter what.....jack canfield
you do it 100% of the time. it becomes a rule guiding your life.
DECISIONS ARE IRREREVERSIBLE CHOICES. ONCE MADE, THERE IS NOT A POSSIBILITY OF BACKING UP.
Once you decide to exercise for an hour every day, you just do it, no matter what.....jack canfield
you do it 100% of the time. it becomes a rule guiding your life.
DECISIONS ARE IRREREVERSIBLE CHOICES. ONCE MADE, THERE IS NOT A POSSIBILITY OF BACKING UP.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
the things that we would like to do!!
one thing is clear to my mind, the only thing that guides the decision between the right and wrong is the conscience, but I am not sure if it is always to be respected or it is always right.
if something is right for me, it has to be right for someone else as well. If that does not work, it's nothing but hypocrisy which is something i will never resort to.
Now, but that does not mean I can afford to be right all the time but i can afford to be honest with myself!!
if something is right for me, it has to be right for someone else as well. If that does not work, it's nothing but hypocrisy which is something i will never resort to.
Now, but that does not mean I can afford to be right all the time but i can afford to be honest with myself!!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Success demands no explanations!!
Some people win. They just win. They do not know why and how. Probably they take risks, probably they do certain things which simply work!!!
They are felicinated, respected because they won but who cares how they won? People might say 100 things, who did not win and criticise the winners, but winners have been and will always be celebrated.
Failure on the other hand, accepts no excuses, no explanations. No one gives a damn about you and no one cares that you have were also an also ran!! who cares that you even exist.
This is how it's been and this is how it will always be!!
Success demands no explanations!!
Failure know no excuses!
go win.
no one gives a damn anyways, winners are celebrated and losers are forgotten
They are felicinated, respected because they won but who cares how they won? People might say 100 things, who did not win and criticise the winners, but winners have been and will always be celebrated.
Failure on the other hand, accepts no excuses, no explanations. No one gives a damn about you and no one cares that you have were also an also ran!! who cares that you even exist.
This is how it's been and this is how it will always be!!
Success demands no explanations!!
Failure know no excuses!
go win.
no one gives a damn anyways, winners are celebrated and losers are forgotten
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Gifted People!!
Sometimes i think about people, actually many times, who reached pinnacles of success starting from no where!!
Richard Branson, who i consider my idol is a great story. He never went to college. His mission is to give the man on the road a better deal. Be it through music, insurance, trains, apparel, airlines and many other businesses!!
Bill Gates dropped out to transform the world through Microsoft
Steve Jobs did similar things, not a great student either
Lakhshmi Mittal is a Bcom
Sunil Bharti Mittal used to be a cycle parts trader
Walt Disney was fired by a new paper editor for lack of ideas!!!
Just reading this case on Ritz Carlton, which mentions the story of Mr. Horst Schulze, who from a dishwasher rose his way up to become the president and COO of the most prestigious hotel chains in the world and just inspired me to write this post
Dhirubai Ambani whose legacy, Reliance Industries is now one of the drivers of Indian. Reliance Group revenue is equivalent to about 3.5% of India's GDP according to a source on the internet. Imagine, he used to be a petrol pump attendant and started with nothing.
Mother Teresa brought about changes by exemplary leadership. Mahatma Gandhi came from nowhere to become so instrumental in India's independence.
I could take many more names and most of them used to common men and women like you and me before they embarked on their lifelong missions.
These missions changed the world in one or the other. Or they set examples of extraordinary human success. They became inspirations from others and derived their inspirations from themslves.
We also want to change the world, don't we. We need a mission to be able to do that and the guts to walk the lonely road.
Richard Branson, who i consider my idol is a great story. He never went to college. His mission is to give the man on the road a better deal. Be it through music, insurance, trains, apparel, airlines and many other businesses!!
Bill Gates dropped out to transform the world through Microsoft
Steve Jobs did similar things, not a great student either
Lakhshmi Mittal is a Bcom
Sunil Bharti Mittal used to be a cycle parts trader
Walt Disney was fired by a new paper editor for lack of ideas!!!
Just reading this case on Ritz Carlton, which mentions the story of Mr. Horst Schulze, who from a dishwasher rose his way up to become the president and COO of the most prestigious hotel chains in the world and just inspired me to write this post
Dhirubai Ambani whose legacy, Reliance Industries is now one of the drivers of Indian. Reliance Group revenue is equivalent to about 3.5% of India's GDP according to a source on the internet. Imagine, he used to be a petrol pump attendant and started with nothing.
Mother Teresa brought about changes by exemplary leadership. Mahatma Gandhi came from nowhere to become so instrumental in India's independence.
I could take many more names and most of them used to common men and women like you and me before they embarked on their lifelong missions.
These missions changed the world in one or the other. Or they set examples of extraordinary human success. They became inspirations from others and derived their inspirations from themslves.
We also want to change the world, don't we. We need a mission to be able to do that and the guts to walk the lonely road.
Friday, August 22, 2008
my learning diary!!
To start with, I am posting my leadership learning diary i submitted for the leadership course...
Learning and growth is the essence of life. If life is not for learning, then what is life for?
Just to set up a background, we have had a wonderfully insightful course on leadership in the last term of this term here at Singapore and what will follow from here would be the essence of what I understood and learned from the classes. Learning and growing has always been a pleasure and privilege and it will continue to be.
We all wonder, are leaders born or made? Even I do and always have. As we discussed in the class, effective leaders are authentic leaders. They grow from their experiences, their pains and tribulations, the frustrations, their joys and all that somehow seems to touch them.
There is something called a formative experience which somehow shapes a person from an ordinary human being to an extraordinary human being and most of us have such experiences. But there is something essentially different between how a normal person deconstructs those experiences and how a person with an ingrained fire in him deconstructs that experience.
What do I mean by someone in fire in him/her? Well, this fire may not always be there or it becomes fire because of years of pain, inactions or miscalculations. But, it is there and it is very important to discover this fire.
Abraham Lincoln, whom I consider to be one of the greatest leaders of all times, would be considered to be by many as a born leader. I think he was not a born leader. He lived in his life in a way that what he created out of an extraordinarily impoverished background made him look like a born leader.
There must have been times in his life where he felt like giving up because he failed and failed over and over again. What distinguished him from others was his determination to optimise his potential and never give up. He behaved in extraordinary ways to extraordinary circumstances.
It is not that we do not face such experiences which have the potential to change us for good or for bad. What is important is how we respond to such situations. When his girlfriend died, he was devastated as it does happen with many people in their youth and this is a tremendous personal disaster for them. However, what is important is how they fight back and what kind of perspectives do they extract from what happened.
The nature of the tragedy may not be exactly the same; however, a personal turbulence has massive potential to change a human being, depending on the kind of feedback he received from his environment.
I had a similar experience when I was 23 and I was completely devastated for a period of one and half years. The people in my environment felt that I had lost it and even beyond a point they began to create distances from me. I was completely heartbroken and my will to live beyond was diminished.
However I survived and moved on. The lessons I generated from that experience has completely changed the way I interact and respond to people now. The paradigms that were created have changed me as a person and although I went through tremendous amount of pain when that happened, I do not regret it because that mistake and the subsequent trauma is one of the reasons that I can deal with people with stability and confidence without hurting myself.
So what exactly is authenticity? As the word says, it is being genuine and to follow our natural instincts and behaviours. It does not mean by any means that it is incorrect to have role models. Role models are good as long as we look at the way they have lived their lives in principle and for our own understanding of what those principles mean to us.
Let me illustrate to drive the point further. My role model is Sir Richard Branson. Now why do I say that he is my role model? I say so because I identify with him as a person and I appreciate the kind of life ha has lived and how he has lived it. He has been a maverick who has always done what seemed to him the right thing to do even if the world thought he went crazy. This is true of the world acclaimed Virgin Atlantic Airways as the world thought it was doomed right from the beginning.
I think and feel that the principles that he has stood by are important to live a life and not surviving. It is extremely important to act in accordance with your vision and conscience. Although we must not ignore the feedback that we are receiving from the environment but that must not be the deciding factor in what we end up doing.
Authenticity calls for the understanding that there is not a single person in this world who is essentially and completely like me and no other person would go through the kind of situations and circumstances that I have gone through. Authenticity calls for learning from these experiences and form our impressions of the world around us.
Authenticity calls for deconstructing our behaviour in the past and identifying patterns of behaviour. We must attempt to understand what we stand for and how we are likely to behave in critical situations.
There is another principle I believe is important is certainty. This means that leaders know where they are going and they are almost certain that they will reach where they want to go. Leaders lead the direction because they can see the pathway and others cannot and that’s why there are followers.
Leaders have the courage of their convictions and once they have scratched and debated the idea with themselves, then no matter what, they will stand by what they think are right. Leaders are open to ideas but the most important person to a leader is themselves.
For example, in case of Mahatma Gandhi, he led the policy of non-violence against the colonial rule. Now, to any logical mind this would sound foolish and for any type of unjustified violence, the answer would be to retort back. I am sure that Mahatma Gandhi believed in the principle of non-violence so strongly that he got an entire nation to buy in and led the country to independence, as quoted by the history.
Leadership begins with the conviction about your principles and values and if there is anyone for whom it is most important to be convinced about those ideas, it is you.
If Bill Gates did not believe so profoundly in the power of personal computing, would the world be what is today? If Mother Teresa did not believe passionately in the power of love and compassion, could she ever touch the world the way she did?
Passion is power. And power starts with the strength of a belief turned into a conviction and a passion to change what is wrong and what can be improved and must be improved? The next step is a decision.
What is a decision? A decision is to act on a course of action and committing to a result. Once a decision has been made, leaders are committed. A decision is power because it comes out of clarity and clears confusion.
Leadership is not quite fun, not quite glamorous. It is immense responsibility and personal pain. The leader is looked upon by his followers as the one who will show them the path that they have decided to walk on. It is massive commitment to change.
Leadership is about personal humility and professional will as per the journal “the level 5 leadership”.
What is humility? Humility is being humble and not being arrogant and immerses in your achievement. Humility is focus on the mission and not yourself. Someone great said- “the tree with most fruits always bends low”. The leader is not a boastful and ostentatious person, more often than not. Great leaders display tremendous calm and personal humility. It is an absolute honour to meet them and they discharge their responsibility without talking about it. They do not like to take credit. A leader looks for people to distribute credit to and if he does not find anyone, he attributes it to good luck.
The tree with most fruits always bends low.
Professional Will is the will to act and let those actions flow out of values. Actions that flow out of passion have extreme power to generate results. The name of the game is anything but mediocrity. The game is called brilliance, excellence, world class, nothing else. Will is the king of mental powers as per Robin Sharma of “the monk who sold his Ferrari” fame. Will is the power to walk your talk and leaders display that will.
Leaders display personal integrity and commitment to long term results and not short term rewards resulting out of unethical and incorrect behaviour. Integrity is walking the talk which creates confidence and certainty. There is no other way out. It is critical to act in accordance with personal ethics that leaders develop over time. I have never heard of a leader who treats people unjustly, resorts to unethical behaviour to gain short term benefits and I am sure these are not the traits of a leader.
I consider Peter F Drucker as a leader in the field of management literature. He was an extremely wise man. He led the field and said things which would be relevant for generations. I consider Dale Carnegie to be a leader in the field of interpersonal relations. He developed deep understanding of human behaviour through experience and research which no one else had done before and hence generated thoughts that no one said before. As a result, he is considered a leader and authority in the field of human relations and his book “how to make friends and influence people” will be read and re-read by millions around the world.
Now let me take this discussion to a personal level. Do I consider myself to be a leader? Yes, I do. Why do I consider myself to be a leader? To start with, I think my authenticity and genuineness as a human being. My ability to derive learning from my experience and my life story so far inspires me to lead people and show them the right direction.
I mentioned one of the incidents that shaped me to be an emotionally stronger human being with a heightened capacity to touch people. Here is another one. Not very long ago, I came to the threshold of death and almost escaped. Somehow I realised that the way I had been living my life had been entirely wrong and everything that I stood for, was wrong and the path I was following would only lead me astray.
I again managed to survive. The one thing I did not realise that one must accept the knowledge and wisdom when it comes because for most people it does not come at all or they do not recognise it. I have changed and since the beginning of this year, I have been looked upon as an inspiration by people and I am saying so because this is the feedback I have received from people.
There are so many people who just browse through life never really living it completely. I see my leadership opportunity in this context. The reason I say so is because I feel strongly that there is an essential fault in the way we have been led to believe how life is. I am not exactly sure at this point in time how this opportunity will evolve and how will I exploit, however, I am sure that wherever I go, I will be able to influence minds.
Is it possible for anybody to transform himself to a leader?
I think it is. To start with, we must start thinking as a leader. That begins with getting increased understanding of our selves. I heard someone mentioning a beautiful metaphor that understanding yourself is like peeling off an onion, you will always discover a new layer and you will always cry!
Thinking of changing the world is a very noble idea and it begins with changing yourself. The most effective form of leadership is to lead by example. Leaders must behave in ways that they expect people to behave. There is no way to evade responsibility and expecting to become a leader.
Leadership is not about “may” and “may not be”. Leader is about “will be” and “will do”. The one who is not sure about himself will never be able to touch someone else and influence.
We had an interesting discussion about the difference between and manager and a leader. Nothing suggests from my understanding that leaders are not good managers. So, I think I can safely make the statement that all leaders are good managers. They are good managers of people, of time and resources. However, that does not mean that the majority to their time goes in managing and micro managers. We often talk of scarcity of managers. However, managers are not as much in scarcity as leaders are. Hence, managers work for leaders.
The responsibility of the manager is to see that maximum output is derived out of limited resources. The responsibility of a leader is to find the right direction, look into the future and create lasting changes. Leaders create the future and managers assist leaders in crafting the future.
What do I want to be? I think it is an important question if we want to lead or not. I have discovered through personal experience that not everyone wants to learn and grow forget want to be a leader.
The question is thus if we see ourselves as a leader and would like to nurture and develop our abilities so we can lead people to growth and better lives. I want to be a leader and I am a leader, I am just looking for the right context where I will be the right match.
There is a scarcity of thought leaders. Eventually everything begins with a thought. The difference between two people is in the quality of their thoughts. Leaders think big and dream high. I have read it does not take any more energy to think big thoughts than it takes small ones and leaders choose to think big.
The size of the dreams is another ingredient of leaders. Leaders think big. They look at the macro picture and aim to bring about stupendous change. The problem with most people is that they cannot get themselves to think big. The people we talk about as leaders have made big things possible and eventually everything began with a small thought in the minds of leaders that what they think is possible.
Great leaders transform people and environment. They create fundamental changes and challenge status quos. Leaders have a responsibility to develop leaders.
Leaders lead, Period.
They lead the change processes and people involved in their missions. As human beings it is our right and duty to nurture the leadership potential within us.
Rockk On
Learning and growth is the essence of life. If life is not for learning, then what is life for?
Just to set up a background, we have had a wonderfully insightful course on leadership in the last term of this term here at Singapore and what will follow from here would be the essence of what I understood and learned from the classes. Learning and growing has always been a pleasure and privilege and it will continue to be.
We all wonder, are leaders born or made? Even I do and always have. As we discussed in the class, effective leaders are authentic leaders. They grow from their experiences, their pains and tribulations, the frustrations, their joys and all that somehow seems to touch them.
There is something called a formative experience which somehow shapes a person from an ordinary human being to an extraordinary human being and most of us have such experiences. But there is something essentially different between how a normal person deconstructs those experiences and how a person with an ingrained fire in him deconstructs that experience.
What do I mean by someone in fire in him/her? Well, this fire may not always be there or it becomes fire because of years of pain, inactions or miscalculations. But, it is there and it is very important to discover this fire.
Abraham Lincoln, whom I consider to be one of the greatest leaders of all times, would be considered to be by many as a born leader. I think he was not a born leader. He lived in his life in a way that what he created out of an extraordinarily impoverished background made him look like a born leader.
There must have been times in his life where he felt like giving up because he failed and failed over and over again. What distinguished him from others was his determination to optimise his potential and never give up. He behaved in extraordinary ways to extraordinary circumstances.
It is not that we do not face such experiences which have the potential to change us for good or for bad. What is important is how we respond to such situations. When his girlfriend died, he was devastated as it does happen with many people in their youth and this is a tremendous personal disaster for them. However, what is important is how they fight back and what kind of perspectives do they extract from what happened.
The nature of the tragedy may not be exactly the same; however, a personal turbulence has massive potential to change a human being, depending on the kind of feedback he received from his environment.
I had a similar experience when I was 23 and I was completely devastated for a period of one and half years. The people in my environment felt that I had lost it and even beyond a point they began to create distances from me. I was completely heartbroken and my will to live beyond was diminished.
However I survived and moved on. The lessons I generated from that experience has completely changed the way I interact and respond to people now. The paradigms that were created have changed me as a person and although I went through tremendous amount of pain when that happened, I do not regret it because that mistake and the subsequent trauma is one of the reasons that I can deal with people with stability and confidence without hurting myself.
So what exactly is authenticity? As the word says, it is being genuine and to follow our natural instincts and behaviours. It does not mean by any means that it is incorrect to have role models. Role models are good as long as we look at the way they have lived their lives in principle and for our own understanding of what those principles mean to us.
Let me illustrate to drive the point further. My role model is Sir Richard Branson. Now why do I say that he is my role model? I say so because I identify with him as a person and I appreciate the kind of life ha has lived and how he has lived it. He has been a maverick who has always done what seemed to him the right thing to do even if the world thought he went crazy. This is true of the world acclaimed Virgin Atlantic Airways as the world thought it was doomed right from the beginning.
I think and feel that the principles that he has stood by are important to live a life and not surviving. It is extremely important to act in accordance with your vision and conscience. Although we must not ignore the feedback that we are receiving from the environment but that must not be the deciding factor in what we end up doing.
Authenticity calls for the understanding that there is not a single person in this world who is essentially and completely like me and no other person would go through the kind of situations and circumstances that I have gone through. Authenticity calls for learning from these experiences and form our impressions of the world around us.
Authenticity calls for deconstructing our behaviour in the past and identifying patterns of behaviour. We must attempt to understand what we stand for and how we are likely to behave in critical situations.
There is another principle I believe is important is certainty. This means that leaders know where they are going and they are almost certain that they will reach where they want to go. Leaders lead the direction because they can see the pathway and others cannot and that’s why there are followers.
Leaders have the courage of their convictions and once they have scratched and debated the idea with themselves, then no matter what, they will stand by what they think are right. Leaders are open to ideas but the most important person to a leader is themselves.
For example, in case of Mahatma Gandhi, he led the policy of non-violence against the colonial rule. Now, to any logical mind this would sound foolish and for any type of unjustified violence, the answer would be to retort back. I am sure that Mahatma Gandhi believed in the principle of non-violence so strongly that he got an entire nation to buy in and led the country to independence, as quoted by the history.
Leadership begins with the conviction about your principles and values and if there is anyone for whom it is most important to be convinced about those ideas, it is you.
If Bill Gates did not believe so profoundly in the power of personal computing, would the world be what is today? If Mother Teresa did not believe passionately in the power of love and compassion, could she ever touch the world the way she did?
Passion is power. And power starts with the strength of a belief turned into a conviction and a passion to change what is wrong and what can be improved and must be improved? The next step is a decision.
What is a decision? A decision is to act on a course of action and committing to a result. Once a decision has been made, leaders are committed. A decision is power because it comes out of clarity and clears confusion.
Leadership is not quite fun, not quite glamorous. It is immense responsibility and personal pain. The leader is looked upon by his followers as the one who will show them the path that they have decided to walk on. It is massive commitment to change.
Leadership is about personal humility and professional will as per the journal “the level 5 leadership”.
What is humility? Humility is being humble and not being arrogant and immerses in your achievement. Humility is focus on the mission and not yourself. Someone great said- “the tree with most fruits always bends low”. The leader is not a boastful and ostentatious person, more often than not. Great leaders display tremendous calm and personal humility. It is an absolute honour to meet them and they discharge their responsibility without talking about it. They do not like to take credit. A leader looks for people to distribute credit to and if he does not find anyone, he attributes it to good luck.
The tree with most fruits always bends low.
Professional Will is the will to act and let those actions flow out of values. Actions that flow out of passion have extreme power to generate results. The name of the game is anything but mediocrity. The game is called brilliance, excellence, world class, nothing else. Will is the king of mental powers as per Robin Sharma of “the monk who sold his Ferrari” fame. Will is the power to walk your talk and leaders display that will.
Leaders display personal integrity and commitment to long term results and not short term rewards resulting out of unethical and incorrect behaviour. Integrity is walking the talk which creates confidence and certainty. There is no other way out. It is critical to act in accordance with personal ethics that leaders develop over time. I have never heard of a leader who treats people unjustly, resorts to unethical behaviour to gain short term benefits and I am sure these are not the traits of a leader.
I consider Peter F Drucker as a leader in the field of management literature. He was an extremely wise man. He led the field and said things which would be relevant for generations. I consider Dale Carnegie to be a leader in the field of interpersonal relations. He developed deep understanding of human behaviour through experience and research which no one else had done before and hence generated thoughts that no one said before. As a result, he is considered a leader and authority in the field of human relations and his book “how to make friends and influence people” will be read and re-read by millions around the world.
Now let me take this discussion to a personal level. Do I consider myself to be a leader? Yes, I do. Why do I consider myself to be a leader? To start with, I think my authenticity and genuineness as a human being. My ability to derive learning from my experience and my life story so far inspires me to lead people and show them the right direction.
I mentioned one of the incidents that shaped me to be an emotionally stronger human being with a heightened capacity to touch people. Here is another one. Not very long ago, I came to the threshold of death and almost escaped. Somehow I realised that the way I had been living my life had been entirely wrong and everything that I stood for, was wrong and the path I was following would only lead me astray.
I again managed to survive. The one thing I did not realise that one must accept the knowledge and wisdom when it comes because for most people it does not come at all or they do not recognise it. I have changed and since the beginning of this year, I have been looked upon as an inspiration by people and I am saying so because this is the feedback I have received from people.
There are so many people who just browse through life never really living it completely. I see my leadership opportunity in this context. The reason I say so is because I feel strongly that there is an essential fault in the way we have been led to believe how life is. I am not exactly sure at this point in time how this opportunity will evolve and how will I exploit, however, I am sure that wherever I go, I will be able to influence minds.
Is it possible for anybody to transform himself to a leader?
I think it is. To start with, we must start thinking as a leader. That begins with getting increased understanding of our selves. I heard someone mentioning a beautiful metaphor that understanding yourself is like peeling off an onion, you will always discover a new layer and you will always cry!
Thinking of changing the world is a very noble idea and it begins with changing yourself. The most effective form of leadership is to lead by example. Leaders must behave in ways that they expect people to behave. There is no way to evade responsibility and expecting to become a leader.
Leadership is not about “may” and “may not be”. Leader is about “will be” and “will do”. The one who is not sure about himself will never be able to touch someone else and influence.
We had an interesting discussion about the difference between and manager and a leader. Nothing suggests from my understanding that leaders are not good managers. So, I think I can safely make the statement that all leaders are good managers. They are good managers of people, of time and resources. However, that does not mean that the majority to their time goes in managing and micro managers. We often talk of scarcity of managers. However, managers are not as much in scarcity as leaders are. Hence, managers work for leaders.
The responsibility of the manager is to see that maximum output is derived out of limited resources. The responsibility of a leader is to find the right direction, look into the future and create lasting changes. Leaders create the future and managers assist leaders in crafting the future.
What do I want to be? I think it is an important question if we want to lead or not. I have discovered through personal experience that not everyone wants to learn and grow forget want to be a leader.
The question is thus if we see ourselves as a leader and would like to nurture and develop our abilities so we can lead people to growth and better lives. I want to be a leader and I am a leader, I am just looking for the right context where I will be the right match.
There is a scarcity of thought leaders. Eventually everything begins with a thought. The difference between two people is in the quality of their thoughts. Leaders think big and dream high. I have read it does not take any more energy to think big thoughts than it takes small ones and leaders choose to think big.
The size of the dreams is another ingredient of leaders. Leaders think big. They look at the macro picture and aim to bring about stupendous change. The problem with most people is that they cannot get themselves to think big. The people we talk about as leaders have made big things possible and eventually everything began with a small thought in the minds of leaders that what they think is possible.
Great leaders transform people and environment. They create fundamental changes and challenge status quos. Leaders have a responsibility to develop leaders.
Leaders lead, Period.
They lead the change processes and people involved in their missions. As human beings it is our right and duty to nurture the leadership potential within us.
Rockk On
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