Leadership

               

               
              One of the prime pillars of any organisation on the basis of which an organisation thrives is its leadership. A leader is a visionary who is the podium on which his associates perform. This, my dear friends, this is the reason why some organisations sustain and certain institutions fail before they blossom.

                The true importance of leadership is misunderstood by people or I would rather say the power which a leader has blinds him/her greatly to the qualities to be possessed. I have seen numerous methodologies of leadership. Some leaders choose to be dominant and bossy over their associates to get things done while some choose to be friendly.In the first method of leadership, people often throw barbs at the leader and work unwillingly. Some introspection led me to believe that getting things done is an attribute of having good personal ties with the subordinate . A leader is the one who understands his employee at an emotional level and makes him work accordingly. You cannot be extremely strict with an associate/employee who is emotionally sensitive. This will often lead to hatred for the leader and on a larger scale decrease in productivity of that employee. In myriad cases, the employee who might be adept at work finally leaves the organisation due to the ineffective leadership he works under. I have seen people who haven't scored good grades in college but have performed exceptionally well at their work and the ones who scored good grades have failed to perform in accordance with their grades. This also made me wonder if the performer might be inspired by his/her leader?

            While I find emotional touch a quintessential leadership quality, I have also seen cases where certain leaders get too attached to their employees and this attachment then creates a negative environment for others. Leaders who were excellent have a blot on their names due to such incessant attachments with particular employees. A leader must know to draw the line between his attachments and the duties he is bound to. When a leader fails to realise this, he not only loses credibility but comes across as a person who is biased and emotionally immature. A leader I feel must understand the personal issues of his employees and empathize with them but should not take it far and make their problems his/her own to the extent of being biased towards them.

A true leader is the one whose vision becomes the inspiration for his followers; whose action sets the threshold for excellence for his associates; whose free will nature inspires one's mind to act without manacles and provide innovative solutions; whose superior qualities thus makes an employee submit his loyalty and make his goal aligned with the ones of his leader.

                 

Book review: The Calling

Details

Title: The Calling

Author: Priya Kumar (Motivational Speaker, Author)

Genre: Philosophy

Web site: http://priya-kumar.com/

Background

While I was busy with dodging numerous issues in corporate about a month ago, I was approached by the author to review this book. While Indian authors by far did not play a very convincing game, this book was the turning point in my perception of Indian authors after I have reviewed a 2 books by Ravi Subramanian(which was the entry point and which convinced me to a great extent).

Plot:

Arjun is a corporate employee who is trapped in a vortex of confusions in personal and professional life. Due to the imbalance he creates for better growth in corporate, he was on the brink of a divorce with his wife who was hardworking and smart. Arjun came accross as a person who had common traits like jealousy, pulling others down for one's own growth in his workplace which did make him successful there but always kept the greed  unsatiated and craving for even more. This greed led him to do a lot of unjust things at home and office costing his relationships dearly.

To get out of this confusion and trouble, Arjun took a trip into the heart of Himalayas, on insistence of a Sadhu who predicted that the journey up to Hemkund Sahib would align him to his purpose and change his life forever.

The plot is all about how Arjun realises his true purpose of his life. The way the mysterious sadhu whom he encounters in his journey plays a vital role by making him self-realise by his own actions.

My verdict:

     "Real sophistication lies in utmost simplicity".

 While reading the whole book;the above quote struck my mind regularly. The language and vocabulary is balanced and a smooth read.  The author has conveyed the message so lucidly while managing to keep the reader engrossed in the plot. While going to Himalaya's has now become the talk of IT-town, there wasn't much of a exciting experience I was looking forward to. This lack of excitement can be attributed to my inability to go there and experience the beauty of those mountains. My perspective hence changed after reading this book as I was beginning to relate to everything written there.
  

Some points and quotes have been wonderfully put down:

You respond to your name and therefore you limit your responsibility(on being nameless and not limiting responsibility according to name/title)
If  you dont know the people in your world, they will be a liability in your purpose(on knowing the purpose of each person in life so that their relationship is not a load to carry on your shoulders)

We need to ponder on the above lines; in this hustle bustle we have actually forgotten the basics or rather kept our mind shut to these thoughts.The second quote is regarding a person who the protagonist(Arjun) thinks just as a guide and never discovers his strengths and looks him down for his profession.

The description of the two tests given by the sadhu is really commendable and reflects the human tendency to copy himself/herself others if the situations are similar. Arjun fails in the first test and after knowing the way to pass it, tries to copy the same strategy in the second one. Will the same strategy give him success?(I was remembering my University exams where there were repeat questions which helped us somehow pass but never score a distinction).
Through the tests, the author primarily wanted to highlight that we humans yield under pressure and fail to perform as per expectations. The only thing in Arjun's mind during the sadhu's test was avoiding sitting on the rock which Sadhu was seated on for Sadhana. This fear never really got the best of him but finally he got the message loud and clear.


Suggestion:

I only felt that the mess Arjun was in could have been elaborated a bit more on as it was something which most of us in corporate experience. If his problems could have had a greater mention, it would have been much of a read knowing the exact background.

Final word:

I would give it a 4.5/5 as it has broadened my perspectives while not being too boring to read.
Keep up the good work Priya (Paulo Coelho of India I would say), the positivity in the book just cannot be ignored!

Equality:a state of mind

The recent events of shameless rape incidents in a few parts of the country have disturbed me. Time and again I feel I have highlighted that women should be stopped being considered as objects of pleasure and sex should be stopped being considered as an act comprising of only pleasure.

I recently heard that a 6 year old girl was raped and was so shaken by this activity. I really could not understand what transpired in the mind of that beast to have committed this atrocity that too with a child. Today when I speak of equality, I am confronted on two fronts and both are extremes. On one hand we have a few men shameless and dastardly committing this sinful act of raping minor girls and on the other hand I find a few women who misuse the power given to them. This puts me in a quandary as to which side is correct and can there ever be an agreement in one aspect. The argument is always stuck in a never ending deadlock where I and the women activists are stuck eternally with the above points which rightly prove each others point but not leading to a consensus.

On a larger note, what actions can we take apart from brutally punishing such guys? Will the problem of rape will ever be resolved merely by punishing the person after he has indulged himself in this sinful activity? How will we change first the patriarchal mindset of a few men? The answer is with education and iconoclasts rising in the society, such belief's will be eradicated but not so early. Any change in the mindset of a billion people takes years to form with generations being under the umbrella of change.

It is said that there was a time when men dominated the society by imposing restrictions on women. I might never understand their pain having absolved them of pursuing their desires. I sincerely feel now that times have changed and that women thinking the same about today's men especially generalising would be a grave fault. I find today's men to be compensating, pure at heart and also no control freaks(with exceptions as they exist both sides). India is such a huge country and men and women living in much developed cities and under developed villages are having diametrically different lifestyles. Devising gender specific laws leads to mass misuse in cities where people are excessively aware of them while hardly used by those who should be using it(rural areas). My point is devising laws defeats the true purpose for what they were devised for in some cases.

The only solution apart from devising laws is to educate both the genders and induce an attitude of progressive thought in the minds of people. Rather than having gender specific reservations, we can as well ignore the gender of the person seated for an interview and judge him/her purely on the basis of merit.I sincerely believe that respect and equality should come from our heart rather than being imposed by someone/some organisation. Hence I say, equality is a state of mind and let it gradually seep in rather than enforcing it on us.

To all those women/men who believe that men are at fault in every case, here is a video by a Deepika Bharadwaj you should watch:

So, will imposition of principles really lead to equality and justice?

Boxicular life!

                          So finally after a long vacation, I am resuming blogging. The 'vacation' I am referring to is not as rosy as sitting in an island and looking at the stars in peace/enjoying water sports in a resort. This vacation involved living in a box and being totally drenched in that environment which almost isolated me from all of my other activities. It was obviously unpleasant and involved tons of monotonous moments even though the work wasn't the same over time.

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                           One of the major observations in my IT life has been regarding the innovation expectations from their end. IT industry expects us to be innovative by themselves restricting us in a box. What they fail to understand that being innovative involves opening up the shackles of mind which cannot happen in an enclosed building. Wherever you see is the same monotonous color of the walls around; how can you then expect people to be innovative at all.  Innovation isn't a trait which can be thought of and come up with; it involves rigorous observation of one's surroundings and its phenomenon. Observing a slow paced snail teaches you to be silent and work constantly if you have sufficient time to complete your work. On the other hand, you need to be like a cheetah who is quick and unforgiving when it comes to deliver in tight timelines. There are Lions who want to be the king of the jungle and want submissive associates.Then there foxes, cunning in behavior with two faces to show; one to the Lion and one to his associates/coworkers. So basically, every situation and behavior can be deciphered by keen observation of the environment.
                          More than the kind of work we are involved in, its living in a box that is tiring and energy-sapping. Even though there are so many things which are not so pleasant, leaving this life becomes equally difficult as it creates a comfort zone which one doesn't want to leave. Hefty pay packages, an inherent feeling of'settled life' and some ability of buying what you want. This additionally makes us materialistic and leads to a creation of a false status quo. This is such a negative cycle which one gets trapped in that even the best talent in town is blinded and trapped. He/she then crushes his/her innovative capabilities to lead a cozy but unfruitful life. For intelligent people, the work becomes very easy and leaving hence becomes difficult. For others who are just managing hold the rope somehow by creating false relationships/attachments

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                     The frustration arising out of all the above is vented out by living a non-social and isolationist life, troubled emotions coming out on unrelated people and under unwarranted circumstances. It's no so uncommon these days to see short tempered parents scolding their children for very small mistakes they do. Its also not uncommon to see we criticising each and every situation around even though it might not need our attention. If you have traveled in a local train first class in Mumbai, you will find a bunch of intolerant people who start ranting at the slightest discomfort in an overcrowded train. Our emotions, ambition and probably even our own values are at times sacrificed for the apparent success this life offers. People tend to flatter other people even though they might not like him/her(fox and lion above). Well, life in this mirage obviously doesn't seem really good.
                      So, the million dollar question: Is this boxicular life really worth it?

GOOD DAY TO ALL!

                     
                          

Time: An Enigma

         I have been recently pondering on the mysterious nature of time. All of you might have come across the quotes, "Life is too short", "Have patience, only patience will yield results". I find contradictions in these adages by the same people who quote both according to circumstances. Really, time has an enigmatic nature.
       One of the pillar of success is patience. I feel patience is a relative concept which implies that there is no defined measure or benchmark. Sometimes, people carelessly say that just wait for a year more as if it were just a  seconds time. So many things can happen over a span of a year. How can people so carelessly dismiss one year in a scale of a few minutes? The one year wait which people so carelessly degrade in comparison then becomes a painful wait for the associated endeavor to bear fruit. When I was in my third year of undergraduate college, people often told me just one more year dear and everything concludes. Only I knew how I felt each day of that one year. So a request to people not not inappropriately scale time. Time becomes a manacle during such times
     On the other hand we get to hear that life is short. If life is so short dear friends how come then living for one year becomes such a task. We are asked to forget the grudges and strike truce with everyone. Does holding grudges prolong life? Does it make each moment count as if it required tremendous efforts to breathe with the load of grudge we carry inside? All these factors seem so intertwined and complicated that only experience can unveil its veracity to each individual.
  I write this article with great heaviness. With paradoxical and contradictory thoughts, time is the most tantalizing enigma to decode. Let time only decode time!

GOOD DAY TO ALL on that note!

Fury

               

               Fury can do wonders, fury can change one's life, fury can make a person go up to his maximum limit of tolerance, fury can bring about the best in a person, fury can destroy a person. The fury I am talking about is following something in such extreme passion that it may lead to success or even failure but at least not keep you hanging in the middle.It will drag you to a phenomenal level of activity/dedication that you maybe extremely focused.
               What is this fury all about after all? It is a driving force, a force which drives your lethargy away and pumps in the energy which compels you to achieve something. I sternly believe that a stoic person is incapable of achieving anything because his reaction to all things is the same.In this regard, it is strongly advised to have an opinion on things which one has to achieve. This approach may often lead to criticism from people who will pull you down from the ladder stating prejudiced opinions/goals.Fury provides you a protective shield which actually blinds you in a way from external resistance. It is dangerous as it may blind you to realities and may lead to failures as well. I must say that once upon a time travelling to a Mars was deemed impossible but today its as possible as it might have got.Failures(a branch of fury) are those milestones in life which will make one realize the true taste of success and will drive one to work harder and harder.The worst fear I have encountered till date is to not be afraid of failures. When you feel that you are no longer afraid of any failures either of the two things maybe true in this case: You have overcome that fear or you no longer care about the outcome because there isn't enough motivation. The latter case is a benign feeling which is actually poisonous for one professionally/personally in which he/she may not even realize the gains/losses. This again makes me reminisce the point that we need to be passionate about something and that passion must be unique; you cannot love everything at the same time or be passionate equally for all activities.It is equivalent to stating that one cannot love everyone equally.
          So guys, it's time we have our preferences/choices very clear and feel for it strongly as only "Fury" coupled with hard work will help you accomplish your goal.I do not advocate hatred/anger in any way but one must have his preferences/choices in certain things especially professionally. The shield which "Fury" provides will provide resistance from all the negativity and 'impossibility barbs' which people throw at you.Embrace this fury for all the right reasons to take yourself and this world to a next level altogether.

Harsha Bhogle's video adds a new dimension to my argument i.e presence of talent in this endeavour.

Talent without passion is best described by the state of dormancy.

Be passionate(another word for Fury) to adjectivize your name as excellent!
         
GOOD DAY TO ALL ON THE ABOVE TWO QUOTES!