46 Strategies for unprecedented times by Tom Peters

Sharing as received , content credit @tompeters

Unprecedented times. We've seen nothing like this before. The last time things felt out of control was the Great Recession. Tom wrote a list of 46 strategies for leaders at that time which continues to inspire. As you give these strategies a try, know that we're rooting you on from afar. Forty-Six Strategies for Dealing with Gut-wrenching Downturns: You come to work earlier. You leave work later. You work harder. You may well work for less; and, if so, you adapt to the untoward circumstances with a smile—even if it kills you inside. You volunteer to do more. You dig deep, deeper, deepest—and always bring a good attitude to work. You fake it if your good attitude flags. You literally practice your "stage face" in the mirror each morning, and in the loo mid-morning. You give new meaning to the idea and intensive practice of "visible management." You take better than usual care of yourself and encourage others to do the same— physical well-being significantly impacts mental well-being and response to stress. You shrug off shit that flows downhill in your direction—buy a shovel or a "pre- worn" raincoat on eBay. You try to forget about the "good old days"—nostalgia is self-destructive. (And boring.) You buck yourself up with the thought that "this too shall pass," but then remind yourself that it might not pass anytime soon; and so you rededicate yourself to making the absolute best of what you have now—character is determined, virtually in full, by one's reaction to adverse circumstances. You work the phones and then work the phones some more—and stay in touch with, and on the mind of, positively everyone. You frequently invent breaks from routine, including "weird" ones—"change-ups" prevent wallowing in despair and bring a fresh perspective. You eschew all forms of personal excess. You simplify. You sweat the details as never before. You sweat the details as never before. You sweat the details as never before. You raise to the sky and maintain—at all costs—the Standards of Excellence by which you unfailingly and unflinchingly evaluate your own performance. You are maniacal when it comes to responding to even the slightest screw-up. You find ways to be around young people and to keep young people around—they are less likely to be members of the "sky is falling" school. (Naïveté can be a blessing.) You learn new tricks of your trade. You pass old tricks of the trade on to others—mentoring matters now more than ever. You invest heavily in your Internet-Twitter-Facebook-"cloud"-computing skills. You remind yourself, daily, that this is not just something to be "gotten through"—it is the Final Exam of Competence, of Character, and, even if you're not a boss, of Leadership. (People often make great leaps in a short period during difficult times.) You network like a demon. You network like a demon inside the company—get to know more of the folks who "do the real work," and who can be your most dependable allies when it comes to getting things done seamlessly and fast. You network like a demon outside the company—get to know more of the folks "down the line," who "do the real work" in vendor-customer outfits. (They can become, and will become, your most avid allies and champions.) You offer thanks to others by the truckload if good things happen—and take the heat if bad things happen. You behave kindly, but you don't sugarcoat or hide the truth—humans are startlingly resilient, and rumors are the real spirit-killers. You treat small successes as if they were World Cup victories—and celebrate and commend people accordingly. You shrug off the losses (ignoring what's going on in your tummy), and get back on the horse and immediately try again. You avoid negative people to the extent you can—pollution kills. You read the riot act to the gloom-sprayers, once avoiding them becomes impossible. (Gloom is the ultimate "weapon of mass destruction" in tough times. You give new meaning to the word "thoughtful." You don't put limits on the budget for flowers—"bright and colorful" works marvels. You redouble and re-triple your efforts to "walk in your customer's shoes." (Especially if the shoes smell.) You mind your manners—and accept others' lack of manners in the face of their strains. You are kind to all mankind. You keep your shoes shined. You leave the blame game at the office door. You call out, in no uncertain terms, those who continue to play the "office politics" game. You become a paragon of personal accountability. And then you pray.

Advice to my younger self

Difficult times these are. Transformation in the way business is executed will mean many of us would be irrelevant soon. Conventional education system and societal upbringing has simply not prepared us for the changes which are happening.

Those who are change averse are sure to be left out of the future. Even those few who embrace the change would need to be completely different versions of themselves to continue to excel in future.

Could I have been prepared for this when I was younger? I think so. So here is the list of advice I would have given my younger self:

• Read/ Write more and envision the future - Reading expands the horizons and writing makes these thoughts clear. These two are bedrocks of for an exciting vision of future.
• Practice communication - All types of communication included.
• Verbal
• Non verbal/ Gesture
• Written
• Electronic
• Public speaking- This is must for success in future
• Build strong relationships based on trust. 
• Network, network and network. Even with seemingly unconnected people, share extensively and selflessly. You will be amazed at the returns.
• Learn, not memorize- Much of the adult learning happens through experience and not memorizing. So focus on building a career based on experiences and not mugging up corporate policy manuals/ OEM manuals
• Respect time- Only commodity which we control and is always in short. It would be even more so in future because of tsunami of information. We become how and with whom we spend our time. Respect yours as well as others time through your actions, behaviors and content created for consumption by others.
• Don't allow yourself to be a clone of your job!!!! You are far more than your job. Cultivate hobbies, travel, read, write, teach, coach, play, track....No body will remember you for the designations you held.
• Know when to leave, develop people around you. Don't be a clerk doing same thing all your life. You grow when you develop people who work for you. The pride and glow of seeing them deliver outstanding results when you are not there can't be valued in earthly measures. Develop and then step aside, do something different every four years.
• Solve tough problems- Every one can solve easier ones. Differentiate yourself by solving the harder ones. Be driven, break shackles and remove obstacles which stop others from achieving greatness. Chances are you will be remembered for being a pain, but it is better than not being remembered at all. It takes determination to be a tough problem solver, but it is easy, because it is not a crowded zone.
• Find a coach who is a mirror to you. 

Many more could be added. Would be interested in knowing the ones you think are missing in the list above.

Festive season is almost there in India. Let there be love, light and laughter everywhere.

Wishing you great success in everything.

Is young India worried about machines taking over our jobs?

ThePrint.com conducted a 12 days long event "Democracy Wall" in various engineering colleges across India.

My daughter Riddhi  participated with following entry:

"World Bank data estimates 69% of today’s jobs in India are threatened by automation. And India isn’t alone here: China’s figure was 77% and other developing countries also scored highly. But are the young millenials really worried? The answer, as skeptical as it seems, is a no. This country's young population is wiser, smarter and more future oriented than possibly any of the generations before. They are flexible and have identifed the fact that continuous upgradation of their skills is the only way the ongoing and upcoming machine onslaught can be survived. In times like these, the skills profile changes faster than it did before, but at the same time, there is this ever increasing range of technology ready to help the millenials adapt and learn better. With machines taking on the mundane jobs at the soul of today’s workplace, the jobs in the future will mainly be about skills like critical and analytical thinking, collaboration and imagination. But as automation smoothly takes over this routine work and the young generation works on being relevant, the low-skill works– where the bulk of Indian IT employees work – are the most at risk. They do know that the reality is change, one which there is no shying away from. The only escape is in finding new roles and in moulding ourselves to become useful in the newer and advanced times. There is no one not worried about how the middle sectors in India is basically long cries of unemployment about being replaced by technology or automation. The impact is here and is being felt in the past few years and it's only going to magnify. Back then when humans wanted to automate the landscape, it was more of a race. But now, it's about getting the folks on the right path. The present world is ever - changing, developing at a pace like never before. There is, quite honestly, no way to put a stop to automation for it was this very thing that brought Indian economy on the world stage. Fighting machines is futile and we know it. The key to survive, let's just say, or to be employed is to fight passivity. Being passive and letting the machines impact us is the last thing to do. Doing something big and developing something groundbreaking, hand in hand, with automation is as appealing as it sounds. The young people of the workplace understand that most jobs now ask employees to be adaptable about learning new skills as they go along. To strengthen these young millenials to thrive in this great digital age, our education methodologies must bring a sharper spotlight to endless learning, experimentation and exploration. A larger value placed on education than in the West is one of the many reasons that the young millenials may just survive. All of these machines, robots, Artificial intelligence products can either be a poisonous curse on the Indian economy or a potential cure. The option is, quite evidently, ours to choose."

Young generation of today is far more ambitious and fearless. They see every disruption as an opportunity,

Proud to say that she won the first place in the contest...way you go dear daughter, so very proud of you....

Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!

Cost of actions that we don't take

All of us make choices, many of these relate to taking an action or not taking an action. Many of us even have an strategy to not to act! We then rationalize the choices that we made.

But have we ever analyzed the cost of actions we did not take?

• While walking on the road, we see a person walking with air pods completely oblivious to traffic. Do we stop and ask her to be careful or just walk by. What if the person is hit by a speedy car?
• Person working at height, without hooking up the life lines. We walk by, thinking to talk to contract supervisor about this. What if in the meantime, the man fall from height and injures himself?
• A small leak from a gas connection, we rationalize its a small leak, what if a small fire , goes unnoticed and burns down the whole facility?
• Performance issue with a colleague and we don't initiate a feedback dialogue, because its a difficult job. What about opportunities which are lost because of this?

Most of us don’t actively promote inefficiency, or aim to keep others down, or purposefully contribute to a less hospitable workplace or harm others. But we do strap on blinders. We rationalize, deflect, and deny. We follow the easier path. And we own every choice we make. The greater our power, the greater the weight each choice carries.

We can choose not to engage in improving the world. We can seize on every advantage available to us and our companies without thought to the consequences. We can act as if the planet and the global economy are not among our most critical stakeholders. We can join the crush of others who are just hoping to play out the string: keep our heads down, meet our numbers and abdicate long-term responsibility to someone else.

But when we make these choices, we leave out a crucial impact we can have on building a better workplace.

The alternative is to have the courage to accept a more difficult reality: The only way we can protect what we love is by actively pursuing a can make a change attitude. Every action has a consequence. Every inaction perhaps even more so.

Buckle up, move out and make a change. You matter a lot more than you think....

Why things go right?

Hi everyone

First things first....long needed housekeeping of the blog has been done....trashy heart burns and shout outs have been digitally cleansed and yes lots of sensitive stuff has been deleted (2017-18 period). Survivors of past rantings have access to blog archives in case they need an access to pin me up.

Coming back to the topic of this week.

I have been thinking for a long time about our obsession to analyse what has gone wrong. This is all prevailing in the society, specially us the engineers. We analyse every failure very seriously, and we must do, to prevent this from happening in future. But there is a basic fallacy in this.

Failure precedes the failure analysis

Our objective is to prevent failures and hence analysing failures only denies us to achieve this. 

There are few failures among hundreds and thousands of things which go right in the organisation. So why not include few successes in our analysis.

These things go right because of the barriers which do not fail, these are the strengths of the organisation. So why not identify these strengths and leverage them across the whole organisation to take ourselves to next level. 

I believe that biggest barrier an organisation has are its people. They work hard to ensure that things go right at all times. Still many of the failure analysis report conveniently pin the blame on people. Few examples:

• People are the problem to control (useless chaps...aren't they)
• We need to find out what people did wrong (they are bad people, they plan to sabotage their own lives, morons)
• We write or enforce more rules (as if current ones are inadequate)
• We tell everyone to try harder (as if they don't)
• We get rid of bad apples (hell yeah....we can always replace them)
• Let's train them ( they are a bunch of idiots, they don't know nothing)

Disclaimer, not all reports end with these conclusions, but many do.

We can see that people become casualty if we focus only on failure analysis. This can be reversed if we start analyzing the reasons for things which are going right. There are committed individuals in the trenches out there who are putting best foot forward to maintain strings of successes. Let's reward them so that positive behaviors are reinforced. Ultimately success feeds success and very soon we are on the upward spiral of positive change.

Few more things which come to mind to prevent failure at all times:

• Allow diversity of opinion and allow voice of dissent
• Keep discussion on risk live at all times
• Revere expertise 
• Develop ability to say STOP
• Break down barriers between teams and departments
• Don't depend on audit findings to improve
• Have pride in what you do

Will try to develop this thought further in next posts. Till then, pay respect to the departed souls and get ready for a super charged festival season.

Have a safe and motivated week ahead!

Reflections 2016.....

Back after a very very long time....

Lot has happened in the intervening period. There was another spin of roulette and I found myself working in a new role at new location.

Such changes are always difficult as these challenge you to very limits of endurance. You have to work in a new environment with new team.

Once again God helped me by granting a team of excellent human beings and very competent professionals. Things have gone well so far. But it is only the beginning of a transformation I need to undertake. This also marks beginning of end of a long love story..

Change of year also provides you with an opportunity to reflect on what went well and what did not. 

Two things which went very well in this year are:

1. Stabilised PTA5/6 
2. Could survive another change of job profile

Two things which did not go very well:

1. My continued trust on thankless and back stabbing people
2. Not able to devote time to family

Over the years, I have sacrificed a lot for my profession, I love the work I do and am fully committed to it. Have I been justly rewarded for it? Not for sure. But, the commitment to continual excellence is never easy.

Frequent job profile changes have reinvigorated on one hand whereas taken toll  on the other. 

Selective application of rule books demotivates and demoralises, But then it is part and parcel of life, hazard of profession, so to say.

My family has supported me in everything I have done so far. Thanks to them for having endured my single minded focus.

What I need to change:

1. Evaluate and reject some people from my life
2. Break free and take up bigger and larger challenge (has to happen soon)
3. Don't fall for empty promises
4. Spend more time with family
5. Take out time for self

Has been a tough year. Bruises are all raw, pain is all round, but resolve is not broken. It is the part of night just before the dawn and hence a beautiful morning will follow soon.

Signing off with these thought, Will come back tomorrow on resolves for 2017.

Wishing a very happy new year to you and your family.

Bad Habits - which come in the way to being effective

We all have had our ups and downs in professional lives. Some of the downs, however, could have been lesser bumpy if and only if we could be more effective.

My own take on the factors which stop you from being effective are:

• Mediocrity : Never settle for less than what is required. I have tolerated many people who clearly not for purpose, and have paid heavy price for it. We will not have excellence if we settle for mediocrity. Never fear of resistance which you undoubtedly experience on path to excellence.
• Negativity. A huge part of the appeal of negativity is how easy it is. It's no more complicated than looking around and pointing out all the flaws you see. And criticism has its place, but when you focus on the negative, you're shutting out the positive forces that will keep you moving forward. Negativism focused inwardly is especially destructive, so banish it for good.
• Lack of focus. Fuzzy thinking and indecisiveness will always leave you right where you are. Until you can see what you want as well as what's surrounding you, it's hard to gain momentum. Visualize where you're headed with as much clarity as you can bring to bear on it. Drill down to the details, set goals, and stay on task.  
• Unhealthy relationships. It may feel like a hard truth, but not everyone and everything is meant to stay in your life. Relationships that have become unhealthy--those that don't serve you anymore--have to be repaired, and if repair isn't possible, then you have to move on. Unhealthy relationships can cause stress, health issues, and a broken spirit. If you're scared to leave, that's probably the strongest sign that you need to. 
• Passivity. Maybe in the past doing nothing has served you well. Up to a point, it's not a bad thing to leave your options open. But if you continually choose to do nothing, nothing will happen. Success and happiness come from the choices you make. Choose to turn on your desire and drop the doubt. Choose to do work that makes you proud. Choose relationships that bring out your best self and a way of life that gives you the time to enjoy the people and activities you love. 
• Shame. We can experience shame in any area of life, but we don't have to let it keep us company or define us in the future. Shame should be something we learn to walk through and come out on the other side of, remembering that mistakes and failure are often among our greatest teachers.
• Making excuses. Is making excuses actually getting you what you want? If the answer is no, you need to stop. Think about the kinds of excuses you make. Are they focused on a present that you need to change, or a past you need to let go of? Starting today, give it everything you've got, and if it turns out badly, you can try something different. But no more excuses. 
• Not setting priorities. Every day, something will get done first, when your energy is strongest. Something will get done with the time you have left over, and something may not get done at all. You can let these things happen randomly or strategically. But it's a fact that when you don't give attention to the important things, the important things don't get done. Great things will happen when you start setting your priorities straight
• Running from problems. If you've tried this approach even once or twice, you know it doesn't work but just makes things worse. Face the issue, confront the problem, fix it. Do what you have to do to make it right. It's easy to run, but facing problems and working through them is what makes you strong.

So beware of these pitfalls to remain effective and to have lesser bumpy rides through the journey called life....

Future of internet- beyond connecting people or customers

So much of time and efforts are being put on socially connecting people of the world. These are perhaps being overdone, to the extent that considerable amount of talent is spending time in putting a like button on a video or post. Similar efforts are being done on perennially losing eCom websites. Stress in that ecosystem is already showing and its only a matter of time that we hear demise of few names.

Time to check, is this the only thing internet can deliver? Exciting new possibilities exist for other applications which can truly improve the quality of life.

Yes, I am talking about Internet of things (IoT). Few of applications which come to minds are:

1. Early health event detection through wearable medical devices- data can be monitored by experts sitting across continents. This has potential to transform the health industry. Both, hardware and software areas need exploration. Cheap connectivity would make it easily affordable to millions of people in world.
2. Health monitoring for industrial equipment- Conventionally all organisations employ people who monitor health of machine. Alternatively, the sensors could be hooked to internet and could be monitored by original equipment manufacturers (OEM's), the best people to monitor and correct.
3. Improve travel: Reliability of aviation and railway could be improved multi fold. The sensors could be hooked up the net for monitoring by OEM suppliers.

List could go on.

The Internet of Things offers tremendous potential for the manufacturing industry. Machines, systems, products, ICT systems, and people can be progressively connected over the internet, creating a production network in which information carriers communicate with each other and exchange data and information in near real time. In terms of the value chain, this means value creation partners – from suppliers to customers – are more tightly connected and capable of entering into closer cooperation with each other. The exchange of up-to-date information offers an opportunity to improve the quality and timeliness of decision-making processes, optimize the coordination of activities, and boost efficiency throughout the entire value creation process. This, in turn, provides machine and component manufacturers with the chance to offer their customers new services.

We need mavericks like Steve Jobs to focus on these possibilities, which have potential to transform the way things are done now.

Few like GE and Bosch  have already started working on this, but much more needs to be done.

What more applications come to your mind? Please share.

Nothing is what u think it is

Substantial time gap has happened between the last posting and this one. Not by design, but definitely by choice, choice of something more urgent and priority.

I have been fortunate enough to bring to life four of the state of the art, most complex and most beautiful industrial assets in the the world. Now bringing something to life is one of the most difficult things to do. This one had its own share of challenges and learning.

There was a passion, there were timelines, there were questions to be answered.. whole part of the drama had its own script.

One thing was sure, there was determination in the team. Determination to succeed beyond everything. We had terrible days, difficult nights, but we used to be back next day with adrenaline flowing. 

A team of young boys and girls finally made it happen for us. Tremendously proud of their achievement. Well done guys you have made a dent in the universe...

I will be sharing my own personnel learning in later post. But right now to a unconnected subject.

I have been thinking of something for a long time, what if nothing is what we think it is?

What if I say that your life has no meaning?

I’m not telling you this to make you think about jumping off the nearest bridge; instead I mean it in a much more contemplative way. Let’s first acknowledge that the meaning we find in people, objects, and our own circumstances is subjective. These things have no inherent meaning. Functional and dysfunctional behavior both result from choices people make based on meanings they create. This also means that we have the power to alter our perceptions, revising perceptions that bring us down and enhancing those that help us. Your outlook on life is deeply entwined in your propensity for success. Miserable blowhards can achieve, however they still wind up miserable. That’s not success. Success is doing what you love and being happy about it.

Doing what you love makes you forget all the reverses, all the obstacles, all the adversaries, everything out there to derail you. You strive because the outcome is what you love. Like a mother, who goes through labor pains to bring to life a beautiful thing called life.

So meaning of life is in doing what you love and not doing what pays you the most. Not the ones, which gives you the most fascinating titles. 

Meaning of the life is in achieving by doing what you love..

Sound simple? Then let get it done....

Employee Engagement

Employee disengagement is a serious defect in organisations of the day. We are loosing millions in profitability and few percentage points in ROCE. Even a small discretionary effort by employees result in humongous improvement in productivity and creativity. 

This defect has been and is being debated in HR conferences (somehow always arranged in star hotels). My take on it is:

1. Anonymity - Large organisations lose sight of employees. This results in anonymity which then causes loss of accountability. Great people see this very clearly and get disengaged. 
2. Bystander Apathy- How does this connect to me and my Job? Nobody bends over to pick up  fallen things (read processes, lost business, defects...),
3. Idea killers- All organisations have idea killers, who know it all and have done it all. They have no business of being in business, but here they are killing businesses which have kept them in business. People get cut off and smart people become dumb/ silent. Organisation becomes ideas poor.

So what needs to be done:

1. Maintain a line of sight with all your people. Be the over communicator and don't stop at hierarchy 
2. Shoot Bystanders and reward whistle blowers
3. Mercilessly murder idea killers- go digital, communicate, communicate and over communicate. Build your reward and recognition system around the innovation culture

Believe that you are not the only smarts around, harness creative energies of your people. Create attractive Idea gardens and not dump grounds.

Disease which can kill career

Too often organizations stall out or plateau before they reach their full potential. The reason for this is that many leaders allow themselves to contract a deadly disease. And the unfortunate reality is that more often than not, it is their fault. We leaders are at risk of catching this very dangerous and often times, career ending disease, and it is called success. The good news is that it can be prevented.

When this disease hits, its first symptom is delusion. Don’t miss this. The disease of success is always self-diagnosed. We leaders are the ones who make the mistake of believing we have it. We begin to think that we have arrived and are now worthy of being called successful. We believe this success will last forever or that we are solely responsible for it. When this happens, our thinking, beliefs, attitudes, decisions and actions change. It is as if our old operating system gets replaced with a new one that values celebration, fame and entitlement more than hard work and rigor. We actually begin to think that those around us should treat us differently and that we deserve things reserved for those who are fortunate enough to have contracted this illness.

The next symptom is amnesia. We forget the people, the disciplines, the processes and the methods implemented in past years that caused momentum and ultimately led to our self diagnoses. Our old ways of working with intentionality and purpose get replaced with relaxation or apathy. We stop caring about the little things, the details, the decimals, metrics and ultimately those who benefit from our products or services. And even more catastrophic is when the amnesia causes us to forget who really does the work in our organizations and we start to believe that our teammates are lucky to work with us. This is always fatal!

In severe cases the disease will cause extreme self focus or narcissism. Our passion for creating a product of excellence and for creating a culture of excellence gets replaced with a mirror. We no longer spend our days striving to create better tomorrows for those we serve and instead focus on how we can get what we deserve out of the business. We no longer see the need to serve the business but instead spend time and energy thinking about how the business can serve us. When we become self-focused instead of others-focused or mission-focused, death and decay set in.

Fighting this disease is not easy. All excellent leaders are surrounded with people who respect them greatly and who mean well, but can feed the disease. These leaders who are well grounded and want to finish well will always make sure that they surround themselves with truth tellers as well as cheerleaders. They crave truthful input that causes them to grow. They take precautionary measures and are intentional about their strategy to fend off this career and organization killing adversary, success. They know they have room to grow and need team mates to create organizations, products and services that are worth talking about and because they create value beyond the norm.

So my questions for you are these:

1. Do those around you feel uncomfortable letting you know when you have made a mistake? 
2. Do they feel threatened if they challenge your thinking? 
3. Do you operate without one or two around you that care enough to sharpen you? 
4. Are you more excited about your exit strategy, vacation homes or new toys than you are about the opportunities your organization has in the years ahead? 
5. Would those around you say that you get nasty or impatient when treated like the normal folk?

Solitude

We dread being alone, being without anyone to talk to, share with. All of us go to any extent to be close to loved ones and friends.

Ever thought that solitude to some extent is actually enabling in nature. It empowers our thinking, strengthens our belief in ourselves as we connect to our inner self.

Most of the times we are driven by agenda set by others, impending deadlines set by boss, customer calls, pending bills to be paid, gifts to be purchased etc. We hardly allow our hidden potential to come out. 

Solitude permits us to do that. It gives us an opportunity to connect to our selves and find out the things which we love to do. We evolve when we do things which we love to do and not the other way round.

I purposefully devote atleast fifteen minutes every day for myself by switching off completely from the cacophony of the environment, emails, mobile phone, social networking sites etc. This period is most precious time of the day. I slowly get out of to do lists and allow the peace of solitude taking over. Heart beat slows down and breath unconsciously get corrected. The invisible halo of goodness takes over, all pains and miseries are forgotten. These are the precise demonic things which prevent us from connecting to our inner self. Once the connection is made, goodness takes over and right things come to the mind. That becomes agenda for self, not only for today or tomorrow, which are just milestones, but agenda for life.

Try doing it once, you would discover true you, bereft of titles, designations, pains, miseries, bank accounts, share market, property deals and what not. Remember none of this would accompany you in your final journey to supreme.

Evolution

This was a spontaneous post on linkedin while traveling to work in morning. Received lots of compliments on composition and content. Reposting here for your critical review...



"Purpose of life is evolution, being better everyday. Doing something which you didn't yesterday, knowing something which you didn't yesterday....

It is true for all forms of life on this planet. This is how all species have survived, by evolving every moment of their being.

Evolution brings joy. It brings purpose to otherwise meandering mind. It channelizes our energy to what is important, rather than just what needs to be done. It brings focus to our every increasing to do list.

While evolution is an ongoing journey, the destiny is unity. Unity with the evolved,the origin,  the supreme, whatever name you give him/her.
So what did you do to evolve yourself yesterday, this week, this month........"

Compassionate Leadership

Everything in life has an opposite .Creation/destruction, Yin/ yang, positive/negative, feminine/ masculine, and so on. What I've lately become acutely aware of has been the two opposing perspectives of compassion and judgment. These are two different perspectives as well as realities. One focuses on the awareness of multiple perspectives, and the understanding that one isn't necessarily better than the other, or right or wrong, and the other sees only one's own perspective and believes that it is right. Empathy helps one "feel" another's pain and allows for an understanding of the other's point of view. Judgment separates and creates an environment of fear. I'm seeing the importance of choosing to be compassionate in creating a culture of teamwork. 

When an organizational culture is based on judgment, an environment of fear is created; fear of being judged. Fear isn't a motivator; it makes people close down and prevents the building of confidence. Empathy helps find common ground, and allows for relationships to form and connections to be made.  

It's the difference between the people in charge believing the power is in them and the leaders understanding the power is in the people. The power of one is limited to the one, and the power of that one allowing the people to see that they have power and that collectively they are infinitely more powerful.  I believe that's what leadership is, setting the tone and not being set by the current tone.  The coach isn't the team, but part of the team. They only inspire the greatness in their people with the creation of a culture of vision with values, confidence, and providing a story of hope that creates an impassioned and inspired team.  To quote Dr. Martin Luther King, “I have decided to stick with love.  Hate is too great of a burden to bear.”  Love is the source of courage and passion, and fear is the source of anxiety. It comes down to a choice.  Do we choose to show compassion, or do we choose to judge?    

Compassion is a way for us to use our imagination and creativity, which is what separates us from the other animals, to show respect for others, and to understand that there are other possible ways of seeing the same thing.  

Where is our focus?  Is it on personal gain, advancement, or for our own personal agenda?  There is nothing wrong with bettering oneself, but if you find yourself stepping on others to get ahead, you may not be inspired or moved by a collective vision.  Selfish acts do not build a culture of teamwork; it only creates walls of mistrust and a culture of separateness.    

I have spoken to quite a few people about the seemingly impossible idea of changing our culture (our workforce in general) to this more compassionate mindset.  I have also been told that this is a task that would be impossible.  I see it differently.  I see people doing the very things that could inspire such a change, but they may be acting more on intuition than any conscious effort on their part.  I see this as an opportunity to teach them about the impact of what they are doing so that they are able to share this gift with others.  Culture, as I see it, is how we treat each other as a whole.

Are we perpetuating the same mistakes or are we learning what we can do better and influencing positive change?  Are we placing our leaders at the head of a canoe going downstream and calling it leadership, or are we using our collective vision to inspire positive change?  

Insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Just because a group has always done something one way doesn’t mean it is a positive tradition.  Dysfunction can be a tradition, but that does not mean it is right.  Change can be painful, and almost always takes work.  If you are not working hard you probably are not leading. Change takes thought, vision, purpose, and dedication.  People want to be moved not manipulated.  If we help each other feel appreciated, respected, and valued, magic happens.  If we choose to give respect, people will stop trying to demand it. In my experience, humility infers compassion and removes judgment.

Where does passion come from?  What excites you, moves you, or intrigues you?The specifics are different for each of us.  We are all motivated or demotivated by different things.  I was asked this very question and I proposed an answer.  I tried to think of where my source of inspiration came from.  I came up with a possible answer which was simply, vision.     

We are all either moved or held back by possibility, and possibility is the route of vision.  We humans are animals with a certain trait exhibited by only our species, the ability to imagine possible futures.  It is in this ability to think of different scenarios and to create one that energizes us, or that incapacitates us. It is this cognitive process that allows us to choose to move ourselves forward, or to withdrawal into ourselves.  As I see it, this is where true leadership begins.    

With this power, the power of choice, we can create, and be moved collectively by a vision.  If there is one thing that can inspire a person or a group, it’s hope.  Hope is simply a story of a possibility, and in this positive possibility is where we can engage people on an emotional level.  Some feel that fear has a place to move people, but in my experience fear has the opposite effect.  A person will do what is expected of them when fear is used, but if we help them see their self-worth, feel appreciated, and respected as part of a team, there is no telling how far they will go for you.  This, when seen in action, almost seems like magic, but it is merely our basic human desire to feel like we have worth.  I have seen those who try to demand respect and used fear as their primary tool of management, not realizing they are desperate to get the very thing without giving it themselves.  

If we choose to lead with vision, respect, appreciation, and humility, not only will the team be inspired, but you will be building a family.  Brotherhood is based on action, not words.  Labels without action, are nothing but platitudes.  Passion is powered by positive possibilities, and anxiety is born from negative ones.  The vision gives us a common set of values in which to make decisions moving us in a desired direction.    

A good way of seeing what kind of culture you are working in is to see how people react to a member of the team speaking poorly of a teammate.  Are the people in charge jumping on the bandwagon, or are they offering help to the ones being spoken about?  Are the weaker members (the ones needing extra help and guidance) the problem, or are the ones choosing to chastise them the problem?  If the people in charge are sitting in the front of a canoe that is going with the current, no work is being done, only drifting with no direction.  

We the leaders need to understand that our team looks to us for direction, and our focus should be on our collective values.  Being a leader has less to do about where you sit in the boat, but the energy and direction you inspire in it. By choosing to help the team to believe in themselves, helping the rest of the group believe in each other, and to assist instead of criticize, the team will begin to bond.  People know when they are being singled out and being unfairly judged. This creates an environment of fear and animosity that is counterproductive and detrimental to team building. Create an environment where mistakes are welcomed and used as tools to learn instead of making people in need of training feel worthless. Compassion is vital to true communication, and communication is paramount in team building.  Too many people assume too much and understand too little.  It starts with the one person strong enough to set that tone and the culture will follow. Imagine, encourage, respect, and grow together while being mindful of your choices, and making sure they are inline with the core values.