“The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.” ― Mahatma Gandhi The world is hitting global limits in its use of resources but I see no end for greediness. Everyone wants more. Our planet will not physically support this exponential economic growth if we let greed take the upper hand. Even today, the weight of the world economy is already crushing nature, rapidly depleting the supplies of fossil-fuel energy resources that nature created over millions of years, while the resulting climate change has led to instabilities in terms of rainfall, temperature, and extreme storms. On the one hand, there are more mouths to feed, and with greater purchasing power on average. On the other hand, heat waves, droughts, floods, and other disasters induced by climate change are destroying crops and reducing the supplies of grains on world markets. There is something else hidden from our view - we are all consumed into the it's not enough mode - a mode which is brazenly very close to greediness. I would like to give you the examples of where we are heading in our daily lives with this attitude and what will happen if we proceed in the same way some years down the line.
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Generally people exhibit only 3 types of behaviours in different circumstances and situations. These are broadly classified as Submissive, Aggressive and Assertive. All of us have the skill to exhibit all the 3 mentioned types throughout our daily life but we tend to emphasise one of them more than the other two. Before I jump in to the topic, I would like to explain the 3 behaviours in brief and then move on to give you tips on how to me more assertive. Submissive Behaviour Submissive behaviour tends to be exhibited by those who attempt to gain the approval of others and avoid hurting or upsetting anyone. People who demonstrate submissive behaviour:
“I’m sorry to take up your time but…” “Would you be upset if we…” “Its only my opinion but…” Aggressive Behaviour Aggressive behaviour tends to be exhibited by those who have little or no concern for other peoples ideas, feelings and needs. People who demonstrate aggressive behaviour:
“Don’t ask questions – just do it…” “That’s stupid.” “Its nothing to do with me – its all your fault.” Assertive Behaviour Assertive behaviour tends to be exhibited by those who respect the rights of other people to express their ideas, feelings, and needs, while at the same time recognising that they too have the right to express and pursue such matters. Being assertive means:
Typical assertive statements: “I believe that… what do you think?” “I would like to…” “What can we do to resolve this problem?” There are three simple steps to become assertiveness. It is important that we learn to be assertive and practice all three and in the same order. It will seem a lot to learn and rather cumbersome at first, very much like learning to drive a car. At the start there seems so much comtrols and actions which we need to do to just move the car, but with practice it becomes almost second nature. Very similar if we practice the below 3 steps with conscious awareness and diligent use, you will become more assertive and being more assertive leads to more happiness. Picture this, you walk into a room with business owners and senior corporate managers who immediately turn to you and ask, “So, what do you do?” Do you know how to respond? Do you always say the same answer or do you try and switch it up depending upon with whom you are speaking? More often then not, people who aren’t purposeful about how they approach the answer to “what do you do” try and encompass every aspect of their expertise within one answer. They are so interested in making sure the listener sees the breadth of their best experience and offerings that the messaging becomes convoluted and lost. Recently I caught up with a former colleague, who I’ll call Vijay [name intentionally changed]. Formerly a senior manager with a bug MNC corporation, he has extraordinary skills in his field. He’s also in a career transition right now—in other words, he’s looking for a new job after being laid off. During our chat, I noticed that Vijay was sounding apologetic for his last job, when in fact there was a really good story to tell about his achievements in his last position. It was his company which created the fault and I do not understand why was he apologetic in the first place. The problem was that he just didn’t know how to talk about the accomplishments in a persuasive way. This made me think of the problem in a little more deeper way and I realised that I meet a lot of talented engineers (including myself) who do not know how to talk about what they do and why they do it well. It’s a big problem because they’re selling themselves short—and it’s not only when they’re interviewing for a new job. It wasn't until recently when I stumbled upon a networking webinar which made me realise my own short comings. I have never sold myself in any of the companies which I have worked. A lot of times I have under sold myself, After attending the webinar I found THE reason to showcase myself and I would like to elaborate few tips on how to self introduce yourself without being rude or selfish. |
AuthorVasudevan is a Leadership Mentor and an Executive coach. I run an online website geared towards helping creative entrepreneurs and future managers to build their dreams. Archives
June 2023
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