I'm not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep ; I'm afraid of an army of sheeps lead by a lion -- Alexander The Great Drishyam 2 is a really good movie with a very simple plot. It is a gripping tale of a police investigation and a targeted family which is threatened by it. So what has that got to do with leadership lessons? Well, there is a lot of learnings that we can take from the protagonist role - Georgekutty. Mohanlal has done the role to perfection and what has he done is the main moot point of this blog. How well he has handled a crisis situation in his family in a very calm and composed manner. There has always been a question - what makes a good leader? There are 1000s of blogs and books that give you answers which to most of us (include me first) enters through one ear and flies through the other within seconds. Since there is no right way or a wrong way, everyone can have his or her point of view and the debate continues endlessly. So rather than pondering over what are the skills required I would like to change the perspective of trying to learn from every person or activity that we encounter around us. There is another school of thinking which even questions if leadership can be taught or learned. Basically, their approach is that it is an inborn skill that can only be sharpened and never created. Now let's drop all these debatable viewpoints and just try to learn small things from our everyday life - that is a better teacher than books, videos, and blogs (all put together) Most of us always think that leadership skills are much like any other normal soft skill but in reality, we are wrong. There is no one size fits all solution in terms of leadership. Let us see for example in the current political arena - there was Trump, you have Kim Jong-un, Putin, Modi, and Angela Merkel. All of them are good leaders but when you look at them closely - they all approach the same skill using different techniques and points of view. This means that leadership needs to be learned from everywhere and not from a single source. I do not wish to dwell on the movie or the plot but want to highlight a few instances from the movie and then connect them into practical corporate life and share a few lessons on leadership. Of course, Jeethu Joseph did not think of this story from the leadership point of view but he has certainly created a great leadership experience in the form of Georgekutty who is not well educated and hails from a remote village but has a great presence of mind - on a mission with a strategy to get his family out of a crisis. So let's get to the moot point before I forgot what I started. Are you ready?
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What is Happiness? A plate of steaming hot Idli's with a cup full of Sambhar and a light drizzle on a Sunday morning with "The Hindu" crossword in hand Mast of us would have different answers for the above question - What is happiness? Yes I accept that the answers are subjective and also time conscious but most of us would not have a clear idea about happiness. We always look outside or the surroundings for the most important questions in life such as SUCCESS, HAPPINESS, GOALS, GROWTH. In contrast the answers for all these are actually inside of everyone. Then What is happiness? Actually we do not require any formal Webster's definition for this, it is already installed inside of us. We know it when we feel it and often we use big words to describe it such as joy, pride, contentment, and gratitude. Use any definition but what resonates with all of us is that feeling of wellness or goodness or positive emotion. So you want to spice up your life and make it more exciting and happy? Then you have come to the right place at the right time. Before I start - let me ask you a simple question - If your life was a movie - would anyone watch it till the end? Most of us get sucked into the auto-pilot mode - for example a south Indian TamBram. They go to school, get into an Engineering college then do an MBA head to work in a multinational Bank, commute, browse Instagram, watch Netflix, play video games, get married and search for happiness. Suddenly they find years have gone by and they cannot remember where they spent all their time. Do not live a robotic life and blame technology and current work-life balance for it. Everyone needs to learn the tricks of how to make their lives happy and exciting within the given constraints. It is much like rendering a Karnatic RTP (Ragam-Thanam-Pallavi) encore. Karnactic music has its own boundaries and constraints but yet gives the artist lots of freedom for innovation and creativity. To use that innovation and creativity we must understand the constraints clearly. So no use in complaining about the constraints and get moving. I have three simple tips that has helped me make my life more exciting and filled with happiness. Lets explore it - ready? In this ever increasing world of complexity, SIMPLICITY is the sought out skill that will differentiate between success and failure. This was the view of Edward DeBono and I would like to take this opportunity to take you all on a brief tour of what does simplicity means in this 30 minutes video. I also plan to have a full version of this topic later in this month, Wish you all view the video and let me know the comments and improvements possible. I have tried to keep in short - although it is a very big topic. It's my experiment to keep in simple. Let me know your comments in a simple way, Just leave a "+" sign if you like it or a "-" sign if you feel it needs to be improved. Cannot make feedback any simpler. Why Innovation? That is a question which comes to most of the people. Why can't people continue doing the same thing which is working. Well, Innovation has become necessary in today's competitive world where many industries need to get their operational cost and capital costs down if they need to stay competitive. The only way to get there is via innovation. Innovation doesn't just mean new ideas, process, product - it possibly involves technological transformation and management restructuring. Innovation also means exploiting new technology and employing out-of-the-box thinking to generate new value and to bring about significant changes in society. So why is it important? The conclusion is that the importance of innovation is increasing, and increasing significantly. In the current day economic scenario, innovativeness has become a major factor in influencing strategic planning. It has been acknowledged that innovation leads to wealth creation. Even though efficiency is essential for business success, in the long run, it cannot sustain business growth. Management expert Peter Drucker said that if an established organization, which in this age necessitating innovation, is not able to innovate, it faces decline and extinction. Research has indicated that competition combined with strong demand is a major driver of innovation. The intensity of competition is the determinant of innovation and productivity. So I have tried to summarize the 10 easy rules to become innovative and succeed in your actions. Since majority of the people are too busy to read - have tried to make this blog in a Video fashion. So kindly watch till the end and let me know your comments/thoughts. In a age where a great Idea is far more valuable than the means to produce it, companies can no longer rely on a small group of R&D people to do the big thinking, Rather companies today need to tap into the wisdom and diversity of the crowd to enable breakthrough innovation or else they are left behind in the technology race. The challenge is to channelise and coordinate this creative energy towards a single common goal. This problem is solved many years ago by nature for us.
Learning from Natural Swarms During the feeding time, the migratory birds in the group always act moreindependently. But once they are in flight they become a single flock and start flying in the well known and organised V-shape. In this V-shape maneuver, their actions are all guided by a set of simple rules and a common goal. |
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
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