Imagine you are part of a panel meant to choose astronauts who can fly space missions and land on Mars. An astronaut you have chosen is on a space mission. Things don’t go by the plan and the spacecraft threatens to spiral out of control. Somehow, this astronaut along with his buddy manages to scramble things around and regain control! When back on earth, the astronaut is disappointed with himself. In his own eyes, he has failed in letting things go out of control. A thorough probe rules out human error, but his initial response was to think he goofed up! He wasn’t sure. Would you put him on the first flight to Mars? Let us say, you still do. After all, he did manage to regain control. Fast forward to the Mars landing moment, and on a private line, this astronaut says to Mission control even as he is manoeuvring the craft, that in his estimation, there is a 50-50 chance of the landing being successful. Just 50-50. With so much at stake! How would you as the decision-maker…
Learning from the news-makers
Cyrus Mistry & Ratan Tata Cyrus Mistry’s death a few days back and Ratan Tata’s silence at the time of this writing is something to reflect on. The falling out between the two is universally known after Mistry’s sacking as the Chairman of the Tata group. In the event of Cyrus’s tragic and untimely death, what would Ratan Tata be going through? It is his own personal matter, at one level. At another level, it surely prompts soulful reflection on what they meant to each other. Whether Mistry’s passing moves Tata to reassess the arc of their relationship and reveal inner truths of his own; only time will tell. These inner truths – if shared – can serve the world. When an icon like Ratan Tata decides opens up for the sake of posterity, his revelations can offer guidance on how to reconcile hearts and minds and heal ruptured relationships. Especially, relationships between people who seem so similar and connected to each other, and still find themselves being pulled apart by the larger world that no individual controls. Mikhail Gorbachev…
Hate interruptions as a Leader? Think again
Ask any leader to share what they wish they could avoid and top of the list would be : I wish I could avoid being interrupted by people in my daily schedule. When Doug Conant became a CEO, he tried his best to not get interrupted. Did not work. Left with no other choice, he thought over how he viewed the challenge. He was looking to avoid these people interruptions so that he could maximise opportunities for exerting stronger leadership – at a time and place of his own choosing. What if he looked at it differently? What if these interruptions themselves were timely opportunities to exert strong leadership? Thats when he came up with the concept of a Touchpoint. A Touchpoint is an interaction where you get an opportunity to deal with an issue and move things forward. People were coming to Doug because there was an issue they needed his help on. The brilliant insight Doug had was that when people come to you for a talk on their own, they are already primed to be receptive to what you…
95% of people think they are self-aware. The real number is staggeringly low.
I am a part of the real number that is self-aware. If this is the first thought that comes to your mind on reading the headline, you are highly likely to not be self-aware! What is self-awareness? Self-awareness is the will and the skill to understand who we are and how others see us. Why is self-awareness so important? Alan Mullaly, former Ford CEO put it best. “Self-awareness sets an upper limit to our effectiveness in all that we do” Vision, communication, teamwork, execution, design, negotiation, selling, persuasion, strategy, art, literally anything you do; how much you will succeed and how far will you go is decided by how self-aware you are. Imagine that your life-work is a car. Self-awareness is the driver. How much mileage you will get out of driving your car is decided by your self-awareness. What can I do to develop my self-awareness? There are two tools that Tasha Eurich offers in a podcast. Daily check-in At the end of the day, ask 3 questions 1) What went well today? 2) What did not go well…
Zelenskyy -Leadership appreciation
Volodymyr Zelenskyy – the President of Ukraine – stayed back in Kyiv and is leading the fight against Russian invasion of Ukraine. People recognised his courage and willingness to die while defending his country. He has justly become a leadership icon. Even as Western allies, mainly the US, warned that the Russians were going to invade, Zelenskyy urged everyone, including the international community, to stay calm and not get carried away by a mass hysteria. In the future, historians and analysts will ponder over the sagacity of his leadership utterances just before the invasion. Let us explore a few dimensions of his leadership in this extremely trying time for his country. Projecting calm before the invasion As the leader of the purportedly weaker nation, Zelenskyy’s projected calm may have made it easier for a soon-to-be-embattled people to believe that he will hold his nerve and lead a fightback. Zelenskyy may have made a choice to not appear tense and desperate – at least publicly. Behind the scenes, he may have been unrestrained and channeled all the nervous energy into things…
Coaching – Letting the cat out of the bag
The unexamined life is not worth living – Socrates The more I experience coaching, the more Socrates seems wiser. Even coaching is ripe for a thorough examination. Every field that has canonical principles and prescriptive guidelines actually is. A certified coach enters coaching with a deliberate structure and an expected flow. The coach may feel like being in control. Life’s glorious spontaneity almost always shakes the coach out of a reverie. I was coaching an enterprising working professional the other day. We had arrived at a clear coaching goal. I was balancing head and heart in continuing the dialogue. The path seemed straightforward – in my mind. The heart was at ease.. And then, suddenly, things changed! My coachee became emotional and wasn’t in a good place. As coaches, we are taught to be prepared with our plan. In that moment, I realized one has to be prepared to let go of the plan as well. And so, I did. A silence, a prayerful silence enveloped our conversation and brought in a recovering pause. Initially, silence holds the thread of…
When Teams Outperform – The Crucible Moments
SCENE 1 1996. Lahore. It was the night before the Cricket World Cup Final! The two contesting teams were dining together at a celebratory event. Australia and Sri Lanka. Australia, the overwhelming favourites. Sri Lanka, the absolute underdogs. The World Cup Trophy was also at the scene. Naturally, the players could not take their eyes off. Their hands were twitching to get hold of it! The Australian players moved first and posed for pictures with the trophy. The Sri Lankans eagerly awaited their turn. Just as they were ambling towards it, a voice boomed out and asked them to stop! It was Arjuna Ranatunga, the Sri Lankan Captain. All he said was, “No photos now. We are going to win it. You can click as many pictures as you want tomorrow.” A festive moment and a simple wish. Ranatunga made it a crucible moment – a time when aspiration was stoked and inflamed by desire. SCENE 2 2006. Johannesberg. Australia vs South Africa in a 5 match One day series. The mighty Australians had in typical combative style clawed…
2020 – A few insights to carry forward into 2021
The very idea of a New Year is a figment of human imagination. Having said that, 2020 has given the idea a new shine. The world so urgently wants the new year to make life better! Perhaps, that is what all ideas ultimately are – containers and transmitters of human energies.. We are all invested in the idea and our collective belief is a powerful force in making things happen! So, are we going to leave all behind in 2020? What if, there is something to remember and carry forward into the new year? On asking this question, here are a few things that emerged from the shadows of this year. The real world and what it takes to stay alive We now know the real world. A mortal threat made us aware of it. The real world is where life persists. The real world is where decisions and actions that help us stay alive and well are made. The last year gifted us the context within which we recognized this real world. Without this context, we were leading self-absorbed…
Stalingrad – A battle like no other
‘Yes, life is tough, but this is nothing compared to Stalingrad’, I said this many times during the early months of the lockdown caused by the pandemic. But, what did I know about Stalingrad? I had just heard and read about Stalingrad being the deadliest battle in the Second World War. Never really got down to knowing more. This time though, the constant comparisons I made between lockdown living and Stalingrad made me reach tipping point. I read Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad. I also saw a documentary episode on Stalingrad. And I know I am not done with Stalingrad yet! War is the most savage cruelty we inflict on each other and yet, perversely, war also pushes us to confront who we are; what it means to be human. The facade of civilisation is blown apart and we are left sifting through the debris, salvaging something; anything that we hope to piece together; so that we can reconstruct our sense of being human again. What happened in Stalingrad is something well-nigh impossible to comprehend. If we did, we would not be…