Are You Designed to be A Leader?

Tweet

Designed to kill: Some are but not all, is what we observe in animal kingdom, and I’m sure, we too are basically animals in one way or the other -- courtesy, evolution!

So, can we apply the same principle to one of the most controversial issues that has been haunting us for a long time: Are leaders born, or made?

If you have worked with large Corporates for few years, mingling with a wide range of profiles, or you’re into a profession that demands meeting tens of senior level employees on daily basis, I’m sure, it wouldn't take more than a few minutes of genuine analysis to come to the conclusion: Leadership is not everybody’s cup of tea.

Career Mistake, You Must Avoid!

Tweet

A couple of days ago, one of the candidates, who was offered a special package by one of my MNC clients, backed out at the last moment.

That's fine. If you have managed to get a better offer, there is nothing wrong in going ahead with the same. It's your career and you have every right to pick up the best option.

Is Your Organization System Driven? If not, Quit Immediately

Tweet

The purpose of a system is to design the rules of the game, so as to ensure that the show must go on in accordance with a specific set of activities defined for a particular role in any organization.

In nutshell, it means, even if someone is on leave the work doesn't suffer, as the other person who takes over his place is guided by a well-defined set of procedures regarding all the activities pertaining to that role.

Never Be Indecisive in Any Situation

Tweet

Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant. # Tony Robbins

Reading Donald Trump's 'Think Big' would give you a clear idea about how ruthless is the world you live in, and what you should do to cultivate a mix of situation-specific ruthlessness and humility in decision-making for living an accomplished life.

Through-out your life, you must read the situations correctly and decide your stand eitherway: Ruthless or humble. Right approach would work it out in your favor and the wrong one would spoil it.

How to Land Your Dream Job: Befriend the Best Recruiters!

Tweet

Quite often the job seekers ask me about successfully creating a job information network.

They are keen to develop some professional relationships that would keep them informed about the availability of latest relevant opportunities in the market much ahead of others.

Find Out that Connection, Who Can Make You Successful

Tweet

A famous proverb says: Behind every successful man - or his failure - there is a woman.

However, I believe, either in business or in service, more than that proverbial woman who's supposed to be behind every successful - or failed - man, there is a professional connection: man or woman, a client and/or a mentor, that really matters.

Not even a mountain-peak inspiration from a lady in your life - either wife, or girlfriend, or even friend - can lead you to the summit of success, until you identify a person in your professional life who can ensure an amazingly rewarding source of wealth-flow.

One of the most successful consulting firms, I had worked for a few years, did the same to reach an unimaginable height of success today: Milking out a single client.

And a current client of mine I picked up after floating my own firm, did it too, achieving a growth rate of more than 50% CAGR for close to a decade by now.

All these stories, that I write on this blog, are based of practical observations and I believe that, to be successful in life what you need more is to identify that golden connection in your professional life, who's perhaps more important than a diamond lady in your personal life.

If you don't agree, please let me know why; if you agree, then also share your thoughts!

I'm, neither a leader nor a philosopher but a common man with eyes and ears open to everything happening around me, having a noble desire to share them with as many people as I can.

If you like and learn from my experience, thanks a lot; if you don't, then share your criticism and give me an opportunity to improve.

How to Enjoy A Productive Journey to Your office

Tweet

With so many professionals commuting a long distance for reaching their office, these four strategies recommended by Kevin Purdy, if implemented, can not only make your journey a bit enjoyable but also would add values to your knowledge base.

"Getting to work can be inhumanly stressful, boring, or logistically tricky--or, sometimes, all three. Here are four ways to arrive at work calmer, smarter, and without a lame excuse for being late."

Even I also travel for more than 3 hours a day and, for long, have been following one of his suggestions: Do your self-improving “reading” while moving.

Read more about his suggestions and make those few hours highly productive.

Image: Heather Carpenter Costello on Flickr

Cloud Computing: Online Data Storage Makes your Life Little Easier

Tweet

8 years ago I started subscribing to a paid online data storage system called ibackup for managing my office documents, and continued using it for more than 5 years up until the end of 2008.

It was a wonderful experience of completely bypassing hard-drive system with all data on the cloud: Cloud Computing, that I could access round the clock from my laptop, desktop and even from my blackberry -- and for that matter, any internet enabled gadget.

Talent Mis-Management: How to Kill Brand Equity of Your Organization

Tweet

Talk to any senior professional from the Industry - particularly Human Resource Department - they would tell you how difficult it has become to attract right talent from external sources. They would also tell you about quite a few innovative strategies, being implemented, that they feel would attract professionals from target companies.

Two Sides of Management Coin, With Identical Perspective

Tweet

Life is like a coin; two sides with apparently different perspectives. One side is our professional life and the other side: Personal. Not really different though, but we try to keep both separate and create trouble for us.

A week ago, while counselling my team members for improving their performance, the example that I cited made me realize: How identical are our personal and professional life -- in terms of basic structure.

Either Stop Comparison, Or Do It Constructively

Tweet

We all know, how harmful is the habit of comparison; however, most us do compare our achievements and failures with that of others -- both in personal as well as professional life. Can't we look within, instead of looking at others, and be contented with whatever we are?

Well, I believe, this urge of comparing ourselves with others is in-built and it may be difficult to completely get rid of it.

However, as Thomas has rightly pointed out: when it becomes an addiction, I mean comparing every life developments with that of people within your area of influence, it would surely invite a lot of unhappiness - as, many a times, those people with whom you compare are likely to be more successful in life.

So if you are unable to get rid of this habit, do compare but constructively and put in your best efforts to achieve more success in life; however, at the same time, be ready to accept failure also -- and gracefully.

Knowledge without Action, Is A Soul without Body!

Tweet

Leadership, one of the most talked about subject, not only in the Corporate World but in every spheres of life, has truly become a yardstick to assess one's success in both professional as well as personal life.

We read about it, talk about it too, but hardly bother to make it actually happen in our life. Despite reading and perhaps realizing what all it takes to be a great leader, we act ordinary -- and remain so.

Leadership: To Win, You Must Lead From The Front

Tweet

Re-posting an article I wrote almost a year and half ago, when I started blogging. Obviously, you would notice quite a few grammatical errors - which I have not corrected for maintaining the originality - that you may please ignore.

The prevailing state of business environment around the world  demands a continuous transformation to stay ahead of competition, and who else, other then the leaders, should lead from the front ?

I personally believe that the following four KRA's are decisive factors for the current leadership -- to ensure quantum growth of the organizations they are representing:

Is Success Inversely Proportional to Arrogance?

Tweet

Recently, while replying to my regular business queries, one of the clients, a senior HR professional, suddenly lost control over his temper and what followed next was perhaps one of the worst conversation I had in recent time -- it was one sided though, because I kept quite except repeatedly saying sorry to him.

Committed Leadership: A Style that Produces the Best Results

Tweet

Being an ordinary follower and having worked across the industry in divergent functions, I had the opportunity to patiently observe the management style of professionals adapting to every leadership theory formulated so far.

However, one unique trait that I noticed in all of them, is far from being a common factor in all those widely accepted and acknowledged style of leadership: Total commitment to team members without sacrificing the same for the organization.

How to be An Entrepreneur, While At Job

Tweet

Recently I read an article where the author was talking about owning a business as passive investment.

Surprisingly, the same concept I've successfully sold out to a few full-time working investors so far, and the first venture is likely to be inaugurated soon.

A True Story of Successful Innovation

Tweet

An amazing story of unleashing the power of innovations, through employee empowerment, for multiplying business deliverables.

"By empowering employees to develop their own customer relationship breakthroughs, the Ritz-Carlton has earned two Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards and demonstrated how the killer app of trust fuels the sustainable competitive advantage of behavioral innovation."

Via: Business Week

5 Successful Leadership Styles

Tweet

Art Gould explains: Recipes for Success: 5 Different Leadership Styles That All Work!

There's more than one way to skin a cat. Nowhere is this saying more true than in today's corporate world. The best way to find out what makes a company successful is to look at the top. And when you do, what you quickly see is that today's top executives are much more than bean counters. They are the founders and daily drivers of their company's corporate cultures. Of particular interest are those who have achieveda measure of prominence due to their accomplishments. The singular characteristic that they all share is their company's success. But when you look more closely and study their leadership styles, you tend to notice more differences than similarities. Here are examples of five different leadership styles that have all proven successful in various ways:

Via: CEO Blog

Business Mistakes I Committed, but You Don't

Tweet

A few days ago CEO of a company told me the same thing what HR head of another company said today: Abhijit, are you adding any values to your core business? Don't you think, you're focusing too much on other activities which are not generating sufficient return?

Sorry, I'm Not A Consultant -- But, A Recruiter!

Tweet

"Sorry, I'm not a consultant!" I politely told a prospect after he finished a marathon lecture on how a recruitment agency must act and deliver.

Consultant, as such, is a prestigious title that we recruiters don't deserve since our scope of work is limited to -- and  far below that.

What we do, is, to identify the best available talents for our clients and convince those candidates to take up the assignments with them.

No way we ever extend any consultancy services to our clients or to our candidates, but for some strange reasons we are bestowed upon with the title: Consultant -- with a crooked smile.

Well, recruitment, in my opinion, is predominantly a marketing job that involves selling brand equity of the clients - whatever, it is - to potential candidates, through highlighting a few genuine USPs.  And, there's no space for any consultancy services, whatsoever!

Then, where the hell, from, is emerging this title: Consultant?

Hey corporates, please stop calling us consultants -- and, let us remain marketing professionals.

Image credit