Social Intelligence, One of the Most Desirable Leadership Traits

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The other day while introspecting through my career achievements, in general, I suddenly remembered a professional with whom I had worked for a few years as his deputy .

The company was not in good shape, making huge losses, and the owner paid hefty compensation to get the best available talent for reviving the lost glory.

Having worked with one of the largest system driven organizations of that time, for many years, I was suddenly at loss of enthusiasm and initiatives on the very first day.

Although I was told about the background and also the current state of affairs, living with it even for few hours happened to be a different kind of experience. Only news worth mentioning was: My new boss would be joining the next day.

Well, he came; mingled freely with all of us; and in a few days became extremely popular. In less than 3 years he turned around the company from a blacklisted entity to a self certified vendor supplying precision engineering products to a galaxy of public and private sector organizations.

I followed him blindly, rather he made me follow him blindly, which I did not realize at that point of time because his ability to inspire and motivate people was remarkable.

Entire team worked round the clock, happily, embedding in mind a single objective of reviving the lost glory of the company in terms of reputation as well as profitability.

He successfully removed all other priorities of life from our mind channelizing our strengths in one direction and, finally achieving the objective.

What made him such a good leader, is a million dollar question!

I think it's his 'Social Intelligence' skills, exhibiting empathy and becoming attuned to our moods literally integrating his own brain chemistry with that of ours, his followers. He actually removed the "Fear of Failure" from our mind....

Apart from professional issues we could confide in him about personal matters also, taking his guidance time and again and in that process made him an integral part of our life.

It was a unique biological synchronization or brain interconnectedness through which he guided us to develop a genuine interest in the purpose, fostering positive feelings in us.

Well, a recent discovery of mirror neurons in widely dispersed areas of human brain confirms above connectivity, that help us detect, consciously or subconsciously, someone else’s emotions through their actions and our mirror neurons reproducing those emotions. Collectively, these neurons create an instant sense of shared experience: Mirror image!

Perhaps, because of those mirror neurons' intervention we minutely observed and followed his actions moving seamlessly towards the goal -- no longer his, but ours too.

That's why, I strongly believe that 'Social Intelligence' is one of the most desirable leadership traits.

What's your take? Pl, share!

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Always Remember You're Already Perfect

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"A powerful realization that has helped me is simply this: You’re already good enough, you already have more than enough, and you’re already perfect.

Try saying that to yourself, as corny as that might sound, just to see if it sounds true. Does it resonate as something you already believe (in which case, you can probably stop reading now), or does it not feel right? Do you feel like there are things you still need to improve?

Read full article at you’re already perfect | zen habits:

Should Talent Sourcing be Attached to Corporate Sourcing Function?

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It's a wild thought, but based on some logic: Why is Talent Sourcing - or recruitment - a part of Human Resource Development function, when, the process demands more of sourcing expertise and less of people development skills.

An Enlightened Experience of Meeting A Great Leader

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For several decades we've been talking a lot about customer delight, and with both 'Marketing Generals' and 'Scholars' from all over the world re-inventing the concept - several times - to ensure that every dealing leaves a permanent impression in consumers' mind, don't you think the same may apply to enlightening every contributors - internal or external - in human resource value-chain also?

This thought came my mind immediately after attending a meeting with one of the top ten HR professionals in India, who has grown much beyond the domain 'HR" and currently holding several other key responsibilities - in addition to HR - in India's one of the biggest and most admired companies.

"Face is the index of mind; so is HR for the organization," said a HR stalwart a couple of years ago, but what it actually means I experienced while meeting this great leader: Right from preparing the gate-pass even before I entered the premises; followed by security personnel meting out a huge welcome and handing me over to a cab driver for taking me to the destination, and he, finally, escorting me to meeting spot and introducing to the meeting coordinator ( Personal Secretary) - everything happened so smoothly, and quickly. 

The coordinator, adding a silver lining to an already unbelievable welcome procedure, escorted me to a conference room making me comfortable to the extent that I've not experienced for a long time. A few minutes later I was with him, seeing him after a decade.

After exchanging initial pleasantries and remembering the old days we got into a formal discussion about his initial days in the organization, and then it quickly turned into an informal thought sharing platform with him explaining: How he fought against all adversities to change company culture and eventually transformed the company into what, that I experienced.

A down-to-earth personality and gifted with crystal clear thought processes, he never let me realize - during the course of discussion - the huge difference that exists between his stature and of mine.

He proved beyond doubt: True leadership is beyond the scope of all those hypothesis we keep reading -- actually it's about genuinely valuing and respecting the humans, in every form and stature.

Remembering this interaction which kept me spell-bound  for several hours after the meeting was over, my thought process continued evolving: Isn't it high time to replace the word 'Development' in 'Human Resource Development' with 'Enlightenment.'

Don't tell me it sounds funny, or a bit off the track, because, it isn't. After all, the ultimate objective of any development is to create enlightenment!

Update: He meets every requirements of effective leadership identified by Dr. Warren Bennis,

"What does it take to be an effective leader today? The essence of leadership is still character. The essence of character is integrity, passion, curiosity, daring and a guiding vision, without which a leader doesn't know what he wants to do or where he wants to go. Unlike the old command-and- control style, those who want to be leaders in the 21st century will have to be highly flexible and have a broad range of skills. In order to lead and keep great people, leaders must be articulate, energetic and empowering. They must be willing to inspire a collaborative approach that lets them tap into the endless source of ideas, innovation, know-how and knowledge of the people they lead. Read more at  Leader Values

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When You Have None To Talk!

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You're sitting in remote corner of a crowded place desperately wanting to talk to someone over phone.

I Was A Failure, So I'm Confident of Success Now!

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Your work is to discover your world, and then with all your heart give yourself to it. #The Buddha
 
"I was a failure; I'd destroyed a similar venture in recent past. But now I know: Why and how it happened and also, what should have been done to avoid it," said an entrepreneur during his presentation to the management committee of a large corporate - competing against a dozen big firms - staking a claim for handling a prestigious project.

Let's Accept Both Success And Failures, Gracefully!

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We hope, a lot, against all hopes that everything would be alright — one day. And it starts happening also, may be slowly but with all positive indications until one fine morning, when the mirage disappears suddenly and we realize that we’ve not really moved ahead  — still confined to the same black hole of hopelessness.

Leadership vs Myelin: Are All of Us Born with Myelin sheath of Same Thickness?

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Sangeeth Varghese's analysis of the 'Physiology of Leadership' in the light of Daniel Coyle's book "The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How," is interesting.

The Eternal Debate: Money Vs Happiness

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The findings of a recent survey that, money can buy you happiness but up-to a certain point only, is, not surprisingly, in line with 'Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.'

Yes, is it possible for a hungry person, or for that matter a homeless person, to pursue an intense love affair? Not at all! So, his primary objective remains accumulating sufficient wealth so that his basic needs are successfully met, and once done it gives him immense satisfaction making him happy.

It's only after those basic needs are met, one can completely get rid of anxieties pertaining to ensuring the survival, and then, perhaps look for emotional satisfaction through creative achievements -- independent of monetary inputs.

However, beyond that critical point of meeting decent survival needs, money may not buy you more happiness any more but it certainly acts as a catalyst improving the probabilities to gain further -- depending on how you define your happiness.

So I agree with the conclusion of this study, that "Money can buy you happiness – up to a point," but with a slight deviation as mentioned above.What about you?

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Only One Chance: Make It Happen in Life

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There is no way you can make it unless you believe in it. And, the common human tendency is: Not to believe in what we can really achieve.

Let me share with you an excellent video highlighting the power of mind: How, if stretched beyond limits, it can make our dreams come true.



So if you nurture a dream that sounds ridiculous to others, chances are that you would be successful in achieving it -- if you truly believe in yourself.

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Are Recruiters Prostitutes?

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With all my patience and maturity level being tested with the toughest invasion of self-respect, I was rendered speechless, today, when one of the business heads of a client I've been associated with for close to a decade, blasted: "I'm paying you for whatever services you're offering, so you must do what I tell you do."

I must thank Robin Sharma - whose book, "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" I'm reading now - for helping me accumulate a huge self-control demonstrating an unusual maturity level of -- laughing insults away!

However, I'm confused now! Did I really show an exceptionally high maturity level by keeping quiet, or my silence was simply a manifestation of the fear that I'd lose a client if I had reacted.

Believe me, I've never experienced such a demoralizing incident during my 15 years of an otherwise fulfilling executive search career, so far.

And, having embraced the job of a recruiter, out of passion and not under compulsion: Like, let's do something until a break in the corporate happens - as I'd already worked with the largest corporate of that time, Bajaj Auto Ltd - I wonder, is there a methodology available for identifying the line of control beyond which self-respect must take over the demonstration of maturity -- independent of the circumstances?

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Is Hiring A Peanut Job, or Something Much Beyond?

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'What's your degree of involvement in talent acquisition for your organization?' Before I could prepare myself for a reply, he, the CEO of a 1000 crore company, shot back, 'deeply, while recruiting for all senior level and critical middle level openings!'

Yes, what he said reflects an increasing awareness among top management: The importance of hiring the right candidates for leadership positions -- both macro and Micro.

Some of these trend setters are successfully breaking away from a century old mindset: Oh, hiring, that's HR's job, and the HR head, seconding boss's idea, pushes it down the hierarchy, finally to a freshers -- with no idea about either its importance, or the right methodology for a successful execution!

Gradually, without realizing the impacts of this negligence, top management continues with recruiting the candidates: Who're either good for nothing, or bad for everything, eventually laying down the foundation of a spacious organizational graveyard big enough to accommodate both the entire top management and also the stake-holders..

When I asked this CEO, 'any specific reason for such a deep involvement in hiring?' He answered, "Abhijit, I'm working hard to grow in my career which is possible only if the organization grows, and that would happen only if I've a team consisting of the right professionals supporting me achieve what I intend to." He added further, "hiring one wrong candidate for a critical position may sabotage my entire effort.Why should I let it happen?" What an explanation, and such a truthful analysis of prevailing business environment.

Let's not live in a fool's paradise: There is a huge talent crunch and sooner the leaders realize better it is, for them. Nothing, but the right talents would dictate the organizations' future in prevailing business environment, and our beloved CEOs, MDs and Lalas ( in India, the owner of a family run company is lovingly called as 'Lala' ) must realize this fact as soon as possible, and act accordingly.

So, the leaders who're of the opinion that hiring is a peanut job and nothing beyond, are not likely to survive, professionally, for long!

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Can You Take Me to the Real World?

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Forgive but Remember -- Do Not Forget!

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How to Keep Your Customers Mesmerized Ensuring an Everlasting Relationship!

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A Cruelly Innovative Retention Policy!

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Today I called up a candidate to find out if he is willing to move out of his comfort zone, I mean open to explore a challenging assignment elsewhere.

It's a regular affairs for me, because most the clients I handle strictly believe in recruiting candidates who're not actively looking out.

A difficult job, but the more you do it, more you love it: Putting your best efforts to convince those candidates that they must look out for better opportunities -- ultimately, help them building a better career.

Okay, let's not get deviated from the theme of this article.

The candidate I was talking to, is working for an organization where management strictly believe none of its employees should ever join a competitor. And to enforce this policy, they would get employees sign a legal document also -- I've strong doubt about its validity though.

When I disclosed to him that the proposed assignment is with one of the competitors, he politely declined to pursue it further saying he is keen to explore challenging options but only with non-competitors -- for the reasons stated above.

All my efforts to convince him about impracticality of that policy came to a grinding halt, when he shared that some of the ex-employees who challenged this peculiar policy - by joining competitors - were subjected to endless harassment including legal proceedings that lingered on for years.

Interestingly, contradicting its own policy, management of that company seem to be too happy to recruit potential candidates from its competitors.

In a nutshell, the company can recruit candidates from competitors but would never allow its employees to join them.

Does it sound funny? Yes it does, but there's a limit to behaving funnily. Isn't it?

Well, I'm not inclined to analyze it further and suggest any corrective action at the moment, but, would like to ask you a simple question: Have you ever heard of or come across such HR policy in your career so far and if so, what's your take on the validity of such cruelly innovative retention policy?

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Image: Flickr

Faith And Leadership !!!

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In current competitive business environment , faith plays a major role in shaping up leadership qualities through spiritual interventions.

Classical definition of Faith is the affirmation of belief, without any practical or logical evidence. The realm of Faith starts, when we venture into the space beyond evidence or logic.

Now ,if you look at religious interpretations:

In Christianity, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

In Hinduism, Faith means unshaken belief and purity of thought and it is recognized as a virtue.

In chapter 17 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna mentions the three types of faith:

1.Faith rooted in Sattva
Those with sattvic faith are said to worship the GOD.

2.Faith rooted in Rajas
Those with Rajasic faith are said to worship Demons.

3.Faith rooted in Tamas
Those with tamasic faith are said to worship Ghosts and Spirits.

Faith in Buddhism refers to a sense of conviction, regarding setting a goal and the determination to accomplish it, while drawing a sense of joy and also live by what is learnt and accepted, rather than believing something outright.

Faith in Islam is called Iman and it signifies an instinct of the human soul, refined through upbringing into specific religious or spiritual paths.

Even Scientific discovery begins with a scientist's faith that an unknown discovery is possible requiring a passionate commitment. However , this faith is based on a set of assumptions and extrapolation of the fundamental truth towards a predictable conclusion but without any idea about the nature of final outcome.

All these above interpretations are strickingly similar, clearly confirming a decisive role of spirituality in defining the degree conviction and the extent of determination of the Leadership to achieve the ultimate business objective.


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Written a year and half ago

9 Best Inspirational Quotes -- Never Give Up!

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These are the 9 best ‘Never Give Up’ quotes – in my opinion – I have collected over a period of time and sharing with you now.

1. God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless. # Chester W. Nimitz

2. Nothing could be worse than the fear that one had given up too soon, and left one unexpended effort that might have saved the world. # Jane Addams

3. The man who wins may have been counted out several times, but he didn’t hear the referee. Never quit or give up….never…..never give up. # H.E. Janson

4. Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. # Satchel Paige

5. Never give up, never give in, and when the upper hand is ours, may we have the ability to handle the win with the dignity that we absorbed the loss. # Doug Williams

6.Never, never, never, never give up. # Winston Churchill

7. Think of the long view of life, not just what’s going to happen today or tomorrow. Don’t give up what you most want in life for something you think you want now. # Elder Richard G. Scot

8. Never give in! Never give in! Never, never, never, never – in nothing great or small, large or petty. Never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. # Winston Churchill

9. When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. # Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Image: Flickr

Never Say, "Thanks to 'Everyone:'" It Hurts, Silently!

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I was surprised - long ago, while working for a large Indian Corporate - when someone during a course of discussion on relationship management said that our divisional manager would always make it a point to send personalized greeting cards to his contacts -- four separate cards to a family of four members.

But what never surprised us was, his immense popularity at least in his professional circle. Now, I can make out how he achieved that: He always respected and acted - to acknowledge and recognize individualism!

Then came the era of email, sms and now status updates: Real-time communications. However, it still holds good and effective -- personalized communications.

Like or don't like; accept or don't accept: Everybody seeks importance, and when you receive a group message against a personalized communication making you part of the crowd -- you hate it, may not express, though!

Small things in life matter and most of us overlook that, but at what cost? Nothing visible at the moment, though -- they do matter in the long run.

So, please use the name while thanking someone who took out a few minutes to say something good about you, instead of saying: 'Thanks to everyone,' -- unless  it's too big to handle, or you're a celebrity!

Thanks: RedCat, on Flickr

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Can We Learn Re-Invention Lesson From LG Success Story in U.S.

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Amazing: 3 attempts in four years, it took for LG, in 2002, to launch its brand in the US market and today it's the top seller of refrigerators and washing machines with 24 percent market share.

"Today, some 95 per cent of American consumers view LG as a premium foreign consumer electronics brand, lagging only behind Sony in terms of brand recognition, according to a survey commissioned by LG last year. But as recently as the late 1990s, the company had marketed its products under the Goldstar brand, which American consumers viewed as low quality. To establish a premium brand image and achieve a broader penetration of the US market, the company re-launched its products under the LGE brand in 2002."

Can we learn some lessons from LGA's success story -- in terms of re-invention?

16 Tips for Successful Blogging

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Let me come straight to the point:

1.Stop convincing yourself: That, you've floated a Blog just because it's your hobby. Had it been so you would have been reading other blogs and commenting on various issues -- more than sufficient to quench your thirst for creativity.

2.Convince yourself: That, you've started the Blog to enhance your reputation in personal and professional circle and/or earn few extra bucks -- may be some big money in future.

GOD, Do You Have An Answer to My Question?

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A lady in her eighties whom I know well, is struggling hard to clear if off the fence to what I assume, rather convinced, would be much better than what she's been going through right now: Death.

She's completely bid-ridden with hardly any physical movement that she's capable of executing, but her mind is active -- and very much.

She had struggled through-out her life to ensure the best possible education for her sons and married her daughter off to a successful person. Yes, she made their future.

But, in that process, all her children moved away to far off places for a better career and she was left alone with her much older husband.

Today, she's lying helpless in her bed at the mercy of a few medical attendants, and her husband - who's close to ninety but still somewhat active - is coordinating with the Doctors to keep her alive --  fighting a loosing battle, though.

Neither her children can stay indefinitely with her nor they can shift her to their place - a hopeless situation!

Incidentally, I know another lady, who, intentionally or not I don't know but never walked an extra-mile to ensure what the first lady did, and all her sons remained there with her taking up mediocre jobs despite being intelligent enough to build-up a much better career.

And being with all her sons and other family members, she's looked after well -- living a much better life than the first lady.

Being a strong believer of the hypothesis that 'we get what we give,' I'm confused, utterly, because the developments here happen to be just the opposite: She, who did the best, is receiving the worst -- and she, who did nothing, is being rewarded the best.

If there exists a divine power - God or whatever term we may use - may I ask him or her a very simple question: Why do you punish a person who truly deserves a reward?

For the image, thanks to Denis Collette...!!!'s

Time Management - Lesson Learned , Decades Ago

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During my eventful tenure with one of the largest Indian corporate "Bajaj Auto Ltd", I learned one of the most rewarding lessons of my life: Utilization of Time , and such a huge concept was explained in few minutes by  the Boss of my immediate Boss: DVP.

It dates back to late eighties when  ISO 9000 was a new but promising concept. Obviously, it invaded  most of the growing and reputed companies of that time. 

So, a huge "System Awareness" program was initiated  by the Management across the rank and file, and I was selected as coordinator of my dept with the responsibility to formulate the policies and document all activities pertaining to our working.

I was very much Excited, initially , as any it happens with a new venture , but a disproportionate allocation of time  triggered an alarm in the existing system and after an initial round of
discussion my boss recommended a review meeting with his boss, the Divisional Head, to resolve this issue.

The purpose of the meeting was to find out: How I could do justice to my regular job as well as the developmental one like ISO 9000 with proper utilization of available time.

Well, let me share with you what exactly transpired between me and the super boss -- The conversation, that I remember to the best of my memory:

DVP : Hi Abhijit , how are you?

AK   : Fine.Thanks. How are you sir ?

DVP : Excellent, but I have a serious problem!

Anticipating a huge firing, the reputation he enjoyed , I slightly raised my eyebrows with a question mark and he delivered the statement of my life 

"Abhijit, I am really excited to notice that you are running short of time with some additional  assignments in hand. May be you are the right person to suggest me what do I do with so much of free time available. Look at my incoming Tray, its empty. Does it mean , my job is in danger?"

Perplexed, and before I could answer,  his Boss, the Plant Head entered the cabin with a big smile  and started thanking Mr DVP profusely, "how could you complete this project so quickly ? "

"Nothing special sir. I just delegated it to the right persons I have recruited and groomed for these type of assignments. I did nothing sir, they actually did it." Answered DVP.

Well, the Plant Head left after a minutes and our meeting ended with his comment that I shall never forget in my life:

"Abhijit, if you are running short of time, please try to understand there's something terribly wrong with your overall system. Pl, review it asap, and reduce the clutters.

Believe me, I took it as a challenge and with no modern Time Management Tools like GTD etc at my disposal, successfully reduced the clutter with:

1.Making regular notes on priorities and re-evaluating daily schedule periodically. 

I think, maintaining an hourly schedule is too ambitious an objective, and I will simply conclude that it's exaggerated by people suffering from Too Busy Syndrome.  Hence, a daily schedule is more than sufficient.

2.Taking immediate action on every tasks and re-entering incomplete tasks at the bottom of the next schedule, I mean the list of task for the following day. That's it. Doing the same even today, but instead of a dairy  its my blackberry now.

After a month I happened to meet him in a planning meeting. With a confident smile he asked me, ' So Abhijit, hope you have switched over to my party:  Guys with disposable time.

I just smiled back.

Where There is A Will, There is A Way

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An experience, it was: Watching the Hindi movie “My Name is Khan” — and, it was no less than how I felt while connecting with the blockbuster “Avatar.”

Incidentally, my soul went into a perfect sync with this amazing movie - right from the beginning - and through-out the show I was on a different plane with no other thoughts cutting across my mind.

Well, I’m not writing a movie review but highlighting the motivational power of this fascinating story: In which, Khan, the central character, proves beyond doubt, that, if there is a will there is a way.

Fighting against every negativity you can imagine, he maintains an unbreakable positive frame of mind focusing on his primary objective of meeting the President of United State of America -- and finally achieves it.

His concern for an old lady and her son interferes into his priorities, but that doesn’t dilute the importance of his primary objective. And, that’s an important message to all fighting souls: Attending to intermediate objectives is important, but never at the cost of primary. It’s all about balancing between priorities and attending to all of them with sincerity and dedication.

Winning over a demanding psychological disorder – autism – Khan successfully demonstrates the power of positive thinking, flushing out all obstacles from his way – one of the toughest journey, undertaken, ever, by anyone – to a seemingly unreachable destination.

Also, how important is the role of mothers in autism affected children’s life – for improving their language skills by engaging sensitively with them – has been perfectly highlighted in this movie.

Wonderful experience with tons of motivational inputs!

Oh GOD! Pl, Help Me to Help Myself

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We hope, a lot, against all hopes, that everything would be alright -- one day.

And, it starts happening, gradually, may be slowly but certainly, with every indications, until one day the mirage disappears, suddenly, and we realize that we've not really moved ahead at all -- still confined to the same black hole of hopelessness.

So painful, it is, to realize that we've been fooled by destiny, devastatingly and without mercy, that we lose faith in the supreme power -- most of us term it as GOD.

How do we cope up with such situations, is, perhaps, the ultimate question pertaining to our existence ?

And, the answer is pretty simple, in my opinion: Learn to accept that nothing is guaranteed in life, and we must master the techniques of living incrementally -- on daily basis.

Don't igore your past but learn the lesson and forget it; focus on future but be prepared to accept the failures.

I mean, live like a true sportsperson: Accepting both success and failures, gracefully!

Difficult but possible, and is the only solution for living a meaningful life.