All Posts in Leadership

|In: Infographic|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

‘Meeting’ is something that is applicable in our day to day lives, more so in a professional’s life. Many times, corporate employees have to spend the entire day in meetings and some of them might turn out to be entirely pointless. We already see many of you nodding their heads 🙂

Image Source – Meetings

Sticking to the agenda of a meeting becomes very critical since it not only involves you but also a set of team members attending the meeting. Hence, it is the collective responsibility of the meeting attendees to ensure that they do not digress from the core agenda in order to make the meeting super-productive.

Meetings can sometimes be quite hectic and an unproductive meeting at the start of your workday could ruin your remaining time in office. It becomes imperative to decide whether you really want to call for a meeting or whether you can do away with ‘that’ meeting by using some effective project management tools so that you can collaborate with your team in a much better manner. In order to be an effective planner of your activities, you need to use the right set of free [or premium] project management tools that can also be used for cross-site teams. Better project planning could eventually result in far lesser face to face meetings!

Wrike, a work management & collaboration platform used by high-performance teams has come up with a very informative infographic titled Should we have a meeting. We liked the overall presentation which is in the form of a flowchart with the core being ‘go vs. no go’ for a meeting. We hope that you use it for executing a ‘productive’ meeting!

Infographic brought to you by Wrike free project management tool

Should We Have This Meeting? - by Wrike project management tools

What are some of the methods you follow to have an effective meeting, do leave your suggestion in the comments section…

|In: Infographic|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

There is a very good saying A Boss says ‘Go’ whereas a Leader says ‘Let’s Go’. Though the only difference between the two of them is the use of the word Let’s, it changes the entire tone of the sentence. The boss is ‘ordering’ his team whereas the leader is ‘leading’ his team! There is a vast amount of difference between a ‘Boss’ and ‘Leader’, you might be a good boss but that does not equate to being a good leader.

Image Source – Boss Vs Leader

Good leaders motivate their team members and they are a source of inspiration. They encourage their employees to improve their skills so that they can take the organization to the next well. They always have a deep sense of understanding as to when they need to manage, lead or pitch in a discussion. There are tons of differences between leaders and bosses; right from the manner they make crucial decisions, manage teams using project management tools, collaborate activities between cross-site teams using cloud collaboration tools, pitch to customers for contracts, handle employee feedback and appraisals, etc.

In very simplified terms, Leaders are respected by people whereas Bosses are forced to be respected by people. We recently came across this very informative Infographic from Wrike (a work management & collaboration platform used by high-performance teams) that highlights the glaring difference between a Boss and a Leader.

Infographic brought to you by Wrike cloud collaboration tools

Boss vs. Leader: The Never-Ending Battle Between Power and Leadership

What according to you should be the traits of a good leader, do leave your suggestions in the comments section…

|In: Books|Last Updated:

I am sure that most us would have watched [if not read] the Ramayana that used to be tele-casted on Doordarshan. Few months back, we had reviewed the book Ramayana : The Game of Life : Rise of the Sun Prince which was aptly written to convey the messages from the Ramayana to the urban audience.

Today we review the second installment of the book titled – Ramayana : The Game of Life: Shattered Dreams.

About the Author

Shubha Vilas is a motivational speaker, spiritual seeker with B.E in “Electronics & Telecommunications” and L.L.B specializing in Patent Law. You can find more about him here

Detailed Review

Just like the previous book, here also the author tries to connect the learning from each instance [of the Ramayana] with real-life [through footnotes]. The book starts off with the dilemma that King Dasratha faces in deciding who should succeed him. It showcases the life of Ram while in exile. The author has beautifully taken the famous Ramayana and given it his own touch. It teaches us that “Despite all odds, how both Rama & Sita shared a very beautiful & understanding relationship with each other”.

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The author helps us visualize the beauty of “being self-less” through the actions of Lakshmana & Bharata. Through Manthara’s character, it beautifully portray’s “How poisonous instincts of one person can lead to the disaster of an entire nation [Ayodhya]”.

The author had to make sure that the reader finds the story interesting [and can co-relate to it] else it would have been “Me-Too” book on the epic. There are learnings on Leadership, Mentoring, Giving-up etc. from each chapter [or I can say from each page :)] which readers can easily co-relate to day to day life.

The Ramayana is narrated in a very crisp & simplistic manner ensuring that the epic gives out more learnings to it’s readers !!!

There are interesting lessons on Management which we would like to share in this article.

Management Mantras

Lord Rama revealed five key management concepts a good leader has to adhere to. These five tenets form the most important limbs of a leader’s portfolio.

Respect Management

The foundation of any leadership rests on respect management. A leader who respects his superiors, allows the flow of energy to descend into his life. With that in mind, Rama’s question to Bharata were:

  • Are you treating your preceptors respectfully ?
  • Are you making sure mother Kaushalya & Sumitra are happy ?
  • Is the venerable Keikeyi rejoicing ?
  • Do you honor Sayujna, the son of Vasistha ?
  • Are you respectful toward, brahmanas, teachers and ministers ?
  • Are women respected & taken care of ? Respect toward them is the root of all the good that happens in society & dis-respect toward them is the root of all evil in the society.

Decision Management

Decision-making with discernment becomes an ornament that brings respect & appreciation from followers. Rama gave Baratha some crucial pointers:

  • Do not deliberate either alone or with too many men.
  • Your decisions should not be made public before being carried out.
  • Neighboring kings should not understand your undertakings before execution.
  • Your decisions should have maximum benefit at minimum cost.
  • Do not delay decision-making.
  • Do not falsely accuse, kill or punish a noble man without appropriate inquiry. Remember that tears of victims falsely accused actually destroy justice givers.
  • Do not release a thief for greed of wealth.
  • Encourage your ministers to be impartial to both the rich and the poor.

Reputation Management

Reputation is like a glass ball. It has to be clean, but before that, it has to be in your grip. People see before they hear; they judge a leader on the basis of his actions before they get inspired by the words. The reputation of the leader imbibes confidence in the follower. Rama’s suggestions to Bharatha were:

  • Do not fall prey to excessive sleep & wake-up at an appropriate hour.
  • Contemplate about the adroitness of your action in the second half of the night.
  • Dress royally. The regal appearance of a king gives confidence to the subjects.
  • Make yourself available to hear your subject’s grievances. First hand interaction with the leader gives hope to the subjects.
  • Do not over-indulge in wealth, religion or delights of the senses. Over-indulgence or indulgence at the wrong time or place creates doubts in subjects.
  • Do not eat without sharing. Not sharing makes one hardhearted & others jealous.
  • Avoid incurring the wrath of Brahmanas by falling into wrong habits.
  • Ensure that servants are not dis-respectful toward you nor should they hasten away in fear on seeing you. Disrespect & fear are two extremes indicating barriers in connections between the leader and his subjects.

Team Management

Team management is to a leader what life management is to a doctor. When a team is managed with grace, the subjects are filled with gratefulness; the team becomes the solution to all problems a leader faces. Rama revealed these pearls of wisdom:

  • One wise man is better than thousand stupid ones; one good minister can ensure the prosperity of a kingdom.
  • Assign tasks according to the level of intelligence, ability, skill, position & status of the employee.
  • Surround yourself with ministers who are not only corruptible & full of integrity but also born and raised in a family that imbibes Vedic values & culture.
  • Train your ministers to avoid flexible decisions that makes subjects fearful.
  • The army chief should be cheerful, wise, courageous, well-behaved, loved by his subordinates, efficient, born & raised in a family that imbibes Vedic values & culture.
  • Honor courageous warriors in public.
  • The army should be paid their salary & daily provisions on time. A delay in wages & maintenance causes servants to be corrupt and infuriated with their master.
  • Select an ambassador who is knowledgeable, wise & skillful, has a presence of mind and knows how to speak to the point.
  • Though three spies, unacquainted with one another, collect all information about your important officers as well as those of your enemies. Do not place your trust on one spy.
  • Do not spy on your own ministers, your guru & the princes. Monitor their actions.
  • Do not house a physician who is an expert at aggravating a disease, a servant intent on bringing disgrace and a valiant warrior seeking kingly power. They can be the cause of your destruction.

Character Management

A leader should religiously avoid these 14 sins. By carefully avoiding these, the leader can suitably manage his character.

  • Giving the material world as much importance as the spiritual world.
  • Carelessness.
  • Procrastination.
  • Lack of appreciation of righteous people.
  • Autocracy in decision making.
  • Avoiding decisions already made.
  • Dishonesty.
  • Revealing confidential information.
  • Indulging in discussions with people of adverse opinions and thus wasting valuable time.
  • Invading enemies from all directions.
  • Respecting bad people.

Closing Thoughts

“Ramayana : The Game of Life: Shattered Dreams” is a breezy read & keeps the reader’s hooked with the learnings [documented in the footnotes]. Overall the book is a must read for all Epic lovers, Management gurus & Aspirants to get the story from an entirely different angle knitting it well with the modern era.

Thanks to Mr Shubha Vilas for sending us the review copy of this book 🙂

|In: BlogAdda|Last Updated:

I am sure that most us would have watched [if not read] the Ramayana that used to be tele-casted on Doordarshan. I used to thoroughly enjoy it but for some reason I could not strike a cord with mythology as it was not my cup of tea !!! So how can someone re-tell the age-old Ramayana in a tone that co-relates to the modern era & still does not dilute it’s core i.e. learning’s we get from the great epic  ??

The book “Ramayana : The Game of Life: Rise of the Sun Prince” by Shubha Vilas is one such commendable attempt to re-tell the Ramayana for Modern Audiences.

Ramayana : The Game of Life: Rise of the Sun Prince

About the Author

Shubha Vilas is a motivational speaker, spiritual seeker with B.E in “Electronics & Telecommunications” and L.L.B specializing in Patent Law. You can find more about him here

Detailed Review

This is the first part [Bala Kanda] of the six book series that Shubha Vilas has come up with & takes us through the divine story of Lord Rama from his birth up-to his marriage. The narrative closely follows Valmiki’s Ramayana, gently weaving in the folk tales as well as the beautiful analogies of the Kamba Ramayana.

The narrative throws fresh perspective on how Valimiki came up with the Ramayana, insights into Ayodhya, Lord Rama’s life, His relation with Sita, tales of Dasaratha‘s leadership, Dasaratha’s 353 wives, Vishwamitra‘s quest for power, origination of the island Lanka, Life of Ravana & intriguing story of a little-known stone maiden. Well, the list goes on, as the book details into each & every aspect of the Ramayana.

The author had to make sure that the reader finds the story interesting [and can co-relate to it] else it would have been “Me-Too” book on the epic. Shubha Vilas has succeeded in that task where each page is followed with foot-notes where he connects the content [from Ramayana] with real-life traits i.e. Leadership, Mentorship, Greed, Spirituality etc.

Honestly, for readers [including myself] who have less idea about the Ramayana, the footnotes added as “catalyst” that generated interest & gave us handy-tips on how we can apply the age-old principles of Ramayana in our day-to-day lives !!!

Key Takeaways

As mentioned earlier, each page has some “key” learning from it & that in our opinion is the highlight of the book. Some of the interesting excerpts from the book are mentioned below:

Mentorship, Failing & Learning

An advisor is like an able doctor who does not prescribe before diagnosing the disease. To lament from one’s mistakes is important, but far more important is to learn from that mistake. To make mistakes does not imply lack of intelligence but a lack of foresight. Not repeating mistakes is a sign of intelligence.

Building an Effective System

King Dasaratha’s brilliance & foresight could be gauged from the way he made systematic arrangements to make the kingdom self-sufficient. Ayodhya had two type’s of water-storage systems – Devamatraka i.e. entirely dependent on rains sent by demigods & other nadimatraka i.e. dependent on effective water storage systems. Ayodhya depended on nadimatraka system which facilitated rain water harvesting to ensure abundant water supply. Today’s society adopts the nadimatraka system of irrigation which is heavily dependent on rains.

Leadership Traits

Foresight is the hallmark of a leader; it enables a leader to build effective systems. The leader’s quality lies not just in building such systems but also in ensuring effective functioning of those systems. An interesting type of leadership is “servant leadership”, where the leader feels that being anointed leader is a gift to serve more people. Such a leader finds every opportunity to serve as God sent. Dasaratha had created a flawless system but when it was not as effective as anticipated, he considered it as his responsibility to rectify it at any cost, even at the cost of his life !!!

For a leader, four things are essential – physical strength, intellectual strength, emotional strength & spiritual strength. Physical strength is acquired by having a powerful army; intellectual strength by studying the scriptures and being guided by a wise counsel; emotional strength by being kind, generous and sensitive towards the weaker; and spiritual strength by taking some time off from the worldly pursuits to pursue one’s goal in life and taking refuge in higher powers.

A good leader knows the “Art Of Delegation“; in addition he delegates himself the most demanding role, that of being an inspiration.

Teamwork

Dasaratha’s leadership model

Dasaratha’s strength was his Big M – a council of ministers [mantri’s or mentors] carefully chosen by him. He had eight ministers – Drishti, Jayantha, Vijaya, Suraashtra, Raashtravardhana, Akopa, Dharmapaala & Sumantra. These eight ministers were men of pure mind & great integrity.

Their love for their country and it’s people, along with their loyalty to the kind, encouraged them to use their foresight in devising policies and plans to help their country progress. Their words completed their actions.

Tangible & Intangible assets

Success is to follow a leader if he can create tangible as well as intangible assets. Tangible assets are essentially his abundant treasury and an unconquerable army. Intangible assets include the confidence of people in the leader’s power and ability.

It is the intangible asset that is the soul of leadership, which leads to loyalty and unquestioned co-operation. To capitalize on the tangible and intangible assets effectively, the leader has to depend on a third type of asset, known as “Big M” [Ministers, Mentors & Mantri’s of the king]

Be in “Better than yourself” company

However great an individual may be, it is impossible to achieve any kind of success alone. Those who do not believe in a team are afflicted by the disease of Insecurity. Deep insecurity about working with those stronger than themselves stems from the fear of being over-shadowed. Such people surround themselves with weaker people. When one dreams of a big goal, the team one chooses must be bigger then the dreams envisioned. Else, it would only remain a dream. Surely, you could co-relate this to the “Art of Recruiting” by Guy Kawasaki 🙂

Law of “Dependence”

Rather than being engaged in one-upmanship, one should focus on how combined strength can enhance individual capabilities. When one engages in competition, it results in destruction of the other & one becomes oblivious to the pain of the other.

Capitalizing on mutual strengths leads to success. The law of dependence states that one’s real strength lies in realizing the strength of another. Dependence releases one from the burden of being an exclusive controller & leads to the freedom of accepting higher powers to realize one’s goal.

Taking shelter in one’s own strength leads to taking pride in being the controller. By being amiable enough to depend on others strength, one can focus on achieving the goal. Vishvamitra realized that for so long he had exclusively depended on his own strength. He learnt his law of dependence from his mother Kaushalya.

Guided intelligence leads to the right direction. Personal choices have to be sacrificed at the altar for the good of the whole.

Closing Thoughts

Rise of the Sun Prince is very interesting take on the Ramayana. At 252 pages, it is an good read & definitely there are learnings in it for everyone i.e. be it leader, mentor, entrepreneur, teacher or any other individual…

We complete this review with the following thoughts from the author Shubha Vilas

Rise of the Sun Prince reveals to us the range of principles that underline the healthy relationships in our lives – between parents & children, between husband & wife, between brothers, between a leader & his followers, between a teacher and his/her students.

The Ramayana is not a book; it a way of life !!!

Thanks to Blogadda for sending us the review copy of this book 🙂 This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books !!!

|In: General|Last Updated: | 2 Comments

During our childhood days, all of us would have read about “Hare & Tortoise” fable. The famous lesson from the fable was “Slow & Steady wins the race” however, most of the times; the first mover advantage holds true [except in some cases like the Apple iPod !!!]

It is a universal truth that “Teams always win” hence, the term “I” carries less weight age than “We” since, “I WILL NEVER WIN” only “WE CAN WIN”. The presentation below, which is an updated version of the old fable gives an excellent insight into Teamwork

  1. Never give up when faced with failure
  2. Fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady
  3. Work to your competencies
  4. Compete against the situation, not against a rival.
  5. Pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers