Connerstone of Leadership

The cornerstone of leadership is contained in three words: character, competence and humility. Character is first followed by the commitment to the highest level of performance excellence. One’s competency must always be balanced with a sincere and abiding sense of humility. Leadership is about creating followers to your cause. One leads with their energy first and foremost. Energy is contagious for better or for worst. To develop leadership skills: First, understand that leadership, like human energy is multi – dimensional. You lead physically by taking care of yourself, by eating right , exercising regularly, solid nutrition, rest etc., You lead emotionally by understanding that positive emotions should be the primary driver of your operating style; but that is clearly the exception and should never represent business as normal. You lead mentally keeping your focuses on what’s relevant and critical to mission success, and ensure that the stories you tell do not undermine employee engagement. You lead spiritually by ensuring that your energy investments are fully aligned with your deepest values and sense of purpose. Secondly never underestimate the power of human energy .Leaders are stewards of human energy and must become highly skilled in getting followers to invest extraordinary energy in whatever cause is deemed important. Thirdly character trumps out every time. Nothing is more important in the consideration of leadership than one’s personal character. Those character traits that define our relationships with others always assume the highest priority. Examples include integrity, trustworthiness, respect for others, gratefulness, humility and caring..........( Dr. Jim Loehr, Performance Psychologist)

Source: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00AR83C5K/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Words of wisdom.....Stephen R Covey

Stephen Richards Covey words of wisdom:

Live by principles or natural laws rather than going along with today’s culture of quick fix. Timeless principles are fairness, honesty, kindness, respect, service, integrity and contribution.

Body is a natural system. It is governed by natural law. No amount of positive mental attitude could get around the literal limits of muscle conditioning.

Values are social norms – they are personal, emotional, subjective and arguable. Principles are impersonal factual, objective and self-evident. Consequences are governed by principles and behavior is governed by values; therefore value principles.

There is a “law of harvest” that governs character, all human greatness and all human relationships. It stands contrast to our culture of quick –fix, victimism and blame.

Common sense is not common practice.

You cannot think or live independently in an interdependent world.

We are a product of neither nature nor nurture; we are a product of choice, because there is always a space between stimulus and response. 

Hitler’s vision, discipline and passion was driven by ego. Gandhi’s vision, discipline and passion was driven by conscience.

Discipline is will power embodied.

Online the disciplined are truly free. Undisciplined are slaves to mood, appetites and perversion.

Form the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.

Leadership is communicating peoples worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves.

Philosophy of influence is called: ethos: means your ethical nature, your personal credibility, the amount of trust or confidence others have in your integrity and competency. Pathos is empathy; Logos basically stands for logic.

Relish the “little” assignment or “chore” that no one else wants! Seek it out! It’s a license for self empowerment whether it is the redesign of a form or planning a weekend client retreat—you can turn it into something grand and glorious and wows.

90% of all leadership failure is character failures 

In an interview for a medical school a person asked whom e would prefer: an honest surgeon who was incompetent, or a competent surgeon who was dishonest. He reflected and said: “It all depends on the issue. If I needed the surgery I ‘d go for the competent person. If is was a question of whether to have the surgery or not, I would go for he honest one.” 

Character and competence makes a good leader.

Source: The 8thHabit, Stephen R Covey, Free Press New York 2001

Steven K Covey words of wisdom:

• Retire from your job but never from meaningful projects. If you want to live a long life you need eustress that is a deep sense of meaning and contribution to worthy projects and causes, particularly your intergenerational family.  

• Trust is the glue that holds everything together. It creates the environment in which all of the other elements -- win-win steward ship agreements, self directing individuals and teams, aligned structure, systems and accountability – can flourish.

• Give no answers to contentious arguments or irresponsible accusations, let such things “fly out, open windows” until they spend themselves.

• The Key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.

Source: The Hindu, 15 August, 2018

About Leadership .....Nelson Mandela

About Ethics

Humility is required for CEO

“Humble, collaboration, reflective, self aware and adaptable–some of the key behavior traits used to describe a good CEO. Rahul Yadav CEO of Housing.com appeared to display none of these so he was unanimously sacked.HR Experts said companies look or confidence with humility in CEO candidate. CEO is a brand ambassadors for the organization. A CEO brings speed and growth to a business but he needs to possess certain key behavioral traits and prime among them is humility. A good CEO is on who has been hardened by real life challenges because humility is the resultant fruit of this hardening. Yaday was considered to be arrogant and impulsive.

A strong understanding of ethics would distinguish a good CEO from the bad.”Ethics are not just about doing the right thing but are under pinned by the ability to delay the gratification of temptation. Temptations are not just material but many times they can be about satisfying the ego and can take the form of lashing out or being competitive, driven by a desire to bolster low self esteem.” Gurprriet Singh , GM & Head YSC India.

Singh said organizational practices like ‘360” and-performance feedback regularly provides awareness of behavior but miss out on what lies beneath. “Leadership is a lonely pursuit and leaders are usually starved of insightful feedback. Creating mechanisms that enable leaders to receive counsel and feedback in a manner that is supportive is critical. This is a role that can be played by a board member or by an executive coach/counselor.” says Singh.

For a start up CEO, balancing the input of external advisors with internal parties and developing synergies between the two—a core competencies—is critical. (YSC Research.)”

Source: TOI July 7, 2015. p.15

Dharma for Leaders' Success

Excerpts from "Expanding dharma for success." by Devdutt Pattanaik:

Dharma has often been translated as ethics, morality, righteousness and goodness. It is not an objective concept. It is a subjective conceptualized on gaze. Empathy expands gaze, our notion of dharma changes. Depending on our varna (mental state), we will see dharma differently.
For a sudra: it is doing what the master tells him to do;
For a vvaishya: it is doing what he feels is right;
For kshatriya: it is doing what he feels is right for his team:
For the brahman : it is realizing that everyone is right in his own way;
but everyone can be more right by expanding gaze.

Dharma is about realizing our potentials. While all other creatures grow at the cost of others (plants feed on minerals, animals feed on plants and other animas) humans can grow by helping others grow. This is not sacrifice. This is making the Yajama's (Leader ) growth an outcome of the Devata's (follower ) growth.

When we open our mind, our notion of dharma changes for we have more empathy and are more sensitive and caring when responding to the problems posed by the market.

Referring to the Nanda Utsav the author demonstrates how Krishna gets butter from the pots hung high. Those at the bottom need to stand on their feet to balance the whole pyramid so that the leader (Krishna) gets his "butter"

Source: Corporate Dossier: June 27-July 3

Confucius' Keys To Successful Leadership

How do you lead your company when the only certainty is uncertainty?
Confucius the Chinese philosopher composed his thoughts no less than 2,500 years ago as Analects, the collected aphorisms and wisdom of Confucius; they reverberate as much today as when they were new.
Confucius' Analects have stood the test of time.
The lessons are:
(a) "Virtue is more to man than either water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on water and fire, but I have never seen a man die from treading the course of virtue."
Confucius' argues that acting ethically in all transactions is paramount, more important than striving to make money. He simply insists that it be done ethically.
Acting virtuously is always an absolutely necessity; in the long run, it is the way to wealth.

(b) Chi K'ang asked how to cause the people to reverence their ruler, to be faithful to him and to go on to nerve themselves to virtue. The Master said, "Let him preside over them with gravity; then they will reverence him. Let him be final and kind to all; then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent; then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous."
Often leaders forget to take care of those under them, they spend too much time trying to grab glory and riches for themselves. In crisis they are, fighting to preserve their positions at all costs. Managers seek to grab all the credit for themselves without a care for their colleagues and subordinates.
Good leaders always look after the people around them, and that in so doing they benefit everyone. Even--or especially--in a time of job cuts and salary reductions, employees must be treated with respect.

(c) Chi Wan thought three times before taking action. When the Master was informed of it, he said, "Twice will do."
Think hard before doing something, but then take decisive steps. If you wait too long the advantage in the market disappear. Confucius insists that thinking twice before action is smart but thinking for long you succumb to indecision.

By Shaun Rein, 

A Matter of Trust

Dennis Reina and Michelle Reina (Reina Trust Building Insitute )  says:

If employees don' trust leadership , organisation pay the price in the form of low engagement, high turnover and cost, loss of creativity and innovation. 20 years research indicate that most leaders think breach of trust must b sever or even scandalous; eg., Rupert Murdoch New corporation. To those leaders we say "think again". Little branches of trust over time are a big deal. Ultimately, employees pull back with holding their full energy and talent.

Why people do not trust leaders:

• you with hold trust in others;
• you ask much , yet fail to acknowledge effort;
• you behave badly;
• you don't admit your mistakes; you spin the truth;you duck people and performance issues;
• you don walk you talk

Finally a common mistake leaders make is to assume that their position alone make them worthy's of others trust.

Nothing could be further form the truth. It is only through behavior this leaders can build trust.