Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Fathers Day
A nice quote sent by a friend:
Everyone can be a Father but only a few have the attitude to be a Dad
Friday, January 11, 2013
January 2013 posting
Passion or Happiness
I am a great believer in passion and that is the underlying theme of the book - Creating Your Own Rainbow. At the last Trainers Meet Trainers, I spoke for the need for passion and Prof. Thiagi while accepting parts of it kind of disagreed and said ‘passion gets you nowhere.’
I stumbled upon the term – the new generation of purpose driven leaders. And, I was intrigued to read Oliver Segovia’s comments – he talks about a friend who loved the liberal arts. As she was never keen on a 9 to 5 job, she pursued her passion, got her PhD and she was the happiest person anyone could know. Then came the economic meltdown and she suffered the anguish of an uncertain future. He goes on to say that while most of us work towards finding our dreams, that approach does not work in the competitive world today. He proposes - Forget about finding your passion. Instead, focus on finding big problems. Put problems at the center of our decision making process, it ia is about moving beyond you and becoming a valuable contributor. He adds that people working on the biggest problems are compensated in the biggest ways, not in a strict financial sense, but in a deeply human sense. For one, it shifts your attention from you to others and the wider world. You stop dwelling. You become less self-absorbed. Ironically, you become happier if you worry less about what makes us happy. He says it is critical to develop situational awareness, look into the problems in a personal way, connect with people working on big problems and taking time for you. I was stunned to hear his comments:
“Happiness comes from the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, and what the world needs. We've been told time and again to keep finding the first. Our schools helped developed the second. It's time we put more thought on the third.” For more information visit Oliver Segovia at http://blogs.hbr.org
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
You Spoke No One Listened
This is a great piece by Marshall Goldsmith and Kelly Goldsmith One of the great causes of corporate dysfunction is the glaring gap between “I say” and “they do.” It’s a huge mistake to assume that just because people understand, then they will do. A few years ago, I saw a doctor for back problems. After running a few tests, the doctor sat me down and quickly rattled off 10 different exercises that I was supposed to do regularly. He assumed that once he had made the correct diagnosis and told me what to do, his job was done. Knowing about communication, I realized there was no way that I was going to remember what he said, much less do it. But he had checked the box on his to-do list. Time for the next patient! Like this doctor, leaders all too often believe that their organizations operate with strict down-the-chain-of-command efficiency. In a perfect world, every command is not only obeyed but obeyed precisely and promptly, almost as if it were a fait accompli. The manager never has to follow up — because he said it — it was done. I dealt with this head-on with a client, a CEO of a major high-tech firm. He was 54 years old with a degree from MIT. He was also — like most of my clients — extremely action-oriented and impatient. Surveys indicated that his employees felt they didn’t understand the company’s mission and overall direction. “I don’t get it,” he groaned. “I clearly articulated the mission and direction in our team meeting. I’ve summarized it in a memo, which was immediately distributed. See, here’s the memo! What more do they want?” I thought he was kidding, that he had a very refined sense of irony. Making people understand the company’s mission doesn’t happen by fiat. It also doesn’t happen overnight. Surely this smart CEO understood how difficult it was to communicate even a simple message. But by the pained expression on his face, I could see he was serious and (if only in this one area of management) clueless. “Let’s review,” I said. “How was this memo distributed?” “By email,” he replied. “It went to everyone.” “Okay. How many people actually read the memo?” “I’m not sure,” he said. “Of those who read the email, how many do you think understood the message?” He thought for a second and said, “I don’t know.” “Of those who understood it, how many actually believed it was serious - not just PR hype?” He shook his head. “Of this dwindling group of believers, how many remembered it?” Another sorry head shake. “That’s a lot of unknowns for something you regard as vital to your company’s existence,” I said. “But that’s not the worst part. Once you eliminate all those people — and it’s quite possible there aren’t many people left — how many people do you think will change their behavior based upon the memo? How many will begin living and breathing the company’s mission because of your memo?” The CEO just grimaced and shrugged his shoulders. I tried to revive his spirits by pointing out that the deeper issue was his mistaken belief about communication, not this memo. “The only thing you’re guilty of,” I said, “was that you checked the box. You thought your job was done when you articulated the mission and wrote the memo, just one more item on your to-do list. You moved on. Mentally, you smiled and said, ‘Next!’ ” Like most extremely busy leaders, this CEO wanted to believe that after he communicated direction, people heard him, understood him, believed him, and then executed. I can understand why executives persist in thinking this way. We all want to believe that our comments have great meaning. We usually assume that the people around us are smart, and they can understand what we’re saying and see the value of our remarks. We’re often busy and overcommitted. We all wish we could just move on to the next item on our list. The good news for every manager, including my CEO friend, is that this false belief has a simple cure. It’s called “follow-up.” After communicating, follow up to make sure that people really understand, talk with them to get a read of their buy-in, and involve them to make sure that they’re committed to execution. Follow-up may take a little time, but it’s less than the time wasted on miscommunication.
Originally published in bnet Dr. Marshall Goldsmith was recognized as the #1 leadership thinker in the world and the #7 business thinker in the world at the Thinkers 50 ceremony sponsored by the Harvard Business Review. He is the million-selling author or editor of 31 books, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – a WSJ #1 business book and winner of the Harold Longman Award for Business Book of the Year. His books have been translated into 28 languages and become bestsellers in eight countries.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A Success Mindset
The year 2012 is here and everyone is scrambling to set New Year resolutions. I remember two good articles – one from the Marshall Memo blog and another from the Harvard Business Review, an intriguing article by Shawn Achor.
Performance is a critical word. While it would be fair to say poor performance is due to a host of factors, in today’s competitive world, non performance or poor performance has severe consequences. Aligning yourself with the organisational goals or finding your purpose with an organisation that is in sync with your goals is important for success. The first step towards success is having a success and happiness mindset.
Happiness precedes success. When we are happy with what we are doing and we have a positive mind set, success is more likely. We are better equipped to deal with anxiety and challenges that are bound to happen in today’s anxiety prone competitive world. Demands, uncertainty and inadequate communications increase anxiety levels and activates the part of the brain that processes threats (amygdale) which steals resources from the problem solving part of the brain (the pre-frontal cortex). Nevertheless when we cultivate positive habits and learn to interact positively with colleagues at the workplace, we start to think about stress in a positive way – eustress rather than distress. We are happy and we increase our chances of succeeding in what we want to do.
Just a look at some corporate success stories and it is inevitable all successes start with an entrepreneur exceptionally passionate about what he or she wants to contribute to the world.
Achor urges managers to take the time and effort to create a more positive culture: “Research shows that when people work with a positive mindset, performance on nearly every level – productivity, creativity, engagement – improves.” And he says that training our brains to be more positive is not very different from training muscles at the gym: specific activities and new habits can literally rewire the brain. Achor’s argument, happiness can become a habit and create a success mindset.
He proposes one of the following activities, to be done every day for three weeks:
• Jot down three things you’re grateful for.
• Write a positive message to someone in your work area.
• Meditate at your desk for two minutes.
• Exercise for ten minutes.
• Take two minutes to describe in a journal the most meaningful experience of the past 24 hours.
I always ask myself one question after watching Steve Jobs – what I would do today if tomorrow was the last day of my life. Just adds so much value to your life.
Another Achor activity I truly valued is the 10/5 way - when they walked within ten feet of another person in the workplace, they were to make eye contact and smile. When they walked within five feet, they were to say hello. Most people complied, and this simple intervention led to measurable improvements in performance and happier employees.
Achor contends that stress is an inevitable part of work – and in fact, it’s often the crucible of personal and professional growth (there’s evidence for this in the biographies of successful people). What’s important is our attitude toward stress.
Achor recommends that the next time we’re feeling overwhelmed, we should make a list of the things that are stressing us out and then sort them into two groups: those we can control and those we can’t. “Choose one stress that you can control and come up with a small, concrete step you can take to reduce it,” he says. “In this way you can nudge your brain back to the positive – and productive – mind-set.”
For more details:
“Positive Intelligence: Three Ways Individuals Can Cultivate Their Own Sense of Well-Being and Set Themselves Up to Succeed” by Shawn Achor in Harvard Business Review, January-February 2012 (Vol. 90, #1-2, p. 100-102). Visit the Marshall Memo blog.
Performance is a critical word. While it would be fair to say poor performance is due to a host of factors, in today’s competitive world, non performance or poor performance has severe consequences. Aligning yourself with the organisational goals or finding your purpose with an organisation that is in sync with your goals is important for success. The first step towards success is having a success and happiness mindset.
Happiness precedes success. When we are happy with what we are doing and we have a positive mind set, success is more likely. We are better equipped to deal with anxiety and challenges that are bound to happen in today’s anxiety prone competitive world. Demands, uncertainty and inadequate communications increase anxiety levels and activates the part of the brain that processes threats (amygdale) which steals resources from the problem solving part of the brain (the pre-frontal cortex). Nevertheless when we cultivate positive habits and learn to interact positively with colleagues at the workplace, we start to think about stress in a positive way – eustress rather than distress. We are happy and we increase our chances of succeeding in what we want to do.
Just a look at some corporate success stories and it is inevitable all successes start with an entrepreneur exceptionally passionate about what he or she wants to contribute to the world.
Achor urges managers to take the time and effort to create a more positive culture: “Research shows that when people work with a positive mindset, performance on nearly every level – productivity, creativity, engagement – improves.” And he says that training our brains to be more positive is not very different from training muscles at the gym: specific activities and new habits can literally rewire the brain. Achor’s argument, happiness can become a habit and create a success mindset.
He proposes one of the following activities, to be done every day for three weeks:
• Jot down three things you’re grateful for.
• Write a positive message to someone in your work area.
• Meditate at your desk for two minutes.
• Exercise for ten minutes.
• Take two minutes to describe in a journal the most meaningful experience of the past 24 hours.
I always ask myself one question after watching Steve Jobs – what I would do today if tomorrow was the last day of my life. Just adds so much value to your life.
Another Achor activity I truly valued is the 10/5 way - when they walked within ten feet of another person in the workplace, they were to make eye contact and smile. When they walked within five feet, they were to say hello. Most people complied, and this simple intervention led to measurable improvements in performance and happier employees.
Achor contends that stress is an inevitable part of work – and in fact, it’s often the crucible of personal and professional growth (there’s evidence for this in the biographies of successful people). What’s important is our attitude toward stress.
Achor recommends that the next time we’re feeling overwhelmed, we should make a list of the things that are stressing us out and then sort them into two groups: those we can control and those we can’t. “Choose one stress that you can control and come up with a small, concrete step you can take to reduce it,” he says. “In this way you can nudge your brain back to the positive – and productive – mind-set.”
For more details:
“Positive Intelligence: Three Ways Individuals Can Cultivate Their Own Sense of Well-Being and Set Themselves Up to Succeed” by Shawn Achor in Harvard Business Review, January-February 2012 (Vol. 90, #1-2, p. 100-102). Visit the Marshall Memo blog.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Memories
April 19th is a day that will be etched firmly in my memory. It was a great day in my life. His Royal Highness, the Sultan of Perak bestowed on me the title of '‘Dato’' , it was a great honour.
My wife and I were extremely nervous but delighted with the recognition. It was a recognition for the Human resources community
My wife and I were extremely nervous but delighted with the recognition. It was a recognition for the Human resources community
Monday, January 10, 2011
Handling Pressure
“Before getting into how to handle pressure, let's first talk about what it is.
What exactly is pressure and how does it play a part in whether or not you will achieve your goals? Pressure, in terms of accomplishing goals, is the feeling you get the moment you set a deadline on your goals. As you may already know, a goal is a dream with a deadline.
A dream without a deadline is just that, a dream, it'll never happen. So why is putting pressure on yourself a good thing? It's good because it forces you to act now, rather than later.
Think about those situations where you had to perform under pressure. The only reason you felt that pressure was because you had to do something within a certain amount of time. The basketball player who is under pressure because the time is running down and he has to make the final basket in order to win the game feels the pressure because he has to act right now, not later. If he had all day to take the shot, there wouldn't be any pressure. Pressure causes us to move.
Of course, pressure could also cause people to freeze up. Some people are not able to deal with pressure. When it comes down to it, they just don't have what it takes. Or do they? Pressure is something that you can handle if you know what to do. If you think about it, when you freeze up under pressure, it usually means that you don't have confidence in performing the task at hand in the amount of time that you're given to perform it. In order to deal with pressure, there is one thing you need to do. You need to get confident.
The way you have confidence is simply by being prepared. When you have done something over and over again, your level of belief in yourself rises. As your confidence rises, your ability to deal with pressure will also rise. Now, this doesn't mean you won't feel any pressure. It just means you'll be able to act despite of the pressure. Once you get use to working under pressure, you may start to actually like it because it helps you take immediate action.
I put myself under pressure every time I set a goal because I know if I don't, I will tend to delay taking the necessary actions in order to accomplish the goal. Usually setting a deadline is enough to put enough pressure on me to make it work. Sometimes though, I find that I need to "up the ante", meaning put more at risk in order to increase the pressure, which causes me to take immediate action. The reason I am able to do this is because I am used to working under these conditions, and the reason for that is because I've done this so many times.
So dealing with pressure comes down to building confidence in yourself and your abilities through lots of practice performing under pressure. Put pressure on yourself to perform at a high level because when the time comes to perform on the public stage, you'll be able to feed from it instead of freeze from it.”
Love Life. Do Good. Live Well.
http://www.motivational-well-being.com/how-to-handle-pressure.html
What exactly is pressure and how does it play a part in whether or not you will achieve your goals? Pressure, in terms of accomplishing goals, is the feeling you get the moment you set a deadline on your goals. As you may already know, a goal is a dream with a deadline.
A dream without a deadline is just that, a dream, it'll never happen. So why is putting pressure on yourself a good thing? It's good because it forces you to act now, rather than later.
Think about those situations where you had to perform under pressure. The only reason you felt that pressure was because you had to do something within a certain amount of time. The basketball player who is under pressure because the time is running down and he has to make the final basket in order to win the game feels the pressure because he has to act right now, not later. If he had all day to take the shot, there wouldn't be any pressure. Pressure causes us to move.
Of course, pressure could also cause people to freeze up. Some people are not able to deal with pressure. When it comes down to it, they just don't have what it takes. Or do they? Pressure is something that you can handle if you know what to do. If you think about it, when you freeze up under pressure, it usually means that you don't have confidence in performing the task at hand in the amount of time that you're given to perform it. In order to deal with pressure, there is one thing you need to do. You need to get confident.
The way you have confidence is simply by being prepared. When you have done something over and over again, your level of belief in yourself rises. As your confidence rises, your ability to deal with pressure will also rise. Now, this doesn't mean you won't feel any pressure. It just means you'll be able to act despite of the pressure. Once you get use to working under pressure, you may start to actually like it because it helps you take immediate action.
I put myself under pressure every time I set a goal because I know if I don't, I will tend to delay taking the necessary actions in order to accomplish the goal. Usually setting a deadline is enough to put enough pressure on me to make it work. Sometimes though, I find that I need to "up the ante", meaning put more at risk in order to increase the pressure, which causes me to take immediate action. The reason I am able to do this is because I am used to working under these conditions, and the reason for that is because I've done this so many times.
So dealing with pressure comes down to building confidence in yourself and your abilities through lots of practice performing under pressure. Put pressure on yourself to perform at a high level because when the time comes to perform on the public stage, you'll be able to feed from it instead of freeze from it.”
Love Life. Do Good. Live Well.
http://www.motivational-well-being.com/how-to-handle-pressure.html
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