Leaders embrace difference because they know the power of differential thinking to build a great team. For smart professionals, one of the most important skills is to accept differences (and learn from them) without taking it personally. Enjoy the story: Mark joined this new company only a few months back, but he felt frustrated. He […]
Consider the following tale of two sales leaders who wanted to be successful: – – – In his quest to achieve his sales targets, Peter was overly focused on "closing the sale". When in front of a customer, he often focused on what the "next steps" would be. He sold from the mindset of "What […]
In pursuit of improvement, it is very important to get to the root-cause. If you don’t know “why” an improvement is needed – you won’t improve in the right areas. “Why” should come before “what”, “how” and “when” because “why” clarifies the direction. The hallmark of a learning organization is that they ask “why” more […]
In one of the conversations with a friend, we were discussing about leadership and various things a leader does. The job description of a leader is not easy to derive, just because of the breadth of areas a leader touches upon. We discussed more, and the following roles came out: Architect: Leader has a clear […]
Over last couple of weeks, I was reading and re-reading Seth Godin’s remarkable book “Linchpin”. I have been following Seth’s blog and books since last 4 years. This book has brilliant ideas that can change the way you work, how you work and most importantly, why you work. Linchpin urges us all to be artists […]
The rubber meets the road when you, as a business leader… deliver real business results to customers (not just deliver an excellent pitch with an impressive powerpoint) start executing relentlessly (not just define your strategy on paper at an off site planning retreat) implement improvements in your processes (not when you create that good looking […]
Here is a quick question: “Can a leader make a big difference (through a great team, organization or product) operating in a ‘survival’ mindset?” You guessed it right if you said No. They can’t. Here’s why: To make a big difference, a leader has to operate from the zone of “abundance”. Zone of “possibilities”. Leadership, […]
I heard this statement a few years back from one of my colleagues – “Training is a waste of time, people just don’t engage.” This statement sparked some intense debate that shaped my own thoughts on training. (I wrote earlier about taking a holistic view of training). To ensure that employee training is NOT a […]
‘Status quo’ means ‘existing state of affairs’. Status quo is popular because it has worked so far – and hence has many defenders. At workplace, people constantly defend the status-quo because as humans – we fear change. We don’t like uncertainty that comes with change. We love comfort. A few years back, when I was […]