Reflections: the stoic way!

One word that is chasing for quite some time now is ‘Evolve’ . Literally it means develop gradually, progress, make progress, advance, move forward, make headway, mature, grow, open out, unfold, unroll, expand, enlarge, spread, extend. They look like common and easy words and we all understand what they mean, but we may not know, how they define a situation which gives true meaning to the word ‘evolution’! Do not confuse it with Darwinism and his theory of evolution. We are not talking about biological growth by way for natural selections and inheritance. I am approaching evolution from the perspective of learning and development in any sphere of human life, any age, gender, geography or vocation. I have a firm belief that if we apply ‘evolution’ to learning, it gets expedited and becomes sustainable. It imprints on mind-map and gets built into the grey-cells and almost every cell in the body and body responds to its calls even when asleep. I am not debating if one evolution...

The power of mediocrity is much more than the power of eccentricity, paranoia and maniacal focus! One stat says, 70% of US CEOs are alpha male and that defines that the country has immense belief in experiment and belief in being better than one can imagine. That means the trust of experiment is given in the hands of people who drive the change! Change that affects everyone around them and that is the catch. When change means doing things differently than we did yesterday, it is shock treatment and people are not ready for changing stakes that makes their position vulnerable. Larger mass is in favor of maintaining the status quo. Change is a fearful thought, nightmare! Keep the mediocrity approach alive, keep change makers and catalysts at bay, frustrate them and then your world is impregnable as birds of change migrate to a patch ready and welcoming change for a better tomorrow. What if the top boss is insecure and protects mediocrity? You develop relationships of personal co...

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF-“The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't”   is a book by Stanford professor Robert I. Sutton, based on a popular essay he wrote for the Harvard Business Review. It sold over 115,000 copies and won the Quill Award for best business book in 2007 Bob Sutton's List of The Dirty Dozen Common Everyday Actions That A**holes Use 1. Personal insults 2. Invading one's personal territory 3. Uninvited personal contact 4. Threats and intimidation, both verbal and non-verbal 5. Sarcastic jokes and teasing used as insult delivery systems 6. Withering email flames 7. Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims 8. Public shaming or status degradation rituals 9. Rude interruptions 10. Two-faced attacks 11. Dirty looks 12. Treating people as if they are invisible Behavior of an Asshole by Bob Sutton. As shall be understood or as Bob Sutton understood it Risk of misunde...

I read many posts on LinkedIn and what I find is the same stuff that I see in self-help management, personal effectiveness books. Experienced folks sound like copying from ubiquitous and rusted text books. Why don't they share real experiences? The case studies of their companies? Their signature programs and stories of business transformations? Inspiring stories of creating a world class team, product, company? Let's be bold guys! Let's start realizing that either we are afraid being honest or we are so ordinary. In a moment of rage, I uttered this, almost half-asleep...And I feel so good now.. Corporate is a dangerous place for you to display your intelligence, insights, brilliance with number, problem solving, decision making, etc. While these are essential selection factors at hiring time, they become gallows for you when you start applying them at work. Why? Because your brilliance irritates your managers, seniors, peers, who out of their glorious years laden w...

Clear answer for "Retention strategy for the brilliant employees". Let the best idea win! Drive by ideas and not hierarchy! How many of today's leaders are open to 'allowing others to win', that too when they consider them 'big' leaders and under them are 'small' leaders! Is it not conflicting/oxymoron when we attach 'big; and 'small', 'senior' or 'junior' to the word leader? Leaders are leaders! Just that or else you do not allow the best idea to lead you as a company!

Engagement, in life and work is a fine balance while one remains on tight-rope. It is not a steady state or equilibrium. It is just one state. Very much in sync with the state of mind, body, soul and environment. Nothing out of these conjoining factors are constant. They all can go haywire in a state of flux. What can keep control on the state of engagement is harmony with all these factors, you can also call it 'spirituality'. I deliberately call it 'spirituality as this the only factor that we do know much about but find solace in once we connect with it. It is like finding your psychiatrist, psychologist/counselor, a doctor and a care-giver. "State of 'spirituality does it all and helps one balance. What is spirituality therefore? It is actually our inner-self which is sitting inside and watching it go though all states of emotions and implications and fall-outs. It is one unknown insignificant guy on the street you do not care about till the time, you drive...

I have seen companies struggling define their values. They struggle because they do not know who these values are for and who has to live these values. How having values helps, what is the cost of maintaining and managing values, what are the consequences of having values defined and not lived.Simply put values are created, recognized, and reflected in everyday life. They are not special effects! They are not oath, they are not passive artifacts. They remind us subtly when we ignore them.  We also find it hard to understand whether values are “what we do”, “What we believe we do”, “Are they personal values, work values, delivery values, client values, employee values, community values? Not sure how many values? Are they promises? Are they commitments? They are all but “Core Values” are very few and they reflect encompassing what all we do, everyday with everyone, for everyone. If we look at McKinsey values, they will sound perfect for any services organization that...