Beans Off the Pod..

It was a Thursday evening, Jane and Tom were famished after a day’s long work and all that they could get their hands on for a quick food was a simple home style food from a neighborhood restaurant. Jane reached to her phone and immediately ordered their favorite food and a the usual sweet that they crave from this place.

Food arrived and in the blindness of hunger, they hit the package and relished the delicacies of the place. The delivery boy was quick and very humble and polite. A few minutes later, Jane realized that the sweet that they ordered is not there.

She grabbed the bill and checked if she had been billed for it and to her surprise, it was not in the bill. Thinking that the restaurant might have forgotten to add this, they called up the restaurant and unfortunately, the kitchen was closed and everyone left. The Manager apologized for the mistake. Jane with an understanding told them not to worry and its alright as such things do happen.

Next day morning at 7.30 am, door bell rings and to their surprise, here is the boy from the restaurant with two bowls full of the same sweet that Jane wanted. Jane couldn’t believe her eyes and said to the delivery boy, this was not necessary and she was Ok without it. The boy said, Madam, it was our mistake and you slept off without eating the sweet and this is from all of us for you. What a brilliant gesture?  

What a heartwarming mindset on service? Interestingly, no one taught them these, No education on hospitality. The manager or even the team there had not had any formal hospitality education that many youngsters of these days have an opportunity to.

The service mindset and hospitality that they have in them is taught truly by the inner spirit inside them, inside their blood, inside their heart. What comes out naturally can’t be taught in a school. Feeling for your customer and care for your customer is not something that need to be taught, but has to come naturally.

To experience service from heart, you have to visit smaller neighborhood restaurants and if it’s filled with people who care, you can feel the vibes in it as soon as you step in there. This is something which many five-star hotels and like need to learn and imbibe. 

In addition to wisdom, faith, Knowledge, Healing, serving , hospitality is a spiritual gift.

Interestingly, Holy Bible talks of this in Peter 4:9-10: Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s Varied Grace.

Hospitality is not an education, but a mindset indeed.

Binu Prasad

Inspire bee

Coach l Author l Trainer l Consultant l Friend

+971 54 3393301

*image courtesy google.

Get your space done

Remote interviews like Zoom interview or like are here to stay. This is now the new normal and you will be hired over remote interviews often. It is important to shape the new you for the new style of hiring and hence be prepared for being interviewed from home. There are a few things that you can be conscious of while attending interviews online.

Make sure your space is clean, neat and clutter free. Make sure you have a serene space and not a space where members of the family walks past or your dog comes and plays with you. Check if the background is clean and not distractive. Lighting on you shall be balanced so that you are seen clean by the interviewer. Keep your TV, Phones etc on silent mode while the chat is on.

• Technical Checks

Make sure your internet is working and speed is reasonably good for an uninterrupted conversation. Click on the mode whether it is Zoom, Microsoft Team or like and check the audio and videos using the test feature. Most of these do have test feature.

• Keep space for notes

Keep some notes handy for you to take down notes. It shows unpreparedness when you have to search for a piece of paper and pen in the middle of interview.

• Posture

Get yourself a nice upright chair where you can sit with confidence. Avoid sofa, sloppy chairs, cushions etc. which drains your energy as it takes you to a lazy mode. Use hand gestures while talking and look straight to the person on camera and do not look elsewhere.

• Refreshments

All what you can keep with yourself is a glass of water. Do not get your snacks box for the chat.

• Appearance

Though it is a home-based chat, dress yourself nicely as this is a professional hiring session. Even if it is not with make up and professional attire, a formal attire is always presentable.

Never take these chats casually as this is no different from that of a personal interview. Here, the comfort of home is a positive factor for you to be at ease and express yourself more confidently. However, professional approach, gestures, courtesy, confidence etc. are of key importance when it comes to virtual interview as well.

“How could you even think of serving this flavored butter milk in a sleek bottle? It’s so awful and doesn’t go well with the overall ambiance of the café”, Josephine couldn’t resist her strong views finding its expression.

It is quite common to have people around in an organization who has strong views on some decision taken by the leadership team and can’t resist pushing through their strong opinion around the organization.

Josephine is a talented young brand manager with creative ideas and would not only push through her views but also would make the others feel how awful their decision is. Josephine’s views had its own merits and was valued with good regard by Philip, one of the leadership team who happens to take a decision on the way they serve flavored butter milk in their café.

Josephine was of the opinion that it should be served in a juice decanter and a bottle that looks like a milk bottle is an awful way of presenting it as it resembles a baby food. While getting her point across, she obviously had strong passion that disparaged the choice of others and besides getting across her views, she would go on belittling the other ideas.

It is an interesting management behavior that most budding managers embody and a learning from such situations is that it is not what you say that matters but how you say it. It takes skill and maturity to convey your strong views across with due regard to other’s ideas and this is indeed a dexterity that no business school teaches you.

Making a scene about one’s strong views on any specific decision of the organization is common with many managers and often people fail in the way their points are put across.

Frequently, we come across situations and decisions that the organization takes which would be an appalling decision as per us and some managers react to it building negativity in organization. Adding to the opposition, one would even go to the extent of campaigning on how bad the other’s idea is in an informal way. Does it ring a bell? This is very much prevalent in most organization and is just a manifestation of tapered human behavior.

The scene takes different dimension when personal ego comes to play and one would not stop to take a look at it from other’s perspective wherein objective view of the decision takes a back seat.

Let’s leave the situation aside, and look at it from the perspective of an interesting management case. As a manager, one would be putting their personality and maturity at risk when an opinion is expressed while demeaning someone else’s opinion.

We come across such characters in all organizations who debases others ideas by proliferating how bad the idea of others is against their marvelous ideas? Such managers or individuals need guidance as they just don’t have either the maturity or the perspective of how coherence of the team needs to be valued yet express the strong views of some decisions of the management in an organization.

Often managers fail in separating themselves from situations and getting to a behavior mode of listening to others around, giving importance to the thoughts of others, yet presenting the strong views of oneself without demeaning the other ideas is a skill that comes with enhanced perception of everything around and one’s self.

In such situation, it is important to keep the below in mind so that one is seen as matured manager who regards the team’s ideas yet expresses his / her opinion and explains the reason for the strong opinion in a manner that bring in an environment of inclusiveness:

1. “I” Factor – Always keep the person out of yourself but bring the situation in front.

A better decision and a better team effort and a better positivity is possible, the moment one takes the I from self and bring the situation in front.

2. Good Idea Vs Bad Idea – There are no good or bad decisions, but there is always a decision and it could turn good results or not so good results.

When a decision need to be arrived, it is important to come to a common ground rather than move in different direction. A common ground will come only if all in the organization and those in decision making comes to value each one’s ideas and debates it pragmatically.

3. How you say Vs What you say – The tone of voice, the aggression in expression, the body language etc. is extremely critical when debates happen and that can only come if the “I” is out of the discussion.

4. Bring an act of inclusiveness – Managers must develop the habit of being inclusive wherein the others around is seen as part of them and not away from them. The moment you feel everyone and everything around is part of you, you start looking at everything from an angle of care and responsibility. Then, there is no my idea and their idea, it takes the shape of our idea.

5. Avoid Creeping – Often the tendency is to lean over the audience to get more ears for one’s strong opinion / idea and that brings more negativity into one. Rather, one should regard the other ideas and if required, get views on both the ideas in a fair manner without advertising more for one’s own idea. It takes a conscious effort to stay away from creeping on others campaigning for one’s ideas when subjected to a debate.

Binu Prasad
http://www.myartofbeing.com
http://www.binuwick.com

“How could you even think of serving this flavored butter milk in a sleek bottle? It’s so awful and doesn’t go well with the overall ambiance of the café”, Josephine couldn’t resist her strong views finding its expression.

It is quite common to have people around in an organization who has strong views on some decision taken by the leadership team and can’t resist pushing through their strong opinion around the organization.

Josephine is a talented young brand manager with creative ideas and would not only push through her views but also would make the others feel how awful their decision is. Josephine’s views had its own merits and was valued with good regard by Philip, one of the leadership team who happens to take a decision on the way they serve flavored butter milk in their café.

Josephine was of the opinion that it should be served in a juice decanter and a bottle that looks like a milk bottle is an awful way of presenting it as it resembles a baby food. While getting her point across, she obviously had strong passion that disparaged the choice of others and besides getting across her views, she would go on belittling the other ideas.

It is an interesting management behavior that most budding managers embody and a learning from such situations is that it is not what you say that matters but how you say it. It takes skill and maturity to convey your strong views across with due regard to other’s ideas and this is indeed a dexterity that no business school teaches you.

Making a scene about one’s strong views on any specific decision of the organization is common with many managers and often people fail in the way their points are put across.

Frequently, we come across situations and decisions that the organization takes which would be an appalling decision as per us and some managers react to it building negativity in organization. Adding to the opposition, one would even go to the extent of campaigning on how bad the other’s idea is in an informal way. Does it ring a bell? This is very much prevalent in most organization and is just a manifestation of tapered human behavior.

The scene takes different dimension when personal ego comes to play and one would not stop to take a look at it from other’s perspective wherein objective view of the decision takes a back seat.

Let’s leave the situation aside, and look at it from the perspective of an interesting management case. As a manager, one would be putting their personality and maturity at risk when an opinion is expressed while demeaning someone else’s opinion.

We come across such characters in all organizations who debases others ideas by proliferating how bad the idea of others is against their marvelous ideas? Such managers or individuals need guidance as they just don’t have either the maturity or the perspective of how coherence of the team needs to be valued yet express the strong views of some decisions of the management in an organization.

Often managers fail in separating themselves from situations and getting to a behavior mode of listening to others around, giving importance to the thoughts of others, yet presenting the strong views of oneself without demeaning the other ideas is a skill that comes with enhanced perception of everything around and one’s self.

In such situation, it is important to keep the below in mind so that one is seen as matured manager who regards the team’s ideas yet expresses his / her opinion and explains the reason for the strong opinion in a manner that bring in an environment of inclusiveness:

1. “I” Factor – Always keep the person out of yourself but bring the situation in front.

A better decision and a better team effort and a better positivity is possible, the moment one takes the I from self and bring the situation in front.

2. Good Idea Vs Bad Idea – There are no good or bad decisions, but there is always a decision and it could turn good results or not so good results.

When a decision need to be arrived, it is important to come to a common ground rather than move in different direction. A common ground will come only if all in the organization and those in decision making comes to value each one’s ideas and debates it pragmatically.

3. How you say Vs What you say – The tone of voice, the aggression in expression, the body language etc. is extremely critical when debates happen and that can only come if the “I” is out of the discussion.

4. Bring an act of inclusiveness – Managers must develop the habit of being inclusive wherein the others around is seen as part of them and not away from them. The moment you feel everyone and everything around is part of you, you start looking at everything from an angle of care and responsibility. Then, there is no my idea and their idea, it takes the shape of our idea.

5. Avoid Creeping – Often the tendency is to lean over the audience to get more ears for one’s strong opinion / idea and that brings more negativity into one. Rather, one should regard the other ideas and if required, get views on both the ideas in a fair manner without advertising more for one’s own idea. It takes a conscious effort to stay away from creeping on others campaigning for one’s ideas when subjected to a debate.

Binu Prasad
http://www.myartofbeing.com
http://www.binuwick.com

Blessed are those who for an inspiring leader. Many would be still dreaming of working with an inspiring leader. The irony is that there are not many such inspiring leaders available. So one often lands up in the palm of uninspiring leaders. My empathy goes to those who are in such situation currently. Having experienced such a life, I have given this some thought and felt that I must pen on how to work under an uninspiring leader and yet hold onto your energy system
unaffected.

Life with an uninspiring leader would be like watching a horror movie (Movies last for 2 to 3 hours but living with horror is much more), the effect of which haunts even after the movie. Many reading this blog would now be having images passing through their eyes.

Not everyone is lucky to work under inspiring, energizing, enterprising and value, conscious leaders. Youngsters coming out of colleges are most vulnerable when subjected to such leaders and they end up going through the hard facts of life not often as a choice. Lack of consciousness would turn such talents into another uninspiring leader of the future. The world ends up with extra weight on mother earth if more such leaders are made.

I talked about accidental leadership in one of my earlier blogs (read it on www.binuwick.com) and most of the uninspiring leaders are the product of accidental leadership. The wealth of ancestors, the power of the family, the situational growth of money etc. adorn leadership role in them and they try to squeeze themselves into it and in the struggle of being a misfit, they tend to lead a team with ego and power, leaving talented resources drained out in their lives.

So, if an uninspiring leadership is unavoidable and circumstances hold you to work in such an organization, how do you exist (not live) being motivated? This is a corporate trap and coming out of it is easy if you decide to quit. But, that’s often not a practical solution. Hence the below can help if you happen to be under someone uninspiring.

1. Pay a deaf ear — Develop a deaf ear to whatever they say. This doesn’t mean you show it in front of them. But show attentiveness in front of them, but consciously say it to yourself internally that this idiot doesn’t know what the hell is he/she talking about. When one is able to communicate with internal self, strength to withstand nonsense is natural. Believe me, you will be able to see yourself coming out of such uninspiring leader’s room with renewed energy if you practice this self-talk.
2. Do not participate in emotions — An uninspiring leader often tends to undermine his/her team, talk down on his/her immediate reports, mistrust his/her team on performance, and put blame on his/her team. This behavior comes from his inability to lead, his/her sense of insecurity and as long as you understand that this is coming out of his/her weakness, you will be strong on your positive thinking, else it is easy to get your energies drained off and slip into the world of negativity.
3. Give it back — An uninspiring leader has only one thing in abundance, his/her ego. So if he/she tries to ridicule you in public, give him/her back in one sentence or just be firm and tell him/her that you would like to talk this point outside the meeting and look firmly into his/her eyes. He/she will get the message and if his/her stupid brain crosses the limit, keep calm and be silent. If prompted for any conversations, simply say that you have nothing to comment. Most often such leaders get the message and if it goes beyond limits of tolerance, then close your eyes and hold your calmness and simply say that for want of respect you would like to take this off the meeting. However, do not spare the words in private, give them your feedback on their behavior and be firm. You will see them disciplined for few months.
4. Ignore gossips — Uninspiring leaders most often find themselves anchoring onto talking to your colleagues about you. They would do the same when they are with you as well. Beware to participate in these conversations and remember that they do that about you to others as well and it’s always best to keep quiet when such topics are dragged in between work-related discussions. Such leaders criticize their team being gossip mongers knowing little that they themselves are leaders in gossip.
5. Love your work — Your quality of work is something that no one can take away or play with. So love your work, not your company nor your boss. Find happiness in doing your best at work and enjoy making every task on your plate, the best art of your hands. The moment you understand that your boss is an uninspiring one and if you are able to self-talk that out of your mind, you will find that your happiness is not in the hands of him/her, but on your own.
6. Avoid — As much as possible avoid being with him or her. The less time you spend with such leaders, the better it is. But if your position is such that you have to spend time with them or have to present yourself in front of them, then, just follow the above points.
7. Accept ignorance — The moment you accept the ignorance of your uninspiring leader, you will be unaffected by his/her leadership styles and methods, leaving your state of mind happy and joyful. Such leaders become a case study on how not to be a leader when you understand his/her weakness and accept his/her ignorance on leadership tactics.
8. Quit — If things are going beyond limits and all your above efforts are in vain, then quit. You can still be happy that you have quit after trying.

This is not a read for those who are led but those who lead as well. Those who lead and if they are uninspiring, they can try and make a conscious effort to change.

You are an uninspiring leader, if you keep complaining about your team, if you do not trust your team, if you are on a fault finding mission all the time, if you are one who boasts about your achievements, if you are not smiling genuinely, if you are one who are avoided by your team, if you are one who your team is afraid to come to, if you are one who is full of sarcasm, if you are one who gets things done by shouting and screaming. Well, that’s just for those who may not be knowing whether they are uninspiring. The fact remains that an uninspiring leader is still a motivator, it is just that they use different tools – fear and greed. Their long term plans are always to cashing in and/or buying physical objects and does not value human beings.

I pity the uninspiring leaders as they secretly believe that their success is a natural result of being smarter and better than everyone else.

Binu Prasad

www.binuwick.com

It was the morning hours of 14th June 2016, Melvin was on his way to court along with his Dad for an important case that had to unveil a suspense. The day was of tense and in the silence of conversations between them in the moving car, both seemed to have understood the pace at which their conversation was taking place with no words spoken.

Perhaps the maturity or a sense of need for diversion of attention, silence was broken by Melvin’s dad directing him to the turn he needs to take to the venue. As the car stalled at the signal for a left turn, Victoria Engineering College was exactly in front of them.

This college had its royal touch with it’s aged, rather an antique look proudly keeping its face up showing the stature of having nurtured many lives. The city of Palghat, a province tucked inside the Western Ghats of India today adorns a modern city culture and is no more that old village. The world of Mc Donald’s, KFCs and Dominos have taken over the energy vessels of the city.

However, the college of engineering where his Dad did his electrical engineering in early 60’s has not lost its natural historical feel that it had years ago. The entrance had the huge pagoda-like structure with an open ground hidden inside solid structure of classrooms on all four sides. While the atmosphere inside the car was of tension, it didn’t take much time for Melvin’s dad to pass through the memories of his past. An opportunity to break the silent conversation and a tense mind was not spared by him.

Catching on to the memories, as the car turned left… He quickly pointed at a small narrow road where he stayed as a paying guest in a house adjacent to the road which is a few miles away from the college. He stayed with an old couple who lived in a small house. His place of stay was the Corridor where he studied, slept and sat and where his books were kept amidst his few clothes.

The couple often had to tread over him when they need to move between rooms. That’s the life that he had while studying and he recollects the same with pride. Melvin had his heart pounding with tears while he heard what his dad had gone through. In the comfort of a car, a two-storied house, no tension for food and money, the life had been a blessing for him and his only brother. Little they realized that the painless life that they had and have today was a result of a man who slept in a Corridor of a house.

Often we realize that we have less comfort until we know what our parents have gone through.

Management is not about having resources, but the ability and focus in managing a situation within the limited resources. If he had spent his time complaining about his limitations, Melvin wouldn’t be driving a car today. Most often we complain about what we do not have, realizing little about the possibilities that we have with what we have in hand. 

Pointing his finger across the road towards the rear side of his college, he showed an area where there were toilets constructed in a row for public. These were the toilets that he used as there were no toilets at the house where he stayed. These were a few miles away and a walk of five minutes is his daily ritual to the toilets. He explained the toilet structure as it used to be just a hole where you defecate and I believe there were some tribes those days who used to carry these away as their daily job. Today, you can’t even imagine a life such of that and in the luxury of toilets and washrooms, we still complain. If water does not come out of the luxury of faucets, we get stressed. We have forgotten to live in scarcity.

The lessons of self-management were best taught by nature in early years which today we learn in a corporate classroom with laser-projected power point presentations. 

He then showed a way that takes you to the famous Yakara River which flows through the Western Ghats foothill watering the paddy fields around. That’s the river he would take a shower before going to attend his classes. That’s another ten minutes of a walk for him and still he managed to be on time for his classes. Today, we have everything that helps in commuting to work and still we reach offices late.

The car crossed the bridge over the river and moved ahead to the court’s parking and they both moved off to a small tea shop for a quick tea before the presence at the court.

The day was full of tension and discomfort for Melvin but this small episode of conversation with his dad touched him so much that he didn’t know of this past of his father and a reflection of the same today brings tears in his eyes.

This may be a personal story and has no connotation to my usual blogs on management. But this made me reflect on the self-discipline that Melvin’s dad had in achieving his career aspirations, the self-management principles he had as daily chores to just attend his classes, the ease with which he managed the limited resources uncomplainingly, his attentiveness to studies in the midst of disturbance in a small Corridor of a house etc. talks of basic management principles.

He never regretted the situations that he had been through but took the pain to succeed. Everyone must choose one of two pains—either the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.

I am sure all of us have similar stories when we search in the history of our untold heroes. Our parents!!! Where else we need to search for a learning of management and leadership. It’s right there.

At the end of pain is Success!!!

Binu Prasad

All of us would have witnessed many leaders in our life and some of us are a few who the human race around us look at with pride. Well, there are a few leaders who we can’t even stand. As you read this blog of mine, you would recall those who you admired and still consider as the best boss that you ever had and your memories would also remember those dreadful ones who ate you for their breakfast every day. The fact is that in life, we have had many such leadership styles around us and all of them would have imparted some learning to us, some taught us what leadership is all about and the other what leadership shouldn’t be.

As leaders are always on the stage, many eyes are on them and often we forget to see them in real as we become blind to their persona or their commands or we get entangled in their power. We get entwined into their charisma and the way they handle situations and sometimes our true self, get guided by their words. Only a critical mind can question the inner dimension of leadership around us.

Have you ever come across a leader who shouts and screams? The one who throws ego around, the one who fishes for faults and reacts to it as though the situation is all because of your fault, the one who closes his doors and expect everyone, even his/her senior leadership team to wait outside his door for a meeting? The one who doesn’t have the patience to see the situation in broad view and jumps to conclusion based on his prejudice, the one who looks for credits to himself, the one who approaches your situations based on hearsay of his ear eaters? I am sure you all have many to add the types you work with or have worked with in the past. The beauty is that they are yet regarded as leaders by the society and the human race and some proclaim as self-made leaders and I call them as leaders by accident.

On the other hand, we have come across inspiring leaders who live as examples of wisdom, humility, cheerfulness, and patience. Many are world leaders like Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam, HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, Dr.Nelson Mandela, Warren Buffet, Dalai Lama, Sir Richard Branson and much more. Well, not going that far, we have many at our own vicinity whom we admire for their sense of understanding, discipline, compassion, self-reliance, confidence, love, calmness, composure, conscientiousness and resilience. Also, there are many accidental leaders who the world has witnessed, some even ruled Nations, I shall remain silent on those names, though.

I am sure many of you would now be remembering those leaders who touched your heart, who taught you the sense of true leadership, who guided you in your life, who worked along with you, who held your hand and lifted you up, who took you their side and made you feel important, who valued you, who treated you with respect, who taught you the importance of trust, who subconsciously taught you to be perfect, who took time to talk to you, who stood solid in front of you when faced with failures, who stood behind you on your successes, who smiled behind a painful cry, yet not let you knew the agony, who took the stress for you and still shared the stress which you have to take to be strong, who threw you out of the window instilling a confidence in you that he/she is there standing beneath to catch you. I and you can go on describing such leaders of our life.

What makes these two different? We have many accidental leaders around us who just happen to be there for wrong reasons for humanity. I have been thinking of the accidental leadership for quite some time and realized that one who cannot manage the most sophisticated instrument on this universe– “the human self ” consisting of the body, mind, emotions and life energies, how can he ever manage thousands of people working under him? If you cannot have a control over your anxiety, anger, emotions, greed, fear, then how can you control others? This is where accidental leader’s identity gets exposed.

Leaders have an important part to play in the joyfulness of the nation, the organization, the province, the family, the team and imagine all of them playing in the palms of accidental leaders. I am not against accidental leaders, but an accidental leader who has walked in the path of self-realization is an inspiring leader and this is where most of them fail as the power and wealth they attain, make them live in the boundaries of the physical world and curtail their inner calling for stepping to be aware of the fundamentals of human existence.

When a leader meets say, five people, every word he speaks, every action of his, every move of his impacts people. The choice that the leader has is this that they impact them positively or negatively or let it go. If you impact them positively it is called leadership, if you impact them negatively it is called crime, if you let it pass by, it is called half a human being.

A systematic leader is expected to deliver what is expected from anyone. A charismatic leader is expected to deliver what everyone is not able to. But the type Accidental leadership is one thing which spurted out all of a sudden by an external force and some conducive situations. It could be money, the sudden power bestowed by the environment, or by democratic election or by hereditary in some cases especially in the ancient years. These are the kind of leaders who fumble and yet survive as leaders. They if you notice closely is a bunch of mess, like a gold plated empty box. However, some accidental leaders learn as they go and become the best systematic or charismatic leaders and win the hearts of many.

It would be dreadful to work with accidental leaders. If any of you are currently working with some like that, you would understand what I am referring to. If you have to fear to walk into a leader’s room, no doubt that leader is an accidental leader. Accidental leaders are the ones who cannot be inclusive. If you ever had to work with leaders who you would like to avoid meeting or would like to run away from their presence, those are accidental leaders and it’s a pity if those leaders don’t take time out to observe these critically and consciously for transcending their style.

If you have walked out of a leader’s room energized, call yourself lucky as they are those leaders who influence you and the ability to influence comes when one is able to feel inclusive. Accidental leaders fail to be inclusive. What is inclusiveness is probably the question that you may have? The whole existence in the universe is all about inclusiveness and it’s unfortunate that we do not feel the inclusiveness but runs after one victory after other always. This is what happens with most accidental leaders. They have a focus to make more wealth, pride, fame, forgetting the feelings of people around them, forgetting that the people around them are the reasons for them to be in that accidental leadership.

When you see your subordinate standing in front of you and if I ask you, where do you see him or her? Obviously, you would say that you see them in front of you. Isn’t it? No, you don’t see them in front of you. You see them inside you. It is the light falling on them, entering your eyes through the lens, inverted image in the retina and so on and so forth. Now you know that you are seeing them not in front of you, but inside your eyes. So fundamentally you see people not outside of you but inside you. Once you start seeing everyone around you inside you, you will become inclusive and the moment you become inclusive, you start seeing yourself impacting people positively because you start seeing everyone as part of you.

Everything that our sensory organs come in contact with become part of you. It’s like you watching a tree, the tree is within you and not outside. You eat an apple, the apple becomes you in few moments. Meaning it is included inside you. The moment you start becoming inclusive of everything around you and if you are a leader, you naturally start emitting scintillating energies around. Unfortunately, the accidental leaders struggle to get this fundamental right.

As a leader, one manages minds of others. If you manage 10000 employees, essentially you are managing 10000 minds. But if you are not able to manage your own mind, how the hell are you going to manage the minds outside yours. This is where we see charismatic leadership distinguished from any other forms of leadership.

If your interaction with your boss turns out negative every time, if your boss is more on the emotional front, if he is more focused on semantics of conversation, if he is more on finding blames, then be sure that you are dealing with an accidental leader and all you gather from him would be negative energies.

Because of this accidental leadership, you see these leaders always like a pressure cooker, about to burst anytime, highly egoistic, highly sensitive and they are often frantically searching for security. They are narrow-minded and always in fear. This happens when one doesn’t turn himself/herself to the fundamentals of their own body, mind, emotions and energies. The stupidity is that when such leaders try to hide their own weakness of lack of control on these elements of the life.

The young leaders growing up must start noticing these type of leadership which exists in the universe and will continue to exist always. The growing leaders are blessed if they interact with accidental leaders knowing the inner dimension of such accidents. It is also a blessing if accidental leaders start realizing that they are leaders and their existence demand them to be inclusive of the world around them, then the seeking for the unlimited potential happens naturally. It is important to realize for all accidental leaders that people buy into the leaders before they buy into the vision.

Inclusiveness is a successful dimension of leadership.

Binu Prasad

http://www.binuwick.com

Thought I must begin a blog this week on something that should be more relevant in today’s leadership practices.

Melany WhatsApped her boss in the evening of last Wednesday:“Sir, thanks for the call. I felt bad about it. But I might also be insensitive on my email that’s why. Anyway I felt fine after your call” 

Her boss responded: “I knew you felt bad. Relax and take it easy” 

This is just a conversation on WhatsApp as it is. This has a management perspective in this and you would understand the same as I expound more on it.

One of the senior management person at a leadership position in the organization snapped at Melany, an HR executive over an email where she was just following an operational process with reference to someone’s resignation. She was bold enough to spell the process of receiving resignations on time at HR for processing final settlements so that the employee concerned doesn’t suffer waiting for his dues. Well, perhaps the same wouldn’t have been taken in the right light by this senior person at the leadership and an easy way out was to subtly suppress her with a blunt email.

Well, the content of the email or what the issue is not a concern here nor it’s the focus of this article. But this indeed led to an opportunity to ignite the small things of leadership.

This would have happened sometime in the early hours of last Wednesday and Melany’s boss is away from the office and is traveling for some important work in a nearby city. He has the habit of skimming through his emails once in a while when he is away from the office and in this particular incident he was attending a seminar on organizational excellence. Soon after the seminar, while there are a number of things to attend to and ponder about, Melany’s boss decided to give her a call while driving back from the seminar. All it took for him was a few minutes to call, that too while driving on a seven lane road (please refrain from doing so in the interest of your life and the author is not responsible for anyone attempting to emulate this).

The call lasted perhaps for two minutes. All it had was that… “Melany, I saw the email. Don’t sweat  much on it. You have said the right thing in it. You need not respond. I shall respond, you chill and relax.”  This was around 5 pm on Wednesday where it was just a few hours to close shop and head home for Melany.

Melany’s boss just brought a smile on her face and gave her a feeling of being guarded and cared for. All that employees require is a small word of concern, a small word of acknowledgment of their feelings, a moment of assurance, a moment of listening, a moment of confidence lift, a moment of support and a moment of guidance if they were wrong. And above all, it got to be prompt.

How many leaders of today understand the importance of respecting the state of mind of their employees who dirty their hands so that their bosses have an easy life? Well, the fact is that this is no rocket science nor a technique that they teach in MBA, but it just goes to say that leadership is all about of being and not doing. If it is in you, it reflects. And to have these gestures reflect, one needs to be involved and keep the ears to the ground and above all feel very much inclusive of his people, his office, his work, his endeavors, his purpose and his feeling of togetherness.

Everyone around you is just another aspect of the universe you belong to and is also another creation of this so-called source of creation. No big, no small. All are equal when it comes to the various dimensions of the mind. As long as we respect that they all coexist as you are in this universe, respect for them emanate automatically. Once that respect arises, these gestures bloom and is not a technique to learn nor a method of management. It’s a way of life.

Having spent time on this very simple aspect of the daily work-related transaction, I realized one thing that such acts of the leader brings involvement, commitment at work from his or her employees and one need not break his head always worrying over how to build commitment, sense of belonging etc. If one listens to the inner self and finds himself grounded, leadership becomes a virtue.

I see many CEOs who keep passing judgments on people and conclude on their direct reports’ incapability’s as lack of potential or lack of commitment, not realizing that the key to performance is in their hands, in their way of leadership life. Most often in organization, the voice that is heard loud is the one spoken by the CEOs and what he says about an employee become biblical and there will be many who gratifies it for their own existence. Such CEOs actually make a fool of themselves as they don’t spend time with themselves and introspect to realize that the potential of talents working under them is the result of their actions and communications.

While you are in a rat race for achievement, leaders of today need to realize that a life’s fulfillment comes from not conquering more success but from doing the small things that make a difference in fellow beings around you. It is these small victories that count at the end of your life’s journey. You as a leader has the responsibility of making your team sleep well in the night, so don’t let them hit the bed with negativity and stress. No matter how hard their day had been, give them that small touch when needed and believe me, you will build a universe in your team.

If you don’t have time for the small things, you will never have time for big things. Doing that small thing with love and passion brings life to its fulfillment.

Binu Prasad
Image courtesy : Google