I learnt that two important things are essential for leading a meaningful life - Platform and Purpose
Platform - Includes our body, education, experience, family, networth and network
The sequence to this list varies based on our individual choice to reap on each factor/s.
Though Platform serves as a very critical factor, it is not enough, there is something equally important required. It is our purpose. To make a difference to ourself or to the others around us.
Like most of us, I too was blind to this realization. I was hard core focused on working on strengthening my platform. Pursuing different educational courses which will give me an advantage in my career, working on my assets were my priorities.
Today this realization hit me. The platform is equivalent to a railway platform to get to the destination (Purpose) where I need to go to. The platform is not a place to live on, need to decide my destination and not lose out on my time at the platform not being sure of the train I need to board. This eye opening realization was the result of the insightful thought shared by Subroto Bagchi, Gardener MindTree.
Very confidently I thanked Subroto and wrote to him that no doubt I will continue to work on enhancing my platform but we definitely give a serious thought to the purpose I will like to pursue.
I thought this will be an easy exercise, nope it wasn't. It really threw a lot of questions before me.
Where should I focus? On my self or do my bit to make a difference to the others?
After a lot of thought I came up with a list of purposes that I could pursue. This list turned out to be a laundry list, which seemed difficult for me to recall by memory! I was zapped with the task of zeroing down on the big ones that I wanted to pursue. I have two catergories to my purpose:
For self - I will live life to the fullest. I shouldn't regret about not living my life the way I want to, when I am on my death bed:-)
My gift to my other fellow beings - I will volunteer for causes like education, self awareness which will make a difference to the lives of the needy.
So after having given a clear thought to my life purpose, I was all set to get going. But something funny happened. The more I thought about the two things I had zeroxed down, more things started getting added to the list. I was confused and did not know how to limit them.
Now, I exist in a state where different purpose peep out of my mind like the way I thought about the careers I would pursue during my childhood days. For sometime I wanted to be an air-hostess then moved on to dream to become a Industrial Relations officer and then a teacher and many more professions.
It took me a long time to really understand what I wanted to pursue as my area of profession, and I belief this will happen to me even in the case of understanding the mega purpose of my life!
So I am currently juggling with multiple purpose and platform.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Creative Approaches to Leadership
Leadership by itself sounds very ambigious a topic to discuss and an element of creativity to it makes it more abstract as possible:-) Here I like to share a few creatives approaches to leadership.
A leader has to meet up with people at where they are and then attempt to get them where you want them to be.
This is a profound insight. Many a times we struggle our way to push our way of thinking on the others. And when it is not taken well, we take objection to it. In fact resistance or objection to our ideas or way of thinking should be positively acknowledged and paid attention to. It does not come easily but we need to remember it will open doors to explore new possiblities. It breeds a sense of freedom to think beyond boundaries in teams. And once the team experiences this freedom they will give nothing but their best! To get there we could use a skill called Frame of Reference.
Now what is Frame of Reference? It is about undertanding the way I see an issue and how the other person or people see it. The more we are aware of this and make it an effort to have an inclusive approach of the other the better we are at engaging and leading. But a caveat to practice this skill would need us to be aware of our own perceptions and assumptions before attempting to understand that of the other.
In our journey of exploring the frame of reference of each other, there is a high necessity to be open and vulnerable to experiences. Vulnerable! this may sound a big NO NO for a leader but this is the thing which is required. In our presence context, it is not required of a leader to be all strong and correct all the time. It is fine for him / her to commit mistakes, acknowledge the mistakes and learn from his subordinates and be one amongst them. By placing oneself on a high pestral to be called a leader is a way to alienate onself from the team.
Another creative approach to leadership would be to explore using Narrative Listening - this is about inviting the other person to share his or her story (point of view) and you extending a deep listening without interrupting. The focus in this conversation is completing on the person sharing the story. As a listener you don't need to prepare yourself to reaction or respond to this person. Sometimes people expect you to just lend them your ears and not necessarily propose or give a solution or an advice!
Many a times I have heard my mother say this to me - "I don't want you to fix things for me but just listen out to me" I was always so confused wondering what is that she wants from me. But now I get it . It relieves a lot of pain and anxiety in people when they find someone to just speak their minds.
Yes, you could extend a helping hand and work with the person to find solutions if requested by the person. This does not come easy to us, we are such experts ready anytime to hand out our ready made prescribitions!
Enjoy reading and share your thoughts!
A leader has to meet up with people at where they are and then attempt to get them where you want them to be.
This is a profound insight. Many a times we struggle our way to push our way of thinking on the others. And when it is not taken well, we take objection to it. In fact resistance or objection to our ideas or way of thinking should be positively acknowledged and paid attention to. It does not come easily but we need to remember it will open doors to explore new possiblities. It breeds a sense of freedom to think beyond boundaries in teams. And once the team experiences this freedom they will give nothing but their best! To get there we could use a skill called Frame of Reference.
Now what is Frame of Reference? It is about undertanding the way I see an issue and how the other person or people see it. The more we are aware of this and make it an effort to have an inclusive approach of the other the better we are at engaging and leading. But a caveat to practice this skill would need us to be aware of our own perceptions and assumptions before attempting to understand that of the other.
In our journey of exploring the frame of reference of each other, there is a high necessity to be open and vulnerable to experiences. Vulnerable! this may sound a big NO NO for a leader but this is the thing which is required. In our presence context, it is not required of a leader to be all strong and correct all the time. It is fine for him / her to commit mistakes, acknowledge the mistakes and learn from his subordinates and be one amongst them. By placing oneself on a high pestral to be called a leader is a way to alienate onself from the team.
Another creative approach to leadership would be to explore using Narrative Listening - this is about inviting the other person to share his or her story (point of view) and you extending a deep listening without interrupting. The focus in this conversation is completing on the person sharing the story. As a listener you don't need to prepare yourself to reaction or respond to this person. Sometimes people expect you to just lend them your ears and not necessarily propose or give a solution or an advice!
Many a times I have heard my mother say this to me - "I don't want you to fix things for me but just listen out to me" I was always so confused wondering what is that she wants from me. But now I get it . It relieves a lot of pain and anxiety in people when they find someone to just speak their minds.
Yes, you could extend a helping hand and work with the person to find solutions if requested by the person. This does not come easy to us, we are such experts ready anytime to hand out our ready made prescribitions!
Enjoy reading and share your thoughts!
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