Oprah Winfrey Fixes my Seven Year Itch

I still remember that conversation several years ago. It was an off-site meeting from work. Out of the blue, somewhere in the midst of it all, we were addressed as 'future leaders'. I did not see that coming. Questions swirled. Lots of them.

When did I suddenly become a leader? Why now? How? Was it because I was managing more people? What was that precise 'cut-off' when I ceased being a manager and transitioned into a leader? (Regular readers will easily discern my dilemma; after all, I have partially addressed it here, here, and here.)

But I had a more fundamental issue. For years, I had truly believed that entry level engineers at work or stay at home women running their household could be leaders in every sense of the word. So if 'years of experience' was irrelevant to leadership, what was?

Thus began a journey of seven years of discovery. (Note to newly-weds: The seven year itch is real. Just that it has nothing to do with marriage most of the time.)

I love commencement speeches. The speaker tries to pack years of experience into something that grads can relate to. Wisdom is dispensed in a manner that is not sanctimonious. And there is much to reflect on.

Oprah Winfrey's commencement speech at Harvard in May was one such gem.

The challenge of life, I have found, is to build a resume that doesn’t simply tell a story about what you want to be, but it's a story about who you want to be. It's a resume that doesn't just tell a story about what you wanna accomplish, but why. A story that’s not just a collection of titles, and positions, but a story that’s really about your purpose. Because when you inevitably stumble and find yourself stuck in a hole, that is the story that will get you out. What is your true calling, what is your dharma, what is your true purpose?

Oprah was asking grads to discover why they exist (you will not get answers right away, she added, and boy, wasn't she right) as the first step. I recalled a saying that I read elsewhere that seemed to be the perfect next step. The longest distance that you will ever take in life - it goes - is the eighteen inches between your heart and your head. Aligning what we do (action) with what we want (passion) is that second step.

Which brings me back to Leadership. The best definition about Leadership that I have read in these seven years has been from the book What You're Really Meant to Do. Robert Kaplan defines leadership as the ability to figure out what you believe and then summon the courage to appropriately act on those beliefs. These actions must be geared towards adding value to an enterprise and making a positive impact on others. No mention of titles, empires, budgets or power.

And therein lay the answers to my long quest in simple terms. When you discover your calling, undertake that 18 inch journey, and repeatedly demonstrate the courage to live your beliefs, you become a Leader.

No one said this would be easy. But it holds good for entry level engineers. For stay at home ladies. And for people that carry seven year itches.

Wishing you all a Peanuts Holiday Season

'Tis the holiday season. A time to cheer, relax and recharge. By reading comic strips.

Most of you know about my love for Peanuts. Friends have notched points for gifting me Peanuts collectibles (books, stuffed toys, tags, decorative sets, a salt-and-pepper shaker and even a trash can). These characters pervade my life. Even the web address of this page is a nod to the college-going-class-bunking Joe Cool (who is an avatar in Snoopy's fantasy land).

It was not always this way. Charlie Brown & Snoopy had merited only an occasional viewing in the Sunday newspaper. It was only after flipping through PEANUTS A Golden Celebration - about 12 years ago - did I understand why Peanuts was the No. 1 comic strip of all time. The book, published in 1999 to commemorate 50 years of Peanuts, was a treasure trove of famous strips accompanied by Charles Schulz's insightful comments.

Do personalities evolve? You bet. To the left is a collage of strips from the book that show the hunched-Beethoven-loving-plastic-piano-playing Schroeder's evolution in style and form over the years. The first strip is from the 50s, the second from the 60s and the last belongs to the 80s. 





It is often said that there is minimal tolerance to contrary points of view today due to extreme talk-radio and opinionated media. Well, one look at this letter from the 60s from someone yet to get a grip on school desegregation tells you strong opinions - regardless of media influence - have always existed. And if you still harbour some doubts, how about the Thanksgiving strip below that triggered such a robust response?
  

  

Snoopy's affinity to a turkey....

.... resulted in THIS?

This holiday season, I figured that I would go one-up on the Golden Celebration. Enter Celebrating Peanuts - 60 Years. This 500+ page hardcover edition is bigger, glossier and grander than its predecessor. And every bit as magical.

 

As I take leave to bury myself in this massive masterpiece, I want to take a moment to acknowledge your unlimited support and encouragement during 2012. Every time I thought that I had nothing more to add, someone would ask "when's your next blog?" Creativity blossoms when there is interest. Thank you.

 

Wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season and a fabulous new year.

Snoopy Common Sense Approach
Edition 1

Snoopy Common Sense Approach
Edition 2

 

 

Questions, Labels, Binaries & Greys

1.

Certain questions constantly swirl.... What constitutes a balanced life? How do you measure success? Do fame and wealth signal that 'you have it made'? How do you explore spirituality in the realm of your daily life, and how do you grow? And if these are not enough, the fact that you go to work every day forces you to confront questions of a different kind. What defines a 'good' manager'? At what times do you - as an employee - look at yourself in the mirror and say 'job well done'? What does leadership mean to you and to those who look up to you?

Life goes through conversations around these – and several other. Some happen within our circle of family, friends and co-workers. But most happen within us. We contemplate, analyze, decide, test, learn, and adapt. This is a never ending cycle - one that peels through layer after layer of introspection. What we learn, imbibe and reflect in such moments defines our identity. And our way forward.

2.

We are a binary generation. We like answers to be a Yes or No. Take investments or retirement planning, a topic we instinctively run away from. We consider the person who gives us a quick one-hour dump for life's investment planning as a godsend. If you do this, it will help. If you don't, you will face consequences. Binaries distill our choices. This or That. Easy.

But not all situations, and answers, are binary. They fall into what I call the 'shades of grey' variety. The more we are uncomfortable with these, the more they seem to target us. The discomfort comes not just from the multiplicity of choice, but also from the labels that would define us based on the decisions we will eventually make. For instance, what do we call a person at work who refuses to take that plum promotion-inducing overseas promotion? A person with a lack of drive, maybe? But what if it was not taken up since (s)he did not want to uproot the family or affect the kids' education? Does that now make the person 'grounded' or 'balanced'? Which label will now apply?

3.

I was reading the excellent Steve Jobs recently. He must be complimented for giving Walter Isaacson a full rein for capturing his life and work. The book portrays him as a genius who possessed great intuition and was a perfectionist. He was also inspiring and built an A team. He was known to give consumers unbounded joy when they came across his products. The book says that a century from now, he would be heralded as one of the greats of the 21st century. But – yes, there is a but – the book also shows his other side. He was known to be wildly temperamental. He could make people feel small and bring them to tears. He displayed anger, caused hurt & created fear at work. He also acknowledges that he could not spend as much time with his family as he would have liked.

So in the context of those questions at the opening of the blog, where would Steve Jobs be on balance, success, fame, wealth, leadership, spiritualism et all??? More importantly, should any label apply?

4.

The McKinsey Award winner for the best article of 2010 in the Harvard Business Review was Clayton Christensen's How Will You Measure Your Life?. (Note: His book The Innovator's Dilemma is featured in multiple Top 25 business book lists of all time.) In this article, he talks about defining life's purpose, allocating resources to reinforce this purpose, the importance of humility and creating an enduring source of happiness. And concludes that we must think about the metric by which our life will be judged. (Incidentally, this idea was the inspiration behind my 'Think Think Think' lesson in an earlier blog.) 

This is where we humans falter. We forget that while life is a concoction of questions, labels, binaries and shades, there actually is a sequence and priority. We love simplicity, but by forgetting priorities, we get caught up in a swirl of confusion.

 

Only one label matters. To judge oneself (and be judged) as having lived a successful life. And success must only be measured in terms of having led a life of purpose (and not based on fame or money). Questions that life throws at us – and the answers we derive – must only reinforce this objective. Whether a situation is binary or grey is immaterial. Nor those other labels. 

Sounds easy.... but being human, this is where we get all mixed up....

How the Mighty Fall

Writing about failure and falling down is an odd topic to discuss during the holiday season. This is after all the season of fun, frolic and cheer - a moment when we rather not talk of failure. And even if we have to, we would rather frame failure in contrast to success where success is defined as the overcoming of failure and the capability of bouncing back from our fall.....

But would it really help to understudy failure given that everyone among us is bound to fall at some time or the other? To help us better, what if there is a method or structure to failure that we can learn from? Put it differently, when everything around you is seemingly looking fantastic, are there warning signs that you can identify in advance so that your fall can be managed better?

Readers of my blog know that I like to read books. It was fiction once upon a time and management now. But my underpinnings to reading have remained the same all through viz. what does the book teach and are its teachings relevant to a common man's life? The true measure of greatness of any book- according to me - lies in its ability to present a view that is universally and eternally applicable regardless of its genre. After all, not everyone gets to be 'strategic' or 'global leadership material', but each one of us is - and will remain - a leader in our own way in our lives. And lessons derived from a book on management must have as much applicability to the family world as it would be to the corporate life.

For meeting all these criteria, I rate my latest read How the Mighty Fall as one of the best (that incidentally can also be finished in just two days). 

The book was driven by a simple question posed by a CEO to Jim Collins, its author, on 'how would you know?' whether an organization is on a path to decline or on a path to greatness, when externally, everything looks hunky dory. Thus began his journey to understand the dynamics of failure. (If you are reading this book from the viewpoint of personal growth, the relevant question would be 'how would you know that the seeds of your decline have not yet been sowed when externally you seem to be doing just great?'.) 

You learn that every entity goes through five stages of decline. Each stage has distinct characteristics and clear warning signs. The five stages are:

1. Hubris (excessive pride) born out of past success

2. Undisciplined pursuit of more

3. Denial of risk and peril

4. Grasping for salvation

5. Capitulation to death

In fact, the first three happen when the external world thinks there is nothing wrong with you. But the internal signs are there for all to see, and companies that ignore these internal warning signs do so at their own peril. The examples that Jim Collins shows us as he walks us through the five stages are profound. So are classic vignettes such as "while no single leader can build an enduringly great company, the wrong leader vested with power can almost single-handedly bring the company down' or 'when institutions fail to distinguish between current practices and the enduring principles of their success, and mistakenly fossilize around their practices, they've set themselves up for decline'.

The redeeming conclusion is that the stages of decline are truly reversible - provided you are not in the terminal phases within Stage 5. What you need is an ability to go back to basics by identifying your core purpose and values, adding a healthy dose of humility and diligence, and an unyielding drive to never ever give up. That your path to failure may be dark, but when you understand the five stages, there is light for you to bounce back. 

If you want my advice, read Good to Great first before How the Mighty Fall. Not only does the former teach you to turn great, but also acts as a firm reference point as you navigate the latter. And once you are done, maybe you can read his latest Great by Choice next.

Happy Holidays everyone and wishing you a marvelous 2012.

Fact vs. Fiction

"Arun, do you really believe that there is a heavenly abode from where Lords Muruga, Ganesha and Shiva are watching us all the time?" asked a friend over 12 years ago. I was stumped. And stayed silent. Yes, I knew that a lot of them are just stories, and myths, and mythical stories. But I was also conflicted. If there really is no heavenly abode with all these gods - as made out in scripture - then how can I be certain that the other things that scripture says are also true? And if only a part of scripture is true, which part is real and which part is fiction???

Most importantly, how do I get the wisdom to distinguish fact from fiction?

More questions followed over time. Why do certain religions claim exclusivity to God? How can certain groups state that if the world does not follow their path - and their path alone - they are consigned to a life in hell? And how can one reconcile the 'world was created in 7 days' school with the evolutionary school that maintains that the humans developed over centuries?

In other words, what is fact and what is fiction?

Every one of us has experienced this and we consider the unraveling of such questions to be a quest. We realize that answers do not arrive with a 'flash of insight'. That is why we mull, read, ponder, and sleep over them. We also converse and validate. Finally we conclude. But that is never the end. Sometimes our 'conclusions' are proven right through experience. But sometimes, they don't. That is when we - yet again - mull, read, ponder, sleep, validate and conclude. And once we conclude, we realize to our surprise that our questions do not stop. Like a video game, as we clear one level, we enter a new level with more complex questions.

And as our questions - our answers to them - multiply, we yet again wonder what is fact and what is fiction.

That's life. A constant search for answers in a forest of confusing questions. By analyzing what occurred centuries earlier and contemplating what lessons it holds for our future. Eventually, like my blog here, I suspect that we will discover that our journey was as meaningful as our destination. And we will be able to significantly discern the lesson of the story (fact) from the story (fiction) itself.

My personal journey on this front is unfortunately not much ahead of the start line (grin). I am way behind peers who read The Gita, J. Krishnamurti or Swami Vivekananda. My personal realization arc is still in its infancy. One that has a very strange construct because it was formed not through The Gita or Ramayana, but by imbibing Abraham, Walking The Bible and The Immortals of Meluha. One that tells me to remain flexible about God because 'my' Vishnu is not in any way superior to my neighbor's Allah who in turn does not supersede my work mate's Christ and who in turn does not tower over others. That the paths to God are many. That you must Seek. And the Answers will come.

What I have said here is no rocket science. Yet, in the name of 'my way is the right way' and in his inability to separate fact from fiction, man fights.

The Themes in Your Life

The inspiration for this blog came from two unlikely sources when it was first drafted six months ago.

The first was several years ago when I came across an article in the Fortune Magazine titled ‘What it takes to be great’ by Geoff Colvin, its senior editor-at-large. In essence, he argued that practice and hard work trump talent. The feedback to the article was so good that he subsequently penned the book ‘Talent Is Overrated’. I read the book only recently (reviewed here) but the idea that talent is not the driver to success had been firmly planted.

The second was my own experience. 16 years of working in the industry has exposed me to a variety of challenges. I have seen several people up close on how they successfully navigate everyday issues, but also have seen others – brilliant, intelligent & hard working in their own way – fail remarkably. About the latter, we just say ‘what wasted talent’ or ‘he could not make it’, and move on. Upon close observation of such folks (who span all levels of an organization from the very top to the entry-level), I was able to derive a few consistently common themes that successful individuals apply and the rest do not.

This blog is about these 4 themes. They will look very ordinary and simple. In fact, you will be very disappointed that they do not sound ‘strategic’. But I can state with confidence that imbibing them is your first step to greatness. While success in life, career, marriage and parenthood is a function of many many aspects, these four make a good beginning.

Before we get on to the themes, let us understand the meaning of precocious talent by taking an example of a person from sports that we are familiar with - Sachin Tendulkar. Die-hard fans will point to his 600+ run stand with Vinod Kambli when he was 15. They will talk about the centuries he scored on debut in the Deodhar & Duleep trophies before 16. And of course, they will rave about his fantastic innings on a bouncy track at Perth that is considered to be one of his finest test centuries before he was 20. All this is proof – they will say – that here was a player who was born with talent and destined to greatness.

But these fans are wrong. Talent is terribly overrated and the themes to success reside elsewhere.

Theme 1: Read Read Read

There are several CEOs in the world who do not play golf, but there is practically no CEO who does not read. World leaders, in addition to running their countries, read about 50-60 books per year. Lack of time or disinterest in reading is no longer an acceptable excuse. Reading opens your mind to new ideas and helps create new ‘connections’ in your head (think of it like the act of raking your head that is similar to how the farmer rakes his land before every sowing season).

Read all that you can get hold of. Fiction is fine, so are comics. Dig into economics – and yes, watch CNBC for business news - even if you don’t understand anything in the beginning. Some day, I promise you, it will all make sense. Read viewpoints from both the left and the right – regardless of your political inclinations. You will be surprised that you are not as much a die-hard capitalist or a bleeding liberal that you thought to be.

Theme 2: Write Write Write

Writing crystallizes your thinking & frames your perspective. This will make you measured – and over time – assured. Take notes…. copious notes... I once had a colleague who would get furious when people walked into his meetings with no notebook in hand. ‘It means’, he would say, ‘either what I am going to say is not important or you think you are not required’.

Theme 3: Practice, Practice, Practice

Look up the 10,000 hour rule on the internet. It states that in order to be considered an expert, you need 10,000 hours of practice. Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers argues that Bill Gates of Microsoft & Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems reached greatness by 17 because they had the opportunity to work on computers for over 10,000 hours. In Talent is Overrated, Geoff Colvin explains the elements of deliberate practice – it must be focused, involves feedback, and must be painful.

Incorporate the 10,000 hour rule in your lives. Practice before every speech, every presentation and every meeting. Expect the unexpected. An instructor once told me that before everyone arrived, I must go to the farthest chair in the room and check for font sizes and color palettes on the screen. It was from him that I learned that the days of blaming the projector were over.

Theme 4: Think Think Think

This is most difficult, and often avoided. We get so busy in our work, families, chores etc that we do not spend time to think. I will ask you to start thinking about just 3 questions.

• What is your purpose in life? To put it bluntly, why do you exist?
• What are your values? In short, what do you stand for?
• How do you want to be measured on the day you die?

Start asking these questions from today. I promise you that you will not find the answers right away. Or tomorrow. Or the day after. These will take years. But if you don’t give up, one day you will find them. And that is when you will discover your life’s true calling.

In conclusion, I go back to Sachin Tendulkar. In case you insist that he was just talented, think again. 10+ hours of cricket from the time he was 11. Facing bowlers in the nets from 18 yards instead of 22 to improve his reflexes. A body that has more dents than your bike or your car. Sachin Tendulkar - a true embodiment of deliberate practice. I rest my case.

The 25 Most Influential Business Management Books

A very good collection. If you are book buff - and of management books at that - you'll love more than just a handful of them....

Go here for more.