Essence as understood and internalized by Balachandran ( Bala) Anantharama A student for life of Leadership May,2015
Aug 15, 2015
Essence as understood and internalized
by
Balachandran ( Bala) Anantharama
A student for life of Leadership
May,2015
How Does A Leader Act?
O Believes that one can positively shape lives
O Leads through their relationships with people
O Collaborates rather than control
O Persuades others to contribute
O Earns others respect
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You aspire to lead, if you want to :
O Take control of your life
O Make your organization better
O Seize opportunities
O Improve the service your customers receive
O Influence others to do their best
O Solve problems
O Contribute to the betterment of others
O Make the world a little better
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Principle 1 – The Power of Self- Mastery ‘The hardest victory is over self ’ - Aristotle
O Leading from within - All leadership beings
with self – mastery. You cannot lead others
until you can first lead yourself.
O Mahatma Gandhi – :”Be the change you
wish to see in this world”
O Live life to our full potential
O People who change the world around them
– rarely act from a sense of obligation. They
act from a sense of incredible opportunity.
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Motivation
O Why we do what we do = What gives my life meaning
O How do we keep ourselves motivated ? O Make time to reflect – on happenings in our life and what we can
learn from these things
O Remember to dream – What do I aspire in my life?
O Retreat to advance - Set aside a day at least once in a year to review your life and objectives
O Mentor someone else – helps to keep you motivated
O Enjoy the journey of life - Take a moment to be grateful to what we have. Feeling grateful is one sure antidote to negativity
O Live like a victor - not a victim – we can learn from difficult situations or languish in them. Choice is ours.
O Search for the Pony – when something bad happens , with the informed optimism of a leader
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Self Mastery Index
O Ratio between Promises made and Promises
kept – both to oneself and to others
O Integrity is measured by the distance
between your lips and your life.
O If you want to be a leader in your own life
and in the lives of others, you’ve got to
follow through on your promises.
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Leadership Action Points
O Stimulate your brain :
O Reading outside your area of expertise
O Outside your comfort zone
O Find ways to introduce yourself to new concepts and ideas
O Schedule a regular time for thinking with zero distraction – 15 to 30 minutes a day. Be sure to write down your insights
O Record your Insights - Our problem isn’t lack of ideas, but a lack of recall
O Pick a Problem – How can I make a difference?
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The Power of Focus
‘Energy and Persistence conquers everything’ –
Benjamin Franklin O Focus and Determination beat brains and intellect
every time. O You don’t have to be smarter or highly educated to
succeed. Your power lies in your ability to focus on doing what is right and important.
O If you focus on the right things and work at them often, you will achieve exceptional results
O Drifting v/s Waiting – Don’t lose power and drift. Power, is the ability to stay engaged in what is going on. O Waiting is an intentional choice. It requires patience and
deliberation
O Drifting takes away the power of choice
O A simple lack of attention can cause you to lose the power of purpose and engagement.
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Wired World
O We live in a world of perpetual distraction.
O Multi- tasking once valued as productivity
tool, now is a source of decreasing output
O In our wired world, it is easy to get distracted
or even addicted to cell phones.
O Staying focused is not easy today
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Establish an Agenda
O To stay focused you need an agenda.
O The agenda is what you want to accomplish in both : O Short term and
O Long term
O Visualize your life’s goals
O Have a written long range plan
O “If You don’t know where you are going, You’ll probably end up somewhere else” – David Cambell.
O Leaders ask : What important things do I plan to accomplish today?
O Prioratise
O What are the moments that define you? They are right now. Each moment helps us to define us.
O Live Intentionally and in the present.
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Leadership Action Points
O Eliminate activities that don’t add value
O The greatest advancements in history came about as a result of the ways individuals used their resources –
O Their time and expertise and
O Time and expertise of others
O Identify your MVP activities –
O Most Valuable and Profitable activities
O Spend 60 to 80 percent of your time on them
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Principle -3 Power with People “Leadership is the art of getting extraordinary
performance from ordinary people” Managers Leaders
Managers have employees Leaders have followers
Manages react to change Leaders create change
Managers have good ideas Leaders implement them
Managers communicate Leaders Inspire, Persuade
Managers direct groups Leaders create teams
Managers try to be heroes Leaders make heroes of
everyone around them
Managers take credit Leaders take responsibility
Managers exercise power over
people
Leaders exercise power with
people Learning Guidance - Prepared by Bala Anantharama 12
Character, Competence, Connection
O Character :
O Trust is vital to leadership. If one can’t trust you,
how they can they follow you?
O Be Trust worthy :
O If you don’t know something say so.
O Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
O Under promise and over deliver.
O Be careful to create realistic expectations.
O Another aspect of Character is Humility – a focus
on others born out of concern for them.
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Character, Competence, Connection
O Competence - People who act as leaders exude competence –
O By their actions
O By their appearance and
O Everything they undertake
O Connection – People bond with effective leaders – not because of the position or title but because of their relationships with the leader.
O Connection happens when you genuinely care for others
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Motivating Others
O People do things for their own reasons, not for yours.
O One of the greatest compliments a leader can receive is someone say that you helped them to be better than they thought they could be.
O Confronting Problems
O Confront problem and not people.
O Don’t be afraid to challenge those around you
O Set an example – act like a thermostat and not like a thermometer.
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Leadership Action Points
O Express your Appreciation regularly
O Ask others what motivates them
O Collaborate - TEAM
O Together Everyone Accomplishes More
O Engage others by asking :
O What do you think we should do?
O What opportunities are we missing?
O Practice diplomatic confrontation – address the needed behavior change.
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Principle 4 – The Power of Persuasive Communication
O Communication isn’t the objective in business or life – The objective is understanding.
O Communication is simply the tool to accomplish understanding.
O Communicating effectively is what acting as leader is all about.
O Words have the extraordinary power to change our thinking, our emotions to affect our attitudes and alter results
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The Power of Influence
O Leaders care less about the impressions
they make than the influence they exert on
others to take positive actions.
O Effective leaders know what they want to
accomplish with every conversation they
have.
O Begin with end in mind – What do I want the
person I am communicating with to think,
feel and do when I’m done ?
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Feedback and Feed forward
Feedback Feed forward
Evaluates what has been
done
Clarifies expectations of what
needs to be accomplished
Is Remedial Is Preventative - rather than
waiting until later to
determine if you’ve
communicated clearly, it gives
people answers in advance to
prevent possible problems
from arising
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People remember stories
O Stories are coat pegs of the mind. They are where people hang their ideas.
O Effective leaders know that stories illustrate and facts validate
O Facts and statistics support – but never substitute for – a good narrative.
O Good stories are powerful because they include an emotional component.
O Telling an entertaining story is important – but being the story is better.
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Everything you do makes a difference
O Everything you do has an impact
O Others observe your behavior and are
influenced by it
O Strive to live by a higher standard, knowing
that you lead as much with actions as with
words
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How Leaders communicate ?
Leaders Sell Others tell
Leaders Influence Others Impress
Leaders strive to be
understood
Others try to be heard
Leaders energize Others explain
Leaders inspire Others Inform
Leaders tell stories Others relay only facts
Great Leaders are not evaluated on the length at which they speak,
but on the impact of their message. Learning Guidance - Prepared by Bala Anantharama 22
Leadership Action Points
O Focus on the Other person – practice active
listening
O Simplify the message - Effective leaders
harness the power of the sound byte in an
effort to make concepts easy to understand
and repeat.
O Entertain to Engage – To make yourself
heard and understood, you must find a way
to grab your audience’s attention.
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Principle 5 – The Power of Execution “ Execution is the chariot of genius “
William Blake O Leaders have high IQ –’ Implementation Quotient’
O Intent without action is daydreaming.
O Visioning – one’s ability to articulate and achieve a
vision.
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Barriers to Execution
O Paralysis by Analysis – Is additional
information going to improve quality or
timeliness of taking action?
O Fear of failure – No matter how much
information you may collect, success is
never a sure thing.
O Confusing Talking with Taking action
O Accepting Explanations as Excuses – Never
accept explanations as an excuse.
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How to Increase your IQ?
1. Dream Big
2. Plan Small
1. What needs to be done?
2. Why are we doing this?
3. Who is responsible for each task?
4. When will things happen?
3. Team Up
1. Whom do you need on your team?
2. What role will each person play?
4. Keep Striving - Measure what you Treasure
5. Act Boldly
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Principle 6 – The Power of Giving “If you truly desire happiness, seek and learn how to serve.” - Albert Schweitzer
O Giving teaches us to look beyond ourselves.
O Giving teaches us to be of greater service in
helping others.
O Giving makes the world a better place.
O Giving makes us feel good.
O It’s never too late.
O When you make the world better for others,
you make the world better for yourself.
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Leadership Action Points
O Practice Giving without Recognition
O Determine how you can best contribute
O Give as a family
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Making a Positive Difference
O Leaving a Leadership legacy
O Difference makers – Everyone matters , Everyone makes a difference
O Activity vs Accomplishment –
O Managing teams /people to ensure they do what they’re supposed to do is a necessary activity. Taking time to lead them to new levels of success is a significant accomplishment
O Accomplishment begins with simple commitment each day to improve the lives of those you interact with.
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Resume Legacy
What you’ve accomplished What you’ve contributed
Results Relationships
The money and fame you’ve
earned
The difference you’ve made
The impression you leave The impact you have
Your career Your organization, family and
community
Self - improvement Helping others improve
Are you building a strong resume or preparing to leave a lasting legacy ?
Believing in a Better World Learning Guidance - Prepared by Bala Anantharama 30