As I saw it

"Stories matter, many stories matter..." I came across this a while ago and I realised not only how true this is but also how it is Simple & Profound. _/\_ And here is the link to her TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg To borrow the title of Mr. Prakash Iyer's upcoming book title "How come nobody told me of" this TED talk??!!  

I had come across this a couple of months ago when I was updating my design on performance conversations for a group of project managers. And then I remembered this again as I was speaking to a friend and well wisher yesterday who was speaking about the tough love he had to practice with some of his team members to pull them out of their comfort zone and help them realise their true potential. And because I had spoken with some of them in the past, I knew how proud they were of themselves as of today and how grateful there were to this manager. My NCC drill instructor and Ms. Agnes Mannah - my former regional vice president in the financial services company I was with in London back in 2006 were also the same.

"It's a luxury to be understood." So spoke Ralph Waldo Emerson not many eons ago. And my corollary to that is: It's a challenge to be articulate. I was doing a session on listening skills today for the user experience designers of a client when this point came up for a discussion and then one of the participants shared this video. Hilarious for sure but something that is also about precision in our communication and messaging to others. Sharing with everyone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDA3_5982h8

Timely and apt given all the brouhaha around us given the traditional manner in which success is defined. Thanks a lot for this Shyam Kalleji. This also reminds me of what I first learnt from you Vinit Taneja Sir about being the best for the world than just being the best in the world. Sohum. _/\_  

Many of you would have heard of designations like a Managing Director or a Managing Partner. Well then... Early last month I was facilitating a session on feedback as a tool for team member performance development conversation. There came a point when some of the participants felt a little overwhelmed learning the amount of work that goes into making a great people manager. Instead of telling them to go seek a change to an individual contributor role again, I asked for the number of parents in the session. Most hands went up. I also joined in. Everybody agreed that parenting wasn't easy and yet none of them were keen to give up on it and put their children up for adoption. It's the same with managing also, I said. There are similarities in both the roles. Because at the end of the day, the challenge, the struggle, the highs and lows, the heart-breaks, the triumphs, the unpredictable non-linearity, the surprises, shocks, the turnarounds, breakthroughs, disappointments, brakes, t...