As I saw it

His spirit, positivity, ever present smile and the light on his face will forever remain etched in my heart from the first time I saw him on Doordarshan playing with his father Ustad Allah Rakha in the iconic Desh Raag starring the leading legends of Indian classical music at that time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rGVu2X1hLc Thank you Ustad. Or rather I would say “Wah Ustad, wah.” This is a time when most people say rest in peace. I would rather say that your life was an example of how to live in peace and spread peace with your music, energy, spirit, child like enthusiasm and that smile. And now it is our turn to honour that effort by reminding ourselves in the darkest of moments to live in peace through the harmony and rhythm of music that exists between people. In my own little way I have tried to create that in my leadership sessions by bringing out the music in people through random objects around them and then getting them to create a symphony by co-creating and collaboratin...

I got to conduct my first ever training session 24 years ago in an interesting place where I surprisingly and thankfully learnt the power of listening and how it solves problems, brings people together and helps us build better things. Years later, I still go into a training session as much to learn from the participants as much as I am duty bound to share with them. And I come out better learned than before. In September this year, I had to facilitate a session on strengths-based management; one among the many I have had the privilege of facilitating and learning from. One of the principles of strengths-psychology to management is that different people can come to the same result using a variety of non-exhaustive list of behaviours. Essentially there can be hundreds of HOWs in which one can get to the same result and not just the few that a manager knows of and wants their team members to follow when they may not have the natural talent to get there as easily as the manager. In highli...

How close does one get to be near authentic bravery? I guess in the circumstances, this close. Walked into the brave and inspiring Col. Lalit Rai at the Delhi airport before our flight to Pune on 24th November 2024. A Veer Chakra awardee during the Kargil war, he was also the commanding officer of the bravest of the brave - the late but eternal Captain Manoj Pande, Param Veer Chakra of the 1/11 Gorkha regiment. Simply goosebumps moment. It’s people like them who help us keep our faith, responsibility and commitment alive in the face of rapacious politicians and unscrupulous corporate scamsters who masquerade as self proclaimed icons and thought leaders in suave suits with bankrupt souls pawned to the devil. Thank you Sir and the countless faceless many for your service, sacrifices, sagacity in the face of adversity and bravery. Many of us get inspired to a higher standard of being, believing and behaving by the choices you made and the paths you decided to step onto. 🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡 Thank ...

Like they say in some corny ads, ‘Pehle main bohot pareshan thaa’. In school, I was frustrated because my note taking hand couldn’t keep pace with the limitless possibilities around things and ideas that were being taught. I used to ask lot of questions and conduct experiments on my own and therefore earned the derisive nickname of a scientist. Then something caught my attention in 1992 in a book on Mind Power Study Techniques by Raj Bapna where for the first time I came across 4 concepts - speed reading, NLP, Silva Mind Control and mind maps. About 20 years later, I finally got to learn it and it took me some practice to unlearn and undo the neural pathways created by decades of linear note-taking to unlock tremendous potential that radiant thinking, key word thinking, associational thinking, imagination (which expands into images-in-action) and more that a mind map helps you learn and bring out. Today, I apply mind maps to literally almost anything I do from note taking, to client ne...

On 8th and 9th January this year, I got to do an interesting session on Great People Manager by the Great Manager Institute at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Mayur Vihar Phase 1 Delhi for senior managers of Havells. It was bitterly bone chilling, cold and foggy through the two days and even the tall coil heaters inside the training room were struggling to keep us all warm. But there is an incident from the session that warms my heart each time I remember it. At the end of the session on 9th, one of the managers Vikas Singh Tiwari sought my permission to share something. While quite a few of the participants were in a hurry to catch their flights, I encouraged Vikas to go ahead. And I am glad that I did so. He introduced himself as a poet as well and showed a small book of his poems in Hindi which is titled “How can I accept defeat…” He told me that earlier that month, he had been transferred to the head office in NOIDA after he helped set up a plant in Rajasthan where he was posted for two ...