The Made in India guy, Milind Soman, is making all the right kinds of news these days. The 51-year-old just completed one of the toughest marathons in the world – The Ultraman Marathon. We have reason to celebrate because he has set a new fitness benchmark for people across all ages. I remember him as someone who was the first to set new trends in every industry he went into. This made me write about his life stories, which I summarize with a concept I call limitless leadership. Here are a few observations to help us discover the leader within and go beyond personal boundaries.
Category: Corporate Leadership
I recently watched an America war movie inspired by true incidents that happened during the World War II. The script is based on the non-fiction book Unbroken : A World War II Story Of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption; and revolves around the American bombing mission against Japan during the April of 1943. The protagonist is Louise Zamperini, an US Olympian and Army Officer who survives a boat crash only to end up in the Japanese prison camp.
In one of my earlier assignments as a business head, we had a very passionate and driven employee Tanya (name changed).
As she moved into her new role as a Marketing Manager, we were very confident that she would be able to drive the marketing team hard and help the organisation get a competitive edge. However, three months into her new role, the marketing function was struggling with unprecedented internal issues. Her strength suddenly started looking like a weak point, where she got trapped into a “me vs team” situation, which got worse with time as she kept on pushing her views and ideas on the team in a very “my way or highway” approach.
Continue reading “4 Stages of Professional Development for Leaders”
Program
Unilever Bangladesh | Influence Workshops
Objective
A series of three workshops at Dhaka, Chittagong & Dhaka targeted at the entry level cadre of Unilever Bangladesh. The workshops were designed for executives who handled around 7 field level DSO’s. The intervention was intended as an opportunity for energizing this group and arriving at a common understanding around what would make them exercise Influence better & scale up to be Leaders.
Solution
Leadership in the context of these employees was about exercising Influence on the teams they worked with and with external stakeholders. The whole workshop was hence constructed as a 2-day intervention woven around the Cohen Bradford Influencing Model.
Through the use of experiential activities – melded with open discussion amongst the participants, the workshop brought out the key learning as mentioned above, in a facilitative manner.
The methodology of addressing a serious topic with deep insights in a playful manner worked extremely well in the context of these employees.
Impact:
Here is what Taslima Hasnat Jaigirder, the HR Business Partner of the team had to say about the whole intervention:
“I have never received such overwhelmingly positive feedback from each and every participant before for any other program! Even the typical critics came proactively to thank me for organizing such training. But the real credit goes to FocusU of course. Unlike typical training filled with slides, theories and handouts, FocusU brings in a different way of learning while enjoying participation. Their use of simple activities to relate with key learning points makes learning more effective. No wonder participants found it instantly convenient to identify key learning points and action plan at the end of the session. Moreover, the level of energy, positivity and enthusiasm the trainers exerted within the participants was brilliant. I believe FocusU India has more such learning interventions to offer which Unilever Bangladesh Ltd will be keen to explore. We look forward to building a lasting relationship with one of the most dynamic training solution providers. All the best to FocusU for their future endeavour.”
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Everyone can be a leader for sure. But that is like saying anyone can quit smoking or everyone can go the gym and be super fit. The only thing that obstructs is intent.
Yes, you heard it right! Even though teenagers are better known for their rebellious attitude and general disregard for authority, I still believe there’s a lot to learn from them. I happen to have a neighbour named Kush. Having seen him grow up in front of my eyes, I have closely witnessed his transformation over the years. His journey from childhood to adolescence has been a delight to watch, and insightful in many ways –
Continue reading “4 Leadership Lessons From The Teenager Next Door”
Leadership, over the years, has come to be defined as a mindset rather than designation. It is a multi-faceted responsibility that includes the ability to inspire, influence, and guide others in your team to help grow and become better, every day.
