The King's Speech - Know your shortcomings and fearlessly work on it

What do you do when you cannot communicate something that you want to? What do you do when the issue is not just about your ability? What do you do when the inner self stops you from doing things that can help you achieve great things? What do you do when you loose a war to your fears when you are fighting battles of life? And what if all of this is happening to you when you drive lives of others? Well King's speech is a fascinating tale of a leader who is affected by a vocal disability and his fight to be effective out of it.. while it is just not about how to overcome a problem, its about the temperament and values in times of distress...

So what makes me write about King's speech on this blog... Well I think the same reason that makes us loose every day, the defining thought their in your mind that keeps on telling you... "You cant do it" is the only thing that actually stops you from doing it... The inspiring tale of King's speech through a marvelous story and screen play, some great acting and a very subtle way of emotions says "You can". As leaders we are always possessed or surrounded by our inner instincts and thoughts [either of oneself or influenced by others] that do not let us move further and achieve great things... be it Fear of loosing or be just the "I am not a Risk baby feeling"

As human beings and more precisely as leaders we are too embarrassed or afraid of accepting our short comings. When someone ask you in an interview about your weakness.. you say you dont have one.. or a diplomatic answer like "I am too work-alcoholic" or "I keep work too much on my mind" blah blah... when asked what is your team's weakness.. as a manager you minimize the turbulence your words can cause and shower praises so you dont loose a customer...Leadership is about knowing and accepting your short comings first and then working towards them. In process there will be tyrants who would demotivate you, take you back and would want to block your way.. Leaders flourish when they know what they lack and make attempt to work towards it.

Another important thing this movie teach the leaders is that with constant support and patience you can make impossible possible and people can always be worked out with.. instead of blaming or showering sympathy.. they need to be handled with support and patience. Geoffrey Rush in his role as the speech therapist marvelously reveals these qualities...

Over and over though not a full-on drama, melo-dramatic events.. The King's speech is a treat to watch...

Read More

Nobody wants to be the Pizzaboy

Funny isnt it? You would ask Why would one want to be in first place? and anyway's what is a Pizza boy doing on this blog? So to drill it down.. Yesterday it rained heavily in Pune, started through the day and those heavy lashes of rains almost cleaned the city every few minutes... While the roads appeared as if a curfew was on, the leftover vehicles that dared to be on the roads could not avoid those bumpy rides saving way out of the potholes. While it was a necessity for some of us to be on roads, for almost 15 minutes on the road we raced a Pizza Delivery Boy who kept stealing the first position from us every 2 minutes and 2 blocks..

I wondered how this guy would keep himself motivated to rush through those traffic lights, rains, potholes above all he has to keep his delivery within 20 minutes or else the Pizza has to be delivered for free and that cost on missing goes directly from his pocket. No wonder not many wants to be that Pizza boy... for good or bad reasons.. the Pizza boy job is one hardship that doesn't pay of well.

Same thing applies to the development Teams.. there are one or maybe 2 Pizza boy's in every team.. these are those guys who own the product, do all the hard ship , maintain the quality of the product and are concerned about it. The hardship and effort of these development Pizza boy's is not just limited to maintaining the good worth of the product, but they also have to ensure that they help the other's in delivering on time, they have to make sure that they dont loose the time and the Pizza is delivered hot and to the hungry customer in time.

Wow... Now when you name hardships like this... who wants to be the Pizza Boy? Unfortunately the answer is not going to be soothing to anyone.. call on this and people would not hesitate to step back..

So how do we turn our Teams, into those Pizza boy who come right within time to deliver you the chilly hot pizza in time, when it is raining or you have loads of guests around? Lets find out.... we write a post following this to build the Pizza Boy Attitude....

Read More

Independence - A way to empower

Leadership or Management, its all about vision, goals and success. Leadership take a long term destination to achieve broader goals, Management helps achieve it. One of the key elements of this piece which we call achieving Success is "Team". Its the Team that really decides the fate of a successful leader. A quote from the famous movie Armageddon where Bruce Willis tells Truman...

" I am the best, because I work with the Best"

So if this Team is so important, how does one ensure they become best? I found a way all through the past few years... the word Empower. A theoretical meaning says "to equip, to supply with necessary things to achieve a goal, to enable , to permit" a practical meaning much more than that...A Team that is empowered can make decisions, can do things right and can build a powerful ground to achieve organizational goals.

In a team lunch we recently had for the new members of the Team, I asked "How does it feel like to be with us?" he replied "Amazing!, I have never seen such level of Independence, in all the companies I have worked with" another colleague replied "I begin my career where my Boss let me do a lot of things on my own, demos , meetings, development and so many other things, I feel that I got those days back". I am thrilled that the Team that is merely 3 weeks old, realize the culture we imbibe in people "Independence" in narrow lanes, Empowerment on a highway.

I realized the importance of Independence when I took up my first job... Teaching I was supposed to teach a class of 10 people on computer topics "Microsoft Excel" to be precise. It was my first day and first ever experience of taking a lecture, my Guide and Sr. tutor chose to sit along with the class to see how I do. The class lasted for 40 mins, I shivered the whole time, fumbled. She walked to me and said, next time she would not need to be in the class as I was doing good, she also let me design my own breakups of the lectures. Believe me this inspired me so much and helped me to a level that it wasnt difficult for me to train corporates in a very short span of time.

A small piece of Independence can help empower the Team members to take complex things to ease. Interesting isnt it?

• Independence to work in their own ways , but within the boundaries



• Independence to make decisions, to make those decisions better



• Independence to execute , and yield good results



• Independence to build strong self, while helping others to be strong

Independence makes a lot of things better. Helps in empowering the Teams to be more strong, more powerful, more effective....

So how does one give more Independence to the Team?

1. Assign tasks that will allow your subordinates to grow and take on additional responsibilities. let them decide the execution paths. This will build a lot of confidence in them.

2. Explain them the task and the goal of the task and what is it that they can achieve out of it, let them decide what is best in it for themselves.

3. Challenge and get Challenged. Ask questions that will help them realise and be more effective if they are falling apart. Let them ask questions so they know what is it.

4. Trust their decisions, stand by it.

5. Be a part of criticism and appreciation wherever needed.

6. Help them when they fail, but help let them succeed after they fail.

After all an empowered Team member is what can make life easier for a bigger piece of your Team.

Read More

Commodity Leadership

While I dont intend to discuss the Harry Potter and the Deathly hallows secrets by any chance on this blog I am forced to write about something that is a part and parcel of todays fast moving business world. One of the reason why Professor Dumbledore could not succeed to be a Master Of Death or rather be the most powerful Harry Potter character is that he was a Commodity Leader, This was revealed and discussed in the last few chapters of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

So for the readers and the feeders of this post who will definately ask what exactly does it mean by Commodity Leader.. here is the answer for you:

1. A Leader who wants to achieve some goals or keep on achieving goals for himself is a commodity leader

2. A commodity Leader only thinks about saving ways to own success, this is revealed by the insecurity and subsequent defensive acts done.. Guess why Lord Voldermort is a commodity Leader?

3. The difference between the leader and the commodity leader is Secrets... Harry Potter never kept secrets , Dumbledore and Voldermort did, like I said its revealed by the insecurity the fear of failing or the fear of getting overtaken by another strong competitor creates this issue.

4. A commodity Leader reacts, A leader goes for it with the Team ofcourse, So when Voldermort knew about the passage of Harry from Dudseley's to the Order safe zone or to that matter the whole of the journey of Harry to the Godric's hallows all through Voldermort did was reacted, when it came to the end Harry was not afraid to go for Voldermort in the abandonned forests to fetch Voldermort. Similarly an attack on a commodity leader turns into reaction very soon some way or the other.

5. A commodity leader prefers favourisms, No wonder Dumbledore or Voldermort or to that matter Thicknesse? everyone had there own sets of reservations as far as favoursisms are considered. Dumbledore to Harry, Voldermort to Luious Malfouy Or Snape to Draco and so on... the favoured may or may not be capable.

6. A commodity leader understands critisims as complains and empowerment as delegation

7. A commodity leader is selfish and the play is for glory..

8. Praises and curses matter to the commodity leaders, they cant sustain curses and they can't stay without praises which makes a world difficult for them for long since praises comes with curses.

9. Commodity leaders find wrong in anything that is not them, While The Elder Wand was a key to success did Voldermort really trust Snape? Or Did Dumbledore trust anyone else for the Magical limits ever?

While the commodity leader continues to be a leader and tries to enchant the growth of the organisations one of the cause of failures of early startups is commodity leadership. The ways to get out of commodity leadership is essential but while we think about the ways to thin about practical leadership lets decide on what House of leadership we would like to go? Choose the house than letting others choose whether you want to be a leader or not... let the magical wand choose what type of leader you are...

Read More

Values, Principles and We

1 Day 2 posts and that too when you are in a timeline is not a common thing for me ... but yet I am here cause the previous one was in my heart and this one in my mind.... I wont be able to sleep today if I dont blog this...
Watching China Gate last night and specially the performance of Late Mr. Amrish Puri in the movie is a lesson that you can't talk alone about your Values and Principles if you dont follow it..

In one of my earlier posts on Values and GoodWill I mentioned that values last long only, Principles needs to be practised and ofcourse one need to know what his Values and Principles are.... not lately and just related to the same matter I described in my previous post I feel that so many of us dont know what Values we have as a Team or to that matter own's value....

I know people talking about several things while following nothing... be it work or personal life, be it hobbies or likings... Sometimes NO Values or NO principles is the reason the other times its awareness... Many a times people practise and preserve and preach their values without knowing it... Unfortunately they cant preserve these for long as human being is likely to move out of repetative things sooner or later...

It was a pity feeling when I realised that so many of us dont know what are our own values.. or to that matter what are Values... similarly not many have principles that they claim to follow... Be it professionally, Logically or emotionally. It is the same feeling that drive me to think that working with a Team it needs to be explained to every single part of the team about the values we carry and the principles we practice... The fact that this will really help them build up to be great leaders provokes me to follow up on my last discussion wit Kari on following one principle for the whole week or by putting up the Connery Board every day or week on the walls of the office Listing every single value the Team should/Do practise and letting everyone know how it is been practised...

While I am cooling down and waiting for the new week to begin and kickoff... I am forced to think about the first thing I value and to that matter is the Agile Manifesto ...

Interactions over processes and tools

Regards
Sameer Shaikh

Read More

Leaders are honest

With Regards to my earlier Post on Leader's or Manager's I thought I would also introduce you to something called as true values for the Ultimate Leaders...

Yesterday's Interview with Pranab was one such experience where you identify how true leaders think.... when asked about why he does not want to be a People Manager his answer was "I can't show the Path to my collegues which does not exists" which means that "I can't lie them about their growth prospects when I dont know much about it".... This is where you see leadership quality... I felt nice when I heard this honest statement...

True Leaders dont want to show Mirage to the Team or rather give false or faulty assurances... this is the last thing they would want to do... I have seen Managers who make false promises just to get the work done or to manage the time... they just cant be Leaders.... they can satisfy one or some but cannot be an Ideal role model...

Leaders need to Honest... they need to show the way that can be achieved and they need to know what it will be like ahead.... You Dont know You shut your mouth and look for answers is the right attitude...

Hope we generate more leaders and leaders with right attitude in this industry...

Regards
Sameer Shaikh
http://sameer-shaikh.blogspot.com

Read More

Leaders or Managers?

A few months ago we had a huge long discussion between Kari and Me on the roles and qualities of the Managers or Leaders.... honestly here we were talking about the combinations we always wanted to have in the Sr. members of our Team or empower them to achieve those combinations...

Though Kari had a broad vision about Who , How and When? I estimeed it to be a task to identify the right skill with the right quality that can Grow the Team... I am sure you will agree with me that "Team Building" is no more a task now(specially after 1 1/2 yrs)...

Here are the Best ways to differentiate the Leaders and the Managers in your Team...

Managers
1. They Manage (themselves, others, expectations and results ) ;)
2. They provide the vision
3. They Monitor they need to be have a control
4. They facilitate
5. They Mock the process
6. They show the way

Leaders
1. They Drive (themselves and others to success)
2. They create or share the vision
3. They do things and let others do the same
4. They act and react
5. They practice the process
6. They create a way

Not that I am saying that the Managers or the Leaders are good or bad .. you definately need certain combinations to get out of the way towards sucess...

Read More

Guru - The Leader's runway

Recently I watched one of the bollywood blockbusters “Guru” Yes the same Aish-Jr. B starrer… though not many movies these days give out a message as strong as to affect people this one surely does… It gives a message to those hard working smart people out there and invites them to set new trends….

While I see Guru to be the best form of Leadership book which contains the appendix of Management hugely to impress me…I also derive a few of lessons that could be of potential help for the next set of leaders and managers coming this way…. To be successful you don’t need to just lead, you will need to go beyond that and Yes that is what I can derive from the whole movie…

One of the few reasons I quite liked the movie is the way leadership is mentored across the movie…the tailorment of the attitude that says leadership in the way it is supposed to be all I can derive from the movie is:

1. “Learning from mistakes is experience, but Mistaking while learning from Mistakes is a Sin” If you have to be a great leader you need to understand learning from the mistakes, this doesn’t mean that mistakes should be a part of your nature. It is also at most important that you learn the right thing from your mistakes…
Recently I heard a friend of mine talking about lack of communication resulting in failure of the project and the next project failing because communication was considered to be the only vital element of the project.

2.“2 things in life can never be explored Women’s heart and enemy’s soul, rest are just viewable in the browser”
Success is a vital element in the leader’s life which needs the leader to search and explore for things… If you found a key to a lock which you don’t know the perfect leader will for sure go for a hunt for the lock. Similarly it is very important that you explore of the possibilities before you start any assignments.
Last week in Bigg Boss (The Indian version of Big Brother)… before the nomination for the eviction process Rakhi Sawant was found calculating all the possible people who could nominate her and what 2 votes from her can affect whom.

3. “Out of need springs Desire and out of Desire springs the energy and the will to win”
If you don’t have energy to do it, don’t talk about it. You need the energy of a 1yr old child to achieve the goals of the 50yr old Man. Don’t understand why? You are invited to spend a day with my 3 yr old son to understand this part of the story. Your energetic behavior provokes others to achieve there goals …. And after all it’s a Team effort isn’t it?

4. “Courage is not just about saying NO and accepting mistakes; it’s about doing the same work with no mistakes”
It’s not so very courageous to admit the mistake the real guts are when you do the same work under pressure and do it right this time. It’s about giving a damn to the obstacles instead of cribbing about them. It’s about showing the back to the problems.. not because you ran away from them but you overtook them and they are waiting behind to attack you again. This quality in a leader makes him fearless, and you gotta be fearless if you have to reach the top.

5. “Pleasure is when you take it to the end”
The real pleasure of orgasms can be felt only when you last till then. In my whole career I have seen people kicking off things with all possible enthusiasm and energy and loosing it soon before really taking it to the end. The fun is taking the task to an end. The great leader shows that he is not the one to start it right but surely one to end it perfect.

6. “You can’t blame gravity for falling in love”
Years of me being in this industry have seen that failed projects usually have no owners, if it’s a successful one the credit list is never ending. The best expected quality of the leader will be to own it no matter where it goes. Usually it is found that failures are discussed more than success, the only reason being everyone tries to find someone not himself to be blamed… A leader is the one who has to make sure that it’s him not others. I read a phrase a while ago in the daily planner “I Praise loudly, I blame softly”, I guess that’s the nicest way to do it.

While I see Guru sending louder and clear message about effective leadership I see that leadership is much beyond that… So before you guys really jump into one of the thousands of available resources on leadership…. I suggest you to go watch the movie.

Regards
Sameer Shaikh
http://sameer-shaikh.blogspot.com
mailto:sameera.cmc@gmail.com

Read More