Harnessing the Power of Self-Expression

What could be in store for us in 2014? In today's Brand Equity, Linda Tan, the director of consumer insights, predicts certain trends emerging in this year. Some of them set me thinking  and they could for you too. Here they are:
1. Experience Quest - Journey to self discovery
Instead of indulging in material things, people will choose to hunt for new experiences to explore the unknown, discover possibilities and face surprising encounters. The amalgamation of these experiences is what makes the individual unique and form building blocks of a highly personal story to be shared.

Point to Ponder: What is it about the unknown that fascinates me? What are the ways I can discover it?

Source: experiencelife.com

2. Goal setting - Measuring personal success

People are constantly challenging themselves and setting goals to stay ahead in a challenging environment. People will use the latest technology to track performance of their health and fitness levels.

Point to Ponder: What measures can I set to track my personal performance in every field of endeavour? How can I best use technology to help me do this?

3. Photographic Timeline - Smart showcase of self

The emergence of a a variety of user-friendly photography apps in recent years help unleash our creativity to tell interesting stories. We can expect a more mindful, selective smart sharer and photographer where attention goes to who to share with, what to eternalise and the focus on meaningful value exchange.

Point to Ponder: What is my IBrand? In what ways can I present my authentic self to my friends, community, and everyone I interact with?

A Brave New Leadership Model

"...a brave new experiment. ... time to suspend cynicism and give it a chance." Anand Mahindra on Kejriwal becoming the CM of Delhi

There has long been a dearth of a new political  leadership models in India and with Arvind Kejriwal's bursting on the scene with his radical, honest leadership promise, he offers a new brave model of leadership. Though the model is yet to be tested in the fire and ice of the muddy waters of the Indian political and societal scene, it will be worthwhile to examine closely, the Kejriwal model of leadership. One learns that a number of young people, inspired by Kejriwal's success, are seriously considering, or have already taken up, a life in politics, and this exercise could provide a model they could well replicate.

Action Orientatation

                                                             Source: mysay.in

Within three days of his becoming a chief minister, Kejriwal has come good on his promise of 700 litres of water per household per day. Albeit at a cost of a 40 crore subsidy for the next three months (end March 2014), which Kejriwal calls a 'good' subsidy. He has also rejected a security escort, a car with a red beacon and a large house he is entitled to. This shunning of all the symbols of power our leaders love to flaunt, is a radical new step in political leadership. We have to wait and watch how he fulfills his other two radical promises of regularizing f illegal slums and a 50% cut in electricity tariff. Till the time he does that, let us examine what his leadership model looks like.

Decoding Kejriwal's Leadership Model
Kejriwal's  action orientation offers a handy and very evocative model - the ACTION Leadership Model, and here's what it expands to look like:

                                                          Source:www.oswega.edu

Accountable: Deliver or step down (His 18 promises)
Consensual: Seek opinion of those who you lead (His SMS survey)
Transparent: Do not keep important things secret from your followers (Sources of funds have been declared)
Innovative: Do not be afraid of making 'brave' promises, but prove you can deliver too!
'Onest: Have zero-tolerance for corruption and ensure honesty in the dealings of the bureaucracy with the public.
Norm-setting: Be unconventional (Symbols of power such as a red bacon atop car, security escort have been shed. Traveled by Metro to his swearing-in at the Ram Lila grounds)

An ACT to Follow?
The kind of political leadership model Kejriwal has adopted, is certainly brave one, and yes there has been a lot of cynicism whether he would be able to live up to his promises. But, as Anand Mahindra says, we ought to suspend judgement and at least give him a chance to come true. In the meantime he offers politicians, as well as students of management and leadership an innovative new model to study and work on.

What Kind of Heaven Do You Wish to Create on Earth?

Everyone of us wants to create his own heaven on earth and doing so is a choice we must make, not a place we must find. The choice we must make, is the decision about the kind of hunger that will drive us to create that heaven.

Types of Hunger
Human hunger, unlike animal hunger, can be both quantitative and qualitative. In our quest for security, we acquire and hoard wealth, enough not only for us, but at times, enough to feed ten of our future generations! More over we acquire property, again more and beyond, what would serve our needs. Though in some respects, our quantitative hunger is similar to that of animals, what distinguishes it from animal hunger, is that humans also have the capacity of making qualitative choices. These choices are the power of creativity and empathy.

How Hunger Drives the Nature of Our Heaven
The mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik  in a TEDxGateway talk, speaks of three types of heavens described in the Puranas:
Indra's Heaven: Indra's heaven is replete with magical things such as The Kalpataru the tree that fulfills every wish and he rides a white four tusked elephant. But yet, Indra is always insecure - he is forever afraid that someone will snatch away his wealth and kingdom. So Indra is either always at war with someone, or he is scheming to get rid of those whom he sees as potential enemies. Indra is forever hungry for more.

Shiva's Heaven: Here there is peace. Predator and prey live together harmoniously, because they have outgrown their hunger. But the ascetic Shiva's consort, Parvati is not happy with this situation. She constantly reminds him that though he may have made his subjects outgrow their hunger, there are many outside of it who are still hungry.

Vishnu's Heaven: Vishnu is one who believes in satisfying the hunger of others.To do this, he appears on earth in various avatars, so that he can alleviate the hunger and pain of the people. In satisfying the hunger of others, Vishnu finds not only his own happiness, but in fact, wealth is drawn to to him. He is depicted with Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth at his feet.

Creating your own heaven

Hindu mythology celebrates the two divinities Vishnu and Shiva as Harihara - the Gods (spelt with a capital G) whoare the two sides of the same coin. They shower benevolence on their follower and people build temples to them and pray to them. There are no temples to Indra - the selfish demigod (spelt with a lower case g)

So if you which to build your own heaven on earth and have a choice to make - which hunger would you choose?

The Power of the Sub-conscious Mind

A survey of the readership of their popular stories of 2013 by the Fast Company magazine reveal, people are ready to dive deeper into the mysteries of their subconscious. And that is a good thing! For, one of the biggest hindrances for a human to learn new things are the inhibitions of the subconscious mind. This stems from the fact that the subconscious is the fount of our beliefs, self-concept and habits. (see figure on left)

Tim Galleway, author of The Inner Game of Tennis calls the subconscious Self 1. Once the subconscious says "No I can’t do it" it prevents us to see, feel and experience the events or things around us. Self 1 has the tendency to overshadow our awareness and it makes us see or feel fear and uncertainty. A lot of information we’ve gathered as children is fed to us before our conscious mind has had a fair opportunity to play. Because of this, our conscious mind sometimes has a really hard time breaking the barriers of our subconscious mind’s long-held information. Hence, the news that people have started delving into their subconscious mind, is certainly welcome news!

Habit, personality, and creativity work together in strange ways to make successful people so amazing. Of course they still that want advice on how to do it all better, and sometimes they just need to vent about the petty indignities of office life.

A Coach can help!
A coach can helps do all this and more, a lot more easily! He can make it easier for you to discover your hidden potential, achieve what you want to, and be where you want to be in life.

The Power of Intention

New Year and new resolutinso are around the corner. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to intentionally effect changes in our life, yet through setting an intention and building a lifestyle around that motivation it can get easier. The Vedas offer three level hierarchy to test the intensity of our intentions.

Level 1: Abhilasha: It is a wish with very little energy, with very little impetus to move you forward

Level 2: Svatmi karana: The wish becomes important enough to influence thoughts and actions

Level 3: Iccha bhavana: Your desire, will and action, even your speech and thoughts, become laser-focused on achieving the goal.

How steadfast will be your New Year Resolution?