Leadership Lessons from US Navy SEALS

If you’re struck and mind refuses to go further, you are only 40% done. You still have remaining 60% of ability, energy and persistence to move further.

Ownership – Leadership starts with ownership. Responsibility and ownership spell power. Take the ownership for the outcomes that go wrong even if things were not in control. Extreme ownership leads to drive and ability to make half chances work.

Engagement – The level of engagement and the probability of success is directly proportional. Higher the engagement of the team in planning, lesser is fatigue in challenging phases of execution. If the leader or any team member is down, others must be able to perform and complete the task.

Detachment – Sometimes, a leader needs to take a tough decision in an unwanted situation. Train your mind for intense situations and extreme pressure so that you can step past the roadblocks and deliver results.

Lead by Example – Procrastination and avoiding responsibility is not what an effective leader would do. SEAL leaders know not to ask team members what they wouldn’t do themselves. From discipline in daily routine to extreme training, from learning to adapt to embracing new ideas and concepts to win, a successful leader leads by setting an example.

Leadership Lessons from Goddess Durga

Navratri is the most exuberant and zesty festival. Goddess Durga is celebrated with an unmatched fervor at this time. She is one of the strongest links that noticeably binds this nation of diverse people. While the Goddess inculcates great devotion in us, she also offers us some very profound life lessons that hold a wealth of meaning even for the management world.

The word Durga, from the root word ‘Durgam’ itself, embodies fearlessness. Remaining true to our convictions in the face of each adversity, however, big or small it may be, gives us an unshakeable inner strength. The stronger we are from inside, the move fearless we are perceived on the outside. These three together go a long way in ensuring success in the long run. Goddess Durga rides a tiger, it’s a metaphor showing – a fearless being can go on to tame problems and situations even as fierce as a tiger and came out as the winner.

Durga Maa with her eight hands epitomizes the word ‘multi-tasking’. Multi-tasking not only saves time, but it also keeps us mentally active and agile. Multi-tasking makes us independent of the vagaries of time and resources. Notice any idol or statue of Goddess Durga – the most prominent feature that arrests our attention is her beautiful, calm and serene visage which sports big yet watchful eyes.

Big eyes are a symbol of having a 360 degree vision so as to know where one needs to reach. But just knowing the destination does not complete the journey. The watchfulness symbolizes a constant eye on your journey to your goal. While watchfulness is desirable, the Goddess serene visage also cautions to bear equanimity within us. A composed leader manger can accomplish much more than an agitated one.

Goddess Durga comes to us in 9 different avatars on the 9 days of Navratri. There is a very simple management lesson hidden here. Leader Managers be ready to don a different hat for different situations. Be yourself but adapt your style, tone, stance, manner and involvement as per the situation on hand. Just how one Goddess Durga binds millions of hearts and together in worship and faith – be the glue, the link that binds people together. Unravelers lose their reason for being very quickly.

Lastly, but most importantly, when all other powerful Gods failed to stop the unstoppable demon Mahishasura, the supreme being too had to take a form of Goddess Durga to vanquish the unconquerable. Herein lies the biggest lesson our society and management world can learn - leadership qualities and gender independent.

My Love for Cycling & My Mountain Bike

Albert Einstein once said, he thought of the theory of relativity while riding a bicycle. Cycling is third most popular recreational activity in the UK. About 3.1 Million people ride bicycle every month. I too love cycling since childhood and my new Mountain Bike “Rockrider 5.3”. There are many reasons that turn me on for cycling every time including its benefits.

Regular cycling can help one shed weight, regulate stress and improve fitness. It saves transport & fuel expenses. The best thing about cycling is that it is pollution free which is good for environment. According to a research by Illinois University researchers, cycling helps build brain cells in the hippocampus, the region responsible for memory, which keeps on deteriorating after the age of 30.

Cycling also beats illness and keeps doctor at bay. It is also helpful for Insomnia sufferers who can’t sleep at nights. Cycling helps in getting proper sleeps because it prevents the stress hormones and regenerate sleep. Regular cycling can protect skin against the harmful effects of UV radiation and reduce signs of ageing. It also helps in living longer because body becomes much more efficient to regenerate new cells.

Cycling also helps avoid obesity which means guilt free snacks at any party. It also helps me to get fitter and hence better at sports. Professionally, cycling also helps to maintain and create network with people. Last but not the least; twenty bicycles can be parked in the same space as one car. It takes around five percent of the materials and energy used to make a car than to build a bike and a bike produces zero pollution.

Cycling is an activity that involves the whole body. Therefore, arm-to-leg, feet-to-hands and body-to-eye coordination are improved. I love my bike because it has twenty seven gears, disc brakes and a light weight frame to pull. Apart from physical structure of bike I would like to add that cycling also builds leadership & strategy skills. Above image describes meaning of all parts of cycle. Gear part is engagement and chain is the feedback point.

So, one can’t easily measure the benefits of cycling on one’s life. Most of the times, people ask me “Why don’t you buy a motor bike in same price”, well the answer is simple, it will make me lazy and increase risks of accident. When I travel from one place to another in a city, my ultimate goal is to cover a distance, which can be done from cycling as well.

Jack Welch & the GE Way

Recently, I finished reading this book and it is the most interesting book on Management Insights and Leadership secrets of the Legendary CEO Jack Welch. Robert Slater has contributed so well and it is his second book on Jack Welch. GE is the most valuable company in the world and Jack Welch, GE’s CEO is the most acclaimed CEO of the world. This book tells in details the Welch Strategies and Management Secrets. Under his leadership, GE became the first company in the world to apply six-sigma strategy in their work.

This book also offers a rare look into the mind of Jack Welch illuminating his vision and prescriptions for the future of business. Slater has highlighted the GE revolution of achieving double-digit growth in a boundary less organization and feature over 30 of Jack Welch’s leadership secrets. Jack Welch does not believe in sitting still. His innovative, breakthrough leadership strategies as CEO have transformed GE into a highly productive and labor efficient powerhouse. One of the good quotes in this novel is “Act like a leader not a manager.”

One of the Welch strategies that I like in this book is – “Welch was open to take feedback from every employee of his organization, starting from a labor employee to a General Manager.” Companies will do well to with this advice on how to foster an open ended, informal work atmosphere that will encourage employees to speak out, breaking down the walls of hostility between managers and subordinates.

His commitment towards the organization motivates his employees. Welch commitment and dedication for the company came when he said, “GE will be the top most production company in the sector, otherwise GE will stop producing products.” This statement and vision of Jack Welch drives GE into the top Fortune 500 companies. In 1997, GE led Business week list of all companies worldwide in market value for the second consecutive year and achieved near top ranking of the most profitable companies in the U.S.

This book gives an overview of Welch philosophy on how to manage and how not to manage and covers topics such as building a market-leading company, forging the boundary less organization, harnessing people for competitive advantage, pushing service, and globalization for double-digit growth.