Mahamantra: Essence of Leadership

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The Story of MATSYA Avatar

In MATSYA Avatar, Lord Vishnu incarnates himself as a fish in this world. In the earliest Yuga (era) of Sata-yuga, a king named Manu was performing severe penance for thousands of years. One day as he was performing ablutions with river water, a small fish came into his hands and just as he was about to throw the fish back into the river, the fish requested the king to save its life. Heeding its request, the king put the fish into a jar of water but the fish started growing and the jar was not big enough for it.

Then the king threw it into the river, but it soon it outgrew the river and the king then threw it into Ganges and then into the ocean. The king realized that it was Lord Vishnu himself and then the lord made an appearance and made a special request to the king. It predicted that the world would come to an end by a huge flood in seven days and requested the king to build a huge boat and take the seven sages (hermits), seeds of all plants, one animal of each type and told him that he would appear as a fish to propel the boat to Mt Himavan for surviving the flood to the next yuga (eon). True to his word, after seven days the Lord appeared and the king tied the boat to the fish by using the royal serpent Vasuki and the fish took all of them to Mt Himavan and kept them there till the flood was over and in the new era, the king started procreation for the new era In Darwin’s theory of evolution, the aquatic life was the one which first evolved i.e. the fish. The world is going to be engulfed by pralayam (submerged in water) and all the species of life are stored in a boat. Lord Vishnu assumes the avatar of a huge fish grows a horn on his head and takes the boat to safety during pralayam. We all go through tough times, face turbulences of the mind due to retrenchment, lay off, termination, break ups, separation or divorce and also face situations similar to pralayam. We should try to be like the huge whale which rules the ocean and is feared by others. One should face the turbulences, not drown in the problem irrespective of the levels it reaches to,but surge ahead taking your colleagues and subordinates along with you. This is the benevolent cum democratic leadership style.

Initiativenesss

Taking initiative is essentially assuming the risk of a possible failure. When doing so, you put yourself out there and things don’t always go as planned. But the alternative is choosing to be inactive.

If you’re a leader, it’s vital that members of your team make the right choice between doing nothing and doing something. For a healthy, forward-looking operation, they should want to choose action -- and this begins with the encouragement of a proactive leader.

1. Start by creating a supportive environment.

Team members need to feel comfortable in their workspace. They should know that while they may strike out, their ideas will be heard and taken seriously by leadership. If the office isn’t a safe place to do this, new ideas will no longer be shared -- or conceived at all. Make an effort to tell employees you are excited to hear their thoughts.

Don’t always have time to sit down and discuss ideas face-to-face? Create a process for workers to submit and share ideas. Even set up a unique email address for this exclusive purpose.

2. Kick people out of the office for a day.

From time to time, encourage your teams or units to meet separately outside their normal work environment.

These thoughts may not have surfaced had the team members met in the same workspace they occupy day to day. Sometimes, all it takes a change of scenery for less vocal employees to come out of their shells and share ideas.

3. Preach volunteering and spearheading.

Initiative comes in many forms. It doesn’t have to mean single-handedly taking on a new project. Someone can volunteer to help another person who is already on a committee, team or project and support that individual any way he or she knows how. Remind employees that it’s not all about coming up with the idea but also helping to move it forward is valuable, too. If you praise volunteers as as potential thought leaders, everyone will realize he or she has an important part to play.

4. Remember, a good plan today is better than a perfect one tomorrow.

Yes, it seems strange for a leader to discourage staffers from working too hard to perfect something. And in certain situations this does not apply. But it’s important to remind team members that tomorrow may never come. What you are capable of doing today should be done today.

In essence, taking initiative means fighting procrastination. One tip I’ve heard from many others (and the advice works for my team) is to tackle first the task that you are least excited about. Nothing kills initiative like anxiety or dread.

5. Prod staffers to recall what exactly they’re working for.

It’s important for employees to understand why they do what they do and what consistently motivates them to achieve more. Showing initiative is not a one-day mind-set. It’s an everyday process that needs continual inspiration.

Encourage team members to bring personal objects into their workspace as a physical reminder of why they should want to take initiative. Give workers the freedom to spark their motivation in a personal way with things like a family picture, a motivational quote on the bathroom mirror or vision boards on the wall,

6. Let history speak for itself.

Looking back on the past, one can find evidence of great things coming from those who take initiative. Breakthrough ideas, inventions and processes exist today because someone recognized a problem and sought a solution. Your employees may not change the face of the future with their work, but there’s a message to be learned from history: No matter how worthy the goal, a person may be unlikely to succeed on the first try.

In sharing stories of people in similar industry or job position who evenutally succeeded after many attempts, you may be providing the encouragement members of the team need. It may not negate their risk of failure, but this human spin might shift their mind-set toward taking action versus sitting back.

7. Tell employees the truth.

The best, most transformational ideas don’t always come from the top. Many times the best ideas come from individuals involved in a department’s day-to-day business. They see the organization from a different perspective, which can be very valuable.

If a team member waits to be called upon, however, the positive transformation will tend to be dependent upon a leader’s prompting. The easiest way to encourage team members to take initiative is to simply enlighten them accordingly: If they know their ideas are not only wanted but also needed, they may find the extra time to develop them.

We’ve all heard leaders say they want new hires to have go-getter attitudes. It’s easy to forget that this approach can be found inside everyone. Often it’s a matter of encouragement. By simply opening up communication and creative freedom, you may find that you’ve had a team of thought leaders on your side all along.

Ideas Generating

An idea switch is a shortcut to getting out of a rut, with the help of another person.

An idea switch is simple, and a kind of hybrid technique. You can use any of the techniques here, really, and then incorporate the idea switch. All it entails is that, at some point in the brainstorming process, you turn over your work to the other person, they do the same, and you work off of each other’s ideas.

It’s a kind of shortcut, really. You might get there on your own, but by starting cold with someone else’s ideas after you’ve been primed with your own, your brain is forced to scramble to make sense of it all and you end up with some interesting output.

It might be junk, but at the very least, you’ve interrupted any idea patterns and forced yourself to reconsider. You will also discover how you work creatively with others, and whether or not you really are cut out for group work or not.

Stream of Consciousness

Stream of consciousness techniques break down the creative barriers of shame, fear, and propriety.

This may not solve the actual issue at hand, but it is an excellent way to get rid of creative blocks. You force yourself to write or draw gibberish. No topic, no limitations, no rules. Just…go. Write, doodle, list, scribble, make marks. Throw it away if you must. Share it if you’re brave. Keep it in a journal. Do it every day, or on lunch break, to release creative tension. Do it as a group exercise before your meetings.

In college, I didn’t have a lot of money and a nice sheet of heavy rag paper for art class cost $3 or more. I would tape it to my board and then stare at it, terrified of drawing on it and ruining it and wasting the money. I finally, in a fit of frustration, took a charcoal and drew a big black X.

My reasoning?

I had already ruined it.

It couldn’t get worse. Might as well make it better. And I did. Many writers start every day with morning pages, filling several pages with whatever comes to mind at the start of the day. I have pages filled with almost incomprehensible blatherings about dreams, the softness of my comforter, and bastardized memories of the previous day.

Creativity is a lot like that white sheet of paper. We’re scared to do anything and ruin our reputation, the harmony of the group–whatever it is–and so we do nothing. Stream of consciousness gets that out of the way.

Stream of consciousness techniques are extremely difficult for control freaks and Type A personalities who want things orderly, logical, or tidy. They are tough for people who are afraid to appear foolish, fear reprisal for ideas not part of the understood group think, who are constantly comparing themselves to others, or are afraid of what might happen if they lose self control.

At some point or another, we can probably all fit into that description. But that kind of stuff kills truly unique and creative ideas. A jolt of stream of consciousness can get that fear and break the dam, setting you at ease for more productive creative work now that you gave yourself permission.

Image Association

Image association uses a visual image to trigger ideas in context.

Image association is similar to word association in that you are thinking of things in a particular context. However, image association uses a heavy visual element as the trigger, and that visual element tends to override the context somewhat.

Much like a Rorschach test, I use images to get me writing. Sometimes I sit down and write whatever comes to mind looking at the image (a general writing prompt). Sometimes I am in the middle of a project and use the image to get me to write something that fits the context of that story.

I keep a few spiral journals and glue interesting magazine or other images into them as collages. I have few rules other than find things that are intriguing, colors that are exciting, and collages that create more questions than answers for the viewer. When I need to, I pull a journal out and start writing. I might write a complete piece, or just start listing words. I might ask the image a question based on what I’m writing and then answer the question, using the image.

For example, I might look at a page with a picture of a horse that has a window frame glued around its head and a cat on its back. I could write a story about that horse. I could use that image as I’m writing a article about prisoners at the state penitentiary and ask that image a question about how prisoners feel about geography and being in one spot for the rest of their life. I’d look at it and think they look out one window, have one view and then I’d see the cat and think living with claws in their back, a constant nagging sense — this is all rather abstract and difficult to describe. While thinking about what I’m writing, the images I see will trigger how I think.

Essentially, you’re using your collected images at your desk to substitute for the natural idea generation that happens when you’re out and about looking at different things and stimulated by that exposure. It’s the same as when you’re staring out at a majestic landscape and suddenly you get a fantastic idea for how you’re going to arrange your living room. You don’t understand the connection between the stimuli and the idea, but somehow it happened.

Question Bank

A question bank is like a suggestion box, but without concrete answers.

Question banks work with teams. Essentially, you create a safe place for your team members–including the introverts or shy people who you normally don’t hear from and don’t realize–to ask the questions they need to ask. In those questions are solutions to problems you’re struggling with right now.

A question bank should be anonymous, or you won’t get the truly honest (and painful) questions you need. There are few rules, other than:

They must be real questions.

No rhetorical questions.

No leading questions.

No statements.

No questions that attack other team members.

If you’re not in a team, you can still use a question bank of sorts over an extended period of time. Have a place to collect questions about a project or idea you are struggling with, and write them down as they come to you. After a period of time (at least a few weeks), go through your questions and revert to the questions technique of #5.

What If?

Asking what if? stretches boundaries and finds undercurrents of problems.

What if pigs could fly? What if our customers hated purple?

What if questions get to the heart of worst case scenarios, fears, and far-fetched imaginations. They push the accepted boundaries of the group (which are generally lowest common denominator boundaries) and allow quieter personalities to poke holes in theories in a safe manner.

For writers, asking what if when you’re stuck is a great way to shake up your plot and find new action. What if he wasn’t actually the murderer? or What if the mother left the next day and never came back?

In a team, you may want to use the what if? technique as you would the questions bank, and allow for anonymity. However, what if? sessions can be a lot of fun as a team exercise when done verbally or as a group in front of a white board. You may not get usable output from that kind of session, but you do get gears turning in brains.

Fill In The Blank

Fill-in-the-blank techniques provide a safe structure to build initial ideas on.

Remember Mad Libs? You filled in the blank with a type of word and ended up with something crazy. Using that same kind of technique, you can create mission statements, copy, team goals, or those other minor kinds of statements that are necessary but suck up huge amounts of time to generate.

I don’t use fill-on-the-blank techniques much, but I have used them with a group when working on a mission statement. We started with something like this:

We are a team that is known for _____. Each of us will do our best to ______. Our customers will benefit from _____. Our customers will be most excited to _____.

That’s not very exciting, and you adjust the words as you go, but it is a good way to get that start. Simply telling a team that you need a mission statement is presenting them with that scary blank sheet of paper. Give them some fill-in-the-blanks, and then go from there. Having some structure to build on gives you confidence.

Setting goals and objectives

Why is personal goal setting so important in personal time management? From the time management perspective, your life is a sequence of big and small choices and decisions. It is those choices that you really manage, not the flow of time. Personal goal setting is the wisdom that comes out of a lot of practical experience and psychology research to help you direct your conscious and subconscious decisions towards success, building up your motivation to achieve your personal or business goals. In many situations people use words goals and objectives as interchangeable. Yet, in the context of goal setting, the difference between goals and objectives has an important practical meaning.

After you set your important goals you move to setting objectives. Objectives are also goals, but they are down the hierarchy. They are sub goals set with the only purpose to serve your goals. To achieve your goals, which conditions should you provide, which resources should you collect, which skills should you develop, what knowledge should you acquire? Is there anything significant you should achieve before you can reach your goals? Formulate the answers to these questions as your objectives, in writing. Note that objectives are also more than just activities. They still contain some challenge in them. Activities are things that you just do. So, while a particular goal is important to you on its own, objectives and activities are important too, but not on their own. If an objective or activity does not work to help achieving your goals, change or replace that objective so that it does. To achieve success, you need both persistence and flexibility. When you face difficulties and unexpected problems, use all your persistence and determination to stick to your goals. But always stay flexible with your objectives and activities. If the way you do things now does not work, try another way. Keep trying until you find the one that works. Don’t change the ends, change the means. And never forget the difference between ends and means, between goals and objectives.

Setting Goals

The major outcome of strategic road-mapping and strategic planning, after gathering all necessary information, is the setting of goals for the organization based on its vision and mission statement. A goal is a long-range aim for a specific period. It must be specific and realistic. Long-range goals set through strategic planning are translated into activities that will ensure reaching the goal through operational planning.

Setting Objectives

An objective is a specific step, a milestone, which enables you to accomplish a goal. Setting objectives involves a continuous process of research and decision-making. Knowledge of yourself and your unit is a vital starting point in setting objectives. Strategic planning takes place at the highest levels; other managers are involved with operational planning. The first step in operational planning is defining objectives the result expected by the end of the budget (or other designated) cycle. Setting right objectives is critical for effective performance management. Such objectives as higher profits, shareholder value, and customer satisfaction may be admirable, but they don’t tell managers what to do. They fail to specify priorities and focus. Such objectives don’t map the journey ahead - the discovery of better value and solutions for the customer.

The objectives must be:

Be focused on a result, not an activity

Be consistent

Be specific

Be measurable

Be related to time

Be attainable

Personal Accountability

This is the core of my Leadership Manifesto. I do not make excuses for my own actions. I accept the fall out for my decisions in their entirety. Leadership must have personal accountability at its core or there is no authenticity. Leaders who do not accept the credit for their actions, both good and bad, are not able to gain trust from their teams or bosses. I have found that many times when I stand up, accept responsibility and take accountability for my actions, I walk away having gained the respect of my superiors.

At its core, accountability is the responsibility to act. It is the commitment to do the right thing and stand by your decisions. Perhaps most importantly, it is a quality that must come from within; dishearteningly, even as legislators, shareholders, customers, and community activists are demanding greater accountability from corporate leaders, too many are waiting for some third party to take action. Whatever the endeavour, it is ultimately the individual who must hold himself to the highest standard first. Those who manage by accountability viscerally know that external rules cannot substitute for character. And they know that accountability is a quality that can be developed, honed through practice, and encouraged in others. Using stories drawn from David Dealy’s experiences on the front lines, as well as examples from other successful leaders, managing by Accountability demonstrates how leaders who embark on a management philosophy of personal accountability imbue their organizations with the qualities of integrity and responsibility. In their down-to-earth style, the authors identify the five great accountability mistakes and offer a wealth of practical suggestions for overcoming them to achieve outstanding results throughout the organization.

Personal Accountability, Collective Inspiration

We have used both individual goal setting and the social pressure that comes from being a part of a group endeavour to help you stay committed to your goals. We find plenty of reasons to not start; plenty of made up, self-sympathizing reasons to never see a dream or a goal through to the finish. Truth of the matter is, we allow those reasons to seep in like water in a punctured hull because we haven’t committed to the task at hand. We’re not devoted to the all-hands-on-deck mentality that is needed to keep the dream afloat.

Commitment

You see, commitment is the first and most important part of the journey. Commitment comes before the first action is even taken. That’s where the journey starts. To continue on the mode of transportation analogies, if you were committed to driving cross-country from New York to San Francisco, it doesn’t matter the exact route you take only that you were prepared for the long, sometimes ass-numbing, but wholeheartedly unique voyage ahead of you. While you are no doubt excited for all the new people, towns, experiences and wonders you’ll see, you have to be mentally ready for the hundreds of monotonous and forgotten stretches of road you’ll consume along the way.

Too many people in life get in the car, and figure out 3 miles in that they’re not sure where they’re sleeping that night, a bridge may be out in Utah, and San Francisco is still 2,900 miles away. So of course, quitting seems like a much better option.

The Journey within the Journey

How do you manage the 1,000 km journey mentally? Day by day. Exit by exit. kmt by kmt. Inch by inch. Our brains don’t like being less than 50% done with something. We don’t want to only get excited for the inevitable downhill. We need to have smaller, mini-goals because we take great joy in hitting milestones. But I will beat you yet! We play the How many kmts can I drive today before I stop for gas/food/sleep? game. Accomplishing goals, no matter how small, feels great.

This psychology works in fundraising, as well. Why do most charities only start broadcasting their current funding state to the public when they are near 50%? Well because it shows people that the cause is worth fighting for and that the goal is within reach. Fundraising also uses another tactic to help raise money at that point: peer pressure. If other people have helped it come this far, it must be a worthy trip. Its part social proofing, and part the wisdom of crowds. If no one else has committed to this thing, why the hell should I? And conversely, if so many people have committed to this, I want to be a part of it too. I want to help get it over the edge. I want to be part of something.

Day by day. Inch by inch. Goal by goal

It’s easy to get support for what you’re doing when you’ve shown some success; and to be successful, you first have to start, unceremoniously. In the beginning it’s mostly your commitment - your blood, sweat and passionate tears that gets you to some percentage of completion. Before you can hit the highway, the gas tank needs to be full, that long overdue oil change needs to be taken care of, those brakes need to be retooled, and snacks should be on board. That commitment needs to be made first. In the beginning, it’s not fundraising, it’s friend raising. Breaking down your goal into manageable bites allows people to support you and gives you a chance to be part of someone else’s dream; to be part of something outside of yourself. Take the collective inspiration that groups provide and merge that with the personal accountability that each of us need to succeed at any task and you have a recipe for a journey worth traveling.

Accountability is an old fashioned idea that says you are answerable for your actions and inactions. If questions come up or something goes wrong, it’s you who must absorb scrutiny. There’s a subtle distinction between it’s not finished and I haven’t finished it. The willingness to be accountable for what you do and what you fail or refuse to do is a crucial sign of character.

Unaccountable people are into excuses, blaming others, putting things off, doing the minimum, acting confused and playing helpless. They pretend ignorance while hiding behind doors, computers, paperwork, jargon and other people They say things like I didn’t know, I wasn’t there, I don’t have time, It’s not my job, That’s just the way I am, Nobody told me, "It isn’t really hurting