Adversity unlocks great potential!!!

I've read many success stories about great leaders but, this one... just incredible!

Karoly Takacs. You've probably never heard of him. However, in Hungary he is a national hero. Everybody there knows his name and his incredible story.

In 1938, Karoly Takacs of the Hungarian Army, was the top pistol shooter in the world. He was expected to win the gold in the 1940 Olympic Games scheduled for Tokyo.
Those expectations vanished one terrible day just two months before the Olympics. While training with his army squad, a hand grenade exploded in Takacs' right hand and, his shooting hand was blown off.

Takacs spent month in the hospital depressed at both, the loss of his hand and, the end to Olympic dream. Just imagine the mental trauma he must be going through. At that point most people would have quit and, would have spent most of their life feeling sorry or accepting it as virtue of their own karma. But Winners are different, winners never give-up, and Takacs was a winner! Winners know that they can't let situations keep them down. They understand that life is hard and that they can't let life beat them down. Winners know in their heart that quitting is not an option.

Takacs did the unthinkable; he picked himself up, dusted himself off, and decided to learn how to shoot with his left hand! His reasoning was simple. He simply asked himself, "why not?"
Instead of focusing on what he didn't have - a world class right shooting hand, he decided to focus on what he did have - incredible mental toughness, and a healthy left hand that with time, could be developed to shoot like a champion.

For months Takacs practised by himself. No one knew what he was doing. May be he didn't want to subject himself to people who most certainly would have discouraged him from his rekindled dream.

In the spring of 1939, he showed up at the Hungarian National Pistol Shooting Championship. Other shooters approached Takacs to give him their condolence and to congratulate him on having the strength to come and watch them shoot. They were surprised when he said, "I didn't come to watch, I came to compete." They were even more surprised when Takacs won!
At the age of 38, Takacs won the Gold medal and set a new world record in pistol shooting. Four years later, Takacs won the Gold medal again at the Helsinki Olympics. Was he super lucky? NO, he is a man with the mental toughness to bounce back from anything.

Winners in every field have a special trait that helps them become unstoppable. a special characteristic that allows them to survive major setbacks on the road to success. Winners recover QUICKLY. I've read success stories where people don't give up. But this is different. Bouncing back is very important but in this era, may not be only sufficient. Winners bounce back QUICKLY

Similarly, Leadership is full of challenges but a great leader is the one who knows how to grow through challenges and knows adversity is precisely what unlocks one's greatest potential.

Demystifying Servant Leadership

...or at least trying to!

For a while I’ve been thinking about leadership as a learned skill and the needs and requirements for great leadership. IMHO one of the most basic trait of great leader is the ability to balance the fulfilment of the organisation’s vision with the fulfilment of the needs of those who work within the organisation.

In much of the reading that I’ve done, I question my personal style of leadership, I’ve always felt most comfortable with the style of "Servant Leadership".
A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid”. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

Lao-Tzu wrote about Servant Leadership in the fifth-century BC: “The highest type of ruler is one, of whose existence the people are barely aware… The Sage is self-effacing and scanty of words. When his task is accomplished and things have been completed, all the people say, ‘We ourselves have achieved it!’”

I'd like to highlight four most important aspects of servant-leadership:
1. Humility
IMO, this is the most important of all the aspects. Humility in this context represents both the attitude and an acknowledgment by the leader that he is not omniscient and that his employees will have more knowledge and experience on specific topics than he do.This is very important for leaders in industries dependent on knowledge workers (such as those I’ve always worked in), as there is high probability that employees will absolutely know more about their specialization (and in fact be employed for their specific knowledge).
We need to facilitate a learning environment in which employees are encouraged to learn, grow and develop through their own innovation, ideas and experimentation, and through interacting with and learning from others

2. Transparency
Building on the above is the ability to be real and transparent, which is an acceptance of and encouragement to the organization’s people that not only can they be themselves, but also that the company’s culture and environment genuinely encourages and welcomes this.
Transparency requires that the leader acts with integrity, does what he says going to do and remain consistent in both actions and and words.

3. Stewardship, Empowerment and Clarity
Stewardship is both the desire and the willingness to be responsible for the larger organization and to focus attention mainly on service to those whom they lead instead of on control and self-interest.
True servant leaders act in a care-taking role, but also act as important role models for those around them in the organization. Setting the cultural, value and ethical tone helps to encourage the rest of the organization to act in the common interest and with a strong view to teamwork, loyalty and the social framework and values of the organization.
Regarding clarity and empowerment: Clear acknowledgement of the skills, talents and strengths of employees, coupled with an environment that encourages employees in their actions and in their own personal growth can only assist in excellent outcomes and in creating leaders in their own right.

Finally…
4. Empathy and Forgiveness
The ability to understand and to experience the motivations, feelings and expectations of others is totally essential in a servant leadership culture. The ability to put yourself in the shoes of those whom you work with as a leader can only make for better and more impactful decision-making.
The encouragement to forgive and to move forward is again essential in the creation of a culture where it is accepted that people can, do and will make mistakes. IMO for innovation to occur naturally inside an organization mistakes/failures are bound to happen. "You either succeed or you learn!"

Today, Servant Leadership is a much talked about however, little practiced concept. It seems many people like to talk about serving as a leader but aren’t really all that interested in investing the time required to lead while serving. They also struggle with the “people are barely aware of their existence” thing. Leaders, well actually most people, tend to like getting noticed these days.

There are many reasons why people have a hard time buying into the whole “Servant Leader” thing, a big one is the fact that the terms “Servant” and “Leader” don’t actually go together well. Even many of those who would be served see “servant” as a weakness and would prefer a “stronger” leader than a mere servant could ever be.

Reference: If this blog inspired you, and would like to know more, read the book The Servant as Leader by Robert K. Greenleaf.

What is the difference between Leadership and Management...?

...Probably one of the most intriguing debates in recent times. This is a question that has been asked more than once and also answered in different ways. I've often heard these terms being used interchangeably however, the distinction between the two has become evident with my current role.

IMO, the biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way they motivate the people who work or follow them, and this sets the tone for most other aspects of what they do.
Many people, by the way, are both! They have management jobs, but they realize that you cannot buy hearts, especially to follow them down a difficult path, and so act as leaders too.

Leadership is doing the right thing whereas, Management is doing things right!
Demonstrating good leadership skills without the management skills to support it, will leave you with an inability to operationalize your visions. Likewise, being a good manager without good leadership skills will cause continual challenges in motivating your team and producing the results you are trying to manage to. Being able to blend these two styles is truly a unique skill set.

I have seen many Project Managers focusing only on the management aspect and neglect the leadership aspect while executing projects. A project is more than scope, money and time. Keep in mind there are an abundance of managers in the world but very few truly embody the characteristics of a leader.

Subject	Leader	Manager
Essence	Change	Stability
Focus	Leading people	Managing work
Have	Followers	Subordinates
Horizon	Long-term	Short-term
Seeks	Vision	Objectives
Approach	Sets direction	Plans detail
Decision	Facilitates	Makes
Power	Personal charisma	Formal authority
Appeal to	Heart	Head
Energy	Passion	Control
Culture	Shapes	Enacts
Dynamic	Proactive	Reactive
Persuasion	Sell	Tell
Style	Transformational	Transactional
Exchange	Excitement for work	Money for work
Likes	Striving	Action
Wants	Achievement	Results
Risk	Takes	Minimizes
Rules	Breaks	Makes
Conflict	Uses	Avoids
Direction	New roads	Existing roads
Truth	Seeks	Establishes
Concern	What is right	Being right
Credit	Gives	Takes
Blame	Takes	Blames

 

Knowledge is worth as much as gold!

Came across this article and just couldn't resist reposting it. It teaches us lot but most importantly the moral it conveys...

During a robbery in Guangzhou, China, the bank robber shouted to everyone in the bank: "Don't move. The money belongs to the State. Your life belongs to you." Everyone in the bank laid down quietly. This is called "Mind Changing Concept” Changing the conventional way of thinking. When a lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her: "Please be civilized! This is a robbery and not a rape!" This is called "Being Professional” Focus only on what you are trained to do! When the bank robbers returned home, the younger robber (MBA-trained) told the older robber (who has only completed Year 6 in primary school): "Big brother, let's count how much we got." The older robber rebutted and said: "You are very stupid. There is so much money it will take us a long time to count. Tonight, the TV news will tell us how much we robbed from the bank!" This is called "Experience.” Nowadays, experience is more important than paper qualifications! After the robbers had left, the bank manager told the bank supervisor to call the police quickly. But the supervisor said to him: "Wait! Let us take out $10 million from the bank for ourselves and add it to the $70 million that we have previously embezzled from the bank”. This is called "Swim with the tide.” Converting an unfavorable situation to your advantage! The supervisor says: "It will be good if there is a robbery every month." This is called "Killing Boredom.” Personal Happiness is more important than your job. The next day, the TV news reported that $100 million was taken from the bank. The robbers counted and counted and counted, but they could only count $20 million. The robbers were very angry and complained: "We risked our lives and only took $20 million. The bank manager took $80 million with a snap of his fingers. It looks like it is better to be educated than to be a thief!" This is called "Knowledge is worth as much as gold!" The bank manager was smiling and happy because his losses in the share market are now covered by this robbery. This is called "Seizing the opportunity.” Daring to take risks! So who are the real robbers here???