...shoOOonya...

     One weekend, 2 occasions to get on 'stage' and deliver !!  The first was a 3-hour session (with a break, of course) on "Business Thinking" for Students at Westford University College and the second one was a training segment to be delivered to Executive Committee members.  Enjoyed both :) (love to get on stage)  In the first case, the experience was interesting since I was delivering to young minds who think differently and have a different context of the world. When I was giving global brand examples like Kodak, 95% of the students hadn't even heard of them. Almost none of them had ever used a Nokia phone. Good for me ... since I was using the example of these brands to highlight how they did not change with time, did not reinvent themselves and became irrelevant today. Kind of proved my point :)  In the second case, the experience was heightened by a pretty large size stage of a 400-seater auditorium. It has been almost 3 years since I had been on a stage o

There is a video on Youtube titled Deep sleep in 5 minutes . The video duration is 3h21m49s ... I wonder why?  There is yet another video on Youtube titled Deep sleep in " less than 5 minutes ". This video duration is 5h19m47s ... I wonder why?  How many times in our lives do we see things that claim one thing but are designed to the other? From the corporate world, the "Can we have a quick call" comes to my mind which somehow extends to 30-40 minutes and rarely is quick enough. What examples have you seen around - in personal as well as professional life? I am intrigued by this and would love to know more examples. As individuals trying to take charge in our personal lives and as managers/leaders in charge of teams/organizations, it would be worthwhile to observe and pick out sich #quickcall examples and do something about it. They waste time, effort, resources etc. Getting them out of the way will help conserve energy and focus on what really matters. The #quickc

Bad Experiences with Coaching !  Yes. There are bad coaches out there. Its the bane of any industry. As any industry gets popular (for whatever reasons - demand or monetary opportunity or low entry barrier); it will invite a whole lot of people across the capability spectrum.  Some will be excellent, some will be good, others will be average (and yet deliver results) and then, of course, there will be a whole lot of 'bad apples'!  Coaching definitely helps and can be transformational. No doubt about that. BUT, you need to engage the right coach.  The proverbial 'give a man a fish versus teach him fishing' concept applies here too. The coach should be enabling you to figure out things and NOT figuring out things for you. Coach should enable you to think about yourself clearly, think of your goals and how to achieve them, help you understand your life vision ... and not do anything of that FOR You.  The Coach should nudge you in the right direction and NOT hold your hand

  When was the last time you did something for the first time?  Paragliding over the mountains in 2019 is the quick answer for me.  Wifey has a very recent one from 2022 when she went sky-diving. I don't have the same answer because ... well ... I am over-weight and they won't allow me  !!  I am sure I have some recent ones too ... Let me try to list a few :)  2021-2022  - I was on 'contract' on a project in Change Management role rather than being a full-time 'employee' - that was new - I registered my own company so I became a Managing Director of my Consulting and Coaching business entity. That was new.  - I paid tax in UAE as a Business man :) that was new (5% VAT applicable)   More recently,  - I have attended sessions on subjects related to Psychology - that is new  - I strted Business Growth Coaching (thats new) and now looking for businesses in Dubai, UAE to work with  - I started going for a morning walk regularly - 5 days a week - and would be clocking

  Perspective is Everything !! That's all for  #SundayGyan  today. That's the message.  #EndOfMessage  :) Bcos ... this picture is already equivalent to a thousand words and more !  #communciation

  Most of the working professionals around here have seen the ups-n-downs of the IT bubble burst of 2001, the sub prime gobal recession of 2009 and more recently the COVID induced chaos in job market and now the latest wave of 'mass' layoff news you hear from Tech sector (and even others) - Byjus, Twitter, Facebook and several others.  You either experienced a layoff or job cut or right-sizing (whatever the management decides to call it) first hand or knew someone who was imapcted ... and maybe lucky to have just heard about it and not been impacted directly. But in either case, you know that the Organization is NOT loyal to its Employees and a job-loss is a very real possibility that can strike absolutely anytime without any notice period.  You will be taken by surprise (and it will shock you when it hits you like a head-on collision).  So ... whats your Plan B ?  - Do you have enough emergency fund to survive 6 months without pay? 12 months?  - Do you have a portfolio of inve

Book Recommendations for my coaching clients (and for anyone who would care to listen) I come to the conclusion of my current life coaching cohort - just one or two sessions more to the finishing line. We talked about Vision Board and also summarised the entire journey of the past 5 months to put together their Success Blueprint. And I recommended the cohort 2 Books to read ... 1. Atomic Habits by James Clear 2. Do Epic Shit by Ankur Warikoo I had heard about these books for a pretty long time now but had been postponing them. Finally, over the last few weeks, I heard both books on Audible and will soon be buying their hard copies too. Having listened to both books (incidentally in the author's own voice in both cases), I can now freely recommend both to my clients and for that matter, anyone who would listen to me. Atomic Habits is something you read if you want to accomplish anything. Absolutely anything. Do Epic Shit is something you read to keep you grounded, give wings to yo