Maximise Potential 2

Maximise Potential 2

Shyam Ramanathan

Copyright © 2018 by Shyam Ramanathan

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal. The views expressed in this book are my own and do not represent any organization.

First Printing: 2018

ISBN  978-1-387-57480-3

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my parents for having always believed in me and providing me the complete freedom to pursue my dreams. I want to thank my dad for imparting his love of learning to me which has helped me immensely. I want to thank all my college friends who stood by me in my tough times even when I didn’t have belief in my potential. I want to thank my wife Devi who has always supported me at home and without her support a lot of my work could not have been done. Finally, to my two wonderful kids who bring joy and happiness to me making life memorable.

Introduction

I published the first book in 2015 and now I have at least 66 more articles I want to share here. My mission is to maximise my potential and help others maximise theirs. This book is the result of my 18 years of experience in the IT industry and over the past 8 years I have devoted to learning all I can about success, leadership, management and living a better life while staying happy, energized and enthusiastic. This book is the result of that learning and I thought I will consolidate all the learning in one place so that it can help others.

Yes, I have listened to the Steve jobs commencement address more than 10 times but I still don’t want to die (of course I am going to but that’s not the point). My point is to live your life to the fullest. See your life as a gift as it is indeed. Look at all the trouble all around the world, look at all the problems around us with violence and terrorism, what has happened to the world. Do we want a world where only a few are happy and only a few are joyous?

Did anyone tell you money is not important? Well I am here to say money is very important. Most of the people who say money is not important probably have too much. We need money to enjoy life, care for others, and provide us peace of mind. It is only love of money that kills.

I am here to say that you must look at your life differently. Answer these questions to get started

Are you happy when you get up in the morning?

Do you feel you have been given a gift of life?

Are you grateful to have good health, good family, and happy children?

Do you feel you are going to make a difference today?

Do you want to live your life or let it pass?

These are the five questions I ask myself daily because if we are not happy with the person we are then how can we make a mark in the world. I firmly believe that the first step towards happiness is to get excited about our lives. Your life is a gift and you can make a difference. You just don’t need a billion dollars to make it happen.

When was the last time any of us took time to really feel good about being alive and appreciate all the wonderful things we have in our lives? If we want our children to fly then I think we owe it to ourselves to fly and we can’t be mute spectators. There are countless critics out there but the following passage from Theodore Roosevelt should inspire us every day

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

So be in the game, don’t ever leave the game of life, as you are in it for the long haul. Take some chances, feel alive again, whether we believe in reincarnations or not we can safely say that none of us know if we will ever get a second chance so make this life count. There are many people who are waiting for us to show our talents. No one will ever know our talents unless we exhibit it.

There has been a lot of movement against self-esteem. I think this is not true as arrogance is the problem not self-esteem. Having a high healthy self-esteem is a requirement for a wonderful life. Unless you feel good about yourself how can others feel good about you? Take an inventory of all your good qualities, take time to assess your unique strengths (don’t expect others to do this for you), maintain a log of every accomplishment in your life (read it daily this works), and never compare yourself with others. You are only competing against the person you once were. As the wise proverb says, There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.

Remember you are unique in this world and all of us will have worries (As a wise person said, The only people who don’t have worries are the dead.) The starting point of riches is to be thankful for the life we have been bestowed with and then decide to create an impact. There are more tools than ever for everyone to show their talents. All you need is to find your vehicle and once you get onboard go full blast living your life to the fullest. Good luck.

The coming chapters have information on everything I have learnt about success, happiness, time management, management, leadership, personal lessons and book reviews. I hope you enjoy this book and find use in what is presented. Let us begin.

Chapter 1 – 22 Traits of Great leaders

Everyone has their own definition of leadership. Mine is simple it is about dreaming big, inspiring others and leading by example. Leaders really do dream big dreams think of Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Roosevelt, Churchill among others. The current business landscape requires more leaders who are willing to chart new seas and deal with change in a world that has not only flattened but also eliminated geographical boundaries. The 21st Century leader needs to pack the following traits in their kit bags. Leaders are made and of course they are born as all of us are. Here are my muses on leadership and everyone can come up with their own versions.

Leaders are visionaries – What separates a leader from a manager is an audacious vision. Only leaders have vision and vision is something that can get us out of bed and into the market to deliver excellent value. Let’s consider the vision of JFK to land a man on the moon. It was clear and audacious. Clearly set the vision for your life and enterprise.

Leaders are trend spotters – We have been talking about change since time immemorial. Since the brief time I have been on earth every era said that is the most gut-wrenching time. Unemployment has always been an issue. Luddites feared their jobs going but facts say that more jobs were created during the industrial revolution. Now we may see more jobs disappear but let’s not give up hope that great leaders can still find new jobs for humans to bring their imagination and unleash the latent talent in people. So be a trend spotter and align your enterprise to move with the times showing increased agility while inspiring people to bring their best selves to work.

Leaders are people builders – Leaders build people and they never bring people down. The job of a leader is to inspire people to live their best lives providing their best service in the progress of the organizations. Organizations are never going away but hierarchy is. Promotions will never go away but the way performance appraisals are done may go away.

Leaders are decision makers - A strong leader is decisive and takes decisions quickly. I love this quote by Adlai E. Stevenson On the plains of hesitation lie the blackened bones of countless millions who at the dawn of victory lay down to rest, and in resting died. So, leaders don’t hesitate to take tough decisions.

Leaders are flexible – In the current business environment all bets are off and what you think worked yesterday is no longer in play. To stick to something just because it worked yesterday is no longer viable. Being flexible and nimble is the name of the game. We should all be ready to change our decisions when we get new and better information. Leaders should keep their ears open to innovative ideas and accept that change is the only constant. I like this quote by General Eric Shinseki If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more.

Leaders are talent spotters – You can have the greatest and grandest vision but if you don’t have the right people to execute the vision it is dead in the waters. No one can say it better than Jim Collins when he said, Get the right people on the bus in the right seats and get the wrong people off the bus. The time spent in hiring is the most valuable time of a visionary leader.

Leaders are generous with appreciation – Appreciation is oxygen to the soul. Everyone wants to feel important. If you want to keep the best people then it makes sense to keep appreciating people for the excellent work they do. Praise in public and share any criticism in private.

Leaders are brutally honest – This means they are not afraid to be unpopular without being pushy or aggressive. Yes, the leader cannot always be praising if things are going wrong. There are some decisions of a leader that not everyone is going to like but as Jack Welch said in his book Winning someone made you a leader because you know not only the short term but also think long term.

Leaders are quitters– The best example is Jack Welch as he got out of every business where GE could not be Number one or Number two in that specific market. In your personal life, also you can learn to quit things where you cannot be great. If learning the piano is painful please do quit it and apply the same pain to an area of life where you can make a true difference in your life.

Leaders are committed to winning – Every leader wants to win and strong leaders are committed to winning. The team that has an overwhelming desire to win will always outperform the team which does not care about winning. Leaders know exactly what a win looks like and they do everything to ensure the team is equipped with the best resources to enable the winning. Commitment to winning inspires the team to reach greater heights.

Leaders are resilient – The only sure defense is offense. The only the sure thing in a leader’s life is a crisis. A leader needs to have a strong resilient mindset to traverse and navigate the turbulent markets. Resilience can be built by having a strong mission statement, strong core values, clear goals, maintaining good attitude, being physically agile and sleeping well. Resilient organizations are built on the back bone of strong leaders.

Leaders are disruptors – It was the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter who coined the term creative destruction. This was when an existing industry or product is disrupted with a superior product. Digital photography replaced film photography. Then there was disruptive innovation where a company comes with an inferior product which is cheaper and it is ignored by market leaders. This is what happened to the disk drive industry. Now in the blue ocean shift the authors talk about something called non-disruptive creation. For example, Tony Robbins created the life coaching industry when it did not exist. The point is leaders need to be disruptors and they can choose either of the methods.

Leaders are relationship managers – Business begins and ends with relationships. Emotional intelligence is more important than IQ. Self-awareness is one the of the keys to be a successful leader. A leader needs to manage both the internal and external stake holders. Give people the respect they deserve and treat everyone equally.

Leaders are continuous learners – As I mentioned earlier all bets are off. Unless leaders keep up to date with their industry and related industries it is next to impossible to lead effectively. Keep reading across all sources. Read books, listen to podcasts, read the blogs, connect with the experts, document what you learn and share what you learn with others.

Leaders are responsible – Leaders take responsibility for results. They never engage in the blame game. They take blame personally but give credit generously. As Harry Truman said, The buck stops with me.

Leaders are great at networking – Your success as a leader is directly related to the strong network you have built. So, keep building your network and share great content to your network. Networking is a must for the 21st century leader. You will grow in direct proportion to the strength of your network.

Leaders are legacy builders – Leaders are very aware of the legacy they want to leave. You can only leave a legacy by living it. Constantly think of how you want to be remembered and align all your activities to reflect your deepest convictions. Leaders know that by living their legacy they are building a great platform of excellence and purpose that will hold them in great esteem well into the end of their lives.

Leaders are right brain evangelists – As the need for creativity elevates and with machines also taking over some of our jobs the need for right brain leaders is even more prevalent. Great leaders tap into their intuition and bring their right brain skills to win in a marketplace that is craving for newness and ingenuity. Develop your right brain skills through remarkable story telling and building a team of great designers.

Leaders are high on self-care – Great leaders take care of themselves well. Focus on your mental, physical, social and spiritual self. Exercise regularly, eat well, sleep well and keep recharging your batteries on a regular basis. I just read recently that Jeff Bezos likes to get eight hours sleep as this enables him to make better decisions. Leaders need to be fresh in their thinking and self-care is the name of the game.

Leaders are customer centric – Great leaders know that only by building raving fans can a business survive in an increasingly crowded marketplace. Even in an era of deep commoditization it is only the leaders and organizations who treat customers like royalty that really win in the long run. So, take care of your customers well and the business will automatically flourish.

Leaders are trust builders – Great leaders build trust at every level of the organization. This trust serves them well when there are setbacks. If you want your team to rally behind you then trust is the currency that will help. Maintain an open communication channel with all the key stakeholders and ensure unwelcome news is shared as importantly as the good news.

Leaders are passionate – Finally leaders ooze passion. They are totally sold out to their vision and are committed to winning. The passion rubs off on the team as well. Passion starts with the leader and ends with the team.

As I said these are musings from me on what leaders can do to win in the marketplace. There can always be many things a leader can do but one thing is for sure leaders must embrace the paradox. Sometimes you should be flexible and sometimes you should be stubborn. Sometimes you should think big picture and sometimes you should think of the day to day activities. Only when a leader embraces the different paradigms of action can they truly lead and win in the new ever-changing business landscape. What is needed is a cool head with a calm reassurance that everything will turn out all right. This balancing act is not easy but necessary to overcome the enormous headwinds that face every leader in a turbulent environment.

Chapter 2 – 10 Ways to stay Disciplined to Win Big

Every year we all have resolutions and goals we want to achieve. We also want to make sure this excitement doesn’t just last for two weeks but lasts for the entire year. So how do you keep this excitement going for a long time? To me the answer is one word which is discipline. It is discipline that will keep you going for the long haul and continue to keep your resolutions and goals in focus. This quote is great Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability. Roy L. Smith

As Tony Robbins says you should have a vision that is so exciting and compelling that it pulls you rather than push. Of course, it is not easy to create this but if we do then the path towards goals and resolutions become effortless. Pull is always better than push which can seem like a lot of effort.

Here I expand the word discipline and this will keep us on target to achieve whatever we want.

Dedication – You need to be dedicated to whatever goals you have set for yourself. Write down what benefits you will get by achieving your goals. This will propel you and keep you energized for the long haul. Dedicate yourself to your work and again write down all the good things about whatever you do for a living. Dedication to your life is the true barometer of what you will achieve in 2018. Gratitude is the starting point of dedication.

Inspiration – Inspiration is the fuel you need to accomplish all your goals. Decide on things that keep your inspired. It may be reading a motivational book, for others it may be when you spend time with people who are inspiring, or it may be playing the sport you enjoy. Whatever it is make sure you stay inspired and it is something that must be planned. When you are inspired it is easier to follow through with discipline.

Success – This is a very important step to take. You must define what success means for you not what some bestseller says. Your goal must be your own otherwise it is tough to be disciplined. What do you want to achieve in this year or to put it another way what would this year look like if you achieved what you wanted to? Again, this definition is critical to keep the momentum going and it must be truly your own. It also requires discipline not deviate from your own definition of success.

Count your blessings – The problem with resolutions is we are trying to