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6 Antidotes To Apathy

9 November 2016 By Lalita Raman Leave a Comment

One time, during one of my travels, I was standing in the queue to go through security. The person standing ahead of me removed his belt placed it on the tray, emptied his pockets, then took out his laptop, put his bag on the trolley, thereafter zipped his laptop bag and then put that on the trolley. He took a good 5 minutes to do all of this. He seemed like a regular traveler and one who definitely was in the know. Yet…

Consider situations when people push you, or don’t bother moving out of your way when you say “excuse me”, on the road or in a lift, they barge in before you can get out. If you were to ask them to not do so, instead of saying sorry, they get into a fight and argument.

What is the common thread in these incidents?

⇒ATTITUDE

That traveler was in the know about what needs to be put on the belt and yet did not care about being courteous in making an attempt to remove his laptop from the bag ahead of time or be adept with the way he put the things on the belt. His behavior seemed to be one of lack of care and courtesy to the passengers queuing behind him.

⇒How many times have you been in situations where people tell you that they know and yet act differently?

⇒Being in the know is useful, if you chose to behave according to your actions.

⇒Being in the know is of no use if your resultant behavior and action is one of apathy.

⇒Not knowing is better than knowing something and choosing to be apathetic.

As a #leader, your mindset needs to be adaptive, focused and mindful.

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In order not to be apathetic, consider these 6 key points

1.Attitude

Attitude is one each of us can chose because that is the only thing we can control.

To keep your attitude in check, are you
-asking the right questions of yourself and others,
-challenging the obvious
-willing to step out of your comfort zone
-being courteous in your actions and behavior
-ignoring your true dissenting inner voice

2.Pride

We need to celebrate our achievements and those of others. Each of us need to feel the deep pleasure derived from our accomplishments and successes. However, when we refuse to acknowledge those of others or are so narcissistic about ourselves, we turn our pride into being egoistic. As a leader be proud but not egoistic.

Are you being courageous to do what is right even if it is not the most popular?

3.Amiable

We need to be connected to each other because as human beings we are social animals and cannot survive in isolation. Connection happens when you are genuine and amiable. If you are indifferent and rude, you indicate a behavior of apathy.

4.Taut (not be rigid)

Being adaptive helps us to connect with others. You can be assertive and yet be adaptive. In showing rigidity in your actions, behaviors and the way you communicate, you are showing indifference.

Do you not ask questions because you fear resistance?

Do you stop advocating an idea for the good of your team and co., because it is not met with eyes of approval?

5.Haughty

A leader is one who has humility in the way they act and behave. By being haughty you do not inspire others in who you are or what you do.

⇒Do you surround yourself with people who don’t question you?

OR

⇒Do you surround yourself with people who can challenge your thinking and whose strengths make up for your deficits?

⇒Is your action and behavior disdainful and arrogantly superior?

⇒What are you doing with being in the know?

6.Yourself

Be authentic and Be yourself. Authenticity is being genuine but does not include being brash or uncourteous. Being authentic means you manage your EI and don’t forget your humility. In being EI, you chose to reframe your communication in a way that suits your audience and the context, without lying or using flattery.

 “As a #leader, you inspire others when you refuse to act and behave in a manner that is not apathetic.”

Attitude – You Pick, You Choose, And you create a #positive impact.

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If you want to increase your self-awareness and manage your emotions in a better way, please consult me.

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Filed Under: Attitude, Brand You, Character, Coaching, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Habits, Hike, Integrity, Lead By Example, Lead From Within, Leadership & Personal Development, Mindfulness, Relationships, Resilience, Sales Leadership, self-awareness Tagged With: amiable, antidote, attitude, coaching, communication. Pride. ego, lead from within, Leader, Leadership

Top Six Qualities Of Being A Leader

4 August 2016 By Lalita Raman Leave a Comment

It takes Courage to become old. This is what a friend of mine stated as she was recollecting what her mother had mentioned to her when she was alive. We were both having a conversation on our parents, their health and on life in general. As I was going home, the words that “It takes courage to become old” kept ringing in my ears.

I was thinking about my parents and what they have been through recently and my mom’s fight with Parkinsons’. Despite my Dad’s recent illness, his will power to look at life on a bright side and my mom’s innate ability to deal relentlessly with the challenges thrown by Parkinson’s are inspiring. Despite her down moments, I admire her resilience.

Throughout our life, there are many of us who wonder if we are leaders, are we inspiring others, are we motivating others. Yet, we forget that who we are, what we do, how we behave and how we deal with the downs of life, if done right, can be a leading example to many.

What is key to Who You Are ?

1.Your Attitude

You need to believe in yourself and you are stronger than you think. This is a matter of your attitude. Life’s events can be daunting and many moments may be such that you want to give up. I have learnt from my parents that you cannot allow yourself to be defined by what gets given to you- let life’s moments not define you, you can define life’s moments by the attitude you take. Many of life’s moments are not chosen by you, but the attitude you take to those is entirely your choice.

You may want to cringe, get angry, frustrated and by doing all that, you unfortunately make yourself worse. Deal with the emotion you are undergoing, share it, journal it and do something constructive that will enable you to move forward.

As a leader, you realize that sulking on disasters and disappointments in life is not going to help you. You need to believe in yourself, lead from within and only then can you possibly inspire others.

2.Your Values

Very often whilst coaching my clients, when I ask them to state their core values and if their actions and behaviors would exhibit those values, many of them get insights.

It is important to know who we are, what are our core values, how do our actions and behaviors define our values?

Every time I look at my parents or speak with them, I realize that they are resilient and manage themselves well emotionally. They don’t give up. They are willing to see the light at the end of a dark road. And for my sister and I, that is inspiring and encouraging.

Be someone whose behavior and actions reflect your core values and let your actions #inspire and others.

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3.You are a Risk Taker

It is easy to give up when you choose to see your obstacles as hurdles that cannot be surpassed. Yet, you have a choice to see it as challenges or opportunities and way to move forward. It encourages you to think differently, move out of your comfort zone and challenge the way you are.

For my mom, dealing with Parkinson’s is new to her. There is no prior experience and she has to face those challenging moments with a lot of grit. She does get discouraged and yet she gets out of it by the way she reacts to it and the mindset that she adopts.

As a leader, you can inspire others by the perspective you take to the troubles or challenges that come your way and overall your attitude to come through those stronger and better.

4.You Prioritize

My parents are old and the assumed tendency is that they will be slacking off and not be bothered about time. They have not done in the past and do not do so even now. They are disciplined about their time and others time. My parents still wake up early and manage their affairs well, despite many a challenge.

As a #leader, how do you prioritize your #time and what value do you give to others time.

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  Are you consistent with walking your talk? How committed are you to your word? You will motivate others when you lead by example and when you value your time and those of others.

5.Your growth and development

My dad keeps himself abreast of news and developments around the world. He reads and watches news channels on TV.

Personal growth and development is fundamental to the way you come across to others. It affects your Executive Presence. When you focus on your personal growth and development, you are willing to expand your horizons and be on a continuous cycle of development and a willing learner. Humility is essential to be on the path of growth and development.

6.You are not alone

I did not realize for many years that my parents need appreciation. They don’t say it and when they do get appreciated, they feel nice. Reminders about the positive things they have done and how it matters to you is a nudge to them that they are not alone.

Praise and appreciation is required by each of us, no matter our age or gender. Even leaders who lead by example need to be appreciated and reminded that they are not alone.

You can be a leader by taking those little actions that matter. You can act and behave in a way that tells yourself or others that you are not a sum of your beliefs, fears and doubts.

For one-on-one coating, group coaching, facilitating of workshops , training needs, please consult me.

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Filed Under: Attitude, Character, Coaching, Communication, Emotions, Integrity, Lead By Example, Lead From Within, Leadership & Personal Development, Life Tagged With: Appreciation, attitude, Communication, Leadership, leadfromwithin, resilient

5 Effortless Ways to Empower Your Self-Awareness

6 July 2015 By Lalita Raman Leave a Comment

“I am aware about that.” “Yeah, I know that.” “I have been through this before. This was Anna*, a client of mine, in her first couple of one-on-one coaching sessions with me, repeatedly told me in different always that she is a self-aware person.

Being self-aware is great and one of the first steps to your personal growth and development. And what are you doing with that awareness is even more important? What are you doing with being in “The Know”

Let’s take a closer look at the steps you can take once you are aware.

 

1. What Action Can I Take?

This is a powerful question you can ask yourself from time to time and when you are in “The know”. This helps you to put that awareness into taking some action. To motivate yourself, ask yourself what action can you take in the next 1 hour, in a day, in a week and so on.

If your goal is to participate in a triathlon in six months’ time, and you are aware that you need to train, what actions can you take, on a daily basis, to get the training kick started?

This can apply to any goal, skill or result that you need to achieve including being self-confident, authentic, able to influence and inspire others.

2. Why do I need to take the action ?

Taking action or not depends on how excited you are to achieve your goal. For example, If you are aware that your inner dialogue is stopping you from being an impactful communicator, you need to ask yourself why do you want to become an impactful communicator, what are the results you will achieve once you are an impactful communicator and how important are these results to you?

3. Why am I doing what I am doing ?

Connecting with your purpose helps you to achieve clarity in order to move forward. Your self-awareness will help you to set up structures in place so that you can take action towards the purpose you are motivated by.

4. What is your mindset?

Having a negative mindset accelerates your self-criticism without you being able to achieve the desired outcomes.

#Positive #mindset is critical to build your #resilience to keep going when the going gets tough.

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Use your self-awareness to determine what you did well when you made a shift in your perspective last time or when you overcame a challenge, what could you improve to get better results and what is stopping you from achieving your desired outcomes?

Visualize what will it be like if you achieve your desired goal. This visualization makes the goal powerful, positive and present and achievable.

Control your inner dialogue or self-talk towards accomplishing your development and growth.

5. What will happen if I don’t do anything with my awareness?

This is a great way to motivate yourself or push yourself to action. Reminding yourself of the consequences of not taking action is a great way to stop procrastinating.

Our brain is motivated to take action by perceived pain or pleasure.

Dr. Kringelbach suggests that this relationship between pain and pleasure would be evolutionarily efficient, because it was necessary to know whether or not to avoid or approach something for survival. According to Dr. Norman Doidge, the brain is limited in the sense that it tends to focus on the most used pathways.

6. What will happen if I take the action that I am aware about?

This is the pull factor and you gear your brain and drive yourself to the desired action. Use your awareness to achieve your desired goal. In all this, don’t forget to give credit to yourself in what you have accomplished.

Self-awareness includes:

↪️ recognizing our destructive thought patterns and taking action to work through them and overcome them
↪️ understanding our emotions – how we react to behaviors and events around us, what triggers the negative emotions and once you understand how can you manage the negative triggers
↪️ not only noticing our patterns of behaviors and actions but creating the necessary shift to overcome those that are disruptive
↪️ we are not in control of everything that happens around us but we are in control of our attitude and the mindset that we take to every situation.
↪️ that each of us have a choice and that we are responsible for our actions in our moment of choice.

#Self-awareness takes prolonged #focus and #effort. #EI #personaldevelopment #growth

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If you want to be self-aware and keen on making a shift in your leadership and communication style, please connect with me.

*name changed

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Filed Under: Attitude, Coaching, Communication, Emotions, Energize Your Leadership, Habits, Integrity, Lead By Example, Lead From Within, Leadership & Personal Development, Life, self-awareness Tagged With: attitude, authentic, Communication, Dale Carnegie, Influence, lead by example, leadfromwithin, mindset, positive, Self-Awareness, Self-Confident

Oh No! Not Another Meeting

26 March 2015 By Lalita Raman Leave a Comment

I can’t believe you will be there at the meeting. This was a remark made by one of my colleagues. This meeting has an agenda and we always get something done and achieve what we set out for. I don’t have any issues attending these kind of fruitful meetings was my response to him.

Couple of weeks back, I received an email asking a group of us of our availability during a particular week. I read that email and was confused. First of all there was no clear agenda or plan as to what we need each one’s expertise for. What is each one’s interest or what are each of us good at and how can this be used to get the best of what needs to be achieved during the end of that week for which this email was sent out. Meetings were held before this as to what we need to do and other than something needs to be done, nothing concrete materialized.

Let’s schedule a meeting has become the main stay of most of the corporate world, the nonprofit world and basically part of our day-to-day life. Let’s discuss on Skype, G+, conference call or face to face monthly morning meeting, weekly morning meeting or daily meeting. No matter if Ideas need to be discussed or progress needs to be checked on, let’s call a meeting.

Whilst there is nothing wrong with scheduling a meeting, regularly or not, it may not be the right solution and even in instances, where, it is the best answer, the meeting needs to be structured and held in such a way, that the end goal is achieved and each participant in the meeting feels that their time was well utilized.

People in leadership positions (not necessarily all of them behave like leaders) are more often than not responsible for calling for meetings and most of the time these meetings becomes a tool in their hands to justify their presence. It is like a tick in the box with very little or no meaningful engagement from the participants.

Questions that leaders can ask themselves is

1. What is the purpose of the meeting ?

Do I really need this meeting? Is it to discuss ideas, monitor progress and is there a necessity to do that ? Am I calling for a meeting because it has been done so for the past 10 years?

Are you relying heavily on face to face meetings rather than reading and analyzing reports and data available to you ?

Do you tend to have the meetings to solicit input from others but tend to either ignore their inputs or have a tough time making decisions?

2. Do you have a clear road map to achieve the purpose?

Once you have determined that there is a concrete purpose to the meeting, set a road map as to how you will achieve it.

Are you going to be dominant and self-oriented and give little or no chance to others to contribute?

How are you going to get others to communicate and contribute?

We live in the world of communication and to keep the flow of communication going, your attitude, your mindset and what you say and how you say are all equally important.

3. What kind of a leader or person are you ?

Check your style by performing an assessment so that you are aware or increase your awareness and at the same time get others perspectives.

⇒Are you

Conservative/Technical/Innovative in terms of your approach to problems and solutions. How is this affecting your daily management of your day and the way you communicate with others.

⇒How are you in

Structuring/Delegation/Communication when it comes to your team and defining expectations.

Where do you need to #letgo to get the best from your team? #communication #peopleskills

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⇒Are you a thinker or a doer and how do you balance it out in your day-to-day interactions – Strategic v/s Tactical.

⇒What is your style – relationship centered or task centered or are you balanced about the two in seeking to achieve your vision. How are you using your style to communicate with others and encourage them?

Meetings can be interesting if there is a set goal, interesting ways to get to the goal and there is clear communication flow.

How can you make your #meetings #interesting, #productive and #effective for yourself and others?

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 Do you want people to attend your meetings because they have to and not feel like? Do you want the participants in your meeting giving their attention to their mobile or achieving the purpose of the meeting?

When do you enjoy meetings and why? Can you bring some of that in the meetings you conduct?

Let’s connect for workshops, group coaching, facilitation, one-on-one coaching. 

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Filed Under: Attitude, Coaching, Communication, Employee Engagement, Habits, Integrity, Lead By Example, Lead From Within, Leadership & Personal Development, Life, Mindfulness Tagged With: attitude, Communication, lead change, lead from within, leaders, Leadership, meetings

Don’t Criticize, Condemn Or Complain

5 November 2014 By Lalita Raman Leave a Comment

Photo Credit : Lalita Raman

Photo Credit : Lalita Raman

I was delivering a workshop on Resolving Conflicts last week and while in conversation with one of the attendees, he mentioned about the frustrating experience, he had that morning, in arranging a brunch booking. He had a bad experience with most of the restaurants he called barring one.

He was most pleased with this particular Hotel because they treated him with care and that was evident in the way the lady who had answered his call spoke to him.

One of the Dale Carnegie Human Relation principles is Don’t Criticize, Condemn or Complain. When most people, I have met hear or read this, they laugh at it and say hey that is impossible in today’s world.

The impossibility comes from the attitude we take. Of course if something goes wrong, you cannot not criticise. What is important to remember is how the criticism or the complaint is delivered.

However, let’s take a step back. Why do we complain or criticize in the first place ? Your Attitude is one you have control on.

It is your attitude either as a receiver or as a sender in every message, written or verbal, that sets the tone of the conversation and the consequences of the choices that is made. Attitude is contagious and surely a positive attitude is one worth spreading. 

What are some of the desirable traits that we would like people to have? Aren’t these the same traits we should seek to have and strive to be on the path of excellence:

1. Be Self-aware

Your path to #grow, develop and excel starts with self-awareness. #leadfromwithin #peopleskills #leadership #selfawareness

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 You have to know who you are, what are your strengths, your challenges. Being self-aware, you are able to understand yourself, your values and how you appear in front of others.

2. Communicate with Clarity

We live in the world of communication. Our communication is affected when we are stressed, overwhelmed, or not appreciated because in such situations we aren’t able to organize our thoughts with clarity. Managing our emotions and not falling a victim to the negative vicious cycle helps us to communicate with clarity.

3. Be a Listener

Presence of mind is easily seen by a person’s body language and facial expression. 

#Listening with your body, mind and soul is the best #gift you can give your partner in any #communication.

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4. Be Generous

Almost every organization is offering some kind of service and the generosity in the care they show to you as a client speaks volumes about their attitude.

5. Keeping your word

You are forming an impression in the way you walk your talk and in the consistency you show in your actions.

Honor your word and your time. #leadfromwithin #discipline #leadbyexample #character #peopleskills

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 Be in control of time and do not allow time to control you.

If you cannot be these things yourself, it is difficult to expect of others. 

The key to finding your happiness is to be the things that you require and wish for in another. #relationships

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How can you break away from the habit to criticize, condemn or complain?

How can you deliver feedback that is developmental and the fault seem easy to correct ?

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Filed Under: Attitude, Character, Coaching, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Emotions, Habits, Lead From Within, Leadership & Personal Development, Life Tagged With: attitude, Commitment, Communication, generous, Leadership, leadfromwithin, Self-Awareness

Do You Walk A Fine Line In The Choices You Make?

26 August 2014 By Lalita Raman Leave a Comment

I was listening to music on my way to yoga on Saturday and Paul McCartney’s following song started playing on my iPhone ….

There is a fine line, between recklessness and courage
It’s about time, you understood which road to take
It’s a fine line, your decision makes a difference
Get it wrong, you’ll be making a big mistake

It’s a fine line
Whatever’s more important to you (It’s a fine line)
You got to choose what you want to do
Whatever’s more important to be (It’s a fine line)
That’s the thing that you gotta see

The lyrics of this song kept ringing in my ears and whilst doing yoga, when the instructor mentioned, do what is possible, push yourself but not to the extent where you are not able to breathe…..,it struck me that there is such a fine line between challenging yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone and pushing yourself to an extent where you could injure yourself and find it difficult to breathe.

After class on my way back, I couldn’t help thinking…..

There is a fine line between

→ confidence and over confidence resulting in arrogance
→ frustration and giving into anger and giving up
→ being a trusted advisor and a pushy or desperate sales person
→ giving in to let go and giving up
→ fake it till you make it to gain confidence and being inauthentic

How many times do leaders walk this fine line? And in walking this fine line, do you as a leader forget to care for your employees, to keep the communication lines open, to appreciate people and not take kindness for granted.

In walking this thin line, and in order to not tip over to the not so pleasant side, what are some of the most important factors?

1. Confidence

Have the confidence to be not led by your fears, yet remind yourself to be humble. Walking the fine line between arrogance and confidence can be challenging at times, yet, if you allow yourself to be driven by your inner self and core, it is possible to make the right choice.

2. Let go

Let go of the desire to be popular and of getting brownie points at the cost of not speaking up for the right things. Indifference breeds indifference. If you take people in your team for granted and do not recognize or appreciate them you are indicating that you don’t care for them or the work they do. Your behavior and what you do or don’t, matters.

3. People Skills

Being a team leader or manager involves much more than IQ. You will be an effective manager when you communicate with your team, make them feel valued and listen to them.

Be consistent in your behavior and walk your talk. You create confusion and animosity when you communicate one thing with your words and do something else by your actions. You need to have a positive attitude and see the good and bad and be able to deal with the challenges and adversities. People will believe in you if they see you put forth your values and vision consistently and in that care for people and work together with them to take this value and vision forward.

4. Mindset and attitude

It is challenging not to cross the thin line during adversities. Yet, a leader is one who does not fall prey to the vulnerable moment and shows the tight attitude and mindset. It is not about being a superwoman or superman but asking yourself what is your purpose and what are you driven by? Negative attitude is like a vicious cycle and can have a cascading effect in bringing a relationship, a team and organization apart.

5. Indifference

Your leadership style needs to facilitate people towards their and the overall organization’s progress. Policies and procedures are essential in an organization but when you make them cumbersome and as the sole purpose in whatever you do, it becomes inhuman and a burden.

No matter what role you play, you don’t need to tip over the thin line to make a choice that is irrational and one that displays poor #EI. #leadfromwithin

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You have a #choice even when you are walking a fine line, one you would like to receive if you were at the receiving end. #peopleskills

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For Coaching, Speaking or Training let’s connect.

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Filed Under: Attitude, Character, Coaching, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Discrimination, Emotions, Employee Engagement, Habits, Integrity, Lead From Within, Leadership & Personal Development, Life, Sales Leadership, Talent And Human Resources Tagged With: attitude, Communication, courage, fine line, Leadership, leadfromwithin, negative, Paul McCartney, People skills, positive, recklessness

How To Have A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

22 April 2014 By Lalita Raman 2 Comments

The Gym TRX class starts at 11am on Sunday and two people walk in at 11:15 and their body language was such that they didn’t even look apologetic for being late. Despite being told that they are late and they can’t enter the class, they stomp in, ignoring the instructor’s request.

Eric who has just taken over as the Asia-Pacific sales head for his company, tells the new intern in his team that he has to get Eric’s breakfast sharp at 8 am daily.

If I can’t get that, you can’t get that too! This was Sylvia’s inner thought that was dictating the attitude that she was showing her friend who was looking bewildered.

It has been said that people don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. Click To Tweet. This indicates the importance of demonstrating a respectful and caring attitude. Be it in sales or in any role, your credibility can be established by how much you know and your accomplishments but what finally allows your reputation to be built is having the right attitude. Click To Tweet

⇒How does bad attitude look and sound ? 

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Filed Under: Attitude, Character, Coaching, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Discrimination, Emotions, Habits, Idiosyncracies, Lead From Within, Life, Relationships Tagged With: amicable, attitude, caring, disposition, ego, emulate, integrity, leadfromwithin, Listening, success, thoughts, timely, tone, treatment, understanding

Leadership Lessons From The Movie “42”

22 August 2013 By Lalita Raman 3 Comments

Life offers the strangest twists and turns for some of us. Some of these challenges agonizes you, tortures you and you are left wondering what did you do wrong? Why “me”?

I’ve always considered life’s challenges as a way to learn and when I get into a negative mode, I realize that negativity pulls me down further and I need to bounce back from that thinking.

My journey to date has been inspired by my parents, some of my friends, my family, people whom I’ve read about or met, books that I’ve read and some of the movies that I’ve watched.

I saw the movie “42” recently. 42 tells the story of Jackie Robinson and, under the guidance of team executive Branch Rickey, Robinson’s signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first African-American player to break the baseball color barrier. The story focuses mostly on the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season and somewhat on Robinson’s 1946 season with the Montreal Royals.

Drag your thoughts away from your troubles…by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it. – Mark Twain

Jackie Robinson, despite support from Branch Rickey and later on from some of his team members, was not without troubles and hardships. His color was not his choice but he proved that the way he played the game and his attitude was his choice despite the continued abuse he got from society at large.

What appealed to me about the movie was the way he handled his troubles. He was treated unfair several times, but his attitude proved to be his greatest ally. 

Hardships and troubles are part of most people’s lives. Whether you like it or not you face challenges and a lot of leaders or people whom you have been inspired by the most, have faced many daunting moments. How well do you stand the test of Leadership When The Heat Is On?

Key Learnings From The Movie

1. Ignore – ignoring difficulties you face in life is not a solution. If you choose to run away from the situation you make it worse for yourself and the team you are leading or those whom you seek to inspire.

Jackie Robinson chose not to ignore what he was in but led himself with his passion for the game and proved to his worst abusers who he was. He consistently played his game with passion and for his team that made it hard for his abusers to continue with their sick attitude.

As a leader, make a choice to look at the reality of what has occurred and whether you feel you can accept it or not. Step back, assess the reality, and determine what can be done to move forward and not make the matter worse. By ignoring the situation, you as a leader can create animosity and hurt the morale of people around you.

Just because you choose to avoid to see it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or goes away. You weaken your situation as a leader.
Love what you do and put your heart and soul in it 100%.

2. Create & Keep – we are humans and yes do get affected by the way people treat us or by others attitude. However by taking an antagonistic or negative attitude you could be creating more hardship. Recognize your emotions, prop yourself up with the support of your own positive mindset or with the help of friends, if necessary.

Your inaction or the way you communicate or not could be the cause of trouble for you and your team.

Jackie Robinson faced many situations where he could have let his emotions take over. If he had done so, he would have lost concentration in his game and in being able to deliver an excellent performance. He chose not to create trouble or add to the hardship he was already in. He was not responsible for the color he was born with or on how others treated him or their behavior. He had full control over his attitude and his response to such treatment and he made a choice to focus on his game and not get carried away by his emotions. He chose not to create or keep the troubles.

As a leader what you are responsible for is your presence of mind in each moment of choice.

3. Interest – are you interested in what you do and do you have enough passion to be able to continue that path which has been one of hardship so far?

Jackie Robinson loved baseball and his love for the game was so immense that he was able to let that passion take over and surmount the troubles he faced during his early baseball career. He kept his focus on the game and his goal of being the best in his game helped him achieve success for himself and his team.

As a leader are you passionate about your purpose in life? Have you been able to garner the support and inspire others to the same vision? Is this passion so strong to be able to lead you through the struggles you face in your journey? Do you care about the results of your actions. If you do, then will your behavior and actions yield the desired results? If not, what if any, do you need to change?

4. Support – none of us can work is isolation. You need the support of a mentor, coach, boss, friends, family and people who believe in you. The environment and people around you matter and plays a vital role in shaping who you become.

Jackie Robinson had unending support from his wife, his fans, guidance of team executive Branch Rickey, and members of his team. Branch Rickey believed in him, in his game and gave him support and guidance during his baseball career.

An encouraging hand and a caring heart is what a leader needs to get and give.

Through the struggles, a leader should not undermine the importance of setting up an environment that tolerates and supports a mistake, weaknesses of each member of their team and help them grow.

Reflective Questions

1. What are you ignoring or avoiding and Why?

2. What hindrances have you created and how can you correct them?

3. What baggage are you keeping that is hindering the path of self-development and the growth of the team?

4. Are you giving your 100% in all you are and what you do?

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Filed Under: Character, Coaching, Communication, Discrimination, Emotions, Lead From Within, Leadership & Personal Development, Life Tagged With: attitude, Baseball color line, Book, Branch Rickey, Brooklyn, challenges, character, hardships, Jackie Robinson, Leadership, leadfromwithin, Montreal Royals, Robinson, troubles, United States

Violence Against Women

30 January 2012 By Lalita Raman 2 Comments

Violence Against Women is one of the worst crimes and pandemic that exists in our society. Violence exists because we choose to live with it, we choose to allow women to be treated badly.

Please watch my video below on my views on Violence Against Women and what you can do to put an end to this torture that continues to be inflicted against women.

Violence Against Women

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Filed Under: Video Blogs, Violence Against Women Tagged With: Anger, attitude, family, Girls, India, life, society, subcontinent, violence, Violence on Women, Women

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