MONDAY MUSINGS SEASON 2 - EPISODE 265

#FourteenLeadershipFlaws

10th June 2024

Fourteen defects a leader should avoid are:

Atheism, falsehood, anger, inattention, procrastination, not listening to the wise counsel, lethargy, gratification of five senses, autocratic leadership style, taking advice from people who waste time in worthless acts, failure to track and implement decisions taken, inability to keep strategic decisions secret, Not using good/positive things  (at the beginning of a plan) and setting out against all the enemies at a time – Valmiki Ramayan 2.100.65, 66 & 67

#StartWithPositivity

It is an acknowledged hindu tradition to accord reception as part of a ritual with a mangala aarti. Mangal aarti gives a calming and positive impact throughout the proceeding. Apart from the customary belief, this ritual has scientific basis as well. Turmeric used in an aarti is known to have anti-bacterial qualities and is used in many ancient treatments.

Valmiki in this sloka said “Not using auspicious (thoughts) is a flaw’. But why is Valmiki bringing this up as a Leadership lesson? Not in a religious context, of course. Valmiki is very cryptic in this sloka. He used just two words mangalasya aprayogam meaning ‘not using auspicious things’ and left the balance to our guess. Since this sloka is about the list of fourteen flaws of a leader, we shall expand Valmiki’s cryptic reference to mean ‘not using positive beliefs / thoughts / words (especially at the beginning of an initiative)’.

Like a ritual, Leaders shall ensure that they start all their missions with positive thoughts. Starting a project with a positive note gives energy to carry through the entire project.

I’ve been doing this for years in all my team meetings, and I’ve been advising my clients to do this as well.  It will not cure people’s fear or dread of meetings, but it will help you get your meetings off to a better start.  Begin your meetings with “Good News’ ie ‘Positive Updates’ and see how this simple technique makes your meetings more productive.

#3Promises

Research demonstrates that experiencing more positive emotion at work leads to better outcomes in business and in life. David J. Pollay in his book The 3 Promises: Find Joy Every Day. Do What You Love. Make a Difference has written “By creating the opportunity for team members to authentically generate their own positive emotion, you are kick-starting your meetings with more joy”

In The 3 Promises book, David explains how making three simple & daily promises to yourself – Find Joy Every Day, Do What You Love, Make A Difference – can create a life filled with joy, career satisfaction, and the power to positively impact other people's lives.

#PowerLead

'Power Lead', is a technique of a positive, optimistic, inspiring beginning to a meeting, a conversation, or even an email. The Power Lead takes advantage of the documented effect of positive priming. If the first thing we’re exposed to in a situation is positive, it has a beneficial effect on our mindset and behaviour. Focusing on something good at the beginning of a meeting sets the tone for the ensuing conversation, and research shows that how we begin a conversation is predictive of how well it turns out. Because the Power Lead also focuses the brain on growth-producing areas and encourages positivity in others. It helps teams and individuals accomplish tasks more quickly, find more creative solutions to problems, and recover from setbacks more quickly. Conversely, negative priming at the start of a meeting shuts people down and leads to poor performance.

Because the Power Lead is simple and can come from any person regardless of rank, everyone has the power to positively impact the success of a meeting.

Power Lead technique will be useful and effective not just for meetings but for many other complex tasks such as Parenting, Giving negative feedback, etc. I am not suggesting that you push negative things under the carpet but sugar coat them with a positive beginning.

Not taking up all the enemies at the same time

Last in the list is ‘prathyuthanam cha sarvasha’. uthanam in sanskrit means ‘getting up’ and sarvasha means ‘everyone’. Literal translation could be ‘Not rising up to everyone’. I am not sure if this makes any sense as a leadership trait. One possible interpretation could be ‘not taking up all (the enemies) at the same time’ and it looks a plausible explanation,

There are many examples in history of kings losing battles when they had to take up too many enemies at the same time. What appears as a war strategy for kings can be extended to modern day leaders as well. It could be extended as ‘not taking up multiple issues at the same time’. Focus would be better when key initiatives are taken up one after the other.

End of fourteen leadership flaws. Be conscious of and avoid these fourteen flaws to grow faster as a Leader. More lessons from Valmiki Ramayan will continue,

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#PositiveNewsPage

Amidst the growing list of controversies on gubernatorial positions in India, we shall hear positive news about a governor who is on a mission.

A new elixir of life called #Jivamrut is changing the lives of farmers in Gujarat. It is a fertiliser made by processing cow excreta, essential pulses, jaggery and earthworms. And pushing its use is none other than the governor of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat, who not only developed the process but has also deployed it on his 180 acres of farmland in his native Kurukshetra for the past eight years. A completely natural method, as opposed to pesticide-driven, this special organic farming is now happening on 752,000 acres across the state, from Kutch to Navsari to Saurashtra.

Devvrat introduced it soon after he came to Gujarat in 2019. It immediately found support from the state government. Special financial assistance was announced in the 2020 state budget to promote natural farming practices under the Gujarat Aatmanirbhar package. Every farmer is entitled to a subsidy of Rs 1,248 to buy a natural farming kit to prepare Jivamrut and another Rs 900 a month to maintain a cow.

The Gujarat Prakrutik Krushi Vikas Board was formed to boost natural farming, with Rs 100 crore allocated in the 2022 budget. Since May 2023, a team consisting of a member of the village’s ‘sakhi mandal’, one farmer and one agriculture expert started visiting villages to impart training on organic farming. As a result, 2.3 million farmers have been trained in eight months. The government has also sanctioned the first-ever Natural Farming Science University, at Halol in Panchmahal district.

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Conceived, compiled and posted as a weekly newsletter #MondayMusings in LinkedIn every Monday. Subscribe, Read, Like, Share, Learn, Grow and #SpreadPositivity.