Maximise Potential

Leadership is the most important need in our society and organizations alike. In my opinion everyone should define what leadership means to them and it is for the individual to decide if they are successful in meeting that definition or not. I would suggest identify the leaders who have impacted you and find out how they led their teams. In my opinion leadership is ability to be stay inspired and inspire others to action. Leaders help others perform even when they don’t feel like doing it. I believe the recipe of leadership can be baked with the following ingredients. Here is my A - Z of Leadership. I had also published A-Z of Success please check it out here A-Z of Success. A for Attitude : Attitude is the first requirement to be a great leader. A leader’s attitude is contagious and spreads like wild fire across the organization. Jack Welch has a 4E formula which is having high energy, ability to energize, execute and having the edge. A leader needs to be personally energeti

A pleasing personality is very important to develop as we move forward in our career. It can also help us in our personal lives. In the book Believe and Achieve by W.Clement Stone he gives some great tips on developing a pleasing personality. Here are the 10 tips I liked with my take on each. Take an inventory – The first step in developing a pleasing personality is to first be happy in your own skin. Take an inventory of all the wonderful qualities you are bestowed with. Some of the qualities you may have are self-discipline, honesty, character, integrity and passion. Even if you don’t have some of these qualities you can put together a plan to be the person who has all the qualities you desire. By dreaming of your ideal self you will steadily move towards becoming that person in reality. Observe yourself  – All top athletes replay their performance to see where they have done well and where they can improve. Similarly after each major interaction you can evaluate what you di

Leadership is a contact sport and everyone has their own definition of leadership. In the book Believe and Achieve by W.Clement Stone he mentions about the rules of leadership from Strom Thurmond who was a US Senator from South Carolina from 1954 till 2003. Here are the 11 rules I liked with my take on each Leaders must be honest – Leaders will be able to attract followers only if they are honest. Honesty develops trust within the teams. When a leader is honest in sharing both good and bad news it fosters an open culture where collaboration is high and friction is reduced. Leaders must have ability  – This is an obvious one that only if a leader is truly competent in their field they can attract followers. Especially in the knowledge era where information is exploding at an alarming rate it becomes of paramount importance that leaders are totally competent. The best leaders are always looking out for learning opportunities through reading and listening. They also share what th

Dealing with people is one of the important roles of a manager. If you want to be successful as a leader or manager the ability to inspire and motivate people to peak performance is the key. Here are 8 ways to get the most out of everyone in your team or organization. Get to know the people  – Everyone wants to feel important. The only way a leader can show they care is by taking an active interest in every person on the team. Get to know your people at a personal level by understanding their strengths and try to align their work accordingly. Once you build rapport with your team members a culture of positive engagement will follow. Be an encourager  – Constantly encourage everyone for the good work they are doing. Be a good finder. One of the jobs of a leader is to ensure everyone is inspired and motivated to give their best. There is a reason why a coach gives a pep talk before any game. It gives the team extra ammunition to give their best. Regular meetings  – Meetings ar

Reading is one of my favorite hobbies and it offers a great opportunity to relax and learn at the same time. I have shared below the 10 books I liked reading in 2016. I have also reviewed some of them so if you are interested you can check it out by clicking the related links. Deep Work by Cal Newport –  This was a good read. The main thesis is to not get distracted and have distraction free zones to produce your best work. So switch off social media, take time for solitude and that’s when the best work shows up.  The author defines deep work as “Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.” There are also references to Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis' and their absence from Twitter as evidence that social media usage is unnecessary for writers though this may not be applicable to everyone. Contagious   Cu

Leadership has been endlessly dissected and ultimately even with the advent of technology the fundamentals of leadership has not changed. Leaders should have the ability to inspire others to action. It is getting people to do things which they normally would not have done without the leader’s intervention. I have expanded each letter of the word leadership to identify the key traits required for becoming a great leader. Here are the 10 traits that all outstanding leaders possess to stand out and lead people to work towards a well-defined vision. They are great listeners  – Great leaders are great listeners. Leaders like Ronald Reagan were well known for their listening skills. When a leader listens to the team they feel the leader is part of the team and is willing to take into account the issues at hand. Leaders understand that for a team to perform they have to feel good about themselves. The ability to be heard is one of the core requirements for a human and a leader who list