Maximise Potential

In times of crisis like this we look to leaders for inspiration, hope and direction. The last word is the key as the first thing to suffer in a crisis is direction. Leaders have a guiding vision for the future and turn to hope when others can only see mud. Lets hope in this time of enormous crisis it also unearths true leaders who can navigate the turbulent times and move us into a greater future however distant that may seem at this time. 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 repertoire. Leaders are made and of course they are born a

Warren Buffet the Oracle of Omaha is one of the greatest investors of all time will remain an inspiration for many centuries into the future. He is the epitome of integrity and a sage of wisdom while being a constant learner setting an example for all of us. The best book I enjoyed on Warren Buffett is Snowball by Alice Shroeder. Buffet's investment philosophy which is also called value investing was from his mentor Benjamin Graham who taught him to plan for long term, so he doesn't care about the market fluctuations as he is in it for the ultimate victory. Here are the 9 lessons I gleaned from the life of Warren Buffet. Focus – This word is important for all of us as we proceed at breathtaking speed through pandemics, technological upheaval, economic recessions and our jobs always in danger of being replaced by automation. Apparently in one of the dinners that Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Bill Gates Sr. was present the reporters asked what is the single secret of success and

I wanted to take the opportunity to share the books I liked reading this year across various topics like technology, business, success, and leadership among others. Most of them are business books which is my preferred genre. Here are the five books I liked reading in 2022 and also at the bottom you have my favorite books from 2015 till 2021. CEO Excellence by Scott Keller, Carolyn Dewar, Vikram Malhotra   – This is an insider peek into what CEO's do as leaders. There are six mindsets here with the first being to set the direction. All CEO's have a game-changing vision to change the future and this motivates the team to perform. Satya Nadella turned around Microsoft by doing some game-changing moves. including acquisitions. One of the key takeaways is CEO's are not the best at something but they know many things and hire the best to complement them. Another key is productivity for example when they are on vacation they switch off completely to renew. A flat-out great read f

In my opinion, we are already in the playoffs of life. Sometimes we wait for the right time to do something or think that there is some other time which is more important than now. However, the truth is we are all in the playoffs already and we don’t get too many other chances to showcase our talent. So, this is the main game. Here are the actions needed to win in the playoffs Perform – I love this word because all of us have the need to perform with the talent we have. Some of us are even gifted but only if we do the work required to discover our talent. Performing every week over a long period of time is the key to our success. So decide what performance you want to give this week and go for your touchdown. Love your work – If you need to perform at your best week in and week out then you need to love your work. Keep on bringing passion to your work. Keep loving what you do for your living. That is the number one route to happiness. Doing what you love is great but loving what you do

This is my 50th article as part of the newsletter. Thanks to everyone who has subscribed and taken the time to read the articles. Here are my thoughts on how to become more successful and enjoy life. There are 45 keys I have identified and we all do well in some areas and we can improve in other areas. This comprehensive list can increase our awareness and help us on our journey towards greater personal success. First off before we start I wanted to say that no one else can define what success means to us. This is just my list on what can help us on our success journey. If we are moving towards something that we want and we are making progress then that is where you can find your version of success. We have all known people who have had so much public success but they never felt successful. So it is something which each individual has to define for themselves. Here are the 45 keys I have identified that can help us on our journey. You are unique — Even identical twins do not have the s

 Andy Grove was one of the greatest business leaders of all time. He left us on March 21st 2016 and remembering him as one of the great leaders who has impacted the world. Here is the summary below of his outstanding book "Only the Paranoid Survive." Andy Grove is credited with saying the phrase “Only the Paranoid Survive”. I happened to read his book of the same name. It was an interesting read. The main premise is that every company/industry will experience strategic inflection points at which they can be knocked off or use that to spur them on to further growth. Strategic inflection points are what happen to a business when a major change takes place that could shake up your company. It is when the balance of forces shifts from the old structure, from the old ways of doing business and the old ways of competing to the new.   An example is what happened to Intel in mid-1980. At that time Intel’s main market was in memory chips but the Japanese stormed the market with much b

Shane Warne died at the ripe age of 52 on March 4th 2022. He was one of the greatest players of all time and has fans all over the world. He is a true champion and changed the face of spin bowling. I had a chance to meet him in person when I went to Taj hotel where the Australians were staying in Chennai during the 2001 test match in a historic series with India. Briefly I said "Hi Warney" and he responded in kind then proceeded with the conversation he was having. In his first test match against India in 1991-92 series he didn't have a great start. However he showed enormous resilience to turn himself into one of the greatest bowlers of all time. He was a great competitor with the ferocity of will to win no matter what is thrown his way. A true champion indeed. How much ever money or fame we have death seems to be the great equalizer.  It reminds us to look at our lives and maybe we are not going to be here forever. This might be a good time to see how we can live our li

 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. For me leadership is about three things dreaming big with a compelling vision, ability to inspire others and leading by example. I have expanded each letter of the word leadership to identify the key requirements for becoming a great leader. Here are the 10 keys that all outstanding leaders use 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 fee

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing is underway and I want to wish the best to all the participants to bring on their best game. One of the inspirational performances was that of Eileen Gu as she had to land a move she had never tried in competition. Gu won a gold medal in freestyle skiing, hopefully the first of many for her. Another athlete to salute is Shaun White who is at his fifth games and is still one of snowboarding's greatest competitors. He finished fourth in his last games this time. He said afterward "I am proud the of the life I have led, and what I have done in this sport, and what I have left behind." At the end of our careers if all of us can say that it would be a great career indeed. On Wednesday February 9th 2022 Lindsey Jacobellis won a gold medal. Her story is really interesting. In 2006 she missed her gold medal by falling while performing a showboating trick near the finish line. She missed the final in 2010 and 2014. In 2018 she was placed at four