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Category: Book review

  • Servant leadership

    If we go to work and do not love our jobs , quitting is the only option

    We can choose to commit ourselves to ensuring that our colleagues love coming to work.Our work becomes helping to find their calling

    This act of service is leadership

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book titled “Together is Better”

  • Excitement or Fulfillment?

    Winning the award is exciting and results in a “dopamine” shot

    The real “oxytocin” driven fulfillment comes from looking back and seeing all the people who rooted for us , helped us , put their reputation in line for us & believed in us

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book titled “Together is Better”

  • The DNA of innovative workplaces

    Innovative workplaces consist of high performing teams

    High performance trusting teams consist of individuals who trust each other and feel safe in each others company.

    They feel safe to the extent of being vulnerable to share their weakness in the hope that their team members would support team

    Such an environment helps people work together to make innovation happen

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book titled “The Infinite Game”

  • Understanding a finite mindset , the GE way

    Jack Welch always cared for short term gains and was known to put shareholder gains before people in GE

    His rating criteria for people was based on two criteria:

    1) Performance & 2) Potential which is future performance

    Such a short term profit centred mindset is a perfect example of a finite mindset where profits are put ahead of people.

    Needlessly to day this eroded the work culture and employee trust and had it not been for a $300 billion bailout by the US government , GE would have been history by now

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book “The Infinite Game”

  • What is the relation between generosity and oxytocin?

    Generosity is doing something selflessly for someone without expecting anything in return. This blogpost shows the relation between generosity and flow of oxytocin.

    The human brain is oriented towards fulfillment by such acts of generosity.

    This leads to the stimulation of the love hormone named oxytocin which is known to increase immunity.

    Thus acts of generosity help us lead a happy and fulfilled life

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book titled “Leaders Eat Last”

  • Performance Or Trust , which does an infinite minded leader choose?

    Taking the example of Navy Seals , more than performance the need is of a trustworthy individual.

    A high performing individual low on trust spoils the environment and the team morale.

    Whereas a highly trustworthy individual even though lacking in performance is much more in demand since IQ related to performance can be taught

    EQ cannot be taught and is the most important prerequisite that a leader seeks in an individual to keep playing the infinite game

    The ideal scenario is to have the balance between IQ and EQ

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game

  • Why video calls can’t substitute “in person” conversation?

    Human beings are social animals driven by the power of social bonds

    It is our basic nature to seek for company of like minded people in order to feel safe.

    The true bonds are formed by touch and feel , in person communication and hence nothing for e.g virtual video calls can substitute in person communication

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s youtube videos

  • Leadership is a responsibility

    Leadership is not a rank or position to be attained.

    Leadership is a service to be rendered to followers

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book titled “Together is Better”

  • The 5 stages of decline of great companies

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book titled “How the Mighty Fall”

    The 5 stages of decline of great companies are:

    1. Stage 1 – Hubris born of the success
    2. Stage 2 – Undisciplined pursuit of more
    3. Stage 3 – Denial of Risk and Peril
    4. Stage 4 – Grasping for salvation
    5. Stage 5 – Capitulation to irrelevance or Death

     

  • Creating huge margins of safety to keep playing the infinite game

    The infinite game of business is where the players are unknown , time in unlimited and the rules are unknown.

    The goal of players in an infinite game is to keep playing the game.

    10X companies or high performing companies in the infinite game of business , exercise productive paranoia , empirical creativity and fanatic discipline to create huge margins of safety.

    In the infinite game of business when the tide is rough these huge margins of safety safeguard a high performer being knocked out.During good times for luck to help these high performers derive high return on luck firstly they have to survive the rough times via the huge margins of safety.

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book titled “Great By Choice”