Gap.

I have not been feeling like writing on my blog after losing my Mother on 16th August. I am visiting the blog for the first time after so many months. I guess, this falls under the emotion state of sadness. In our attitude session, we talk about human beings getting all their feelings from 4 emotion states - Glad, Mad, Sad & Scared.

Boredom.

We are now doing a weekly session of around 2 hours at an institution. The subject is "The Hidden Factor (Attitude!). The audience changes every week as a new batch arrives from all over the country. After a few sessions, the faculty called us and said: Change the subject. It is getting boring ! The sessions are going great and the audience is enjoying them and giving us good feedback, but, as organizers, we feel bored to attend the same every week !

Amazing, is it not ? Change for the sake of variety !!!

Women Power.

Yesterday, during a talk on "Attitude" at a leading IT Company, I was very pleased to see...the first 2 rows were filled with women. The men preferred to sit back. When it came to participation, it was the women all the way and at the end during questions, I found almost all the women had a question and only one man had asked a question. Surely, a sign of things to come in the future.
The world has totally changed and the ratio of women at the top to men will be different soon. Even God, might like to be called "She" in the coming years.

Attitude.

During a presentation to faculty members, the definition of attitude came up. All the participants had their own understanding of 'Attitude.'

Is this not amazing ? It implies, we will have as many definitions of attitude as people. Hence, the biggest barrier to moving forward together, is the disconnect amongst everyone due to the different definitions of attitude carried by each one of us.

What is the solution ? One definitely, cannot have an "universal" definition communicated and understood by everyone. Instead of trying to teach everyone to carry or interpret the definition of attitude...it would be more prudent...to highlight the importance of attitude in life.

As William James said: The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.


Focus needs to move from defining attitude to highlighting the impact of attitude in one's life.

4 Minutes Video !!!

During a recent presentation to senior faculty members, a powerful video of 'great quotes' was shown. It had a tremendous impact and everyone commented on feeling extremely inspired. Soon after, the same members said: The effect of the video would not last and life would be normal again. I was taken aback !
I could only say: How can you expect a 4 minutes video to change your life of 40+ years ? All your conditioning, circumstances and choices over the years cannot be turned around by a miracle cure.
Let us face it: To reverse the negativity in our life of "X" years, one need NOT spend the same amount of time...in my opinion, just one-tenth of time spent consciously can turn around any life. It is easier and faster to clean up our mind. But, polluting the mind is more difficult, longer and slower process.
Any 4 minute incident, article or video can be your trigger....the rest is in your hands !!!

Type Of Problems.

Last week, I was asked by a senior manager over dinner on an employee, who was an expert in bringing problems to his table. I asked him:
1. Are the problems of the same type everytime ?
2. Are the problems of different types everytime ?
If it is the former, clearly, the employee has an attitude problem and is testing his boss. Maybe, a wrong selection...could be taken thru' attitudinal training and check for progress or exited.
If it is the latter, clearly, the employee has a competence problem and needs to go thru' training about the job and check for progress or exited.
To be a successful and effective manager, it is imperative to understand, the type of problems coming to our table and then take actions chronically and not to tackle symptoms.

Thinking.

Whenever a recession comes, the first attempt by the Management is to reduce 'Manpower.' This makes the situation worse as the remaining workforce gets de-motivated and stops making any productive contribution at the workplace. Further, when the boom comes around, the Management makes a dash to recruit new hands and spend tons of money to train them.

Would it not be better to not axe people when the going get tough but keep them on no-increment basis, redeploying in cost cutting areas ? This will enable the workforce to appreciate their Mgt and give their best in the recession and finally, when the boom comes, we have an already trained workforce getting more engaged at work as they never lost their jobs.