Inner Transformation not just IT

Building Ethical Organizations

In a list of top-5 revolutions of the last 10 years, I think IT revolution would be high up there. We feel proud to boast that now India has more billionaires and more people becoming millionaires per month than ever before. But below these hefty headlines; news of mass human suffering gets buried. Youngsters in the late 20's or early 30's dying of heart attack, leaving behind millions they amassed. Some people amassing billions and revered like incarnation of god; slipping on their moral grounds and now spending their lives in jails. The alarming rate of suicides being committed; growing number of divorces; and worst of all - India become diabetic, cardiovascular disease and hypertension capital of the world - a title none would want to retain.

Focusing my thoughts on the corporations - Companies are constantly battling to bring the best in the employees and providing training and IT tools; but I think it is time for us to think of another IT revolution i.e. "Inner Transformation" to make this world a better place. And at an individual level, making our lives more joyful.

We need to initiate a new thought process in the organizations. We often try to induce (or force) behavioral changes through carrot and stick in team members; without doing anything about the foundation of change, which I think is a person’s attitude and deep rooted desires / motivations / limitations. Although, it is hard for someone else to change a person’s attitude; but we can invoke thinking of change and inspire people to introspect and spark in then an Inner-Transformation. Once people connect with their deep rooted purpose and their actions are inspired by inner values - I believe people will live lives of prosperity with joy, organizations will become ethically successful, and this world a better place to live.

You can find more about IT initiatives @ www.ExcellenceZone.in

How to pick right from wrong?

A young professional was once offered a large sum of easy money for a job that made him somewhat uneasy. It wasn’t quite illegal but struck him as unethical. He was confused whether he should undertake the job or not. He requested the client to give him a day to decide. That night, he went home and told his mother about the terms and conditions of the contract and the big money that was involved. His mother was totally an illiterate. After listening to him for two hours she said, “Son, I don’t understand anything of what you just said. All I can say is one thing – that every morning when I come into your room, I find you fast asleep. I have a very hard time waking you up. I would hate to wlk into your room one day and find you awake. The final decision is yours. You decide.” With these words the mother left the room. The young man said to himself, “I got my answer”.

My Favorite Leadership Paradigm

You can not proclaim to be a leader. To be a leader you need willing followers. These followers should be excited to join hands with you, looking towards you for mentoring, and more importantly, followers should see you as their dream enabler, a person with utmost integrity and someone they can trust.

Once this awareness is reflected upon, your focus of activities to become a leader will change. Leader is someone who sees his/her success in enabling others to succeed. But even before that, it is important to have capability (or call it charisma) to connect with people. So to be a leader, critical traits are that connect one human being with another human being. Reflect in your own world. For me, I feel being kind, caring, compassionate, candid, high moral values, honesty are important. One quality that guarantees all other qualities is Integrity of Character. Without that nothing else can be trusted. Finally, I think time has come to abandon "practice what you preach" and adopt "preach only what you practice" paradigm. This is when actions and words stay in harmony and leaders emerge among people. cheers - arunb