Meaning of Character

This week’s Golden Nugget “Meaning of Character” is inspired Vedic philosophy and books published by Sri Ramakrishana Math.

“Personality is who we are when everyone is watching; and character is who we are when no one is watching”. The meaning of character proposed by Vedic philosophy can be beautifully described by taking analogy of a lake. In a lake, winds create waves, and those waves not just disturb the surface of the water, they also affect shores and bottom of the lakes as well. Over a period of time these waves gradually build banks of sands and rounded pebbles on the lake bottom. The shapes of sandbanks and pebbles created by waves are much more permanent and solid than the waves themselves. Now taking this analogy to humans, the mind (like lake) is continuous flow of thoughts (waves). And over a period of time these thought-waves create tendencies, capabilities and habits, which are more permanent than the thoughts themselves. In Vedic terms these are called – samskaras. Samaskaras build up by the continuous thought-waves; and samaskaras also create new thought-waves. Hence, there is a continuous cycle. If you expose your mind to pleasant thoughts and perform selfless acts of kindness, you will experience joy in your daily life. A person with selfless-giving samaskara will be known as “a kind person”. If you expose your mind to constant thoughts of anger and resentment, you will find that these anger-waves build up anger-throughout your daily life. A man with well-developed anger-samskaras is said to have “a bad temper”. The sum total of our samaskaras is our character at any given moment. As the sandbank can shift and change their shapes as the tide or the current changes, so also the samaskaras may be modified by the introduction of other kinds of thought waves into the mind.

The seeds of good and evil are latent in all of us. It is up to us to decide which ones we want to cultivate. The ones nurtured more by our thought-waves will become our dominant character. Yoga offers the process of reflection and meditation to ensure we are building intended samaskaras.

I wish that all of us will feed the goodness with our thought-waves, so we can look forward to a better future of Joyful Living.

Intelligence Trap

This week’s golden nugget comes from Edward De Bono’s views on responsibility of being Intelligent.

There are some aspects of a high intelligence that become a sort of trap.

A person with a high intelligence can take a position on a subject and then use their intelligence to defend that position very ably. The better the defense of the position the less does that person see any need to consider alternatives or listen to others. That is not good thinking.

Someone who has grown up with the realization that he or she is more intelligent than most people around wants to get the best reward for being so intelligent. The quickest and best reward is to prove other people wrong. This is a risk-free demonstration of superiority. It is also relatively easy.

An intelligent person takes in information quickly and can reach a conclusion in a short time. A less intelligent person has to wait to take in more information and may, occasionally, reach a better conclusion.

Like the engine of a motor car, intelligence is a potential. There may be a fast car with rather a bad driver. There may be a more humble car with a better driver. Intelligence Trap is like the driver of a fast motor car getting into bad driving habits. We just need to be aware of the trap and ensure that we do not get caught into it. 

Spirit of Learning

This week’s Golden Nugget is inspired by Buddha. Very often we start following routines and form habits. Over a period of time these habits lose meaning behind them yet we keep reacting to the new challenges of life - in the old ways.

Buddha in one of his sermons said, “Do not believe what you have heard; do not believe in doctrines because they have been handed down to you of generations; do not believe in anything because it followed by many and majority; do not believe in the truth to which you have become attached by habit; have deliberations and analyze; and when the result agrees with reason and is conducive to the good of one and all, accept it and live unto it.”

When we hear motivational talks, there is very little that we already didn’t know. What is spoken is universal truth; and what differs is how the information is made relevant to the audience and made sticky so we can remember it when in need. Yet, most of us forget about these collected words of wisdom when we need them the most. This is because we only collect information and seldom deliberate on it or internalize it to make it part of our wisdom pool. The value of knowledge is when it is put to practice for the good of self and humanity.

In summary, Spirit of Learning is in being curious to acquiring new information, deliberating to get relevant wisdom out of it; and utilizing the wisdom by putting it to practice. Let us watch ourselves if we can put this golden nugget to practice J

Wishing you a very happy Vijay Dashami !

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

Innovation in Learning: Nurturing PEARL

I was invited to be part of a panel at Bangalore HR Summit. I chose the theme "Innovative Learning and Development Strategies". I always enjoy building a concept towards a talk in front of enthusiasts and experts. My audience were HR or L&D VPs, Directors, Senior Managers of the best companies in India. I presented a learning paradigm that was brewing inside me for a while and named it Nurturing PEARL.

Nurturing PEARL is a innovative learning methodology that helps human beings transforms information to knowledge; knowledge to wisdom; and wisdom to value. Therefore, Nurturing PEARL is a value creation paradigm (commercial, societal or individual value) to transform individual and collective human potential into an Excellence Zone. This is achieved by integrating modern research and ancient wisdom. The result is "Participative, Experiential, Associative, and Reflective Learning" methodology. This method is designed keeping in mind 'how human mind works'. Nurturing PEARL methods ensure that a candle of wisdom is ignited in the learner's intellect to find his / her way into theExcellence Zone. Target Audience: These strategies are effective for children, professionals and executives alike. With the context and examples changed a bit, people of all ages can get benefited by this blend of modern research and ancient wisdom.

Some folks asked a few questions that I could not answer at the venue, so I am including the Q&A here for everyone's benefit.

Q: oWhy there is resistance to innovation mindset in Indian organizations? Does taking risk play any role?

A: Your question on Innovation mindset and resistance reflect the situation I face in almost all organization I interact with during my creativity and innovation workshops. As I had mentioned, we acquire and evaluate information yet fail to convert it into knowledge or wisdom that becomes part of an individual or organizational attitude. As you have mentioned, risk aversion is another aspect of our culture. Additionally, how serious stakeholders are in creating an innovative environment is also a significant factor. Because of these primary factors, innovation stays as a workshop / motivation phenomenon in many organizations. To create a sustained innovation environment, a regular pep-and-use refresh has to happen i.e. keep championing innovation along with keep utilizing new methodologies to create value.

Q: How to Impress upon faculty and students about the need for L&D with increasing emphasis on placement / jobs?

A:This is a very serious issue and that is why I believe quality of modern education system in India is way behind some of the western countries in achieving its objectives. The gap between real world / industry and academia is growing as the criteria for success in the academia is very different than what is expected out of students once they enter professional life. That is why stress and depression is becoming our national disease. I myself feel that only less than 5% of what I studied in my engineering degree ever got utilized in my life directly. But when I did my MBA in the US, it was different. The focus was on learning and I totally enjoyed it (and continue to enjoy applying the knowledge in the real world now). As you have pointed out, to initiate and scale the change, we have to ensure the educators are communicating value of education in its true sense to the students. I have worked with some educational institutes and developed a new paradigm of "Academic Leadership". Our educators have to become leaders so we can bring transformation in the society. An inner transformation is required before we expect an outer transformation.

Q: How would you address an atheist employee on the Spiritual Quotient? What approach should be adopted?

A: First of all, the concept of spirituality has to redefined and clarified for the people. The word "spirituality" invokes conflicting emotions and the relevance to professionals or achieving excellence is not immediately visible. When I talk about spirituality, I am referring to the energy that is unleashed by tapping into one's deepest values and defining a strong sense of purpose - a capacity that helps us sustain in the face of adversities, and creates a power source of motivation, focus, determination, and resilience.

So there is no religion or sect philosophy in this definition of spirituality. The innovation is in the way we present our own experiences and ancient wisdom to achieve this purpose. As I had mentioned, this has become my life's purpose - uncovering wisdom and purpose from the rituals and religion and utilize the essence to unleash human potential to achieve organizational and personal excellence.