Sri Krishna Committee Report and Telangana Tangle- Professor M.S.Rao

As the Srikrishna Committee is going to submit its report, the eyes are set again on the burning issue of Telangana. The issue is not new and has been existing for the last 50 years. It has become active under the leadership of K. Chandrasekar Rao (KCR), the leaders of TRS. The state of Andhra Pradesh has come to such a situation that nobody is going to give up. In this regard, let us look at the meaning of conflict and the means to resolving conflicts.

Conflict is all about disagreements between various people, groups and teams due to various reasons. The reasons may be due to scarcity of resources, threat to one’s position and authority, miscommunication, perceptions, personality clashes due to egos, differences in value system and disproportionate allocation of resources. When we look at Telangana issue at the surface level, it appears like a cultural issue. However, when we look at the issue below the surface, it is basically the regional imbalances that have been created due to the neglect by past politicians. The political leaders of all parties rarely cared for the development of this region except looking after their political gains. In order to tackle the Telangana tangle, let us know various conflict management styles.


Conflict Management Styles

There are several ways to resolve the conflicts. We will take the below five top conflict management styles: They are

• The Shark Style: It is competitive and it wants to win at the cost of others. It is aggressive style. It is known as win-lose approach. The advantage out of this style is that there is a temporary win and the conflicts are resolved. The disadvantage is that there is resentment and hostility from other side. The other party can strike back at any time.

• The Turtle Style: It is to avoid the conflicts when they are minor in nature. Sometimes, prolonged delay might turn out to be a major crisis. The disadvantage is that the conflicts are not resolved.

• The Teddy Bear Style: It is compromising when people want to maintain amicable relations with others. It is submissive style and lose-win approach. Conflicts are resolved in this style, but can be exploited in future.

• The Fox Style: Fox is an intelligent animal. It wants others to lose so that it can also lose something to resolve the conflicts. It is lose-lose approach and is also known as accommodating approach. However, it is still not an ideal outcome.

• The Owl Style: It is the ideal outcome where all parties are happy as their interests are protected and conflicts are resolved. It is collaborating by taking the strengths of all parties. It is win-win approach. It is assertive style where all parties are called and discussed and conflicts are resolved through consensus. The only problem with this style is that it takes lot of time and efforts.

Having seen various conflict resolving styles, The Turtle Style led to the present crisis in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Therefore, there is strong need to adopt The Owl Style so that all Telugus can live with peace and prosperity without any ill will and animosity. It is the most ideal style in the current context.


Final Word

There has to be win-win approach where all parties must be happy to collaborate to take the state forward for peace and progress. We need to adopt ‘The Owl Style’ approach so that all Telugus are can live with fraternity. The Telugus may fight on cultural and regional level currently. But the same Telugus will unite cutting across regions, cultures and dialects, if there is external threat from other languages, because they are emotionally connected with one common language – Telugu.

To conclude, whatever may be the report, the people of all regions must exercise calm and restraint. The aggrieved parties can fight their issue through democratic, peaceful and legal means. They must look at the commonalities, not differences.


Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com



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Happy New Year 2011 – Professor M.S. Rao, Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

"A New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.'' - Oscar Wilde


Dear friends,

Welcome to the New Year 2011. I wish you a very happy, exciting and prosperous new year. As the New Year 2011 is very close it is time to stock of the situation. It is time to check whether we have achieved the resolutions that we had set in the last year. If you have achieved partly, it is fair enough. If you have not achieved even partly, it is time to find out the reasons for not accomplishing. If you fail to achieve due to external forces and factors, there is nothing to worry about as they are beyond human control. If you have not achieved due to internal reasons it is time to take feedback, analyze the reasons and take the remedial action. In this context, let us find out the advantages of setting goals. Goals help you stay focused. Goals help you manage your time effectively. Goals help you remove negative thoughts and fill with positive thoughts. Goals help you create hope and enhance longevity. Above all, goals make your life more meaningful.

Follow the below steps to accomplish your goals successfully:
• Set specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound (SMART) goals.
• Ink your goals. People usually think about goals. A study of a Yale University students showed that the students who had inked their goals accomplished their goals than the ones who had not inked. Putting goals in writing works. Besides, a short pencil is always better than a long memory.
• Read your goals twice a day; once in the early morning and before going to the bed. It helps the goals sink deeply into your subconscious mind and serves you as a constant reminder throughout. Whenever you go out of the track, your subconscious keeps you on the right track and on the fast track thus aligning your towards your goals.

If setting goals is one side of the coin, execution is the other side of the coin. You need to put constant efforts and energies to accomplish your goals. In addition, there is cut-throat competition. Therefore, you need to work harder, smarter and wiser to accomplish your goals.

Wishing you good luck.

Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com



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“Sun Tzu and Success” - Professor M.S.Rao

“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star... you will still be beaten by people who spent their time working hard, and learning things and weren’t so lazy.” - Terry Prattchet


Every human being likes to be noticed. Everyone wants to be liked and appreciated by others. It all takes people to strive for success throughout their lives. It fires their enthusiasm. It forces them to follow uncharted paths. It compels them to go to any extent. However, very people realize their goals and achieve success while the majority fail and fall aside in the race towards success. In this regard, let us see success from the perspective of Sun Tzu, the Chinese philosopher and author who wrote the book The Art of War 2500 years ago.

According to Sun Tzu there are not more than five musical notes, yet the combination of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. There are not more than five primary colors, blue, yellow, red, white and black. There are not more than five cardinal tastes, sour, acrid, salt, sweet, bitter. Yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted. (Reference The Art of War Sun Tzu, Foreword by James Clavell)

Similarly, when you blend your inherent talents with various permutations and combinations you create more new talents. When you combine these talents with the skills that you acquire through reading, training, observation, learning and practice you can achieve your leadership success.

The five elements: water, fire, wood, metal, earth, are not always equally predominant; the four seasons make way for each other in turn. There are short days and long; the moon has its periods of wanting and waxing. Similarly, life is all full of peaks and valleys, ups and downs and success and failures. People must learn how to harness their energies for achieving all round success in their lives. They must learn to adjust their sail as per the changing wind and move forward towards the destination of success.

Success doesn’t come easily. It comes at a cost. It requires lot of struggles and sacrifices. It requires lot of passion, perseverance and patience. It takes lot of energies and efforts. At times people end up as unsung heroes. However, we must constantly and continuously strive for success by hoping light at the end of the tunnel.


Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com



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Author and Mother– Professor M.S.Rao

“Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book.” - Author Unknown


I requested Jim Collins to write foreword for my upcoming book titled, “Spot Your Leadership Style – Build Your Leadership Brand”. Jim Collins had the humility to respond to my mail. In his letter dated July 29, 2010, Jim Collins started with the quote of Winston Churchill who once said that writing a book goes through five phases. In phase one, it is a toy and an amusement, but by phase five, it is a tyrant ruling your life; and just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public!

Such a personal letter from Jim Collins got me excited as he is an international author with great books like Good to Great and Built to Last. And Jim Collins’ humility made me very happy. However, he denied politely writing foreword for my book due to his upcoming book. He wished me good luck for my upcoming book.


Author and Mother

An author can be compared with a mother who conceives and undergoes lot of pressure and pleasure while carrying the child in her womb. The author conceives an idea to author a book. He finds several challenges right from inception to reality. For instance, he has to sacrifice his personal time to write book. He undergoes several trials and tribulations apart from the routine challenges to complete the book. Once the book is completed he has to search for a suitable publisher who would take the book forward. And it takes lot of time especially for budding authors. The author has to look for a suitable person to write foreword and it takes time to get approval. In addition, he has to work for endorsements from experts in the field to make sure that the book gets better visibility. It again takes times. In the meanwhile there will be challenges between the publisher and the author on various issues. There will be challenges related to time deadlines to get the endorsements for incorporating in the book. The entire process is easier said than done. The author invests his knowledge and the publisher invests money for publishing the book. There has to be right understanding and chemistry between the author and publisher. Once the book is published, it is for the readers to decide whether it is properly delivered. If readers accept, the author gets elated with his efforts.

Similarly the mother feels happy when she conceives the child initially. She undergoes lot of pressure and pleasure while carrying the child and mostly lot of pressure. At the time of delivery she undergoes lot of pain and finally she delivers the baby. The moment she sees her baby she forgets the entire pain and gets excited by seeing her baby. The author also gets excited when he first sees his book on hand. He will be happy when his book delivers the goods as per the expectations of the readers. It is a great feeling indeed for both author and mother while delivering the book and the baby.

I would like to conclude that as every mother is possessive of her baby, every author is possessive of his book.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com



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Book Review By Professor M.S.Rao “Leadership” Authored By John C. Maxwell

“Success can be defined as the progressive realization of a predetermined goal.” – John C. Maxwell


The book titled ‘Leadership’ by John C. Maxwell is a small book that unleashes your leadership potential. It contains several leadership lessons based on the author’s personal experiences. It helps you follow your vision and bring others with you and produce a lasting legacy. It defines leadership, identifies a few traits every leader should develop, and shows the impact leadership can have on your life and the lives of those you lead. It equips you the abilities to influence and empowers others and emphasizes that leadership develops daily, not in a day.

The book is divided into three parts with a total of ten chapters. The first part deals with the development of a leader, the second part describes the traits of a leader and the third part dwells on the impact of a leader.

The book breaks the ice with the Law of the Lid that helps the people understand the value of leadership. It starts with a story where two young brothers named Dick and Maurice moved from New Hampshire to California in search of the American Dream. They were McDonald brothers who proved themselves as efficient managers but could not excel as leaders.

John C. Maxwell says that each individual influences at least ten thousand other people during their lifetime. He explains the importance of Pareto’s principal with examples. He observes that leaders tend to initiate and followers tend to react.

He compares leadership development with boxing as it needs daily preparation. He presents the brief biography of Theodore Roosevelt who was a boxer and excelled as an effective leader. As a child, he was puny and very sickly. He had debilitating asthma, possessed very poor eyesight and was painfully thin. His parents weren’t sure he would survive. He was the most flamboyant of all U.S. presidents. The author reveals that nothing was an obstacle to Roosevelt. His enthusiasm and stamina seemed boundless. As the vice presidential candidate in 1900, he gave 673 speeches and traveled 20,000 miles while campaigning for President McKinley.

He differentiates between leaders and followers as: leaders initiate while followers react; leaders lead, pick up phone and make contact while followers listen, wait for phone to ring; leaders spend time planning and anticipate problems while followers spend time living day-to-day reacting to problems; leaders invest time with people while followers spend time with people; and finally leaders fill the calendar by priorities while followers fill the calendar by requests.

A real leader knows the difference between being the boss and being a leader. The boss drives his workers while the leader coaches them; the boss depends upon authority while the leader on goodwill; the boss inspires fear while the leader inspires enthusiasm; the boss says “I” while the leader, “we” and the boss fixes the blame for the breakdown while the leader fixes the breakdown.

Although it’s true that some people are born with greater natural gifts than others, the ability to lead is really a collection of skills, nearly all of which can be learned and improved. But that process doesn’t happen overnight. Leadership is complicated. It has many facets: respect, experience, emotional strength, people skills, discipline, vision, momentum timing – the list goes on.

The author reveals the interesting sociological study of Dr. Anthony Campolo in which fifty people over the age of ninety-five were asked one question: “If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?” The three most common answers were: they would reflect more, risk more and do more things that would live on after they are dead.

The author unfolds that one of the great dreamers of the twentieth century was Walt Disney whose greatest masterpieces of vision were Disneyland and Walt Disney World. The spark for that vision came from an unexpected place. You can’t buy, beg, or borrow vision. It has to come from the inside. He further adds that the greater the vision, the more winners it has the potential to attract. The more challenging the vision, the harder the participants fight to achieve it.

Maxwell busts five myths about leadership. They are: leading and managing are one and the same; entrepreneurs are leaders; IQ is equal to leadership; one who is in front of the crowd is a leader; and finally leadership is based on position.

The author motivates the readers with examples from Mother Teresa to Diana who influenced people regardless of their backgrounds. He emphasizes that although everyone has the potential they cannot achieve in overnight. It takes regular efforts to achieve success.

He aptly illustrates that President Abraham Lincoln was a master at empowering his leaders. For example, when he appointed General Ulysses S. Grant as commander of the Union armies in 1864, he sent him this message: “I neither ask nor desire to know anything of your plans. Take the responsibility and act, and call on me for assistance. That’s the attitude you need as an empowerer.

He says that leaders who leave a legacy of succession for their organization do the following:

1. Lead the organization with a “long view”.
2. Create a leadership culture.
3. Pay the price today to assure success tomorrow.
4. Value team leadership above individual leadership.
5. Walk away from the organization with integrity.
6. Few leaders pass it on. Max Dupree, author of Leadership Is an Art, declared, “Succession is one of the key responsibilities of leadership.” Achievement comes to someone when he is able to do great things for himself. Success comes when he empowers followers to do great things with him.

Maxwell personally regrets for not leaving a good legacy when he first took leadership position in Church, at Hillham, Indiana.


Leadership Takeaways

• The higher the leadership, the greater the effectiveness.
• Leadership develops daily, not in a day.
• The first person you lead is you.
• The discipline to prioritize and the ability to work toward a stated goal are essential to a leader’s success.
• Trust is the foundation of leadership.
• You can seize only what you can see.
• The true measure of leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.
• Real leadership is being the person others will gladly and confidently follow.
• The act of empowering others changes lives.
• A leader’s lasting value is measured by succession.
• To reach out the highest level of effectiveness, you have to raise the lid of leadership ability.
• Successful leaders are learners. And the learning process is ongoing. A result of self-discipline and perseverance.
• No matter how gifted a leader is, his gifts will never reach their maximum potential without the application of self-discipline.
• If you know you have talent, and you’ve seen a lot of motion but little concrete results – you may lack self-discipline.
• A life in which anything goes will ultimately be a life in which nothing goes.
• Efficiency is the foundation for survival. Effectiveness is the foundation for success.
• When a leader’s character is strong, people trust him. And they trust in his ability to release their potential.
• Think about what you’d like to see change in the world around you.
• True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence.
• Followers in voluntary organizations cannot be forced to get on board. If the leader has not influence with them, they won’t follow.
• People under the influence of an empowering person are like paper in the hands of a talented artist.
• When it comes down to it, empowering leadership is sometimes the only real advantage one organization has over another in our competitive society.
• The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership.
• When the leader lacks confidence, the followers lack commitment.
• People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
• You can love people without leading them, but you cannot lead people without loving them.
• A leader is great, not because of his or her power, but because of his or her ability to empower others. Success without a successor is failure.
• Loyalty to the leader reaches its highest peak when the follower has personally grown through the mentorship of the leader.
• Your greatest joy comes from watching others grow and develop.

The author concludes the book with, “You will be judged by how well your people and your organization did after you were gone. Your lasting value will be measured by succession.”

Final Word

This book is a collection of ideas and ideals of John C. Maxwell. The language is simple and straight with illustrations of great leaders like Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Roberto Goizueta, McDonald Brothers, Walt Disney and Mother Teresa. It contains pearls of wisdom in every sentence. It guides and grooves you in the right slot as an effective leader. It emphasizes that leadership develops daily, not in a day. It helps develop your leadership skills and abilities. This is a must read for all who like to grow as leaders and develop others as leaders.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com



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I would appreciate your comments about this article.

Book Review By Professor M.S.Rao “The Art of War Sun Tzu” Foreword By James Clavell

”A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” - Lao Tzu


The book titled ‘The Art of War Sun Tzu’ with foreword by James Clavell is a tiny thin book about the art of war providing leadership lessons to everybody. Sun Tzu wrote this book 2500 years ago. It contains several leadership lessons that are relevant even today and would be relevant tomorrow. The book equips you with secrets and strategies to face several challenges and succeed in this complex and competitive world. After reading this book, you will not brood about problems rather you look at the solutions to come out of the problems with flying colors.

The book contains 13 chapters outlining about laying plans; waging war; attack by stratagem; tactical dispositions; energy; weak points and strong; maneuvering; variation of tactics; the army on the march; terrain; the nine situations; the attack by fire; and the use of spies.

The book breaks the ice with ‘The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death. A road to either safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of enquiry which can on no account be neglected. It ends: ‘Hence it is only the enlightened ruler and the wise general who will use the highest intelligence of the army for purposes of spying, and thereby they achieve great results. Spies are a most important element in war because upon them depends an army’s ability to move.’

About Sun Tzu and Translation:

Not to have heard about Sun Tzu means not knowing anything about leadership and strategy. However, little is known of the man himself. He wrote the thirteen chapters in approximately 490 BC in the Kingdom of Wu. Sun Tzu became a general for the King of Wu in 512 BC.

In 1782 The Art of War was first translated into French by a Jesuit, Father Amiot. There is a legend that this little book was Napoleon’s key to success and his secret weapon. Certainly his battles depended upon mobility, and mobility is one of the things that Sun Tzu stresses. Certainly Napoleon used all of Sun Tzu to his own advantage to conquer most of Europe. It was only when he failed to follow Sun Tzu’s rules that he was defeated.

The Art of War was not translated into English until 1905. The first English translation was by P.F.Calthrop.

Leadership Lessons:

“The supreme act of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting ….”
The book reveals several military strategies for both offending and defending which can be applied in corporate world. Here are the hallmarks and the takeaways about the book.
• In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace.
• To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
• He who wishes to fight must first count the cost, which prepares us for the discovery that the subject of the chapter is not what we might expect from the title, but is primarily a consideration of way and means.
• In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. That means, while waging war focus on war and win, not on blowing your trumpet.
• We must cause the enemy to regard our straightforward attack as one that is secretly designed, and vice versa.
• Steadily develop indirect tactics either by pounding the enemy’s flanks or falling on his rear.
• There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combination of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. There are not more than five primary colors, blue, yellow, red, white and black. There are not more than five cardinal tastes, sour, acrid, salt, sweet, bitter. Yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted.
• Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.
• When two countries go to war, they are naturally inclined to make an ostentatious display of their strength.
• The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals.
• He first of all considers the power of his army in the bulk; afterwards he takes individual talent into account, and uses each man according to his capabilities. He does not demand perfection from the untalented.
• The chief lesson is the paramount importance in war of rapid evolutions and sudden rushes. Great results can thus be achieved with small forces.
• Emerge from the void, strike at vulnerable points, shun places that are defended, attack in unexpected quarters.
• If the enemy is the invading party, we can cut his line of communications and occupy the roads by which he will have to return; if we are the invaders, we may direct our attack against the sovereign himself. It is clear that Sun Tzu was no believer in frontal attacks.
• By discovering the enemy’s dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s must be divided.
• If the enemy’s dispositions are visible, we can make for him in one body; whereas, our own dispositions being kept secret, the enemy will be obliged to divide his forces in order to guard against attack from every quarter.
• The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known; for then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points.
• The highest generalship is to compel the enemy to disperse his army, and then to concentrate superior force against each fraction in turn.
• In war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.
• Like water, take the line of least resistance. As water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. The five elements: water, fire, wood, metal, earth, are not always equally predominant; the four seasons make way for each other in turn. There are short days and long; the moon has its periods of wanting and waxing.
• He, who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.
• Without harmony in the State, no military expedition can be undertaken; without harmony in the army, no battle array can be formed.
• You cannot shut your ears to the thunder or your eyes to the lighting – so rapid are they. Likewise, an attack should be made so quickly that it cannot be parried.
• Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.
• The value of a whole army – a mighty host of million men – dependent on the one man alone: such is the influence of spirit!
• Presence of mind is the general’s most important asset. It is the quality which enables him to discipline disorder and to inspire courage into the panic-stricken. The great general Li Ching (A.D. 571-649) has a saying: ‘Attacking does not merely consist in assaulting walled cities or striking at an army in battle array; it must include the art of assailing the enemy’s mental equilibrium.’
• Do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight; do not attack soldiers whose temper is keen.
• Do not swallow a bait offered by the enemy. Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.
• When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. This does not mean that the enemy is to be allowed to escape. The object is ‘to make him believe that there is a road to safety, and thus prevent his fighting with the courage despair.’ Tu Mu adds pleasantly: ‘After that, you may crush him.’
• Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
• If we wish to wrest an advantage from the enemy, we must not fix our minds on that alone, but allow for the possibility of the enemy also doing some harm to us, and let this enter as a factor into our calculations.
• The wise man considers well both advantage and disadvantage. He sees a way out of adversity, and on the day of victory is not blind to danger.
• There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general; 1) recklessness, which leads to destruction; 2) cowardice, which leads to capture; 3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; 4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame; 5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.
• When birds that are flying along in a straight line suddenly shoot upwards, it means that soldiers are in ambush at the spot beneath.
• Humble words and increased preparations are signs that the enemy is about to advance. Violent language and driving forward as if to the attack are signs that he will retreat.
• Fear makes men restless; so they fall to shouting at night in order to keep up their courage.
• If there is disturbance in the camp, the general’s authority is weak. If the banners and flags are shifted about, sedition is afoot. If the officers are angry, it means that the men are weary.
• When an army feeds its horses with grain and kills its cattle for food, and when the men do not hang their cooking-pots over the camp-fires, showing that they will not return to their tents, you may know that they are determined to fight to the death.
• Too frequent rewards signify that the enemy is at the end of his resources; Because when an army is hard pressed, there is always a fear of mutiny, and lavish rewards are given to keep the men in good temper.
• The commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness.
• The five cardinal virtues of the Chinese are (1) humanity or benevolence; 2) uprightness of mind; (3) self-respect, self-control, or ‘proper feeling’; (4) wisdom; (5) sincerity or good faith.
• Attack him when he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
• If attackers and attacked are equally matched in strength, only the able general will fight.
• War is not a thing to be trifled with.
• Knowing the enemy enables you to take the offensive, knowing yourself enables you to stand on the defensive. Attack is the secret of defence; defence is the planning of an attack.
• He who sees the obvious, wins his battles with difficulty; he who looks below the surface of things, wins with ease.
• In warfare, first lay plans which will ensure victory, and then lead your army to battle; if you will not begin with stratagem but rely on brute strength alone, victory will no longer be assured.
• When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce.
• If the enemy open friendly relations by sending hostages, it is a sign that they are anxious for an armistice, either because their strength is exhausted or for some other reason.
• We may distinguish six kinds of terrain, to wit: 1) accessible ground; 2) entangling ground; 3) temporizing ground; 4) narrow passes; 5) precipitous heights; 6) positions at a great distance from the enemy.
• Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes, but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: 1) flight; 2) in-subordination; 3) collapse; 4) ruin; 5) disorganization; 6) rout.
• When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.
• There are six ways of courting defeat: 1)’neglect to estimate the enemy’s strength’; 2) ‘want of authority’; 3) ‘defective training’; 4) ‘unjustifiable anger’; 5) ‘non-observance of discipline’: 6) ‘failure to use picked men’. Which must be carefully noted by the general who has attained a responsible post.
• Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.
• The art of war recognizes nine varieties of ground: 1) Dispersive ground; 2) facile ground; 3) contentious ground; 4) open ground; 5) ground of intersecting highways; 6) serious ground; 7) difficult ground; 8) hemmed-in ground; 9) desperate ground. On dispersive ground, fight not. On facile ground, halt not. On contentious ground, attack not. In difficult ground, keep steadily on the march. On serious ground, ensure a continuous stream of supplies. On difficult ground, push on along the road.
• Rapidity is the essence of war. Take advantage of the enemy’s unreadiness, make your way by un expected routes, and attack unguarded spots.
• Make forays on fertile country in order to supply your army with food.
• Carefully study the well being of your men, and do not overtax them. Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength.
• Keep your army continually on the move, and devise unfathomable plans.
• Throw your soldiers into positions where there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength.
• If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.
• Wealth and long life are things for which all men have a natural inclination. Hence, if they burn or fling away valuables, and sacrifice their own lives, it is not that they dislike them, but simply that they have no choice. Soldiers are but human, it is for the general to see that temptations to shirk fighting and grow rich are not thrown in their way.
• It is the business of a general to be quiet and thus ensure secrecy; upright and just, and thus maintain order.
• Plunge your army into desperate straits and it will come off in safety; place it in deadly peril and it will survive
• If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in.
• Walk in the path defined by rule, and accommodate yourself to the enemy until you can fight a decisive battle.
• There are five ways of attacking with fire. The first is to burn soldiers in their camp; the second is to burn stores; the third is to burn baggage-trains; the fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines; the fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy.
• Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.
• Use your spies fully to minimize damage and destruction and maximize success. To neglect the use of spies is nothing less than a crime against humanity. Sun Tzu divides spies into five classes: 1) local spies; 2) inward spies; 3) converted spies; 4) doomed spies; 5) surviving spies. When the five kinds of spy are all at work, none can discover the secret system. This is called divine manipulation of the threads. It is the sovereign’s most precious faculty.
• Worthy men who have been degraded from office, criminals who have undergone punishment; also, favorite concubines who are greedy for gold, men who are aggrieved at being in subordinate positions, or who have been passed over in the distribution of posts others who are anxious that their side should be defeated in order that they may have a chance of displaying their ability and talents, fickle turncoats who always want to have a foot in each boat.

Conclusion:

“Know your enemy, know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster ….”

This book is a collection of ideas and ideals of Sun Tzu that will have deep impact on readers. It provides the preaching in a capsule format. It is an excellent book with great takeaways of Sun Tzu. It teaches us to fight back against problems rather than succumb to them. It encourages and motivates the readers by looking at the ideas rather than that of issues and individuals.

It contains pearls of wisdom in every sentence. It guides and grooves you in the right slot as a successful leader. You can read at a stretch and learn the secrets and strategies of Sun Tzu. However, the downside of the book is that it lacks analysis that prevents from seeing the big picture.

It has been translated from Chinese. It widens your mental horizons and improves your thinking skills. Reading this book helps minimize mistakes and maximize your success rate. It helps improve your personality development and leadership success. You need to read and reread this book number of times.

It provides several leadership lessons for future leaders so that they can take leaf out of them and excel as leaders. It is useful to leaders of all streams such as military, business and politics to avoid costly mistakes while waging organizational battles.

The ideas and ideals of Sun Tzu, one of the greatest generals written two and a half millennium ago are still relevant today and will be useful as long as human civilization exists.

The book is a must read for leadership educators, executives and everyone who would learn lessons from the strategies of Lao Tzu. Succinctly, the lessons in this book help you lose battle but win war as this book is based on strategy and art of war. It is a must read for every leader in his/her lifetime. Not to have read Sun Tzu’s book means not to have known anything about leadership.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com



Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.

Publication of Professor M.S.Rao’s Authored Book Titled “Spot Your Leadership Style – Build Your Leadership Brand” - ISBN: 978-81-8220-372-3

Dear friends,

I would like to share the successful publication of my authored book titled, “Spot Your Leadership Style – Build Your Leadership Brand” by Global Vision Publishing House, India. The details of the book are given below for purchase:

Global Vision Publishing House,
ISBN: 978-81-8220-372-3
Price: INR: 850.00/ USD: 50.


Here is the content ‘About the Book’:

“Author, leadership expert and the founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India, Professor M.S.Rao crafts and defines 28 leadership styles in Spot Your Leadership Style-Build Your Leadership Brand. This book hits the bulls’ eye dead on. I strongly recommend you read and re-read it until it becomes a part of you.” - Chris Widener, leadership expert, Author of The Art of Influence and The Leadership Rules

Leadership means different things to different people as there are number of definitions about leadership. In addition, there are several styles and types in leadership. Anybody and everybody can become a leader as leadership is hidden in every individual. However, few individuals fail to discover and tap their hidden leadership potential. This book is an endeavor to tap the hidden leader within you and awaken the leadership within you.

The book helps you
• Discover the leader within you
• Unlock your leadership potential
• Spot your leadership style
• Build your leadership brand.

The book contains several chapters starting with inspirational information that only good followers can excel as good leaders. It differentiates between leaders and followers. It distinguishes leaders from bosses followed by various styles and types in leadership. It busts several leadership myths with truths. It provides the tools for building your leadership brand. The book concludes with several common leadership characteristics that are essential to excel as a successful leader in this 21st century.

The book is beneficial to all those who would like to build their leadership brand and also to educators, employees, entrepreneurs, educational institutions, and above all, students.


You can also blog about or write a book review.

I would appreciate your valuable feedback and comments at email: profmsr7@gmail.com


For purchasing copy/es you may click on the below link.
http://www.globalvisionpub.com/Bookdesc.aspx?id=1398


Regards,

Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

List of Authored Books by Professor M.S.Rao, Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Dear friends,


I am receiving number of inquiries about the list of my authored books for purchase. Here is the list of my books with links for your purchase.


“Secrets for Success – Failure is Only a Comma, Not a Full Stop” by University Science Press (Laxmi Publications), India. (ISBN 978-93-80856-16-2)Price: INR. 100.00 only. The link to buy the copy/es: http://laxmipublications.com/servlet/lpgetbiblio?bno=001479


“Soft Skills – Enhancing Employability” (ISBN 978-93-80578-38-5) Price : INR. 125.00 only. The link to buy the copy/es: http://www.ikbooks.com/Book_Details2_ik.asp?Id=865&subId=1&catid=1


“Spot Your Leadership Style – Build Your Leadership Brand” (ISBN: 978-81-8220-372-3). Price: INR: 850.00/ USD: 50. The link to buy the copy/es: http://www.globalvisionpub.com/Bookdesc.aspx?id=1398


You can also blog about or write a book review.

I would appreciate your valuable feedback and comments at email: profmsr7@gmail.com


Regards,

Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

“Dear Obama! Welcome to India” - Professor M.S.Rao

We Indians are very glad to roll out red carpet to the US President Obama who is going to visit India in the second week of November 2010. We wholeheartedly invite you to visit this land of peace where truth and non-violence are the pillars. Obama himself was a great follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his ideals of peace and non-violence.


About Obama

Indians love and respect leaders of all parts of the world especially the leaders who have had humble beginnings. Indians love Abraham Lincoln as he was a symbol of hard work, hope, success and opportunity. He rose above the difficulties that life presented him. So is the case of Obama who also rose from ranks despite several hardships. He was the first African-American to become the 44th president of America on January 20, 2009. He was an author, editor, lawyer, politician and above all a great humanist He is an inspiration to the poor and downtrodden. He has become a symbol of hope and opportunity for billions of people all over the world. He proved that neither religion, nor region, nor color is a barrier to become the President of America. He proved to the world that man can achieve anything and everything in his lifetime. He was awarded with Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for his commitment for global peace.


Similarities between India and America

Both India and America have several similarities such as both are democratic countries striving for global peace and security while India is the largest and the America is the oldest democracy in the world. We have several challenges, of which the major one is fighting terrorism. Time and again, both have declared their commitment to fight terrorism and ensure global peace and prosperity.


Challenges

America alone cannot fight against terrorism. America needs India as much as India needs America. India is an aspiring and rising global power that is going to impact the world in the years to come. India currently is far different from the India around 50 years ago. India sustained democracy despite facing several challenges. This is the biggest strength of India. In addition, India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

We Indians expect Americans to handhold and take our country forward. It is a well admitted fact that India treats America as a natural allay while the America describes India as an indispensable partner. Both America and India must partner together not only for progress but also to bring stability, peace and prosperity for the mankind.

We Indians expect less of rhetoric and more of performance and commitment from Obama on several issues both locally and globally. We are optimistic that the visit would promote better bilateral relations between both the counties. We are bullish that the America handholds India in all areas for the peace and prosperity of both Americans and Indians.

We are sure Obama’s visit to India will be fruitful and strengthen the relations between the two countries further. Let us partner for progress. Let us walk and work together for global peace and prosperity.

We once again welcome Obama wholeheartedly to the land of Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi where truth and non-violence are the cornerstones.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultant, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com



Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.

“How to Build Your Leadership Resume?” - Professor M.S.Rao

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly." - Theodore Roosevelt


If you want to build your leadership resume globally, you need to have five-fold strategy. First create new things in your domain as nobody appreciates the routine things. You need to go by the road less traveled. Secondly, communicate with the world through research papers and articles either by blogging and, or writing to magazines and journals. Thirdly, teach and train people in your area of interest. Fourthly, network with the experts in your area of interest and fifthly, lead in your domain by interacting with others globally by participating in conferences, seminars as a guest speaker


Leadership Resume Tips

Follow the below tips for building your leadership resume.

• Check your passionate areas.
• Be clear about where do you want to go and in which stream of leadership you are inclined to grow.
• Follow unconventional path.
• Create a unique roadmap to reach your leadership position.
• Always emphasize on pretty ideas not on petty individuals.
• Always look at the ball not at the score. That means, how you play is more important than looking at the results.
• Although continuous tooting your horn is not advisable, you need to do sometimes to stay in the race to get noticed.
• Keep doing and keep going.


Conclusion

The number one leadership guru, John Maxwell is good at four areas such as leading, communicating, creating and networking. He was not worried about his weaknesses. He knew where he was strong at and leveraged effectively and grew as a leadership legend globally. He began focusing on personality development when he was 17 years of age by investing one hour a day regularly. You can take a leaf out of his consistent and continuous efforts and build your leadership resume to make a difference in the lives of others.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultant, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

“Which is the Power Predominant for Leadership Effectiveness – Expert, Referent, or Personal?” - Professor M.S.Rao

"Charisma is the result of effective leadership, not the other way around." - Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus


Leadership Effectiveness

Leadership effectiveness is confluence of several competencies and capabilities. However, the current article addresses it from three types of powers such as expert power, personal power and referent power.

According to business directory, referent power means ‘Influence over others, acquired from being well liked or respected by them’ and personal power means, ‘Influence over others, the source of which resides in the person instead of being vested by the position he or she holds’. In addition, expert power means, ‘ability to influence someone regarding a course of action because of specific knowledge, experience, or expertise. A person may be given the power to make decisions for others because he is an expert on the particular subject.’

For leadership effectiveness all the three powers are required for leaders. But the moot point here is which is the predominant power for leadership effectiveness. Any effectiveness starts with domain competence. That means leaders must be good at their tasks to command respect from their followers. Succinctly, they must be good at hard skills. Secondly, personal power does help to greater extent in enhancing leadership effectiveness. That means leadership without title in the words of Robin Sharma. Several definitions of leadership clearly say that leadership is not a designation, nor a title. Leadership is by example. Thirdly, leaders must have referent power of being liked to get the tasks executed efficiently and effectively. To conclude, leaders must blend all the three powers judiciously for enhancing leadership effectiveness as per the situation.


Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultant, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

“Are There Level 6 Leaders?” – Professor M.S.Rao

According to Jim Collins, there are five levels of leadership. The level 1 leaders are good at their work individually. They can contribute their best individually both efficiently and effectively. The level 2 leaders are not only efficient and effective but also work in teams effectively thus gelling well with team members. The level 3 leaders are competent managers who can get the work done effectively and efficiently from level 1 and level 2 leaders. The level 4 leaders think ahead of level 3 leaders as they have clear vision to where they intend to go and take their team members forward. Finally, the level 5 leaders are highly passionate and don’t mind who get credit for their contribution. They have humility and professional will. Such leaders take organizations to greater heights of glory. Level 5 leaders are required to take organizations from good to great. Are there level 6 leaders beyond level 5 leaders? Let us look at the same.


Level 6 Leaders:

Level 6 leaders work with passion, patience and perseverance. They emphasize on values and ethics. They empathize with others. They believe in values based leadership. They build further leaders thus ensuring longevity of the organizations. They know how to inspire the motivate people. They are master trainers and mentor others. They are transformational leaders with passion to make others believe in themselves for the good of others. They are knowledge leaders having specialized knowledge. They are thought leaders who see the invisible and forecast the future requirements that are beyond the reach of normal leaders.

Level 6 leaders strive for the personal and professional success of their followers. They handhold, guide and groom them as leaders. They create more leaders to take things forward. They ensure the longevity of the organization without expecting any rewards and returns.

To conclude, level 6 leaders create more leaders. They are above level 5 leaders. They are humane and kindhearted. They believe in soft leadership that blends both soft and hard skills. These leaders are legends who will be remembered for several generations for their commitment and making difference in the lives of others.




Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultant, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

“What is Customer Pipeline?” – Professor M.S.Rao

You must have heard about leadership pipeline. Let us also know about customer pipeline. It sounds strange to hear about customer pipeline, right!

In leadership pipeline companies keep their leadership talent in the pipeline to avert any kind of organizational eventuality. Especially when key senior executive surprises with sudden resignation, companies don’t have to worry with the sudden exit as they ask the next senior most to take up the charge for time being. In the meanwhile companies shortlist the leadership talent available in the leadership pipeline for senior position for taking the organization forward smoothly and successfully. Leadership pipeline helps companies to have organizational effectiveness and excellence. However, in customer pipeline companies must constantly create new customers as an ongoing process as customers are not permanent to any particular company or brand. When customers find better products and services elsewhere they shift their loyalty. Therefore, companies must regularly find out the pulse of the people to know their tastes and temperaments in order to retain their loyalty. Precisely, customer pipeline is all about retaining the existing customers by finding their changing tastes and temperaments and expanding the customer base through innovative tools and techniques through continuously and constantly for the growth of the company.

Researchers and marketing experts must look at the ways and means to explore and expand this concept as it is well known fact that all businesses purely depend on customers.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultant, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

“Grooming Generation X as Leaders” – Professor M.S.Rao

“Most CEOs are boomers, and an impending leadership crisis is coming. As many as half of senior managers are leaving in the next five years.” – McKinsey Trends Quarterly


You heard about generation and generation gap where generation means people who are born in a particular period and the generation gap means the gap between two generations. However, there is another term ‘Generation X’, widely used for the people who were born after baby boomers and before generation Y (Gen Y). Precisely, they are called Gen Xers. Gen X is very difficult to define as it is not clear exactly the years these people were born because some experts classified these people having been born in the period of 1965 - 1976 and some in the period of 1961 - 1981. They are also known as Thirteenth Generation and baby busters.

Generation Y (Gen Y) are those who were born in the period of 1977 -1996. The early members of Gen Y are often referred as MTV Generation. They are largely the children of the baby boomers and younger members of this generation have parents that belong to Gen X. They are also called Net Generation, Generation Next, iGeneration and the Millennial Generation. The details of all generations are briefly outlined as follows:

Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964)
Generation Xers (born 1965-1976) / (1961-1981)
Generation Yers (born 1977 – 1996)
Digital Natives who are also referred as Hyper-connected (born after 1997)


Challenges for Gen X:

"Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." -Joshua J. Marine

There are several challenges for Gen Xers. Their percentage is lesser than Gen Y. In fact, Gen Xers are caught between the devil and deep sea where older people enjoyed several benefits being senior and the younger generation is much benefited by the rapid growth in technology. They are sandwiched between two other generations such as baby boomers and Gen Y. When baby boomers retire it is the X-ers who have to take up the leadership roles.


Grooming Gen-X as Leaders:

“It is possible at any age to discover a lifelong desire you never knew you had.” - Robert Brault

As the baby boomers are retiring we are heading towards a major global challenge to keep Gen X ready to take on leadership roles and responsibilities. How does it happen? Are the organizations ready to train and groom these people? Have they kept these people in the leadership pipeline?

Gen X employees are a cursed lot as they are not experts in technology like Gen Y. They missed their bus because they were born in a particular era. Their average tenure span at the workplace is decreasing with an average of three to five year life span in any one organization. Companies have made mistake by not focusing on their training and grooming for senior positions. One great advantage is that they have passion for learning and growing and are willing to take up leadership positions. Since baby boomers are retiring there is dearth of leadership talent at the top. Therefore, companies must put earnest efforts to train and groom Xers so that the talent is kept ready in the leadership pipeline to take the companies to greater heights.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultant, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

“Is Coaching An Integral Part of Leadership Development?” – Professor M.S.Rao

Coaching is one of the most effectual means of leadership development as the coaches involve actively in imparting, interacting and providing feedback to their clients. Any doubts can be clarified instantly as there is accessibility of the coaches for the clients. It provides confidence to the clients thus ensuring effective leadership takeaways. In fact, leadership development is incomplete without referring to coaching and mentoring as the clients need to be coached and mentees need to be mentored through mentoring.


Coaching Types and Methods:

Coaching helps in developing the abilities and skills of the clients. It makes sure their personal and professional advancement. There are various types of coaching such as personal coaching, performance coaching, sports coaching, skills coaching, career coaching, corporate coaching, executive coaching, life coaching, and leadership coaching and so on. With the rapid growth in technology and mushrooming knowledge workers, there are specialized coaches for specific domains.

There are two methods of coaching such as directive and non-directive coaching. In directive coaching, the coach teaches extensively for upgrading the skills and abilities of the clients. However, in non-directive method, the coach questions the clients and moves them forward towards their goals. In this method of coaching, questioning is the key and it emphasizes on Socratic Method.


Coaching Vs Mentoring:

Coaching is different from mentoring. In mentoring, the mentors shape the attitudes, behavior and personality of the mentees. In contrast, in coaching, the coaches build skills and abilities of the clients thus widening their competencies and capabilities. In a nutshell, mentoring involves more of soft skills than that of hard skills while coaching involves more of hard skills than that of soft skills. To distinguish succinctly, coaches accompany achievements and mentors ensure shaping of the mentees.

Coaching helps in discovering the inherent competences and capabilities of the clients and in shaping them as competent individuals further. It helps in motivating and building confidence among the clients through continuous support and guidance. However, mentoring helps in showing the mentees their inherent competencies and thus grooming them.

Coaching is a structured and formal approach while mentoring is not so. Coaching involves physical interaction and constant correction with right feedback. However, mentoring is all about sharing advices and experiences.


Qualities of Coaches:

The coaches must be confidential, friendly and must be psychologists. They must shoot right questions to get best out of clients. They must be good at giving objective feedback. Above all, they must be good listeners with right reasoning and analytical bent of mind.


Qualities of Coachees:

The coachees must be good listeners and should have respect towards coach. They must have passion to learn and upgrade their skills and abiliites and must have ability to take feedback objectively and constructively.


Coaching Strategy:

Coach must have clear strategy with a blueprint about the execution of the coaching process which must be aligned with the goals of the clients. Both coach and coachee must set SMART strategies to achieve desired results. They must set their strategies specifically to avoid deviation and to make sure clarity. The duration of the coaching must be measurable to be clear and to enhance seriousness. The strategies must be achievable so that both the coach and coachees get motivated to take it forward. Besides, the coaching strategy must be realistic and should not be a mere daydream. Finally, the strategy must be time bound to stay focused as well as to check for takeaways.


Coaching and Questioning:

The coaches must use several tools during coaching process such as usage of inquiry, interaction, reflection, and requests to get the best out of the clients. In addition, they must learn the art of questioning as questioning is an integral part of coaching. They must ask open ended questions that help their clients think broadly in coming out with solutions. Clients will be able to think and come out with answers when shot with broadening questions as people are usually committed to their ideas than that of others.


Coaching Questions:

Here are the great coaching questions to ask your clients, or yourself!

• What do you want to learn?
• What skills and abilities do you like to acquire?
• What action will you take to improve your abilities and skills?
• What are your professional goals and how much duration do you take to accomplish them?
• What do you mean by success? Has success got anything to do with coaching? How do you think coaching helps in achieving your success?
• What are the current challenges do you have and how will you overcome?
• Do you have the ability to manage external threats and minimize the internal threats?

The above all are of open-ended coaching questions that grill the clients and dig deep for aligning their efforts and energies with their goals.


Conclusion:

Coaching as a career is promising as there are number of specialized areas evolving currently. Coaching makes the difference in the lives of others. It is a priceless gift if you have a coach who has passion to shape your personality.

Most of the leadership development programs include coaching to make the programs effective. Besides, coaching clears and clarifies the any doubts instantly as coaches are available for immediate feedback thus improving the confidence level of clients. Coaching builds leadership competencies and capabilities among the clients. Therefore, we can comfortably conclude, that coaching is an integral part of leadership development.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultant, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

“Leadership Development Programs” – Professor M.S.Rao

As you cannot hand over the keys of your car to a person who does not know driving, you cannot hand over the reins of your company to a person who is not equipped with leadership qualities and competencies. Therefore, we need to train and groom the people as leaders before handing over the reins. Leadership development is the mantra for the employees who have high potential to take on the corporate battles with confidence and mettle. Designing the right leadership development program (LDP) is the key to successful leadership development for desirable outcomes.


LDP Objectives

“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers not the enrichment of the leaders.” - Robert Townsend

Objectives of any LDP are to work out and create a strategy to build leaders as per the organizational goals and objectives. It involves content preparation, training and grooming, feedback and finally keeping them ready to take the corporate battles and challenges. It must be in tune with talent management, leadership succession and leadership pipeline. The bottom line is to ensure seamless supply of leadership talent to avert any kind of organizational eventuality.


LDP Preparation

Before you conduct LDP, be clear about the content to be covered as per the profile of the audience. Find out the profile of the audience that includes their educational background, cultures, gender, ethnicities, levels of position as it helps you understand the create content to match their needs. In addition, find out the duration of the program as you need to cater the content within the duration without compromising the quality of delivery.

While designing the content, find out the relevant areas to be covered. Explore those areas for adding new information, knowledge, skills and abilities. If you give what others give, you get into the rat race. Therefore, look at the innovative ways to design the content to stand out from others to get noticed for valuable takeaways.


LDP Content Plan

The LDP must align with the vision and mission of the organization. It is the base from which the training process must start. In addition, find out whether the LDP is to fill the performance gap areas or for growth areas. The content preparation is different for filling the gap areas and for growth areas. If it is for gap areas find out the gaps and create the content adequately for filling those gap areas. If it is for growth areas find out the next level the people will go and prepare content in those areas so that they can acquire the same.

The ideal content plan for LDP covers below items:

• Personality development
• Communication
• Strategy
• Managing change
• Power presence
• Diversity
• Coaching
• Mentoring
• Business etiquette
• Ethics
• Kirkpatrick’s evaluation

In addition, LDP must focus on both soft and hard skills, the former emphasizing on behavioral aspects and the latter focusing on the domain competency. Blending both soft and hard skills helps in creating smart leaders. The duration of the program usually lasts for five days. The outlined plan is only a tentative one and must be tailored as per the profile of the audience, budget of the company, availability of time and other factors.

While delivering the content, it is essential to use different methods such as lecture, case study, role play, behavioral role modeling, and simulations. The first three methods of lecture, case study and role play are familiar to everybody. Therefore, it is essential to emphasize on behavioral role model and simulations to bring out behavioral changes as leadership deals mostly with behavior.


LDP Execution

"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." - Samuel Johnson

Be clear about the program and analyze the profile of audience. Find out what do the audiences expect and prepare the content accordingly. The success of any program depends on sharing what is essential to the audience rather than sharing what is one is comfortable with. Why do some training programs fail? The answer is simple as they deliver what they know but not what the audience wants.

Always present the benefits the audience gain during the presentation as it enhances their attention and respect to the trainer and the content. No one cares how big you are until they know how strong you are at your domain.

Create content that is relevant, unique and innovative. Don’t give what others give. Give something different and unique so that you can stand out. While preparing the content it is essential to cover it from three perspectives such as length, breadth and depth. While covering the content it is essential to present it at length such as covering the issue from multiple perspectives. In addition, address the content broadly with illustrations, case studies, activities, through experiential and blended learning. Finally, the content should not be superficial but must have depth of knowledge and information as it helps in minimizing the time during question and hour session.

Make use of innovative and varied instructional methods that attract the attention of the audience. Adopt these instructional methods as per the learning styles of the audience. Keep changing the instructional style as per the body language and the mood of the audience. Use film clippings, power point presentations, role plays and interactive methods as per the profile and mood of the audience.

As feedback is the breakfast of the champions, at the end provide feedback form to find out the takeaways from the participants. It clearly spells out the pulse of the people and helps you do better in the next program.


LDP and Action Learning

Action learning is learning by doing where people learn through their experiences thus improving their performance. It helps in relating the reel content with real life, enhances awareness, makes the learning process more disciplined and boosts the overall confidence of the participants. It is usually conducted in small groups where people do certain activities and tasks under the supervision of a facilitator who corrects and moderates the behavior of the participants. It is a behavioral aspect. It does not involve in mere sharing or acquiring of knowledge. It is an extension of traditional learning. In traditional classroom learning the participants learn only knowledge. However, in action learning the participants acquire skills and abilities to execute the task effectively and efficiently.

Professor Reginald Revans is the brainchild behind this concept who developed in UK in 1940s. It helps tremendously in leadership development where the participants are highly mature and experienced individuals who do not need spoon-feeding. It is the key component for leadership development programs.


Learning Leadership

"The most important thing in life is not to capitalize on your successes - any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your mistakes." - William Bolitho, from 'Twelve against the Gods'

Learning leadership involves both theoretical aspects and practical activities. You need to be equipped with the theoretical concepts so that you will be able to experiment in your real life environment. During the course of experimentation, you tend to make mistakes and learn a lot from your experience. However, the theoretical concepts that you learn from various sources will help you minimize mistakes thus enhancing your success rate as an effective leader.

People learn about leadership from multiple sources such as books, by observing leaders at the workplace or outside the workplace. You can also learn by reading good books. You can perfect your leadership skills by undergoing training programs wherein you involve in role plays and practical activities through blended and experiential learning. Above all, you need to get your hands dirty to excel as an effective leader. Therefore, learning the ropes of leadership is easier said than done.

Leadership is a trainable and transferable skill from one person to another. It is more of a behavioral skill that can be learned by experience and through proper training and grooming. There must be mentors who can share experiences time to time to walk the talk and to fine-tune the mentees. In addition, there must be coaches who can interact, question and grill to get best out of the coachees.


LDP in India

India’s ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever and Infosys have invested into LDPs and they are the top Indian companies to hit global headlines by investing into leadership development programs.

Indian companies prefer to train and groom the top leadership talent ready within their organizations rather than hiring from outside unlike the western countries. Indian companies have strong selection strategies to recruit and train the people as per their business needs.


Conclusion

“The ultimate challenge of leaders who are senior managers is to develop the next generation of leaders more capable than themselves.” – Dave Ulrich

The current financial crisis globally and the recent eruption of corporate scandals reflect that there is dearth of leadership talent and ethical leadership at the top. Therefore, there is need for emphasizing on ethics while developing leaders. Besides, research reports reveal that the turn over rate of CEOs is rising tremendously. Tenure span of CEOs is decreasing gradually. Therefore, there is an urgent need to conduct LDPs to groom leaders so as to ensure seamless supply of talented leaders to take on the corporate battles in 21st century.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultant, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

“Accept and Respect Ayodhya Verdict” – Professor M.S.Rao

Finally, the sensitive Ayodhya issue has been pronounced by the Lucknow court on 30 September 2010. The features of the verdict are:

• Land is divided into three parts
• 1/3 of the land is allotted to Muslims.
• Status quo is to be maintained for 3 months.
• Idols cannot be removed.

It is a secular verdict. We have to accept and honor the verdict in the larger interests of our nation. India is still a developing country with several economic and other issues. In fact, these issues are more important than the Ayodhya issue. Therefore, it is vital for all of us to accept and respect the verdict for taking the country forward to peace and progress.

It is time to bid good bye to mixing religion with politics and start focusing in developmental activities for India’s growth. Let us forget the wounds of the past and move forward with fraternity and unity.

Let us congratulate the people of India for displaying peace and tranquility after the verdict. Let us also congratulate our Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram for taking precautionary measures to maintain peace and tranquility.

The author personally appeals to all Indians to respect the verdict in the larger interests of building a better and stronger India. Let us do remember that we are Indians first and Indians last. Jai Hind

Professor M.S.Rao’s Book Review Titled “Understanding Leadership Competencies – Creating Tomorrow’s Leaders”

The book titled ‘Understanding Leadership Competencies – Creating Tomorrow’s Leaders” authored by Patricia Guggenheimer and Mary Diana Szulc is a thin book with valuable takeaways about leadership competencies.

The book unfolds leadership competencies, discusses personal qualities of leaders and the actions that competent leaders take. It contains activities, exercises, assessments that are easy to understand and apply in practical life.

According to the authors, there are nine leadership competencies such as passion, humor, courage, integrity and trust, energy/vitality/enthusiasm, building a team, setting priorities, creativity and vision. The book provides the meanings of the competencies from Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. Let us look at the same:

• “Competence: possession of required skill, knowledge, qualification, or capacity; having suitable or sufficient skill, knowledge, experience, etc., for some purpose.”
• “Passion: emotion; the emotions as distinguished from reason; intense, driving, or overmastering feeling or conviction; a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept; an emotion that is deeply stirring or ungovernable.”
• “Humor: an often temporary state of mind imposed esp. b circumstances; … the mental faculty of discovering, expressing, or appreciating the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous.”
• “Courage: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.”
• “Integrity: firm adherence to a code of esp. moral or artistic values
• “Trust: to rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of.”
• “Energy: the capacity of acting or being active … the capacity for doing work.”
• “Vitality: power to live or grow.”
• “Enthusiasm: strong excitement of feeling.”
• “Build: to develop according to a systematic plan, by a definite process, or on a particular base.”
• “Team: a number of persons associated together in work or activity.”
• “Setting: the manner, position, or direction in which something is set.”
• “Priority: a preferential rating; esp. one that allocates right to goods and services usually in limited supply.”
• “Creativity: the quality of being creative; marked by the ability or power to create.”
• “Vision: something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy; an object of imagination; act or power of imagination; mode of seeing or conceiving; unusual discernment or foresight.”

The book unfolds amazing exercises on integrity and trust wherein you need to pick up the values and passions you like. You need to check whether you have the same or not and then start acquiring. It grills you at core and gets the best out of you. It contains several visual pictures for better understanding. It outlines few quotes such as:

"Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind." - E.B. White
“Enthusiasm finds the opportunities and energy makes the most of them.” – Henry S. Haskins

In addition, the authors take the reference of Terry Paulson’s ‘Making Humor Work: Take Your Job Seriously and Yourself Lightly, “It is dangerous to confuse professionalism with seriousness. You can take your job and your world seriously, and still take yourself lightly.”

What Do Authors Say?

1. Excellence is measured one step at a time, and it all begins with effort.
2. Recognize that sometimes we have to “stretch” ourselves to make a positive difference in the lives of others.
3. In today’s busy world, it is difficult to set priorities.
4. The goal of the organization is not to lose, because you are right, and to minimize the damage to the organization’s reputation. If you lose, you may have to pay severe penalties or, worse, declare bankruptcy, not to mention the enormous amount spent to defend your position.
5. The goal of any institution or individual is not to win a battle at the expense of losing the war.
6. People who have energy, vitality and enthusiasm are involved and pursue goals passionately. They put their hearts as well as their minds into their endeavors resulting in personal and professional fulfillment.

Sometimes we need to jump-start the creative process, by engaging our brain in a different thought process. Consider using mind mapping as a tool to stimulate creativity. Mind Mapping is a powerful graphic technique that provides a key to unlocking the brain’s potential. The Mind Map can be applied to every aspect of life in which improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance. The Mind Map has four essential characteristics:

1. The subject of attention is crystallized in a central image.
2. The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image as branches.
3. Branches constitute a key image or key word printed on an associated line. Topics of lesser importance are also represented as branches attached to higher-level branches.
4. The branches form a connected nodal structure.

Conclusion:

The book helps readers in presenting the leadership competencies and also in building their competencies through resources, exercises and self-assessment techniques. It is useful to the aspiring leaders who don’t have lot of time to refer number of books. The ideas and insights are well punched. The book is worth investing your precious time. To conclude, it is a good book that deserves to be widely read.


References:

From The Mind Map Book by Tony Buzan & Barry Buzan, New York, Copyright 1993 by Tony Buzan & Barry Buzan.

“Future of Virtual Organizations” – Professor M.S.Rao

What is Virtual Organization?

You have heard and seen organizations that are lean, tall, flat and so on. You must have come across the concepts of virtual organizations, virtual teams, virtual offices and virtual leadership. These have tremendous impact on the future organizations. When we see movie production, we find people joining together for film shooting and departing after the completion of the film shooting. Even while working for one movie, people might work for other movies simultaneously as all people may not be required for making a particular film at a time. Similarly the virtual organization is a temporary organization where people join together in providing quick and innovative solutions to the problems.

Virtual organizations are unconventional and non-traditional way of doing the things. It effectively makes use of informational technology to share knowledge, skills and abilities to accomplish organizational requirements. It is working beyond borders through internet connectivity.

With the rapid changing technology, the tastes and temperaments of the costumers are changing. The virtual organizations are the means to meet the growing demand of these customers to provide quality solutions, services and products.


Virtual Teams:

In virtual teams people with different competencies and capabilities work together on common goals and objectives and often without physical interaction. These teams are beyond borders and boundaries and work together from varied time zones, geographies and spaces with collective objectives and interests. Virtual teams are dissolved once the project takes off as Price aptly put, "Teams dissolve on completion, to reappear in new combinations for other tasks.”


Virtual Leaders:

Virtual leaders are the people who lead the virtual team members beyond boarders with collective vision. These leaders align the energies and efforts of the team members towards organizational goals and objectives by influencing and motivating them. These leaders must have broad global mindset, with adequate tool set and requisite skill set unlike traditional leadership. Besides, they must be good at managing diversity.


Types of Virtual Organizations:

According to Bradt there are four types in virtual organizations. They are: the alliance organization that emphasizes on core competencies leveraging the strengths of the people, displaced organization where people are connected through internet technology but distributed geographically, invisible organization that is network of call-centers and back offices where business is executed telephonically and fourth type is a truly virtual organization that is the blend of the other three types of organizations and the best example for this is the online Amazon.com bookstore.


Challenges:

The crucial challenges in virtual organizations are the cultural and communication aspects where people need to be aware of various cultures while working with virtual teams and need to flex their communication to get across the message clearly and effectively.


Conclusion:

The future of virtual organizations is bright as the times and technologies are changing rapidly. The world is going virtual way wherein people join together for common objectives and goals and separate once the project is over. It is like make shift tent for temporary stay.

Currently we find loyalty to organizations as skin deep. When people work together they connect for getting the tasks executed. Once the work is over, they separate and rejoin with others to get new tasks executed. This is the kind of mindset evolving among the employees globally. In future, it appears that the people connect over video conferencing and work together more vigorously than now without any physical interaction for executing the tasks and part away amicably.

The way the technology is changing it is very tough to predict where we will land in a couple of decades from now. However, considering the past changes, we can predict to some extent that the virtual organizations are here to stay.

“Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline and Teaching” – Professor M.S.Rao

“We often spend so much time coping with problems along our path that we forget why we are on that path in the first place. The result is that we only have a dim, or even inaccurate, view of what's really important to us.” – Peter M. Senge

Internationally each personality is associated with each area of specialization. When we recall a particular personality we easily relate with a specific area of expertise and also the other way round. For instance, Daniel Goleman is associated with emotional intelligence, Philip Kotler with marketing, John Adair with Action Centered Leadership, Ken Blanchard with Situational Leadership, and Peter Senge with Fifth Discipline. When we look at Peter Senge, he highlighted about organizational learning in his magnum opus ‘The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization’.

According to Peter Senge “A learning organization is a place where people are continually discovering how they create their reality.” He says that organizations are dynamic and continuously adapt and improve. As individuals improve their learning curve, the organizations too must improve their learning curve. He unfolds that learning organizations constitutes five disciplines such as personal mastery, mental modes, shared vision, team learning and systems thinking. Let us see how these disciplines can be used in the classroom for the benefit of both students and educators. The educators can effectively use these five factors for effective teaching for students. For instance, students can learn the concepts through personal mastery by mastering the contents and concepts. The educators can involve the students into interaction wherein students apply their mental modes for better clarity of the content. Thirdly, the educators can often highlight the common objectives of learning by sharing the collective vision of the students. Fourthly, educators can engage students to form groups in the classroom, discuss and ensure learning outcomes. Finally, educators can take informal feedback from students for making both teaching and learning better which is a type of systems thinking. We shall deal the same in detail.

Teaching in ‘Fifth Discipline’ Way:

• When we talk of mental modes, it is all about the students reflecting what has been taught in the classroom through mental pictures and visualization. It enhances their retention of the concepts paving the way for relating the reel content with real life applications. It builds confidence and promotes analytical and thinking levels.
• Educators must emphasize on personal mastery where their teaching styles should be tailored in such a way that students must be able to reinforce their learning.
• Often it is essential for educators to remind students about sharing their vision of joining the course and the objectives behind the classroom session as it makes them more accountable and responsible towards learning. It also helps them focus on learning objectives with desired outcomes.
• Team learning helps in effective transfer of knowledge and generates more knowledge. Educators must involve students in team learning so that they can discuss and challenge the ideas and information for further research. Numerically speaking, one plus one is two. However, when we talk in terms of teaching it is more than two and probably more than eleven. In this context, it is rightly said that when two people exchange an apple, they still have one apple in their hands. However, when they exchange ideas they will have two ideas as each individual is acquiring extra idea through exchange.
• Educators must look at the overall improvement of the classroom teaching by assessing the learning needs of the students. They must tune their teaching style as per the different learning styles of students to ensure effective teaching in the classroom. Therefore, it is essential to take inputs from the students informally to make things better. It is known as systems thinking from the perspective of Peter Senge.

To conclude, both educators and students can take a leaf from Peter Senge’s five disciplines for understanding the concepts and their application to reap rich rewards real life.

"Leadership Lessons for Future Leaders" - Professor M.S.Rao

"Keep your mind open to change at all times. Welcome it. Court it. It is only by examining and re-examining your opinions and ideas that you can progress." - Dale Carnegie


Since time immemorial, there has been a lot of emphasis on leaders and leadership. What fascinates this area is still a mystery since history. Although lot of research has been done, it is still unpredictable what makes an individual as a leader. In addition, there is also a debate whether the leaders are born or made.

Often the leadership legends looked back for learning lessons from their past successful leaders whenever they faced leadership crises. For instance, several American Presidents looked back to the leaders like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln whenever they were beset with challenges. It helped them learn lessons and overcome the challenges. The question arises here is whether what worked in the past will work in future. The answer for this is both yes and no. It appears strange, right! Let us look at the same.

The concept of leadership remains the same at the core level as the nature of the people remains the same at the core. At the same time, there is need for changes in leadership with the changing times and technologies at the surface level to stay relevant and successful for future survival and success. For instance, leadership in the past believed in the concept of ‘command and control’ and now it is more of ‘collaboration and parternering’. It is at the surface level. However, the qualities like character, example and influence remain the same at the core level. Hence, let us look at few touchstones of future leaders that are the blend of past, present and future.

Touchstones for Future Leaders:

There are several lessons for budding and upcoming leaders to take on the future battles effectively. They need to learn lessons from their failures. As a leader you need to start knocking down obstacles. You need to know your weaknesses and move forward. You should not allow people to know your weaknesses. You need to put up a brave front always. As a leader you need to set an example to influence others. Let us look at few more in a nutshell:

• Character is the key to leadership as Norman Schwarzkopf rightly put it, “The main ingredient of good leadership is good character. This is because leadership involves conduct and conduct is determined by values.”
• Always take the long view.
• Listen to all and unfurl your ideas.
• Although it sounds strange, it is better to befriend with your enemies to ensure your survival and success.
• Achieve your goals at a reasonable expense.
• It is the personal power, not the positional power that counts at the end.
• Emphasize on the ideas and the issues of the individuals.
• There are no competitors but only collaborators as yesterday’s competitors are today’s collaborators.
• Learn lessons in difficult situations.
• Use soft rather hard power.

Future Leaders:

“The Jack Welch of the future cannot be like me. I spent my entire career in the United States. The next head of General Electric will be somebody who spent time in Bombay, in Hong Kong, in Buenos Aires. We have to send our best and brightest overseas and make sure they have the training that will allow them to be the global leaders who will make GE flourish in the future.” - Jack Welch

The future leaders must be blend of doers, planners and teachers. They must build capabilities and competencies of their people. They must empower their people. What worked in the past might not work in the future as the leadership scenario has changed drastically. For instance, Winston Churchill was a war time hero, but failed as a leader during peace time.

As there is always change of guard from one generation to another, every generation must pass on the knowledge to its next generation so that the future generations can survive without making mistakes. The new generation learns and adopts the new things that become the surface and also retain the old things that become the core.

Conclusion:

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” - Helen Keller

It is a fact that although times and technologies change, the leadership principles and values that guide human nature does not change in totality. However, there is need to change the things at the surface level to tackle the future challenges without compromising with core values and morals. Therefore, the upcoming leaders and future leaders must reinvent their styles and attitudes with changing times to stand out from the pack and soar like eagles.

“Rajanikant – A Living Legend” – Prof.M.S.Rao

Rajanikant’s film ‘Robo’ is going to hit the screens shortly. It is the biggest ever budget film in the history of Indian cinema. The film is unique because it is directed by Shankar who stands for success, who believes in sending messages through his movies and who has never tasted failures in his directorial career. Secondly, the producer is Maran the owner of Sun TV channel who is producing the first film. Thirdly, Aishwarya Rai is the heroine who adds glamorous touch to the movie. Above all, it is going to hit the screens in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.

Rajanikant is an incredible superstar who knows the pulse of the people and knows how to entertain them though his style. In fact, it is the style that makes Rajnikant stand out from other stars. Whatever he does, that becomes the style. When he walks, talks, speaks, dances and pops cigarette, it reflects style.

Rajanikant is a phenomenon in the Indian cinema. He entertained Indian masses with well-punched dialogues and messages. Every Rajanikant’s film carries message at the end for the viewers that is everlasting.

Professionally, he has built his brand consciously and systematically through his unique acting skills. He has been putting enormous efforts in acting. He has been cautious about his image on the screen. He easily connects with the moviegoers of four generations. He has kept his base intact. For the last 35 years he has been holding his sway firmly. Although he is from South India several actors from other languages including from Bollywood are his fans.

Personally, Rajanikant is a man of simplicity and humility. He has not forgotten his roots. He respects K. Balachander at the core who spotted his talent and gave him break in film industry. He respects one and all. He is straightforward by nature and believes in God. He maintains his health through yoga and meditation. He gives charities.

The fact is that there is only one Superstar in Indian cinema. That is Rajnikant. Nobody can replicate his charisma. He is unique and none can replace him. The respect and the title of ‘Superstar’ forever stay with him. There can be no other superstars in Indian cinema.

Indians love two Cs – one is cricket and second is cinema. In cricket, there is only one superstar - Sachin Tendulkar and in cinema, there is only one superstar - Rajnikant. Nobody can replace Sachin and Rajanikant as they enjoy special place in the hearts of Indians.