"What is Sexual Harassment? Learn How To Draw The Line" - Prof.M.S.Rao

“Sexual harassment is complex, subtle, and highly subjective.” - Kathie Lee Gifford


Currently the cases of sexual harassment are growing rapidly. The media is also getting aggressive by reporting such things often without any cross verification to hit the limelight at any cost for increasing their viewership. Sexual harassment has almost become quite common at the workplace. Let us find out what is and what constitutes sexual harassment.

What is Sexual Harassment?

According to the United Nations General Recommendation 19 to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women defines sexual harassment of women to include:

"Such unwelcome sexually determined behavior as physical contact and advances, sexually colored remarks, showing pornography and sexual demands, whether by words or actions. Such conduct can be humiliating and may constitute a health and safety problem; it is discriminatory when the woman has reasonable ground to believe that her objection would disadvantage her in connection with her employment, including recruitment or promotion, or when it creates a hostile working environment." (References:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_harassment)

The term sexual harassment has been coined by Dr. Mary Rowe in early 1970s. It has been existing since time immemorial but it has drawn attention recently as the women began working along with men.

Sexual harassment can happen between a man and a woman and between the same sexes. It is a form of abuse and bullying at the workplace where the superior seeks sexual favors for promoting her or giving her both financial and non-financial incentives. However, when a woman sleeps with a man willingly and subsequently if there is any rift in their relations she cannot claim that she was sexually harassed. The victim can be of any gender and the harasser can be of anyone who is a superior or a subordinate, or a colleague, or a client or a stranger.

Sometimes the harassers may not be completely aware of their behavior as an offensive or constitutes sexual harassment. That means, they are ignorant of their misbehavior. Sometimes, misunderstandings in communication might be treated as sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment is cultural and contextual. What is treated as a good behavior might be treated as a bad behavior in other cultures. The term is cultural specific, situational specific and contextual.

Flirting vs. Sexual Harassment:

There is a thin line that separates sexual harassment from flirting. Don’t confuse being friendly or flirtiness as a welcome signal. Flirting is a natural process to be enjoyed with mutual consent but not at the cost of others. Flirting is fine as long as it is healthy, complementary and reciprocal. It should not be at the cost of others’ wishes or sentiments. Flirtation can sometimes boost one’s ego and rejuvenates the lost magic in relationships arising out of pulls and pressures in daily life.

Sexual Harassment Gestures:

Let us look at few gestures that can be treated as sexual harassment. They are:
unwanted physical touch, demonstrating pornography, talking about sex at the workplace, spreading rumors about the relations among the people at the workplace, making sexual advances, seeking for sexual favors, facial expression with sex appeal, unwelcome hugging, kissing, touching and commenting so on.

Body Language and Sexual Harassment:

Research reveals that women are smarter at getting at the vibes of the men than the other way round. They use less of oral language and more of body language to attract men. Woman sends specific signals to reveal her interest towards man. She giggles, laughs, twirls her hair, and maintains cheerful eye contact. This is an indication of her interest in man. However man responds mostly through oral language and preferably by praising her beauty. They are good at hidden data of communication such as recognizing the emotions, feelings and egos than that of men who are only strong at gauging both the verbal and non-verbal communication such as body language.

How To Identify?

At times, it is tough to draw the fine line between misbehavior and sexual harassment. Few women wear ‘provocative dressing’ to get noticed. And if any one questions her provocative dressing, she might get offended thus leveling charges of sexual harassment. Who is to be blamed in this regard? Is it the woman who tempts others with her provocative dressing to get noticed or the person who questions her dressing? Therefore, it is a complicated issue where people find it tough to draw the line. Besides, cultural factors play a crucial role to declare what is offensive, or defensive or proper.

Provocative dress is one of the causes for sexual harassment where others are tempted to tease. Let us look at few more causes for sexual harassment.

Causes:

When both woman and man agree to have relationship it cannot be treated as a sexual harassment. Even courts cannot enter and interfere between consensual relationship. However, the problem arises when a woman complains against man. At times, organizational politics at the workplace may lead to such complaints. Therefore, the authorities have to find out how far the accusation is appropriate and the information is genuine. Whether there was a case of real sexual harassment or was it due to personal egos between two different genders has to be taken into account for coming to conclusion.

It is usual practice to blame the car driver for hitting the pedestrian although the mistake lies with the latter for crossing over the road unmindful of the approaching car and being negligent about the traffic signals. People express their sympathy to the injured person rather than the car driver. Similarly, when any complaint comes from a woman, men are usually targeted immediately. It is unfair to do so. The best thing is to keep gender issue aside and look at the complaints objectively without any gender bias.

In some cases, the woman who is incompetent may harbor jealousy against a colleague who is highly competent and may level the charges of sexual harassment. In such cases, there should not be any sympathy just because the complaint came from a woman.

Sometimes a wicked woman might use it as a weapon to settle her scores with her male colleague at the workplace.

Sometimes there are negative elements such as rumor-mongers who spread rumors to settle their scores with their colleagues due to professional jealousies.

When a woman complains of sexual harassment, it is essential to keep short messaging services through cell phones (smss), email or letter correspondence ready as evidence. The people who have been targeted must be ready with their credentials of commendation and awards to prove their point of good behavior.

Susan and Ron:

Let us take the examples of two employees in an organization. Susan and Ron were working in the same department. Susan was senior while Ron was junior in that organization although Ron was older to Susan in age. Susan did not appreciate the growing popularity of Ron and his superior performance. She harbored professional jealousy. Finally one day, she took Ron to a room and attacked him verbally within the four walls thus insulting his ego. Ron realized the insecure feelings of Susan and kept mum as he respected her as a good colleague. Was it not a sexual harassment by a woman on man? Therefore, sexual harassment is not by men on women alone but by women on men as well. A woman who is superior at the workplace and who is highly dominant might not appreciate her subordinate excelling professionally. In such a scenario she might hurt male ego that can also be treated as sexual harassment.

Sexual Harassment Training:

As prevention is better than cure, it is essential to educate and train employees about the concept of sexual harassment and the dos and don’ts for ensuring healthy workplace environment. Therefore, it is essential for organizations to conduct sexual harassment workshops once in a while. .

Sexual harassment training helps organizations to check the menace. People will be made aware of what is flirting and harassing. At times, people don’t know the difference between the both and cross their lines leading to controversies. It also makes things clear what constitutes and falls under sexual harassment as people often don’t know the clear cut definition of sexual harassment. Sometimes men at the workplace might think that praising the beauty of a woman is a compliment. And the same may be viewed in a different context from the other side. Therefore, sexual harassment training helps educate the employees at the workplace to learn, appreciate and respect the values, cultures ethics and etiquette.

At times people are ignorant of their behavior. They don’t know what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Besides, the implications of sexual harassment must be made aware to victims, the harassers, and the organizations through proper training.

Tips to Tackle:

”Sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for virtuous women.” - Phyllis Schlafly

· When you find that a woman or a man at the workplace is a troublemaker, stay away as far as possible. And also when you find that your colleague has professional jealousy and is playing politics, it is better to stay away in totality.
· When someone is approaching you often without any valid reasons with sexual behavior and tendencies, you need to safeguard yourself.
· Keep track with people who often criticize, complain and condemn others. Such people are dangerous elements at the workplace who disturb the healthy atmosphere at the workplace.
· When someone is touching you physically without any valid reason, or paying compliment inappropriately, or staring at you constantly, it is time to pick up the signals and guard yourself from such people.
· Be careful with wicked women at the workplace especially divorced who look for filling their emotional gaps and unfulfilled sexual desires. If the same is not fulfilled and not reciprocated appropriately, they can go to any extent to level charges against their male counterparts. At the same time, be careful with men who are highly aggressive and carry forward unreliable information and spread rumors at the workplace. These men promise more and deliver less.

Conclusion:

”Sexual harassment law is very important. But I think it would be a mistake if the sexual harassment law movement is the only way in which feminism is known in the media.” - Judith Butler

No employer or superior should withhold professional opportunities of an employee just because the employee did not fall in line with the sexual advances or needs of the employer or superior.

There is a thin line between misbehavior and sexual harassment when something happens between a man and a woman. It depends on the relationship that exists between the man and the woman. If the woman likes the man she might treat it as misbehavior, if she dislikes the man she might call it as sexual harassment. Just because of one or two incidents a person can be dubbed as a harasser and the other person cannot be treated as a victim.

It is advisable to conduct sexual harassment workshops as people will be aware of what is what and what are the dos and don’ts at the workplace. Besides, it takes on the behavioral challenge, arming employees and leaders with the information they need to prevent sexual harassment and the tools that will help them to respond when incidents occur.

It is a fact that sexual harassment against women is on the rise. The organizations should take it seriously and design their policies and procedures accordingly to make the workplace climate healthy, peaceful and pleasant.

To conclude, it is essential to create a harassment-free, positive and respectful workplace for all employees for working in a healthy and peaceful professional ambience. It ultimately builds credibility and brand image for the organization paving the way for organizational excellence and effectiveness.

“Do We See The Things The Way We Are?” – Prof.M.S.Rao

"We do not see things the way they are but as we are" – Jewish proverb

A woman appears beautiful to someone and might not appear beautiful to another. A person seems to be good for someone and might seem to be bad for another. Why is it so? It is all due to our perceptions. John Keats rightly said, ”beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.” Similarly what appears beautiful might not be beautiful for others. At the same time, there are certain things that are common and universally accepted. Therefore, the statement, ‘we see the things the way we are!’ is appropriate in few contexts but not in all contexts.

Belief Vs Reality:

Is there any difference between beliefs and reality? The question sounds odd, right! Yes, sometimes what people believe is totally different from reality. Initially people believed that earth was flat, but the reality is that earth is round shaped. There were certain beliefs that have been proved wrong over a period of time when clarified and verified with realities.

Usually we see the world not the way it is but the way we are. It is rightly said that nothing is either good or bad but the thinking makes it so. It is all how we perceive the people and the world around us determines our attitude. All people are good as there are no bad people in this world. At times, the circumstances and experiences make people either good or bad. To state further, no man is entirely good and no man is entirely bad.

What is Perception?

Let us briefly look at the meaning of the word perception in this regard. The origin of the world ‘perception’ is from Latin word, ‘perceptio, percipio’ and that means ‘receiving, collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses.

It is like perceiving whether the glass is half full or half empty. It is a kind of perception although both statements, ‘glass is half full’ and ‘glass is hall empty’ are correct and convey the reality of the level of water in the glass.

A girl may love a boy. However, the boy may treat the girl as a friend. It is all perceptions. We look at people with different lenses. At times we need to change our lenses as we might be wrong. We often judge people wrong. Therefore, it is essential to take a relook and view things with different lenses.

Perceptions and Conflicts:

Several conflicts arise at the workplace due to improper communication, ego clashes and lack of empathy. It is true that conflicts arise because of different perceptions as well, as people see the same thing from different perceptions leading to conflicts. In this regard, empathy is essential to eliminate conflicts. It is equally essential to crosscheck perceptions as perceptions could be wrong.

People look at the world they would like to view. It could be either from positive perspective or with negative perspective depending on their experiences. At times, past experiences shape perceptions. Therefore, we form our views and opinions and arrive at conclusions based on our past bitter or better experiences.

Conclusion:

Below average individuals emphasize on individuals, average individuals emphasize on issues and above average individuals emphasize on ideas. It is all based on the individual perceptions.

As your attitude determines your altitude, your perceptions determine your personality. We all think constantly. Why should not we think positive rather than negative? Why should not we see the world with optimism rather than with pessimism? Why should not we look at similarities rather than differences to make a difference for the mankind?

“Do We Need New Breed of Leaders - 21st Century Leaders?” – Prof.M.S.Rao

“To survive in the twenty first century, we are going to need a new generation of leaders” – Warren G. Bennis.


Leadership has been changing with changing times and technologies although the basic essence remains the same. With the rising aspirations and expectations of the people and the craving for more participation and collaboration rather than the traditional ‘command and control’ concept, there is need for reinvention of the traditional leadership style.

The 21st century calls for leaders, not bosses. It calls for leaders with managerial skills and abilities who may be called managerial leaders. It calls for leaders who can don multiple hats as per the situation with flexibility. The 21st century leaders are the leaders who wed the best and shed the worst.

Gone are the days where leaders think that they get authority from hierarchical positions. These days, people respect the leaders who have personal power, not positional power.

21st Century Leadership:

The 21st century leadership is a new breed of leadership style where in it takes best of everything that is relevant in the current context but not compromising with the basic leadership principles and values. These leaders must possess unique qualities such as: character, commitment, compassion, communication, servant attitude, setting example, influencing, thinking out of the box, being smart at both soft and hard skills, having vision, cultural competency with a global mindset, radiating energy and enthusiasm, willing to take risk, appreciating similarities but not differences, empathizing with others, being passionate, optimist, and confident, demonstrating flexibility and adaptability to various challenges arising out of changing times and technologies, grooming others as leaders, and above all, passion to make difference for others.

Touchstones of 21st century leaders:

Since 1960s people have been showing lot of interest in leadership as it has been evidenced in the growing interest in these books and articles. Currently there is dearth of leadership talent and potential as it has become clear from several global challenges and crises arising out of recession. In fact, there is need for leadership training and development to churn leaders who can take the current challenges head-on.

Traditional leadership worked under traditional conditions. However, the current conditions demand a leadership that is unique and different. It requires creativity and out-of the box thinking. According to Daniel Pink; the 21st century skills that will be rewarded are "ingenuity, personal rapport, and gut instinct."

21st century leaders must be able to work in a pressurized and political environment. They must lead by example and influence, not control. They must provide clear direction, support and facilitate. They must be ready to change with a creative mindset to solve problems. They must learn to blend and balance between their head and heart, predictability and spontaneity, logic and vision and above all, criticism and forgiveness.

They must possess troubleshooting skills, change management skills, conflict management skills, networking skills, facilitation skills, and storytelling skills. We shall look at the few more touchstones.

• Passion to learn and grow.
• Being proactive.
• Ability to change and effect change smoothly.
• Appreciating similarities, ignoring differences
• Global mindset with universal cultural competency
• Being optimist and confident.
• Being good at Emotional Quotient (EQ), Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Spiritual Quotient (SQ)
• Problem solving skills and emotional intelligence.

The 21st century leaders must be fair and impartial and flexible to change. They must roll up their sleeves and help others. They must be risk takers and must bring out the best in others, build bridges, lead by example and manage change effectively and efficiently.

Employees’ Expectations:

Employees want to be treated well. They should be treated like partners rather than employees. They like to be groomed as leaders. In addition, they are more concerned about their professional growth.

Therefore, the leaders must build confidence and trust among people that their professional career growth is ensured. Besides, they must demonstrate flexibility and versatility, empower their people, engage employees effectively and efficiently, provide ownership and accountability, lead by example and influence.

Obama – A New Breed of Leader:

When we look at Obama, it is obvious that he is a new breed of leader the people are looking for. People are looking for leaders who can bring about change smoothly. People are looking for leaders who can walk their talk. People are looking for leaders who can transform the society. Above all, people are looking for leaders who can make a difference for others. Therefore, Obama is an apt example of a 21st century leader.

Conclusion:

“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 21st century needs the new breed of leaders who have impeccable track record. It calls for leaders who are authentic and who can walk their talk. It calls for leaders who have a deep sense of purpose and commitment. It calls for leaders who can groom leaders and who can effect change smoothly. It calls for leaders who stand by their convictions and values and above all, it calls for leaders who lead by example to make a difference for others.



References:

"A Whole New Mind - Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age” by Daniel Pink

Prof.M.S.Rao’s Book Review Titled “The Heart of a Leader” Authored By Ken Blanchard

”We have two choices every day: We can feel good about ourselves, or we can feel lousy about ourselves. Why would anyone choose the latter?” - Norman Vincent Peale, the great minister of positive thinking


The book titled ‘The Heart of a Leader’ is yet another interesting book from the shelves of Ken Blanchard. The author needs no introduction. He is the author of forty plus books that includes blockbuster international best seller ‘The One Minute Manager’. He is a trustee emeritus of the board of trustees. He was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top twenty-five best-selling authors of all time. The book contains excellent quotes with elaborative illustrations and examples. Most of the quotes belong to the author. His ideas and insights are well punched.

The book unveils the leadership lessons Ken Blanchard learnt throughout his career as a teacher and leader. It equips the tools and techniques to excel as a true leader with a great heart and offers invaluable ideas and insights and emphasizes on ethics and values for achieving excellence.

Influencing is easier said than done as influence is an art. The book begins with the heart of leader. It provides ideas and insights about the art of influence. Ken Blanchard was deeply influenced with several quotations since his childhood. When he started teaching and writing in the field of leadership and management, it was second nature for him to use sayings to help people remember key points. The book contains several quotations. We shall look at the same.

Quotes:

1. “The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right.” – Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
2. “Don’t wait until people do things exactly right before you praise them.” - Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
3. “What we give our attention to, grows.” – Ken Blanchard
4. “People who produce good results feel good about themselves.” – Ken Blanchard
5. “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Rick Tate
6. “It never hurts to toot your own horn once in a while.” – Ken Blanchard
7. “No one of us is as smart as all of us.” – Ken Blanchard, Don Carew, and Eunice Parisi-Carew
8. “Get your ego out of the way and move on.” – Ken Blanchard, Sheldon Bowles, Don Carew, and Eunice Parisi-Carew
9. “Things not worth doing are not worth doing well.” – Ken Blanchard, William Oncken, and Hal Burrows
10. “Success is not forever and failure is not fatal.” – Ken Blanchard and Don Shula
11. “Never punish a learner.” – Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
12. “When you stop learning you stop growing.”
13. “When you stop learning, you stop leading.” – Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller
14. “Leadership is a high calling” – Ken Blanchard
15. “In life what you resist, persists.” – Werner Erhard
16. “Don’t work harder – work smarter.”
17. “Nice guys may appear to finish last, but usually they are running in a different race.” – Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale
18. “In managing people, it is easier to loosen up than tighten up.” – Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi.
19. “Anything worth doing does not have to be done perfectly – at first.”
20. “What motivates people is what motivates people.”
21. “Life is all about getting As”
22. “Creating Raving Fans; satisfied customers are not good enough.” – Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles
23. “If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek.”
24. “Managing only for profit is like playing tennis with your eye on the scoreboard and not on the ball.” – Ichak Adizes, Corporate Expert and Author
25. “If you want your people to be responsible, be responsive to their needs.” – Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels, and Phil Hodges
26. “It’s more important as a manager to be respected than to be popular.” – Ken Blanchard and Don Shula, Everyone’s a Coach
27. “People with humility don’t think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less.” – Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Ethical Management
28. “Never give in! Never give in! Never give in! Never!” – Winston Churchill
29. “Trying is just a noisy way of not doing something.”
30. “Good thoughts in your head that are not communicated mean “squat.”
31. “You may fool the whole world down the pathway of life, but your final reward will be heartaches and tears If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.” – Dale Wimbrow, Writer
32. “Sometimes when the numbers look right, the decision is still wrong!” – Ken Blanchard and Normal Vincent Peale, The Power of Ethical Management
33. “Love is being able to say you’re sorry.” – Ken Blanchard and Margret McBride
34. “There are two statements that people don’t use enough that could change the world: “thank you” and “I’m sorry.””
35. “Without a change in your behavior, just saying, “I’m sorry” is not enough.” – Ken Blanchard and Margret McBride
36. “Good religion is like good football; it isn’t talk, it’s action.” – Ken Blanchard and Don Shula, Everyone’s a Coach
37. “Take what you do seriously but yourself lightly.” – Ken Blanchard and Terry Waghorn, Mission Possible
38. “Character is following through on decisions.” – Ken Blanchard, Jim Ballard, and Fred Finch, Customer Mania!
39. “The trouble with being in a rat race is that even if you win the race, you’re still a rat.” – Lily Tomlin, actress and comedian
40. “The cure for too much to do is solitude and silence.” – Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, The Servant Leader
41. “Think Big! Act Big! Be Big!” – Norman Vincent Peale
42. “Real communication happens when people feel safe.”
43. “Without vision, the people perish.” – Proverbs 29:18
44. “Vision is knowing who you are, where you’re going, and what will guide your journey.” – Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner, Full Steam Ahead!
45. “Vision is a lot more than putting a plaque on the wall. A real vision is lived, not framed.” – Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner, Full Steam Ahead!
46. “All good performance starts with clear goals.” – Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, The One Minute Manager
47. “Different strokes for different folks.” – Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi, Leadership and The One Minute Manager
48. “Different strokes for the same folks.” – Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi, Leadership and the One Minute Manager
49. “If God had wanted us to talk more than listen, He would have given us two mouths rather than two ears.” – Ken Blanchard, We Are the Beloved
50. “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” – John Lennon
51. “If you don’t seek perfection, you can never reach excellence.” – Ken Blanchard and Don Shula, Everyone’s a Coach
52. “People without information cannot act responsibly. People with information are compelled to act responsibly.” – Ken Blanchard, John P. Carlos, and Alan Randolph, Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute
53. “Let people bring their brains to work, and let them use their knowledge.” – Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner, Leading at a Higher Level
54. “There is only power in empowerment if you are a self-leader.” – Ken Blanchard, Susan Fowler and Laurence Hawkins, Self-Leadership and The One Minute Manager.
55. “A river without banks is a large puddle.” – Ken Blanchard, John P. Carlos, and Alan Randolph, Empowerment Take More Than a Minute
56. “Leadership is not just what happens when you’re there; it’s what happens when you’re not there.” – Ken Blanchard and Marc Muchnick, The Leadership Pill
57. “Your game is only as good as your practice.” – Ken Blanchard and Don Shula, Everyone’s a Coach
58. “Football is a game of errors. The team that makes the fewest errors in a game usually wins.” – Paul Brown
59. “All empowerment exists in the present moment.”
60. “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
61. “Perpetual prosperity comes to those who help others.” – Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, Big Bucks!
62. “Inquire within”
63. “People in organizations need to develop a fascination for what doesn’t work.”
64. “Choose work you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius
65. “Winning coaches make their teams audible-ready.” – Ken Blanchard and Don Shula, Everyone’s a Coach
66. “People are OK; it’s their behavior that’s a problem sometimes.” – Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, The One Minute Manager
67. “Consistency isn’t behaving the same way all the time.” – Ken Blanchard and Don Shula, Everyone’s a Coach
68. “This is the first time in the history of business that you can be great at what you’re doing today and be out of business tomorrow.” – Ken Blanchard and Terry Waghorn, Mission Possible
69. “The only job security you have today is your commitment to continuous personal improvement.”
70. “When you know what you stand for, you can turn around on a dime and have five cents change.”
71. “Share the cash, then share the congratulations.” – Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, Gung HO!
72. “There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.” – John Wooden, former UCLA head basketball coach and Hall of Fame member
73. “It is surprising how much you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” – Abraham Lincoln
74. “Positive thinkers get positive results because they are not afraid of problems.” – Ken Blanchard and Normal Vincent Peale, The Power of Ethical Management
75. “Early in life, people give up their health to gain wealth … In later life, people give up some of their wealth to regain health!
76. “Am I a servant leader or a self-serving leader?” Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, The Servant Leader
77. “Ducks quack. Eagles soar.”
78. “Eagles flourish when they’re free to fly.”
79. “Take responsibility for making relationships work.”
80. “New today, obsolete tomorrow.”
81. “G.O.L.F stands for Game of Life First.” – Ken Blanchard, The One Minute golfer (formerly Playing the Great Game of Golf)
82. “Leadership is not something you do to people. It’s something you do with people.” – Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi, Leadership and The One Minute Manager
83. “Don’t settle for less than a Fortunate 500 company.” – Ken Blanchard and Michael O’Connor, Managing by Values.
84. “Take time to identify core values.”
85. “Core values must be communicated.” – Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner, Full Steam Ahead!
86. “Walk you talk.”
87. “Embody the values.” – Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller, The Secret
88. “Knowing where you are going is the first step to getting there.” – Ken Blanchard, We Are the Beloved
89. “Purpose can never be about achievement; it is much bigger.” – Ken Blanchard and Terry Waghorn, Mission Possible
90. “Purpose has to do with one’s calling – deciding what business you are in as a person.” – Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Ethical Management

Takeaways:

• Praise must be specific, objective and genuine. Praise quickly and criticize slowly.
• People want to know how well they are doing.
• Believe in synergy.
• Leaders must constantly look at the big picture.
• Always encourage the learners.
• Continually learning and upgrading skills is essential.
• Always work smarter, not harder.
• What motivates one person may not motivate another.
• Engage students by providing answers to the questions that are likely to be asked in the examinations. Follow the three-pronged approach: performance planning when goals and objectives are set, day-to-day coaching when ongoing feedback is given, and performance evaluation when overall performance is determined.
• Differentiate yourself from your competition.
• Successful organizations today have a triple bottom line – very much like a three-legged stool - Raving Fan customers, gungo ho people, and financial strength.
• Don’t wait to apologize as it will be perceived as weakness.
• Solitude and silence give us some space to reform our innermost attitudes toward people and events.
• Real communication is a product of trust.
• Leaders today must have a strong vision and positive beliefs that support that vision.
• It takes courage to create a vision, and it takes courage to act on it. The most powerful dream a leader can have is a vision of perfection. Dreams lift us up.
• Better aim at the bull’s-eye because if you miss it, the chances are high you’ll still hit the target.
• People with information are empowered to make responsible decisions and help the organization succeed.
• Self-leaders become partners with their leaders. They develop the ability to pick up the ball and run with it.
• The true test of leadership is to win the trust and respect of the team, keep motivation running high, and help it reach new heights.
• To learn from the past is good, but to live there is a waste. To plan for the future is good, but to live there is a waste. You are happiest and most productive in life when you are living in the present.
• Consistency does not mean behaving the same way all the time. It actually means behaving the same way under similar circumstances.
• Goals are for the future; values are for now. Goals are set; values are lived. Goals change; values are rocks you can count on.
• If you want to build credibility, follow this rule: first cash, then congratulations.
• Nothing can get leaders off track more quickly than a big head and false pride.
• If people don’t have any problems, then they are in the graveyard.
• The writer and motivational speaker, Wayne Dyer said, “There are two kinds of people in this world: ducks and eagles.” Ducks quack a lot and make all kinds of noise. Eagles go about their business and soar above the crowd.
• Follow MBV. MBV stands for managing by values. There are three MBV steps: identifying core values, communicating core values, and aligning values and practice. All are important.
• Remember that rules can be imposed, but values cannot.

Conclusion:

The book is worth reading for learning leadership lessons needed for this century. It is useful to leaders, managers and practitioners who can learn lessons from the rich experience of Ken Blanchard. It is an inspiring and motivational book that walks the talk. The book is worth investing your precious time. You can gift this book to your employees to motivate them.

"How Do You Build Your Leadership Brand?" - Prof.M.S.Rao

“Just as a product or service brand creates value over generic products or services for its owners, we believe that a corporate brand is sustained and enhanced by that organization’s leadership brand. Leadership brand represents the identity and reputation of leaders throughout a company. Leaders demonstrate a brand when they think and act in ways congruent with the desired product or firm brand.” - Dave Ulrich.



When Mahatma Gandhi was forced out of railway compartment in South Africa, the incident changed his mind and life. He realized the plight of Indians and championed the cause of freedom movement. Martin Luther King was deeply moved by the discrimination of blacks from whites and that changed his life and championed the cause for the rest of his life thus becoming as a martyr. Mother Teresa was moved by the plight of poor and the leper patients and she dedicated her entire life for their cause. All these leaders became legends as they fought for their causes.

Do you want to become a legend like them? Do you want to excel as an authority in your domain? Do you like to stand out from pack? If so, leadership branding is the mantra for achieving excellence and all-round success in your life. Here are the nuggets to build your leadership brand.

Nuggets for Building Your Brand:

Focus on your strengths and key areas. When you look at Toyota, Coca-Cola and Disney, they focused on one product and on key areas and excelled. They have built their brands brick by brick.

As organizations build their brands by emphasizing on people, planet and profit, you need to emphasize on acquiring, sharing, spreading your knowledge. Become an active member in your chosen line of specialization and network with like minded people. Whenever it is possible, participate in meetings, seminars, workshops and deliver speeches to make yourself visible.

Always choose your passionate areas first and then work on those areas. Ignore your weaknesses. But be aware of your weaknesses. Don’t be overly concerned about your weakness. Focus on your innate strengths and the cultivated abilities and skills and align them effectively and efficiently and move forward.

Confucius rightly said, “Choose work you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” When you work in your passionate areas the positive vibes move fast and you don’t feel like working but you feel like enjoying your work. It catapults you to excelling as a leader of that domain.

Don’t blame your tools. It is the bad tradesman who blames his tools. Avail what you have and look for possibilities rather than problems. At times, problems provide possibilities for growth. Think that problems open possibilities as they strengthen your will power.

Look for mentors who can guide you, groom you and brings out the best within you.

Break big goals into small goals and work on them on daily basis. Remember, small achievements make big ones in later part of life. Research reveals that when you invest your efforts and energies consistently little by little, it pays you in the long run with huge dividends.

Don’t regret about your unpleasant past or the events or experiences that haunt you. Learn lessons and move on to the next level rather than brooding over the split milk. Change your strategies to reach your goals but don’t change the goal itself.

At times, external forces and factors divert your regular track. Manage them effectively and get back to your passionate track of brand building.

Don’t indulge in constant fire-fighting. Wherever it is essential, take an unchartered path and move head and leave a mark behind.

Read the autobiographies of great leaders and legends and take inspiration from them. Find out how did they overcome their problems during the journey of their life and follow the same. Remember that what worked for them might not work for you fully as the times and technologies have changed the equations rapidly.

Leadership Branding and Building Leadership:

People often confuse between building leadership brand and developing leadership. Building your leadership brand means meticulously and consistently building an image like an icon through deliberate means and efforts. However, developing leadership means building leadership qualities who have flair for leadership for individual and organizational excellence.

It is essential to have an integrated approach for leadership branding. It cannot be treated in isolation. You need to walk the talk. You need to read the relevant books of your areas of interest. You need to practice a lot, fail and bounce back to build your leadership brand. Associate with the people of your area of interest for sharing knowledge and networking. You need to think in that level and maintain the links as per the area you want to build your brand.

Myths in Leadership Branding:

The myth is that only the elite people with elite background can excel and brand themselves. The truth is that the elite people are not born but made. They might be few people who have rich background and that helps them in launching their brands successfully. However, several people started from nowhere and reached number one slots through their dint and hard work. Their daily doses of efforts and energies in a focused manner made them stand out from the pack.

Is Famous Different from Legend?

Famous is different from legend. Famous means you are known to somebody for sometime. However, legend means you are known even after your departure from this world. It is for a longer time and depends on the how much impact you make on others and how much difference you make for others. The fact is that the famous people are not legends but the legends are famous and that makes the difference between famous and legend.

Conclusion:

Everything is possible in this world. We all have huge potential within us. Only thing we need to do is to realize and tap our hidden potential and channel the same effectively for building our leadership brands.

To conclude, come out of your comfort zone. Do research in your domain. Invest your efforts and energies effectively and efficiently. Always compete with yourself. Network with likeminded people. Hit the international headlines for right reasons. Be media savvy. Make your presence felt wherever you go. Have global mindset, tolerance and respect to all cultures, communities and languages. Finally, discover the legend within you, build your leadership brand and soar like an eagle.

Publishers Contact Prof.M.S.Rao for Authoring Books in Leadership, Soft Skills, Self-improvement, Entrepreneurship and Human Resources Related Areas

Dear Publishers,

You may contact me for authoring books in Leadership, Soft Skills, Self-improvement, Entrepreneurship and Human Resources related areas. Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

You may visit my blog http://profmsr.blogspot.com to know more about me.

Prof.M.S.Rao,
Trainer, Teacher and Author,
Founder & Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge Is Wealth

Book Review By Prof.M.S.Rao “The Leader Who Had No Title” Authored By Robin Sharma

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


I have read the book titled ‘The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life’ (Jaico Publishers) by Robin Sharma, the life leadership specialist and who needs no introduction. The entire book maintains conversational tone with valuable takeaways as the way it happens in the book ‘One Minute Manager’.

The book helps you deliver your best regardless of your hierarchical position. It helps you unlock your hidden talents and leverage the same. It helps you to seize the opportunities. Everybody is a leader from pauper to prince and from peon to principal provided they deliver their best unmindful of their title and designation. It helps you unleash your inner energy and blend and balance your personal and professional life.

Some leaders are over conscious of their leadership titles such as Dean, CEO, Senior Manager, and Managing Directors and so on. Leadership is a behaviour that anyone can demonstrate at any time without having any organizational or hierarchical position or title. In fact, we all are leaders at some journey of our lives where we rise to the occasion and demonstrate our hidden talents and potential. Leadership does not go by rank, position or by title. Leadership is not the privilege of a few individuals.

The book preludes with “each of us is born into genius. Sadly, most of us die amid mediocrity.” Let us look at few acronyms first from the book.

Few Acronyms:

Robin Sharma unfolds several acronyms in the book such as LWT – leadership without title, SEW – seriously exceptional work, BIW – best in the world, IMAGE – innovation, mastery, authenticity, guts and ethics, SHINE – See clearly, Health is wealth, Inspiration matters, Neglect not your family, Elevate your lifestyle, HUMAN – Helpfulness, Understanding, Mingle, Amuse and Nurture, KMF - Keep Moving Forward and SPARK – Speak with Candor, Prioritize, Adversity Breeds Opportunity, Respond Versus React, Kudos for Everyone.

Great Quotes from Book:

“Authenticity is about being true to who you are, even when everyone around you wants you to be someone else” - Michael Jordan.

“Money, influence, and position are nothing compared with brains, principles, energy, and perseverance.” – Orison Swett Marden

“I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered into this world into defeat, nor does failure course my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion, and I refuse to talk, walk, and to sleep with the sheep. I will persist until I succeed.” – Og Mandino

“A mind once exposed to new idea never regains its original dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes

The fear you move through when you go to the edge of your limits actually causes your limits to expand. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” - Nietzsche

“If everyone was satisfied with themselves, there would be no heroes.” – Mark Twain

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or to get all the credit for doing it.” – Andrew Carnegie

“One cannot do right in life whilst occupied in doing wrong in another area. Life is one indivisible whole. Your personal life always spills into your work life and vice versa.” - Gandhi

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.” - Seneca, Philosopher

“Jealousy is the attribute that mediocrity pays to genius” - Fulton Sheen

“We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world” - Helen Keller.

What Does Robin Sharma Say?

• In this materialistic world, we chase titles, fast cars, and big bank accounts in a search for greatness when, in truth, all that we really want we already have. The excellence and the happiness we crave are inside of us.
• Success is created through the performance of a few small daily disciplines that stack up over time to produce achievements far beyond anything you could have ever planner for.
• Failure is nothing more than the inevitable outcome of a few small acts of daily neglect performed consistently over time so that they take you past the point of no return.
• By infusing leadership into everything you do and each thing you touch, you can live remarkably. You truly can realize your original genius. You really can be one of the great ones.
• ‘Lucky breaks’ are nothing more than unexpected rewards for intelligent choices we’ve chosen to make. Success doesn’t just happen because someone’s stars line up. Success, both in business and personally, is something that’s consciously created.
• No one’s unimportant. There are no extra people alive today. Every person and every job matters, and all work can be made meaningful with the Lead Without a Title philosophy.
• Innovation always trumps repeating what might have worked in the past. Innovation sounds complex, but it really is simply about consistently. Without innovation, life is death. And only the brave will survive these days.
• Small daily improvements – over time – lead to stunning results. It is known as ‘Multiplier Effect’.
• Work offers you a daily platform to discover the leader within. It’s a chance, every day, to reclaim more of the potential you’ve buried and to awaken the dormant relationship between the current you and your absolute best. It’s an opportunity to express more of your latent creativity and a whole lot more of your precious humanity.
• No matter what your position within any organization and no matter how old you are or where you live throughout the world, you have the power to show leadership. And no one and nothing can ever deny you that.
• Anyone can be a star when the economy is strong, the competition is weak, and your customers are loyal. Difficult times are the ones that reveal what you’re made of – and what kind of a leader you actually are.
• Most people hide in their shells when the going gets tough. They will never know how high they can climb if they don’t even try. In fact, hard times are the best opportunities to show leadership. The more time you spend outside of your comfort zone, the wider it grows.
• Be patient with the process of change. Change is always messiest in the middle. To master change, you absolutely must be persistent and have patience.
• An organization that has a culture where everyone’s afraid to speak candidly is a place where people live amid delusion and fantasy.
• Leaders without a title are truly impeccable with the words they use. They don’t gossip. They don’t complain. They don’t condemn. And they never swear.
• Leadership is about knowing very little about most things and a staggering amount about a few things.
• Crises contain exceptional opportunity. Remember that the strongest and most powerful of leaders were all built by struggle and setback. Please understand that without having walked through the valley of darkness, you just might find that reaching the mountaintop is a hollow victory.
• One of my personal commitments is to be surrounded with only good, passionate, and positive people who make me feel happy.
• Anyway, what I’m really suggesting is that you really must treat people exceptionally well if you are really serious about reaching your highest potential in business.
• Leading by example is one of the most powerful tools for positively influencing change in other people.
• If you’re really serious about winning in business, become a walking, talking, living, breathing hub radiating positive energy, excellence, and kindness to every person you are fortunate enough to help.
• Deep listening is one of the bravest – and rarest – of all of the central acts of real leadership.
• Having fun while you do great work will help you boost your productivity.
• You can’t energize anyone around you if you have no energy yourself. And it’s not really possible to make others feel good about themselves until you’re feeling really good yourself.
• Lead yourself first. Only then will you get to a place as a person where you can lead other people.
• Self-leadership has so much to do with simply reconnecting to the person you once were – to your true nature.
• Greatness is an inner event with outer consequences. Once you awaken your inner leader, worldly success is the guaranteed result.
• Every one of us has a natural tendency to see through our blind spots and limiting beliefs. Often we see situations through eyes of fear versus through the lenses of opportunity.
• Real leadership involves breaking through the limits of your mind so you can step into the highest strengths of your spirit.
• We never act in a way that is inconsistent with the way we see ourselves.
• Take care of people and the money will take care of itself. Help people get to their goals, and people will help you get every single one of yours. Make the people you do business with super successful, and they’ll be sure to make you super successful. People are really the most important element to a winning business. Care for them. Nurture them. Water them. Give the best you have to give them.

Takeaways:

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he was imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau

• Leadership is about leveraging hard times and using them to your advantage.
• Leadership is about correcting and criticizing others when they are doing things wrong.
• The secret to moving through hard times is to just keep moving forward.
• Great careers and great businesses are built by evolution.
• It is better to go down in fiery failure because you chased your loftiest ambitions than to spend your best hours watching television in some subdivision.
• Initiative and hard work is the warm-up act for a headliner called success Small daily improvements, over time, lead to stunning results.
• Being nice isn’t being weak. Please don’t confuse kindness with weakness.
• Gratitude is the antidote to fear.
• Happy people really do make happy leaders.
• The way you start your day determines how well you will live your day.
• You can’t craft a superb future by remaining stuck in your past.
• We are blind to our blind spots. We see the world not as it is but as we are.
• You are a leader, no matter what you do in your life either with title or without a title, you are still a leader.
• You need to have passion to do any job. It is not the title that gives you respect but the amount of contribution you make to your work. Title gives you only authority. But the real leadership involves in walking the talk and leading from front regardless of the area of activity to pursue.
• State your personal experiences of achieving success and breaking your mental limitations.
• Relentless learning is one of the main traits of an open and powerful person.
• The best people always seem to have the biggest libraries.
• Sometimes we need to get off track before we can develop the clarity to be on track.
• You must excel in your area of activity to excel as a leader. Titles and positions don’t matter but the contribution that you make towards your work ultimately matters.
• You will never behave in a way that’s inconsistent with your self-image.
• Focus married with time produces mastery.
• Small little leadership acts really will compound into breathtaking consequences.
• Be master in your own trade whether you are a teacher, tailor or cobbler.
• Daily ripples of superior performance add up over time to a tidal wave of outrageous success.
• Nothing is more precious in work than staying consistent with your values and protecting your good name.
• Most people don’t discover how to live until just before they die.
• The most uncomfortable of conditions that can be the crucible that forges the best leaders.
• Things often have to fall apart before they can be rebuilt in a much better way.
• Speaking about something amplifies it within your perception because you are giving your attention and energy to it.
• Focus on the best and neglect al the rest.
• Sometimes you need to slow down to speed up.
• Problems are really nothing more than platforms for even brighter possibilities.
• Leadership is not some complex art reserved for the chosen few with Harvard degrees and impeccable social backgrounds. As long as you work efficiently and effectively you are a leader.

The book outlines 4 natural powers. They are:

1. Every one of us alive in this moment has the power to go to work each day and express the absolute best within us. And you need no title to do that.
2. Every one of us alive today has the power to inspire, influence, and elevate each person we meet by the gift of a great example. And you need not title to do that.
3. Every one of us alive with life can passionately drive positive change in the face of negative conditions. And you need no title to do that.
4. Every one of us alive to the truth about leadership can treat all stakeholders with respect, appreciation, and kindness – and in so doing raise the organization’s culture to best of breed. And you need to do that.

The book concludes with the observation of the anthropologist Margaret Mead, ”Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Conclusion:

”Leadership is action, not position.” - Donald H. McGannon

This is a good book from Robin Sharma’s stable with valuable takeaways. If you have read his other books you will find repetition of his ideas and insights. However, it contains additional information with advice that is worth noting. You cannot compare this book with his legendary book, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. To conclude, the book moves the human spirit with intellectual and inspiring inputs. Enjoy reading.

Professor M.S.Rao's Quote: “It requires lot of courage to become a teacher as everybody cannot become a teacher."

“It requires lot of courage to become a teacher as everybody cannot become a teacher. If a parent is bad, children are spoiled; if a doctor neglects, the patient dies; if an engineer performs poorly, the infrastructure collapses; and if a teacher makes a mistake, the entire generation gets ruined.” – Prof.M.S.Rao

Professor M.S.Rao's Quote: “Whatever I earn is for the livelihood of my family members and whatever I learn is for the progress of my students."

“Whatever I earn is for the livelihood of my family members and whatever I learn is for the progress of my students. I read a lot and learn a lot and research a lot so that I can share my knowledge with my students thus shaping them as successful personalities and leaders”. - Prof.M.S.Rao

Publication of Prof.M.S.Rao's Authored Book Titled "Soft Skills - Enhancing Employability" ISBN 978-93-80578-38-5

Dear friends,

I would like to share the successful publication of my authored book titled: “Soft Skills – Enhancing Employability” by I.K. International Publishing House Pvt Ltd, India. The details of the book are given below for purchase:

Published by I.K. International Publishing House Pvt Ltd.
ISBN 978-93-80578-38-5
Price : Rs. 125.00 only

Currently there is a wide chasm between the campus and the industry. There is vast gap between the art and the craft. The book helps in connecting the campus with the corporate by bridging the gap between the campus and the industry and by blending both the art and the craft.

It helps you understand and appreciate both soft and hard skills. It differentiates between unemployablity and unemployment. It enlightens you about the expectations of employers. It equips you with tools and techniques to enhance your employability. Finally it builds your confidence and competence to bag your coveted job.

The book is divided into three sections. Section I deals with various aspects of soft skills and what constitutes soft skills. Section II outlines the current challenges in the Indian educational system. Section III emphasizes on overcoming the challenges. It unveils the secrets and strategies in enhancing employability.

The book concludes that an integrated and coordinated approach by all the stakeholders such as educational institutions, educators, students, recruiters and parents is essential in enhancing employability among youth.

The book is beneficial to all those who would like to enhance their employability skills and also to educators, employees, educational institutions, recruiters and above all students.

You can also blog about or write a book review.

I would appreciate if you could provide your feedback and comments at email: profmsr7@gmail.com.

For purchasing copy/es you may click on the below link.
http://www.ikbooks.com/Book_Details2_ik.asp?Id=865&subId=1&catid=1


Regards,

Prof.M.S.Rao,
Founder & Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
"Where Knowledge Is Wealth"

“We Have Everything Within Us” – By Prof.M.S.Rao

“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” - Wilma Rudolph


Why do some people succeed and some fail in their lives? It is very simple. People fail because they make few mistakes. And people succeed because they know the right tools and techniques and secrets and strategies to succeed. They work hard, work smart and work wise with passion, perseverance and persistence.

In fact, we all have huge potential within us. Few people don’t realize as they bury their potential. By the time these people realize their hidden potential it is too late. Some people don’t try at all towards success as they are complacent. Some people try and fail and don’t try at all. The truth in life is that there are no failures, but only lessons.

Everything is there in our minds. We need to break our mental barriers and limitations. At times, people are beset with their preconceived mindset which must have developed due to their past failures or setbacks. At times, the pre-conceived mindset might become a bottleneck for further endeavors.

Tips to Unlock Your Hidden Potential:

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential” - Winston Churchill

To unlock your hidden potential, follow the below tips:
• Believe in yourself.
• When others can do, why not me?
• Put focused and sustained efforts and energies as that would unlock your hidden potential automatically
• You need to work hard, work smart and work wiser to tap your hidden potential.
• Never compare yourself with others as it equals to insulting yourself. However, you can compare yourself to check your progress and growth.
• Blend your inborn talents with cultivated skills and abilities to exploit your potential.
• Never look back with regrets.
• Always share your knowledge with others as knowledge grows when shared.

Unlocking your hidden potential helps you boost your self-confidence and self-esteem.


Conclusion:

“Research shows that you begin learning in the womb and go right on learning until the moment you pass on. Your brain has a capacity for learning that is virtually limitless, which makes every human a potential genius.” - Michael J. Gelb

Therefore, we need to break our mental barriers and limitations to strive towards success. There are no dull people in this world. All are active people. But unfortunately few people keep their mental faculties lying dormant. At times, people are overly worried about their weaknesses rather than strengths. Let us learn to see the door that is opened rather than the door that is closed to make a difference in our lives as well as for the mankind.

“Sri Krishnas and Salyas in Organizations” – By Prof.M.S.Rao

In the Mahabharat epic, at the beginning of Kurukshetra battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, Arjun was caught in an emotional dilemma as he had to fight against his relatives, and elderly persons like Bheesma and his Guru, Drona and others. When Arjun lost his motivation then Lord Krishna motivated and explained to Arjun that he was fighting against evil forces and the people who were on the wrong side. Having been persuaded and motivated by Lord Sri Krishna, Arjun fought the battle under the leadership and mentorship of Sri Krishna and finally Pandavas won the battle at the end.

On the other hand, a great warrior like Karna who was highly motivated and who decided to take on battle against his half brother Arjun for the sake of his friend Duryodhana was discouraged by his charioteer, Salya. Throughout the battle Karna was discouraged by Salya, as the latter wanted the victory of Pandavas defeat of Kauravas. Every time when Karna was fighting against Arjun with great motivation, Salya crushed the morale of Karna and ultimately became responsible for the death of Karna and defeat of Kauravas.

When we look at such characters like Sri Krishna and Salya in the Mahabharat epic, it becomes very clear that in organizations also we find such people who motivate the depressed people and take their people to greater heights of glory. In contrast, we also find few people who depress the highly motivated people through negativism and cynicism.

Therefore, it is essential on the part of the organizations to identify the elements who often criticize, condemn and complain against others and who often invalidate others. Such elements are nuisance for others as it hampers the organizational productivity and performance. Employees like Salya are available in all organizations who are the speed brakers and leave the organization in the lurch at the time of crisis. Such Salyas have to be shown the door as they vitiate the organizational culture and climate. To conclude, let us look for Sri Krishnas but not Salyas in our personal, professional and social life to excel as leaders and to come out with flying colors.

Publication of Prof. M.S.Rao’s Authored Book: “Secrets for Success – Failure is Only a Comma, Not a Full Stop” - ISBN 978-93-80856-16-2

Dear friends,

I would like to share the successful publication of my authored book titled: “Secrets for Success – Failure is Only a Comma, Not a Full Stop” by University Science Press (Laxmi Publications), India. The details of the book are given below for purchase:


Published by University Science Press ( An Imprint of Laxmi Publications Pvt. Ltd )
ISBN 978-93-80856-16-2
Price : Rs. 100.00 only


The book reveals the sutras for success. It provides tools and techniques and secrets and strategies for achieving success and happiness in your life. It helps you dream and think big. It unfolds the formula for your success. It encourages you in capitalizing your strengths and overcoming your weaknesses. It builds you positive, right and strong attitude. It uncorks your hidden potential and blends your traits with skills to reach your cherished goals.

The book highlights knowledge management, knowledge sharing, and role of knowledge workers. It touches on NLP, MBTI and SWOT analysis that help in self-introspection, effective communication and promote your personality. It motivates you to learn lessons from your failures and turn around successfully. It concludes that failure is only a comma not a full stop.

This book is beneficial to all those who would like to convert their weaknesses into strengths and threats into opportunities. It helps you transform your life by tapping you hidden talents.

You can also blog about or write a book review.

I would appreciate if you could provide your feedback and comments at email: profmsr7@gmail.com.

For purchasing the copy/es you may click the link below:
http://laxmipublications.com/servlet/lpgetbiblio?bno=001479


Regards,

Prof.M.S.Rao,
Founder & Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
"Where Knowledge Is Wealth"

Book Review By Prof.M.S.Rao - “Who Will Cry When You Die?” Authored By Robin Sharma

“The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we live.” - Norman Cousins


I read the book titled ‘Who Will Cry When You Die?’ authored by Robin Sharma the leadership guru who has specialized in life leadership. It contains several chapters writing on each aspect that helps in transforming your life and bringing behavioral changes for becoming a better personality.

Quotes and Research Findings:

Robin has great collection of quotes and provides the same along with his content. He does lot of research before authoring a book. We shall look at both the quotations and research findings below mentioned in the book:
1. Mother Teresa said, “there should be less talk; a preaching point is not a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone’s house. That says enough.”
2. A timeless truth “The hand that gives is the hand that gathers.”
3. Thomas Carlyle said, “The end of man is an action and not a thought, though it were the noblest.”
4. “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and help them become what they are capable of being,” said the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. “He who asks may be a fool for five minutes. He who doesn’t is a fool for a lifetime,” goes the wise Chinese proverb.
5. Buddhist sages observed, “Every arrow that hits the bull’s eye is the result of one hundred misses.”
6. Virginia Woolf wrote, “The skeleton of habit alone upholds the human frame.”
7. John Dryden observed, “We first make our habits and then our habits make us.”
8. Ancient Persian proverb, “I wept because I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet.”
9. “There is nothing in the world more valuable than friendship. Those who banish it from their lives remove as it were the sun from the earth, because of all of nature’s gifts, it is the most beautiful and the most pleasing.” - Anonymous
10. Old saying goes, “We see the world, not as it is but as we are.”
11. Blaise Pascal wrote, “All man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.”
12. According to ancient Eastern thinking, to live a fulfilling life, you must do three things: have a son, write a book and plant a tree.
13. According to U.S. News & World Report, over the course of your lifetime, you will spend eight months opening junk mail, two years unsuccessfully returning phone calls and five years standing in line. Given this startling fact, one of the simplest yet smartest time management strategies you can follow is to never go anywhere without a book under your arm.
14. One study of 18,000 Harvard alumni found that every hour spent on exercise added three hours to the participants’ lives.
15. Recent studies show that those with a wide circle of friends and family live longer, laugh more and worry less.

Takeaways from Robin Sharma:

“Man must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind him to the fact that each moment of his life is a miracle and a mystery,” - H.G.Wells.

• Count your blessing not troubles.
• Always compare your problems are minor.
• Writing down your daily experiences along with the lessons you have drawn from them will make you wiser with each passing day.
• Daily write journal and the lessons you learnt in a day. A journal is not a diary. A diary is a place where you record events while a journal is a place where you analyze and evaluate them.
• When you want to grow in a specific area, focus your entire energies in that only to acquire mastery.
• Weekly once spend your time with your family.
• To live your life to the fullest, start taking more risks and doing the things you fear.
• The greatest leader in this new economy will be the greatest thinkers.
• List all your problems on a piece of paper and burn the paper. It brings you some solace.
• The greatest gift you can give to your children is the gift of your time.
• You will never be able to eliminate a weakness you don’t even know about. The first step to eliminating a negative habit is to become aware of it.
• If you want to grow in your area of activity, buy relevant books, audio cassettes, join associations and network with others.
• Tough times call for cool people and they are always cool and calm when the pressure is on.
• The job of leadership today is not just to make money, it’s to make meaning.
• The problem with people is that they spend more time focusing on their weaknesses rather than developing their strengths.
• Negative news sells. In our society, more people will choose to watch the criminal trial of a celebrity rather than the biography of a truly great human being. Therefore, become more selective in the news you expose your mind to.
• Always seek out new opportunities.
• As human beings, we are genetically programmed to resist change and maintain a state of equilibrium.
• It takes about 21 days to develop a new habit.
• Help those who are less fortunate.
• The tree that has the most fruit is the tree that bends to the ground.
• You perform best when you meet tough people.
• You must keep raising the bar and holding themselves to a higher standard.
• Thomas Edison’s life story is one worth reading about. Part visionary, part gambler and part genius, he was a brilliant inventor who made the best use of is time on the planet. Though he had only six months of formal schooling, he had read such classics as ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ by the time he was eight and invented the phonograph. He had rare ability to thrive on only four hours of sleep.
• Take photos frequently with your children. A picture truly is worth a thousand words. Photographs capture and record life’s greatest memories so that we can re-live them as the years go by. You might be surprised how good you will feel when you go through your albums years from now.
• Human beings must be thoroughly used up when they die.
• Listen to motivational audio cassettes.
• Use your commute time for listening to audiocassettes and convert your driving time into learning time.
• There are no real failures in life, only results. There are no true tragedies, only lessons. And there really are no problems, only opportunities waiting to be recognized as solutions by the person of wisdom.
• Rewrite your life story.
• Make your future spotless.

Robin reveals four tips to help you sleep more deeply:
• Don’t rehearse the activities of your day while you are lying in bed trying to get to sleep.
• Don’t eat after 8 p.m. (If you have to eat something, have soup)
• Don’t watch the news before you go to sleep.
• Don’t read in bed.

Conclusion:

“You are not here to merely make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” - Woodrow Wilson

The book is a gold mine of wisdom and knowledge. It helps you become a good ancestor rather than a good inheritor. The flow of the book is natural and good. Robin has the uncanny ability to articulate his ideas effectively. He is good at usage of quotes aptly. He recharges your batteries through his motivational and inspirational ideas and insights. It is a must read for those who craves for continuous learning and growing. You can gift this book to your friends so that they can remember you forever.

Book Review By Prof.M.S.Rao– “MegaLiving” by Robin Sharma

“If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I do not have it at the beginning.” - Mahatma Gandhi


I read the book titled ‘MegaLiving’ authored by Robin Sharma, one of the famous leadership gurus in the world who is specialist in life leadership. There are several ideas, insights and inspirations that are beneficial to the readers for their peaceful and successful living.

The book preludes with “There are people who make things happen. There are people who watch things happen. And there are people who say, “What happened?”

The book contains the revolutionary results of over ten years of research into the secrets of successful living offers you a highly effective collection of powerful, yet easy to use tools that you can use today to live with greater satisfaction, peace of mind and vitality. It contains excellent metaphors. It unfolds several success sutras for your successful living.

What Does Robin Say?

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson whilst ‘Twain attributed the secret of his success to the fact that “I was born excited.”

Start listening to the tapes of the great positive thinkers of this world such as Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, read the books of Emerson and Carnegie, learn the stories of those with much less than you who achieved life mastery.

Set aside at least one night every week to be alone with your spouse. Turn off the TV and leave the answering machine on. Focus all your attention on your life partner. Really talk and enjoy the company of this very special person.

An elite athlete does not stop conditioning after the first race is over but maintains a training regimen over many years until it is second nature.

Mahatma Gandhi started out as a very average lawyer with a small law practice in South Africa. He was a frail, weak man who roused hundreds of millions of his countrymen and brought down an empire with passive resistance.

Write out what motivates you forward and what holds you backward and eliminate the stumbling blocks that hold you back.

When your enthusiasm starts to blossom, your passion and energy blooms.

The memory is like every other muscle; you must use it or lose it. Get into the habit of using it. Stop making grocery lists, use your memory.

Join Toastmasters and find some good role models who will gladly share their secrets of success with you. Post pictures of Churchill and other powerful orators over your bed and surround yourself with positive motivators which will guarantee your success. Each time a fearful thought enters your mind, replace it immediately and forcefully with a mental picture of you as a fiery, dynamic speaker.

Sir Issac Newton, the father of classical physics had an exceptional ability to concentrate on a particular problem from morning until it was solved late in the evening. This mental giant said that “if I have done the public any service, it is due to patient thought.”

The first step to personal mastery and successful living is to learn how to run your mind like a winner. The second step is to understand once and for all that your mind can create magic in your life if you only let it. The only limitations in your life are those that you consciously set. When you think without limits and dream great dreams, wonderful things happen and powerful forces are set into play.

As one wise person has said: “once you find what you truly love doing, you will never have to work another day in your life.” People with far less than you have achieved great feats.

Just as a butterfly must shed her cocoon she flies out into the deep blue sky, you too must make an energetic effort to shed the cocoon of limitations that has enveloped your life and prevented you from self-mastery and life excellence.

Don’t think the way you think yesterday. Change your thought process daily by thinking innovatively.

Bill Gates of Microsoft fame became a billionaire in his early thirties. J.F.Kennedy became the President of the US in his forties. You have all of the qualities of such people; yours may not be developed to their true potential. Shatter the beliefs which cause you to think that you are not well educated enough, intelligent enough, fit enough, rich enough or happy enough to make this life your masterpiece.

Erasmus said, “A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.” The heart of discipline is indeed habit. Discipline and will-power, like the biceps, are muscles to be conditioned and built up.

Kindness and consideration for those around you will ultimately give you lasting happiness as well as personal, professional and social respect. Start off your day by affirming aloud your commitment to becoming a kinder more considerate person. Then visualize the wonderful day unfolding in your mind’s eye, taking care to focus on every possible opportunity to show kindness to others. See this happening and it will indeed happen.

It is important to record your daily results, ideas, inspirations and challenges. There is something magical about writing things down. Your thoughts and focus becomes clearer and plans become burning desires when you commit them to the written form.

The Burning Candle: Find a very quiet spot at a quiet time. Light a candle, making sure the room is otherwise dark. Look at the candle for as long as you can and try not to blink. Study the shape of the flame, its texture and its movements. Don’t take mental focus always from the flame – if its drifts off to something else, gently pull your mind back and deeply concentrate on this beautifully empowering light. Each day you do this, your concentration will improve and you can focus without distraction for a longer time. You will also start to feel calmer and little things will no longer ruffle you.

Several studies have also found that married people live longer than their single counterparts.

Researchers studies 99 young Harvard men for the effects of optimism. By the time the study was published in 1988, the cheerier individuals were less affected with severe illnesses than their pessimistic counterparts.

The super achievers of this world, those people who live each second to the maximum and are living their dreams have one thing in common: they accept no limitations on what they can have from this life.

Make a list of the top 10 dreams that you have. Be creative and the more fun the better. List only those things you really want to have happen.

If your goal is to start a business, look for one of the many seminars available on the subject and go to it.

If you really want to have all that is yours, start today, not ten years from today.

Every morning, recite your goals out loud. Take at least 10 minutes every evening and visualize yourself doing what you want to do. Picture the fun and happiness you will feel when, at the end of your life, you have done all that you wanted to do.

Having a support network will keep you focused, motivated and inspired.

Small victories bring large victories. And do not be too hard on yourself if you don’t achieve a goal on schedule. Be flexible. Try another approach but never, ever give up if your aim is worthy.

In the early 1960’s researchers learned that every person has a Success Mechanism built into their mind.

Ideas and inspirations that you may have been exposed to in the past almost unconsciously, are still deep inside of your mind, waiting to be recalled to assist in your achievement.

Believe in your dreams, reach for the stars and have the destiny that you know is yours! Remember what Thoreau promised: “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

Fasting not only offers you health benefits, it is an ageless technique used to build will-power.

Start off the day powerfully with a glass of fresh orange or apple juice.

Elite athletes do deep breathing exercises to fully relax and achieve peak performance

The best strategy for using your subconscious mind to achieve your dreams:
• Get into a very relaxed state using one of the techniques mentioned in this book.
• Mentally picture, in tremendous detail what it is you want for ten minutes.
• Tell yourself out loud what you desire and that the result will come.

Remember the 80/20 Rule: 80% of the results come from 20% of your activities. Recognize which activities will make the difference in your life and get you to where you want to go. Then focus your energy and attention on these. This is one of the best Secrets of Successful Living.

Robin Provides Breathing Exercises for Perfect Health:
• Breath and hold: magabreathing.
• Alternate nostril breathing
• The pump
• The early riser
• Green fog breathing

The Keys to the Path of Mastery:
1. Commitment and desire
2. Knowledge & instruction
3. Kaizen & consistent practice
4. Persistence
5. Raise your standards and keep pushing
6. Even the teachers have the teachers
7. Seize and savor every single day because it is a miracle. So often we put off happiness to a later date.

Ten Golden Keys to Popularity:
• Remember people’s names. It is the sweetest sound they know.
• Smile often, laugh often. Know three great and clean jokes.
• Become a great listener. Use the 70/30 Rule. Listen 70% of the time, talk only 30%.
• Perfect your manners. They are a mark of true polish and character.
• Do small, kind gestures for people every day. Make every day count.
• Never say someone is wrong. Don’t argue. If you don’t agree, keep quiet.
• Inspire people, encourage people and befriend people.
• Develop your contacts. Write letters often and make phone calls.
• Be the most honest person you know.
• Give more than you receive. It always comes back in a river.

Top 200 Secrets of Success and the Pillars of Self-Mastery:

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We don’t act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

Robin reveals top 200 secrets of success and the pillars of self-mastery. We shall look at few of them below:
• Sleep less.
• Listen to motivational tapes.
• Always answer the phone with enthusiasm in your voice and show your appreciation for the caller.
• Always plan one week ahead and execute.
• All peak performers appreciate the power of a quiet, clear mind which will concentrate steadily on all important tasks.
• Learn to be still.
• Don’t let your mind gloat like a piece of paper in the wind. Work hard to keep it focused at all times.
• Newton had a remarkable ability to sit quietly and think without interruption for very long periods of time. If he can develop this so can you.
• When a negative thought comes to your mind, immediately replace it with one that is positive.
• Set aside a few minutes each morning to plan your day. Plan around your priorities and focus on not only those tasks which are immediate but not important.
• Important but not immediate activities are those which produce long-term, sustainable benefits and include exercise, strategic planning, the development of relationships and professional education.
• Highly successful people are master interpreters.
• Soar to new heights. There are no failures, only lessons.
• Never discuss your health, wealth and other personal matters with anyone outside of your immediate family. Be much disciplined in this regard.
• Try fasting one day every two weeks. During these fast days, drink fruit juice and eat fresh fruits only. You will feel more energetic, cleansed and alert.
• Read “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen. And don’t just read this little book once, read it over and over again. It contains an abundance of timeless wisdom on living a fuller and happier life.
• Empty your cup.
• Drink a cup of warm water before a speech. Ronald Reagan employed this strategy to ensure that he maintained his honey-smooth voice. Mastery of the art of public speaking is a noble goal. So dedicate yourself to it. You will be judged by the caliber of your communication skills.
• Remain slightly aloof. Do not let everyone know everything about you. Cultivate a mystique.
• Master the art of public speaking. There are few natural speakers. One great trail lawyer stammered dreadfully but through courage and strength of conviction, he developed into a brilliant orator.
• Make it a point to attend inspirational lectures each month to consistently renew the importance of personal growth in your mind.
• Cultivate the art of walking half an hour after you have finished eating your evening meal.
• Never argue with the person you work for – you will lose more than just the argument.
• Drink jasmine tea which can be obtained from any Chinese herbal shop. It is excellent for your general health and is very relaxing. Also try placing a few slices of fresh ginger in a cup of water for a superb tea that will restore vitality and keep you in a peak physical condition.
• Work hard to make friendships, and all your relationships for that matter, stronger and richer. Call your friends, buy them small gifts of books or other items you believe they might enjoy.
• Make things look easy and people will say you are naturally gifted. Speak only good things and people will flock to you.
• Be kind, considerate and courteous. But also be shrewd and know when to be tough and courageous.
• Keep well-informed about current events, the latest books and popular trends. Many peak performers read five or six papers a day.
• Never discuss your personal development activities with anyone. Your strategies for expanding your mind and spirit are your own. Other might not understand the value of self-mastery and, further, will take away your credit when you meet with success by saying that you relied on techniques. Keep these self-development activities to yourself.
• 83% of our sensory input comes from our eyes. To truly concentrate on something, shut your eyes and you will remove much distraction.
• An excellent visualization technique: if you are worrying about something, picture the words of your worry on a piece of paper. Now ignite a match to the paper and watch the worry dissipate into flames. Bruce Lee, the great martial arts master employed this mental control device regularly.
• Readers are leaders. U.S.President Bill Clinton read more than 300 books during his short time at Oxford University. Some top performers read a book a day. Seek out knowledge and information.
• Get into excellent habit of reading something positive and inspirational before you go to bed and as soon as you awake in the morning. You will soon note the benefits as these thoughts will be supporting you throughout the day.
• Make it one of your goals to develop a dynamic, charismatic personality. Such a quality is something each one of us has the potential to develop but few do.
• Lao-Tzu prized three essential qualities for a person of greatness: “the first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.”
• Become your spouse’s number one supporter, the one who is always there supporting and fueling hopes and dreams. Develop together and march confidently through the world as an army of two.
• Make a new friend or acquaintance every day. Keep an updated list of all contacts close at hand. Rich relationships are the DNA of a rich, rewarding life.
• Remember this ancient Indian proverb: “if you concquer your mind, you concquer the world.”
• President Kennedy would have regular naps in his White House office. Winston Churchill had the same practice and slept for one hour every afternoon to stay alert, focused and calm.
• Don’t talk when you are listening. Interrupting is one of the most common discourtesies.
• Great leaders have techniques to allow them to arrive at the top of the mountain. Read the biographies of the world’s leaders and learn from their habits, inspirations and philosophies.
• Drink deeply from such books. Surround yourself with them and read them constantly whether on the bus each day or before you go to bed. Let them inspire and motivate you.
• Keep your words soft and arguments hard.
• Be known as that person who goes the extra mile.
• Become a committed and sincere networker.
• Send cards on birthdays and little notes from time to time showing that you care and were thinking about your relations.
• Once every few weeks, leave your watch at home. In this society we often become bound to the clock and soon it governs our every action like a rigid taskmaster.
• Drown your appetite by drinking more water – ten glasses a day is idea. It revitalizes the system and purifies the body. Also, get into the habit of eating soups and more complex carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes and pasta which feed your hunger with far less calories than other less healthy foods. You truly are what you eat and must ensure that your diet is designed to maximize your energy and mental clarity.
• Today, write down the seven best qualities of individuals who you admire and post this list by your bed.
• Napoleon II of France had a special ability to remember the names of all those he met. His secret was to say “so sorry, I missed your name” after being introduced to a new person. This would cause the name to be repeated and reinforced within his memory. If the name was difficult, he would ask for the proper spelling.
• Browse second-hand bookstores every few months searching for lost treasures of character-building books. You will find gems on public speaking, improving your habits, time management, personal health and other important subjects for low prices.
• Be known as someone with a cool head, warm heart and great character. Your presence on this earth will long be remembered.
• Try eating only fruit and milk for a full day. Fasting is a powerful success strategy of the East that millions use regularly to maintain peak health and mental clarity.
• Peak performers are meticulous about the thoughts they allow into the gardens of their minds. You truly cannot afford the luxury of a single negative thought.
• Travel often.
• Just Do It!
• Sleep less, spend less, do more, live longer and be greater.

Robin outlines ten qualities of a charismatic leader:
1. Be committed to what you are doing.
2. Look like a winner and act like one.
3. Have big dreams, a vision and reach for the sky.
4. Steadily advance in the direction of your goals.
5. Prepare and work hard at every task you do
6. Build a mystique around yourself.
7. Be interested in others and show kindness
8. Have a strong sense of humor
9. Be known for the strength of your character
10. Have grace under pressure. (John F. Kennedy said that “the elusive half-step between middle management and true leadership is grace under pressure.”)

There are the 5 keys to making excellence your life standard:
1. Change your attitude
2. Get in the habit of being outstanding
3. Publicize your new standards to those closest to you
4. Try to get others to raise their standards with you.
5. Walk along the ocean or see that play you have missed.

Robin advises these powerful tips for health excellence:
• Stop overeating. Eat only what you need and push the rest away.
• Have as much fresh fruit as you can in the morning.
• Don’t eat after 8p.m.
• Eat a salad with every meal (it will help your digestion and increase your energy level significantly). Also, reduce your meat intake.

Master Keys to Your Leadership:
• Belief in your dreams. courage and supreme persistence
• Enthusiasm
• Consideration for others.
• Self-control and self-mastery.
• Well-developed social skills and diplomacy.
• The habit of doing far more than expected.
• Long term-planning and organization.
• Calculated risk taking.
• A burning desire to succeed and faith in success.

Additional Tips:
1. Start off easy (15 min/day) and think strong.
2. Have fun and maintain a positive, playful attitude.
3. Get a partner with a similar goal of physical mastery.
4. Cross-train with different sports to keep the regimen fresh.
5. Write down your 1,5 and 10 year fitness goals.
6. Use positive motivators like pictures of what you will achieve.
7. Use visualization techniques to focus on what you will be.
8. Make the program a habit. Do it at the same time daily.
9. Affirm each minor success – 1000 mile journey begins with one step.
10. Use the momentum of daily minor successes from your program to catapult you to greater challenges: aim high!

Takeaways:

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – W. W. Ziege

• Success outside starts from success within.
• Believe in yourself.
• Don’t let yourself to be bent by external environment. Learn to bend and blend the external environment.
• Circumstances are the creation of people and not the other way around. Peak performers, as opposed to the weak performers, have trained themselves to shape the events of their lives rather than being shaped by them.
• Stop being the prisoner of your past – become the architect of your future. Every event happens for a special purpose.
• There are no failures but only lessons.
• On an average day, the average person thinks about 60,000 thoughts. Even more startling is the fact that 95% of those thoughts are the same as the ones you thought the day before.
• Throw off the shackles of your old thinking patterns.
• Today’s thoughts build tomorrow’s dreams.
• Stay hungry for new ideas.
• Challenges allow one to grow and become tougher.
• Don’t make enemies.
• Never take your family for granted. Think for a moment about how you would feel if your mother or father were no longer here. What thoughts have you forgotten to express, what loving gestures would you have performed? Now pick up the phone and tell these things to those you love.
• What separates the medal winners from the “also rans” is the winner’s mindset.
• Shatter the myth, once and for all, that you are too old, too young, too tired, too taxed, too poor or too average to do extraordinary things.
• Garden your mind.
• Don’t let toxic weeds of negative thoughts to take over your mind.
• Learn to love adversity and to thrive on it. The great business leaders of our time from Getty to Ted Turner loved big challenges and turned them into opportunities for magnificent wealth.
• Set one year, five year and ten year goals for your personal development.
• Start calling problems as challenges.
• Deep breathing ensures that the blood is fully oxygenated, also providing for peak health.
• Most people pass through life without any idea as to where they are going.
• Take power-nap if you are tired.
• Food should be digested in the mouth before being digested in the stomach.
• Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote, “A feeble body enfeebles the mind.”
• The real secret of longevity is to grow younger by living with passion, zest and enthusiasm.
• Most surely, those who are young at heart and those who maintain a dynamic, challenging lifestyle are actively taking steps to beat the aging process.
• Daily workouts with crosswords, learning new languages, taking classes and best of all, reading good books, are all highly effective ways to stay mentally sharp as you age.
• Always see yourself as a person in peak health. Two or three times a day, shut your eyes and picture clearly the person you want to become physically.
• Anything that you want to be, you can be if you hold a clear picture of the desired goal in your mind with deep conviction and emotion that it will become a reality.
• Everything is created twice – first in your mind and then in the outside world.
• Miracles happen every day.
• The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and you must start off small if you want to achieve big results.
• Remember that happiness is not an oasis that lies at the edge of the desert, a place that you reach only when you are prosperous.
• Every man and woman in this world was born to succeed, be wealthy and be prosperous.
• Finally, knowledge will give you power but character will give you respect.

Conclusion:

The great philosopher of India, Patanjali said: “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds, your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”

Robin’s study and research on successful people is well reflected and crafted through this book. The book is easy to understand for an average reader. It blends both eastern and western values and philosophies. It contains several exercises that help the readers to practice and perfect. It provides 30 days program at the end of the book. After reading this book you will view the world differently.

The book makes difference in your life. It is a great book in the category of self-improvement books. I strongly recommend everyone to read this book and apply the preaching in your practical life for ensuring all all-round personality and success.