"WHERE KNOWLEDGE IS WEALTH": September 2012

Saturday, September 29, 2012

“Scholar versus Practitioner Articles” - Professor M.S.Rao

“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.” – Henry Longfellow

Two habits have shaped my life since childhood – continuous learning and taking feedback positively. Recently I sent a couple of articles on my new concept “Soft Leadership” to prestigious global journals for publication. Three of the journals did not accept by citing reasons that these manuscripts are suitable to practitioner journals, not for scholar journals. The editors also advised me by naming a few such leadership practitioner journals that would publish my manuscripts.

I was excited with their response. Their rejection of my manuscript did not upset me but I felt glad that the editors took time to provide sandwich feedback and helped me discover my hidden strengths, and my flair for practitioner journals. In addition, I was overwhelmed with their responses as they connected me with the right journals where my manuscripts would fit in. Hence, I thanked them for their kind time, message, and connections.

I started to explore practitioner journals in leadership and sent the manuscripts to practitioner journals. My success rate went up and I began hitting the bulls’ eye. In fact, the scholar journals require a lot of research back up, evidence, and references. They also require tons of creativity, analysis, and critical thinking. In contrast, the practitioner journals require more of application of knowledge. It helps the working executives to apply the concepts, explore at the workplace, and enhance performance. Precisely, scholar journals emphasize on creation while practitioner journals emphasize on application. Hence, let to take feedback positively as feedback is the breakfast for champions and you will be able to grow fast and achieve success quickly.

“It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it and appropriately act on it.” - Stephen R. Covey

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com

Where Knowledge is Wealth

Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

“Love Your Mother, But Don’t Hate Others’ Mother” - Professor M.S.Rao

“He who loves the world as his own body may be entrusted with the empire.” – Lao Tzu

Presently people across the globe are getting impatient, intolerant, and agitated without any concern for others. It seems there is less respect toward others’ religions, regions, races, languages, ethnicities, cultures, and communities. In addition, the aspirations and expectations from all stakeholders are rising rapidly. For instance, children demand more from parents; students demand more from teachers; subordinates demand more from superiors; employees demand more from employers; followers demand more from leaders; and people demand more from the government. In fact, people are becoming more rights-oriented rather than duty-oriented. They must remember John F. Kennedy’s clarion call: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

There must be a shift in the mindset of the people. There must be a need for tolerance and respect toward others. People must be duty-oriented rather than rights-oriented. Empathy is the answer for these challenges. Empathy is the ability to step into the shoes of others, and look at the issues from others’ perspective. However, presently people hardly empathize with others. When we empathize with others most of the global challenges and conflicts will be resolved easily. Through empathy, we can put an end to intolerance, impatience, and instability. Through empathy, we can resolve several global challenges amicably. In fact, empathy is essential for global peace, prosperity, and stability.

Some people resort to violence to settle their scores. And some countries wage wars to settle their long-pending issues. In fact, violence is not the solution to several global issues. Ralph Waldo Emerson rightly remarked, “Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.” People should shed their violent attitude and must respect others through empathy and understanding.

Love your mother but don’t hate others’ mother. As your mother is precious to you, others’ mother is equally precious to them. As your race, religion, region, language, ethnicity, culture, and community are precious to you, they are equally precious to others.

William J. Clinton said, “The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past; between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists.” People must learn to empathize with others to make a difference in the lives of others. We need empathic leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, and Dalai Lama to name a few to maintain global peace, security and stability. Remember what Mother Teresa said when asked what you can do to promote world peace: “Go home and love your family.” As charity begins at home, let us start promoting global peace by loving our family and empathizing with others first.

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com

Where Knowledge is Wealth

Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

“Do Film Stars need Soft Skills to Succeed?” - Professor M.S.Rao

“In today’s competitive environment, it is not enough to be the best in your field, intellectually. Competency is only half of what you need to climb the ladder of success. The other half is the softer side of you – it’s that part of you that will be liked, admired, trusted and remembered.” – Carole Nicola Ides

Why do some film stars succeed while some fade away? At times film stars with little talent get into the film industry get a foothold and hang on for a longer time. On the other hand, there are film stars who have a huge potential but fail to survive in the industry. It is basically because film stars must learn to blend both hard and soft skills. In this connection, let us know the difference between the hard and the soft skills. Hard skills are about technical competence while soft skills are about polite and pleasing way of communicating with others. In the case of film stars hard skills are about their acting skills and talent while soft skills are about their ability to get along with other stars and other stakeholders including directors, and producers.

Soft skills is defined as the skills and abilities related to your personality, attitude and behavior. At times people who are good at hard skills develop high ego and gradually lose their base. In fact, it is vital to mix both hard and soft skills judiciously to achieve professional success. At the same time, the film stars can survive only when they can successfully blend their Intelligence Quotient (IQ) with Emotional Quotient (EQ). IQ is something people are blessed with through heredity while EQ can be cultivated over a period of time. In fact, it is the EQ which is crucial for the success of people rather than IQ as the individuals with high IQ come with their egos and fall flat at the corporate world.

Although there are a number of factors that are responsible for the success of the stars in the film industry such as network, placing, timing, and a little bit of luck, it is the right application of soft skills that will take them towards success quickly. Therefore, people must learn to blend both their soft and hard skills, and EQ and IQ proportionately to achieve career success and ensure professional longevity. Do remember my slogan: film stars rise in the industry due to hard skills and fall flat due to dearth of soft skills.

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com

Where Knowledge is Wealth

Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.

Friday, September 14, 2012

“Advantages of Napping” - Professor M.S.Rao

“Sex and sleep alone make me conscious that I am mortal.” - Alexander the Great

Recently I came across a media report where US President Barack Obama was taking a nap in the noon. It caught my attention as some people think that napping is bad as it symbolizes laziness. In fact, napping has innumerable advantages. Here is a few of them:

It reboots your body and mind.
It reverses information overload.
It enhances your creativity and boosts your memory.
It refreshes your mind and relieves you from your stress.
It enhances your concentration.
It releases your strained muscles and gives you relief from aches.
It makes you more productive and energetic. Hence, don’t view negatively when you find someone napping after lunch break. But here is a caution! Don’t sleep for a long time as it leads to laziness.

Research reveals that napping for a brief period during the day time is highly beneficial to both body and mind. It also enhances performance at the workplace. That is the reason why some global companies such as Nike, British Airways and Google encourage their employees to take a nap to enable them to reinvigorate and improve performance.

When you look at leaders like Winston Churchill, Lyndon B. Johnson, Napoleon Bonaparte, John F. Kennedy, Thomas Edison, Stonewall Jackson, and Salvador Dali, there is a common thread connecting them. They all napped during the day time. Hence, take nap to recharge, refresh and reboot your mental and physical system.

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com

Where Knowledge is Wealth

Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.