Amit Puri_BLP013_Self Leadership_10Jan'12

It has been rightly said that when God closes a door, he makes sure that there is always another one open out there, somewhere. And same is applicable to us, when we are short of something, there is always something within us which is complementary to the shortcoming. Congratulations! you can become what you always wanted to be. 

The only thing which is to be known of is what is high in us and what is low. For todays exercise I considered 'Urgency' among my low point areas, which I think has been a root cause to many more problems. It's easy to fix it, just that you have to live consciously your present, practice mindfulness, gradually getting into a habit of doing everything as if your life depends upon it; I have been trying hard and to an extent I really have improved my sense of urgency. What made me win over it was the fact that I accepted that I had this problem. The faster you unlearn, the faster will you learn.

Having this fixed I think, I will be able to put most of the things in place. Because I lacked the sense of urgency I would usually loose control over certain thing and consequently loose concentration and interest in the subject/matter. This would eventually look like 'I lack determination'. And because I have concern about deadlines, so by the time I start pushing things, I'd be standing closer to the deadline and thence get frustrated because I landed up doing 100 things altogether.

To a greater extent I am lucky and happy that I have recognized what I need to work on and I am at the same time aware of fruitful outcomes this fixture will bring in. Which will in long run not only enable me to achieve what I wish for, but also assist me in surprising myself.

Amit Puri_BLP013_Consulting_03Jan'12

Everyday is a different day, just that some days help you realize your potential, your development areas and some of your well wishers. And this day was a combination of all the 3 type of days, there was an instance which helped me realize my potential, my development area and I met a few well wishers, it was great!

It started with a morning circle introducing a stream of new ideas, yes! a student from Italy, who will be here with us for entire 5th term. Then we all headed into the consulting classroom, by Anil Sachdev himself. When you are at SOIL and Anil Sir is to take a class, I doubt if anyone would want to miss it, what you learn in these classrooms is what you keep with yourself & apply throughout your career life.

Consulting class started with writing a proposal, which defines the 'make-it' or 'break-it' factor for a project. And to write a proposal how important is it to understand the context of the matter. Amazingly the application of ‘significance of understanding the context’ in real life is as high as significance of consuming water. Every situation, moment, problem, relationship, challenge or subject needs through understanding of the context of the matter being looked upon. And that we understand the criticality of the concept well, Anil Sir told about a real incident/case which he encountered, that’s how you study consulting at SOIL.

Consulting Class was one thing and another was the placement session being held by HR consulting giant Mercer. Mercer asked each of the applicants to prepare 3 questions, which I think are not only important for everyone appearing for placements to be prepared for, but everyone should have them on their tips:

  1. Which event/individual has a significant impact on your life?

  2. A regret/failure in life, from which you got to learn.

  3. The 2 attributes a person being interviewed for a position in your team should possess.

Post the one-on-one discussion Mercer applicants were divided into groups and were to come up with 'strategy to survive after a plane crash'.

After lunch we all gathered again for consulting class and this time we were given the opportunity to look into the future plans of SOIL, and ask questions directly from our school’s Finance Manager. Will any institution has that transparency level? Lest in India, across the globe? Hardly Any!

The day concluded with Mckinsey's Internal assessment, and we will await the results. No matter what it looks like, I pray may the best/deserving person goes ahead & make us all proud of what we are, SOILites!

Amit Puri_BLP013_Self Leadership_Sep'11

SOIL, right I know this place is different, but what do they do that makes them stand different ?

And I get to attend the first Self Leadership classroom.

Now, here was something which tells you that > a lot of people are missing a lot of good experiences in life. It tells you why SOIL was a transformational journey for the immediate passing out batch and the one before that. It tells you what you should be before you take your last breath. It tells you all that NO ONE else could have had ever told you about.

The first classroom session with Anil Sir covered the 6 Layers of Learning, Taking the control of the senses (the exercises covered really helped in introspection and how one can leverage the capacity of the senses).

This was followed by Appreciative Inquiry > which I feel is one of the most powerful tools enabling a person to know his real self, understand his greater purpose in life and strike out how he with his existing knowledge & strengths have the capability in achieving it. It tells you that you have all what you NEED! Then we did the burning candle exercise, discuss getting rid of Ego, how to bring the Mind and the Heart parallel, the Fears we live with and how to make smart decisions, smartly.

After walking out of the session, I felt that there is a lot to do in life, before I or anyone could feel bored of it. Which made me add to my signature, the line ‘I have miles to go before I sleep..’ from a famous poem of Robert Frost. I could also realize understand the ‘relevance of spirituality to Business’. And how one can empower his subordinates, how one can have things done in harmony & how important it is to get along with people and do the best at the workplace & otherwise.

> 3 months down the line.

Here comes another session of Anil Sir. And one could feel the momentum of classroom catching up. It was a battery charging session and we all needed it indeed.

I learnt the essence of the correlation among the Mind, Body & the Intellect. And how these dwell towards making one a Leader, of oneself. I could understand why Humans are considered to have limitless potential by the virtue of collective tendencies vesting in each of them. How we have become the Victim of our own thoughts over the period of time & suppressed the greatness resting in us. And I realized that 3 months have passed and the momentum should be kept high.

We did exercises on the Habits, Learning Plan highlights & the Appreciate Inquiry. They were very helpful in a way that they could describe where I am, how well I am doing and where I should be. And all this was being told to me by myself. But, yes! it was very important & had weight.

We then moved to another powerful tool > The Immunity X-Ray. Which was useful in understanding the thought process which goes within us when we are subject to a situation, circumstance or a change.

Why is it that we often want to change, but find that we are unable to do so? Why is change so difficult even when everyone and everything is aligned around the goal? The reason is that most of us have built-in immunity to change.

The Immunity to Change

Is one way to help participants move through the different stages of development. In essence, its goal is to move that which is “subject” to “object.” The exercise itself uses a four column which participants complete in response to a series of questions.  The exercises moves quickly and each individual “constructs” their personal map.  The basic flow of the exercise is that participants are asked a question, given time to think, invited to check in with a neighbor and have a discussion as a group. Then the next question is asked.

What did one gain by attending this session?

- I learned why I do certain things

- A better knowledge of what my weaknesses are

- Learned about myself and my goals - therefore how to be a better leader

- A great introspective technique for self improvement

- Self awareness and its importance in developing leadership skills

- Learn what drives me and my behavior

- A lot of insight into the reasons behind my personal weaknesses and how to improve

- Learn about yourself before you try to lead others

- How to "look under the hood" that is myself