5 Top Learnings from "Leadership" Workshops

Over the last 22 years, a couple of dozen leadership workshops have been endured by yours truly. Growing up in a household of avid readers and self-driven individuals, I usually ended up with the content of most of these “trainings” giving me déjà vu. But then one dons the learner’s hat and stays curious, no matter what. Looking back, I realize that some speakers and some content were stickier than others. Been very lucky to have interacted with eminent speakers and coaches/coaching throughout my career, so thought of passing the insights forward, giving due credit to the “guru”.?

1.?????? Dale Carnegie (https://www.dalecarnegie.com/en )

The Value Experiment: We were given several small chits of paper with various values and beliefs written on them and we were asked to choose the top 5 we relate most to. Eventually, with fictional scenarios, they make you “give up” on values and finally you are left with one chit, which you “could take a bullet in the head for” but not give up. This was a very important early career learning for me because it made me mindful that I consider “Legacy through influence” as something core to my value system. ?Grateful to Krishna Tewari for this opportunity.

Recommended Book: Dale Carnegie’s “How To Win Friends and Influence People (1936)” (Buy here) https://www.amazon.in/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034

2.?????? Stephen MR Covey through the Franklin Covey Programme (https://www.franklincovey.com )

?Again, several takeaways from the session, but the key insight of “trust” being an enabler became a core principle. However, the need for framework and governance being part of leadership responsibility, made the approach more relatable. Trust is not an absence of engagement/interest in what the team-member does, rather it plays out best with a jointly designed framework, role clarity and timely governance, allowing team members to navigate their deliverables through self-driven motivation.?

Recommended Book: Stephen MR Covey’s “The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything” (Buy here) https://www.amazon.in/SPEED-Trust-Thing-Changes-Everything/dp/1416549005

3.?????? Gautam Mukerjee and Sushweta Chakraborty (https://anandinifoundation.com/ )

?While there have been multiple learnings from the flagship “Crucible Leadership Workshop” at Tata Steel and the Tata Story Workshop as well, there is one key takeaway that has stayed with me for over a decade now. ?Our own intent and energy become the architect of our journey, both professional and personal. Moving from a “world is not getting my pov” to “I have to navigate the maze of PoVs around me” was a critical mid-career learning for me. As I often say, I taught myself to "play on a new pitch".

Recommended Book: Gautam's Ananda Crucible: A Business Compass for the 21st Century| (Buy Here) https://www.amazon.in/Ananda-Crucible-Gautam-Mukerjee/dp/B0CKW4MBDK

4. Marshall Goldsmith https://marshallgoldsmith.com/

It was a pleasure to see this legend in action as he kept a large cohort at Tata Steel thoroughly riveted. While his forte has been "humane" leadership, his advice on Behavorial transformation stood out with a simple three-step plan. To change what we can, anticipate and prepare for what we can't and engage in self-reflection to monitor and accelerate progress towards our desired behaviours and actions. When I crossed-over from media to the corporate side, needless to say I faced a cultural shift. Actively re-wiring myself as per the external environment was one of the toughest, yet most satisfying things I have worked on.

Recommended Book: What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful

(Buy here) https://www.amazon.in/What-Got-Here-Wont-There/dp/0739342231

5. Gitanjali Bagchi www.happcoach.com

There have been many instances of an "Aha moment" from my mentors and coaches over the years. That would probably merit a separate post entirely. However, in this self-initiated coaching that I signed up for, I wanted to level my game up to deal with an unfamiliar terrain. This was when I realised first-hand the difference between mentorship and coaching. I knew what I wanted, and the coach motivated me to build my mental muscle memory to get to the goals that I had set for myself. As opposed to a mentor, who usually brings in his/her/their own journey into the narrative. I guess the "architect of your own faith" adage got hammered in at this stage.

Recommended App/site: HappCoach

This was a post that was brewing as a draft over a few months, but Teacher's Day turned out to be an auspicious day to hit "Post".

This is not to discredit the teachers, professors and principals who have played a massive role in shaping the person that I am today, but THAT... is another "brewing" post.

Would love to hear YOUR key learnings from the workshops/trainings you have attended.