Desire to Destiny

Last week, in the Apartment where I live, Sports Day was celebrated.?My 8 year old son participated in most of the categories. In some he went to the 2nd round and in some he fell short to go to the 2nd round. He was all excited throughout the 2 days as?there were many people, noise and above all, he liked the?action around him all the time. (Had it not been for pandemic he would have seen it much earlier in school).?All was good till ?Sunday evening when prizes were distributed to the top 2 players in each sports category. Post the ceremony of prize distribution, when I met him at home, the energy seemed to dwindle and I could see a visibly upset boy, who was telling himself how he could miss getting some prizes. I was telling him, it’s fine, don’t worry, you participated and that was important… But I know it was not good enough to make him feel better as we all have gone through such feelings while growing up or even now..

I kept thinking and was wondering if?I could tell and make him understand- hey you know what, for the first time you were part of a big occasion where you got to know what it means to participate with different people and varied background, joy while playing it, some sense of physical strength and so on. All these thoughts stayed with me itself… Few minutes later, with some conversations, he moved on and was looking forward for the school next day…

In my last article, I mentioned about investing in oneself, picking more skills, learning, and growing as a Leader. Today while learning, and trying to hone skills, I look at results and also see if those skills which I am learning are helping to get results or not.. While you learn it is important to enjoy each day and have the excitement to relish every moment …. That is in the true sense, feeling that …"wow " I am going to learn something new today. People who would have watched the movie, 3 Idiots might remember the scene in the classroom where the movie’s main hero, Aamir Khan talks on the same..

While results are important and one cannot take the eyes off it, every day one must keep looking at the progress made through daily learning, in order to get closer to results. This learning will be sound when it is accompanied by joy. Everyone knows that desired results will not come every day. Then why worry about it rather than relish every day’s progress.

In my experience, the leadership journey is also similar. I expect the desired results to happen every day. We all know how each day turns out to be..

Daniel Goleman says - What distinguishes GREAT leaders from merely GOOD ones- It is not IQ or technical skills- It is Emotional Intelligence (EI). And EI has a group of 5 skills that enable best leaders to maximize their own and their followers’ performance

The EI skills are

1. Self Awareness- knowing one’s strengths, weakness, drives, values and impact on others
2. Self-Regulation- Controlling or redirecting disruptive impulses and moods
3. Motivation- relishing achievement for its own sake
4. Empathy- Understanding other people’s emotional make up
5. Social Skill- Building Rapport with others to move them in desired locations

We are each born with certain levels of EI skills. But we can strengthen these abilities through persistence, practice, and feedback from colleagues and coaches.

A recent article from HBR mentioned that Our capacity for learning is becoming the currency we trade on in our careers. Where we once went to work to learn to do a job, learning now?is?the job. Adaptive and proactive learners are highly prized assets for organizations, and when we invest in our learning, we create long-term dividends for our career development. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, echoed the importance of learning?when he said “The learn-it-all will always do better than the know-it all.”

However, it’s not as simple as acquiring new knowledge. The ability to unlearn, learn, and relearn is vital for long-term success. As I have started to work on my self-awareness, by reading, reflecting and being in a company of my thoughtful colleagues, one thing which stayed in mind are the words from the great Upanishad - It says:?You are what your deep, driving desire is.?As your desire is, so is your will.?As your will is, so is your deed.?As your deed is, so is your destiny.”