Sandeep Ramadev_BLP0040_Self Leadership_September 2012

The 2^nd term should have started with the same expectations and eagerness as 1^st term started. However, there was a sense of emptiness among the students. Two seats in the class were empty. The seats which were occupied by two wonderful souls were now vacant. We all feel God wanted them more than us and hence he has called them much sooner than expected. With such gloominess in class, the class began and Anil sir session was an apt beginning for our disturbed souls, which I missed owning to management event.

He began by asking people to pen down their feelings about the incident involving our friend’s sudden demise. With great difficulty, people were able to write down few points. When the question was thrown to fellow students for discussion, the answers my peers told me really lighted everyone up. On hearing those answers, the views and words which flowed in from my fellow mates really made me look at my peers at new higher level and my respect for them grew more even further. With lighter heart, my fellow peers left for a break.

Post break, the concepts of Emotional Intelligence (EI) were discussed.  EI refers to ability to control and evaluate emotions. Few researchers feel it could be taught while other feel it has to be inborn trait. However, it would require good listening skills to master it. To be a good listener, one should not only understand the meaning of what the other speaker is trying to convey but also convey back your intent of listening through one’s body language. It is like being more empathetic. Anil sir, as always, illustrated this concept through a simple show example. As one cannot wear anybody’s shoe without removing the one he is wearing, we should always don the hat of the person who is expressing rather than keeping his hat intact. As future leaders it was important to imbibe these qualities in us.

The 2^nd half was about Appreciative Inquiry, in which one has to appreciate the thoughts of the speaker and question him with a child like enthusiasm. To understand it better, teams were formed and internally were asked to discuss questions that illustrated when and where they were at their best. The qualities of each partner after the discussion were to be paraphrased and presented in front of class later by each team. Few qualities of my friends threw up surprise as prior to this day we never knew they possessed such quality. It seems each answer was documented by Anil sir and each characteristic of individuals were appreciated by Anil sir.

The session ended with a discussion of student’s experiences that they had gathered over the day with each of them trying to understand the meaning of happiness and what leads to it, and how it can be achieved. I feel I missed a beautiful and delightful session and the inputs from my peers  makes me feel that the session has made us better people and one step closer to understanding oneself.