Wednesday 31 October 2012

Highs and Lows



The self-leadership session taken by Anil Sir last week focused on a variety of elements that leadership of the brain encompasses. We discussed how a structured approach towards decision making works,  how creativity and innovation depends upon our upbringing and education, how nature and nurture combine to influence our mental capabilities and aptitudes, the ladder of inference and judgement, how to go about our social transformation among much more. We also did a few interesting and energy charged activities in groups and pairs.
Amidst all this, what I took home with me and still think about as I write this today is the introspection exercise we did on our high points and low points through life. Although the purpose of the class exercise was to share these with a partner and learn more about the important moments in our life that have had a great impact on us, the greatest value-add was the self-discovery I made in the process.
 I've been appreciated for my grades and academic scores throughout my life, but none of my high points were due to topping a class or getting a 'role model'.
I like to think of myself as a self-sustaining independent identity with no need for support/dependence on others around me, but all my low points were when my family deserted me or disappointed me.
 I realized how my high impact high points were due to my individual effort and these were moments where I showed a great deal of confidence in myself.This is significant for me because Im generally a shy, nervous, under-confident girl who always ends up holding herself back.
I also realized how my low points were due to the dysfunctional state of my family, and ever since a young age, I wanted nothing more than a perfect family. Although I have grown up to become more independent, brave, and strong, these are memories and wishes that never leave you.  And this has reflected in my values today. As Sir was asking us to come up with our personal mission statement, I quickly realized that financial success, a prolific career, and recognition aren't the things I desire.
All I want to do in life is focus on building a strong family unit and providing support to the people I care about today.


Hence, this exercise was useful in more ways than one. It has not only helped me discovering clashing realities within myself, it's also helped me pave the way I want to live my future.

Monday 29 October 2012

Self Leadership_Pravin M Gayakwad_BLP 018_Oct 2012


Body, Emotion, Mind , Intellect, Soul, and Ego are the 6 layers of self leadership & if one wants to understand himself in better way, it’s very important to have synchronization between these 6 layers. There should be balance between what we speak & what our mind wants to say & it only happens when we get the better clarity about ourselves. So, self realization is the only way to get peaceful & meaningful life.
Our session started with the concept of Intellect and we started understanding the power of intellect through a process that one should follow while making decision in life. One needs to look for meaningful and reliable information, followed by creative and doable alternatives. We did an exercise to understand our own fear inside and how to overcome it through comprehension and awareness about it. A separate discussion on value and mission of life through a few questions helped us to clarify our mind about our future goal.

We got a wonderful opportunity to learn about the concept of “Ladder of Inference” coined by Peter Sengi. It is a tool to be aware of how one’s action has sub-layers that determine the cause of the action and how one creates perception about his own thinking.

What is courage & why it needed? I learnt that courage is not the absence of fear; but it is the realization of something that is more important than other. We watched the video of Mathieu Ricard on happiness, in which he spoke about attaining happiness and happiness is nothing but a state of being. Finally, we learnt about a very powerful tool called “Immunity X-ray”, which is a scientific way to understand one’s own thought and getting rid of unproductive habits. It also involved understanding the way the challenges, mental blocks and the way to action which the one aspires for.

After the self leadership class, I got better clarity about the where happiness lies & importance of courage to achieve the same. I learnt that the real happiness lies in doing something for the community/ society. So, realization of higher purpose of life is very important. I got better clarity & now I am ready with a mindset to achieve my higher purpose.

“Success is final and failure is not fatal, but it’s the courage to continue that counts”.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Dinesh Sajnani_BLP029_Self Leadership_Courage_Oct2012


The similarity between a courageous person and a coward is that they both have fears. The difference however is what they do with it.

No man can escape fears. We all have created for ourselves, fears of all kinds - fears that hinder our growth, fears that block us from achieving our life’s goals, fears that pull us down and stop us from reaching our true potential.

Fear grows in the darkness of our minds. It’s only when it is exposed to the light of wisdom, thought and the love for a higher purpose that it begins to fade and gradually disappear.

There are stories of ordinary people who demonstrated extraordinary courage and did something that they never thought they could. What gives them this immense strength? What makes them break all the barriers?

The answers to these questions lie deep within us. Courage comes by selflessly serving a higher purpose. It’s only when we stand for a cause, we transcend all fears and gain the strength to walk on the right path with great courage.

In today’s session we discovered ways to conquer our fears to reach to the core of happiness. When we are happy we learn to honor our lives that lead to inner fulfillment.

Sometimes we become slaves to certain habits that we believe we must change but find to difficult to change. This inability to change certain inseparable habits causes us unhappiness.

To deal with this conscious immunity to change, we need to first take a big test of our assumption and examine the results. Once we get favorable results we can do further tests so that we can be consciously released of these habits. Slowly as we learn to adapt to these favorable results we become unconsciously released of the habit that blocks our way to happiness.

I’ll end by saying that unconditional love and happiness can help us to get rid of all our fears and gives us the courage to transform our life and give meaning to it.

Dinesh Sajnani_BLP029_Self Leadership_Oct2012


Today we had an opportunity to have another insightful session on Self Leadership.

We learnt that leadership is not just about the control of external factors. It is also about controlling one’s own mind and releasing it from fears of all kind.

The mind is a database of thoughts. These thoughts are images of our present and/or future and these thoughts lead to flow of emotions. We learned that for our EQ to increase the Positive emotions should be greater than the negative emotions.

The power of the brain can be unleashed to use it to its greatest potential. We all have some aspirations and dreams that we want to fulfill. Our mind must be used effectively to reach these goals. The first and foremost thing is to identify the most important question of our life to build a framework. All our life strategies should revolve around it.

 We must then collect meaningful and reliable information to gain deep knowledge and consider all the possible, creative and achievable alternatives. The alternatives can be chosen considering the risk and returns and the alternate which is truly aligned with our values must be chosen. Lastly we must implement it and do everything which is required to accomplish it.

Next we discussed about Creativity.

At current times, the fate of businesses cannot be determined just by their financial muscle. It’s their evolution through innovation that will help them stay ahead. Hence, there exists a great need for today’s leaders to of be creative.

God has given each one of us a gift called creativity.  Unfortunately our creative potential diminishes significantly as we grow up. The period from the age of 5 to 15 causes the maximum damage to creativity. What happens during this period? Do we consciously harm it? What can we do to prevent it?

Its only when we dig deep into the ocean of our thoughts, do we find the answers to these questions. We realize that the roots to these issues lies in the kind of education and upbringing provided to the children. The training provided to every child to fit in this society , the constant interference  by parents and teachers on what to do and what not to , the use of power to reinforce certain habits gradually conditions the mind of a child and decays the creativity. Additionally, the fear of underperformance, fear of acceptance, fear of the repercussions of doing something different etc re are some fears induced in the mind of a child during the age of 5 to 15 that facilitate this deterioration and it only multiplies as the child grows up.

The good thing to know here is that this can be cured. We can regain our creativity by letting go all our fears and by working on all the four dimensions of creativity. Everything from Ideation fluency to origination of thoughts, from associational fluency to making strange things familiar and familiar things strange, all contribute in improving creativity.

Another powerful thought to consider is our ability to perceive things. All our habits are created by our mind i.e. the way we think.

The process involves observing data and choosing the data that suits us. We then try to construct meaning to the chosen data. These associated meanings are sometimes a result of our biases to some factors. We then make assumptions based on the meaning that we add to it. These assumptions helps in deriving judgments and conclusions based on the beliefs we have about the world. Finally we take actions based on these beliefs.

Our mind is a powerful tool. Its ability to comprehend things and make decisions can be reflected by the Ladders of Inference. The Ladder of Inference describes the thinking process that we go through, usually without realizing it, to get from a fact to a decision or action.
We gather facts, select them based on prior experiences, make assumptions, interpret reality, then  make conclusions based on our beliefs and take necessary actions. In this entire process, the facts are selectively chosen, sometimes ignoring the most obvious logical facts.
This process can be altered by using a step by step reasoning, and questioning our beliefs to push our assumptions in order to reach the bed of all true facts.

Thus I conclude by saying that our mind is very powerful. The way it behaves it purely a matter of the way we train it. We must train and control our mind to reach its maximum potential and this is a real test of an inspired leader.

 

Dinesh Sajnani_BLP029_Self Leadership_Sep2012



Self Leadership: Dealing with Emotions
Today we had an enriching session on Self Leadership. We learned how emotions affect our decisions and how we can learn to deal with emotions.

Emotional Intelligence is one of the traits of an inspired Leader and it is usually acquired early in life through education and upbringing. It can however be built over a period of time by practicing effective listening. When a person listens as if his life depends on it, he becomes a part of the moment. This is possible if he has ears of a child and the curiosity to know more.

We also practiced this in class in small groups where we interviewed each other and listened to the responses with excitement. One of my take away from this exercise was that when we don’t judge people, we can see the goodness in them which is otherwise hidden to the internal critic that constantly judges everyone on everything.

As we went deep into the discussion we found out that Emotional Quotient is derived from trust and trust is built through warmth, genuineness and respect.

Anil Sir then shared two stories with great insight. A key learning from one of these stories was that things can improve as we change the way we look at others. The other story taught us that unconditional love has great hidden power and can bring transformation in a person.


Later, we gave a detailed thought on happiness and realized that the nature of human is to be happy. We also discussed the reasons that stop us from being happy.


One such reason is having unstated emotional expectations of those I care about. If a person has some expectations from me which are not met then he might be unhappy. Additionally, it will make me unhappy for not meeting such expectations.

The other reason was having regrets about the past. People feel unhappy for the things they did in the past and also for the things they could not do in the past.
 
The last reason was the guilt that people carry that causes them unhappiness.

We concluded our day by the closing circle where we joined hand in hand allowing our energies to flow and remembered our friends who are still living in our hearts.

Kushagra Jhalani_HRLP035_Self Leadership_October 25, 2012

The Self Leadership session by Anil Sir on Thursday 25th October 2012 was again an insightful one. The session started with a fundamental question: 'What makes us take decisions?' Then, Anil Sir elucidated the process of decision making, which we can utilize to make effective decisions.
A leader is indeed defined by the choices he / she makes - for eg. the books that you read, or the friends with whom we hang around. And according to me, your character is not just defined by the company that you are surrounded with, but is also defined by the company that you avoid.
Through various fun activities such as jotting down the out of the box uses of a marker, and the 'cat' exercise etc. made us gain some fundamental insights towards 'disruptive innovation' and instigation of creativity.
During the session, Anil Sir motivated us through mentioning various instances, and recommended a couple of wonderful books and movies. In the end, Anil sir made us undertake the 'mission making' exercise again after going through the same in Sidhbari, so that we can reinforce our mission after asking the three vital questions in order to realize the true purpose of life.
The purpose of life is indeed to live the life of purpose.

Thursday 25 October 2012

Sheeza Shakeel _HRLP2012_SELF LEADERSHIP_26_OCT2012


Sheeza Shakeel _MLP2012_SELF LEADERSHIP_26_OCT2012

Today's session came across as the much awaited sessions. We all connected with it instantly and had several insights to help us from now on. It was all about the power of brain.

The session started by highlighting the framework that needs to be followed in a Decision Making Process. The 6 Dos were Defining the Frame, Obtaining Meaningful and Reliable Information, Defining several creative/ doable options and Having Criteria for Risk and Return. This was something I was unconsciously doing but not in a structured way. Whether it was leaving Infosys Job and Joining Soil or Taking up Marketing Specialization as opposed to Human Resources. From now on, it would be a conscious effort to follow a structured approach and get to decisions quickly.

In this context, pointing out the significance of being creative was important because that's how you can actually come up with different ways out. Talking of creativity we were engaged in activity where in we need to take different forms. I feel each of us stepped in the roles as easily as possible more because there was no fear of being judged. I realized how important it is to find pleasure in little things. I realized we are never too old to enjoy. Interesting stories of Synectics were narrated. It was fascinating to find the practical implications of each of the theoretical concepts. We discussed at length what hinders Creativity with respect to the Five Fears. It was interesting to note several instances where in I held myself back because of one or the other fear. Some other activities offered great Introspection in terms of gauging our own strengths and values.

The class ended with a brief overview of Inference of Ladder. How we see what we want to see, How we believe what we want to believe, How our beliefs shape up what we think and How we react. These and many more such questions were triggered. The thread was extended neatly to design our Mission Statement.

I would like to conclude by the following lines.

"You are powerful. You are powerful- beyond measure"

Sheeza Shakeel

HetalGandhi_BLP020_SelfLeadership_October

On 16th Of October we had our first class with Anil Sir after our Sidbhari trip.  There was a lot of anxiety in the class on what would be in store for us for the day .Our thought process had already kicked in  and  had gathered steam as we all set to ride for a thrilling experience with him.
He started the day with emphasis on emotional quotient and stressed that a person who is high on emotional quotient and average in other intellect can beat a person who is pretty low on emotional quotient and high on intellect. It had set tone to understand the power of Intellect and the brain. With this context, he began explaining about a the most important things that should be kept into mind before taking a decision. It is called the Hep’s Model. The main steps involved in this model are

  •           Define the frame
  •      Collect  meaningful and reliable information
  •      Define several creative and doable objectives
  •          Logic for evaluation (Risk and return )
  •     Values  & trade off’s
  •      Looking at implementation
He then explained about how Ron Howard at Stanford had coined the term decision analysis. Applying this framework i was able to carve out a career choice for myself.
Later in the session we were intrigued to think on what lies at the heart of creativity and we were made to realise through a series of exercises that creativity among our age ie from 20 -45 has come down to 2% but it is at its zenith when we were between 5 -15. Next topic he explained was on the 4 dimensions of creativity namely
·         Ideational fluency
·         Originality Of Thinking
·         Associational Fluency
·         Learning from Analogy
The session became interesting as it went on further and the next task for all of us was to rate us on a scale of 1- 6 for 5 questions to understand what our fears were which hindered in our creative thinking process. Moving on to transcend our fears we were made to work in a group and asked to enact various shapes like a tree, fish, bird, steam engine and a thunder storm. We also were put to question regarding what was enabling us to get into the flow and what was coming in our way. I understood that our most feared thoughts were coming in our way but if we put a little bit of efforts then we can overcome our fears.
 The next session dealt with understanding criteria’s important to us and values we need to achieve those. We were asked to create our life map to understand our highs and lows and asked to create a personal mission for ourselves.
The final session dealt with understanding of the Ladder of inference which describes one of our basic habits of mind : Our reflexive use of inference and judgement as if they were a statement of fact.
         

  •      I take my actions based on my belief
  •       I adapt beliefs about the world
  •           I draw conclusions – make Judgements
  •      Assumptions based on the meanings added
  •     Constructed meanings
  •     Selected data from Observations
  •     Observable data and experiences
 The day ended with a new definition for LOVE – Love Our Values Eternally


October 22nd

The day started with remembering the martyrs of the India china war of 1962 as it was the 50th anniversary of the war and stories of bravery and courage was shared in the morning circle. After this breath taking story Anil sir now deep dived into his own personal life and shared his experience with us about his encounter during the Sikh Riots of 1984 and how he overcame his fear and gathered immense courage to face the situation. The important lesson that we some learnt was that we should love for a cause so as to transcend all the fears. An insightful quote which he shared was “Courage is not absence of fear but the realization that something that is a cause more important than fear”.
The session went on with a video where the world’s happiest man Matthieu Ricard shared some of his insights on what happiness means to me and essence of happiness. Some of the key indicators of essence of happiness are

  •            Living in the present moment
  •          Overcoming mental blocks through meditation
  •          Honour Life
  •          Transforming our minds for better is happiness
  •          GHI and not GDP
Then he shared his views on based upon a research on what can be the determinants of happiness. It was found that the main determinants of happiness were religion, good relationship, thinking style , exercise. It can be understood from the essence on   happiness is that when we get rid of ego and desire what remains is a force that drives happiness.
The final session of the day was mainly concentrated on concept of ‘Immunity X-Ray’, which is a scientific way of overcoming your fear and bringing change in oneself. We were asked to think and write about things that we want to change in our self but have often found it difficult to change. This was followed by series of follow ups which we needed to practise so that the things we want to change move from a conscious approach to an unconscious approach.

Abhishek_BLP012_Self Leadership_Oct 2012

October 16th
Our class started with Sir engaging the class in bringing out key elements involved in decision making.
He discussed the below decision making framework created by Ron Howard:

  •     What is the most important question
  •     Collect meaningful and reliable information
  •     Define several creative and doable alternatives
  •     Define logic for evaluation in terms of risk and return
  •     Values & Trade offs
  •     Implementation

To understand application of this framework, we did a small exercise in which we applied the framework in deciding the career options we would pursue after mba.

In our next session we discussed how creativity is highest in young children and decreases substantially as our education system and upbringing encourages only what is generally acceptable and expected and out of league thinking is discouraged.

In the latter part of session we discussed about The Ladder of Inference:
Describes one of our basic habits of mind: our reflexive use of inference and judgment as if they were statements of fact
  •     Our beliefs are the truth
  •     The truth is obvious
  •     Our beliefs are based on real data
  •     The data we select are real data
  •     We’ve all the data we need

In our 2nd class i.e 22nd October

As October 2012 marked the 50th anniversary of Indo –China war , we paid respect to brave soldiers who had laid down their lives for the nation. We discussed what brings about courage in people that they sacrifice their lives.
The discussion brought about below points
  •     Courage comes from passion
  •     Courage comes from self-lessness , when you serve a higher cause
  •     Courage come from inside – the cause for which you are fighting

Then we saw a video in which Matthieu Ricard talked about what is happiness or well being and how can we all get some. He spoke about difference between happiness and pleasure and that one should look for happiness inside rather than outside as we have higher control on elements inside rather than outside. Then we did the happiness exercise how we rate ourselves on happiness index, happiness relative to others.
Lastly we learnt about a tool called Immunity X-ray , which is a scientific way to understand one’s own thought and getting rid of unproductive habits. People are not able to overcome their habits because they have some hidden competing commitments.

Akash Kumar_BLP005_Self Leadership_October 2012


October 16th, 2012

The last leg of Self- Leadership sessions started with Anil Sir asking us a question on what takes the responsibility for power of intellect and the brain. How do we take decisions, how do we make choices? Ron Harvard’s work at Stanford research comes up with an interesting framework for the decision making process gives as below.
  1. ·         Frame the most important question.
  2. ·         Collect meaningful and reliable information
  3. ·         Define several creative and doable alternatives
  4. ·         Define logic for evaluation in terms of risk and returns
  5. ·         Values and tradeoffs
  6. ·         Implementation

Later in the session, we were intrigued to think what lied at the heart of creativity. Anil Sir questioned the way people are brought up and how creativity is killed between the ages of 10-15. The education system is more biased towards the right or wrong of the subject rather than knowing the reasoning behind it. God sends us with completely open minds to receive all that we can and be creative in our own ways, but we put layers of fear to condition our minds. Anil Sir talked about the 4 dimensions of creativity, namely:
  1. ·         Ideation fluency
  2. ·         Originality of thinking
  3. ·         Associational fluency (combine images with things)
  4. ·         Learning from analogy (make the strange familiar and the familiar strange)

 The fears which stop us from being creative were unearthed by some questions where we rated ourselves on a scale of 5. The questions were
·         Whenever I try something new, there is a preamble to it. To what extent does the thought of failure strike me?
·         Whenever I do something new, to what extent am I conscious of criticism
·         To what extent does lack of clarity/ambiguity bother me?
·         To what extent does lack of time and resources bother me?
·         How skeptical I am if I am required to do something new which requires me to be outdoors, in the wilderness, exposed to nature where my physical senses get challenged.
The session ended with understanding the ladder of inference where we were explained how our cognition, perceptions, and beliefs determine our actions.

October 22nd, 2012
                
The final session of self-leadership started by honoring the martyrs of India-China War of 1962. A very thought provoking question was put forward for finding out the origin of courage and what was the essence if it. The whole class was then asked to spare a moment and think of situations where they had screwed up their courage. Out of all the aspects discussed on courage, my favorite was- “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear”.
The discussion then moved from courage to happiness. Anil sir shared a video of world’s happiest man Matthieu Ricard which emphasized on the importance of living in present moment. It reflected that happiness is intrinsic can be attained by achieving inner peace, inner fulfillment & self confidence. We can achieve it through regular meditation as it is very powerful technique of watching your breath and attaining peace.

In the end, we learnt the concept of ‘Immunity X-ray’ which is a scientific way of overcoming your fear and bringing change in oneself. We were asked to think and write about things that we want to change in our self but have often found it difficult to change. We have to confront all the grey areas in us, face the truth and overcome the mental blocks which form hindrance in the path of achieving what we aspire.

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Harpreet Singh_BLP039_Self Leadership_October 2012


October 16nd, 2012

Session started with Anil Sir explaining the ‘Power of Intellect’ and the related decision making framework.

The framework is as follows:
Ø  Define the frame
Ø  Collect meaningful and reliable information
Ø  Define several creative and doable alternatives
Ø  Define logic for evaluation which includes your risk and returns
Ø  Values and tradeoffs
Ø  Implementation

This Framework suggests that every individual should follow a certain set of processes while making any decisions. This framework can be used for various important choices and it would certainly help in evaluating one’s decisions. Way is- the individual should collect some reliable data, create multiple options, set the evaluation criteria and then look at the values and trade off’s. Only then the decision has to be executed. Anil Sir then explained how the conventional approach of mind reduces the creativity in a person.

Later we learnt about the 4 dimensions of creativity. On exploring what prevents the person from being creative we learnt that FEAR stops a person from being creative. The fear of failure, criticism, ambiguity, wilderness and lack of time and resources are some which hinders creativity.  Anil later explained the ladder of inference. Seven steps in the ladder of inference explain the thinking process that a person might unknowingly experience to get from a fact to a decision or action. 

October 22nd, 2012
                
Class started by honouring the 50th anniversary of the India-China War of 1962. Anil Sir then ask a simple question to the class- What does courage mean to you? Anil Sir then discussed the story of our brave soldiers like Major Shaitan Singh and discussed his personal experience of display of courage during 1984 Delhi genocide. Then each one of us was asked to discuss the stories of courage in our groups and come up with our own definition of Courage. The most appropriate definition of courage given by one of our classmate was- “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear”.

Then Anil Sir showed a video of Mr. Matthieu Ricard which conveyed the message that the Happiness is a skill to be learnt and it requires some effort to develop this skill. The key determinants of happiness are-
Ø  Religion
Ø  Good Relationship
Ø  Thinking style
Ø  Exercise

In the end, we talked about Robert Kegan, Overcome the immunity to change. A powerful tool that helps people overcomes tough habits and fears by the immunity x ray.


Silshi Oberoi_BLP062_Self Leadership_October 2012

                  Silshi_Oberoi_BLP062_Self Leadership_October 2012

On 16 October 2012, session started with a framework on strategic decision thinking.

  •    What is the most important question
  •    Collect meaningful and reliable information
  •    Define several creative and doable alternatives
  •    Define logic for evaluation in terms of RISK & RETURS
  •    Values & Trade offs
  •    What I need to implement it

We got a chance to ponder upon our career aspirations after appreciating relevance of decision framework.

Answering 4 powerful questions on a range of 1-10, proved to be a mirror to comprehend creativity amongst ourselves.
  • Whenever I try to do something new, fear of failure strikes in between
  • To what extent I am conscious about others
  • To what extent I am concerned about the ambiguity
  • To what extent you are concerned about time and lack of resources
S     Subsequently, light was thrown on “five fears”, a prime cause to encumber one’s self confidence.

Learning “Ladder of Inference” which describes one of our basic habits of mind, was cherished by everyone. There are seven questions in the ladder which will help each of us to move forward in life.

          Take my action based on “my beliefs”
2       Adopt beliefs about the world
         Draw conclusions –make judgments
         Assumptions based on the meaning added
5      Constructed meanings 
6      Selected “Data” from Observations
7      Observable “Data” and experiences 

On 22 October 2012, day started with wet eyes as we celebrated anniversary of “the heroes of 1962” by remembering Major Shaitan Singh & his troops, who sacrificed their lives for their country & people.

Further, we got a chance to deduce “where courage comes from?”

·         One’s identification with community and country.
·         Inside – the cause for which one is fighting.
·         Passion-goal
·         Selflessness
·         Spark within
·         Deep love for something
·         “SERVICE” or “SEVA” - which strengthens one’s courage
·         Opportunity to take on big responsibility
·     Courage is not absence of fear but the realization that something is more important than fear”.

Karthick J_BLP032_Self_Leadership_October 2012


15th October 2012

                The session started with Mr. Anil explaining a framework which could be used in decision making to understand the power of intellect and brain.
The framework is as follows,
  • Define the frame
  • Collect meaningful and reliable information
  • Define several creative and doable alternatives
  • Define logic for evaluation which includes your risk and returns
  • Values and tradeoffs
  • Implementation


    We used this framework to initiate our career choice. I learnt that the frame is a lever which should have the most important question that one has in their mind. Then the individual should collect some reliable data, create multiple options, set the evaluation criteria and then look at the values and trade off’s. Finally the decision has to be executed. As the class progressed Mr. Anil then explained how the creativity in a person is systematically reduced by conditioning the mind to think only in the conventional approach. This is a thought which needs to be explored further and debated upon.  We understood what Anil was trying to convey by using the activity to test how creative each person was.

                 Later we learnt about the 4 dimensions of creativity. On exploring what prevents the person from being creative we learnt that FEAR stops a person from being creative. The FEAR of failure, criticism, ambiguity, wilderness and lack of time and resources are some which hinders creativity.  Anil later explained the ladder of inference. I learnt that the seven steps in the ladder of inference explain the thinking process that a person might unknowingly experience to get from a fact to a decision or action. 

22nd October 2012
                
                 The day started in a sober note as it marked the 50th anniversary of the Sino-Indian War. Mr. Anil used the occasion to make the audience understand what courage is. I was moved when he shared how a few hundred Indian soldiers stood their ground and allowed themselves to be buried in the snow to defend our motherland from thousands of attacking Chinese troops. I felt the anniversary was apt occasion to explain how courage transforms an individual to rise to the occasion and be proactive in approach. We were asked to discuss the stories of courage among our groups. Courage is displayed by an individual to bail out the community from the crisis situation. The famous quote” Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear” aptly summed up what courage is all about.

                Later Mr. Anil showed a video of the world's happiest man; Mr. Matthieu Ricard. The essence of the video is that happiness is a skill to be learnt. He showed that meditation can cause an overwhelming change in levels of happiness. His mind control level was amazing the impulses he generated in his brain were off the scale. I learnt that our life can be transformed by even a small incremental change in way we manage our thoughts and perceive the surroundings. Happiness is a skill. We require some effort to develop this skill.

Some of the determinants of happiness are,
  • Religion
  • Good Relationship
  • Thinking style
  • Exercise

                Anil later introduced the concept of Immunity X ray to the class. This could be used to overcome the resistance to change and unlock the potential in a person.  We were asked to apply this framework to change something which we wanted.