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.
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