Karthick J_BLP032_Self_Leadership_October 2012

15^th 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. 

22^nd October 2012

                

                 The day started in a sober note as it marked the 50^th 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.