Collective Leadership

Leadership has become a very generic term these days used by everyone to flaunt himself before others. Most connect it to the “social influence”, Corporates also rates and values the candidates on their leadership qualities in interviews. A lot of us confuse leadership with dominance, bossism or holding the flag.

Now if a leader is strict, dominating, propagating his beliefs and ideas and philosophies of life on others. We would need a barge pole to maintain safe distance before as he gets unpredictable. But on the other hand, as also said ” Leadership and Learning are indispensable from each other”. A Leader is a very humble person, who is always ready to serve his team and is easily approachable.

True leaders have a desire to take others to the top with them, and are not afraid of competition. They are not struck with jalousie and panic when some of their followers become leaders themselves. If you are a true leader, you should encourage your followers to become leaders themselves. That is what a true leader is all about.

Leaders are mentors with a servant’s heart, You may be doing well and have a list of people listening to your advices, but that alone does not make you a leader. People are not numbers you can just add on your email list, down line or your company. They are people with dreams and goals like yours. As a true leader, it should be your goal to lead people to where they want to be, very well said by Sylviane Nuccio.

A Leader is a wonderful person who does not lead but invites every other person to lead in a collective team. This way the participation increases and we witness the marvelous and wonderful events taking place and that is how the impossible becomes possible. We can grow horizontally and vertically only when we are collective, united. And I wish everybody becomes a true Collective Leader to understand and participate in the process of Growth.

“To lead people, walk beside them … As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate … When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!'” – Lao Tse

Connect the Dots . . .

On one side we talk of Supreme Human Beings and on the other we blame the current generation commenting they are going crazy and start doubting the future of our country.

A small exercise defines our aura of positives and negatives around us by listing down 10 names of people we come across other than our family members followed by up an down arrow corresponding to their names where Up arrow identifies the set of people with healthy, inspirational or motivating and on the other hand Down arrow representing the set of people with dominating characteristics, demotivating and subdued personalities. This way one can also identify and analyze their core circle and improve upon..Thus turning all the Dreams into Reality.

Now it also becomes important to connect to the source to which we are born. Our parents, honestly tell me how many of us can answer these questions: Where my father was born, Where did he had his primary education, Where did he go for higher studies, what kind of friend circle he had, Where was his first job and his profile, what salary did he draw, how did he grew in the corporate world establishing his legacy, When did he get married, How did he manage his personal and professional life. When you were young and were adamant how he fulfilled all your demands. So my dear friends to grow further we have to connect to the source first to lead life with a Grace.. Unless we are connected to our source we cannot understand our society we live in..

I met many students in Universities and Business Schools and to my surprise the spark to connect the dots was missing. This is a very concern area. No doubt everybody want a good start in their career and are looking high up in the sky but the basics need to be very clear in their mind, unless a strong foundation is laid we cannot build palaces.. How they would manage their career in the corporates.

We all have come with one expiry date which is unknown so this is the time Awake up friends and start inward journey.

““It has been the way of human beings that he wants to understand everything through reasoning. This is correct on his part because his awareness has not yet awakened. When his awareness is limited and when he is searching the proof of everything through his intellect, it is difficult for him to adopt some other means, which are outside the scope of reasoning”.-Dr N.D.Srivastava

Abraham Lincoln – The 16th President of USA

The last known high-quality photograph of Lincoln, taken March 1865

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 as the first Republican president, Lincoln had been a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House of Representatives.

All about the White House President:
Abraham Linclon – 1861 – 1865

“I was born Feb. 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both born in Virginia, of undistinguished families–second families, perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a family of the name of Hanks…. My father … removed from Kentucky to … Indiana, in my eighth year…. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. There I grew up…. Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher … but that was all.”

Lincoln made extraordinary efforts to attain knowledge while working on a farm, splitting rails for fences, and keeping store at New Salem, Illinois. He was a captain in the Black Hawk War, spent eight years in the Illinois legislature, and rode the circuit of courts for many years. His law partner said of him, “His ambition was a little engine that knew no rest.”

He married Mary Todd, and they had four boys, only one of whom lived to maturity. In 1858 Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator. He lost the election, but in debating with Douglas he gained a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860.

As President, he built the Republican Party into a strong national organization. Further, he rallied most of the northern Democrats to the Union cause. On January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared forever free those slaves within the Confederacy.

Lincoln never let the world forget that the Civil War involved an even larger issue. This he stated most movingly in dedicating the military cemetery at Gettysburg: “that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom–and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Lincoln won re-election in 1864, as Union military triumphs heralded an end to the war. In his planning for peace, the President was flexible and generous, encouraging Southerners to lay down their arms and join speedily in reunion.

The spirit that guided him was clearly that of his Second Inaugural Address, now inscribed on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C.: “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds…. ”

On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South. The opposite was the result, for with Lincoln’s death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died.

All sources taken from http://www.whitehouse.gov

International Day for the Elderly – 1st October

International Day for the Elderly is dedicated to honor, respect and care for the world’s elderly. The United Nations General Assembly designated October 1st as the International Day for the Elderly, also known as the “International Day for Older Persons”.

Elderly citizen have all there time available for the upliftment of the society apart from all group meeting, monthly dinners, ex-professions meet likes to spend most of their time focusing all there efforts time and energy on all productive services run and managed only by all our Elders.

Senior Citizen Clubs and groups formed in the locality running all across where all grand parents come together to walk their way of life in the parks or municipal gardens during morning and evening time. There are many active elderly citizen participating in curbing the nation for a better tomorrow based on their practical life experiences and thus leading several NGO’s, consultant groups, managing and coordinating all cooperative welfare programs working out day in and out endlessly thus guiding the society in all walks of life.

Alas! The celebration of birthday parties clubbed together at the month end is really a very emotional scene leaving wet eyes reflects their passion and compassion for each other.

Most of the Grand parents welcome the day in the park-side with the morning walk, exercise followed by discussion over the national and international issues thereafter spare all the time for daily routine’s working out on the respective developmental projects they have undertaken meeting all the necessary working, appointments, meetings thus spending all their time in all productive hyper active day managing a balance in their professional and personal life.

They are my true inspiration with all the bubbling energy, endless motivation, self driven, never say die attitude are the true pillars of growth. It is rightly said, one is as old as he thinks. I salute to all the elderly people of the society sparing all their time for improvement and development of the society.

Did you Know? According to the United Nations, “one of every 10 persons is now 60 years or older. By the year 2050, one of five will be 60 years or older; by 2150, it will be one of three persons”.

A Thousand Salutes to Motherhood

From my collection.Author unknown………….

A baby asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”

“Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.”

The child further inquired, “But tell me, here in heaven I don’t have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.”

God said, “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel’s love and be very happy.”

Again the child asked, “And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don’t know the language?”

God said, “Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.”

“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?”

God said, “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.”

“Who will protect me?”

God said, “Your angel will defend you even if it means risking it’s life.”

“But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.”

God said, “Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.”

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, “God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel’s name.”

“You will simply call her, ”Mother”.

Author Unknown

The purpose of life is a life of purpose !!!

Heres an interesting story where one clearly understands that we can grow only in being collective, united and integrated in the real sense of word.

There was a farmer who grew superior quality, award-winning corn in his farm. Each year, he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honors. & Prizes.

One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew his corn. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

“How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” The reporter asked. “Why brother”

” The farmer replied, “Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen grains from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard & poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I have to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors to grow good corns.”

The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbors’ corn also improves. So it is in the other dimensions and areas of life!

Those who choose to be in harmony must help their neighbors and colleagues to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others live well. The value of a life is measured by the lives it touches…

Success does not happen in isolation; it is most often a participatory and collective process. So share the good practices, ideas and new knowledge with your family, friends, team members and neighbors & all. As they say: “Success breeds Success.”

September 14th, Hindi Divas (day)

Hindi is our National Language and we all should be proud of it. September 14th every year is celebrated as a mark of acknowledgement of the Indian official language. Hindi adopts the true spirit of Indians in terms of tolerance. Hindi is also called as a ‘link language’, which connects the united India.

It’s spoken by almost 500 million people over the world, the third most spoken language. It’s the official language of India, the country with the second largest population in the world. As defined in the Constitution of India, Hindi is one of the two official languages of communication (English being the other) for India’s federal government.

Figures prove the rise in viewer ship rating for Indian Television Industry in Hindi channels is gaining a rise not only in India but also in USA, UK, Australia, Europe, Middle East, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, etc.
The total revenue shared by Hindi channels has crossed over 1 billion. These days we find Hindi English mixed jingles over the TV advertisements and radio etc for ease of understanding.

The Role played by Bollywood, the Mumbai-based film industry, in promoting, popularizing and projecting the language globally is praise worthy. Bollywood has played a vital role in the growth of Hindi among the people of Indian origin, particularly among the younger generation and in maintaining and strengthening Indian heritage.

Hindi is truly going Global you take Microsoft programs, google frames, even websites like e-bay, face book are comming up with Hindi version for increasing multi users. Programs like text to speech, voice to text, are all in available in “Devnagari lipi” on the net. Hindi has achieved its prominent place in the global village. Mentality of people is changing giving due importance to language.

Hindi has a history behind; it belongs to Indo–Aryan branch of indo European language family. The word ‘Hindi’ itself is a gift of Persian, Mughals added to its flavor, Amir Khusro was first to write Hindi Poem.

Globalization becomes easy when we use Internet in English language.
Comparison in any way is harmful. Critics says that Hindi is loosing its grip over English in India, whereas both are just languages a medium of communication which comes from Heart and we need to understand as Smile is a universally accepted language. It is a link between hearts that knows no official language.

Foreign nations are also studying Hindi for better understanding of the Indian Culture and its rich heritage. Figures from universities and educational institutions prove the inclination of foreign nationals towards studying Indian culture and language. Many foreign nationals come on tourists visa and extend their stay here to study Indian Classical Music and Dance. I personally know many foreign tourists who not only reads but understand all Hindi newspapers published in India and have learnt to speak and write our Hindi language as Nationals of The Indian Republic Offering due respect to our Mother Tongue. I really offer my gratitude to all my friends living abroad and learning Hindi as an International Language. I salute their student learning instincts.

Today when we talk of building “Supreme Humans Beings”, society again plays an important role in curbing the young generations Like in case of kinder garden kids (2-5 years old) all depends on how we mould there thinking and condition there young minds limiting them the way we have been taught. Teaching them to discriminate between the righteous and the evil in our own predecided manner. Let us not stop dominating the comming Generations by overloading our thinking on them and leave them learn on their own as Children are the face of God on earth.

Gandhiji used this language to unite the whole India and used this language as ‘language of unity’. The word Swadeshi revolutionize the freedom struggle, and its entry into the Oxford dictionary marks its importance in world history.

All for the love of Teachings

“Teachers should be the best minds in the country”.
-Dr.Radhakrishnan

In India 5th September is celebrated as Teachers’ day. 5th September is the birthday of a great teacher Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. When Dr. Radhakrishnan became the president of India in 1962, some of his students and friends approached him and requested him to allow them to celebrate 5th September, his “birthday”. In reply, Dr, Radhakrishnan said, “instead of celebrating my birthday separately, it would be my proud privilege if September 5 is observed as Teachers’ day”. The request showed Dr.Radhakrishnan’s love for the teaching profession. From then onwards, the day has been observed as Teachers’ Day in India.

Teachers mold the lives that they influence. Lessons learned from teachers remain with their students throughout life. Teachers as Masters they are popularly known as in parts of the world. Masters / Teachers molding not only the careers but curving the society towards a better tomorrow.

Teachers acts as a milestone in shaping generations. The primary goal of Teaching Profession is to guide children, youth, and adults in the pursuit of knowledge and skills, to prepare them in ways of democracy, and to help them to become happy, useful, self supporting citizens. The ultimate strength of individuals lies in the social responsibility, economic
competence and moral strength of the individuals.

Talking of Indian ethics in context with role the of teachers in our evolution process. Ancient Indians knew that the power of learning starts right from the womb. Latest study also proves that a child starts picking up from the lifestyle, behavior patterns, aptitude and attitudes reactions and the surrounding environment among others when he is not even born in his mothers womb example of Abhimanyu son of Arjuna in epic Mahabaratta.

Socrates was an example of a good teacher. He considered himself a learner as well as a teacher. For Socrates, love and friendship were the proper contexts for the pursuit of wisdom and goodness. Socrates saw himself only as a catalyst. He felt it was not his teaching, but actually the power of the Divine which enabled the person he was talking with to improve himself.

There are various ways means and techniques available to get started first and foremost is being collective and united we shall stand for prosperity, peace and progress as it is quoted “charity begins at home” so taking things further we should invest some part of lives and divert all our positive energy zest and enthusiasm towards a better tomorrow and as being a responsible citizens of the society, understand the minor yet critical changes as and when required in subtlety to fight with the evils of negatives which keep attacking us all the time within. We need to conquer all negatives that we are facing today for a better tomorrow and dream of our progress both vertical and horizontal.

I am confident all our efforts will prove to be a milestone in creating better future generation.
Happy Teacher’s Day.