Author: Mukesh Gupta

Leadership

Being a Leader is Like Being an Improv Actor

One of the skills that all of us need to develop as we want to be and behave like a leader is to develop the skills of an improv actor. The foundational aspect of any improv actor is the ability to be fully present in the moment and respond to their stimuli. As leaders, we need to be able to do that as well. So, if our stimuli requires us to be a coach, we need to be able to channel our inner coach. If our stimuli needs us to be a manager and give clear instruction to someone on […]

Leadership

11 Timeless Peak Performance Reminders for Leaders

This post is inspired by another post by one of the titans of the advertising industry – Kevin Roberts. You can read the original post here. Here are my peak performance reminders for leaders: Start your day with intent. Be humble. Remember that as a leader you are here to serve the cause and the people you lead. Your number one responsibility is to create more leaders worth following. Stay inspired. You can’t inspire others if you are not inspired. Listen with intent. This can be one of the most productive use of your time. Be aware of when you […]

Leadership

Lessons for Leaders from the Movie – “The Fundamentals of Caring”

Premise: This past weekend, I ended up doing what I really love doing – watch movies. One of the movies that I watched was the 2016 movie “The Fundamentals of Caring” featuring the unassuming Paul Rudd. The movie was based on a book. As the movie title says, the movie is about someone who takes on the job of a care giver to a young man (played by Craig Roberts). The young man suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He has also followed the same schedule, eat the exact same food for his entire life. The care giver is also a […]

Leadership, transformation

The Power of Noticing

Premise: One of the key skills that we need to develop if we want to be leaders, in general, is our ability to notice things. This is a meta skill, that once we learn, can be extremely useful in many spheres of our lives (work, home, community, etc). What can we do about this: The key to increasing our ability to notice is, to slow down. I am guilty of not doing this often. A lot of people that I know are guilty of the same as well. We are all so busy doing stuff (emails, meetings, preparing and delivering […]

Leadership, transformation

Leading Large Scale Cultural Transformation

I wanted to share this short video, in which Simon Sinek, in his usual style, shares the way he sees cultural transformation work. Here is the video: Here are some of the important concepts that he shares: What doesn’t work: Launching a formal company-wide transformation effort, with clearly laid out plans, executive presentations explaining the rationale for the change does not work. Typically, these are met with cynical, wait and watch responses from the employees. They have seen many such announcements, leaders starting transformation efforts, come and go, with not much changing on the ground, in their work. What does […]