Leadership

Leading in a White Water World

Premise John Seely Brown and Ann-Pendleton Jullian call the world we currently live in a white water world, constantly changing, evolving and emerging. In this two part series they share their insights from their book – Design Unbound. They talk about how do you design your systems for emergence rather than stability (large corporate) or growth (startup). I would highly recommend watching these two talks (each about an hour long) to understand what it would take to lead in such a white water world and how to design your systems for emergence. Part 1 In this part, they discuss the […]

Leadership

A Culture of Belonging

One of the primary responsibilities of a leader is to create a culture where our teams can feel that they belong and are part of a team. And we help them do that without them feeling the need to change who they really are. A culture where one can bring their full selves is a culture where creativity is abound and innovation thrives.

Leadership

Good Leadership

I found this note and a bottle of perfume in my hotel room, given as a gift by the housekeeper, one with whom I had a short interaction. I don’t know if this was something that he did on his own or was asked to do this as part of a process. Irrespective of that, I felt good. I wrote a thank you note, told the cashier when I was checking out, shared this story with at least 10 of my colleagues and now I am sharing it here. If this was a personal initiative of Kunal, it shows that […]

Leadership

7 Powerful Questions Your Team Needs You to Ask

Premise A long time back, my first manager asked me a series of interesting questions. I had all but forgotten about them. I recently stumbled onto my old notes and realised that I had listed down those questions. I am adding a few questions of my own, based on my experience, both as someone who reports to a manager and my experience as a leader. I think all of us leaders could learn and would do well if we ask these questions to those we lead. Questions to ask and Ponder 1. How stressed are you? What is causing the […]

Leadership

Failure happens. What can we learn from it?

In this comic drawn by Michael Meier, Sanjay Khosla, a senior fellow and adjunct professor at the Kellogg School, lays out lessons that you can take away from five common leadership failures. Below is the comic strip. Conclusion: In conclusion, I am reminded of something that I once shared with my team: “If you are not making mistakes, you aren’t pushing boundaries and so not growing. If you are making the same mistakes, you are not learning and so not growing” Mukesh gupta