Insanely Interesting People who Influenced me: #19 Rory Sutherland

I would like to take a moment and thank the people who have had a significant impact on me as an individual. The way they have lived their lives and their body of work has had an outsized impact on how I think about life in general and my work, in particular. Some of these are contemporary thinkers and some of them are just a memory. Some of them are famous in their own rights and some of them are yet to be found by others. Some of them are young and some of them are old. Some of them […]

Mistakes to AVOID in Large Scale Transformation

In today’s rapidly changing world, organisations are constantly looking for ways to transform themselves to remain competitive. Large-scale transformation can be a daunting task, but it is essential for success in the long run. In this video, I discusses four common myths and six common mistakes that people make when leading transformation. I also share advice on how to avoid these mistakes and successfully lead transformations. You can watch the full video here. Myths about Transformation Myth 1: Once and done In reality, transformation is an ongoing process that requires continuous effort and attention. It is important to set up […]

How to Lead Teams to Drive Innovation, Efficiency, Growth or Transformation

Premise I watched this short video in which HBS professor Linda Hill shares her experience from engaging a Life Sciences company and how they went about building teams and leading for innovation. You can watch the full video here. I have written many times about this topic (here, here, here, here, here, here and on innovation here). As leaders, we need to adapt and change depending on what we are trying to achieve and what our objectives are. Leading for Innovation If we want to drive innovation, we need to foster a culture that enables, engages and encourages the team […]

Unlocking Success: The Key Questions You NEED to Ask About Your Stakeholders

Premise: We now live in a world where we are going through a change of one kind or another. Even when we are not leading a change initiative, we are, at all times collaborating with others, who are not part of our team, people who have a different goal than our own, people whose contribution might be critical for our success. In such scenarios, one of the skills that becomes critical for our success is our ability to align and influence the various stakeholders that we work with. I have found that it helps if we are intentional about how […]

Turning Status Quo into Your Ally

I recently read a blog post by Seth Godin titled, “The four cohorts of the status quo“. It reminded of the fact that as leaders, we need to understand the concept of status quo, how to leverage it and deal with it, as appropriate. This ability to not allow status quo to hinder our pursuits is a high leverage or impact skill for any leader. In the post, Seth talks about the four kinds of people and their relationship with Status quo – those who actively benefit from it, those who care about the stability that it provides, those who […]