Quit the Fear

The members of BNI Aparant boarded the boat that slithered across the serene waters of the calm cove. As it entered the river, the waters got a bit more stirring. But when it entered the Arabian Sea, the perturbations made the boat sway. For the first timers, it was a situation that ranged from exciting to worrying. Reactions ranged from nervous singing to a disquieting silence.

Then we halted for the welcome interludes: a dip in the sea, barbeque on the beach, singing and dancing... On the return journey, the waters got worse. Yet, everyone seemed better equipped to deal with the challenge. Obviously, the morning experience had helped deal with the discomfort zone. Everyone stepped back on to land with a sense of achievement!

So often we rationalise our discomfort. Consider, we say ‘Networking does not matter; quality of work does,’ or ‘People who network grovel and I cannot do so.’ While these statements may be true, they often mask the reality: that we are afraid of networking or public speaking and can’t get ourselves to admit it.

Most of such fears are formed due to a previous experience or because of belief conditioned by other people’s experience or simply from never having gone through the experience. Either way, an alternate experience is necessary to unlearn that fear. Once we recognise that we are grappling with fear, we must move to overcome it.

The resolve to embark on the alternate experience is best fostered under the guidance of those have the experience and expertise. Safety measures are important too as they indicate prudent planning. Indeed, we must discover the happiness of stepping outside the comfort zone and coping with fear.

When we step outside our comfort zone, that’s when the magic happens. It’s where we can grow, learn, and develop in a way that expands our horizons beyond what we thought was possible. Of course it maybe terrifying and unsettling, but when we get the courage to take this leap, we will eventually develop the skill and attitude to actually pull it off, again and again.

 May we ‘unite to impact’ resolve, guidance and safety

Step out of the comfort zone and quit the fear surely!

                              

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Real Image?

Often, I ask my workshop participants to share their inspirational icons. From the historical spectrum of Indian personalities, the preferred heroes range from Bhagat Singh to Vivekanand, Shivaji to Laxmibai. On the other hand, derision is reserved for Gandhi and Ambedkar. The strong opinions are often hollow. They are frequently formed without knowing the reality of the personality.

The impression was reconfirmed yesterday on social networking sites, on the occasion to remember the day of the hanging of the martyrs on 23 March 1931. Many saluted the courage and dedication of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. However, all were not expressing emotions based on sufficient knowledge. Some were just declaring the romanticised image in their minds.

There were those whose assertion of the greatness of Bhagat Singh was based on arguments that scorned Gandhi. And it was obvious that some had neither read Gandhi nor Bhagat Singh. They were parroting stereotypes of heroes and villains created by prejudiced minds. Strong emotions of superficial love or deep hatred were formed without knowing enough about the persons.

All this seems strange when Bhagat Singh is glorified without reading his writings. He was a writer who is known only as a fighter. Those who read Bhagat Singh can connect with his progressive views for rationalism and humanism. In fact, some of his fans would be surprised to read the revolutionary views of someone who died at the age of 23.

To know really about inspirational personalities, we need to know more and more about them. Many of them have penned their own views. There are historians and commentators who have written about them. We need to read and sift through the entire spectrum, of views and actions of that personality, before we unite multiple facts to impact our opinion. That is when the likes of Bhagat Singh will be less of imagery and more of inspiration.

The image in our mind of anyone is never truly real...

Till we ‘unite to impact’ information that is factual!

                              

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Diversity

On the occasion of the festival of colours – Holi, people play with colours.  Social networking sites will see uploads of selfies displaying coloured faces. However, it is pertinent to note that the preferred profile pictures will be ones where the various colours are distinctly distinguishable and not ones where the colours have merged to make a mixed shade that appears like a shady smear.

Surely, the colours look attractive together, but only as long as they do not lose their individual attractiveness. While coming together is good, we need to be better at maintaining the diversity. So often, when we move to unite, we insist on uniformity. But by stifling diversity, we cripple the impact of unity.

The impact of various types uniting to come together is fuelled by the ability of the parts to hold on to their individuality as well as align as a collective. The various instruments in an orchestra play together, but melodious music is created because of their diverse sounds. Languages are empowered by the various vocabularies born of different dialects. The rainbow looks beautiful as the colours in its spectrum retain their colours. The same holds true for teams.

Too often, in team building, we mistake uniformity for alignment. While alignment is a boon for unity of the team members, uniformity is a bane. Diversity involves acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique and recognizing different dimensions of ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, ideas, beliefs and ideologies. 

The exploration of this diversity in a positive and nurturing environment helps us understand each other such that we can move beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of assorted capacities of each individual in the team. The right recognition to diversity will ensure that we truly unite to impact the larger potential of the combination.

The colours of the rainbow look good in their unity...

As they ‘Unite to impact’ without losing their diversity!

                              

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Elevator Pitch

Jayant Chhaya had worked with the State of Wisconsin, USA, in a senior executive level position in the Health and Employment Department. He had been able to achieve amazing success in his projects. Yet, when he read of the AMUL experiment, he chose to come back to India. He wanted to work with his inspirational icon, Dr Varghese Kurian.

Dr Kurian’s office granted Chhaya an appointment for only the duration of five minutes. A visibly excited Chhaya first shared how Kurian’s incredible triumph had inspired him to come back to work for his country. Then he spoke about his impressive work in Wisconsin. After all, he had to establish his credentials. Suddenly, Kurian interjected tersely to say, ‘your time’s up’!

Chhaya’s pleas for additional time were in vain. He kept persisting and many days later, was able to get another appointment... this time for just one minute. Chhaya got straight to the point, ‘Sir, I want to do to oil what you did to milk’. The great Kurian got irritated, ‘are you trying to tell me that I cannot do to oil what I did to milk?’ Chhaya humbly asserted, ‘Sir, it is under your mentorship that I want to do to oil what you did to milk.’

For the next 30 minutes, Kurian listened to Chhaya as he explained his ideas on making cooking oil easily and consistently available to the consumer by using the Amul model of co-operatives. Years after his death, Chhaya is remembered for having led the Edible Oil Project with the National Dairy Development Board... his project was 'Dhara', India’s leading cooking oil brand. 

Indeed, Dhara and its mover may never have made it, if Chhaya had not been able to explain his idea in a single sentence. Being able to unite the expansive plan into its focussed form enhanced the impact. In management terms, such an exercise to quickly and simply define is called an elevator pitch.

Elevator pitch is about sharing the idea in the time span of an elevator ride...  30 seconds to 2 minutes. Consider a scenario of an accidental meeting with someone important in an elevator. If the conversation inside the elevator in those few seconds is interesting and value adding, the probability of its further continuance will increase. Like it did for Jayant Chhaya!

Get straight to the point; do not beat around the bush...

‘Unite to impact’ with elevator pitch to get the right push!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

DIGNITY DRAPES

‘Pehle Mann se Gaya, phir Tann se Gaya’ (first off the mind, next off the body)

In his talk at the Rotract Conference, Anshu Gupta was referring to the attitude of those who ‘donated’ clothes for the poor and needy.  Most donations were actually discards and at variance to the real needs. In fact, the act of giving was a front for dumping the clothing that one had lost interest in.

Anshu left a corporate job in 1998 and founded Goonj with a mission to make clothing a matter of concern and to bring it among the list of subjects for the development sector. He initiated a mass movement for recycling and reuse of tonnes of waste material by channelizing it from the cities to the villages, as a resource for rural development.

Goonj’s stand-out resolve is to refrain from dumping donated clothes and yet ensure dignity while fulfilling the basic human need of clothing! This is done by giving clothes for work of building bamboo bridges or improving mud roads or empowering school infrastructure. These have united the people to positively impact their own predicament and receive their rightful drapes of dignity.  

Goonj is considered one of the leading social enterprises in India, the largest non monetary resource agency and people also call it one of the largest civic participation movement! While they have ensured that drapes have covered the shame, dignity has not been compromised.

Indeed, acts of generosity are hollow if shrouded in an insensitive attitude. Patronage is the bane of self-respect. To create the right impact, it is important to unite our intention of empathy with the sensitive consciousness of giving aptly as well as ensuring the indisputable dignity of the one in need. Otherwise the donation would be just an act of dumping and burying human dignity.

When empathy will ‘Unite to impact’ with sensitivity

Every human being can be truly draped in dignity!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.