Enlarge. Excel. Evolve.

Storytelling leads to self-awareness & self-discovery. Yet there is no hurry to tell our stories to the world till we are ready. If there are uncomfortable parts, write them in a personal diary. We go through 5 stages of life before we are ready to share our story with the world without feeling uncomfortable:- 1) Finding your story- Understanding & connecting dots of life to find your gift / deep passion. The journey begins. You find your essence/ core. 2) Reconciliation- Acceptance or coming to terms with our story & seeing villains as lessons. Leads to acceptance & inner peace. 3) Sensemaking - Resolving inner conflicts & finding deeper meaning. You find answers to "Why me?" Your story makes sense to you. 4) Healing-Healing our baggage & emotional wounds. Letting go of the past. Preparing to embrace our future. 5) Self-awareness-Finding your voice, identity and inner confidence. Deeper understanding of who you are. Which experiences have shaped you? ...

Some life skills help you become a much better storyteller. On the other hand, storytelling teaches you some precious life skills. a) Observation Skills A keen  observatio n  makes you a good  storyteller . Observe people around you, observe your environment & you will find inspiration for stories. b)  Listening  Skills When you listen to people deeply, more people will come forward to share their stories. Stories build bonds c) Empathy Good stories create empathy. Empathy creates great stories. Stories which evoke  empathy  also make a strong emotional connect with audience Good  storytelling  helps you develop these life skills in turn:- a) Public speaking Best public speakers are good storytellers. Art of narration & voice modulation helps in mastering  public speaking b)  Leadership  Skills Storytelling is a powerful tool for persuasion. No wonder good storytelling skills help you become a better leader c) Wisdom fo...

George Bernard Shaw wrote, “He who can, does.  He who cannot, teaches.”  But when it comes to sales, nothing could be further from the truth. Due to their ability to close business, top performers are often promoted to positions of authority.  Many of our most successful companies are headed by CEOs who began their careers in sales and then rose through the ranks. Sales executives take on a new challenge when they step into management.  They must now help their team members develop the knowledge and skills they acquired on their climb to the summit of sales success.  They must become a guide, inspiring the next generation of top performers: ·          Mentor and Teach:  As a sales rep, your primary goal was to meet your individual sales quota.  Now you’re responsible for an entire sales team that’s charged with producing a significant portion of your company’s revenue.  Effective leaders ...

Dr. Amit Nagpal: Todd, welcome to the chat. Why did you name your Blog as 'A Slice of leadership'? Todd Nielsen : Thanks Amit. Leadership is a fascinating topic to me and the intricacies of leadership run far and wide.  A blog is a place to explore a topic or topics in small increments, so I felt the analogy of consuming small "slices" to be a good fit for consuming the enormous topic of leadership and self-development. Dr. Amit: Interesting and true! I find western cultures are far better in execution and Indians (and other easterners) are great at conceptualizing but often need to improve on execution. What makes westerners good at execution? Is it experience, exposure or a managerial rather than a creative bent? Todd: That is interesting that you mention that, as execution is the niche that I serve and do workshops and speeches on. Execution is the foundational problem in which almost all other problems in business originate? It could be poor sa...

What is the purpose of business? How does a leader contribute to the purpose of the organization? These are two very critical questions and the answers are not easy. How narrow or broad the purpose of the leader is, equally narrow or broad is the purpose of the organization which he/she leads. Helene Ploix, CMD, Pechel Industries and Pechel Industries Partenaires, France says, “I think the purpose of the business is to create wealth to the company and to create wealth for a larger number of people without harming the others. This should not be done just for yourself or for a few others, such as managers or owners. I think that the purpose of my own organization and for business in general is creating wealth for the largest number of people-to contribute.” An organization is nothing but a group of people with defined roles and structures. To bring out the peak potential of the organization, the peak potential of each individual member of the organization must be harnessed. If the ...

Back in the “good old days” when I worked for another consulting company, my colleagues used to tease me by calling me “the king of alignment” because it was all I ever wanted to do and all I ever wanted to sell to clients. Now, having worked with so many wonderful clients over the years, I have a lot to say about alignment, and I am still learning every day. I never go out anymore to sell alignment – I just meet with people to hear what their organizational issues are, and almost always my proposed approach is to start by aligning the executive team. I do it because it works. People ask me, “What are the common challenges of team alignment?”, and here are a few: ·     Hardly anybody understands the importance and power of team alignment .  Thus, the first challenge of team alignment is for the team to have any attention on it at all. Here’s a phenomenon that is so common that when I say it, everybody knows what I am talking about – team members in meetings no...

The increasing popularity of the Triple P concept (Planet, People and Profit) fills us with hope that the corporate world is moving in the right direction and is symbolic of holistic corporate growth in the future.. The corporate world has become symbolic of never ending greed. Gandhi rightly said that there is enough in the world for everyone’s need but not enough for a single man’s greed. Two classic examples of leadership with balance, grace and sustainability at its core are Ratan Tata (Taj Terror attack case) and Amber Chand (USA). In fact, personally I was so overwhelmed by the Taj terror attack case that I decided to teach it as a case study to my students (and warned them not to cry, at least in the classroom). Amber Chand, born to Indian parents in Uganda, is a superb example of rising from the ashes like a Phoenix and is well known for her foundation which supports international artisans in conflict zones. In a way both the cases are related with conflict and supporting peop...

Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam* Interview series (Global Leaders who have Enlarged, Excelled and Evolved  into Global Personal Brands) Area of Thought Leadership- Corporate Consciousness 1) Tell us something about your book, “Strategy, Leadership and the Soul” In 2005 I met Koby Huberman my co-author at an amazing conference called Forum 21 http://www.forum-21.com/whatIs.asp Koby was speaking about "open space" technology and how he was using that method to create conversation circles in his own community between Arabs & Israeliss. I was speaking on the topic "If You Want to Change the World, Change Your Life: Micro-shifts = Macro-impact". We each had a plan on how to share all of the information we had learned and wanted to become accountability partners. In this we scheduled a call two times a month over Skype. I know Skype is popular now but in 2005 it was innovative to use. Because our conversations were so rich we decided to hav...

1) Tell us about your book, “Bold, Fresh Wine” Bold, Fresh Wine is a desperate cry for sustainable, cultural and societal transformation, nationally and globally. The national revival in the biblical Nineveh was short-lived. Since the book of Acts, the last 2000 years, transformation has been anything but sustainable—with few fingerprints. Why is it that city/national transformation is anything but sustainable? Why is it that when we go to those places we have witnessed awakening or transformation, they are worse than they were before the change took place? Do we really need transformation, be it cultural or spiritual? There’s something more! There are transforming revival, resurrection and relationship. Why do we stop at revival? Revival is not resurrection and relationship; visitation is not habitation. Can desperation and hunger move or fast-forward the timing of events? There is a different method of making the new wine? Not with the old wineskin. Are we at a tipping point of a sus...