Leadership Challenges – In times of Uncertainty

Today, the entire world is witnessing uncertainties. We are susceptible to the Trade war, Climate change and the recent Pandemic the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Our lives have become so challenging that we brawl every day for survival through this dread. We are in constant threat through this disruptive event of the Corona Virus. This casts doubts upon the future unexpected turnout of events. The market is deregulated, and there are serious climatic changes in the offing.

What have we done? What is our role to make things right? What can we do to change these uncertainties? In short, what is the THING we are thriving for? Are we considering life’s tangible procurements over happiness? How are we aging today? What are we passing over to our future generations?

As an individual, I am not worried about how and when the world will react to me. I am worried about how we lead a life of compassion, happiness, success and continue being grateful to the creator of this universe.

In the 21st century, when everyone is so volatile and everything is so much more unknown all worry about where the economy is being disrupted? A leader’s role is the key to hold firm and fight through all these uncertainties. It not about changing others, it’s about changing our approach and being resilient to the changes that are constantly occurring. The Leader should notch up and run off the mill to bout these gauntlets.

As the world mobilizes to mitigate the impact of such circumstances, we need more Thought Leaders. We need courageous leaders. New leaders have to be humble. They have to be guided by a moral compass, which is the combination of having a social purpose-you can’t have your license to operate anymore without a purpose that contributes to the society.

There are too many articles or checklists to becoming a Leader in business, politics, society or at the workplace, But I will focus on 5 key points I feel will help an individual to lead with confidence. I believe if we win the battle within ourselves; we win the Day. Our life becomes so promising that failures stay far away from all three parts of our mind — Affective, Conative and Cognitive.

Gratitude:

Our society has become “Want” based today. We always thrive for what we need and what we want but, we forget to ask ourselves; what we want to be? What we are thankful for? Every morning we wake up and see our parents, siblings, wife, husband, near and dear ones are up and healthy. It makes our day. We must practice gratitude to Thank God (whoever you believe in). Thank God for everything. Thank God for your spouse, love, parents, siblings, kindness, mercy, understanding, wisdom, humility, peace, prosperity and thank him for this day. We do not realize how much we should be grateful for. It’s plenty.

The most important achievement in practicing Gratitude is, we become patient, understanding, compassionate and optimistic about life’s blessings. The meaning of life begins from this. Therefore, I believe that Gratitude is the number one practice we all must start the day with. Remember, many are not as blessed as we are. We must keep counting our blessings and hurt no one on the way towards achieving our success.

Discipline:

We always feel discipline is punishment, which is not. It’s about achieving our goal within the timeline. It’s about refining ourselves over time through practice and repetition.

The biggest question is Whether you have it in you? We always try to stay away from answering this question. Again, while we practice Discipline, our first battle is within ourselves. Our brain works as an alert and throws the challenges questioning our ability. We fall prey to this. Taking a challenge about what you think you “Can’t do” to what you think you “Can do” is self-discipline.

Anything we plan, we must maintain consistency. ‘Focus’ is an important thing to maintain consistency and defeat the negative forces within ourselves. We must take massive action to stay disciplined. Our battle should be with the person in front of the mirror. Practicing to meet the daily tasks, going to a gym, or a walk, meditation, gratitude or anything that we plan for the day makes us disciplined. It gives us the power to stick to our decisions and follow them through, without changing our mind.

The small number of accomplishments we achieve daily builds the pillar of our disciplined life. As a professional; the achievements at work in which we see the result from a disciplined life.

Another most important fact is to Discipline our behavior. Will Smith said, “The road to sustained happiness is through disciplining our behavior”. Self-esteem is not what other people think about us. It’s how we think about ourselves. Never to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Networking:

I will start with what Jack Canfield says, “Success is a team sport. It’s not just what you know, it’s also who you know. People who help us succeed. Our network will determine our net worth. Businesses and careers are built on relationship.

We all know the famous saying; “You are known by the company you keep”. Networking is all about seeking Advice, Recommendations, Connections, and Insights. Ivan Misner, Founder of BNI Worldwide says, Good Networking is a combination of 3 things—Visibility, Credibility, and Profitability. I will not elaborate but the words say itself.

To become successful what I have learned is we must choose our friends carefully. We must identify and be with Only Quality People (OQP). OQP is the term more often used by Les Brown. Having a relationship with the right people helps us grow and become successful. We must engage and learn the value of relationship capital. Every successful person in this world has a mentor, philosopher, guide and they maintain a personal relationship. They always talk to the person in front of the mirror. I will ask “Am I doing good today?”. Someone who believes in us does not make us successful or a failure, but sometimes someone believes in us so much that before we realize who we are and what are we capable of, they already drive us-There are plenty of examples of successful people who were identified and nurtured.

Therefore, the Power of Networking cannot be underestimated. If we try to become an Impactful leader, we must practice the Power of Networking.

We must choose our friends wisely and should be mindful enough so that we do not hurt anyone.

Knowledge:

Tony Robbins says, “Knowledge is Potential Power”. True leadership is not about power, it’s about empowerment. It bases the perception of who we are, is on our education and knowledge about the surroundings. The right attitude towards life makes us the leader at the workplace or society. We must cultivate a positive belief about ourselves. We usually read that, most of the billionaires, and successful people read a minimum of 12 books a year. Education has the tremendous power to see life differently. It helps leaders to choose friends based on their destination. Knowledge effects the Mentality of leadership.

Knowledge helps us to improve our communication. When we open our mouth, the entire world knows who we are. We must be careful what we speak and when to speak. Usually, we all blame the condition for our failures. We blame the economy, environment, politics, parents, friends and immediate boss for our failure, but it’s the decisions we make daily that makes for success or failure. If the conditions are to blamed, then we would never see successful people coming out of the difficult conditions in their childhood. With the right education and nurturing our knowledge, we discover ourselves. We discover our true leadership capability. True Leadership is all about taking full responsibility for our life. We must accept who we are and never reject ourselves.

Mindfulness:

The most satisfying moment in my life was when I attended the Teacher’s Retreat at Bluecliff Monastery, New York in the year 2018. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese monk, teacher, author and peace activist (popularly known as “Thay”) who introduced the elements of Buddhist practice through his Five Mindfulness Trainings, which is based on the first five Buddhist Precepts.

His Eminence Gyalwa Dokhampa emphasizes that Buddhism is not a religion, but a way of finding happiness. I agree it’s a way to leading our life to the fullest sense. It’s the practice that helps us to collect our thoughts and realize the importance of our existence in this world. Leadership results from the consistent practice of being mindful.

What we learn from the mindful teachings of Buddhism is not only a practice to follow for good health, but it makes a person see life with different perspectives. We rarely find time for ourselves and our family. Mindfulness training helps us to meditate for the good things in life and Keep us in control and be patient.

The five mindfulness training mainly teaches us to practice:

• Reverence for life—Abstain from taking life. Cultivate the insight of inter-being and compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals.
• True Happiness—Practice generosity. Practice generosity in thinking, speaking and acting
• True Love—Abstain from sexual misconduct. Cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society.
• Loving Speech and Deep Listening—Do not deceive or practice truthfulness. Cultivate loving speech and compassionate listening to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations.
• Nourishment and Healing – Practice of mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. Cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming.

A true leader is always redefining himself. Leadership is a choice, not a rank. It is not awarded but rewarded. Successful leaders aren’t afraid of taking risks. They are on a constant brawl with themselves to redefine new ways to achieve success.

We just must cultivate the Spirit of leadership in us. Remember, the Future of the world depends on how we handle ourselves in these erratic situations. When significant situations arise, a leader must be careful to avoid saying anything which may end up in contradicting later.

Crisis Management under this COVID -19 is very important. Our challenge is to motivate our workforce to stay consistent and help our people through this pandemic in whatever way we can. As a leader, we should exercise patience to minimize the impact, but releasing their stress and always be prepared to listen to them when they need us. Whatever it is today, it will not stay forever. It will pass.

It takes courage to start over again.

True leadership is not about power, it’s about Motivation, about Empowerment and driving your workforce through these outbreaks effectively.