Mukesh Gupta's Blog, page 16

Blindspots

Premise: Yesterday, I stumbled onto a French advertisement, that shows, in a very impactful way, blindspots of truck drivers. Shot from a first person perspective, the ad has no music, no voice over, no gimmicks, just simple yet powerful visuals. Before we move ahead, please do take the 47 seconds to watch the advertisement here. As I watched this advertisement, the question that was going on in my mind was about my blindspots as a leader. The question is not if we have a blindspots but where ar...

The Importance of Incorporating Elements of Play at Work

Premise: In the past couple of days, I have stumbled on to videos and articles about the importance of having fun in our lives. I have been thinking about this for a long time, so much so that my last book was called – “Being Happy“. It seems that having fun and being happy are not necessarily the same thing. Or is it? And what does having fun got to do with Leading Transformations? Let’s explore this a bit further. But before we go ahead, I would implore you to watch the videos. The first video...

Learning How to Learn

We live in a world which is constantly changing and if we really want to stay relevant, we need to find a way to learn new things (technology, process, business models, behaviours, skills, etc) all the time. So, it pays to get better at learning or get better at learning how we learn. Each one of us learns in a different way. Some of us learn better by reading. Some of us by watching videos. Some by getting our hands dirty by trying something. And some others through conversation and by apprenti...

PBTO: Learning How to Communicate to Inform, Inspire and Connect People with Col Fink

In this interesting conversation, Speaker, Author and Advisor (and Public speaking coach)  @ColFink  shares his perspective on the importance of clear and effective communication for leaders. He also shares insights on how to get good at communication and specifically when speaking to an audience (internal or external). He shares how leaders can learn to communicate to inform, inspire and connect. He also talks about how good communication can provide leaders the leverage they need in order to s...

Hope and Purpose

One of the biggest challenges that we face as a generation is extreme polarisation, leading to a feeling of cynicism, despair and loneliness. Social media and an always on commentary about what we are missing out on (based on what people on social media are doing) only exacerbates these feelings. Add to that the current trend of business leaders mandating their employees to come back to office, albeit only for a few days in a week, is only adding fuel to the cynicism. On top of that is the layof...

SenseMaking for Leaders

Premise: One of the key tasks that leaders face is to make sense of all the different things that are happening around them – the shifting technology, geopolitical and competitive landscapes and respond (or find the opportunity within the context) appropriately. Nitin Nohria also writes about this in a HBR Magazine article titled – Leaders Must React. You can read the article in the magazine or online here. He also shares a framework called “The Reactive Management Framework”. The framework clea...

Great Leaders Do This

One of the meta skills that differentiate great leaders from average one’s is their ability to communicate. Through their own personal communication styles, they are able to simplify and present complexity in a way that becomes accessible to their teams and do so in a way that eliminates any kind of confusion! A rare trait indeed. I have written a lot about how leaders could communicate on my blog. You can check them out here.

A Hundred Languages – A Manifesto for Learning and Inclusion

NO WAY. THE HUNDRED IS THERE The child is made of one hundred. The child has a hundred languages a hundred hands a hundred thoughts a hundred ways of thinking of playing, of speaking. A hundred always a hundred ways of listening of marveling of loving a hundred joys for singing and understanding a hundred worlds to discover a hundred worlds to invent a hundred worlds to dream. The child has a hundred languages (and a hundred hundred hundred more) but they steal ninety-nine. The school and the cu...

The Art of Possibility Thinking

Average leaders react to their situations; Good leaders respond to them BUT Great leaders find the opportunity within them! This doesn’t happen by itself but needs intentional thinking and a specific mindset and go looking for these possibilities. I talk about how to go about doing that here and here.

Leading Successfully in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Premise: I was talking to a friend, who is also the President of a mid-sized business earlier today and we were discussing his role as a leader of the organisation. He was recently promoted to this new role and was sharing some of his challenges with me. One of the things that he shared was the speed at which everything is changing and how difficult it has become for him to not only keep track of all of these changes but also to respond to them intelligently and in a way that drives the business...