Heroes in our minds

Be a hero

Most of the stupendous leaders do possess neither prominent physical appearance nor vigorous personality. What distinguishes them is the clarity of thought and persuasiveness of their dreams, the depth of their dedication, and the extent of their candidness to continually learning more. They do not ‘have the answer,’ yet they seem to instill self-belief in those around them that, together, ‘we can learn whatever we need to learn in order to achieve the outcome we truly craving.’

Leaders work to build up conceptual and communication skills. Some other leaders strive to pay attention to and be glad about others and their dreams. Some use other approaches. But all are committed to working on their own growth, to ‘struggling to become a human being.’ [Roger Saillant]

Each leader think in a different way, truly valuable leaders seem to come to a shared approval of the power of holding Vision and concurrently looking deeply and honestly at current certainty. People who are truly leading seem rarely to think themselves in that way. Their focus is habitually on what needs to be done, larger ideas in which they are operating. There is always the hazard, especially for those in leadership positions, of becoming ‘heroes in their minds.’ [Bryan Smith]

James Hargreaves led a simple existence, working in the cottage industry that spinning was in the first half of the eighteenth century. His whole family was involved in spinning and weaving. In the Hargreaves’s home, fiber was spun into thread, and thread woven into cloth. In 1764, he built a machine to be operated by one person, which would spin several threads at once. Initially, it had eight spindles, but Hargreaves saw that the machine could handle many more. Hargreaves’s machines nick named after his wife Jenny, was an instant hit with the merchants and entrepreneurs.  Inevitably, others involved in the industry saw the development as a threat to their employment. In 1768, as spinning mills multiplied, Hargreaves’s neighbors attacked his house and destroyed his machines. Hargreaves took his family to Nottingham, where he founded a smaller version of the spinning mill that transformed the industry, one of the major stepping stones in the Industrial Revolution.

‘As businesses, we must be the change we want to see in the world. This will mean that most everything is up for change: our products, our process, our business models, how we manage and lead, and how we are with one another. It is not likely that we can change just bits and pieces and shift the whole’ [Roger Saillant]

It is easy to get lost in thinking about big issues such as climate change, corruption, to feel and think that there is nothing we can do, and may be even that there is nothing anyone can do. Yet big issues are not just big and they are very much right here. We are the carriers of the whole change, leadership and our own dreams to accomplish.

The building block process inside IBM: In response to a highly dynamic IT market place, IBM has defined as reference architecture for each of its product lines, categorized by major market segments. At the highest level, this architecture defines the target market, the competition, and life span of the product platform. At the design level, engineers carefully isolate product functionality and define standard interfacing.

In our real life when we come across complex scenarios and situations as a leader we need to isolate, recognize and keep our Vision intact within our thoughts and deeds to move forward. 

At each small success we should not become our own heroes in our minds.  

Mind it - Powering your future

Leadership is not just holding positions
it is about leading position. Dr V V Rao

‘It is critical to spot any challenge to drive personal efficiency early, which in turn can lead to miracles.’ – Dr. V. V. Rao

• ·        Dreaming with freedom
• ·        Thinking with freedom
• ·        Doing with freedom
• ·        Sharing with freedom
• ·        Learning with freedom
• ·        Winning with freedom
• ·        Celebrating with freedom

The above are KEYS to success then, how one can do it? I found SIX useful methods and/or tools through which one can win great battles of life.

1.     Making your own Mind Maps

The Mind map is an expression of innovative thinking and is therefore a natural function of the human mind. It is powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain. Mind map can be applied to every aspect of life and clearer thinking will enhance human performance. Mind map is your mental volcano a devise for accessing intelligence.

Example: The note by Leonardo da Vinci, demonstrate the point. He used words, symbols, sequence, listing, linearity, analysis, association, visual rhythm, numbers, imagery, dimension and wholesomeness. Also found same comprehensive note making by legendary Picasso.

With these Mind maps you simply allow your brain to incubate an idea. In other words, having completed your decision making mind map, you allow your brain to relax.

2.   Creating your own Yellow Pages

One must ensure to have and know the information needed to accomplish a specific objective. We need to make our expertise available to us at every instant. One of the straightforward ways to accomplish this is to create your own electronic personal Yellow pages those points you to all specific information when it is most required and it is required on that moment.

Today’s social and networked world we face challenges while finding information on intranets, internet, social feeds there is too much, and searches can yield as much nonsense as helpful material.

How to create such type of Yellow pages?  Lay the ground work means asking basic, but very important questions:

What type of knowledge does the objective need to be completed?

What are the key decisions that will impact success?

What type of information is needed to support these decisions?

What are the knowledge sources? (People, documents, links, media)

What are the key competencies that will lead to success?

Example: The British ran the Indian subcontinent for about 200 years, from the middle of the eighteenth century through World War II, without making any fundamental changes in organization structure or administrative policy. The Indian Civil Service never had more than 1000 members to administer the vast densely populated subcontinent. Most British were quite young a 30 year old was a survivor, especially in the early years and the first 100 years there was no telegraph or railroad. Organization structure was totally flat. Each district officer reported directly to the Provincial political secretary. The system worked remarkably well, because it was designed to ensure that each of its members had the information he needed to do the job.

3.   Building Concept Stories

Storytelling can be adaptive for all ages Storytelling can be used as a method to teach ethics, values, and cultural norms, success stories, scenarios, lessons learned, key success factors and differences. Learning is most effective when it takes place in social environments that provide authentic social cues about how knowledge is to be applied.

Stories provide a tool to transfer knowledge and preserve knowledge. Stories mirror human thought as humans think in narrative structures and most often remember facts in story form. Facts can be understood as smaller versions of a larger story. Stories are effective educational tools because listeners become engaged and therefore remember. While the story listener is engaged, they are able to imagine new perspectives, inviting a transformation and empathetic experience.

Example: In the Quechua community of Highland Peru, there is no separation between adults and children. This allows for children to learn storytelling through their own interruptions of the given story. Therefore, children in the Quechua community are encouraged to listen to the story that is being told in order to learn about their identity and culture. Sometimes, children are expected to sit quietly and listen actively. This enables them to engage in activities as independent learners. [http://en.wikipedia.org]

This process of storytelling is empowering as the teller effectively conveys ideas and, with practice, is able to demonstrate the potential of human accomplishment. Story taps into existing knowledge and creates bridges both culturally and motivated toward a solution.

4.   Drawing Flow Charts

Flowcharts are useful to create process documentation, regulatory and quality requirements, customer needs and many non-regulated businesses. These can range in form from high-level procedures to low-level, detailed instructions and steps. You may think that this applies mainly to organizations, but my view is one can greatly benefit from flow-charting their dream, growth, problem solving and progressive processes as well.

Example: Training materials are often created using flowcharts because they're visually stimulating and easy to understand. A nicely laid out flowchart will gain and hold your attention when a block of text will often fail. Swim lanes are visual channels (rows or columns) in a flowchart that identify the resources used in a process. Swim lanes are useful for displaying the flow of information or materials between resources at a glance.

5.    Utilizing the principle of Knowledge Management

KM comprises a range of strategies and practices used to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals as experiences in the form of explicit and tacit knowledge. We all must put an effort to convert the tacit knowledge to explicit. By the collection of processes that govern the creation, dissemination, and utilization of knowledge. We agree that many of our decisions and actions have profound and long lasting effects. It makes sense to recognize and understand the processes that effect our actions and decision. Take steps to improve the quality these processes and in turn improve the quality of those actions and decisions for which we are aiming to complete.

6.   Developing Linear Lists

One can do by sentence style consists of simply writing out whatever is to be communicated in a narrative form. One can also include noting down the ideas as they occur to our thoughts and memory. The outline can be numerical or alphabetical style consists of major categories and sub-categories.

Concluding remarks:

Review your Mind maps, Yellow pages, Concept stories, Flow charts, Knowledge management and Linear lists. All of these SIX methods/tools once made must be reviewed immediately after 30 minutes, after a day, after a week, after a month, after three months and after six months then this knowledge will become part of your ongoing long term memory.

Through yourself away from the rigmarole of your tough duty for few days, throw in some fun and you are like a school big school boy/girl on a school trip. This will lead you to make your Knowledge sharper & focused.