Build Yourself A Great Story

Human capacity can never be undermined. God has created in humans the ability to try for the absurd of things and make them possible. History is full of examples. It depends on the WILL to try and follow our passion even in the presence of fear to fail. But more importantly, it depends on our CHOICES. How we utilize our God given abilities and what we choose. Our choices shape us as a human, define our set of characteristics and distinguish us with our strengths.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon talks on the importance of choices at a Baccalaureate address to Princeton University's Class of 2010. An interesting bit of advice he quoted his grandfather giving him, “One day, you will understand that it’s harder to be kind than clever”. He emphasized on the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy - they are given after all. Choices can be hard - they are taken. “In the end, we are our choices”, he concludes.

Excerpt from his speech.

"Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life -- the life you author from scratch on your own -- begins.

How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?

Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?

Will you bluff it out when you're wrong, or will you apologize?

Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?

Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

When it's tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?

Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. Thank you and good luck."

Click here for Full Transcript.

Belief Will Change My World...

Ever wondered how RHETORIC works ? An important component of leadership. The words play a role but the intonation and pitch in a voice makes the difference. Together they can turn out to be a soul shaker. Here is an example with the script (very powerful) below.

SCRIPT

Today gentlemen, I am honored to coach you

More honored to be leading you onto the field of battle

But theres another honor to be bestowed upon you

And that is in the answer that comes with that question:

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Thats right, and you need to remember that all through this game

I will conquer what has not been conquered

Defeat will not be in my creed

I will believe what others have doubted

I will always endeavor to pull esteem, honor, and respect out of my team

I have trained my mind and my body will follow

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

I will acknowledge the fact that my opponent does not expect me to win

But I will never surrender

Weakness will not be in my heart

I will look to my comrades and to those who are a part of me in this world and those who have trained me

And I will draw strength from them

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

I will gladly go out into the field of battle

And I will move in everything I can do

And I will reach my field of battle by any means at my disposal

And when I get there, I will arrive violentlyI will rip the heart from my enemy, and leave it bleeding on the ground

Because he cannot stop me

Who am I I AM A CHAMPION!

To my side I have comrades, comrades that have been with me through thick and thin

Who have sacrificed their blood, sweat and tears

Never will I let them fall, never will I let them down, and I will never leave an enemy behind

Because our opponent does not know my heart

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

No one will deny me, no one will define me

And no one will tell me who and what I am and can be

Belief will change my worldIt has moved continents, it has moved countries, it has put men on the moon

And it will carry me through this battle

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Defeat, retreat: those are not in my words

I dont understand those definitions

I dont understand when things go wrong

I dont understand mistakes

But I do understand this:

I understand victory,

And I understand never surrendering

No matter how bad things go my heart and my mind will carry my body through limits and weakness

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Today will be that day

Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now, right here

In your house and in your homes

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

History will remember meI will not let worrying affect my cause

I will define myself I will write my own pages

And no one will tell me what I cannot be

I will never give up

Not until Ive given everything I got

Because who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Who am I? I AM A CHAMPION!

Do Leaders Have a Plan B ?

“So what’s your Plan B?” A question you will hear often to counter the Plan A for any emergencies. If plan A does not work, there is a plan B. Derived from the business world and typically used by managers, now the lingo is accepted generally amongst those who are risk savvy. But do leaders have a plan B? Following an interesting discussion, I was tempted to explore more to only realize that they commonly DO NOT. Leaders differ from managers, although some people who use the two terms interchangeably may disagree. But as the saying goes, “Managers are people who do the things right, while Leaders are people who do the right thing”. Their goals are ultimate for which they go to the extent of spending all their energies and often all their life time to make it happen. SUCCESS remains the ONLY success indicator for them; whether they live to see it happening or they die in pursuit of it.

China remains the ever evolving legacy of Mao Zedong (1893 - 1976). He left behind his famous thought variant of Marxism, which is still followed widely and called Maoism. His struggle for more than two decades (1927 - 1949) of civil and international war won him The People’s Republic of China in 1949 through his famous Red Army of peasants and worker class. Inspired by the famous Russian revolution, he aimed against the corrupt elite and shook up the peasants and workers to bring universal justice and equality and set forth the revolution that emerged as an independent state. Despite controversies, he is officially held at the highest regard in China as the savior of the nation.

Martin Luther King Junior (1929 – 1968) had a dream that set forward the vision of a color blind American society. He challenged the status quo and called for change the way African Americans were treated, in a non violent way. He took risk, despite threats to his personal safety and stood up for his cause. His charismatic oratory won him the support of millions because of the inspiration and energy he used to transfer through it. He created that sense of urgency for the greatest civil rights movement in the history and remained in accord to his highest value i.e. non violence.

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928 - 1967) a physician whose thoughts were transformed by the pain and sufferings he witnessed during his travels of Latin American inlands. His solution to the ingrained economic inequality was to revolt against monopoly capitalism and imperialism for which he first chose Guatemala and later joined Fidel Castro in Cuban revolution. His traits as a military strategist and guerilla leader put him second in command during the two years successful guerilla campaign. His intellect and diplomacy made him perform on key positions in the new government of Cuba under Fidel Castro. But his quest to end the sufferings of the poor moved him again to decide quitting the government role in Cuba and revolt in Bolivia eventually ending in his assassination.

You can pick any other: Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Mohandas Gandhi, M. A. Jinnah, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the list goes on. None of them had a Plan B. And an important component of the Plan A of all these leaders was the HOPE which they successfully kept alive.