Vishen Lakhiani - Why Happiness Is the New Productivity

Suresh sent me this link. Its a speech by Vishen Lakhiani, promoter of Mind Valley, a company voted to be one of the 10 most coolest workplaces.

Vishen Lakhiani shares how his life changed with a change in his mindset thanks to a seminar he attended. Money started flowing in, clients started coming in, they started enjoying the job, work only 45 hours a week - it was abundance in every way.

He talks of going in a state of flow.

He quotes the definition of flow from Wikipedia as 'a mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what she or he is doing by a feeling of energy focus, full involvement and success in the process of the activity. It is a state of supreme creativity.' 
Vishen says being in the state of flow  has two components to it - the first is being happy in the now and the second is to have a vision of the future. It is a delicate balance between being happy in the now and having a great vision of the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8ZFU4FoNvY

Vishen talks of the four states - negative spiral (not happy in the now and no vision of the future), current reality (happy now but no vision of future), stress (not happy and big vision of future) and ideal sate (happy now and grand vision of future).

Notice the moments when you are in a state of flow and keep yourself happy, says he. Make a conscious effort to be happy. Make it a practice to be happy. He calls it blissipline.

His company does some interesting things such as
1) Daily gratitude as a practice - they have a web site where one can share their gratitude
2) Awesomeness reports and meetings - where they share all successes of the previous week
3) Share profits with the employees - increase ownership in the real terms
4) Sweet sugar love machine - they share praise
5) 45 hour rule - no employee should work longer than 45 hours a week, which includes 5 hours of self-improvement work
6) Weekly sharing and training
7) Group meditation - every Tuesday
8) Company sponsored parties
9) Positive stamina - remember the good
10) Experiences and Connections - encourage these

Not bad at all. Worth emulating. Happiness my friend, is the new productivity. I agree. The video is about 40 minutes. But watch it, it could change your life. Be in a state of flow.

Whale Done, The Power of Positive Relationships - Ken Blanchard

Can we learn about the power of positive relationships from killer whales that have been trained to jump and follow instructions? Yes, of course. Ken Blanchard bases his slim little book on one great core idea that can change our relationships and empower them. 

Research Press, Rs. 195. 123 p

The venue is Shamu stadium at the Sea World, Florida where killer whales are performing amazing feats for an enthralled audience. Wes Kingsley, a corporate manager with a disgruntled team, is sitting in the audience, wondering how anyone can do that to whales when he cannot get his team to perform their jobs happily. He meets the trainers to find out.

The trainers tell him that Shamu is one of their teachers. An eleven thousand pound killer whale who does not speak English can teach a lot say the trainers. Obviously our toughest customers are our biggest teachers. Then they tell him how to go about training them to perform. 

First you got to be patient. Then build trust. To build trust  convince them that you mean no harm. 

How do we build trust, asks Wes.

"Accentuate the positive." 

Those are the magic words to all positive relationships.

Ok, but what if they do something wrong which they are bound to?

When the whales do something wrong, the trainers ignore the mistake and redirect their energies elsewhere. 

The key is this - more attention you pay to a behavior the more it will be repeated. When we don't pay a lot of attention to what they do wrong and instead give lots of attention to what they do right, they do the right thing more often.

Redirecting is all about energy management. Sometimes we give them another chance to do it right and sometimes we direct them to do something else that we want him to do, and that he or she likes to do as well. 

Annie Marie, the business consultant, makes them do this exercise -  first meeting people around them as if they are not important and then, meeting them as if they were long-lost friends. It was an energy management exercise. Focusing on the positive (or rather, the most positive aspect of any situation). 

The ABCs of performance are - Activator (whatever gets the performance going), B (behavior that gets the performance going) and C - Consequence or your response to the performance. In classic business parlance it would be A) goals or targets, B) work done and C) your response to work done.

Activators are goals. Goals must be common and spelt out, else there will be conflict (exercise - have people in a team list out their goals and see if they are common). Set clear goals. If they don't know what their goals are how will they do it?

Then, observe the behaviors. This is critical.

Then come to the most important part - C. When people perform they get nothing. When they fail, they get chewed. The key is to observe and accentuate the positive when they make progress. (To start with stop accentuating the negative and what they did not do right which is a huge step forward for you. Shut up!)

The 4 responses are No response, Negative response, Redirection and Positive response. 

Redirection is about redirecting the energy from one area to a better way, while expressing continuing trust and confidence in the person. The steps to redirect are - describe error without blame as soon as possible. show negative impact, go over task in detail and make sure its clearly understood and express continuing trust and confidence in person. 

Don't wait for the perfect behavior. Praise progress, its a moving target. 

Positive responses or whale done responses are given below:

• Praise people immediately upon noticing progress. 
• Be specific about what they did right or almost right 
• Share your positive feelings about what they did. 
• Encourage them to keep up the good work. 

Attention is like sunshine to humans - whatever we give attention to, grows. When things are going well and we don't respond, we are losing a great opportunity to motivate. When things are going well, say something positive. Everyone is wearing a big sign that says 'Catch me doing something positive'. 

Good management is to influence people to do the good thing when you're not around. They start having fun and giving themselves whale dones. Make them catch themselves doing the right things. 

When dealing with people, never assume that you know what motivates a person. Individuals are motivated by different things. What motivates one may not motivate another. With people you can ask them what motivates them in the short and long term and then reward them accordingly. Be sincere and honest.

I love the core idea that we rarely praise ourselves for doing anything right. To begin with I'd like to make a list of all the things I did right in my life and pat myself on my back for that. And then I'd make a list of all the things I did right today, everyday and praise myself for that. Give myself a Whale Done. Now having sufficiently taken care of myself, I'd turn my attention to all the people around me who have been getting no praise from me when they are doing anything right - especially the ones who are struggling. I will start accentuating the progress, the positives. When they go wrong I will redirect their energies (as we do with little children), ignore the mistake and accentuate the positive in what I want them to do. It needs work, real love and genuine caring to do that of course. 

I do feel that this book has that one brilliant idea that we can all adopt straight away into our lives and start off great, positive relationships. Start catching people doing things right, accentuate the positives and voila, you have grown people.

Even as corporate managers or leaders, this is the key. To grow people you need to reinforce the good they have done, give them confidence. Say it like it is, don't overdo praise. But don't hold back and wait for them to fail or make a mistake so you can catch them. 

Thanks Ken Blanchard for a wonderful idea.

Good Link to 'Making Decisions'

I liked this article. Check out this link to how Phil Libin makes his decisions.
http://www.techinasia.com/evernote-ceo-phil-libin-decisions/

Thought for the Day - You Got to Take Care of Yourself

One realisation that could shift the power in your favor is this - that it is YOU who have to take care of YOURSELF. As long as you are expecting the world to take care of you, to understand your deepest needs and stand by waiting to administer love and care, you are likely to feel further let down. That's because the world might not know exactly what and how much and when you need all this stuff you are looking for. The best way is to take care of yourself because you know what you need. And you are capable of doing it.

There are times when all of us feel down or lost. When we feel overwhelmed by the world's burdens and need love. (Let us say these are times when a much younger or rather an insecure and more vulnerable you is at play here.) You would hope or even expect people around you to see the vulnerability and step in. Sometimes they sense it and sometimes they don't. The problem is that most times they might not be around even. So its best to play both roles. See yourself also as the grown up and confident and mature one who can give love and be tender - who can take care of the vulnerable you. See both of you in your mind - the loving older one and the vulnerable younger one (like they showed in the movie 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'). Pamper the vulnerable one, be nice, sit with him or her.

All will be fine. You will soon find enough love inside of you to want to share. You will no longer be needy. You will be a giver. You no longer are victimised, the one who has no love. You are the one who can generate your own love and even give out some spare love.

Good place to be in. Try it. It is easier than you think. And hugely empowering and liberating.

Anything Else - Movie Review

In this movie Woody Allen plays an intellectual school teacher Dobel, with rather weird and neurotic ideas. He advises a young comedy writer Jerry Falk on his life and its many shades and complications. You know, whatever life throws at you, its like anything else right?

Jerry meets Amanda, in a typical Woody Allen setting where they are both seeing someone else. They hit it off fabulously while their respective partners look at one another helplessly. Jerry however has difficulty asserting himself and finds it difficult to tell his girlfriend he wants to break off. This is the biggest problem he has - of people riding all over him. He meets a neurotic, school teacher Dobel (Woody Allen, who is preparing for all kinds of eventualities by stocking up rifles and guns and other parts of survival kits) but who is also an extremely knowledgeable man who doubles up as his mentor. This mentor and Jerry walk around Central Park discussing Jerry's life.

Jerry also sees a psychotherapist who is also taking him for a ride, an agent who also takes advantage of the fact that Jerry is too nice to say No. Jerry soon realises that his inability to say No manifests in situations where Amanda stops having sex with him and instead starts having an affair (hinted at by Dobel the great). When questioned she says she had to do it for him because she wanted to know is she was frigid. The way she turns back with her affairs and tells Jerry that she is actually doing it all for him and how Jerry reacts to this piece of generosity from her is hilarious. Not to mention Amanda's mother-in-law who moves into to their house and brings in cocaine snorting youngsters along and still Jerry cannot say No. You can see everyone walking all over him, crowding his spaces and still Jerry is too nice to say No.

Dobel finally convinces Jerry that he should get out of town to get rid of all these people in his life who are taking advantage of him (the agent fakes a heart attack when Jerry refuses to sign the contract) and that he would go along with him. Jerry gets a job and is all set to go to California when Dobel tells him he has to go to Alaska for some reason, thereby giving Jerry a new lease of life to start life afresh, hopefully on his own terms.

Woody Allen's greatest strength is his ability to get into these small spaces which are subtle and fine and uses them to manipulate the bigger picture. He exists there and brings it across clearly. An inability to say No, a pathological urge to be nice to people who are hurting you and till pretend that they are the victims exists in some or many. Allen brings that across brilliantly in all the relationships Jerry has. The only one who really seems to care for him is his neurotic friend and mentor Dobel. Definitely worth a watch.

Carry On Up The Jungle - Movie Review

Watched an old favorite - the Carry On series. Absolutely mindless fun and so perfect. Who wants to exercise the brain?

So here's this bunch that goes to Africa, apparently on a mission to find the rare oozlum bird (which apparently goes around in decreasing concentric circles until it disappears). The mission is led by intrepid Boosely (Sid James), and his assistant Upsidaisy, and includes famous ornithologist Tinkle, his assistant, the lady who finances the expedition and her pretty maid servant. The lady who has financed the expedition is actually looking for her lost son - her husband has been eaten by a crocodile because his watch was found in the stomach of one. The expedition is instantly plunged into drama as a gorilla keeps lurking around it, passions are set afire in the middle of the jungle, and a wild middle aged 'Tarzan' falls in love with the maid. Not to mention a native tribe that attacks the team, a herd of elephants, and finally a bunch of amazons from Aphrodisia who rescue the men for their mating purposes. The lady finds her husband alive and kicking and mating, he is the only man in Aphrodisia, and her son, who is Tarzan. All's well and that ends well.

Watching the many Carry On series was great fun. Saucy, sexy and mischievous, they demanded little from you, save a laugh. Good old chaps.

Pareto's Principle - Link to Some Applications

Here's a link to some applications of Pareto's Principle
http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2007/06/05/twenty-unique-ways-to-use-the-8020-rule-today/