Survive First.. Prosper Later!

#VUCAWorld! Heard this somewhere? No, it isn't a favourite business buzzword, but a reality! Believe it or not, We live in a VUCA World, a World that is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.

#Volatility – Rate of change is ever increasing
Nature, speed, volume, magnitude, and dynamics of change

#Uncertainty – Less clarity about the future,
The lack of predictability of issues and events

#Complexity – Multiplicity of decision factors
The confounding of the problems and the chaos that surrounds any organisation.

#Ambiguity – There may be no “right answer.”
The haziness of reality and the mixed meanings of conditions!

Sounds Real, isn't it? So now the question is how to survive in this VUCA world. Or can we survive at all? Well, the good news is, Yes! Recent research suggests that we can survive and thrive in the VUCA world with a simple approach. Counter VUCA with another VUCA, where counter Volatility with Vision, Uncertainty with Understanding, Complexity with Courage and Ambiguity with Adaptability.

We live in a world full of disruptions though. Where every disruption, like it or not, impacts our lives. From the way we lead our lives to the way, we manage our careers. Automation is taking away jobs. Millennials are replacing Baby Boomers and Gen X workers. Cost of doing business & margins often determine the decisions organisations take these days. So it's a game where the fittest would survive.

#Vision
Have a vision of what you want to do, where you want to be. Volatility around you can knock you off once, but your clear vision would ensure you get back and are on track. Remember, GPS works effectively only when you set the destination!

#Understanding
The only way to counter uncertainty is by developing self-awareness. When unexpected changes inevitably occur, you should possess an in-depth knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses. This would help you protect against any external storms, and at the same time, take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself.

#Courage
When the going gets tough, the tough get going, In a VUCA world, the biggest mistake we make is to keep our heads down, play it safe, and do things the way they have always been done. Being Bold, taking courageous decisions, disrupting oneself is extremely important to survive in times of uncertainty. Learn the art of taking risks, even if they are calculated ones.

#Adaptability
Be it a sport, like the cricket, or life, you only win games when you adapt to the conditions, adjust your game to meet the challenges thrown by opponents. Those who fail to adapt will end up being the losers of yesterday rather than the winners of tomorrow.

There are no products in the market that 'insures' one's career, but maybe these tips that I have outlined below could help. In the end, its all about surviving first, and prospering later!

1. #Career is a process, not a project: Approach your career as a process; get better at what you do. The journey is far important than the destination. Career is a journey.

2. Engage with others: Engage with others while on elevators, recognise them, and make them feel better. “A smile can make someone’s day; a frown can ruin it”. Use positive words while communicating.

3. Establish goals and measure results: Be accountable; ask yourself where you want to be. Embrace change at all times.

4. Find a Mentor and Be a Mentor: Find a mentor, someone whom you trust, who likes you, who wants you to succeed and who will be honest. Someone who asks, “Do you know how good you are?” At the same time be a mentor, it feels better than anything else in the world.

5. Take a personal interest in people: Know your clients, colleagues, co-workers. If possible, wish them on their birthday’s, anniversaries. People only remember how you make them Feel, Make them feel special. Treat people with Respect, be attentive, kind, friendly & helpful.

6. Before you begin a project understand the objective: What are you trying to accomplish?

8. Ask questions: It helps to clarify confusion, it helps to move forward. As Simon Senek Says; #StartwithWhy?

9. Sharpen the Saw: Integrate #learning into your goal setting. Life is all about continuous learning. So if you haven't done much in the last few years, maybe it's time to upskill. Tackle learning with vigour.

10. Commit: Commit to a hobby, or physical activity & stay fit.

BONUS TIP -

11. Don’t forget to #thank people who have made a change in your life. An Individual’s success is a collection of small acts, yielding significant results.

#Change=Permanent

“Change the Way You Look at Things and things would change!” - Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

The word ‘change’ evokes two primary reactions - excitement and fear – and depending on one’s state of mind and level of intensity, it may feel as though these emotions hit simultaneously.

It becomes extremely difficult to manage change when it comes with little to no warning, one has no control over it, and it significantly impacts ones professional and/or personal life.  In other words, you are caught in an instant state of flux that takes a significant amount of energy, focus, and confidence to manage.

In a world of Disruptive Innovation, each one of us has multi-dimensional roles to play. There are list of goals, and stretch goals. We do our best to balance Guest Delight and Personal delight. At the end of the day, we do the best within our power, take one day at a time, and once in a while – we take a deep breath to appreciate everything around us.

As the 'Ease of doing business' improves across the world 'the art of doing business' is becoming challenging day by day. It's not only about what the guest needs, it is also about when, where and why he needs. Businesses strive hard to predict what the guest needs. They also bet heavy on defining what the guest thinks he needs. So its Adapting to change versus Leading change and sustaining through it.

Be it any business, any industry the choice is either you bring change, or you change for ever(even wiped out). Blackberry, Nokia, Sony weren’t small companies. They ruled markets for decades, yet they couldn’t really sustain competition when it came to innovation, when it came to adapting to change. They could have responded, but it was too late.

Our personal lives are no different when it comes to Change. As we continue to grow and flourish in our careers, our careers have changed over decades. The new generation talent is better equipped, skilled than the millennials. World across Talent Strategies are being designed towards ‘Juniorization’ of roles. Which means when a senior level professional leaves, back-fill the position with a junior level candidate and promote someone internally.

So does it mean that there no value for experience, depth. Of course there is, but to succeed and sustain in a role one also needs to have diversity & flexibility. There should be willingness to keep himself/herself updated & relevant.

Sam Levenson says, ‘you must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself’.

I was lucky to be part of a conference where one of the leaders not only shared her personal story of dealing with change, but also shared how she found ways to drive it, control it, So, if you are in a state of flux, battling through change, below thoughts (my rough notes of her inspirational talk) could be of some help.

• Easy! Take a Deep Breath. Start by putting the change into perspective - break it down into small pieces and address one thing at a time.
• The BIG Picture.  Determine the overall impact to your life and which parts of the change process you CAN control.  Get involved and drive it forward.  
• Move ‘the Fear to the side’.  Focus on the potential of making the most of the impending change.  Apply any sense of ambiguity to motivate you with positive energy that will increase your recovery time.
• Seeking Help is Okay! In our work and in our lives we all need emotional and professional help to achieve our goals during times of change.
• Be the Driver of Change.  Anticipate it, look for signs, and when you realize you may have not confronted the obvious, remember that change will take its’ course, with or without you. If possible, be a role model for being open to change and responding to it with poise.
• The Resilience Test:  Change helps you shape your patience, flexibility, adaptability, and can be used to improve your persistence in other aspects of your life.  
• Remember, you either win or learn.  Change presents a great opportunity to learn - how to do something new, how to work better as a team, how to grow as a person.  Sometimes it does all of the above.

Resisting Change may be an old school of thought. One should rather be fearful of not experiencing the exhilaration and excitement of what change brings to our lives. So, why don’t you Change the way you look at things, Things would change!

#PriceofLiving

“10 years ago when I came to Bangalore it was much cleaner & greener”; said my uncle who recently visited us from US. I knew wouldn’t be able to defend that one, for what he said was absolutely true. Not just Bangalore but most of our cities today battle with congestion. Congestion due to traffic, due to people moving into the city in search of their livelihood, congestion due to waste.

Our cities have not just grown in last decade, but the growth has been so rapid that the only excuse we hear is: “What could we do, we just couldn’t plan for it.” We blame Politicians & their governance; bureaucrats, municipal corporation officials, contractors and even #corruption. This is no new story, and certainly not a Bangalore or for that matter India Story. It is the Growth Story. The story which we don’t like hearing. The story which we don’t want to believe. The story which comes with a “Price”.

Nothing comes easy, nothing comes free as they say. My father-in-law, in search of job moved from small village in Kerala to Bombay. He joined a reputed news paper co as journalist. At peak of his career he was offered an option to relocate to Bangalore. He sought time to think and an option to see the city before he could decide. Bangalore, he felt, was too cold in terms of weather, too slow in terms of city life and that it certainly wasn't the city where he felt ‘comfortable’ in terms of working life. He thought he would rather prefer retiring in Bangalore later someday. My parents too had never thought of moving out of Bombay, for the maximum city had offered them everything in Maximum. Transfer or relocation in those days was considered a matter of comfort in terms of “Quality of living”.

I moved out of Mumbai in 2005, 10 years after the city became Mumbai from being called Bombay. I would never have thought about moving out if not for my father’s insistence and an irresistible employment opportunity. The only consideration then was the “Cost of living”. I made a choice of becoming an #Hyderabadi from being a #Mumbaikar, with a thought that I am moving from the #costliestcityinIndiatolive to the #happiestcityinIndia. When someone asks me today about moving, the only thought that comes to my mind is the #price I have to pay for it. The issues of losing greenery, air and water pollution and human safety persists everywhere.

“Can nothing be done about this?”, asked my colleague who is potentially relocating elsewhere for a better opportunity. I did not want him to lose hope so I did say that, he need not worry and things aren’t as bad as it seems or is being portrayed by some sections within media.

‘Things aren’t as bad as they seem’, yes it is true for today. But what world are we creating for ourselves for tomorrow?

Things can certainly change. 

• If you think that by allowing odd-even numbered cars to be driven in Delhi, pollution can come down, it may have an impact; but we need more,
• If you think that by banning sale of diesel cars can do miracles, it might; but we need more,
• If you think by planting more trees it can make cities like before, you are right, it will; but we need to find space to plant millions of them in and around places we live, work,
• If you think  Passing of  #ParisClimateChangeResolution can be a game changer, it very well may be; but we definitely need specific action by each one of us to make an impact.
• We need more of everything! Every small act of yours would count! Success is SUM OF SMALL EFFORTS, repeated day In and day out!

Together let’s bring in that change before we have to pay the #Priceofliving!

Stay Healthy & Stay Blessed

Gopal Iyer

Repair, Recycle, Re-Use OR Replace?

As a ‘millennial or a Gen Y kid’, I had the privilege to get new toys, new clothes once every 6 months at least. With both parents working, that was something that was possible for them. My Mom has still preserved my first toy car! Preserve, another word that probably doesn’t resonate with our generation. Today we consume everything and probably Trash it.

My Dad used to tell me each time I asked him for a new pair of clothes, that he had only a pair of clothes that he used for almost 10 years. Not that he couldn’t afford more, but he felt that that was probably enough to survive. Thinking of it, I am just amazed at not just their thought process of buy only what you need, but also at the quality clothing that lasted for 10 years. We live in a very different world today though!

As the world opened its doors to Chinese Imported goods in 80’s it meant kids could enjoy variety of new games, new apparels. Decades later the trend still continues. As the imports grew, sales grew and locally manufactured goods, which probably were of better quality were off the shelves to accommodate the Imported Goods. Classic example were the BPL and Crown TV’s which gave way to Samsungs and LG’s.

My uncle got me my first wrist watch (the real one) Casio Digital in the 90’s. I continued the hobby of collecting of watches when I started working in early 2000’s. From Hand Wound HMT Wrist Watches to Solar watches, technology had evolved; as it has even further in everything we use today. With a couple of Wrist watches that ran out of batteries, I drove almost an hour to get the batteries replaced. When I couldn’t find a single repair shop, I started thinking, whether ‘Repairing’ was even done these days.

As a Teenager, I loved fixing basic technology issues myself, and used to run to a shop next door to get electrical appliances repaired. We have transitioned from electrical appliances to electronic goods today, which probably is complex to fix, or may be the cost of fixing it is so high that you can get the devise replaced.

With an urge for Change and be trendy we are replacing everything around us at a much faster rate than we did ever. Industries in their urge to stay relevant keep upgrading their products and launch a new one every 2 years, some every 2 months. But an need for change has to be carefully balanced with a change within. Ask yourself, what do you need? Imagining a world where we were to only buy and then continuously replace everything around us instead of repairing them and trashing old ones sends chills down my spine. World will be nothing but a dumping ground.

As they say whatever we have with us today has come from the Soil of earth. Food that we eat, water that we drink, plastics, wood, glass, metals we use, everything! We are fortunate to get best of everything that we have around us today. But our future generations may not be luckier enough as we are creating nothing but a mountain of waste which takes hundreds of year to decompose.

It’s always been a world of contrasts, where on one had some of us have everything in abundance and on the other hand the deprived struggle for their basic needs.

That said, if you still wish to replace, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to repair and reuse (OLX pe bech de!) or even consider donating.

‪#‎LivingIn_TolerantTimes!

‪#‎LivingIn_TolerantTimes!

‪#‎Value – Something that can never be quantified. To each his own as they say, many a times in recent times, we human beings have learnt the skill of ‘How not to value what we have’. Be it our own potentials or be it the situations/circumstances around us.

‪#‎Humanity is again one such feeling that we don’t value any more. Definition of Humanity has changed over decades. Thankfully, we all still agree, that killing someone is still considered inhuman. What Happened in Paris is barbaric! No community, religion allows to kill anybody for any cause. This could be a reaction to what’s been happening in many other countries, which never gets reported anywhere. Even then, killing of people as reaction to killing of others is a cruel act. Ideological ‪#‎extremism as they may want to call it, one doesn’t need to kill people to prove their point. They are NOT going to be called as messengers of religion! They are nothing but Terrorists. Crimes across the world have grown several hundred folds. Be it shooting incidents we hear in schools in west, or be it violence against women. These are nothing but another form of extremism.

During my recent visit to a physician to get treated for cold, he said, unfortunately we live in world of ‪#‎Toxins today. We hear of viruses that never existed few years ago. These viruses are so dangerous that they can make a person die within hours and doctors today aren’t equipped to find out the real cause of death.

Weather has been getting tougher each day with seasons changing year on year. There’s been extremity even here.

‪#‎LawofKarma says, What you Sow, So shall you reap! Nature’s extremity is a result of Human Extremity. We human beings, don’t think a moment before we cut trees, mountains, intrude into ponds, lakes, rivers. May be this is natures’ way to give it back!

Talking about Extremity further; Have times changed? Some people say, we get to hear more of this because of Media and that such things used to happen in the past. Social media has become almost a parallel medium to spread news, whether fake or real.

One thing is certain, our Tolerance levels as human beings is being tested, day in day out. This is not a time to ask question of whether as world are we being ‘Tolerant or not’ and sorry, my scope of Tolerance isn’t restricted to Religion, Government, Governance. For me its whether we are tolerant towards the fellow human being, our neighbor, our co-worker, our society, our lifestyles even pedestrian walking on the road. Tolerance should be towards other human beings and one should promote humanity much more than before.

Fortunately, answer lies within us, around us. We still have a choice to act now and create a better world or ignore and live in an intolerant and world full of extremists.

Look for change; first within!

Stay Happy/Stay Blessed - Gopal Iyer 

#‎FocusDeFocusReFocus!

My Dad gifted me a camera when I was 10, so I owe it to him to ignite the passion towards photography. As years passed I kept exploring different cameras and as technology kept getting advanced I kept upgrading my cameras too.

Having a Digital SLR meant that I also learn how to use it. So it was first ever experience into world of Lenses. How few pieces of Glasses put together can do an unbelievable job of showing you the same subject differently. It was all about ‘Focus’. Cameras today can focus at 39 + points in the same frame to get you highest resolution pictures with uncompromising quality.  My Passion for Photography meant that I click anything and everything that helps me learn more. And In my pursuit of learning I kept exploring different lenses. Lenses and Photography has made me realize that even in our lives, it is all about being focused!

Our Lives today however aren’t simple where we go through trying times more often than what we would like. Our Focus on Career means, our personal lives take a hit, our focus on money means our health takes a hit. It just isn’t easy to balance. Competitiveness is at its peak today. Each organization, each individual keeps thinking and doing things that makes them stand out. It’s all about how you can prove that you are different over others in the competition. There can only be ONE WINNER! Which makes failures or to better put it, ‘Learning Opportunities’ more common.

So question is do we use these Learning Opportunities well?

In Photography when you switch on the camera, you have to adjust your lens to Focus on Subject. To get it right, you have to Focus, De-focus and Refocus to get it right.  Drawing a parallel to it, ‘If we were to make best use of our Learning opportunities, we got to learn to De-focus, take a step back, look at what could you have done differently.

If you are down sick and meet a physician, he would advise you bed rest in all probabilities. Bed Rest allows you time to recover and recover well enough that you don’t fall sick again. A Learning Opportunity’ is a time to re-focus. We should use this time to ‘Recover’, ‘Recharge’, ‘Reinvent’ ourselves. This would ensure you have now captured the right subject!

We live in an ever changing environment. We have made life tough for ourselves with our dynamic needs. At times, even before you could switch on the camera and point your lens, the background has changed, subject has changed. So it’s all about how quick and agile you are.

Between Focus, De-focus, Re-focus…'Focus' is common. People who succeed in life have laser sharp focus on their wants and needs. That’s what makes them the best!

So if you are going through a “Learning Opportunity Event”, Time to Focus, De-Focus and Re-Focus. And if you are on the other side of the lens, don’t forget to Smile! :)

Stay Happy, Stay Blessed!

Gopal Iyer

‪#‎GetSetNoGo‬!

After having traveled for over 2 + hours, reaching Airport, completing formalities and having boarded the flight too, one would never expect to return back to the same port where one takes off from. But that’s exactly what my colleagues and I experienced today. After taking off on our Business Trip, flying for 2 hours and returning back to the base location only to find out that we are being disembarked and the flight has been rescheduled due to security reasons.

Anti-Climax? Well, it happens so often these days isn’t it? Well that’s the uncertain world that we are all part of. One could be at his/her proactive best and plan for everything. But one cannot plan for the unplanned.

Is this our inability? Certainly not, we did all that we could do, didn’t we?

Is this the inability of the Airlines or the Security personnel? I really doubt, they did what they had to do too? Imagine, if something was to go wrong. Whom should we blame? Yes, Airliners could do a lot more and manage the Anxiety levels of passengers in such situations, and that’s something our Airline did. I felt their effort to accommodate people in hotels, working with Partner airlines and get tickets re booked in a chaotic situation like this is commendable. But as human’s we always feel, they could have done this differently. Expectations unfortunately have no horizon. I personally felt they did their best! So should one stop being proactive and prepare well? Absolutely not. If 250 + people thought that it wasn’t important to prepare, one can just imagine the chaos!

The fact is, that we live in a very different world today than what people lived in yesterday. Technology is so advanced that it can be often misused, rather than being used. It takes hardly a micro second for us to forward messages on Instant messengers using our Smart Phones. As much as we may want to think that we are living in an era of Smart Tools/Technologies, such incidents just prove how vulnerable we are. And when an event of this sort happens, you could just see Helpless Parents, who were excited to see their grandchildren, a passenger who was sitting on wheel chair for help, mind you he had almost reached his destination in his mind, and others like us, hungry, awake and tired!

Frustrated, Annoyed, Irritated, Confused – yet Happy that we are all safe! Is this the first time that we went through this? Probably for some yes; For a few, No! Is this the last time we went through this? Certainly not. As I prepare again, repack my bags for flight later tonight, I just could recall this:

1) Do what you have to do! – End Result is not in your hands, Focus on your duty not results

2) You get what you deserve, not what you want! So focus on your Karma. Do well and get well

3) Whatever may have been the situation, you have the right to react or respond! Remember, response always gives better results as you think before you respond.

Today 5th September is Teachers day as well as Janmashtami. So this was probably Krishna’s teachings for not just today, but a life time!

Stay Well/Stay Healthy – Gopal Iyer