Serendipity and Learning

The story of Israel is inspiring. And this is a story by Shimon Peres, one of the founding fathers of the country, so to say. After getting a recommendation on reading this book, it waited on my shelf for its turn to arrive. The book itself is worth a read. More importantly, here are my takeaways on what it means to be a leader from this book. For one, A reader must prepare hard. Work hard. In different situations. Be Prepared for any opportunity that might cross her way. Listen; listen well; listen actively... Take risk: it is only after we see failure that we will know if we misjudged the risk. Open new possibilities Optimism and naivete are not one and the same... Make the hard decisions that leadership demands (and therein lies one of the most important tenets - as a leader you cannot escape facing and making tough decisions. If all one had to do was to take easy decisions, one does not need leaders.) Standing still is not an option, despite many successes Seek and hav...

Creating a course is not easy. Especially a kind of course a senior leader wants for his team.With tight deadlines. There are two ways out there. One is tried and tested. The other, to try out something different - something you think is worth a try based on the talking to experts. The first one is a possibility sometimes, when the leader wants something, very fast, instant. The second one is worth a try when the leader gives you the freedom to try. And some time. And a little patience. Once that is done, the work begins. To begin with it means understanding your audience, what they want, what they like, what makes them tick, what is their level of knowledge. It means, preparing.  It means, keeping your ears close to the ground. As it progresses, it means, working with various stakeholders and making them part of the creation process as well. It means, asking questions. It means, iteration. While delivering, it means, making the audience think. It means, respecting their i...