January 12th, 2011
Over the past few weeks, I started asking some of my friends and mentors what they thought about my blog. I got a very interesting set of responses, and I am paraphrasing some of them here…
“Don’t bust a blood vessel trying to be funny.”
“Too damn long! No one has the time to read a blog longer than a page. Condense your writing or use a smaller font!”
“What is the single take-away for each blog? If everything is important, nothing is important.”
“Why should I read your blog? What’s in it for me?”
Many of the comments reminded me of a heading in a beautiful book I just finished reading – Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds….
“Dakara Nani? (So What?)”
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Tags: Archetype, Awakening the Heroes Within, CAPT, Carol S Pearson, CPP, Garr Reynolds, Isabel Briggs Myers, Katherine Briggs, Ken Thomas, MBTI, PMAI, Presentation Zen, Ralph Kilmann, self-awareness, Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument
Posted in Archetype, Conflict Resolution, Entrepreneurship, Happiness, MBTI, Organizational Development, Personality Type, PMAI, TKI, Uncategorized | No Comments »
January 4th, 2011
Have you ever been to an Indian Lunch Buffet? Assuming that it did not give you indigestion, and that you enjoyed the food, what are your top five favorite dishes? I am going to go on a limb and try to guess them here…
- Naan Bread or Biryani
- Tandoori Chicken
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Saag Paneer
- Gulab Jamun or Kheer
Now, imagine a much ballyhooed Indian restaurant called – ‘Something Palace’ opens up a branch next to your work place. What’s special about this location is that it offers your top five favorite dishes in the unlimited lunch buffet every single day! Even better – for $10.99 you get a groupon for a lifetime of lunches at this location. Would you buy it?
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Tags: CPP, Death by Meeting, Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Ken Thomas, Kilmann Diagnostics, Pat Lencioni, Ralph Kilmann, Table Group, Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, TKI
Posted in Conflict Resolution, Organizational Development, Silo Busting, Team Building, TKI, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
December 31st, 2010
Surgeon General’s Warning: This is a long and convoluted blog with many unexpected twists and turns. Readers are advised to get cozy under a soft, warm blanky (snuggy would be ideal, though not mandatory), with a hot cup of cider, tea or hot chocolate before commencing the journey.
I am going to start this blog with a very hard question – one that has baffled mankind through the ages and will continue to do so in the centuries to come…What is your most memorable Steve Martin moment? There are probably too many to choose from. Is it the scene from ‘L.A. Story’ where he is hugging the talking freeway billboard? Maybe a scene from ‘Father of the Bride’ where he is battling Martin Short? Clouseau trying to pronounce Hamburger in ‘Pink Panther’? Watching Alec Baldwin on Meryl Streep’s laptop in ‘It’s Complicated’? Or it could be something from ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels‘, which I am ashamed to admit I have not yet seen.
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Tags: Archetype, Awakening the Heroes Within, CAPT, Carol S Pearson, Joy Perkins, PMAI
Posted in Archetype, Conflict Resolution, Organizational Development, PMAI, Seeker, TKI, Warrior | No Comments »
December 26th, 2010
So how would you pack for a week long trip to Maui in May? Especially if you are not flying South West and don’t want to dip into your (rapidly diminishing) retirement savings? The answer is lightly.
That’s what my wife and I tried to remember, as we packed for our Memorial Day vacation earlier this year…
- One of us packed the obligatory backpack full of hard cover books that would never be read. The other packed a light-weight, technologically advanced reading device
(My wife is behind the curve and refused to make use of the latest technological advances. She is still on the Kindle and WILL NOT upgrade to the iPad. I read books the way God meant us to read them – on paper!) Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Archetype, Awakening the Heroes Within, CAPT, Carl Jung, Carol S Pearson, CPP, Entrepreneurship, Isabel Briggs Myers, Joy Perkins, Katherine Briggs, MBTI
Posted in Archetype, Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Consulting, Employee Engagement, Entrepreneurship, Happiness, MBTI, Organizational Development, Personality Type, PMAI, Team Building | No Comments »
December 12th, 2010
I realized four things about myself after reading Carols Pearson’s book – Awakening the Heroes Within –
- I am passionate about supporting and inspiring my team
- I love to seek out new approaches to solve problems
- I get energized by sharing what I learn to help others
- I am most fulfilled when I can see a vision realized
This mapped to four Archetypes-
- Caregiver – Makes a difference to others
- Seeker – Searches for a unique identity, path, or solution
- Sage – Shares wisdom with the world
- Magician – Uses intuition and insight to catalyze change Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Archetype, Awakening the Heroes Within, Carol S Pearson, consulting, Entrepreneurship, organizational development, PMAI, self-awareness
Posted in Archetype, Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Consulting, Employee Engagement, Entrepreneurship, Happiness, MBTI, Organizational Development, Personality Type, PMAI, Team Building | No Comments »
December 9th, 2010
Let’s pick up our conversation where we paused last time-
- Why are you on this planet? What is the mission of your life?
- How will this world be a better place after you are gone?
- What special gift must you share with the world before you leave?
- What profound lesson must you learn before you find your gift?
- What unique journey must you undertake before you learn your lesson?
- Why does any of this really matter?
Let me tackle the last question first – ‘Why does any of this really matter?’
Three reasons – financial, emotional and spiritual… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Archetype, Awakening the Heroes Within, Carol S Pearson, Entrepreneurship, PMAI
Posted in Archetype, Entrepreneurship, Happiness, PMAI, Uncategorized | No Comments »
December 9th, 2010
iAm very happy with my iPhone. But iAm disappointed with my carrier – it doesn’t give me any bars when iMost need them. And sometimes, iAm dissatisfied with my iPhone battery – it runs out of juice just when iNeed it. And now, iThink iShould discontinue this mixed case blogging because iMight iRritate and iLose you 
OK, back to normal English now. So what do you do if your phone is low on juice? Maybe you can turn off 3G, or disable Bluetooth. Or just plug the dang thing back into the power outlet. If you’re super-cool, you may have one of those wireless charger thingies where you can just place your phone on a mat to charge it.
And what if the bars on your cell-phone disappear? You could apply the “Jobs Solution” and hold it the “right” way. If that is not the problem, you could either wait for iPhones to become available on Verizon, or ditch Apple & AT&T altogether for some other smart phone.
And now the real question… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Archetype, Awakening the Heroes Within, Carol S Pearson
Posted in Archetype, Entrepreneurship, Happiness | 2 Comments »
November 30th, 2010
Have you ever had a dream that you always wanted to pursue, but you couldn’t because… I’ve had a few of those dreams myself – my bucket-list. Things that I always wanted to but couldn’t because… # 1 on the list for a long time was the dream of being an Entrepreneur. But there were too many obstacles blocking my dream. Until a magical series of events helped me break out of the prison of my constraints. This blog is about my escape from my prison, in case it helps you break out of yours…
In my previous blog, I mentioned Dr. Richard Tozer’s inspiring lecture in the Starting a Business course at SMU. He explained how Transactional Analysis can be applied to help entrepreneurs succeed. Dr. Tozer stimulated my interest in TA and I wanted to learn more. A few months after finishing my course, I found myself in my favorite book store in Bangalore – Premier, looking for Eric Berne’s book on Transactional Analysis – Games People Play. I did not realize that my search would also lead me to another unexpected treasure. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Caruth, Entrepreneurship, Eric Berne, Games, Games People Play, Genius of the And, Good to Great, Jerry Porras, Jerry White, Jim Collins, Marshall Goldsmith, Richard Tozer, SMU Cox, Transactional Analysis, Tyranny of the Or, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, YDYB
Posted in Entrepreneurship, Happiness | No Comments »
November 29th, 2010
Have you ever been at a major cross-road in life and experienced some kind of inner conflict about which road you should choose? Maybe there was a difference between what you feel you would love to do, what you remember being taught you should do and what you have learned from experience is probably the right thing to do? What do you do when this happens? How do you separate these thoughts and what is the best way to reconcile the different ideas contained in them? I learned a way to do this from a most unexpected source and wanted to share it with you. Here is my story…
We will pick up the thread when I was in the 11th grade, in the computer lab of my high school in Bangalore, India. I had just debugged my first linked list program in Pascal and it was working exactly as I expected it to! No errors, crashes, or un-handled exceptions. ZOWIEMAMA! (That’s from ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’) The sense of exhilaration was unforgettable. I am smiling as I relive that moment. That’s when I fell in love with software and knew what I was going to be when I grew up.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Caruth, Entrepreneurship, Eric Berne, Jerry White, Org Whisperer, Richard Tozer, SmoothApps, SMU Cox, Transactional Analysis
Posted in Consulting, Entrepreneurship, Happiness, Organizational Development, Uncategorized | No Comments »
October 5th, 2010
When:
Session 1: January 14th 2010, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM US Central Time
Session 2: January 21st 2010, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM US Central Time
Where: Online
Cost: $349 ( payable by check or PayPal )
Registration: Mail training@smoothapps.com
© SmoothApps 2010. All rights reserved.
Posted in Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Employee Engagement, Events, MBTI, Organizational Development, Personality Type, Silo Busting, Team Building, Uncategorized, Workshops | No Comments »
December 1st, 2009
Wikipedia defines the word ‘geek’ as
‘…a slang term, noting individuals as “a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc.’
But wait, it gets better…
‘…Formerly, the term referred to a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken, bat, snake or bugs.’
Mercifully, I do not remember ever biting off or wanting to bite off ‘the head of a live chicken, bat, snake or bugs’. However, I do remember many incidents that would make me eligible for the more contemporary definition of geek.
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Posted in Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Employee Engagement, Organizational Development, Silo Busting | 4 Comments »
December 18th, 2009
In 1944, an aspiring model was told by the director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency that she’d “better learn secretarial work or get married”.
In 1954, after a teenager had just performed at the Grand Ole Opry, an organizer told him “to go back to drivin’ a truck”.
In 1962, a band auditioned for Decca Records and was rejected because “guitar groups were on their way out” and the band “had no future in show business”.
In each case, ‘experts’ made decisions based on their assumptions.
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Posted in Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Employee Engagement, Organizational Development, Silo Busting | No Comments »
March 10th, 2010
“Speak your truth quietly and clearly” – Desiderata, Max Ehrmann
Part 1 – A Beautiful Morning…
That morning started like any other. Indiana F Potter, or “Indy” got to work, made himself a cup of coffee, mumbled hello to anyone he could not avoid eye contact with and headed right to his desk. Given a choice, Indy preferred to be in his inner world of concepts and ideas. Especially at the start of a day, he got his energy by reflecting inwards, rather than interacting with others. Indy started catching up on what was going on in the world, moving on next to his mail and then started to plan out his day.
There was a loud sound of laughter from the hallways, announcing the arrival of Estelle Jones. Estelle could kick up the energy level of the whole office just by her presence. She loved interacting with others and stopped to talk with most people on the way to her desk – cracking jokes, asking questions, sharing news. By the time she dropped off her bag and headed to the cafeteria, she was surrounded by an excited group of colleagues, talking about all that had happened since the last time they met. As she spoke to her friends, Estelle could find her energy levels rise and she was charged up to begin an exciting new day of work.
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Posted in Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Employee Engagement, MBTI, Organizational Development, Personality Type, Team Building | 2 Comments »
March 16th, 2010
“Speak your truth quietly and clearly” – Desiderata, Max Ehrmann
Part 2 – The Rapid Response…
The decibel level in the office started rising. That meant that others had read the mail and the reactions were pouring out in the hallway. Indy started reflecting and planning a response. He brought out a pad and started jotting down the approach he would take-
Step 1: Learn about the target operating system
Step 2: Check if there were any 3rd party…
Before he could finish the sentence, Estelle had pulled up a chair and was sitting next to him, bursting with ideas, speaking at a million words per minute. If there was one thing Indy hated, it was being interrupted when he was thinking about a problem. Controlling his anger, he missed much of what Estelle was saying, and tried to catch on with the torrent of words. From what he could tell, she wanted to get everyone in a room and start brainstorming for an hour so they could get the best ideas on the table in time for the meeting with the Boss.
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Posted in Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Employee Engagement, MBTI, Organizational Development, Personality Type, Team Building | No Comments »
March 23rd, 2010
“Speak your truth quietly and clearly” – Desiderata, Max Ehrmann
Part 3 – Who Are You…?
- Did that story seem familiar? Is there an Estelle or Indy in your office?
- Who do you think was right?
- What do you think the Boss should have done next? And how would you have handled this situation?
- Can you identify with either one of them? Or, maybe a little bit with both of them?
Have you reflected on the different personality types at your work place and how they affect your ability to get things done? Take a blank piece of paper and jot down answers to these questions-
Read the rest of this entry »
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April 1st, 2010
“Speak your truth quietly and clearly” – Desiderata, Max Ehrmann
Part 4 – What Next…?
So what does all this mean?
- Is there a reason behind the differences in the way we respond to situations or do we do it just to irritate each other?
- Is there a way for us to understand our preferred responses and adjust them if our natural first response hurts us?
- How can we understand, appreciate and capitalize on our differences instead of allowing them to obstruct our progress?
Quite like the hand we prefer to use for writing, we are all born with certain innate preferences for interacting with the world, processing information, making decisions and implementing our ideas. These preferences influence the situations in which we feel natural, relaxed and confident, and those in which we feel uncomfortable, awkward and strained. For most of us, life is a journey in which we continuously learn and improve ourselves – mastering the skills for which we have a natural talent and increasing out comfort level in other areas where we may not be as gifted.
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Posted in Change Management, Conflict Resolution, Employee Engagement, MBTI, Organizational Development, Personality Type, Team Building | No Comments »
April 8th, 2010
Part 1 – The Importance of Being Questioned
Last month, I attended a conference call on Marshall Goldsmith’s new book – Mojo, and decided I just had to read it! Last week I finished reading the book and wanted to share some of his inspiring thoughts with you.
Marshal defines Mojo as the state of an individual or an organization in which everything goes right and one success leads to another, kind of like being in the zone. Nojo, on the other hand, is the exact opposite – a state where there is boredom, frustration and misery. Life is too short for us to have Nojo in our Dojo Mojo provides simple tools and techniques to measure and boost our Mojo on a daily basis.
One of the most touching chapters in the book is the one on Daily Questions… Read the rest of this entry »
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April 10th, 2010
Part 2 – You Go First
“When my children grow up, I want them to be…”
Thus begins the Coda in Marshall Goldsmith’s new book – Mojo. This is the question Marshall asked thousands of parents across the world. They could only respond in one word. What do you think it was?
Tweak the question…
“I want all my loved ones to be…”
How would you answer it? Read the rest of this entry »
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April 22nd, 2010
Part 3 – A New National Pastime?
( This is the 3rd and final part of my blog on Marshall Goldsmith’s new best seller – Mojo. )
Yes, baseball season has finally started. And many of us gluttons for punishment will now have a new source for our daily dose of pain. For me personally, the preferred sources of pain are the (mis)fortunes of the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Cowboys. They generally keep me well supplied from September to around June or a Mavs play-off exit (whichever comes first) each year. However, after the Mavs season ends and before the Cowboys season begins, there is a certain emptiness in my life each year. I have considered diversifying my couch potato portfolio of pain by subscribing to the miseries of the Texas Rangers, but it is too radical a lifestyle change for me to make all of a sudden.
But perhaps I digress, my friends. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Employee Engagement, Happiness, Organizational Development, Uncategorized | No Comments »
May 1st, 2010
Warning: This blog contains material that may be offensive to those with delicate sensibilities or a deep appreciation for Jack Bauer. Reader discretion is advised.
Let me clarify right at the outset that I am no fan of Jack Bauer. I have probably watched the series 24 for a total of 24 minutes, if not less. I get motion sickness from the way the camera and the story lurch from one crisis to another. It reminds me of my life. Which I try to escape by watching TV.
So, it is perfectly reasonable for you to ask what I was doing, Getting Naked with Jack Bauer. While eating. In public. And you may not be surprised or sympathetic to learn that he almost made me choke on my food and cough it up on the ladies at the next table. Read the rest of this entry »
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