What Keeps CEOs Awake?

I often get asked by colleagues “What do CEO’s worry about?” This is usually in the context of facilitating CXO level workshops. Well, just as any other Management personnel, CEOs both worry and are happy! Things that are certainly on their dashboards are:

• Business results
• Sustainability of the business
• Right talent in the company
• Brand visibility/ respect for the company
• Governance etc.

Simply articulated – what’s on the worry slate is current operations and future readiness of the business. CEOs have to constantly manage their time and attention between these two. While it sounds like something that can be easily balanced and managed, it is often a challenge for many of us. Most of our attention and executive time gets caught in the operational aspects of the business. I have often wondered why it is so? We all know the importance of having a long-term focus – we teach it, mentor people around it and champion it to others. However in practice, the constant fires that operations throw up keep most CEOs fairly busy. There is some sort of gratification or sense of importance that one gets out of being in the “fire of action”!

Long term actions and thinking therefore often gets left only to strategy sessions at the end of the year rather than an ongoing practice.
One of the core issues that CEOs have to deal with is their perceptual and thinking blocks in this area. Why is it that we don’t spend time on what we know is important for us as CXOs and also for our business? It could be due to three aspects:

• Seeing
• Carving time
• Swift action

Seeing is all about knowing what is the most mission critical area of focus for us -not what enchants and seduces us – but what we need to do. With the kind of information overload that is there plus multiple pressures and ‘fires’, it is very easy to forget to ‘see’ what we need to attend to. Having the most important aspects of our roles visible to us is a key enabler. Having it in an attractive, visual format is even more helpful. Like a mind-map or a vision-board.

Carving time is what Meg Wheatley calls ‘create a stake’. Consider yourself as the most important customer and make time for the area of work that is important for you. This may involve blocking time with other  colleagues, stakeholders to create a winning proposition, having heart-felt conversations with colleagues, meeting potential JV partners ,or just revisiting old notes and ideas for a new strategy. Unless we carve and block time for this, it will not happen.

The third aspect is swift execution of what has been decided. Its only when we act, that something will emerge. In a VUCA world, where things and product lines change so fast, we cannot afford to take too long to act . Quick and swift action is what produces results.
This is the world of CEOs and what might support them in running profitable, sustainable and joyful businesses.

By Anu Wakhlu

The Always of Leadership

How many of you have participated in a 360 degree feedback process at work?   For leaders, receiving feedback from colleagues feels like report-card day! If you think about it, it is surely a report card of behavior perception i.e. how colleagues perceive their behavior and what conclusions they draw from that (as is evident in the verbatim comments that form a part of such reports). It is very interesting to observe how people respond to feedback that they get and I must say I have really seen it all – from gratitude and enthusiasm, to surprise and shock; from calm and knowing acceptance to utter disbelief and rejection.

THE DREADED RATING SCALE

The design of such instruments is very telling…there are a set of behavior statements and a set of options from which one has to tick the appropriate one e.g.: A statement like “listens patiently to others’ ideas” can be rated as Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Usually or Always. Needless to say, most people rate themselves as Always (5/5) while their colleagues rate them as “Sometimes” or “Usually”..much to their surprise and chagrin.

ALWAYS: THE HALLMARK OF LEADERSHIP

On a recent such assignment, I debriefed about 25-30 people on their feedback reports…and I soon realized that there was magic hidden in the word “Always”. It set my mind in motion and I reflected back to the leaders that I have personally witnessed/ worked with in my career.

It became clear to me that whatever a leader “Always” did, became the “Hallmark” of her Brand of Leadership. For example:

Mr. S was such a time stickler that he “always” insisted on adherence to schedule…Soon his team members knew that if his time was blocked then punctuality was key. I remember once people arrived 50 minutes late for a 60 minute meeting. He spent the remaining 10 minutes with them and that was that!

Ms B “always” greeted visitors with a smile, asked them about their family, offered a cup of tea/coffee and made them feel comfortable. She even ensured that there was no sun in the face, by pulling down the blinds herself, if need be. Only then did she get down to discussing the business matter at hand. She was known for Warmth, for being a good person, “always”.

IS “ALWAYS” ALWAYS POSSIBLE?

Most organizations have an in-house model of leadership competencies i.e. they have a long list of behaviors which leaders in the company are expected to demonstrate. Funnily enough, the underlying assumption is that every Leader must score an “Always” on ALL desirable “Leadership Behaviors.” Is that really possible? Obviously, such an assumption is really not founded in realism of any kind! This is hardly a Class XII board exam where a score of aggregate 95% + seems to have 1000s of claimants. Human behavior is a different ball-game!

Haven’t we all seen Leaders who are very competent at, say, driving initiatives, but not so good in future planning, or colleagues who are excellent at client relationships but maybe not in peer relationships? The more I work with leaders; one thing becomes crystal clear to me – that each leader has her Hallmark, her Brand which is created by consistently demonstrating a certain set of behaviors in multiple interactions with multiple people. By corollary, there are also many things that the same leader will never be able to get an “Always” rating for. And that’s OK.

WHAT IS YOUR HALLMARK STYLE?

Ultimately the key to Success and Excellence for you as a leader is really to pick a few actions/ behaviors that drive your team to be motivated, engaged and performance oriented and then consistently demonstrate that behavior, day in and day out.. like a signature style! On those critical behaviors, you can claim an “Always” blindfolded and soon you will be dancing your way up the business and happiness graphs.

Easier said than done, of course! How you go about building your Signature Style is another article for another day… but the starting point is to look at yourself dispassionately and identify those desirable leadership behaviors that you are automatically drawn to…where moving from a “Usually” to an “Always” seems like no effort at all. As with most things to do with self development, self awareness is the first baby step!

By Yoshita Sharma

How Mindfulness Benefits Business

A few days after I had conducted a workshop on “Mindfulness for Excellence” for the Top Sales Leaders in an IT Company, I ran into one of the participants at the Pune airport. He was enthusiastic  about the huge benefits that come from being present to our innermost core of Awareness.

I asked him what he specifically found to be of value, and he shared some thoughts. He said he had evolved to be:

• More conscious of  his surroundings, other people and  opportunities to serve
• More relaxed, energized, inspired  and healthy
• Clearer in  thought leading to more creative and agile decision making
• More Confident  and Present ; and
• Better in interpersonal relations.

The beauty about meditation is that only one single practice yields  these all-round results. You don’t need to follow separate courses of action for achieving them.

This is not surprising, considering that the most important instrument available to Leaders is the Mind.  The Mind  mediates everything that the person aspires for, perceives, feels, acts on, and achieves. It determines the quality of decision making, the person’s enthusiasm, his or her concern for others, oneself and the environment.

The mind provides the larger context  and purpose for the work of all Leaders. The quality of their thoughts and affects what they  create. The Mind is the foundation for all of life….the wellspring of all that happens or does not happen. The “collective mind” shapes the destiny of organisations and nations.

The true work of a Leader is to shape the minds of followers.

You can lead  others only  if you lead  their thought processes.

It is impossible to lead other peoples’ thought processes if one cannot govern one’s own!

Meditation and Mindfulness  enable the Leader to access a deeper Awareness which is beyond the mind. This leads to a spontaneous improvement in many dimensions of life. By paying attention to what is happening in the now, the quality of ones responses are more appropriate and creative. On days that I meditate in the morning, I find my work moving faster, with less distractions , and my interactions with people are far more joyful and easy.

There is a huge amount of research on the benefits of Mindfulness and Meditation. Even as I was writing this piece, an article on the Business Value of Mindfulness came into my Inbox!  Companies like Google have started using Yoga  and Meditation to increase productivity.  The evidence is loud and clear.

When Pragati Leadership talked of Meditation for Leaders 27 years ago, many eyebrows would rise. Today, there is ample research evidence to show that it makes practical business sense.

Considering that Joy, Peace and Freedom is what man’s search is all about, Meditation simply says you can BE all these right now. And this makes huge personal and business sense.

Perhaps, communing with the Timeless is the best investment of 20 minutes of my time.

by Arun Wakhlu

Realism v/s Optimism

As the new financial year is about to begin, organizations and their leaders look at the goals they want to take for themselves.  The process of goal setting, and its results are often influenced by the mindset of the leader.  A lot of organizations often use the following clichés while goal setting.

•          Let’s plan for a big leap
•          We can certainly do lot more given the talent we have
•          The market is huge, and growing, and it’s all up to us
•          Without strong growth, we will be letting down our shareholders
•          Our board has given us the mandate to push harder
•          Let’s aim for the Sky!

Sounds familiar?  While this looks exciting and promising and defines what I would call as an Optimist Mindset, it has several pitfalls which organizations and leaders fail to discover.  Optimism based on one’s ambition, dreams often can be disconnected or far from the reality.   While there have been many powerful stories and tales around how a big dream got realized – and hence the power of thinking Big, it fails to account for how, 99.5% other such big dreams never materialized.  So would it prudent to make the goals more realistic?

There is a case for a realistic approach. The difference between pure optimism based approach and a realistic approach is sometimes so obvious that people chose to ignore it or downgrade its role in making goals happen.   That small thing called “common sense” is often derided because it seems to bring down the lofty goals which an Optimist Leader is trying to project.  And History has always decorated the Optimist….Realists have hardly been recognized for their contributions.

 

There also can be something like an Optimism Fatigue which organizations need to watch out for.  Multiple occurrences of organizations projecting a bigger picture than what it achieves can lead to the team feeling fatigued and disillusioned. This is a situation which leaders need to avoid. The key is to keep the gap between Optimistic and Realistic goals and their approach to minimum. Plugging this gap is vital for organizations to grow in a sustainable manner!!

 

Dark Forces. Yes or No?

The Riddle

Recently I was talking to a friend who had been experiencing a difficult moment in life. He mentioned that he’d gone to see people who read from purportedly ancient Tamil scriptures and revealed to him that he was under the influence of negative energies; dark forces that made him do unpredictable things. He wondered whether the answer for his uncharacteristic behaviour lay in his being possessed.

He asked me for my opinion on stuff like this. I told him that I was an active disbeliever. That I would always look for empirical or cognitive evidence to see whether these stories would hold true.

I also mused to him that I preferred not to externalise blame for my behaviour and that I preferred to look within.

The Musing

As we talked, I realised that a lot of the stuff that we struggle with is on account of us not learning critically important life skills like emotional regulation, practising restraint, carefully choosing our thoughts, leading a balanced lifestyle etc.

The Garbage In – Garbage Out formula works with human lives as well. If you sleep 9 hours, eat right, exercise, practise some form of stress management or relaxation, educate yourself on emotional control etc., your life will be good. If you sleep less, eat wrong, don’t exercise, don’t spend time on emotional regulation or relaxation, then your life will not be good. The chances of uncharacteristic behaviour with the former lifestyle are far lesser than with the latter.

I’ve heard people equating thoughts and emotions to “energies” or “forces”. Makes sense as “forces” drive us, propel us. If we also take into account the fact that in olden days anything negative was referred to as “dark” then we can suggest that negative thoughts and negative emotions are the same things as “dark forces”.

When people say that the universe has dark and light forces battling each other, they aren’t talking about anything esoteric; they could merely be suggesting that the way people think and feel affects outcomes in the universe. To my mind, it’s all brain science, psychology and emotional and interpersonal intelligence.

The Answer

I would like to propose that this confusing of “negative thoughts” with “dark forces” arose due to one or both of the following two factors:

• The evolution of language: The difference in the way words were used then and now.
• The tendency of poets (ancient and modern) to use metaphors that allude to something rather than being specific about things.

Thank God for those who wrote elaborate prose instead! Thank God for the left-brained, engineer type who look for and provide details and specifics all the time! Imagine the confusion this world would be in without them! Imagine receiving performance feedback in metaphors, in allegorical verse! Performance too then would be symbolic!

I propose that all of us stretch our cognitive abilities a little or apply the filter of reason whenever we are presented with talk of the esoteric or the occult or the vague.

RE-SOLUTIONS

 Organisations are much like humans. They grow, they forge and manage relationships, they play nurturers and yes, they want to live past a hundred. It would make sense for organisations to do another human thing – make New Year resolutions (beyond the financial goals they set for themselves every financial year!!)

Here are a few things that I would love to see organisations resolve to do, starting this year:

Focus on Strengths – Align people to roles where they can use their innate Strengths as opposed to roles where they are merely competent. This is what will move your organisation from “competent” to “Strong”.

At the very least, Employ a Competency based approach – Use Competency Based Interviewing (preferably in conjunction with Strengths instruments) and use Assessment Centres before pr

omoting employees. The science will take the guesswork out of hiring and promoting, saving organisation the heavy costs that result from poor performance and rehiring.

Focus on creating “Interpersonal Wealth” – It’s a more equal world than ever before. Traditional

power roles don’t hold much importance any more. Employees are less intimidated by their bosses than they used to be. There is a plethora of options out there today.

Similarly, wives are not subservient to husbands and children are not to their parents (at least in the urban world). It is just not possible to pull rank, to get things done on the basis of hierarchy – there is no hierarchy. What is needed is excellent interpersonal skill – so good that it gets termed

“Intrpersonal Wealth”! From just getting along to forging deeper relationships to having enough personal power to influence outcomes, it is interpersonal wealth that will be responsible for making organisations thrive. The smart organisation will invest in helping their employees develop this because it will impact not only their relationships with their customers and peers but also impact how well they are doing in their personal lives. Just like some organisations are investing in…

The physical health of their employees – Repetitive Stress Syndrome, Carpal Tunnel, Blackberry

 Thumb, Computer Vision Syndrome, neck and shoulder pain, Deep Vein Thrombosis, Insomnia, Stress, what not! The human body is more perishable a resource these days than it ever was! Mandatory Provident Funds and Insurance are not enough. Mandatory exercise and fitness levels, mandatory limitation on working hours, mandatory vacations, ergonomic seating, “optional standing desks” and counsellors in the office – there are some things that are being done by some organisations. Many more need to be still done by a lot more organisations. The definition of workplace safety too needs to be revisited.

Employee Engagement – For those organisations that are not measuring and improving engagement yet, please partner with organizations like Gallup, Mercer, Hay Group or us. It’s a vitally important metric and in an increasingly competitive and dynamic marketplace, it is set to become even more important. In fact, I would like to see it being discussed at shareholder meetings!

Ethical – We live in difficult times, corrupt times. Recent political events in India suggest that there’s a wave rising against (finan

cial, if not yet moral) corruption. If this is a genuinely new India, it won’t be long before people start paying more attention to corporate corruption (eg. data manipulation or payoffs to obtain ISO or eSCM type of certifications; or corporate-politician nexuses). These are times to be exemplary leaders, to show other organisations and employees the way.

 

Environment – There are more reasons why these are difficult times. Industry and humanity are almost locked in a battle for our earth’s meagre resources – water, land, minerals etc. It’s an age where the words “more” and “consumption” are possibly heard more In conversations than “thank you” and “please”! No one knows the meaning of moderation or restraint (neither corporations, nor politicians, nor the affluent, nor the middle class, nor Phaneesh, nor Tejpal). In such times, it’s important to think about the impact of our actions on others now and on ourselves eventually.

We need to stop and think about how what we do affects those around us. Trees, tribals, minerals, mountains, seas, soil, air, water, fuel.

 

 CSR – Being responsible members of society. Ensuring the well being of the vicinity and the people we share this landmass with.Walking the path of the man who spoke of pursuing the greatest good of all.

 

 

About the Author:

Aman Zaidi, The author is passionate about employee engagement and facilitates a signature workshop called Creating Involved Employees

Playing to your Strengths

Ever seen a run-around backhand in tennis? Ever wonder how many Grand Slams Steffi Graf would have won in tennis if she hadn’t constantly run around her backhand to crack that heavy topspin forehand?

Ever wonder why Damien Fleming and Shane Warne bowled their stock delivery to get their hat-tricks in Test cricket?

Ever wonder why Rahul Dravid never opened the batting in ODIs? Ever wonder why Sachin Tendulkar batted at no. 4 in tests and not any higher?

Dravid was great at defence. Defending his wicket, wearing down the bowlers came naturally to him. Tendulkar was a stroke-player. Dominating the bowler was what he was good at.

When you wanted someone to stand his ground and not lose his wicket, when you wanted to defend a test match, you looked towards Dravid. When you wanted quick runs, when you wanted to put enough runs on the board for your bowlers to attack with, you looked to Tendulkar. Or Sehwag.

 What would happen if you asked Dravid to play like Tendulkar? Or to Tendulkar if you asked him to play like Dravid? Would they have been the colossuses they were? I don’t think so.

 The situation in the workplace is entirely different.

People aren’t usually asked to play roles that are in line with their strengths.

Organisations and managers, generally speaking, make no effort to understand what the strengths of their people. The people themselves are not sure about what their strengths are.

Imagine someone who is very good with people, being boxed into a cubicle where he/she processes invoices every day. Imagine someone who is brilliant at math selling soaps for a living. Please note that they’re not bad at processing invoices or at sales. They do a decent job of it but they’re not spectacular at it. Not as spectacular as they would be with people or math!

Do we not want spectacular employees? Do we not keep throwing out terms like “outperform”, “chase excellence”? We do. All of industry does today. Yet we continue to slot people in roles where they may be merely competent instead of strong!

The Competency approach has served us very well. As behavioural and management science evolves, it’s time to additionally look at a Strengths Approach now.

Strategic coach Dan Sullivan says, “If you spend too much time working on your weaknesses, all you end up with is a lot of strong weaknesses.

I for sure didn’t want to devote energy working on my project management skills, only to end up as an average project manager. Instead I stumbled onto my strengths and today I feel very rewarded when clients come back to me asking me to do their workshops for them.

What’s great is this – one doesn’t need to stumble on to their strengths anymore. There are scientific tools available today that will help people discover and employ their strengths gainfully.

Go on; use these tools to discover what makes you a Tendulkar or who are the Dravids on your team!

The author is passionate about strengths and an accredited Strengthscope^TM practitioner.

Synopsis of Carpe Diem Mumbai 2013, August 9

Theme: Wholesome Leadership – A paradigm shift in leading change

Venue: Sofitel Hotel, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Mumbai

Date and Time: 9^th August 2013, 6.30pm onwards

Panel:

 

Participant Profile: Top Leadership (Non-HR), Top HR and L&D leaders; Sectors represented included Banking & Finance, Telecom, FMCG, IT/ITES, Manufacturing, Insurance, Realty, Pharma, Engineering, Designing, Real estate etc. with a mix of Small, Mid-Cap & Large scale industries.

 

Sequence Index of events:

1. Welcoming the guests at Carpe Diem 2013
2. Introduction and context setting by the host Mr Vivek Yatnalkar 
3. Introduction to the panelists (CLICK HERE to view their profiles)
4. First panelist, Mr Anil Swarup’s sharing on ‘Self-Mastery’ 
5. Second panelist, Mr R Mukundan’s sharing on ‘Relating to & Developing People’ 
6. Third panelist, Mr Shrikant Joshi’s sharing on ‘Delivering Value’ 
7. Q&A with the audience
8. Felicitation of panelists
9. Closing comments by the moderator & host
10. Dinner & networking

 

Synopsis:

The stage was set for a ‘Wholesome’ evening at Sofitel Hotel as the first of the guests trooped in for Carpe Diem Mumbai 2013. It was a drizzly Friday evening and a festive holiday on account of Eid at that! Yet, the steady in flow of guests continued and by 7pm the Salon Louvre was packed.

The host for the evening, Vivek Yatnalkar – the COO of Pragati Leadership, took stage and started proceedings by welcoming the guests. He touched upon the current state of affairs vis-à-vis Business, Social, Political and Economic at a local and global level to lay the foundation for the discussion.

• ‘What is the prevalent style of leadership today?
• Is this giving us the results we want/ seek?
• Are we going in the direction we want to go?’

These were some questions he asked the audience to ponder upon. Vivek, then went on to introduce Wholesome Leadership and suggested this new approach as the way to lead sustainable change.

He explained the three facets of Wholesome Leadership, namely: Self-Mastery, Relating to & Developing people AND Delivering Value. Explaining briefly the manifestations of these three facets, Vivek justified the What-Why-How of this new approach and its relevance. He used the analogy of the see-saw versus Lift.

While one shows the current dilemma facing businesses in balancing people development with business growth, the other simply shows that both can happen in parallel. He suggested that Wholesome Leadership can serve to ‘lift’ people and carry them forward towards sustainable change!

Vivek then introduced the three distinguished panelists to the audience before handing over the baton to Arun Wakhlu, our Executive Chairman, who was the moderator for the panel discussion. Taking cue from where Vivek left off, Arun urged the audience to think long-term and sustainable. To hammer in the point, he narrated a little anecdote from the Apache Indian community where elders would place all children and sit in a concentric circle around them while taking all collective decisions. This was done, he said, to ensure that they’re always aware that the effects need to be positively experienced for the next seven generations! As leaders, we need to have a similar ‘Wholesome’ approach, Arun reiterated.

Thereafter, Arun invited Mr Anil Swarup – IAS, Member of the Cabinet Secratariat, Govt. of India, to take the podium as the first speaker. Mr Swarup spoke on Self-Mastery and livened up the atmosphere with some pointed observations, funny anecdotes and witticisms in the bureaucratic context.

His inspiring talk for the next fifteen minutes urged the rapt audience to start this journey of transformation with oneself. He laid down some fundamental attributes to Self-Mastery, starting with a belief in a larger purpose and in the potential of self.

• Mr Swarup stressed that this was crucial to delivering lasting value.
• To achieve that, he urged leaders to be unwaveringly passionate about the work they do.
• As leaders, they need to be seen as uncompromisingly honest and transparent, keeping promises they make.
• They also need to be free to dream BIG and have a vision that is inclusive, he urged.
• Finally, Wholesome Leaders need to be Efficient in delivering results to ensure that they become the change that they want to see in the world.

(You can watch the full presentation HERE)

A thunderous applause greeted Mr Swarup has he made his way back to the stage. Next in line was Mr R Mukundan, MD of Tata Chemicals, who was speaking on the topic of ‘Relating to & Developing People’.

Mr Mukundan started off the interaction by showing the audience a short video clip of an interview with the late Steve Jobs, chief of Apple. In the interview, Steve explains his mantra of ‘TRUSTING’ his colleagues completely to deliver. He explains how Apple functioned as the world’s largest ‘Start-up’ because it allows leaders to make decisions without any overseeing. (You can watch the video HERE)

Using this as a basis for his talk, Mr Mukundan shared that every year he showed this clip to his team for inspiration and guidance. He then went on to explain that it all began with the right value systems being put in place. If the team had the right values, their actions would facilitate better people relations and development, he justified.

Mr Mukundan suggested that leaders need to build trust and commitment in their teams by treating their members as people and not just professional entities. To this end, he offered some simple pointers to follow:

• Get to know key people as persons!!!
• Set the context – the situation, direction etc
• Delegate more – Work Levels
• Stretch Projects
• Development Dialogue (IDP)
• Encouraging learning and Sharing
• Performance Dialogue (PMS)
• Career Counselling
• Coaching

 (You can watch the full presentation HERE)

The audience seemed to agree wholeheartedly with his take on Mr Mukundan and applauded him generously as he took his seat, making way for Mr Shrikant Joshi to take the podium.

Mr Shrikant Joshi, Chief Executive of L&T Realty, was the third panelist, speaking on ‘Delivering Value’ to all stakeholders, as a crucial facet of Wholesome Leadership.

Mr Joshi’s presentation was replete with inspiring examples of the wonderful slum rehab work undertaken by L&T Realty in Mumbai, through their initiative, incidentally titled ‘Pragati’! Through this initiative, Mr Joshi explained, over 5000 modern apartment units were handed over to slum-land owners who were now living a comfortable life.

He also explained about how L&T Realty, contrary to industry practices, had pledged to have a 30% women workforce, which it has achieved! Through the many pictorial slides that followed, he threw light on a number of social initiatives undertaken across the country by the team to deliver value to all stakeholders.

(You can watch the full presentation HERE)

The floor was then thrown open to Questions from the audience.

An invigorated group then sought more clarity on how to implement the simple practices of Wholesome Leadership in their day-to-day lives.

Thereafter, the host, Vivek Yatnalkar, once again took stage. He thanked the panelists for their insights and sharing. Arun then proceeded to hand over mementos to the three eminent panelists, as a token of appreciation and gratitude.

Finally, Vivek summarized the evening’s learning and prodded the audience to begin this journey of Wholesome Leadership and leading change by ‘taking ownership’. He got the guests to remind themselves of the mantra ‘ If it is to be, it is up to me’ and with that, the evening of learning and sharing drew to a close.

But there was a surprise addition to the flow that no one anticipated. The Sous Chef at Sofitel was welcomed on to the stage by Vivek to share his ‘Special’ creation for the night, keeping the theme in mind. Chef Angad, explained that he had especially prepared ‘Wholesome food’ for Wholesome Leaders’ by a creative use of Wholesome ingredients, much to the delight and laughter of the audience.

As the guests made their way to a sumptuous spread, the panelists were swarmed by some of them eager to continue the Q&A and to seek some more wisdom from the three stalwarts. At about 10 pm, some good food, banter and networking later, curtains were drawn on a stupendous evening at Carpe Diem Mumbai 2013.

 (You can watch the full set of images from the event HERE)

The entire Pragati Leadership Team would like to thank the guests who attended this learning and networking event, despite other pressing engagements. We would also like to thank the staff and support team at Sofitel Hotel for making the event a well-organized and enjoyable experience. Last, but not the least, many thanks go out to our esteemed panelists for taking time out from their busy schedules and gracing the occasion.

 We look forward to hosting you/ your colleagues at the next edition of Carpe Diem 2013 at Delhi-NCR on October 4^th. To register for the event, please send an email to myneed@pragatileadership.com

ICF-Approved Coach Training Program starting March 21st

The Pragati FastTrack Coaching Program is a 60-hr, ICF-Approved Coach Training program ideal for leaders who want to hone their coaching skills. We prepare you towards becoming an accredited coach, keeping an Indian business context! Book your slot today!