Developing Purposeful Organisational Leadership (Purposeful Leadership – Part 10)

On November 30, 2025November 30, 2025 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, engagement., Leadership, purpose, purposeful leadership, Purposefulness, ValuesLeave a comment

In the previous article, we explored what purposeful organisational leadership means and why it matters. In this post, we focus on how leaders can intentionally develop purposeful organisational leadership, turning purpose from a statement into a lived reality across the organisation.

Start with Leadership Commitment

“I hold the view that leaders are better able to contribute to the flourishing of life if their actions are guided by a deeper sense of purpose” (De Silva, 2024, p.6). Therefore, purposeful organisational leadership needs to begin at the top. Senior leaders must embrace the organisation’s purpose as a guiding principle for decisions and behaviours. This commitment is not symbolic; it requires courage to prioritise purpose even when short-term pressures tempt compromise.

Make the Organisational Purpose Your Guiding Light

The starting point for developing purposeful organisational leadership is a clear purpose statement. This is not a marketing slogan; it is the organisation’s reason for being and its unique contribution to the flourishing of life. From this foundation, leaders can craft a mission statement that defines how the purpose will be delivered and set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) to drive long-term success.

Continue reading →

Purposeful Organisations (Purposeful Leadership – Part 9)

On October 31, 2025 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Leadership, purpose, purposeful leadership, Purposefulness, societal, Team Excellence, ValuesLeave a comment

In the previous articles, we explored the first two branches of purposeful leadership: self and people. In this post, we turn to the third and final branch, purposeful organisations. If purposeful leadership begins with the individual and extends to teams, its ultimate expression is in organisations that are guided by purpose rather than vision.

Beyond Vision: Why Purpose Matters

Traditional organisations often define themselves through vision statements, aspirations of what they want to become. While visions can inspire, they are frequently inward-looking, focused on growth, dominance, or profitability.

Purposeful organisations, by contrast, start with a deeper question: Why do we exist? The answer is not about market share or shareholder value; it is about contribution to the flourishing of life. “Flourishing workplaces require the re-creation of organisations to give life to a truly postmodern era of collaboration in order to facilitate organisations to flourish on this planet for future generations” (De Silva, 2024).

Purpose is not an add-on, like corporate social responsibility (CSR). It is not a department or a project. It is the organising principle of the entire enterprise. Every policy, process, and decisions flow from the purpose. Every role is designed to serve it. Every strategy is evaluated against it. Purpose becomes the compass that guides the organisation through daily decisions, complexities and change.

Continue reading →

Complexities of Purposeful People Leadership (Purposeful Leadership – Part 8)

On September 30, 2025 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, engagement., EQ, Leadership, purpose, purposeful leadership, Purposefulness, Team Excellence, ValuesLeave a comment

In the previous article, we explored how leaders can intentionally develop purposeful people leadership, an approach that transforms teams and organisations by aligning individual purpose with collective contribution.

While this aspiration is noble and deeply impactful, it is not without its complexities. In this post, we examine the challenges, paradoxes, and tensions that arise when we choose to lead people purposefully.

Cognitive Aspects

One of the first complexities arises from how people cognitively make sense of the notion of purposefulness. The concept of “purpose” is often misunderstood or conflated with goals. While goals are specific outcomes we strive to achieve, purpose is the deeper reason behind those goals, the “why” that gives them meaning. This distinction is not always clear, and many team members may struggle to grasp its relevance. Some may view purposefulness as abstract or philosophical, disconnected from the practical realities of work.

Moreover, individuals interpret purpose through the lens of their own experiences, beliefs, and values. What feels purposeful to one person may seem irrelevant or even threatening to another. Leaders must navigate these differences with sensitivity, helping people explore and articulate their own understanding of purpose without imposing a singular definition. This requires patience, dialogue, and a willingness to embrace ambiguity.

Continue reading →

Leading People Purposefully (Purposeful Leadership – Part 6)

On July 29, 2025 By Ranjan De SilvaIn belief, Business, Communications, engagement., EQ, family, happiness, Health Care, hope, Leadership, Life, Love, Personal Excellence, purpose, purposeful leadership, Purposefulness, RelationshipsLeave a comment

Purposeful leadership extends beyond the self. Once the leader becomes purposeful, the natural next step is to help others, team members, and teams become purposeful. This is not a directive process but a deeply human one, rooted in example, empathy, and engagement. In this article, we explore the second branch of purposeful leadership: leading people purposefully.

Purposefulness in people is transformative. It improves their personal lives, relationships, health, and peace of mind, and this inevitably enhances their effectiveness and contribution at work. The workplace becomes more than a place of transaction; it becomes a space of meaning. Families benefit too, as individuals carry their sense of purpose home, influencing their roles as parents, partners, and community members.

I have experienced this transformation personally. At the age of 27, I had climbed the corporate ladder rapidly to become a director of two subsidiaries of John Keells Holdings, Sri Lanka’s leading conglomerate. At the time, I was driven by ambition and the goal of professional success. I worked long hours, including weekends, and neglected many aspects of my life. I was overweight, frequently ill and hospitalised, disconnected from my young family, absent from church, and unaware of the importance of developing and empowering my team. I had no sense of purpose, only a relentless pursuit of achievement.

Everything changed when I discovered the notion of purposefulness and wrote the draft of my first purpose statement. I began going to the gym, spending quality time with my family, returning to church, reading, cutting excessive costs, investing the savings, and cultivating emotional maturity through meditation. This personal transformation awakened a desire to help my team grow. I began teaching them about purposefulness and supporting their development. As a result, my quality of life and work improved significantly. It was no longer a choice between work and life; it became a commitment to both work and life, harmoniously.

My doctoral research reinforces this understanding. As I wrote in my thesis:

“My research suggests that being purposeful helps understand life from a more holistic and altruistic manner, leads one to conduct life with decent human values, helps make choices beneficial to the flourishing of life, improves caring for the well-being of family and self, and choosing vocations which are aligned with an evolving life-purpose. Adjusting one’s lifestyle in this manner takes courage, determination, and self-discipline. However, persisting with such an aspiration leads to an improvement in the quality of life, generating happiness which, in turn, encourages persisting in being purposeful.” (De Silva, 2024)

I invite you to reflect on how you are leading people. Are you helping them become purposeful? Are you creating conditions for their flourishing? If not, what needs to change?

You may explore literature from my blog http://www.ranjandesilva.blog, my website http://www.ranjandesilva.com, and other sources. Speak with your trusted advisor. We will further explore the notion of purposeful leadership and methods of transformation in the upcoming blog posts.

In the next article of this series, we will explore how to develop purposeful people leadership, how leaders can intentionally cultivate purposefulness in others through structured development, coaching, and empowerment.

References

De Silva, R. L. G. (2024). Living Purposefully: An Inquiry into the Life of a Leadership Development Practitioner. (Doctoral dissertation, Hult Ashridge).

The Three Branches of Purposeful Leadership (Purposeful Leadership – Part 2)

On April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Leadership, Personal Excellence, purpose, Purpose Quest, purposeful leadership, Purposefulness, Team Excellence, Teams2 Comments

In the first article of this series, published last month, we explored the two keywords of the concept of purposeful leadership: purposefulness and leadership. As I mentioned earlier, I allow the series to unfold as in the process of finding purposefulness. Being purposeful means creating a positive impact on the people and environment one encounters (De Silva, 2024). As I reflected on this series, the idea of writing about the three branches of purposeful leadership emerged.

I use the metaphor of ‘branches’ rather than categories, boxes, or containers because I see the three core areas of purposeful leadership growing in unison, but at different speeds and proportions, much like the branches of a tree. The bigger branches grow stronger but perhaps more slowly, while the smaller branches grow faster but are not as strong. However, all branches, big or small, have a purpose in the growth of the tree.

Continue reading →

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Green (Purposeful Leadership – Part 1)

On March 2, 2025April 1, 2025 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, engagement., Leadership, Team Excellence2 Comments

A plant with the words *Purposeful Living* on the pot, given by my eldest daughter for Christmas 2020. This is a photo of it on the 1^st of January 2023. It has grown with the thesis.

Purposeful Leadership contains two ideas, purposefulness and leadership, which cannot be simplified or explained using a short definition. This is substance for a book or many. I commence this series of blog posts, not knowing the nature of articles nor the number of articles. I allow the series to unfold as in the process of finding purposefulness.

I must start somewhere, hence let me explain purposefulness in an over-simplistic manner. Purposefulness is a mindset that guides thinking, decisions and actions, with the flourishing of life being given importance. Flourishing of life begins with one’s own life, that of family, team, organisational stakeholders, environment, society, and the world at large. It’s simply for the flourishing of all forms of life. Being purposeful is a challenging aspiration, given the cognitive, practical, psychosocial and contextual complexities of the world we experience. Nevertheless, it is a worthwhile pursuit as discussed in my doctoral thesis; Living Purposefully: An Inquiry into the Life of a Leadership Development Practitioner (De Silva, 2024). Leadership is about the intention and effort to influence oneself, and those connected with oneself in personal and work roles. Therefore, purposeful leadership is enacting self-, team- and organisational leadership for the flourishing of life.

Continue reading →

Values – The Compass of Morality

On January 28, 2021January 31, 2021 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Conflict, engagement., Knowing, Leadership, Life, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Sales, Spiritual, Struggles, success, Team Excellence, ValuesLeave a comment

Think of the last time you had to make a difficult decision. A time where options were difficult to pick from. A time where the more materialistically profitable option did feel right. I have faced many such situation. I would like to share my personal experiences to help shed some light on this dilemma.

When I have such a dilemma I reflect on my aspired values to find direction as per the quote by Idowu Koyenikan in the visual above. The five values I attempt to live by are summarised I the following statement.

Continue reading →

Developing Values

On December 19, 2020January 31, 2021 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, engagement., Leadership, Personal Excellence, Team Excellence, ValuesLeave a comment

We inculcate values during our formative ages, influenced by family, teachers, religion and the society we live in. I always found it is difficult to ‘train’ people to live values as they are already part of each person. I also agree with the above quote by Jennifer Cruise; values do not take us get anywhere, they define us. Therefore what is the point of having values in an organisation and developing team members to live by organisational values.

Continue reading →

Being The Person You Are Destined To Be

On September 27, 2020January 31, 2021 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, energy, engagement., happiness, Leadership, Learnings that Matter, Personal Excellence, purpose, Relationships, success, Team Excellence1 Comment

Six questions you need to ask yourself to be the person you are destined to be – A presentation by Marshall Goldsmith.

Engage in this sincere presentation by Marshall Goldsmith and reflect on the six powerful questions he is prescribing. You may at-least start thinking in a manner that leads you to discover who you are meant to be. Enjoy the journey.

The following process can be used to create a learning experience for your team using this video.

Continue reading →

Purposefulness in Team Members – Can It Be Developed?

On September 20, 2020September 20, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, energy, engagement., happiness, Leadership, Learnings that Matter, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Sales, service, success, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Developing Purposefulness in Team Members – My presentation at the Asian & African Retail Congress in Mumbai India,

A presentation made to leaders in the retail industry at the Asia & Africa Retail Shopping Center Congress. Practical application of leadership and personal develop ent methods delivered with powerful concepts and personal experiences.

As you watch this video, reflect on steps you are taking and further steps you can take to develop purposeful team members in Your organisation.

The following process can be used to create a learning experience for your team using this video.

Step 1 – A moderator (an expert from your company) to open the session, explaining the importance of the session.

Step 2 – Show the video – let participants absorb, take notes and write down questions to ask later

Step 3 – Have a Q&A session and a discussion

Step 4 – Agree on actions to be taken based on the video

Step 5 – Participants to say how the session was useful.

How To Create Delightful Self-Sustaining Service

On September 13, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, energy, engagement., happiness, Leadership, Learnings that Matter, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Sales, service, success, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Ron Kaufman discusses his New York Times bestselling book Uplifting Service,

A proven path to delighting your customers, colleagues, and everyone else you meet. The book exposes a massive wound in a subject area that has become buried in weak distinctions, inadequate practices, and popular but shallow clichés. Ron explains the 5 key elements to build a self-sustaining service culture that can uplift an individuals, transform an organization, and ultimately change the world.

As you watch this video, reflect on steps you can take to engage the fickle minds of your children, team members and yourself.

The following process can be used to create a learning experience for your team using this video.

Step 1 – A moderator (an expert from your company) to open the session, explaining the importance of the session.

Step 2 – Show the video – let participants absorb, take notes and write down questions to ask later

Step 3 – Have a Q&A session and a discussion

Step 4 – Agree on actions to be taken based on the video

Step 5 – Participants to say how the session was useful.

The Coin That Makes The Difference

On September 8, 2020September 8, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Inspirational Speechs, Leadership, learning, Marketing, Personal Excellence, psychology, Relationships, Sales, service, success, Team Excellence, ValuesLeave a comment

What can a coin reveal about your service mindset? Listen to Ron Kaufman and discover.

As you watch this video by customer service guru Ron Kaufman, reflect on the ‘coin’ that is preventing you from reaching specialness. What will it take to pick up YOUR coin and get rid of it today?

Say ‘No’ to Distraction and Say ‘Yes’ to ‘Mastery’

On September 1, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, EQ, happiness, Health Care, hope, Inspirational Speechs, IQ, Leadership, learning, Life, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Spiritual, success, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Robin Sharma – on the dangers of your devise and other non-value adding addictions on your success and how to gain monomaniacal focus, using practical and neurological information.

As you listen to this powerful speech by Robin Sharma, reflect on steps you can take to kill the distractions of your life, build purposeful habits and give life and energy to your special talent … to achieve mastery purposefully.

The Pandemic & Money

On August 12, 2020August 13, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Cash Flow, learning, Life, Personal Excellence, purpose, Purpose Quest, Releasing, Spiritual, Struggles, Team Excellence, Values, World affairsLeave a comment

In the last 5 blog posts in the ‘purpose quest series’, we explored how the pandemic impacted five important pillars for purposeful living; spiritual, mental, emotional, relational and health. Let’s explore the sixth pillar, the financial aspect in this blog post. The financial pillar consist of four aspects earnings, expenses, savings and investments. As in the past five blog posts let me describe my personal experience during the pandemic.

With the announcement of the pandemic, cases starting to rise and lockdowns getting implemented, many of my clients decided to postpone sessions that were scheduled. In addition some of the industries my clients were in, specially the apparel industry was having orders getting cancelled, resulting in impending reduction in their cashflows. In the past too, some companies first eliminated people development budgets when such challenges arose. All this made me realise that I need to focus on planning my finances. Continue reading “The Pandemic & Money” →

Do You Find Passion or Does Passion Find You?

On August 11, 2020August 11, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, EQ, Inspirational Speechs, Leadership, Personal Excellence, purpose, success, ValuesLeave a comment

Inspirational speeches and interviews by Jeff Bezos

As you listen to this compilation of speeches and interviews of Jeff Bezos reflect on what makes you passionate and what you can you do to allow passion find me?

Pandemic and Relationships

On July 29, 2020July 29, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, EQ, family, Leadership, Personal Excellence, psychology, Purpose Quest, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence, ValuesLeave a comment

When lockdowns happened in mid-march I got standard in Dhaka without flights to return home. Therefore my experience is quite different to those who were with families and had to spend a lot of time with them while working or not working from home. However since returning home about 2 months ago I have been largely working from home that gives me the experience to reflect on that reality as well.

Being away from home with the uncertainty of when I will return home increased the concern towards me by mother, wife and daughters at home as well as my siblings and other relatives from various part of the world. The 10 weeks in Dhaka resulted in more communications with all my close family and other relatives more than ever before. Conversations among relatives resulted in each one inquiring from others about how they are affected by the pandemic, the impact on livelihood etc. Therefore there was concerned among each other for each other, much more than usual. Continue reading “Pandemic and Relationships” →

Do You Love Leading?

On July 14, 2020July 14, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, EQ, hope, Leadership, Love, purpose, Team Excellence, ValuesLeave a comment

Empathy & Perspective, an inspirational Speech By Simon Sinek

Everyone can be a leader. Everyone don’t want to be a leader. Everyone don’t have to be a leader. You need to love your people to be a leader. As you listen to this inspirational speech, reflect on if you love being a leader. If not why not? What steps would you do?

Inspirational Speeches

Measuring What Matters

On July 4, 2020July 4, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Learnings that Matter, success, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

The Human Performance Index at Work

HPI is the sum total of the actions, interactions, behaviors and collaboration of leaders, teams and individuals at all levels of a business that have direct or indirect impact on business performance. HPI is the answer to measuring the quality of organisational cultures that is vital for performance improvement. It also works as a tool to help make strategic decisions that enable creating a winning work culture.

A presentation by Ranjan De Silva at the Bangalore HR Summit 2011, titled HPI at work at Agora, the leading supermarket chain in Bangladesh.

The following process can be used to create a learning experience for your team using this video.

Step 1 – A moderator (an expert from your company) to open the session, explaining the importance of the session.

Step 2 – Show the video – let participants absorb, take notes and write down questions to ask later

Step 3 – Have a Q&A session and a discussion

Step 4 – Agree on actions to be taken based on the video

Step 5 – Participants to say how the session was useful.

learnings-that-matter-1

Is EQ the answer that IQ could not provide?

On June 27, 2020June 27, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, EQ, IQ, Knowing, Leadership, Learnings that Matter, Life, Personal Excellence, psychology, RelationshipsLeave a comment

In the name of psychology and neuroscience, Daniel Goleman shares his insights on why IQ is not an accurate predictor of how well one does in life. A new metric is called for, one he calls, ‘Emotional Intelligence’. Everyone has the capacity to develop their emotional skills and improve their EQ. This video shows you some examples of ways to cultivate your emotional intelligence so you can put them to work at home, in the workplace, and in your relationships.

Attention! The word ‘depression’ in this video simply refers to feelings of sadness and not ‘clinical depression’.

The following process can be used to create a learning experience for your team using this video. Continue reading “Is EQ the answer that IQ could not provide?” →

The Beautiful Paradox

On June 26, 2020June 26, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, hope, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, Pictures the Speak, psychology, purpose, Team Excellence, Values1 Comment

coaching pic

This is one of my favourite pictures that depicts the essence of learning. This is an executive coaching process underway for senior executives of the John Keells Holdings at the Cinnamon Citadel Hotel in Kandy, the Hill Capital of Sri Lanka. A peer coaching process where peers who participate in the coaching process, becomes a part of the coaching team together with the coach.

The beanbags and the dress code signify the informality of the process, the blend of colours signifies the diversity of the aspirations, hopes, concerns, issues, methods and solutions of the participants. The disorderly nature of the white chairs in the background with bags thrown around signifies the messiness that needs to be experienced in the learning and growth process. The flip charts signifies the formality of the work to be done. The sweets, water, snacks and tea provided shows the care taken to ensure the comfort of the participants. The intense listening and focus of the participants shows the seriousness, rigorous and the respect show to each other and the process.

Overall a beautiful blend of the soft and the hard, the messiness and the orderliness, the informality and formality, the soft and the hard touching hearts and minds for real, purposeful transformation.

Pictures that speak

Abundance Magnet

On June 10, 2020April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Cash Flow, Leadership, Personal Excellence, purpose, Releasing, Spiritual, Team Excellence, Values, World affairs1 Comment

Last week I started this series,’Purpose Quest’ to illustrate with narratives of how we search for purpose. We explored the question, Are we Searching for Purpose or is Purpose Searching for us? Today let me focus on one aspect of the story that I wrote last week, attracting abundance. Once the various social distancing norms were coming in to place and clients started postponing the various sessions that were planned, I was concerned about its impact on cash flow for my organisation and family. Therefore while starting to engage with government authorities in getting myself home and ensuring that my family back home in Sri Lanka was safe and comfortable, I started reflecting on the situation related to my practice. While there was some anxiety with regard to the situation, I was able to release such emotions using Releasing Techniques that I was learning and teaching since October last year. I will write about how releasing helped in an upcoming post. After having released the anxiety, my reflections reminded me of three principles and beliefs that could help; ‘God does not give challenges we cannot handle’, ‘focus on the process and let the outcome take care of itself’ (the 3rd principle of Mastery we teach during our Mastery of Self – NLP learning sessions) and ‘give and you shall receive’. So what steps did I take and how did it turnout? Continue reading →

Danger or Oppportunity?

On June 7, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Ecology, family, Health Care, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Quoates for Reflection, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence, ValuesLeave a comment

Reflection Guide

Yes the pandemic has many dangers in the medical, economic, social and psychological fronts. While recognising and reflecting on it, do reflect on the opportunities you have already recognised and yet to recognise.

Unlocking the Power of Mind

On June 6, 2020June 6, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, family, Health Care, Leadership, Learnings that Matter, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Sales, Spiritual, Team Excellence, ValuesLeave a comment

An introduction to Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and simple steps on how to unlock the power of mind and unleash our potential. A powerful and thought provoking 27 minute presentation by Ranjan De Silva at the ‘Unleashing Your DNA’ seminar at Zayed University Convention Center, Dubai, UAE.

The following process can be used to create a learning experience for your team using this video.

Step 1 – A moderator (an expert from your company) to open the session, explaining the importance of the session.

Step 2 – Show the video – let participants absorb, take notes and write down questions to ask later

Step 3 – Have a Q&A session and a discussion

Step 4 – Agree on actions to be taken based on the video

Step 5 – Participants to say how the session was useful.

Please send a message if you would like to receive a white paper that can help in your learning process.

I hope this learning process was useful in providing online learning to your team during the current down time so that they would be kept positive, motivated and sharp so that all of you would be geared to perform with excellence during the crisis and after.

Is Your Purpose Searching for You?

On June 3, 2020June 8, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Ecology, Knowing, Leadership, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Purpose Quest, Spiritual, World affairsLeave a comment

This series of ‘Purpose Quest’ will be illustrated with narratives of how we search for purpose. The question is, Are we searching for ‘purpose’ or is ‘purpose’ searching for us?

On the 14th of March, when I boarded the Sri Lankan airlines flight UL 189 to Dhaka I did not realise that I will have to stay in Dhaka for 10 weeks due to flight restrictions. The WHO had declared Covid-19 as a pandemic a few days ago. My mother was encouraging me to stay back without going as I had just recovered from a cough. I was hearing how passengers coming in to Sri Lanka from Europe were being taken to quarantine centres. Was the universe trying to inform me and help me make a purposeful choice?

Continue reading “Is Your Purpose Searching for You?” →

Variety is the Spice of Life

On June 3, 2020June 3, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Ecology, Economics, family, Health Care, Inspirational Speechs, Leadership, Learnings that Matter, Personal Excellence, Pictures that Speaks, psychology, purpose, Purpose Quest, Quoates for Reflection, Relationships, Songs for Growth, Soul Nourishing Poems, Spiritual, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Soul Nourishing Poems

Over the past two months I switched to a daily blog from the monthly blog I used to write. This was prompted by the pandemic and lockdowns that provided me the opportunity to spend more time indoors and online.

Learnings that Matter

I initially started with online learning videos and soul nourishing poems to share my life work for those needed to learn and those looking for inspiration while being at home.

Quotes for Reflection

Thereafter I introduced quotes for reflection and yesterday I added motivational speeches. Some of this work is from others who have inspired me, some from my colleagues and some my own presentations.

Inspirational Speeches

As I was reflecting on the purposefulness of my life yesterday, my mind went on to the online work I am doing. Something from within prompted me to expand my contribution to have one type of blog everyday of the week.

Songs for Growth

That prompted me to think of other types of work that inspired. Music and Art were two other areas that came to my mind and therefore I decided to experiment with ‘Songs for Growth’ and ‘Pictures the Speak’.

Pictures that speak

I needed one more. What is the seventh category? And then, ‘Purpose’ which is the core philosophy of my life, that I have been writing for the past 4 years, but have not focused too much on over the past 2 months popped in to my mind. Yes I miss writing those ‘purposeful living’ blogs. So the seventh category became ‘Purpose’ Quest’.

purpose quest-1

I invite you to join me in exploring the wonders of life through these seven categories. I welcome comments, feedback , life experiences, ideas and questions from you so that we can create ripples that makes this world a better place.

Potential in to Reality

On May 30, 2020June 3, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Potential Into Reality – The Leadership Challenge!

Your organization is a corporate leader. Your leaders reflect some of the best available global talent. Your aim is to of course optimise their individual AND collective potential. You also need to ensure that their priorities synergise, that they can leverage off each other to innovate productively, and that together they are creating a leadership and performance culture that will sustain your growth and progress in the years ahead.

The following process can help you get good value from this video: Continue reading “Potential in to Reality” →

People, Technology or Innovation?

On May 27, 2020June 3, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

People, Technology or Innovation – A candid discussion between Kamal Munasinghe and Coach Kamrul Hasan.

Learn about what is required for business success; people, technology or business? Kamal, a CEO of a leading Apparel Manufacturer in Bangladesh talks about business using his own industry experience, responding to thought provoking question from Coach Kamrul Hasan. Gain a practical perspective from people who have been there, done that.

The following process can help you get good value from this video:

Step 1 – A moderator (an expert from your company) to open the session, explaining the importance of the session.

Step 2 – Show the video – let participants absorb, take notes and write down questions to ask later

Step 3 – Have a Q&A session and a discussion

Step 4 – Agree on actions to be taken based on the video

Step 5 – Participants to say how the session was useful.

Please send a message if you would like to receive a white paper that can help in your learning process.

Mindfulness Leadership – Learning Video

On May 17, 2020May 17, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, purpose, Relationships, Team Excellence1 Comment

Free Online Videos

For Leaders

at All levels

Mindfulness Leadership by Tanzi Usoof

Learn how to be a better leader by using mindfulness practices. This is a skill which is even more important during times of anxiety when your mind is full. Learn how to empty your mind of the anxiety, worry, clutter etc. so that you can fully focus on your teams and inspire them to perform at their optimum.

I hope this could be useful in providing online learning to your team during the current down time so that they would be kept positive, motivated and sharp so that all of you would be geared to perform with excellence during the crisis and after.

The following process can help you get good value from this video:

Continue reading “Mindfulness Leadership – Learning Video” →

Interaction Personalities – Learning Video

On May 8, 2020May 11, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, family, Knowing, Leadership, Life-Insurance, Marketing, Personal Excellence, psychology, Relationships, Sales, Social networking, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

For Leaders at all levels and Sales & customer service Professionals

Interaction Personalities (10 mts) by Ranjan De Silva

Helps understand your quality of interactions by understanding the five interaction personalities of yourself and others. This in turn helps improve the way they interact with others, especially when dealing with conflicts. Includes free self assessment to find out your interaction personality.

The following process can help you get good value from this video:

Continue reading “Interaction Personalities – Learning Video” →

Transform Yourself – Learning Video

On May 5, 2020May 5, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Knowing, Leadership, Personal Excellence, RelationshipsLeave a comment

Today’s learning video – for everyone

Transform yourself through Jump Movement

By Ineke Hurkmans & CoachKamrul Hasan

JUMP method is a simple but powerful 7-step process. It’s a world-class method to bring your inside out for your self-empowerment.In this video, you will learn about the 7-step process and guidelines to perform it.

The following process can help you get good value from this video:

Continue reading “Transform Yourself – Learning Video” →

A Better Way to Sell – Learning Video

On May 2, 2020May 2, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Marketing, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Retail, Sales, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Today’s learning video – for those selling anything or service anyone … thats everyone

A Better Way to Sell (10 mts) by Ranjan De Silva

Helps you generate spectacular results by learning a better way to sell through Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). We All sell ideas, our talents, our brand image, our professional practice & products etc. Find out a better way to sell to generate better results.

The following process can help you get good value from this video:

Continue reading “A Better Way to Sell – Learning Video” →

EQ – IQ Balance – Learning Video

On April 30, 2020April 30, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, family, Knowing, Leadership, Personal Excellence, psychology, Relationships, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Today’s learning video – for people at all levels in organisation

EQ-IQ Balance by Ranjan De Silva (6 mts)

Helps understand the importance of having the right balance between our Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Quotient (EQ). It helps understand the reason why we think, make sense, decide and act the way we do. It also helps in understanding others better and how they think, make sense, decide and act, thereby improving relationships.

Includes free self assessment to find out your EQ-IQ balance.

The following process can help you get good value from this video:

Continue reading “EQ – IQ Balance – Learning Video” →

Natural Abilities – Learning Video

On April 26, 2020April 28, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, learning, Marketing, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Sales, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Free Online Videos

Today’s learning video – for Leaders at all levels:

Natural Abilities (10 mts) by Ranjan De Silva

Helps understand the four natural abilities and how getting your team members in to their natural ability areas helps you to achieve near optimum performance. Includes free self assessment to find out natural abilities.

I hope this could be useful in providing online learning to your team members, family, friends and self during the current down time so that they would be kept positive, motivated and sharp so that all of you would be geared to perform with excellence during the crisis and after.

You can watch this alone or learn with others in-room or Online.

The following process can help you get good value from this video:

Step 1 – A moderator (an expert from your company) to open the session, explaining the importance of the session.

Step 2 – Show the video,

Step 3 – Have a Q&A session and a discussion

Step 4 – Agree on actions to be taken based on the video

Step 5 – Participants to say how the session was useful.

In addition, we can also arrange online sessions or executive coaching for your current and future business needs. Please inbox if you would like to discuss options.

Mindfulness Based Customer Service – Learning Video

On April 22, 2020April 22, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, learning, Marketing, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Sales, Teams1 Comment

Today’s learning video is for Customer Service and Sales Professionals at all levels.

Mindfulness Based Customer Service by Tanzi Usoof

Learn how to provide better customer service by using mindfulness practices. This is a skill which is even more important during times of anxiety when your mind is full. Learn how to empty your mind of the anxiety, worry, clutter etc. so that you can fully focus on the customer with the intention of being of service to the customers.

How to get best value from the video:

Continue reading “Mindfulness Based Customer Service – Learning Video” →

Leadership Complexities -Learning Video

On April 18, 2020April 19, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, learning, Relationships, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Today’s learning video is for those in Senior Leadership Positions;

Leadership Complexities (10 mts) – Helps understand deep-seated leadership competencies and tips to deal with it. Includes free self assessment to find out own leadership complexity.

How to get best value from the video:

Continue reading “Leadership Complexities -Learning Video” →

Take a JUMP in to your purpose – Purpose of Living – Part 36

On March 1, 2020April 24, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, family, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Releasing, Spiritual, Team Excellence, Teams2 Comments

Jump-blog I have learnt that we keep discovering our higher purpose as we live life once we discover the notion of purpose and is conscious of its existence. This had got me in to the habit of reflecting, reviewing, refreshing and re-writing my purpose every month.
The first part of my current purpose statement is;

Inspire others to live a purposeful life based on their own evolving beliefs, values and methods.

This is based on my discovery of how my beliefs, values and methods evolved during my first-person inquiry and my discovery of how different people have different beliefs, values and methods that evolve as they attempt to live purposefully, during my second-person inquiry. First- and second-person inquiry are methods of action research that I adopt in my doctoral research into the notion of ‘purposeful living’. Continue reading “Take a JUMP in to your purpose – Purpose of Living – Part 36” →

The Purpose of Family – Purpose of Living – Part 35

On January 30, 2020August 5, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, family, Knowing, learning, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, SpiritualLeave a comment

purpose and family — Image credits: alagant-travel.com

It was not an easy decision to take 10 days off my busy schedule and travel to the other side of the planet to be with my sister for one of her milestone birthdays. It was not easy because I had to allocate time to respond to time demanded by my clients and team.

However, I made the decision, went through many challenges getting the visa because my busy travel schedule provided me only a small window to obtain the visa, worked long hours to clear as much work as possible so that I can be with the families of my sister and brothers during this time.

I am so glad that I made this decision to see the joy in my sisters face when I arrived at her door at 7am a few days ago, with my brother who picked me up from the Toronto Airport. I am so glad that I can spend time with the families of my brother and sister, catching up on their lives, sharing nostalgic moments, visiting interesting places, and spending quality time together.

Continue reading “The Purpose of Family – Purpose of Living – Part 35” →

Stress & Life Purpose – Purpose of Living – Part 31

On September 29, 2019June 1, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Health Care, Leadership, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence1 Comment

Stress and Life Purpose — Image credits: lifealchemyblog.com

Managing stress was at the center of a coaching discussion I had with a CEO a few months ago. He was very successful and his success is attributed to the hard work he put in to his job. He gave his job first place and was willing to work late in to the evening, work on weekends and travel extensively for the success of his organization.

He had not adequately developed his team to take over responsibilities as he preferred to get things done on his own. While this worked for a while, it was taking its toll when the organization grew to a larger scale. He was also having issues at home as his two teenage sons had lost interest in studies and sports and preferred a lazy life engrossed in video’s and games using the expensive devises the father had purchased for them. His wife had given up trying to get him involved in family matters and was trying to manage on her own, but the absence of the father’s love, guidance and attention could not be compensated adequately by her. This is a source of stress when he returns home.

Continue reading “Stress & Life Purpose – Purpose of Living – Part 31” →

Living our Dream Purposefully – Purpose of Living – Part 30

On August 31, 2019July 31, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Conference learnings, Health Care, Life-Insurance, Marketing, Personal Excellence, purpose, Relationships, Sales, Spiritual, Sri LankaLeave a comment

NAFLIA 2019 Presentation (Click here to Download Powerpoint)

NAFLIA 2019 Presentation (Click here to download PDF)

Click on the above link for the presentation related to the keynote speech to be given by me at NAFLIA 2019. Conference participants are invited to download the presentation and use it to follow the keynote speech.

This blog is written in service of life-Insurance Advisors in Sri Lanka, specifically the members attending NAFLIA 2019, the National Forum for Life Insurance Advisors scheduled for the 2^ndof September. My attempt is to articulate the key messages of the keynote speech that will be delivered by me.

As I was reflecting on the topic for the annual conference, ‘Assuring Tomorrow Dream Today’. The questions that come up are, what is the action we need to take today to assure our dream of tomorrow? How do we know the action we choose to take today will assure our dream tomorrow? I realised this is a very complex question and that there is no standard answer to this as the action to be taken depends of the world each person lives in. What I mean by the ‘world’ is the immediate world of each person starting with him/herself, family, friends, organisations they belong to, organisations and people they interact with etc. The answer is personal.

Continue reading →

Is Selling a Purposeful Profession – Purpose of Living – Part 29

On July 31, 2019August 1, 2019 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Marketing, Personal Excellence, purpose, Relationships, Sales, Spiritual1 Comment

purposeful sales person 2 — Image credits: businessknowhow.com

I was at a cocktail party listening to an interesting conversation between two other guests who were in the same huddle as me.

Person A: What do you do?

Person B: I sell financial services.

Person A: What do you really want to do?

Person B: I want to be banker.

I asked A why he asked that question, and B why he responded that way. A said, “isn’t selling a profession that is not respected?” B said “yes”, it is so difficult to sell because customers look at him with suspicion. In my three decades of being in business and playing the roles of seller, buyer, leader, trainer, consultant and coach of sales professionals, I have encountered this attitude towards sales on many occasions.

However, my personal attitude towards sales is the opposite. As I reflect on the questions – how is it that people have developed this attitude towards sales, and what would be the best way to help people to look differently at sales? – the notion of purposefulness continues to come to my mind. Perhaps if I can find out if ‘sales’ is a purposeful profession, then it might help me to engage with people who have diverse viewpoints regarding this question.

Answering the above question requires understanding what is a purposeful profession. While I have attempted to answer this question in the earlier blog posts regarding purposefulness, there is no definite answer due to the complexity of this question. I believe that a purposeful profession needs to be of service to the flourishing of life and supported by noble values. Let’s examine these two aspects in relation to the sales profession. Continue reading “Is Selling a Purposeful Profession – Purpose of Living – Part 29” →

When purposes clash at the workplace – Purpose of Living – Part 25

On March 31, 2019May 10, 2019 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Team Excellence, TeamsLeave a comment

collegue purpose conflits — Image credits: http://www.insperity.com

Have you ever faced a situation where you have a purpose that clashes with the purpose of a colleague, such as your boss, peer or a direct report? Has this situation led to misunderstandings, arguments, anger, click formation, politicking and even violence that starts affecting the business of the organisation? How did you handle the situation? Has it made you become disgruntled about the notion of ‘purposeful living’ and even resulted in discouraging team members in living purposefully. I will try to address this issue in this blog post from the experience I have had in dealing with such situations as a team member from within the organisation or as a consultant and coach from outside the organisation. Continue reading “When purposes clash at the workplace – Purpose of Living – Part 25” →

When Purposes Clash in Families – Purpose of Living – Part 24

On February 28, 2019February 28, 2019 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Health Care, Knowing, Leadership, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Spiritual1 Comment

Have you ever had a situation where you have a purpose different to the purpose of a family member, such as a spouse, parent, sibling or child? Has this situation led to misunderstandings, arguments, anger, violence or estrangement? How did you handle the situation? Has it made you become disgruntled about the notion of ‘purposeful living’. I will try to address this issue in this blog post from the limited experience I have had in dealing with such situations.

Recently I had the opportunity of counselling a couple who were facing such a situation; the husband is a successful chief executive of a company and the wife is a senior manager in a bank. They have two adorable children. The family is financially sound with means of passive income. The husband was very caring to the family and they were always happy. The wife had always been supportive of the husband, specially in the early days of their marriage when he was struggling to move up the corporate ladder, while caring for the children. Continue reading “When Purposes Clash in Families – Purpose of Living – Part 24” →

Purpose of Living – Part 21: Inspiring others to live a purposeful life

On November 30, 2018April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Ecology, Health Care, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Spiritual, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the next ten blog posts. I invite you now to reflect on the ninth aspect in the model of purposeful living– inspiring (the dark blue colour circle in the model). While this is the ninth and final circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine circles, it’s not necessarily chronological. There could be also other circles that are yet to be discovered. Once we gather momentum in living purposefully, we start inspiring others to live purposefully as well.

This blog-post deals with our responsibility to inspire others to live a purposeful life. We can inspire others by design or by accident. On one hand, others can get inspired when they see the improvement of our quality of life as we attempt to live a purposeful life. Living a purposeful life includes; living with a set of positive values, engaging in spiritual activities, looking after our health, building quality relationships, building financial stability, developing intellect and allocating time for purposeful activities. On the other hand, we could use our roles in life to inspire others. These roles include being a parent, sibling, relative, teacher, leader, colleague, author, speaker, and social figure such as a sportsman, entertainer, business leader, religious leader and social leader etc. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 21: Inspiring others to live a purposeful life” →

Purpose of Living – Part 20: Learning & Growing as we Struggle to be Purposeful

On October 30, 2018April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Health Care, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, purpose, Relationships, Spiritual, Teams2 Comments

struggle-has-purpose — Image Credits: Grouphigh.com

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the next nine blog posts. I invite you to now reflect on the eighth aspect in the model of purposeful living– Learning & Growing; the bronze colour circle in the model. While this is the eighth circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine circle process, it’s not necessarily chronological. Learning and growth that occurs due to an experience could make us feel fully alive and of service to the world and this can make us reflect and find purpose. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 20: Learning & Growing as we Struggle to be Purposeful” →

Purpose of Living – Part 19: Responding to the Universe

On September 29, 2018April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Ecology, Environment, Health Care, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Spiritual, TeamsLeave a comment

universe responding to purpsoe — http://www.breathethinkwriterelease.com

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the next eight blog posts. I invite you to now reflect on the seventh aspect in the model of purposeful living– Responding (the dark green colour circle in the model). While this is the seventh circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine circles, it’s not necessarily chronological. An opportunity received could make someone feel fully alive and of service to the world and this can make him/her reflect and find purpose.

This blog-post deals with responding to the opportunities provided to us from the universe. I use the word universe to describe the energy system, a higher power that makes this planet tick. Those who are religious would make sense of this higher power as God, Allah or the Almighty. Whatever we call this power, I feel we are not intelligent enough to understand this higher power and it requires faith or a brilliant scientific mind. I believe the opportunities can come our way or we can go looking for the opportunities. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 19: Responding to the Universe” →

Purpose of Living – Part 16: Building Self to be Fit for Purpose

On June 29, 2018April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Ecology, Environment, Health Care, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Spiritual5 Comments

Building ourselves to live purposefully

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last five blog post. I invite you to now reflect on the fourth aspect in the model of purposeful living– Building – the light blue colour circle in the model. While this is the fourth circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine steps; it’s not necessarily chronological.

This blog-post deals with building ourselves to be fit for purpose. I believe that God almighty or the universal energy system, or whatever way you make sense of the energy that makes life tick, would send us the opportunities to make our contribution to life. It could be a calling, a vocation, an opportunity to serve or an opportunity to further develop ourselves.

When I had a glimpse of my purpose 22 years ago, I decided to build myself by developing my spirituality through regular prayer and meditation, my health through regular visits to the gym, my relationships through spending more quality time with my family and team members, and my knowledge through re-introducing the reading habit to my life. These are four areas where we need to build ourselves; spiritual, physical, relational and mental. I started improving in these four areas and I felt successful and happy as a result, giving me peace of mind resulting in the improvement of the fifth aspect; emotional. I found I was getting less angry and was less frustrated when things did not go according to my plans. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 16: Building Self to be Fit for Purpose” →

Purpose of Living – Part 15: Purposeful Choices

On May 31, 2018April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Health Care, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, purpose, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence2 Comments

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last four blog post. I invite you to now reflect on the third aspect in the model of purposeful living– The choices (the orange colour circle in the model). While this is the third circle, in real life it can happen anywhere in the nine steps; it’s not chronological in real life.

This aspect deals with making choices once we have a glimpse for the beginning of what our purpose might be. When I had a glimpse of my purpose 22 years ago, I made choices such as finding opportunities to improve my knowledge regarding personal development through Neuro Linguistic Programming and organisational development through continuous improvement by reading and conducting training for my team at Keells Super, and attempting to apply this knowledge in my work and personal life. I started spending more time with my family because helping them grow and see them grow gave me joy. They are the oxygen that energized my flame. These choices were relevant to my purpose, which was about helping myself grow to my fullest potential by helping others to grow to their fullest potential. I started going to the gym regularly as I wanted to keep my body in shape so that I am fit to do purposeful work. I started to pray and meditate regularly and felt peace of mind. I also started to be more helpful to others thereby building high quality relationships. I knew all these were in some way connected to my purpose as I really felt good doing it. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 15: Purposeful Choices” →

Purpose of Living – Part 13: Awareness about the Notion of Purpose

On March 30, 2018March 31, 2018 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Ecology, Health Care, Knowing, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Spiritual2 Comments

Purposeful Life - mar 2018 — Image credits: Centre for disability and development – Texas A&M University a caption

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last two blog post. I invite you to now reflect on the first aspect in the model of purposeful living – Awareness, the grey circle.

This aspect deals with how we become aware of the notion of purpose, and realise the importance of living purposefully. There are some who are aware of the notion of purpose, but do not realise the importance of living a purposeful life. There are others who are aware of the notion of purpose and its importance as well. I believe both aspects are needed to motivate us to start seeing the glimpse of our own purpose, the second aspect of the model of purposeful living. Let’s explore these two aspects in the next two paragraphs.

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 13: Awareness about the Notion of Purpose” →

Purpose of Living – Part 12: Making Sense of our purpose – the space

On February 28, 2018April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Ecology, Environment, Health Care, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, SpiritualLeave a comment

psychic energy — Image credits: http://getcontent.wordpress.com

We explored the notion of purpose from various viewpoints in the first ten blog posts in this series. We then started making sense of our purpose in the last blog post, the eleventh in the series. I invited you to explore a model of purposefulness that has been developed over the past three years of my doctoral studies. This is still work in progress and will continue to evolve in this year of writing my thesis and beyond. However, I believe it has potential to help us make sense of our purpose because my professional practice over the past 20 years and my doctoral inquiry so far over the past three years has informed me of possible ways of making sense of our purpose.

The model as it stands now, presented in the previous (eleventh) blog post is based on the notion that our sense of purpose, that may evolve with life, is related to making a positive impact on the process of life using the talent, passion and compassion of each living being. I used the metaphor of the sun that provides us energy and inspiration, to explain purpose and the nine planets as the various aspects related to living purposefully. These aspects are related to each other through the space it resides in and I have a hunch that the space is the real thing. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 12: Making Sense of our purpose – the space” →

Purpose of Living – Part 10: The Action Logics (Post – Conventional) Viewpoint

On December 28, 2017December 29, 2017 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Ecology, Environment, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, purpose, Spiritual, Team Excellence8 Comments

Action logics - post con copy — Post – Conventional Action logics & Life Purpose

We explored the notion of purpose from the viewpoints of Abrahamic Religions, Eastern Philosophies, Early Sciences, Modern Sciences, Philosophy, Psychology, Ecology and Action Logics (pre-conventional) viewpoints in the past blog posts in this series. Let’s now have a look at this notion from an ‘Action Logics (post-conventional)’ viewpoint.

I started the previous blog post with an attempt to understand the notion of ‘Action Logics’, which tries to explain the ‘logic’ behind the ‘action’ we take. Most unspontaneous actions are based on decisions, which are rational, and therefore they could be based on an intention, reason or purpose. The four pre-conventional action logics; opportunist, diplomat, expert and achiever, explored in the last blog post was based on the degree of mutuality and expertise.

Let’s attempt to explore post-conventional action logics in this blog post based on the proposition by Greuter Cooke (2002). According to a research study in the USA of about 4300 adults, it was found that 18.2% belong to the post-conventional group. While it is difficult to define post-conventional, to me it seems like those who are more mature, wiser, selfless, seeking happiness through harmony, simplicity, generosity and spirituality, would fall into this group. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 10: The Action Logics (Post – Conventional) Viewpoint” →

Purpose of Living – Part 9: The Action Logics (pre-conventional) Viewpoint

On November 29, 2017November 30, 2017 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, purpose, Relationships, Teams, Uncategorized2 Comments

action logics -pre con copy — Pre-conventional Action Logics

We explored the notion of purpose from the viewpoints of Abrahamic Religions, Eastern Philosophies, Early Sciences, Modern Sciences, Philosophy, Psychology & Ecology in the last few blog posts in this series. Let’s now have a look at this notion from an ‘Action Logics (pre-conventional)’ viewpoint.

Let’s first try to understand the notion of ‘Action Logics’. It tries to explain the ‘logic’ behind the ‘action’ we take. Most action is based on decisions unless it is spontaneous. If decisions are well thought out and rational, they could be based on an intention, reason or purpose. This shows that actions can be based on a reason or purpose.

Therefore, the logic behind decisions we make that determine actions we take, could have an impact on the quality of the decision and the resultant action. The notion of action logics[1] has some potential in understanding this phenomenon.

The developers of the ‘Action Logics’ model proposes two broad categories of Action Logics: pre-conventional and post conventional. According to a research study in the USA of 4300 plus adults, it was found that 85% belong to the pre-conventional group. While it is difficult to define pre-conventional, to me it seems like those who are more materialistic, achievement oriented, less mature, younger and competitive would fall in to this group. Let me try to make sense of the four pre-conventional ‘Action-Logics’ in relation to purposeful living. Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 9: The Action Logics (pre-conventional) Viewpoint” →

Purpose of Living – Part 7: The Psychological Viewpoint

On September 29, 2017April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, psychology, purpose, Relationships, Spiritual2 Comments

psychology of purpose — http://www.webpt.com

We explored the notion of purpose from the view point from Abrahamic Religions, Eastern Philosophies, Early Sciences, Modern Sciences and Philosophy in the last few blog posts in this series. Let’s now have a look at this notion from some of the Psychological viewpoints.

Although having been appointed to boards of two of the companies of John Keells Holdings, at the age of 27, after having been appointed Marketing Manager of that company at the age of 24, largely due to the gold medal I won at the final examination of the UK based Chartered Institute of Marketing examination, and many corporate successes, I had a sense of emptiness and meaninglessness in my life during my early thirties. The various solutions applied to deal with this emptiness were related to attempting to think and act positively after having attended the ‘Mastery of Self’ playshop during that period. I also find many of the participants attending workshops I facilitate grappling with such emptiness.

Positive psychology – A science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions promises to improve quality of life and prevent the pathologies that arise when life is barren and meaningless – addresses this feeling of emptiness, described with the word ‘barren’. The exclusive focus on pathology that has dominated so much of our discipline results in a model of the human beings lacking the positive features that makes life worth living. Hope, wisdom, creativity, future mindedness, courage, spirituality, responsibility, and perseverance are ignored or explained as transformations of more authentic negative impulses (Seligman, Csikszentmihalyi, 2014, p.5).

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 7: The Psychological Viewpoint” →

Purpose of Living – Part 5: The Viewpoint from Modern Sciences

On July 30, 2017November 4, 2021 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Health Care, Knowing, Personal Excellence, purpose, SpiritualLeave a comment

purpose - modern science3 — Image Credits: http://www.powepresive.com

We explored the notion of purpose from the perspective of Abrahamic Religions, Eastern Philosophies and early sciences in the last few blog posts in this series. Let’s now have a look at this notion from some of the modern scientific viewpoints.

Modern sciences have developed new theories, from the findings of the early sciences, about the evolution of life. An initial review of this literature does not provide specific answers regarding the purpose of life and the purposeful living of beings, specifically human beings. Therefore, this body of knowledge needs to be further analysed for deeper and wider understanding, which could lead to a theory regarding purposefulness (major theme in my doctoral inquiry). The discovery of Nuclein and Double Helix Structure of DNA by Crick, Watson and Wilkins (Olby, 1974) has helped deeper understanding of its role in the makeup of human beings, providing potential to understand the purpose of our lives.

Continue reading “Purpose of Living – Part 5: The Viewpoint from Modern Sciences” →

How to change your habits with Action Inquiry

On February 28, 2017September 20, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Health Care, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

ranjans-reflective-model — Ranjan De Silva’s Reflective Process

Joseph tends to get angry when his wife Judy asks him too many questions? He notices this tendency and realizes that his response hurts Judy. But this thought does not come to his mind when he is angry. He feels this is not helpful for their relationship, which has been deteriorating gradually.

You may have faced similar situations with family, friends, colleagues or anyone else you have regular interactions or you may know others who are facing similar challenges. Have you ever wondered why it has been sometimes very difficult to change a habit?

While I have been using techniques of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Transactional Analysis (TA) to help myself and those who come for my guidance, to change habits, I was fascinated by the power and potential of Action Inquiry in achieving real and lasting change.

Continue reading “How to change your habits with Action Inquiry” →

Preparing for a fruitful 2017

On December 29, 2016December 30, 2016 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence, Teams, UncategorizedLeave a comment

2016 is almost over and I hope you made good progress during the year. Some of us would say it was an awesome year, some would say it was an average year and some others would say it was not a good year! The best we can do is to use the learning from 2016 so that we can make 2017 a better one.

I am pleased to present a simple four-step process to help you prepare for a fruitful 2017.

Step 1: Let’s start by doing this simple reflective exercise to take the resources from 2016 for a better 2017. Answer the following question in writing or in an artful form such as a picture, poem, collage, structure etc.

What were my biggest successes in 2016? What did I learn from it?
What were my biggest failures in 2016? What did I learn from it?
Who am I grateful for 2016? (Those who helped me and was tough on me)

Once the above is done, allow some time for the energy and learnings to settle in before starting the preparation for 2017.
Continue reading “Preparing for a fruitful 2017” →

Understanding and Dealing with Misunderstandings

On December 1, 2016December 6, 2016 By Natasha (De Silva) PalansuriyaIn Business, Communications, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, Relationships, SpiritualLeave a comment

blog Let me use the words of the ‘Cookie Thief’ poem by Valerie Cox, I recite at trainings and the ‘ladder of inference’ developed by Coghlan & Brannick (2014, p.31) to attempt to figure out why we have misunderstandings. I will interrupt the poem and use the seven steps of the ‘ladder of inference’ model during the interludes in this attempt.

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. . .grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene. Continue reading “Understanding and Dealing with Misunderstandings” →

Intelligence: Is it a Window into our Purpose?

On October 26, 2016September 20, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, Relationships, SpiritualLeave a comment

multiple_intelligence_wheel — Image Credits: http://www.rotation.org

My previous blog titled ‘why try to be a banana when you are a peach’ attempted to discuss the idea that we are unique and for me living purposefully is trying to discover if I am a Peach or a banana or something else and trying to live as one. I also feel that having a glimpse of what might be purpose would help make choices on how to live and we can get confirmation if those are congruent with purpose through bodily signals. I believe it is a life long search, and that living our life inquiring what our purpose might be, could help us find happiness… what ever that might mean to each of us.

In this blog post I would like to discuss if an exploration in to multiple intelligences could help us in the pursuit of finding purpose in our life. Howard Gardner introduces the concept of multiple intelligences and suggests that each one of us may have some predominant intelligence in us. The list of intelligences he suggests are; bodily physical, verbal/linguistic, mathematical/logical, visual/spatial, musical, inter-personal and intra-personal. The following description might be helpful in starting to think about our predominant intelligence.

Continue reading “Intelligence: Is it a Window into our Purpose?” →

Why try to be a Banana, when you are a Peach?

On September 30, 2016April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Knowing, Leadership, learning, Personal Excellence, Relationships, SpiritualLeave a comment

peaches-bananas — Image Credits: http://www.keywordhut.com

I could be the most delectable, the most delicious, the most wondrous peach in the world, and I could offer it to everybody. But there are people who are allergic to peaches. Then they may want me to be a banana.” And so often we become a banana for other people who want peaches. What a messy fruit salad. Isn’t it all right to say to them, “I am so sorry I cannot be a banana? I would love to be a banana if I could for you, but I’m a peach.” And you know what? If you wait long enough, you’ll find a peach lover. And then you can live your life as a peach, and you don’t have to live your life as a banana. All the lost energy it takes to be a banana, when you’re a peach!

This is a part of a poem I love, written by the author of ‘Love’ Leo Buscaglia. It had an amazing impact on my life and the choices I make. This has helped me to continue to search for my God-given gift by asking the questions; what do I love to do? What am I good at? What is important to me? These reflections have led me to find a sense of my ‘purpose’ and I continue to ask myself questions to inquire if that is my purpose. Such inquiry has also changed the questions and I ask and the third question above has now changed to; for what or who am I in service of?

Continue reading “Why try to be a Banana, when you are a Peach?” →

Natural – Abilities: the new Success Mantra?

On August 1, 2016April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Team Excellence, Teams1 Comment

Unique ability — Image Credits: http://www.buzzel.com

Let’s first try to understand what is ‘Natural-ability’ before trying to understand what your Natural-ability is and how to use this potent idea in improving your effectiveness individually and as a team.

Natural-Ability is a description for a level of ability. To simplify it let me offer four broad levels of ability. At the bottom is ‘Inability’, where we just can’t do a particular task. The next level is ‘Learnt-ability’, where we can do a particular task. The third level is, ‘Excellent’ where we not only can do a particular task, but we can do it well. We can get up to ‘Excellent’ level through training and developing our skills. But to get to the fourth level, ‘Natural-ability’ we would not only be really good at doing a particular task, but we are passionate about, it energizes us and it inspires others. It is simply something natural in us. Therefore I believe we cannot get to the level of Natural-ability by training ourselves, it should be within us. It is a word used to describe your natural strengths. It also highlights your responsibility to put your talents to work for the shared purposes of those with whom you make a commitment of this tremendous energy.

Continue reading “Natural – Abilities: the new Success Mantra?” →

Why we do, what we do – Part 2

On May 31, 2016September 14, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence, TeamsLeave a comment

We examined why we do what we do from the Action Logic framework Introduced by Greuter Cooke (Cooke 2002) where we discussed the four pre-conventional action logics; opportunist, diplomat, expert and achiever. Click here to read the previous blog. This paper takes us to the post-conventional action logics; Individualist, Strategist, Alchemist and Ironist.

We need to remember that only about 15% of adult population, based on research done on a sample of adults in the United States, operate with post-conventional action logics. I suspect the percentage may not be too different in other parts of the world, but I feel the percentage may be higher in the east (countries around India and China) due to the long history of mindfulness practices such as meditation, yoga etc. that we adopt. It is also important to note that those in lower action logics may find it difficult to relate to and practice higher action logics, but those operating in higher action logics, finds it easy to relate to and operate in lower action logics as required.

Since the transition from pre-conventional action logic, let’s go back to the example of Sara, I wrote about in my earlier blog, who transitioned from a ‘expert’ action logic and learnt how to listen, take feedback and discuss different options presented by her colleagues. This approach not only helped her to make better decisions, as she is richer in perspectives, it has also strengthened her relationships with her colleagues.

Continue reading “Why we do, what we do – Part 2” →

Why we do, what we do?

On April 30, 2016September 13, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence1 Comment

Think of the last time you reflected upon an action you took? Remember asking yourself the question why did I do what I just did? Sometime we may not even ask this question, thinking it is the way it is or it is meant to be or you were too busy to do so. Even if we asked this question we may not think deep enough to reflect on the root causes. Sometimes, even if we thought deep enough, we may not reflect on alternate ways of responding to the same situation the next time. Sometimes, even if we thought of alternate ways of responding the next time, we may not reflect on alternate actions we could take the next time. Those who go through this whole process and take alternate action the next time, and continue to follow this process, will find tremendous personal growth.

Continue reading “Why we do, what we do?” →

Power of Purpose for Leadership Success!

On February 29, 2016February 29, 2016 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Health Care, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Social networking, Spiritual, Team Excellence, Teams1 Comment

Purposeful Leadership — Image Credits: salitabacchi.com

What makes a difference between an ordinary leader and an extra ordinary leader?

While there could be many reasons for this difference, I would like to propose the idea of ‘Purpose’.

I remember the time where I was responsible for business results in a company before I found my purpose. My primary focus is to achieve profit target of the company. This was pursuing a goal set by my company; it was not even a purpose. My life was about going to work every day, making decisions on how best to be better than competitors and using (yes using them without thinking of their growth & welfare) the people allocated to me in achieving these goals. Unknowingly I was neglecting my health, spirituality, my relationships, my financial health and I was squandering my time. I remember those days where I was hospitalized with stress attacks, struggling to pay my bills, gaining weight and working long hours. Fortunately I had a drive to educate myself, perhaps to overcome the fear of financial challenges and the passion to spend time with my children, perhaps because blood is thicker than water and, as they were such adorable children.

My life changed when I was fortunate enough to write a purpose during the first Mastery of Self playshop I attended. What was powerful about the purpose was it helped me to know myself deeper and to see the life I am designed to live. Formulating a realistic five year and Continue reading “Power of Purpose for Leadership Success!” →

Passion Killers and Passion Ignitions

On January 16, 2016August 16, 2020 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence, TeamsLeave a comment

passion killers vs ignitions

We are born as passionate beings and somewhere down the line some of us started seeing the diminishing or absence of that passion. This piece of writing will attempt to identify the reasons for the diminishing of passion, the role we play in killing passion and what role can we play to ignite that passion. I have found that using the energy within the hearts and minds of our teams by igniting their passion as one of the most productive and cost effective ways of driving performance.

Reflecting on our childhood where we had all the energy to live life will confirm this. Observe a baby showing the need for affection with her passionate cry for attention. Observe children passionate about playing the games they love to play. Observe children passionately asking for the toy of their choice from their parents. We also carry this passion to our adulthood in areas that are important to us. Observe a young man passionately pursuing to foster a relationship with the woman of his dreams. Observe a musician singing his heart out entertaining his fans. Observe and entrepreneur passionately promoting his business.

Continue reading “Passion Killers and Passion Ignitions” →

Gearing up for an Awesome 2016

On January 1, 2016February 3, 2016 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence, Teams1 Comment

plan 2016 — Image Credits: dreamtime.com

Let’s make 2016 an awesome year! Trust you have already done the two activities recommended in my blog in taking the best of 2015 to make the best of 2016. Having done that would help in making this activity even more powerful. The first blog is about doing a gratitude list; people and happenings durign the year that you are grateful for. This activity makes us generate the positive energy required to gear up for the new year. See more details about this activity following this link. The second blog is about taking stock of 2015. See more details about this activity following this link. However if you are short of time you may do the activity in this blog post as a stand-alone activity and make a note to re-visit the earlier two activities if time permits.

We prepare our mind for success and failure based on how we programme, condition and prepares it. A positive mind will activate the ‘Reticular Activating System’ [RAS] to experience [see, hear, feel, smell, taste] positive situations if we are looking for it and open to it. Therefore if you are looking for the ideal ‘Masters Degree’ to pursue in 2016, once you see, hear and feel yourself enjoying pursuing the masters degree successfully in your mind, your brain will filter and pick up ides for the ‘Masters Degree’ from the millions of stimuli bombarding us every second of our life.

Gearing up for an awesome 2016

Given below are two processes. The first process will help you come up with an inspirational plan. The second is to take steps in implementing the plan. Given below are the steps in coming up with the inspirational plan; this can be done individually, with your family or with your team.

Step 1: List down three big goals you [or your family or your team] would like to achieve in 2016.

Continue reading “Gearing up for an Awesome 2016” →

Take the best of 2015 to make the best of 2016 (Part 2): Taking Stock of 2015

On December 30, 2015December 30, 2015 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Part 1 of this series, “The Gratitude List”, was published on the 20^th of December. Here is part 2 for you. Taking stock of this year helps generate the energy, creativity and aspiration to plan an amazing 2016. Here is a process that has worked for me. As I always say, what works for me may not work for you. So therefore there is no ‘Right’ process. However I invite you to test this out and improve it to suite your situation if required.

Step 1: List down the 3 biggest achievements during the year.

Step 2: List down the 3 biggest setbacks during the year

Step 3: Do some reflective writing with regard to each of the items list in step 1 & 2 above using the following process. Find a quite place, get a nice notebook and a pen that writes well and take your time doing it. First complete the biggest achievement and set back before going on to the next.

Describe the situation
What were you thinking/feeling before, during and after the situation
What was good and/or bad about your behaviour during each situation
What sense can you make about your behaviour and potential to change in each situation
What alternate action could have been taken during each of the situations?
What steps would you take to make each situation better if it arises during the next year?

You could also follow the above process with your life partner, family and/or team. It will be an amazing bonding exercises too.

I will be back with further guidance in helping you to do a spectacular transition from 2015 in to 2016.

Wish you purposeful living with happiness and excellence.

How Marketers can Add Value to the Organisation

On September 25, 2015September 26, 2015 By Natasha (De Silva) PalansuriyaIn Business, Communications, Conference learnings, Leadership, Marketing, Personal Excellence, Relationships1 Comment

Source: http://www.networkintellect.com

Organisations consist of people who are varied. People come from varied cultures, mindsets, beliefs, philosophies, and background. This diversity creates varied dynamics of interactions. Therefore it is unlikely that there are two similar organisations on this planet. Therefore there is no standard formula or right answer or wrong answers. Therefore the best I can do is to provide the clay for you to create a pot that can hold the value you can add to organisations that suits your reality and your aspirations using your creativity and your knowledge.

Why do you need to add value to organisations? I had learnt somewhere in my journey of life that the more you give the more you get. This concept became true to me as I tested it. The more I gave to others the more I received. The more time and I focus I gave my studies the better results I received. The more value I gave my existing clients the more new clients I received. The more knowledge I gave , especially free of any fees, the more knowledge I gained.

Continue reading “How Marketers can Add Value to the Organisation” →

Great Teams are made through Regular Team Evaluations

On August 30, 2015December 1, 2015 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Social networking, Team Excellence, TeamsLeave a comment

We don’t get what we expect, we get what we inspect! Things that are evaluated get elevated! Therefore measuring team effectiveness and taking improvement actions based on the feedback is an essential aspect of creating great teams.

In my blog post on the 7th of May 2014 titled ‘How great is your team?’ I promised to go into details of the 11 different aspects that make a great team. The first ten aspects regarding Burning Platforms, Team Alignment Around Critical Goals, Clearly Agreed Way of Working, A Great Decision Making Process, Information Flow is Encouraged, Great Leaders Don’t Mince Their Words’, Positive Crisis, Great Conversations, Radical Conversations and Regular Team Activities, have already been posted in this blog (please search this website to find the earlier instalments). Here is the Eleventh and final installment, Team Evaluations.

Continue reading “Great Teams are made through Regular Team Evaluations” →

Radical Action Conversations – Makes Great Teams

On June 28, 2015 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Team Excellence, TeamsLeave a comment

Radical conversations — Image Credits: http://www.teeveetee.blogspot.com

In my blog post on the 7th of May 2014 titled ‘How great is your team?’ I promised to go into details of the 11 different aspects that make a great team. The first eight aspects regarding ‘Burning Platforms’, ‘Team alignment around critical goals’, ‘Clearly agreed way of working?’ ‘A great decision making process’, ‘Information flow is encouraged’, ‘Great leaders don’t mince their words’, ‘Positive Crisis’ and ‘ Great Conversations’ have already been posted in this blog. Here is the ninth installment; ‘Radical Action Conversation’.

Radical Action Conversations are authentic. They go beneath the surface and deals with ‘adaptive’ issues that hinders real execution. Such conversations deals with engagement issues, honesty issues, relationship issues etc. that people may generally try to avoid to maintain false harmony. It encourages team members to be in ‘Adult’ mode rather than ‘Parent’ or ‘Child’ mode as described in ‘Transactional Analysis’. Such conversations are about identifying and dealing with assumptions team members make in their decisions, prejudices, actions, relationships etc.

Consider this. Your organization is working on a product launch that requires coordination between planning, manufacturing, marketing, sales, legal, finance and supply chain teams. The project is running late and at the current speed the launch could be delayed by more than 2 months. This can give a major advantage to the competitors who are working on a similar product to meet the same need of the customer.

The discussions at the management meetings are very technical. They speaks about the delay in finding the right raw materiel, delay in gearing up distributors and delay in configuring machines in the factory. The team discusses this and decides on some steps to speed up, but the situation is the same at the next meeting. The team resorts to unproductive conversations such as fake, dormant and aggressive conversations to avoid facing the real issues. See my blog post ‘Great Conversations’ for more details of unproductive conversations.

This becomes a radical conversation when the team starts talking about the adaptive aspects such as the trust issues between the marketing and sales manager, the integrity concerns of the supply chain manager and the competency concerns of the factory manager. The team starts focusing on facts, when the focus changes to transforming rather than debating reality, when there is willingness to challenge and explore assumptions, when tough decisions are made based on these conversations and when clarity of accountabilities and commitments are achieved. Discussions at future meetings focus on tracking actions decided, agreeing on course corrections required and ensuring execution with both discipline and speed.

Such Radical Action Conversations will see relationships growing rather than cliques being fostered and team capability clearly growing through the engagement. Radical Action Conversations requires skill and courage and it takes a lot of effort to develop team with this capability. However this is not just useful but essential for a great team!

Engaging the Fickle Mind

On June 17, 2015April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Conference learnings, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

How many times a week do we look at our smart phone? Do we look at it first thing in the morning? Do we look at it before 7.30 a.m.? Do we look at it during meetings? Do we feel lost without our devices? I am sure the answers to these questions might not only be interesting but it will start us thinking.

Study UK’s Daily mail (www.dailymail.com) surveyed 2,000 smartphone owners about their tech habits. They found the average user now picks up their device 1,500+ times a week, reaches for their phone at 7:31am in the morning, checks personal emails and Facebook before they get out of bed, use their phone for three hours and sixteen minutes a day and almost four in ten users admitted to feeling lost without their device. (see the 4 mts video below about these dangers)

Technology has given us so many options of interest that our mind keeps wondering from one to another at an alarming rate. We may be at a meeting and our smart phone alerts that it’s a friends’ birthday and we pick the phone to wish her. When we open Facebook to do it, we see a friend request from an old friend. As we start accepting it, we see a photo posted by another friend. Then we remember there is a customer meeting and we may be late to get home and we start messaging someone at home to pick up a child from school, and then she tells you to bring some extra cash as the plumber was coming to fix a leak the next day. All this happens in about one and half minutes. Therefore we live in a world where our mind gets more and more fickle.

Some feel this is beneficial as it helps us to do many things rapidly, become knowledgeable in many fields, be able to handle more things than ever before, be able to respond fast, be connected with more friends more often, find new opportunities be more efficient, smarter, successful etc.

Continue reading “Engaging the Fickle Mind” →

Great Conversations make Great Teams!

On May 31, 2015June 28, 2015 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Marketing, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence, Teams2 Comments

Image Credits: www.dailyhappyquote.com — Image Credits: http://www.dailyhappyquote.com

Remember the last time you were engrossed in a conversation? Conversation where real issues were discussed! Conversations that were authentic! Conversations that were value adding! Conversations that made time stand still! Conversations that made things happen! Conversations that got continued! These are the conversations that make great teams.

In my blog post on the 7th of May 2014 titled ‘How Great is Your Team?’ I promised to go into details of the 11 different aspects that make a great team. The first seven aspects regarding ‘Burning Platforms’, ‘Team Alignment Around Critical Goals’, ‘Does your Team have Clearly Agreed way of Working?’ ‘A Great Decision-Making Process for a Great Team’, ‘Information Flow is Encouraged’, ‘Great Leaders don’t Mince their Words’ and ‘Positive Crisis’ have already been posted in this blog. Here is the 8th installment regarding the 8^th aspect; ‘Great Conversation’.

Continue reading “Great Conversations make Great Teams!” →

Positive Crisis – Makes Great Teams!

On April 29, 2015April 30, 2015 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Marketing, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence, TeamsLeave a comment

Image credits: www.matthewroda.com — Image credits: http://www.matthewroda.com

Have you ever wondered what makes a movie interesting? It is the crisis in the movie, even when it is a comedy or an animated children’s film there is some crisis and you will realise how boring that movie could be without that crisis. Similarly meetings become interesting when there is a crisis to deal with. A project becomes interesting when there is a crisis to deal with. A team becomes interesting when there is crisis between team members.

In my blog post on the 7th of May 2014 titled ‘How great is your team?’ I promised to go into details of the 11 different aspects that make a great team. The first six aspects regarding ‘Burning Platforms’, ‘Team Alignment around Critical Goals’, ‘Does Your Team have Clearly Agreed Way of Working?’, ‘A Great Decision-Making Process for a Great Team’, ‘Information Flow is Encouraged’, and ‘Great Leaders don’t Mince their Words’ have already been posted in this blog. Here is the seventh instalment regarding the 7^th aspect; ‘Positive Crisis’.

Continue reading “Positive Crisis – Makes Great Teams!” →

Great leaders don’t’ mince their words!

On March 28, 2015March 28, 2015 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Team Excellence7 Comments

Coming form an Asian background, we sometimes become over-cautious about the impact our communication makes on others, especially those senior to us. Therefore we end up saying things others want to hear, saying things that are not fully accurate or not saying things. This article tries to highlight some of the reasons behind this and some practical steps great leaders take to overcome it.

In my blog post on the 7th of May 2015 titled ‘How great is your team?’ I promised to go into details of the 11 different aspects that make a great team. The first five aspects regarding ‘Burning Platforms’, ‘Team Alignment around Critical Goals’, ‘Does your Team have Clearly Agreed Way of Working?’, ‘A Great Decision-Making Process for a Great Team’ and ‘Information Flow is Encouraged’, have already been posted in this blog. Here is the sixth installment regarding the 6^th aspect; ‘Candour with Respect’’.

Great leaders do not just encourage candour with respect but they insist on it. Candour is a quality that is essential for a winning team. Jack Welch in his book ‘winning’ mentions that candour was a vital quality for any GE leader. Candour is about speaking out the truth with courage even if it would create conflict or hurt someone else. Good communicators also know how to select the right words, tonality and body language to make it as positive and productive as possible.

Great leaders insist on candour using the following mind-set, thinking and behaviours,

Continue reading “Great leaders don’t’ mince their words!” →

Great Information Flow to Make Your Team Fly!

On February 28, 2015March 2, 2015 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Marketing, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Team Excellence, TeamsLeave a comment

Image credits: https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/

We love to hear good news! When bad news comes our way some times we tend to get upset, our body language and tonality shows that we are not pleased with the information and some resort to further unproductive behavior of shooting the messenger! Shooting the messenger can be in many forms. Some would question the messenger and ask them to justify the information. Some others may ridicule them as being negative or incompetent. Some others may even resort to retribution in the form of impacting their rewards and recognition negatively. However great teams have great leaders who behave positively and encourage information flow! In my blog post on the 7th of May 2014 titled ‘How Great is Your Team?’ I promised to go into details of the 11 different aspects that make a great team. The first four aspects regarding ‘Burning Platforms’, ‘Team alignment around critical goals’, ‘Does your team have clearly agreed way of working?’ and ‘A great decision-making process for a great team’ have already been posted in this blog. Here is the fifth installment regarding the 5^th aspect; ‘Information flow is encouraged’. Great information flow requires the following mind-set, thinking and behaviours; Continue reading “Great Information Flow to Make Your Team Fly!” →

A Great Decision-Making Process for a Great Team!

On November 30, 2014November 30, 2014 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships1 Comment

Image Credits: http://www.catalog.flatworldknowledge.com

In my blog post on the 7th of May 2015 titled ‘How Great is Your Team?’ I promised to go into details of the eleven different aspects that make a great team. The first three aspects regarding ‘Burning Platforms’, ‘Team Alignment Around Critical Goals’ and ‘Does Your Team Have Clearly Agreed Ways of Working?’ have already been posted in this blog. Here is the fourth installment regarding the 4th aspect; ‘A Clear Decision-Making Process is Present’. A good decision-making process helps us to update each other regularly, consult each other early and work together to co-create value to our customer.

1. The first step in this process to identify the different decision-making units in the team. A large organization would have a board of directors, an executive leadership team, an operational leadership team, functional teams and cross functional teams that are responsible for key performance indicators and generally they also become the decision-making teams. There could also be smaller decision-making teams within a larger decision-making team. Eg: While the marketing function may have a core team, there could be smaller decision-making teams for each brand. Some members (generally senior members of the marketing function) may represent many brand teams.

Continue reading “A Great Decision-Making Process for a Great Team!” →

Getting things done … Superbly!

On October 29, 2014November 1, 2014 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Conference learnings, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team Excellence, TeamsLeave a comment

Do you generally find that your email inbox clogged with unattended mail?

Do you find that there are many important things to attended to?

Do you find that some important projects don’t get your required attention?

Do you find that some important task are neglected or delayed?

Do you feel that there are some task that you need to attend but you get drained trying to do them?

Do you find you just don’t have enough time to do tasks you enjoy doing that energizes you?

Well, if the answer to one or many of these questions are yes, then many of the answers are with David Allen, the author of many books including, ‘Getting Things Done’ and inspirational speaker.

I was fortunate to be at David’s session today, organized by Right Selection, the company who also represents me in the Middle East. While I generally have an empty email inbox, have things quite well organized with most things done by the end of each week with, and adequate time to do things I am passionate about, I found David helps put things in perspective and provides concepts and a process that helps get things done.

Here is a summary of the learnings for you.

Continue reading “Getting things done … Superbly!” →

The Beauty of Diversity

On October 28, 2014April 7, 2024 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

BOvcD6DCYAED207 — Image Credits: Leanin.org

A new client of mine recently requested me to design and run a workshop for their top team on ‘valuing differences’. I was excited about the prospect of doing this as this is at the core of my company and our mission statement also states it explicitly:

To be the best possible global catalyst in organizational and personal transformation. To help the world celebrate its diversity and re-discover its unity.

Inspired by our mission and the prospect of designing a new workshop that resonates so well, I named the workshop ‘The Beauty of Diversity’ which the client loved too.

The objective of the workshop was to help participants realize that we are very different from each other in many ways, that all the different versions of us add value in different ways, one person alone does not have all the different aspects and therefore we need to work with others who are different to ensure all angles are covered, that the diversity adds synergy and by celebrating the beauty of this diversity we not only add synergistic value but also re-discover our unity.

I approached the design of the workshop by helping participants look at 4 areas of differences;

The thinking and decision-making mode: technical or behavioural.
The working preference: quick start, fact finder, implementor or follow through
The brain activity dominance: left brain or right brain
The communication preference: Visual, Auditory or Kinesthetic

The participants had an opportunity to do 4 assessments to ascertain their modes & preferences before the session and that helped us to have some interesting discussions regarding the diversity in the group and the richness and value of that diversity. Each area was learnt with the support of concepts, video’s exercises, discussions and soul-searching sessions that led to personal action plans.

After receiving an amazing transformation the participants left the session with a commitment to deploy their energy to value the beauty of diversity [rather than trying to change others to be similar to them] in order to enjoy personal and organizational growth, success and happiness as this approach helps not only synergize but also be a better closer knit team.

Better Team Leadership with ‘Adult’ Ego state!

On September 29, 2014September 29, 2014 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Spiritual, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

Transactional Analysis [TA] introduces the fascinating concept of the 3 ego states in us: Parent, Adult & Child. While TA is used extensively in relationship therapy, it is a powerful and potent tool for improvement of leadership.

The ‘Parent’ ego state has a positive side and a negative side. The positive side is nurturing and protective. The negative side is uses fear and force to control and is cynical. The ‘Child’ ego state also has a positive and negative side. The positive side is fun loving and carefree and the negative side is being a victim, looking for approval and whining. The ‘Adult’ state is the more mature, rational, long term, restraining and professional.

TA therapist recommend that we should develop an adult value system and be in that ego state as much as possible for more healthy relationships. Creator of TA Eric Berne in his book ‘Games People Play’ illustrate how two individuals get into a pattern of behaviour and continue to be in that pattern. These are referred to as ‘Games people play’. There are many games and they will continue if they are complimentary even though they may not be productive or healthy.

Let’s see how the ‘Adults’ ego state helps better leadership.

This is a conversation between ‘Tom’ and his manager ‘Joe’.

Continue reading “Better Team Leadership with ‘Adult’ Ego state!” →

Does your team have clearly agreed ways of working?

On September 18, 2014September 18, 2014 By Ranjan De SilvaIn Business, Communications, Leadership, Personal Excellence, Relationships, Team ExcellenceLeave a comment

teamwork — Image credits: http://www.studenthousingmatters.com

In my blog post on the 7th of May 2014 titled ‘How great is your team?’, I promised to go into details of the 11 different aspects that makes a great team. The first aspects regarding ‘Burning Platforms’ and ‘Team alignment around critical goals’ have already been posted in this blog. Here is the third installment; ‘Does your team have clearly agreed way of working?’

In recent senior team strategic and leadership facilitations for a leading insurance company, I asked the question: what kind of work should you be mostly doing? The answer was: ‘Strategic Work’. Then I asked: what kind of work do you mostly do? The answer was: ‘Operational Work’. Then I asked what do you think the reason for that is?. After a short discussion it was clear to everyone that it was due to the absence of leadership that requires developing, delegating, engaging, energizing and create an environment for healthy interactions to get freed up from operational responsibilities to find the time to do the required strategic work.

There are 4 possible ways of working based on the responsibilities and roles of the team. These levels include strategic, tactical, operational and interactive. It is important for the team to have clarity and alignment regarding this and to know which other related teams operates in which way with clarity of the interface relationships.

Strategic work: Strategic work involves being able to predict the future business environment in the areas of political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal, referred by the acronym PESTAL. They need to do this by having intellectual connections to various channels of information, being able to extrapolate current happenings to the future, being able to see strategic intentions of actions, behaviours and information provided by business movers and shakes. It involves planning for the long-term taking the strategic realities in to consideration. Being able to make investments in people, technology and business relationships in the present to prepare for the future. A large potion of senior leadership time should be allocated to strategic work. A moderate amount of next level leadership time should be allocated to strategic work. Junior team members should understand the strategic relevance of current decisions and plans and should provide information that has strategic implications to enable higher-level leaders to improve their effectiveness of their strategic work.

Continue reading “Does your team have clearly agreed ways of working?” →

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Beyond Vision: Why Purpose Matters

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References

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Empathy & Perspective, an inspirational Speech By Simon Sinek

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