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.
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.
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.
In the previous article, we explored the concept of purposeful people leadership and its importance. In this post, we delve into how leaders can intentionally develop purposeful people leadership, an approach that transforms teams and organisations by aligning individual purpose with collective contribution.
Purposeful people leadership begins with the leader’s own sense of purpose. When leaders connect their role to their higher purpose, they begin to see their primary responsibility not just as managing tasks, but as developing their team members, purposefully. This shift in perspective changes everything. The team is no longer a means to an end; it becomes the very reason for leadership. The leader’s purpose expands to include helping team members discover their own purpose and align it with meaningful roles.
This development process starts with purposeful conversations. Leaders engage with team members to understand their aspirations, strengths, struggles, concerns about their world and values they aspire to live by. They help individuals reflect on their personal purpose, articulate a purpose statement and explore how it can be expressed through their work. When people are placed in roles that resonate with their purpose, they flourish. Their contribution becomes authentic, passionate, and sustainable.
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).
We explored the notion of Purposeful Self-leadership in the last post, part 3 of this series titled ‘Start with the Self’. Today we explore how to develop Purposeful Self-Leadership and in the next post, we can explore the complexities of such an aspiration. In the first two articles of this series, we explored the two key concepts of purposeful leadership: purposefulness and leadership, and the three branches of purposeful leadership: self, people, and organisations.
Developing Purposeful Self-Leadership starts with articulating a purpose statement depicting our sense of purpose at the current stage of life. The first version of the purpose statement is only a glimpse of our purpose as finding purpose is a lifelong journey. However, having a sense of purpose begins the quest and gives us the drive and desire to be purposeful. Being purposeful improves our clarity about our life purposes and helps us fine-tune our purpose statement, leading to us being more purposeful. This cyclical process not only improves our sense of purpose and purposefulness but also attracts abundance to succeed in vocations aligned with our life purpose, gives us happiness and peace of mind (De Silva, 2024).
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.
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.
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?
Wish you a successful, growth giving and happy new-year of excellence.
New years every year brings so fresh hope to teams and leaders. This is the time we think of making the New Year the most spectacular year of all. While we start of with this intention we find it fizzles off really fast.
The reason for this is because a bigger mission or purpose does not support such efforts. This is because such efforts are not done with the engagement of the hearts and minds of the teams who are responsible to deliver such results. The reason for this is because such efforts do not have a disciplined approach.
Given below are a few simple steps that can help you to gear up for an amazing 2014.
Get together with your immediate team and go through the following process.
New years every year brings so much hope to so many people. This is the time we think of giving up bad habits and making a fresh start. Most people take a fresh step with a good intention, only to find themselves slipping back to their old habits very quickly.
The reason for this is because such efforts are not supported by a bigger purpose. The reason for this is because such efforts are not done with the enlistment of the deeper subconscious mind. The reason for this is because such efforts do not have a disciplined approach.
Given below are a few simple steps that can help you to gear up for an amazing 2014.
When I feel blessed about what I have achieved my mind automatically takes me to people and events that I am grateful about. Whilst having a deep sense of gratitude to my parents, family, friends and social contacts, one major aspect that made the difference to me is my Alma Mater St Anthony’s College Katugastota in the hill capital of Sri Lanka.
One can’t ask for a better place than St Anthony’s to shape up a young mind and body to become prepared to take on the world. I believe great products from college would have felt the same. Beneficiaries of our alma mater are old Antonians of the calibre of Sir William Gopallawa, the first President of Sri Lanka, Mr. T B Illangaratne, renowned politician and dramatist, Justice Asoka De Silva, World famous professionals such as Prof. Malik Peiries, Dr Patrick Nugawela, Dr C. R. Panabokke, Prof C Suriyakumaran, World class sportsmen such as Mr. Muthaiah Muralitharan, Entrepreneurs such as Mr. Sumal Perera & Dr Lawrence Perera, Musicians such as Mr. Rookantha Gunatilleke & Mr. Stanley Peiris, Military officers such as Colonel A C Lafir and hundreds of other Ministers, Officers of the armed forces and police, academics and business people.
As I look back with an attitude of gratitude to St Anthony’s, I get a deep urge within me to do what I can to help the college continue to do the good work it has done for me. This was further reinforced when I was honoured as one of the top 100 Old Antonians during the 150-year celebrations of the college. Therefore when the opportunity came for me to be a part of the Antonian Rugby Trust, I was delighted to take it; I continue to serve in the advisory committee. I also had the privilege of providing mental toughness training to the rugby team.
The motivations of different people are different. Some do it for the gratitude, some do it for the glory, some do it for social status and others do it to develop business networks. When the motives are different there is bound to be conflict. Such conflict can make those who do things with nobel motives disgruntled. When this happens some feel like walking away, minding there own business and not doing anything for the college and some others decide to persist. I always believe such obstacles helps us to further develop our goodness. Such opportunities help us to help others to become better people. Such opportunities strengthen our resolve to be more generous.
We all belong to various religions and philosophies and we learn the need to give back to the world, do good to others and do our part to make the world a better place. When we split due to differences we lose the opportunity to accumulate goodness credits. On the other hand when like minded people like us who have walked the nooks and corners of the college, who have sat in the same class rooms, who have listened to the same teachers and who have sung our college anthem proudly gets together we can do wonders. So lets get together re-energize ourselves with nostalgia and do what we can do to uplift the standards of our alma mater so that we can celebrate the successes from a far and accumulate stories of before, during and after our time to tell our children and grandchildren.
The Motto of our alma mater ‘Lux De Coelo’ means light from heaven and was taken from a prayer sent from the Vatican when college was inaugurated. I consider this true when it comes to my life. So let the light from heaven that has brightened our being continue to shine in us, our families and the generations of Antonians to come. May god bless you all.
In my ‘Self Mastery’ trainings I teach the importance of a balanced life for success of happiness. It is important to have a balance in caring for our being, body, brain, people, time and money and growing all these areas simultaneously. While I was sharing this good advice at my trainings and practicing them to a great extent, I always felt there was more room for improvement.
I always believe we get the required knowledge and inspiration when we are open to it. I was fortunate to meet up with a friend of mine Nalaka Hewamadduma who had migrated to Canada, when he made a visit to Sri Lanka many months ago. He gifted me a copy of his new book ‘Art of Well-being’ when we met.
Nalaka and I had many things in common and we were both interested in enhancing human performance. While Nalaka helped people to become successful using eastern philosophies such as yoga and other wellness methods, I used more western leadership and self-mastery philosophies, Neuro Linguistic programming and Transformational learning.
Nalaka’s book is well written. It is easy to read due to his story approach and the descriptions are practical and inspiring. While I was following exercise, rest and nutritional habits, the big take away for me was how to adjust our lives to be in sync with the universal energy system. This was not a new concept to me but Nalaka’s book helped me discover a simple method of putting it in to practice and reminded me of the importance of it.
Family units, social infrastructure [such as our places of worship, schools, mass media and social networks] is set up to develop our children to be great assets to our world. These institutions help our children gain the right attitudes, beliefs, behaviours, values, knowledge and skills. We are who we are because of the sacrifices made by so many who have touched our lives and I am ever-grateful to them.
When I first attended the personal transformation ‘playshop’ Mastery of Self [MS] through Neuro Linguistic Programming [NLP] I was amazed at the tools that are available to unleash our god-given potential in a balanced systematic and purposeful manner. While I got so much out of it to make my life a success from that programme, I felt I should have attended this programme when I was leaving school or even during school.
Ignacy J. Paderewski – Image credit: en.wikipedia.org
Herbert Hoover – Image credits: old-picture.com
I recently received an email from a friend that had an inspiring story. On researching the story for authenticity I had to do a few amendments to it to make it more factual. An article by General Edward L. Rowny confirms the authenticity of the meeting of the two great men featured in the story. While I cannot confirm the authenticity of the details of the story the overall event is factual and worth sharing.
A young, 18 year old student and a friend of his decided to host a musical concert in Stanford University in 1892 to raise money for a worthy cause.
They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2,000 for the piano recital. A deal was struck. And the boys began to work to make the concert a success.
I was moved by the ‘Empathy’ video on ‘YouTube’ [see the embedded video]. This is a video every health care provider, be it a medical practitioner or non-medical practitioner must watch. The CEO of Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA, Dr. Toby Cosgrove, MD, showed this video during his 2012 state of the clinic address.
Dr. Cosgrove, who I had the fortune of meeting during a 2 week intense healthcare leadership course I attended in this magnificent hospital in April 2013 says; Patient care is more than just healing – it is building a connection that encompasses mind, body and soul. If you stand in someone else’s shoes, hear what they hear, see what they see, feel what they feel, would you treat them differently?
I first heard the saying; ‘Jack of all trades, is a master of none’ from my dad. While I took this as face value and later felt it is valuable mindset to have, I now wonder if this is true or false. On one hand it is humanly possible to be the best in all trades as there are millions of them. We would not have the time to master everything in a lifetime or just even explore them. Anyway I don’t think this statement suggests that anyone attempts to be a master of all trades.
We also don’t have the time in our lifetime to be a Jack-of-all-trades as well. But what do you think the original writer meant by the use of the word Jack. If it is the Jack from the pack of cards, then we are referring to the person who does all the work for the King and Queen. Therefore, by doing all the tasks required he learns many things, but will he ever be the master of any of those subjects.
Recounting my experience, I was in the collage rugby, athletic and chess teams. I was also a Boy Scout and I studied the subjects required to be an engineer. I believe I excelled in the engineering class when I lead a team of my classmates to make a electronic scale in the late 70’s. While it was very primitive and shabby we believe it was one of the first such attempts in Sri Lanka. It was viewed by the then President of the country J R Jayawardena and a later Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.
As I was sitting on my flight out of Dhaka and reflecting on the 4 full days of 9 hours each that I spent on my feet inspiring over 100 souls, I was moved from within to share my experience in my next blog. At that point I received an AHA (a term we used for an inner learning that happens to us when we are open to inspiration) about the power of emotions.
I was fortunate to learn about the power of emotions when I first attended the life changing learning experience, ‘Mastery of Self’ many years ago. Up to that point I knew that I was emotional and I felt it is weak to be emotional.
I recounted many incidents in my early childhood where I was bullied by schoolmates, ridiculed, insulted and laughed upon. I remember going to a safe place and crying to ensure that I was not seen by them and be more ridiculed. Sometimes I could not hold my emotions in front of them and it was visible in my voice as I responded. Nevertheless I excelled in sports and scouting while being an average student despite this improvement area and it helped me to make progress in life.
Perhaps it is the culmination of these experiences that prepared me to totally accept the teachings of Mastery of Self and later make it a powerful factor in vocation of helping people and organizations to find a better way to live and work.
The idea that people get motivated when they feel good, when they feel valued, when they are appreciated, when they are engaged, when their needs are met is so obvious, so simple and so powerful but it had to presented in a manner which deeply penetrated my soul for me to start seeing the obvious and doing the required.
Emotion is Energy in Motion. The Chinese word for energy is Woolee, which means patterns of living energy. Therefore when energy is in motion we can influence it to form the patterns that create positive energy. We can use that energy to create positive results.
The month of April 2013 epitomized the caption! Yes there were many including myself who were ready for the teacher. It was a great month of personal growth.
The month started with 60 souls from various organizations and walks of life taking part in the Mastery of Self playshop that was conducted in Sri Lanka. This was the first 2 days and all of them left feeling more valuable than ever before, more empowered than ever before and more purposeful than ever before. They come back for the final 2 days on the 6 & 7 of May.
Then I travelled to Vietnam where I conduct the same session for another 60 souls from Fashion Garments a company of the Hirdramani Group in Sri Lanka. The impact created was the same and I go to Vietnam again to do the final 2 days of the training on the 11 & 12 of May 2013.
From Vietnam I travelled to Dubai to conduct a 2 day training on advanced negotiation skills and a 1 day training in work life balance. While the numbers were around 16 participants in each session, the impact created for them was tremendous.
After having helped unlock potential of so many souls in the first half of the month, the second half was about me going back to school. Yes I was a participant with 15 other senior executives from the health care industry who took part in a 2 week long intensive leadership development session for health care CEO’s held by the Samson Global Leadership Academy of the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Wish you all a happy new year, Subho nababarsho [Bengali], Sawatdii pimaï [Thai], Hnit thit ku mingalar pa [Burmese], Naya Barsa Ko Hardik Shuvakamana [Nepali], Nav varsh ki subhkamna [Hindi], Iniya puthandu nal Vazhthukkal [Tamil], Suba nava vasarak wewa [Sinhalese]
This is an amazing time for many countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia when most of us celebrate the traditional New Year. The New Year is celebrated between 13th to the 15th of April in India, Nepal, Myanmar [Burma], Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
In addition to being united by the dates of the celebration that runs across all these countries, all of these cultures have common rituals such as cleaning their houses, cooking fresh new food, dressing in new clothes of designated colours, visiting relations & friends, enjoying traditional music and taking part in religious rituals.
There is beautiful diversity in the variety of traditions being used in different countries and states. From lighting small oil lamps and dressing in flowers in India, taking a ritual wash or bath in the Hunumantay River in Nepal, Mehendi body painting and face painting in Bangladesh, the water festivals in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia and following of the auspicious times to light the fire, boil milk, take a bath, exchange gifts and go to work etc. in Sri Lanka.
Easter is a time that reminds us of how Jesus Christ suffered, died and rose from death. This has a lot of meaning for all of us to live a meaningful life.
Firstly as Jesus who was all good and helped so many people through simple acts and miracles was accused and was branded as a criminal. That is because those who judged him used different yardsticks to judge Jesus and had ulterior motives. We may also do all good, help people and do an honest job, but there will always be people who find ways of showing us that we are criminals or having committed mistakes in companies, personal life etc. We may be punished in an unwarranted manner.
Secondly Jesus had the power to save himself as he has performed so many miracles. But he did not use that power without the approval of the god almighty. He knew there was a bigger plan and he had to go through the suffering to achieve greater growth. We too may have the power to save ourselves, but we should not use it without the right authority. When we are put through challenges we must have faith that we are put through it for a bigger reason that we may even not understand.
Thirdly Jesus rose from his death. While we do not have the power to rise from a physical death, we have the power to rise from the depths that we fall to. We may lose our valuable possessions but we can re-gain them. We may lose our health to sickness but we can recover from it. We may fall into a bad, self-destructing habit but we can recover from it. We may lose our job but we can recover and get a better job. We may lose in a relationship but we can start a better relationship. In short we have the power to rise from any depth and this Easter is a reminder of this powerful truth.
So let me wish you happy rising from your depth this Easter.
After having returned to my apartment in Dhaka Bangladesh after being away for over 2 weeks, I happened to open my shoes closet and found some of my shoes I had left in the closet in a deteriorated state. I then realized I had not used those shoes over about 6 months and a line that I use in my workshops; ‘use it or lose it’ came to my mind.
There is an on-going battle between positive energy and negative energy all the time. From a humanistic philosophy point of view, EVIL is LIVE spelt back words. Evil is anti-Life. Evil is negative energy and life is positive energy. The universe is in constant decline due to Evil forces or negative energy. This process is known as Entropy, which is the opposite of Evolution. Evolution requires a higher power that provides positive energy.
The purpose of life is to grow physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
Physical well-being requires positive energy in the form of right nutrition, exercises and rest. The absence of these will result in the decline of physical well-being.
Mental well-being requires positive energy in the form of good attitudes, creative ideas, new value adding learning, development of skills etc. The absence of these will result in the decline of mental well-being.
There was much to learn watching Hillary Clinton’s appearances last Wednesday to talk about the events in Benghazi that left the US ambassador and 3 others dead, in front of House and Senate committee.
Firstly it was a great example of someone in a senior position being held accountable for her decisions and actions. For her it was an opportunity to bring to a closure her 4 year stint as US Secretary of state on of the most important jobs in the world. Some also say it is the a prelude to the 2016 presidential campaign where she is expected to run for the presidency of the United States of America; an example of long-term planning and taking action now to create the future.
The disciplined approach of the hearing where every member in the hearing committee was given a specific window of opportunity to question Mrs Clinton and they stuck to time without going over-board. They did not continue to argue and go beyond time even if the answers given to the questions were not to their satisfaction.
Once aspect that was significant was the respect. Every senator who questioned her, even from the opposing Republican Party started her by congratulating her for a job well done. It is so important to respect others even if they are our bitter opponents.
In answering the questions thrown at her, Mrs. Clinton showed in-depth knowledge, composure, humility, emotion where relevant, the occasional loss of patience. She displayed good listening skills and was professional in taking responsibility.
As always there are those who think she did a great job and others who think she did some damage to her chances of becoming President of the United States of America. My attempt is not to make a verdict on it but to help us learn from this important event. Continue reading “Leadership Lessons from the Clinton Bengazi Hearing”→
I had a packed 10 days of work in Dhaka and I was scheduled to take a flight back to Colombo on the 24th morning to be with my family for Christmas Eve onwards. I was looking at options to do confession before Christmas mass. I did not want to leave it to the 24th evening, as there was only a little window from my time of arrival, to get home in the traffic that is likely to be heavy given that large crowds will be on the roads doing their last-minute Christmas shopping.
As I was looking at the Christmas schedule issued at the beautiful church I pray at in Banani – Dhaka, I found that confession was scheduled for 10 am on the 24th. My flight was a t 12.45 and it could take up to 1 hour to get to the airport. It was a risky option to do confession at 10 am and try to get to the airport on time given the unpredictable traffic in Dhaka. I called Father Tom, the Parish priest who kindly agreed to come early to do my confession. It was a peaceful confession and I felt cleansed and peaceful as I walked out of the church.
Finally at the airport I was standing in the line to get my passport stamped at emigration. I had an urge to go to the washroom and I was the next person in line to go to the immigration officer. At that moment a gentleman, who was with his wife and little child asked me if they could go before me as they had just 45 minutes for their flight. Since I still had another 90 mts I agreed to let them go before me. As the family who went to the emigration officer was finishing, an official of the airport escorted 5 persons and went past the line to the emigration officer.
If I tell you that you can fly, would you agree with me? This is the first question I asked the audience at the Sales Master Class at The Radisson Blu Water Garden In Dhaka Bangladesh on the 20th of October, when I started presenting at the day event, ‘Unlocking Sales Potential’. There were some instant ‘yes’ answers and a few others said ‘no’. The point made by this question was to get the audience thinking about the unlimited potential we are blessed with. With the realization that we can fly in an air craft and aircrafts been made by people using god given brains and resources opened up the minds in the room to the possibilities yet untapped.
It is a generally known perception that selling is a dishonest job as sales people only try to sell a product to a customer, even if the product is not needed by the customer and at any cost to the customer. Most sales books and sales training introduces sales ‘tactics’ that help sales people to ‘sell’ at any cost.
On the other hand it is a known fact that everyone is a salesman from the little child to the grandfather, from the housewife to the corporate executive, from film star to sportsman and from the politician to the priest. They all sell ideas, they sell their value, they sell all the time.
So does it mean everyone is dishonest? The answer is a clear ‘NO’. In fact my belief is that we don’t sell, we help people to buy. We don’t sell, we provide information for people to make the right decision, we don’t sell, we help others become more successful.
It is with attitude in mind that I decided to title my second book [an improved new edit of the first book]; A better way to sell – Mastery of Sales through Mastery of Self. Click here for more details of the book.
When I was first nominated for the ‘Mastery of Self [MS] through Neuron Linguistic Programming [NLP]‘ in 1995 by my employer John Keells Holdings, I never knew what an impact it was going to make in my life. When I first received the notice to attend the workshop I thought it was something to do with computer programming. I was right and wrong. I was right because it was about programming a computer. I was wrong because it was not the desk top or the laptop or the palm top. It was the neck top super computer the most powerful information processing system in the world.
I was fascinated learning about the potential of the brain. I was fascinated learning about the power of the NLP tools to release that potential. I was fascinated by the inspirational impact made on all the participants. It was not a seminar or a workshop but a playshop, an experience where we learn with fun and activity in a child like manner, exploring the wonders of our real potential and talent. Continue reading “How to master yourself and win in your life”→
Yes the job interview is one of the critical hurdles in our lives. So let me try and share some tips from my experience of facing some critical interviews in my life as well as being in hundreds of interview panels.
Once the euphoria of getting invited for the interview settles down you need to get on with getting to know the company and the job you are applying for. When I applied for a job as marketing manager of Keells Foods in the late 80’s there was no access to information at our finger tips like we have now. I found out a friend of mine who is a shareholder of this company, visited him and collected the past 3 years of annual reports and started getting to know the company, reading them in detail. I then got myself introduced to a person who was working in John Keells Holdings [the parent company of Keells Foods] and understood details of the corporate culture and the type of team members they like to have. I immersed myself into the company and started living it in my mind the next few meetings before the final interview with the main board of directors of John Keells Holding. The preparation I went through made me feel comfortable and at home when I went for the interview and it was no surprise that I got the job of Marketing Manager of Keells Foods at the age of 24.
LMD, Sri Lanka’s leading business magazine should be congratulated for launching the ‘Sri Lankans Overseas’ blog to provide a forum for Sri Lankan’s living overseas to contribute to the nation building effort. Link to the blog: http://lmd.lk/?p=11555
Sri Lanka’s post-war renaissance is in need of the shot-in-the-arm from Sri Lankans living overseas. I would like to summarize the key points made in the various comments made so far;
Wherever we live Sri Lankan’s are Sri Lankans… blood is thicker than water and this is a fact we can’t avoid.
Each of us has our own dreams and goals and for this reason we may have migrated and this is an important factor we need to respect.
It is not about getting everyone to come back to Sri Lanka, it is more about seeing how we can contribute. Some may come back if the opportunities are good and returning meets their life goals, some others can continue to live overseas and help building Sri Lanka.
It is important for us to have Sri Lankans all over the world so that we can sell Sri Lanka through them.
There is also a role to be played by government to facilitate this process by allowing tax breaks, making the process of getting dual citizenship easy etc.
The idea is for someone to create a; Sri Lanka Node to connect all businesses run by Sri Lankans in Sri Lanka and overseas so that we can share resources, share information and help each other to make Sri Lanka one of the best places to live and visit; a little miracle that is happening …
An interesting question that keeps getting asked by my followers and students is; why do we live? Some gone on to ask; how can we make our lives more successful and happy.
The answer lies in the ability of discovering as life changing gift we are all capable of. This blog will helps you to dive into the amazing arena and to come up with the life changing gift we all look for.
The following story will help us unearthing this life changing gift;
Martin and Sam lived in a tiny village at a foot of a mountain. Martin was ambitious and he had some mountain climbing skills. His level of health and fitness was above the level of an average person. Sam on the other hand was less ambitious and had not even learnt basic survival skills such as mountain climbing. They always wanted to know what was on the top of the mountain, but they rarely found the time or motivation to go up the mountain as they were so engrossed in their day to day work.
One day they received a message from an angel that there was a million dollars on top of the mountain with each of their names on it. They had to climb the Assume Mountain within 24 hours [mid night to mid night] on a selected day within one year. They were told that in order to climb the mountain during the given time, they would have to have an above average level of health and they would need to have basic mountain climbing skills.
Both Martin and Sam considered the million dollars an important thing to have so that they could start a business or an industry and start making a comfortable life for them selves and their families. Martin the more ambitious, skilful in mountain climbing and who was above average in health and fitness, decided to start the journey the very next ay, starting at midnight.
I wish I had a job at Google, I hear some cool stuff about how people enjoy themselves. I wish I had a job in the UN, I hear I employees get to travel a lot. I wish I can join the Cabin crew at Emirates, I hear they pay really well. These are the types of dreams shared with me by so many who have sought my guidance at workshops, coaching session and on the social media networks.
So let me tell you how. First of all let me tell you achieving dreams are possible and it needs a lot of patience, dedication, hard work and perseverance. Those who have those dream jobs did not get their overnight. Soichiro Honda, the founder of the Honda motor corporation was a mechanic at Toyota when he dreamt that one day he will make his own car. He enrolled in a programme at Toyota designed to promote innovation and worked on a prototype which if accepted would bear his name with a profit share, an alternate path to making his own car. It took him 8 years of sacrifice, hardship, bombs and earthquakes to start making Honda motor cycles as a first step towards making cars. When people tell that Honda was an overnight success, he would have perhaps said, yes it is an overnight success that took me 8 years! See my YouTube video on http://ranjandesilva.com/videoandaudio/ to hear the full story of Honda’s path to success.
Some who we think are in dream jobs are dreaming about other jobs. This is because of human nature which wants to constantly improve and do better and there is nothing wrong with that too. However those who come into the correct arena will next think of going up the hierarchy in that arena.
Can you give me some advice on how to stay peaceful, when very close people around me are not supporting me at all? They can’t understand me and my mentality. This is a recent request for advice I received from one of my Facebook followers. There have been many such laments from people of various age groups and social situations and I felt it is good to share some thoughts on this for those who need the support.
The first attitude required when going through this challenge is to accept that everyone is ‘right’ from their point of view and conditions of life. When there is a gap or polarity in the points of views then one sees the other persons mentality, opinion, orientation, behaviours etc. ‘wrong’, ‘immoral’, ‘crazy’, ‘stupid’ etc. When there are billions of people living in this world with different mentalities, attitudes and points of view, if we try to make others understand that we are right and they are wrong, then we are on to a futile project that can damage relationships, create hostility and even wars!
A diamond is a piece of coal put under pressure! Those out there preparing for exams are like that piece of coal waiting to shine like the diamond you deserve to be. So here are a few thoughts, concepts, ideas and tools for those preparing for any type of examinations.
When I first heard the definition for stress it blew me away, when I first heard the definition of stress my stress just went out of the window, when I first heard the definition of stress I started looking at challenges in a totally different way.
Ready! Here we go! Stress is the negative interpretation of pressure! Yes that’s it. Short, sweet and simple. Everyone has pressure. The journey from life to death is filled with pressure. If we look at that pressure negatively and start whining about it, it becomes stress.
Those who have become successful in life know that pressure is good for them. Pressure helps us to stretch ourselves, pressure helps us to expand our capacity, and pressure helps us to value ourselves more. Successful persons look at over-load of work as a result of them being over-demanded. Successful persons consider that they are blessed with responsibility rather than being stressed, successful persons consider that their capacity is being developed rather than pressurised.
It had been a lonely holy week for me this year in Dhaka away from my loving family. As I left my apartment for the Easter vigil in the beautiful church nearby, I remembered that I need to take a candle with me for the Easter blessing.
The previous year I went to church hoping to buy a candle there, but I could not find one. As I was following the mass and when the light was being shared from the Easter candle, a gentleman who was next to me offered me a candle. I did accept with gratitude, thanking god for the gift.
As I was pondering where I could buy one this time, I remembered I had a bundle of new candles in my apartment which I had purchased to use for the ‘point of light’ exercise I conduct during my ‘Mastery of Self’ playshops’ [We name our training workshop, playshops, due to the childlike atmosphere we create to speed up learning in a fun manner].
When I reached for the candles, something told me I need to take two candles, not just one and I know it was my inner need to pay back the favour I received last year.
As the light was been passed in church today I looked around but did not see anyone without a candle and a tinge of disappointment went through my soul. After receiving the light I turned to the gentleman standing to my right to pass on the light and low and behold he did not have a candle with him. I offered him the extra candle I had and the joy I felt is unexplainable.
Great Marketers in the Making. Click image for more pictures of the conference
Sri Lanka’s future is in good hands! This is the feeling I had as soon as I walked into the ballroom of Colombo’s Galadari Hotel on the 17th of March 2012. This feeling became stronger as the day went by to see the enthusiasm with which the 270 CIM students participating in the conference absorbed the wisdom dished out by the 4 Chartered Marketers of the Chartered Institute of Marketing [CIM] who had reached the top in organizations and the panel discussion that followed.
Deepal Sooriyaarachchi who spoke first outlined what it takes to be a ‘Future Proof Marketer’. He talked about the importance of knowing your strengths and improvement areas and making sure that marketing is the right profession for you. Then he went on to talk about the importance of knowing your job, profession and the company well so that you can market your products with confidence. Managing your career with the 4 essential steps of learning, mastering, managing and leading was highlighted as one of the essential requirements. Knowing your team was highlighted as essential for success as it is vital to have good team work for success. To top it up it was important to know your market and the world we operate in. While all of these aspects were important, I felt the key message was the need to have a firm set of ‘values’ and live by them remembering that we are human and we need to add value to humanity all the time.
As we take a short breather from the hectic cricket season where Sri Lanka played in South Africa, Australia and Bangladesh over the last 3 months with ups and down bringing joy and sadness to millions of Sri Lankans around the world, the leadership lessons have been tremendous.
The world cup loss to India on the 2nd of April 2011, which was surrounded with controversy [that I will not comment on as I do not have the required information to do], the resignation of the captain and the financial crisis of the cricket board had left the team in turmoil.
I first attended the Asia Retail Congress in February 2011 where I had the privilege of accompanying the Managing Director of Rahimafrooz Superstores Bangladesh, the operators of the Agora Supermarket Chain to receive the retail excellence award.
I was delighted to be invited to be in the advisory panel of the Asia Retail congress 2012 and to be a speaker as I had lots to share from my experience of making Agora a winning supermarket chain during the last 31 months as the Chief Executive Officer [CEO] of Rahimafrooz Superstores.
Yes, marketers are great CEO’s in the making. The level of success is dependent on the understanding of the complexity of the job and the steps that needs to be taken to get to the top.
Marketing is one of the most challenging, interesting and rewarding jobs!
The needs and attitude towards marketing is different from various perspectives; firstly the practitioner, who has taken the brunt of it, tasted the successes or licked their wounds, the practitioner’s boss, the CEO who calls the shots and the marketing consultant who brings a second opinion.
Let me speak from the vantage point of someone who has played all three roles. Firstly practicing marketing as the Marketing Director of Keells Foods & Keels Super and Pizza Hut in Sri Lanka. Secondly, as the Managing Director of my own company and next the Chief Executive Officer of Rahimafrooz Superstores Ltd. Bangladesh. Finally, providing, strategy, marketing and leadership consultancy for companies in over 20 countries.
New years every year brings so much hope to so many people. This is the time we think of giving up bad habits and making a fresh start. Most people take a fresh step with a good intention, only to find themselves slipping back to their old habits very quickly.
