Are leaders made in heaven?

Thanks to "pen" at least - nobody can stop me from writing, what ruminates in my mind. I can at least dissect the human, social or even organizational behavior. I take this from Steinbeck, who says "If they bully me and do what they choose I have them over a barrel. They can't move until I pick up a pencil. They are frozen, turned to ice standing one foot up and with the same smile they had yesterday when I stopped." in Paris Review interview. In a way, this notion of "leaders are made in heaven" is pretty satirical, you may think !! Yes, you are right, it is. I know, this blog may not be the right platform to vent your frustration but I will defy the unwritten discipline. The reason, I ask this question is to "shake us" to think and challenge the kind of mindset that still rules the way we think of leadership. If we do not challenge the remnant of pre-historical definition of class / color / race / gender / Intelligence Quotient based defined or perceived "kind of" leadership, this attitude is going to and will bar many prospective aspirants to move up the ladder of "professional growth" through "equal opportunity".

                                                     Source: www.google.com  

You may ask, “Why is that?” - You may say, "Well everything is fair in like love and war and that applies to any organization" In contrary, I will be saying - "This way of thinking will encourage silos mentality and sadly which exist" In order to understand further, let me walk you through the kind of leadership that dictates South Asian society, which defines that leaders are made in heaven, where Godly figures or Kings or birth by certain class are only eligible or legible to lead. You may think, I am pontificating on my "political or social" discontent. Well, I am sharing the fact, what I can authoritatively tell you of Nepal, where Dalits (Eng: Untouchables) comprises 13 % of the total population are still treated in a sub human way. Sadly in Nepal, such system of "untouchables" was introduced by Kings and country's civil codes. Nepal National Dalits Social Welfare Organization reports, "Such discriminatory legal system and hierarchical social structures, in course of time, formed as a rigid ‘value system’ and ‘codes of social behavior and practices’. This value system and attitude is still dominant in every sphere of the society, which is propelling ‘untouchability’ and caste-based discrimination" I can guess, this must also apply to other neighboring countries in the region. So, my ethical question, "Do we subconsciously harbor such social ills that can affects the way we see the social landscape and thus our behavior?" This is one question that has haunted me recently.

I do not have an answer to above question but I can try to get an answer through a kind of social experiment that I did - i think, this will throw some light in understanding the very question that I have. In Nepal, we have a traditional instrument made up of hollow wood and leathers of cow or buffalo. This hollow instrument is locally called Madal. This is popularly used for folk songs, without it - our folk music will be tasteless. This instrument is designed and prepared by the same dalits. It is so beautiful, the same instrument has different names - Kabaro in Ethiopia, Tom Tom in English, Dholak in Hindi, even Jhangu (mini) in Korean and the music it creates is melodious that we all can enjoy. So, leadership must be like a music created by madal / kabaro / dholak / jhangu in unison nurturing the skills each individual potentially possess. After all, each of us can be master, if we practice, practice and create a learning environment. Good leader or manager therefore should not neglect the very beauty the simple instrument can create and produce, just you need to have an attitude to listen and listen properly.

Finally, somebody great said,” A common leader says, "let's do it", while a great leader says, “Let us all do it together"

Some Musing on TIME !!

Hey guys, can you believe Bill gates has time for everything !! Even volumes of books to read, so you may ask where in the world does he get time? People may say, "He is the busiest person in this globe !!" This is one question that i am pondering for few days. Now, I realize he is not the busiest guy but the most organized person. This way, my questions and all other dilemma as to time management get answered.

So the first question - " What is time?"
My simple dumb answer is " It is anything that keeps us engaged day and night !!"

Well, you may not agree with it, but let us get a dictionary definition from the online thefreedictionary. It goes like this, " Time is a non spatial continiuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future"  Link: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/time

Also, a recent understanding that has struck my thick neocortex - " For rich and poor both alike, it is 24 hours equal, nothing more & nothing less. It is up to you to make the maximum of it."

So, if still you are miserable, then it is your mistake !!

Simple mathematics:

24 hours / day
7 * 24 hours / week
30 * 24 hours / month
365 * 24 hours / year

If you are interested to get inspired, i suggest you to go through this website: GateNotes

http://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Stanford-Commencement-Speech

The Night I Slept under a Tree

“Have you ever come across a situation when you felt yourself too vulnerable at the mercy of Mother Nature?” 

Today, I am going to share with you all the “scary” night I slept under a Tree!!   

I am going to walk you through: How I landed in the situation? How I dealt with the situation?

It was in the month of February 2009, I was assigned a task to visit a remote place in Mid Western part of our country. The objective of my task was to supervise and monitor a district wide social program. My destination was a small town called Gamgadi in Mugu district. To reach the destination, I had only two options. The first option was to take a flight from Nepalgunj or Surkhet to Gamgadi or a nearest district Jumla. The second option, the hardest one, was to walk all the way from Surkhet to Gamgadi, Mugu. I chose the second option – to take a flight. After many uncertainties due to rough weather, I could fly to the nearest town call Jumla.

Once I landed in Jumla airport, I immediately headed uphill for Gamgadhi , Mugu, which would take to me 2 complete days. Since it was already late afternoon, I had to speed up my pace. Sky was clear with no sign of clouds. My only concern was that I needed to cross the hill before 5:30 pm. The hill stood towering at an altitude of 3000 m. The uphill ascend was tough – natural cardiac exercise. My target for night halt was Village A. The locals assured me that I can reach the village before night.  At around 5:45 pm, I reached the peak and refilled myself with biscuit. 

After minutes of rest, I walked through the dense jungle. It was dead silent. Now, I could even hear my own breathing and heart beat!! Suddenly, I could feel gush of cold wind and trees began to sway breaking the monotony. Somewhere I got an uneasy gut feeling – what if? After half an hour, I was still in the jungle walking and begin to hear crickets - slowly raising their voice. My god, the visibility was slowly vanishing in front of me. My heart started to beat a bit faster. I prayed, I could meet somebody or even an animal from the nearest village. Sadly, I met nobody. Suddenly, it was pitch black and from nowhere, the whole of jungle was covered in evening fog. Now I was in a mess. No GPS, no mobile tower, no people or animal around!! 

Fortunately, I had a torch but I could not see feet away because the visibility was very poor. I came in an open field. I shouted here and there, hoping someone will hear me. I stayed still, hoping somewhere in the distance I could hear people’s voice or animals. I was also hoped; I could see light in the distance and follow there. I failed and I was loitering here & there for almost one hour. Now I was convinced, I am lost in the wilderness and. I looked at my watch – it was already 9 pm.  I knew, wild bears are rampant and on top of this, there are cliffs nearby. Anyhow, I needed to survive this one night!! I decided to stay under a tree hoping to get cover the whole night.  Sadly, it started to shower lightly. I became wet and fortunately, I had a plastic cover. I used to it along with all the clothes for some warmth. Till 1 am, I could not sleep because the place was getting slippery.

Finally, the only help that I got was at 1:15 am; a lonely horse was came from nowhere and stood beside me the rest of the night. I was so delighted and stayed still for a cover waiting for morning to come.  When the morning welcomed me, I was the happiest person, I survived!!

For me, the lonely horse was the God, no one else!!

ABC

03 August, 2014