Members of Centre for Transformational Leadership™, Centre for Entrepreneurial Excellence™ and Centre for Coaching Excellence™ in a Mentoring Conversation with Bob Chapman above.

In search of a Level 5 Leader

I first met Bob exactly 2 years ago, in May-2019, before the world knew what Covid was. Thanks to technology, we could have a deep-dive conversation from the comfort of our homes many oceans and 12 hours away from each other, me in India and he in the US. Bob Burg, co-author of the beautiful must-read book The Go-Giver, had connected us because I was in search of Level 5 Leaders, as Jim Collins called them, as role models for my coachees. When Bob Burg heard of my project, he immediately said I had to meet Bob Chapman, Chairman and CEO, Barry-Wehmiller.

Here's how Jim Collins describes Level 5 Leaders only who, as per his research, can lead an organisation from good to great:

"A man who carried no airs of self-importance... He never cultivated hero status or executive celebrity status. ... a Level 5 leader - an individual who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will. ... they were self-effacing individuals who displayed the fierce resolve to do whatever needed to make the company great. ... their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves. ... humble and fearless. ... ambition first and foremost for the company and concern for its success rather than for one's own riches and personal renown. Level 5 leaders want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won't even know that the roots of that success trace back to their efforts.

... In contrast to the I-centric style of comparison leaders, we were struck by how good-to-great leaders didn't talk about themselves. ... Those who worked with or wrote about the good-to-great leaders continually used words like quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated...

... The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes. They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results.

... Level 5 leaders are fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce results. ...didn't have an inspiring personality to galvanize the company, but had something much more powerful: inspired standards. 

... The evidence does not support the idea that you need an outside leader to come in and shake up the place to go from good to great. In fact, going for a high-profile outside change agent is negatively correlated with a sustained transformation from good to great.

... The quiet, dogged nature of Level 5 leaders showed up not only in big decisions, ... but also in a personal style of sheer workmanlike diligence.

... flat-out refused to take credit for his company's success, attributing his good fortune to having great colleagues, successors, and predecessors. ... a contrasting pattern in the comparison executives: They credited substantial blame to bad luck, frequently bemoaning the difficulties of the environment they faced.

... Level 5 leaders look out the window to apportion credit to factors outside themselves when things go well (and if they cannot find a specific person or event to give credit to, they credit good luck). At the same time, they look in the mirror to apportion responsibility, never blaming bad luck when things go poorly. The comparison leaders did just the opposite. They'd look out the window for something or someone outside themselves to blame for poor results, but would preen in front of the mirror and credit themselves when things went well. Strangely, the window and the mirror do not reflect objective reality. Everyone outside the window points inside, directly at the Level 5 leader, saying, "He was the key; without his guidance and leadership, we would not have become a great company." And the Level 5 leaders points right back out the window and says, "Look at all the great people and good fortune that made this possible; I'am a lucky guy." They're both right, of course. But the Level 5s would never admit that fact.

... A strong religious belief ... might also nurture development of Level 5 traits."

When I first spoke to Bob Chapman, I knew I had found my first Level 5 Leader or Gear 5 Leader, as I called them. He was exactly how Jim Collins had described. 

After our first few conversations, I fell into oblivion because Life decided to push me into my personal hell to make me strong enough to be the channel for my impossible, unimaginable, scary dreams. He did not need to really bother about one insignificant stranger at the other corner of the world. Yet, he was graciousness, which is the quality of Gear 5 Leaders. He counselled me, coached me, mentored me till I saw that I did not need to wistfully wait for the Light at the end of the Tunnel because I was the light. That gave me the energy to rise from the ashes, like the phoenix. I can say that if he wasn't there with me during the darkest phase of my life, believing in me when I had lost belief in myself and Life itself, I might have never recovered from the fall. That is the hallmark of a great Leader. They lead people to their highest potential, even when people themselves have little belief in themselves or their potential.

A justifiable question at this point is that in the busy world of business where there is not even time to breathe, being this kind of a leader is like a pipe-dream, nice to have, impossible to achieve. Yet, I was on my hero's journey to bust quite a few myths - with this one being one on the list. The top most being that one cannot have it all, that success had to come at the cost of everything else - health, family, fun, fulfilment, freedom.

A Hypothesis Worth Testing

For me, business is a work of art, an expression of creativity of the artists known as the business leaders, a vehicle to fulfil on one's Purpose this Lifetime. I had developed a hypothesis since I had started my journey as a coach in 2010 after 15 years of loving the adrenaline rush of the mad corporate rat race, without really knowing that was the journey I was on when I started.

The hypothesis was about business being a way to contribute to the world and only, if one began with that intent, would one be able to lead oneself and one's business from good to great. Otherwise, the business and those who led such businesses in pursuit of wealth, fame and success were destined to burn out and die the death of mediocrity along the way. 

The hypothesis was that the purpose of Business is to make a difference. When the Business lives that purpose, it leads to not only greater but sustainable profitability. That it is no longer politics or religion that will lead our species forward. It is on the shoulders of business leaders that the future of humanity now rests. 

It's through strengthening authentic leadership in the world that will move us forward to the next phase of our evolution which is no longer on the physical plane; but on the emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions. That requires CEOs, Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders to travel 3 journeys simultaneously to climb to the summit of their Mount Everest, personally and professionally; and lead their people along with them:

1. Leadership Depth: The inner journey of personal transformation from a Fighter or a Victim to a Peaceful Warrior, embracing our default fears to become Whole and Complete by stepping into Transcendent Love for greater impact in the world by living our Purpose of Life through our work.  The measure of Leadership Depth is to Have It All:
i. Deeply fulfilling, successful business supporting us to live our purpose of life; gifting us with impact, contribution and financial freedom
ii. Loving, harmonious, positive, uplifting relationships at work and at home
iii. Happy, healthy, responsible kids with their genius joyfully expressed
iv. Nourishing, nurturing ourselves to the highest level of fitness and well-being (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually)
v. Making a massive difference through the work we do
 
2. Craft Mastery: The journey of playing to be the World's best, a Master of our Craft, in service of our customers' said and unsaid needs by becoming a Thought Leader and being at the source of Transformation of our industry globally. Craft Mastery not for the sake of ambition, but as an outcome of being purpose-inspired. Reading and learning not for intellectual stimulation or entertainment, but for the purpose of contributing to the communities that we are committed to serve. Craft Mastery enables the discovery of the Value Proposition.
 
3. Business Excellence: The outer journey of professional success by living our purpose through our work, leading our business from good to great, generating a healthy Triple Bottom Line (3P - Profit, People, Planet); creating a legacy by making a massive difference to our employees, customer communities, business partners, investors and all other stakeholders through:
i. Nurturing Customer Relationships: Coaching our team to work from Being of Service consciousness, creating a powerful Value Proposition for our customers that makes a massive difference, by marrying what’s missing in the world for them with Craft Mastery.
ii. Operational Excellence: Creative ways to reduce our and our team’s time, effort and resources and yet increasing value for our customer communities creating a powerful Profit Proposition.
​iii. Extraordinary Service: Serving and contributing to our customers, employees, business partners, investors and all other stakeholders to the level they have no right to expect; sourced in a powerful People Proposition created through Leadership Depth.

The Journey to a New Model of Leadership in Business

Jim Collins and his team in search to discover what makes an organisation great started with 1,435 good companies. They examined their performance over 40 years and found 11 companies that became great. Then, they did a deep-dive study of these 11 companies to find a research-based answer to the question - What makes organisations great?

His mandate to his team was clear - not to get leader-dependent answers. What he wanted to unearth was a leader-independent process that if applied to a business would support the business to transition from good to great.

And, yet the very first chapter of his book 'Good to Great: Why some companies make the Leap and Other don't' in which he published the results of his research, is about Level 5 Leadership. After a massive amount of data-driven research and analysis, Jim Collins concluded that without the leader at the helm of the organisation being a Level 5 leader, the organisation cannot cut-over from good to great.

Jim Collins mentions something else in the first chapter of his book, which is even more interesting. He says though Level 5 Leaders are needed to lead an organisation from good to great, his research does not reveal how Level 5 Leaders are developed and that Level 4 Leaders are opposite of Level 5 Leaders.

My journey has been really about uncovering this hidden connection because if we found the way to develop Level 4 Leaders to Level 5 Leaders, then we would solve for the biggest challenge that faces humanity - how to consciously nurture and nourish the seed of greatness in each human being so that they would lead themselves and their business (in the domain of their influence) to greatness, contributing massively to the world around them through their work. It becomes clear that human evolution is no longer at the physical plane; it is now on the emotional, mental and spiritual planes. 

The reason Jim Collins could not find Level 5 Leaders in a straight line development from Level 4 Leaders is because Level 4 and Level 5 leaders are not in the same model of leadership. We grow from Level 1 to Level 4 in the old model of Leadership sourced in Fear and Scarcity. By the time, one has risen up to Level 4 in the old model of Leadership of dog-eat-dog, You win I lose; one has become exhausted and burnt out, waiting to one day retire to live a life of one's dreams. The game is about how soon can I retire to live my purpose of life. 

​From the old model of Leadership, we move to the new model of Leadership sourced in compassionate love and abundance. From Level 4 from the old model, we start from Gear 0 and climb up to Gear 1 in the new model of Leadership and continue the climb up to Gear 2 to Gear 3, all the way up to Gear 5 which is when we become Level 5 Leaders. The game is about living our purpose of life through our work, and our work refreshes and rejuvenates us.

Research proves that a culture of compassionate love and servant leadership leads to greater productivity, performance, profitability and organisational greatness.

"We surveyed more than 3,200 employees in 17 organisations spanning seven industries: biopharmaceutical, engineering, financial services, higher education, public utilities, real estate, and travel. In organisations where employees felt and expressed companionate love toward one another; people reported greater job satisfaction, commitment, and personal accountability for work performance."

- From an article published in Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2016 by
Sigal Barsade, Professor of Management, Wharton;
Olivia A. O’Neill, Assistant Professor of Management, George Mason University

Here's a new world that would get created when we have Gear 5 / Level 5 leaders leading our businesses: Monday morning excitement to come to work; people discovering their purpose of life and living them through the work they do, working with joyful passion; relating to each other as extra-ordinary and with love, gratitude, reverence; every act done with mastery consciousness not for a positive appraisal but because it deeply fulfils people to do it that way; integrity expressed as being on time every time, doing what is said by the time it is said not because boss or customer is chasing but because honouring one's word is the only way to live; having it all - deeply fulfilling successful career, joyful relationships, happy responsible kids and lots of nourishing me-time while making a huge difference to the world. Yes, this is in the domain of possibility. All we need is to leave our resignation and cynicism outside the door; and believe. Inside of that belief, we will get the Power to Create™ a brave new world.

What we need is a structured step-by-step pathway from Gear 0 to Gear 5 (Level 5) for developing leaders consciously, rather than wait for a few to develop into Level 5 leaders. 

Growth through Pain or Insights

In my study over the years across varied subjects to uncover the secret of greatness and mastery  - Brain Science, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Psychodrama, Action Learning, Ontology, Cellular Healing, Spirituality, Philosophy, Personal Mastery, Creativity & Innovation, Performance & Productivity, Science of Success, Leadership and Business, one thing became evident that it is the responsibility of each one of us to live in the expression of our undeniable greatness, rather than it being a privilege of a few. And, that there's a step-by-step approach to getting there.

There are a few who organically shift from the old model of leadership sourced in fear and scarcity to the new model of leadership sourced in love and abundance. 

Google recently demonstrated that its best employees were not Ivy League students but rather young people who had experienced a big loss in their lives and had been able to transform that experience into growth. According to Google, deep personal loss has resulted in employees who are more humble and open to listening and learning.
- Exponential Organisations by Salim Ismail

It looks like a big loss may help in making that organic shift. In the case of Bob Chapman, it was more God-sent Insight rather than pain that made him shift from a Level 4 to a Level 5 Leader.

Two of Bob’s leadership visions came in church. 
1. Leaders have the unique opportunity to shape lives – After church one Sunday it dawned on Bob as he spoke to his wife. Our minister only has us for 1 hour a week – we have people for 40 hours a week. He realised how impactful work is and can be in the lives of his people.  Leadership can profoundly shape lives if we simply cared about people.

2. Everyone is someone’s precious child. Attending a friend’s wedding, watching him walk his daughter down the aisle and present her to her husband to be.  He realised the words this father was saying was a light version of what he truly would say to this man if he could.  He would tell him how he and his mother had taken care of this beautiful girl from the time she was born until now, nurturing her, caring for her and loving her; and asking him to do the same. He realised in his organisation, the leaders and managers are the stewards of that life. Having that view dramatically changed his view of leadership!

Recently named the #3 CEO in the world in an Inc. magazine article, Bob is very intentional about using his platform as an awakened business leader to build a better world. He is Chairman and CEO of US based Barry-Wehmiller, a $3 billion global capital equipment business with more than 12,000 team members globally. He became the senior executive of this private company in 1975 at age 30 when the 80-year-old business had $20 million in revenue, outdated technology and a very weak financial position. Despite the obstacles, he applied a unique blend of strategy and culture over the next 40 years in leading Barry-Wehmiller through more than 100 successful acquisitions. Over the past two decades, a series of realisations including those shared above led him away from traditional management practices to what he now calls Truly Human Leadership - a people-centric approach where his employees feel valued, cared for, and an integral part of the company’s purpose. At Barry-Wehmiller, they have a unique measure of success: by the way they touch the lives of people. His experiences and the transformation he champions are the inspiration behind his Wall Street Journal bestseller Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family. The book is co-authored by Raj Sisodia, founder and co-author of Conscious Capitalism.

Young and joyously energetic at 77, he is lit up by his purpose to transform the world and make it a better place through his business and his life.

I believe he will. 

Like he writes in his book - "Everyone wants to contribute. Trust them. Leaders are everywhere. Find them. Some people are on a mission. Celebrate them. Others wish things were different. Listen to them. Everybody matters. Show them."

He's creating a massive transformation in the business world by inspiring leaders around the world to embrace Truly Human Leadership, which is his gift to humanity. It is not People at the cost of Profit. He says if there's no Profit, then People suffer. His simple maxim is People, Purpose and Performance. Through Truly Human Leadership, he has created a pathway to becoming Level 5 Leaders.

Truly Human Leadership is about creating a Safe Bus (Performance), an inspiring destination (Purpose) to journey towards and happy inspired co-travelers (People) partnering with us to fulfil on our Shared Purpose.
 
Creating a Safe Bus is about building a robust, profitable, scalable, sustainable Business Model sourced in our Core Competencies and a Strategic Business Architecture serving our Customer's Needs.

In terms of the 3 journeys I travel with my coachees,
1. We deliver on our Purpose through Business Excellence giving us a sustainable and robust Profit Proposition.
 
2. We inspire our People to partner with us to joyously fulfil on our shared Purpose and shared inspiring Big Hairy Audacious Goal through Values-based Leadership by strengthening our and our team’s Leadership Depth giving us a strong People Proposition.
 
3. We make a massive difference to our customers (Performance) so that they chase us instead of us chasing them, by marrying our Core Competencies (both existing and those we want to acquire based on our Strategic Business Architecture) with Customers’ said and unsaid needs by playing to be the best in the world in our Core Competencies through Craft Mastery to deliver an attractive Value Proposition.

In their article Building your Company's Vision in Harvard Business Review, Jim Collins along with Jerry Porras note that Companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world.

Core Values is a system of guiding principles and tenets and core purpose is the organisation’s most fundamental reason for existence. Core values and core values (together known as Core Ideology) of our Company defines what we stand for and why we exist. Core ideology provides the glue that holds an organisation together as it grows, decentralises, diversifies, expands globally, and develops workplace diversity.

Bob, early on in his journey in 2002, as he was transitioning his business from a traditionally managed organisation to Truly Human Leadership, he brought together a team of thoughtful leaders at Barry-Wehmiller. The goal was to articulate ideal leadership behaviors so that, based on their experiences at work, Barry-Wehmiller team members could lead richer, and more fulfilling lives. They together co-created Barry-Wehmiller's Core Ideology which he called The Guiding Principles of Leadership that stands as the cornerstone of their culture. Chapman stated, and the team leaders aligned with the touchstone, that “Everything we do in the future needs to be in harmony with these principles.”

Our Destiny

I believe it is India’s destiny to become the world's most developed and prosperous nation in our lifetime, with her citizens happiest and healthiest in the world.

It is India’s destiny to contribute massively to humanity, making a huge difference to our fellow human beings around the world, through the wisdom of our ancient heritage, creativity and innovation of our people, and authentic leadership in business and society.

I believe you and I can make this dream a reality by becoming the greatest version of ourselves, personally and professionally, by leading ourselves and our work from good to great; and realising our greatest dreams in deepest communion with our highest selves.

We are born in our country because we are meant to carry forward our country's legacy to the world and serve our country to make an even bigger difference to humanity.

True joy lies in creating a Brave New World in our own country rather than celebrating and feeling proud of achievements of our fellow citizens who left their roots behind to adopt another country.
 
Our degree of happiness is a function of how deeply we are connected to our roots, how much contribution we have made to the communities that we come from. We are tribal at heart and our tribes define us. It is only in coming home to our own village that we can find our way back to who we are as human beings.

No tribe is better than the other, just that my tribe gives me a sense of belonging that no other tribe can; just as it is for you. I can only have deep respect for all tribes if I can reconnect to the deep respect within me for my own tribe. I can contribute to other tribes powerfully when I have contributed to my own first.
 
“If I were to attribute any single reason to such success as I have achieved, I would say that success would not have been possible without a sustained belief that what I did or attempted to do would serve the needs and interests of our country and our people and that I was a trustee of such interests.”
- JRD Tata. Under his leadership, the assets of his business assets grew from Rs 62 crore in 1939 to more than Rs 10,000 crore in 1990. He is a founder of many landmark Indian businesses - Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Titan Industries, Tata Salt, Voltas and Air India - contributing significantly to the economic prosperity of our country. In 2020-21, the turnover of the Tata Companies is Rs 7.7 lakh crore.
 
No longer Politics or Religion

​It's no longer politics or religion that will lead us forward towards our destiny. The responsibility is now on the shoulders of Business Leaders. It's through strengthening authentic leadership in our country that India will move rapidly forward as the world's most developed nation. That requires CEOs, Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders to travel 3 journeys simultaneously to climb to the summit of their Mount Everest, personally and professionally; and lead their people along with them:

1. Leadership Depth: The inner journey of personal transformation from Evolutionary Fear to Transcendent Love for an integrated wheel of life to have it all and for greater impact in the world through living our Purpose of Life:
i. Deeply fulfilling, successful career supporting us to live our purpose of life; gifting us with impact, contribution and financial freedom
ii. Loving, harmonious, positive, uplifting relationships at work and at home
iii. Happy, healthy, responsible kids with their genius joyfully expressed
iv. Nourishing, nurturing ourselves to the highest level of health, fitness and well-being (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually)
v. Making a massive difference through the work we do
 
2. Business Excellence: The outer journey of professional success by contributing to the communities that we serve through the work we do and leading our organisations / business functions from good to great. Leading our business from good to great, creating a legacy by making a massive difference to our employees, customer communities, business partners, investors and all other stakeholders.

3. Craft Mastery: Becoming a key person of influence in our industry through continual learning, unlearning, re-learning to become the master of our craft. Becoming a Thought Leader, being at the source of Transformation of our industry, a key person of influence globally, contributing to our industry and all of humanity inside of that, by being a Master of our Craft, the World’s best.

The Journey to a New Model of Leadership in Business

Here's how to travel these 3 journeys to create a huge impact in the world that will have us transform what it means to be India, what it means to be a Business, what it means to be a Leader and as an outcome of that, what it means to be a Human Being.

The journey of transforming our organization from good to great begins with us transforming from good to great. Fortunately or unfortunately, the organization mirrors the leader at the helm of the organization. Fortunately because that means the power is in our hands to make this happen. Unfortunately, because it is easier to work on the outside than on the inside.

For the organization to shift gears from good to great, there are actually 3 journeys that the CEO / business leader will have to undertake simultaneously:
​
1. Business Excellence
2. Leadership Depth
3. Craft Mastery

Even before we begin to explore each in greater detail, let us define what is good and what is great to assess whether it is even worthwhile to be on this journey. A good organization makes profit but struggles to do so, is in the red ocean of bloody waters with competition nibbling at its toes, primary motive is financial survival, does not have any significant impact in the world, employees work half-heartedly and only for their salary. Employee engagement is a huge focus because disengagement is so rampant. Employees don't feel connected with their own selves or with each other or with their leaders. Its stressful to be working and everyone is waiting to hang-up their corporate boots some day to follow their heart, to come alive. There are offsites to discuss mission, strategy, future etc. and everyone uses these as a way to get a breather from the boring routine and nobody remembers anything once they are back at work. Nobody understands what love is or what's that got to do with work. Leadership is bottom-line and top-line focussed. Another word for good is mediocrity and the organization is only leading itself to a certain death sometime in the future.

A great organization is purpose-driven; significantly and positively impacts human consciousness and evolution; passion, commitment, accountability, self-inspiration & purpose drive the employees who joyously work with their heart, mind & soul; is in the blue ocean, is a market leader running a monopoly  with its nearest competitor miles away; is in an effortless self-sustaining cycle of creativity, innovation and profitability. No employee engagement programs are needed because employees are deeply engaged and connected with their work, with each other and with their leaders. Employees live their purpose of life through their work; leave the day at work feeling rejuvenated and refreshed. There's focus on value-based leadership with leaders creating a space of compassionate love through nurturing, coaching and leading authentically by themselves doing 10 times what they tell their people to do. This results in breakthrough performance, productivity and profitability.

Well, isn't leading your organization from good to great then a worthy goal?

If it is, then let's deep dive into what it takes to make that happen. There are three journeys that the CEO, the leader at the helm of the organization would need to undertake simultaneously: 
​

1. Business Excellence

This is a journey over 5 mountains:

Mountain 1: Inquiring into his / her own Purpose, the CEO / Business Leader identifies a real experiential link between his / her purpose of life and what the organization is up to in the world. Without this, there will be mediocrity and death which is the only outcome available to a good organization. For the organization to be on the path of greatness; the CEO / Business Leader has to be on the path of greatness working with a mission to transform the world, committed to make a huge difference, driven to leave footprints in the sand of time.

Mountain 2: Discovering your organization's Blue Ocean and a Compelling Value Proposition that has prospects chase you to become your customers instead of your business having to chase the customers. Till the time you don't have anything to offer that has customers chase you, you are playing a losing game.

Mountain 3: Iterating to create a robust Repeatable, Scalable and Profitable Business Model, giving your business a solid foundation of long-term value-creation for your customers and for your organization. Here's how you test whether you are ready to cross this mountain - 

a. Profitability - Is the cost of customer creation and product / service development & delivery substantially less than what she is willing to pay for?
b. Repeatability - Can you repeat the entire value creation cycle (from customer creation to post-sales service) following the same steps, with the same inputs and the same outputs, every time; delighting the customer the same extraordinary way each time?
c. Scalability - Can the entire process run without you?

Mountain 4: Scaling-up your business through Business Development, Operational Excellence and Extraordinary Service. 

a. Business Development: Your sales team is more committed to the well-being of the community that your organization serves (your customers) than to the commission that they will earn. 
b. Operational Excellence: Bottoms-up continuous process automation and innovation to reduce costs, reduce time to do any specific activity and increase quality.
c. Extraordinary Service: Delighting customers with such amazing service, at levels that the customers have no right to expect.

Mountain 5: Creating a Self-Sustaining Business. The fifth stage is when the organization no longer needs you and can function effectively without you, as you have not only created an organization with strong, robust fundamentals but also have created succeeding leaders to take the organization to its next level of evolution with even greater velocity. You are now free to contribute to the entire industry, leading the industry itself to transform through your thought leadership, impacting a lot more organizations simultaneously as you sit on multiple Boards of Directors and bring about social change, contributing to the evolution of the human race bringing people and countries together through who you have become as a human being as an outcome of leading your organization from good to great.
​

2. Leadership Depth

You cannot lead your organization from good to great without deepening who you are as a human being, without being on your own journey of transformation and evolution from good to great. This is a journey over 5 Gears by dropping Limiting Habits and inculcating Growth Habits to create the highest level of fitness and well-being across all the 4 bodies (Physical, Emotional, Intellectual / Mental, Spiritual) of your Being. 

Each Gear is about elevating one’s consciousness by developing a specific leadership muscle, working at the level of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual habits. 

Gear 1: Discovering your destiny, your purpose this life-time. Strengthening Agility of Mind™ leadership muscle to experience unconditional love, gratitude and reverence for who you are as a human being. There is deep stillness within, with nowhere to go and nothing to prove.

Gear 2: Making a difference through your work, playing your big game with peace in your heart and mind. Strengthening Being of Service™ leadership muscle to see the light in everyone and have the leadership depth to give your unconditional love, gratitude and reverence to each one in your space, irrespective of however they are and however they are not. Experiencing oneness with the Universe.

Gear 3: Experiencing joy of effortless existence as the world around you experiences you as extraordinary. You receive unconditional love, gratitude and reverence from everyone as you strengthen your Communicating in the World of Others™ leadership muscle. 

Gear 4: Experiencing deep fulfilment as others in your space experience themselves as extraordinary and experience unconditional love, gratitude and reverence for themselves. The Authentic Leader in you is born as you get access to significant Power to Create™ by strengthening your Delivery on Your Word™ leadership muscle. 

Gear 5: People in your space experience each other as extraordinary and give their unconditional love, gratitude and reverence to each other. Your presence causes a shift in the space around you as you inspire a culture of trust, partnership and compassionate love; with each one supporting the other to be successful. The Master in you is born, as you strengthen your Excellence™ leadership muscle to have your Power to Create™ in full bloom. You become The Master Creator. You intend; it gets created effortlessly and almost instantaneously.


3. Craft Mastery

For the organization to cut-over to greatness, there is no other option but to be the world's best in whatever the organization is upto. And, for that to happen, the employees need to be playing the game to be the world's best in whatever they are doing as part of the organized work. For the employees to be on the learning path to be masters of their domain, their craft; you absolutely guessed it - the CEO has to be playing the game to be the master of the domain the organization is in. This is also a journey over five stages. 

1. Amateur: This is the stage of Passive Learning, when you learn on your own through reading works of masters in the field, training yourself through material available in the public domain.

2. Professional: This is the stage of Active Learning, when you implement whatever you are learning to make a difference to your chosen target community. 

3. Expert: You become an Expert by learning through Apprenticeship, when you learn directly from an existing Master of your Craft.

4. Mentor: You become a mentor when you coach others to become Experts in your domain.

5. Master: You finally become a Master when you coach Experts to become Mentors in your domain. This is when you go inside your craft and become it.

The best way to travel on this path is to synchronize each of the five stages of Business Excellence, Leadership Depth and Craft Mastery. 
​
A Journey Worthwhile to fulfil on our Destiny

Yes, it is a long haul forward. Why should you make your life difficult to be on this path? Because this path supports you to have it all - deeply fulfilling successful career, joyful relationships, happy responsible kids and lots of nourishing me-time, while making a huge difference in the world through the work that you do. The old model of leadership only gives you a successful career but at the cost of everything else. In this new model of leadership, you have it all.
​
I believe this new model of leadership will help us contribute massively to humanity, making a huge difference to our fellow beings around the world, through the wisdom of our ancient heritage, creativity and innovation of our people, and authentic leadership in business and society; leading us towards fulfilling on our destiny to be a world leader; being at the source of joy, harmony, peace, loving kindness and prosperity for all beings on our planet.

 
Welcome rough days, look forward to rough days because you learn, grow and evolve massively on your rough days, if you follow the process of digging for diamonds. Growth diamonds are not available on good days. Another word for Growth Diamonds are Blind Spots, something about ourselves that impede our progress and cause us to have rough days and yet, we cannot see them. Growth is really moving from discovering one blind spot to another and it is a life-long journey. The moment we arrive at a place where we feel we have become the greatest version of ourselves and that there are no more blind spots to be discovered, that is the day we die spiritually, emotionally and mentally; though, physically we may continue to live for a very long time afterwards.

Beyond the basic necessities of life - roti, kapda aur makaan (food, clothes and shelter) - we humans crave to make a difference because that is our access to our Space of Grace where we experience unconditional happiness, happiness without a cause or a reason; happiness that is no longer because of someone or something. It just courses through our body on its own, leaving us feeling rejuvenated, refreshed, full of joyous vitality and energy. Instead of getting pulled into the chaos outside, we pull people into the peace within us and have people be soothed, settled and be at ease with themselves and with the process of life in our space. That is the moment that we have truly arrived.

It is our rough days that gives us the access to our blind spots; discovery of which supports us to make a bigger difference through our work and leads us forward with velocity towards our Space of Grace. So, receive your rough days with joyous gratitude as the gift of the Universe, which always has your back. If you don't feel that the Universe has your back, that is your first discovery of a blind spot.

There is a process to follow to go on a journey to dig for growth diamonds / blind spots and here it is for you:

1. The first step is to acknowledge to yourself that you have had a rough day and step into the commitment to dig for growth diamonds. For us to have the inner strength to do this on the rough days, we need a daily practise of Review and Reflection at the end of the day. With this daily practice, when the rough days arrive (which they surely will) our muscle memory will kick in for us to do the Review and Reflection. Without Review and Reflection, all our diamonds go underground and are not available the next day. 

2. The next step is to journal or have a conversation with your coach. If you are journaling, answer the below questions as you have a conversation with yourself:

i. What am I feeling? - Identify a specific feeling, instead of just saying good or bad. High performers usually are not in touch with their emotions, which is what becomes the barrier for their further growth. If you struggle to identify the emotion, check out the range of 22 emotions on slide 24 in this presentation - Power to Create™. The moment you are able to exactly identify the emotion and allow yourself to fully feel it, you will feel release of tension from your body. 

ii. What am I thinking that is making me feel this way? - All stress, tension and limiting emotions that leave us not feeling good are an outcome of limiting thoughts that we have about ourselves, about other people and and about life itself. Let's call this thought pattern - small mind.

We are, by default, hardwired with our special version of the 'small mind'. Some of us become victims of our circumstances, in response to the small mind; and end up becoming Low Performers. High Performers become fighters in response to their small mind, fight with themselves to hide the small mind from their own self, fight the world to get what they want at a huge personal cost and end-up with lots of success but feeling like an imposter (Imposter Syndrome). All the success and money they worked hard for does not fulfil them, there's an underlying unconscious tension in the body all the time and the heart feels empty.

Yet, there's a 3rd way to be - acknowledge the small mind, learn to rewire our default survival / fear sourced small mind to step up to our Space of Grace. Let's call our Space of Grace - Big Mind. When we make this choice, we battle with our small mind on the inside instead of its reflections in the world outside. We become the Peaceful Warrior, the Super Performer. We are in the flow and step into our zone of genius.

iii. What sensations arise in my body on account of the feelings I have and the limiting thoughts that are cluttering my mind?

​This creates high level of self-awareness and a lesser probability of venting out our angst and frustration on people in our lives, at work and at home, and hurting them because of the rough time we have had.

iv. What's present in me, the absence of which would have made a difference?

v. What's absent in me, the presence of which would have made a difference?

vi. What do I now understand, which I hadn't understood before?

vii. What can I see now, which I hadn't seen before?

viii. What did I learn?

ix. What one action, however tiny, will I take as an outcome of this deep self-reflection?

x. What are my powerful questions which will lead me forward?

After doing this level of deep self-inquiry, you will find your power coming back, exhaustion melting and a resurge of energy to take on the world.

Without this process, there is a tendency of wanting to crawl into bed, stay there for long and call in sick. Don't do that. Also, don't do any other work till the time you clear your space through this reflective process.

3. This process of deep inquiry - self-driven or with your coach - will reveal growth diamonds / blind spots. The interesting thing about blind spots is that the moment they come in awareness, the work to go beyond begins. With the discovery of a blind spot, you have progressed from unconscious incompetence in that area to conscious incompetence. You can now create a structure of success to step up to conscious competence. Practise long enough and unconscious competence is not far away.

Therefore, the 3rd step is to identify your blind spot through the process of deep-dive reflection and put a structure of success in place to step up from conscious incompetence to conscious competence to unconscious competence (mastery). 

If you have a coach, then your coach becomes your accountability partner, else find a committed listener who can be your accountability buddy. Without someone showing you the mirror, progress is not really possible and the whole exercise remains intellectual; instead of visceral. Only a visceral, in-body, emotional experience can result in a real transformational shift on the inside because intelligence may be in the mind but wisdom is in the body. Your mind may have thoughts but your body feels the intuition and your emotions, which are more competent guides to your true north pole than your thoughts.

Wishing you the joyous experience of ongoing growth towards your greatest self.

Love,
Jyoti.

 
I have been a workaholic. When I wasn't so self-aware, I used to believe with pride it was because of my impeccable work ethics, high level of commitment to my work and passion for what I am doing. After enormous inner work, I came face to face with an ugly truth that I was a workaholic because of instant gratification that I receive at work for completing a task, because of a sense of achievement I feel at ticking off an item from my checklist. The real truth was that I was nicely enmeshed in the Activity Trap without even being aware of it. The real truth was also that it is emotionally easier to be working than to be dealing with emotionally difficult issues at home, it is easier to work on a task than dealing with relationships and one's own limiting habits which come in the way of personal mastery. So, I had worked myself to burn-out much before I was 40 that hopped off the corporate bandwagon on an entrepreneurial journey in search of a profitable, repeatable, scalable Business Model. That search forced me to go on an inner journey of self-discovery and growth because whether we like it or not, our businesses end up becoming a mirror of who we are as human beings. That is why, an entrepreneur is on a Hero's journey in search of greatness outside and inside. Without connecting to the Light within, a great business will not get built.

I learnt massively in my journey as an entrepreneur in the last 10 years. Here are some of the learnings regarding getting work done more efficiently:

1. Work less hours to produce more value and impact: I am more productive, creative, effective and efficient if I work for 6 hours with focus, instead of 12 hours. If I am working for 6 hours, I can write an article in 2 hours; while if I have a 12 hour schedule, I end up creating a similar article with lesser impact in 6 hours. And, if I have spent 5 minutes drawing out the outline of the article during planning stage, I get done much earlier. This seems to show up irrespective of the nature of work - meetings get wrapped up faster with quicker and more creative solutioning, problem solving is quicker, lesser mistakes while creating any artefacts.

I interviewed Andrew Barnes, Founder and Managing Director, Perpetual Guardian, New Zealand because I was curious about the 4-day work week he had implemented in his company. In February 2018, Barnes announced that Perpetual Guardian would be doing a trial of four-day work week, with staff receiving an extra day off work, on full pay, each week. Staff were not required to work additional hours on their four working days. In July 2018, at the completion of the trial, the trial had been a resounding success with productivity up 20%, staff stress levels down, customer engagement levels up more than 30%, revenue remaining stable and costs decreasing, therefore resulting in increased profitability. Staff engagement and work-life balance also improved. 

Productivity graph between productivity on the y-axis and number of working hours on the x-axis is an A curve. You will increase your productivity by increasing your number of hours in the beginning; but after a point (lets, call that point - Point of Zero Returns), productivity, efficiency, effectiveness and creativity falls sharply. 

For me, the Point of Zero Returns is around 6 hours. So, I work from 6 am to 1:30 pm with 2 half an hour breaks in the middle. 

Pioneering researcher Nathan Kleitman discovered that our bodies operate in 90 minutes rhythm (Ultradian Rhythm) not only during the night but also during the day when we move from higher alertness to lower alertness.

In his renowned 1993 study of young violinists, performance researcher Anders Ericsson found that the best ones all practiced the same way: in the morning, in three increments of no more than 90 minutes each, with a break between each one. Ericsson discovered the same pattern among other musicians, athletes, chess players and writers.

You could experiment to find your Point of Zero Returns and scheduling your day in slots of 90 minutes interspersed with breaks.

2. The Anti-Routine: In conversations with most CEOs, I am almost hit by a palpable energy of stress and tension, even over a Zoom call, that they are vibrating with. Unfortunately, most times, they are not even conscious of this anxiety in the background present at every moment. This background continual hum of anxiety is a huge drain on creativity, effectiveness, efficiency and productivity. Since they all are High Performers, they are able to deliver massive results even with this huge drain on their system but it comes at a tremendous personal cost. I continually hear the desire to retire to give back to society, to contribute, to leave a legacy. I am left with a deep sense of loss because their highest contribution would be by staying on in the job much beyond retirement and lead their businesses from good to great. Their real legacy is the transformation they can be at the source of in the world through their businesses; transforming what it means to do business, what it means to lead and work, and inside of that what it means to be a human being. This can only happen with an inner shift form being a Fighter High Performer to a Peaceful Warrior Super Performer. And, one of the first things to let go is unsustainable long working hours to create time for what I call The Anti-Routine.

The Routine is the work schedule. The Anti-Routine is the play schedule reserved for family fun time, nourishing nurturing self through exercising, meditating and various other growth habits,  playing a sport, learning a creative art and the one that usually gets missed - learning continually about self in search of blind spots.

Einstein credits his breakthrough scientific discoveries to his playing the violin. I can relate to what he is saying because all my major business breakthroughs haven't come when I was working. They all came when I was either meditating, playing golf, learning piano, exercising or on a vacation. It's only when we step outside the painting of our business can we turn around to see the full picture and discover which colours and lines need to be added or deleted to make our business our masterpiece work of art.

All human beings have a masculine (courage, strength, independence, assertiveness, driven to win) and a feminine (empathy, intuition, vulnerability, caring, nurturing) element. It's by bringing the two in balance inside of us do we rise up to our greatest self and become a great leader. Sports is a great way to strengthen the masculine element in us; while learning and investing in a creative art (painting, singing, learning a musical instrument, dancing etc.) strengthens our feminine element.

Discovering our blind spots is the piece of the Anti-Routine which mostly gets missed, and yet is the foundation on which everything else rests. A leader who knows it all, has answers to all questions, solutions to all problems and is already the greatest version of himself / herself is a leader who is not going to lead the business too far. Having a structure to continually look inside to discover places one doesn't want to go to and see things one doesn't want to see is ultimately what will lead us and our businesses from good to great.

3. The Perfectionist Trap: We all know the Pareto's principle and yet most of us don't apply it to reduce our work and increase our output. It has been statistically proven that 20% of the work we do gives us 80% output. and we spend 80% of the remaining time on finishing the remaining 20% work. I have personally experienced the Power of Pareto not only in my own work but also as I coached my clients to implement it in their own work. 

Chase excellence, not perfection. Excellence is for the God inside of us, Perfection is for the fickle applause from the outside. At 80% output, assess if it is worthwhile to complete the remaining 20%. If you are reviewing product development, ensure your team co-creates with the customer instead of inside your Ivory Tower office. Such a co-creation will support you to stop at 80%. If you are reviewing sales, check if your sales team knows who their top 20% customers are. Figure out which 20% reviews will give you 80% leverage, mentoring which 20% stars will give you 80% growth, focussing on which 20% objectives will give you 80% velocity in your business. If you are chasing everything and everyone, nothing much may get created.

​4. Intention Creation: I also discovered that articulating my 5-Years Intentions helps me to have clarity on the wins to be created in the first year, first quarter, current month, current week and the next day. Writing my intentions in the night for the next day work schedule gives me more horsepower to deliver on them with precision.

5. The Tough Nut: Looking at my task list for the next day as I sit down at the end of day to review and reflect on the day gone by and to create the next day, I use a simple method, which most of us know, and divide the list into 4 categories - 
A - Important, Urgent
B - Important, Not Urgent as yet
C - Not Important, Urgent  
D - Neither Important, Nor Urgent

I delegate C and cross out D from my list. I prioritize A and schedule it first thing in the morning, followed by B, which are my tough nuts to crack, before I open the doors to the rest of the world. If one is not being aware, what ends up happening is that we do C and D to get instant gratification and a sense of achievement in the first half of the day and push B so much down in the day that it gets missed out and becomes A the next day, leaving us forever in a firefight mode.

The above 5 may support you to get done faster and more efficiently through your work schedule. Yet , you may not be able to fully disconnect from work when you are not at work because you find yourself thinking about work when not at work. Then, even if you creatively force yourself to work less number of hours, you are still caught because your mind continues to stay at work though you have physically moved out. Here's How to Disconnect from Work when not Working:

1. First of all, make a commitment to stay in the present moment. This is a powerful first step because that brings you into awareness when you are not and acts as a positive force to shake you back into the present.
​
2. Second, practise Aana Paana meditation, the meditation technique Buddha taught for mind control. In this technique, you focus your attention on the triangular region of your nose and upper lip and observe your breath as it goes in and as it goes out. Practise with eyes closed daily and then begin practising it open-eyed so that even while you are listening to someone, you are present to your breath coming in and going out. This stops the chattering monkey called the mind from running in thousand different directions and gets engaged in the game of observing the breath. As the mind becomes still observing the breath, we experience being centred,  grounded and present.

3. Have a solid Anti-Routine to immerse your body, mind, heart and soul - a hobby and a sport that you are in love with, along with an intense workout regime. The fact is that we are have far greater ability, expertise and wisdom to contribute, make a difference and live our purpose through our work at 50 than at 40, at 60 than at 50, at 70 than at 60, at 80 than at 70. Therefore, it is our responsibility towards ourselves and more importantly, towards the communities that we are a part of, to ensure that we have Olympic athlete fitness levels because only when we are at the highest level of health, fitness and well-being can we truly contribute, make a difference and live our purpose this lifetime through the work we do.

Retirement is an archaic concept which has no role to play in today's day and age. We are meant to have fun; live with passion, purpose and impact; and make a dent in the Universe through our work that we love,  till the last breath of our life, whenever it may come.

4. Include an intense spiritual, emotional and mental work-out in your Anti-Routine to continuously be shown the mirror to your blind spots so that you remain agile not only physically but also spiritually, emotionally and mentally till the day it is time for you to transition to the next phase of your existence. Like one of my favourite wise people, Dr Wayne Dyer, said - We are not human beings in search of a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings immersed in a human experience. Leading a business from good to great can only happen inside of understanding this truth, as Sara Blakely, the youngest self-made woman billionaire at 41 years of age, found. She credits her business success to listening to Wayne Dyer and applying his principles from the age of 16 years. 

5. Immerse yourself in reading books and listening to podcasts by masters in business for Business Excellence, in your domain for Craft Mastery and in the mystery of life for Leadership Depth during your Anti-Routine. This is a powerful way to ensure your mind is not idle, which is when it will have a tendency to brood and ruminate over and over again about work; not allowing you peace of mind even when you have physically disconnected from work. Not only will you find greater inner peace but also learn, grow and evolve with velocity. Warren Buffett, who is world's 4th richest man in the world reads 80% of the time. Bill Gates, who is world's 2nd richest man, reads one book a week.

Wishing you the joy of the journey.

Love,
Jyoti.

If you are a small business owner, you are the Brand. Hesitation and discomfort to market and promote yourself is akin to committing business harakiri. And, yet it is a common predicament faced by many new entrepreneurs and small business owners because it feels boastful and arrogant to talk about oneself, having been taught the value of humility during one's growing years. 

As I started out, I faced the same fear. Infact, I would hide behind my company's name to write articles or to express my rather radical views over matters on social media. I posted quotes of other people with which I connected with, rather than share directly what I believed in. It took me a while to find the courage to own my voice, own who I was in the public glare. I bought my first company's domain name immediately but it took me many years to buy my name's domain name. Even today, I write articles extensively to support my customer community but have pushed the idea of making videos and podcasts right under the carpet. I knew I will have to go beyond that discomfort very soon, the moment one of my clients asked to be coached on how to overcome the hesitation to market herself. That is why I love coaching. It forces you to grow, whether you like it or not. I proudly tell everyone how I have build my coaching business only through referrals, which I feel is the platinum standard of building any business. Though, there's an ugly truth hiding behind it, that I hesitate to market myself or talk about myself. I rather have my clients market for me. That's a good strategy to build a hugely value-creating business and yet, it needs to be complemented by strengthening of the Business Owner's Leadership Depth for her to embrace her own Light, so that she can make a much bigger difference through the work she does, the business she runs. 

Here's a 5-step process to overcome the fear of marketing yourself:

1. The first step is to acknowledge that you do have the fear of marketing yourself, of self-promotion, of putting yourself out there. Have the courage of self-awareness that this is only a secondary fear. It is arising out of the 3 core fears which are hard-wired in the minds of all human-beings as an outcome of our fear-sourced evolutionary process -
i. I am not good enough.
ii. I am not important.
iii. I am all alone. 

Recognise you are not alone in experiencing these fears and a part of our human journey is to learn, grow and evolve beyond these primal fears to step into our highest potential, which is when we can truly live our destiny to live our purpose this lifetime, to make a massive difference through our work, through who we are as human beings.

2. After allowing yourself the humbling experience of looking into the eyes of your primal fears, the second step is to review and reflect on the impact of these fears on yourself, on your target customer community that you are committed to serve and on the world. 

As I reflect with you as I write this article, I realise that the impact of my fear in the world is that we have lost VG Siddhartha (Founder, Cafe Coffee Day), Vineet Whig (COO, Encyclopaedia Britannica) and so many more due to their inability to manage the pressures of business and life, due to lack of inner strength to face the inevitable struggles of building a business. I am present to the fact that Business Owners and Entrepreneurs struggle to grow their businesses not so much because they don't have an understanding of Business Excellence or Craft Mastery but because there isn't any focus on strengthening Leadership Depth (you can call it Inner Strength), which is the foundation on which a sustainable, profitable, repeatable, scalable business is built with ease and grace.

Without owning my message to the world, and spreading that message with courage, clarity and confidence, I miss to contribute the only way I know how to the well-being and success of my target customer community that I am committed to serve. This missing to contribute leaves me feeling incomplete and unfulfilled. This missing creates a world, where people feel scared to own their impossible, unimaginable dreams and miss to joyously travel forth like peaceful warriors to realise their greatest dreams in deepest communion with their Highest Self. 

Here I am owning my message that you can strengthen your Leadership Depth to Have It All:
i. Deeply fulfilling, successful, profitable business supporting you to live your purpose of life; gifting you with impact, contribution and financial freedom
ii. Loving, harmonious relationships at work and at home
iii. Happy, healthy, responsible kids with their genius joyfully expressed
iv. Nourishing, nurturing yourself to the highest level of fitness and well-being (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually)
v. Making a massive difference through the work you do
and that Having It All is the only way to build a great business because it requires you to elevate yourself to be the greatest version of you.

My message is also that a business is a vehicle for making a difference. Your revenue is an indicator of how much of a difference you are making to your customers. Your expenses are an indicator of your operational excellence. A healthy profit is an indicator of your commitment to your employees.

So, my friend as you hesitate to market yourself, here are my questions for you to reflect on:
i. What is your message to the world that you hesitate to own and spread?
ii. What is the impact of your hesitation, and your fear to own and spread your message on you, your target customer community and the world?
iii. What will you do about it? which is the 3rd step

3. The third step is to ask yourself what will you do once you realise the impact of your hesitation and fear. 

Here is what I am committing to doing to embrace my fears and market myself:
i. Start my Podcast
ii. Start my YouTube Channel
iii. Start working on my first Book
before 31-July-20.

What will you commit to doing?

4. The fourth step is to remember that Grace is in Balance. It's easy to fall in the Trap of Self-Promotion when you become bigger than your message, you become bigger than the problem you are trying to help solve in the world, you become bigger than your clients. 

The way to escape this treacherous fall is to always remember that you are merely a channel of your message, a channel to solve the problem and that you have a Creator who is so much bigger than you.

5. The fifth step is to do our daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual Review and Reflections; which are very important pit-stops for us to refuel, repair, recreate, reassess and re-ignite our passion to continue travelling in the right direction towards fulfilling our purpose this Lifetime.

Wishing you the joy of the journey.
​
Love, Gratitude and Reverence for who you are as a human being and for your very special message that the world is waiting for,
Jyoti.