GUEST: Ricardo Sunderland is an author and a CEO Transformational Coach with Egon Zehnder, a global leadership advisory firm. In this podcast, we discuss his latest book, "The Energy Advantage, How to go from managing your time to mastering your energy," Ricardo's life’s purpose is to help leaders connect to and manage their energy to become humane leaders. He coaches senior leaders to help them bring coherence to the way they lead, and to help them reach their full societal impact. In...

This episode of Connecting the Dots is on Parenting - something we are all winging. We go to colleges, trainings and leadership development programmes for all sorts of capabilities, but there is none for parenting. In this episode, we learn from Roger Federer’s parents, Nandan, Nilekani‘s parents and many other successful leaders who reflect on their childhood. We also learn from some of the researchers on how we can be mindful as parents. If you have a child 10 years or above, the chances...

This episode of Connecting the Dots deals with Judgment - Making sound decisions amidst complexity. VUCA - (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) is a term that is used to describe the state of the world. Some people use BANI - (Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear, Incomprehensible). Whatever the terminology, it is fair to say that the world has gotten more grey, nebulous and harder to predict. Sound judgment, today, is arguably more relevant than ever. Tune in as we peel the layers on this...

This episode of Connecting the Dots deals with STAYING RESILIENT THROUGH QUAKES. We explore what it takes to be resilient as an individual and go on to examine what it takes to create a resilient culture in an organization. Very often, even the notion of resilience is misunderstood. We examine the nuances in what the term means. Is it “bouncing back” to something or using the quake as an opportunity to shape-shift to something else. In the fragile and brittle worlds we live in, being...

This episode of Connecting the Dots deals with Building Habits that stick. This is that time of the year when your new year resolutions meet the rough and tumble of your life. Having a process that ensures that you work towards your outcomes is critical. As James Clear says, we don’t rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems. We shine the light on how we can all build habits that stick.  While this episode is a compilation across many speakers, if you want to tune...

This episode of Connecting the Dots deals with BREATHING LIFE INTO WORK. A lot of us, consciously or sub-consciously end up putting work on our pedestal and relegate the other elements of life to a distant second. In this episode, I share some of my learnings (from the 102+ episodes and from my lived experiences) around how focusing on Health, Personal Relationships, Social Impact work and Guitaring have helped me get better at my work!  While this episode is a compilation across many...

This episode of Connecting the Dots deals with IDENTITY. When we look at issues around transitions, reinventing ourselves and navigating the pulls and pressures of mid-life, the key often is in reflecting on our identity. This episode, we go deep into how we think about Identity and how sometimes, we end up caging ourselves and end up being a prisoner of our own lack of imagination around our identity.  While this episode is a compilation across many speakers, if you want to tune into the...

Welcome to CONNECTING THE DOTS - Episode 3. The first two were on Internal and External Self-Awareness. This one is on Listening! How do we listen to others, ourselves, our heart, our body, our inner voice and much much more. The quality of our listening can have a significant impact on the lives we lead!  While this episode is a compilation across many speakers, if you want to tune into the various nuggets around this theme of Listening, you could visit -...

Welcome to the second episode of CONNECTING THE DOTS. We pick a theme for every episode and try and look at that topic from multiple lenses. Where appropriate, I also try and bring in my experiences as a Coach and a Sounding Board and from my journey as well. In this second episode, we discuss External Self-Awareness. How do we tune into the feedback that we get from the outside world and become a better version of ourselves? The question worth asking in this context is - How 360 is our...

Welcome to the first episode of CONNECTING THE DOTS. We pick a theme for every episode and try and look at that topic from multiple lenses. Where appropriate, I also try and bring in my experiences as a Coach and a Sounding Board and from my journey as well.  In this first episode, we discuss INTERNAL SELF-AWARENESS. Barry Schwartz (Author of Paradox of Choice) states that in a world of abundance, two things happen - 1) Decision-making becomes complex 2) You experience FOMO. Self-Awareness,...

GUEST Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. This quote is attributed to Viktor Emil Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, devoted his life to studying, understanding and promoting “meaning.”  Carol Kaufman and David Noble give us practical tools that we can use to make the ‘space’ count.  Carol and David have authored Real-Time Leadership - Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High. In the...

NUGGET CONTEXT Carol and David speak about their M.O.V.E framework; M – Mindful, O – Options Generating, V – Validating the Vantage Point, E – Engage and effect change. The key, they say, borrowing from Viktor Frankl, is to create the space between stimulus and response. GUEST Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. This quote is attributed to Viktor Emil Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, devoted...

NUGGET CONTEXT Carol and David speak about 3 different dimensions of Mindfulness that leaders need in every context. They suggest that we are attuned to what is going on around us, inside us, and with others, and respond in an agile and an appropriate manner. GUEST Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. This quote is attributed to Viktor Emil Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, devoted his life to...

NUGGET CONTEXT Carol and David speak about how we can adopt multiple approaches to a situation. They borrow from the notion of fight, flight, fright or befriend and talk about the different approaches leaders could take to a situation – Lean in, Lean back, Don’t lean at all and Lean with. GUEST Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. This quote is attributed to Viktor Emil Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust...

NUGGET CONTEXT Carol and David speak about Validating the vantage point that a leader has. They speak about the various elements of a vantage point – resolution, level of detail , biases, near term vs long term and more. GUEST Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. This quote is attributed to Viktor Emil Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, devoted his life to studying, understanding and promoting...

NUGGET CONTEXT Carol and David speak about how leaders who inherit a new context (external candidates or even internally promoted individuals) need to tune into the vantage point based on various priorities and preferences people in the ecosystem (within the company or outside) might have. GUEST Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. This quote is attributed to Viktor Emil Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and...

NUGGET CONTEXT Carol and David speak about how leaders can engage and effect change once they have been mindful across 3 dimensions, have generated adequate options and have validated the vantage point. This where the rubber hits the road. They speak about how leaders can get the intent across in these situations. GUEST Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. This quote is attributed to Viktor Emil Frankl, an Austrian neurologist,...

NUGGET CONTEXT Carol and David speak about how one could apply the MOVE framework in the context of Coaching. Carol speaks about how sometimes we can get sucked into the energy of the client and sometimes that can be counter-productive. David speaks about how as a Coach, he tries to generate many options to a certain situation and iterate their way forward. GUEST Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. This quote is attributed to...

GUEST Stephen M. R. Covey is an American writer and public speaker and the author of the books: The SPEED of Trust, Smart Trust, and Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash the Greatness in Others. He is the co-founder and CEO of a company called CoveyLink Worldwide and former President and CEO of Covey Leadership Center. He happens to be the son of Stephen Covey, the author of the pathbreaking book - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  In our conversation, we spoke about how...

NUGGET CONTEXT Stephen speaks about how he initially focused on the business side of things while his father was the ‘larger than life’ thought leader. He speaks about how, over time, his insights around the high cost of low trust have emerged and how he has found his voice a thought leader over time. GUEST Stephen M. R. Covey is an American writer and public speaker and the author of the books: The SPEED of Trust, Smart Trust, and Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash the...

NUGGET CONTEXT Stephen speaks about how Command and Control has evolved from being authoritarian in the Industrial age to becoming what he calls “Enlightened Command and Control” where the underlying paradigm is still about treating people as assets. He brings out the nuances of Trust and Inspire and how the paradigm is very different from enlightened command and control. GUEST Stephen M. R. Covey is an American writer and public speaker and the author of the books: The SPEED of Trust,...

NUGGET CONTEXT Stephen speaks about how a lot of us grow up in the context of scarcity in our early years but as we grow to leadership levels, we need to embrace a very different paradigm of abundance to lead by trusting and inspiring. He speaks about how we might have scarcity of resources but we all have access to an abundance of possibilities. GUEST Stephen M. R. Covey is an American writer and public speaker and the author of the books: The SPEED of Trust, Smart Trust, and Trust &...

NUGGET CONTEXT Stephen speaks about five underlying beliefs that are at the heart of a Trust and Inspire approach. 1) People have greatness inside of them 2) People are whole in body, heart, mind and spirit 3) There is enough for everyone (abundance) 4) Leadership is about responsibility, not rights (stewardship) 5) My job as a leader is to go first GUEST Stephen M. R. Covey is an American writer and public speaker and the author of the books: The SPEED of Trust, Smart Trust, and Trust...

NUGGET CONTEXT Stephen speaks about how we can tune into micro-moments where we get a glimpse of what somebody might be capable of. He says that if we don’t look for it, we will never find it. He goes on to talk about the four steps involved in unlocking the potential of the person - See, Communicate, Develop, Unleash. GUEST Stephen M. R. Covey is an American writer and public speaker and the author of the books: The SPEED of Trust, Smart Trust, and Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great...