More than a few years ago, I chanced upon an opportunity to take up a job away from the hullabaloo of city life – teaching in a school set closer to heaven than a petrol station. Being on the mountains of the Western Ghats, electronic anything had a limited influence over my tranquil existence. What of it?
What is a Myers Briggs, or MBTI, Test?
Prepare yourself for the shortest crash course on pop-psychology. Imagine the people of the world to be divided into various permutations of four sets of rigid personality traits, or set of factors.
Time is an equal opportunity teaser. Whether you are a lowly intern or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, you will always have at least one constrain to tie you down – the race against time. Well okay, you may argue that the rich can afford to buy time by spending millions on minions … Read more
It is ironical that with all the competition, in our upbringing, we are often not taught how to handle failure. Respect is sometimes mistaken as fear. Instead of using a mistake as a learning experience we are penalized for it.
Individuals evolving under these unfortunate circumstances often end up lacking one of the key ingredients in having a successful career and professional development- self confidence. And trust us, confidence has nothing to do with using the right deodorant or toothpaste before an interview, as many TV commercials would have you believe. It is a quality of your personality, not your hygiene products!
No one can sanely argue that a cheerful disposition is a bad thing. When was the last time you voluntarily hung out with someone with doomsday like clouds hanging over them? It’s like asking for a shot of antivallium. Our workplaces are filled with competition, stress, demands and diminishing human regard. And with so many negative emotions floating about in the bull-pens, it is no wonder that a pleasing personality, among the raging bulls, brings in the much needed touch of humanity.
If a manager is ever told that he could only have one soft skill and one soft skill only, he needs to be absolutely clear that it be that of self-management (Read List of key skills for Managers and Employees). Why? ‘Coz if you were given three wishes, wouldn’t you use one of them to get three more and so on and so on? A clever loop hole!
It is one thing to lead a team of people with similar expertize. It is a whole other to handle projects that involve a medley of team members from various backgrounds, coming together to accomplish a goal in a set amount of time, with a set number of resources, a set number of people and finally of course a set amount of budget.
A Project Manager, alternatively referred to as the PM (not to be confused with the PM), has the responsibility to assure successful completion of projects involving all that and more.
In my brief existence in this world – brief with respect to many old buildings and the Everest for sure – I have realized that being successful has a lot to do with talent as does it depend on your presentation of your said talent. Perception matters. That is probably why, when I came across … Read more
After winning the title of the best public speaker in India, Aditya Maheswaran went on to represent the country in the 2015 world championship in Las Vegas (USA) and was declared 1st runner up.
Read how this IT-professional-turned-consultant made a mark at the international level: Indian MBA graduate shines in World Championship of Public Speaking.
Raw talent, passion for the art and a desire to excel are the basic ingredients that any champion must have. But unless there’s a guide or mentor who can channelize it all in the right direction, you’ll never discover the magic proportion.
The secret weapon in Aditya’s training toolkit which helped him do exactly that was a volunteer-run organisation called Toastmasters. It may sound like a wine-tasting club to those who haven’t heard about it earlier. It’s not. Its aim is to help members improve their public speaking and leadership skills.
Even if you aren’t preparing for an public speaking competition, you can still benefit from having strong communication skills and interpersonal skills. The ability to grip an audience and give them a peek into your brilliant mind is an invaluable and powerful skill to have.
We invited Aditya to share some insights on how the Toastmasters process works. He also talks about how he helps professionals tap into their dormant leadership potential.