Womenlines takes pleasure to share about a very interesting organisation ALLATRA International Public Movement founded in 2011 on the basis of Lagoda International Public Organization. Today, participants of the movement are implementing a vast number of large-scale projects in different areas. The projects are being accomplished by the world’s best volunteer experts from various walks of life who are not indifferent to the future of our civilization. AllatRa International is an association of active, honest and friendly people who aspire to use their best qualities for the benefit of society. It is a new format of relations regardless of nationalities, professions, social status, religious and political views-
Today, we see that more and more people have forgotten the meaning of happiness. Society demands have become harsher and almost impossible to follow. Our civilization has reached a dead-end in the consumer format of living.
To discuss the problems and solutions of today’s reality, a global conference “Society. The Last Chance” was held on May 11th, 2019. Thousands of people present from all over the world agreed that our civilization is heading towards self-destruction and the only way out is to change the vector towards building the Creative Society.
Thanks to those realizations, people from all over the world are already uniting on the platform of ALLATRA International Public Movement. ALLATRA IPM volunteers are implementing the project Creative Society and informing all people in the world that we can live in a better, happier, and safe society. We, the people, can build a world in which every single person is comfortable in all spheres of life and where the highest value is Human Life. The 8 Foundations of building the Creative society are the key to unification and success for changing the vector of development to a peaceful and happy world.
“..all eight principles and once it established and whole world connects based on these principles, I’m sure it will be such a beautiful word. Once you imagine how people are supporting each other and evolving each other and helping each other to be a better version of themselves. I’m sure there was no time for anybody to think about violence and think about other negativities. The mission will be only to improve oneself and make this world a better place” Charu Mehrotra from the conference “Creative Society- A World Without Violence”
Participants of ALLATRA IPM are asking people all over the world how does each person, as a representative of Humanity, envision a Creative Society? How can we unite for this goal and build a future together? To aid in the process of informing people globally, participants are using the Rule of Six Handshakes and are hosting various live broadcasts, conferences, and webinars. The resonance from people all over the world is increasing daily, more and more people are already taking action and uniting based on moral and spiritual values. After all, we are all one big family!
The live broadcasts that are opening up global communication are “Six Degrees of Connection” and “Live Conversation” daily programs, where people from different countries of the world share their culture and traditions, where community leaders, scientist, diplomats, and socially active people share practical examples of how to build a world we can be proud of. People of action also join together at global conferences “Creative Society – A World Without Violence” during which guest speakers share practical examples of how to overcome violence locally and globally.
United by a single goal of building the Creative Society, we can build the world we can only dream of today. Share your vision of the Creative Society by visiting allatraunites.com and clicking the “Join Us” button. The future depends on each of us, let’s share this message around the globe by using #creativesociety #allatraunites. Together we can do a lot!
International Conference Creative Society – a World Without Violence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJVydQNUWX8 Singapore
Allatraunites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn1sSJ8CFdg
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Womenlines takes pleasure to share about Ms Ketki Vinayachandra as an ‘Influencer of Health’ at Womenlines panel. Ketki is sharing articles and videos related to excellence in health through Naturopathy at Womenlines. The first series ‘Flab to Fab’ is a must watch as Ketki is sharing incredible tips to reduce weight. Ketki is a trained Naturopath and she is quite passionate about creating awareness about Naturopathy across the world. In this video, Ketki is sharing-
Pain Management at home-
- Tools & Tips
- Natural remedies & gadgets you can use to manage pain and inflammation
“As a Naturopathic health practitioner, I strongly believe that we need to invest wisely in our health. The everyday choices we make in terms of our lifestyle and how we treat our body can either create healing or disease. While ageing is inevitable, diseases are not.”
Talk to me to customize a treatment plan for you today! http://www.askketki.com/
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Womenlines takes pleasure to share about Style Coach Influencer at Womenlines panel, Stephanie Michelle. Stephanie Michelle, Coach of Style is a Personal Stylist and Visual Presence Coach. She helps women transform and enhance their visual presence so that they love who they are and show up as the best version of themselves. Ultimately saving them time, money, and effort giving them the Power of Style. This month Stephanie Michelle is sharing tips on how to boost your style-
Do you ever think about giving your style a boost?
You have worn your favourite attire in the same way for too long. Are you tired of wearing that skirt with the same top? Has your work attire seen better days? There is no need to keep up with your perceived notion that you have to keep things the same way all the time. Many women worldwide fall into the style comfort zone. It keeps you from maximizing your Power of Style.
In the long run, you can read books, take courses, and seek the services of consultants or stylists. These are great ideas, but you need some simple tips you can try at home right now. Try these 4 quick tips to give your style a boost.
Assess- Know Your Likes
The best thing to do is to start by assessing what you like. What is your personal style or what style would you like to explore? What items in your closet do you enjoy wearing the most? Once you are able to narrow down what you like, it will be easier to focus on key elements of appeal. Don’t worry if you have a long list of likes, it just means you will have access to more creative options.
Accessories- Mix It Up
Let the fun begin with accessories. You will have scores of options to choose from, including belts, bracelets, watches (I know I am not the only one that wears a watch as an accessory and not a timepiece) earrings, necklaces, scarfs, pins, rings, and so many other options. Think about your personality and where you are wearing these items. Add a piece of jewellery or two to one of your favourite outfits. Mix pieces together for some variety and flair. INSERT PICTURE #1
Color-Make It Pop
To continue giving your style a boost, add a pop of colour. Adding colour is a process for some, but never fear, it’s easy to start small. Switch out your white top for a bold coloured top. Try coloured slacks or a skirt with a muted tone top. Wearing colour can be a sensitive topic because people are afraid of making too much of a statement in their colourful attire. The key is to try. Start off small or light.
If you are ready to take a big leap, try a bold coloured dress with your work jacket/blazer/sweater. How about a great pair of shoes saturated with colour? The next time you get dressed try these steps and see how creative you can be.
Secret Weapon
The secret weapon is where it all comes to life. You started with figuring out what you like, then you rummaged through all your accessory possibilities and came up with your awesome personalized collection. You moved to enhance your look with pops of colour. Now it is time for the secret weapon. What is the secret weapon? YOU, displaying your personalized Power Of Style.
It is time for a much needed boost. Apply these tips and see how much you can boost your style.
——————————————————————————————————————
Stephanie Michelle, Coach Of Style
Stephanie Michelle is a Personal Stylist and Visual Presence Coach. She is the founder of Styled by Stephanie Michelle and is known as the Coach of Style. Professionally, she helps women transform and enhance their visual presence, so they love who they are and show up as the best version of themselves. She works with private clients, clients in group sessions, and on photoshoots. She has had the opportunity to be lead stylist for Men’s Fashion Week Dallas, 2018 Season 5. Stephanie Michelle has also been featured in Voyage Dallas Magazine and Allen & Houston Magazine. The Coach of Style was also awarded The Fashion Influencer Award at the Dallas Influencer Awards, Spring 2019. INSERT
Are you looking out for physical health, leadership skills, mindset health and image branding strengthening tools to be the best version of yourself? Subscribe to weekly free powerful updates of online magazine https://www.womenlines.com for free. Click https://www.womenlines.com!
Womenlines takes pleasure to welcome Dr Akshay Bhoir as an Influencer for Ayurveda at Womenlines panel. In the monthly show ‘Unlock the secrets of Ayurveda with Dr Akshay Bhoir’, Dr Akshay will be sharing golden wisdom on how to become your best version physically and mentally using Ayurveda. In the talk show above Dr Akshay is sharing about why he is extremely passionate about Ayurveda and what Womenlines followers will be learning from him in coming months-
Dr Akshay Bhoir, MD ( Ayu & Yog ) is a Founder- Director of Brahmand Ayurveda, in Mumbai, India. Basically he has been practising since last 12 years with research-oriented scientific-based Ayurveda treatments. He is having a vast experience of 90,000+ panchakarma procedures done. He is one of the finest people of Ayurveda who can treat KARMAJ DISEASES with scientific aspects using traditional knowledge of Ayurveda, Yoga, Vastu, Astro and Karma.
He has published various research papers in international journals on diabetes, headache, over stress with Ayurveda and yoga. He wrote 3 different books on Ayurveda, Karma and Spirituality respectively. He is a motivational speaker, writer and spiritual guru as a passion for his life.
Brahmand Ayurveda is a well known established brand of Ayurveda since 2008. It is a scientific-based treatment centre where patients can be treated with clinically oriented researched-based Ayurveda therapies. Brahmand Ayurveda centre deals with lifestyle disorder based on the vast experience of the experts of the centre since 2008 with 90000+ panchakarma done and over 1Lac of satisfied patients. They have their three-step formula to cure the lifestyle disorder DETOX, REJUVENATE and CURE.
‘
“I am practising Ayurveda as a lifestyle disorder specialist and Ayurveda Karma consultant since 2008. I have written three books based on Ayurveda, Karma and journey of the soul. Research-oriented work is the best part of my practice. The scientific orientation of Ayurveda Panchakarma process and its clinical data is the main strength of my practice. I have connected to well-known institutes, organizations and business groups to spread Ayurveda. I am committed to spreading Ayurveda globally with some futuristic target of Nalanda university.”
– Dr Akshay Bhoir
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-akshay-bhoir-md-ayu-and-yoga-6a5a1121
https://www.youtube.com/user/drakshaybhoir
https://www.facebook.com/brahmandayurveda
ADDRESS
Brahmand Ayurveda
5, Bhavana Apartment,
Above Speedwheel TVS,
Edulji Road,Charai,
Thane (W) 400 601
CONTACT
Phone:
+91 9970155015
WEBSITE:
www.brahmandayurved.com
EMAIL:
info@brahmandayurved.com
Womenlines takes pleasure to share about Influencer for stress management at Womenlines, MS Suchi. Ms Suchi is World’s only female laughter coach who conducts 100 types of laughter exercises. She is the Vice President of South East Asia, Global goodwill ambassadors, a team of 16,500 volunteers around the world. This month Ms Suchi is sharing why it is important to be mindful about words we speak to self-
Stress Management
- Research has proven that words carry energy, words carry power.
- Whatever we say to ourselves and what others say to us has an impact on our body cells.
- Our body is made up of tissues, there are body cells in it. It contains water.
- Water crystals in the body cells change according to the words.
- We have no control over what others say to us but we can have full control over what we say to ourselves.
- Please be mindful and do not be a self-critic.
Stay motivated!!
Stay inspired!!!
Stay WOW!!!
Laughter & Empowerment Coach
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Womenlines takes pleasure to share the first episode of the talk show ‘Master your emotions with Dr Ruby and Charu’ presented by RAY Academy Swiss – Re-Invent the Awesome You and Womenlines!
As we all know, it’s not the smartest people who are the most successful in life. There are many people who are academically brilliant and yet are socially inept and unsuccessful at work or in their personal relationships. Intelligence quotient (IQ) isn’t enough on its own to achieve success in life. So here we bring to you a talk show which will help you to manage your emotions smartly and get expertise in emotional intelligence. In this first episode, we are coming up with various ways women can face their emotional challenges. Dr Ruby is interesting tips on how women can be smarter in managing their emotions and then perform better in personal and professional fields.
Dr Ruby Bakshi Khurdi is the Emotional Intelligence Expert Trainer, TEDx Speaker, Vice President, Women Empowerment, Global Goodwill Ambassador for Switzerland, Chairperson for AllLadies League, Women Economic Forum, Exceptional Woman of Excellence Award, She Inspires 2020 Finalist, Award for Academic Excellence, Meri Pehchaan, Pride of India in Education! nominated Most Inspirational Female Entrepreneur by Swiss Entrepreneur Magazine. Her latest venture RAY Academy Swiss – Re-Invent the Awesome You, is for helping people to develop Public speaking skills. An initiative to reach out to people to build their communication skills, make speaking fun & create an Impact!
Charu Mehrotra is serial entrepreneur, founder of a personal transformation online magazine Womenlines.com enlightening, empowering, enabling womenfolk across the globe so they can become the best version of themselves. Womenlines is listed in Top 40 Women’s Magazines, Publications & Ezines To Follow In 2020 by Feedspot.
Charu has always believed in creating awareness in womenfolk towards making excellence as a brand. She strongly believes women are what they read. Charu is a Global Goodwill Ambassador. Linkedin Wonder Woman, GEC Asia Pacific Award for Social Entrepreneurship and REX Karamveer Fellowship and Bronze awards some of the recognitions she has received recently! Before striking out on her own at ‘Womenlines’ her entrepreneurship experience was enriched by her several ventures as the cofounder of Udaan, NC Styles, Earngo.
Do subscribe to- Dr Ruby Bakshi Khurdi’s youtube channel to receive informative updates related to Emotional Intelligence!
Are you looking out for physical health, leadership skills, mindset health and image branding strengthening tools to be the best version of yourself? Subscribe to weekly powerful updates of an online magazine Womenlines for free. Click https://www.womenlines.com.
Womenlines takes pleasure to welcome Friska Wirya, Change Management Expert, Leadership and Management Consultant at Fresh by Friska, from Melbourne, as a guest contributor at Womenlines. Check out her article unlocking the real currency of the 21st century-
What do you think it is? Newsflash: it’s not bitcoin!
Recall the bygone eras of yesteryear, when the exchange of goods and services hinged on the bartering system. Gold then came into the fore circa 3000 BC, with Egyptian pharaohs and priests prizing it so highly it adorned the capstones of the Pyramids of Giza.
My 2c (pardon the pun!) is that the currency of tomorrow will be trust. Drawing on the premise of the barter system, how did a farmer know his half dozen oxen would be repaid with the agreed amounts of vegetables, pulses and grains? It’s not about faith. It’s not about hope.
It’s trust.
I covered Brene’s Anatomy of Trust in an earlier article. Maiser’s The Trust Equation is another popular approach to quantify trust. Why should you care about trust in the workplace? Because it has the power to expedite or erode performance, profitability and productivity. The absence of trust results in toxic behaviour such as sabotage, backstabbing and micromanagement.
“Trusting you is my decision. Proving me right is your choice”
Are you ready to level up? Some practical ways to build trust….
1. Tell the truth
Well, d’uh I hear you say. Yes, bleedingly obvious, but we often lapse. Your colleague asks if you sent that follow up email (which you completely forgot about) to all meeting attendees. You could utter a little white lie, do it that very moment. Or, you could admit you forgot but will do it ASAP. You’re in a meeting where someone influential presents an initiative, seeking investment and support. You observe the eye rolling, hear the mutter of side conversations, yet when a round robin of opinions are sought, everyone in the room attests what a brilliant idea it is.
2. Go first
Want people to trust you with their honest insights? Share with them first. Set the scene, lead by example. Don’t know the answer or remember the solution? Say so. Not only will this allow you to learn and grow, you’ll be known for your authenticity and humility. A values-based leader with true confidence isn’t afraid to admit when they don’t know something.
3. Own your flaws and flops
Someone who’s always right is a pain in the you-know-what. How can I trust someone if they possess such minimal self-awareness they won’t even consider that they may be wrong, or feel they have to hide it? If they’re hiding minor things, what other major things are they covering up? We’re all human and make mistakes – own up to yours.
When something goes wrong, we often place blame on others and try to disassociate ourselves. Not only will this diminish trust between you and the people you’re blaming, but it reduces your ability to establish trust with the people who hear the blame game being played.
Conversely, if you take responsibility for failures, people see your integrity. You’re honest, transparent, and won’t throw people under the bus.
4. Your word is paramount
If you cancel at the last minute, fail to show up, miss a deadline or don’t call when you say you will, people come to the conclusion you’ll probably do it again. You’ve planted that seed and history has a tendency to repeat itself. If you make a habit of it, this will be viewed as your normal behaviour, and people will instinctively not trust you to follow through on commitments.
5. Buck passing is for babies
If you’re meant to do something as part of your role, do it. Don’t try to put it onto someone else’s plate, delegate it down the line or fly under the radar hoping you can get away with not doing it. Not only does this frustrate people, it suggests you’re lazy, not committed nor a team player.
6. Explain your thought process
Being introverted and analytical by nature, this is an area of development for me. I can be misinterpreted as aloof, judgmental or bored – lol! It’s none of the above, I’m often deep in thought, trying to bond seemingly disparate concepts and data points into a cohesive logical conclusion. By transparently communicating your intentions, reasons for doing something or current state (e.g. “I’m just thinking through what you just said”), you’re allowing people to get to know who you are and how you operate. You’re giving them a foundation for trusting what you do because they can understand why you’re doing it.
7. Automate inclusiveness
People love to be included, they love to share… but often feel they need to be asked. They don’t want to impose themselves and hijack your meeting, but if they’re invited (to a brainstorming session, a review, or personal conversation) they’ll likely be keen to participate and add value. You’ll get people to share more (and trust you more) if you only ask. Don’t ask, don’t get, my friends.
8. Responding over reacting
Some people have a knee jerk reaction to scoff, dismiss, or laugh at someone else’s idea or contribution. It’s tough to come back and build trust from such a jarring reaction. Take your time to respond in a considered respectful way. If people don’t feel safe sharing around you, they’ll clam up. Open honest communication, a cornerstone of high performance in anyone’s book, then becomes a pipe dream.
9. Equal air time
By dominating conversations or never asking questions, people will think you don’t value what others have to say. Asking questions, of both a personal or professional nature, have the opposite effect. Questions allow two-way relationships to commence and flourish, providing opportunities to learn about each other by sharing information and stories.
The importance of trust cannot be underestimated. Trust is the foundation for every healthy relationship, in or out of the office. So slow to build, so incredibly easy to lose. Tech disrupters such as AirBnB, Uber and Ebay triggered a new way to do business, a business based not only on brand reputation, but personal reputation.
Trust related to consumer brands is a not a new concept, but now your own trustworthiness is equally relevant. We need to trust individuals, not just institutions.
The value derived from building a trustworthy reputation is being increasingly recognized.
So…. how does your stack up?
“I don’t trust words, I trust actions”
I’m keen to hear of your strategies for building trust.
FRISKA WIRYA
Friska Wirya is a Change Management Expert, Leadership and Management Consultant at Fresh by Friska. She has led change programs impacting up to +23,000 people across the seven continents for the biggest names in mining, engineering and technology. A lifelong learner, her effectiveness at managing the people-side of change has proven to be a compelling productivity-boosting strategy.
Are you looking out for physical health, leadership skills, mindset health and image branding strengthening tools to be the best version of yourself? Subscribe to weekly powerful updates of an online magazine Womenlines for free. Click https://www.womenlines.com!.
Womenlines takes pleasure to welcome Ahana Lara Losita, an Online Marketing Specialist, B2B & Wellness Copywriter and Business Transformation Coach from Australia at Womenlines panel. Ahana will be the influencer for digital marketing for Business Excellence segment of Womenlines online magazine and will be sharing informative content which can help business owners in their marketing activities for their ventures. This month Ahana is sharing a very informative article on the topic why solopreneurs should outsource marketing-
The two big reasons why solopreneurs outsource marketing is to increase efficiency and expertise. According to a new survey report from Clutch, leading B2B ratings and reviews firm, 52% of small businesses will outsource accounting, IT services and digital marketing responsibilities. Statistics aside, what would prompt you to outsource your marketing? Do any of the 5 reasons we mention give you a compelling reason? Let’s find out.
Reason #1: Are You Happy With Your Cash Flow?
As a small business owner or a solopreneur, we should be focused on our cash flow. Intuit QuickBooks released a global study, the State of Small Business Cash Flow in 2019 that said 69% of small businesses are worried about their cash flow. Cash flow is the money that is moving in and out of your business every month.
When talking to solopreneurs about their challenges, we found these 3 important reasons surface time and time again:
1. Many solopreneurs are not happy with what they are paying themselves
2. Many business owners don’t have a budget for marketing and therefore struggle to find resources (time and money) to manage their marketing activities
3. Many business owners don’t have a clear plan or resources to scale their business because they find it challenging to manage their monthly cash flow.
Big or small, every business must have a marketing budget in order to grow and scale. However, there is a bigger question that solo and small business owners should ask. With the limited marketing budget that they have, what is the best investment and return they can get without wasting their time and resources?
What types of marketing will generate cash flow for their business? Marketing experts have both the case studies and the market knowledge to breakthrough lead generation and sales appointments, thus directly affecting your cash flow.
Reason #2: Part Time Expert, Full Time Results
One small change in strategy can bring you a big change in results. This month, we changed the lead magnet for a wellness trainer to focus on a growing target market in her local area (and across her home state). We changed her social profiles and active prospecting strategies to get immediate interest from potential target clients. The entire process was planned on a 3-week schedule before launch. Left on her own, it would have taken her months to diagnose the challenge and pivot fast.
From start to launch a project, there are a number of steps, including strategy, implementation, and measuring the results so that you can make changes. For a solo business, working through all the moving parts could get overwhelming.
There could be challenges at various levels of the project – sometimes it’s the technical implementation, sometimes it’s getting the plan right. Outsourcing to an expert exponentially improves performance, reduces errors, and delivers results.
Reason #3: You Can’t Be Skilled At Everything – So Why Not Hire The Right Skills?
Ask yourself this – do you want your marketing to be executed by someone who does not have the skills and expertise to get the right results (even if that person is you)?
You and I both know that solopreneurs have to wear many hats. Entrepreneurship requires you to constantly keep learning and upgrading your skills. However, we can’t all be skilled at everything. For those parts of the project that you find challenging, you can outsource.
We also know that hiring and retention are top HR challenges for any business. With outsourcing, you can find the right candidate with the right skills focused on getting results for you. You also save time, resources, funds or worrying about hiring and retention.
Reason #4: Focus On Revenue Generating Activity (Especially Lead Generation)
The ultimate goal for marketing is NOT just getting leads and sales. The ultimate goal is to get QUALIFIED leads that help you shorten the sales cycle. In order to get consistent, high quality leads coming into your business, you have to play both the long game and short game.
We identified 9 steps to activate your leads in a report we created for our clients. In it, we have talked about the strategies for both long term consistent lead generation, as well as getting immediate results with active prospecting.
You are the best person to deliver your service to your clients, at its highest quality. You cannot outsource that part of your business. You might create systems (and teams) to enable you to help more people. But this part of your business requires your full attention. However, in order for your business to thrive, you need consistent leads.
Your strategic lead generation activity can be outsourced (including your social media marketing). These projects have a lot of moving parts and require both manpower and intricate project management. As a solopreneur, outsourcing it directly impacts your sales and at the same time, reduces the cost and time of managing these projects in-house.
Reason #5: Making Sales Easy
Peter Drucker said, “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.” Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could take a sales call where the client sells himself or herself into your product, service or program? This is what good marketing should do for you.
There are 2 types of marketing that you need in your business – you need to ATTRACT the right traffic to your landing pages, and you need to do OUTREACH to find potential clients and referral partners.
When outsourcing, these are 3 questions to keep in mind:
1. What kind of content do I need to create that would attract the right audience to my website and landing pages
2. What social media channels do I create the content for and how do I map it to drive traffic back to my website?
3. Network is important – how do I keep building my network to get potential referrals and leads to my business?
Marketing should be easy and focused on getting you qualified leads. You can use the 3 questions above to develop a plan with your outsourced partner. We can also help you answer these questions through our Free Online Marketing Audit as well.
Click on the link to download Activate Your Leads PDF + Start Your FREE Marketing Audit
Ahana Lara Losita is an Online Marketing Specialist, B2B & Wellness Copywriter and Business Transformation Coach. She works with solopreneurs and small business owners to plan and implement strategic online marketing that provides them visibility, authority and Influence online, helping them attract qualified leads & convert sales faster. You can reach her through www.ahanalara.com and
www.b2bmarketingsmallbusiness.com
Are you looking out for physical health, leadership skills, mindset health and image branding strengthening tools to be the best version of yourself? Subscribe to weekly powerful updates of an online magazine Womenlines for free. Click https://www.womenlines.com!!.
Womenlines takes pleasure to welcome Sakhee Dheer as a guest contributor at Womenlines. Sakhee leads Digital Marketing for APAC Global Business Marketing at Facebook Singapore, currently. In this article, Sakhee is sharing how she has used the lockdown period constructively to upgrade herself personally, professionally and spiritually too-
2020 will be remembered forever in our memories as the year that wasn’t supposed to be. Never did I imagine when I left for my maternity leave in Dec 2019 that in a few months the world will be reeling under the effects of a pandemic and before I would get back to work, the workplaces as I knew would be changed forever. But one thing is for sure this pandemic is teaching us a lot. We are being taught to be more mindful – of our habits, of our ambitions, of our dis-respect for nature, of our concern for fellow beings, of our needs and of our desires.
For me personally, apart from nurturing a newborn and managing the restless energy of a toddler during the lockdown, I have decided to use the little time I have to deepen my learning and widening my thinking by reading books that I have wanted to read for the longest time. This is helping me to expose myself to different ways of thinking and breadth of experiences. I have also embarked on going deeper within via spiritual techniques taught by Art of Living but that is a topic for some other day! It has been pure bliss, madness, exhaustion and happiness spending time with my kids during these unprecedented times and at the same time making to read, learn and introspect has helped me find some balance in the past few months, along with some occasional baking! Sharing some key takeaways of my top reads from the past 6 months –
Leap by Howard Yu:
This was such a great read and I ended up taking so many notes. The book talks about how organizations innovate across trends and timelines. The core of the book is in helping leaders see what is unique to their organization, what new knowledge and expertise they can acquire, how to leverage new trends in the business environment, how to be aware of ‘unknown unknowns’ via experimentation and emphasis on how important execution is for a good strategy. This book with its emphasis on the evolution of organizations and change management seemed very apt in current times as all organizations will need to think of operations in the new normal, new knowledge areas that need to be cultivated and how to ensure evolution at scale. I love in the book when the author asks, ” would you choose 1000 ft moved by 1 person or 1 ft moved by 1000 people”?
Hit Refresh By Satya Nadella:
Post Leap I picked up Hit Refresh and by the end of it I agreed it had been named appropriately. Being a Microsoft Alumni, this book was on my must-reads for a long time and have seen some of the transformation first hand before I left Microsoft in 2016, I was intrigued to learn what had transpired behind the scenes. Overall this book is a great combination of learning about organizational change and also trends of the future like Cloud Computing, Machine Learning and Mixed Reality. What also comes across is Satya the person – his approach to leadership which is steeped in empathy, growth mindset, openness and learning. One of the things I will take away from this book is this “A leader will not always get it right but the average for how well a leader does get right is going to define his/her longevity in business”.
Applied Empathy by Michael Ventura:
After Hit Refresh, this book was a great read to delve deeper into ‘Empathy’, a quality that has made Satya Nadella the leader he is today and that which has set strong foundations for Microsoft’s enormous transformation. My big take away was that empathy is not “being nice” or sympathy but it is the art of understanding. It means seeing things from another’s perspective. Adding more understanding and insight from other points of view leads us to better thinking, being and doing. From a business lens, it helps us make better products, services and campaigns for our customers and helps us keep all our stakeholder’s need in view while making decisions.
Principles by Ray Dalio: A heavy book (quite literally – 567 pages short) that I read in parallel to some of the books. The book has some amazing learnings from the life and experiences of Ray Dalio from the way he built his company, his life and his work lessons. The book has summary sections that encapsulate some complex topics very nicely and keep the book crisp. My topmost take away was that it is important to be radically open-minded, to know what your blind spots are, having the right questions and being brutally open to feedback. It is important to take in other perspectives to make fuller decisions and broaden our perspective. He also talks about radical transparency and artfully sharing of things that are hardest to share to build meaningful relationships at work and personal life. The book felt a little spiritual with lots of wisdom on understanding our brain better to unblock our thinking, decision making and relationships. So much goodness.
Creative Superpowers by Unbound: This book furthered my awe about the brain and how I can learn to program it better after being introduced to the concept in the book Principles. Though miles away from even beginning to scratch the surface on understanding the brain, this book was a good quick read with short essays from Creative Directors who have contributed to this book in a crowdsourced model. It was great to learn about how creative thinking can be enhanced by taking different roles like that of a creator, hacker, teacher and thief! My top takes away was that we need to give our brain some quiet time to reflect to bring forth the power of the unconscious and power of random associations made by the brain.
The subtle art of not giving a F*ck by Mark Manson: One of the best books I have ever read! A book that calls out some harsh realities of our times like being obsessed with materialistic pursuits, constant comparison with others, social media peer pressure and others. In the order, I picked this one, furthered my curiosity on the topic of training your mind better. Similar to the book Principles, this book also furthers the idea of being an observer of your experiences and learning from your negative experiences or failures rather than trying to push them away or getting depressed when things don’t go the way you expected. My top takeaway from this book is that the desire for a more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience. The book highlights 5 important values that are important for a blissful existence like taking responsibility for your actions, being uncertain, accepting failures, learning to say no and remembrance of death. If you only have time to read one book – read this one.
Other books that I have read during this time are Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, How Brand Grow by Byron Sharp, 18 steps to an all-star LinkedIn profile by Andrea T Edwards, Social Media Marketing for the future by J. E Ford. The books on my future reading list are The Future is Faster Than You Think by Diamandis & Kotler and Infonomics by Douglas B. Laney among others!!
Sakhee Dheer currently leads Digital Marketing for APAC Global Business Marketing at Facebook. In this role, her focus is to educate, inform and excite Facebook’s page owners and advertisers about using Facebook’s family of apps meaningfully and effectively to reach their audience. Sakhee specialises in running integrated marketing, analytics, and building agile teams.
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