Tuesday, May 31, 2022

24 Character Strengths

Character strengths are those traits that show people's assets rather than their faults and issues. According to positive psychology, good character is exemplified by 24 widely valued character strengths. These are organized under six broad virtues.

These 24 character strengths were first identified by Martin Seligman, PhD, and Neal Mayerson, PhD.

The 24 positive character strengths are split into six virtue classes:

Wisdom:
Creativity,
curiosity,
open-mindedness,
love of learning,
perspective
Courage:
Honesty,
bravery,
persistence,
zest
Humanity:
Kindness,
love,
social intelligence
Justice:
Fairness,
leadership,
teamwork
Temperance:
Forgiveness,
modesty,
prudence,
self-regulation
Transcendence:
Appreciation of beauty,
gratitude,
hope,
humor,
religiousness

(Source- Verywellmind.com)

Ben Franklin's '13 Virtues'

Ben Franklin's '13 Virtues' path to personal perfection

He considered various virtues that, if mastered, would counteract his unwanted behavior. His list of 13:

Temperance,

Silence,

Order,

Resolution,

Frugality,

Industry,

Sincerity,

Justice,

Moderation,

Cleanliness,

Tranquility,

Chastity and

Humility.

Aristotle's list of virtues

I learnt about this list in a podcast. Googled it and sharing.

Monday, May 30, 2022

Notes on the book, Brick by brick

It is key to stay true to your core consumers or else you can lose your vision in indiscriminate expansion without a strong foundation.

Innovation without expertise can be more damaging than staying embedded in tradition. True innovation is built on the core foundations of a brand.

Disruption needs to grow organically from the core. Manufactured disruption can go horribly wrong.

Simplifying organizational structures and going back to foundational values can help clear confusion and offer direction when in a crisis.

Innovation is more than just product. It is a process and culture that needs to be built into an organisation to bring about real change.

Partnering with your consumers can be truly empowering both for innovation as well as building the brand image.

Diversifying the talent pool is about recruiting multicultural and multidimensional expertise to balance creativity with focus.

Encourage creativity but define parameters of time and budget to challenge ingenious minds and produce successful results.

The LEGO story shows everything that can go wrong with textbook “out of box thinking.” LEGO learnt the hard way that sometimes staying within the box brings fosters greater imagination and productivity by challenging the creative mind with limitations like cost or time.

It took two world wars, the Great Depression, and a spate of personal tragedies to make the iconic plastic brick that would change toy history, forever.

Riding on its half-century-old success story, LEGO was completely blindsided by a cultural shift of interest in the market. This shows how losing touch with your core consumer can lead to disaster even for the most successful firms.

Panicked by its first loss in over 50 years, LEGO went on a diversification overdrive. This offers a lesson in how innovation can go drastically wrong if not done right.

Not wanting to be demolished, LEGO tried to disrupt itself by entering into the digital revolution. It did wrong and proved why disruption can be tough even for the biggest corporate giants.

Nearly driven to the ground by its thoughtless innovation binge, LEGO found itself gasping for survival. Getting back to its foundational values, saved LEGO from extinction.

From ignoring the shift in its consumers’ interests to making customers co-creators for some of its most successful products, LEGO had indeed come a long way. The legendary toymaker partnered with its consumers towards profitability.

Going by the book, LEGO got all the diversification mantras wrong, until it got them right. LEGO got the right mix of creativity and discipline to regain its place as the world’s most-loved toy brand.

(Emeritus Insights on the book by David Robertson and Bill Breen)

I can be reached at gorask@gmail.com and whatsapp number 8800477973 for feedback, suggestions, ideas, collaboration, guest podcasts and other opportunities for working together.

My English Podcast "Lifebook" can be listened on the link https://anchor.fm/sanjay-gora7

My Hindi Podcast "Kitabi Keeda" can be listened on the link https://anchor.fm/sanjay-gora

Books written by me are available on Amazon, Flipkart and Notionpress sites.

https://www.amazon.in/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ASanjay+Gora&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1

https://www.flipkart.com/search?q=sanjay%20gora&otracker=search&otracker1=search&marketplace=FLIPKART&as-show=on&as=off

https://notionpress.com/author/36667

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Notes on the Book Open An autobiography

When you feel misunderstood or unrewarded, don't step aside. Instead, find a way to counterpunch, push back.

Perfection is rare. Don't let an imperfect performance throw you off your goal.

Stay steady and your opponent will wear down. Being consistent gets results.

Even if you hate what you do, find ways to respect it, to handle it better.

No matter where you are in life, change is possible. The journey is never over.

No one survives alone. Keep the right people close throughout your journey.

For Agassi, helping others is its own reward. Consider making use of your resources towards the long-term benefit of others.

In a career spanning over two decades, Andre Agassi has witnessed dizzy heights of success and suffered through controversy. But, he never gave up on his beliefs, whether in startling fashion statements or his distinct on-court performance. 'Open' is about welcoming life with all its shortcomings to live it to the fullest.

Swinging the game to his favor was a trick Agassi had mastered very early in life. He recalls the grueling drill that led to the memorable return of serve that had his big-serve pro opponents quaking in their shoes. Work on your return to go far.

Agassi's rebel with a cause persona had a method to the madness: an obsession with perfection. So intense was his pursuit of excellence that it brought him down every time he perceived it to be a notch below expectation.

The Punisher returned after a career slump with a steadier presence, one that held fast when challenged. Take a page out of Agassi's life to zero in on consistency, because when all else fails, resilience props you up.

It is not surprising that Agassi hated the game that scared, chased, and isolated him. And just when he began to get tired of hating tennis, he found his intense emotions turning into respect and love for what he did for a living.

After the worst plummet in his career, Aggasi found inspiration in Nelson Mandela's words. Just as he teetered on the brink of disaster, he understood that caring for others, and most importantly for ourselves, was paramount. Have you checked in on yourself today?

We are indeed the sum of our choices - including the people we surround ourselves with. Agassi has the sagacity to pick out the people who bring out the best in him. Who do you have on your team? Hold on to them fast.

(Emeritus Insights on the book by Andre Agassi)

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Notes on Book - The Digital Transformation Playbook

Digital transformation is not about technological expertise. It is about changing your strategic mindset in five key business domains--customers, competition, data, innovation, and value. Transform your legacy businesses into digitally data-driven ones or scale and expand your existing digital business by rethinking some key strategic approaches in the five domains.

Since the dawn of the digital age, one-way communication with customers no longer works. The consumer now has a more active and influential role in marketing. Redefine ways of engaging with customers and leverage their role as influencers.

According to David Roberts, five core customer network behaviors tend to drive the adoption of digital experiences. Reconfigure your marketing strategy to enable faster and easier access to your digital data and create compelling, interactive, and bespoke content that offers personalized experiences.

It breaks down customer network strategy generation into five simple steps. Define your strategy objectives, identify relevant customer segments and establish which broad customer engagement strategy and concept you want to focus on.

The digital age has forced businesses to look at strategic ways to work with your competition to leverage each other’s unique strengths. Find strategic ways to work with your direct competitors and unravel areas where asymmetric competition could prove challenging.

Digital platforms are basically channels that enable two or more parties to create and exchange value through business. Identify a platform offering by recognizing the distinct value it brings to two or more customer types and how it plays the role of a facilitator.

Digital technologies afford a lot of benefits to organizations including new customer acquisition and location-agnostic access. Assess and leverage the huge competitive benefits digital platforms offer to businesses in terms of liability, rapid scaling, and economic efficiency.

David Rogers writes about two distinct types of network effects – direct and indirect. Shortlist who you need on board to make your platform work. Formulate ways to monetize and prioritize your customers by their importance.

As you rethink competition, you will invariably face challenges within your organization. Understand the value of moving forward in the face of resistance and building an open culture that encourages creativity.

The role and possibilities of data in the digital age need to be seen as an intangible business asset. Recognize the distinction and value of diverse data types you need to make informed decisions and apply to create innovative solutions.

Big data has been the buzzword of the data revolution, but how does it help businesses? Understand how to gather and organize a large quantum of unstructured data and employ it effectively to formulate innovative solutions.

David Rogers suggested four templates for value creation to use customer data to grow business. Be able to use data to reveal critical patterns and identify and segment your customers.

Consolidating your understanding of data concepts and looking at ways to generate value from it. Earmark the area of impact and identify specific indicators to measure and evaluate progress.

Internal organizational challenges you might face when you initiate a shift towards a more data-driven approach. Identify the right skills and expertise for moving ahead with a data-led strategy. You will also be prepared to ensure data does not get stuck in departmental silos.

David Rogers draws attention to the ease of innovation in the digital age and offers seven principles that ensure you make the most out of your testing. Ensure cost-effective experimentation, keep your focus on the customer, and build leverage from fast iterations.

Rogers offers four broad paths to scale up your innovation in this episode. Choose and plan your next steps towards a phased launch or a full release of your offering into the market.

You will face internal organizational challenges when you try and build a test-and-learn culture. Recognize what it takes to build a culture of innovation in an organization. You will also discover the power of celebrating and learning from failure to foster creative thought.

The digital world with ever-evolving customer needs has meant that companies need to continuously adapt their value to meet those needs. Chart your route to adapt to new, challenging, or even shrinking market conditions.

Book offers a strategic six-step tool that will help you carve out your value proposition adaptation strategy. Detect potential threats and identify opportunities to build your value with your key customers.

Even as digital forces are transforming the way we do business, it does not mean you need to become a tech expert overnight. Identify and execute strategic changes that will help your business to adapt and succeed in the face of digital disruption.

(Emeritus Insights on the book by David Rogers)

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Notes on the Book The Confidence Code

For both men and women, confidence helps determine success. Competence alone isn't always enough.

Fear of failure can hold women back from taking action and trying something new. To gain mastery and build confidence, you have to step out of your comfort zone and act.

Your quest for perfection can become a major obstacle to fully realizing your potential.

Fight the urge to stay invisible. Ask for what you want. You'll never know what difference you can make unless you voice your opinion.

Though there are confidence-determining chemicals in our body that affect our behavior, there is no specific confidence gene. Men and women are equally likely to grow up confident or competent.

Rewire your brain for greater confidence by reframing negative thoughts into positive thoughts.

Women can build confidence by daring to use their differences to their advantage.

While women typically tend to undervalue their competence, men overestimate theirs, showing what the authors call 'honest over-confidence'.

Confidence grows from practicing skills but since women don't want to risk being wrong, they don't participate. This feeds a vicious cycle of under-confidence.

While girls rock academics, boys outperform them in the real world. The reason is often the need for perfection in women.

(Emeritus insights book summary)

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Notes on Givers and Takers 110522

Conventional wisdom has taught that it is important to be assertive and aggressive to climb the ladder of success. Author Adam Grant argues quite the opposite in Give and Take. Learn how generosity generates its own kind of equity and drives success, in today’s increasingly interconnected and interdependent world.

In the workplace, there are those who take, those who practice equal reciprocity, and those who give. Consider changing your giving and taking style to best support your success.

Takers are people who only pay attention to their own needs. Learn to identify takers and avoid them whenever possible.

Matchers are restricted in their networks, personal growth and leadership development. You can avoid these limitations by shifting to a giving approach.

Givers often fill the tops of organizations. To become a giver, put other people's needs above your own, dedicating time, attention, and support without expectations of reciprocity.

The strength of a giver lies in the interconnectedness of their teams. Consider hiring not just the giver but also their team.

A humble style of communication helps givers sell, persuade and negotiate. Show vulnerability in your conversation to help earn others' trust.

Givers who give too much can suffer burnout. Care for yourself as well as for others by giving in measured amounts and seeking help when needed.

Takers prove damaging in both professional and personal spaces as they are too focused themselves and could not care less about anyone or anything else.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, Adam Grant argues in favor of the non-assertive communication style displayed by givers, once they establish their competence.

(Emeritus Insights on the book Give and Take by Adam Grant)

Monday, May 2, 2022

Notes on the Book- The Toyota Way

Toyota’s success measures tell the external story and results of its unique culture and continuously evolving approach.

Toyota’s founding fathers accomplished extraordinary successes through tinkering and invention, a passion for always making things better, a principled approach to work, an eye for detail, and a zeal to eliminate wasted effort

The Toyota Production System, or TPS, is an integrated company approach that incorporates philosophy, process, people, and problem-solving.

Individuals can begin to learn and apply an understanding of systems thinking to take a holistic view of their own work and life.

One of the operational elements of the Toyota Production System is the concept of “one-piece flow.” how people and processes are interconnected through a slow, steady operating model, attention to eliminating waste, and empowerment of each contributor.

Continuous process flow can be applied in everyday work by considering core principles of continuous improvement and efficiency. Toyota’s production process has many inter-related components

Toyota instills a mindset that helps each individual contribute to efficiency and effectiveness

The concept of Jidoka is an important element of Toyota’s production process, which empowers workers to stop the assembly line if they notice a quality defect.

By incorporating color, clear signs, visual signals and principles of cleanliness and order, Toyota creates a production environment that allows workers to focus on their tasks and on problem-solving.

By building its leadership principles from the start with each employee, Toyota builds consistency and shared mindsets. these principles including observation, accountability, thinking, and continuous improvement.

Toyota’s approach is derived from the philosophies and mindsets of Toyota’s founders and Japanese culture. including a sense of purpose, collaboration, interconnectedness, observation, and mindfulness.

Toyota’s scientific problem-solving approach is one of the core aspects of its culture. the core aspects of this approach, including gathering evidence, applying the “Five Whys” of root cause analysis, testing ideas, and the Plan, Do, Check, Act model.

The problem-solving mindset of Toyota is one that can be applied in everyday life. use a structured approach in any problem-solving situation, get clear about the situation, map processes, form and test hypotheses, and implement solutions.

The Toyota Way includes many examples of ways to modify personal and organizational behaviors for long-term, transformational success.

(Emeritus Insights on the book Toyota Way)

Communigator

Pages