Category: Everything else

I am a big lover of road trips. If I plan a vacation/short holiday, I generally make sure I squeeze a road trip in. This is thanks to a combination of things.

I love driving. I love music. I love spending time with close friends and family (a.k.a framily). And driving combines all these things together!

And, probably, most importantly, I find road trips to always engender great memories. There’s something about traveling in a new place with a group all clustered together in a moving box that makes for a wonderful bonding experience. (Or a complete disaster if the group doesn’t get along!)

As of last night, I am on vacation for a 2 weeks. It feels like a nice point to stop and take stock – at about the half way point of the year. The last week has been very busy with Mom getting here and with the added work that goes into wrapping things up before you leave on holiday. The holiday started with a Coldplay concert that was so incredible that I will not bother describing it here. It deserves a separate post.

And that was followed by 24 hours during which we’ve covered a whopping 640 odd miles i.e. 15 hours of driving. I love road trips.. but I must admit I wasn’t sure how I would cope with these numbers (yup, the only driver). Turns out it worked out just fine – the late night 4 hour drive last night was a bit of a challenge. But the 11 odd hours today spent driving from the north of England to the Isle of Skype in Scotland was always gorgeous, occasionally breath taking and sometimes ethereal.

Image Source

So, I’m here on the other side looking forward to catching up on a lot of much needed sleep and relaxation. The picture above isn’t one I took. Our photos are all in various phones but there were many points in the journey in Scotland that looked exactly like the image above.

The British countryside is absolutely gorgeous. Looking forward to exploring..

Advice and opinion is always available in plenty. One of the commonly touted lines is that ‘this is not the right age for you to be working’, ‘this is the age to not have responsibility’, ‘this is the age for this’ and ‘this is the age for that’.

I’ve realized, of late. that this is bullshit.

Image Source

There is no such ‘right age’. The same people who talk to you about the ‘right age’ applauded Mark Zuckerberg when he became a billionaire on paper in his mid 20s, castigated him when the facebook stock price fell, sang praises about people like Colonel Sanders who had the guts to start a new empire around fried chicken at 76.

Right age doesn’t exist. Right ‘time’ does. There is a subtle difference. Time refers to your readiness. An emotionally immature teenager may not be ready to handle the responsibilities of running a company or even the responsibility that comes with the freedom of tasting alcohol. This has less to do with age as with readiness.

This, of course, raises a natural point – isn’t there a link between age and readiness/time? Be carefree as a child, rebel as a teenager, take up responsibility as you enter your 20s, learn the ropes at work, find a spouse, get married, have kids, climb the corporate ladder or quit and start your own thing since you have experience etc.

There sure does seem to be a link as it describes the average scenario very well.

Average, of course, is a state of mind.

The only limits that exist are the ones that exist in our minds.

if we don’t share our emotions and beliefs with those around us?

It’s great if to be professional, cool and calculated but the effect of a laugh (a proper one!)on a serious conference call or that of an emotional story is one that can’t be described in words.

For, at the end of the day, that’s what true leadership is, isn’t it?

It’s not about a wonderfully created spreadsheet or Gantt chart, or about the most logical business plan or argument. No, true leadership is about emotions and belief – it’s crafted in the trenches, in hopeless situations where a sense of purpose creates hope and excites.

Logic can never do that. Emotions can.

Image Source

As the value of single minded flawless execution goes up in this world, so will the ability to truly inspire. The days of the hierarchy are beginning to disappear and are fast being replaced by the days of inspiration, of charisma.

Luckily, being ourselves – truly just being ourselves is real inspiration and charisma. Research over time has tried to nail the look of an inspiration leader and the common image that comes to mind is a Steve Jobs – a tremendous communicator who led from the front. But, let’s not forget his soft spoken, geek competitor – a man who conquered the world of technology and then went on to try and solve problems around the developing world’s healthcare. When Bill Gates spoke, we listened. We knew he meant well, we knew he had taken responsibility for what he was doing, we knew he was saying what he felt and probably most importantly, we knew he cared.

We are our own first follower. Professionalism is overrated. Great relationships are not built in a conference room – they are built in the trenches, over coffee, in play and in conversation. Logic won’t help, understanding human irrationality and laughing lots will.

Be yourself. Laugh. Cry. Hug. Celebrate. Lead.

Live.

I was in conversation with a much wiser colleague yesterday. He said something which struck me as very insightful. (Paraphrased)

“You often have to deal with lots of disgruntled and grumpy people to get stuff done. And being positive and smiling lots means you get to be a lot more directive because your team knows you are a good person and mean well.’’

Most of us are often in positions where we need to get stuff done without necessarily having any fancy title or vested authority. We need to influence, cajole, push/pull where needed and make sure work gets done. And this can get especially hard when dealing with people who may not want to do what you need to get done.

But, as this wise colleague observed, we have hope.

Being positive, nice and pushy when necessary means we can get away with it. And I don’t mean get away with it by burning any bridges – I mean getting things done with our team on our side.

Image Source

Of course, developing a sense of humor helps greatly though nothing is probably as important as taking ourselves lightly enough to be able to see the funny side of what we are doing.

So, if you are on the fence as to whether to take up a new project because you aren’t sure you will be able to drive work, take up the challenge and give it a shot. Just don’t take yourself too seriously, laugh lots and have fun along the way and it will work out just fine.

‘Many people struggle at work because they want more authority. It turns out you can get a lot done if you just take more responsibility instead. It’s often offered, rarely taken.’ | Seth Godin

A few weeks ago, Drue, my guitar teacher pitched an idea. He conducted an ‘Open Mic’ night at a bar in South London near his place where musicians popped by and sung a few songs. Would I like to try?

In an all honesty, I baulked at the idea. Regulars here know I bought my guitar around mid January and have been learning over the past 4 months. I’ve learnt a few songs but performing is a different cup of tea. So, I just muttered I’d be busy with work and would think about it once my current project was done.

I joked about the idea to my mom that evening and her response was ‘Do it when I’m in London. C’mon!’. So, before I knew it, I was at Gigalum waiting for my turn. Drue would sing and I would play and I could pick any 2 songs.

I picked the 2nd and 3rd songs I learnt – Way Back Into Love from Music and Lyrics and Fix You by Coldplay. Fix You is special because listening to Boyce Avenue and Tyler Ward play Fix You live in November was what inspired me to finally learn the guitar, something I’d always wanted to do.

I was very nervous and my fingers were shivering, sweaty and slipping off the guitar! I had never made so many mistakes in these songs (small ones here and there), I never dared to look up even once during the performance and I also went back to what I call ‘nervous strumming’ i.e. when my hand moves up and down robotically vs flicking the wrist.

But, what the hell.. it was my first time and it was one heck of an experience.

And here’s the video! (Due apologies for the sound quality! Just put together the video from the iPhone with no editing)