Part B: GENERATIVE ORDER: Re-representing the Leadership Mind

Our mind is a very forceful engine which should propel ourselves to our destiny
. However, the tracks in our mind, our mental representations, have not been lay
ed properly and, we are on a train ride to nowhere. We need to uproot the tracks
and lay them properly so that we can harness the power of the engine of our Min
d and start going towards our destiny. It is a painful process but if you go thr
ough it now, it will save you much more pain later. So become curious and enthus
iastic about deep cleaning your mind and setting the ground for your transform
ation.
We have three kinds of mental representations; a)Iconic, which are actual images
;b)Indexical, which explains cause and effect relationships like weather wane wh
ich represents the direction of the wind, and c)Language, and other symbolic rep
resentations of reality.
We need to visualize the experiences we want to create for ourselves and then ch
ange the visual representations of our past experiences in accordance with ou
r purpose and vision. Restore the natural processes of making your unconscious F
eelings conscious. Then cultivate the culture of your group by aligning your col
lective purposes with your feelings .Once you align your representations with th
e realities you want to create for yourselves and your followers, change start
taking place and you start moving towards your destiny.
Chapters in this Section:
Re-frame Purpose
Map Feelings
Cultivate Culture
Experience is not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you
----Aldous Huxley
The problems of philosophy is not due to the complexity of the subject matter bu
t due to our knotty understanding ---- Ludwig Wittgenstein
Looking out of my window this lovely spring morning I see an azalea in full bloo
m. No, no! I do not see that; though that is the only way I can describe what I
see. That is a proposition, a sentence, a fact; but what I perceive is not propo
sition, sentence, fact, but only an image which I make intelligible in part by m
eans of a statement of fact. This statement is abstract; but what I see is concr
ete.
-Charles Sanders Pierce
Chapter 3: Re-frame Purpose with changing times
A. Picture of the Neo-Cortex
The neocortex is divided into 4 lobes:
frontal: Located at the front of each brain hemisphere, it is the seat of atten
tion, memory, planning and drive.
parietal: Located behind the frontal lobe and above the occipital lobe, it is th
e place where the brain processes sensory information.
temporal: Seat of auditory perception.
occipital: Visual processing center of the Brain.
Our frames help us to focus and structure reality. Reality keeps changing, so we
need to avoid being trapped in the frames of the past. For instance, the purpos
e of a start up company is to initially survive, but once it grows beyond a cert
ain level, the frame should be flexible enough to change from mere survival int
o the new purpose of rapid growth.
PAST=> Your actions and your purposes are at cross-purposes. In spite of lot of
efforts, you are not getting the desired results.
PRESENT=> Suddenly, you go through some pain and the universe makes you realize
that you are stuck in outdated purposes even though your reality has changed.
FUTURE=> You make a systemic effort to identify and articulate the purpose befor
e you undertake any course of action.
TOPICS IN THIS CHAPTER:
Make your Ego your slave through Mindfulness
Visualize beyond your normal reality.
Pay attention to your process of observation
Tap into the power of your sub-conscious mind
Make Faith and Hope the foundation of your belief system.
De-construct and redefine Knowledge
Cultivate an empowering meaning making process
Develop tenacity of Purpose
Frames are principles of selection, emphasis and presentation composed of little
tacit theories about what exists, what happens, and what matters
----Todd Gitlin
If you take the lenses away you've got a hologram
David Bohm,
Everything in the universe has a purpose. Indeed, the invisible intelligence tha
t flows through everything in a purposeful fashion is also flowing through you.
Wayne Dyer
“What's encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longe
r shut down in ignorance. We see very clearly that we're closing off. That in it
self begins to illuminate the darkness of ignorance.”
Pema Chodron
Mindful meditation has been discovered to foster the ability to inhibit those ve
ry quick emotional impulses.
Daniel Goleman
The purpose of a business is to create a customer.
Peter Drucker
I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shri
nk to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the high
est mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.
Og Mandino
The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpos
e with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.
Chanakya
Once you have flown,
You will walk the Earth
With your eyes turned skyward;
For there you have been,
There you long to return
-----Leonardo da vinci
A. Make your Ego your slave through Mindfulness
On the one hand, our Ego is the root of many problems in our lives. On the other
hand, our intelligence and faculty of judgement is rooted in our Ego and withou
t it, we cannot function as human beings. So how do you handle Ego so that we be
nefit from its higher powers without being consumed by it?
In order to control Ego and not be controlled by it, you need to first acknowled
ge that till now, you are the Slave of your Ego and the time has come for you to
become the Master and make Ego your Slave . You can accomplish this by practici
ng Mindfulness,a Buddhist meditative practice that refers to being completely
aware of the present moment, as well as taking a non-judgmental approach to you
r inner experience. In addition to cultivating the habit of Mindfulness, you nee
d to understand the context of your Ego and where it fits into your Mind.
According to Indian philosophy, the Mind has four parts:
Manas: that which weighs pros or cons.
Buddhi: that which decides
Ahankara: the Ego or your sense of Identity
Citta: Memory.
In certain school of thoughts which were influenced by Indian philosophy like T
heosophy, Citta(Memory) is not considered to be a separate part but instead, the
ground of being of our Mind which holds the other three parts together. Ego is
supposed to function in conjunction with the other parts of our mind. But our E
go becomes too dominating and often takes over and overshadows the other parts o
f our Mind and we end up taking rash decisions often without evaluating the alte
rnative choices and options properly.
As you learn in the last chapter, our Ego is the tool by which we prevent ourse
lves from being overwhelmed by the infinity of reality in our external world. Ho
wever, the reality which our Ego create in our Mind at that moment is just one r
eality and there exists the possibilities of lot of alternate realities. If your
Ego is presenting a grim reality, it does not mean that that the potential for
an upbeat reality does not exist. It is just that, the Ego gets attached to its
own version of reality and does not let us see better versions of it.So start m
aking a conscious effort to look at alternate realities without the filter of yo
ur Ego. Whenever, the situation seems dark and depressing, tell yourself that “l
ets look at some more favourable options of reality now”
Once you manage to see more empowering options of reality which your Ego was hid
ing from you, restore your Ego with a healthy dose of narcissism and tell yourse
lf that
“I am greater and smarter than most people around me. There is no doubt in my min
d I will achieve the success and greatness I am seeking for me, my family and my
organization”
The ultimate aim of the ego is not to see something, but to be something.
Muhammed Iqbal
Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, y
our ego goes with it.
Colin Powell
The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of
Heaven.
John Milton
Where id was, there shall ego be.” Sigmund Freud
I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes f
ear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.
Rosa Parks:
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than a
ny other one thing.Abraham Lincoln:
In the secret cave of the heart, two are
Seated by life's fountain. The separate ego
Drinks of the sweet and bitter stuff,
Liking the sweet, disliking the bitter,
While the supreme Self drinks sweet and bitter
Neither liking this nor disliking that.
The ego gropes in darkness, while the Self
Lives in light. …….Know the Self as lord of the chariot,
The body as the chariot itself,
The discriminating intellect as
The charioteer, and the mind as the reins.
The senses, say the wise, are the horses;
Selfish desires are the roads they travel.
……The senses derive from objects of sense-perception,
Sense-objects from mind, mind from intellect,
And intellect from ego; ego from undifferentiated
Consciousness, and consciousness from Brahman.
Brahman is the first Cause and last refuge…..
Meditation empowers them to go
Deeper and deeper into consciousness,
From the world of words to the world of thought,
Then beyond thoughts to wisdom in the Self.
------Excerpts from the Katha Upanishad
B.Visualize beyond your normal reality
Our reality is shaped by our own limiting experiences. Whichever path we have ta
ken in the past becomes the source of our life experiences. That path is just o
ne of many paths which we could have taken. In case, we had opted to choose some
other path, then our experience would have been different and we would have had
a different reality at present. Our reality resides in our mind and, in order
to change reality, we need to learn how to change our thoughts.
We are looking at our future reality with the lens of our past experience. Once
we realize that the present reality has been formed by past choices, we can star
t making better choices now so that we can shape a better reality for us in the
future. At this point, it is a little difficult to envision a very empowering, u
pbeat reality since our Ego tries to make us wedded to our current reality. But
with suitable practice, we can start conjuring up alternate realities and pick t
he combination of those which adheres closely to our dreams.
To begin with, start visualizing alternate histories of yourself, your family an
d your organization. Once your mind starts creating the neural pathways of choic
es and options, start projecting the good experiences and those versions of your
imagined history which excites you into the future. Out of these rich images of
your real and imagined history, you will be able to start visualizing alternate
futures. Pay close attention to your visualizations, make them as vivid as pos
sible and attach emotions to the ones you would want to achieve.
Visualization is a very powerful technique with roots in most major religion and
belief systems. When you visualize, you start using some of the deepest regions
of your brain where real change takes place. Textbooks of popular psychology wa
nts you to visualize in great detail and vividness what you want, whether it is
a house, a car or any other material possessions. In addition to wanting goods,
what could help if you can visualize the process by which you can create the inc
ome stream. Remember, the journey is equally important; once you have the succe
ss and money, you can anyway buy whatever you want. So, don’t spend too much time
on the material outcome and instead visualize yourself as a very successful pe
rson and then go into the next level of detail and visualize(your future experie
nce) a month, a week, a day in your ideal life.
Another process related to visualization is called affirmation in which you keep
repeating your desired outcome. Visualization and affirmation when used in comb
ination can be a very powerful tool in shaping the reality we want to create for
ourselves. These techniques are used by successful people especially high perfo
rmers in sports. You need to start using these techniques so that you can create
the reality of your dreams. Remember, reality is a figment of your imagination;
 the only reality is the intensity of your belief in your own greatness as that
shapes how you behave and how others behave towards you.

“ This that appears to you as a barber’s basin is for me Mambrino’s helmet, and someth
ing else again to another person” – Miguel de Cervantes in Don Quixote
I want to support the view that the foundation of reality itself is a unified, i
ndeterminate maze of possibilities.
Danah Zohar
“ ‘Having,’ ‘doing’ and ‘being’ are the cardinal categories of human reality. Under them ar
ubsumed all types of human conduct” – Sartre, Being and Nothingness.
“He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to
change reality, and will never, therefore, make any progress”
Anwar Sadat
You visualize, you see it in your head. I used to play every pitcher in my mind
before I went to the ballpark
---Baseball legend, Hank Aaron
Creative visualization is magic in the truest and highest meaning of the word. I
t involves understanding and aligning yourself with the natural principles that
govern the workings of our universe, and learning to use these principles in the
most conscious and creative way.
----Shakti Gwain,Creative Visualization
Common sense tells us that the things of the earth exist only a little, and that
true reality is only in dreams.
Charles Baudelaire

Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind

Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
~ T. S. Eliot in The Four Quartets ~

C.Pay attention to your process of observation

Do you remember your High School days when you had to go to your Science Labs? D
o you remember staring into a microscope trying to see the details of the insect
underneath? That was certainly an act of observation. You need to bring a simil
ar laboratory mindset to your life and work.
The ability to pay attention is the most valuable resource of our mind. Every mo
ment, we are bombarded by so much information that we must learn what to filter
out and what to pay attention to. We need to learn how to focus our attention, h
ow to sustain attention as well as when to pay attention and when not to pay att
ention. However, paying attention is something we take for granted and usually d
on’t pay attention to in a conscious manner. Do you happen to know any surgeon or
a chef or an architect or someone from a profession which requires lot of traini
ng of the eyes? If not a real architect, you probably know a software architect
; even a software engineer will do. Start observing how these people pay attenti
on and utilize visual intelligence in accomplishing their tasks.
Our mind, in our natural state, is very inattentive. Millions of thoughts come i
n and out of our consciousness. You need to learn how to control your Mind and f
ocus attention using Willpower; such techniques are often rooted in spiritual
practices like Yoga and Mindfulness. It is a gradual process and often takes a l
ot of trial and error. Popular wisdom often says that, if we can think about lot
 of things at one time, that makes us good thinkers. In reality, being counter-i
ntuitive and learning how to empty our Minds and keep them free of thoughts ofte
n leads to higher degree of concentration and success.
The job of a Leader is to organize the attention of the followers and stakeholde
rs. The Leader must ensure that the organization keeps the focus on the prioriti
es. He needs to learn techniques of bringing back wavering attention and keep th
e minds of the followers from distractions. A leader needs to make those cultura
l changes so that the organization starts adopting a laboratory mentality.
Have you heard the expression
“The devil is in the details?”
To be a true leader, you need to achieve mastery of the details. The chain is as
strong as the weakest link; in this case, the details you miss become the weake
st links, and, the best articulated plans can become derailed because of this. S
o, start paying attention to the process of observation of details and enjoy the
success you deserve.

The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over ag
ain, is the very root of judgement, character, and will
---William James
The scattering form is activity. Its tendency is to manifest in the form of plea
sure or of pain. The darkening form is dullness which tends to injury….. The gathe
ring form is when it struggles to centre itself. The one-pointed form is when it
tries to concentrate, and the concentrated form is what brings us to Samadhi
---(The Complete Works of ) Swami Vivekananda
Yoga is the cessation of the activities of the mind
---- Yoga Sutra of Patanjali.
What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its re
cipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a ne
ed to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information
sources that might consume it
----Herbert simon
Don t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look
with your understanding, find out what you already know, and you ll see the way
to fly.
Richard Bach
The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.
Henri Bergson:
Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the worl
d.
Arthur Schopenhauer
The act of observing changes the nature of the observed
-----Heisenberg(Uncertainty Principle).
Choice of attention - to pay attention to this and ignore that - is to the inner
life what choice of action is to the outer. In both cases, a man is responsible
for his choice and must accept the consequences , whatever they may be.
W. H. Auden
I try to keep in touch with the details... I also look at the product daily. Tha
t doesn t mean you interfere, but it s important occasionally to show the abilit
y to be involved. It shows you understand what s happening.
Rupert Murdoch
D.Tap into the power of your sub-conscious mind

Take a look at the picture of the Iceberg above. What is visible to the
naked eye is just 1/8th of the total mass of the iceberg; the rest 7/8th is unde
r water. Similarly, our Mind is like an Iceberg, the conscious part is what is v
isible, but the deeper, sub-conscious and the unconscious part is what is really
important and shapes human nature.
Freud describes our conscious mind as the perceptual aspect of the Mind and the
subconscious Mind as the automatic function of the brain. Jung further divides t
he unconscious into the Personal unconscious to denote what was once conscious a
nd now has got repressed and the Collective unconscious which denotes our inheri
ted deeper structures of collective experiences of human race. Other thinkers us
e the terms “super conscious” or even “supra conscious” to denote the dominant aspects o
f our Mind which lies invisible.
Whatever term we use, this dominant portion of our Mind which lies below the sur
face of awareness is tremendously powerful. It is the intelligence that makes y
our heart beat and lungs breathe in clockwise precision. It is the intelligence
which filters your reality and make you see and feel. Certain schools of though
t say this hidden intelligence in us is part of the cosmic intelligence which ma
kes the sun and stars function with elegance and precision. Whether true or not,
there is no doubt that tremendous potential is residing, mostly dormant, in our
sub-conscious and super-conscious Mind and once you start harnessing this poten
tial, you will become a force of nature and nothing can stop you from achieving
your goals. The secret of your success lies in you making a conscious effort to
unlock this force which resides in your Mind.

“Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emoti
on will one day become a reality.”
Earl Nightingale
“The possibilities of creative effort connected with the subconscious mind are stu
pendous and imponderable. They inspire one with awe.”
Napoleon Hill
“The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling b
ack into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises.”
Sigmund Freud
We lie in the lap of an immense intelligence that responds to our every need
------Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Man s task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unc
onscious.”
Carl Gustav Jung
You may not yet be able to bring your unconscious mind activity into awareness a
s thoughts, but it will always be reflected in the body as an emotion, and of th
is you can become aware.
Eckhart Tolle
So it is very important to understand not only the conscious, but also the uncon
scious mind. The unconscious mind is much more powerful, much more insistent muc
h more directive and conservative than the conscious mind; because the conscious
is merely the educated mind which adjusts itself to the environment. He is adju
sting himself, as you do, to the environment, to the pressure from outside, but
inwardly he is the same - that is, the unconscious is still the residue of the p
ast.
J. Krishnamurti
O Nobly Born, O you of glorious origin, remember your radiant true nature, the e
ssence of mind. Trust it. Return to it. It is home.
----Tibetan Book of the Dead

E. Make Faith and Hope the foundation of your belief system.

Our satisfaction and success in life comes from our actions. Our actions are roo
ted in our belief. If we believe that our action will make us successful, then w
e are motivated to aim high and act with intensity. So, our Belief System determ
ines whether we are going to be successful or not. But what determines our Belie
f System? It is a hodgepodge of the Belief Systems of people around us, what we
are lead to belief by media and various other arbitrary factors. Can you belief
the fact that the most important factor in our success, our Belief System, is co
nstructed in a totally irrational manner? On the same token, we can change our B
elief System and start believing whatever empowers us and makes us successful.
Start examining all your beliefs. Keep the beliefs which strengthen you and let
you achieve your goals. Throw those beliefs which are holding you back out of th
e window and replace them with new beliefs. Reinforce your new beliefs with baby
steps of positive actions. Nurture your new beliefs so that they become firmly
planted in your mind and becomes an automatic guide to your action.
We have been given two technologies to act as a catalyst to our Belief System; t
hey are Faith and Hope. Faith is often used in religious context but you may us
e it without religion also. Faith is a central tenet of Christianity. In Hinduis
m, the Bhagawat Gita uses the word Shraddha to denote something which is more t
han faith; a purity of thought which reinforces the unshaken belief in a future
occurrence.
Faith can be used to persuade the mind that something in the future is true and
is going to happen even if there is no evidence supporting it. We have to keep
in mind that what we see as evidence and truth is subject to change and today’s tr
uth is tomorrow’s heresy. Ultimately, there is no right answer and we construct a
n illusion of reality and come up with evidence to justify our version of reali
ty. So start using Faith to create a version of future reality in accordance wi
th your dreams.
Hope is similar to faith but has greater application to our lives. Hope is somet
hing which gives us the belief that what we want can be had even if the circumst
ances become adverse. Hope is what helps us see beyond our current, limiting rea
lity and keep our vision alive. Exceptional leaders who have made significant im
pact on history, like Mohammad, are known for providing hope and unifying their
followers when the situation seemed very grim. So whenever you get stuck in the
doldrums of despair, remember that it is the right time to start being hopeful.

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to
happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot see
------Genesis 11:31
“Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark”
------ Rabindranath Tagore
“When a person is devoted to something with complete faith, I unify his faith in t
hat. Then, when his faith is completely unified, he gains the object of his devo
tion. In this way, every desire is fulfilled by me”
-----Bhagawat Gita.
Hope is not blind optimism. Its not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or t
he roadblocks that stand in our path. Its not sitting on the sidelines or shirki
ng from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evid
ence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to
reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it....Hope is the bedrock of
this nation--the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us.
By all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is-
-who have the courage
to remake the world as it should be. Together, ordinary people can do extraordin
ary things."
-----Barack Obama
Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the
awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that
disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives.
Tony Robbins
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will h
elp create the fact
------ William James.
Everybody needs an inner belief that you are in some sense meant to be here, tha
t you can leave the world a little different in a small way
----Charles handy, The Hungry Spirit
Men will not believe what does not fit in with their plans or suit their prearra
ngements --- Historian Barbara Tuchman
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year reced
es before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter –tomorrow we will run faster,
stretch our arms farther ---- F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

F.De-construct and redefine Knowledge

When we are babies, we learn through what we see, hear, feel, touch etc. We lear
n through all our senses. However, once we master language and start speaking, w
e often get stuck in language and words and, our ability to learn through our se
nses and from our environment diminishes. Over the decades, we construct languag
e heavy models of mental representations (see page 72 in Ch 4 also for further e
xplanations of representations)which do not adequately reflect reality. The time
has come for you to construct new models of internal representations which give
lot of prominence to what we see and feel.
The task of Leadership is to make yourself, your family and your organization in
to an Open System so that you become the change the external world adapts to ins
tead of you having to adapt to external change. An Open System must possess the
ability to “Self Organize” which, in turn, can only happen if the correct knowledge
is available to the system. To begin with, the knowledge already in you needs t
o be “corrected” by adding what we see and feel in our Knowledge. This can only be a
ccomplished if we can keep our Ego aside and see the reality that, what we have
long taken pride as our knowledge, is merely half baked and unformed knowledge w
hich has kept out most of the important part and only allowed some symbols of kn
owledge into your mind.
You have not only to acquire new knowledge, but also to fix the way you acquire
knowledge so that what you see and feel gets pride of place. Knowledge acquisiti
on is a complex process including perception, learning, communication, associati
on, reasoning etc and you have to realize that all your processes are broken and
needs fixing. Look at all your acquired knowledge in your mind with healthy dou
bt and skepticism. Is knowing something aiding you in your success or leading y
ou to failure? Is knowing too many ways by which something can’t be done holding
you back from doing your best? Is your existing knowledge giving you a false se
nse of confidence and preventing you from acquiring new and often contrary knowl
edge required to adapt to changing times?
What we consider relevant knowledge is often a factor of context. In the past, w
hat was considered to be waste is now increasingly being considered as a source
of clean energy. What is knowledge to us is also a matter of interpretation and
can be contingent on convention and social experience. If the foundation of our
knowledge is faulty, so is the basis of our intuition or 6th sense. So start le
arning to be counter-intuitive and observe the behaviors of different role model
s and use their actions as templates to create your own, unique style. Finally,
make the leap from being counter-intuitive to generating true insight by escapin
g from the trap of categorizing every action into their causes and start expecti
ng the unexpected.
Certain knowledge concerning the proper means of valid knowledge and those objec
ts it is legitimate to enquire into ….. leads to the attainment of the highest goo
d
-----Nyaya Sutra
You argue that a man cannot enquire either about what he knows or about that whi
ch he does not know; for if he knows, he has no need to enquire; and if not, he
cannot; for he does not know the very subject he is to enquire
----- Plato, Meno’s paradox
All that is certain is that nothing is certain
– Montaigne
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts, but if he will con
tent to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
Francis Bacon
The opposite of a big truth is also a big truth
--- Neils Bohr
It is by logic that we prove but by intuition that we discover
--- Henri Poincare
Believe in order that you may understand
St. Augustine
If one does not expect the unexpected, one will not find it, as it is not reache
d by search or trial
---- Heraclitus
"In the beginning was the Word" -- thus runs the text.
Who helps me on? Already I m perplexed! . . .
The spirit speaks! And lo, the way is freed,
I calmly write: "In the beginning was the Deed!"
-----Goethe, Faust

G.Cultivate an empowering meaning making process

Viktor Frankl was an Austrian psychiatrist who endured the most horrific brutali
ty in the Nazi concentration camps and whose entire family perished during the h
olocaust. One of the chief reasons why he survived was that he learnt to make me
aning even out of the most adverse circumstances. In the earlier part of his car
eer, he was influenced by Freud and his one time disciple Adler but after his ex
periences in the concentration camp, he parted from his mentors and formed his o
wn version of psychology. According to him, the Will to meaning(finding meaning
in one’s life) is the greatest motivation force for human beings as opposed to Wil
l to pleasure(Freud) or Will to Power(Adler).
Leadership is about learning how to make meaning for yourself and your followers
. You need to make meaning even if there has been a disaster or a calamity and r
estore the Will and inspire your followers to action. Once you start learning ho
w to make meaning even in the most depressing situation, in what you hitherto ha
ve seen as chaos, you will start seeing the seeds of hidden order. Once you stop
ignoring what you felt meaningless before and start paying attention, you will
see the emergence of hidden patterns which will guide you to your destiny.
Do human beings have an essence? Or does existence precedes our essence? We our
born with pure potential; our essence lies dormant in us. It is the rigor of how
we deal with the challenges of our existence head on without escaping from the
harsh realities and also the choices we make in the process defines human essenc
e. Sometimes, the process of dealing with adversity can bring despair to our liv
es. We may have to suffer anxiety; there will be times when life will seem as ab
surd and whatever we do, we may have to suffer. As a leader, you need to lead yo
ur followers through such states of adversity and suffering yet keep them motiva
ted so that they keep acting with enthusiasm and intensity.
Sometimes, the suffering can be so extreme that people lose hope. They start que
stioning whether God or a higher power really exists. You need strengthen the sp
iritual muscles of yourself and your followers. Every religion and belief system
s has answers which can provide meaning to people undergoing lot of suffering. F
or instance, in Jewish mystical tradition, some interpretations of the Kabbalah
says that it is through our work that we make God complete and hence, give a spi
ritual motivation for us to act even in the most dire circumstances. Rabbi Harol
d Kushner’s book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People , which he wrote after his
infant son died, might satisfy someone seeking motivation from despair and abs
urdity from more contemporary times.
"I suddenly realized that in the language, or at any rate in the spirit of the G
lass Bead Game, everything actually was all-meaningful, that every symbol and co
mbination of symbols led not hither and yon, not to single examples, experiments
, and proofs, but into the center, the mystery and innermost heart of the world,
into primal knowledge. Every transition from major to minor in a sonata, every
transformation of a myth or a religious cult, every classical or artistic formul
ation was, I realized in that flashing moment, if seen with truly a meditative m
ind, nothing but a direct route into the interior of the cosmic mystery, where i
n the alternation between inhaling and exhaling, between heaven and earth, betwe
en Yin and Yang, holiness is forever being created."
Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show, that a vast, perha
ps the larger portion of the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.
Edgar Allan Poe
HH the Dalai Lama:
What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful.
----HH the Dalai Lama
The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what y
ou do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose ones attitude in any given ci
rcumstance.
Viktor Frankl
"But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? I shall go to him, but he shall no
t return to me."
Rabbi Harold Kushner,When Bad Things Happen to Good People
“If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his ey
es and walk in the dark.”
St. John of the Cross
: the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which
I can live and die----Søren Kierkegaard
Objects ought not to touch,… But they touch me, it’s unbearable.. Now I see; I remem
ber better what I felt the other day on the sea-shore when I was holding a pebbl
e. It was a sort of sweet disgust. How unpleasant it was! And it came from the p
ebble, I’m sure of that, it passed from the pebble into my hands… a sort of nausea i
n the hands
---- Jean Paul Sartre, Nausea.

H.Develop tenacity of Purpose

The Second World War has provided some of the most significant case studies in
leadership in the history of mankind. The leadership styles of Churchill and Hi
tler has often been compared. The biggest commonality between their Leadership s
tyle has been identified as “Tenacity of Purpose”. Both of them had extremely strong
sense of purpose accompanied by dogged determination. So what is the biggest di
fference between their styles? Why is Churchill hailed as such a great Leader an
d Hitler vilified as the scum of the earth? The difference lies in the fact that
Churchill’s purpose was moral whereas Hitler’s was amoral.
Leaders use Purpose to gather the scattered energies of their followers and give
s them a strong sense of direction. What Leaders need to use is a Moral compass
to ensure that these directions are in accordance with universal principles like
Dharma(Law). Sometimes, you can get a deeper appreciation and insight to the n
ature of moral purpose not from reality but from literature, especially the clas
sics as they can make you feel and move you. One of the most referred to writer
by Management books is Russian author,Fyodor Dostoevsky. His last book, The Bro
thers Karamazov, is a spiritual drama which is often referred to when writers tr
y to explain moral purpose and struggles concerning faith, doubt and the limita
tions of reason. Freedom could seem like a burden, and we are often happy when
 choice is denied to us and our conscience appeased while we are lead towards de
ath and destruction.
Leadership is about accepting responsibility for empowering others to achieve pu
rpose in the face of uncertainty. A true leader does not categorize actions unde
r as moral or amoral but comes to the realization though self-understanding, the
ir relationships with others and actions. He raises empowering questions like th
ose raised by Rabbi Hillel in the next page. Hence, purpose is an emerging proce
ss and requires incorporating feedback from the ecosystem to strengthen and refi
ne it.
The Vision and the Mission of an organization should flow down from the purpose.
Vision is not a verbal concept but is actually something which the Leader needs
to see and convince others in his organization to see also. The Leader creates
a shared vision with his followers. Sometimes, the vision is something which he
sees externally and applies it to his organization. The leader also needs to ins
till a culture of collaboration and empowerment so that vision can arise from th
e grassroots also. When employees feel that their ideas could contribute to crea
ting the shared vision of the company, they would feel a greater sense of belong
ing and will be motivated to make more meaningful contribution.
“ when you are inspired by some great purpose.. all your thoughts break their bou
nds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direc
tion, and you find yourself in a new great, wonderful world.”
----- The Yoga sutras of Patanjali
If one does not know to which port is sailing, no wind is favorable.
Seneca:
The secret of success is constancy to purpose.
Benjamin Disraeli:
If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
When I am only for myself, what am I?
If not now, when?
- Hillel, Pirke Avot
We shall give them the quiet humble happiness of weak creatures such as they are
by nature…..We shall show them that they are weak, that they are only pitiful chi
ldren, but that childlike happiness is the sweetest of all. They will become tim
id and will look to us and huddle close to us in fear, as chicks to the hen. The
y will marvel at us and will be awestricken before us, and will be proud of our
being so powerful and clever, that we have been able to subdue such a turbulent
flock of thousands of million
---Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karmazov
"If God does not exist, everything is permitted."
- Ivan Karamazov of Dostoyevsky s The Brothers Karamazov
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outs
ide, dreams. Who looks inside, awakes. ---Carl Jung
Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own t
he vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”
Jack Welch
So, what do you want to do John? Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest
of your life—or do you want a chance to change the world?
-----Steve Jobs, to John Sculley.