Nuggets On
work and life
Leaders talk about how they think of work and life and manage to juggle the two. No universal answer here but a glimpse into how different people have framed this in their heads and have dealt with it. We all need to find what works for us individually.
Tough work-life trade-offs
Zia talks about how, in her generation, the notion of work-life balance, didn’t really exist for ambitious women who wanted to make a mark in the corporate world. She candidly talks about the real trade-offs involved in her case and how that is changing.
Work, life and success
People often look at work and life as two different compartments that do not intersect. Dheeraj talks about how he tries to weave in work and life, learns from one and applies in the other and has osmosis going on across the two.
Picking the first "mountain" to climb
Deepa talks about how she took charge of life and how she became a restauranteur and in seven years, had built a flourishing business giving her financial independence. She then talks about her passion for biking and how she wanted to create records on a bike to ensure that her voice is heard and for her to be able to have an impact on Society.
Multiple identities of Gandhiji
Dr. Guha speaks about how Gandhiji straddled multiple careers concurrently (including that of a Politician, Social Reformer, Prophet and Writer). He talks about the fact that he saw his life as one indivisible whole where he emphasized each facet at a different point in time.
More from Dr. Ramachandra Guha
Gandhiji's personal life
Dr Guha discusses the dichotomy between Gandhiji’s accomplishments on the public front and contrasts that with some of the challenges he had with relationships on the home front. He provides some context around why this might have happened.
More from Dr. Ramachandra Guha
4 porous domains - Self, Work, Home & Community
Stew talks about the building blocks of his Total Leadership Model that he has developed at the Wharton Work Life Integration Project. Of the four domains (Self, Work, Home and Community), he expands on what he means by Self and Community as those two are often the least understood by leaders around the world.
Positive spillovers across domains
Stew talks about notion of positive spill overs across the 4 domains (Self, Work, Home, Community) and describes why finding harmony across domains is a more sustainable than looking at them as trade-offs. He expands on the notion of positive spillovers across domains and specifically talks about some of the elements which are often underappreciated by leaders. He introduces the notion of a four way win where we can look at trying experiments to achieve wins in all 4 domains of life.
Role of Authenticity, Integrity & Creativity
Stew speaks about the role of authenticity (being real by clarifying what is important), integrity (having a clear view of who you are as an entire person and being clear about roles towards and expectations from stakeholders) and creativity (being innovating in crafting experiments to deliver four way wins). He specifically speaks about how some stakeholders expect less and are willing to support more than you think.
Technology and psychological interference
Stew speaks about what has stayed the same and what has changed significantly in his thinking around work life integration. He talks about the ubiquity of technological devices that now surround us and speaks about the need for all of us to build psychological tools to benefit from the technological advancements without incurring the cost that often comes hand in hand with such developments.
Managing stakeholder expectations
Stew speaks about the criticality of unearthing what the stakeholders really want and solving for it. He suggests that we should go past what they state as positions and unearth their real expectations while having these conversations. He also speaks about the criticality of caring for self before caring for others. He compares this to a change management initiative and suggests that one needs to be artfully political while driving changes through the system.
Role of a coach in Work-life integration
Stew speaks about the role of two types of coaches in such journeys. Firstly, he speaks about the value of peer to peer coaching networks where you are compassionate, curious, caring and candid with each other and learn/help each of the members of the group move forward. He also speaks about the role of professional coaches in providing another perspective and in holding you accountable
Flex the current context or reboot
Stew speaks about how we should try and stretch the boundaries of our current context before we start thinking about drastic solutions including changing jobs. He speaks about the notion of the Theory of small wins that underpins that Total Leadership approach and also refers to the work of Herminia Ibarra – Author of the book Working Identity.
Forced growth - plugging the weaknesses
Matt speaks about how athletes come to him with excellence in one or two domains (cycling, running, swimming) but have to quickly come upto speed in a totally different area to be competitive in a multi-sport context. We discuss the parallels between this and how Functional leaders need to transition to General Managers.
Rest, Sleep and recharge
Matt Dixon speaks at length about the criticality of rest and rejuvenation. He specifically speaks about some of the qualitative and quantitative considerations around having a restful night’s sleep to be effective in our functioning on a sustained basis in our various domains of life.
Identity play versus Identity work
Herminia speaks about the distinction between Identity Work and Identity Play and speaks about how we should think about crafting experiments where we can play around with our identity authentically rather than going down the “fake it till you make it” path. She re-iterates that how we show up is as critical as what we do.
Role of the spouse
Herminia speaks about the role of the spouse in transitions and the criticality of aligning the transition strategy with them. Very often, implicitly they assume that you would plan your way and dive into an opportunity shortly after. They are often not mentally prepared to deal with the phase of exploration and experimentation that is often required before you make a choice of direction. She speaks about the importance of staying close to them and keeping them updated on the thinking process during a transition.
Choosing the intensity of work
Lynda speaks about how our understanding of ageing is based on what we see with our parents but says that we might experience ageing very differently. She speaks about the need for us to think actively about how we would allocate time if we lived 100 years and urges us to take sabbaticals and breaks to recharge and rejuvenate.
The case for double-primary careers
Jennifer speaks about the notion of a primary career and a secondary career in the context of a couple. She goes on to speak about the benefits of a double primary career. She says that a double primary model precipitates the need for a couple to have honest conversations around choices, priorities and what matters to them. These things could potentially be brushed under the carpet in primary-secondary career models in couples.
More from Jennifer Petriglieri
Watchouts during the first transition
Jennifer speaks about the kinds of issues that trips couples up during the first transition when they are trying to navigate the question – how do we make this work. She speaks about three themes a) focusing on the short term b) trying to have it all c) over-indexing on economic criteria for decision making.
More from Jennifer Petriglieri
Dealing effectively with Jet-lag
Matt speaks about how travelers who fly across time zones should think about acclimatizing themselves to the new location without too much disruption. He refers to the timing of when we sleep and how we think about eating and suggests that we should forget about the time zone of the origin and start aligning to the destination the moment we board the plane. He also shares some perspectives around how long it takes to adjust the body clock from one time zone to another.
Humans - an outdated OS
Jennifer speaks about the fundamental disconnect between the human operating system that has evolved over thousands of years and the current world we find ourselves in. She says that in order to survive in the jungles, we had to cut out complexity, make quick decisions and not over-finesse our responses. But that approach is not going to cut it in the world we are in given the number of moving parts. She also speaks about how our home life has evolved over time and that has led to additional complexity in our lives.
More from Jennifer Garvey Berger
What matters in the end
Marshall speaks about how we should think about what matters in the end and use that to guide our actions and choices today. He says that old people don’t regret the risks they took and failed. They regret the risks that they never took.
Role of money in transitions
Bruce speaks about how we live in world today where there is an opportunity for us to architect a life that is resonant with what matters to us. He urges to be more open about taking cuts in compensation in the short run for us to pursue what we really love.
How women often think about ambition
Sally speaks about how women often think about ambition slightly differently from men. She also goes onto to say that the paradigm of leadership has evolved over the last few decades that a lot more men today also have started looking at ambition in a holistic manner compared to a few decades back. However, she says – “women got there first”.
Cancer and life-choices
Dan speaks about how being diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma brought him close to death and how that clarified a lot of things for him. He speaks about a phenomenan called “transience aversion” in that context and speaks about how he moved forward with purpose coming out of that event.
Managing your energy
Darleen speaks about how we need to take care of physical, mental and spiritual energy in these times. Atul Bhandari and Sahiba Singh also share their perspectives around how some leaders can think about staying healthy and productive in these times.
Being a Chief Life Officer
Bob speaks about the notion of a Chief Life Officer, and how each one of us can play that role for ourselves as we go through life. He also makes the distinction between what is valuable and what is priceless and urges us to think about the distinction as we think about choices as we often move from being a warrior to a king to a sage in our respective journeys.
Maintaining a Margin
Lloyd speaks about how we need to think about maintaining a margin across four domains: physical, emotional, financial and spiritual. He links it to the thinking of Jim Collins in the context of his book – Great by Choice. He says that businesses need to have some buffer and margin to deal with good luck and bad luck that come their way.
Success or Significance or Satisfaction?
Lloyd speaks about how he has slowly moved from emphasizing success to significance to satisfaction. He lays out the distinction between these terms and speaks about what it takes to move towards satisfaction.
Attitude towards Money
Rajiv speaks about how he thought about money when he decided to step off the financially lucrative corporate track. He also makes the distinction between foregoing future upside versus taking a cut on the lifestyle as things stand today.
Key choices as a Coach
Rajiv speaks about some of the key choices he has made along the way in his journey as a Coach. He speaks about how he kept his North Star front and centre as he thought about various options and possibilities around expanding the practice. He also speaks about how he balances quality of his work with the volume he takes on.
Working with the leader as a whole
Rajiv speaks about why he chooses to work with the leader as a whole and not limit himself to the professional elements. He speaks about how some of these elements are intertwined and why one has to approach this holistically to be of value to the leader.
Journey to becoming a Life Designer
Ayse speaks about her origins growing up in Turkey in a family of lawyers. She speaks about how she moved towards architecture and subsequently into Industrial Design. She goes on to describe how the Financial Crisis of 2008 got her started in the space of Life Design. Related Insights from: Bruce Feiler-70.07-Shape-Shifting instead of Resilience (https://playtopotential.com/audio/742)
How will you measure your life
Ravi speaks about how we could think about measuring our life. He speaks about how he has gone about discovering what makes him distinctive and chosen the various initiatives that he has participated in.
Managing dual careers
Manjari speaks about how she and her husband (also a batchmate from National Police Academy) juggled their careers and personal lives given the pulls and pressures at various points in time.
Criticality of recovery
Michiel speaks about the criticality of rest and recovery for a leader to be effective. He speaks about how the recovery period could actually spark some creativity and new possibilities.
Secret to Roger's longevity
Chris speaks about Roger’s ability to context switch instantaneously from one situation to another. He also speaks about how Roger decided to declutter his plate by choosing to play fewer tournaments when he knew that he could get the ATP points he needed by doing will in lesser number of tournaments.
