Day 263 - Back To Basics

This week I spent two full days attending the first module of my firm's Leadership Program.  The theme of the module was 'Personal Mastery' and the content was based on the highly acclaimed The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Signature Program™.  The program is based on the tremendously successful book by the same name by Dr. Stephen R Covey, first published in 1989.  Dr. Covey followed it up with 'The 8th Habit', published in 2004.

Of course, this is not the first time that I was attending such a leadership training program.  Also, I had read the book a long time back.  However, what struck me as I was going through the two-day program was the impact that can be created by smart and slick packaging.  I say this because the program does not talk about anything new.  In fact, most of us in our day to day lives must be following some or all of the principles behind each of the 'Habit' described in the program.  Smart packaging adds a halo to what is essentially common sense stuff. 

This is however, not to belittle the effectiveness of the program itself.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the video snippets of Stephen's sessions.  All of it makes very good sense, especially the 'Habit 7 - Sharpen The Saw'.  Stephen uses the analogy of the story of the goose which laid a golden egg everyday.  The point being, it is important to take good care of the production capability on an ongoing basis to ensure that the high quality production continues.  Hence it is very essential that self-renewal of the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional / social aspects of our lives happen so that we can be fresh and energetic to be able to practice the other 6 habits.  I think I enjoyed and related to Habit 7 the most because it also ties in with the resolutions that I made for myself at the start of this year.

Interestingly, I got an opportunity to practice some of the things that were part of the program on Saturday itself.  My car was hauled in for the first 'paid' service by the Honda dealer and service partner.  There was cost escalation and there was time delay, and still the things to be taken care of in the service were not, leaving me feeling cheated...and fuming!  I guess, my understanding of the concept of 'Interdependence', learnt over the week during the program saved them.  Had a similar experience at the 'Priority Banking' branch of the SBI this morning.  Public sector...always the same...priority banking or otherwise.

It was also good to meet up with Shankar Krishnamoorthy, an old friend and colleague, today after almost 6 years. 

As you can imagine, I have been thinking about taking care of myself, a lot this week.  You should too!