Spicy art of listening...!!

I never imagined listening as a skill to be acquired till i landed at my first job 6 years back. However, there is lotta hulla-gulla about listening in professional arena, and most people assume that they are good listeners (me, too). Nevertheless, listening doesn't mean waiting for others to shutup so that you can speak...

By listening right, we can explore unused potential to our maximum advantage. The historical reason for poor listening skills: Gap in training in school days- focus was more on reading!!

The other common cause for poor listening is 'spare thinking' ( Thinking rate is much faster than speaking rate) For instance, day-dreaming about Penelope cruz when the professor is teaching about 'Long term strategy in media industry' :)

However, we can use spare thinking efficiently to avoid side tracks
- Anticipate what the speaker is going to say
- Listen like you are reading a CR question. Is the evidence valid?
- Periodically review what the speaker is saying
- Listen between lines: is he avoiding something- looking for non-verbal cues

Also, listen for ideas -rather than facts. (The facts serve only for constructing the ideas)

Take care of emotional filters - hear the man out (requires lotta self-control)
- Withhold evaluation
- Hunt for negative evidence

More importantly, remember "talking is sharing, listening is caring..!!"

Tata..Satish.

Antonym of Adulation..!!

Adulations are comforting and pleasurable, but condemnations and criticisms are good lessons (not all, but some genuine ones..) Lately, I've been receiving lotta compliments (99%) and few disapprovals (1%) from my close friends and acquiantances, and I am gonna concentrate on the rebukes here.

Liar: Yes, I do lie..!! But, most of them are beautiful, meaningless, and harmless lies. For instance, telling someone that he or she looks cool when i actually don't feel that way inside is a lie, and it is bad. There are no different degrees of bad - fairly bad, moderately bad, badly bad.... Bad is bad, and I will stop lying..:)

World's #1 Flirt: Nope, I don't agree on this. It is truly a false perception, based on observing few outward circumstances and undesired emotions.

Doesn't really care: Could be true because I think I am eternally task oriented and result-focussed, so everything else comes secondary. I will change in here as well and targetThe elusive work-life balance ..hope ISB teaches some lessons in this aspect as well...

Life is a continuous game, and we need to keep getting better at it......(no apologies, no bitching, no excuses)

BTW, Happy Ugadi...!! (Telugu New Year Day..:))

Tata..Satish.

Making Presentations Happen...!!

It's human and natural to be nervous while presenting to a group, but it can rev up your engines if you can tweak it and utilize it to your advantage. (Positive pressure - they say) There are many books out there to cover this aspect, and i am not writing anything about that here....however, i just wanna summarize what i learnt about Presentation...

What we are internally has a profound, subconscious impact on our audiences (Importance of Character)

Audiences are irresistibly attracted to and impressed by personal power. (than by facts or logic)

Getting that power by giving respect (Fundamental respect has little to do with everyday ‘like’ and ‘dislike’etc)

Importance of feelings or emotions –(the impact of a speaker’s feelings and attitude on audience – a whopping 93% (verbal & vocal))

Your ability to persuade or convince depends very little on what you say and almost entirely on how you say it.

You are the medium. You are most of your message.

Good presenters do not dispense information, they translate it.

Put your fear into gear. Use your nervous energy to make sure you fire on all cylinders.

Visualization - The subconscious doesn’t distinguish truth from untruth. It simply carries out the instructions you give it. (Program your subconscious mind)

Ta ta...Satish

What's in a name??

Well, I'm not an ardent fan of 'Lord of Rings', but i guess i am a fan of myself.(no apologies!!) I've been contemplating to restart my blog with a new name to capture my ISB odyssey. :)

The following are the names I considered and thought of: DreamOdyssey, ACloudFlyer, DreamCatcher, UtopianAspirations, AMeasureofSelf, ALifeofMeaning, ConductBecoming..etc,etc..but the one I choose should really reflect me...Somethings like KingKong, Born2Fly sound too cool, but they aren't really me...!!

Unlike last time, I hope to write regularly because I believe writing forces you to re-think and re-imagine... especially when you are stuck and trying to catch up daylong...

Nothing more to write right now..I guess the whole 2007 batch is "Ready to Rock..!!", and can't await April 15.

Tata...Satish

P.S: One of my friends at a recent ISB meet jocularly enquired, why I use the signature 'Tata' because it sounds like you are talking or saying bye to kids...:).Well, everyone has an infant inside and ISBians are no exceptions...:)