Tillitonse - A Transformational Journey Together

“WHY BOTHER AT THIS AGE?” Two days ago, I took an exam for the first time in almost 25 years. I kept putting off taking this assessment as the ‘crocodile’ of fear of failure kept grabbing me – “What if you fail, Sanjay?” “Is it really worth studying and preparing at THIS age?”…… Well, damn it. I recognized the croc, acknowledged it and then plunged in. Scored 86% (whew….the pass mark was 70%!!!). The payoff was well worth it. Mentioned this to my friend Shazina Masud yesterday and she shared a wonderful experience. After putting it off for many years, she took the plunge earlier this year and signed up for a Master’s program in a reputed US university. Similar questions dogged her – “Will I be able to recall what I have learnt?” , “Can I cope with my academic workload while still delivering on a highly demanding job?”……Much to her very pleasant surprise, she found that only was she more than able to adequately handle the challenges, but found herself overall in a...

I AM BLOWN AWAY Connecting to a Higher Frequency For years now, my life has largely been spent on flights. Yesterday for the first time, I messaged my wife the number of the amazingly efficient and courteous admin manager of PSI (Alpha Panda). Alpha has been supporting me for years, but only yesterday did I pass her number on. I typically arrive just in time for most flights but since someone else had made arrangements, they had asked the taxi to come early. But the taxi was half an hour late. Typically, I would have been curt and made my displeasure known to the driver. Maybe it was being tired after a late night combined with knowing that there was still plenty of time, that I was polite with him. Glad I was…. At the Delhi airport I got off the taxi and a few steps before the entrance, realized to my horror that I had left my phone behind. I frantically looked for the car, but it was gone! I waited for about 10 minutes hoping that the driver would find the p...

“ The answer is not in the spreadsheet… ”  ….said Jeremy Darroch , the CEO of SKY TV at a summit on Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness that I was fortunate to attend in London last month. The fact that he was the previous CFO intrigued me further. He highlighted that in today’s fast paced business world faced with increasingly uncertainty and volatility, leaders are increasingly challenged to go beyond what is immediately evident within their control and have to increasingly have to depend on others for answers. Hence, ‘softer’ skills that enhance relationships become even more important. I loved the phrase he used to describe the emotion that most people working in such environments felt – PIZZLED ( a combination of being puzzled and ‘pissed off’) by the changing environment around them!!! --> The summit highlighted that there is a need to transition from the ‘Knowledge Worker’ that Dale Carnegie spoke about to a ‘Rel...

WHY IS YOUR GRANDFATHER INCREASING “ACTING LIKE A BABY?” So, I have this elderly relative. For most of his life, this was a driven professional focused on ‘big picture’ issues including leading large teams successfully.   I noticed that in his 80s his attention became increasingly focused on seemingly smaller issues – “Why is my dinner late? I want my carrots boiled and not roasted”….The man of the world who was looked up to by so many was now more interested in ensuring that the rice was placed precisely in the same part of the plate each day! At the summit on Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness that I attended in London last week, the clouds parted!   I finally heard a scientific explanation from a nuero-surgeon about how our brain grows and decays over our lifetime. As the picture shows, the brain continues to develop as we age. As a new born and as a little child, only that part of the brain connected to our senses is developed. Hence, babies focus o...

“I don’t deserve” Among the most powerful lessons I have learnt is that unless you truly believe you deserve something, it’s very difficult to actually get it. Over the past few years, in my workshops and coaching sessions, I have interacted with so many smart and capable folks who lack the confidence that they deserve better. This could be in broken relationship or a job - the feeling is quite pervasive. So, it caught me by surprise, when I found that I too was playing ‘small’ recently. In my previous post, I had mentioned about attending a summit on Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness in London last week. I did not want to pay the £1,000 price tag for the one-day summit. I wrote to one of the speakers requesting if I could attend fro free as his sidekick or guest. I was feeling quite squeamish asking for this. I never heard from him. DAMMIT, I DESERVE TO BE THERE…. A few weeks later, three days before the Summit was scheduled, I felt a strong urge ...

When the head, heart and hands are in harmony…..doors open! Just attending this conference was another wonderful example of how the power of thoughts combined with emotion and action can help one get what one wants. Yup, a great lesson to start off with! Connecting with Daniel Goleman A few months ago, I had got in touch with Daniel Goleman, one of the pioneers in the field of Emotional Intelligence (my current passion). Out of a whim, I wrote to him on Linkedin expressing gratitude for how his work had influenced my life. To my surprise, he replied and asked me to get in touch with his publisher if I would be interested in a project he is working on. As I was looking at his profile, I came across a summit on Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness in London where he was one of the main speakers. The summit was scheduled in May 2017, around the time I was scheduled to be there. The spark was lit! I really wanted to go, but the £1,000 price tag for a day was prohibitive and...