By Jayaram Rajaram
As I was writing a casual email to the CEO of a big multinational organization, I realized that this may be of interest to the world.
The whole world is discussing Steve Jobs and how he defied all the rules and intuitively navigated Apple to what it is today.
How did he do it? Most people would say that Steve Jobs is an aberration or an outlier. No doubt they are right in saying that, but what we need to ask ourselves is whether there is a ‘little bit of’ Steve Jobs in each one of us and ‘is there a Steve Jobs who is waiting to be found in every organization’?
Can teams communicate in an egoless manner, breathe right and soul-search to identify their Steve Jobs and back him/her to the hilt?
Is market research just telling us what the average customer/consumer wants? Is this making organizations and products mediocre?
Isn’t it up to leadership teams to chart a course that brings about disproportionate results through whacko innovative ideas/products /offerings?
Shouldn’t all this be done ethically rather than baseless innovation like what happened with CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations) by greedy leaders that led to the financial crisis that the world is still battling?
My take on it is that if teams function in an egoless manner, leaders start breathing right, communicate well and start searching for this person or people who want to change the world, and back them to the hilt, every organization has the potential to move from good to great. Over the years, the corporate world has laid so much emphasis on data and risk-mitigation that the fun of real entrepreneurship has vanished. Our objective as leaders should be to bring back the thrill and results of entrepreneurship by encouraging intrapreneurship in every team. This can only be done by identifying entrepreneurial leaders who function in an ethical and transparent manner.
Why did I say breathe right and what does it have to do with leadership? Did you ever wonder how intuition works? It’s only our breath that we have control over, and the breath controls our brain, heart and nervous system. Scientists and specifically neuroscientists are now validating this link between breath-heart and brain functions, but several wise men knew this long ago- though experientially. FMRI scans now show that breathing in a particular way activates certain portions of the brain. So role-specific and activity specific breathing is now becoming a reality for enhancing leadership performance, as validation using new-age technology is possible. Quantum physics is trying to locate the One Source that we call God and is slowly moving towards saying God is within us- ancient wisdom and spiritual leaders (across religions) knew this many centuries ago experientially and accessed the one-source through meditation and prayer. People are slowly realizing that what manifests in reality is consciousness or what we individually and collectively think. Dr. Mani Bhaumik’s ‘Code Name God’ addresses the union of science and spirituality beautifully and in a non-religious manner.
We live in very interesting times where possibilities are endless. So whether we intellectualise this or not, leaders must unclutter their thoughts and start taking time off to breathe right and meditate, to intuitively navigate their teams through unchartered territories to succeed in this ever-changing and complicated world.
About the Author:
Jayaram Rajaram is one of the Managing Partner’s of Bril, a company that works on a Mission to Make Living Fun for its customers and consumers, through its world-class school stationery, baby and children’s products. He is also the Managing Director & Chief Dreamer of a human development company called ELSA Learning Private Limited that offers experiential art programs for children and infuses creativity and innovation into organizations. Jayaram writes about varied topics ranging from Leadership to Innovation to Parenting. All his posts are a result of his personal experiences of over a decade at the helm of Bril, a products company and ELSA, a services company.