Author: Robyn

Muser, Connector, Enabler, Traveller, and wannabe Inspirer & Wise-one. Professionally, I help CEOs, leaders & entrepreneurs across Asia manage & grow their businesses & dreams (www.praxismanagementconsulting.com). I love diversity, the great outdoors, music & art, and making a difference! I love seeing people find the clarity and capacity and the will to do and achieve beyond what they ever thought they are capable.

For 2020….

WinnieThePooh Youre Braver Than You Think

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we turn our backs on pre-COVID, it’s a time to take stock and reflect.  It is okay to cherish what was, celebrate what needs celebrating and take time to extract the learnings.  There has been a mixture of challenges, great adventures, achievement, historic events, and moments when our world has been severely shaken in different ways. In some ways, I’m still trying to make sense of much.

However, as we look further into 2020 as our world shakes even more, let’s remember the wisdom of Winnie The Pooh!

Keep safe, keep healthy, stay connected while physically distant.  We can do this! 

Village-focused Agricultural Project in Nepal

Recently, in Nepal, I visited a village-focused agricultural project. Born out of the earthquake and seeded by an international donation, this project started with the purchase of good seed, the development of some infrastructure (like watering system), agricultural know-how and training of the village women.

Sunita Nhemaphuki, a woman entrepreneur and founder of R&D Innovative Solution Pvt Ltd, along with her very supportive husband, Damber Khanal, are the creators of this project.

Tomato crop at village-focused agriculture project in Nepal
Tomato crop at village-focused agriculture project in Nepal

I saw a few ripe tomatoes and I understand that this is the beginning of crops to be harvested. Produce will be distributed through Green Mart, a small chain of grocery stalls in Kathmandu, and profits will be distributed back to the women in the village.

This project is being very carefully monitored with all activities being documented and measured. The aim is to optimise the operation and output of this farm while also encouraging the women to start their own personal farms.

I’d love to see this project replicated many times in Nepal, and perhaps “seeded” with investments from those with good hearts

On Teaching by Kahlil Gibran

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.

And even as each one of you stands alone in God’s knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.

Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

J.K. Rowling delivered the Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association, May 2008.  Apart from being entertaining and witty, she offers great insights.

Speaking from her life’s experiences (prior to her success), J.K. Rowling said that apart from the fact that it stripped away the inessential….

Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above the price of rubies. 

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after,secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity.Such knowledge is a true gift…

No-one could doubt that her imagination was instrumental in turning her failure into success.  However, this was not the point she wanted to make.  In her early 20’s, J.K.Rowling worked at the African research department at Amnesty International’s headquarters in London in order to pay for her rent.  During that time, she read many stories, saw many photos, met torture victims and this all greatly affected her (do listen to her account).  She concluded:

Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.

For me, there were three immediate take-aways with regards to imagination:

  1. We can think ourselves into other people’s minds, imagine (our)selves into other people’s places, and therefore show empathy,
  2. Empathy has power; it can ignite collective action, and
  3. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

There are more gems within this speech for the finding (and here’s the link).

Introvert Leaders

As most of us experience, its the extraverts who tend to rise in organisations more quickly.  And why?

“The features that define extraversion are commonly the features people associate with leadership.”
However, both types of leaders, the extraverts and the introverts, can be equally successful or ineffectual, but with different groups of employees – as research is now showing.Check out:
Introverts: The Best Leaders for Proactive Employees
HBS WorkingKnoweldge
by Carmen Nobel
October 4, 2010

Starting a movement; the role of leaders and followers

Here is a neat little video from TED : Derek Sivers: How to start a movement.

We often think that leadership is about being out in front and being brave to stand out and for taking certain initiatives.  While that is part of it, leadership is also about nurturing the first few followers.

Another form of leadership was shown in the video.  It was the first courageous follower.  It was this guy that transformed the first guy into a leader.  Interestingly, the leader embraced – publically – the first follower as an equal; it matters how new leaders treat and develop their first few “direct reports”.

The embraced follower then brought in another follower.

More followers joined in and before long, a tipping point was reached.  It was at this point that it became un-cool not to be part of the movement.   What extraordinary influence was exercised by the first few guys.  Interestingly in the end, we lost sight of them in the crowd, the crowd clearly was not watching them waiting for the next steps and everyone was just getting on with getting on!

“…it was the shirtless guy who was first, and he’ll get all the credit, but it was really the first follower that transformed the lone nut into a leader.”

The first follower had tremendous influence!  The early followers emulated the first follower, and very quickly, the crowd became a movement!

The beginning …and the first nugget!

I find nuggets in various places.  Nuggets also come to me.  I’ve often thought about sharing them, but never got-around-to-it.  However, today, I have got-around-to-it.   I’m also encouraged to do this by a few friends cum colleagues.

I thought I would start with the nugget that started this venture.  It came to me via a new colleague who I met recently in Colorado Springs, Dr. Rich Grenhart.

Check out : http://thedavidhanscom.posterous.com/liferisk.

     “If you have never failed, you have never lived!”

Its a great short video that can be used for sharing, presentations, coaching, and reflection.

Enjoy!