Development is a lifelong obligation and in our VUCA world - it’s a need, which if left unattended will sideline you. Age, merit and designation alone are no guarantee for sustainable success. Plus, it sends a terrible message to an entire organization if its senior leaders neglect their own development.

It is better to be and say who you are than to cover your mistakes. In my experience, that only makes a situation worse. Losing face or blatantly lying can actually cause your boss or colleagues to mistrust you in the long run. Therefore, stay true in your thoughts, emotions and actions. This often means accepting the fact that you made a mistake or failed.

It’s said that each of us have a minimum of 5 natural talents or strengths. My top 5 CliftonStrengths® are Activator®, Strategic®, Restorative™, Responsibility®, and Communication®. I have been exploring, discovering and working with these Talent themes for almost 15 years now and here's what I've noticed:

The reality was that I was very blank political bureaucracy-wise. In fact, I wish he had helped me to gain that awareness. Political savvy is a key success factor not only for politicians but in the same way for business leaders.

A role model is often perceived as aspirational, someone who has already achieved what you want, who could be from another country and have a vastly different trajectory from the one you're currently seeking. Therefore, you feel separate from it.

Many companies offer only a limited number of paid 'festival leaves' that a person can avail of within a certain period. These days include the big holidays such as Diwali, Eid or Christmas. This seems reasonable since there are multiple festivals and religions in India.

Teaching is the best way to ensure that you have understood something thoroughly; that's nothing new. But, to experience it again after quite a long time was an excellent reminder. Also, while teaching you have to make things explicit that you have understood without knowing or rationalizing why.

The notice period - it's that murky gray area where for some odd reason, dynamics between employers and employees often take a turn for the catastrophic.

Hands up if you’ve said, “I’m too busy,” or “Too tired right now,” or “Don’t have the bandwidth.”  These are all little sentences that give your mind a legitimate excuse to not do the work your were supposed to do. They cause you to delay important tasks endlessly and eventually it leads to procrastinating. But if you look deeper, maybe you are simply afraid of doing the work.

A common question I get asked at events is, “What do you do?” Normally I would tell people that I am a professional coach or trainer. The word or label trainer/coach has some connotations which are more along the lines of conditioning (dogs), or sports people, etc.

One of Gallup’s CliftonStrengths® I’ve been giving more thought to lately is Focus®. People who have high Focus® essentially have a natural talent to center everything around one thing and push that through.

A couple of months ago, my business partner, Jill Sheldekar and I facilitated an off-site team development workshop. On one hand, there was a lot of cognitive content, but on the other, we required the team to go out of its comfort zone and think creatively about its future. We knew the “success” of this team development workshop hinged on them pushing through this barrier.

The more I discover the ways to communicate feedback, the more artful it gets. The more subjective it is. Therefore if you’ve taken anything from this little thought journal of mine, it should be this: Listen, reflect, and then decide whether to accept and what to do with feedback given to you - while staying honest with yourself.

A byproduct of being a Strengths Coach is being able to understand who a person is through their talents. Through the years of understanding talent themes and the 34 CliftonStrengths® I have learned to spot people’s motivations or understand them on a deeper level.

Organize individuals according to the way they will thrive, delegate work keeping in mind the strengths and stressors and maintain an openness throughout the entire process. This atmosphere will become a breeding ground for exceptional results and innovative products and services. Not only is it good for business but also for valuing and preserving the cultural integrity of diverse peoples across the globe.

Once trust and credibility are established, diverse teams can thrive even in the face of adversity. In the final part of this series, we will explore ways to leverage cultural differences in teams where there are high levels of trust and credibility.

Often members of these teams do not only have different values and beliefs, but often these values are in direct conflict with each other. So how do we navigate cross cultural situations where value differences are in such contrast?

There have been times in my life when I’ve gotten the short end of the stick in work and personal situations. Times when you know you need to set a healthy boundary, but for some reason, you don’t.