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| Source: www.scientificamerican.com |
I know it’s a bit late in the year but it’s never too late to make a fresh start so a very Happy New Year to all of you! Hope this greeting helps you restart the year and shake off any negativity that a not so pleasant start (I hope not) would have brought with it.
Starting off is something that can be very exciting and scary at the same time. Exciting because you are embarking on something new, and, scary because you never know what this new challenge might throw at you or the lurking feeling ‘if I am good enough for this’. Well at least these were the two predominant emotions that were clouding my thoughts when I started this blog on 29th November 2009. Over the past 14 months a lot has changed in terms of the layout, content and of course my philosophical and professional stand.
When I started this blog I was focused on using this as a platform to spew on the world the ‘wisdom’ I had gained while working as a consultant, advising some of the biggest and most reputed Indian business houses with a global footprint. Over the course of the past 3-4 months that I have been back in school (Warwick Business School, UK) for my second masters I have started questioning a lot of the things that I wrote and suggested to my clients. This is not to say that I was recommending actions that I did not believe in or I suggested action plans to my clients that were not right. Everything that I wrote or suggested my clients was a testimony of my understanding of the given context. All the advice that I gave or the programs that I designed were taking into account the ‘world view’ that I had at that time.
Reflexivity is a great tool, it helps you take a look from the outside and critique your own work. That’s exactly how I feel at the moment, taking a step outside the boundary of my self-constructed world and looking inside to assess, evaluate and critique my own actions. In fact how interesting would it be if our hard working, extremely busy and under pressure executives could step outside their little constructions and peep in to see how it all adds up. I understand that the pressures are relentless and expectations abound but is it too late to Assess, Recognize and Reflect! Unlike my other posts where I try to outline a problem and attempt to underline certain prescriptive actions as a solution, in this post I would urge all my readers to adopt a reflexive view of any situation or action in their personal or professional life and unwrap the strands of behaviours which govern it. You are bound to unravel certain thoughts, ideas or actions which are embedded in your behavior and are playing a part under the surface to propel you to act in certain ways. And I am sure this renewed understanding of self would go a long way in helping you make more informed if not better decisions in future.
I hope you found this rant useful in some way and I look forward to hearing your views as always.
Stay blessed!
