Proactive Leadership – with Spanish translation

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
So, I would like to begin with a small anecdote. Once a person got very frustrated with all the problems that he was facing in life.
So, I would like to begin with a small anecdote. Once a person got very frustrated with all the problems that he was facing in life. And when he would read the news, he would see so many things wrong in the world also.
That made him even more frustrated. So, he went to a sacred place and he started ranting at God saying, so many things are wrong, oh God, why don’t you do something about it? So, he went to a sacred place and he started ranting at God saying, so many things are wrong, oh God, why don’t you do something about it? It means that each one of us is created in this world to serve in our field, in our life and around us. Suppose we are in a house and suddenly the electricity goes off, everyone is plunged into darkness.
Suppose we are in a house and suddenly the electricity goes off, everyone is plunged into darkness. Now we can start cursing, oh why did the power go off, what stupidity, I can’t see anything. Now we can start cursing, oh why did the power go off, what stupidity, I can’t see anything.
But instead of cursing we also have the power to turn on our own flashlights. But instead of cursing we also have the power to turn on our own flashlights. Even if we have our mobile, most mobiles have some flashlight, we turn it on, the whole room may not get illumined, but our small corner around us can get illumined.
Even if we have our mobile, most mobiles have some flashlight, we turn it on, the whole room may not get illumined, but our small corner around us can get illumined. Basically no. Basically no.
And if there are 5 people in a room and all 5 of them light their flashlights, the room can become reasonably illumined. And if there are 5 people in a room and all 5 of them light their flashlights, the room can become reasonably illumined. In fact, in a dark setting, when a number of people have turned on their small lights and that is creating illumination, that is actually quite a beautiful sight.
In fact, in a dark setting, when a number of people have turned on their small lights and that is creating illumination, that is actually quite a beautiful sight. If we can try to make a positive contribution, then we can light our corner of the world. If we can try to make a positive contribution, then we can light our corner of the world.
To light this world in our own special way. To light this world in our own special way. And actually this, our capacity to light our surroundings, that is different from a flashlight.
And actually this, our capacity to light our surroundings, that is different from a flashlight. A normal flashlight, the more we use it, its power decreases and its light dies out. A normal flashlight, the more we use it, its power decreases and its light dies out.
And with time, it will no longer work. And with time, it will no longer work. So, how we can light our corners of the world, we will discuss in this talk on proactive leadership.
So, how we can light our corners of the world, we will discuss in this talk on proactive leadership. And second half, I will talk about becoming proactive. And second half, I will talk about becoming proactive.
So, some of us may have positions of leadership, some of us may be class leaders, some of us may be teachers, some of us may be managers, and some of us may not have any positions, but still, with our disposition, we can lead. But still, with our disposition, we can lead. So, there are two broad kinds of leadership, personal leadership and public leadership.
So, there are two broad kinds of leadership, personal leadership and public leadership. So, public leadership refers to the positions in the public eye that a person has. So, public leadership refers to the positions in the public eye that a person has.
Personal leadership refers first and foremost to one’s capacity to lead oneself. Personal leadership refers to one’s capacity to lead oneself. Lead oneself means that inside us there are many different desires, different feelings, different ideas and a personal leader is able to harmonise all of them in order to function effectively.
So, personal leadership means that inside us there are many different desires. We want to do this, we want to do that, but the personal leader is able to harmonise all of them in order to focus everything towards one goal. It is only when a person is able to lead oneself effectively, can that person lead others effectively.
So, whenever any topic of leadership comes up, often the question comes, So, whenever any topic of leadership comes up, often the question comes, are leaders born or are leaders made? That means, do some people right from birth have some special qualities which make them leaders? Or can anyone, by developing some training, some qualities, can anyone become a leader? So, the question now is, are leaders born or are leaders made? How is a leader born or how to develop skills, qualities that can be made a leader? So, actually there are certain qualities which some people may have more than others, such as some people may be able to speak very powerfully, such as some people may be able to speak very powerfully, when they come into a room, everyone becomes attracted, everyone becomes impressed. when they come into a room, everyone becomes attracted, everyone becomes impressed. So, charisma and speaking ability, these may be more in some people than others, and because of that, they may get positions of public leadership more easily.
and because of that, they may get positions of public leadership more easily. But if these qualities are not founded on more core character qualities, then such leaders end up becoming misleaders. But if these leaders do not depend on a good character in their life, then such leaders do not follow as good leaders, they become bad leaders.
So, there have been many deadly dictators who had a lot of leadership qualities, but they did terrible harm to the world. One example could be the Nazi dictator Hitler. So, there have been many dictators who had a lot of leadership qualities, but they did terrible harm to the world.
One example could be the Nazi dictator Hitler. He had all the qualities of a leader, but he was a dictator where so many people suffered for him. So, even if we do not have such qualities such as charisma or eloquent speaking ability, still we all can become personal leaders.
So, even if we do not have such qualities such as charisma or eloquent speaking ability, we can still be leaders. And all of us, even if we are introverted, introverted means people who like to be alone, people who get drained when they mix with too many people, you may think introverted people they cannot be leaders. There are introverted people who prefer to be alone or who do not like to mix with too many people.
Even this type of people can also be leaders. John Maxwell says that sociologists say that the most introverted person can influence more than 10,000 people John Maxwell says that sociologists say that sociologists say that the most introverted person can influence more than 10,000 people During the course of our life we meet so many people and in some small or big ways we touch each other. So, by our very existing in this world, we automatically are leaders in some way or the other.
So, personal leadership is universal, everyone may not have what it takes to be a public leader, but all of us can become personal leaders, so by our actions we often speak louder than by our words. So, in the religious circles there is a famous saint, Saint Francis of Assisi, he said preach all day and if required speak a few words occasionally, he said preach all day and if required speak a few words occasionally, he said preach all day and if required speak a few words occasionally, he said preach all day and if required speak a few words occasionally, he said preach all day and if required speak a few words occasionally. So, this is another leadership concept.
Bob Nelson, he says that you get the best effort from others not by lighting a fire beneath them. Lighting a fire beneath means threatening them, if you do not work you will be fired, but by lighting by building a fire within that means by inspiring them with a vision, he is also a leadership consultant. I Don’t want to talk about this on DC now the hardest part Right there I think they will suck out of the land a little less personal No, we’re going to the point where we’re about audio.
You know Initiate the fire inside them What does it mean to put the fire under someone? It means I’m going to throw you, I’m going to vote for you, I’m going to finish you, I’m going to enter you That’s not how you can get the most out of something If you really want to get someone’s life, you have to start the fire inside them So public leaders That means those who simply have a leadership position, they have to light a fire beneath, they have to threaten people, then they can get others to do work, but those who have the disposition of leadership, those who are personal leaders, they can actually inspire others by their actions. So just the desire to make a positive contribution is the foundation for anyone to eventually become a leader. So now, I talked about leadership, let us move on to the proactive aspect of leadership.
So, there are four terms over here, active means a person is doing something, going here, doing this, doing that. Reactive is a person whose actions are determined by circumstances, oh, he spoke like that, I have to do this, she spoke like that, I am going to show her, oh, this has happened, I have to do that. So, a reactive person is active, but most of the actions are determined by things outside of that person.
So, I will give you the four terms, active, reactive, proactive, proactive. If you want, you can remove the E and O, it becomes Spanish. Who is active? Active is the person who is active, right? And no one can be still in life, right? You have to be active from childhood to old age.
We are all active. But who is the person who is reactive? Active decides his actions and reactive, he responds or he reacts, better not respond, he reacts, the word of someone, the action of someone, hey, he told me like this, I will say like this, he told me like this, I will do like this, hey, what happened here, what happened there, almost here, this is a reactive person who reacts. Active and reactive.
Proactive person, on the other hand, has a purpose for the activity that they are doing. Yes, proactive is this person who really has a purpose to do an activity. He knows why he is acting.
That is proactive. That means that the person’s actions are determined primarily by a purpose that they have chosen. This is what I want to achieve and therefore I will do this, this, this, this.
So they are driven by a purpose. So P for purpose plus activity becomes proactive. So proactive comes from the word proactive.
So the P in proactive is the goal, the purpose. If the person is proactive, how will he know? When he has a goal in life and all his actions are driven towards the goal. He has a plan.
Plan A, B, C, D, E, O, I, J, K, L. So he will go in his own way, his own way, his own way, his own way, he will go his own way. Proactive. Who is proactive? Planning person.
P, L, D, planning, planning person. So I will give a medical example to illustrate the difference between a reactive and a proactive person. So, suppose a patient is sick and a doctor is not very experienced, doctor says ok patient has got cough, ok take this cough syrup.
You have got scratching, take this ointment. Oh you are feeling some pain in the leg, take this pain killing medicine. That is ok whatever pain is coming is to react to that.
But a more experienced doctor will try to do diagnosis, maybe examinations, test to find out what is the internal problem because of which cough is coming, because of which scratching is coming, because of which pain is coming and primarily address that disease. And here I feel pain in the foot, ok so this is for the leg, this is for this, this is for this. Ok, so the population is on the other side.
He just talks about the action, what is the action? You feel some irritation, here is the cream, you feel pain in the foot, there is the medicine and that’s it. And another doctor, proactive. What are the symptoms? What are the symptoms? Ah, pain in the foot.
What else? Scratching. What else? Pain in the foot. What else? Scratching.
Ah, ah, what a combination. Let me see. Ok, do this test, this test to see if you have this disease because sometimes this disease causes this symptom combined with this symptom.
He is a proactive doctor. So there are times when all of us may have to be reactive, just like if the pain is a lot, at that time you give a pain medicine to cure the pain. But for long term restoration of health, the doctor has to diagnose and focus on the treatment of the underlying medicine.
Similarly, for long term productiveness in our life, we cannot just be reactive. We have to have a purpose and deal and move towards that purpose, not just spend our life in fire fighting problems. So, of course, when we have an emergency, we have a headache, we have to take the medicine.
Meanwhile, for what? To reduce the pain. The pain continues, continues for a week, two weeks, you can no longer take penelope, penelope, penelope, right? You have to go to an orthopedist, if you have pain in the shoulder, you have to go to a specialist, go deeper and get the root of the problem. What is the root of the problem? And thus cure the internal part so that externally it is healing, right? Likewise in life.
Yes, we are only reacting, we are not reactive. Okay, but proactive means that we have to go deeper. We have to have a goal, plan, lead life in such a way, go very deeply to have a position to acquire or to have profit, to acquire money.
So, when we are proactive, then we can be really productive. So, only when we are proactive, that time we are productive. So, now to understand, all of us, we can see that we sometimes become not just reactive but over reactive.
Somebody speaks some small thing to us and we become very angry. Or somebody speaks some criticism for us and we become completely depressed. Oh, I can do nothing.
So, all of us, in life, what happens? We are not reacting, we are not reactive, but we are over reactive, over reaction. There is a word, overreact. Does it sound good? Overreactive.
Somebody says something like that to me. He criticises me, he blames me. Something like that.
But my reaction is like that. This is called overreaction. Too much reaction.
So, sometimes the person reacts more than necessary. What is it in the world that makes us reactive or overreactive? What is it that makes us act in particular ways? We have to understand who we really are. Suppose we are in a dark room and somebody has come searching for us.
And they call out, are you there? Are you there? And before we can speak something, somebody else speaks on our behalf. We wonder, who is this person inside? How did they get into my house? Why are they speaking on my behalf? Now, if somebody else spoke instead of us, when that other person was asking us to speak, we would naturally get angry and protest. Let me speak, you shouldn’t speak on my behalf.
But if that voice who speaks in place of us comes from inside us, instead of from outside in the room, then we mistake it to be our own voice. When this voice, not my voice, but this voice speaks for me, but this voice is not something external, this voice comes from inside me. So, what do I think? I identify that as my voice.
I don’t know who I want to respond to. Another person is responding, but that is inside me. And I think, ok, so it was me.
And if somebody recorded what we spoke at that time, and afterwards showed, played to us the recording, you may think, did I speak that? How could I have spoken that? So, there is something inside us which is actually different from the real me. So, to understand what that is, we will look at an ancient spiritual book which gives us understanding of our inner world. That book is the Bhagavad Gita.
So, the Bhagavad Gita explains that actually in our inner landscape, if you want to see, what is there inside us? Our existence is at three levels. Body, mind and soul. The body is like the hardware of a computer system.
The mind is like the software. And the soul, the real person, me, is the user. So, the Bhagavad Gita explains three levels of understanding of who I am.
I am divided into three parts. My body, my mind and my soul. The body is like the external body of a computer system.
And the mind is like the software, for application and programming inside a computer system. And the soul is like the user, the person who uses the software. For example, there are some programmes, and as soon as one opens the computer or the cell phone, that programme, the screen, starts.
Because that is how it comes from the factory. Whether we want it or not, the page opens and goes. And sometimes we have a virus in a programme, in the computer, that causes the virus.
It opens different pages, different files, different messages. Even though we have not opened it, but automatically it opens, opens, opens. So, life is like this.
By default, when one is in that mood of anger, one begins to react in such a way, and then one is regretful. Why should I not react like this? So, to change from reactive to proactive, we need to understand what are the default programmes of our mind, and change those programmes if necessary. So, to become proactive, means to change three things.
How we perceive, how we process, and how we pursue, means go after or act. In the end, how one responds to the situation, how one moves forward. So, what word is perceived? Perceive is see.
So, in perceive, the first principle we can understand is, don’t eternalise the problem. Contextualise it. Means, see it, that it is temporary, it is in this context.
So, the first rule of perceiving is, don’t see the problem as something eternal. Don’t see a problem and think, that you are going to follow it eternally. If not, understand, that the problem of that situation is temporary.
No. Everything in my life will be wrecked because of this problem. So, we make the problem bigger and bigger, we eternalise it.
That means, we think, this problem, I’ll have to live with this forever. I can’t carry this big problem on my shoulder anymore. I can’t.
This problem is so big. It’s getting huge. This problem is… We keep expanding the scope of the problem.
Furious. Next time, I will insult this person. And that incident happened in just a minute, a few moments, just a few seconds.
But for hours, we are burning because of that. Why do you continue after that? For the next four hours, that you are burning, you are just thinking about that person. How did he look at me? How did he talk to me? How did he greet me? I said, good afternoon.
He didn’t say anything. For hours and hours, you are thinking about something that happened for a moment, a second. So, the second clause says, life determines our problems.
Life determines our problems and we determine the size of our problems. So, this way, if we understand that, okay, this problem is there, but we perceive it properly, don’t make it bigger than what it is, then we take the first step in becoming proactive. So, we have to take the first step in being proactive.
When we see a problem, we must perceive it as it is, something temporal, something of the situation. This is the first step in being proactive. And the next proactive step is how we process the situation.
Based on not just the particular situation, but based on our worldview, on our understanding of who we are and what the purpose of life is. So, spiritual wisdom helps us understand that actually our destiny is bigger than our biology. That means that we are much bigger than our physical bodies.
At our core, we are indestructible. We are eternal sparks of spirit. So, understanding that whatever happens, that can hurt things around me, but actually it cannot hurt me at my core.
That itself helps us to process the problems with greater calmness. I don’t necessarily have to be affected by what is happening. That can hurt everything around me, but since I am that spark, I am that spirit, that can never hurt me.
He can’t even catch me. How will you kill me? And he fearlessly embraced death. The Greek philosopher Socrates, when he was caught, he was arrested and taken to prison.
He was sentenced to death. He said, you can’t even catch me. When you can’t catch me, how will you kill me? We are parts of an infinite source.
We are under the care of something far bigger than us. When we get into a plane, at that time, we worry whether I have got the ticket with me. We don’t worry whether the plane has enough fuel, whether the pilot is competent.
All those things, we know that there are others who will take care of that. I just have to make sure that I have my ticket, that I have paid the money, I have my passport, and I will be transported by the plane. Similarly, in this world, we all have a part to play.
If we play our part, other things will be taken care of by the whole, who is in charge of the whole world. We don’t worry whether the plane has enough gas to fly, whether the pilot is competent to fly in the plane, whether they will take care of me. We are worried whether I have got my seat, I have my boarding pass, I have my passport, and so on.
Similarly, in this world, we don’t have to worry about other things. We have to worry about our own things. The rest will be taken care of by the Creator of the Universe.
Not what all is going wrong over here, or what all may go wrong. What can I do? Suppose there is a doctor who goes to a hospital and simply goes and sees this patient has this disease, this patient has this disease. Just going around the hospital and looking at all the sick people, that may well depress the doctor.
The doctor says, this is my department, these are my designated patients. Let me take care of these patients. Others will be taken care of by others.
And that brings us to the third part of being proactive, that is, what we pursue, what we practically do. So, the principle here is, be not tense, be intense. So, in any situation that we are in, there are some things that are in our control and there are many things that are not in our control.
If we worry about the things not in our control, we become fearful, we become worried. But if we focus on the things that are in control, we can actually transform that anxiety into intensity. So, this is all about how we can change the default settings of our software within the mind and thus move from reactive to proactive.
So, the power to make this change from reactive to proactive that can come from meditation. Meditation stabilises and elevates our consciousness. Meditation means it’s not just sitting in some posture or looking at some light.
Meditation essentially means changing our thoughts, shifting our thoughts from changing material things to the unchanging spiritual reality. Meditation means shifting our thoughts from changing material things to the unchanging spiritual reality. This is meditation.
From temporary to permanent. From material to temporary. The more we can connect with the unchanging spiritual reality within us, the more we become calm and the more we can respond maturely to situations.
There are many different forms of meditation. One of the most powerful forms is called as mantra meditation. Mantra is a special spiritual sound that can raise our consciousness from where we are to a higher spiritual level.
So we chant a particular mantra which we find very powerful. This mantra is Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram Ram, Hare Hare. So when we chant this mantra and just try to focus our consciousness on it, try to hear the mantra, then it is like we enter into an elevator and the elevator takes us up.
Similarly, when we enter into this mantra by attentively hearing it, our consciousness rises above our circumstances. And from that higher perspective, then we can perceive our situation properly and respond in a more mature and effective way. So whenever we are calm and clear, whatever abilities we have, we can use them better.
And thus our ability to tap our ability can be increased by our spirituality. So I will quickly summarise what I spoke till now. I talked about leadership where everyone may not be a very special public leader, but everybody can become a personal leader.
Public leader is a matter of designation, personal leader is a matter of disposition. So personal leaders can make real changes in others by inspiring them, not just by instructing them. And about being proactive, we discussed that like a doctor who does not just treat the pains but treats the disease like that, we should not spend our life just fighting problems, we have to have a purpose which defines our actions.
So to move from becoming reactive to proactive, we have to correct whatever wrong software is there in our mind. So correcting these default settings of the mind software means changing how we perceive, process and perceive. So to perceive problems properly means we do not make the problem bigger than what it is by the mind’s imagination.
So to process means that we understand that I am not alone, I am an indestructible part of an infinite whole. And if I take care of my part, other things will be taken care of. And perceive means that we focus on what is in our power to do and do that, like lighting the torch instead of cursing the darkness.
And meditation can help us realise our spiritual nature and thus give us the power to change the way we perceive, process and process, thus shifting from reactive to proactive. Thank you very much. Are there any questions? Are there any questions or comments? When you look for problems, do you mean that he is the problem or that he is the problem? As this university is very big and special, I would like to ask you a few questions.
So many departments are there, so many minds are there, so many people are there. Sometimes there are people who only look for problems or troubles or negativities. For example, if that person would have come for this meeting, he would go from this meeting and talk negatively about this meeting.
About everything, they always look for the defect, for the problem. So this person fits to which category? Active, reactive, proactive or productive? So there are perennial problem finders. Where do they fit in? Actually, in some situations, finding problems is helpful if one has the skill and the intention to solve the problems.
In some situations, finding problems is helpful if one has the skill and the intention to solve the problems. Just like if a person is a proofreader, then they have to actually find problems in the text, grammatical mistakes. But then their purpose is to make a positive contribution by finding those mistakes.
For example, if someone has to edit a book, to edit the book, the person has to look for the flaws. If there are grammatical errors, plural, etc., for what? So that the book is positively correct. So in that case, if a person is actually wanting to make a positive change by looking at a fault, then that is being proactive.
But if a person is looking for faults, but wants to make a positive change, that is proactive. But if that person’s intention is simply to criticise others, not do anything positive, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad, then that person is basically reacting to negativity wherever they find it. And they are simply being very reactive to everything in life in a very negative way.
But if that person is looking for problems, they simply like to talk about problems, they like negativity, then that person is reactive. They react to negativity in all aspects of life. They simply see problems, see problems.
They are not proactive because they don’t want to give solutions. They are reactive because they react to negativity in all aspects. Here in Panama, UDELAS, at the level of the world, we have been in many other activities, where we have always considered, in quotation marks, that many psychologists are problematic too.
Yes, there are negative psychologists. How can a person take the advice of a psychologist, if there is a person who has problems? They are so negative, they are full of problems. So, how can a patient go to a psychiatrist, if the psychiatrist is full of such kind of negative problems? That is how Panama is.
Oh, that’s sad. Actually the problem with dealing with the mind, there may be psychiatrists and psychologists who have good intentions. But when there is no clear understanding of what the mind is, then whatever solutions they offer, they don’t really work.
And that eventually makes them more and more negative. What happens is, it may be that the psychologist has very good intentions, but because he is not having the wisdom of the mind, how the mind works, who the mind is, how to deal with the mind. So, even if he wants to do good, he won’t be able to do good, because he doesn’t know the science of how the mind works, and it ends up hurting the patient or giving negativity to the person.
So, he made a wrong choice for pursuing his path to be a psychologist. No, not necessarily that way. Not necessarily.
See, thing is that the problem comes when we reduce the mental to the physical. That means that problems of the mind can sometimes be simply human problems which require a spiritual solution. But when we try to treat them like physical diseases and simply treat them with medicine, that is a limited approach which doesn’t work.
The problem is there. When there is a problem that has to be cured with spirituality, there are problems of another level, but we are only going to solve the problem of bodies, then how is the solution going to come out? The problem is on the other side and they are healing on the other side. There are many psychiatrists, psychologists who are becoming more and more open towards spiritual insights to better assist their patients.
So, they may not themselves accept the spiritual truths as real, but they see this is something which works, so let us use it. Maybe they don’t propose much in that direction of invitation, but they see that it works and they use it as a tool. Thank you.
Thank you very much. More questions? Comments?