My 7 Lessons Inspired By Dr APJ Abdul Kalam

#SridharPeddisetty #Leadership #Management #Motivational #Inspirational #AbdulKalam #DrKalam  

“Learning gives creativity, creativity leads to thinking, thinking provides knowledge and knowledge makes you great.” ―  A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

There are some who inspired few and there are very rare who inspired an entire generation, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was one of the very rare ones. Dr. Kalam was inspirational to an entire generation is evident from the outpouring of tributes from all walks of life. He had touched so many lives and ignited so many young minds to believe in the power of thinking, knowledge and on top of it, self belief. Dr. Kalam has shared his wisdom in numerous inspiring speeches he has given with the sole aim of igniting the young minds to lead the nation, not where its going but where it ought to go. Its ironical that he breathed his last doing what he loves doing best, passing his knowledge torch to a new generation of torch bearers.  Below are some of my lessons inspired by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. 

1. A true leader would own team’s failure and let team take the credit for success
2. You need difficulties in life because they are necessary to enjoy the success 
3. All of us do not have equal talent. But we all do have an equal opportunity to develop our talents
4. Do not lean on to an excuse counter and whine about injustice, corruption and wrong doing in the society but be the change agent to fight the evils of the society.
5. The sides of the mountain sustain life, not the peak. This is where things grow, experience is gained, and technologies are mastered. The importance of the peak lies only in the fact that it defines the sides.
6. Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life. Thinking provides knowledge and knowledge is power 
7. Failure will never overtake you if your definition to succeed is strong enough

When asked how he would like to be remembered, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam responded by saying, as a ‘teacher’.

So here is to his legacy and a teacher lives on...

My 7 Lessons Inspired By Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was originally published in LinkedIn

Atlanta Botanical Garden: Bruce Munro Light Show

#SridharPeddisetty, #USA, #Atlanta, #AtlantaBotanicalGarden, #Travel, #BruceMunro, #LightShow, #PlacesToVisit, #PointsofInterest 
Below are some of the pictures of Atlanta Botanical Garden - Bruce Munro Light Show. In the earlier post 'Atlanta Botanical Garden', I had shared some beautiful pictures of the garden. In the below snaps, sharing the Bruce Munro Light Show.

5 Tips For You To Run Faster Than Somebody Today

#SridharPeddisetty #Leadership #Management #Motivational #Inspirational #Agile #ProjectManagement #ScrumMaster   

Every morning when Deer wakes up, it thinks that today I have to run faster than the fastest Lion for me to survive & live and every morning Lion wakes up to think that today I have to run faster than the slowest Deer for me to eat & survive.

No matter who you are, you have to run faster than somebody today nevertheless. Today’s workplace is comprising of Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials and possibly few Traditionalists. Its becoming quite competitive with number of years of experience under your belt does not automatically qualifying you to hold a position but what you bring to the table does.  So its not only important to keep pace but to run faster with combination of your experience and knowledge. Always be a step ahead by

1. Being a vivid reader of whats going in the area of your domain, technical skills or industry in general, which would always help you take informed decisions or contribute intelligently in a conversation. 
2. Surrounding yourself with people smarter than you. Listen to understand in the company of experts to gain knowledge. We often listen to reply, which is counterproductive and sometime back I had written a blog 'Why Active Listening is Key for Successful Delivery of Agile Projects' on similar lines
3. Blogging or sharing your insights with the community on relevant topics. You either would intelligently be able to share with your experience or would do some research on the subject, thus gaining knowledge before sharing. 
4. Get your hands dirty or feet wet by working on a prototype or proof of concept on a newer technology or process to get a better handle. 
5. Being positive in attitude, which would always result in your ability to see through the challenging times.Positive attitude defines your successful career is a blog post I had shared earlier on how positive attitude does matter. 

Always keep in mind that if you are not enough fast, you are not just left behind but are left in the past. 

PS: Above picture was clicked by me in San Diego Safari Park

Note: 5 Tips For You To Run Faster Than Somebody Today was originally published in LinkedIn

Krog Street Tunnel in Atlanta

#SridharPeddisetty, #USA, #Atlanta, #KrogStreetTunnel, #Graffiti, #Travel, #TravelPhotography, #PlacesToVisit, #PointsofInterest 
Below are some of the random pictures of graffitis taken in and around Atlanta's Krog Street Tunnel. Credit all goes to the amazing artists who normally remains unsung and unknown. 

Atlanta Botanical Garden

#SridharPeddisetty, #USA, #Atlanta, #AtlantaBotanicalGarden, #Travel, #TravelPhotography, #PlacesToVisit, #PointsofInterest 
Below are some of the pictures of Atlanta Botanical Garden. Its a beautiful walk for the nature lovers right in the middle of city. 

Incredible India - Video of Karnataka Temples in Belur and Halebidu

#SridharPeddisetty #IncredibleIndia #Karnataka #Temples #Historic #WorldHeritageSites #Heritage #Hindu #Belur #Halebidu #PlacestoVisit
As part of Incredible India series, this video is of Temples in Belur and Halebidu in Hasana district of Karnataka, India.

Empower Your Team To Own Responsibilities

#SridharPeddisetty #Leadership #Management #Delegation #DelegationManagement #Agile #ProjectManagement #ScrumMaster #TeamWork   

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant - Robert Louis Stevenson

We all understand the word delegation but seldom put the art of delegation in play. I wrote an earlier blog post on Trust your team but make sure to verify, jest of which I am extending in this post. We need to learn the art of empowering our team to own responsibilities while creating the safety nets around those responsibilities so that even if they fail, they do not hurt themselves bad. Remember, it is often your best people that make the worst mistakes, because your best people do the most complex work. When we take so much pains to hire the best possible talent with the good intent to keep them in the team for long term, we might as well encourage them to pursue their ideas while giving them the tools they need to succeed.

The key to start empowering your team to own responsibilities is by making the list of tasks, which play to their strengths better and letting them own those tasks. Major constraint of not letting your team own tasks is because of the fear of losing control and facing consequences of the result. It is understandably difficult at times to think about pulling hand out of projects while letting the team own them but the fact is that the more your team feels that they are trusted to do their jobs, the more commitment and interest they will show in their work. Remember that you have hired smart people with right attitude and the best way to find whether you made the right decision or not is to just let them play it. More often the brightest of ideas come from the most unlikely sources and only way of knowing that is by empowering.  

Effective managers know from their experience that they can climb greater heights and achieve their professional goals only by delegating the work to their talented team of people.  By empowering, you are creating the next generation of leadership so always remember the quote "Do not count the number of followers you have but the number of leaders you created" 
Having shared this, there are certain tasks, which at times just cannot be delegated out. Jay Goltz has shared one such funny experience in his blog The one task I can’t seem to delegate and also there is this humorous piece

Mom: "Son, please go to the market and buy 1 bottle of milk. If they have eggs, bring 6”.  Son came back with 6 bottles of milk.   Mom: "Why the hell did you buy 6 bottles of milk?" Son:“Because they had eggs"

What are your thoughts on empowering your team to own responsibilities?  

Empower Your Team To Own Responsibilities was originally published in LinkedIn