Managerial Courage

Welcome again to my new blog. This time topic is about "Courage"

"To overcome evil with good is good, to resist evil by evil is evil. (Al-Hadith) "

What is Courage?

It is state of mind that motivates/activates us for insurmountable tasks/challenges.

Aspects of Courage

Courage has two aspects, moral & physical.

Moral courage is required when challenge or task is immaterial, e.g., to speak truth while lying can bring benefits or truth may bring problems.

On the other hand, physical courage is needed to control physical desires or to do some physical activity that may cause physical pains or may bring some physical threat, e.g., regular exercise, balance eating habit, struggle against some evil element of society, and joining of armed/police force for state enemies / criminals.


Cosmic Design & Courage

Life is effort-return phenomenon.

• The Omnipotent Creator is designer of Effort-Return phenomena.
• The aim of cosmic design is to trial human conduct, morally as well as physically.
• Allah created the universe with full of bounties, both tangibles as well as intangibles. However, these treasures of Mercy or natural gifts are concealed behind some physical and moral hurdles. A person can get these natural gifts through some concerted and courageous efforts.
  
• The physical courage is needed to unearth the tangible benefits and moral courage is required for intangible benefits. 
  
• It is noteworthy that physical and moral courage are co-existent and interlinked.

This sums up First part of this blog. I will discuss about Aspects of Courage in next blog. Stay tuned.

Positive Vs Negative Mindset

Lo! Allah changeth not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts. (13:11)

Effort – Return Phenomenon (A Survey)

A survey indicated that 75% of business are failed in their initial 3 to 5 years and the major reason of business failures, about 90%, are executives. They are not genuinely prepared for the task in hand. 

Mindset – Behavior Duality

A person’s behavior is predominantly the outcome of his/her mindset. It affects the actions of a person and outcomes of efforts. Having a negative mindset or even a neutral will distort the actions and undermine the efforts.

How it works? Answer is simple, when a person has a negative mindset then he radiates negativity. It causes people to avoid / dislike / misinterpret him. Moreover, when a person is negative, he tends to see only obstacles. And when someone only sees obstacles or problems, he tends to feel stress. When a person is feeling lots of stress, he can’t be creative.

Effects of Mindset

A negative mindset undermines creativity, dynamism, and productivity. In contrast, a positive mindset allows someone to deal with threats/challenges with creativity, dynamism, and resourcefulness.

Mindset

A mindset refers to a framework of intentions, perceptions, and emotions held by a person so established that predetermines a person’s response to and interpretation of situations / persons.

Mindset is combination of intentions, perceptions and emotions. It has three powers for execution, i.e., will power, intellect power, and emotional power. These powers are essential ingredients of our mind. Equilibrium is necessary for the stability of mind pyramid; however, equilibrium may be wise or positive and unwise or negative
The positive or negative mindset is indicated when a person delivers a statement about or respond with some predictable exactness / exaggeration.

NEGATIVITY TRAPS

There are seven major negativity traps or vicious circles of mental framework that make up a negative mindset. We may call them doubtful, volatile, unjust, jealous, proud, fearful, and grief mindsets. The solution to avoid the vicious traps is to develop a mental framework with positive intentions, positive perceptions, and positive emotions. 

Positive intentions are developed with strong faith on Unity of Allah and unity of mankind.
Positive perceptions are established with knowledge.
Positive emotions are ultimate outcome of best manners/adab.
Lastly, a positive mental framework is finalized under the guidance of individual and collective wisdom.

Doubtful Mindset

A person faces a new situation/person and takes it with doubts without any scientific basis; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of doubtful mindset are – doubt about personal strengths, expect failures, and doubt on ground realities. 

Volatile Mindset

A person faces a novel situation/person and loose mental stability and responds with volatile attitude; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of volatile mindset are – lethargic response, impatient behavior, whimsical decision making. 

Unjust Mindset

A person faces an unfavorable situation/person and loose self control and responds with anger/leniency; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of unjust mindset are – under or over estimations of abilities, excessive criticism on mistakes, and mild response on blunders. 

Jealous Mindset

A person faces a surprised situation/person and feels envy but responds with jealousy, it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of jealous mindset are – happy response on someone’s miseries, sad feelings on someone’s success, & defamation of opponent. 

Proud Mindset

A person faces a disliked situation/person and responds proudly without any scientific basis, it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of proud mindset are – perfectionist approach, slavery of habits, and dictatorial in decision making. 

Fearful Mindset

A person faces an unexpected situation/person and considers it a threat without any scientific basis; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of fearful mindset are - fear of future, fear of criticism, and fear of failure. 

Grief Mindset
A person faces a new situation/person and feels frustration and respond with grief sentiments; it is indication of negative mindset. The other examples of grief mindset are – overwhelmingly critical behavior, pessimism, and disbelief on real success
.

Mind Anatomy

Nature equipped us with two types of mind, i.e., left and right. The left side is logical, analytical, and critical. On the other hand, the right side is intuitive, creative and synthetic. The left side is problem seeker while the right side is problem solver. Both sides have their own importance and significance.

In addition, we have two levels of mind - conscious and subconscious. The subconscious mind is filled with energy and power to do insurmountable tasks but is led by our conscious mind. Conscious mind makes selection from continuous stream of thoughts (negative & positive) and develop a working pattern or belief system for subconscious mind. It is a continuous process of selection and execution remain active in everyone’s life.

Self Suggestions

To avoid the negativity traps, self suggestion is the best tested technique. The words and phrases of self-suggestion should be real, constructive, energetic and dynamic. By continuous repetition we can make a positive image of self. A person can make his own list; however, we mention a few:

Allah acts justly and kindly,
Anything fruitful for humanity will must realize sooner or later,
Any right effort with right intent and methods will must produce good results,
There is no real / permanent threat only opportunities,
Any misery has blessing in disguise,
Success is not pursued, it is attracted,
Gratitude brings benefits,
Patience is best and fruitful strategy in difficulties, and.
Courtesy costs nothing but buys everything.

Positive Vs Negative Self Suggestions

Any positive suggestion is reacted by negative suggestion. A war is started in mind about these self suggestions with negative suggestions. The process remains active until a belief is not finalized. A belief may be negative or false and positive or true. A negative belief about something/someone, e.g., life is aimless, no real relationship is possible, the hells are always the others, success is impossible, miseries are permanent, benefits are short-lived, and difficulties are long lasting. A negative belief produces or breeds new negative beliefs and a negative belief system is developed. A negative belief system plays havoc with an individual or system or society. 

Solution to Negative Self Suggestions

There are two tested weapons for negative suggestions – Knowledge and Wisdom. Knowledge is a weapon used at conceptual level to counter negative suggestions/beliefs, while, the wisdom is applied at practical level. A suggestion based on knowledge and wisdom would be free from negativity traps. It is noteworthy that a rational person can make errors but not systematic errors. We learn from past errors / other’s errors and adjust our beliefs and actions accordingly.

Concluding Remarks

Positive thinking/mindset must be accompanied by actions such as planning, preparation and practice. 

Positive thinking/mindset must demand positive associations. Positive associations lead to creativity, cooperation, solutions, and bigger dreams. It’s often said that the books you read and the people you associate will determine where you’ll be in next three to five years.
The complete positive or negative mindset is a special phenomenon. In real life, we come across with partial positive or negative mindset. A person may be positive at some situations or negative at some other situations.

Solution to Multiple Life Hurdles

                   Solution (Internal Hurdles)

•    Any threat from self can be managed through personality development. These threats/hurdles can be grouped into two categories - theoretical and practical.
•    The solution to these problems is to develop positive mindset and wise working approach; the ultimate outcome of positive mindset and wisdom is fruitful results, i.e., success over internal hurdles.
•     The two major internal hurdles of an entrepreneur are – fear and grief. Fear pressurizes for inactivity and grief leads us towards some wrong activity. Fear is outcome of some expected future loses; while the grief is established due to some past failures.

Solution (External Hurdles)

•     In interpersonal links, we have to adapt two distinctive approaches- cooperation and competition.
•     In competition, we are aggressive but just in our interactive behavior. On the other hand, during cooperation we are firm but follow win-win strategy in social interactions.
•     Cooperation is best if it brings synergic benefits, and competition is better if it makes someone dynamic.
•     Whatever may be the interactive strategy we should consider the other person as a human and not a devil or angel.

Solution (Institutional Hurdles)

•     For Institutional hurdles, we must follow some institutional channels.
•     A civilized society has some institutions to tackle institutional hurdles, e.g., industry associations, business chambers, and judiciary. These channels are very effective to manage these bottlenecks. Any short-cut or rent-seeking will be converted into some bigger problem in future course of time.

Super Natural Hurdles

•     There exist, still, another type of hurdles that hamper or slows down our efforts. These are intangibles hurdles. The initiator and architect of these hurdles is DEVIL/SATAN. 
•     For supernatural hurdles, we have to utilize some unique strategic tools, neither available in managerial books nor taught in management centers. Islam has given the solution and imposed certain duties and obligations on his followers to counter these threats and challenges. Zikr (Remembrance of Allah), recitation of Darud Sharif, and charity to needy peoples of society are best and tested tools to counteract any hurdle or challenge posed by the immaterial evil forces.

This concludes this series. Stay tuned to my blog for new series.

Hurdles Vs Limitation and Detractor

Hurdle Vs Limitation 

Hurdle is an obstacle that can be overcome through struggle, sooner or later, while a limitation is some constraint imposed by nature and cannot be overcome through granted human powers. Aging, body structure, biological demand for food, water, sleep, heredity effects, natural laws are few examples of limitations.
Limitations are designed and imposed on us to fulfill Divine Scheme of creation and provide level playing field to all individuals or nation belongs to any region or lineage or color. On the other hand, hurdles are illusory, temporary, discouraging, and man-made.
Any misconception between limitation and hurdle may lead us towards deterministic mindset or wrong belief.

Hurdle Vs Detractor 

Detractors are problems that crop up unexpectedly and snatch our concentration. These may be mechanical, e.g., a problem in some equipment, power breakdowns, and trouble in vehicle, or these detractors may be social, e.g., unwanted visitors/males/phones.
The root cause of these detractors is improper maintenance of equipments, un-cleanliness, and time mismanagement.
They appear as urgent and disturb important tasks and planned movement.

(Dont worry and stay tuned to my blog. I will discuss Solutions in my final blog of this series. Thanks)

Internal / Self Hurdles

These hurdles come from our mindset and personal behavior. These are major source of any problem.
They arise due to some fallacy in our perceptual intelligence or false sensation in our emotional intelligence or wrong activity in our intentional intelligence.

Examples (Internal Hurdles)

A minor procrastination / laziness by manager will cause comparatively major delay in his works by his workers; the concerned worker will show more lethargic and careless attitude to his tasks.
Similarly, a small mistake in timely guidance to some staff member may cause large wastages in resource utilization. A delay in 2 hours in timely guidance may demand 20 hours additional guidance by the manager.

Examples (External Hurdles)

The major threat, in business life, comes from people who have strong lust for wealth. They utilize exploitative measures to gain material benefits. Their major maneuverings are:
To develop a monopoly in market,
To introduce rent–seeking or corruption,&
To make cartels.
Any cooperation with the lusty people will make one’s life full of losses/miseries. A competitive or resilient approach is indispensable to manage these lusty creatures.


Examples (Institutional Hurdles)

In economic effort, an entrepreneur faces certain governmental rules & regulation - he pays taxes, he accommodates labor laws, he follows environmental policy, etc. There may be some outdated and ill-devised institutional rules & regulations, but the challenge to the authority of these rules must follow some acceptable modus operandi to dissolve.


In my next post I will discuss as Hurdle Vs Limitations

Ultimate Effect of Hurdles

•An appropriate response to hurdles make us effective and efficient in our socio-economic life.

Hurdle Groups

We may categorize multiple hurdles into three groups:
Internal / Self Hurdles,
External / Interactive Hurdles, &
Institutional Hurdles.


Stay tuned for Examples of hurdles in my next post.

Types of Life Hurdles

Life Hurdles

Life is incessant stream of multifaceted events filled with hurdles, limitations, detractors, threats, and challenges.

These events appear, now and then, to make us active or passive, static or dynamic, good or bad, happy or sad, wise or dull.

An individual face multiple hurdles during his life time.

Hurdles may be minor or major, small or great, transitory or unending, short-term or long-term, masked or unmasked, what may be the type; they need special attention and concentrated efforts for solution.