Newsletter

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I gently provoke you to show you your own power. This newsletter is an invitation to your leadership. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

7 Deep & Provocative Quotes to Uplevel your Leadership

I love collecting one-liners and quotes to provoke my own thinking as I learn to be a better leader.

Here are 7 deep and provocative quotes from my collection that force me to stop and reflect to understand their depth.

In the last few weeks, I have kept these on different post-its on my desk, and I continue to get insights from them daily.

They are:

1. “Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.” ― Parker J. Palmer
2. “If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?” ― Rumi
3. “We are all self-made, but only the successful will admit it.” ― Earl Nightingale
4. “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” – Warren Buffet
5. “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.” – Mexican proverb
6. “Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
7. “Physics isn’t the most important thing. Love is.” ― Richard P. Feynman

Which one of the above stand out for you?

What do they provoke in you?

Reply back and share your reflections or your own favorite quote. I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

Deepali Singh – “If a woman can give birth to a baby, then what else could be more challenging?”

I interviewed my first boss and serial entrepreneur Deepali Singh on the Choosing Leadership podcast. Deepali shares about being a risk taker and putting her heart and soul into everything she has done.

We also spoke about the challenges of being a female leader, and how to deal with stereotypes and gender biases at work. We also reflected on the time when we worked together, the positive influence she has had on me, and how leadership is about continuously evolving and growing.

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

Timothy Golden – “Learn the job of the human above me and teach my job to the human below me”

I interviewed Tim Golden, CEO at compliancerisk.io and CTO of Vital Tech Services on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• When dealing with humans cuz you can’t program them like you can program computers. Um, I really needed to learn some effective communication techniques.
•  I needed to learn compromise not always being right. In fact, one of the hardest lessons I had to learn was that, you know, there are way, there are people way smarter than me in some of these disciplines and I used that as a way for me to grow.
• I have a core group of people that speak the truth and love to me and tell me where, you know, where I’m doing wrong, where I could improve, and I take their advice to heart and I try to make those changes along the way
• one of the things I picked up on was initiative, right? Taking the initiative on oneself to not only better yourself, but better the person next to you,

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.

Pro-tip – Listen and read the below about YOU – not about the author. (reply back and ask if you do not understand what that means)

• The Making of a Corporate Athlete – An HBR Article
• The Flipside of Bias for Action
• Seneca on the Importance of Rest and Relaxation

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I gently provoke you to show you your own power. This newsletter is an invitation to your leadership. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Short or long-term thinking? An image that says it all!

When you focus on the short term, you experience more fluctuations emotionally. It is turbulent.

When you focus on the long term, you experience less turbulence and smooth progress.

The external events or circumstances do not change with either. They are the same.

It is a mindset shift – two ways of looking at the same events and reality.

One gives you anxiety.

One leaves you calm and composed to deal with what you have to deal with.

The good news is – we have a choice in how we look at life – short-term or long-term?

Which one are you focusing on? Is it working for you?

If yes, great! But if not, what new results could be possible if you shift how you are looking at things?

Reply back and share what this is provoking for you. I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

Eva Poppe – “When you get out of your comfort zone, you learn so much about yourself.”

I interviewed Eva Popee, Chief Growth Officer at ZeroLight on the Choosing Leadership podcast. Eva shares:

• You learn so much about yourself as much as you learn about other cultures.
• it’s crucially important that you can have a joke from time to time. 
• Getting out of your comfort zone, you learn so much about yourself, about others, about empathy. It makes you humble. Um, which I think is very important because You’re no better than others.
• I think it is very important if you talk to people from, like other views who give you like an outside view on where you’re at because you’re in your own zone a lot of times you can, um, then not see left or right.

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

Nick McQuire – “Learn it all as opposed to know it all”

I interviewed Nick McQuire, Director of Product Management at Microsoft on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• mindfulness works for me as long as I’ve got that structure and it’s communicated well with the team that and everyone understands and we’ve got a mutual respect for that, it works.
• if you can have those transparent discussions and there’s flex on either side. I think it ultimately, that’s the place you want to get to and that transparency and respectful approach to your colleagues, I think is so important.
• the big changes that happened in my life and career as a result of setbacks ultimately turned to be really good things.
• The temptation and the visceral reaction is quite natural, is to be downbeat and to be a little bit oh my goodness, you know, what’s happening, type of, uh, reactions. But I think in the long run, kind of hold onto the point that actually these tend to be really positive events, cuz you’ll be able to, it’ll take you onto, you’ll either trampoline into another area.

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.

Pro-tip – Listen and read the below about YOU – not about the author. (reply back and ask if you do not understand what that means)

• The 3 Key Milestones from my life – and what I learned from them
• 7 Mental Models For Great Engineering Leadership – an article on Athenian
• Why Feedback hurts and what to do about it?

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I gently provoke you to show you your own power. This newsletter is an invitation to your leadership. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Why you should never think twice about investing in yourself?

This was probably my biggest mistake in my early years.

Since I grew up with financial struggles, I always had a scarcity mentality around money.

Because of that, I always saw spending money as a cost, not as an investment.

In fact, the first time I invested in myself was when someone forced me to do so – at a personal development seminar in 2010.

Otherwise, I always thought that my learning and growth is somebody else’s responsibility – my manager’s, my boss’s, my parents, the government’s, and so on.

As a result, without even knowing, I was holding myself back.

Books, quality food, travel and other experiences, fitness, hobbies and passions, and personal development/coaching all come under the bucket of investing in oneself.

The seminar I attended gave me so much back that I have never stopped investing in myself since.

I have invested both time and money in reading 100s of books since 2010. I never counted, but the number is certainly 400+

I have travelled and photographed in more than 25 countries. My photos are seen by thousands today and they give me tremendous joy and pride.

I have had a personal coach for myself for 6 of the last 12 years – including the last 3.

I invested over $30,000 last year in my own mentoring and coaching. And I will probably invest another 30-40k this year.

They are not costs and spending. They are investments. Without this shift, I would never have even dreamt of investing so much in myself.

These investments pay dividends and returns for a long time – till you are alive.

They are like a gift that keeps on giving.

They are like a candle which keeps on burning.

Are you investing in yourself to massively transform the results you are producing?

After all, if you spend 10 bucks and get 100 back, is that a tough choice?

The answer is clearly NO, but we are not taught to treat ourselves well and put ourselves first.

Servant leadership is a buzzword these days. But you can’t serve if you don’t put your own oxygen masks first.

Our society pays a premium to sacrifice and serve others. However, it ignores the one who is doing the service.

How have you been holding back on investing in yourself? What results could be possible if you do?

How will you invest in yourself this year?

Reply back and share what this is provoking for you. I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

Sudhanshu Ahuja – “All the companies that I applied for a job and got rejected, are now our customers”

I interviewed Sudhanshu Ahuja, CEO & Founder of Impress.ai on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• that one of the biggest responsibilities in our business is to our customers
• we put focus on new customers, and new sales to existing customers. And all of this meant that we were able to retain a hundred percent of our customers
•  it became really sustainable. We had nothing to worry about in terms of keeping our employees well rewarded, so we didn’t have to do mass layoffs, uh, to achieve that. We didn’t have to cut bonuses or salaries
• Wealth is created during bear markets and harvested during bull markets. 
• You start to get this realization when you get older, that your younger years are not going to come back and the equation starts to change.
• the challenge is how do you grow into what is needed to take the company to the next stage?
• All the companies that I applied to a job for, um, are now our customers. All of them. Absolutely all of them. So that’s been. One of the things that make me feel like a winner,

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

Anastasia – “My best ideas come either during meditation or after meditation.”

I interviewed serial entrepreneur Anastasia Petrova on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• I am result oriented and I really want to see the input of my actions. 
• you learn to accept because sometimes you plan something in a very perfect ideal, uh, way. In a perfect ideal world that doesn’t exist
•  I was basically locked in my comfort zone and right now I feel like I get bored if there is no risk. 
• this mission is more emotional, It lies really deeply in my heart
• as soon as you understand who you are, you understand what you’re doing and you start to value what you’re doing. And if you value what you’re doing, I mean, this is exactly the ground you’re talking about
• Fear is blocking the potential always. For me, it was always fear like, uh, procrastination and fear. are Connected. 
• So if you are afraid, like I think fear actually lays in the very basis of each and every negative feeling that you can have on top of it.
• fear lays always in the very like root and then it can mutate in all sorts of like, procrastination or, um, I dunno, grief or any other like, bad feelings that you might have, but in the root is always fear. 
• So what I can say is that it is important to realize that fear blocks your potential.
• So as soon as you recognize it, you start to get even angry because as if you feel that there is something that is blocking you, you know, and at that moment you will start to actually release this fear a little.

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.

Pro-tip – Listen and read the below about YOU – not about the author. (reply back and ask if you do not understand what that means)

• Remote work is just work
• What do the best CEOs know about management that you don’t?
• Why questions starting with “How To” can limit your leadership?

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I gently provoke you to show you your own power. This newsletter is an invitation to your leadership. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Why Love and Leadership are synonyms?

When I started my career, I would never use love and leadership in the same sentence.

In fact, back then, I considered leadership as the opposite of love. I thought being a leader means being cutthroat, aggressive, and not being caring.

I could never have imagined that my journey to understand leadership which started in 2010 would lead me back to love in 2022.

Today, I start every new relationship – personal or professional – by asking:

What do you care about most deeply? What and who do you love the most? and Why?

Let me share 3 reasons why I believe that love and leadership are synonyms.

1. People are touched and inspired by love – The more (genuine) care and love one puts into a relationship, it is returned with a reciprocal action. That is human nature. Whether at home or at work, human beings respond in predictable ways when treated with love. When we love our team members, they not only see us in a better light, they are inspired to be better. People will perform better naturally (without forcing, persuading, or convincing) if you love and treat them as champions – and not mere resources.
   
2. People long to feel a part of something – We all want to belong. Nobody wants to be excluded – at work or otherwise. When you genuinely care and show your appreciation for your people, they know they belong – to your mission, company, team, group, etc. Can you help your people feel that they’re a part of something more than just work, projects, or earning a salary?
   
3. Love is at the root of recent buzzwords like diversity, inclusion, equity, empathy, trust, and commitment – Can we stop being afraid of using the word “love” in a business setting and see that it is behind all recent leadership buzzwords? As James Kouzes and Barry Posner observe in their award-winning book The Leadership Challenge, love is the secret of leadership.
   
   I define love as “a commitment to the welfare, growth, and wholeness” of both oneself and others around us. And we start companies and lead teams for the same reason – for the welfare and growth of yourself and others – whether they are your employees, managers, customers, partners, or colleagues.

Love is the greatest gift that you can give – to yourself and to others.

Are you giving this gift of LOVE to yourself first – when it is so easy to be self-critical and beat ourselves up?

And then,

Can you give the gift of LOVE to others – even if it is so easy to blame, point fingers and be judgemental?

If you can, that is your LEADERSHIP right there.

It is that simple. When you LOVE, you LEAD.

What is one act of LOVE you can do right now – at business and work?

Reply back and share what this is provoking for you. I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

“If people aren’t willing to accept you for the way that you are, then that’s their problem” – Marc Munier

I interviewed Marc Munier, Founder of DitchCarbon on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• If you trust people with the information, nobody judges you.
• Celebrate the small wins. Celebrate the stages towards the end objective
• I’m a fundamental believer in the goodness of people. So I believe that people given the right information will make the right choice
• As a citizen, we’ve got a responsibility to do more and so to help combat the effects.
• I love a soppy movie or a soppy series.
• I’m a massive believer in getting outside and just kind of breathing the air, getting away from the city
• Your brain needs time to relax.

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

“Partnerships are the backbone of running a company.” – Dinesh Juneja

I interviewed serial entrepreneur Dinesh Juneja on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• patience is a virtue I’ve developed over a period of, and I think that really stuck with me very strongly.
• we are investing a lot in building a strong second line of command
• I think I have more failures than successes as a person, and I think it’s true for anybody who is relentless
• I think the biggest advice is always to think about why you started up in the first place.
•  this journey has been really beautiful, has been very rewarding

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.

Pro-tip – Listen and read the below about YOU – not about the author. (reply back and ask if you do not understand what that means)

• Having Career Growth Conversations
• The 8 Jobs of Management
• Why I do What I do?

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I gently provoke you to show you your own power. This newsletter is an invitation to your leadership. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Can we be real and face what we do not want to face?

Every time I turn on the news or talk to people about the world, I hear the same stories.

Stories about the war in Ukraine, the global climate crisis, business scandals, stress and mental health challenges, and various other socio-economic issues.

These are real problems, no doubt! But what I see is that we continue to go around in circles without reaching anywhere.

At the root of our inability to get real and solve these problems is what we do not face to face – our fear of failure.

Let me explain. When we start negotiations for the climate crisis or to solve a business challenge, we do not want to fail – as a CEO, as a Prime Minister, as a politician, as an activist, or whatever role or title we hold.

This fear of failure keeps us stuck in superficial conversations, endless how-to’s, conflicts and debates.

Simply because we are unable to be with the fact that we or what we do might fail – it leads to a mess on the surface to hide the mess inside.

We all are afraid of failure. We do not want to disappoint those who we are responsible for. And there is nothing wrong with that.

What is wrong is that we do not see that our unwillingness to acknowledge our own insecurities and fear is holding us from making progress.

It suffocates us from the inside and keeps us stuck on the outside.

Unwilling to face this fear leads to anger, aggression, playing safe, and other coping strategies.

We are ok with letting the whole planet, life and its ecosystem fail – just because we are afraid to acknowledge that we are afraid – of losing our position of power, our job, our income, our house, our reputation, our family, etc.

But if the planet is spinning out of control and the ecosystem is failing – aren’t we all already failing and losing it all?

We would all be crawling if children would be afraid of failing. We would never learn to walk or run if children would be afraid of failure.

That is why the biggest examples of bravery often come from younger folks or even children – people like Greta and Malala – maybe because they are not afraid of fear itself yet. Or maybe they already see the bigger failure in not seeing our own fears.

Normally we run away from fear and that is the default human way. There is nothing wrong with that. But that stops our leadership.

My invitation is to go deeper and face what you do not want to face – losing your title, house, money, position, reputation, and even your life!

That is how you get to success – not by trying to be safe and hesitating – by being fully willing to fail.

Can you see the paradox? We create a mess on the outside (often unintentionally and subconsciously) to avoid the mess inside.

If you can’t BE with something fully that you are afraid of, it won’t let you BE fully committed to the success/results that you truly want.

Your willingness to fail and face the fear of failure is at the root of your leadership.

Reply back and share what this is provoking for you. If you prefer to listen to me talk more about the above, click here.

I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

“Trust and inspire instead of command and control.” – Marius Ciavola

I interviewed Marius Ciavola, CEO of Tradeling.com on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• I’ve learned that the best way to learn is actually to teach
• you’re entering an area of unknowns and you’ve gotta be comfortable with the uncomfortable
• What keeps us together is that common purpose
• The fear comes when you have an environment that’s commanding and controlling
• Some of the challenges we face are also self-inflicted
• You need to say no to so many things more often than you say yes to. But those things that you say yes to, you know you wanna do them really well, and that will help you stand out 
• I prefer to be the serving CEO than the commanding CEO.

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

“You have to be prepared to stand up for what you believe in” – Steve Midgley

I interviewed serial entrepreneur Steve Midgley, CRO at CYE on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• Fortune had favoured me and I didn’t have any debt in my life.
• I’m a straight shooter. I’m very authentic and transparent
• Sometimes you have to stick to your principles and it might mean that you have to step out, and that’s not pleasant, right? But that comes with the territory.
• You have to be extremely resolute and resourceful and make sure that you’re managing your own energies
• I have a personal dream, uh, to build a charity that will fundamentally change underprivileged children’s lives.
• I think navigating, uh, the ambiguity at the moment is extremely challenging.
• You’ve gotta let your team see the human side of you, uh, as much as possible

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.

Pro-tip – Listen and read the below about YOU – not about the author. (reply back and ask if you do not understand what that means)

• How and why to take your own advice?
• Leadership, coaching, and learning from the military
• Why are you RED? – a gentle provocation from me

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I gently provoke you to show you your own power. This newsletter is an invitation to your leadership. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

How to increase your impact & well-being by doing less?

As entrepreneurs and leaders, we all want to increase our impact.

However, we all end up blindly and unconsciously equating “doing more” to “increasing impact”.

What I have found is the opposite – increasing impact is about doing less while being more focused and aware.

We all tend to fill up our days and tolerate too many meaningless activities.

Do you have certain habits or activities that you know doesn’t add to the impact you want to make? Like:

• checking your phone too often
• snacking on unhealthy food
• watching TV or occupying yourself with distractions like ‘news’
• getting triggered and reactive with people
• not saying NO to unnecessary meetings and people
• not expressing what you really want to express

The more you eliminate such meaningless activities the more focused and aware you can be.

That is not always easy. But certainly possible. One step at a time.

Our minds are smart. We do not like to be proven wrong.

This is why our mind will often invent a good reason to keep the meaningless habit or activity there.

However, when you drop down into your body and let your attention go to your heart and gut, you will know what are such meaningless activities in your life. (key point here – awareness is not thinking)

What is the most important habit or thing that you know you should get rid of?

Do not go to your mind for an answer. Let your body – your heart and gut – answer.

Once you have identified it, it is simply about making a choice – the choice to let it go.

It is not easy, and you might experience resistance, but leadership is about choosing your choices, actions, and habits.

Which action or habit are you letting go of in 2023?

Reply back and share how your well-being and impact will increase in 2023 after making this choice and Deploying Yourself!!!

I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

“The CEO is not the most important person in the company” – Thomas Van Eeckhout

I interviewed Thomas Van Eeckhout, CEO of Easi on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• We really have a default YES Culture, whereas I think most companies have a default NO culture.
• We need to create a context where people can be successful, a context, where people can actually be happy at work. 
• We need to have, as a company, we need to have a personality. People, both potential customers and candidates, people that, that might come to work with us. They really have to feel in what way we are different from other companies.
• The main challenge is to stay true to who we are
• It’s about consistently putting our words into practice. We really need to practice what we preach
• I might be a CEO at Easi. Whenever I’m at home  I forget the CEO part and I’m just doing whatever my girls want me to do. . Um, so I’m not very I don’t have much authority at home. I basically just try to raise. I try to raise girls that I’m proud of.
• Whenever I experienced pressure, it was always pressure that I invented myself

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

“Whatever you have, make the best out of it.” – Bharanidharan

I interviewed serial entrepreneur Bharanidharan, CEO of 91mobiles.com on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• whatever you have, make the best out of it. when you don’t have many privileges and opportunities, you have to learn to make the best out of it and accept what you have.
• You don’t have to do everything in one stretch
• it’s a very difficult journey to go through, you know because you will have an innate fear that, uh, nobody in the company will be able to operate at your level, right? As a human being. Most of us fall in that trap. Uh, but it’s important to realize that, et cetera. Otherwise, you are on a treadmill constantly. 
• I completely agree with this because money and title are hygiene, but people want purpose and culture and values beyond that.
• it’s important that you have some breathing space to reflect upon what is happening, otherwise, you are constantly Reacting to the world.
• Don’t worry about the outcome because you are given everything. The best will happen. Trust the process.
• I have invested in myself to understand more about myself. 

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.

Pro-tip – Listen and read the below about YOU – not about the author. (reply back and ask if you do not understand what that means)

• How To Be Positive When You Don’t Feel It Inside
• A story of when I noticed tears in the eyes of the person in front of me
• Our Pain Unites Us – the second episode of a new series on the Choosing Leadership podcast by yours truly

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I share what impactful leadership looks like to show your own power. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Start 2023 by learning to regulate your nervous system

Our nervous system is what runs our human system. It is like the operating system of a computer.

If it goes haywire, then no matter what you are doing, your efficiency and impact will be sub-optimal.

Most leaders I meet are so overwhelmed that their nervous system finds it challenging to cope. Nothing wrong with that – it is just the reality of the times we live in.

And that impacts their leadership without them even being aware of it. In the last 12 years, I have learned to regulate my nervous system – which helps me coach entrepreneurs and CEOs making an amazing impact on the world.

Here are some recommendations – they are well-researched and simple, though not always easy.

1. Meditate – Simply sit in silence and let your mind relax. Let go of any problem-solving. Drop your attention to your body, heart, and sensations. Even a few minutes of doing this will help return to your normal state of well-being.
2. Journaling. Do a quick daily check-in where you ask yourself “How am I feeling today?” 30 seconds – 2 minutes are often enough. Journaling is a powerful practice proven to stop overthinking and quit and focus the mind.
3. Breathwork. Breathe in for 4 seconds, then hold for 4 seconds, and then fully exhale for 4 seconds or longer. Repeat and do this for 2 to 10 minutes. It is a great way to release tension that we tend to forget is even there.
4. Nature. – Spend time in your favourite natural setting – in a park, at the beach, in the forest, or otherwise. Focus on nature – the trees, flowers, the smell in the air, the waves, and so on. Give yourself a few moments to appreciate the miracle of life and nature all around you.

If your nervous system is not overwhelmed, then in each moment of 2023, you can make only those choices which will fulfil your commitment as a leader.

If you can do this for one full year, your life, business, and impact will completely transform. Much more than you can imagine right now.

Reply back and share what opens up for you after reading this email. I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

”Fear makes you aware of risks but is one of the worst counsellors” – Gernot Schwendtner

I interviewed Gernot Schwendtner, CEO of weGrow on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• Growing hurts. So this is something I think it’s important to accept it and be aware of it. 
• We did one very useful exercise for ourself. We killed the company mentally, right? So we went through that process and said, What if, you know, like what would still be left? And we discovered a lot of network know how, personal assets, experience et, et cetera. So we could easily scale. Again, that set us mentally free and gave me a lot of freedom in saying like, Okay, now let’s buckle down all hands on deck.
• Yoga and meditation help me in a way where I can recognize my own stress level. So I become aware of it and I can try to let it go, or sometimes I need to live through it. And sometimes I had meetings where I need to get up and say, Excuse me, I really have to take a break now. And then I take, uh, five minutes, walk around the block, do the breathing, and then I come back and I say what I did, and we laugh about it.
• Fear is natural reaction, right? There are also some good things in it, um, in a way. That might make you aware of risks that you were not aware, but fear is one of the worst, uh, counselors if you make decisions based out of fear. They will never, never never be good decisions. You run away from things or you avoid things or whatsoever. 
• What helps me is, um, is a technique that I also learned in the last couple of years is it’s called shed a light on your fears or look at the monster under your bed.

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

“Just because I have a big title doesn’t mean that I’m any better than others” – Karl Feilder

I interviewed serial entrepreneur Karl Feilder, serial entrepreneur and founder of Neutral Fuel Holdings Ltd on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• You could probably make a natural entrepreneur a little bit better, but I’m not sure you can train them from scratch. 
• My PhD thesis is that, um, entrepreneurism is an undiagnosed spectrum disorder. Uh, a little bit like autism or one of the other, um, psychological trades.
• My parents, uh, my mom and my stepfather, uh, in the end, took three jobs each in order to pay for me to get through school. Um, this led me to really, really want to succeed, but I think I had that natural drive.
• Rubbing shoulders with people that had got lots and lots of money when we didn’t, made me aspire to have more than I would’ve normally aspired for.
• It’s more about appreciating the people that are around you. And it’s definitely about enjoying the. Um, the destination, growing a company and then selling it.

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.

• The power and science behind cold showers – an article on Medical Express
• The emotional labor of being a leader – an article on HBR
• Fall or Flight – the first episode of a new series on the Choosing Leadership podcast by yours truly

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I share what impactful leadership looks like to show your own power. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

How to face and deal with rising uncertainty?

I often get asked by the CEOs I work with, “How do I make decisions when I have no idea what is next?”

This was always the case with CEOs, but uncertainty has gone to another level post-covid.

Questions like these do not have perfect answers. However, you can find an answer that works for you.

Here are a few tips:

1. Accept that the world is uncertain. We do not know what will happen 5 minutes from now, leave alone 5 years. Otherwise, we could all predict the future (which we can’t). We cannot predict how others behave. We cannot predict how the market, economy, or society will change. Acknowledge that you can never get rid of all uncertainty.
2. The bigger challenge you commit to as a leader, the more uncertainty will increase. And that is a good thing. That is something to be celebrated. It means that you are dreaming big and going for your dreams. Give yourself a pat on the back to step into the domain of “uncertain yet committed”.
3. Having said that, how you interpret and respond to changes is always in your control and influence. Once you accept uncertainty, you can take action and start eliminating variables as you move ahead. The book, “Thinking in Bets” helped me see decisions as bets – which are often irreversible and imperfect. Trust the process without making things too difficult in striving for perfection.
4. Zoom out and focus on the big picture – Remind yourself of why you are doing what you are doing. And that you are doing the best possible job given the current context. Do not be too hard on yourself.

Reflect on how you deal with an uncertain situation.

Do you ignore it?

Do you blame someone or something else?

Or do you try to take the next step in front of you? And then the next one? and the next one….

Reply back and share what opens up for you after reading this email. I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

“When there is no focus and it is hard, It’s actually not a bad idea to slow down and take a break” – Andrea Fernandez

I interviewed Andrea Fernandez, CEO of Vitamin on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• because you are faced with making new friendships from start, so, You actually kind of get skills in how to understand people, in how to deal with different kinds of people, obviously languages and the ability, to communicate with people at different levels.
• I’m not doing it because I think it’s a fancy thing to do. or a, let’s say timely thing only. It’s like a trendy thing to do, rather, That’s the right word to use. It is a real problem in society. 
• there will always be doubters like, there will always be doubters on anything you do, so you might as well just find the ones that believe in it and go for those and, partner with those people.
• I’m a strong believer that there are new ways of managing and leading than I think the ones that I have seen used many times in my career.
• if you have a person come to work and being fearful, uh, scared about the reaction of the manager or the boss, uh, insecure about what he or she’s bringing to the table, you may not get to listen to really great ideas that can change the outcome of a project, you may not get to experience a great team, an environment that can actually create different outcomes. So I think there’s much more to be done on that side still in the world of business 
• I think children are a great source of creativity and like really, like it almost feels, um, weird, but when you spend time with kids, I think you really. Kind of disconnect from the day-to-day and therefore kind of a new window opens up in your head.

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

“Life is somewhere in between letting it happen and making it happen.” – Faisal Hoque

I interviewed serial entrepreneur Faisal Hoque on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talk about:

• Life is a journey and you have ups and down, you have failures after failures, and then you have few successes, and then you have failures. So it’s never like a straight line.
• I’ve always been a dreamer, but I’m pragmatic and now I prepare for the worst-case scenario with a pragmatic mindset.
• Experience is the best teacher.
• If you want to lift others first you have to lift yourself. 
• You can’t follow somebody else’s path. It’s your own unique journey. 
• Inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere.
• Life is somewhere in between letting it happen and making it happen. There’s a fine balance.
• A lot of people think mindfulness is about – you meditate and completely emptying your mind and you get lost and as a result you connect with yourself. That is a method, that’s a formal method of practising meditation, and then as a result you achieve mindfulness. But, since you mentioned Zen Buddhism, the monks two activities they treasure and practice repeatedly is sweeping and cleaning and cooking. The definition of mindfulness is really just focusing on the present moment.
• Let’s not get confused that you can make things happen without systemic execution. This combination of mindfulness and being empathetic to other people’s needs and where they are, combining those two things, that’s the hallmark of new leadership.

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you learn.

• 8 Ways Leaders Delegate Successfully – an article on HBR
• The Long Game with Dorie Clark – an interview on the Free Time podcast

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I share what impactful leadership looks like to show your own power. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

The trap of always chasing “more” & the power of “enough”

Chasing for more can be a double-edged sword. While it can be a great motivator and help you reach your goals, it can also lead to negative consequences. Here are some of the downsides of always chasing for more:

1. Stress and Anxiety: It can cause you to become overwhelmed and can lead to burnout.
2. Unhealthy Habits: Chasing for more can lead to unhealthy habits such as overworking, neglecting your health, and neglecting your relationships.
3. Unsustainable Goals: Chasing for more can lead to setting unrealistic and unsustainable goals. This can lead to disappointment and frustration when you are unable to reach them.
4. Unhappiness: Chasing for more can lead to an unbalanced life and can make it difficult to find happiness and contentment.

In today’s world, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea of having more. We’re constantly bombarded with messages that tell us that more is better, and that we should always strive for more.

But, have you created your own definition of enough? Because otherwise, it might never be….

Have you identified what success and purpose look like to you – balancing the natural desire for more with a deep appreciation for what we already have?

What happens when we live in the context of “enough” instead of always wanting “more”?

1. When we have enough, we can finally take a step back and appreciate all that we have. We can enjoy the moments that we have and stop worrying about what we don’t have.
2. When we have enough, we can also start to think about how we can use our resources to help others. We can give back to our communities and make a difference in the lives of those around us.
3. When we have enough, we can make our lives more meaningful. We can focus on learning new skills and use our resources to pursue our dreams and make a difference. We can finally start to live a life of purpose.
4. When we have enough, we can finally start to live a life of balance. We can focus on our physical, mental, and emotional health. We can take the time to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures in life. We can make time for our families and friends and build meaningful relationships.
5. When we have enough, we can finally start to live a life of joy & contentment. We can appreciate the small moments and be thankful for all that we have.

So, the next time you find yourself wanting more, take a step back, stop comparing yourself to others, develop a gratitude practice, and appreciate the beauty of enough.

You may just find that it is the most beautiful thing of all.

Ready to make a powerful start to 2023 and make it your best year ever?

I will be hosting a free public talk on 9th December at 2.00 PM CET (8.00 AM ET/6.30 PM IST)

If you would like to get the zoom details or the recording later, click here.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

“Leadership is the combination of determination and openness to listen to others” – Radmila Blazheska

I interviewed Radmila Blazheska on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

• I also show that I’m vulnerable as well. I do mistakes and I honour them, and I also am open to criticism whether it’s negative or positive criticism. I’m open to it.
• I am looking at everyone on a level that we are all people, whether we are leaders, or whether we are all working together for someone’s objective.
• If there is friction. You need to work on that section. Never let it go. Never let it just under the carpet because at some point in your life or your working career will come back and bite you.
• I guess the combination of my determination and openness to listen to other people in their opinion, I think that’s the combination that makes me a good leader.
• And I think one of the key things is that also, even if you are in a boardroom and you’re talking to your board and you know that you want to say something, but you are fearing to say that, say it’s better to be said and done rather than keep it to yourself.

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

“Possessions and things don’t amend happiness, but people around us do” – Kevin O’Loughlin

I interviewed Kevin O’Loughlin on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talk about:

• Our key strategy has been getting a customer, look after everything to do with it, including the supply of people, if they’re required and then keeping the customer for as long as you possibly can.
• We very rarely lose a customer.
• I’ve learned that my wife and kids are far more important than any of those things.
• Every business is about people and you have to get yourself in a place that you’re in a good place personally. And then you can grow a business 
• The number of times that the directors and the company had to have their salaries delayed for the following couple of years, it was very difficult, but the learning, it was, we learned. How to survive. We learned how to negotiate.  We didn’t lose any people during that period. And, we even had some of the internal staff saying, listen, I’ve got a credit card. If we need to use it to buy things, I had unbelievable support from everybody.
• One of the reasons our accounts were so bad was I wanted to look after the people. So at no point was I gonna let good people go that I cared about, we would carry everyone.
• There are lots in companies that is left unsaid and left undone. And for me, it’s, if you’re not enjoying leadership, there’s something wrong. Go find it, figure it out, have the conversation and deal with things as they come up.

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you learn.

• The Path of Humble Leadership, a Coaching for Leaders podcast episode with Edgar Schein and Peter Schein
• Knowledge Is Not Understanding – an article on More Than That
• 11 Promises from a Manager

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I share what impactful leadership looks like to show your own power. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Do you prioritise being liked more than growing those around you?

Your primary task as a leader is to create more leaders around you, not more followers.

You build followers when you prioritise being liked.

You build leaders when you challenge those on your team to learn and grow.

I get it. We all want to be liked. Especially by our team. But ask yourself –

• Can you risk the possibility of not being liked for creating a better team and organisation?
• Can you risk staying in the uncomfortable space of not knowing and not having full control?

The next time you are tempted to say or do something (usually a habit) because others will like you, stop yourself.

Turn it into a growth opportunity instead:

1. Remember to play the coach, instead of always playing the captain. Set clear expectations, listen for a full-body YES, and then give people what they need to do their job.
2. Ask the right questions – Instead of the temptation of providing answers and showing how much you know, acknowledge that your knowledge is holding your team back. Learn to ask questions that force others to think, introspect, and discover what you know for themselves.
3. Do not make yourself indispensable. Make yourself redundant. Your real success is when your team can do the job without you. That is what ultimately sets apart great leaders – they build great teams.

Ready to make a powerful start to 2023 and make it your best year ever?

I will be hosting a free public talk in December on how to make a powerful start to 2023.

If you would like to know more, click here.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

“We’re business. We’re not an army” – Natalie Kaminski

I interviewed Natalie Kaminski on the Choosing Leadership podcast. She talks about trusting your decisions, the power of taking a break, and the importance of being empathetic. Below are some show notes:

• You have to treat your employees as children in a right and you allow your children to make mistakes, and that’s how to learn to walk.
• I want to understand what happened instead of coming to that employee and being, How could you have done this? The question is, what do you think went wrong? What could you have done differently?
• If they take ownership, There are two things that happen. First of all, they see that you’re trying to help them grow. Second of all, they remember that lesson and it, they retain it in their mind. So the likelihood of the same issue occurring again decreases dramatically.
• Ultimately your goal as a leader is to build that relationship with your team so that they come to you. It has nothing to do with fear of punishment or repercussion or anything like that.
• So it’s my job to serve them, to empower them to then service our clients, which in turn helps me accomplish my goal of building a, larger and more successful organization.

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

Leading from Fear vs Leading from Love

I interviewed Ennio R. Neumann Senese on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talk about nature vs nurture, how we are shaped as individuals, and how growing up in an entrepreneurial family shaped him. He shared a couple of serendipitous moments which have turned out to be instrumental in his journey. We touched upon the important role of meditation in helping him stay balanced as a leader, and how his leadership style has evolved over the years.

• There are so many books about leadership. If you have read them all, the risk is that by the end, you still don’t know what leadership is.
• So I’m very grateful for the fact that I’ve been able to fail. On a couple of occasions, which gave me the opportunity to learn and to see that there are better ways to move on.
• In the end, you need to ask yourself, what am I doing? Is that what I’m contributing to? Is that really something that is contributing to, the better of mankind, to improve the world to have some, another type of gold than just purely commercial?
• I always recommend also to people who work with me to do a bit of a retreat for a couple of days in complete silence and just think about, the purpose of life, things that you are grateful for, things that you have experienced, lessons learned, over a period of time.
• In the end, it’s always about reflection and the ability to see how unimportant you really are at the end.

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Detailed reports for your leadership

This is the 66th edition of this newsletter which I started 2.5 years ago. I hope it continues to add value. Please share any feedback when it does or does not.

As a show of gratitude, I want to share some research reports I often share with my coaching clients.

These reports have been a result of my experience and research leading teams, making mistakes, and slowly growing in my own leadership. I hope you will find these valuable as well. These are :

1. Care To Lead: Why There Is No Leading Without Caring (download here)
2. The Listening Habit: The One Habit Which Enables All Others (download here)
3. Fearless Feedback: Recognise Feedback For The Gift That It Is (download here)

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I share what impactful leadership looks like to show your own power. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Do you talk yourself out of your own dreams?

You can have and go for any dream if you don’t talk yourself out of it first.

If you have a dream, you want to be deeply grounded in that. You want to be sure that it is more than a fantasy or wish. For many people – Visualising their dream future and speaking it out loud works best to get their bodies & brains familiar with it.

Once you are sure that this is a dream that fills you up with passion, and you are willing to commit (not make it trivial) to the journey, you are in the game. You know that it matters to you deeply – and is not just superficially.

The next thing is to make sure you do not talk yourself out of the dream. It is so easy to talk yourself out of your dreams by thinking or saying, “I will never achieve that.”, “They will never pay me that.”, “He will never say YES to that.”, or “I do not have what it takes.” This applies to any dream or future vision you might have.

I am coaching an ex-SVP of Product from a tech unicorn who is currently a startup entrepreneur. He wanted to give back to the product manager community. However, he was talking himself out of his dream by thinking, “I have no time.” or “Why will they listen to me?”, or “I do not know public speaking” or “I am a nobody compared to this or that person”.

We worked on that unless he started showing up at conferences and networking events in a way that he was giving back to the community just by his presence, listening and speaking. Very soon organisers of conferences and other influential people started to notice and invite him to speak or present at their events. All of this happened because of a lot of preparation and practice on “not talking yourself out of your own dreams”.

Today, he is contributing and giving back to the product manager community, leaving him with a deep sense of satisfaction and meaning in his life. And every time I speak to him (he is still a client), I am amazed by how “light” he is and he often can’t stop smiling and blushing at the life he is living now – even though he is tackling much bigger challenges than ever before.

Ready to make 2023 your best year ever? What would need to happen for you to call 2023 your best year?

If you are ready to make your wildest dreams real, and willing to accept support and help in the process (as nobody does it alone), then, I want to be YOUR coach.

Reply back to find out my requirements from those I support.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

Don’t Focus on Your Job at the Expense of Your Career

In her book, Dorie Clark writes about how to simultaneously navigate two realities: meeting the short-term needs of the moment (i.e., doing your job to pay the bills) while positioning yourself for long-term success. Here are four principles:

1. Analyze the strategic value of your activities.
2. Enlist allies.
3. Manage your brand.
4. Be willing to experiment with “120% time.”

Read in detail in this article from Harvard Business Review

Two

How to Increase Your Conversational Intelligence

1. Great conversation leads to great relationships, which leads to great culture.
2. Level I conversations are about resistance
3. Level II conversations are about “wait and see“
4. Level III conversations are about co-creation
5. When we are threatened by others, cortisol can linger for 26 hours.
6. Children have the same capacity for conversational intelligence that adults do, but only if we have the courage to nurture their growth.

From a podcast with Judith Glaser on the Coaching with Leaders Podcast

Three

New Inspiring Episodes on the Choosing Leadership Podcast

Below are the latest episodes where I have interviewed these amazing leaders. Listen to their story to know the choices they have made to be where they are now.

Leadership Journeys [33] – Raymond Aaron- “It’s wonderful to have goals and intentions because that’s the fuel of the soul.”

In the interview, Raymond shares about his journey of being 100k dollars in debt before becoming a teacher, coach, and successful businessman. He also shares that he only does what he loves to do, and spoke a bit about some of his crazy adventures – including a 350-mile foot race to the North Pole. We spoke about leadership, growth, commitment, and how to have more than 24 hours in a day.

Leadership Journeys [34] – Vinod Kumar- “An entrepreneur needs to be comfortable with ambiguity and things going wrong”

Vinod shares in the interview how he and his wife started a coffee house in 2015 to provide a sip of happiness to every customer, and to enhance the experience around coffee. He shares how they navigated covid and are now looking to expand, and how they have leveraged technology during covid. He also talks about caring for people and building a team on a solid foundation of values.

Leadership Journeys [36] – Tauseef Ahmad – “Capital deprived? Yes, we are. Are we worried? No, we are not”

In the interview, Tauseef opens up about the very personal loss of his mother and cousin and how that inspired him to start a company to make healthcare easier to access for people from their homes. The conviction in his voice, despite all his challenges, was very strong and decisive, and that is a lesson in the embodiment of a purpose for anybody listening.

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I share what impactful leadership looks like to show your own power. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

5 Reminders for You – for when you forget

For a couple of years now, I have had these 5 reminders in front of me always – both digitally and physically.

They are hanging on my monitor as post-it notes so that I never forget their message.

And they are on one of the open Stickies on my mac to make sure I see them every now and then.

And each time I am stuck or feeling low and disempowered, a glance at these reminders and a deep breath makes me feel better.

Sometimes I can do this (deep breathing & reminding myself) 10-20 times in an hour if there is a particularly stressful meeting or situation.

And the impact is immediate and transformative. I am able to stay grounded, centred, and have conversations from choice instead of from past repeated and unconscious patterns.

As a result, this year is one of my most transformative ever – for both inner growth and results in the outer world. The 5 reminders are –

1. You are enough. Never better or lesser than anyone else. You have what it takes. You have all the answers within you.
2. There are no ordinary moments. There is only “now”. Learn to meditate in every action.
3. You always have the choice to respond. Take responsibility.
4. Do not take yourself too seriously. However, be impeccable with your word.
5. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Take action in service and for its own sake.

I share these with everybody I work with. As we all forget them from time to time. If you prefer video and want more detail, see below.

It is time to start thinking about 2023. I am looking for my next superstar to coach.

Ready to make 2023 your best year ever? Then, I want to be YOUR coach.

Reply back to find out my requirements and about the program. I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

Taking personal time is never more essential than now

As the civil-rights activist, Audre Lorde once said: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation.”

Be direct and ask for what you need. It’s okay to be direct. In fact, it’s a gift that saves the other person time and effort.

Know that the same rules can’t apply to everyone.

It’s okay to outsource aspects of life.

Add an extra layer to your communications around time off.

From this article on charter

Two

6 Hallmarks of Happiness

1. Happy people live modestly. Our society glorifies bling—big houses, fancy cars, private jets, a baller lifestyle. The evidence is clear: Those “hallmarks of success” aren’t hallmarks of happiness—it’s the opposite.
2. Happy people have committed long term relationships. They tend to stay married and have intimate, life-long friendships.
3. Happy people are fit. Your body is your vessel for experiencing life. It’s hard to be happy if your vessel isn’t in tip-top shape.
4. Happy people have multiple passionate pursuits. Happy people are curious, life-long learners who pursue growth in multiple ways.
5. Happy people help others. And they expect nothing in return.
6. Happy people say no (a lot). They have clear priorities, set boundaries and have the discipline to stick to them. They stay in their lane, eyes on the prize.

From a thread on Twitter

Three

New Inspiring Episodes on the Choosing Leadership Podcast

Below are the latest episodes where I have interviewed these amazing leaders. Listen to their story to know the choices they have made to be where they are now.

Leadership Journeys [31] – Chris Federspiel – “This is about the journey and not about achieving the thing at the end”

You will not listen to a more vulnerable podcast than this one. Do not miss this one.

Leadership Journeys [32] – Silvia Hecher- “Get a coach way before there are conflicts/struggles or things are falling apart.”

Silvia catches my bias as a man and illuminates me. Must watch for all women, and men.

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I share what impactful leadership looks like to show your own power. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Doing nothing is not FAILURE. It could be the best thing for you.

Do you feel the urge to fill your time with work?

Do you feel the urge to make each hour and minute of your day productive?

Does doing nothing feel like a failure or a waste of time?

I am sharing this today because I have spent most of my life trying to be busy or productive.

I am sharing this because I equated being busy or productive with success or the path to success.

But what if being busy is just an escape hatch to avoid what we don’t want to face – stillness and silence?

What if there is a huge treasure in being with oneself without any distractions or anything to do?

A powerful question to ask yourself is –

What am I consciously avoiding so much that I have to keep so busy?

If I can not be in silence in my own company, what does that tell me about myself?

Sitting in silence can be hard.

It means facing the anxiety and fear we want to avoid, and answering the questions we don’t want to answer.

Yet, as Thomas Vles, CEO of Tellow, pointed out in his podcast interview with me, there is huge wisdom in doing nothing.

If you have the courage, sit alone in solitude and do nothing.

See what questions come up and what are they pointing towards

How long can you sit with yourself without any distractions? 5 mins, 10 mins, 30 mins…

Try doing that for a few days or longer, and you will be amazed by what you discover.

Reply back with any insights or surprises in your life as you reflect on what I share. I read and respond to every reply.

PS – I have taken a stand to eradicate workplace stress. In the 21st century, stress has no place at work. If you want to transform your teams and build a culture where people wait for Mondays and not Fridays, send me a message.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

How to Navigate Conflict with a Coworker

No matter what type of difficult colleague you’re dealing with or what you decide to do next, these seven strategies can improve your odds of responding productively, establishing appropriate boundaries, and building stronger, more fulfilling collaborations at work.

1. Remember That Your Perspective Is Just One Among Many

2. Be Aware of Your Biases

3. Don’t Make It “Me Against Them”

For the complete list of 7 strategies, see the article on HBR

Two

Should this be a meeting? in one image

Without saying much, please find the image below or here.

From NOBL Academy

Three

New Inspiring Episodes on the Choosing Leadership Podcast

Below are the latest episodes where I have interviewed these amazing leaders. Listen to their story to know the choices they have made to be where they are now.

Leadership Journeys [29] – Yasmina Kazitani – “As a leader, do not fear being wrong or not knowing everything”

Leadership Journeys [28] – Gilad Regev – “Fear can be my friend“

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – If you are in Amsterdam, I am co-leading a 5-week leadership BootCamp later this year. There are only a few seats remaining. If you want to join or send a few people from your leadership team, simply reply back. More details here

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I share what impactful leadership looks like to show your own power. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

He wanted to speed up. He didn’t realise slowing down was the key.

When Raghu started the 1 year Extraordinary Leader Exponential Results program 3 months ago, he wanted to speed up his life.

He told me that he didn’t want to waste a second. If he was not busy, he wasn’t being productive.

When we started coaching, he told me how proud he was of his work ethic, and how “there was no gain without pain.”

When we inquired further, he realised all such statements (in italics above) were coming from his ultra-competitive father and culture where being the number one and squeezing out the most from each second of life was the secret to success.

When we reflected, he realised that all such idioms and proverbs are well-intentioned and meant to inspire people.

However, when we reflected on his life, he also saw the other side of it. These idioms also implied that if you slowed down to relax and enjoy, you are wasting your time and will not get what you want in life.

And that is a life of constant worry, anxiety, and stress. And Raghu’s life was a continuous story of anxiety, stress, busyness, and unable to stop and spend time with his two kids, wife, and ageing parents – people he himself says matter the most.

Suddenly, the old axioms and proverbs didn’t seem as helpful as they appeared. Yet they blind us to see life one way (which has nothing to do with the way things really are).

If you believe that working hard and doing more is the solution to every problem, then you will eventually end up burned out, stressed, and with other related health issues. We often don’t question such beliefs as they have been in use for a long time, and everyone around us also agrees with them.

But, what if, the opposite is true as well?

What if we need to slow down to speed up?

What if we need to relax, rest, and enjoy life to increase our productivity?

Feels counterintuitive (because the hold of the old sayings is too strong on the mind), but as Raghu realised, if you give it a try, magical results become possible.

This has been possible for Raghu in the last 3 months

1. Every time his mind goes to the thought, “This is hard.”, he immediately replaces it with, “What if it isn’t? What if it is easy?” and then takes action from there. In every instance, he has been able to find a simple solution or way forward in a complicated situation.
2. He is truly embracing “slow down to speed up” and breaking the illusionary link between being busy and being productive. As a result, he decided to start each day with a 30-min deep conversation with his wife, spend two hours daily with his children after work, and every weekend with his ageing parents. His happiness has never been better, and his body is thanking him for the rest and laughter.
3. To his surprise, his productivity at work has increased (despite spending less time). He is able to listen better and be present in conversations, and his intuition is super active these days. When he is in meetings or having difficult conversations, he remembers to take a pause and is surprised by how much wisdom his intuition already has. He has achieved a significant breakthrough for his company last month as a result of one such idea.
4. Again, to his surprise, his teams (he is a CTO) are super-engaged, producing high-quality work, and most importantly, are laughing and having fun at work. People have remarked on his leadership presence and composure, which are two things he never got positive feedback on before.

As Raghu reflects now, “I thought the answer to everything was doing more to fill the gap. I never thought the answer was slowing down and letting go of what was unnecessary!”

What if the same is true for you?

What are some such idioms and proverbs that are running your life subconsciously?

What if the opposite was true? What could be possible for you?

Try it out in your life for the next week, and see what happens. Reply back with any insights or surprises. I read and respond to every reply.

PS – I have two spots left for my 1-year program for tech leaders and 1 spot for entrepreneurs. The next opportunity will open up in 2023. Reach out before the end of Sep if you want to take up one of these and create your best year ever.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

‘Habit Stacking’ to Make a New Routine or Ritual Stick

Mornings complete with journaling, meditating, and yoga before breakfast might as well be aspirational, reserved for only the most methodical among us…right?

Well, not if you consider the basic premise of habit stacking, which says that you only need to find one thing you regularly do by default in order to build an entire tower of routine practices.

This is based on the work of BJ Fogg, author of Tiny Habits, and James Clear, author of Atomic Habits.

From an article on Well + Good

Two

Getting Things Done in one image

Without saying much, please find the image below or here.

From an article on RadReads

Three

New Inspiring Episodes on the Choosing Leadership Podcast

Below are the latest episodes where I have interviewed these amazing leaders. Listen to their story and for an example of what leadership can be.

Leadership Journeys [27] – Anshul Kamath – “The privilege of a lifetime is to discover who you truly are”

Leadership Journeys [26] – Laimonas Noreika – “If you want to outshine in this world, be yourself”

Leadership Journeys [25] – Henny Hoekstra- “Life is too short to make decisions that you don’t want”

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – When you are ready, below are 3 ways I can help you drastically increase your impact, well-being, satisfaction, and joy as a leader.

1. Work with me 1-on-1 on a regular basis to Deploy Yourself in every aspect of life. There is only 1 spot left for 2022, and registrations for working with me in 2023 are already open.
2. Join me in Amsterdam for 2-4 days of pure presence in the Deploy Yourself Leadership Retreat. I will help you step away from your regular life by taking a retreat into presence and meditation. We will connect with WHAT IS, and use the medium of photography to help you see what you need to see. This can be magical, and available only on request.
3. Let me train, coach, and mentor your entire leadership team (or managers at one org level) in a customised program designed to help your organisation reach where you envision it to be in the next 3 years and beyond. Only 1 spot left for 2022, and I only plan to support 3 organisations next year.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I share what impactful leadership looks like to show your own power. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

The only two things you need to DO WELL as a leader

There are only two things you need to DO WELL as a leader – to achieve all your dreams and ambitions. It is not that there are not other skills or things you need to do, it is just that everything else will fall into place if you do these two things well. They are:

1. Knowing what you want – for yourself, your team, and your organisation, and
2. Asking for what you want – without apology, without making it personal, and without making it OK for the other person to say NO

Most people do not stop and ask themselves, “What do I really want?”

And it is not easy. It requires courage to peel layers and layers of wishes, expectations and hopes to get to what you really want.

But there is no leadership possible unless you are clear on what you want – for yourself, for your team, and for the organisation.

It is often not easy to sit in solitude and tap deep into your heart and gut – which is where all desire comes from – and which is where all leadership starts.

Most people never ask for what really want, precisely and clearly, because it is too painful to receive a NO.

They see a rejection as a personal failure rather than just the ask being rejected.

They make a NO personal and uncomfortable. A NO means nothing unless what you make it mean.

Just like you can say YES and NO to what you want, others can say YES and NO as they see fit.

You can ask for anything you want from whoever you want as long as you make it OK for the other person to say NO.

Once you know what you want, the only thing standing in the way is asking for what you want from those who can give it to you.

It could mean asking for money and funds to start your company.

It could mean asking for time to complete what you started.

It could mean asking others to join you as you create the future of your dreams.

It could mean asking someone to resign if they are not helping you get where you want to go.

Or, if the worst comes to pass, it could mean asking for help when you have no idea what to do – from your peers, from your family, from your coaches, from your mentors, or from a mental health professional.

Remember, the last thing that you can always ask for is HELP – to help you move towards what you really want.

And yes, all of this requires COURAGE. But then, what doesn’t?

Reply back with what you really want and what is stopping you from asking for it. You are safe with me to share whatever you want. I read and respond to every reply. And I applaud your courage.

PS – I help leaders and entrepreneurs solve their biggest problems to achieve in 3 years which would normally take 10 years. To know more, send me a message.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

How Top Leaders Influence Great Teamwork

In this podcast episode, Scott and Dave examine McKinsey’s research on what the top CEOs do (and avoid) when building great teams. Key highlights below

1. Top leaders staff for both aptitude and attitude. They have an eye to both the short and long term.
2. Top leaders stay connected with people throughout the organization, but also keep some distance. There’s a key distinction between being friendly and making friends.
3. The most successful CEOs have a mindset of “first team” and expect leaders in the organization to prioritize serving the whole team/organization over any functional area.

From a podcast episode on the Coaching for Leaders podcast

Two

Just 2 Minutes of Walking Is Surprisingly Good for You

Walking, especially in nature, can have tremendous benefits for our body and mind. Any form of light exercise during the day is a key practice for leaders to build. It improves their decision-making, emotional intelligence, and creativity.

The benefits of physical activity are never all or nothing, Dr. Patel said, but instead exist on a continuum. “It’s a gradual effect of more activity, better health,” he said. “Each incremental step, each incremental stand or brisk walk appears to have a benefit.”

From an article in the New York Times

Three

A Humble Inquiry on the Balance between long-term and short-term for leaders

In this episode, Leslie joins me as my co-host to humbly inquire into how to prioritise the long-term and short-term as a leader. How to find the critical balance in business as leaders – where we are responsible for short-term metrics – and yet also for the long-term growth and sustainability of our business? 

• “it’s very important to measure numbers in the short term, but not to see those numbers going up and down as a direct measure of the performance of your people, of your teams. Because then there is a lot of hidden elements.”
•  “It requires courage and trust in self to know what is right for you.”
• “There are many places that you can find help if you go looking for it.”
• “it shouldn’t become a match like somebody needs to win and somebody needs to lose. It needs to become a partnership. It needs to become a team effort.”
• “Courage is not about giving up at the first disappointment, but courage is about trusting that this is important and then moving forward, no matter how slow or fast the progress is.”

Listen to the complete recording on the Choosing Leadership podcast

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – When you are ready, below are 3 ways I can help you drastically increase your impact, well-being, satisfaction, and joy as a leader.

1. Work with me 1-on-1 on a regular basis to Deploy Yourself in every aspect of life. There is only 1 spot left for 2022, and registrations for working with me in 2023 are already open.
2. Join me in Amsterdam for 2-4 days of pure presence in the Deploy Yourself Leadership Retreat. I will help you step away from your regular life by taking a retreat into presence and meditation. We will connect with WHAT IS, and use the medium of photography to help you see what you need to see. This can be magical, and available only on request.
3. Let me train, coach, and mentor your entire leadership team (or managers at one org level) in a customised program designed to help your organisation reach where you envision it to be in the next 3 years and beyond. Only 1 spot left for 2022, and I only plan to support 3 organisations next year.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect