How to Get Promoted at Work: The Question 20 Senior Leaders Cannot Answer

Anshul Kapasi for me is a story of accelerated personal excellence that leads to past career growth and business acumen. Because when he came, I think his immediate goal was financial stability and he wanted to learn how to balance time and be able to delegate better and so on. And what happened is that he changed as a person and there were certain adjustments and installations that happened that allowed him to go past those needs, go past those goals and objectives to the point that he now started taking them for granted. And his focus is on a much larger vision. So to my mind, life, don't complicate it, keep it simple was my mantra, but how to achieve it, I had no idea. And I had been looking for those answers. I went to my ex-CEOs of different previous companies to chat with them, what makes them click. I always go to my seniors, I used to walk around and try to tap into what do they do that will, you know, that I can make that shift. But it was not happening. So I spoke to best of my friends who were from consulting, whether it's McKenzie, Accenture, any company. I must have spoken to at least 20 people in different regions, India and abroad, about how to make that shift. People give advice, but I don't think that they really get to the question of what is it that is missing for that particular person. And that I think is the key and which because of their sensory acuity, Antono and Harini are able to solve it so quickly. I came to Delhi for my pre-consultation. I met Antono and Harini and then it was fantastic. So it was like in five minutes of meeting Antono and Harini, I knew that I was at the right place. And that's what I wanted to pursue for us. Okay, so the couple of things, one is that, so the first thing that comes to my mind is financial stability. Now, financial stability for me is not just having a good bank balance. Now, how you earn it also is important for me. The quality of, let's say, deliverable or what I do for the organization, wherever I am, irrespective of where I am, in the way I go about doing it, what I'm recognized of, what is my character, that's what I want to build on. So that it's not that I want to leave a legacy, but whatever I do, I want to do it with excellence so that I excel in it. And I'm able to, while I'm having fun, while I'm doing that, I earn a good amount of money. I'm able to sustain and live my own dreams. I can enjoy those journeys with my wife, with my mother, with my mother-in-law, with my friends. So that's what I want to do. So, when you say financial stability in any way, what does that mean? How do you know that you have financial stability? It's not easy enough to surpass that retirement itself and say that I don't want to sit at home. Even after 60, which is 58 or 60, I can still continue to work, still able to contribute, still able to do things, still able to have a glass of wine, still able to play badminton, whatever it is. So that's what I want to do. So it was, from then, if I fast forward it to April, and I attended the first event, and after the event, as they say, it started changing rapidly. So I joined office back, my normal routine started to kick in, but there were some differences that started to appear. And those patterns, when I look back now, I can make out something, but at that time it was like an autopilot which was working, and which was probably taking me to different places where I had not been. So it was something like, there were a few things that I was really worried about, which were actually not such big things, but my mind shift actually helped me get to the next thing. So it was my promotion, more money, more visibility in the office. And now when I'm in July 2017, I've sorted so much in the office and so much at home, I can pack a lot more in the same eight hours today in the office. I've literally got my, there's no, I think the words that Antono uses is that if you're able to perform better, there will be no rules for you. And I literally can sense that now, if I do something in office, I don't need a formal permission, I don't need to seek permission, I will go ahead and do it. And because I've proven again within the three months of span of time, I've proven that I can do, deliver, take bigger things, bigger challenges. I'm just pushing my own boundaries right now. The things that I was never considered for, I'm being considered in the office. So within the office, I've just completed a big project. Now, essentially this project is so huge that I'm now taking a trip to UK office in September. I'm meeting this chief operating officer because essentially this is a regulatory governance project. If it goes wrong, we can have financial penalty on the organization. The last time there was a financial penalty which was laid down by the regulator for Aviva was around 80 million pounds. It's a huge project. It has a pretty big significance for the organization. And this was the first time that India office actually led that project from India instead of UK. And I led that project completely. When Antono today was talking about saying that there are no rules for good performers, I believe I'm getting there and fast. In his personality and presence, you can see when you look at the pre and the post that there's this leap in his executive presence and how people are perceiving him and his ability to understand mindsets and be able to make those shifts. I think those are business critical. And one of the things I believe is that in any organization, if you are able to improve the business, growth comes naturally. When people come to me and when they're looking at career growth, instead of looking at the career growth, I'm looking at what can happen to this person? How can they change as a person so that the business grows rapidly? How can they bring in organizational excellence? How can they close deals more effectively? How can they bring excellence in completion of things? And when you help people to build the natural traits and qualities that, when added to what they already have, would allow them to excel in each of these things, I think career growth happens as a natural byproduct. And in the last three months itself, Anshul Kapasi has been able to significantly grow in this organization to the point he's taking on projects that are generally only given to people who are one position or two higher than where he is. Everybody puts a ceiling to their achievement. There's a ceiling to the role. There is a ceiling to what you can achieve. Those ceilings are not there. We've put that. If they remove that, it's limitless. You can keep growing. Some of the patterns that we did for even the smallest limitation, which is something as inhibiting that I'm trying to follow the formal process, like permission and everything, those are small things, but that shift made me just go after everything. So I was probably doing less. I'm doing more now in the same amount of time. I'm doing more things. So there are four initiatives that are running within the organization, that organization level, which I'm now part of, which I was never concerned because I always thought, let me do my job properly in full detail, 100% accuracy, I will put in a lot of hard work. I used to probably stay late, but now it's not required because I'm able to do the four things, delegate properly, and look at the holistic picture and still able to manage a lot because it's coming so innately and it's that comfort that, A, who you are, you get to your senses, you remain who you are, you probably accelerate your own capabilities. Some of the changes we did for the capacity of sensory security, to be able to notice the human psychology. There is no book on earth that can actually teach you the psychology of human beings because each person is unique. So what I believe is that if you help and develop the capability for people to be in the moment, to have the presence of mind, to be able to see, hear, and notice distinctions, and to be able to intuitively and innately do this, then what happens is their day-to-day experiences become a learning program for them on human psychology. And I think if you are in the business domain, you need to understand the psychology of people because each person is driven differently. And whether it's delegating to your team or whether it's closing deals or whether it's negotiation, your ability to map the psychology of that person, not by sitting down and writing something on a paper, but by doing your job and intuitively recognizing what is going on with this person. I think those set of adjustments that are needed for a person to be able to evolve these skills include developing sensory security, presence of mind, high performance when dealing with people, to allow for thoughts that are going on in the mind related to some other area to pause when you're actually focusing on what has to happen with this particular individual. I think those are the adjustments that lead a person to learn about human communication and behaviors in everything that they do in life. So I personally believe that a good learning experience is when you have set yourself in such a way that when you do day-to-day things that you already do, it has to enhance what you're trying to learn. Which means when Anshul goes and performs in his business, it also becomes practice and training into how he understands people. And that is why in six days we set him up for that. We make sure that when he goes back to his work, he has high sense of security and high performance in dealing with people. And that means when he's dealing with people every day, he becomes better and better and better at their psychology and how to influence them. And I think Anshul is able to go from where he was to where he is right now, not only because of what we did for them, but because he's also fortunate to have a context where right after these six days the adjustments and installations are done. He has a context where he can go and deal with people, people who are reporting to him, people who are from the customer side, people who he is reporting to. And I think having that kind of a playground kind of sharpens every day because I believe that true practice is performance. And you just set a person to be in high performance and then they become a better learner. And when people become a better learner and they have the right opportunities, I think three months can actually help the person reach where others would have taken like 10 years or more. Because to develop executive presence, most people have it or they don't. But even if someone goes to a leadership training, it takes years before they actually develop it. But I think with the right mindset, the tools, I think you can hear the distinctions, the difference in Anshul's voice, the way he sounds, the way he looks, the way he moves. Everything shifts and part of it is his incredible fascination to what he has become and how this will allow him to get to the next level. And I think Anshul is also aware and recognizes the fact about excellence is that no matter where you are, there's another bar of excellence. And the fact that he's open to that is encouraging. And I think one of the important things about learning is that when you achieve small milestones, if you celebrate, your neurology takes that as a learning and says, OK, we need to do more of this. And I don't know if this happened during upper if Anshul always had this trade that he likes to celebrate. His achievements and I think that kind of a mindset kind of accelerates things for people. And that's what you see with Anshul. I want to be able to, as they say, raise the bar again and again and again. And I suddenly feel that the five months time period for my promotion is long. I've never felt like that. It's like what Antony talks about time distortion. It's like slow is fast. It's just happening. I was telling my boss that December is too far for my promotion. I need it now. And I told her that in three months, this is what I've done. So she said, that is a lot. It's very interesting to see Anshul talk about how he comes. There are leadership training programs available where people, even if there's something practical from that program, the responsibility is on the individual to go and apply it. And perhaps it might work for that person if they apply. And most people he says go there like it's like a tick mark. They need to put saying I've completed three programs. The interesting thing is Anshul didn't come for any of those things that are covered in the leadership programs. But he ended up developing those very things in a very compressed time. And I think that is what capabilities are really about. That, you know, there are sometimes a couple of capabilities that is common for one person. But then for you, if you make a little tweak or improvement there, it kind of develops various other skills that you are focused on. I think that distinction is important. And I think one of the things we focus on is the primary fundamental capabilities, you know, like so that you become a better learner. And I think context is the best teacher. Performing is the best practice. But if you are not equipped to make the maximum amount of the context you are in and in the performance you are engaging in, our job is to make sure what additional traits do we need to have you develop so that you can make the maximum learning in every area from what you are doing day to day. And I think Anshul, what two things that I would say that Anshul developed is sincere acuity and high performance when dealing with people. So these two capabilities, in my opinion, is significant for anyone who is interested and serious about their leadership and personality development on a whole. I had myself and my wife, we've been struggling to find, as you noted, leadership sessions. Nothing has helped because nobody is able to find that missing link. I'll give you a couple of examples from my office itself. So there are organizations, whether we have external interventions, so there are, what do you say, personality or leadership coaching. There is soft skill development coaching that happens in the, but that is partly theoretical, partly the application part is left to the participant. And my guess is that the loop is never, never closed because it's an open ended question. It's too generalized and people are not able to be specific about their, what is it that's missing. It's a general statement. Leaders need to do this or somebody needs to, if, but if your ownership and development, by the time you reach the training hall or the training, the training academy or whatever it is, you already in your mind, you are thinking I'm going to go there for two hours. I'm going to get lectured on that topic and I'm going to come back. And it's a tick in the box that I've done the training. Every year I have to do four trainings. I've done four trainings. It just doesn't have the impact. For some, if people are really, really driven, they might have some teeny, mini changes, but those have to be so conscious that you have to always carry a book. What is the step? What am I going to do? But this is so different because it's so ingrained in you now that you don't have to worry about looking at any book. I don't have a book now in the office. I'm so aware of myself. They gave the book of my life back in my hands, which is so phenomenal. Every work we do is holistic in nature in the sense I don't believe in this concept called work-life balance. Because most of the people speak about work-life balance, they see like a seesaw. You know, one goes down, the other goes up. I believe in integration. That if Anshul can become better in his career, it must also strengthen his family and his fun and the time he spends with his children and so on. And if he's spending more time with his family, the creativity, the peace that he gets must flow back into the business he does. And I think when you set things up that way, what happens is that everything you do plays into everything else. It's a natural consequence for me that Anshul has more time for his family, he's having fun, he's going on vacations and being successful in his business. It's that kind of a configuration. Instead of a balance approach, if you build an integration approach, then you would say, hey, Anshul Kapasi is succeeding or this person is succeeding because they're spending so much time with their family. Because each of them start playing into each other. Life, I think it's changing every day. The last one year is literally like God sent. So because there's so many changes that have happened, professional front, personal front, in terms of what I did, what I was able to do and what I can imagine I can do. So the limits, there are no limits. So it's the limitless, it's like the fountain of opportunities has just begun to open up. So it's wonderful. Personally as well, I've started to connect more with people and that's one of the areas that I actually want to improve more on so that I can help people at personal level as well. Because if my life has been touched in so many ways and if I can help others as well, that would be wonderful. Capabilities are very elusive in nature because a lot of times people don't, when they want to help themselves, they don't say, hey, what capabilities do I need to build? People are looking at motivation or techniques on what they can learn. I'm looking at who they can become. And I think that's a completely different mindset. And I think unless you have years of experience looking at people as who they can become, it doesn't mean that you're disqualifying what they have. In fact, the way you look at who they can become is by accepting who they are first. And then if they're specifically given you permission to say that, hey, I want so and so things in my life, then you start looking at who they can become. Then you start developing an intuition over time as to what additional traits or capabilities they need. And I think just identifying what capability is going to make that big butterfly effect in that person's life requires some expertise. And also when people find that out, there's one thing to be conscious of it, another thing for it to become innate. And the whole idea of excellence installation technology is a set of tools and techniques that we have borrowed from neuro-linguistic programming that can allow a person to develop a new habit or a trait very fast. And it can become innate. So what Harney and I focus on is instead of a person taking, first of all, many years to decipher that they need to work on this capability and also going to the burden of continuous practice or doing something for them to go back so that they can develop the capability, Harney and I look at how can we help this person develop this capability now? And that is why we do Up for Six Days, because I believe that's the minimum time I require, compared to six years or ten years that can take for a person to develop some capabilities. I think six is like really instant. And that's the minimum time Harney and I require to be able to notice some of these things and to be able to help the person develop that capability and also test and validate that the process of that capability being utilized is started. And one of the reasons why it is possible to do it in six days is because a lot of capabilities and traits are available to a person in some context. Like for example, a person could be an athlete and they have some high performance. Now if you could like recondition the neurology so that every time they're having a negotiation, that same state kicks in. And it's a completely different performance in results and the ability to generalize that. So to be able to take that performance in one area you conditioned them to and to be able to condition it in different other areas. That's what we do. That is excellent installation technology, to be able to notice what is missing and help that person develop it really fast. Instead of waiting years for that to happen. Sometimes capabilities are innate. So you just can't necessarily look at it and say, oh this person's life has changed because you're changing the individual. Now they go and work in their life. They go and work in their relationships. And it's over time that all of the other elements start changing. So that's why we say A into D equal to C. You make precise installations or adjustments and the consequences multiply over time. That's why it's A into T equal to C. If Anshul can arrive here in three months, I'm curious what is in store for him in a year from now. And I have no doubt that he would be launching his legacy very soon. Because to me legacy means that you're taking all the experiences that are unique to you and you're giving something to the world that only you could deliver. And that requires you to be able to get out of the vicious cycle of the financial and time constraint. It allows you to be able to communicate your ideas. It allows you to be able to execute higher talent, delegate a lot of stuff. If this is the consequences Anshul is able to produce based on the adjustments we help him make in three months. And if he has that kind of performance and context to multiply these consequences in three months, I'm absolutely sure that in a year or two that he is going to be launching his legacy. Thank you. Thank you.