“Great creators don’t necessarily have the deepest expertise but rather seek out the broadest perspectives.”

In the beginning of this year, while l spent time reflecting and planning, I was tired of doing the same things over and over again.

Here I was, along with our determined team, propelling our organization into its second decade. While we all focused on business growth, I noticed that my team was getting caught in the madness of addressing The urgent, and beginning to work in silos, although it was not their true intent.

This made me think about what I could do to create stickiness and bonding within my team members, apart from our intellectual pursuits of business excellence. Getting them to connect with each other, beyond the business needs was essential.

Authentic Stories of Inspiration (https://instinct2inspiration.org/) was born out of this need to help our team members access and share their stories of inspiration. But, it did not stop there. My team helped me to think out of the box and together we helped people across geographies access their stories of inspiration.

In a world that is constantly seeking affirmation outside, how can we seek inspiration inside? This question led us to launch the #littlemeinspiringme campaign, that truly collated stories of inspiration across borders.

Looking back, I can humbly say that every challenge has a solution within the box and outside the box. Are you bold enough to explore outside your box? Are you ready and tuned to step out of your comfort zone?

Nineteen hours is a long time to be on a non-stop flight – there are only so many meals you can eat, movies you can watch, or naps you can take. I normally take the emergency exit aisle seat so that I can get up and walk about as often as I wanted. Someone had told me that “sitting was the new smoking” and I hung about at the back of the plane for hours.

I got out at Newark a little dazed and waited in the interminable immigration lines. Finally, after 30 minutes, I get to the counter and smiled at the immigration officer. As if on cue, she asked “What is the purpose of your visit?” “Business” I said. They were now used to getting beyond these superficial responses, so her next question was “What specifically do you do?” I said “Well, I am an executive coach. I help leaders become their best.”

I was taken aback by her next question “So, how can I be my best?” I smiled and looked into her eyes. It is amazing how much your intuition picks up, as you look into other people’s eyes. I asked her, “If time and money were not a constraint, who could you be?” She always had a dream of working at the White House, but here she was. I consciously decided to twirl up the dial of tension “What kinds of excuses are you telling yourself for not getting there?” After thinking for about 30 seconds, she smiled and asked, “Can I write down that question? I want my husband to answer that as well.” I said “Sure, let me give you one more question then. How is your Urgent preventing your Important?” She wrote that down as well.

We smiled at each other, she stamped my passport, and I started to move towards the luggage carousels. Just before the escalators went down, I turned, and saw that she was standing at her counter and watching me go. We waved to each other, and I was on my way. I knew that my chances of meeting her again was slim, but the sheer joy of making another person realise a bit more of themselves was rewarding.

On reflection, I wonder what would it take for each one of us, to make others greater without any expectations? How can mere minutes with you become memorable moments of insights for others? How can you help others break out of their own boxes?

It was sometime in 2010, when I was working in the consulting services business of an IT major. We had emerged as the lowest (L1) bidder in an ERPconsulting tender floated by a Defense publi sector undertaking (PSU) in Hyderabad, India. I was happy to receive the invitation to come for a negotiation with the officers of the PSU. I discussed with my Manager and he consented to give a token discount as a mark of respect to the client, if they pressed hard for it.

I and a consultant from our local office reached the client’s factory around 12 noon as intimated by them. After rigorous security formalities, the contact from the client’s office welcomed us and informed us that the discussion would start once all the committee members assembled. The clock kept ticking and a few hours passed with none arriving. At this stage we were literally hungry as much as we were hungry for business.

Slowly the officers started trickling in and the meeting started in the evening. The questions from the committee members made it clear that they are convinced on the technical solution and it was just a mind game to build stress and lower the price. We clarified all the technical questions and patiently justified the price as well. It was well past 6pm in the evening with no sign of agreement on price. We had a bus to catch at 10pm to travel to another city. The discussion was in a cordial atmosphere but our token discount was not cutting much ice. The tug of war continued.

Around 8pm ,I felt the need to pause the negotiation without hurting the sentiments. At this stage the Head of Procurement said, “Our MD knows your company Chairman very well. He would readily agree to the price we are seeking”. I knew that he was pulling a fast one. This was a blessing in disguise. I paused for a moment and humbly said, “Sir, it is good to hear about the association at the top. Since I’m not empowered to meet your price expectations, It would be good if you could use your MD’s good offices as well. That will help both of us reach an acceptable solution.” We then signed the minutes and agreed to be in touch.

I reached my base location and had a candid telephonic conversation with the contact person on the client’s side. I told him that we did our best and no further reduction was possible. He took the message internally and the ‘Letter of Intent’ was faxed to us in a few days.

When I reflect back, I cherish the power of the ‘pause’ and thinking #outofthebox to break the impasse in #clientinteractions.

Flashback. 1993. The beginning phase of IT and Computers in India. Computers were still considered a luxury items. If computers were a luxury, then imagine the fate of the related software tools and packages. Not everyone could afford it. Even if they could afford, they didnt want to invest in those tools.

With this background, I joined an organization which was selling antivirus software packages. I used to make 20 to 25 sales calls everyday. Not phone calls but meeting the prospects and customers in person. No mobile phones as we had only pagers in those days. I had a very old TVS50 2 wheeler for commuting, which was a better version of a bicycle. I could easily count the number of calls I made in a day but could never count the number of times my TVS50 broke down on the roads.

Everything was tough. Communication was tough. Commutation was tough. Customers were tough. Piracy was at its peak. Selling was tough then. (I don’t mean to say it is easy now). The first 6 months continued like this and I was nowhere near my salestarget. Frustration. Desperation. I was about to give up.

It was the first day of a fresh month. That’s when my mentor and boss motivated me to give my best. I thought about it for a while. I got an important realization that hard work alone wouldn’t be enough and it was smart work that was the need of the hour. It is not the quantity but the quality that one had to focus on.

I changed my mind and I wanted to give itone more hard try. I put in extra efforts. Showed a lot more persistence and perseverance. I changed my approach and reduced the quantity of calls and improved the quality of my calls.

It was the last day of the month and Boom! I hit the number for the first time after so many failures. That was the beginning of many more success stories that I subsequently wrote. When I reflect now, it was that introspection and realization which pushed me not to give up. That propelled me to think #outofthebox to #breakthefailures.