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Influencing without authority
Two lessons from this incident; the importance of building a good case and the importance of putting it in a way that makes sense to the listener from his perspective. ‘What’s in it for me?’ is a tune that everyone listens to. It’s about speaking the truth but doing it in a way that makes…
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Committing matrimony
Truth, Caring, Mutual respect are what I call my three Cardinal Principles of happy marriages. Please notice that I am not using the word ‘love’. Love comes out of these three things. What is called love is usually physical desire. The shape or size of someone’s body is not the inspiration for love; it can…
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The Statesman within
My friend asked me a question; Where are the statesmen? Where have they all gone? For the sake of some clarity, I defined statesmen as people who were highly respected for their integrity, were highly ethical and moral and showed long-term vision for their people and countries and spent their lives in helping their people…
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Living in the Amazonian forest
In those years, I learnt the meaning of rejection, parting, and loss. I also learnt how to pick myself up from the depth of depression and rebuild my self-esteem, not on the shaky basis of other people’s opinions, but my own assessment and acceptance of myself. I learnt to like myself, to forgive myself, to…
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Something is happening
We need to get out of our safe little nests and speak out against those who seek to use hatred to divide us so that they can benefit. We must speak out against all hatred, no matter who it is directed against. Antisemitism is as wrong as Islamophobia or any other form of hatred. Not…
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Yala 2019
Having finished our tea and loaded our camera equipment and ourselves into the Mahindra Bolero ‘Jeep’, we set off for our morning ‘safari’. Sri Lankan national parks use several different ‘safari’ vehicles. Toyota Hilux, Toyota Land Cruiser, Land Rover and Mahindra Bolero. Of these the Mahindra Bolero ‘Jeep’ is the most uncomfortable and potentially unsafe.…
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Fire and Tea
As I stood there, watching this sight, the thing that I was most conscious about was my own helplessness. The fire was so big and powerful that there was simply no way to put it out. We had tried everything already. All the fire extinguishers that we could reach had been used up. The ones…
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Tajdeed-ul-Ummah bi Tajdeed-ul-Ulama
In my view the single most critical thing that distinguishes Islam from all other religions and ideologies is its focus and emphasis on knowledge. The only thing that Allahﷻ taught His Messengerﷺ to ask for increase in, is knowledge. It is for this reason that the scholars of Islam have a very special place in…
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Person-led to Process-driven, Making the critical transformation
Transforming by chance or by choice? It may seem as you read the above, that given the nature of issues with family businesses it is almost impossible for them to transform their intrinsic character and become process-driven. This is not so. It is eminently possible to transform, and I am going to show you the…
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First-time Manager
Vision is to be able to see that which doesn’t exist. Anticipation is the key which is not difficult to achieve if you do some scenario planning.