Leadership is a Personal Choice

By Mirza Yawar Baig

Business Careers Non-Profit

What's Leadership is a Personal Choice about?

A podcast by Mirza Yawar Baig on Leadership in life

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Leadership is a Personal Choice episodes:

08.06.2023
Going back to school at an advanced age
At age 70 I decided to go back to college. In this episode, I talk about my return to formal education – an 8-week immersion Arabic course at Middlebury Language Schools.
05.23.2023
Beware of gradual change
I quote from something a dear friend sent me. “In Ernest Hemingway’s famous novel, The Sun Also Rises, a character is asked how he went bankrupt. “In two ways,” he answers. “Gradually and then suddenly.” A famous sentence, one that aptly describes how...
12.31.2021
Beware of the C-Word
As you work towards a great goal you will become restless, irritated, and impatient and inclined to take shortcuts and cut corners – all for the excellent reason that you want to see the project up and started as soon...
10.27.2020
David and Goliath
Accompanying Video: https://youtu.be/rxcdLVicuEw
09.21.2020
Gift of a Year
In 1968, Hyderabad was in a state of pandemonium. The city was the bedrock of the infamous Telangana agitation and witnessed both frenzy and fire as a multitude of students demanded statehood for Telangana. As one would expect, it effected...
09.14.2020
Third Time Lucky
Listen to Mirza Yawar Baig narrate his story of securing a job at the plantation estate after returning from Guyuna and the lessons he learned along the way.
09.06.2020
Mentoring, Elixir of Life
A lot of people seek out mentor-ship but very few consider actually becoming a mentor. What does it take to be a mentor? How do you convey your knowledge to your protegee? What are some things to do and not...
08.30.2020
Teambuilding is about you
Team building while being critical to any organisation, is all about the individual. Listen to Mirza Yawar Baig explain the three major things you as an individual can do to bolster your team’s overall functioning: Learning from your mistakes, encouraging...
08.23.2020
Influences.
Based off the BBC4 “Desert Island Discs” podcast, college student Omar Abdelaal sits down and asks Leadership Consultant Mr. Mirza Yawar Baig to select 8 music titles most connected to his life experiences. Interviewing in the outdoors, a natural habitat...
08.16.2020
The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 4
A good plan with graded steps plays the role of bringing the stars within reach. It also indicates that enough thoughtshare has happened in the genesis of the plan. Potential supporters look for this consciously or unconsciously. For example, when...
08.09.2020
The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 3
As I have said earlier, it is in the nature of extraordinary goals to inspire extraordinary effort. Nobody rises to low expectations; people rise to high expectations. It is essential that the final result is visualized clearly and is as...
08.03.2020
The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 2
The challenge was that there was no formal training course, degree, or program that I could attend to qualify as a leadership trainer. Also, I was sitting on top of the hill in the Anamallais while everything I needed to...
07.26.2020
The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 1
Believe it or not, the first time that color television sets became freely available in India was after the Asian Games in 1985. Almost everyone I knew in the plantations immediately bought a color TV and a VCP (no VCRs...
07.19.2020
Shift in Education from IA to AI
Covid has brought us face to face with the reality of what is truly important in life. Thanks to the enforced isolation of home quarantine and the shut-down of all public life, we have been forced to face ourselves. Education,...
07.15.2020
Hit the road running
A senior manager in Dubai who I am coaching asked me this question. Question: I want to be able to improve my self-belief the way you did this while in the plantation industry and later on in America when you stuck to...
04.18.2020
BC to AC
We are living in defining times. Never in living memory has the world seen something like the Covid-19 virus and the disruption that it has caused all over the world. Not in living memory or history. There are those who...
03.31.2020
Every choice has a price tag
The objective of life is to achieve that which you did not know you could. To scale heights that leave you breathless with fear until you realize that it is excitement and not fear at all. Excitement is fear...
03.23.2020
What’s your worth?
Today we live in a world where dignity has quite wrongfully been linked to material wealth. No matter how learned a man or woman may be, or how kind or truthful or trustworthy, if they are not wealthy, they are...
03.16.2020
On becoming a Consultant
Many young and old (post retirement) friends and acquaintances ask me for pointers to enter the world of Organizational Consulting & Training which I have been in since 1985. I thought it would be good to share generally what I...
03.10.2020
Jack Welch, Built to last
Jack Welch passed away at the age of 84, on March 1, 2020. I decided to title my podcast ‘Built to Last’, after Collins & Porras’s book by that title which I consider to be one of the best...
03.02.2020
Stand, if you’re alive
Have you ever seen an eagle take a duck in flight? Or a leopard bring down a wildebeest running with his herd? Or Rafael Nadal return a serve? They all have one thing in common and that is FOCUS. You...
02.23.2020
Change the language
The one who controls the language, controls the debate. Today Indian Muslims are in a peculiar situation where they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. and interestingly it is all a product of...
02.16.2020
Nation and Forest Fires
The whole logic of fighting forest fires is about preventing them from starting. And if they do start, then trying to prevent them from growing. If this is not done, then once a fire grows beyond a certain size,...
02.08.2020
Master or Victim
People sometimes look at the misery that surrounds us and ask, ‘Why doesn’t God do something about all the sick and dying and starving people?’ The answer is, ‘God did something already. He created you and ...
02.01.2020
It’s not my fault
On April 13, 1919, the 9th Gurkhas, 54th Sikhs & 59th Sind Rifles, on the orders of Col. Dyer, fired on an unarmed, peaceful crowd gathered to celebrate Besakhi at the Jalianwala Bagh in Amritsar. As a ...
01.25.2020
For he was a man
I started my corporate career in Guyana with the Guyana Mining Enterprise in Kwakwani, on the Rio Berbice. Kwakwani was a small mining town, hanging on the bank of the Berbice River trying not to get pushed into its...
01.18.2020
Confusion about kindness
What is kindness? Is it accepting substandard work or is it insisting that only the best quality is acceptable? There is often a lot of confusion about this and people think that they are being kind when...
01.11.2020
Become a rock in the foundation
I want to begin by saying that today I am truly proud that my nation, India, is still a democracy and that we the people of India are people with courage and the willingness to stand up...
01.04.2020
Mentoring is a contact sport
Mentoring is the in-thing today. There seems to be a profusion of those who want to or believe they can mentor others. The interesting thing is the name for the one who wants to be mentored. It is...
12.28.2019
Living thoughtfully – #2
There are two stages to reflection: What happened and what did I learn? …https://yawarbaig.com/wherearetheleaders/living-thoughtfully-maximize-your-roi/
12.21.2019
Living thoughtfully – #1
As I grow older I am aware of an ever increasing sense of urgency; a feeling that I have progressively less time left to leave behind a legacy that can be a credit to me. This sense of...
12.14.2019
Change the script
We have reached a stage in our development (if I dare to call it that) as human beings where our world seems to run on hatred, not love. I think we all know the many reasons for this...
12.07.2019
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...
11.30.2019
Try
It was December 1980. I was sitting on the veranda of my house in Guyana. It was about 9.00 pm, dark, balmy evening in the tropics. As usual on most days in this season, it had rained...
11.23.2019
Attitude
“Can we change their attitude?” “No.” “Can they change their own attitude?” “Yes.” “So, what is our goal? To change their attitude, or to convince them that they need to change it themselves?” “That is challenging, difficult, will take sweat and tears……….do I really want...
11.16.2019
Become a villager
In 1985, when I was studying at the IIM Ahmedabad, our Professor of Organization Behaviour (OB) Area was Prof. Pulin Garg. One day he told us a very interesting story which has remained in my mind...
11.09.2019
Old friend, here I come
The idea of meeting old friends after decades of having been out of touch is romantic indeed but one that is in reality fraught with danger. Old friends are a mirror in whom you see your...
11.02.2019
Three Fundamental Laws
I am going on a long journey and want to remind myself and you of the three critical lessons that I learnt from my life. I call them my Three Fundamental Laws. I hope they will help you as...
10.26.2019
Leadership is about living your values
Leadership is not playacting. It is not pretension. It is not a game. It is authenticity, integrity, putting your money and yourself where your mouth is. We learned to walk our talk and the perils of not...
10.20.2019
O! Teacher stop teaching
Our present methods of teaching which are inflicted on by far the vast majority of children the world over are the single biggest cause for killing the imagination that every child is born with and making them...
10.13.2019
Eulogy or Elegy
First the words;Eulogy: a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly, especially a tribute to someone who has just died. Elegy: An elegy is a sad poem, usually written to praise and express sorrow for someone who is...
10.06.2019
How to behave around snakes
Snakes have always had a fascination for us. We fear them, some people worship them, we hate them, and we kill them. Those who don’t do any of this and instead, appreciate them for what they are; rodent controllers, snake...
09.29.2019
Learning how to learn
Learning and even more relearning, is a key survival skill as well as the single most important skill that any person can learn and continue to remain adept in, if he wants to be and remain successful...
09.22.2019
FIKR
Sometimes people ask me for the secret of success. We live in a world of fantasy where people want magic formulae for everything. Let me tell you the good news. It is not a secret, but it is a...
09.16.2019
Success is the biggest danger
Success seems to breed fear of failure. This is a paradox, since success should really build confidence. It does that too, but what seems to happen over the years is that we become progressively more afraid of ...
09.15.2019
FIKR – Formula for success
Sometimes people ask me for the secret of success. We live in a world of fantasy where people want magic formulae for everything. Let me tell you the good news. It is not a secret, but it is a magic...
09.08.2019
Last of the ‘Innocents’
“First To Log In, First To Log Out People born in the mid-to-late 1970s are the last generation of humans on the planet to have grown up without the internet. Social scientists call them the Last of the Innocents. In his book The End of...
09.01.2019
Success is the biggest danger
Interestingly, success seems to breed fear of failure. This is a paradox, since success should really build confidence. It does that too, but what seems to happen over the years is that we become progressively more afraid of losing what...
08.25.2019
See with ‘THEIR’ eyes
Have you ever been in the shower in a 5-star hotel, nice and wet all over and you reach for the shampoo bottle, only to find that there are three? That is not because you are drunk and are seeing triple but because...
08.18.2019
Customer Service? Who is she?
This is why it happens Whenever I speak of customer service, I am reminded of how some people from north India, from the Hindi speaking belt of UP and MP pronounce it. They say, ‘Kasht-mar service’. Now ‘Kasht’ in Hindi means ‘difficulty’. And ‘Mar’...

What's Leadership is a Personal Choice about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Leadership is a Personal Choice episodes:

Going back to school at an advanced age

Beware of gradual change

Beware of the C-Word

David and Goliath

Gift of a Year

Third Time Lucky

Mentoring, Elixir of Life

Teambuilding is about you

Influences.

The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 4

The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 3

The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 2

The power of the extraordinary goal – Part 1

Shift in Education from IA to AI

Hit the road running

BC to AC

Every choice has a price tag

What’s your worth?

On becoming a Consultant

Jack Welch, Built to last

Stand, if you’re alive

Change the language

Nation and Forest Fires

Master or Victim

It’s not my fault

For he was a man

Confusion about kindness

Become a rock in the foundation

Mentoring is a contact sport

Living thoughtfully – #2

Living thoughtfully – #1

Change the script

The Statesman within

Try

Attitude

Become a villager

Old friend, here I come

Three Fundamental Laws

Leadership is about living your values

O! Teacher stop teaching

Eulogy or Elegy

How to behave around snakes

Learning how to learn

FIKR

Success is the biggest danger

FIKR – Formula for success

Last of the ‘Innocents’

Success is the biggest danger

See with ‘THEIR’ eyes

Customer Service? Who is she?