Achieve Unstoppable Success in Any Economy

The 7 Divine Mantras to Maximize Your Leadership Potential

Payal Nanjiani

• Publisher: Productivity Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000096170
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Leadership

With masterful insight and brilliant simplicity, Payal Nanjiani has distilled some of the most powerful leadership and success wisdom available for both professional and personal leadership into seven practical lessons that leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs can immediately apply to send morale and productivity soaring in these challenging and uncertain business times. The book is designed to help you become a highly inner-self-directed individual and take your leadership and business to new levels. It offers seven divine mantras that will enable you and your colleagues to move through hardship and achieve unstoppable success regardless of the economy.

PART 1

The Core of Your Leadership and Unstoppable Success

Who Am I?

About 2,600 years ago, when Siddhartha Gautama (later the Buddha) sat down under the Bodhi tree, his resolve was to realize his true nature. Siddhartha had a profound interest in truth, and the questions “Who am I?” and “What is reality?” urged him to look even more deeply within and shine a light on his own awareness. The answers led to his enlightenment. “Who am I?” A simple question, you might say. Well, how would you answer it? With your name, your family pedigree, your job, or your income? The business world gives us many titles—manager, engineer, cardiologist, server, doctor, coach, entrepreneur, or speaker. No doubt, these roles are real. But once you begin to identify yourself with your titles, positions, income, car, office space, company name, and business, they become your identity. And that externally based identity manipulates your thinking and behavior. Our titles and roles constantly change with time. The truth is that you are known as a leader because you have a team. You are an entrepreneur because you have a product or service to offer. You are a doctor because you have patients. So everything you believe yourself to be is dependent on something else outside of yourself. As you get attached to these titles and roles, you begin to identify yourself with them.

Dave’s Story

Some years ago, during my speaking engagements, I met people from different parts of the world and saw the importance of the “Who am I?” question. At one point, I met a young man, Dave, at one of the conferences I was speaking at in Australia. He must have been in his early thirties. My talk was centered around “Unstoppable Leadership Success” and how leaders can apply the I-Power to build their business and team. During a networking break, Dave came to meet with me. He said if only he had heard about the I-Power earlier, his results would have been different. Earlier in his career, Dave had been climbing the corporate ladder at high speed. Within just a few years of his hiring, he was named as the youngest vice president in the history of the company. People surrounded him for advice; he was called upon at various public conferences to speak about his success. Office colleagues waited at airports and hotel lobbies to personally pick him up; everyone offered him the best service ever. One night while driving home from a late-night meeting, Dave’s car met with a brutal accident. The accident caused Dave serious brain damage that led to aphasia. Aphasia is a language impairment that affects the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write. Doctors said he was lucky to survive, but it took him three years to get his speech back enough to be understood, and it still continues to remain distorted to some extent. He continued to work at the same company but had to step down to the level of an individual contributor. Outwardly, Dave appears to work earnestly at his job, but internally, his world remains shattered. He moves from one day to another with no enthusiasm and hates the fact that he no longer receives those accolades and service. People no longer ask for his advice, and he could see no future for himself in the workplace. After hearing my talk, he experienced a leadership breakthrough. He realized he wasn’t just that role or title. That he wasn’t the income he receives or the accolades he gets. He is much beyond. Dave promised himself to apply my program’s mantras in his life.

Alex’s Story

That same year I also had an opportunity to meet Alex, the CEO of a well-known company in Singapore. During our lunch meeting, he said something deep that really got my attention. He said that whatever name and fame he has received is not for him. It’s for the title that he holds. The day this title is gone, everything that came with it would go too; everything, except the self. You will take yourself with you everywhere. I observed that Alex navigated through all his work pressures by knowing himself internally.

Anil’s Story

As 2009 was wrapping up, I had the opportunity to coach Anil, a manager from a Fortune 500 company. He was determined to move ahead and achieve his goals with speed and also serenity. Every day he would drive himself to work, drop his daughter at school, do all his day-to-day duties, and at the same time, aspire to reach to the next level in his career. He would go the extra mile to invest time and money on his personal development. And above all, he was a person who always smiled. You may say, “What is so great about what he does?” Well, only two years before, Anil had been brutally bitten by a shark at the beach. He survived, but both of his arms had to be amputated. His arms may have been removed, but his determination wasn’t. He bounced back within just a few months and has been taking over many aspects of his former life. He knew he is beyond this body.

Speaking with Dave, Alex, Anil, and many others like them, I realized that there is power in the question—“Who am I?” Because we do not know our real self, we do not see the reality of who we are and can be. We allow people and situations to define us. We are always chasing shadows. We hold on too tightly to whatever we possess, and the fear of losing it keeps us in fear each day. Instead of believing in our core self-identity, we believe our identity originates outside of ourselves in titles, business, and income. This state is called maya. Maya means “illusion.” We are so focused on day-to-day operations and doing what we believe needs to be done that we don’t see other challenges coming. And when they do come and enter into our lives, they shatter most of us. They break us from within and then all the accolades, titles, and fame that we have become attached to seem to leave us feeling lonely. And then depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, loneliness, and sadness enter into our lives. But some leaders do not break from within when life happens. They move ahead. They believe in themselves and aren’t afraid of losing what the business world has bestowed on them. Challenges do not break them; challenges make them. These leaders reach the category of the “successful few.” They are highly inner-directed. They are unstoppable. This is because they know deep within who they truly are. All the negativity and tension in the corporate world today is because of not knowing who we truly are. When you do not know who you truly are, economic shifts are going to adversely impact your life. From an individual contributor to the CEO of large organizations, this question remains hugely unanswered today. We are just moving on, shifting from one role to another, fulfilling the demands of our jobs, completing our to-do lists, meeting people, and just finishing the day. In the daily grind of work life, we often forget to pause and ask this profound question ourselves: “Who am I?” It will take leaders with a different way of thinking to reinvent leadership in business.

To thrive in the face of relentless change, complexity and uncertainty, you need to address this question, and you should dig deeper into yourself every time you ask it. It is also a question that builds an organization’s culture, and it will likely cause you to begin to question your role in the organization. You may start to design your own personal branding. But if you don’t know who you truly are, do you know anything else for sure? If you don’t know who you are, will you be capable of truly knowing your team and your clients? You are shifting unconsciously from one persona to the next all the time. The only way to unveil reality is to know your true identity. There is nowhere else to search for the answer to this deep question except within yourself. What you think the self is, is what ego is, an imagined story of who you think you are based on social conditioning.

Knowing yourself is a journey. It is not a quick, leisurely activity. It’s also not about finding what your favorite color or passion is. Knowing yourself is about discovering who you are as a human being, the real you. In the day-to-day work of keeping up with your roles and titles, you’ve lost your real self. Let’s say, for example, you are a coach like me, interacting with thousands of people globally. And let’s say, for instance, that one of your qualities is to be cheerful. So you smile at your clients, you greet people more often than most others do, and for those who respond positively to you, you reciprocate more positively. And then some people do not smile back at you and you reciprocate negatively to them. Now, say a potential client wants to hire you as a coach. He checks for references. One group of people tell him that you are a great person to work with. You are always cheerful and fun to be around. While another group says that you barely acknowledge them; you are always gloomy. Your potential client now doubts you. My question to you is “Who are you?” Are you the cheerful person, or are you the gloomy person? Our qualities and behavior often change in response to other people’s behavior. With this mirroring behavior, you lose your authentic self. Our fundamental challenge as leaders is to differentiate between Who am I? and What am I? When you answer the first question, you begin to build a more powerful self. And this powerful self becomes an achiever. As the business world becomes more complex and its problems more deeply rooted, answering this question is crucial not only for your success but for your long-term survival. You cannot achieve unstoppable success in any economy without knowing who you truly are. The study of leadership begins with the study of discovering the self. Knowing who you are has a deep connection with your performance.

The Quest for High Performance

Over the past several years, I’ve received many queries about high performance. Everyone wants to internalize the quality of being a high performer. They are perceived as achievers of unstoppable success. These are people who are game-changers who thrive in any economy. Why do many people fail to consistently sustain high performance? I attribute this problem to a lack of self-worth. Here’s a little secret—high performers know and observe themselves closely. They know within who they truly are and this is why these people know their self-worth and it’s set to a high level. Consider the actions of this mid-level employee who was invited to sit in on a sales strategy meeting with his company’s top executives. Although he was both very smart and efficient, he sat there in fearful silence. It was later revealed that he was intimidated by the presence of executives whom he envisioned as “high in rank” and that perception lowered his own self-worth. Because people don’t value themselves highly enough on the inside, they stay in the background and never reach their potential.

The Importance of Self-Worth

In the early stages of my career, when I first came to America, I had a job where I earned $14 an hour for doing stuff that I thought I liked. I felt grateful and thought this was the best I could get. But as time wore on, I noticed I was using all kinds of skills that, in their respective marketplaces, fetched much more than $14 an hour. I was suddenly doing employee relations, training, customer value creation strategies, newsletter creation, and marketing. One night while eating dinner with a few friends, I heard them all talk about how well they were paid for the work they did. And when they heard what I was getting, they sowed the seeds of self-worth in my head; they all said, “Are you serious? You should be getting paid three times what you are for what you’re doing. They are paying you like a secretary and getting the best of your management skills for far too little.” I went home that night and couldn’t sleep. Was I worth $14 an hour, or was I worth more? What was I worth?

I am happy that I no longer question my worth because I have a clear answer to the “Who am I?” question. But sadly, many people fall into the trap of low self-worth. Such people are readily dismissed as “not good enough” to lead others. And even if they do get some opportunities; their growth is stagnated because they don’t believe in themselves. Your performance can never reach its peak if you do not know your self-worth first. Peak performance is a mindset. How you feel about yourself and what you think you are worth affect every aspect of your life.

Have you ever thought about and reflected on these questions: What do you believe you deserve? Do you know your value in your industry, in your organization, among your people? Sure, there are salary calculator tools available, but compensation is only one aspect of your work and value. I am talking here of something deeper. In the Gospel of Matthew, it is rightly said, “So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Most of us don’t know our real worth, and this is why we settle for whatever is offered. I remember a story I heard in my middle school years about a young man who went to a sage for help.

Once, a man came to a wise man and complained that he felt worthless and that he didn’t want to live anymore. He said that everyone around him said that he was a failure and a fool, and he begged the wise man to help him understand his worth. The teacher took off a ring he was wearing on his little finger and gave it to the boy, saying, “Take the horse out there and ride to the marketplace. Find out for me the worth of this ring but make sure you do not sell it.”

The youth took the ring and left. As soon as he got to the marketplace, he stopped by a vegetable seller and checked the ring’s worth with him. He looked at the ring with some interest, and said he would offer a pound a carrots for it. The youth thanked him and went ahead. Soon he stopped by a fruit seller and asked him what he would offer for this ring. The fruit seller looked at the ring and said he could offer two bags of apples. The youth went ahead and met a jeweler. The jeweler looked at the ring and said he could give him five thousand dollars for this ring. The youth felt happy, but said to the jeweler that he could not sell the ring. As he went ahead he saw a huge diamond merchant’s shop. The youth asked the owner the worth of the ring. The owner took the ring, placed it on a clean silk cloth, looked at it through his magnifying glass and said, “Young man, even if I sell my entire shop I could not buy this ring. It’s priceless.” Soon the boy mounted his horse and rode back. He entered the room and told the teacher, everything that had happened in the marketplace in regard to this ring. The teacher, after listening to the youth, said, “You are like this ring: a worthy and unique jewel. The only person who can understand your true worth is an expert. Why do you go around expecting that anyone you meet on the street knows your true worth?” So saying, he put the ring back on his little finger.

Most of us behave like this youth. We don’t know our worth and we accept whatever worth someone puts on us. If you are going to lead, lead in a way that creates value in the lives of others. In order to add that value, you must know your self-worth first. And this is true for everyone, not just for the trained and educated class of people.

During a seminar in San Francisco, on my taxi ride to the venue, we stopped at a red light and I noticed a beggar standing on the corner with a board that read, “I am homeless and hungry, please help.” I rolled down my window and called to her. I asked her how much she wanted that could help her at the moment. The question seemed to shock her. Then, she smiled and said, “A dollar would be great.” I took out my wallet and handed her a dollar. The light turned green and my taxi went ahead. I later thought to myself that the beggar could have asked for two dollars or more. I don’t know if I would have given her exactly what she might have asked for. But the point here is that in her current situation, she thought one dollar was all that she was worth.

How would you answer the question I presented to the beggar? What value do you place on yourself? Many people are struggling with insecurity, and it’s eating away at their ability to make things happen in their lives. How many times have you said to yourself that you can never build a business empire? How many times have you dreamed of doing a triathlon but you didn’t because you believed you’re terrible at athletics? How many times have you set a goal of getting into that next grade level sooner but were positive you’d never figure it out? Listen, you are only worth as much as you think you are. And you will get only as much as you think you deserve. If you think you’re worth $14 an hour, you likely won’t strive for more. If you think you’re worth more than that, you’ll work to confirm that belief. Everything you attract into your life is a reflection of what you feel you are worth and how highly you value yourself in all areas of y...