Leaders and Managers

Managers and leaders are both important. People follow managers because they must. People follow leaders by choice. And, it’s ideal for one person to have both qualities. You can hit a professional jackpot by being great at both. 

QUALITIES OF A GREAT LEADER

1. Being humble 
   A leader is someone who usually shares the spotlight and credits followers for the work that they have done as a team. It takes more confidence to be humble than in basking in the glory of accomplishment. Clients and employees appreciate humility, and leaders who give credit where credit’s due!
2. Lead by example
   Leaders lead by example. They are not hypocrites. If a leader wants subordinates to be punctual, they themselves will establish the habit of being punctual first. Leaders need to set the tone and the followers will be inspired to follow, automatically.
3. Communicate effectively
   Leaders will be able to effectively communicate on and off the job. Along with being heard and understood, great leaders also know the importance of listening. Leaders understand that communication is a two-way street.
4. Know your limits
   Leaders set limits for themselves. Leaders know what and how much they can tolerate, saving the entire office loads of frustration. Keeping clear boundaries helps prevent any sort of confusion.
5. Keep meetings productive
   Time is money! They avoid tangential discussions and other sources of unproductivity during meetings. Leaders trust their team to do their job right, with no need for micromanagement.
6. Be emotionally aware
   They keep all kinds of emotions out of the office. Business is more about the relationships between people. And to build and nurture lasting relationships a good leader has to be emotionally intelligent.
7. Never stop improving
   Great leaders are constantly learning and updating their knowledge. They never stop. They continually work to improve themselves and be better. There is always a new skill to master or a new project to work on. Great leaders keep their mind open for new possibilities and fresh ideas.

QUALITIES OF A GREAT MANAGER

1. Expect excellence
   It is important for a manager to set high yet realistic standards, and expect employees to meet them. Ultimately, the best managers are not those who are the nicest or the toughest, but those who get things done and demonstrate tangible results. Once employees understand that a manager expects excellence—not only their own, but that of others—they will likely begin to up their game and perform better.
2. Communicate regularly by providing meaningful feedback in real time
   At first, communicating effectively may sound a bit trite, but it is fundamental to sound management. The best and strongest managers are those who are excellent communicators. The ability to provide both positive and negative feedback is a core skill and competency for managers.
3. Don’t avoid conflict, but deal with it directly and fairly
   Every professional knows that the workplace is a breeding ground for conflict. Issues like compensation, interpersonal problems, cost-cutting, recognition, management-employee relations, layoffs, and many other points of conflict are bound to arise. There is never a shortage of molehills to create mountains out of.
   Though it is tempting to turn a deaf ear, the best managers do not avoid conflict and instead address any issues that arise fairly. Employees observe takes responsibility and who doesn’t.
   They are likely to show more respect to those managers who resolve issues immediately than those who ignore the problem or don’t act quickly.
4. Be open to new ways of looking at things
   Adaptability, flexibility, and being attuned to their environment are some of the qualities of a good manager. They always look for new opportunities by listening to what others have to say. It is important to be a good listener, no matter your role. That said, it’s quite common for, the best process improvement ideas come from employees who are relatively low in the organizational hierarchy. A good manager is never afraid to shift from the usual “This is the way we’ve always done it here.”
5. Accept that you still have a lot to learn
   Once they have attained a management position, managers sometimes forget that they are in the process of learning, too. You may have expertise in their field with years of experience, but keeping your mind open to new ideas is important. Professional advancement is fueled by a constant learning process—and once a manager accepts this and sets continuous improvement as a standard, they become a better manager than before.
6. Set a good example
   If a manager has an insular mentality, they may struggle to understand subordinates and face difficulty in making them abide by the rules. The same professionalism, commitment, and dedication that the manager demands from his juniors need to be upheld by him, as well.
7. Be decisive
   It is important for a manager to make decisions and stick to them. Employees are generally not comfortable with someone who constantly changes their mind on issues. A confident manager is one who does not fear being wrong. The best managers use bad situations as learning curves and as examples of what not to do. Employees are generally repelled by those employers who are in denial of the repercussions of the decisions that have been made by them.
8. Be patient with yourself
   Being able to develop strong skills leading and managing takes time. Keep in mind all of the above tips. Talk to more people who have been in the role, and learn from them. This will improve your skills as a manager.

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To gain success, a person will need high EQ;

If you don't want to lose quickly, you will need a high IQ;

If you want to be respected, you will need high LQ (of love) ... Jack Ma, Founder, Alibaba

Empathy deficit disorder

• You may not realize it, but a great number of people suffer from empathy deficit disorder (EDD). Although empathy has become something of a political buzzword, it is surprisingly difficult to define. Its meaning has shifted significantly over time. 
• Empathy deficit is a highly consequential characteristic of antisocial personality disorder, a psychodynamic formulation.The origin, maintenance, and possible resolution of this profound deficit are not very clear. 
• Sympathy is, "I understand how you feel" whereas Empathy is, "I feel how you feel." Even the narcissist can be sympathetic. Empathy is certainly more important and that builds healthy, mutual relationships, an essential part of mental health.
• Normal variations of mood and temperament are increasingly redefined as new disorders. The EDD is becoming more pronounced in today's world.
• Empathy excess is much rarer than empathy deficit. While people with empathy excess suffer alone, those with empathy deficits cause others to suffer. Or at least some of them do.
• Zero-positive empathy people are with autism but their systemising nature means they are drawn to patterns, regularity and consistency. They are likely to follow rules and regulations and the patterns of civic life. Zero-negatives empathy people are with borderline antisocial personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder. They are capable of inflicting physical and psychological harm on others and are unmoved by the plight of those they hurt.
• Given that testosterone is found in higher quantities in men than women, it may come as no surprise that men score lower on empathy than women. Another biological factor is genetics. 
• Our increasingly polarized social and political culture of the past few years reveals that EDD is more severe than ever. It has profound consequences for the mental health of both individuals and society. Yet it's ignored as a psychological disturbance by most mental health professionals.
• EDD keeps you locked inside a self-centered world, and that breeds emotional isolation, disconnection and polarization. That's highly dangerous in today's interconnected, globalized world. 
• Lack of empathy has consequences for the most vulnerable and for politicians too.
• More troubling are differences in empathy and compassion between upper classes and lower classes. Higher class individuals actually had a more difficult time recognizing emotions in others. Lower classes develops more perceptive social skills than the upper in making empathetic connections. Lower class individuals proved to be more generous, charitable, trusting and helpful compared to upper classes. Upper-class people, in spite of all their advantages, suffer empathy deficits and there are enormous consequences. 
• One of the more surprising and confounding facts of charity in America is that people who can least afford to give are the ones who donate greatest percentage of their income. Those with earnings in the top 20% contributed 1.3% of their income to charity and those in bottom 20% donated 3.2% of their income.
• Overcoming EDD is easier than you may think. Literally, you do feel another's pain or other emotions. You can overcome EDD by retraining your brain through conscious practices. Generosity and altruistic behavior light up pleasure centers of the brain. In effect, what you think and feel is what you become. And it means you can learn to grow empathy and overcome EDD. 
• Empathy could also be taught in schools. Surely beliefs are a much bigger cause of evil than biology or upbringing.
• The rush to harsh judgment with troubling frequency is amplified by social media. In social media, anyone can share with the world their own hasty conclusions formed more by the pressure to be first rather than to be fair.
• Trolling is now reasonably common but rudeness is barely given a second thought before self-publication, displays a massive empathy deficit, a reckless indifference to others.
• Being able to see different points of view is what helps people to be reasonable, or you don't understand someone until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.
• When strangers told each other about painful moments in their lives, there was more empathy expressed by the less powerful person. 
• The most effective leaders are outstanding at abilities that build on empathy, like persuasion and influence, motivating and listening, teamwork and collaboration. This fact of social life poses a danger for leaders.
• A remarkable number of people who are supposed to be devoting their lives to representing others seem clueless about how their constituents actually live and what they need.
• Leaders at higher levels are most in danger of coming down with empathy deficit disorder, as you rise through the ranks fewer and fewer people are candid with you, willing to give you frank feedback on how you seem to others.
• Almost two-thirds of working Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. And they’re worried sick about whether their kids will ever make it. They need leaders who understand their plight instead of denying it. At the very least, they need leaders who empathize with what they’re going through, not those with EDD.
• According to Barack Obama, the "empathy deficit" is a more pressing political problem for America than the federal deficit.

 

Empathy deficit disorder -- do you suffer from it?

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Modi's decisions of demonetisation, GST etc subjecting large numbers of lower classes to avoidable hardships, loss of jobs, income erosion, destruction of economy, agrarian distress and so on are reflection of enormous empathy deficit disorder suffered by him and pointing needles towards his authoritarian tendencies & attitudes. Modi’s penchant for style and no substance has a chilling similarity with Mussolini’s Fascist Italy with less concerns for efficient governing of people in solving their economic problems but focused more on the spectacle of power, on the visual and impressive display of symbols, myths and rituals. His focus is only on strategies for winning elections one after another and anything else is part of this larger scheme of things for achieving his goal by any means no matter what ever is the price the nation has to pay. So far people were mesmerized to believe his sincerity but all the people cannot be fooled all the times.