Hero Banner

HERO BANNER

Free Insights For The Week

Upskill with the world’s most influential books in bite-sized lessons.

Insights On Communication

Business Essentials

Insights On Negotiation

Insights On Innovation

Insights On Customer Centricity

INSIGHTS FROM BEST-SELLING BOOKS

Upskill with business leaders, subject matter experts and faculty from top universities.

Lessons From Failures That Led To Success

People Management

Learning Data Science

Lessons On Time Management

Lessons On Business Analytics 

INSIGHTS FROM FACULTY & EXPERTS

In this course, leadership expert Audrey Daniels teaches you how to embody the traits of an assertive leader, and how to show empathy in a way that motivates others. By leveraging the art of assertiveness, you'll learn how to lead with confidence and compel others without alienating them. As one of the most challenging traits for leaders, developing your own assertive leadership style is crucial to your success and your organization’s.

Developing Assertive Leadership By Audrey Daniels

As one of the most challenging traits for leaders, developing your own assertive leadership style is crucial to your success and your organization’s.

Assertive Leadership: Increasing Your Visibility As A Leader

A common myth is assertive leadership can be damaging to the morale of a team. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to examine the benefits assertiveness provides to your organization.

Being an assertive leader has many advantages. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to identify advantages for your leadership style.

It is critical for you to be aware of yourself and who you are as a leader if you're going to be leading others. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to improve your self-awareness as a leader.

The Importance Of Self-Awareness In Assertive Leadership

Module 3: Assertive Leadership And Emotional Intelligence

Empathy allows us to relate to others and in some cases compels us to take action. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to identify the advantages of demonstrating empathy.

Taking out the time to improve our actions helps us to respond in a positive manner.  After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to examine how altering how we manage ourselves helps us improve as leaders.

Knowing how to respond in different work situations is critical for effective leadership. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to improve your awareness of your surroundings, especially in your work environment.

Successful leaders are learners first and foremost. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to craft a learning plan for continually developing yourself.

Module 4: Communicating With Diplomacy And Tactfulness

Words can help convey or undermine what you're trying to say including the actions you want to execute. Are you effectively communicating with your team? After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to distinguish the best ways to inspire those you lead.

Nearly 93% of communication relates to our body language, tone, and other complex gestures and sounds. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to identify the best ways to communicate in a positive and assertive manner to get your point across.

Leaders who truly change lives have the extraordinary ability to captivate others by embracing differences and forming strong connections with employees. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to use three simple ways to get your team onboard with your vision.

Module 5: Intention Matters: Leading With Purpose

At its most fundamental level, effective communication is the exchange of thoughts, information, ideas, and messages between people or groups. When your message is clear and concise, it is easier for others to understand and respond. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to use precise language to motivate your team.

As a leader, it is important to set standards. This includes drawing the line and maintaining choices. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to be more comfortable saying "no" when needed so you can focus and say yes on what's important.

When we talk about adaptability, we often think of the platinum rule which includes taking individual's values, styles, needs and emotions, then connecting with them in a way that is effective. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to implement practices for motivating and encouraging your team.

The Power Of Meeting People Where They Are

Responsible leadership is all about having a mindset that says, “I am the person who must make this happen.” As Forbes puts it, "responsible behavior in leadership is a willingness to take charge and not shirk from decisions." After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to answer the question "Exactly what is responsible leadership?"

Two authors, Kouzes and Posner, caution organizations about hiring the most talented and the brightest individual when they do not possess the personal and social skills needed to be an effective leader. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to recognize how you behave in calm and stressful situations.

A leader is someone who inspires confidence with everyone in the organization. The idea of doing "small" things regularly over time is a powerful tool we often overlook in our hurry to show grand results now.  After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to identify three key components of being a consistent leader.

Admirable leadership starts with understanding our personality and character. Being aware of our habits helps us in positioning a positive leadership presence. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to take steps to be fully attentive and aware of your overall conduct.

Plan, intent, direction, and goals are all words to describe purpose. As leaders how we engage and motivate others often depends on how we communicate those words with our excitement for the project.  After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to communicate with enthusiasm without offending others.

Keeping your word, following through on promises, and delivering on time is important not only to your team but your reputation and the organization. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to follow three important rules to being trustworthy.

Being accountable is about being responsible for the result. Ownership is about initiative and accountability is about follow-through.  After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to acknowledge your actions and see how they affect your team members' abilities to accomplish their goals.

Being a leader is not a position but a behavior. There are certain standards to uphold when leading others. After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to provide compelling impressions of your leadership.

“Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect" — Ralph Waldo Emerson. Great leaders have to be valued in order to be successful. When employees respect you, they are more likely to work harder to accomplish a shared goal they believe in.  After listening to this lesson, you'll be able to identify key principles that leaders should keep in mind when appealing to their team.

In this video, the instructor shares a few more resources to improve your leadership skills.

Partnerships are never easy, even if you have a shared vision. But often, when two people bring out the best in each other, behemoths get created.

Business Partnerships That Changed The World

Bill Gates and Paul Allen forged more than a friendship in school. They set the foundation for a partnership that benefited from their contrasting skills, and a shared love for programming.

Maintain an open discourse with your business parter but stick to your respective competencies.

Magic was created when Disney's Michael Eisner and Frank Wells-- one an innovator and the other a dealmaker-- decided to join forces.

A succesful partnership is built on honesty, complementary skills, effective communication, and a focus on individual responsibilities.

Charlie Munger wanted to be a lawyer but was convinced by Warren Buffett to come on board at Berkshire Hathaway. That started a partnership that would fuel the growth of the investing major.

The foundation for a successful partnership is mutual respect. This allows the organization to benefit from their complementary thinking.

The teaming of Oprah Winfrey and Jeff Jacobs is legendary. How did their paths cross? Why did she trust a new manager? From a highly paid employee to the owner of a multi-billion dollar empire, find out how Jacobs masterminded her stellar rise.

A successful partnership requires a clear brand and clear manager. Partners must bring their own unique skill sets but work together to grow their companies.

How does one arrive at decisions? Why do we sometimes feel the urge to go with our gut and at other times deliberate endlessly? These are the questions author Malcolm Gladwell delves into in his book, Blink. Behavioral economist Dr. Tremaine Du Preez takes us through this seminal title that probes the power and conditioning of the human mind in this nine-part series. Watch and learn when to follow your instinct and when to ignore it.

The phenomenon of instinct derives from years of information gathering that makes our brains react the way they do to certain things. This series aims to unravel the secrets behind split-second decisions and proves how these can be as good (or sometimes even better) as slow, pondered ones.

Can you assess an individual’s personality traits simply by looking at their personal belongings? A la Sherlock Holmes? Gladwell believes each of us has the ability to call upon our inner Sherlock if we approach a problem by instinctively cutting out the fluff and breaking down the information.

Breaking down and simplifying information, cuts out the clutter instinctively and helps get to the point quickly with clarity and focus.

How do some people just know when something is not right? Years of information stored subconsciously in the brain and the superpower of intuition. Watch this video to see this proven, through the delightful anecdote of an antique statue on which Getty analysts spent 14 months of research, only to find it declared a forgery in a snap judgement based on an art historian’s hunch.

The human brain stores vast amounts of thin-sliced, useful bytes of information, often gathered over years of experience in a domain. We can call upon this data as needed, if we train our minds to tap into it more fully.

Instinctive judgements are not always right. There are times when going by the gut can have horrible outcomes. Gladwell explains why in this episode.

Preconceived notions or innate biases based on gender, race, appearance or social class often cause major errors in spontaneous judgments. It is important to recognize and acknowledge your inherent prejudices and build fair environments for arriving at objective decisions.

There is such a thing as Too Much Information: it can interfere with the accuracy of a judgment. Find out when an information overload can lead to an ‘analysis paralysis’ in this episode.

You can sometimes make better decisions with intuitive judgments than with volumes of analysis. Train your mind to sift through and focus on the most critical information filtering out things that may be irrelevant or confusing.

The human brain works in two ways. One is a spontaneous, intuitive strategy that arrives at split-second decisions while the other is a rational one that invests time in weighing the pros and cons of a situation. This video explains when to trust your gut and when to rely on the methodical mind.

There are no magic formulae to know when to go with the gut and when to stop and ponder. The key to success is being able to harness the correct strategy of the brain at the right time and to hone both to arrive at the best decision.

This video shows how some doctors, just by spending three extra minutes with patients, were able to avoid any medical malpractice suits; while others, often with more qualifications, seemed to invite litigation. Why? Find out in this video.

Treating clients at par and with respect, in any field, will go a long way in establishing mutually amiable relationships and reduce complaints against your business.

Introduction To Business Analytics By John David Ariansen

Google Analytics Quick Start By Brad Batesole

Advanced Google Analytics By Brad Batesole

Rajiv Bajaj shares insights on various leadership strategies that helped him make Bajaj Automobile a market leader in India in the motorcycle segment. He also stresses the importance of changing one's outlook to survive in a globalized world.

Rajiv explains the core and pillars of his business and how they help his business to succeed.

What It Takes To Build An FMCD business | Rajiv Bajaj

In an age when your product might not be much different from your competitor's, you can differentiate yourself with the right branding and marketing strategy.

Rajiv draws parallels between homeopathy and business and concludes with the secret sauce to achieve corporate wellness.

What You Can Learn From Homeopathy About Corporate Wellness | Rajiv Bajaj

CEOs, as a custodian of strategy, should ensure that the business is immune to the external factors that might negatively impact its functioning.

Rajiv, taking Bajaj Auto as an example, stresses the need to specialize in a highly globalized market space.

Globalization Needs Specialization | Rajiv Bajaj

It is advisable to specialize in a few areas to tap into the wider opportunity that our globalized world provides.

To be profitable, Bajaj is repeating the formula that it applied in the 60s, the 70s and the 80s but with a different focus.

Keep your effort focused rather than diversifying too much. Having a focused outlook has a positive impact on your profit margin.

Rajiv shares what he learnt on 'branding' after Bajaj's venture into the motorcycle portfolio.

How To Understand Your Brand | Rajiv Bajaj

It is not enough to have a good product. It is also important to understand if the product is compatible with the perception of the brand.

Rajiv shares how Prof. Yamaguchi, Bajaj's productivity consultant, made him realize his job clearly and why you must also get that clarity.

Understand Your Role Clearly | Rajiv Bajaj

The CEO mustn't worry about the day-to-day functioning but be more involved on the strategic front.

In this course, taught by an internationally renowned executive coach Britt Andreatta, PhD, you'll learn how to acquire, adapt or abandon the leadership skills you need for the future. Britt will illuminate the core competencies of leadership, distinguish between leading and managing for the future, and provide a framework for incorporating more self-awareness into your role. She'll also explain how inclusion is shaping future relationships.

Leadership Skills For The Future By Britt Andreatta

In this course, Britt will illuminate the core competencies of leadership, distinguish between leading and managing for the future, and provide a framework for incorporating more self-awareness into your role. She'll also explain how inclusion is shaping future relationships.

The world today is continuing to change in dynamic ways. After watching this video, you will be able to help your organization facilitate pivots to follow the new shifts work culture has taken.

There are many different styles of leadership, and it's usually informed by the types of people you lead. After watching this video, you will be equipped to form your leadership style around those you oversee.

Leadership and management are closely intertwined. After watching this video, you will be able to clarify roles and responsibilities of each.

In your organization, it's important to know what kind of leader you are. After watching this video, you will be able to identify the functions of each level of leadership and the strategies of each level.

As people grow in organizations, their work expands and stakes get higher. After watching this video, you'll be able to identify the differences in levels of scope to achieve a well balanced leadership style.

Where your organization is on the growth curve is an indicator of where you are headed. After watching this video, you will be able to identify factors that indicate your growth.

Leaderships skills require integrity and competencies. After watching this video, you will be able to direct and establish relationships and identify the skills required to lead.

Above any skill you can adopt, integrity is essential in effective leadership. After watching this video, you will be able to draft your values to build trust and transparency.

Managing emotions and handling emotions will allow for openness and self awareness. After watching this video, you will be able to create your own strategies for controlling your emotions.

Stress can be overcome and help to create a positive outcome. After watching this video, you will curate ways to prevent and recover from adversity.

The people you work with have a large impact on our success as a leader. After watching this video, you will be able to build relationships to best strengthen and maintain your network.

It's important to advocate for your direct reports to develop skills for their current and future roles. After watching this video, you be ready to support, aid and enhance your employees development.

Cultures have shifted over the years, but the need for belonging has remained constant. After watching this video, you will be able to use a four step process to foster inclusion and break down barriers.

As a leader, it's important to have a strong organizational acumen. After watching this video, you will be able to identify what good judgement looks like.

An important part of being a leader is making room for your team to be able to innovate. After watching this video, you will be able to draw tips to enhance innovation in your culture.

Individuals today want to work for organizations that have a clear purpose. After watching this video, you will be able to motivate and encourage a clear sense of purpose in your organization.

To guide an organization to success, as a leader you must influence your organization by giving clear direction. After watching this video, you will be able to set a strategic direction for your team and organization.

Change is the way into the future, although many resist adapting to change. After watching this video you will be equipped with tools to build trust and foster adaptability to change.

In this episode, Britt shares a few more resources to help you improve your leadership qualities.

Have you ever had to deal with a "toxic" or difficult coworker? Did you find it hard to cope? In this series by leadership coach Mike Figliuolo, learn how to handle and protect yourself from toxic co-workers, implement techniques to understand their behavior, and stay focussed on self-growth despite this niggling distraction. Figliuolo is the managing director at thoughtLEADERS LLC — a leadership and training firm — and the author of multiple books on leadership and communication.

Working with toxic coworkers can be less difficult if you are able to figure out why they act that way.

Understanding Why Your Coworker Became Toxic

The first step to handle a coworker who is exhibiting toxic behavior is to find out why they are behaving this way. Only then can you figure out ways to repair the relationship.

Learn how to give direct and fact-based feedback to your toxic coworker. This will get them to acknowledge their behavior.

To effectively give feedback to a toxic coworker, get them to acknowledge their behavior with fact-based observations. The next step is to suggest change.

The toxic co-worker can potentially hamper your career, put your reputation at stake, and your performance in jeopardy. Learn a few ways in which you can protect yourself.

To protect yourself from a toxic coworker, document their behavior. Seek support and confirmation from senior managers or HR if needed. Remember not to retaliate, because that may land you in trouble.

Your coworker's toxicity can deplete your energy and impact your performance. To counter it, commit to one or several coping strategies.

Identify coping strategies that work for you when dealing with toxic coworkers. These could be things like exercise, meditation, or mindfulness. Practice these activities regularly to get your mind off the toxic coworker.

One of the biggest negatives of having a toxic co-worker is they distract your energies from work. Learn how to bring back your focus.

When dealing with a toxic coworker, try to stay focused on your work. It will help clear your head and maintain perspective.

In this series, discover four key skills that can help you develop your emotional intelligence. Understand the importance of emotional intelligence, why it matters, and how it can impact you in your daily life, both personally and professionally.

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 By Travis Bradberry And Jean Greaves

In this episode, discover the importance of emotional intelligence, as well as what it truly entails.

In this episode, you'll be introduced to four key skills that can help you improve your emotional intelligence. 

Learn about why self-awareness can help you utilize your other emotional intelligence skills, and discover one strategy to help improve your self-awareness. 

Discover three key strategies that will help you look inwards and practice self-awareness.

Learn about potential triggers that can impact your self-awareness.

In this episode, learn about self managmeent, what that entails, and how you can encorporate some key practices to ensure you practice self-management effectively.

Discover three strategies that will help you not react to emotions, without understanding.

Understand why your thoughts can really impact your self-management, and discover how to harness negative self-talk.

Learn about why a solid sleep regime is crucial to your own self-management. 

Understand why social awareness is an important skill when building social competence.

Learn about 3 hacks that will help you read a room in a more effective and productive way.

In this episode, learn about how to practice the art of listening, and work through an activity based on the premise of being more present.

Learn about the fourth emotional intelligence skill - relationship management.

Improving Relationship Management: Part 1 

Understand how important being open and curious is when trying to improve your relationships.

Improving Relationship Management: Part 2 

Learn about 6 key steps you can take when tackling a tough conversation.

Improving Relationship Management: Part 3 

In this episode, you'll recap  4 important skills that you've learned throughout this course. 

How do you weave a compelling story around your brand and make it so captivating that your business engages and connects with customers in an enduring manner? In Building A Storybrand, author Donald Miller offers a time-tested process to these eternal questions for companies. Identifying and contextualizing the seven steps to successful storytelling as a business, this definitive series shows you how to deliver your message with clarity and emotion such that your customer is eager to partake in the journey.

Stories have always captivated people throughout history and businesses are no exception to that. But what is it about stories that makes people respond to them? Keep watching to learn the seven steps that will turn your brand into a compelling, successful story that gets customer buy-ins.

Transforming Your Business With A Storybrand

People build emotional connects to stories when they see themselves as heroes in it. Make your customer the protagonist and get them to understand and communicate what your brand is about and why someone should choose you over competition in this episode.

A story that supports your brand makes the customer the hero. Determine your customer's greatest need and let that drive your narrative.

A story is not enthralling without a twist. Every good story needs a villain. In your brand story, the anti-heroes are the customer’s pain points. Find out why it is critical to identify and address those pain points to give your brand story its happy ending.

Every story needs a villain. Define your customer's main obstacle and make it the villain that your brand helps them overcome.

A protagonist or hero needs to be able to offer support or guidance in any good story. Find out how to ensure your brand story establishes you as an empathetic, trustworthy and credible business to your customer, in this episode.

Make your brand the guide in the story, not the hero. Offer your customer a way forward with empathy and confidence.

To move your brand story forward you need a plan that offers solutions and builds a sense of security for customers. This video shows how you can approach this element of your tale.

Customers trust the guide with a plan. Present your customer with a plan for achieving what they want and mitigating risk.

The next step is to build adventure and thrill in your story. Why else would a customer get drawn to you? Learn how to lead your customer towards your brand by giving them a preview of what is on offer, in this video.

Challenge your customers to take action. Give them a direct or transitional call to action that moves toward closing the sale.

The thrill in a story comes from some level of fear. You need to make your customer understand what’s at risk if they do not choose your brand. This video shows you how to walk the tightrope between instilling too much fear, losing a prospect and too little fear, making the brand lose its eminence.

Customers need to know what's at stake if they don't buy your product. Show your customer how their vulnerability to key risks increases without your product.

People love stories with happy endings. Paint a picture of positive transformation for your customer. See how you can weave in a sense of status, power or position for your customer via your brand, in this episode.

Your customer needs a happy ending. Finish your brand story with a picture of exactly how your brand will help them achieve what they want—a win, a change, a holistic experience.

What makes an idea, a product, or a trend stick? Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point is a handbook for understanding patterns using The Law of the Few. The journalist-turned-author's debut book shows the fine line between knowing and understanding. Jan Rutherford, a principal at thoughtLEADERS LLC shines the spotlight on the key learnings from this book.

There are three rules to making sense of viral spreads, according to Malcolm Gladwell. Master the art of reaching the tipping point by using each rule to your benefit. These everyday examples illustrate the point better.

Social success can be facilitated and Malcolm Gladwell pinpoints three types of facilitators -- Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. This episode focuses on connectors.

A connector has the curiosity, energy and broad social network to spread ideas widely. Focus on connectors to spread your initiatives and offerings.

It is time to court the Mavens with their special gift for success in spreading a social epidemic. Who are they, and how do they operate? Watch this video to find out.

A maven is capable of influencing others with their deep knowledge and expertise. You can rely on mavens to help spread information through their natural drive to educate and assist.

Persuasion is the forte of Salesmen. Find out how they channel their "super reflex" while using mimicry to drive the outcome, in this episode.

A salesman is someone with the power to persuade. A salesperson's influence comes from their positive response to others via speech, body language and facial expressions.

If you have got the Law of the Few right, it is time to understand the role of the stickiness factor in tipping the scales. This goes beyond the messenger, to the message itself. What makes your content stick?

Tipping an idea into a trend comes from its stickiness. Pay attention to the small points within your messaging that will generate a response.

There are two keys to reach the tipping point: timing and the environment in which the message is introduced. Malcolm Gladwell cites the example of Dunbar's 150. Learn from and use these cues to catalyse the spread of your message.

The point when something tips depends on timing and context. To launch an idea or product, be sensitive to the context that will make it stick.

Find out how a nurse used focusing, testing, and believing to deliver a powerful message. Change can be made easy, it just needs the key ingredients – learn about them, in this episode.

To deliver a powerful message, identify the unique factors of your target audience, determine the right messengers and context, and then test your outcomes.

What is the downside of overabundance? Find out in this video. Also, learn how to recalibrate your thoughts to create new things and reach the tipping point. Remember the power of word of mouth.

Tipping Point Lessons From The Real World

Ideas and trends spread through social structure, beliefs, demographics, and institutions. Studying real world examples will help you understand how and why certain ideas 'tipped'.

This video series is all about ethics, specifically ethical decision-making. How do we lead and make decisions ethically in an environment of constant change and ever-increasing and competing demands? What is an ethical decision and how can companies start to create a culture with ethics at its heart? Join Adam Pacifico as he talks to Decision Scientist, Dr. Tremaine Du Preez, as they delve into her extensive research and consultancy to understand what an ethical decision is and how culture, values, psychological safety, all have a place in organizations understanding and application of ethical leadership dilemmas in a post-pandemic world.

Ethical Decision-Making – With Dr Tremaine Du Preez

It is important that leaders can identify ethical decisions in the context of a fast-paced and ever-changing environment. Learn how to identify them in this video.

The Three Elements To Identify An Ethical Decision

The three elements of an unethical decision include: (1) It breaches a core value (2) It has no clear answer (3) There are unequal stakeholder impacts.

Tremaine uses her work with multiple clients across sectors to reveal some startling insights on how company values have an effect on our decision-making.

Can Values Help Companies With Ethical Decision-Making?

The organizational North Star will not be enough as people are not clear on what it means 'to do the right thing'. Principles and ideas without clarity cause decision-making quality to decrease.

Tremaine uses her research and consultancy work to assess the mistakes she has seen so we can avoid them.

Telling people to do the right thing is problematic. Just don’t do it. Leaders need to spell out what it means to do the right thing in the organization and what are the specific behaviours that underpin them. Also, the assumption that ethics and compliance go together is false. They are two very different things.

Tremaine outlines what she has seen during her research and consultancy work as best practice or companies getting things right in this area.

Organizations need to build an ethical muscle and mindset which is embedded into the culture. It takes a collective approach from all areas of the business that is truly representative of the people, processes, and environment.

How important is psychological safety to the challenge of making ethical decisions as an organization

To get it wrong can be career limiting. The biggest obstacle to developing an ethical mindset in an organization is the lack of a shared language.

Tremaine outlines how one company has successfully created a living library of ethical dilemmas for people to utilise whenever they need it.

How Companies Should Address The Issue Of Ethics

Different values create a lens through which to see a problem or challenge. Customs and values change over time. Having a lack of diversity of thought means you might miss the changes.

The Edelman Trust Barometer 2020 Survey outlines how trust has changed. The adoption of ethics will be driven by commercial factors and forces.

Competence in what you do has gone from being the primary measure of trust to just 24% of what defines trust between customers and companies. Ethical attributes define the remaining 76%.

Art Of War By Sun Tzu

Art Of War By Sun Tzu

Art Of War By Sun Tzu

Episodes

1. A Winning Strategy For The Ages

2. Know Yourself And Your Enemy

3. Treat Your Men Well

4. Plan Your Communication

5. Would You Burn Your Bridges?

6. How To Deceive The Competition

7. Let The Snakes Teach You

8. It Only Takes A Flutter

9. Learn To Win Without Fighting