Traditionally, Leadership Develoment Programs put a lot of emphasis on Training. The bulk of corporate learning budgets are spent on training courses, seminars and workshops.This is of course important, as classroom/computer based learning is a fairly efficient means of acquiring knowledge. But acquisition of knowledge is not the same as learning!

There was a manager of mine who loved conversations. Our conversations could range from his weekend hobby classes, to my kids’ school and even waste management in our campus. All these conversations needed to happen before he could get into the nitty-gritties of work and we would brain-storm ways to deal with our clients. But alas, that was not to last.

Now that you understand the role of coaching in your leadership development journey, you go out and engage the best executive coach you can find and that should help you achieve your goals faster. Right? As much as I would like to say yes, the honest answer is a qualified “Maybe!”

Asking and providing feedback is, without doubt, one of the qualities we look for and admire in leaders. We also admire people around us - colleagues, friends, family, who care enough to give us feedback.

Meena was returning to work after a maternity break of 5 months. She was overwhelmed with different emotions. She felt extremely guilty about leaving her child behind in the day-care centre while also feeling very insecure that the child seemed to be getting closer to the care-giver.

If there were only one book you could recommend to someone just starting on their journey as a leader, what would that be? For me, it has to be Peter Drucker's The Effective Executive.

There's a lot of hype around increasing Gender diversity and most companies have joined the band wagon to show that they are doing their part. There are two aspects that most companies are focusing on - Hiring and Retention. Most companies have programs around increased hiring from Colleges and many are going to women only colleges for hiring.

Learning to learn from those around us, then modifying our behavior based on their suggestions is an effective way to change behavior. If we can teach the leader to reach out to coworkers, listen and learn, and focus on continuous development, both the leader and the organization will benefit.