HINAR 2022: Need to back consistent performers going through rough phase, says former Cricketer Venkatesh Prasad

HINAR 2022: Day 1 of Human is Not A Resource program, organised by Isha Leadership Academy, saw inspiring sessions and workshops on active transformation through coaching, leadership and learning styles.

Coimbatore: Speaking at Day 1 of the leadership program “Human Is NOT A Resource”, organised by Isha Leadership Academy at the beautiful Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore, former cricketer Venkatesh Prasad backed consistent performers going through a rough phase. “If someone has performed extremely well in the past and is going through a bad phase, like a Kohli today, you give them that because they have earned it…You need to give them a long rope but not for others. You need to have different yardsticks for different people when it comes to selections,” said the former cricketer. 

Prasad stressed upon the importance of having a structured process for success, drawing a sharp contrast to the fall of mighty West Indies as they ignored the process vis-à-vis the Australian team who, he contended, were completely invested in the process. “Australia made sure that the state cricket had academies and they were encouraging talent. And in Australia, even today, a 38-year-old would get an opportunity to play for Australia if he is good. That’s how strong their structure is and that’s why they have been very consistent,” he explained.

When asked about dealing with disruptors who might affect the organisation’s  performance, the cricketer boldly suggested, “If nothing works and a particular individual is pretty much disrupting the whole thing, I think you need to let him/her go. Because you cannot be spending all your energy on one person and neglecting the others. You can do it to a certain extent. Everybody has to align themselves to the common goal.” 

Earlier, the Day 1 of HINAR 2022 started with an introductory video from Sadhguru explaining the insight behind the program. He opened up by saying, “A human being is not a resource - a human being is a possibility. It is just that there is always a distance between a possibility and a reality. What an individual human being will become essentially depends upon whether we can unfold this possibility or not.”

Explaining human beings as a possibility, he said, “A possibility means it is yet to be. Human beings have essentially come in a seed form. A seed realizes its potential only if it finds fertile soil. With the right kind of soil, one seed can make the entire Earth green. So, when you have a human being on your hands, if you think of them as a resource, you will never unfold their genius.”

In the session that followed after, Nina Chatrath, Leadership and Business Consultant and Independent Board Director, Oriental Hotels, detailed out the learning preferences of the participants categorizing them into four learning styles namely Activists, Theorists, Pragmatics and Reflective. The categorizations which were based on a test report conducted prior to the session presented the strengths and things to watch out for on the basis of the participants’ learning preferences. 

“All of us here are successful in our businesses, right? And all of us have different learning preferences, that means it clearly says there is nothing right or wrong. Having self-awareness, an ability to understand people’s different learning preferences helps connecting with them accordingly to create synergy,” underscored Sanjay Rastogi, Head, Corporate HR, Trent Limited, to explain the significance of learning preferences while applying them for the individual transformation. 

The post lunch session began with an enthralling performance of Isha Samskriti students who put out a spirited performance of Kalaripayattu, considered the oldest martial art form in the world. Ruchira Chaudhary, Executive Coach and Founder, TrueNorth Consulting led the participants to a session that explored coaching as an effective Leadership Role Modeling tool. “Everybody who is a leader also coaches. Some of us do it consciously, some do it  subconsciously. Some just don’t know we have it in us and we haven’t used it yet,” revealed Ruchira, while taking the participants into a session “Unlocking the secret code to uncommon leadership”.

Human is NOT a Resource (HINAR) is an annual leadership program organized by Isha Leadership Academy. The 3 days program brings together thought leaders, business and HR practitioners from diverse fields to discuss practical steps to enable a paradigm shift from human beings as resources to human beings as possibilities. The next two days of the program will witness speaker sessions of Amit Kalra, Chief Transformation Officer, HLE Glascoat Limited and VS Parthasarathy, Vice Chairman, AllCargo; Former Group CFO, Mahindra Group. The participants during the program also have an opportunity to interact with the Resource Leaders. They also undertake yoga and meditation sessions with an aim to bring overall well-being into their lives. 

Over 10 years ago, Sadhguru founded Isha Leadership Academy to provide the highest quality leadership education by combining external skill sets with tools for wellbeing. Isha Leadership Academy focuses on cultivating leadership as an innate and intuitive process – beyond strategies or techniques. Its guiding principle is the importance of first managing one’s own mind, body and energies, in order to manage external situations and people.