You Lie & Your Breath Stinks

My friend (certainly a friend in my mind) Tony Robbins says: “Initially style is more important than substance. If you don’t have the right style, you won’t get to share any of your substance.”

First impressions play an important part in how customers feel about your organization. Think, about your own interactions as a customer. You have been a customer numerous times and as a customer, you have choices.

So, as a service provider, just remember that your customers have numerous choices. If they are not happy with the way you treat them, they can go elsewhere.  So, your treatment towards the customer does matter.

Think about your own interactions as a customer. You are likely to remember service that is either outstanding or awful. Mediocre service is simply forgotten.  The first impression is the introduction of the organization to the customer.

People do make judgments based on your initial appearance. If you take a deep look inside yourself, you probably judge people by their appearance too. We tend to assume many unwarranted things, just based on appearance alone.

Some of these being:

1. General grooming
2. Cleanliness
3. Clothing
4. Tone of voice
5. Attitude
6. Non-verbal language (e.g. posture, gestures, posture)
7. Individual’s personal style

Self image and first impressions do matter, they matter a lot. The could make or break the relationship with a customer.

Rohit Bassi is the founder of In Learning and works with you so that you can outperform yourself. He works on the premise of “Feel the Fear & Do It Anyway®” and the "100 0 Principle". He has carried out work for organisations such as Oracle, EMC, Alshaya, Baskin Robbins, Mazda, Emirates NBD, Emaar and many more. Please feel free to contact him on rohit@in-learning.com or call on +971-(0)55-553-2275.

The Cruelty of "Ruthless Compassion"

You may have heard the phrase of "Ruthless Compassion". Some love and live by it .

Then there are some who find it an extremely strange phrase as the two words are poles apart.

When you start reviewing the word ruthless you discover it means:

• Having no compassion or pity; merciless
• Feeling or showing no mercy; hardhearted
• Without compassion; cruel; merciless.
• Heartless, mean, barbaric, or brutal
• Someone who is ruthless is very harsh or determined, and will do anything that is necessary to achieve their aim

Look at the word compassion and it means:

• Is the emotion that one feels in response to the suffering of others that inspires a desire to help
• Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it
• A feeling of distress for the suffering or misfortune of another, often including the desire to alleviate it
• To recognise the suffering of others, then take action to help

"Ruthless Compassion" is a phrase regularly used in the business world and for some in their personal life. It is it sad to see how so called business leaders show their cruel actions by hiding behind such a phrase. It is these toxic individuals who may truly prove fatal to others, the organisation and to their own life.


Compassion is not about having pity on others. It has nothing to do with being nice and feeling sorry for others. It never means to be disrespect to yourself or be a yes person to the needs and wants of others. In simple terms it is about being loving, empowering, tolerant and forgiving. It is about being respectful to yourself and others without the ego and judgement.

For the users of "Ruthless Compassion" please listen and see the Ted Talk by Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, "Why aren't we more compassionate?". 

Rohit Bassi is the founder of In Learning and works with you so that you can outperform yourself. He works on the premise of “Feel the Fear & Do It Anyway®” and the "100 0 Principle". He has carried out work for organisations such as Oracle, EMC, Alshaya, Baskin Robbins, Mazda, Emirates NBD, Emaar and many more. Please feel free to contact him on rohit@in-learning.com or call on +971-(0)55-553-2275.

Drive Your Inner CEO

Everyone is unique. Unique in their communication, style, thinking and even leadership.

I am sure you have heard the word leadership time and time again. In fact some of you must be exhausted hearing the same thing about leadership again and again. Sometimes I wonder how do you turn this record off.

My friend (well a friend in my mind) Tony Robbins has a very unique way of defining leadership. I completely resonate with his definition and when I show people the video of his definition, I notice a shift in some of the people in the room.

The book definition is simply “the action of leading a group of people or an organization, or the ability to do this.” Another one is “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.” And here is a final one “leadership is not management or directing, it is the ability to inspire or influence others towards the leader’s goal.”

All of these definitions are great and have substance. Yet, Tony takes this to another level. In one of his videos you learn from him that being a leader is being a servant. He goes on to explain that a leader is a hero and the original meaning of hero equates to being a slave.

Tony shares with the audience that being a hero actually means being a servant to something bigger than one’s self, and focusing on the greater good, as opposed to just your needs to reap rewards for yourself. Then there is Chris Lowney, who writes in his book Heroic Leadership, “If you want your team to perform heroically, be a hero yourself.”

In the business world, I am not aware of such a hero’s existence. Maybe you are aware of one. Although, when I read history books I do tend to see such heroes portrayed with great compassion and the willingness to serve others. Yet, none of them relate to the business world from my perception. Some may even define these history heroes as martyrs.

Rather than looking upon another to be our leader or our hero, we need to take that bold step into self-leadership. It is hard to lead others if you are unable to lead yourself. And this certainly applies in work, business and in your personal life.

Robin Sharma puts it in the context of the business world in a very eloquent manner “Every single person who works within a business, for example, owns the responsibility of showing leadership at their craft. Every single teammate is the CEO of their own small business unit called their job.”

You could say self-leadership is to know thyself. In other words, it means the ability to influence yourself at all levels (which includes emotional, mental, physical, spiritual and financial) in a positive and productive manner for the great good.

Bryant & Kazan define self-leadership as the practice of intentionally influencing your thinking, feeling and behaviors to achieve your objective.

Leadership starts and ends with you. In essence, leadership is simply about you.

The above article has been featured in Training Magazine Middle East under the title of "To Be A Leader Is To Be A Slave". It was renamed here under the strong recommendation of one my follower and friend, Manav Fernandez.

Rohit Bassi is the founder of In Learning and works with you so that you can outperform yourself. He works on the premise of “Feel the Fear & Do It Anyway®” and the "100 0 Principle". He has carried out work for orgnisations such as Oracle, EMC, Alshaya, Baskin Robbins, Mazda, Emirates NBD, Emaar and many more. Please feel free to contact him on rohit@in-learning.com or call on +971-(0)55-553-2275.