Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I gently provoke you to show you your own power. This newsletter is an invitation to your leadership. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Why you should celebrate more?

Today is my 10th wedding anniversary, and we are celebrating in Berlin. 🥨 🍺

And this time we are really celebrating – staying in a fancy hotel and dining in premium restaurants.

You might be wondering why am I sharing this with you. I am sharing because this is so so HARD for me.

Celebrating is very HARD for me. I am the kind of person who has rarely celebrated his birthdays.

The last birthday I celebrated must have been at least 20 years ago, if not more.

Life was full of so many challenges growing up that there was no time to stop – to cherish the wins or to celebrate.

It was all hard work, hustling, and getting busy for the next goal and milestone.

The kind of life I am living now – with all the comforts and quality of life – is vastly different from my past.

However, the past patterns and habits have stuck. I still find it very difficult to stop and CELEBRATE.

I feel like if I stop running I will miss out on success, even when I have everything that I ever desired.

I see the same tendency with so many leaders, teams, and companies.

CELEBRATING is hard. It is so easy to get sucked into working hard and getting busy with the next big thing.

However, research has repeatedly proven the power of celebration for leaders.

Celebration holds incredible power and can work wonders for your team’s motivation, cohesion, and overall success 💪

Recognizing hard work and accomplishments boosts morale, instils a sense of pride, and adds rocket fuel to people’s motivations! 🚀

Celebration brings people together, strengthening the bonds between team members. 🤝

Celebration unlocks a growth mindset and sparks innovation within your team. 🌱

This is the reason I am celebrating in BERLIN 🇩🇪🍻 this week. AND

This is the reason all of us should celebrate more.

Do it NOW. CELEBRATE. 🎊 🎉

Hit reply to share who are you going to celebrate today.

Are you giving yourself a pat on the back? Or are you going to celebrate someone on your team?

I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

Smiti Bhatt Deorah – “Be comfortable with the idea of being uncomfortable”

I interviewed Smiti Bhatt Deorah, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Advantage Club, on the Choosing Leadership podcast.

In the interview, Smiti shares her journey as a woman leader and the kind of unique challenges it presents. She talks about how she was raised as second to none and how led to confidence and growth as a leader as she is on a mission to create happier workplaces. She gives practical nuggets of wisdom from her life and simple advice for leaders when it comes to dealing with the challenges that come with leading by example.

In the interview, Smiti shares

One of the major things which women, not just leaders or otherwise, lack today is self-worth which comes from the lack of support, which comes to men naturally from their peers.
Men are naturally accepted as leaders as compared to a woman who have to prove herself to then be accepted as a leader.
I’ve been lucky enough to have a great family support structure, not just from my parents, but also like from my in-laws and that has helped in my own self-confidence.
my mom always had that ideology that she’ll not make her girls feel any lesser than the boys and overprotect us.
To create happier workplaces, to create digitized programs through which in a hybrid work setup, you can actually bring employees closer together to the organization, make them more productive, uh, reduce attrition, increase retention overall.

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

Mohan Thas – “For a leader, it is important to give employees the freedom and the advice they need to get the work done.”

I interviewed Mohan Thas, Founder of Swift ProSys on the Choosing Leadership podcast.

In the interview, Mohan shared his family roots and connection to entrepreneurship. He shared many interesting stories from his experience as an entrepreneur – providing valuable lessons like how to hire well, how to delegate and scale, and the importance of trusting your intuition and following up. He also shares how he is a very simple man and finds valuable lessons from ancient 2000-year-old classics like the Bhagavad Gita and the Thirukkural from India.

In the interview, Mohan shares

I’m a very minimal person, a frugal person. I don’t. spend that was much of money. Yeah. Okay. So my needs are very small and also I can take risks since I am started from a lower level.
So delegation is more important and we have to give freedom to them, and we have to give advice for them get work done.
as an entrepreneur, if you are very much strong in sales and marketing, it’s very easy If you are a tech guy or a operational guy, if you don’t know sales and marketing then it’s very hard to sustain in the business.
you have to delegate to a person who knows very well in sales and marketing. and you have to learn from them. , you should not just delegate. Sales and marketing is a different strategy.

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.

Pro-tip – Listen and read the below about YOU – not about the author. (reply back and ask if you do not understand what that means)

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, make an introduction.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
(LinkedIn) Connect

Issue #79, 18 May 2023 – Why you should celebrate more?