Our Work
Leadership development is often a phrase in corporate jargon typically signifying something that management wants you to do. At Vivekin Group, we have been changing this scene through the leadership intelligences framework that I developed while I was at various business schools (Wharton, Purdue, and University of Minnesota). We have honed the research over the years into something that can be practically applied in everyday life, both within and outside the corporate environment. People who attend our workshops learned to apply the framework in their everyday lives–taking it to their relationships with their families, their friends or their colleagues, or to solve everyday practical problems, or to resolve everyday issues that nag at our ethical selves. So from my perspective, life has been good. Very good.
Economically-deprived schools in India and budget-strapped entrepreneurs
However, two years ago, my wife, Leela, a professor at Duke University, and I started to work with a program called DukeEngage in which, during the summers, we take teams of undergraduates from Duke to teach in economically-deprived schools in India. In the course of working with these tremendously smart and motivated schoolchildren who were shackled by the economic realities of their lives, I began to see how much they could benefit if they were trained to develop and exercise their leadership intelligences. Well, of course, the payments I get from my corporate clients were beyond the imagination of these schoolkids. So, it had been at the back of my mind to explore how I could make leadership intelligences training available to “clients” like these schoolchildren. A more egalitarian pricing structure was needed.
I also spent most of the last two years in India exploring opportunities as Leela was there on her sabbatical research. I discovered a tremendous sense of excitement and optimism in the business climate in India, but again, the numerous entrepreneurs–the ones in most need of leadership training–could not fit the cost of the programs into their start-up budgets. So this became an other incentive for me to explore different pricing models.
A gang-rape in California
However, the tipping point came with the news in late October 2009 that a 14-year old schoolgirl was gang-raped in Richmond, CA. The worst aspect of this tragedy was that dozens of witnesses stood and watched, or just walked away. While psychologists may have explanations citing group-behavior or mob-mentality, to me, this was also a case of a tremendous lack of everyday leadership in our society and in our communities. Leadership needs to be an everyday habit. There was nobody there in that small California town that could stand out from the crowd and say, “This is wrong,” and call the police. Instead of jumping foolishly in front of the mob and putting oneself in great danger, an intelligent leader would have found ways to stop the crime.
Pay WYVACan
These thoughts and experiences have led to the development of our new pricing strategy called Pay WYVACan–Pay What You Value and Can. Clients of Vivekin Group–whether they are individuals, or they are start-ups or they are Fortune 100 corporate entities–they can now use our services–on our website, and in our workshops and strategy consulting assignments–on a “pay what you think our services are worth, and what you can afford.” To find out why we’re not afraid of free-riders, look at this video.
An Invitation to You
I invite you to join the Vivekin Leadership Exchange. It’s free. Through exercises to develop and hone leadership intelligences, through discussions, through research reports, we seek to collaboratively create a community of everyday leaders–a concept which understands that we are, each of us, leaders–leaders to our children, to our siblings, to our friends, to our clients, to our co-workers, to our fellow-commuters, in fact, in every interaction of our lives, we are leaders. How we use our leadership intelligences will determine whether we progress in our careers and our lives, and whether we will leave the world a better place than the one we came into. So please come over, register, contribute, collaborate, and above all, enjoy being an intelligent leader. Together, let us make leadership an everyday habit.
Also, please help make leadership an everyday habit for people all over the world, by forwarding this invitation on my behalf to your friends and family.
I wish you the very best in 2010–let this be a year in which happiness and good things come to you from all sides.
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Announcing a pay what-you-value-and-can pricing strategy for leadership development
Our Work
Leadership development is often a phrase in corporate jargon typically signifying something that management wants you to do. At Vivekin Group, we have been changing this scene through the leadership intelligences framework that I developed while I was at various business schools (Wharton, Purdue, and University of Minnesota). We have honed the research over the years into something that can be practically applied in everyday life, both within and outside the corporate environment. People who attend our workshops learned to apply the framework in their everyday lives–taking it to their relationships with their families, their friends or their colleagues, or to solve everyday practical problems, or to resolve everyday issues that nag at our ethical selves. So from my perspective, life has been good. Very good.
Economically-deprived schools in India and budget-strapped entrepreneurs
However, two years ago, my wife, Leela, a professor at Duke University, and I started to work with a program called DukeEngage in which, during the summers, we take teams of undergraduates from Duke to teach in economically-deprived schools in India. In the course of working with these tremendously smart and motivated schoolchildren who were shackled by the economic realities of their lives, I began to see how much they could benefit if they were trained to develop and exercise their leadership intelligences. Well, of course, the payments I get from my corporate clients were beyond the imagination of these schoolkids. So, it had been at the back of my mind to explore how I could make leadership intelligences training available to “clients” like these schoolchildren. A more egalitarian pricing structure was needed.
I also spent most of the last two years in India exploring opportunities as Leela was there on her sabbatical research. I discovered a tremendous sense of excitement and optimism in the business climate in India, but again, the numerous entrepreneurs–the ones in most need of leadership training–could not fit the cost of the programs into their start-up budgets. So this became an other incentive for me to explore different pricing models.
A gang-rape in California
However, the tipping point came with the news in late October 2009 that a 14-year old schoolgirl was gang-raped in Richmond, CA. The worst aspect of this tragedy was that dozens of witnesses stood and watched, or just walked away. While psychologists may have explanations citing group-behavior or mob-mentality, to me, this was also a case of a tremendous lack of everyday leadership in our society and in our communities. Leadership needs to be an everyday habit. There was nobody there in that small California town that could stand out from the crowd and say, “This is wrong,” and call the police. Instead of jumping foolishly in front of the mob and putting oneself in great danger, an intelligent leader would have found ways to stop the crime.
Pay WYVACan
These thoughts and experiences have led to the development of our new pricing strategy called Pay WYVACan–Pay What You Value and Can. Clients of Vivekin Group–whether they are individuals, or they are start-ups or they are Fortune 100 corporate entities–they can now use our services–on our website, and in our workshops and strategy consulting assignments–on a “pay what you think our services are worth, and what you can afford.” To find out why we’re not afraid of free-riders, look at this video.
An Invitation to You
I invite you to join the Vivekin Leadership Exchange. It’s free. Through exercises to develop and hone leadership intelligences, through discussions, through research reports, we seek to collaboratively create a community of everyday leaders–a concept which understands that we are, each of us, leaders–leaders to our children, to our siblings, to our friends, to our clients, to our co-workers, to our fellow-commuters, in fact, in every interaction of our lives, we are leaders. How we use our leadership intelligences will determine whether we progress in our careers and our lives, and whether we will leave the world a better place than the one we came into. So please come over, register, contribute, collaborate, and above all, enjoy being an intelligent leader. Together, let us make leadership an everyday habit.
Also, please help make leadership an everyday habit for people all over the world, by forwarding this invitation on my behalf to your friends and family.
I wish you the very best in 2010–let this be a year in which happiness and good things come to you from all sides.