Finding your mojo by Letting Go

Born to Lead

Even in a room full of strangers, he makes his presence felt. Carries about him a sense of self assurance that seems to suggest there is no room for doubt or anxiety. Has been an entrepreneur ever since business school and has stayed with the business he co-founded  20 years ago.

Manu Dogra, Director and Co-Founder of Netcarrots Loyalty Services, sees himself as a ‘logical, organized, structured, objective driven and decisive professional’. That is as clear a description that you can ever find of a person driven by his head. His other partners have gone on to create and lead other businesses as part of growth strategy whereas Manu has remained to run Netcarrots. He has led it with a sure and firm hand. Bouncing into work day after day, year after year.

Loss Of Mojo

Mojo is the quality that fills us with energy, makes us more attractive to people and creates a virtuous cycle that makes us successful.

The loss of mojo is often imperceptible, creeping up on you in small insidious ways. Manu had a very clear idea of what constituted quality and he was driven by the thought of providing value for his clients. That remains at the heart of Netcarrots’ survival and growth as an organisation. Improving a presentation, refining a programme design, adding a layer to the strategy were all enjoyable tasks for Manu. He had begun to get more irritated and impatient with his people. Gradually it moved to him exerting more control and enjoying it even less. At one point he even remarked, “ why don’t people come to me any longer, they know I can help make it better?” His team were often trying to avoid him and the downward spiral continued. The bounce in the morning was less and the drag through the day was more. This was being carried back home as well.

Epiphany

Manu realised that he needed to address this issue. For him Reflections helped him unpack his own emotions, take a long hard look at himself and finally find some solutions. He was the one who had stayed on at Netcarrots and continued running it. Manu realised that he had been holding on to many things for long and that he needed to let go of some. He also realised that his need for personally being involved with every assignment and project was partly responsible for holding back the growth of the organisation and the people. He realised he had to find a different avenue to satisfy his personal need to ‘create’. Manu rediscovered the joy of working with his hands to make things, and its therapeutic value for him.

The Little Black Book And The Rediscovery Of Mojo

What is truly inspirational about Manu’s journey is what he has done with these realisations and how he has managed to find his mojo back.

Manu questioned the beliefs and values that had guided his life till then and had led to the  loss of his mojo. He rearticulated his ‘modified values’ and wrote it all down in a little black diary. He changed long held beliefs like ‘Everything has to be done just right’ to ‘there are different ways to do things’ and so on. This is  the little black book that he refers to ever so often to guide his actions. It is this discipline of continuously doing things differently that has made him so successful in making the change. He has moved from being a micro manager to an empowering leader, from being directive to being supportive when needed and from being only head driven to acknowledging the ‘heart’ as well. In his personal life, he has created a little workshop in his garage, where he spends time, just by himself, making things with his hands. He hums and sings to himself and feels a sense of fulfilment. It is his personal mojo recharging centre!

Netcarrots has since then been experiencing must faster growth as an organisation. The dark circles from under his eyes have gone. Manu actively thinks about how to help his people grow and invests resources behind those activities. And whenever in doubt, he whips out his little black book to remind himself of what he needs to keep doing to keep the mojo rising.

Sanjeev Roy is the founder of Bullzi Inc. Amongst other things, he is a Coach and runs Reflections – a programme for leaders to reinvent, recharge and reenergize themselves. By Finding the Best in themselves.

Reflections will be running between the 8^th and 11^th of April, 2020. To read more stories of how others have rediscovered their mojo, log into www.bullzi-inc.com. To enquire and register for Reflections, click here.