Ekta | wisdomekta

In this world of organisations with fast-moving marketing strategies, a rush of adrenaline to do something big and a hurry to be a winner… companies are paving their mark on the treadmill of profit without giving cognisance and due credit to human effort or emotions. All the business talk about "Leading from the Front and “Walk the Talk” has left numbness in the humane domain of the organisation, leading to burnt-out employees. This book took the courage to talk about leading from the back. The leadership model, “Leading From The Back”, looks simple, uncomplicated, easy to use and understand and promises impressive results. The results are not directly related to short-term wins and profit, but look forward to long-term commitments and bonding. The methods described in the book are simple to read. The book tells the leadership mantra, which is simple but seeks constant practice from those readers who are consciously committed to working on their leadership skills to be...

“The deceased could take either a land route or a water route to get to the field of offerings, which is the ancient Egyptian version of heaven. No matter which path you took, you wound up where you were supposed to be.” We are all sailing through life just to reach the end. The end , i.e. Death, is the ultimate truth being sought by life. The recent read by Jodi Picoult presented this process of life/living and death/dying through a superb tale of fiction and Egyptology. This book is an homage to an ancient Egyptian coffin text, also called “The Book of Two Ways,” which contains one of the first known maps of the underworld. In Egyptian mythology, Water and Land refer to the “Two Ways,” alternate routes to the afterlife. The story is told in multiple timelines about a middle-aged woman, Dawn, who works as Death Doula (an interesting profession which I never knew existed!!) …her choices and her way of questioning her life, and the saga of other related persons in her life...

This recent light read from Turkish-British Novelist and Essayist Elif Shafak concluded with some heavy learning about life, living and people. "The Forty Rules of Love" portrays the concepts of love and friendship weaved into Sufism and relation with god explained through a mystic story . Ella Rubenstein, an American housewife, is seeking meaning and fulfilment. Her self-discovery begins when she is assigned to read a manuscript of a novel titled "Sweet Blasphemy," by Aziz Zahara. As Ella delves into the captivating story of spiritual love between Shams of Tabriz and Rumi (the famous poet), she finds herself drawn to Sufi mysticism and the forty rules that transcend time and culture. Ella's transformation is deeply intertwined with the ancient tale, with differences of 800 years apart, creating a powerful connection between past and present. This book points towards the orifice in our souls, which aches to heal through the essence of love, compassion and ge...

I knew Steven Bartlett through his celebrated podcast, The Diary of a CEO . I admire his courage to be truthful about his weakness and pridefully own it . Bartlett is a British-Nigerian entrepreneur and a famous podcaster. He is the founder of Thirdweb, Flight Story and Flight Story Fund. His book “The Diary of a CEO” underlines that simple ways are the best and the beys are always simple. The book begins with the idea of mastering the self by filling the five interconnected buckets, i.e. knowledge, skills, network, resources, and reputation. Anyone who starts with acquiring knowledge applies it to developing a set of skills. With this acquired knowledge and skill, one develops valuable relationships and expands the networks, thus enhancing the resources and reputation. By setting the tone, he begins his set of 33 Laws with a holistic approach and precise wisdom, explained crisply in simple language and thus presenting the unique way for mastering the self. Each law is exp...

To finish this 550-page book “Thank You for Being Late: an Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations” , I had to become a fan of Thomas Friedman. This is not merely for the sake of finishing the book but also because, as I have completed the book, I can visualise the beauty and the ugly of the world's progress going hand in hand. The book revolves around the theme that technology (Moore’s law ), Market (globalisation) and nature (climate change and biodiversity loss)- the confluence of these three accelerating forces driving human life which are caught in the nebula of supernova (a term given by the writer for the ever-expanding e-world) are transforming the workplace, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and community.  However, amidst these dizzying accelerations, he requests us to allow ourselves to slow down and be late for pausing to appreciate this extraordinary historical epoch we’re passing through and reflect on its possibilities and dangers. The...

The year 2023 ended with Jodi Picoult's nail-biting court drama novel, Small Great Things. This was the second read from the author, and I am highly impressed with the drama, emotion and facts presented dramatically in the book. A black woman, Ruth, with a teenage son, has been a labour and delivery nurse for over 20 years. When a newborn baby of the white supremacist Turk and Brittany Bauer dies, Ruth is held responsible. She is charged with felony crimes, and her fate lies in the hands of the public defender Kennedy McQuarrie, a white woman. And there begins the drama and the saga of the hurricane of emotions.  The ending is dramatic (which I like personally ) This book made me reflect on the self-confidence we generally carry, that we are not prejudiced…, and that we are broad-minded. However, we all have pre-notion regarding several persons, things, places, etc., and our preconceived notions reflect on the surface of our thinking and actions as and when a situation ...

To put things in honesty, this past year, I have moved from not-required-things-&-people. However, in this journey of “freedom from” and still walking towards “my freedom to” , there are many self-unique emotional and spiritual learnings and reflections. Here is the gist of those- 1. From the arrogance of knowing it all to the humble appreciation of what I know and acknowledgement that much is to be learned or requires further reading or meditation. 2. From “talking at each other” to “talking with each other” to understand others and be understood. 3. From being happy to becoming content . I remain open to receiving the magic of life and thus remain flexible to go with the flow. Now, I realise that unconditional love resides in each of us, but enabling it to be felt by ourselves and conveyed to others requires an inner spiritual awakening first. 4. From being a spouse to being a soulmate and friend . I am grateful to nature for giving me joyful and lovely accompanime...