Indore
‘Expression is life, suppression is suicide’. One can be a great leader only if he is able to express his thoughts, ideas, feelings, wisdom, plans, intentions to others in a way that they are touched, moved and inspired. People do not realise that the major cause of violence and friction in society is because of lack of self-expression, leading to a dull and boring life," said Shashank Kasliwal, a leading motivational speaker and director of
Emotional Intelligence Inc.
He was addressing a workshop organised by Indore Management Association. The topic of the session was ‘Self Expression & Leadership Programme’.
Addressing people from the corporate world, he said that people don’t express what they want to express, but express what will make them earn brownie points in other people’s eyes. Further Kasliwal said, ‘even if you
don’t have the money, respectability, people around you but you have self-expression, you can create anything with it.
Self-expression is the tool to create the life that you love and it makes you love the life that you have, irrespective of any material thing. When one authentically expresses what he feels, he creates possibilities for others too and in turn shines as a caring leader.
A self-expressed leader will understand the value of feelings and will have a very high degree of empathy. Self-expression is what gives one the confidence that gauges situations, interacts with people and creates the ability to do anything.
A self-expressed person may not know many things but he has the confidence to handle any situation and be on top of everything.
Some tips to build self expression
-Get rid of toxic people: Toxic people are those who at the level of words want you to be happy but when you are self-expressed with them, they are the first ones to make you sad. They will be taking everybody’s and anybody’s shit who have the money and who entertain them.
-Shun the voices in the head: Till the time a leader has other people’s voices in his head telling him what to do or what is right, he cannot hear his own voice.
-Courage: When you express yourself courageously, you give space for other people to see possibilities in their lives too. One can be courageous by being open to learning.
-Empathetic Listening: listen for the meaning, feeling, context rather than focusing on just the sound of the words.
-Plan your work and work on your plan: It’s important for a leader to plan his work with vision and foresight and finally make that plan work with his self-expression.
-Suppression is slow dying. Keep expressing and keep enjoying this beautiful gift of life.
