WEBVTT

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hey everyone welcome back I am SunDeep Mehra

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your host and a lot more and this is SunDeep

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talks a leadership awakening podcast you know

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what happened to me last week I walked into a

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government office doesn't matter which one okay

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and I just stood there for a moment Not because

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I was lost or confused. I stood there because

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I felt nothing. Literally nothing. Think about

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that for a second. You walk into a place that's

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supposed to serve you, that your taxes pay for,

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that exists because of people like you and me,

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and you feel nothing. not anger, not frustration,

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just emptiness. I've been thinking about this

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feeling a lot lately. Because I think it's everywhere

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now. We have all felt it. Somewhere, somehow.

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You know when you call a helpline and you can

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tell the person on the other side, it's just

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reading from my script I would say. or when you

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submit a form and it disappears into some black

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hole for months or when you ask a simple question

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and get bounced between five different departments

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that feeling you get that's what I'm talking

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about something died somewhere along the way

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and I don't think we are talking about it enough

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look I have spent years studying leadership,

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embodying leadership, not performing, experiencing

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leadership, understanding leadership, and creating

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my own leadership model framework and a philosophy

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and everything around it. I mean my whole journey

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is about leadership. I've worked with organizations,

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I mean watching how system works and don't work.

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I have created my own organization and here's

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what I have realized most of our public systems

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okay from public system I mean I'm not going

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to the private systems because they have their

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own challenges and own situation that we will

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discuss in our other episodes but here I'm specifically

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coming to the public system that are mean to

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do certain tasks certain obligations they have

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and having them means way much bigger thing than

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a private system in many ways at a ground level

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I would say so most of our public systems have

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lost something fundamental they have lost their

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soul so does the private in many more ways yes

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again I am saying we are coming to public system

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okay right now we are covering that part and

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I know that sound dramatic but Just hear me out,

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okay? Remember when you were a kid and you thought

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about government workers, public servants, people

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in those roles? There was something noble about

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it, right? Like these were the people taking

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care of everyone else. My grandmother used to

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talk about the local government office like it

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was... run by family friends. She would go there.

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They would know her name. They would actually

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help her solve problems. What happened to that?

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I was talking to someone recently. Can't say

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who because of privacy and position. But they

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work inside one of these systems. And they told

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me something that broke my heart. They said,

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Sandeep, I came here to make a difference. I

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really did. But after two years, I realized this

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system doesn't want me to make a difference.

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It wants me to follow the process. Follow the

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process. Not help people. Not solve problems.

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Real problems. Follow the process. Just follow

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the process. That's when I realized we are not

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dealing with bad people or something that we

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think sometimes goes around the systems. Rather,

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we are dealing with systems that have forgotten

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why they exist. Let me ask you something. When

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was the last time you dealt with any government

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service and felt like they were genuinely happy

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to see you? Not pretend happy. I'm okay. There's

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a huge difference and we know that Not fake professional

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courtesy Actually happy that you showed up because

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now they could help you with I mean something

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at least something a real gesture of happiness

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a feeling of euphoria inside them because they

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have seen you and you are coming and they are

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very hopeful about that they are very positive

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about that and very glad about that i'm guessing

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it's been a while and here's the crazy part it

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doesn't have to be this way i have seen what

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happens when a system remembers its purpose I

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have seen government offices where people smile

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because they mean it. Where problems get solved

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instead of shuffled around. Where innovation

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happens instead of just maintenance. And it's

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not magic at all. It's not some impossible dream.

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It's what happens when people inside these systems

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wake up. But first, let me talk about what we

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are really dealing with here. You know how sometimes

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you are in a conversation with someone but you

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can tell they are not really listening. They

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are just waiting for their turn to talk. Or worse,

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they are just going through the motions. That's

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what most of our institutions feel like now.

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They are going through the motions. And when

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institutions go through the motions, something

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happens to the people who depend on them. We

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start going through the motions too. We lower

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our expectations. We accept delays. We normalize

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dysfunction. We start thinking, well, that's

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just how the government works. But that's not

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how the government is supposed to work. That's

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how a broken government works. Here's what I

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have noticed. Most of the time. And tell me if

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this resonates with you. When you have to deal

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with these systems now, you prepare for a battle.

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Isn't it? Am I right? You gather all your documents.

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You clear your whole day. You mentally prepare

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for frustration. You shouldn't have to do that.

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These systems were built to make your life easier

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not harder. So what went wrong? I think what

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happened is we forget that systems are just people

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and People forget why they were here Somewhere

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along the way the job become I mean, I mean the

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job became about protecting the process instead

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of serving the person The rules became more important

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than the results. The hierarchy became more important

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than the help itself. And slowly, very slowly,

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the soul got squeezed out. But here's what gives

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me hope. I would say a lot of hope. I have seen

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what happens when even one person in a system

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decides to wake up and lead a vacant day. When

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they remember that their job isn't just to process

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forms or follow procedures, their job is to help

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human beings. Everything changes from that. I

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mean from that moment everything changes. The

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energy changes, the conversation changes, the

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outcomes change and it spreads. Let me tell you

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what awakened governance actually looks like

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okay and and listen it carefully it's very amazing

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you walk into an office and before you even speak

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someone makes eye contact with you real eye contact

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i'm talking about like they are seeing you as

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a person not just the next number in line they

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don't immediately ask for your paperwork They

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ask, how can I help you today? And here's the

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key. They actually want to know the answer, not

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just a formality. When you explain your situation,

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they listen. They ask follow up questions. They

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think about solutions, not just which form you

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need to fill out. If they can't help you directly,

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They don't just send you to another department.

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They walk you there. Or they make a call to make

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sure you get to the right person. They treat

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you and your time like it matters a lot. Your

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problem like it's worth solving. You're worth

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their attention. And this isn't fantasy. I mean

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I have experienced this and I'm sure many of

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you do I have seen this and Every time it happens

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something inside me lights up Because I remember

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oh, yes, this is how it's supposed to work Now

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if you work in one of these systems if you are

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listening to this and thinking but SunDeep You

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don't understand how complicated it is. How many

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rules there are. How much bureaucracy. I mean

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how much of this I have to deal with. You don't

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understand. I get it. I really do. But here's

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what I want you to consider. You have more power

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than you think. You can't change the whole system

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overnight. That's true. But you can change how

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you show up in it. Within a second you can do

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that. You can choose to see the person in front

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of you as a human being with a real problem,

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not just a case file. You can choose to explain

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things clearly instead of using jargon. You can

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choose to take an extra minute to make sure someone

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understands what's happening. You can choose

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to care. Always. And if you are someone who has

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to deal with these systems, which is all of us,

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in many ways, okay? Here's what I want you to

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remember. Yes, please. Don't let broken systems

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break your faith in what's possible. Never. Behind

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every dysfunction is a person, is always a person.

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who's forgetting their purpose and people can

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remember they can always remember and behind

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every frustrating process is someone who originally

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designed it to help even if it's not helping

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anymore and processes can change behind every

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cold interaction is a human being who probably

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came to that job wanting to make a difference.

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And that desire is still there, buried under

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layers of routines and rules. The awakened leadership

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model that I talk about, it's not just for governments,

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nations, political parties, systems, organizations,

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CEOs, people, big titles only. No, it's not about

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only about them. Yes, I do it with them, but

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it's not only about them it's for the individual

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because everything starts with an individual

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even if you see as a system consider one system

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doing that that too is an individual unit so

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it's always about individual a individual nation

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individual government individual system individual

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organization person with inside that system an

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individual inside in any position so it's always

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about one first and It's and it's for anyone

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who touches another person's life through their

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work It starts with remembering why you are there

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It continues with choosing presence over process

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and It grows when you treat every interaction

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interaction. I would say Like it matters really

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matters. I'm talking about Because it does matter

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my dear friends it does matter look I know this

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might sound idealistic okay I know some of you

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are thinking come on Sandeep the system is too

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broken too big too entrenched but but that's

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exactly the thinking that keeps it broken you

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keep thinking that it's not possible Every system

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is just a collection of individual choices. And

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those choices happen person by person, moment

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by moment, interaction by interaction. When enough

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people choose differently, the system becomes

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different. Okay, I want to leave you with something

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to think about, okay? What if the next time...

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You are in a position to help someone, whether

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that's at work, in your community, in any system,

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anywhere or just in daily life. You ask yourself,

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how can I bring a little more soul to this moment?

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Yes. What if you choose to see the person in

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front of you? I mean, really see them. What if

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you choose to listen like their problem actually

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matters to you? What if you choose to help in

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whatever small way you can? That's how system

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changes. That's how every system can do wonders.

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That's how governance find its soul again. One

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awakened person at a time. One conscious choice

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at a time. one human interaction at a time I

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hope I have shared what I was looking for and

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it has reached you in a most meaningful manner

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and I am quite optimistic about that so I would

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like to end this Just thanks for listening and

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just this is SunDeep talks a leadership awakening

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podcast And until next time just I want you to

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remember one single thing You have more power

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to change things than you really think And start

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with how you show up See you next time