Successful Blog

11.4: Rajesh Setty — The Outer Game

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Life as a Contact Sport

Rajesh

On Wednesday, Raj discussed The Inner Game and the Five Ls. He explained how attitude and philosophy toward life, career, and ambition can lead a professional to focus and improve personally. He calls the topics for self-improvement the “Inner Game” and characterizes it with the Five Ls — Learn, Laugh, Look, Leave a Lasting Impression, and Love.

Today, Raj speaks to how positive interaction with others contributes to professional and personal success. In his book, Beyond Code: Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps! Raj calls that “The Outer Game.”

Some folks might argue that the Outer Game — Leverage, Likeability, Listen, Lead — can’t be learned, that what you’ll get is manipulation. How would you answer them?

Life is a contact sport and no man is an island. Outer Game covers those practices where there are some external dependencies. For example, you have to learn to be likeable by someone ELSE. Here is the basic premise for each chapter of the Outer Game.

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11.3: Rajesh Setty — The Inner Game

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The Five Ls

Yesterday, Raj discussed participation and differentiation. He explained that team loyalty and individual goals are not mutally exclusive. He pointed out that to be a strong team member, a person needs to be self-aware and to participate as an individual as well as a team player.

Today, Raj talks about how a professional looks inward to start with a solid foundation of personal skills. In his book, Beyond Code: Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps! Raj calls that the Inner Game.

Raj, in Beyond Code, you talk about the Inner Game — Learn, Laugh, Look, Leave a lasting Impression, Love — how might you mentor someone who takes life too seriously, who has too much negative “self talk” getting in the way?

In the “Inner Game” section of the book, I cover some topics or areas where a professional can focus and improve with limited external dependencies. There are five of them. Most of them are related to the person’s attitude and philosophy towards life, career and ambition.

Here is the basic premise of each of the five chapters:

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11.2: Rajesh Setty — The Need to Participate and Differentiate

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Team Player and Individual

On Monday, Raj recalled his childhood when he authored a novel and was determined to find a publisher, though people believed it couldn’t be done. His determination paid off. By age 16 he had six books that carried his name — four novels, a collection of poems, and a book on mathematics. He was the youngest author of the state.

That beginning proved Raj a unique and thoughtful man who would always forge his own path. So, it makes sense that when as a software engineer who worked his way up, he observed and understood both the systems on which he worked and the people who worked with him. His observations and experiences led Raj back around to write Beyond Code: Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps! to help professionals recognize that success is found in personal and interpersonal understanding, not in following hot business trends.

Raj, it seems the hardest thing for team players to do is to find the balance between participation as a team member and taking opportunities to distinguish or differentiate themselves at the same time. What advice would you offer?
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Interview 11.1: Rajesh Setty — Raj’s Story

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From Child Author to IT Consultant

Recently I wrote, if you want me to care, tell me who you are. It was a statement about knowing who wrote what we are reading. That statement becomes more when the writer in question is Rajesh Setty.

Rajesh

When we learn about who Raj is, it’s no wonder Beyond Code: Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps! is packed with testimonials to its quality and wisdom. Not every IT Consultant can write about personal and interpersonal skills in business. Not every business book can boast a foreward by Tom Peters.

Raj has worked in five countries. He wrote his first book when he was nine years old. He’s what people might call one in a million. He’s a nice man, who has friends almost everywhere.

I knew this interview would be outstanding, if I could find questions that went beyond the book in the same way that Raj had gone Beyond Code to the basics of every business. I was thrilled with the wealth of advice and experience Raj sent back in his answers.

Rajesh, tell us your story. How is that you came to be a child author? How did that child author become an IT consultant? What lead that consultant to write this book?

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A 5-Part Interview with Rajesh Setty

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Introducing logo

Which Raj Setty do you know . . . the journalist, author, technology geek, President of ForesightPlus, SOB, mentoring mind behind start-ups and numerous great ideas? You probably know his book, Beyond Code: Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps! and his blog, Life Beyond Code. How Raj finds the time to do all of these and still answer my email baffles me.

When I read Beyond Code: Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps! I wasn’t far into it when I started thinking I want to interview this man for Successful Blog.

As soon as I hit the last page, I contacted Raj and he agreed. I put together five questions that would take us beyond the book and let the author elaborate.

I’m proud to announce that you can look for the series this week and next week.

Monday, October 30 — Raj’s Story
Wedneday November 1 — The Need to Participate and Differentiate
Thursday, November 2 — The Inner Game
Monday, November 6 — The Outer Game
Wednesday, November 8 — About the Book — How It Happened

Thanks, Raj. This interview series is the best companion to the book!

–Me “Liz” Strauss

Meeting Again for the Very First Time . . .

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I've been thinking . . .
Someone asked me, “Do people change?”

I had to say I think we do. I think we grow in some way — we become more of who we are and more of what we do. We just don’t notice change because it happens so naturally and so slowly.

It seems a very human quality that we get used to our lives. We’re busy working, talking care of things. We don’t notice how we grow and change over time.

It’s not until someone say’s “Hey, remember when . . .” that I stop to think Whoa yeah, I’ve learned so much since then.

I’m kind of like that about people too. I forget what my life was like before I knew the folks I care about or what I saw when I first met them that made me want to meet them a second time.

So once in while, I imagine that I’m meeting everyone for the very first time. Suddenly I see all of the reasons, I wanted these people in my life.

Liz's Signature