Author Michael Morpurgo is best known for his children’s work War Horse that was released in the year 1982.
With a series of books that explore well-known stories from myths and epics, but with a magical twist, Morpurgo’s writings have been termed as “magical storytelling”.
With multiple literary awards to his name, Michael Morpurgo has written a wide range of fascinating books for children in a literary career spanning over decades.
Here are a few facts you may not have known about this amazing writer!
We bet you can’t wait to grab your copies of Michael Morpurgo’s amazing books after reading this. Don’t forget to tell us which ones you liked best!
(Author image credit: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1920×1080/p01gzy0x.jpg)
Tag: Bulletin Board
How To Foster And Resolve Productive Conflict
Productive conflict resolution
Conflict is an unavoidable, even necessary, part of collaboration, and all teams experience it, not just cross-cultural or virtual ones. “There will, even should be, conflict in a group with a task that has even a minimum of complexity,” according to Jeanne Brett, a professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and director of its Dispute Resolution Research Center. Teams that don’t disagree also don’t challenge assumptions, investigate ideas, point out mistakes, and motivate each other to their highest performance. Indeed, the whole point of fostering diversity on your team is to bring different viewpoints to the table. To some extent, you want these viewpoints to come into conflict; that’s how creativity and learning happen.
But, of course, not all conflict is useful. Personality clashes and task-related disagreements can bring a destructive toxicity.
Many managers believe that their role is to minimize all conflict on the team. Not so. The trick is to encourage healthy conflict. That means facilitating constructive conflicts and resolving harmful ones. Here’s the difference: healthy disagreements result in a better work product and/or stronger intrateam relationships. Unhealthy disagreements undermine your shared accomplishments and damage the team’s working relationships.
It can be a tough call to make in the moment—“Should I let my employees pursue this disagreement, or is it time to intervene with a conflict resolution?” You’ll have to go with your instinct a lot of the time, but when you’re really torn, ask yourself: Is this productive? Is this moving us closer to or further from a positive outcome?
If your answer to the first questions is yes, your best bet is probably to encourage debate and discussion so that each side can confront the other’s point of view. This isn’t a free-for-all: you still need to be actively involved as a moderator, so that the conversation stays respectful and on track. But if your answer is no, your people may need the structure of a conflict- resolution process to reach closure. Here’s how to handle both situations:
How to facilitate constructive conflict
It’s not easy to fight well, but shared processes help. Clarify your expectations with the team before a major conflict arises, either by posting your own rules somewhere (in a meeting room, on the team site) or by leading the group in a shared discussion of norms. Address these key topics:
Set ground rules.
Naming the behaviors that are and aren’t OK during a conflict will keep disagreements from spiraling out of control. Every team is different, and the specific personalities and organizational culture at play will dictate what makes sense in your particular environment. One rule, though, applies universally: conflict should be handled openly. Disagreeing with someone isn’t inherently disrespectful, and if team members choose not to voice their opinion, they should be prepared to let it go. For other potential guidelines, see the earlier box “Rules inventory.”
Establish a shared process for resolving conflict.
If team members know what to do when friction arises, they won’t shy away from necessary disagreements, and more often than not, they’ll be able to solve their own problems. Clear, step-by-step protocols for handling con- fl ict should be a central part of your team’s normal processes. One such protocol should deal with formal conflict resolution, addressed later. But spell out the lower-stakes alternatives, too. For example, team members should:
- Respectfully confront the colleague they disagree with before they bring in anyone else, including you.
- Talk about complicated issues face-to-face or over video chat, not over email.
- Prepare on their own before they open a discussion with each other, so they come ready to explain their concerns and discuss alternatives.
- Take turns summarizing each other’s ideas or concerns—in good faith. By forcing themselves to articulate each other’s point of view, they might find new ground for compromise.
- Put the discussion on pause when they feel themselves losing track of the argument or their own self-control.
- Escalate the argument without becoming vindictive or angry. When disagreements prove intractable, frame it as “We need help sorting this out,” not “The team leader will decide who’s right and who’s wrong.”
Provide criteria for contentious trade-offs.
When zero-sum decisions arise for a team, it’s helpful to have some well-defined criteria for making trade-offs. Fortunately, your team has these at hand, in the form of your organization’s overall strategy and the purpose and objectives this strategy has already defined for your group’s work. Clarify these points with your people and be specific about your goals and highest priorities. For example, “Meeting the deadline for this assignment is more important than fulfilling its scope” or vice versa.
How to resolve destructive conflict
With practice, your team members may learn to manage constructive conflict mostly on their own, with little intervention from you. By contrast, a formal conflict-resolution process always involves you. Sometimes your employees will bring an issue to your attention and ask for your help. But if they’re not self-aware enough to do this, you may need to take the initiative and ask them to participate. However, you start off, the process should have three phases:
Step 1: Find the root cause.
This step may require some research on your part. If the conflict is complicated or long-standing, you’ll want to know what’s going on before you invite two tense people to a meeting to hash it out. If you do decide to involve other people in your inquiry, try to talk to all parties involved in the conflict separately. And follow up with anyone else on the team whose perspective could clarify the problem, if you can do it sensitively. The questions you want to clarify for yourself through these interviews are:
- Why are team members arguing with each other?
- Is there a deeper personality conflict here?
- Are there organizational causes of this conflict?
- Is this a recurring pattern?
- Why does one member always insist on getting his or her way?
- Is the cause of this conflict a behavior? A clash of opinions? An external situation?
When you have some answers to these questions, you’ll be able to start generating ideas for negotiating a resolution. For example, if the conflict is caused by a personality clash, you’ll probably need to help the team members learn to communicate better with one another and be more respectful when they disagree. If the conflict is caused by project circumstances, you and your team can brainstorm fixes like hiring additional resources, redefining roles, or modifying the scope of the work.
Step 2: Facilitate a resolution.
You may have a few ideas for how this situation should evolve, but it’s best to avoid dictating a solution. Solutions don’t work simply because they make sense or because you said so; they work when they have buy-in from the people who have to execute them. For this reason, compromises that are imposed from above tend not to be as thorough or as resilient as the ones a team arrives at by itself.
Frustrating as it may be, play no more than a facilitating role. Your listening-to-telling ratio should be 4:1, and the “telling” part should mostly be active listening tactics to help team members understand underlying assumptions. That means asking open-ended questions, restating and reframing team members’ perspectives, and encouraging the other people in the room to do the same. Set the tone for this discussion by reminding people to stick to the facts, to talk about behaviors instead of traits, and to follow the team’s ground rules for conflict.
If the team members resist coming to a resolution despite your best efforts, you may need to steer the conversation a little more decisively. Leadership coach Lisa Lai recommends using these five questions to facilitate the conversation:
- What does each person really want?
- What matters to them, personally and professionally?
- What motivates them? What fears do they have?
- Where is there common ground?
- What’s the difference between their stories?
If the conversation really seems stuck, try these tactics:
- Ask each team member to share their BATNA. In negotiation parlance, a BATNA is your “best alternative to a negotiated agreement”—basically, what your team members think will happen if they can’t resolve their dispute. Then ask them how their BATNAs will affect the rest of the team. Articulating consequence to the group may help them recommit to finding a solution.
- Refocus the discussion on the team’s strategic objectives. Sometimes, the team members’ shared interests are strong enough to compel a resolution on their own (see the box “Case study: Focusing team members on a shared goal”). Other times, you may need to push a little harder. Ask the team members to identify together the key priorities that their agreement should address and then limit the scope of the discussion to these issues alone: “This is a very complicated situation, and I can see it’s wearing on everyone involved. But if we can’t resolve all of it right now, that doesn’t mean we can’t resolve any of it. For now, let’s focus on coming up with a solution for X issue.”
This is an excerpt from Harvard Business Review’s Manager’s Handbook – the 17 Skills Leaders Need to Stand Out. Get your copy here.
Credit: Abhishek Singh
10 Things You Should Know About Akash Verma
Akash Verma is a man of many talents. Not only is he a bestselling author but also an established entrepreneur. His profile lists him as the co-founder of two start-up companies before which he had also dabbled various roles in major corporations like Coca-Cola, Big FM and Red FM.
Akash is back with his fourth novel, You Never Know: Sometimes Love Can Drag You Through Hell…, a romance thriller which will keep you at the edge of your seat till the last page.
Here are a few things facts about the bestselling author.
Early beginnings!
Master of many talents
Woah!
It’s all in the genes.
Relate!
Quite a quirk that is…
The next time you want some gossip about the tinsel town, you know whom to turn to.
Wow!
Aww!
How many of these facts did you already know about the author?
5 facts About the Father of our Nation You Should Know
Today marks the 148th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, or as he was dearly addressed, Bapuji. The extraordinary figure he was, revered and followed by many, Bapuji followed a simple, ordinary lifestyle. His teachings on truth and nonviolence (ahimsa) inspired the masses in India’s freedom movement against the British Raj, and it continues to do so even now.
Here are a few facts about the man who changed the landscape of India forever.
Revelation!
Humble soul
Gandhiji understood the importance of self-sustenance
Gandhiji believed meditation was important for both body and mind
Kasturbaji died in prison, sent there with Gandhiji for civil disobedience
How many of these facts did you know about Bapu?
The Simple Messages Hidden in ‘Mahabharata’: ‘The Boys Who Fought’
The story of Mahabharata has been retold countless times through generations and one instinctively comes to identify it with the great battle of Kurukshetra.
But going beyond all the animosity and rivalry that overarches the epic, Mahabharata espouses some important messages for life, an aspect Devdutt Pattanaik has brought forth for us in The Boys Who Fought.
Here are a few times we were reminded of the simple but impactful messages from the Mahabharata that transcend time and remain equally relevant even today.
When Vyasa wondered about the progress humankind had truly made.
When Ekalavya showed us the meaning of control, as opposed to destruction.
When we were reminded of the true meaning of ‘life’.
When we were told about the vicious cycles humankind gets trapped in.
Know more about the timeless messages of the Mahabharata with Devdutt Pattanaik’s beautifully illustrated book today!
24 Books You Should Read This Month
Autumn is here and so is the season to go out and read. With cool fall breeze there to turn the pages of your book, what better way to enjoy the season but to immerse yourself in a great read.
Here are 24 books you should read this month.
The Shoonyam Quotient
Mickey Mehta, global leading wellness coach, and corporate life coach will show you how to be neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but optimized-primed to become the best version of yourself. The unique and motivational catchphrases and deep philosophical thoughts encapsulated in The Shoonyam Quotient will make you energized, content and peaceful.
The Golden House: A Novel
The story of the powerful Golden family is told from their neighbor and confidant, René’s point of view – an aspiring filmmaker who finds in the Goldens the perfect subject. The Golden House is about where we were before 26/11, where we are today and how we got here. The result is a modern epic of love and terrorism, loss, and reinvention- a powerful, timely story told with the daring and panache that makes Salman Rushdie a gleam of hope in our dark days.
Nostalgia
From one of Canada’s most celebrated writers and two-time Giller Prize winner, Moyez Vassanji, comes a taut, ingenuous and dynamic novel about a future where everything is possible. You will be granted an eternal life and freedom to choose your identity. Let’s explore this new territory of Vassanji’s brilliant writing.
Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football
In Barefoot to Boots, renowned journalist Novy Kapadia reveals Indian football’s glorious legacy through a compelling detail of on-field action, stories of memorable matches, lively anecdotes, and exclusive conversations with legendary players and officials. The book will offer priceless insight into the future of the game as the Indian Super League dramatically changes the landscape of domestic football and India hosts the FIFA U-17 World Cup for the first time this year.
Words from the Hills
Words from the Hills offers a novel perspective to look at time and schedule forthcoming and bygone in a unique way. A biographical work developed around the life, works and philosophy of Ruskin Bond, in this planner we aim to catch those moments of pure joy. This planner (of 12/16 months), perhaps the first of its kind, will open a new window to our understanding of self-preservation and remembrance.
Songs of a Coward: Poems of Exile
Explore the liberating power of words in Songs of a Coward. Written by Perumal Murugan during a period of immense personal turmoil, these verses are an enduring testament to the resilience of an imagination under attack. By nature passionate, elegiac, tender, nightmarish and courageous, the poems in Songs of a Coward weave an exquisite tapestry of rich images and turbulent emotions in one’s darkest hour.
Prem Purana : Mythological Romances
Love is a universal feeling – it escapes no one -not even devas (gods) and asuras (demons), kings and nymphs. And when they face life’s unexpected tribulations, their love also undergoes trials. Tormented by passion, ravaged by betrayal, torn by the agony of separation, love in its many splendored forms is the origin of these incredibly endearing stories of Prem Purana.
You Never Know: Sometimes Love Can Drag You Through Hell
Dhruv knew Anuradha was his true love. But, despite this, he went ahead and fulfilled the desire of his body and mind. Akash Verma’s book You Never Know: Sometimes Love Can Drag You Through Hell will take you into a world of secret and dark revelations. What happens next? – is the question that will echo every time you flip a page.
Boo! 13 Stories That Will Send a Chill down your Spine
Boo is a collection of 13 well-crafted horror stories about a he-ghoul, a departed son’s soul, whispers and visitations from beyond, night howls, unearthly claws that erupt from bellies and the very first ghost in the world, among others. Penned by Shashi Deshpande, Kanishk Tharoor, K.R. Meera, Jerry Pinto, Usha K.R., Jahnavi Barua, Manabendra Bandyopadhyay, Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, Jaishree Misra, Kiran Manral, Madhavi S. Mahadevan, Durjoy Datta and Shinie Antony, the tales in Boo will surely spook you for a long time.
The Stardust Affair
Avinash Pawar, a young, undaunted reporter, works at the Mumbai Sun, alongside his mentor, Hamza Syed, a seasoned journalist who specializes in unearthing secrets about the city’s underworld. What starts out as a straightforward writing assignment quickly turns into a dangerous game where Avinash is playing for his life. Will he able be to escape from this dark world of drugs, crime, and deception?
Are You Connected ? 25 Keys to Live, Grow and Success with Self and Other
In this book, Acharya Venugopal, a monk from ISKCON, shares the different tools, skills, and experiences needed to help one connect to one’s own self, the people who matter and to God. Highlighting the need to go deeper into the meaning and purpose of life, Acharya offers skills to achieve peace of mind and to live in harmony with our true selves.
The Consolidators
The Consolidators talks about the second-generation entrepreneurs who tend to be the most interesting ones that have the controlling effect in business. In this highly original book, Prince displays the story of seven super successful second-generation entrepreneurs who showed imagination, gumption, and foresight in turning around the companies they inherited from their Fathers. In the most compelling way, this book will guide you to take your business to a sky-high reach.
Philosophia Perennis: Osho on Pythagoras I & II
Take a plunge into the world of Pythagoras. In a two-series collection, Osho expands on the perennial philosophy and the timeless laws of existence. In Philosophia Perennis 1,- Osho speaks on the ancient but little-known teachings of Pythagoras, his Golden Verses. In the second collection of talks on the timeless laws of existence, Osho talks about how the combination of seemingly polar opposites creates a unique meeting of religion and science. With the wisdom of Pythagoras, Osho blends in his insight to topics that include psychoanalysis, education, politics, revolution, sex and religion, making this book an exceptional read.
The Indian Spirit: The Untold Story of Alcohol in India
Wish to know where Drinking came from? Sit back and take delight in knowing the history of the drinking culture in India. The book is a treasure trove for those who have the palate to enjoy their drink and curiosity to know where it came from. Captured in the book are fascinating stories about alcohol, etiquettes of drinking and tasting notes on different spirits and brews!
Temporary People
Combining the irrepressible linguistic invention of Salman Rushdie and the satirical vision of George Saunders, Unnikrishnan presents twenty-eight linked stories that careen from construction workers who shapeshift into luggage and escape a labor camp, to a woman who stitches back together the bodies of those who’ve fallen from buildings in progress, to a man who grows ideal workers designed to live twelve years and then perish—until they don’t, and found a rebel community in the desert. With this polyphony, Unnikrishnan brilliantly maps a new, unruly global English.
India’s Most Fearless: True Stories of Modern Military Heroes
India’s Most Fearless covers fourteen true stories of extraordinary courage and fearlessness, providing a glimpse into the kind of heroism our soldiers display in unthinkably hostile conditions and under grave provocation. The Army major who led the legendary September 2016 surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the LoC; a soldier who killed 11 terrorists in 10 days are some of the true stories of heroism in the book.
On The Dessert Trail
Monish Gujral is back with his scrumptious detail of signature recipes from his travels across the world. A cookbook author, chef, restaurateur and popular blogger, Gujral presents these recipes with his own blend of ingredients. He simplifies the processes so that you can make them at home, at your pace, and in your comfort zone. This book is a home cook’s delight and a must-have for those who crave to satisfy their sweet tooth.
SHOOT. DIVE. FLY
Read twenty-one nail-biting stories of daring in Shoot.Dive.Fly. Lend your ear to brave men and women, on their stories about what the forces have taught them-and to decide if the olive green uniform is what you want to wear too. SHOOT., DIVE., FLY aims to introduce teenagers to the armed forces and ignite the fire in them, come face to face with perils-the rigours and the challenges-and perks-the thrill and the adventure of a career in uniform.
Republic of Rhetoric : For Speech & Constitution of India
India got her independence long time back. The book explores socio-political as well as legal history of India, from the British period to the present. It sheds light on the idea of ‘free speech’ or what is popularly known as the freedom expression in the country. Analysing the present law relating to obscenity and free speech, this book evaluates whether the enactment of the Constitution made a significant difference in the Indian social fabric relating to the right to free speech in India.
The Boys Who Fought
Pattanaik’s new book is back with an illustrated retelling of the Mahabharata to illuminate and captivate a new generation of readers. ‘When you can fight for the meek without hating the mighty, you follow dharma.’ In the forest, the mighty eat the meek. In human society, the mighty should take care of the meek. This is dharma. A hundred princes should look after their five orphaned cousins. Instead, they burnt their house, abused their wife and stole their kingdom. The five fought back, not for revenge but, for dharma. What happened later? What came of the five’s battle against the hundreds?
The Last Vicereine
India was on the brink of civil war when Lord and Lady Mountbatten arrived in New Delhi. The reluctant Vicereine was a rebel, a rule-breaker. She was a perturbed soul, a great beauty, a firecracker but there was more to her than we could envision. The glamour was a façade; behind it was a highly intelligent woman of influence and power. The Last Vicereine is a heartbreaking story which witnesses the tumultuous phase of the birth of two nations, and of love, grief, tragedy, inhumanity and the triumph of hope.
So, which book are you picking this month?
6 books You Should Read This Navratri
Navratri is a celebration of womanhood and the different forms of a woman. The various goddesses in Hinduism embody different ideals.
Here’s a list of 6 books to celebrate the power of women, this Navratri
Devi, Diva or She-Devil
Like Durga with her ten arms defeated Mahishasura on the battlefield, Sudha Menon’s book Devi, Diva or She-Devil explores the plethora of challenges women face in the professional world and deal with them.
Step Up : How Women Can Perform Better For Success
In an effort to help women achieve the ultimate goal in their personal and professional space, author Anju Jain in Step Up elucidates practical techniques in a simple matrix for women to become successful. The book features interviews with key figures such as Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (Biocon), Sonia Singh (NDTV), Devyani Rana (Caterpillar), Geetu Verma (Unilever) which shows how the modern day woman embodies Goddess Shakti and triumphs over personal and professional arenas.
Millionaire Housewives
In this book, the authors explore the lives of 12 enterprising homemakers who in spite of having no past experience in business, managed to build successful empires through their ambitious zeal for work, defying all stereotypes. Extending their good luck charm in business, they are the Lakshmis of the house who embody prosperity and wealth.
Kali
Seema Mohanty traces the evolution of the Goddess Kali in her book The Book of Kali. The goddess confronts the world in her unconventional persona – challenging the orthodox ideas of divinity. This book highlights the various forms and rituals associated in which the goddess is worshipped.
Jaya
In a modern re-telling of the Mahabharata, Devdutt Patnaik’s book Jaya not only features 250 line illustrations, it also includes women’s stories, other than Draupadi’s such as Satyawati, Kunti, Gandhari). The ending is not what one would expect, and almost is the sole reason why the book was originally called Jaya by Vyasa.
Sita
History has romanticised Rama at the cost of marginalizing the role that Sita played in ‘The Ramayana’. Devdutt Pattanaik’s book Sita re-imagines the world of Sita. It emphasizes on the fact that though portrayed as a submissive character, Sita was a woman of mighty demeanor and strength.
Which book are you reading this Navratri?
5 Quotes that will Make You Pick ‘A Rising Man’ As Your Next Read
Abir Mukherjee, an accountant turned writer, is the author of the bestselling book A Rising Man. His debut novel was inspired by a desire to recover a crucial period in Anglo-Indian history that seems to have been almost forgotten. It won the Harvill Secker/Daily Telegraph crime writing competition and became the first in a series starring Captain Sam Wyndham and ‘Surrender-not’ Banerjee.
The story follows Sam Wyndham, an English detective who comes to Calcutta after the Great War in search of a new start. He’s immediately thrown into his first case, the murder of a British burra sahib who’s been found with his throat cut in an alley. Sam, aided by his Indian assistant Sergeant Banerjee, investigate and soon find that things are a bit more complicated than they thought
Here are 5 quotes that will make you pick A Rising Man as your next book.
Murder as entertainment? Hmm…
Intriguing!
Ambivalence as a source of shock!
Captain Wyndham was no fan of the war!
British and their alternate channels
Sounds interesting? Pick up your copy of A Rising Man now.
8 Steps to Improve Your Quality Of Life And Achieve Your Goal
We all dream about a glorious future and set goals to turn it into a reality. What if someone told you that you only need 5 years to achieve your goals.
Arfeen Khan in Where will you be in 5 years gives you crucial tips that are practical, effective and can be implemented from day one. He also helps you chart out your growth and solve your personal problems.
Here are 8 steps that he insists will help you improve your quality of life
Take Control of Your Health
Grow Your Wealth in a Steady Manner
How Passionate Are You about Your Work?
When Someone Knows You Better than You Know Yourself
Stay Curious and You Will Enjoy Life
Things Belong to You, You Don’t Belong to Them
How to Be Creative? Play Games
Stay Tuned to Your Social Support System
Tell us what do you do to improve the quality of life.
What Happens in Haruki Murakami’s ‘Men Without Women’?
In Men Without Women master storyteller Haruki Murakami returns with his signature style, but with a twist. Revolving around the themes of love, loss and existential conundrums, Men Without Women also asks if curiosity is always necessary. It’s this curiosity in which lies the secret of Murakami’s ‘Men Without Women’.
Here’s taking a visual peek into Murakami’s new book.
Drive My Car
Yesterday
An Independent Organ
Kino
Scheherazade
Samsa in Love
Men Without Women
Powerful, thought-provoking, intense, Murakami’s Men Without Women dives deep into those crevices of your heart you didn’t quite know existed.
