Let T.A.R.A. guide you home
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the fiercest disruption that human civilization has experienced since the arrival of computers several decades ago.
When computers first arrived, there was considerable resistance, especially in unionised industries, driven by an inadvertent fear of losing livelihoods. After the industrial revolution, we had almost mastered the art of intertwining assembly lines with human brawn, and life felt balanced. But then computers changed everything. They sped up processes, condensed turnaround times, rendering many old skills to obsoletion. Slowly we evolved — learning to coexist with these machines. Over the last 50 years, we have figured out a way to move computers from sitting at our desks to fitting into our palms, until they became friends.
Today, however, we are caught in the throes of AI disruption – a lovechild of COVID and computers really. But it has hijacked our imagination. AI now feels larger than life and harder to predict than ever before.
A film that illustrates this beautifully is Her (released in 2013). The protagonist, overwhelmed by the emotional complexities that dating apps offer, brings home a software. This software forms a bodiless, soulful connection with him — one so deep that no other human connection compares. She becomes “the one,” missed only by the lack of a mortal touch.
This is how AI is manifesting around us much faster than we imagined. AI is learning to imitate Human Intelligence. Technology is transitioning from simply doing to essentially being.
AI is a colleague we fear who may be smarter than us. We are being displaced and replaced, pushed out from our comfortable positions and legacy knowledge, into an era whose boundaries feel like an elusive mirage, a storm whose eye is unknown.
So, what is happening to us as living, breathing, well-meaning souls? We, us – how do we feel? And how do we act? We experience fear of the unknown, a threat of survival.
Leaders are tasked with the role of navigating this transition for themselves and those that they have led. They face resistance, insecurity, they experience people’s experience of betrayal when tough decisions are being taken, such as – slower appraisals, job losses etc. The world is changing in ways we cannot fully comprehend. And as leaders, we have to explain this change to others. Do we feel inept, insufficient or limited in helping others navigate change, while still knowing that we are well-meaning individuals? Does our humanness feel more challenged than ever before? Possibly.
But we know for certain that we have something that AI does not: human emotions and our infinite capability to translate our emotional intelligence from our doing to our being.
And therein lies the infiniteness of my concept – T.A.R.A.
TARA, meaning star in Indian languages, holds many connotations in ancient and medieval cultures — a guiding light, a form of divinity, symbolising compassion and direction.
Let me use this as an acronym to explain the forces behind it that will help us to thrive as leaders. T.A.R.A stands for Trust. Accept. Resolve. Align.
Let us delve into why these are the most important in transforming our leadership journeys.
- Trust – An essential quality — one that we often find either intrinsically present or conspicuously absent from individuals and organisations. When we do not trust others, can we say we truly trust ourselves?
In moments where we fear losing our position, feel overshadowed by someone more skilled, or threatened by replacement — are we operating from trust or insecurity?
Trust brings inner security. Calm leaders are able to trust themselves and their people and even in the eye of storm it helps them to include.
Emotional Intelligence begins here: developing trust in oneself, and extending it meaningfully to others.
- Accept – Acceptance is the ability to process a situation and make composed decisions. It means navigating circumstances with awareness — not just of what’s happening outside, but of the inner struggles within ourselves and others. True acceptance is a boundary set by the self. It is intentional. Compliance, in contrast, operates within boundaries set by others. We fall in line — often activating survival mode. Compliance can feel like compromise. Acceptance does not. It allows us to move with resourcefulness, without slipping into victimhood.
Yet, acceptance – as a state of being — is difficult. We grow up in cultures steeped in rejection. From childhood to leadership, rejection lights up powerful emotional triggers. In response, we learn to either react or repress — both forms of coping that prevent deeper acceptance. When rejection is unprocessed, we lose the ability to accept ourselves — and, in turn, others.
As leaders, our challenge is to cultivate acceptance not as compliance or passivity, but as an active presence that makes dialogue and connection possible.
- Resolve – What cannot be accepted needs to be resolved. Resolution is not just about finding a solution. It is deeper work. It requires presence, authenticity, compassion and dialogue. But often, we are so entangled in the aftermath of the stimulus that we forget to navigate toward resolution at all. Resolution is not about agreeing, but about processing with trust and acceptance.
Leaders struggle to resolve because we want to act on impulses. We do not resolve because we do not communicate. We do not communicate because we do not trust the process. We either react or avoid — fight or flight.
Resolution for leaders simply means breaking it down and detangling, uncomplicating, with empathy and with kindness. When misalignment happens, be the first to say, “Let’s talk this through.” Listen beyond words. In meetings, notice what’s not being said. Ask clarifying, feeling-oriented questions.
- Align: Imagine an axis running through the centre of every being — an invisible line that holds us upright, grounds us, and guides our every movement – be it an individual or the collective (the organisation).
The balance of this axis determines how centred we are within ourselves. It is where our locus of control should lie. Alignment requires our wholeness — our ability to remain rooted in who we are, even as the world around us shifts.
When alignment becomes the center of a leader’s being, we make choices not out of survival, but from a place of clarity, purpose, and integrity. It is this alignment to our values, our truth, and our humanity, that allows us to move forward without losing ourselves.
Reconnect with your “why”: What kind of world are you helping create — with or without AI?
Activating EI-driven Leadership shifts in times of AI
In an era where AI feels threateningly whirlwind-like, let T.A.R.A. keep you centered.
| T.A.R.A. | Shift from “Doing” | Shift into “Being” |
| Trust | Controlling, proving, fear state | Grounded in self-reliance, empowering others |
| Accept | Resisting, complying, impulses | Seeing clearly, embracing with openness |
| Resolve | Avoiding, blaming, anger | Engaging, processing, healing |
| Align | Hustling, reacting | Rooted, intentional, values-led, self-awareness |
T.A.R.A. can act as your leadership compass and help build 1) resilience without resistance, 2) courage without aggression, 3) adaptability without losing identity, 4) groundedness in the face of abstraction.
Let’s get emotional, let’s bring our T.A.R.A home!
This blog has been by Sukanya Bhadra, an Associate Partner with GrowthSqapes