I spoke at a forum hosted by the newly found Rishihood University on a topic very close to my heart – ‘How to Create Great Leaders’ and I’d like to share some insights with you around the same through this post.
Leadership can be talked about at many levels including corporate, individual, national and at a global level. At any level, a true leader must have these three most crucial traits :
- Fearlessness – A leader is fearless, and makes clear & courageous decisions even in ambiguous situations. He focuses on doing the right thing rather than the easy things
- Selflessness – Leaders help their teams grow by aligning on common purpose and cohesively working for the larger goal, instead of focusing on personal goals.
- Vision – A leader has to have a long term vision that not just sets direction but inspires team to go beyond.
At a National level in India, I feel there is a huge deficit of great leaders. One of the reasons for this is the lack of national pride among young Indians. We have to inculcate the feeling of National pride and belongingness among kids from an early stage, so that they grow up with the drive for serving the nation, and lead with pride.
So, how should we create leaders who are fearless, selfless, and visionaries? Here’s my take :
All of us have the potential to be leaders
Starting with example from my own life, I was an introvert as a child and an average sportsperson in school. When I came to IIT and was elected as the Sports Secretary – which was a huge responsibility – my fear and inhibitions gradually started fading away. This opportunity unleased tremendous energy and passion and helped to unlock the leader inside me.
So, the first important factor I realised is that being a ‘born leader’ is a myth. All of us have the seeds of leadership within us. It just needs the right trigger and context to unlock our leadership potential. This to me has to be starting point for any leader. You have to believe in the vastness of human potential and constantly be on the lookout for opportunities to unlock the leadership potential of your colleagues.
Second important factor is creating stretch opportunities. The tasks which challenge you to overcome your fears and inhibitions, force you to go beyond your comfort zone, make you accomplish much more than what you think you can! I’ve personally experienced this during my initial days at McKinsey. I was just a newly joined fresher and one day, a senior Partner asked me to join meeting with the CEO of a reputed financial institution. I was initially hesitant but it forced me to step, and I still thank him for giving me such a stretch opportunity. This eventually has become my signature leadership style, to push my team to go beyond what they thought they could do!!
Third, it’s about giving before getting. I joined McKinsey as a consultant and later on headed their knowledge centre (McKC) which at that time didn’t seem as exciting as consulting. Apprehensive about my new role, I soon realised that my team was also looking up to me with similar concerns. It was then that I decided to put my team’s development on priority, instead of getting obsessed about my professional growth. This shift in focus from short term and self to long term and selfless service led to many leaders stepping up and phenomenal growth of our knowledge centre. It becoming a hub of innovation and source of multiple new services that revolutionized McKinsey’s business model. This growth also enabled me to grow into a senior leadership position, which otherwise wouldn’t have been impossible.
Lastly, to create leaders, start with yourself and be an inspiring role model. To inspire others you have to be inspired yourself. Our personal values and actions are the most potent way of influencing those around you. Leadership is not something you can fake, it is who you are. If you are in a position of influence, people are always observing you. It is important to be authentic and stay consistent with your espoused values even in moments of stress. How leaders handle ‘moments of truth’ is the making of a great leader. I have been fortunate to observe and work with some great leaders both in IIT and then across my career. They have had a deep impact on me and massively shaped my development as a leader.
As leaders it is our responsibility to create more leaders. However, this journey is not smooth. There are many problems that pull us down and we can lose way. Often we have a tendency to criticise the system and focus only on the problems. With about 850 million people in India below the age of 35 years, we have a huge amount of energy in store, waiting to come to the front. We need to channelize this energy with a bottom up approach instead of just waiting for top down actions. Start taking initiatives at ground level and keep trying to “be the change” you want to see. Small actions when persisted with over a period of time can snowball and gain visibility & momentum. With this, the people sitting at the top are more likely to shake up and will be forced to change the status quo.
I am very excited about the energy & potential I see in the youth in the country. If our generation can do our bit to spark this talent, I am confident we will see many more leaders stepping up in all walks of life from this new generation.
Jai Hind!!
