Chapter 3 - Attributes Of A
Good Leader
Day 3
A true leader lets go of control. He creates leaders, not followers. An important mark of good leadership is letting go of control. Are you in control when you are sleeping or when you are dreaming?
Can you control any other function in your body? Your heart pumps oxygen on its own. Are you in control of your thoughts? You are not.
So, when you realise you really do not have any hold over all the critical aspects of your life, then you learn that the idea that you are in control is an illusion.
1. Sets Examples - A leader leads by example. He does not just issue orders. He teaches others how to do things by first doing them himself.
A good leader creates leaders, not followers. He takes good care of those whom he is leading. He delegates responsibility.
2. Does Not Worry About Position -
A good leader is well aware that the respect that he gains through virtue is very different from the respect he gains through the position he enjoys.
He knows that the respect the position brings is short-lived and temporary. Being a chairman of a committee or a president of another, being a governor or a barrister - these are all momentary experiences.
Positions come and go. But the respect that he gets for being a nice person, for his virtues and attitude, is genuine. It lasts long.
3. Accepts Challenges - A good leader is motivated when there are challenges to meet. He is alert in times of crisis. He is not at all disturbed, rather he sees challenges as opportunities.
4. Balances Head And Heart - A successful leader maintains a balance by listening to the head as well as the heart. When he needs to commit himself to his work, he listens to his head. In other areas of his life, he listens to his heart.
5. Is Empathetic - An effective leader is able to put himself in other’s shoes and see things from their point of view. He is a good communicator.
6. Does Not Care For Comfort - Anything creative and dynamic can happen only when you stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone. You are often stuck here.
You may think that you cannot do something. But if you make an effort and take that first step ahead, then you will find that you are not bound by your comfort zone.
7. Has Long Term Vision - A true leader has a long term vision and the short term plans to work on it. He is prepared to put the organisation, the country, before his own needs. That sense of sacrifice is needed.
8. Has Integrity - A good leader is satyadarshi (truthful), samdarshi (equanimous), priyadarshi (pleasant personality), pardarshi (transparent) and doordarshi (farsighted). He has a mission and a vision and a spirit of
sacrifice, compassion and commitment.
9. Does Not Let His Position Make Him Arrogant - A good leader does not exhibit that he is a leader. He becomes one among everybody. He does not think he is better than everybody else.
He just sees himself as part of the group. A sense of belongingness makes him interact with the ones he leads. Developing good human relationship skills is a necessary quality in a successful leader.
My teacher - Pandit Sudhakar Chaturvedi - was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He travelled with him, writing letters for him as well as teaching him the Bhagavad Gita.
Once, Mahatma Gandhi was travelling with a group of people in a train in the hilly regions of Darjeeling in India. Darjeeling is a hill station and the train was moving uphill.
Suddenly, the engine came detached from the coaches. The engine continued ahead but all the coaches started rolling backwards down the
gradient. It took a little while for people to realise what was happening.
The engine-less train was gaining momentum because of the gradient. So there was chaos. Everybody was screaming and praying. They could not even jump out of the moving train because they would fall thousands of metres down.
Everyone was in panic mode.
During this time, Mahatma Gandhi was dictating letters for my teacher to take down. Gandhiji did not know the south Indian languages but my teacher did, so he would take dictation and translate.
My teacher asked him whether he was aware of the situation, told him that there was no guarantee that they would be alive in a short while. The train could fall at any moment because there was no engine attached and it was out of control.
Gandhiji replied that if they were saved, they would have wasted so much time in anxiety. Whatever was to happen could not be controlled, hence it was better that they wrote their letters.
That was the lesson that he gave my teacher. Even in moments of utter danger, a person like Mahatma Gandhi remained totally involved in his work.
Today, those who are very aggressive are the leaders in schools and colleges. Aggression is linked to pride. This is unfortunate. Compassion, equanimity, caring and love need to be attached to pride.
This was how it was in the earlier days. Then, if somebody lost his or her temper it would be considered wrong. This was because a calm and pleasant state of mind was considered to be an essential quality in a leader.
Someone who could take on the stress of others and give them a reason to smile was seen as a true leader. We have heard many stories about Lord Buddha's unshakeable smile or composure.
Mahatma Gandhi showed the same trait. He had a very firm and steady mind, nobody could disturb his equanimity. We see such managers in companies. They don't give in to emotion, they have a calm mind.
They can take on challenges and handle them better. Those who are not impulsive show better, clearer perception. This is what is expected of a leader - better perception, clear observation and graceful expression.
Psychologists today say that our attention span is decreasing because we watch too much television. This bombards the mind with too many impressions so that it is unable to focus for long.
Children show an attention-deficit syndrome. They have not been taught how to relax their minds. When the mind is relaxed, the attention span increases.
If you observe yourself on a Sunday morning, you will note that you are very sharp. But on a Wednesday or a Thursday, when you have just come home from work in the evening, or when you are very tired, your attention span is poorer.
A leader is one who has the patience to listen to those working under him. He is capable of seeing other’s points of view as well. I would call this a multi-dimensional understanding of a situation or a person, seeing an event from various angles gives you the complete picture.
