I am sure, this statement must have surprised many of you. We all see leaders from corporate, politics and sports, all around us. The question is are all of these really leaders?
Most of them end up being leaders, because they have a God Father or belong to a certain family or simply by the virtue of no. of years spent in an organization. All of them are titled as Leaders, but do they really do justice to the definition of Leadership? That’s the big question…
Robin Sharma said – Leadership is not about titles! I recommend one and all to read this wonderful piece on Leadership written by Robin! Yes, I truly believe that Leadership is not about titles.
To me, Leadership is about the sincerity and passion we bring to whatever we do and how we are able positively bring a change to people’s lives and have the resolve to overcome as a Winner in the most difficult and demanding situations. How many of the designated leaders in the corporate world, politics or sports are able to do that? And if they aren’t able to, do they really deserve to be a Leader?
In the Indian context, especially in the corporate world, leadership has always been synonymous to designations and this is really unfortunate. We believe, only those who are General Managers, Vice Presidents, etc. are Leaders, which is such a misconception. Also people believe, that if you are handling a team, only then you really fit the definition of a Leader, this is yet another misconception.
Anyone can be a leader as Leadership is all about ‘Walk the Talk’, dare to go the untrodden path, be a Role Model for others. To me Leadership is all about – Inspiration and Demonstration.
If you are at a responsible position in the corporate world, politics, sports, etc ask this question to yourself – Do I Inspire others? Do I demonstrate, what I expect others to do? If you don’t, you aren’t truly a leader.
Do we really need a fancy designation or a team to inspire others and demonstrate how something great or impossible can be achieved? Well, not really, if we have the sincerity, courage and conviction backed by passion, you can inspire and demonstrate irrespective of your age, gender, level/designation and also even if you are not handling a team under you!
Two greatest examples are Arunima Sinha and Deepa Malik,
Arunima Sinha, born in 1988, was a national level volleyball player who was pushed from a running train by some robbers in 2011 while she was resisting them. As a result, one of her legs had to be amputated below the knee. Inspite of going through such a horrifying incident, she had an extremely positive outlook towards life and decided not to spend rest of her life gaining sympathy, but infact prove the world, that nothing was really lost. She was the first Indian amputee woman to climb the Mount Everest and later went on to climb 5 more peaks making India proud.
Deepa Malik, born in 1970, is an Indian athlete. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games and won a Silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in the shot put. She overcame a spinal tumour, 31 surgeries and 183 stitches in her shoulder blades to achieve what seemed almost impossible and become the first Indian Woman to win a medal in Paralympic games.
This really proves the point that you don’t really need a fancy designation and a big team to handle for you to be called a Leader. Both these women are truly an epitome of Inspiration and Demonstration and we salute their spirit and bravery to fight the worst odds and come out as a Winner. They are the most befitting examples of Leadership – A virtue which is really rare!
If you have the courage and conviction backed by sincerity and passion – you as well can become an Inspiration for many in this world.
If you truly wish to be ‘Genuine Leader’ – Inspire and demonstrate!!!
Author-Rohan Lele, Head – HR, Zydex Industries
