A close look at the nature of leadership in India today surprises everybody that the decisiveness and passion demonstrated by leaders is unique not only in the business but in the political world. Monarchy has become a thing of the past. Today an Indian leader understands the dynamics of human behavior in particular situations and does not hesitate to become a follower in demanding situation. Many of them have a charismatic persona that stage in India where the educated politicians are seeking the advice of our corporate kings in the business world for making strategic decisions for the welfare of the nation and planning the course of action in the days to come. Recently while there has been a slight degeneration in the quality and impact of leadership in the Western economies, the intellect of Indian leaders both in business and political circles reigns supreme.
Humility and graciousness are the exemplary traits of Indian leaders in trying times. These are indications that India has entered into an era of matured leadership as Ratan Tata, Azim Hashim Premji, Laxmi Mittal, N. R. Narayan Murthy, and K. M. Birla have brilliantly outshone their predecessors and their successors will do even better. They possess the requisite professional expertise and matured vision to lead and run the business in succession planning. It is the wisdom of grooming the next generation that helps to take up key roles e.g. Tanya Dubash and Nadir Godrej, Lakshmi Srinivasan, Rohan Murthy, Aditya Mittal, Rishad Premji, Noel Tata, etc.
“Our scriptures and spiritual texts
have conditioned our behavior to be
sensitive to the plight of others”
One of the most respected traits of popular Indian leaders is passion with compassion and it is this ability that delivers better results. Most of these attributes can be found in the self-actualization and self-transcendence layers of Maslow’s pyramid and form a subset of these: spontaneity, problem-solving, creativity, acceptance of reality, open-mindedness, and morality. For ages, India is a land of many transpersonal leaders Transpersonal is defined as going beyond personal interests. They are radical, ethical, and authentic while emotionally intelligent and caring. India, the land of Vedas has been the home to many great political minds e.g.Chanakya, Swami Vivekananda, Dayanand Saraswati, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Rajaram Mohan Roy, Acharya Narendra Dev, Mahatma Gandhi, Maharshi Aurobindo, Gurudev Rabindranath, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vinoba Bhave, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, A.P. J Abdul Kalam, The legacy of Gandhi was carried forward by the leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Indira Gandhi, and so on. Following are some interesting facts about Indian leaders:
- They trust people
- Focus on teamwork.
- They inspire people.
- They have continuous focussed efforts and perseverance.
- Show infinite positivity and patience
- They are great visionaries and good orators.
- Moreover, many of them have a Charismatic personality
References
1- On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
2- Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
3- Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis & Annie McKee
4- Wings of Fire: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
5- On Leaders And Icons: From Jinnah To Modi Hardcover – 10 January 2019 by Kuldip Nayar
6- Raja Yoga By Swami Vivekananda Paperback – 6 December 2015
About the Author.
Dr. Usha Srivastava, is a Retired Professor of psychology, Department of Higher Education, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal. Her areas of special interests are personality development and self growth, communication skills, career orientation, gender equality, status of working women in India and social issues. She has worked extensively on fresh approach on modern day living, subsequent consequences and simple remedies. Her books: Indian working women in transition, The Art of Communication are already published. Excellence is nothing but doing the best, Kavayanjali in Hindi
