Leadership

Once upon a time, a young man, thoroughly beaten and defeated in life, decided to renounce the world and become a monk. So he went around searching for a sage, a sadhu who could become his Guru, and teach him spiritual practices.


He searched near and far, till one day he came across one such sadhu, living in a small hut deep inside a forest, along with a few of his disciples.
Our hero accosted this holy man with folded hands, “Maharaj, I am fed up with the difficult ways of the world. I would like to renounce it, and become a sadhu like you. Please make me your chela (disciple) and teach me.”


The holy man, though, was not unwise to the ways of the world. So he tried to dissuade our hero. “See beta, becoming a chela is not easy. You will have to get up very early in the morning, take a bath in the river, whose water is absolutely freezing, then chant and meditate upon God’s name for a few hours. After that you will need to collect drinking water from the river, and firewood from the forest. That done, you will have to walk with the rest of my chelas to the village ten miles away to beg for food. Then coming back, you will again need to practice meditation for a few hours. The villagers themselves are very poor, and the bhiksha they give is never enough, so it’s quite possible that you will go hungry in the night. So my son, think carefully about the sort of life that you are about to choose. It’s very hard work”.


Our hero reflected on this reality check for a few moments, and then was quickly seized by a flash of inspiration, “Then Maharaj, I do not want to become a chela. Please straightaway make me a Guru instead”.

“Guru miley sawa lakh, chela na miley koi”, lamented Sant Kabir, in one of his couplets.


Unfortunately, interaction with a few ambitious people that I sometimes come across during my work also evokes the same thought in my mind. The common myth that these people subscribe to seems to be that becoming a manager is a ticket to plenty of perquisites and absolutely no responsibilities. “Once I have a few people reporting to me” their attitude seems to speak out “I can just relax and manage them, while they do all the hard work and get me the results”.


Sorry to disappoint you folks, but it just does not happen that way!


First, a leader, apart from being responsible for himself, also becomes responsible for the actions and failures of those he leads. He therefore must have the skill and strength in him not only to complete his own tasks, but also make up for the mistakes of his subordinates. For, though he has the freedom to delegate authority, the responsibility remains his and his alone. So, in reality he needs to work not less than his subordinates, but more.


Second, the word ‘leader’ implies to lead, it implies being in the front, ahead of others, in the thick of action. A leader consequently is the first one to take damage, when the situation is out of control. A person who hides behinds his troops is no leader, and his team is bound to fail.


Leadership does not mean just an overlordship over a few individuals. Leadership means the ability to shoulder responsibility on behalf of the entire team. “Sirdar sardar”, as Swami Vivekananda has succinctly put it. Sir means head. Sirdar, a man who can give his head, is a sardar, a leader.


Sirdar, sardar. That is the definition of a leader. There is no other. Leadership is not access to power and privileges, and an escape from responsibility. Leadership is in fact agreeing to more responsibilities. Ponder on this before you look for ways to an instant leadership.