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| Mr Mr Neel Raman- the founder of Focused On...® at TEDx Chennai He is also the author of 'Hoops and Freedom' |
Do we
have an urge to become leaders? Why/ Why not?
We all aspire to attain supremacy in our works. We all want our dreams to get transcended into realism ; some aspire to become the next promising administrators of the country and have an urge to cleave the existing manacles of polity; some desire to emerge as revolutionaries in the field of Industry and, stand firm in their notion to bring a boost to the declining Indian GDP, and few are keen in transforming the lives of the downtrodden by heading them towards spirituality.
Imagination is the first step towards creativity and 'Learning’- which is a three tier process based on - ‘Experiencing’, ‘Experimenting’ and ‘Executing’ is the final outcome of our imagination. But most of the times we jump to the last step of learning before permeating through the first two. In the same way,firstly, our target should be to become 'leaders' within our own 'Selfs'. We need to experience leadership within. The main constraint lies in the very fact that we humans embark upon 'missions of transformations' seeking amendments in the structure of society, without firstly getting ourselves transformed from within.
The day we discover the 'Undiscovered' that is latent inside us, in all aspects of human life, that day will mark the unfurling of our 'Self' in real sense. After having done enough debating/ discussion in class pertaining to the ‘Evolution of a leader’, unquestionably, I stand in complete agreement that ‘Leaders are not born, they are mould’ by their surroundings. But the discovery of a 'leader within' i.e. 'Unfolding of Self' is always a transforming process, emerging due to the birth of different consequences. In my terms, I think that the answer to the above stated query can be best defined, designed and delineated by using the three forms of tenses -'My Past, My Present and My future' viewed in accordance with 'Their Past, Their Present and Their Future’. What a leader does is, he amalgamates these two, to sculpt -'Our past, our Present and Our Future”.
Akshay Thakur
We all aspire to attain supremacy in our works. We all want our dreams to get transcended into realism ; some aspire to become the next promising administrators of the country and have an urge to cleave the existing manacles of polity; some desire to emerge as revolutionaries in the field of Industry and, stand firm in their notion to bring a boost to the declining Indian GDP, and few are keen in transforming the lives of the downtrodden by heading them towards spirituality.
Imagination is the first step towards creativity and 'Learning’- which is a three tier process based on - ‘Experiencing’, ‘Experimenting’ and ‘Executing’ is the final outcome of our imagination. But most of the times we jump to the last step of learning before permeating through the first two. In the same way,firstly, our target should be to become 'leaders' within our own 'Selfs'. We need to experience leadership within. The main constraint lies in the very fact that we humans embark upon 'missions of transformations' seeking amendments in the structure of society, without firstly getting ourselves transformed from within.
The day we discover the 'Undiscovered' that is latent inside us, in all aspects of human life, that day will mark the unfurling of our 'Self' in real sense. After having done enough debating/ discussion in class pertaining to the ‘Evolution of a leader’, unquestionably, I stand in complete agreement that ‘Leaders are not born, they are mould’ by their surroundings. But the discovery of a 'leader within' i.e. 'Unfolding of Self' is always a transforming process, emerging due to the birth of different consequences. In my terms, I think that the answer to the above stated query can be best defined, designed and delineated by using the three forms of tenses -'My Past, My Present and My future' viewed in accordance with 'Their Past, Their Present and Their Future’. What a leader does is, he amalgamates these two, to sculpt -'Our past, our Present and Our Future”.
As Mr
Vijay Menon, precisely said -" Leadership is not a process, it is a
consequence", I think it is the impact of these three realms (Past,
Present and Future) which are the influential ingredients, sculpting any
individual into an altogether new being. In one of the HUM sessions, Prof
Vijyaragwan emphasized the need to explore our ‘Selfs’ and related it with
leadership. So, complying with his notion that he stressed upon, I think 'We
all should desire to become leaders- but firstly ‘leaders within’ our own
'selfs' where the reins of our lives are not governed by others but are held
firmly by our conscience.
Can
we be leaders? How will we justify this?
In
context to the previously answered query, my reply to this is, undoubtedly a
‘Yes’. For every individual, the question is not about- ‘Can we become leaders
or not’ but it is- ‘Can we transform ourselves into leaders or not’.
Transformation is the child of consequence. To say that ‘Can we’ will seem a
‘half-failure’, rather we should answer it by saying that ‘we can’ and ‘we
will’. Transforming one-self under the influence of external surroundings can
bring two types of amendments in a being. One- which arises when an individual
surrenders himself to the external situations and second, which is born by the
art of facing these ordeals with gallantry and adroitness. It is the second
case under which, an individual heads towards imbibing ‘Leadership’ virtues.
Our efforts should be to create a productive space for ourselves in this second
stratum of transformation, wherein the ‘Self’ is unfolded in a realistic way.
Justification is an outcome of transformation.
As
Swami Vivekananda said-“Everything is to be realised. It is the realization
which helps an individual to be within himself and become whatever he wants”.
In the similar way, realization within ourselves will act as a tool to justify
that we can emerge as ‘Leaders’.
What
can be our strategy?
The two questions answered
previously, seem to give a more philosophical touch, than being pragmatic. But
indubitably, the outcome of a positive transformation is always directed
towards practicality. Today, the world has enormous dearth of people who can
bring positive transformations in different areas of workspace. We criticize
the Government for stagnating the growth of the nation- there is need for
efficient Political Leaders; we see a common man not being able to get a square
meals a day- we require reforms and reformers; we see organisations
disintegrating - there is need for capable entrepreneurs….we see….and so on.
Our aim as a leader should be to act as an accelerator in all these
domains which directly or indirectly interlink with each other. Our urge should
be to deal with situations with a ‘difference’, rather dealing them with
‘indifference’. Primarily speaking- to create ‘A leader within’ should be
our motive and in this process directing ourselves towards the betterment of
the society -our ultimate aim.
The
roadmap of our strategy to become promising leaders has to be directed on
a path which enables us in bringing transformation within ourselves. Our desire
should be to refine ourselves to an extent that we become capable enough, to
present our service towards the betterment of humanity and become answerable to
God in a realistic way.
Akshay Thakur
