7 Leadership lessons from Gandhi’s life

I recently read Brian Johnson’s synopsis of Eknath Easwaran’s book “Gandhi the Man” on Gandhi. We know Gandhi for leading the ‘Ahimsa’ and ‘Satyagraha’ movement but what force within him really allowed him to do that is what Eknath Easwaran, one of the twentieth century’s great spiritual teachers explores in this great book.  He deep dives on how Gandhi did it, from what he drew his strength from? How did such an ordinary little man, manage to transform to someone who was able to stand for the truth, fight and win against the greatest empire with Ahimsa – non violence!

 What leadership lessons can we learn from the Mahatma..

 I picked on few ideas I thought is relevant and applicable to leadership as to life. Here are 7 of them

1)     Know your WHY - Gandhi challenged  political leaders and people to select their purpose, Why they fought? He said ‘Be selfless, without any thought of personal pleasure or personal profit, and then use selfless means to attain your goal.’ Your why is the soul force behind what you do. Your why is the driving force that will accelerate the What. Are you clear on your purpose, What the WHY behind what you do?

2)     Reduce to Zero - Gandhi spoke of reducing himself to zero but that allowed him to become a channel for an ‘instrument of peace’, for doing the work that mattered. By “reducing himself to zero” Gandhi’s personality shown even more brightly than before. How can you reduce to zero to shine the light on the bigger cause, to do the work that matters?

3)     Stand for the truth – Gandhi said ‘Evil is real only as far as we support it. The essence of holding on to truth is to withdraw support of what is wrong’. In today’s world, this may mean you risk being unpopular or unlikeable. But think of the ripple effect you can have when you build the courage to stand for the truth, to stand for justice, to stand for something that is deeply meaningful to you and the larger world!

4)     Practice what you preach - Gandhi was never theoretical. He practiced what he preached. Gandhi couldn’t tell someone else to do something *he* wasn’t doing to the fact that he did not ask a child to stop eating sugar until he did that :) He claimed to be a practical idealist. Is it time to reflect if there is congruence between what you preach and practice? Instead of telling what to do, how can show people who to be!

5)     Challenge the status quo – When the historian J.B. Kripalani challenged Gandhi that never has a nation been able to free itself without violence, Gandhi smilingly said ‘because something has not taken place in the past, that does not mean it cannot take place in the future.’ What can you do to challenge the ingrained beliefs and encourage news ways of thinking that could spur innovation and growth?

6)     Focus on the efforts – ‘Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory’ said Gandhi. As leaders we tend to equate success to outcomes. Gandhi tells us that victory is in the efforts. How will focusing on the efforts shift the culture and drive performance?

7)     Pay attention to your whole life – Gandhi said, ‘One man cannot do right on one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole’. He advised, ‘Eat only what you need,’ ‘only when you are hungry, and only when you have done at least a little work for others.’ If you imagine your life as your company and different domains like your relationships, your self, your involuntary, voluntary work etc as departments – ask yourself, What department needs attention?

Eknath tells us that in order to transform others, you first have to transform yourself. The reason Gandhi had the power he had was because he worked extraordinarily diligently to transform himself from a timid young man to the living embodiment of his highest ideals.

Gandhi believed if he could do it, anyone could do it if we put in the will and the effort. Quoting Gandhi “I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.”

 Of course this requires strength and courage. Gandhi tells us that strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. He asks us to use the vehicle of love and respect to attain our goals even if the result seems far off or uncertain and that every defeat will send us deeper into our own personal resource.

 What personal resource can you tap into? How can you develop that will and the inner strength to transform yourself first before you lead to transform others?