Leadership is the action ground where the purpose is realized: The key is to respond when the purpose beckons

#Leadership

#purpose

INTRODUCTION:

????We all experience, once in a while, the spark or the urge to go beyond the routine and do something special. When the feeling persists overtime for that one thing, we know it’s the calling of our heart: the purpose of our life. The experience almost always is a moment of exhilaration because we live in our minds the magical moment of performing beyond the potential. Unfortunately, these blips die off in most individuals. But there are those few who respond when the purpose beckons and travel far. These are the individuals whom we know as the leaders in various spheres of life.

So, the question is what makes the leaders, who they are. How do they make a difference to the world and more importantly, as an individual can we become one? Let’s explore!!!

Why leaders matter

???????????Before getting to the details of what makes a great leader, it would be worthwhile to first understand why leaders matter.

The most recognized leaders are the social and military leaders. Amongst the social leaders are the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela. Amongst the military leaders are the likes of US President Eisenhower, Napoleon Bonaparte and Subhash Chandra Bose (whose byname was Netaji meaning ‘Respected Leader’). Some of the outcomes of the purpose these leaders served are liberation of entire nation from colonial atrocity, freedom of blacks from slavery, saving an entire continent from holocaust. These leaders are relatively widely known and revered because their contribution to the society is more pervasive and visible. The reason of the pervasiveness and visibility of their contribution is that they are associated with the cause of human survival or liberation.

Those who excel in other fields like academics, music, art, culture, business etc. ?are also acknowledged as leaders in their fields. To name a few, the likes of Swami Vivekananda, Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Jamshetji Tata and John D Rockerfeller are the ones representing various other fields. These individuals were able to influence their respective fields and create an impact which outlived them and not only persists today but is likely to last for long time to come. They worked towards the cause of relieving sorrows of the world, scientific discoveries to unravel the mysteries of nature and make life easier, increasing life expectancy, jobs to provide livelihoods and even art to marvel at & gain inspiration from.

Thus, when we think of leaders in general, we realize that not only do they make their lives meaningful while serving a purpose, but also many a times they have a life-altering effect on many more who get in touch with them or their work.

While for most of us, these names would bring forth a feeling of respect, some individuals may have reservations on some of the names or some actions/ideologies of some of them. While that can be a separate discussion or article in itself, for now it should suffice that we acknowledge two things:

(1) There is no individual on the planet who is revered by one and all in all aspects of his or her life (not only leadership but also ideals, values, personal life etc.); Implying no one is perfect.

(2) The fact that we remember an individual even after decades/centuries, points to the fact that they made some tangible long-lasting impact. While the type of impact or ideology can be debated, the large impact stands irrespective. This is the reason we have leaders on both sides, ones who might be considered moral/ethical/caring etc. while others who may be consider immoral/non-ethical/cruel etc. Of course, the striving has to be for a moral/ethical/caring leadership.

Thus, the biggest contribution of the leaders is the influence which they have and the impact they create. Therefore, leadership is of value and should be promoted by all. With this established let’s look at what makes the leaders.

Dispelling some of the myths: Born leaders, Extroverts, Great Orators ... ??

???????????There have been debates about whether leaders are born or made. A good deal of study/research has been done on the same. Of interest can be a journal article which discusses both sides. It details the findings of experiments on fish where positive reinforcements created significantly more follower behaviour than a leader behaviour (implying leaders are born whereas followers are made/conditioned through reinforcements). The article next talks about leaders in various walks of life who did not have a lineage of leadership and hence were self-made (implying leaders are made). Thus, this article concludes that leaders are both born and made.

Not all research has ambivalent conclusions. Another article in a reputed science journal, titled Born leaders discusses variation in leadership evolving spontaneously and not being related to difference in knowledge or power. Finally, a TED talk by Roselinde Torres , who studied hundreds of leaders and business executives, highlighted that leader is all about anticipating change, having a good network and having the courage to move away from the past (implying leaders are made). More and more such recent studies point to the fact that leaders are made and not really born.

While research and studies continue, we can also make some inferences from the examples that we have. There is a glaring proof, within the leaders listed above, that leaders are not born but made. The leader is Napoleon who is both admired as well as hated. In the initial part of his life, he tried to make his mark as an author and failed but later made his mark in military. On one had he is admired for many of his contributions like abolishing feudalism, establishing legal equality and religious toleration on the other hand, when he became powerful, he restored monarchy and led France to a war which resulted in France being beaten, isolated, hated and smaller than what it was previously. Thus, he is a proof that not only leaders are made, they can be ‘unmade’ as well in the same lifetime.

?While one of the myths has been discussed above, there are others like being an extrovert, having very good communication, excellent academic skills etc. Observation of the leaders mentioned above can dispel some of them. For example, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa are all widely recognized leaders and they are all reported to be introverts. Similarly, Mahatma Gandhi had stage fright in his initial years. Neither Mahatma Gandhi nor Nelson Mandela would be considered to be very good academically. For that matter even Swami Vivekananda loved food and had passion for tea. Thus, leadership is not about extroversion, oratory, excellent academics or even complete self-restraint. We can similarly spend time on dispelling number of other myths. But a more fruitful approach would be to look at what makes a leader.

The research and studies try to study deep and distill knowledge about anything (including leadership), which is very useful to make evidence-based inferences. Though even research findings sway from one end to other at times (e.g. born v/s made leader). Hence, similar outcomes can be achieved in a shorter and practical way by developing heuristics (mental shortcuts for solving problems with decent accuracy and adjusting it overtime) about leadership. Observation and reflection are the key in such a process. Hence all those aspiring to develop it, should start with some observations, build heuristics and gradually adapt it overtime.

Interestingly, according to author’s observation, developing heuristics is what successful leaders do over a period of time. The better the range and accuracy of their heuristics, the more adept they are at handling situations, with better success rate being a natural incidental outcome. (Another separate article might do justice to explaining the same). ???

What Makes the Leaders:

Some common threads found in all these individuals mentioned above are:

(1)??They espoused a purpose and worked towards it.

(2)??They worked towards and achieved what would have been considered impossible or was inconceivable before they attempted it.

(3)??When purpose was large and could not be served alone, they also engaged a large size of humanity towards the same as well (mostly the social and military leaders but sometimes even other leaders).

???????????These can be translated into three central action traits (not to be confused with personality traits, which is a separate topic in itself) which are common to all the leaders. They care for a cause; they dare to attempt the inconceivable and share the cause with others when needed. These three traits, when sustained over a period of period of time, leads to making a meaningful impact. While the individual earns their badge of honour in the process, it also helps others who associate, add meaning to their lives or many a times even find a purpose of their life. Let’s understand them a little more.

(i) Care for a cause:

???????????All the leaders invariably care about a cause. The cause is the motivation of these leaders and leads them to the next stage of actions. This motivation for the cause is so high they are ready to dedicate full attention to it; everything else in life becomes secondary to it. To understand it with more common place feeling, the care is similar to that of a parent (more so a mother) for the child. It’s in dedicating self to the child, that they experience joy.

Across the group of leaders mentioned above, some of the causes they espoused are of independence of a nation, equality of rights for everyone in the country, relieving sorrows of the world, unravelling the mysteries of nature, enterprise to provide some service/goods that makes life easier/comfortable … all being done with full dedication and experiencing joy/fulfillment in the process.

(ii) Dare to attempt the inconceivable:

??All the leaders invariably get initiated to achieve something which is either inconceivable or perceived to be beyond the capability of an individual (many a times even beyond the capacity of a group or a mass of humanity). It is this attempt to take up something beyond capability and doing it with grit and determination, which not only turns thoughts into action but more importantly serves as the inspiration for many others to either to take up the cause or do something similar.

???????????The enormity of the actions required to serve the causes can only be imagined. Any individual action would be like a spec in the vastness of dessert, if it were to metaphorically represent the entirety of the task. Still individuals getting started undaunted by the grand scale, which is something worthwhile appreciating. That is what is daring to attempt the inconceivable.

??????????It should be highlighted that daring is not being aggressive, it’s more profound when one is calm; being able to absorb all that is happening around and then being able to shape it with individual actions.

(iii)?Share the cause to engage others:

???????????The leaders invariably realize that in most cases, what they aspire for is a purpose larger than life. It needs coordinated efforts of some or a group or even a mass of humanity to help realize it. While they get started and continue working towards the cause, they also share the idea with others. The idea is not to create followers rather to serve the cause.

???????????Further reflecting over it, the first two action traits are more individualistic in nature. One can get initiated into it with little or no external help/involvement. It’s the third one which is more of a public trait. We can think of the first two traits as the progress towards personal leadership while the third one leads towards a public leadership. It implies personal leadership is the pathway to the public leadership.

Practicing Leadership in personal lives:

?From the previous discussion, it is vital to note that leadership starts with self, i.e. personal leadership. It helps one articulate better in life and become action oriented. UN recognizes the value of leaders in day to day life and has published 10 editions of such leaders from various corners of the world. ?

There can be practical applications for each one of us in every walk of life. Parents can nurture a cause of helping their child to their full potential, teachers can think of the same for the students, doctors can espouse the best possible mental and physical health of all their patients, enterprises can enable social well-being by upliftment of standard of life (includes health, education and environment) in the areas that they operate in, young can take up the cause of dignified life and healthcare of the old (this one idea has the potential of replacing the need for government backed social security to society based social security. Government based social security is facing huge challenges and a primary reason for reduced welfare and increased retirement age in many parts of Europe and the US). … ?

The incidental outcome may be success but it’s the initiation which is more important; things would happen along the way.

Conclusion:

?Leadership is a great quality to be developed. Let’s espouse a cause, dare to attempt for it and share it with others so they can gain too.