Leadership: Personality or Character?

Who is a Leader? Is there an Indian Version of a great Leader or will we always look at the Bankrupt countries Leadership Model?

The story below will help you get the answer!

In 1950, an girl was born to a Brahmin Family, Kulkarni in Karnataka & no one could have imagined that one day she will be a Global Icon. As a student, she took admission in engineering at a time when girls rarely chose that option & throughout her academic career was the topper during her bachelor’s & Master’s Degree.

Became the first female engineer hired by India’s largest auto manufacturer TELCO (Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company) now Tata motors. After working as an engineer in few other companies, she became a teacher of computer science and a social worker.

She invested her savings of Rs 10,000/- to help her husband start an IT company in 1981 which is now one of the most respected Firms in India & Globally. ?

She personally contributed to programs benefitting war widows, education scholarships, sanitation, and the arts. A well-known writer, She has published over ninety-five titles published in sixteen Indian languages.

Received many awards at the state, national, and inter-national levels, including the prestigious Padmashri Award, Rajyaprashasti, and six doctorates from universities across India.

Some of them are:

·??????India’s fourth-highest civilian honour Padma Shri in 2006

·??????Gold medal from Indian Institute of Engineers, India

·??????Cash award for securing highest marks in SSLC

·??????Gold medal from Chief Minister of Karnataka Sri Devaraj Urs, for securing the highest marks in B.E in the state

·??????CS Desai Prize for standing first in University of Karnataka

·??????Best Teacher Award in 1995 by Rotary Club of Karnataka

·??????‘Ojaswini’ award for excellent social work for the year 2000

·??????‘Millenium Mahila Shiromani’ award

·??????R.K. Narayan’s Award of Literature

·??????Honorary LLD for her contribution to promoting formal legal education and scholarship in India

·??????Life Time Achievement Award at the Crossword-Raymond Book Awards

·??????“Hemmeya-Kannadiga” award from television

·??????IIT Kanpur awarded her Honorary degree of Doctor of Science

Guessed the name yet?

Yes, Sudha Murthy ji. ?She is a living legend who plays multiple roles with ease and lives a simple life with high thinking.

A personality that lives her life purely on building great character.

She also founded the Infosys Foundation and now serves as its chairperson. Sudha Murthy has successfully initiated and anchored several programs to improve healthcare, education, disaster relief, women and youth empowerment, and orphan care. She is also a part of the Gates Foundation focusing on philanthropic work.

Incase you are not aware of all these about her, it’s time to change the way you use Social Media. Her life journey itself is a Leadership Program, if observed carefully.

Dr Stephen Covey in his book, 7 habits of highly successful People, talks about the need for us to do a Paradigm Shift of Leadership Model & move back to the Character-Ethics instead of Personality-Ethics. It makes total sense on why he said so when we know about Sudha Murthy ji.

Thank you Sudha ji for aspiring billions of people like me.