My 5 key leadership principles - inspired by the late Pandurang Shastri Athavale

We are living at a time in history when there is a desperate need for trustworthy, compassionate, and action-oriented leaders.

I believe that we need our leaders to, not only be accountable to their boards and shareholders, but also to their employees, communities, and society. We need to demonstrate we care about the long-term impact of our actions on the sustainability of our planet, as well as on the stark and growing inequalities in our society. We need to prove that business can be a force for good. We need to recognise the humanity in our workforce and to foster inclusive workplaces where every person can innovate, create and collaborate as equals and be valued, rewarded and promoted fairly, rather than just being treated as mere cogs in a machine.

If we do what we’ve always done, we shouldn’t be surprised about getting the same results as we’ve always got. If we want to create a different legacy, if we want to be a more trusted industry, to have a more inclusive culture, to properly engage our people in doing meaningful work, to create a more sustainable world, then something needs to change. But where do we, as leaders, find this different source of inspiration and a different way of thinking to help us envision a different approach for bringing about lasting change?

For me, that inspiration has been the late Pandurang Shastri Athavale, who was recognised by the Templeton Prize Foundation in 1997 at Westminster Abbey for his lifelong work in building bridges between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. His innovative social experiments and programs have changed the lives of both the giver and receiver and uplifted more than one hundred thousand villages across India.

You may be wondering that with this level of impact, how can it be that you have not heard of Dadaji? Firstly, on a very practical note, he has given only a few speeches in English, the vast majority were given in Hindi, Gujarati or Marathi. Secondly, he didn’t seek popularity or platforms. He was action-oriented, and spent his life reaching as many people as he could personally, while motivating others to do the same.

Dadaji (meaning “elder brother” in Marathi) has had an enormous influence on my life and my approach to leadership. I’d like to attempt to draw out some specific and practical lessons from his teachings and work. On the occasion of his birth centenary today, I’d like to share an insight into my motivation, inspiration and the underlying beliefs that guide my approach to leadership. These are a series of five practices that I have been working on since being a youth leader in my early twenties and continue to experiment with and iterate as CEO of Redington today. They are a stretch target against which I aspire, experiment, fail, take honest feedback, introspect and try again everyday.

In summary these are:

1.      Continuously work on myself

2.      Be less selfish in my relationships

3.      Give others dignity always

4.      Build bridges with empathy

5.      Conduct experiments everywhere

You might think that these are common sense, but I’m sure we all recognise that they are not common practice. I often find that even if we know the ‘why’ and the ‘what’, we often need help with the ‘how’.

I have tried to illuminate Dadaji’s unique insights underlying each of these principles, with specific practical actions that I have found useful and hope that other leaders do too.

If you want more detail on each of the individual principles you can read on here - https://www.miteshsheth.com/my-5-key-leadership-principles-inspired-by-the-late-pandurang-shastri-athavale/

Alternatively, I was pleased to speak about Dadaji's inspiration and impact on my life and approach to leadership with Paul Thomas from MRM Communications on 19th October - you can watch the video here - https://www.crowdcast.io/e/8bkjsffj