Today's class was interesting. The class started in the usual way for any course, with Mr. DebChat asking what Leadership meant to all of us. After listening to the usual definitions, he told us clearly that all our definitions were pure BS (that was unusual). In my mind, leadership was all about finding a sense of purpose and the ability to motivate like-minded people to pursue that.
A similar, but more clear definition was given by Mr. DebChat (henceforth referred to as DC). He talked about leadership as an opportunity - you see an opportunity and then you exploit it. All great companies started from just one idea.
It struck me that he was right. All great companies came from one single idea by some lucky genius. So it means anyone with an idea can become a leader, provided he is able to get other like-minded people motivated towards that idea too. One thing he mentioned was that ideas are all around us like fire - you just need the right conditions (matchbox) to light it up.
All this sounds good to me - I had many ideas and even had friends who were motivated towards that idea. But was the motivation strong enough? I guess not, or else we would have executed that idea by now. But I remembered that once in school, I was very motivated to start a quiz club. I had to fight with the Vice-Principal for a classroom and with the help of a teacher managed to start it. I was very enthusiastic before, but later this enthusiasm died down. It even affected the club, which closed in a year. So it is not only essential for me to have the idea, but i also need to have the enthusiastic about the idea.
Even in IIM Lucknow, I and Abhay had many ideas - in fact we were a idea-mining factory in Term 1. We used to sit for hours discussing on what new venture we should start (That explains my low grades in Term 1) in the future. We even came close (we registered a magazine for children, but we never started it so far) and in fact Abhay is even pursuing one of the ideas seriously (The Green Planet foundation). So along with enthusiasm, one needs to be able to generate new ideas continuously, because ideas come and go very fast. If you have an idea, speak it out and act on it.
Perhaps we didn't know exactly "where to strike". The spark was missing in us, especially in me. I feel that if it wasn't for me, the ideas could have been materialized much faster than the current speed. But we are in the process of it and have to wait and watch what happens. I am not the "I don't watch; I do" types - I always like to see where things are headed and then take action. Perhaps I am reactive by nature or perhaps it's my low motivation that drives me to this reactive nature - I may never know.
This ends Session 1. I have no mood to write anymore for a long time, because a person I learnt to respect in the last 1 year, John McCain (I really respect and admire him too much) recently lost the US Presidential Elections to a unknown face, whose best (and only) quality is that he can speak well (just like DC in IIML). McCain was a true leader - he had the sense of purpose. But Obama - he saw the opportunity and labelled McCain to be another "George Bush". Yes, this very opportunity cost McCain the election. Obama classifies to be called a leader by DC's definition. Well, only time will tell if Obama is a true leader, or merely a puppet. My next post will be when I have the mood to write anything at all. I will refer to my notes from then.
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