The Debate
Each 'Corona' day we spend in confines at home, a few of us connect over phone post lunch to engage in meaningful conversations on some critical themes.
The Debate today : when there exists no dearth of Leadership literature & knowledge , why should there exist an acute deficit in effecient leadership in the world ?
This debate was insighted by the total number of webinars on the crisis management theme which are currently being conducted and the huge quantum of leadership 'gyaan' floating everyday on the Whatsapp University !!!
By logic ideally, we should have been surrounded now by great leaders considering the sheer quantum of literature & courses available.
The answer to this quintessential dilemma is simple. Becoming a great leader doesn't occur just by reading a book, getting a degree or attending a leadership program. Least of all by reading WhatsApp messages.
No. Learning about leadership is not the same as becoming a great leader. Deep learning is always an internal process. The inner qualities of great leaders are hard-won, developed over a life-time of inquiry, experimentation, dedication, committment to self- honesty and genuine love for human beings. And that is so much more different then reading the literature and getting intellectually stimulated by Leadership as a theme.
No doubt Henry Thoreau rightly said that ..... what lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what really lies within us. And when we bring that what lies within, out into the world, miracles happen !!!
I believe that leadership is about making those miracles happen ! More so, in the kind of times we are experiencing. Knowing about leadership cannot make those miracles happen.
What do you personally feel ??? Add your valuable thoughts to this debate...
Thanks for writing something that has been begging to be written Adil.
In the past few weeks of the lockdown I have been on countless webinars and video conferences and from this week I vowed not to get into another.
The Reason is Simple.
Every single one that I had attended was discussing the Post Covid Scenario. The Post Covid Leader. The Post Covid Manager.
I came to the same conclusion as you have suggested in the blog this morning.
We as a country have been developing our intellectual capabilities and our intellectual capital for well over five decades. What we have developed in academia we have taken it to the corporate and the vice versa is also true. This…