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A few months ago, I was selected for a course in leadership by a global consulting firm that my company organized for senior women leaders. Doing this changed the way I work.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden resigned yesterday. An extraordinary world leader, she exhibited what is arguably her greatest display of leadership in knowing when to stop leading. Speaking of leading…
A few months ago, I was selected for a course in leadership by a global consulting firm that my company organized for senior women leaders. When I mentioned it to a childhood friend, she laughed, ‘Why do you need a course in leadership? You were born a leader.’
I’ll admit that I was born with some ability to lead, and those are the stories that are brought out for a good airing, every time the old gang hangs out. I formed the first ‘morning walk’ club where we’d climb trees, birdwatch, and sit by the rail track and flatten coins. I organized a concert every few months, and a circus, where we performed shockingly dangerous acts like a pole walk, with no safety net. I never asked of anyone what I hadn’t first tried.
So, when I jumped out of a tree, a much younger friend followed, landing awkwardly, and injuring his wrist, I took responsibility as a leader should, and walked all the way back home, holding his arm in place. Later the orthopaedic said it was a good thing that whoever walked him home, held it in place, or the bone would have shifted out of place.
But not everyone who leads is necessarily a good leader. For instance, I should have remembered that our group of about 20 kids also included many younger ones who would follow their leader blindly. I shouldn’t have jumped from that tree in their presence. I was a brave leader, who led my gang where no girl had before, but I was only 12! I’ve had to learn empathy, collaboration, and democracy along the way.
I’m currently fulfilling my dream of building a house in the hills, and if there has ever been a test of my strength and patience, it is this. The building plans have changed four times because each new obstacle has forced me to pivot. Torrential rains, landslides, uncertain terrain, goods coming up from the plains, labour shortage, and a builder who has never built anything like this before.
It is my house, I have designed it, and am now driving the construction, so in every aspect, I am the leader here. It would be easy for me to push through even the foolhardiest ideas because I can. But the leadership course has had me introspecting and reshaping how I lead, and I can see it coming through in my interactions with the builder, engineer, and architect – I’m negotiating more, listening more, and accepting more of their input, instead of pushing my plan through as one expects from ‘strong leaders.’ They are the experts I’ve surrounded myself with and I take their opinions with an open mind.
In the last decade, we’ve heard a lot of talk about strong leaders and how we need them, ending up with a host of right-wing leaders around the world. We do indeed need strong leaders, but it seems that few people are able to distinguish between a strong person and a bully. A bully pushes through plans without consensus or concern. A strong leader affirms, coaches, builds team spirit, drives results, and manages crises. May we vote for them, may we be them.
Since I began with her, I’d like to end with Jacinda Ardern too, who famously said, ‘One of the criticisms I’ve faced over the years is that I’m not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because I’m empathetic, it means I’m weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong.’
Published first on LinkedIn
I am a natural wordsmith, journalist, and editor, with more than two decades of experience across print, broadcast, and web. After spending the initial years of my career working in the mainstream, I joined the read more...
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Rajshri Deshpande, who played the fiery protagonist in Trial by Fire along with Abhay Deol speaks of her journey and her social work.
Rajshri Deshpande as the protagonist in ‘Trial by Fire’, the recent Netflix show has received raving reviews along with the show itself for its sensitive portrayal of the Uphaar Cinema Hall fire tragedy, 1997 and its aftermath.
The limited series is based on the book by the same name written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, who lost both their children in the tragedy. We got an opportunity to interview Rajshri Deshpande who played Neelam Krishnamoorthy, the woman who has been relentlessly crusading in the court for holding the owners responsible for the sheer negligence.
Rajshri Deshpande is more than an actor. She is also a social warrior, the rare celebrity from the film industry who has also gone back to her roots to give to poverty struck farming villages in her native Marathwada, with her NGO Nabhangan Foundation. Of course a chance to speak with her one on one was a must!
“What is a woman’s job, Ramesh? Taking care of parents-in-law, husband, children, home and things at work—all at the same time? She isn’t God or a superhuman."
The arrays of workstations were occupied by people peering into their computer screens. The clicks of keyboard keys were punctuated by the occasional footsteps moving around to brainstorm or collaborate with colleagues in their cubicles. Most employees went about their tasks without looking at the person seated on either side of their workstation. Meenakshi was one of them.
The thirty-one-year-old marketing manager in a leading eCommerce company in India sat straight in her seat, her eyes on the screen, her fingers punching furiously into the keys. She was in a flow and wanted to finish the report while the thoughts and words were coming effortlessly into her mind.
Natu-Natu. The mellifluous ringtone interrupted her thoughts. She frowned at her mobile phone with half a mind to keep it ringing until she noticed the caller’s name on the screen, making her pick up the phone immediately.
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