Finding the leader within you

Are you the sun in the sky of opportunities or the moon reflecting light from the sun? Good news is either ways you are shining!

But to shine, you must rise first.

Be it Napolean or Alexander the great, Winston Churchill or Nelson Mandela, one thing they had in common was the way they faced challenges that made them the leaders.

Facing challenges is waking up to success.

As an individual you deal with hurdles, either because of your inherent characteristics or after you learn the how-tos and then lead the way. So, again the good news is ‘you can teach yourself to become a leader’.

“Leadership can be developed. Leaders can be groomed. Epigenetics as a science goes beyond ‘nature’ and talks of ‘nurture’ as a mechanism to evolve. Leadership coaching is a very effective way to develop leaders. The starting point is self-awareness,” says JP Singh (in photo), of Just Plain & Simple, with 30 years of experience in successful business leadership.

Leadership requires a process that goes beyond the rational and logical and draws on creative, holistic and intuitive understanding as well. Parents need to ensure that their children are getting exposed to balanced inputs and not just regular rote learning or logical/rational thinking. Holistic building of a child’s personality requires education that draws on ‘creative’ learning, humanities, arts, social sciences and sports as well.

Education is not pushing in but it is about ‘drawing out’. A ‘nurturing’ approach in upbringing ensures that there is no ‘subconscious’ baggage carried on in the child’s mind. This allows flowering and blossoming of the child’s intellectual and emotional aspects in harmony and the child grows in harmony with the environment.

“Through reflection and introspection, an awareness and realization is created that leads to acceptance and internalization for motivated action. And then, handholding, facilitation and mentoring help in polishing further,” says Singh, who pursued BE (mechanical) and MBA from IIM, Calcutta.  

 “Unfortunately, not all learning institutions use the integrated process of rational and logical along with creative, holistic and intuitive understanding. Leadership has spiritual quality. Linear, rational thinking does not allow full blossoming of leadership potential. It requires developing the masculine and feminine, yin and yang qualities together in balance along with ‘super-consciousness,” says Singh, who feels schooling is a very important phase in life as it helps in building and shaping qualities, learning and personality traits that one carries along in the years to come.

Develop a personality which is a balance of logical thinking, creative learning, emotional well-being, spiritual (not religion) awareness, clear subconscious patterns and beliefs and mindfulness/consciousness. And as Singh says “Live a life ALIVE.”