Success and Failure is not Permanent , but You are.

“Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could.”- Steve Jobs

We have so many trainings, courses, whole curriculum designed to teach us management but when we look around, we do not find something which teaches us to be leaders. Does Leadership come with a title? Something to think about;

Being a good leader is never easy, it might look seamless and easy to many of us. While a leader's actions may be scrutinised when things are going bad, it is their leadership qualities that shine through the worst of times. It is these same qualities that employees look up to, respect, and work very hard for.

I have met some great leaders in last short 10 years of professional life, this week I will take some time to express my gratitude to those individuals who have influenced me immensely. I still am touch with these individuals because my relationship with them has grown beyond my work and they have touched my thoughts personally.

The first leadership quality that had a lasting impact on me and I try to practice it every day:

Integrity  . 

In one of my favourite books by Simon Sinek, Integrity is defines as a key component to build Trust. “Leadership is about integrity, honesty and accountability. All components of trust.”

“Integrity” is a word you hear almost every day, but it’s not a word that people spend a lot of time thinking about. If you try to define it, what would you say? Something which I saw and felt real-time from my closest mentor – Randy Majerle are some of the great examples of integrity . Randy as I fondly call him is friend, mentor and an honest critique. I have known Randy for over 8 years now and something which has remain consistent over these many years is how well he expresses his thoughts and intentions clearly. While working with him professionally I had noticed that he would keep honesty in his conversations, he would not sugar coat when things were not right. I always felt that it is important to get the raw flavour of information so that you can take the right action and not be in a hallucination that things are alright. He would up front present his intentions and his follow-up actions would back up his intentions. Even now when I talk to him, he coaches me not to become complacent and whenever he sees signs of it, he immediately tells me to correct my course of action. Without integrity, there is no real success. Believe me real success is far more fulfilling than decorated success .

You can’t and should not expect your followers to be honest when you lack integrity yourself. The root of integrity is about doing the right thing even when it’s not acknowledged by others, or convenient for you.

There are countless examples of integrity in everyday life—and yet we seldom see them. Let me put  some of the examples that I have experienced:

·       As a kid , I had been pretty adamant about things that I wanted to play with. I have given hard times to my parents with my never ending tantrums. At times they have scolded me and shouted at me, but I remember the times when my parents would come to me in the evening explaining why I could not get the things at that time. They would apologize for not being able to get the things I wanted and shouting at me.

·       While driving a two wheeler or a four wheeler on road, have you ever noticed a fellow commuter who patiently waits for others to move without honking aggressively? How you drive says a lot about you—how you treat people you don’t know; how you handle anger;  and the extent to which you suffer from entitlement. Sometimes we think that the fellow commuter has no urgency to reach his/ her destination. Perhaps we would like to believe that someone who drives slowly or non-aggressively is simply less busy , but driving in a cooperative manner that is mindful of your fellow commuters is actually a sign of integrity. 

I believe most of you would have had the same experience as kids. Now think, how many times in recent times, have you tried apologising to someone when you have been hard on them? How easy it is for you to apologize? How easily you accept a mistake on your part. When was the last time you gave credit to someone who really deserved it.  If the answer to that question is very difficult to retrospect, stop for a moment and then think how you can change.

Stay tuned for my next article, I will talk about the Happy Chemicals which drive our actions and the way we react to things.