ESSAY SYNOPSIS : “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” Aristotle.

·        Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less by John Maxwell.

·        A good leader realizes that his/her whims and preferences come secondary to the real needs and issues of the organization opined by Chanakya.

·        Leadership is the lifting of a man’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a man’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a man’s personality beyond its normal limitations by Peter Drucker.

·        The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. —Max DePree.

·        A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. —John Maxwell

·        The nation will find it very hard to look up to the leaders who are keeping their ears to the ground. —Sir Winston Churchill.

·        He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander. —Aristotle.

·        Preparedness of our society for India’s global leadership role. -2010

·        Preparedness of our society for India’s global leadership role. -2010.

Egoism – All actions is motivated by one of the agent’s desires.

Altruism – All actions are motivated by desires that have the other’s benefit rather than the agent’s own.

·       Utilitarianism is a theory of morality, which advocates actions that foster happiness and oppose actions that cause unhappiness. Utilitarianism promotes the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people.

·       Deontology Theory: It is an ethical theory that says actions are good or bad according to a clear set of rules. Actions are morally obligatory regardless of their consequences for human welfare.

·       Virtue Ethics:  It defines good actions as ones that display embody virtuous character traits, like courage, loyalty, or wisdom. A virtue itself is a disposition to act, think and feel in certain ways.

·       Ethics of Responsibility: An ethical theory in which individuals are accountable for fulfilling their civic duty, and the actions of an individual must benefit the whole of society.

·        Different Types of Leadership

–         Democratic Leadership: The leaders make or break decisions democratically, based on their team’s opinion and feedback.

–         Autocratic Leadership: Leaders expect others to adhere to the decisions they take.

–         Laissez-faire Leadership: Laissez-fire means “let them do”. This style is the least intrusive and leaders with this approach ensure that the authority lies with the employees

–         Strategic Leadership: Strategic leadership acts as a bridge between the senior team and the employees.

–         Transformational Leadership:  Aims at transforming and improving functions and capabilities.

–         Transactional Leadership:  A very common leadership style today based on the action-and-reward concept.

–         Coach-Style Leadership: Focuses on larger growth while encouraging individual team members to focus on their strengths and talent.

–         Bureaucratic Leadership: This kind of leadership style goes by the books. Although leaders with this approach do listen to employees and their opinions, they may negate or reject it.

·       Lord Rama’s leadership in commanding different kinds of armies of monkeys and humans which were marching towards Lanka to release Sita from the clutches of Ravana. His ethics was Deontology based leadership.

·       Alexander’s marching from Macedon, Greece towards India is an illustration of strength and valour in leadership. Commanding such large armies into foreign lands was not easy, it was fraught with imminent dangers and challenges.

·       Satish Dhawan former ISRO chairman took the complete responsibility of failure of launch. Satish Dhawan although not being the project director, he took the responsibility being the head of the organisation. An exceptional leader is necessarily a responsible leader.

Leadership during crisis:

War:

·        President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky’s leadership in handling the gruesome war waging by Russia, displays exceptional patriotism and leadership by not abandoning the country at the time of crisis and standing solid in solidarity with the people of his country.

Protecting International Human Rights 

·        Indira Gandhi’s leadership during the Bangladesh Liberation war was impeccable when there was an immense pressure from the powerful nations of the world accusing India of being an aggressor. Indira Gandhi stood her ground and helped liberate Bangladesh from East-Pakistan.

·        Angela Merkel approving for around 200000 refugees in the aftermath of Arab Spring. Heeding to people who are physically displaced due to the civil war in West Asia. Compassion is an essential quality of a great leader.

Leading the country during an economic distress:

·        Shinzo Abe former Prime Minister of Japan sailed his country through Recession successfully by adopting carefully formulated economic policies, well

known as Abenomics.

Sports leadership:

·        Kobe Bryant leadership style is definitely a mix of Transformational and Autocratic, because he likes to give orders but with the intention of pushing other, featuring as Transformational leader.

·        Chak de India – The role of a coach, very important leader for a sports team.

·        Lion king – Mufasa has the confidence and intelligence to teach and guide his son; Simba, making him the exemplary “good leader”. Mufasa acts with integrity; he is a loyal leader to his family, friends and pride lands, he respects the circle of life and in turn the animals of Pride Rock respect him.

·        Books

–         Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman.

–          Fear not be strong – By Swami Vivekananda.

–         Start with why by Simon Sinek.