What is Leadership?

Being a Leader is being a Space; space for other people to realize their greatness, space for other people to joyfully experience their Genius. A title does not make you a leader, you don't need a title to be a leader. The higher income is only a by-product of being a Leader. The real reward is the huge impact you have on your organization and in the world; the deep fulfilment of having made a difference; of living in the expression of your Light.

Wealth is the tail of the dog, Being of Service is the mouth of the dog named Leadership. More you feed the mouth, more rigorously the tail will wag. If you want just the tail to wag and don't feed the mouth, you will only whip the dog to death. Sure, not in the short term where one could get by, ignoring the Laws of Nature. We have to live with ourselves till the end of our life and who knows, even beyond; we cannot escape forever the outcome of the energy we put in.

Each one is on their own path of evolution, it does not matter what others do. What matters is what I am doing, moment by moment - Having people experience their greatness by focussing on their Light or dragging them down to their darkness? When I contribute to the expansion of Light, I expand. When I contribute to switching off people's Light, I drag myself to darkness. How else can it be? You may say, this may be so but what has it got to do with Leadership or building great businesses. I say, everything.

“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” - Sam Walton. Founder - Walmart, Sam's Club. Net Worth at the time of his death in 1992 at 74 years: USD 8.6 Billion  

To build great organizations, you need people who believe in themselves because we need them to accomplish at amazing levels. Therefore, if leaders aspire to lead their organizations from the rut of mediocrity (also called good) to great; they need to evolve to a level where they become a Space for people to experience their own greatness. I will go one step forward and assert that Leaders need to evolve to a level where they become a Space for people to not only experience their own greatness but also become a Space for people to experience each other's greatness. That is when you create an enduring culture of joyous Growth, authentic Leadership and inspiring Greatness. Life is too short to play a game smaller than this.

The question then becomes - How does one become such a Leader? Just as you cannot crash your car's gear to 5 without going through steadily from Gear 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5; similarly, you cannot gatecrash to being what I call Gear 5 Leader.

Before you begin reading further to deep-dive into the different stages of leadership evolution, let me pause and invite you to step back. Is everything I am saying the only truth? Ofcourse not. Reality is always in the centre providing you 360 degree views as you walk around it in a circle. At 180 degree, you will have 2 contradictory views of the same reality. Both are equally valid or equally invalid. Then, how does one decide which point to stand in to view reality? You walk around in a circle, 360 degree to view reality from different points and decide for yourself the view from the point which gives you farthest clarity of path and maximum power to take effective action. 

The reason we have problems in the world is because each one of us gets stuck to the point of view we have, assuming that is the absolute Truth. So, take from here what supports your evolution to your highest self and drop everything else.

Here are the different stages of Leadership Evolution: 

Gear 1: Discover your destiny, your purpose this life-time. Strengthen Agility of Mind leadership muscle to experience unconditional love, gratitude and reverence for who you are as a human being. There is deep stillness within, with nowhere to go and nothing to prove.

Gear 2: Make a difference through your work, playing your big game with peace in your heart and mind. Strengthen Being of Service leadership muscle to see the light in everyone and have the leadership depth to give your unconditional love, gratitude and reverence to each one in your space, irrespective of however they are and however they are not. Experience oneness with the Universe.

Gear 3: Experience joy of effortless existence as the world around you experiences you as extraordinary. You receive unconditional love, gratitude and reverence from everyone as you strengthen your Communicating in the World of Others leadership muscle. 

Gear 4: Experience deep fulfilment as others in your space experience themselves as extraordinary and experience unconditional love, gratitude and reverence for themselves. The Authentic Leader in you is born as you get access to significant Power to Create™ by strengthening your Delivery on Your Word leadership muscle. 

Gear 5: People in your space experience each other as extraordinary and give their unconditional love, gratitude and reverence to each other. Your presence causes a shift in the space around you as you inspire a culture of trust, partnership and compassionate love; with each one supporting the other to be successful. The Master in you is born, as you strengthen your Excellence leadership muscle to have your Power to Create™ in full bloom. You become The Master Creator. You intend; it gets created effortlessly and almost instantaneously. 

From here, we cycle up to another question - What gives us the access to transform from one Leadership Gear to the next?

We are simply a sum total of our Habits at each one of four bodies of our Being - Intellectual / Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual. All I will say today is that the journey begins with Awareness - awareness of our limiting habits, our blind spots and transforming each one into habits that support our growth and evolution. Therefore, you cannot go to a one-day or even three months leadership program and be assured to come out wiser and transformed forever. This is a journey of a lifetime and when you think you have arrived, that's the day you have to begin your journey all over again.

For this journey, here's what you need to pack:
1. The Dream - Your Commitment to be your Highest Self. Your Purpose.
2. The Mastermind Group - Your fellow travellers on the same journey, each one on their individual journey to their highest selves, committed and passionate.
3. The Coach - Someone who continuously holds the mirror, throwing light on the travellers' blind spots for growth to happen; holding them accountable to their purpose, their dream; creating Space for the journey to take place; who is there not to please you but to serve you through fearless high-flame coaching.

In the world, there are different experts in supporting growth of the different bodies of the Being - Intellectual, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual. The challenge is that the four bodies are deeply inter-linked with each other and are like four wheels of a car. An integrated view and approach would provide velocity and momentum to our leadership evolution.

Yes, more questions opened up than got answered. Then, this is an ongoing conversation. Wishing you the joy and deep fulfilment of realizing your greatest dreams in deepest communion with your highest self and have it all, while making a huge difference in the world. This is what is available to you as you walk the path of Authentic Leadership and thank goodness, your designation doesn't count.

Sending you Independence Day festivities from India to create a brave new world where human beings feel deep connectedness with each other, honour the light in each other, relate to each other with love, gratitude & reverence; joyously owning the legacy of Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Prophet Muhammad, Guru Nanak as belonging to each one of us. It all begins with how we work and lead.

Love,
Jyoti.