Leaders: They Dared to Dream

ABSTRACT: “Leaders are born or made” has always been a matter of controversy since times
immortal, but all are unanimous on the fact that these people have made wonders and have left
others amazed. When I say “leaders”, I address all those people from politicians to entrepreneurs
to dignitaries’ to actors to sportsperson to “Aam Aadmi” or the common man who have made
difference to their and others life and have created history and have left examples for others. The
article aims to highlight the achievements of some of them who are worthy of being called
“leaders”.

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Leaders are those individuals who lead and set examples for others by virtue of their skills and
have an ability to influence others. Arieu, A. defines a leader as "a person capable of inspiring
and associate others with a dream." Leadership is said to deal with change, inspiration,
motivation and influence. It is not necessary that leaders need to lead from the front but many a
times they are the members of a group or team, but influence co – members and their actions.

But the question is – these individuals look the same as any ordinary individual, so what is that
that differentiates them? The answer to this question lies in the examples given below.

The World’s youngest CEO Suhas Gopinath himself is an example. A resident of Bangalore,
now aged 24 years, is the CEO of Globals Inc. This young boy was recognized as the world’s
youngest entrepreneur in by CNBC and e-Business, Canada at the age of 16. At the age of 17 he
was recognized as the World's Youngest CEO by leading Medias across the globe including
BBC, Washington Times, The Age, etc., including Limca Book of Records. The young
entrepreneur started his own company when he was only the age of fourteen. Today his
organization Globals Inc is a sixty member company with representatives in UK, USA, Canada
and India with all members aged between 167-22 years.

In AIMA’s 37th Nation Convention held in Kolkata on 23rd and 24th September,2010, Sujas spoke
about his drive and urge to do something big and how he managed to do all that with lots of
constraints amazed a lot of young management students who aspire to be successful managers in
future. Sujas started in a cyber café since he could not afford a computer at his home. He
convinced the owner of the café that he would look after the cyber café at the hours of afternoon
when it was closed. Since the cyber café was open during the day also, customers would drop in.
The profit goes to the owner and in return he asked the owner to allow him to work on a desktop
for those hours of the day. Who knew that day that this boy is going to achieve so much in life,
but the only factor that helped him was he dreamt big and his efforts borne the fruits. Nothing
could stop him, he was very clear about his vision. In his words, ‘‘I was told that in India, you
need to pay sales tax and also have an infrastructure before you can register a firm. But all our
members work from home or from a cyber cafe,’’. On December 2, 2007, The European
Parliament and International Association for Human Values conferred “Young Achiever Award”
to Mr. Suhas Gopinath at the EU Parliament, Brussels, and he was also invited to address the
European Parliament and other Business dignitaries assembled in the EU Parliament. Mr. Suhas
Gopinath was recently announced as one of the “Young Global Leaders” for 2008-2009 by the
prestigious World Economic Forum and he became the youngest member ever in the World
Economic Forum’s history.

Who does not know about Sachin Tendulkar. He was famous on news channels now a day for
the famous “Sachin Charitramanas” after the most famous and religious book- the Ram
Charritramans which is considered a sacred and holy book of Hindus. Master blaster Sachin was
compared to Lord Ram for his deeds and actions and was considered as a savior for the Indian
Cricket Team. What makes him unique is his “never die attitude”. Sachin who was never
considered to be good in academics was very focused on his dreams and aspirations and devoted
his whole hearted commitment to cricket and he is an ideal for kids and players who aspire to be
the same. Kids are heard being said, “ Bada hokar Sachin ban na hain”.

The famous actor and producer Shahrukh Khan equally deserves a mention here. Khan began his
career appearing in several television serials in the late 1980s. He made his film debut in
Deewana (1992). Since then, he has been part of numerous commercially successful films. He
has won thirteen Filmfare Awards for his work in Indian films, seven of which are in the Best
Actor category, thus establishing himself as one of the Leading actors of Hindi Cinema. In 2005,
the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri for his contributions towards Indian
Cinema.

The reason why he is being mentioned here is just to give an example that success does not
require recommendations, backups or so called big names associated with an individual. In the
world of entertainment, he had made wonders even without being associated with a family of
actors or actresses. He proved himself only by virtue of his hard work and has always given due
credits to his parents, God, and his fans for his success. In a number of television shows and
filmfare awards, he has always been seen as a jolly, smiling, submissive and down to earth
personality. He has his fans spread not only in India but abroad also.

Another example in this context is the former Chief Minister of Bihar – Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav.
According to Limca Book of Records, he is the longest serving president of an Indian Political
Party. He remained in power in Bihar for more than one and a half decades. Later, he was also
appointed as the Railway Minister of India. The strategies adopted by him during his tenure in
railways are undoubtedly unique of its kinds and reflects his visionary nature. He banned plastic
cups from being used to serve tea at railway stations and ordered that they be replaced by earthen
cup to generate more employment in rural areas.

When he took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making organization. In the 4 years under his
leadership, it made a cumulative total profit of Rs. 25,000 crores (US $5.2 billion).He left
passenger fares untouched and found several other profitable sources of revenue for the
Railways. He also improved on his first year's performance by stating a profit of 14,000 crores
with decreased freight and unchanged passenger fares in 2006. Then, in the 2007 budget, he
increased the profit level to 20,000 crores with the introduction of cushion seats in all unreserved
compartments. In 2008, profits were 25,000 crores.

“Think Big, Think Fast, Think Ahead. Ideas are no one’s monopoly.”, said the greatest
entrepreneurs of his times – Dhirubhai Ambani, a name which serves as an ideal for almost all
entrepreneurs. Dhirubhai has been described by a single statement in most of the conferences and
public gatherings, which says – “A man with the uncommon capacity of seeing beyond, into the
future”. Born in a middle class common family in Gujarat, who knew that one day this name
would shine as such. He was precocious and highly intelligent. He was also highly impatient of
the oppressive grinding mill of the school classroom. He chose work which used his physical
ability to the maximum rather than theoretical school lessons. During weekends, he began setting
up onion and potato fries stall at village fairs and made extra money which he gave to his
mother. This gentle man started his career with a salary of Rs 300 only at A.Besse & Co and
ended up, rather left an empire for his sons to rule.

A case study from a small village in the state of Bihar – “Aam Aadmi” or common man.

This is a real example from a small village in Bihar called Rampur Daud in Gopalganj District. A
state where the major source of income is agriculture and the major occupation hence is being a
farmer. One, of the thousands of farmers who are the part of the state dreamt big and has set
examples for the others in the state. Bihar Krishi Bikash Parishad is a Government aided body in
Bihar which is into the work of financing farmers for agricultural development. The organization
encourages the farmers by tying up various incentives to the scheme of providing loans.

Mr Dina Nath Dubey, who is one of the thousands farmer of Bihar, approached this body asking
for a loan. The kind of crop this particular person was talking about is a particular variety of
paddy which was very rare of its kind. The loan was sanctioned and it was agreed that if the
quality and quantity of output met 70 percent of the standard, he gets a relaxation of 50% of the
loan amount.

This was a risky exercise and others even discouraged the individual for the same. He was
adamant and had self belief. To add to his problems, there were no rains, but this even did not
stop him and he had devised artificial ways of giving water to the plants. The result was
surprising and the quality of the crops was four times more than expected and even the quality
was an enhanced one.
The Government has declared him to be the best farmer of the District and he was honoured with
the “ Sarwasresth Krishi Award 2010-11” . The Government of Bihar has also offered and
included this individual in it’s project of growing a hybrid variety of sugarcane which is a part of
a research study being carried out by the agricultural department of India.

The same people who have discouraged him are now in favour of the scheme and are also
motivated by the same. This again sets an example that it was only the desire to do something
big and different that acted as the driving force behind this.

The examples stated above, though discussed about different personalities, but all of them had
something in common and that is, their unique potential to do something different and their
abilities to influence others. All of them could be categorized into the same broad heading –
“The Charismatic Leaders”.

The word “Charisma” is derived from a Greek word where it means divinely inspired gift.
Charisma has always been a key component of transformational leaders. Transformational
leaders are those who have the ability to bring major positive changes in the organization. They
are visionaries. They inspire others with their vision. Nothing serves as a hurdle in their lives.
They are optimistic individuals who have always preferred to look at the brighter side of things
but at the same time have never ignored the darker side and have handled these constraints as
challenges – an another very important feature of these leaders.

Now is the time to answer the question the article was started with, that is, what makes the
difference. Practically, something that all individuals have, but not in the right proportion
because what they lack is the “ability to dare to dream and make it come true”. Suhas Gopinath
would not have been the “SUJAS GOPINATH”, if he would have agreed to confine his dreams
to just being a veteran. Sachin Tendulkar would not have been the “SACHIN TENDULKAR”, if
he would have taken the criticisms of people as only criticisms. He has proved that individuals
are different and unique. All individuals have something unique and uniqueness knows no
parameters. Excellence has no boundaries. No work is better than the other, but each is best. The
only thing that one should have is the confidence to make it true. Excellent actor Shahrukh Khan
has proved to the world that even today hard work pays and not only recommendations. It’s only
the ability to trust oneself and self belief that leads to success. An Aam Aadmi or common man
like Dhirubhai Ambani set examples for others only through the capacity to think beyond what
his father or brothers could not dare to do. Again, determination and self belief were something
that differentiated him from the crowd.

Lastly, talking about the “aam aadmi”, the above mentioned celebrities were also the same one
day but now they are “celebrities” – a business tycoon, a world famous cricketer and a world
famous actor. So is the example of Mr Dina Nath Dubey. If not for the world or country, at least
he is the source of inspiration to many farmers in the district and adjacent districts. He is a true
leader indeed.
Conclusion: Leadership could be an inborn quality for some, but definitely it can be acquired by
all. All that is required is the power to dream, acceptance to chance, and a never die attitude. All
great people about whom we read, who are talked of as examples had visions which were very
clear and focused, they did not do the different things but managed to do things differently and
hence are examples. If they are talked of as examples today, and people are busy talking about
their achievements, but the hardships and the process of metamorphism behind it can never be
neglected. It is only that they named it as challenges rather than calling them as constraints.

REFERENCES:

 http://www.globalsinc.com/index.php/en/suhas-profile

 http://www.worldamazingrecords.com/2005/12/worlds-youngest-ceo-suhas-
gopinath.html

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership

 http://www.dhirubhai.net/

 http://tendulkar.co.in/

 http://www.indianetzone.com/5/dhirubai_ambani.htm

Author: Shashi ( M.Phil,PGDM,MIMA)

Lecturer (HRM, Business Communication, General Management)

Academy for Professional Excellence

Email – [email protected]

[email protected]