Anil Sachdev, Founder and CEO, the School of Inspired Leadership talks to TimesJobs.com on leadership development and role of academia making leaders

Neha Singh Verma, TimesJobs.com Bureau

What are the essential traits all leaders should have?

Leaders are inspired by a “Purpose or a Vision” that enables people to meet their aspirations. The “higher” the purpose, the greater is the impact. I believe that the greatest leaders are the world’s best followers. If you are deeply connected to higher purpose, leadership quality comes to you naturally.

What is the role of higher education in honing leadership skills? How significant is it?

The purpose of higher education is to enable people to know themselves better. Higher education must enable people to lead the right quality of life and not just assist them to achieve a certain standard of living.

What can academia do to build the leadership skills in students at the college level?

Academia should teach students the following things to build leadership skills:

• Create an environment in which learners “discover” them
• Help them discover their latent talent
• The capacity to ask the right questions
• Overcome their fears to learn and become truly innovative
• How to think in a holistic manner to understand complex business environment
• Improve their “Emotional Quotient” to build and work in high performance teams

What should leaders do to ensure they continue to grow and develop as a leader?

Leadership is a life long journey. We need to create time and space for regular introspection and reflection so that we can take responsibility for what we deeply care about. We should choose the company of those whom we wish to learn from so that we become “better” people.

Above all, we need to choose a “purpose” in life that makes us genuinely happy and enable others to be happy.

Lately, we have seen many Indians rising to global leadership positions, what do you think India is doing right to make a significant mark on the global leadership map?

What Indians are doing right is to emphasise leadership that works for the larger good of the world. In addition, in India, we grow up in an environment of tremendous constraints, high diversity and extraordinary challenges. Those of us who see “opportunities in crisis”, “learn to dialogue across differences”, do not lose hope despite the enormity of the challenges, flourish in other parts of the world because we have been “tested” and have developed the capacity and the resilience to make a difference. This is why Indians are shining in all parts of the world.

In your view, how important is experience in leadership? What is the correlation between these two?

Leadership development is based on 70 per cent experience, 20 per cent right “exposure” and 10 per cent “classroom” interventions. This does not mean that the years of experience count; instead, it is the quality of the experience that makes a difference. If we are given the right opportunities in the right environment, receive coaching and encouragement, have access to the right resources, we become better leaders.

What advice would you give to someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

First appreciate your context by making efforts to know all your stakeholders. Then look for opportunities in which you can leverage your strengths to make a positive impact within the first 100 days. Invite feedback from all, especially your juniors. Make it a point to “connect to people” so that you get to “know them”. Make efforts to appreciate the positives of others. Learn from mistakes (and not repeat them) and always create a positive environment around you! Above all, play to your strengths and do not try to be like someone else.