Leader Vs. Manager
“A leader needs a profound sense of insight, that he is able to see something that other people cannot see.”
—Sadhguru
Leading By Example
Sadhguru: Whatever the nature of activity that we have chosen for our life, if we wish to be leaders in those situations, the first thing is we must be able to lead by example. Not by words, trickery or cunning, but by example. Fundamentally leading people means your ability to take people in a particular direction that you wish, towards a particular goal. If this has to happen, you must be able to inspire them to go on by themselves in that direction. Only when people are so inspired to do what you want them to do, that they are going to do more than you yourself thought of doing, can you lead them. If you have to constantly keep them in line to get a job done, then it is going to be hugely difficult to be a leader.
You cannot lead people when you have to constantly supervise and manage them. As the kind of team that you are managing grows beyond physical contact, then leading people in huge numbers is going to be very difficult if you cannot lead them by inspiration. To inspire people to do whatever is required out of them, the very way you exist must be that kind of an example that people naturally stand up and want to do things that are necessary to be done. Only then leadership becomes an effortless process.
A Leader Takes You Where You Cannot Imagine
I think the biggest problem with the so-called leaders of the day is, we are not really producing leaders; we are just producing managers and supervisors. They come out as leaders and they suffer every moment of their life. They have petty ambitions; they want a piece of the planet. Some people want a big chunk, others want a small chunk. The size of what they can bite goes on increasing, but still it is a petty ambition because it is just an exaggeration of what you have already seen. You cannot desire something that you have not seen. You only desire something that you have seen – whether it is mildly exaggerated or overly exaggerated depends on who you are.
But leadership is about being able to take a group of people, a nation, or the entire world in a direction and to a destination that they have not imagined possible. If it was something that they could have imagined, they do not need you. They need a leader who is capable of taking them to a place they themselves cannot imagine.
For this, a leader needs a profound sense of insight, that he is able to see something that other people cannot see. A leader means in some way you are sitting on a perch. If you sit on a perch and don’t see any better than others, you will become an object of ridicule. Only if you are seeing better than others, you are a natural leader; otherwise you are a forced leader, and everybody suffers you and you suffer them in turn. It’s an endless process of misery.
If you believe that what you are doing is important, the most important thing in your life is to work upon yourself, to enhance your perception skills, to be able to see what others cannot see, to have an insight into what you wish to do.
Editor’s Note: You can check out “Sadhguru’s Wisdom” page for daily quotes, videos, audios and articles where “Leadership” has a topic of its own here. You may be interested in Isha’s INSIGHT: The DNA of Success leadership program with access to a vault of leadership videos and contributions from the leading lights in Indian business - learn more here.
