The quality of the people’s life in a nation is inexorably linked to

the quality of leadership it gets. Our modern day leaders are constantly innovating and pushing the boundaries of traditional thinking as they strive to succeed in their chosen fields. On the 61st anniversary of India’s independence, ROAR! invites five eminent personalities from diverse fields — the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world, a path-breaking commercial actor from Bollywood, an author who continues to defy, an adman & lyricist par excellence and a cricket star who storms into the record book each time he is written off by the pundits — to give their thoughts on what constitutes leadership

Do what is morally right

I have the enormous responsibility of keeping the stakeholders and my consumers happy at the same time. For all of which, leadership is the key. I have to continuously strive for profitability with a purpose and uphold morality, while pandering to the market needs. A major reason for me to diversify to health food was that I felt a moral obligation, being a mother as well. I was always stopping my children from binging on junk, and that’s when I decided I should also give my consumers the choice of health food. I think as a leader you have to be driven and also be sensitive to your larger role as a citizen. One should have the strength and courage to do what’s morally right and not what’s expedient. Your moral compass must be your true north. At the same time I believe it’s im-portant to have the courage and confidence to act and say what you believe is right. As far as women leaders are concerned, they will be found wherever meritocracy has been recognised. I can only speak of PepsiCo, which is undoubtedly a true meritocracy as we are open-minded to the best talent, irrespective of gender or ethnicity. I am a living proof of that.

Indra Nooyi

Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo



Love and respect for others

I am a great believer in the virtues propagated by Mahatma Gandhi, whose principles continue to guide us to this day. I like the discipline he brought to his work and the dynamism. He made his own rules and stuck to them. I have also learnt to take my own path in life and then invest 100 per cent effort in it. I am an absolute fanatic when it comes to work. As an example, before the release of any of my films, I organise 10 screenings for 500 people coming from all walks of life, and some of them are even my relatives, to understand their psyche and gauge how they are receiving what I am trying to communicate.

If the response is cold, I remake the film all over again. Also, in my recent films, there is a message of love and truth, such as in Taare Zameen Par. In the film, the teacher displays extreme conviction in the child’s ability and applies himself to understand the child’s feeling, the underlying principles being love and respect for an individual. In the same way, it is important to respect others, be it our own people or foreigners.

Aamir Khan

Actor



Power to transform lives



An inspiring leader is one who has the power to transform lives through words and deeds. The nature of this transformation has to be permanent and enduring. There are different categories of leaders — political, spiritual, moral, and intellectual. It is fashionable to refer to Thought Leaders these days, since we live in a world that is increasingly driven by ideas. Techno leaders are driving more than just scientific breakthroughs. In a parallel development, stressed-out citizens of the world are seeking answers through the teachings of spiritual gurus. We are also witnessing the rise of what I would call Negative Leaders, who use their considerable power to spread hatred. The leaders I admire today are Ang Sang Suu Ki and Nelson Mandela. They stand for righteousness and unshakeable faith in their beliefs...and enormous personal sacrifice in the interests of humanity. Towering above everybody is Mahatma Gandhi — intelligent, practical, inspiring and gutsy. A visionary who saw beyond his own lifetime. An intellectual who gave the world its most powerful tool to fight oppression — non-violence.

Shobhaa De

Author

Larger-than-life charisma

you are a leader if you have people following you when you look behind. I don’t believe in worshipping a leader. I believe in bringing alive his or her thoughts. Leaders work differently from managers. While managers’ job is to take care of their subordinates, leaders have a charisma that is larger than life. I have never been in awe of one particular leader. Like everyone, I too have looked up to different leaders at different stages of my life. For a businessman, Ratan Tata would be the leader and for someone who is into academics it would be Amartya Sen. At one juncture in my life, Mirza Ghalib used to inspire me a lot. As a teenager, my heroes were all those leaders who had radical thinking. Today, society is fragmented and different people have different leaders. One person cannot be the leader like it used to be during Mahatma Gandhi’s period. My daughter looks up to people from Hollywood. We cannot deny her feelings. I believe that to run a country we should have a set of people from different walks of life. We should have one person from science, one from politics, sports and business among others.

Prasoon Joshi

Adman & lyricist

Raise the bar for others

before I start off on leadership skills, let me clarify that this is not said with the intent of becoming the captain of India in either form of the game. I think both M S Dhoni and Anil (Kumble) bhai are doing a fine job. I will captain the team when my time comes because I think it is an honour to do so for any cricketer. But this too comes with its share of pitfalls, one of which is that the captain tends to get aloof after his elevation. I think this happens not because he changes, but because people around him start seeing him in a different light. It happened with me when I became captain of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team. I was the same, but a few of my teammates who were actually my close friends, distanced themselves, feeling that I had changed. On the positives, I think leadership is also about giving. It is no good to dictate people. It’s about telling them initially how to do it and then seeing them take their own initiatives. By doing this, a leader doesn’t end up being a dictator; he keeps raising the bar for others and himself. And, he is also leaving behind a set of leaders as well, which to me, is real leadership.

Virendra Sehwag

Cricketer