“Navigating Uncertainty: The Essentials of Leadership in Evolving Environments”

A great leader is first a great person, and what they practice in daily life will affect how they will behave and be accepted as leader. Self-awareness is therefore the foundation of an individual’s leadership journey and it is not only important to understand our strength but also our weaknesses. As the famous scientist Albert Einstein commented “Once we accept our limits, we move beyond them.” Self-awareness therefore a prerequisite to be great leader. By knowing our values, personality, needs, habits and emotions, and how they affect our actions and the actions of others, we’ll be in a better position to manage our stress, make better decisions and ultimately lead others to do the same. Leadership is not about formal titles and authority, but it is about having right attitude towards problem solving, being supportive and taking responsibility. It is about leading by example and being there for others. One of the other and most important leadership traits is that we need to be life-long learner. Learning often gets wrongly associated with problem solving but we also need to learn from failures as they help us look inward, introspect and start all over again with grit and determination. Failure gives us resilience and perhaps, freedom to push our limits to achieve sustained growth. Leadership therefore is an exquisite blend of science and craft. While there are established legacy leadership theories, they mostly provide a framework based on outputs. The world is changing at a much faster pace than ever and so are the working environments. The last year has been a testimony of how the established order can crumble based on the external realities. Accordingly, the leadership also needs to evolve. Leadership to me is all about achieving a greater result by inspiring action continuously adapting to the external environment.