Six Dimensions of Leadership

“What distinguishes the students of SOIL from other B-Schools?” My answer to this question is “Leadership”. To explain my answer better, following are my experiences of Leadership, which I have encountered at SOIL.

My encounter with leadership started on the first day of a course conducted by Dr. Ramnath Narayanswamy. On the first day of our course we were given an assignment to make 12-slide presentation on “Who am I?” On the face of it, it looked simple, but it turned out to be the most challenging assignment. We struggled, but by the end of the course we knew ourselves better and had learnt that the journey of Leadership starts with self. That is where I learnt the first dimension, “Leadership of Self”.

The second learning came during our Theatre course. For the course, we had to put up a show for the entire school in two days, what followed was a powerful experience in teamwork. The entire class together wrote the script, dialogues, and together decided each scene. We discussed, we debated, and we decided. The end result was a flawless performance. What we achieved together in this class was no less than a miracle. I witnessed the power of working together towards a common objective. This was the second dimension, “Leadership by Togetherness”.

The third was learnt through Yoga. As part of the curriculum we were taught yoga by Susie Roy. We attended the first class with stiff bodies and reluctant minds. However, Susie, with her love for each student, created an environment of warmth and belongingness. Slowly we all started loving each moment that we spent with her. This is how I learnt the third dimension, “Leadership by Love”. The fourth learning has come from our NGO association, as part of our course. I am part of an NGO called SRF Foundation, which works in the field of rural education. We had a life changing experience when we made our first few visits to villages nearby. These villages just 50 KM from Gurgaon, seem 50 years away from Gurgaon in terms of development. Here we met real life heroes, who have done wonders with literally no means. They have had neither the resources, nor the support of people but have done wonder within their constraints. This is where I learnt the fourth dimension, “Leadership in Constraints”.

The fifth aspect was something that was told to us by one of our visiting faculty. Dr. Karl-Erik Sveiby, the father of Knowledge Management, during one of his lectures introduced us to the lives of the Nhunggabarra People of Australia. This unique tribe does not believe in having one single tribe leader! People here assume leadership in areas in which they are experts. For example, men who are experienced hunters, take lead during hunting expeditions, similarly women are in-charge of decisions pertaining to community and marriage. Their record keeping is better than any databases and spread-sheets of today. These people have led a sustainable, sophisticated and a happy life and even though they do not have a leader, they definitely have Leadership. This was the learning of the fifth dimension, “Situational Leadership”.

The final lesson in leadership is something which I saw from the founder of our institute, Mr. Anil Sachdev. This was when swine flu was at its peak. During that time we received news that one of our colleagues had been infected with H1N1. The moment the news came in Mr. Sachdev walked into our classroom and sat with us; rather than in the safe confines of his office. He exposed himself to the same risk which all students were exposed to. He also made arrangements for medicines for each student and their family. This type of leadership by the founder of SOIL left an indelible impression on most of us. And this was the sixth dimension, “Leadership by Example”.

In the time that I have spent at SOIL, these are some of the dimensions of Leadership that I have seen and learnt and am sure that by the time this course ends I would have experienced many many more.

Contributed by - Ankush Chopra - Student of Business Leadership Program, SOIL

Enabling self-sufficiency at Kanhai Village

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” As part of our SIP project, this is what we are trying to do in Kanhai Village located in Gurgaon, Haryana, enabling self-sufficiency. We are a five member team from SOIL- Ashray, Abhishek, Anirban, Geeta and Bhavna, working closely with close to 70 BPL (Below Poverty Line) families in Kanhai. We are enabling these villagers to become self-sufficient in the key areas of Health and Education.

As part of the initiatives, we have conducted a health camp with Max India Foundation, an AIDS awareness camp with SRF Foundation and recently a Polio awareness camp. In the coming months, we are planning to undertake more such camps in partnership with other NGO’s. Getting into a project like this makes you recognize the disparity that exists in the country and realize that the things that we take for granted in our daily lives like sanitation, personal hygiene etc, can be such an alien concept to these families. However, we are overwhelmed by the support that we have got from the people here and are very thankful to the Sarpanch of the Kanhai who has lent us tremendous support.

The best part of being associated with SOIL and such a project is knowing that the work we are doing here will not be forgotten once our batch passes out, but will be continued by our succeeding batches. It is very difficult to capture our experience and our emotions in words; the only thing we can say is that we are very thankful to SOIL for enabling such a humbling experience and allowing us to be a part of change.

Contributed by - Ashray, Abhishek, Anirban, Geeta and Bhavna

Learning from the heart - SIP program with Shri Ram Foundation

“All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” Aristotle

We are an eight member team working with the SRF Foundation (part of the SRF group, one of SOIL’s industry consortium members). The objective of SRF Foundation is to reform rural education. As part of the SIP program at SOIL, Ankush, Uttara, Nataraj, Bhavesh, Rahul, Suraj, Vinay and Santosh are visiting various villages and documenting their schooling experiences.

The SRF Foundation is working to create a world class platform for sustainable education transformation. As part of its Model School Programme, the foundation has adopted 25 schools in Mewat Districit of Haryana and is addressing various issues in these schools. We, as students of SOIL are working closely with the foundation to study the problems in these schools and prepare individual cases for them.

The team till date has visited 9 of the 25 schools as part of our project learning and have taken away more learnings in this short period of time than we could have ever imagined. Challenges are many as we progress into this project; however, our belief in the project motivates us day-in and day-out.

Blind cannot lead the blind, thus, if we are to think of ourselves as the leaders of tomorrow, then we must be aware of every aspect of our environment. And what this project has done for us is that it has made us conscious of the disparity that exists in the Indian education system. It is heart-rending to see children learn in an environment where there is paucity of books, teachers and infrastructure. Here, the students are not motivated to attend the school for the value of education but only for the mid-day meal. So how does a system survive, when there is no hunger for education?

As we further along on this project, we are becoming acutely aware of the tasks and challenges that lie before us. However, we are hopeful that our emotions and hard work put in the project will not just replicate itself in the generous donors but also reflect in our future professional lives. And as the course rolls out, we are proud of our contribution as students of SOIL to a larger interest of the country.

Submitted by : Ankush, Uttara, Nataraj, Bhavesh, Rahul, Suraj, Vinay and Santosh

SOIL's Commitment

We believe that leadership is about taking responsibility to create impact without necessarily having the authority vested in your position to make this happen. Our students work with a NGO one day a week on a project that enables the NGO to ‘do more with less for more’.

We provide the tools, the talent and the ethos to celebrate sustainability – to nurture a generation of inspired professionals who build organizations by creating value for the shareholders while caring for the environment and staying committed to improving the lives of those they touch.

Our NGO partners include – Adharshila, Natural Heritage, Nyaya Bhoomi, Dr Shroff Charity Eye Hospital, SRF Foundation, Common Cause, SOS Children Village, Udayan Care, Joining Hands, Searchyears and Navjyoti.

Watch out this blog space for articles from SOIL student on these projects.