I believe that every child is born with a potential to be a leader/entrepreneur/intrapreneur. Here are some of my thoughts on helping them become great leaders.
A lot of these thoughts have come from observing my grandson, Rihaan. I am deeply impressed by how he has picked up leadership traits even though he has not made any conscious effort to do the same. I would like to believe that all children are born with huge potential but as the child grows, the child’s thinking changes through beliefs, biases, interactions, experiences and surroundings.
Here are some top of the mind leadership traits that I have noticed while observing my grandson:
- He is full of energy and keeps running and playing while enjoying the life journey. He stays in the now. He performs his Karma and is not attached to the outcomes.
- Whenever he hurts himself, he never cries if it is because of his own fault. He takes ownership of the mistake and starts running again. He never has a fear of being hurt again. There is no word as failure in his dictionary, it’s only learning.
- He touches feet of elders and says sorry for his mistake, driven by humility and values.
- He trusts and loves all of us and has no biases.
- He is always the center of attention and everyone stays around him, he is a crowd puller.
- He is very creative, curious, agile, and flexible both physically and mentally.
- He enjoys listening to music, dances, watching cartoons in his free time to relax and re-energize.
- He is disciplined and ensures he keeps his stuff at the right place.
- He is his own boss
- He has a hearty laugh and does not hide emotions and they flow naturally to him.
- He has a Chief Of Staff who ensures that he does not miss out on the important stuff.
Even though he has grown but he still has the same charecteristics and traits over the last 12 months except that he has become very talkative , more matured and we have a much more engaged discussions with him.
I think it is the responsibility of parents and grandparents, equally important is the role of teachers (Gurus) to ensure we try and get children to their full potential by nurturing and channelising their energy in the field of their liking . The children must start to imbibe values and eventually get closer to their purpose as they grow and realise the contribution they can make to have a positive impact in the world. The society and government also has a role in terms of creating an enabling environment
Another anecdotal example only 15 % of the Founders of Startups that I have invested with come from large cities, most of them are first generation entrepreneurs coming from middle class backgrounds, and some had a very tough childhood but their perseverance, self belief, frugality and hard work has helped them to be good human beings and professional.
I would encourage everyone to keep the child traits alive in them all the time irrespective of how old we get.
October 2023
