Thinking Like a Leader

I would like to start with wishing each one of you greetings for Republic day, the day every Indian looks forward to as the day we adopted our own constitution which forms the bases of India becoming a world leader- a Vishwa Guru.

This is only possible with development of leadership amongst each one of us, irrespective of our position in organization or society.

Leadership is not about being on top or middle of the food chain, it’s about realizing your own self to lead your life towards worthier values. We have all read and attended trainings on good and bad leaders.As time progresses we will move higher and be seen as leaders and before we actually move to a leadership position, we must understand and develop the psychology of a leader- how a leader thinks

• Consistent focused thinking

Mind of a leader is nearly always in motion. Leaders are thinking of one thing or another, it could be thinking of solutions to problems, staff and social welfare, future plans, people developments and so on.

These thoughts are focused – One at a time. Not jumping from one thought to another till a concrete action plan is not made.

This does not mean leaders don’t rest their minds. They adopt tools like pranayama, meditation, deep sleep management etc. to rest their mind.

• Think Big

Fear of success or fear of failure makes a person think small. Small thinking makes a person to not reach his full potential. Leaders do not much think of success or failure, instead focus on thinking big and out of the box. To think big, leaders think in terms of what is right. Many times leaders start to think who is right or wrong (especially I am right). Leaders do realize that they cannot be right all the times and they have trained their minds to accept it by not taking it on their ego or getting personal.

Along with thinking big, leaders have also trained their minds to do integrated thinking. Instead of choosing one of the two available options, they think to innovate a third option.

• Instead of thinking only of themselves, they include others (shared thinking)

Instead of thinking in terms of ‘I want to get this’ or I hope I get this…’ they think on ‘ let’s get this’ or ‘we will get this’. Instead of thinking I am God of subordinates and installing fear, they think of being part of team and developing a successful team where team members do not fear to speak. This collaborative thinking helps in better environment and decision making.

• Instead of thinking, “Let’s just get this done,” they ask themselves, “How can we get this done with excellence?”

Leaders think in term of excellence while understanding that there cannot be zero error scenarios. Even Six Sigma has tolerance of some errors in a million operations.

• Instead of thinking of problems, they think of solutions

Problems will always be there in life and organizations. Leaders don’t live in the problem forever. They live in the problem till the time they analyze situation to understand it and get facts for the purpose of finding a solution. They also think of ensuring simplicity in solutions and not making things complex

•  Reflect on learnings and Actions

Leaders always think of learning new things from experiences and actions. This is achieved by asking questions with every action made. Two questions that should be asked are: Is the step I am taking aligned with getting the results I want? And did the action I took get the results expected? If not, why? 

Now the question arises – Do we think like a leader.
We might find that we may not be thinking like a leader today-that’s OK………..because our mind is a wonderful thing- flexible and changeable. Our present thought process is result of our present knowledge, experiences and exposure, which have been re enforced over a period of time. Our mind is always open to change and rewiring, once we are convinced that change is required.

Below are some useful steps to help you think like a leader.

Practice Mindfulness:
By cultivating mindfulness, you can acknowledge and identify the thinking patterns that have become habitual, then decide whether or not to engage them. Mindfulness creates a distance between yourself and your thoughts, allowing you to view yourself as separate from them.

Re inforce your thoughts:
Repeat your desired thoughts and actions till they become a habit

Looking forward for seeing rise of leader in each one of you by training your minds and thinking like the leaders do.

Jai Hind

By: Mr. Pradyumna Sharma (Sr. Manager – Ground Services)

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