An hour with a leader

Learning - something that's perpetual in life - of course, that is only if you wish to. But among all the various sources you learn from, the experience of other people is a tad different. If you are wise, you will be able to absorb from what that person has undergone, and improve your knowledge and awareness profoundly, without needing to undergo it yourself. And this, atleast I strongly feel, is one of the most productive and efficient ways of learning.

Books by great leaders, for me, have always been great sources of inspiration. But, a chance to have a tête-à-tête with one of them??

When Ranga sir, one of the senior-most employees in our company called me for one such meeting, i just jumped at the chance and set out to meet him right away. We met over a cup of tea, and the next one hour with him, were my best 60 minutes for the day.

It started off with the feedback he had to give me on the performance of our music band, on last Saturday, at the family day celebrations of our company - Utsav . Incidentally, his son Rishab had sung with us in our performance. [One line on him - An immensely talented 10 year old, who, i'm sure will be a great singer one day.] I got several insights and pointers from Ranga sir about our performance and the way we conducted it.

From there the discussion just took off to various things. Ranga sir, is one of those people who have been associated with our company since its infant days. For a wannabe leader like me, getting an opportunity to listen to him was like giving a candy to a kid. He was willing to share his experiences with me, a thing that is a mark of a truly great leader and people's man - developing future leaders. From new ideas for technical innovation, to his story of his initial days with our company, in its initial days, to good books, to the team of colleagues who have worked with him, to efficient ways of tapping your own potential - when it ended, the gratification I felt was just like the high you would get on good whisky.

Surely, there cant be better ways of spending one hour of my time. I learnt as much in an hour, which would take me many months or years of my own experience to learn the same. I am looking forward to learning more from him.

Thank you very much,sir...