Most hard working people retire at age of 75 and enjoy a relaxed lifestyle. Those who are fit like to travel across the globe visiting countries & enjoying life and there are few 84 years old people like Indian Ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam who continue to work 24/7, sharing their vision & experience with the youth and guiding them. It is interesting that at the age of 84 Mr Kalam would share his personal email-id at a press conferences & invites people to write to him and guarantees a reply with 24 hours. I have been proud of the fact that I always reply to my business emails, the same day I receive them but I cannot imagine myself sharing my email-id with entire India and replying to any question on any subject 24/7 like Kalam did, it takes Mr.Kalam to Just Do It.
I become Mr.Kalam's fan when I heard his interview after 'Pokhran' nuclear test which made India became a nuclear power under his leadership. Most people don't realize the impact of becoming a Nuclear power and if you read last few years of history you will realize the change in world's outlook towards India pre/post becoming a Nuclear power. Interestingly it took two most honest and non-violent people Atal Bihari Vajpaye & Dr Kalam to finally make it happen. When a reporter asked him 'Why does India need a nuclear bomb?' Dr.Kalam's reply was ' Today the world's top 4 nations are nuclear power and if India wants to be 'Heard as a leader' we cannot sit and do Tapas ( Tapas or Tapsya meaning Doing Penance)'. To be heard as a leader India needs to be one of the top 5 powerful nations and that is why India had to develop its nuclear program.' If you have heard his lectures would know that Dr. Kalam approach was always Practical, Precise and to the Point and he conveyed his ideas in a very polite way. I like his examples of what a good leader should be like. He said a good leader should face the world and own teams failures & when the team succeeds the leader should let the team take the center stage and he himself should take a back seat - I wish we had more and more leaders following his example. There are far too many leaders who are too eager to own the credit that at times rightfully belongs to someone else or the entire team. He said leaders are watched by people and followed so their integrity should be beyond question and at 84th year of his life he enjoys the popularity because of his honesty, integrity & character. Kalam said a leader should be courageous and should be able to take difficult decisions. I have seen leaders who have been scared of taking tough decisions even when the risk was minimal and the leader fails to understand that a wrong decision put his team back by ages. I wish Indian political leaders would start following Kalam's principles if only to become popular and succeed like Dr.Kalam because no Indian has tasted success like Dr.Kalam in recent years.
I can think of few leadership principles that may not be part of Dr Kalam's speeches but I have observed these qualities in Mr.Kalam and many other good leaders.
1) A leader should be friendly and approachable to everybody in his team - remember Mr.Kalam himself used to read emails sent by anybody & ever body even after he retired.
2) A leader should regularly communicate with his team. Leader's communication should be crisp and to the point and he should listen to the spoken and unspoken.
3) Leader should seek opportunity to appreciate his team rather than finding faults in his team and the team will work hard to seek his appreciation
I did not have the fortune to meet the great APJ but I always felt I had a connect with the man. I guess each patriotic Indian today feels that he has a connect with APJ Abdul Kalam and that is what makes him People's President - a loving title that no other president in the world has been bestowed with by the people. I am happy my son has a modern Indian Idol to follow and I can tell him stories of the great Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Rest in peace Sir, Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam. You will always be loved and remembered by India
I become Mr.Kalam's fan when I heard his interview after 'Pokhran' nuclear test which made India became a nuclear power under his leadership. Most people don't realize the impact of becoming a Nuclear power and if you read last few years of history you will realize the change in world's outlook towards India pre/post becoming a Nuclear power. Interestingly it took two most honest and non-violent people Atal Bihari Vajpaye & Dr Kalam to finally make it happen. When a reporter asked him 'Why does India need a nuclear bomb?' Dr.Kalam's reply was ' Today the world's top 4 nations are nuclear power and if India wants to be 'Heard as a leader' we cannot sit and do Tapas ( Tapas or Tapsya meaning Doing Penance)'. To be heard as a leader India needs to be one of the top 5 powerful nations and that is why India had to develop its nuclear program.' If you have heard his lectures would know that Dr. Kalam approach was always Practical, Precise and to the Point and he conveyed his ideas in a very polite way. I like his examples of what a good leader should be like. He said a good leader should face the world and own teams failures & when the team succeeds the leader should let the team take the center stage and he himself should take a back seat - I wish we had more and more leaders following his example. There are far too many leaders who are too eager to own the credit that at times rightfully belongs to someone else or the entire team. He said leaders are watched by people and followed so their integrity should be beyond question and at 84th year of his life he enjoys the popularity because of his honesty, integrity & character. Kalam said a leader should be courageous and should be able to take difficult decisions. I have seen leaders who have been scared of taking tough decisions even when the risk was minimal and the leader fails to understand that a wrong decision put his team back by ages. I wish Indian political leaders would start following Kalam's principles if only to become popular and succeed like Dr.Kalam because no Indian has tasted success like Dr.Kalam in recent years.
I can think of few leadership principles that may not be part of Dr Kalam's speeches but I have observed these qualities in Mr.Kalam and many other good leaders.
1) A leader should be friendly and approachable to everybody in his team - remember Mr.Kalam himself used to read emails sent by anybody & ever body even after he retired.
2) A leader should regularly communicate with his team. Leader's communication should be crisp and to the point and he should listen to the spoken and unspoken.
3) Leader should seek opportunity to appreciate his team rather than finding faults in his team and the team will work hard to seek his appreciation
I did not have the fortune to meet the great APJ but I always felt I had a connect with the man. I guess each patriotic Indian today feels that he has a connect with APJ Abdul Kalam and that is what makes him People's President - a loving title that no other president in the world has been bestowed with by the people. I am happy my son has a modern Indian Idol to follow and I can tell him stories of the great Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Rest in peace Sir, Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam. You will always be loved and remembered by India
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