LEADERSHIP02 “Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.”GÉRARD DE NERVAL, FRENCH WRITER AND POET

CAN TEACH US W

hether it’s motivation,wisdom or practical ad-vice, there are somegreat lessons we can all

take away.

HERE ARE A FEW OFOUR FAVOURITETOY STORYQUOTES ANDTHE INSIGHTSWE HAVE

“To infinity andbeyond!” Buzz LightyearThe more a vision is expressedin a vivid, imaginative way, themore it will motivate people to actin a specific way. An inspirationalvision helps move the team be-yond what they are capable ofaccomplishing today to ulti-mately see the possibilities of

tomorrow. It keeps themmoving forward.

“A good soldiernever leaves a

manbehind!”Sergeant

Indeed, it’s all aboutbeing able to count on

one another. A trustingenvironment is integral toachieving the school’s vi-sion. A team operating

with a high degree of trustcan take that vision and run

with it, very often deliveringextraordinary results.

“You have savedour lives! We areeternally grate-ful.”Green AliensEveryone wants to feelappreciated and val-

ued for their efforts,

especially when it comes to somethingthe team (or organisation) highly val-ues. Recognising people makes them ex-cited to be a part of the team, and it en-courages them to continue doing the ac-tion that warranted the recognition. So,be sure to recognise your teammates forspecific actions as much as possible.

“Woody once risked his life tosave me. I couldn’t call myselfhis friend if I weren’t willing todo the same.” Buzz LightyearA leader’s example can inspire othersto act similarly, which is why leadersshould be authentic in their words andactions. Those within a team will look

to its leader as a role model to developtheir own behaviours and decisions,which is why it’s so critical to “talk thetalk, and walk the walk”.

“Well, then, let’s find outtogether.” WoodyWe know that for a team to be success-ful, leaders must establish and nurturean environment of mutual trust. That’swhy when rallying the team around aparticular performance challenge, it’simportant for leaders to communicate

the positive impact of team alignmentand shared responsibility.

“The important thing is that westick together.” Buzz LightyearIt’s important for leaders to continu-ally remind everyone that healthyteam relationships can ignite collab-oration. Establishing a “we’re all inthis together” mindset helps buildconfidence and inspires individualsto see their team as a catalyst for on-going success.

Who knew we could learn so much from talking toys?That’s right, it turns out that Woody, Buzz Lightyear andthe rest of the ‘Toy Story’ gang have a lot to say that caninspire new ways of thinking about leadership, teamworkand accomplishing your goals...

THEY CAN, SO CAN YOU! MELITA TESSY, Author, Battles of the Spheres, 16

A t 15, when people of her age were busyunderstanding metaphors and char-acterisations in a book, this young

woman wrote a book. Melita Tessy is a Chen-nai born and brought up girl, who started writ-ing at the age of 13 for her debut novel. By 15,she gifted the universe her thoughts, spirit,

and soul in the form of her debut nov-el, ‘Battle of the Spheres.’ The book,replete with adventure, gives outa message to be stronger.

Melita’s mantra: “Always giveit your best shot. Whatever ÿou

have set your mind on, don’t do ithalf baked.”

PRITHVI SHAW, Captain of Indian U-19 team, 18

P rithvi Shaw is an 18-year old Indiancricketer from Thane in Maharashtra.He made it as the captain of the India

under-19s cricket team that won the 2018 worldcup. Having scored a century in his debutmatches of Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy,he equalled Sachin Tendulkar’s record. He alsoestablished a national record in November 2013by scoring 546 runs from 330 balls when he wasplaying for Rizvi Springfield in a Harris Shieldmatch. Shaw says: “Nothing is impossible if youwant it really bad. Try to turn things to youradvantage rather than making changes inyour plans. Be determined...”

Through her artwork, Priyanka Paul is trying to breakage-old prejudices associated with women. Instead ofdepicting them as merely beautiful or weak, she tries

to show them as fierce and more realistic. She has won heartson Instagram with her unusual portrayals. Today her han-dle has 25,000 followers. Priyanka wants to speak up for womenwho have faced op-pression and aresuffering becausethey didn’t con-form to age-old def-initions of beauty.“Breaking stereo-types could actu-ally make yousuccessful. Try tofollow yourheart,” she says.

PRIYANKA PAUL, Artist, 17

RAJVEE GANDHI,‘Musical.ly’ star, 19

Rajvee Gandhi, a 19-year-old fromMumbai, is a well known Indianface on Musically (a virtual mu-

sic platform). She posted the ‘musical-ly’ video while skydiving in 2017 andnow has a strong fan base of about

230,000+ fans on the digital platform.She owns a blog and writes about fash-ion and changing trends. “Be verywise on the internet. The key to

keep yourself popular is to beaware and not callous. Remember ifyou are attracting good compli-

ments, you will get criticism aswell,” she said.

QDo you think performing art helps in inculcating leadership skills?

A. Definitely. Art gives us an opportunity to improvise. It helps us toreact to a situation more creatively. I have been learningBharatanatyam for nine years now and my teachers trustme when it comes to helping others.

QYou mentioned that you were the Head Girl(Junior Wing) in your school. Do you think

learning to dance helped in being better atresponsibilities? A. Art helped me understand the importanceof practice. Practice does make you perfect. Iuse the same method for my studies too. Aleader needs to set an example and per-forming arts helped me learn discipline.

QHow did it help in time management?

A. It requires a time-table to managehobby classes with my studies. I stick tothe routine and it helps me to balancestudies with arts.

QTell us your experience of participating in the 10th

International Children’s Folk DanceFestival in Istanbul.A. We performed a mix of folk dances likeBihu, Dandiya, Semi-Classical, andContemporary. There were teams from Italy,Bulgaria, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey – weall exchanged stories from our cultures.

RITIKA KUMAR speaks to Arzoo Khullar about howart can inspire leadership and vice versa

ART GIVES OPPORTUNITY TO IMPROVISE

TIP TOCK

Art helps you in ways that you cannot evenimagine. I have been attracted to the variousforms of art — started learningBharatnatayam at the age of three, took upsinging lessons a couple of years later, am atrained ballet dancer, have also indulged inpainting and of late, my new hobby is learn-ing French! I believe art helps you to preparebetter for competitions in life. It alsoinspires interpersonal relationships with theteacher as the latter is constantly encourag-ing you to give it your all. Art helps you tocome up with creative solutions to problems.— Arzoo is a student of class VII G, Suncity

School, Gurgaon

LEADERSHIPGAMES FORYOU TO PLAY

Effective leaders must do morethan just lead, they need toinspire the team to workcohesively to solve problems

and achieve targets in order to providethe direction, guidance, and motivationneeded to excel in these areas. TThheesseelleeaaddeerrsshhiipp ggaammeess wwiillll hheellpp yyoouu uunnddeerr-ssttaanndd bbeetttteerr.. PPllaayy tthheessee iinn yyoouurr cciirrccllee((ggrroouupp)) ttiimmee oorr dduurriinngg tthhee zzeerroo ppeerriioodd......ALL ABOARD: Participants are required tobuild a “boat” using pieces of wood, mats,or any other materials available, and thenall must stand on the “boat” at once. Aspieces of the “boat” are removed, theteam must endeavour to occupy the everdiminishing space as best they can. TThhiissaaccttiivviittyy hheellppss ttoo eennccoouurraaggee ccoommmmuunniiccaa-ttiioonn,, pprroobblleemm ssoollvviinngg aanndd ccrriittiiccaall tthhiinnkkiinngg..THE HUMAN ICEBREAKER: This simpleactivity is great for breaking the tension ina room. It also helps encourage discussionand contribution, creating a sense of con-nectivity. The participants must come upwith a series of questions relating to peo-ple in a general way, for instance, “Who isleft handed?” Next they have to find teammembers who meet the criteria of the

question. The participant with the mostanswers after 10 minutes wins. TThhiiss iissaann eexxcceelllleenntt aaccttiivviittyy ffoorr ddeevveellooppiinnggiinntteerr-ppeerrssoonnaall sskkiillllss aanndd ccoommmmuunniiccaa-ttiioonn..LEADERS YOU ADMIRE: Essentially thisactivity involves participants gettingdivided into groups and discussing lead-ers they know or know of and why theyadmire them. Groups come backtogether for a larger discussion andcommunication session at the end. Thisis aann aaccttiivviittyy tthhaatt hheellppss ddeeffiinnee ddeessiirr-aabbllee lleeaaddeerrsshhiipp cchhaarraacctteerriissttiiccss aannddiimmpprroovveess tteeaamm bboonnddiinngg..ZOOM: The activity requires partici-pants to create a unified story from aset of randomly provided sequential

pictures. Participants must find a wayto recreate the story’s sequence in thecorrect order, while being unable to seepictures the other participants have.TThhiiss iiss aann eexxcceelllleenntt aaccttiivviittyy ttoo eennccoouurr-aaggee ccoommmmuunniiccaattiioonn,, ttoolleerraannccee aannddppaattiieennccee..TALLEST TOWER: For this you will needa variety of items to build with – forinstance toothpicks, newspapers etc.Participants are required to build thetallest freestanding structure. This is anideal activity for creative problem solv-ing and improving collaboration skills.

ROUND TABLES: This activity requiresfour tables, each set up with a differ-ent task. A team leader is selected,who can only communicate and dele-gate tasks. Each table is timed to seehow long it takes to complete the task.

The Speaking Tree: Hasthe romance of spiritu-ality been replaced byrigid ways of impartingfaith lessons? ■ Haji Syed SalmanChishty: The spiritual path

is about Ishq Haqqiqi —Divine Love. Unless weaim for closeness with

the Divine, divine lovewill not reflect in our teach-ings. Some 20 years ago,Rumi, Bulleh Shah and Sufisaints were taught inmadrassas. Serving theworld meant serving the Cre-ator. Sufi and Bhakti tradi-tions had this beautiful ef-fect that contemporaryteachings don’t. We mustbring this romance back. Karma is a word in

great currency today. Iskarma cast in stone? ■ Rumi says in Masnavi, youare not just a drop in theocean; there is an entireocean in that drop. There is

a world out there with un-limited spiritual aspect.Working without a selfishmotive, we position our-selves to loving creation justlike we love our own being,the way we want the Creatorto love us. ■

Haji Syed Salman Chishty heads the Chishty Foundation, Ajmer Sharif

I asked the leafwhether it was frightened be-

cause it was autumn and theother leaves were falling. Theleaf told me, “No. During thewhole of spring and summermonths, I was completely alive. I worked hard to help nour-ish the tree, and now muchof me is in the tree. I am notlimited by this form. I amalso the whole tree, and whenI go back to the soil, I will con-tinue to nourish the tree. As Ileave this branch and float tothe ground, I will wave to thetree and tell her: I will see youagain very soon.” That day,there was a wind blowing and,after a while, I saw the leaf leavethe branch and float down to thesoil, dancing joyfully, becauseas it floated, it saw itself al-

ready there in the tree.

SACREDSPACE

http://www.speakingtree.in

Rudroneel Ghosh

In recent days, I havebeen thinking about theconcept of natural jus-

tice. The idea that if onedoes good, good will comeback to him, and if onedoes bad, bad will befallhim is highly appealing. Itseems right and just. Andone wishes that life operat-ed solely on this formula.However, we all know thisisn’t the case.

Plus, the idea that some-

one is suffering in this lifebecause of sins in past lifeis also unfair. Not to men-tion the fact that we don’thave any proof of reincar-nation. Hence, given thisscenario, my question is:Why should people be good?The only answer that I haveto this conundrum is thatwe as human beings havethe greatest capacity tocare. And good flows fromthis capacity of ours to careand empathise.

If we go against our ba-sic nature and stop caringfor others, we can never betruly happy. Those whoharm others will never findpeace of mind even if theydon’t get directly punishedfor their sins. Thus, I am con-vinced that humans by na-ture were meant to be good,just as birds were meant tofly or fish were meant toswim. If we were meant tobe bad, we wouldn’t be hu-mans. Good is the default hu-man setting. This is preciselywhy only by doing good wecan attain real happiness. ■

Serving the worldmeant serving the Creator.We must bring this romance back

‘CLOSENESS WITH THE DIVINE’ FALLING LEAVES

A mind without wisdomremains the sport of

illusion, and miserable.Fo-ssho-hhing-ttsan-kking

✥Illusion is the first of all pleasures.

Voltaire

✥The wise do not linger inthe thicket of the senses,

the wise heed not thehoneyed voices of

illusions.Book OOf GGolden PPrecepts

✥The greatest enemy ofprogress is the illusion

of knowledge. John YYoung

✥I will, therefore, make

ready to render mythoughts an alien to the

illusion of the world.Hermes

Drop Illusions

‘IT’S HUMAN TO BE GOOD’