Organizations or institutions’ sustainability as well as growth, directly depend on its leadership. Nations have fallen from their edifice; empires have lost their footprint because their leadership let them down. Leadership is everything, without leadership there is no future. In fact, leaders open the doors for future. Primary role of leaders is to create more leaders. In an organizational context, this so true and apt. There is a general dearth of leadership. In an ambiguous and ever-changing world, the scarcity for leadership is getting even more pronounced. If organizations do not act with a sense of urgency, speed and purpose, their future will look bleak and grim. They need to create leadership factories to build home-grown, context-aligned, and culturally attuned leaders who can build clarity, set direction, rally people around a vision and chart a trajectory of growth.
This debate is futile. If we get into this, then there is no point talking about leadership development. At COSM, our starting belief is that leaders can be groomed, and leadership is a muscle that can be developed through reflections, acquisitions (Mindset & Skillset), application and renewal. So, are we saying that there are no ‘naturally born or genetically gifted’ leaders? No! this is not what we are saying. There are a few who carry the genetic gift, but they are rare, extremely rare. To understand this better we can borrow from Mendeleev Periodic Table that some of us studied in Chemistry which speaks about some Rare Earth Elements such as Plutonium, Thorium, Uranium which are available in scarce quantity but embody maximum energy. These apart, all the other elements carry unique abilities and energy to serve the world. So, shouldn’t we focus on them and maximise their value and impact?
