Which
leader do you admire the most?
My favorite leader is U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He was a great leader, thinker and speaker. It was a proud moment for me when I had a
chance to visit the Lincoln Memorial recently and I spent a lot of time around
and took pictures standing near the statue.
Lincoln's most luminous leadership insight was, "In order to win a man to your cause, you
must first reach his heart, the great high road to his reason.”
Lincoln fundamentally cared about people and made every effort to
demonstrate that to them. He was in
essence a genuine human being who identified with the challenges people faced and
the sacrifices they made.
Lincoln's prodigious influence on friends and foes alike was due
to his extraordinary empathy - the ability to put himself in the place of
another, to experience what they were feeling and to understand their motives
and desires.
I recommend the book Team of
Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Kanchana
Production Engineering
Mumbai, India
I admire Steve Jobs as a business executive and a leader.
He had at least 3 qualities (not to mention his genius in product
design and marketing) a clear vision, passion for the company and its people,
and an ability to inspire trust.
There is a passion exhibited by consumers for Apple and for Steve
Jobs that is rare in the corporate world.
Natarajan
Mechanical Engineering
Atlanta, USA
Mother Teresa was an exceptional leader who proved money is not
the criteria to become a leader. She started her service to the needy with just
Rs. 5 in hand.
She had the ability to build a team and to inspire her team to
transcend their self-interest, to attain the highest-level of performance.
Sumathi
Singaravadivel
Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
Thanjavur, TN
There are many leaders to admire and different reasons for
choosing them. In particular, I admire Kamarajar for simplicity, Rajiv Gandhi for
broad thinking and Indira Gandhi for her boldness.
H.K.
Siva
Textile Engineering
Hong Kong
As a person, I most respect Kanchi Sri Chandrasekharendra
Sankarachariyar, for his simplicity, his intelligence, living by what he
preached.
Gauthaman
Civil Engineering
Tiruchinapalli, TN
Andy Grove was one of the two executives who made Intel the
successful company it has become. As a corporate executive, he was one of the
best the world has seen. His autobiography
is very inspirational. He was a poor kid
from Hungary who came to the United States with World War II as the backdrop, and
went on to become one of the most successful leaders of our era.
His book ‘Only the paranoid
survive,’ is a classic that emphasizes the need to be always looking at the
future to drive continued success. I also
like his book ‘High Output Management,’
and would recommend it to aspiring managers.
I have had the privilege of working at Intel and have observed Andy
Grove in action. I have practiced a lot
of the principles that he enunciates in my own career and can say that it has
helped me become a much better professional.
Amar
Babu
Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
Mumbai, India
K.
Kamaraj, is my favorite leader, hero and role model all combined into one. The more I read about him, I think he is the
perfect example for a perfect leader for aspects that I would summarize in
bullet form as:
Genuine,
humble, visionary, selfless, focused, brave, sincere, hard-working, loving,
people-caring, learning, recognizing, rewarding, team-working, guiding,
helping, mentoring, problem-solving, supporting, forgiving, being-simple and
communicating well.
Ganesh
Production Engineering
Singapore
I
like the combination of faith-in-oneself like Mahatma Gandhi, the persistence
of Edison, fearlessness of Indira Gandhi and following the inspirational lines
of Swami Vivekananda.
Krishnan
Production Engineering
Bangalore
Emperor
Ashoka. Here is an example of a leader and uniter, who forged a nation
and built its infrastructure. At the peak of his power, he learned the
most important lesson about life and spirituality - on the battlefield.
He is a real-life historical figure (not mythological). And after
learning his abject lesson, spread the message of peace far and wide.
H.G.
Wells wrote of Ashoka: "Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs
that crowd the columns of history, their majesties and graciousness’s and
serenities and royal highnesses and the like, the name of Asoka shines, and
shines, almost alone, a star."
Surya
Kolluri
Mechanical Engineering
Boston, USA
At
work, a manager of mine has been a strong inspiration. He was the symbol of
hard work, clear thinking and cool temperament. He reached almost the top of
the organization, no mean feat, and retired recently.
I
feel I am fortunate to have had the chance to observe and study such a
personality, and make changes into my attitudes and life, so one day, I can get
there, and ensure that one top post remains efficient and does what it is meant
to do.
As
for what inspires, I think of Bharathiyar, "Ucchi meedhu vaan idindu veezhugindra podhilum, achamillai."
Also, the prayer: "Gnana vairakya
sidhyartham biksha dehi cha parvathi; Mata cha Parvati Devi, Pita Devo
Maheswarah; Baandava Shiva Bhaktyascha, Svadeso Bhuvanatrayam.”
Swarna
Ramesh
Mechanical Engineering
Chennai
Gautama
Buddha. He was a great man of conviction, who had the courage to question the
validity of the caste system in India and to challenge the Hindu religion. He is
the reason Hinduism mellowed and changed many of its tenets.
As
a prince, he had all the luxury in life, but he left them behind. Taking up
renunciation and leading a movement, what he accomplished is incomprehensible.
Truly,
he was the man with Godly qualities.
Shoba Dharmalingam
Electronics and Communication
Engineering,
Chicago, IL, USA
Bharat
Ratna JRD Tata. For succeeding in business while maintaining high ethical standards,
for managing the huge conglomerate of diverse enterprises, for the excellent
philanthropic charities across the globe, and for being a genuine,
compassionate leader.
Bharani
Rangabashyam
Electronics
and Communication
Engineering
Boston, USA
If
you ask me, I would say that I admire my friends who are leaders.
I
have learned a lot from my friends and picked up qualities from them through
all these years. It is better to admire
people who are among you, rather than people whom you have neither met nor
moved with.
Many
of my friends are successful; and it is nice to know of these success stories
and enjoy them!
M.L. Ashokan
Production Engineering
Coimbatore, TN
In
the context of online learning, what is the redefined role of a teacher?
Even if there are plenty of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
available, the easy and simple way to understand a concept is by interacting
with a good teacher.
Be proud of a teacher!
Sriram
Balakrishnan
Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
Dubai, UAE
What
specific ‘green’ initiatives are you involved in?
In our plant in Dubai, we took this initiative:
We have large number of
window and split Air Conditioning units installed. During summer months when the humidity hovers
in their 80s, these units discharge condensate water continuously. So we tapped all the condensate water and
diverted them to water plants we have nearby using a piping system. It turns out that this meet the complete
water requirement of these plants. It
also acted like drip irrigation providing optimum water for these plants to
thrive in the harsh summer months.
In addition, our plant's energy conservation cell has taken many
projects, which has resulted in power saving of more than 20% with respect to
the designed energy requirements.
Let me state that this is an ever-moving target for all of
us. So every creative step we take, big
or small and whatever we save will really help the future generations to come.
Velayuthan
Production Engineering
Dubai, UAE
Is
employment better or entrepreneurship?
After
all these years of working I am tending towards entrepreneurship because of the
sheer joy of creating something that you can call your own despite knowing that
I may have sleepless nights!
Mohan Alapat
Mechanical Engineering
Bangalore
Being
an entrepreneur is like having a disease.
You pick up this bug during your early school years and then there is no
cure. Many great companies that exist
today were not started with a vision but with someone’s dream to make a product
better. This dream consumes the founder
and all problems and issues that he/she faces are pocketed and fragmented in
his mind and the only goal is making that product.
As
long as I know I am building that better product, I am satisfied and feel today
was a great day and tomorrow will be even better – I know people around me will
see what I saw yesterday, today and their tomorrow will be better as my today
was.
Shankar
Balan
Mechanical
Engineering
Augusta, USA
Almost
all entrepreneurs in my circle tell me something common. That there is a sense of gratification of
contributing to so many families! That
is unique I think. It cannot be so
direct in a corporate life.
Venkat
Raghavan
Electronics and Communication
Engineering
Dubai
As
an Intrapreneur, I had opened up new business streams for my organization,
built an India sales organization from scratch, made it immensely successful in
India, ASEAN and Australia through direct sales and channel partner sales.
However,
I am going to be self-employed. No more straddling on two boats. Time has come
for me to take the boat to immense success.
Krishnan
Production Engineering
Bangalore
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