Being a leader

Over the last 3-4 years, I've thought hard about what it means to be a leader. Its not an easy question when you're someone who like to put structure around any concept and hence like to disaggregate concepts. Some of the questions I've been thinking about are,

• We know what effective people do right (7 Habits of Highly Effective People), but what are more fundamental intrinsics of leaders?
• Are their different types of leaders, or are leaders just leading different things?
  
• There's a "trust equation" (The Trusted Adviser); is their a leadership equation?
• What kind of a leader do I want to be?
  

I'm far from figuring these questions out, but I'm happy to note that I'm making progress. My work allows me to see a lot of effective people in leadership roles. By stepping aside and observing them more thoughtfully, I've been able to start putting some thoughts together.

Here are some emerging hypotheses from observations,

1. Leaders are bold and embrace risk. They may not always welcome it.
   
2. Leaders don't seem to think too much about failure.
   
3. Leaders know they can't do it all themselves. A good leader builds a good team.
4. Leaders drive towards milestones, not finish lines.
5. Leaders have a clear sense of priorities, and practice that judgment every day.
   
6. Leaders often seem to have time to do urgent & important things, but also seem to have time for their family and atleast one other personal passion.
   

Food for thought I think.

Mountains

I have many favorite mountains. I like some for their natural beauty. Some for the stories that reside among their lofty heights. And some because they are unique in some special way.

Perhaps the mountain I think about the most is Nanda Devi. Thats because its in the area of India from where I am. But that aside, its truly a beautiful mountain. Its quite unsymmetrical with each face having a unique identity.

(picture courtesy www.euttaranchal.com)

I first saw Nanda Devi many many years ago while traveling to Almora with my family. I was possibly 8 years old at the time. I recall seeing it from Kasaedevi. At the time the mountain seemed like a pretty spectacle, but that was about it.

It wasn't till the late 1980s or even the early 1990s when I actually took real notice of the lovely mountain. My interest in the mountain took a sharp and deep turn because of two distinct data sources. I got a hold of two books that gave me tremendous insights about the mountain. The first was a story about the first ascent of Nanda Devi by Shipton and Tillman, the legendary climbing partners. The second was a story about a more recent and tragic ascent of Nanda Devi by an American climbing party. That book was authored by John Roskelley.

Ever since, I have made it a point to picture the mountain in as much detail as I could each time I was in Kumaon. Its been tough. The elusive mountain is not easy to photograph as clouds often surround the high peak. The closest I ever got to Nanda Devi was on a trip to Munsiyari. My purpose was to get close and photograph the mountain. Unfortunately, as we got close to a high pass to take pictures, clouds came in and blocked our views.

It seems the mountain and I will continue to play hide-n-seek and our little affair will continue...

Do something new

Its very important to keep doing something new all the time.