I was reading a book, which I had picked up some time back
from a street vendor but got a chance to read it now only. I had picked up the
book not because of the author or the title of the book but just because it had
a foreword by Rahul Dravid. In my opinion,
a gentleman professional, who put the game before himself? Who, choose to coach
the under 19 team, rather than take up the lucrative job of Indian cricket team
coach. Well, that is another story to
tell.
I am talking about Prakash Iyer’s book “The Secret of
Leadership” published by Penguin. After leaving Air Force rather early I went
to set up about five factories and then did not accept the offer by the
American Company which had purchased the business to relocate to their
headquarters in USA but choose to come and share my experiences with the
students by teaching in Management and Engineering colleges. One of my habits
was to introduce the topic by giving out a small story and from the lesson of
the story introduce the topic and initiate teaching and discussion.
The book contains a number of small stories, about 60 of
these, and from these Prakash has managed to draw beautiful management lessons.
There is no starting and end point but you can read any story and then go back
to the next one as you please. The book is as the author says is a salad bar
and you could start from anywhere and finish anywhere depending on your choice
and preferences and still end up being satisfied and happy because everything
is good in it. They are all independent. The first story “Leadership lessons
from a Tea Bag” was amazing and I kept wondering as to how many lessons can one
draw from such a mundane thing as a tea bag, which is normally used and thrown
away without any remorse or thinking. Thank you Prakash for the beautiful story
and the 10 leadership lessons one can learn from a tea bag. Well, I fully agree
with you that most of us simply do not use all the gears in our multi geared
cycle.
Two other interesting stories and the lessons which one can
learn from are of baby giraffe and lessons from a driver. Both of these are
equally amazing but the tea bag definitely stands out and takes the cake. The
other stories, a tale of two seas, a 500 rupee note and two lessons, put the
glass down, the power of hope, when one door shuts, run with your mind not just
your legs, the frog and the TV tower, hold the door open and lessons from Burger
University are good and interesting to read. I always felt very annoyed when my car got a
scratch and felt depressed and an urge to get it corrected but thank you
Prakash for helping me to understand that I should let the scratch stay where
it is and rather focus on enjoying my ride. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the
book and learned a lot from it. I also endorse the views expressed by Rahul
about giving the book to my children and grandchildren to read. The beauty of
the book is to give out something as serious as leadership lessons or tip for
success by picking up mundane objects and making out a story and from what you see,
hear or have experienced into a beautiful story and lessons which can always
remembered through the story. We always remember the stories but often forget
the morale or lessons from it and this book make it a point that you will
remember the lessons just because of these interesting and inspiring stories.
A, book definitely worth buying, keeping and gifting.
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