3 Reasons Why Servant Leadership Works in India
As Indians, we have always led by value. Most of us have been asked to abide by our culture and its traditions. While we all have revolted against it at some point, we’re reaping the benefits of these virtues. And one of the biggest virtue, in my opinion, in an average Indian is respecting and looking out for others. This is the very foundation of servant leadership. Essentially, what sets servant leaders apart is their ability to put others’ well-being ahead of their own. A servant leader feels responsible for helping people grow, find a purpose, stay motivated, and reach their full potential. I recently spoke with CarDekho’s Co-founder, Amit Jain, who built a profitable business out of a tier-two city by implementing traditional values and walking on the path his elders built for him. Here are 3 reasons how you can also leverage servant leadership-
1. Find happiness in sacrifice
We have become so individualistic that we often forget the true meaning of happiness. Chances are, buying the newest kicks won’t make you as happy as spending time with your beloved friends and family would. We are communal beings, and everything we do is tied to a sense of belonging to a community, family, religion, or anything similar. Our previous generations would sacrifice individualistic pleasures for something that would benefit the whole family. While we are in the era of learning to nurture ourselves, let’s diversity our happiness. Being able to help others is powerful and not a sign of submission. Go out of your way to look after others because once each one of us starts doing that, we will all be in a more wholesome culture than the present.
2. Celebrate now, don’t wait for crisis
What’s surprising is we have, at some point n our lives, witnessed the value of community. Every time there is a crisis, we tend to look for some human support we can lean on. We all know how in the traditional joint families of India, family members would divide their work and take care of specific things. But we take a lot of such amenities for granted when we are no longer in crisis mode. When financial abundance braces our business, things can get off track quickly if we are not mindful of what got us so far. A servant leader must let people know that they are valued. To build meaningful relationships, people need to know they can trust you to have their best interest in your heart. How much you invest in your people will directly affect the quality of work your employees put in and how enthusiastically they are doing their daily tasks. Good businesses have good teams.
3. Ambition needs to come with humility
I often say that to become an entrepreneur, you have to be a little crazy simply because the stakes are too high. You need to have sky-high ambition and keep walking toward your highest potential. However, this needs to come with a lot of humility. While the entire team is focused on building the business, you need to keep each other on track. To be ‘in service of others’ celebrate people’s strengths but also build a culture where the whole team is willing to identify and work on their weaknesses as well. Once you have brewed the perfect concoction of humility and ambition, you are more likely to succeed.
There are, of course, plenty of approaches to how one should lead their team. Servant leadership, however reiterates what has always worked! A great leader works for their work rather than the other way around.
For more such amazing insights, head to this episode of Figuring Out here.
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