Great Leaders are Marvelous Mentors

I began my career in the Corporate World in the year 2004. Lush teakwood furniture and freshly smelled cabins welcomed me with outstretched arms.

After about a two-year run with my first firm, my senior leader took me into confidence and called me for a one-one meeting. To this day, I consider this meeting with the Leader the most valuable of all lessons.

The Leader planted three seeds in my head:

01.  Seed of Discipline

02.  Seed of Focus

03.  Seed of Execution

He didn’t stop there. He went on to say that if I were to somehow imbibe these seeds as my tour guides all through my career, it would provide me the needed direction and support as and when it was required.

My first brush with a lesson on discipline was the time I worked under such brilliant leadership. Three essential qualities that stood out in ‘discipline’ were as follows:

01.  Rain or Shine – client and client asks are very important. A Customer is the Lifeblood of the business unit, and in most cases, he turns out to be the major impact maker on the organization’s balance sheets.

02.  Paying attention to the minute details of the customer will set the tone for future client conversations.

03.  Building rapport and providing continuous support over time will lead to rigor and trust.

The Leader I admired worked tirelessly for the business unit. He always turned up at the office on time. He rallied the cause of focus and paid attention to the simplest of details. Those were the days when working from the office was the norm. Our business unit was always teeming with skilled folks, interesting conversations, and great camaraderie was vivid amongst the teams.

If you can focus, the Leader stressed, you will be the master of project execution. Though there were instances where he was a little stern on the way he drove governance, I realize today that without his leadership, guidance, and mentorship – the teams wouldn’t have collaborated as much as they had, the Business units’ question of transforming into a strategic one bagging more marquee clients would have still remained a dream.

The Leader is none other than Sairaj Vaithilingam . This post/ newsletter is a tribute to Sai’s leadership. One that’ll stand the test of time and create newer frontiers. Thank You.

When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready... The teacher will Disappear -  Tao Te Ching