Sanjiv Chopra and David Fisher: Leadership by example: the ten key principles of all great leaders

Abstract

Once, while travelling in the bus provided by the organization I am working in, I witnessed an incidence which helped me understand the significance of taking initiative in meeting challenges head-on. A young man, probably in his early thirties, was driving his motorcycle in a rather haphazard and reckless manner. Sitting on the window seat, I saw that he overtook our bus and came right in front of it. Thankfully, our bus driver applied the brakes just in time, and a probable casualty was averted. The man on the motorcycle parked his vehicle right in front of our bus, came to the door next to the bus driver’s seat, and started abusing our bus driver. Along with me all the other passengers kept looking helplessly. Finally, the young man started inflicting physical assaults on our driver. At this moment, a lady bus passenger intervened and asked the young man, ‘Our driver has already offered an apology to you. He is not fighting with you. You have not even suffered a scratch. Why are you beating him?’ On hearing the lady’s words, a few passengers started alighting from our office bus. The young man ran towards his bike and fled away. Had the lady not taken this initiative that day, perhaps our driver would have been mauled up by the young man. Although, except for the lady, all the other passengers of the bus could understand the fact that our driver was not guilty, even then they could not help him on their own. They were in need of a leader. Beyond doubt, the world has always been in need of true leaders. Great leaders have guided and moulded people and thus etched their names in indelible ink. The masterpiece under review is different from the books in its genre. For instance, it is natural for a person to associate leaders with followers. Interestingly, the book looks at a leader through a different dimension altogether. It builds on leadership without followership. It contains lessons drawn from realworld figures, instances and the insights which Dr. Sanjiv Chopra obtained through his brief sojourn in ninety countries. The book is a mesmerizing odyssey of 11 exhilarating chapters (including the introductory chapter which sets the tone of the book). The word ‘LEADERSHIP’ has ten letters. After the first chapter, each subsequent chapter builds on one of the letters of the word ‘LEADERSHIP’ moving sequentially from left to right. The book is a kaleidoscope which is built on the works of Mahatma Gandhi; Professor Howard Gardner (best known for his theory of multiple intelligences); Jack Welch; Nobel laureate Dalai Lama; Florence Nightingale; Dr. Martin Luther King; Dr. Stephen Covey, a widely read author; Peter Drucker (management guru and prolific writer); Muhammad Yunus (of Grameen Bank fame and also a Nobel Laureate); Jim Collins, a noted writer; Nelson Mandela; Bill Wilson—the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous; US Presidents Thomas Jefferson, John W. Jacob (&) Tolani Maritime Institute, Induri, Talegaon-Chakan Road, Talegaon Dabhade, Pune 410507, India e-mail: wallace_jacob@rediffmail.com