Are you a leader or follower?

A leader is one who knows how to obey commands before knowing how to command. Learn obedience first. 

                                                      - Swami Vivekananda

What an inspirational statement was given by Swami Vivekananda. Undoubtedly, he is one of the world's greatest leaders who still motivates lots of people. Each one of us in our life must have considered one special person as an inspiration

for them. The person could be anyone. Your friend, your relative, your boss, your mother, your father, etc. Why do we consider them as our idols and follow them blindly? Why do we feel energetic when we are in their company? Why? Why? 

The answer to this why is because those people have some leadership qualities in them which attracts us and we feel blessed when we are in their company. They keep telling us the secret of their success. They motivate us a lot. They channelize the energy in our body. We enjoy working with them. We get addicted to them because of the aura created by them. 

Swami Vivekananda's real name was Narendra Nath Dutta. He belonged to a very rich and wealthy family. He never used to believe in God. One day, Accidently, he met Shri Ramakrishna Paramhansa who was a priest in Dakshineshwar, Kali Bari in Kolkata. A simple man for whom, Goddess Kali was not a God. She was her mother. He used to talk to her a lot and used to get a response from her. Narendra Nath never believed in it. So, once he decided to visit Ramakrishna and tried to find out if he fake or real? Narendra Nath was thirsty and starving badly. The first thing he got to hear from Ramkrishna was "Come. I was waiting for you. I knew you will come today. Take your sit. Let me give you water and sweet. I know you are thirsty and hungry too." Though it was a very small incident, Narendra Nath was surprised that how come this person knew that I was coming to meet him and I am thirsty and hungry too. This incident developed the curiosity of Narendra Nath to more about Ramakrishna. The person who was not a believer of God has now started going to meet Ramakrishna daily. His curiosity increased day by day. Finally, the day came when he got the answer from Shri Ramakrishna and that was the day for the birth of Swami Vivekananda. Swamiji became his disciple and spread the knowledge he gained from Shri Ramakrishna.

Shri Ramakrishna has the aura and the leadership quality that attracted Swami Vivekananda towards him. The same qualities were transferred to Swami Vivekananda who later became the world's greatest leader.

It was 11th September 1893 when Swami Vivekananda went to attend The World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago. It was a huge place now known as the Art Institute of Chicago. He gave his first lecture on that day. Though he was a newcomer so his turn came towards the afternoon. He closed his eyes and bowed to the goddess of learning Saraswati. He felt more energetic. He felt the voice of all Indians including his guru Ramakrishna. He started his speech by saying "Sisters and Brothers of America!" To those opening words of his speech, there was a standing ovation given which lasted for 2 minutes. Then he started his speech and people silently heard it and were impressed by him. He became a true leader and many of us are following his footprints. His lessons are valuable and life-changing. 

The above-mentioned story is real. But why I've shared it with you. The reason for sharing the story is simple. Swami Vivekananda first followed his guru Ramakrishna and once he got permission from him he traveled the entire world to share the teachings of his guru. He now became the leader and many people followed him and his footprints. 

Always believe in Karma. If you will not do your Karma, you'll not get anything. We often want to become like someone. But have we ever thought that what should we do that others will love to be like us?

An example from today's world. A boss and his team. Whatever the boss will say the team will do. But hardly one person in his time will have the courage to raise a concern in case the boss is wrong. The boss may or may not like it. But this person raising the concern has a good quality than others in the team. Later, we see that this person gets a promotion, and people who used to follow the boss blindly don't get anything. 

Why did this happen? The boss himself was not a true leader. He has always taken shortcuts and wants everyone to follow the same. He simply used to give orders and the team members used to take the orders like waiters working in a restaurant. On the other hand, the guy who raised a concern had a different quality. He was worried about the entire team and wanted to make their life easy. That's when he raised a concern. 

A true leader will always do the things first to check where we need to pay more attention. Only then, he will create a path for his entire team showing them the way to complete the task. Have you ever seen a group of ants? They just moved together following each other. The first person is the leader who leads and stops in case of any danger and the message travels very fast. What the first one is doing here? He is creating the path so that others can follow it. On the other hand, the remaining ants will do as per the command. Now let's imagine that there is no leader in this group. Do you think that these ants will ever be able to collect food? Will they be able to sense danger? The answer is No. 

The followers will collapse because they never opened their minds to think big as the first ant.

Similarly, in our lives, if we would always follow others we'll be a follower throughout the life. We will never witness the challenges come in taking the risk? We will be unaware of many factors and we will be doomed this way. Everywhere, we'll be dependent on someone. We will never be able to take a single step ever. Being a follower increases your dependency on others. You will lose all courage. On the other side, if you will be a leader, you'll not be dependent on anyone because you will be aware of your task. Your leadership quality will make you successful in your life. This quality will take you further. You'll always have a broader perspective for life in comparison to a follower.

We need to ask ourselves that are we a leader or a follower? There are many examples in the world. I read this small story about Bill Gates's childhood. Once, they were supposed to write about their dreams in the class. Everyone finished within time. Bill Gates was still writing. 

His teacher asked him to return the paper and he replied he can't because his list is big. Indeed it was that's why he has become such a huge name today. All this happened because he worked on the principles. He used his power of thinking, focused on his goal.

A true leader will always stand with his followers and will always allow them to grow further. This is because he will grow if his team members will grow. He will always there to hold your hands where ever you'll go wrong. 

Let me tell you the basic difference between Leader and Follower.

Leader - always leads the entire race of life.

Follower - always follows the entire race of life. 

Now, stop thinking. Go and in front of a mirror looking at you and ask this question to yourself, "Are you a leader or a follower?" Whatever you do every day, does it has a leadership quality and you simply follow what you've been asked to follow. You'll get the answer.

A true leader will always create a path so that others can follow the footprints.

I would leave you guys here with this question,

"Are you a leader or follower?"

All the best!

Regards,

Moloy

(To read in Hindi, click here)