The word leader has always triggered a thought in me & I'm sure a question would come to everyone's mind at some point in time – Am I a good leader? 

I keep wondering what the answer is & realized that to be a good leader, we should consciously lead ourselves in this direction. One has to understand its inner meaning – how I can be a good leader. 

On a few occasions, another question also pops up in this process - do I have a good Leadership quality?

I firmly believe that the answer to the above question is a big YES. Everyone is a leader & I believe that leadership is a born quality in human beings. The critical aspect is how it can be exhibited and executed.

Let us go further with an example.

• Can we say Mahatma Gandhi is a good leader – YES, he ensured how to uprise a mass movement for a cause.

• Can we say JRD Tata is a good leader – YES, he revolutionized the Tata Empire with great Ethics and Empathy

• Do you feel our Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi is a good leader – YES, he is driving the Nation with a vision of making India a great country.

• Lastly, do you accept Adolf Hitler as a leader – who triggered World War II, resulting in millions of deaths and devastation? The answer could be YES; though his actions were not in the interest of humanity, he did it with a purpose.

We can identify one essential character with the above examples – A leader has to have a Vision. 

To understand who can be a leader and the leadership concept, we have to follow the Pancha Sutras – Five Rules. It is a set of tools that enables everyone to exhibit their leadership qualities and become leaders in their profession. 

If one has to be a successful leader, first, he should be a leader by himself. The inner crest of having a high dose of Self Confidence draws the Road Map for one to be a good Leader. The Pancha Sutras espouse the following two methodologies. 

1. The Pancha Tattvas: How to be a leader within 

2. The Pancha Kriyas: Good practices on leadership qualities 

Let us understand what are Pancha Tattvas – Five Principles:

Pancha Tattvas: The Five Principles on How to be Leader within and by oneself.

The complete leadership journey has to tread a path of pancha tattvas – Five stages of principled leadership journey. These tattvas give us an insight into how one can be a leader within and by oneself. It guides everyone to become a leader by themselves in their activities.

Tatva 1: Vision 

The vision indicates a GOAL. One has to have a vision, or otherwise, life becomes difficult. When once a vision is clear, one has to move to the next tatva. Action always originates with a goal. I call this aspiring to achieve something.

Tatva 2: Strategy 

Strategizing the vision is the second stage. There has to be a very effective strategy for the successful implementation/execution/conceptualization of formulated vision. I call this ‘planning’ to achieve the aspired goal.

Tatva 3: Ideas

An effective and focused Strategy results in getting fantastic ideas – this is where we have to trigger our left brain. Idea generation is the stage where a clear picture of how one's vision can be implementable effectively. I call this ‘creativity’.

Tatva 4: Action

The 4th stage is action – meaning how ideas can be transformed to deliver results in line with the formulated vision. I can categorize this stage as the ‘execution of thoughts’. This is a crucial aspect wherein we energize our efforts to achieve our set goal.

Tatva 5: Success

The above stage leads to success for one to become a good leader. I call this ‘achievement of the purpose’. At this stage, we can feel the satisfaction of getting closer to our goal, and it inspires us to set another goal. The cycle should continue for us to gain the self confidence within leading the path of a leader.

A leader should always follow these pancha tattvas in his actions for him to exhibit his leadership abilities and guide his team. The above tattvas, when adopted systematically, illuminates our personality. 

To understand further, I like to explain the above Tattvas with an elementary and fundamental set of case studies, which we all come across in our day-to-day life. These are widespread examples that we see every day but fail to notice how well these personalities effectively adopt the above Tattvas. These case studies open up our mindset on how simple it is to adopt them, to become a ‘Leader’ by oneself. 

Case study 1: Street Vegetable Vendor effectively.

He is the one who pulls his stock on a cart and delivers goods to our homes. Knowingly or unknowingly, he adopts the above FIVE tatvas very effectively. He looks at the wholesale market and instantly creates a vision. He always goes with a one-point agenda of maximizing earnings today by selling tomatoes (Just an odd example). Why Tomatoes? His decision can be driven by various factors such as cost, surplus availability, high demand, etc.,

Then he strategies - Where to sell, which area, what should be the selling price, etc. All happens on spot without prior planning. 

He formulates a few ideas -  Segregate the lot into 2 or 3 batches depending on sizes and fix different prices as to cater to all segments of people. 

Do you see leadership qualities in this street vegetable vendor? - certainly, he cannot visualize that he is adopting all the pancha tatvas principles but this is true facts.

Case Study 2: Signal Light Beggar.

Even a beggar starts his day with a vision to earn maximum, strategizes which signal is better today, formulates ideas on the way to beg, and prepares action to see the success of how effectively one has to beg to get maximum earnings.

Can we consider this signal light beggar is adopting all the five principles effectively? Can we see the adoption of pancha tatvas in his profession?

The above two case studies depict that everyone is a leader within – irrespective of what profession, work environment, situation, and relationship. From these we understand that the pancha tatva's, can be exhibited in day-to-day life, which are the essential characteristics of a leader.

Let us go a step further to see how a good leader's above qualities can be practically applicable to imbibe good leadership qualities. As stated above, these qualities are visible in all of us. It is how we adopt them effectively to be a true leader. Let us now look at the leadership quality of a good leader; it can be summed up below. 

- A good leader always puts the purpose before personality

- A good leader understands human relationships

- A good leader always commands respect and never demands respect

- A good leader is always a good mentor

- A good leader emanates an aura of self-confidence. 

The second methodology, Pancha Kriyas – Five Actions

Pancha Kriyas: Five actions on understanding leadership qualities for one to become a good leader.

These kriyas facilitate a person to practice simple and basic guidelines for him to become an effective leader. These kriyas help to understand the need for one to become an effective leader. These are similar to yogic kriyas, which one has to master to become a good leader. One need not be rich, highly qualified to be in a prominent executive position to practice these kriyas. All one needs is the right mindset and a passion to practice and spread across their core group to become effective influencers. A true leader will always be a change agent to others.

How these Kriyas can be practiced.

Kriya 1: Smile 

Smile is a God-given gift to every human being. Let us use it effectively to bring a happy environment. A leader has to imbibe this quality of spreading a smile to every individual he comes across to ensure a very congenial environment is maintained for effective deliverables. Smile adds excellent motivation to the team and injects the much-needed efficient work atmosphere.

Kriya 2 - Eye Contact 

Leaders should always have good communication with direct eye contact techniques. This quality enables them to be a very effective communicator who can inspire the team. A straight eye to eye communication stamps the confidence with which the matter is expressed.

Kriya 3 - Talking 

Leaders should develop a flair of smooth-talking. The instructions have to be clear, unbiased, and straight to the point, explicitly explaining what needs to be executed to the team. The talk should exemplify friendliness, supportiveness & cohesiveness rather than have a stamp of authority.

Kriya 4 – Humane

This quality correlates to empathy. leaders should always be very empathetic in their approach. They should carefully evaluate every decision-making process to ensure its consequences to people, place & environment.

Kriya 5 - Attitude 

The most important quality for a leader is his attitude. As we all know, Attitude sums to be 100% potential for one to be a good leader. (The total sum of the alphabet sequential number of the word ATTITUDE is 100). An excellent attitude, personality commands respect and builds an aura of a leader.

An effective leader should always understand when, where, and how the above Kriyas need to be practiced depending on the situational environment.

Pancha Sutras is about how one can become a Leader within himself and acquire essential Leadership qualities. The essence of Pancha Tatva gives us an insight into becoming a Leader within and the practice of Pancha Kriya guides one to be a good and effective Leader. 

I am sure everyone has the ability to execute and practice them. The one who does it effectively would turn out to be an outstanding leader. There could be weaknesses among leaders, but the Pancha Sutras helps one build a positive aura for him to journey from a good leader to a great leader.

To summarize, one has to be a leader first and practice simple leadership qualities to become a good leader. This set of five rules will undoubtedly be a vitamin shot for everyone to rise in this world

I am trying to adopt these rules wherever and whenever an opportunity comes & I am sure that when the question of – Am I a good leader pops up in one's mind, this article will motivate you to sit back and recall the Pancha Sutras and start adopting and practising in our life. 

Wish You All A Great Leadership Journey Ahead!