YLDP: On the Path of Leadership

By Neil Raguthu

HOUSTON: During the Youth Leadership Development Program, I began the journey to become a future leader and learned during the multiple session what it means to be a leader. It takes the ability to promote teamwork, to face failure, and sacrifice for the betterment of others.

Being a leader isn’t about improving the skills of an individual, but it is rather working to make the team as a whole, work better together. This can be seen when Bhavesh Patel had been tasked with the restructuring of LyondellBasell. He had seen that the best way to benefit the company as a whole was to rework the whole structure of the European Sector. Even though he had faced potential risk and opposition from numerous people, he knew that this would be the best solution for success of the team as a whole. This shows that being a leader is about working to improve the team, for better success for all.

Facing failure is a common part of life, but leaders are able to rise above the problems they face and continue to succeed. YLDP had taught us this when they invited Dr. Latha Ramchand to give us a presentation about the “Power of Failure”. She spoke of her own failure when she admitted to leaving the Kellogg Graduate School of Management, but later returning to continue her studies. She said returning to her studies had been a pivotal point in her life because it showed her failure doesn’t define, what defined her was that she got back up more stronger and better. Accepting ones own failures is difficult, but having failed doesn’t make us failures, it only encourages us to try harder and strive for higher levels of success.

To truly be a leader in the world, it takes the will to sacrifice for the betterment of others. Dr. Anupam Ray, Consul General of India in Houston, embodies this belief through his work. At the YLDP Graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 19 at India House, he talked about what he believed a leader needs, such as facing adversity and ones character being traits of a leader, but what really stood out was his own story of sacrifice for others. He is a Neurosurgeon by training, but instead of making thousands in surgeries he rather worked for the people by being a Consul General. He sacrificed a rich comfortable life because he believed that he could help more people if he was Consul General. His story shows that leadership isn’t about having control or money, but rather working to ensure others can have better lives as well.

These are only few of the lessons that we have learned during the year from various speakers.They truly define the skills of a leader and how we can develop and implement effective strategies for success as future leaders.