Dear barkuronline.com friends,

We are delighted to give you the first article from our friend Swayam Prakasha Aithal, Moodukeri, Barkur, among the many he promised us in the future.

A seasoned IT veteran, Swayam Prakasha, as his name indicates, has been shining in the Information Technology for several years on his own steam, concentrating on areas such as operating system, networking, network security, electronic commerce, Internet services, LDAP and Web servers.  Presently based in Bangalore, Swayam has authored a number of articles for trade publications, and he presents his own papers at industry conferences.

He can be reached at swayam.prakasha@gmail.com.

We take this opportunity to thank Swayam Prakasha and wish him all the best in all that he does and look forward for more inputs from him.

Team barkuronline.com

Finding the Leader in You

To survive in the days to come, there is a need for every successful organization to undergo a major change. Their people will have to think quicker, they need to work smarter and should dream wilder. This change will require a whole new breed of leaders. The leaders of today and tomorrow will have to establish a real vision and a sense of values for the organizations they wish to lead. There is a need for these leaders to communicate effectively and motivate their team members. One should expect these leaders to follow 3 R’s – self Respect, Respect to others and Responsibility for all their actions – in whatever they do.

Many of us still have a narrow understanding of what leadership really is. You say ‘leader’ and we think chairman of board, MD of an organization etc. It is important to note here that leadership does not begin and end at the very top. Keeping things happy at home, motivating the support staff in an office, organizing a work team etc. are the front lines leadership.

The leadership skills of leaders will determine how much success they achieve in their professional and personal life and how happy they will be. A leader must first needs to develop a possible and desirable future state of an organization. This, we call a vision, may be as vague as a dream or as precise as a goal or a mission statement.

Note that there is no one correct method to lead. The talented leaders come in many personality types. They may be loud or quiet, funny or severe, tough or gentle.

The best approach for any organization is to identify the leaders of tomorrow and groom them. They need to be mentored by the higher-ups and create an open environment where they can exhibit their qualities. Others will always expect a leader to ‘lead from front’.

A leader always establishes standards and sticks to them. He always encourages other members to follow these standards. Well focused, self confident leadership is the one that turns a vision into a reality.

A good leader is a person who takes the others to where he/she wants to go.  A great leader is a person who takes the others where he/she ought to go. That's the difference between a leader and a great leader.

The first step towards success is to identify your own leadership strengths.

-Swayam Prakasha Aithal, 16/05/2007