TAKE THE LEAD

A few months ago I was watching on TV a reality show contest “Lead India”. The contestants, full of social service background, wanted to prove the best leading qualities within themselves. Today we are at a stage wherein we have to show & prove to the world the leadership qualities within ourselves. But the question is who determines this leadership within us? Who proves whether the decisions I make are right or wrong? Who chooses to guide my conscious to do the right things without any hesitation? The answer to all this is right within us. But we all want to hear others tell us the right & wrong most of the times. We still need a hand to guide & lead us all along. Why? Is it because we never have that zeal & enthusiasm within ourselves? Or is it to spare us of any moral responsibility, which may haunt us later? Maybe I am asking too many questions. But that’s probably because I am trying to seek the answers. At least I’ve taken a decision.

Leadership is a quality that definitely does lie within all of us. Our problem is just that we fail to take the initiative to bring it out. It might have happened so many times that you have gone ahead with doing something that pleases you, done something that you’ve always felt is the right thing to do, done something that you’ve felt should have been done by someone at least. Taking an action is one of the biggest asset of taking a leadership cause, as it is important to take a decision, so is it important to act on it.

India is amongst one of the largest democracies in the world. We have so many politicians in us but no leader in true sense. We always say that we should have a leader like Gandhi, Nehru or Subhash Chandra back within us. But why is it so that we cannot find such a revolutionary within the millions of Indians. Can the reason be because we all have become too self-centered? Or is it because we all look up only at the short-term gain within any deal which ultimately profits only us or our near ones & not the masses? So a very important quality within a leader should be that they should be able to take a decision & act upon it, which is going to be of benefit to the whole society. We simple have to learn to look much beyond our own selves.

Let us look at our own profession. We all like to practice independently, without anybody bossing us. We all love to take decisions as long as no one holds our neck for any mistakes that happen. In a way, we all love to lead but not accept the responsibilities & the consequences of our deeds. If you really want to be successful, learn to take responsibility of the situation & face the result as well. These days, we are scared to face the challenges thrown to us. We are stressed too much. We want others to give us lectures on means & ways to control our own selves. This is because we bent under pressure very easily. We are more afraid of what others may think about us rather than worry where we stand in our own eyes.

Since a past few years, we are trying to make our profession more globally accepted. We are fighting against the decision to place Physiotherapy as a medically directed profession. We had many esteemed persons taking decisions to the best of their abilities. But we had more number of people pointing fingers to them & questioning the very motives of these decisions. Friends, to accuse someone is very easy. To have the courage to face these accusations needs guts. How can we ever think of professional growth & development unless we all unite & work together? How can we ever win if we don’t trust our own peers? We have our seniors leading us by virtue of their vast experience. But rather than admiring the possibilities, we spend more time in rumoring about others & creating impossibilities. What we are doing is falling into our own shortcomings.

All I would like to say is we all have a leadership quality amongst us. We may call it our conscious, moral, ego or our guts. But it is what makes us move ahead. What we need to learn is to make decisions, abide by them & act on them. Make decisions that benefit not just us but the society as a whole. Learn to take the responsibility of all the decisions made by us & that too with a smile. Stand true in your own eyes & be involved in critical creativity & construction rather than negativity & destruction. Only then we can become not just good humans but also good citizens & leaders as well.

Dr. Apurv Shimpi (PT)