Our perception of a leader is someone who is powerful, articulate and has influence over people. But I truly understood leadership from my experience with Mahesh.

Mahesh worked for a local courier company and would deliver letters to our office. One day he asked if we had a job opening and we employed him for our daily outdoor work. Very soon one started sensing an alertness and spirit in him. His willingness to learn became apparent. We asked him to start helping as a support staff in our spare parts department. This was almost eight years ago. Today Mahesh manages the spares department of 4000 components and the computer system that runs it. Senior engineers often consult him.

There’s a leader in everyone. We need to believe in that and drop our fixed notions. We need to believe in people we interact with. They start believing in themselves when someone reposes faith in them.

Belief has to be backed with training and trusting people. When we create openings, we allow the leader in them to blossom. But we can only trust them when we trust our own instincts.

And we must empower them. Allowing the leader in someone develop means we give them their space to innovate and make mistakes. And empowerment not only makes them feel secure, giving them confidence and responsibility, it tests our own security to let go.

People in life need opportunities to flourish. Whether it be our teams or our children. Like a good gardener we need to care for and nurture each seed giving it the right environment. Because the gardener knows, there is a tree in every seed.