Of late, I have been reading some of the old Indian texts written by sages and wise men. One such work is a section within the larger epic poem “Mahabharata” called Vidur Puran. This section is a conversation between a distressed king and one of his wise ministers. The king knows that the action he is willing to take is probably not the right action but wants to hear that it is ok from the wise minister. In this wide ranging conversation, the king asks a lot of questions around life and how to lead a life of virtue and specifically, how should a king (a leader) live.
One such question is the following:
What are the qualities of a good leader:
The answer given by Vidur (the wise minister) is as below:
Chivalrous: A leader should lead by example the behaviour that he or she expects from his subjects. Great leaders display chivalry towards the people whom they lead. Despite being powerful and strong, they are kind, gentle and humble with people whom they lead. They are generous with their time and attention. They are kind in their actions and their words. Even when they want to punish someone, they do so with gentleness so that the person being punished focuses on his wrongdoing and not on the way he was treated.
Righteous: A good leader is always righteous. He or she will always do what is right irrespective of whether it causes pain in the short term. A good leader is one who is able to distinguish between what is right and what is not and has the ability to choose the right path.
Truthful: A good leader is always truthful and authentic. (S)He doesn’t believe in manipulating people by perpetuating false information. They are honest and authentic when they share any information. They always have the best intentions for the people whom they lead.
The question then to ask is the following
“As leaders are we Chivalrous, Gentle, Kind, Righteous and Truthful to those whom we lead?”
