The Hindu Business Line : Tackling questions that leaders ask

How to move from the ordinary to the extraordinary? How to achieve success without the baggage of title or position? How to leave a legacy behind? Questions that many leaders ask themselves, but not many are really able to `get the answers' or `get there.'

Leadership guru and well-known author Robin Sharma guided managers and CEOs in Bangalore through a `Lead without title,' workshop and helped them find the key to these questions. Filled with Sharma's experiences from his earlier workshops conducted for global companies such as Nike, FedEx, IBM and Panasonic, participants were encouraged to express their views on the paths they take to reach towards `great leadership'.

In his three-city tour of the country, Robin Sharma spoke about organisational and personal leadership to managers in Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai.

Addressing some top leaders in Bangalore, Sharma emphasised the role of a `great' personal life to manage success at work. He led discussions on `the art of being an extraordinary connector, an extraordinary performer, achieving personal leadership and all this by achieving significance in life.' "What's the point of being successful without being significant?" he asked.

The tour, called, `The Greatness Guide', (after one of Sharma's books) was to understand how everyone in the organisation could `lead'. The "key to getting to world-class and sustained success within their marketplace is when people who demonstrate leadership behaviour are recognised regardless of their position or title," said the man who wrote the international bestseller, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. "Success is about being true to yourself everyday and being in the process of creating great vision. Success involves realising the potential and talent residing in each one of us, living by our moral compass, staying healthy, having loving human connections and most important, leaving behind a legacy," he said. Stressing the importance of leading a healthy life for professional success, Sharma encouraged participants (about 40 of them from across sectors) to "live healthy and live by a moral compass."

Robin Sharma is the author of eight international bestsellers and the CEO of Sharma Leadership International Inc. This leadership development firm has worked with over four million people in 50 countries including companies such as Nike, NASA, IBM, Microsoft, KPMG, General Motors, and Astra Zeneca. Sharma is also a filmmaker and is involved in the making of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari into a motion picture.