This last week was probably the biggest week in my life as a Cricket fan. That one person that represented Indian Cricket, and was the epitome of everything that is still gentlemanly about the game decided to hang his boots and bid adieu to the game and millions of fans.
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was not dubbed the "God Of Cricket" for his Cricket prowess alone though. It was the man himself with his fearlessness in the face of adversity, his composure and calm and his mentoring of the future cricketers. Overall he has been a true leader, a great cricketer and a gentleman.
What did it take for a small kid from a middle class family in India to become the biggest name of the cricketing world? According to the great man, it took a lot of practice, hard work and faith in his abilities.
That forced me to think. If we practice our art, work hard and believe in ourselves, can't we become great in our own fields? Anything that we are involved in, be it sports, finance, manufacturing or consulting, the goal should always be to become the "Tendulkar" of that field - the best that ever was and will be.
Greatness cannot be an easy thing to achieve. People that get there, toil hard for years without complaining. They work, usually, with similar impediments to their progress like the rest of us. The only difference is that they do not look for short-cuts and never lie to themselves.
Fatherhood for me is an opportunity to get better as a person. That too, like anything else, requires work, patience and conviction.
Leadership is something else that cannot be learned overnight. It is an art-form that gets better with practice. It needs trust and truth at its core. Without the core being correct, it can become like a house with a bad foundation. It might still work, but things are shaky at best.
Unfortunately, greatness and leadership can only be achieved with a lot of hard work and practice. Unlike almost everything else these days, there is no app for that.
Photo: Flickr(sourmash)
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