Lessons from Dhoni's leadership

He has just made all the  Indians proud. His track record shows that he is the best leader that Indian cricket ever had. All of us wonder what makes him stand out from  rest of the captains.

He is nicknamed as ‘captain cool’. A very important feature of good leadership. We have seen him maintaining his composure even through high voltage situations. It’s easier said than done given the passion that we Indians have for a game of cricket. Our passion for this game blindfolds us towards realities of the game which puts excessive pressure on entire team, especially captain.

He takes risks. We have seen him taking decisions on the field that were totally unexpected. These risks have paid off may times. There is direct correlation between risk and returns. His risk taking ability has been awarded with good returns, which are there for all of us to see.

His risk taking ability is complemented by  his  readiness to accept mistakes and take corrective actions. Not all of his risky moves pay off. But that doesn’t stop Dhoni from taking risks in future games.

When we saw Dhoni for the first time as a player,he was rough and tough boy with aggressive cricketing style and long hair. As soon as he was made captain, we saw him moulding himself in that position. Not only was it evident from his appearance but also behavior on the field. Successful player may not always be a successful captain as we have seen in Sachin’s case. But Dhoni adapted to both the job profiles exceptionally well.

Best thing about Dhoni is his interpersonal skills. Earlier entire team was dependant on the performances of one or two players. But under the leadership of Dhoni, entire team is working as one solid unit sharing equal pressure. It’s unusual thing. Usually team  is a mix of achievers and mediocres.But in this case all the team members are coming out with superlative performances. Credit goes to captain.

He is a public personality. Such people are always at the center of media attention. But so far he has managed to keep his personal life separate from professional life. It’s not  an easy task in a country where cricket is a religion.

He leads by examples. We have seen so many times ,Dhoni taking charge of a bad situation and making way through it with his calm and composed attitude. This motivates other team members to have confidence in captain and meet his expectations.

It’s a lesson for every young Indian that you don’t need to be living in metros or minimetros to make it big in life. If one has substance, even a boy from a small town like Ranchi can go places and set examples for others to follow.