Leadership 2.0 APJ Abdul Kalam

I recently re-read "Ignited Minds" by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. I remember reading it on a flight back from B'lore to Mumbai, while I was working with Hindustan Unilever. Blame it on exhaustion of doing first flight out- last flight out daily routines, the book did not ignite my mind. It rested along with me! Like the famous quote by Victor Hugo goes," There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come". Reading the book now, was almost a spiritual experience into the soul of the great man. Not to mention, the goosebumps it gave me seeing images of his Vision 2020. I will use this post to highlight some of the comments that stood out for me and my learning at the end of it.

Spirituality must be integrated with education. Self realization is the focus. Each one of us must be aware of our higher self. We are links of a great past to a grand future. We should ignite our dormant inner energy and let it guide our lives. The radiance of such minds embarked on a constructive endeavor will bring peace, prosperity and bliss to this nation.

A nation's wealth is the young generation of the country. When they grow up, who can be their role models? Mother, Father and elementary school teachers play a very important role as role models. When the child grows up, the role models will be national leaders of quality and integrity in every field including politics, the sciences, technology and industry.

Vision ignites the minds. India needs visionaries of the stature of JRD Tata, Vikram Sarabhai(ISRO founder), Satish Dhawan and Dr Verghese Kurien, to name a few, who can involve an entire generation in mission-driven programmes which benefit the country as a whole.

Our spritual wisdom has been our strength. We survived as a nation the onslaughts of invaders and the numbing effects of colonialism. We also learnt to adjust to the rifts and divisions in our own society. But in the process of all the adjustement, we also lowered our aims and expectations. We must regain our broad outlook and draw upon our heritage adn wisdom to enrich our lives. The fact that we advance technologically does not make spiritual development obsolete. Infact, we need to home grow our own model of development based on our inherent strengths.

The sentences and underlined phrases/words almost called out to me. As my previous posts indicate, I have been thinking deeply about India and my place in whole development ecosystem. Finally, I think as I sat for Vipassana, I found words to articulate my vision for now. How I will fructify it will follow in the blogs to come and as I develop through my experiences.


One day before 2060, India will be the world leader in spiritual and scientific wisdom.