Book Launch “Leadership Lessons for Daily Living"

Dr. R Balasubramaniam (Balu) is a widely respected development activist, leadership trainer, thinker and writer. He is the Founder of SVYM & GRAAM. Dr. Balu’s seventh book “LEADERSHIP LESSONS FOR DAILY LIVING” was released on 18th September 2020 in a virtual event in the presence of distinguished guests Mr Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder and Chairman for Harappa Education, Founder and Trustee for Ashoka University and Dr R S Praveen Kumar, IPS, Secretary for Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society. 

ILSS (India Leaderships for social change) is a co-publisher of this book along with the GRAAM.  Well-known academicians, social sector leaders, writers and development practitioners attended the book release ceremony in the virtual platform. 

The virtual program started with a panel discussion on “Democratizing Leadership” with the eminent panelist Mr. Pramath Raj Sinha and Dr R S Praveen Kumar.The panel discussion was moderated by Ms. Anu Prasad, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ILSS. The discussion started with ‘leadership based on their experiences and in this unequal society how we can make leadership gender inclusive’. Speaking from his experience Mr. Pramath Raj Sinha mentioned that in general language, leadership has been always related to the concept of politics (neta) and power but for me it’s much wider than that and it is more about leading our inner selves rather than leading the people. Adding to the discussion Dr. RS Praveen Kumar mentioned that for him leadership is about finding solutions to the wicked problems through collaborations and amalgamation of the purpose of life. To quote him, “For institutionalization of leadership, first and foremost a leader must find the purpose of life and nurture his/her inner self”.

To make leadership gender-inclusive, Dr. RS Praveen Kumar emphasized that there is a sincere need to first break the stereotypes associated with the women and he quoted the example of Poorva who made history by becoming the youngest girl in the world to climb the Mount Everest at the age of only 13 years with constant support from her mother. Mr. Pramath Raj believes that there are two reasons why the leadership space has not been gender-inclusive – firstly, from a very young age the society has been disadvantageous to women and secondly there are organizations who are not ready to bait on the leadership skills of the women.

After panel discussion, Dr. Basavaraju, Executive Director, GRAAM introduced the celebrated author Dr. R. Balasubramaniam quoting his vast experiences in the social development sector and the ample time he has spent working with the indigenous communities of Karnataka. Dr Basavaraju spoke about the book and said “The book is rather a mirror that reflects​ what kind of leader one is and what one need to develop. It exposes the ​'illusionary traits​'​ sometimes we feel that all leaders must possess​ and brings us to the reality​. The book beautifully takes us through the real-life situations of the author and the extraordinary people ​he has met. We get to know how one need to find a higher purpose in life, why can't ​one be a Crusader all the time​, ​ rather one need to stay alive and continue the long battle​ ​with a coalition. It gives a lesson ​for not only leading a small community​, also the large organisations​. It gives an answer to the questions like What it requires to be a complete leader​ and how ​one can sustain ​his/her leadership​? ​How to lead​ selflessly and especially at the time of a crisis​? More importantly, ​all these lessons​ the readers get is through those so-called ordinary, but really extraordinary people that the author has met and interacted with.

Speaking about his new book Dr. Balu emphasized that this book is not only about democratizing leadership but more about celebrating the voices of the people from the grassroots. To quote him“I began by realizing that the prominent voices in the country were simply the ones that were loudest. That is why I turned to the grassroots for stories that came from extraordinary everyday leadership. We need to demystify leadership and bring out the remarkable potential in all of us. This book is about celebrating real people, and real lessons.”

For him leadership is more about the spiritual journey and understanding our incompetence and about understanding the voice which has been missing from mainstream society.

The discussion concluded with the launch of ‘Leadership Lessons for Daily Living’, . Concluding the session Dr. Basavaraju extended his sincere gratitude to the author Dr. Balu, the distinguished panelists, the co-publisher ILSS, and the participants to make the event a success. He also extended his gratitude to the people who have supported him in reviewing and publishing the book.

 The book is available for purchase on Amazon.inhttps://tinyurl.com/drbalubooks

A brief about the Book:  

The leadership is recognized only in the context of power, wealth, and position. Where Dr. Balasubramaniam has shifted the focus to the true leadership potential in all of us, present in our everyday acts and our fundamental values, through the pursuit of understanding ourselves. It gives a deeply democratic message of enduring value that we all are capable of great leadership in our own spheres of living, and that we can cultivate the habits and the practice of good leadership. It engages the reader in a style that evokes the use of parables to convey enduring wisdom, each short chapter offers a story, from which Dr Balu extracts enduring principles, which are then explicitly synthesized.

India Leaders for Social Sector (ILSS) is a non-profit organization that aims to build capacity, knowledge, and networks for India’s development sector. Its flagship effort, the ILSS Leadership Program, exposes interested corporate talent to the social sector through an in-depth 9-day residential engagement. The recently launched ILSS Fundraising Program is designed specifically for social sector leaders and fundraising professionals to share and build fundraising skills for social impact.