Youth Equine Leadership organised an insightful evening for students and alumni of Rotary Club’s Bhavishya Yaan. To reiterate the importance of leadership and decision-making in achieving success, three speakers from different fields took the podium to motivate the youth in attendance with their experiences.
Sundar Nathan, the author of the Indian mythology thriller series titled, The Naraka Cycle commenced the session. “Decision-making is an essential part of our daily lives and those decisions take us down a certain path. When we make those decisions, we must make from a place of balance by being centred within yourself. Before you make an important decision, spend time going within, finding balance, and asking yourself what decision should I make, asking the universe what I should do here. You should continue reading and learning and finding sources of information that can enrich you,” he said.
The engineer and tech marketeer from Silicon Valley accentuated the importance of pursuing hobbies. “Develop a hobby because it will help you in other parts of your lives. No matter how busy you might be, dedicate some time to pursue a hobby,” he added. He recounted how writing helped him not only strike a work-life balance but also realise his dream of becoming an author.
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Vivek Patwardhan, who was the global head of HR at Asian Paints for over 30 years until 2009, shared an interesting aspect of leadership. “The first lesson in leadership is that you are not your designation. Being authentic is a crucial aspect and since it carries a lot of fears in our mind, at times authenticity takes a backseat. Your career should be divided into three parts – learn, earn, and return. Keep honing your skills, it’ll open new avenues, and give back to society, in whatever way you can,” Patwardhan emphasised. Patwardhan is now an executive coach and a consultant with many multinational corporations and large organisations in retail, steel, engineering and pharmaceutical industries.
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Actor Manasi Salvi, drawing from her experiences, put forth thought-provoking points for the students to ponder over. “Life is full of challenges; more failures and less successes, this you need to understand. There are a few life skills, which I believe, we all need to have. First, always have a Plan B because Plan A might or might not work. Second, learn to manage your money. Have a contingency plan, which will help you during your lows. Though money is important, don’t run after money,” she shared.
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The Youth Equine Leadership programme was started by Vidushi Karnani with an aim to enhance learning leadership from horses by deepening one’s emotional intelligence, teamwork, and communication skills through trust and authenticity. “Our first event was an experiential learning programme with horses in 2021 when I was 14 years old,” said Vidushi, the founder of Youth Equine Leadership. “Through different Youth Equine Leadership programmes, we hope that the youth imbibe crucial skills required to become great leaders,” she concluded.
