Written by: Avishek Singh
5 Entrepreneurial lessons from the leadership of MS Dhoni
A self-made man: A life lesson for the world
Jharkhand: An Indian state which seemed to have stopped dreaming. No one envisioned an out-of-the-box theory. The handful of people who dreamt of changing things started off with vigour but as they moved on, the wheels of life could not bear the load of responsibilities as a result of which they too reverted back to the path tried and tested since generations and thus the sapling that dreamed of becoming huge tree was crushed even before it could learn to breathe.
In between all these societal expectations there stood a man who despite all odds decided to continue steering the wheels of life and build up dreams on the pillars of courage, determination and attitude of mind. The man is so popularly known as Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
M.S Dhoni a self-made man has over the years been an inspiration to millions around the world. A man who innumerable times has portrayed the right combination of emotion, feeling, behaviour, character and attitude in a way that his life examples seem to be so relevant in entrepreneurship.
Here are 5 Entrepreneurial lessons from the leadership of MS Dhoni.
1- Stay Calm: Who can forget the ICC world T20 final -India vs Pakistan. The match that went to the last over. Even the audience had goosebumps. A weak leader would have shattered. Dhoni didn’t.
Entrepreneurial lesson 1- A calm leader radiates confidence in a team. A leader who wins is the leader who thinks he can and to think rationally one has to keep his mind intact. That’s what creates a fine line of difference between a winner and a looser.
2- Handling failure and remain focussed: The ability to overcome negative remarks and believing in self is a character of a leader. Of late most news channels questioned the existence of Dhoni in Indian Cricket team. Cricket gurus advised him to retire. Fitness experts believed that his body would not allow him to be a star player, social media posts declared that Dhoni’s prime time has gone and he should retire in good terms. But, MSD was not created by media at the first place. So how could he quit because others did not believe in him. In a recently concluded IPL 2019, MSD was one of the highest run getters. His batting and keeping ability looked at all time high.
Entrepreneurial lesson 2- Victory lies not in never falling, but rising every time you fall.
3- Trust your instinct: Quitting the job in an Indian Railways and going after cricket in a country where millions apply for a single seat in government job vacancy. Leaving a government job for the sake of cricket is un-imaginable in India. Dhoni has been a master of trusting the instincts. Bowling Joginder Sharma ; a debutant; the final over in ICC T20 world cup against Pakistan , asking Ishant Sharma to ball an extra over in ICC champions trophy final against England, promoting himself to come and bat in 2011 world cup final against Sri-Lanka are just tip of the iceberg. All these instincts have resulted India in getting the World Cup.. Our experience shapes our intuition. The more experience the leader has in his field, higher is the chance of getting his intuition right.
Entrepreneurial lesson 3- Trusting your intuition is the ultimate act of trusting yourself.
4- Finish what you have started: MSD is by far the best finisher in the world and has rightly earned the title ‘The Finisher’. On countless occasion, he has taken team India to nail biting victory against all odds. A lot of leaders panic away and call off the task when the going gets tough. Dhoni’s leadership is the right example of how a leader should lead when his team is collapsing.
Entrepreneurial lesson 4- Be cautious when the situation seems unfavourable. Things begin to favour you when you give more time to it and not decide to end it abruptly.
5- Ability to handle Success – Success brings power and power at times is overwhelmingly strong to handle. In a recent series a man jumped off the fence, entered the stadium and fell into the feet of M.S.Dhoni. What MSD did was the prove his humbleness and respect. He picked up the Indian flag which the man left on the ground and raised in the air. Since a last decade we have always heard Dhoni giving his credit to the senior players and his team.
Entrepreneurial lesson 5- Keep creating and keep doing things what you love and things which made you successful. Do not forget your roots and the support system. They will help you in your rainy days.
