Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly came up with some important leadership lessons while talking to Unacademy. Ganguly stated that one cannot expect Rahul Dravid to act like Yuvraj Singh or vice-versa. Consequently, a good leader should lead different personalities differently.
Dravid was calm under pressure and he didn’t believe in having a chat with the opposition players. On the other hand, Yuvraj was aggressive in his approach and liked to take the bull by its horns. Thus, both of them were poles apart in their conduct on and off the field and it was crucial for Ganguly to lead them differently.
In fact, Yuvraj Singh had also recently said that if he was the coach of the team, he would take Hardik Pandya out for a drink at 10 pm whereas he would say ‘Good Night’ to Jasprit Bumrah at 9 pm.
“Adaptability is one of the key leadership qualities. A leader should tap the natural talents of the team members. You cannot make Rahul Dravid act like Yuvraj or make Yuvraj be Rahul Dravid,” said Ganguly on Unacademy while talking about leadership.
The former Indian skipper, who is now the BCCI president believes it is imperative to learn from one’s mistakes and failures. Ganguly added that these mistakes and failures helps a leader in learning quickly and one must try to move forward at all times.
“The greatest of the leaders make mistakes, but as long as the intentions are right, everything else will fall into place. You should learn from your own mistakes and leave them behind to be a better version of yourself,” said Ganguly.
“Don’t let your losses get you down, that’s a part of growing up. Learning from failures will lead you to success,” he added
Meanwhile, Sourav Ganguly is regarded as one of the best captains of the Indian team. In fact, Yuvraj Singh had once said that he can die for a captain like Ganguly, who had backed him to the hilt.
Ganguly led India in 196 matches across the two formats (Test and One-Day) in which the team won 97 whereas they lost 79 matches. Thus, Ganguly had a winning percentage of 49.48.
Ganguly was known to get the best out of the players and he gave confidence to the young brigade. He was instrumental in giving the right opportunities to players like Virender Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. All these players then went on to have great careers for the Indian team.
