Leadership Lessons from "Chak De! India" ...

The movie "Chak De! India" has inspired most of the Indians in one or other. Chak De is a cracking Underdog-wins-the-day, Unity-is-Strength kind of story..... There's energy, there's hope.... There's the idea that you can have your cake and eat it.... If you're smart, and keep your head.

Team Building & Leadership are the Vital learnings ::

• The Leader should be fair and impartial while dealing with the team-members
(The way coach Kabir Khan selects the Captain of the team)

• Individual goals and agendas are always counter-productive (as proved by the way two forward players try to become the highest goal-scorer at the cost of the team’s fortune)

• Those who do not play for the common goal should be ruthlessly dealt with and kept OUT of the team (The way coach Kabir Khan orders players OUT of the team is memorable)

• The leader should not hesitate to take hard-decisions on selecting and retaining the members of the team

• Nothing unites and inspires a team like a common goal (The bashing episode at Mc Donald’s in the film)

• Knowing the strengths, weaknesses and strategies of competitors (of the organization / team) is essential to fully exploit the strengths of the organization/team, to overcome its weaknesses and formulate appropriate strategies to exploit the weaknesses of the competitors and to win.

• Nothing is better for you than your biggest failure.

• If you have the talent, passion and commitment, you can make underdogs win.

• Unless pushed to limits, your team will not perform at its best

• People always want easy things, and it is difficult to overcome cynicism

• Be strict and straight with your team. You don’t have to always be nice with them

• In short, be ruthlessly compassionate!

• Strategy is important - know the team members individual strengths and weaknesses

• There is no alternate to hard work, not even smart work!

• If you are after a cause big enough, you will always have people to support you

• Follow your heart!

• Success is difficult

• You must overcome each and every hurdle in front of you for a prolong period of times

• You must have the each and every team member working unselfishly towards a common goal

• Failure is easy

• All you need is one selfish person (one rat shit) to ruin the whole project for everyone

• All you need is to fail one hurdle at any one time

• Understanding and respecting each other’s role and contribution is the important first step to cooperation

The Team MUST have:
• HIGH level commitment ; WIDE participation
• DEEP interaction and LONG term view of benefits

Work together ..... and ..... Win together

Because "Sometimes Winning is Everything!"

Chek De ! ...