“I want to fly and reach great heights”

I consider myself privileged to have been able to hear the words of Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, a great visionary who visited Sri Lanka last month, at a joint seminar organised by PIM Alumni and CIMA.

His wide smile with a cheeky grin and headmaster’s tone lit up the one-hour speech he delivered on the topic of ‘Economic Development and Creative Leadership,’ articulating the growth and prosperity of India to the remotest villages in the years to come.

Humble beginnings

From humble beginnings, growing up in remote Rameswaran in South India, Dr. Kalam became a top-notch scientist, fondly called the ‘Missile Man of India’ for his pioneering work on ballistic missile and space rocket technology. He served as the President of India for a five-year stint from 2002-2007.

A President who is loved by India’s people, particularly by small children, he is an enigma for all of us, an example that nothing could stop you from reaching the heights for which you aspire.

He has written his own autobiography, ‘Wings of Fire,’ which has been translated into 13 languages. Dr. Kalam was honoured by his motherland with the Bharata Ratnam, the highest possible award that a civilian could receive in recognition of his contribution to the development of India.

Inspiration

On a question raised by the audience, ‘Sir, who inspired you most in your life to achieve these great heights?’ he replied with reverence about his class teacher who taught when he was only a 10-year-old boy.

Dr. Kalam recalled the scene of his science teacher Shri Sivasubramania Iyer entering the class in the morning. “We saw in him the light of knowledge radiating. We saw the light of purity shining in our teachers, which inspired him with his knowledge and radiance of purity.”

His practical approach to teaching, where he took the school boys to the seashore and showed how the seagulls fly against the wind direction, had changed the life of this 10-year-old rural boy.

This lesson was the stepping stone for Dr. Kalam’s success. On that day, he decided that his life work would be involved with skies and he decided to pursue studies in physics and aeronautical engineering, becoming a rocket scientist who was instrumental in India having its own satellite orbit in the skies.

Leadership

On leadership, Dr. Kalam reminisced fondly of Prof. Satish Dhawan, Chairman of the Indian Space Agency. Dr. Kalam was tasked with the responsibility of being Project Director to launch India’s first satellite mission in 1979.

When this mission failed, Prof. Dhawan was bold and courageous to address the press briefing, accepting defeat with optimism that his talented team would succeed next year. He was optimistic that his team would be able to launch the satellite next year, amidst the strong criticism from media and other stakeholders that this was a waste of public funds.

True to Prof. Dhawan’s conviction, the following year, in 1980, Dr. Kalam and his team were successful in launching India’s first satellite mission. Now, who would you think would conduct the press briefing on this historic milestone? Prof. Dhawan sent his Team Leader, Dr. Abdul Kalam, to share the story of success, giving him full credit.

Now this is a trait of leaders: In failures, leaders absorb criticism; they do not cascade the blame to their teams. In success, the leader gives the full credit to their teams. How often this is practiced in Sri Lanka’s corporate world?

Don’t some of our business leaders bask in glory for their corporates successes, and when it comes to failures, would be the first to deny responsibility and pass it on to their subordinates? Dr. Kalam stressed that the leader needs to be visionary, leading their teams with integrity, maintaining transparency in all activities.

When an audience member made a statement on how small Sri Lanka is, Dr. Kalam refuted this statement. “Sri Lanka is not small, you may be small in size, but that does not deprive from thinking big.”

Dr. Kalam’s journey in life is remarkable, a story of rags to riches, a passion and dedication to achieve great heights a visionary who has defined ‘nothing is impossible’ and changed the destiny of his motherland, India.

Personally, for me, it was a perfect evening to listen to this great statesman and his vision for 2020.

I reproduce an ancient poem by Rumi, ‘I Will Fly,’ which is believed to be one of Dr. Kalam’s favourites, to encapsulate the life of this enigma:

I am born with potential.

I am born with goodness and trust.

I am born with ideas and dreams.

I am born with greatness.

I am born with confidence.

I am born with wings.

So, I am not meant for crawling,

I have wings, I will fly

I will fly and fly.

(The writer is Manager – Strategic Business Development at Hayleys PLC, Director Hayleys Group Services (Pvt) Limited and a Board Member of CIMA Sri Lanka, a Fellow of CIMA (FCMA – UK), and a Fellow of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (FCA). She read for her MBA from the University of Colombo, topping the batch and winning three gold medals. She read for her first degree in Bioscience from the University of Colombo, graduating with first class honours. She was the CIMA Young Star Silver Medal winner at the maiden CIMA Janashakthi Pinnacle Awards Programme. She can be reached at [email protected].)