Unveiling the 3 Key Traits of Highly Successful Leaders. Part 3 of 3.
Welcome to the final article in this series on Inspired Leadership. In previous sections, we covered the importance of insight in creating a vision followed by influence in creating aligned action towards that vision. In this article, we will examine what happens when leaders mature, and the result of their sustained commitment to their cause becomes visible within the greater community.
“What you do has far greater impact than what you say.”
- Stephen Covey, author & educator
In the 17th and early 18th Century, an economic power tool control of India. It was the British East India Company, a powerful extension of the British Crown to trade and enrich the home Country. As time passed, the Company became more political and began colonizing its trading partners.
India, the crown jewel of the East, fell to British rule in 1858 and remained colonized for 89 years until 15 August 1947, the date of India’s independence. The battle for independence was long and arduous, headed by India’s political elder stateman, Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhi’s philosophy embraced non-violence as the key principle to opposing the British colonial forces, and he inspired the whole of India to support this philosophy. It can seem counterintuitive that this diminutive, little man would propose non-violence as the primary method to oppose an incredibly violent colonial master. Yet, this philosophy takes the credit for India’s eventual freedom.
As part of the oppression during the regime, the British authorities levied a salt tax on India. The British East India Company imposed a monopoly on the production and trade of salt and imposed taxes on its consumption. The tax became at once a lucrative source of the Empire’s revenue and excessively burdensome on the Indian population, who were highly reliant on salt both as an ingredient of their meals and as a food preservative.
Indians were forbidden from making or selling salt; they were forced to buy it at steep prices from their colonial rulers.
In March of 1930, during the height of the unrest in India, Gandhi began a 240-mile trek from Ahmedabad to the village of Dandi. This walk, popularly known as the Salt March, was destined to leave a lasting mark on history.
Accompanied by approximately 78 followers, Gandhi started his symbolic journey, which had been meticulously planned in the preceding months. Gandhi knew that salt had come to represent oppression in India, and by making this commodity the focus of his resistance, he could mobilize the Indian spirit throughout the land. Salt had become a blatant expression of the oppression and exploitation of the Indian people. His passive resistance to the salt tax was a powerful message to the ruling powers and, more importantly, to the people of India.
The march passed through several villages, and Gandhi spoke of the poor man’s struggle and liberation, calling out the salt tax as a cruel and inhuman punishment of the Indian people. He slept in the open and only requested food and water from his hosts.
The procession increased in number and stretched over 3km long at one point. When Gandhi reached his destination, the coastal village of Dandi, 24 days later, he was greeted by more than 50,000 people. Several international journalists were among the welcoming party.
On the morning following their arrival at Dandi, Gandhi made his way to the shores of the Arabian Sea and raised a handful of the salty sediment into the air.
“With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.”
He boiled the salty earth and produced illegal salt, imploring the masses to do the same. His act was broadcast all over the world.
The consequences were immediate and harsh. Thousands were detained, including Gandhi himself. The detention only helped Gandhi’s cause, capturing the world’s imagination and shedding light on India’s challenges and the justness of its cause.
“I want world sympathy in this battle of right against might.” He had said along the route to the destination.
The salt march seeded a period of mass civil disobedience in India. Although there were outbreaks of violence, Gandhi urged his people to follow the route of peaceful non-cooperation without raising arms. His resolute and unwavering conviction that India would be free from British rule came true seventeen years following the salt march.
Ultimately, the salt march wasn’t about salt — it symbolized the resilience of a nation fighting for freedom. Despite facing a difficult path to independence, the journey had commenced — a journey that would ultimately lead India to its rightful position among other nations.
When leaders take committed and single-focused action, they create movements that can change the course of history. The symbolism of an ordinary and uninteresting commodity — salt, which we all take for granted, became a catalyst for the freedom of a nation.
Gandhi used salt to create a massive impact.
Leaders make an impact in the world. This impact could be global, local, in a community, or even among a handful of people. It is through the impact that the leader realizes the actualization of their intention.
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
We are now at the conclusion of the three-part series on inspired leadership. We have discovered that leadership requires three critical ingredients, and we examined each ingredient in its related section of the series.
In Part 1, we discovered the role of “Insight” in crafting every leader’s compelling vision of the future. The vision coalesces people who believe in the cause. Then, in Part 2, we highlighted how leaders “Influence” those on the journey with them and take action to create a desirable future. Finally, in this section, we discovered the result of the leader’s insight and influence, which is the “Impact” the leader creates.
Gandhi fuelled the spirit of Indians living under oppressive colonial rule with a stirring vision of a free, self-governing India. The entire Country aligned with his vision and came together with non-cooperation to resist British rule, an example of Gandhi’s extended influence. Finally, the mass action, coupled with the strategy created by Gandhi and his cohorts, resulted in the massive impact of a free India, changing the course of history.
Inspired leadership is the sum of insight, influence, and impact.
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
