By Rajita Kulkarni | Posted: July 17, 2018
The World has been in the grip of soccer fever for the past many weeks. I was in Europe in June, and I experienced personally how the World Cup frenzy consumed people, country after country I visited! Every pass, every kick, every hit and every miss was dissected, analysed, commented upon and evaluated! Billions of opinions of millions of people!
This time the World Cup was even more special, because many previous world champs were out and many under dogs kept winning. England reached the semifinals (my little 5 year old niece, also showed me the song and dance they had been taught in school in London to welcome the team home with the Golden Trophy!) and Croatia reached the Finals! A team completely unexpected, beating many heavyweight champions and winning every match with sheer grit and determination.
I have been to Croatia, and have many Croatian friends. I was part of the delegation few years ago, when the then Croatian President H E Dr Ivo Josipovic, welcomed Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to the Presidential Palace for discussions on geopolitics and global peace. I have also been to France and have many French friends and family too! Both beautiful countries of wonderful people! So when I sat down with my husband to watch the finals yesterday, I was torn between which team to cheer. The sheer speed & skill of the French was unparalleled and the Croatians’ raw energy to persevere was deeply endearing. The match was done, celebrations and tears followed, nations were moved by emotions and the event that united almost the whole world was over!
There were many stars of the World Cup. For me there was one Super Star! The Croatian President H E Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic! What she did and how she showed up can give us the best lesson in leading with humility! I don't know much of her political activities or opinions, but just following and watching what she did for her team in the World Cup is enough to teach us about Inspirational, Servant Leadership!
1) She traveled by economy class to watch the semifinals until she was recognized and moved to a VIP box ! She is The President of Croatia! She could have pulled in her full office protocol, but no, she did what any normal citizen of her country did to travel to Russia to watch the match! Every newspaper, every magazine, every TV channel wrote and spoke about it! I read a number of articles talking about how in the world of today leadership by bullying seems to be the norm, this was a completely unprecedented behavior by a Head of State! I am told by my Croatian friends that this is quite normal for her to do!
Leadership Lesson - No matter what your position, when you get down to the level of your people, you become the stuff inspiration is made of.
2) After Croatia's semifinal win, videos of her dancing with the team went viral! No reservations, no self judgement, no getting stuck to her position, no care about what people will say! She danced with gay abandon, enjoying the moment with her team. Celebrating them and cheering them. I can’t but imagine what it must have done to the spirit of her team!
Leadership Lesson- Every word, every action of a leader matters to the team. When you cheer your team wholeheartedly, your team can do the impossible!
3) I have watched many Presidents and Prime Ministers watching sports events. They are in the stands, but they are not a mere spectator. They are their position. And that's ok. When I saw her, she was a President and a cheerleader! She wore the Croatian team jersey for every match! In fact when she had to dash to Brussels and back for the NATO meetings, pictures of her presenting her team's jersey to Mrs Theresa May were all over media. Her dance at the Croatian goals with the Russian PM looking on were epic ! Social media was flooded with how she is the mother of the team, etc etc. Bottom line, she was invested in the game, she showed it and that's what matters.
Leadership Lesson- You can set your standard, no matter what the norm. When you do it with your heart, a new benchmark is set!
4) Yesterday after the match, at the presentation ceremony, I saw her hugging every player of both teams, the coaches, the teams - consoling, congratulating and cheering. I have never seen this before! It was authentic, genuine and truly heartfelt. It was like she was embracing her team on behalf of the whole country! Telling them, its ok, you are winners for us! I think women bring this special aspect to their leadership expression! The mother in the lioness comes to the fore especially when her cubs are down and need the lift.
Leadership Lesson - Be kind to the team especially when they are down. Restore their confidence, cheer them. They will never forget it, or you for doing it.
5) Finally, the defining moment for me was to watch her standing tall and strong,without a fuss, in line with the President of Russia and France as the rain came pelting down during the presentation ceremony! Within seconds a large umbrella came to cover Mr Putin. She continued to stand without any fuss, any demands, and continued to hug and greet her team like there was no problem! I could see her beautifully coiffed hair slowly fall flat with the heavy downpour and her sleeves dripping rain drops- she couldn't care less! What all she could have done in her position and what she actually did! Salute!
Leadership Lesson- It's not who you are, but what you do that matters in leadership!
Your Excellency, you are my hero, as I am sure the hero of the millions who watched you! Your team won our hearts with their game, you won our hearts just watching them play!
Original source: www.linkedin.com
By Rajita Kulkarni, President at Sri Sri University, Featured as top 100 inspirational women of India by INBA publication - The Phenomenal She, Excellence in Education Global advocacy & action on ethics, Transformational Leadership Coach, Global citizen
