{"id":1884,"date":"2020-07-10T11:45:28","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T11:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/2020\/12\/23\/learning-to-be-a-better-braver-leader\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T16:15:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T10:45:01","slug":"learning-to-be-a-better-braver-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/learning-to-be-a-better-braver-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to be a better, braver leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of Failure Files<\/a>, a special series conceived by India Development Review<\/a> in partnership with Acumen Academy<\/a>, where social change leaders chronicle their failures and lessons learnt.<\/i><\/p>

I’d like to write about my year as the executive director (ED) of Mentor Me India (MMI)—March to December 2016.<\/p>

Even though I’ve failed before that year and since, that one year will always stand out most starkly in my memory. If you trim the complex web of explanations, what remains is the simple truth that I failed as a leader at various levels. My actions not only caused me (and others) a lot of emotional distress, but also contributed to the organisation’s failure to meet its objectives. My failure that year taught me a lot—about leadership, compassion, and perhaps more importantly, about listening—but not before my actions caused at least three people to quit the organisation. One of those three people was me.<\/p>

\"What<\/a><\/div>
Listen to this story instead.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>