April 2, 2022

Leadership Lessons from Gudi Padwa and Ugadi.

Gudi Padwa is celebrated as the first day of Chaitra Navratri in North India and as a New year in Marathi and Konkan regions.Ugadi is also falls on the same day. Ugadi is celebrated in Andhra Pradesh,Telangana and Karnataka. The festival, which signifies the beginning of spring or the harvest season, also gets its name from Gudi - a symbol/flag of Lord Brahma - the creator of the Universe as per Hindu mythology, and padwa - the first day of the moon’s cycle.

How is it celebrated?

Like any new year, Gudi Padwa is celebrated by cleaning your surroundings, wearing new clothes, worshipping the Gudi, and decorating the house with rangoli. It is a festival of coming together, enjoying a feast with family and friends, and paying devotion to the Almighty.

Leadership Lessons from Gudi Padwa and Ugadi:

Gudi Padwa and Ugadi too is an ideal opportunity for leaders to reflect, learn and apply those lessons to their lives and work environment. It’s a time for starting anew,

The power of newness:

There is immense power in starting afresh, in resetting and trying something new with a more productive mind-set.

However, if you look deeply, why we don’t try anything new? What stops us? Have you ever wondered this?

It could be because of any of following reasons.

• Fear of failure - That “what if” question gets in our way? Isn’t it? - What others will think of my failure? Can we conquer this and try something new?

• Need for perfection-we don’t experiment and explore our ideas. My mentor says Version one is better than Version none. Nothing will ever be perfect. It’s better to act and learn from mistakes than no action at all.

• Incompetent-We try something without understanding the skills and knowledge, when we know this lag, we procrastinate to do something new. Would it be rather better to invest in acquiring that skill and knowledge?

• Lack of faith in self or Lack of self-confidence or lack of faith in others.

• Past Failures.-Trying something new is not because of clarity of what to do. It may also because of what I tried earlier did not work and hence it will not work for ever.

• Lack of courage.-If any of the above is stopping oneself and the first step is to have the courage within oneself to go and conquering that element that stops us from trying something new.

A festival is symbolic, however, leaders can use the collective energy present on such a day to bring out positive changes in their lives and others.

Gudi padwa and Ugadi is a sign of a new beginning. This time it also coincides with the start of the new financial year. Leaders and Managers must utilise this chance to welcome new challenges with an improved mindset, fuel their mind and actions positively, trust in their Teams and themselves to achieve something new and exciting.

Wishing you all a Happy Gudi Padwa, Ugadi and a splendid Financial year 2022-23 ahead.