Our mental paradigm about leadership must shift

argues author Priya Somaiya, and Pride and Purpose achieves just that. It is a fascinating compilation of experiences and stories, and her tryst with leaders and leadership from all walks of life.

Not all of leadership is about positional power and control. Rather, most of it silently and sensitively engages with building and transforming lives, organisations and society. The complex intersection and convergence of diverse personalities, skills, styles and qualities in leaders presented in various chapters of the book appear to impact human experiences in similar and yet diverse ways. Leaders influence thought and perception, aspiration and motivation. They earn respect and trust. They create resolute will and discipline and demonstrate working through failure and pain. Leaders interface hugely with time and the elusive framework of the future. They role model risk-taking and a lasting passion for learning. Dr Somaiya's work weaves all these dimensions together in a converging mosaic around leadership behaviours, which appear to strengthen the significantly important pillars around which all leadership devolves—the feeling of pride and the anchoring of purpose in life.