MS Dhoni - a lesson to learn leadership qualities for entrepreneurs

I have been trying to learn something from all the successful people of the world since I admitted for my MBA. I have been influenced by many great personalities in the world such as Mahatma Gandhi, Bill Gates, Manmohan Singh, Farhan Akhtar, Chetan Bhagat and many more but, today I want to discuss about a man who is filled with all the skills needed for leadership. Simply the captain of our Indian Cricket Team – Mahendra Singh Dhoni. 

I have been reading about his skills after every single day in any magazine, newspaper or any news portal. What he is carrying in himself which made people talk about him all the time and this crowd does not contain only cricket fans but also includes top business personalities. In the today’s competitive world of business, all the skills which are needed for a perfect and smart business are given through training but as we all know that Businessmen or managers are never made, they are always born. This saying is proven many times in many organizations but a great example can also be observed in the world of cricket. An Indian captain who made his team win a T-20 World cup, A world Cup and also lead his team Chennai Super Kings twice to win IPL ( Indian Premier League). A Calm Attitude, decision making ability, positive attitude, belief in players are some of his best features which made him look different than other captains. Sachin Tendulkar – the God of the Cricket also never hesitate to admit the truth of Mahendra Singh Dhoni being best captain in his career of 21 years. The first Indian captain under whose captaincy India won the Cricket world Cup first time in 1983 – The great Kapil Dev also like to call him the “ Captain Cool ”.

Let us have a look at the journey of “Maahi” since from 2004 when he entered the Indian Cricket team from a state which hasn’t got a bigger name in cricket – Ranchi. His first Inning of 183 Runs against Sri-Lanka made us remember his long hair look which made him hit the mind of all cricket fans. The opportunist MS Dhoni proved himself in the first match itself and kept the same trend in the next three years to appeal BCCI to make him skipper of India cricket team in 2007. Then the rest is History. He managed pretty well in the journey from a pinch heater who was known for his “helicopter shot” to throw the ball out of the ground to a successful Indian Captain.

MS Dhoni has been in controversy some time for his statement but he always managed to keep a team spirit together. A support to in-form batsman and also to a out of form batsman from him made him a great leader. In few events he admitted that he normally takes decision on the field according to the situation, when he was asked about his strategy. He repeated it in other events when he was asked the same question and also added that Cricket is a simple game and people make it complicated with words like “strategy”. During a match once, I heard a commentator stating about him that he has seen Dhoni playing cricket with single expression. The same thing has also been observed by many people that Dhoni has never been panic in hard situation or never been over confident in about to win situation. The other great quality in him – “self-belief” can be observed while his captaincy but the final match of World Cup 2011 can not be forgotten by anyone. After losing 3 early wickets, Dhoni decided to enter the ground to hit the Sri-Lankan bowler where other experts were advising him to put Yuvaraj Singh who was inform during the World Cup. At the end of the match, he did not disappoint any of us and hit a six to win the world Cup. Many of us often says that the luck of Dhoni always works but do not forget that A good leader are always bold enough to take decisions which also can be seen in the journey of his captaincy. An incident is when Misbah-ul-haq was batting in the last over of the match and the ball has been given to Jogindhar Sharma. Fortunately we won at the end but such experiment always works for Dhoni where he put casual bowler like Sehwag, Sachin, and Suresh Raina to shock a batsman with unusual delivery. In few matches, such decisions from Dhoni lead the team to lose the match but he admitted instantly his mistake which is again a great quality of a leader and try to learn out of it. Quick mind of Dhoni often reads the game situation and the weaknesses of opposite team help Dhoni to form a strategy instantly. 

What MS Dhoni has inbuilt is a skill to manage his mind on the spot.  Mind management is a huge subject and lot of stuff has been written on it but if you really want to see them live or not interested in reading books and still want to learn, simply watch Dhoni playing on the field and observe him attending press conference after every match. It is Dhoni’s Funda – "KEEP IT SIMPLE SILLY".

Article written by Vikesh Pithadiya - an SEO Expert India.