Name: Tulsi Tawari

Title: Founder CEO & Strategist

Organisation: Alternate Approaches Private Limited

Group Advisor: Zee Media & Education, a top India company; Board Member: Indian Institute of Technology; Author: CommonSense Economics & Creation of Wealth vs Transfer of Wealth (CoW vs ToW); Founded a few small tech companies; Short Film maker: Life 2.0

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope Tulsi's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

To find and nurture self-learning creative leadership people at multi-levels.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

Setting higher purpose with self-assured conviction.

I just followed my dreams, one after another. Never worried about risks involved, as I always felt self-assured of eventual success. As a result, all the setbacks that happened at times, seemed to me as learning and moving on. Eventually, things work out through combination of own-efforts and divine-interventions. Personally for me, most vital concern has been never losing relationships, no matter what as the single important motto. Trusted friends always become the source of strengths in more than one ways in life. Taking risk is ok, but finding and following real purpose is the only true way. Leadership to me is to lead self towards greater purpose. If the purpose leads others to greater success, they want and accept you as their leader.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I break all my tasks in two categories: routine and creative. Always delegate routine to a trusted team, nurtured by me; and invest my personal time in various kinds of creative work both professionally and personally (socially included). Higher the time invested in creative work, greater the future opportunities for success. I call it QtQ, in my book, who is a ratio of creative-time divided by routine-time.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

While developing partnerships with other leaders, invest initial period to understand differences in mutual styles, and complementary strategies. Patience and perseverance are the virtues.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

A book on lectures by Swami Vivekanand, "Colombo to Almora, after his return from his visit to Chicago in 1893, post his phenomenal impact in the USA. This book is a must read for every young person in the world, in my view, who wants humanity to rise together in coexistence.

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

Follow two things: "Clarity in Mind" & "Purity in Heart"

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

I recall paying a tip to a porter at a railway station, after he served me and my friends for an hour. He refused extra money, saying he cannot accept more than what is really due to him. It taught me, people with lesser money at lower positions hold greater ethics and morality compared to those who are highly educated and in higher positions.