The Leadership Chronicle

THE
LEADERSHIP
CHRONICLE

Leadership anecdotes from Dadi

AUTHOR
SANTANU BHATTACHERJEE

The Leadership Chronicle

Published by:
BFC Publications Private Limited
CP-61, Viraj Khand, Gomti Nagar,
Lucknow-226010

ISBN: 978-93-91455-07-1

Copyright (©) Santanu Bhattacherjee (2021)

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced, strode in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means
including photocopying and recording without specific prior
permission of the publisher. Any person who does any
unauthorised act in relation to the publication of this work may
be liable to legal proceedings and civil claims for damages.

The views expressed and the materials provided in this book are
solely those of the author and presented by the publisher in good
faith. All the names, places, events and incidents are either the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance is purely coincidental. The author and the publisher
will not be responsible for any action taken by a reader based on
the content of this book. This work does not aim to hurt
sentiments of any religion, class, section, region, nationality or
gender.

(2)

Santanu Bhattacherjee

DEDICATION

“Dedicated to My family”

(3)

The Leadership Chronicle

PREFACE

“What happened to your MBA application?”

“Well, I am still waiting for the reply from the
university”. Bina replied to her friend while finishing
the morning yoga.

Bina, the only daughter of Nisha and Raj has just
completed her graduation and applied for MBA in
some of the universities in the US. Like any other
highly ambitious student, she also aspires to be a
great business leader one day and thinks that
completing her MBA will help her to become a great
leader one day.

Few more days later, Bina received the much-awaited
mail in her inbox.

“Congratulations! I am delighted to offer you
admission to our MBA class of 2020” The subject
says it all.

Such a joyful moment for the family.

“Why don’t you share the good news with your dadi?
“asked Bina’s mom.

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Santanu Bhattacherjee

Bina’s Dadi is a well-known entrepreneur running an
incense stick business for few decades. The fact that
made her popular is that she does not have a formal
business-based education yet she built the business
from grassroot and running it successfully. A
prominent advocate of entrepreneurship and learning
by doing, Shobha, Bina’s grandma, always
encouraged Bina to pursue her dream of becoming a
business leader.

“Yes, let me dial her number first”, Bina started
typing her number.

“Hi Dadi, I have good news to share.”

“Well, let’s this septuagenarian do a little bit of
guesswork,” Dadi said

“Yes, dadi, I’m giving you few seconds to guess as I
can’t wait to break the news to you…”

“Well, I think my little Bina’s dream of doing an
MBA is about to come true. Am I correct?”

“Yes, dadi.” Bina screamed out of joy as she
confirmed the news to her Dadi.

“Why don’t you come over to my place for few days
before you travel? We can celebrate it together.”

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The Leadership Chronicle

“Sure Dadi, I would love to. Let me complete some
of the formalities here and then will visit for a couple
of days.”

“I will wait for you, dear. With all the yummy foods
that you like.”

“Sure dadi, will meet soon.”

“Mom, I’m hungry….” Bina rushes to the dining
table as she disconnects the phone.

Bina could not sleep that night as she was extremely
excited with a high surge of adrenaline. It was the
middle of the night, and her phone buzzed. It’s a
message from her dadi.

“Congratulations once again, dear. I am so proud of
you. I can’t wait to see you.”

Bina planned to give her Dadi a surprise and booked
a ticket for the next day.

It took almost half a day to reach Dadi’s place. Bina
was starving and can't wait to dive into her favorite
biryani cooked by Dadi.

“So, how are you feeling Miss, about to be MBA?”
Dadi teasingly asked Bina.

“Come on Dadi. You know it, right. It is my dream.”

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Santanu Bhattacherjee

“Yes, dear. I know it. And that’s why I am so happy
for you” Dadi replied with a smile on her face.

“Thank you, Dadi. It is my big dream to complete the
MBA and then become a great leader, just like Indra
Nooyi or you,” Bina replied with a twinkle in her
eye.

“So, you think that only MBA can help you become a
good leader” Dadi got a little curious as Bina opened
up more about her dream and goals.

“Yes Dadi, these days, without MBA or other higher
degree, it gets really difficult to step into the
leadership shoes. “

Shobha realized how passionate Bina is about
leadership. She also realized that the perception Bina
has about learning leadership by doing MBA is not
correct.

“Well, MBA can teach you a few of the things
important to run a business, but you know that’s not
all. Leadership is an art, and you learn it while
working. There is no fixed syllabus to teach you
that.”

This statement from Dadi was thought-provoking.
Bina wants to know more about that.

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The Leadership Chronicle

Seeing the silence, Shobha smiled and said, “Don’t
worry Bina. You will learn it with time. You study
hard and work harder. Now go to bed, you must be
exhausted.
As they finished her dinner, Dadi, told herself that
sharing some of her entrepreneurship experience will
help her to break Bina’s misperception about
leadership.

(8)

Santanu Bhattacherjee

PAINTING A BETTER FUTURE AND
THEN CREATE IT

DAY 1 WITH DADI

Shobha was ready with a new narrative from her
personal diary today. She wanted Bina to understand
how Leadership is not just about adopting certain
characteristic behavior or nature but is interlinking
with strengthening the future.

A lesson from the past

Her incense stick-making business had finally started
to do well, and her networking with the local shops
saw her business gain impetus after the initial years
of struggle. But, Shobha knew how taking things for
granted can be a big mistake in business. She had
seen her father's shop goes down the drains as a child
because even though he was forward-looking, but
was not very ambitious. Shobha's father, Nathu Ram,
was a craftsman who sold handmade items – pottery,
embroidered items, artifacts, etc. to tourists. He
seemed pretty happy with how his shop was doing
well and did not have a backup plan for the
unforeseen future. He also did not believe in keeping
in sync with changing demands. So, when the
industrial revolution reached India, he was not ready

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