Vijay Phanshikar, Editor, The Hitavada, in a session on Leadership at the ongoing CIMCON 2026 on Saturday, shared stories of great leaders who exhibited unparalleled leadership qualities that changed the course of history. The speaker narrated events from India’s freedom struggle, Kargil war, and life of sport persons among others to highlight the qualities of a true leader. Phanshikar first gave the example of Mahatma Gandhi who had ignited a spark in the minds of thousands of Indians. Commenting on Gandhi’s leadership quality, Phanshikar said Gandhi made common man in India think that if they work hard, they could achieve freedom.

 

A true leader should have the ability to awaken the hidden will in his team members. This is one of the essential qualities of a true leader. To direct a team towards a particular goal is definitely a quality of a leader, he said. Phanshikar then gave an example of a former Chief of Indian Air Force who had set an example of leading from the front. “When things were not falling in place, the then Chief of Indian Air Force A Y Tipnis himself (along with select fighter pilots) flew a fighter plane and dropped bombs on Kargil hill.

 

His bold actions changed the fate of the Kargil war,” Phanshikar said. Continuing the story, Phanshikar told another incident from the life of Tipnis. “When Tipnis was undergoing training in the National Defence Academy, a senior officer in the academy had predicted that the trainee would shine in the India Air Force. And eventually it happened. Tipnis rose to the top position in the force and played a vital role in its development,” Phanshikar said, highlighting the senior officer’s quality to ‘see the unseeable’.

 

This was followed by another incident from the life of legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. “Sachin gave up captaincy to perform better. He showed us that leadership is not decided by position but by one’s actions,” he pointed out. In addition to this, Phanshikar also spoke about the qualities of a true leader to take decisions without any prejudices and judge people in a proper way. In the concluding part of the session, Phanshikar further gave satisfactory answers to the queries raised by the participating business leaders and others. Earlier, Prashant Godbole, Life Member of CIMCON, introduced the speaker.