As we bid a well-deserved adieu to 2021 with its routine lockdowns and prolonged agitations, we feel it prudent that the Sikhs welcome in 2022 by contemplating one singular element:
Leadership.
After all, it is the lack of rather than presence of any astute and visionary leadership which is hamstringing the everyday Sikh on the street today in more ways than one.
In our journey of self-introspection and self-development late last year we came across General Stanley A. McChrystal’s autobiographical My Share of the Task. A no-holds barred memoir of his time as the supreme Joint Special Operations Commander in Afghanistan and Iraq. The irony was startling given that 2021 will go down in history as the year of the United State’s dismal retreat from the failed Afghanistan nation-state and here we were reading the words of the man who had foreseen such a crisis.
History will be McChrystal’s greatest judge and vindicator. His book, however, inspired us to create a non-exhaustive list of leadership principles drawn from Sikh history given that-in our view-Sikh history exemplifies Sikh philosophy as enshrined in the canonical Guru Granth. Early 2022 we broadcast an episode based on this very list: 54 Laws of Khalsa Leadership. The list is not exhaustive nor concrete. We, though, feel that it will provide a much nuanced take on the principles of leadership and how they synchronize with Sikhi given that leadership in the Sikh context has never been fully studied before. Below are the 54 Laws with a full comprehensive explanation of each available in the podcast itself.
Do not blame ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ .
Comprehend that your leadership emanates from Sikhi.
Hone your merits as you are selected on their strengths.
Centralize and establish parameters of authority. Too many leaders destroyed the Misls.
Uphold principles; not personalities.
Always show; not tell.
Remember Price’s law, minority leads the majority.
Study and understand human nature.
Centralize command; decentralize execution.
Empower; do not entitle.
Take lessons from the past but do not aim to emulate the past.
Hold yourself and your subordinates to a higher standard than the masses.
If you surrender, surrender tactically.
When necessary, pardon your foes.
Stir waters to catch fish.
Do not wholly trust your allies.
Cultivate an air of unpredictability.
Make others come to you.
Be bold in your actions.
Use your foes against each other.
Remember all leaderships must end.
Leave the Panth stronger than when you inherited it.
Do not miss your Nitnem.
Pursue perfection and leave a higher standard for your successors.
Do not aim for or pray for the trivial.
Weaponize your words. Inspire through them or strike through them.
Do not accept hope as a tactical strategy.
Strike the commander to scatter the command.
Avoid the continually unfortunate.
Discover everyone’s weaknesses.
Enter another’s spirit.
Create anxiety and need.
Hold up a mirror to others.
Do not judge yourself against others but establish your own precedents.
Do not allow your emotions to betray you.
Master yourself and then master others.
Pursue what is purposeful and not what is expedient.
Encourage your successors to outdo you.
While extending a hand in friendship, keep another on a concealed dagger just in case.
In conflict and life, pursue the unconventional way to victory.
Do not trust another with your entire plan.
Accept the necessity of hardship; understand pleasure to be ephemeral.
Leadership does not equal compassion but doing what is necessary.
Do not virtue signal or rely on the masses for the masses are blind and easily misled.
Remember your impending death in everything you do.
Follow up your words with actions.
Make it seem as if your achievements are effortless.
Navigate from where you are and not where you wish to be.
Make the Panth your foremost priority.
Don’t be that which you deride in others.
Be a Master of timing.
At the end leadership is about effectiveness.
Do not let your enemies define the battlefield.
Aim to win the strategic war. Leave the tactical war to your subordinates.
Congratulations! You just finished reading the 54 Laws of Khalsa Leadership. Are you brave enough to practise them? Posterity awaits your decision.