Leadership skills are not a certification that you could earn by just attending a course in a college or an institute, indeed a program attended in a college or an institute does help in sharpening those skills, but that's not the end of it. Leadership skills are to be developed continuously and from every aspects of life, not only from the corporate world. As I always say

As learnt at many occasions, a leader must have one or more hobbies that are different from his/her professional domain, as it helps in many different areas of personal and professional life balance. I love motorcycling and thus ride my 650cc motorcycle to my work on a daily basis. As I ride through that chaotic traffic every day (those who ride in India would agree with me) facing the odds of the roads, I realised one could learn some very important leadership skills with every twist you make to your throttle and every mile you complete.

Keep your eyes forward

Just like any leader who must always be looking forward and keep working towards making the vision of an organisation come true, while you are on road riding your motorcycle it is essential for us to keep our total attention and eyes on the road ahead so that you could see and assess the traffic conditions and possible surprises that might crop up. Because a minor distraction can let you skip a major details that may end up in a drastic outcome.

Awareness of surroundings

Not only that a leader must focus on the vision but also be aware of what is happening in your surrounding like with your competitors or in the market. Just the way when you are riding a bike you not just have to be looking the road ahead, but also all around you, as you never know if there is a dog pops out on the road unexpectedly or someone opens the door on the wrong side of the road.

Risk Management

Riding a motorcycle is risky affair and so is running a business, hence it is highly essential for a leader to put a proper control measures in place to monitor the progress and issues that might crop up in the course of action and can make the necessary mid-course correction in the strategies and initiatives. Just the way while riding a motorcycle you loose the leverage of having 2 extra wheels like a car, which makes it more vulnerable to the situations around you. And hence you need to have a proper training, higher awareness and right set of riding gears.

Stay out of the blind spot

For a motorcyclist one of the most dangerous spot on the road is to fall in the blind spot of a car driver, as practically you become invisible for the driver when you are in that spot and expose yourself to all the possibilities of driver crashing into you. Similarly the leader of a business should always stay out of the blind spot of market and must keep himself aware of what all possibilities could come up in future and prepare strategies around them.

Make yourself visible

To be safe on the road while riding a motorcycle, the key to be visible to all others on the road, especially in night times. And thus must wear riding gears that are bright and have reflectors so that other riders and drivers could spot you. So are the leaders need to maintain their visibility of their brand, product or service as well, because if they cant see you why would they buy your product or services.

Each part of your motorcycle is equally important

To have a smooth and safe ride, it is of utmost importance that you are free from any worries related to your motorcycle. For that you need to ensure your motorcycle is timely serviced and maintained properly. Similarly, leaders must be paying attention to all the functions of their business like administrative support, HR and IT etc. There must be well laid processes to ensure the satisfaction of the internal customers and stakeholders as well, as they play a great role in the overall success of core business.

While we could learn a lot more from the motorcycling and motorcyclists, above are just few points that I thought of bringing to notice of all.