MS Dhoni opens up about leadership mantra: Don't try to command respect, but earn it

MS Dhoni opens up about leadership mantra: Don’t try to command respect, but earn it

World Cup-winning India captain MS Dhoni reckons that learning the respect and loyalty of teammates through actions constitutes the foundation of leadership. Notably, the Indian men’s cricket team experienced tremendous success under Dhoni’s captaincy, winning two World Cups and a Champions Trophy, as well as rising to the top of the ICC Test rankings for the first time.

“Loyalty has a lot to do with the respect factor. When you talk about the dressing room, unless the support staff or players respect you, it is difficult to get that loyalty. It is actually about what you are doing and not about what you are speaking. You may not actually speak anything but your conduct can earn that respect,” said Dhoni in a function organised by Single.ID, a first-of-its-kind cross-reward programme identifier.

Dhoni said respect for a leader comes from his deeds rather than words.

“I always felt that earning respect (as a leader) is important as it does not come with the chair or rank. It comes with your conduct. People are insecure at times. Sometimes, even if the team believes in you, you are actually the first person who will not believe in you. To sum it up, don’t try to command respect but earn it, as it is very organic. Once you have that loyalty then the performance too will follow,” he said.

According to Dhoni, the first step towards winning respect and loyalty of your teammates is to properly understand each player in the dressing room, including their strengths and shortcomings.

“Some people love pressure and some people don’t like pressure. What is important is to understand the strength of the individual and the weakness of the individual. Once you have done that, you will start working on the weakness of a player without actually telling him that this is a weakness. So, it keeps a player confident and keeps the player from doubting himself. They like to see how it works and that is the job of a captain or coach to figure out what works for who,” he added.

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