Leadership is Spice

The Konkani dish called "Dali Thoy" comes alive when there is a trace of hing (asafoetida), and methi seeds (fenugreek).  If these two spices are not added. the dish becomes bland and tasteless.  Too much of these spices and the dish becomes unpalatable. The whole magic of this dish is in getting the dish to just have a hint of these 2 spices.

Good Leadership is like the addition of spice to a dish.  Good leaders never demean themselves (or their junior associates) by usurping for themselves the role of the main ingredient.  They act as the spice - adding the je ne sais quoi effect with their subtle presence.  Such leaders don't display an urge to make their presence felt unless absolutely necessary - but in their absence they are missed.

Into The Wild

Saw this movie directed by Sean Penn based on a real-life incident about a youth who believes society is hypo-critical, and thinks that real truth is best experienced communing alone with nature in its pristine form.  He therefore abandons all connections with society and his family, and treks into the Alaskan wild where he spends 4 months alone.  He spends his time reading, and writing down his thoughts in a diary, while subsisting on a meager diet of berries and rodents - and all the while pretending to be happy.

Then while recovering from the effects of eating poisonous berries, he has the blinding revelation that "Happiness is real only when shared".  Unfortunately, this realization comes a bit too late for him, and by then he is too weak to trek his way back to civilization and to the people who love him.  He therefore dies alone, pining for human companionship and love.

Beautiful movie - it certainly makes one think about the critical, but often ignored, role played by human contact in our lives.