At the heart of leadership is people. Leadership is about a soulful connectivity between minds. Touch is the ultimate connectivity - one soul to many or even many to many.



A Personal Touch

When I reminisce about my father, one incident brings me a chuckle and fond memories. One day, we shopped together in my early twenties, we had to cross a heavily trafficked road, in a split second, he grasped my wrist and led me safely to the other side, before I could protest. Such beautiful instincts act as torchbearers of touch. When touch comes to our mind, a mother’s first touch of her new born, the playful fist bumps, huddles, high fives, hugs, handshakes, pat on the back and even an intimate back rub by your better half – these are all right starts. Yet we are merely scratching the surface. Touch goes beyond physical contact. There is the other kind of touch, the cerebral kind that is so ingrained in our lives that we rarely take the time to look at it distinctly.

Some examples – touched by the act of kindness, the personal touch of our near and dear in preparing that special breakfast, the thoughtfulness behind the customized gift that touches us. Social media personify the touch as well - a Facebook poke, a Twitter nudge. A face-to-face conversation captures touch beautifully - grabbed my attention, a gripping tale. At work, a high touch client, hands-on work counter the swing of emotions in sports– exhilaration of your home team’s touch down vs. the grudging respect for the opponents touchdown.

Let us pause for a moment. A powerful sporting act that holds sway in unison on a swath of people (fans, counties, states and nations) is not called carrydown or reachdown. It was called, it is called and it will be called a touchdown. If words are the window of the deep mind, touch remains perhaps the most emotionally central throughout our lives – both physically and more importantly cerebrally . Why? For the scientifically minded, touch releases oxytocin — the one that makes us feel good. Simultaneously, cortisol, the stress hormone, is reduced.

What is a word to describe the heart of a true leader?

We are touched when somebody reads our mind –“All I want is for someone, sometime, just one time, to say thank you.” and does exactly that! Touch is the word that comes to my mind when we hear stories of thoughtful people doing considerate things like taking care of small details, going beyond their call of duty and remembering us.

There could be a thousand words to describe leadership. Vision, inspiration, influence and many more often quoted words may fill the annals of leadership history. Touch is my baseline word for leadership. Touch and be touched– see it and feel it. After that, followers will come in doves for the right reasons. A touch of leadership would be welcomed with open arms by human force as a whiff of fresh air.

Don’t believe me, watch this 3 minute video- not a word is spoken. Watch the touch that happens at 47 seconds and see a movement evolve!

To inspire, to lead is to first touch people in their heart- cerebrally, meaningfully, unpretentiously and above all genuinely. Then, leadership happens because of your presence even if physical presence becomes an afterthought!

Power of leadership lies in simple acts. To me, at the heart of leadership, the mantra is simple - keep people at the center of your thoughts and soulful connectivity happens naturally. That kind of touch inspires me wholeheartedly.

What are your thoughts?

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Karthik Rajan

The post that inspired me, by Colin Baird: Leadership's magical first hour

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