Students and Faculty of Lovely Professional University got an amazing opportunity to interact with Dr Kiran Bedi through Instagram and Facebook Live on University’s official handle on 23rd October 2020’s evening. Head of Division of Student Welfare (DSW), Dr Sorabh Lakhanpal was the host for the live interaction. This was truly a learning session for everyone, to get to learn something from Kiran Bedi ma’am is an achievement in itself. Four student organizations named Aashray, Pentaomnia, Pahal, and SML came together as team SANGAM for the successful conduct of the event.
Dr Kiran Bedi is the first woman Indian Police Service officer (IPS) of India. She is also known for her services as Inspector General (IG) in Tihar Jail, where she introduced various reforms, for which she received the “Ramon Magsaysay Award”. She is serving as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
The session started with a question-answer round. On being asked about the challenges she faced in the journey to becoming the first woman IPS officer that too in the 1960s-1970s, ma’am reckons that she grew up as a very focused girl. She also mentioned that there was no role model at that time for her to follow, it was her parent’s vision which she took and went on this journey with full support from her family whenever required. She hated to be dependent on others, and this pushed her more to do something incredible in life, and she did. The first woman IPS officer of the country and she wasn’t surprised even when got to know this, because her journey and her work was surprising enough, and first of its kind.
Dr Kiran Bedi, a great leader in herself told about the qualities of a leader, and how to become a leader. “Leadership is not a position, leadership is taking responsibility of others”, she quoted and explained that not everyone can be a leader, everyone wants the position but no one wants to take the responsibility. The one who can take the responsibility of others can become a great leader. Putting team members ahead in every position, taking responsibility for every situation, building a safe environment around the team, taking the team together, are some skills a person must possess to become a leader. Leadership needs to be earned by hard work and make people follow you by making them believe in you. She kept an excellent example of Gandhi Ji, who was not in any position yet he was a leader which made people follow him.
Sorabh sir summarized this with key learning points of the session, which are:
- We need to change our thinking, change our culture.
- Self-training of our mind, our body. Yoga and morning exercise help a lot in this.
The session ended with Sorabh Sir and all listeners thanking Kiran Bedi ma’am for her precious time and for teaching us so many life skills.
“We need to do the right thing at right time in the right way in the right amount.”
