SEVEN LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM KING KOHLI.


SEVEN LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM KING KOHLI.

Sports can teach us a lot about business leadership and life.

What happens...

When you are the leading run scorer of Indian cricket team which is a religion to over 1.4 billion people?

When you are the fastest run getter in ODI with maximum centuries? 

When you have pulverized the opposition with multiple centuries in almost every continent from Australia to Africa to Asia to North America? 

When you are dating a Bollywood star for few years and then marry her in an private Italian location? 

When you are the top 10 highest paid athlete among all sports, even ahead of football God Lionel Messi and drive a Ferrari in Delhi?

When you have over quarter billion followers on Instagram? 

You have to bow to the genius in him. Is it Talent? Is it hardwork? Is it Attitude? What motivates this guy? 

In the Champions trophy 2025 in One Day cricket match today (4th March 2025) Virat Kohli once again proved why he is called the "King" and the "Chase Master" scoring a match winning 84 off 98 balls helping India comfortably chase down the 265-run target set by Australia, securing a spot in the Champions Trophy final. He recently scored a century in another high pressure game Vs Pakistan. 

He has scored 51 ODI centuries which will be difficult for any one to break in future. The next International player who is still playing cricket has scored only 32 centuries (Rohit Sharma) look at the gap. Kohli has garnered 10 ICC Awards making him the most awarded player in International Cricket history. And is a T20, ODI and Test world champion representing India well in all 3 formats of the game.

AFTER 600 ODI, T20, TEST games over 17 years he is among the fittest players, sharpest fielders, greatest catchers apart from being perhaps the finest batsman of this generation.

What's behind his success? 

In my view, there are SEVEN leadership lessons one can learn from him.
.
1. Team above self

Virat Kohli - from an interview after a 5-1 win over South Africa in S.A. few years back was asked if he can now be termed as the best batsman in world cricket, the straight-talking skipper said: "As I said, I don’t want any tags. I just go out there and do my job, it is up to the people to write what they write, I don’t want to be called anything. I am not doing anyone a favour, so just want to be in this zone of working as hard as I can and doing the best for the team." It's no wonder he has scored 28 out of his 51 centuries in chasing and winning the game for his team.

2. Commitment. 

Understand when his father passed away in 2006...he was 18 at that time...he went on the field next morning to save Delhi from innings defeat, much to the surprise of everyone on the field. Later in evening he went for his father's rituals. Such commitment for a teenager, showed right through for the game.

3. Lead from the front.

As a captain, his record as a player stood out, it was  almost the best in his team. He inspired his entire team and has led from the front. The way he practices in the nets will even put a novice to shame. Practice makes perfect.

4. Tough get going.

Some people crack under pressure. VIRAT chews pressure like gum. When the Aussie crowd booed at him, he literally showed his middle finger to them and scored a century soon after, sending their bowlers on a leather hunt. And drawing praise from the same Australian crowd later. When S.A. beat India 2-1 in tests, he bounced back and thrashed them with a 5-1 ODI win. In 2025 Champions trophy in the high pressure games vs Australia and Pakistan he performed a notch better. More pressure seems to bring the best out of him. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Great leaders win for the team, when the going is toughest. 

5. Being Authentic. 

He succeeded MS Dhoni, captain cool who was poker faced and showed no emotion. Virat was CAPTAIN HOT, who showed every emotion on his face from disappointment to boredom to anger to elation. He is authentic being his true self before the world, showing his passion.

6. Family support.

When twiterrati trolled his girlfriend (Now his wife) for a match loss due to him, he defended her like a true man. And now, when the series was won, he credited his new wife for the win. He perhaps knows, happy wife is happy life. And he might be the first cricket captain to take a paternity leave to be with his wife at the time of delivery. He has two lovely kids. And his Instagram followers is 270m. Highest for any cricketer and even higher than Indian PM Modi (92m) one of the most popular political leader in the world 

7. Health and Fitness

His diet ethic of eating right and fitness discipline of an almost 3 hour gym workout is legendary even within the sporting fraternity. Mitali Raj the captain of India women's cricket team once said in an interview, VIRAT is an inspiration for all the girls in her team on fitness. Virat Kohli is a vegetarian. He stopped eating meat and fish after 2018, and has been vocal about the benefits of his diet. At 36 years of age, after almost 500 international matches he is perhaps the fittest cricketer in the world. 

AS they say leadership is not a position but action. And great leaders rise up to the occasion whether in business or sports. And VIRAT is a perfect example in action.

Wish him many more successful years. 

Nash Narasimhan Tupil 
4th March 2025


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