5 Leadership Lessons from a Presidential Advisor

I returned to Sri Lanka knowing well that the country’s situation is going to get worse. But I felt an obligation to stand with the leader of my country during one of its most difficult times in the recent past. In doing so we were able to prevent a major human tragedy that would have devastated our motherland for generations. Here are 5 leadership lessons that can be learned from my unique experience.

1. Stay calm when faced with a challenge

This is the first mental mode that a leader needs to get into when faced with any serious challenge. One of my recurrent advice to His Excellency the President was to stay calm at all times. Although I knew that he had faced far worse challenges including life-and-death situations on the actual war front and that by nature he is a calm and collected personality, I wanted to make sure that he remains calm at all times. His calm composure seen throughout the ordeal is a rare leadership trait. 

This helps you to analyse the situation carefully. We were able to study the situation from multiple viewpoints, critically discuss the information as-and-when we receive during the rapidly changing environment, and carefully consider it all with an honest reflection of our strengths, weaknesses and past experiences.

2. Choose your mission and lock it in

Like everything in life, any crisis whether natural or conspired will eventually come to an end. But as a leader, you need to choose how you want it to end. In our numerous discussions, I realised that HE the President had already chosen his mission early on. His mission was to safeguard the people and protect the state. More specifically to prevent another 88-89 from happening. Every decision you make and every action you take after that decision needs to fit within that mission. 

This gives you a framework to work in. If not you will lose focus and will start to act chaotically. So when faced with any challenge, decide what your mission is and lock it place. In doing so you will have to compromise certain things but be firm on other things. My advice is to always follow your moral principles and values in making this choice. Your mission must also be realistic by taking into account your strengths, weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats at play.

3. Pick your battles wisely

As a leader, you will face many battles in life and work. But you don’t have to fight every battle. You need to identify if the battle is worthwhile. For His Excellency the President, the protesters were not worthy enemies. After defeating the LTTE, the then world’s most dangerous terrorist organisation, and later being elected as the Country's President with history’s highest-ever vote, he did not see the 2022 protest as a worthy battle. Not even close because we knew that the protest was not genuine. And as his good friend, I agreed with him. 

As a leader, you always have to see the bigger picture. You need to reflect on your past experiences and achievements, analyse the current status and decide on future outcomes. Remember that you are defined by who you are, as much as by who you choose as your enemy. Only pick a worthy battle, and just ignore the others.

4. Be the bigger person always

Leadership is not about you winning at any cost. There is no point in winning the day by destroying what matters to you the most. The visionary leader Steve Jobs had to step down from his own company which he built from scratch to make sure that his company stays alive. As a leader, you have to have a greater purpose than you or your personal ambitions. It was an absolute honour for me to have been the advisor to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who genuinely put our motherland before himself. My task was rather easy.

When everybody else is acting childish in tantrums you as the leader must always do the right thing without being distracted by the pettiness of others. The words I used were to always do the “Dharmic thing”. People might not see the nobleness of your actions immediately, but once the hysteria passes over they will start to see what a great leader you truly are. 

5. Select a good friend

The role of an advisor is not to tell you what to do. If so then you should be replaced by the advisor who knows better than you. The role of an advisor is to be a good friend or as Lord Buddha says a “Kalyana Mithra”, especially during challenging times. You need somebody who is honest with you and also wish you well. Somebody who will patiently work with you to find the solutions by yourself. 

The worst that can happen to you is to have an irrational, ignorant and arrogant person confusing you with their ill advice. As a leader, you need to identify somebody who has a broad and critical understanding of the world and Dharma to be your good friend. It should not be a subject specialist who would see the world through their own tunnel view. He or she should be able to listen to you always and patiently help you by reinforcing your moral principles and values in making decisions.

These are just a few of the many interesting learning points from the entire experience. I hope these lessons will be useful not only to political leaders but also to corporate leaders as well as individuals in their personal and professional lives.

May The Dharma Guide Our Way!

Eranda Ginige

20 July 2023