Gandhi exemplifies a central personal challenge for transformational leaders—to combine strength of conviction simultaneously with deep humility.
Such a leader will act out of firm beliefs but, at every step, determines if the results of that action support or negate those beliefs. In this way, life becomes an ongoing experiment, a daily testing to see if our impact fits with our intentions.
As Gandhi states: “My life consists of nothing but experiments with the truth…I claim for them nothing more than does a scientist who, though he conducts experiments with the utmost accuracy, forethought and minuteness, never claims any finality about his conclusions but keeps an open mind about them….
I am far from claiming any finality or infallibility about my conclusions. One claim I do indeed make and it is this. For me they appear to be absolutely correct, and seem for the time being to be final. For if they were not, I should base no action on them. But at every step I have carried out the process of acceptance or rejection and acted accordingly…The instruments for the quest of truth are as simple as they are difficult….The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust.”
Such a leader will act out of firm beliefs but, at every step, determines if the results of that action support or negate those beliefs. In this way, life becomes an ongoing experiment, a daily testing to see if our impact fits with our intentions.
As Gandhi states: “My life consists of nothing but experiments with the truth…I claim for them nothing more than does a scientist who, though he conducts experiments with the utmost accuracy, forethought and minuteness, never claims any finality about his conclusions but keeps an open mind about them….
I am far from claiming any finality or infallibility about my conclusions. One claim I do indeed make and it is this. For me they appear to be absolutely correct, and seem for the time being to be final. For if they were not, I should base no action on them. But at every step I have carried out the process of acceptance or rejection and acted accordingly…The instruments for the quest of truth are as simple as they are difficult….The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust.”