by SS Sat Sansar Singh Khalsa, Santiago, Chile
2026 (First Quarter)

To me the first quality of effective leadership is attentive listening. I consider listening to be fundamental to bring to life a clear picture of who we are leading, what is at stake for them, what they want, and what`s important for them. Listening also creates a bond, a mutual understanding that we are important to each other, and that helps to create trust, which I also consider to be fundamental for effective leadership. By listening I help to create a living experience of recognizing that the other is you, both ways.

There’s also an internal aspect of deep listening. Listening helps me to connect with my own intuition, and therefore expand my understanding of the different aspects of the situation, in order to get into the neutral mindset.  I ask myself about meaning, pattern, and trend, to go beyond my judgments and feel the presence of the Soul and how it feels about the situation.

To be effective in the leadership aspect, I also feel inspired by the Siri Singh Sahib’s words that communication is to create a common notion. When communicating, I make an effort to feel into the moment and set the intention and energy to be about establishing a mutual understanding. Without some sort of mutual comprehension of reality, I feel that it is very hard to move in any clear direction when communicating. A mutual understanding is the base to move ahead from.

To experience effective leadership, I also feel that I have to feel led, so as to live and feel both sides of the experience. The idea of being led to me means the creation of an identity that is shared with a lineage of women and men who through the ages have been an inspiration, through the testimony of their lives as Sikhs. Creating that identity manifests in many ways for me, both in deep internal aspects and in actions in the spheres in which I participate in daily life. 

I feel it also helps to have an internal understanding that leadership can at times be uncomfortable for both the leader and the led. As I understand it, the role of a leader includes the responsibility to stand as a lighthouse, ever ready to support the Sadh Sangat in their daily life challenges. For me, that means being aware of my own actions, and the response around me to my actions. It means to observe, to feel, to think, and to notice the connections, tendencies, and patterns that express the uniqueness of each being on the life of the soul.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SS Sat Sansar Singh Khalsa is a KRI-certified Level II Kundalini Yoga Instructor and Minister of Sikh Dharma. He started practicing Hatha Yoga in 1991 and Kundalini Yoga in 1996 in Santiago de Chile. He currently conducts Interfaith Dialogue and Government Relations for the local Sangat. Sat Sansar Singh has an MSC in Environmental Sciences from Stanford University, with over 30 years’ experience in an Environmental Consulting business. He is the father of Amelia, age 22 and Julian, age 17.