Inspirational Leaders in India: Dr. Cdr Kartikay Saini, Chairman, Scottish High International School, Gurugram

Other Profiles: Chairman, Special Olympics Bharat, Director, Hema Engineering Industries Limited

Your leadership style

I try to be charismatic and lead by example. Only when one tries hand to do that, one can lead better. Homing skills and improving subordinate’s weaknesses is a continuous process of good leadership.

Dr. Cdr Kartikay Saini, Chairman, Scottish High International School, Gurugram

The Journey

My journey began in the high seas as a Naval Engineer. And the rest is history. I have kept rising from one height to another from Engineering to Logistics to Management to Industry to Sports and to Education.

Approach To Change

Change is always accessible, provided we keep our ignition on. And of course I have always said “Never look back”. So change has been my Vitamin for the last 30 odd years of Leadership role.

What are you really into outside of work?

Though I rarely draw a line between work and my other pursuits. However I certainly love to trail my passion. Golf takes the Centre stage out of a few of my chases, and keeps me absorbed and persistent.

5 key roles of a successful leader

For me the 5 elementary roles of a successful leader are – To be able to believe in one’s decisions and its power, to be able to believe in the strength of the team, to be able to imbibe a sense of ownership in each member of the team, to be able to ‘smart switch’ as the situation calls and to be able to lead with humility without getting enamoured with success.

How do you see the company changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?

My organisation is changing every day. The key to this is ‘We Work Together’. Two years have witnessed a radical departure from the place where we were. Now we have not only unified technology with our vision but have also enabled and empowered our staff members and students to amplify their endeavours through technology. For eg. Research Labs equipped with Chromebooks, Optimised Resource Labs etc. Like I said earlier, I believe in creating leaders who can claim their own spot and this outlook has fetched us enormous dividends. One has to be a company of the future. And to do that one has to be always changing or one would become yester years.

What are your goals?

My goals are clearly structured with my vision. To build a unified atmosphere in the country that can co-exist strength and weaknesses at the same time. This means to have a crew of educational institutions in the country that can transmit our idea into a blooming reality. A Unified world and an integrated society is a goal, derived from the vision.

3 Biggest Accomplishments

My three biggest achievements are-

• Being the youngest Chairman of Special Olympics Bharat, an organization with 1.2 million Athletes and 1,40,000 coaches.
• Creating Scottish High, an Institution of my dreams.
• Taking on the challenge to rear and bring up a special needs son Ranveer Singh Saini to accomplish a Gold Medal in Special Olympics at 14 years of age.

One word that describes you the best

Determined

What’s your biggest Dream in life?

To make our country dream of what I do- An Inclusive World.

Would you rather be respected or feared and why?

There is no speck of doubt that you cannot get the best out of your team forcefully. In order to dig into their latent potential, I need to think less of myself and more of them. So this where the answer lies. Humility cuts across ever sphere, across the board… and the results never cease to amaze me!