Unleashing the Power of Leadership
M.S.S. S. Guru Amrit Kaur Khalsa
Secretary General of Sikh Dharma
Leadership as a Khalsa Council must be achieved individually and delivered collectively. This fall as we began our new strategic agenda of Leadership we focused on unleashing the power of leadership within each of us so that we could deliver our leadership to the world. We agreed that the skill we most needed to gain was public speaking in order to improve our ability to lead.
The Siri Singh Sahib opened this Khalsa Council session with major assignments:
His lecture on the History of Sikh Dharma through Mantra was to be produced as a booklet by S.S. Guru Roop Kaur and Siri Trang Kaur (to order booklet call 1 800-359-2940)
The Chancellor’s Office was assigned the responsibility of producing a "legal structure" that will serve as a model for the World Sikh Council Constitution. Following the World Sikh Conference in September the Jethadar of the Akal Takhat, Singh Sahib Manjit Singh, requested that the Siri Singh Sahib send Sikh Dharma’s legal structure as a model; the Khalsa Council legal structure was sent as a blueprint to serve the Sikh Nation and Global Sikh Council.
The Siri Singh Sahib requested the Khalsa Council to develop a full strategy for all Khalsa to join in the enormous celebrations in honor of the Birth of the Khalsa to be held at Anandpur Sahib, India, in 1999.
Our International identity brought together teachers and leaders from around the world to discuss key issues we face, and solutions toward our goals in the area of our teachings and youth. This included a code of ethics for teachers, standardization of the Teachers Training Program, a Parents Association, and raising funds for a school in India.
The highlight of these meeting was listening to a few members’ experiences as they shared the challenges they faced and skills they gained in order to deliver their leadership. SS Dr. Soram Singh Khalsa M.D. shared with us the changes in his life when he was challenged to speak in seminars with keynote speakers like Deepak Chopra and Bernie Segal. He prepared himself by learning public speaking skills.
From his course he learned that the first quality of leadership, as a speaker, is that you have to be ‘you’ and talk to everyone as you. To communicate you must know who you are, accept who you are, then enhance and ‘exaggerate’ who you are. MSS Gurucharn Singh Khalsa Ph.D. began working with Tony Robbins to bring the technology of Pavan Guru and Shabd Guru to thousands of people. In an inspiring and global context, SS Shanti Kaur Khalsa shared the wisdom of her experiences in India: to answer the call, never say no, and give it to the Guru - then witness the miracle unfold. SS Darshan Singh Khalsa works with Fortune 500 Companies to facilitate and integrate massive shifts in the business world. He articulated the Five Sutras of the Aquarian Age. He lives by these daily through every trial and tribulation.
Then Karta Singh Khalsa of France recounted his recent history of his inspiring mission to unite the French teachers and integrate them into the Khalsa Nation. Each story, including the Bhai Sahiba’s triumphs in China at the United Nations Conference on Women and the Gurmat Chetna Yatra throughout the Punjab, portrayed the challenge and the achievement of our leadership across the world over these past six months. We acknowledged our Khalsa Council members for consistently giving to Dasvandh and participating in the Guru Amar Das Campaign.
I want to thank all of the sangats who gave input to the Khalsa Council about our strategic agenda’s. It is a big jump to think into a new century, but after discussion the Khalsa Council determined the next four strategic agendas to be:
1997 - 1999 Sikh Panth: which includes Sikh Dharma & 3HO teachings and missionary work.
1999 - 2001 Community Leadership: which includes the development of support programs for our Khalsa family and relationships.
2001 - 2003 Funding the Future: which includes public relations, positioning, and media.
2003 - 2005 Educational Institutions: especially to support the youth.
The Khalsa Council meetings were a great success and were held for the first time in Hacienda de Guru Ram Das Langar Hall. We loved this environment for our meetings and look forward to future meetings in our Home of the Khalsa Council.