MS Dhoni and his legendary captaincy and adept man-management skills are often cited in cricket folklore, and the former India skipper emphasized on Friday that earning respect and loyalty from players through actions is the cornerstone of leadership.
During Dhoni’s captaincy, India achieved remarkable success, winning two World Cups and a Champions Trophy, along with reaching the top of the ICC Test rankings for the first time.
“Loyalty has a lot to do with the respect factor. Unless the support staff or players respect you, it is difficult to get that loyalty when you talk about the dressing room.
“It is actually about what you are doing and not about what you are speaking. You may not actually speak anything, but your conduct can earn that respect,” said Dhoni during an event organized by Single.ID.
CSK Captain MS Dhoni: Important for a leader to earn respect with deeds rather than words
Dhoni stressed that a leader’s respect is derived from actions rather than words.
“I always felt that earning respect (as a leader) is important as it does not come with the chair or rank. It comes with your conduct. People are insecure at times. Sometimes, even if the team believes in you, you are actually the first person who will not believe in you.
“To sum it up, don’t try to command respect but earn it, as it is very organic. Once you have that loyalty, the performance will follow,” he explained.
According to Dhoni, the first step towards earning respect is understanding each player in the dressing room, and recognizing their strengths and weaknesses.
“Some people love pressure, and some people don’t like pressure. What is important is to understand the strengths of the individual and the weaknesses of the individual.
“Once you have done that, you will start working on the weakness of a player without actually telling him that this is a weakness.
“So, it keeps a player confident and keeps the player from doubting himself. They like to see how it works and that is the job of a captain or coach to figure out what works for who,” he added.
Dhoni emphasized the importance of keeping things simple as a leader to achieve the best results from a team.
“In that process, the simpler you keep things, the easier it will become for you. I always felt that the team (that he captained) had character because all of us were different.”
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