Insight is the hallmark of leadership, says Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

To make any endeavor truly successful, integrity, inspiration, and insight are integral,” said Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, spiritual leader, humanitarian, social activist and founder of the Isha Foundation.

Speaking at the inaugural MintAsia-Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in Singapore on, “Insight: The DNA of Success”, he said: “Insight essentially means being able to see things other people are not able to see. This is the hallmark of leadership. If it is combined with inspiration and integrity, success is guaranteed for both individual and society.”

“Integrity is about pursuing bigger goals that are beyond your personal success. If people see you only for yourself, they will not trust you. And, without trust, no growth and success are possible,” he said.

Highlighting the third critical ingredient of success, he said: “If everybody around you can be made to do the best they can do, that is an inspiration”

Sadhguru added: “For most human beings, if what they want happens, it is a success. If what they could not have imagined, happens, it is luck. If what nobody could foresee, happens, it is a miraculous existence.”

In his view, the purpose of life is to live a miraculous existence, which he is convinced is a possibility for humanity. But, few are exploring it. “A majority of human beings are just wasting their entire life on survival,” he said. “For survival, they live in a constant state of fear and anxiety and suffer endlessly. They even suffer their success.”

Most successful people, he noted, can’t sleep, eat or smile. “Success has become a sickness because you are enjoying other people’s failures and what others cannot have, only you can,” he added.

Sadhguru said that with this mindset the world is building a society of tyrants who all want to be on top of the pile and rest of humanity beneath them. “Competence and success will be a curse in this scenario,” he said. “If you just want to be a little better than the other, and not be your best selves, I would rather you don’t become successful then.”

Real success, he said, is the sweetest thing, and the engine of human progress. “Human beings have crippled themselves by defining success wrongly, and by acting unconsciously and compulsively,” he said. “Success requires us to have mastery over our body, mind and life energies. The DNA of success lies in being deeply committed to the cultivating the process of integrity, insight, and inspiration.”