If you’ve driven through Tamil Nadu, you’ve probably seen statues like this one… brightly painted, larger than life, often standing beside a road, near a village, or at the edge of a settlement.
These are part of a long-standing Tamil tradition of village guardian deities… figures believed to watch over and protect the people and the land around them. They usually stand at the boundaries of villages, like silent sentinels.
And every time I see them, I’m reminded of something about leadership…
We often talk about what leaders are supposed to build… businesses, teams, cultures, strategies, results. But there’s another responsibility we don’t talk about enough…
What are we protecting?
Are we protecting the values that define our organisation? The trust people have placed in us? The space where people can speak honestly, question things, and be themselves? The people who may not always have the loudest voice in the room?
Because when you think about it, leadership isn’t just about what we create. It’s also about what we refuse to let get lost along the way.
Trust. Values. People. Culture.
Those things can take years to build… and very little time to lose.
That’s what good guardians do. They don’t need to be at the centre of everything. They simply keep watch over what matters.
And I think that’s part of our job as leaders too…
To know what is worth protecting… and then protect it!
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