The Path to Leadership

“Let those who are free help others to become free”

Aradhna Dhanda, the director of Leadership Pittsburgh, a non-profit organization that helps develop regional leaders, recently quoted the above ancient Hindu philosophy of Vedanta prayer. She believes this is the true leader’s creed.

Raised in Bhopal India, Dhanda’s main purpose as a girl was to be engaged and married off. Therefore, she was married and sent to America where her husband was studying. She assumed the role of a dutiful wife by taking part in responsibilities such as supporting her husband’s work and raising their two boys. She put aside her own happiness and ambitions in order to fulfill the duties her society had instilled in her.

However, her own happiness and ambitionswere finally released when she participated in a program called Leadership Pittsburgh. For the first time she felt empowered. “It is the notion that we are each endowed with the power and capacity to shape not only our lives but also our community and our country.” Dhanda’s experience with leadership serves as an inspiration to all.

Pittsburgh, the area millions call home, has a story worth telling, just like Dhanda’s. We, the community of people, the leaders of the next generation, must let go of any negative feelings or skepticism of the past and prepare to embrace the future. Pittsburgh is emerging and developing from growth in universities to the consideration of ideas in city-county consolidation. We have the corporate, nonprofit, and government leaders emerging everywhere to give us the optimism and courage that will allow Pittsburgh to embrace a world of limitless opportunities in the future to come.

[Dhanda, Aradhna. “The Path to Leadership.” Pittsburgh Quarterly. Summer 2008. 65+]