Kumar Karki, managing director of Landmark Education started his journey as a facilitator for students wanting to travel abroad for higher studies when he was still in high school. Karki, who pursued his undergraduate degree in Nepal itself, joined a co-operative firm before completely switching his focus to education consultancy. Having started the education consultancy 16 years ago with little resources, Landmark Education is today one of the most prominent educational consultancies in the Capital. In this interview with Alisha Sijapati, Karki shares his views on what he considers good leadership and qualities that all good leaders must have. Excerpts:

How would you define a good leader? What are the three qualities a leader must have?

A good, proficient leader is someone who takes up the responsibility for everything. To be a good leader, you need to take good care of your team members and give them right direction. They need to be happy and satisfied with their work. If the leader doesn’t take account for his/her doings, I don’t think they are good leaders. You need to deal things with lots of patience and perseverance. With great power come great responsibilities, like they say. I feel team work, proper co-ordination, patience, perseverance and a strong vision is what makes any person capable of being a good leader.

In today’s fast-paced world, how important do you feel leadership is to an organisation’s success or failure?

Today, everything is changing. We constantly discover new things. For example, since we started our firm, we have gone through major changes and have had to adapt to the changing times. In organisations today, a leader needs to be careful of what they are projecting. A leader has to set an example. Also, a leader working for any organisation needs to have a unique selling point. Every leader needs to have a unique ability to allow the employees to grow. Without good leadership no organisation can achieve any measure of success.

Team work is very important for success, so, as a leader how do you balance inspiring your team and being a micro-manager?

I feel as a leader you should include your team in every decision making process. This not only helps them grow but it helps the organisation grow positively as well. A business doesn’t flourish single-handedly—a lot of people are involved in the profit making process. As an employer it is crucial to cater to the needs of employees. The employer has to be a good listener and have a right attitude towards their employees. Also, the leader needs to have the right kind of behaviour. In today’s world nobody would want to work under an autocratic leader. We are in an age of collaboration, not micro-management.

As an educator, how do you instil leadership in your students? How highly is leadership valued when students are applying abroad?

We are more facilitators than educators. We are here to help students to make right decisions for their future. Students who are better at academics have an upper-hand while applying abroad. But despite that, leadership skills also come in handy. Universities assess students on their applications, essays and work experience. If they find any leadership skills on the students’ application it is an added advantage in the process. We always advise our students to get into leadership positions early—be it in school or while volunteering in the community—given the choice, a university will always pick a candidate who displays leadership qualities than those then don’t.

What advice do you have for managers and entrepreneurs on leadership?

We talk about being a perfect leader all the time but we fail to implement in our daily lives. It is important to give due credit to your employees and work alongside them. Without proper team work it is impossible to make an organisation successful. Proper communication and collaboration within the team is vital for positive growth, otherwise things will invariably fail—these two factors are the key to success.