If you ask young people today where they learn about leadership, many will point to social media. Every day, our feeds are filled with advice on success, productivity, confidence, and influence. Leadership has become something packaged into short videos and motivational quotes. Yet, in all that noise, there is surprisingly little room for honesty.
When we started The Leadership Seat, that was the gap we wanted to fill. As a student and one of the hosts of the podcast, I did not set out to interview people who had reached the top of their professions. I wanted to understand what happened before they got there. What made them continue when things did not work? What did they regret? What changed the way they thought? More importantly, what would they tell someone who is still trying to figure life out?
Over six conversations, I found that the answers were remarkably similar, even though the people giving them could not have been more different.
Manoj Gyawali, the CEO of Nabil Bank, grew up in Dailekh, a remote village in the mid-west, walking hours to school every day. His story was not about extraordinary talent or a perfect plan. It was about consistency. One sentence stayed with me throughout our conversation: “Be a better version of yourself every day.” At a time when many of us expect quick results, his journey reminded me that meaningful success is often built quietly, through discipline and repetition rather than dramatic breakthroughs.
Great Leadership: A Road Less Traveled
Our conversation with Dr. Vibhaas Basukala challenged something even more fundamental. Before speaking with him, I had thought of accessibility as a policy issue. He made me see it as a way of thinking. His simple analogy still lingers in my mind: if someone cannot reach a high shelf, the solution is not to make them taller but to provide a stool. Inclusion, he reminded us, begins when society removes barriers instead of expecting people to overcome them alone.
David Aikman, who spent years leading the Global Shapers Community and Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum, dismantled another common misconception. Leadership, he argued, is not about being the loudest person in the room. It begins much earlier, with purpose. “Your life is a startup. You are the founder of your own life,” he said. It was an invitation to stop waiting for permission and start taking ownership of our choices.
When I sat down with Sneh Rajbhandari, I expected to hear about corporate sustainability. Instead, I heard about empathy. Whether she was working with vulnerable communities or within the private sector, her purpose remained unchanged. Her advice, “If you’ve earned your seat at the table, you deserve to be there,” felt particularly relevant to young people who often question whether they belong in spaces they have worked hard to reach.
Soulaima Gourani’s story was perhaps the most unexpected. She spoke openly about leaving school, growing up in foster care, and rebuilding her life from almost nothing. Success, she reminded us, is rarely linear. One person believing in you can change your future, but equally important is learning to believe in yourself when no one else does. Her resilience was not something she was born with. It was something she developed, one setback at a time.
Then there was Abhas Maskey, whose work helped put Nepal’s first satellite into space. I imagined stories of cutting-edge technology and scientific achievement. Instead, he spoke about failed experiments, setbacks, and the patience required to solve problems that sometimes take years. His advice was almost disarmingly simple: “Patience. Persistence. And patience again.” Listening to him, I realized that innovation is rarely about sudden inspiration. More often, it is about refusing to stop.
When I look back on these conversations, I realize that none of these leaders tried to impress us. They spoke about mistakes without embarrassment. They admitted to moments of self-doubt. They spoke more about people than about achievements, and more about purpose than recognition.
Perhaps that is what surprised me the most. Before starting this series, I thought leadership was something people eventually became. Now I think it is something they practice. It appears in how they treat colleagues, how they respond when plans fail, how they carry responsibility, and whether they continue to learn long after they have achieved success.
For young people, that may be the most reassuring lesson of all. We do not need to have everything figured out before we begin. We do not need impressive titles or perfect plans. We only need the willingness to stay curious, remain humble, and keep moving forward.
In the end, The Leadership Seat was never just about interviewing accomplished people. It became a reminder that leadership is not defined by where someone stands today, but by the values they choose to carry every step of the way.
(The author is a 17-year-old impact leader who founded Project Young Minds to promote leadership among underserved youth in Nepal.)
