The other day I went out for some work and a sudden realisation hit me. The amount of times we indulge in engagement with the people around us is massive. Be it talking to a shopkeeper for a price of a commodity or simply asking how someone is doing at work with a casual hello when you see them. Engagement with others is a necessity for all of us to be able to carry out various tasks throughout the day.

We mindlessly engage with a lot of people, some that make us happy, some to simply be able to complete a task. That brought me into thinking as to what else engagement is all about and why does it have to be limited to our selfish needs when engaging with others in order to achieve a bigger purpose altogether can not only help make better leaders but also empower others.

Let me give you an example. I consider myself to be a leader in terms of handling a team at work but how did I become one? Was it simply possible for me to start off with leading a team without prior experience? How did I gain this experience? It is not through textbookish material that one learns and becomes better.

For me, it was my team leader who impacted me and he did this simply by engaging with me and the team for a purpose we all strived to achieve. That is how I drove down the same to my team when I got a chance to become a leader. I was able to empower others through engagement and only because I was empowered that way.

It is important to realise that the quality of conversations we make every day matters. Instead of tying myself to monotonous regimes of communication, I look forward to engaging with people who I believe are leaders, change-makers, idols. And these leaders may not necessarily be known as what they are. It is not unless you strike a conversation of value with anyone for bigger purposes to achieve, or do something alongside someone to make a difference or change something, you will never know what it’s like to be empowered and to empower others.

So go out there and work with others, align your paths to establish a change and remember, the more you engage for a cause, the more you’re capable of empowering others and becoming a better leader.