Leadership Talk with Shri Ajit Doval, NSA, Govt. of India [MHRD Innovation Cell- IIC]

Mr. Ajit Kumar Doval, IPS, PPM, KC, PM, is the 5th and current National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. In a recent interview he answered some questions sent to him by students to help them gain insight on his life, art of decision making and his journey to success.

The first question asked was regarding how he deals with making difficult decisions like the ones he had to take during the recent surgical strike.

His answer was on the lines of the fact that people are different and that different people make different decisions based on various factors, but make any choice and the result will only be seen after the decision is made and probably the effects at that point are irreversible.

So to deal with this he gave a great thought process, first consider the worst possible outcome and see if it’s affordable in such a way that the country can deal with it. Now work on this outcome by trying to make it better. Also have a backup plan so as to be prepared.

Also he qualified a difficult decision as a one which has few choices, high risk and long lasting consequences. To be responsive to this kind of situations one must have clarity of mind. Also to avoid any sort of personal bias regarding the decision, bias that can be produced by emotion or some external factor.

Another important point which he emphasised on was that many decisions can work; the difficult part is to work towards the decision that bears and demand discipline and work ethics.

The next question posed was a bit more personal, what makes him what he is today? To this he replied that he believes that he is more of a solo person and that he likes doing things differently and another nugget “live every second as the first second of the rest of your life”

An underlying factor to his personality is his psyche and the development of which he credits to his troubled childhood and his admission to military school at a young age of 8 years. Those times taught him to be self-dependent and made him think responsibly..

Another important event in this development stage was when his teacher chose him to be part of the school boxing team because according to his teacher he never accepted defeat. He also added that what happens to him is in God’s hands .

On more of his decisions which are personal in life he advises when faced with a choice between what you should do because of your duty and what you should do because of your passion always choose the second option.

His views on the future of war and terrorism are that in today’s world cyber security and information is the key. Due to the advancement of weapons of mass destruction in a conventional war the consequences would be unaffordable and irreversible in terms of losses.

In conclusion, he also mentioned that he has never signed up for any social media accounts or used them, all his accounts are created by some well-wishers. For any personal communication he does not use a computer due to the fact that it can be compromised.