10 years after his retirement from Cricket, Sourav Ganguly, former captain of the Indian National team joined LinkedIn on Monday as a LinkedIn Influencer, a program that comprises of 500+ leaders, thinkers, and forerunners of multiple industries and platforms. Ganguly is only the second Indian cricketer to join the platform after legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s debut on the professional social network in 2017.
In spite not being able to play in the IPL this year, Ganguly is now featuring alongside some very famous names such Narendra Modi, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Priyanka Chopra, Oprah Winfrey, Justin Trudeau, Sachin Tendulkar in a totally different league. He will be sharing thoughts that he believes will help the members of the platform stay one-step ahead of their time and motivate them with his inspiring stories and experiences.
Commenting on his decision to become a LinkedIn influencer, Sourav said, “As an international sportsperson, I have had the opportunity to play with some of the best sportsmen and take on the mantle of being the Indian captain. The journey has taught me a lot about leadership, understanding your team, how to handle high pressure, and most importantly how to succeed by always following your instincts. I am excited to share these learnings with professionals and entrepreneurs on LinkedIn and engage in meaningful conversations.”
Akshay Kothari, Country Manager of LinkedIn India said, “We are delighted that Sourav Ganguly is now an influencer on LinkedIn. Having grown up watching his career and captaincy closely, it has been inspirational to see Sourav play a critical role grooming the next generation of leaders, who have now become leaders in their own right. He is responsible for changing the face of Indian cricket, and that leadership is useful to understand for any business you’re in.”
The ‘Bengal Tiger of the Indian Cricket Team’ will now be making followers instead of runs, by posting inspiring posts on the professional network to motivate the young talents in the sports business. In his first post, he tries to draw a parallel line between an athlete’s life and that of a professional. He talks about the lessons he learned as a player of the Indian cricket team, his ups and downs, and the lessons he learned out of his experiences at the top.
In his first post on Linkedin, entitled “Life Lessons I Learnt as a Young Cricketer, Captain, and Leader,” Sourav Ganguly talks about the different decades and challenges they offered during his professional cricketing career.
The first paragraph is titled, “A lesson from my 20s: Throw revenge in the trash can.” Here he outlines the importance of not allowing revenge consume you because it will only waste your time and energy that could be better spent elsewhere.
“I would urge all young professionals to channel that energy into their own well-being. Be the best that you can be. I have lived all my life with detractors. The only way to deal with them is to be so good at your work that they fall by the wayside.”
The second paragraph focuses on pressure. “A lesson from my 30s: Be the boss of pressure.” He talks about the difficulties of dealing with pressure but above all, states that it is primordial to be able to harness the pressure that weights on your shoulders.
“Pressure is like a wild horse. Difficult to tame but once you manage to do it, the skill set remains with you.”
In the third paragraph, he talks about how he dealt with retirement from professional cricket in a section entitled “A lesson from my 40s: Say goodbye with grace.” Unlike most professional cricketers, he stated taking retirement ‘positively all along.’ He shares about how he realizes that when cricket was over for him, he still had a long life ahead.
“The road ahead is wide open for me. Only cricket has finished. Life is calling me for a much longer and challenging second innings.”
If you want to follow Sourav Ganguly on Linked in, click here