At Asia Society India, we believe that leadership is not just a privilege - it’s a call to action. But what does it mean to lead with values and impact in South Asia: a region as dynamic as it is complex; and as promising as it is challenging? The role of private enterprise in the region has always been to supplement government initiatives and to contribute to the development of the nation, through employment, economic growth, and foundational infrastructure. What can leaders do, in their organisations, in their teams, and in their networks of influence, to lead with a consistent set of principles, and to ensure the most number of people benefit from the position they are in? 

Building on the work that Asia Society does globally in identifying, honouring and deepening achievement in leadership across different fields - from our Global Game Changer Awards to our Asia 21 Young Leaders Network - Asia Society India presents The Leadership Dialogues, an annual series of formal exchanges with industry leaders from across business, policy, diplomacy and culture to reflect on their personal and professional journeys and the values and principles that animate their work - with one innovative and transformative leader from India or around the world at the centre of the evening, whose work demonstrates these values.   

The inaugural event in the Dialogues series is with Abhinav Bindra, Olympic gold medalist for India in rifle-shooting. He has exemplified leadership not just in his individual achievements, but in then building on them through his organisations: Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance and the Abhinav Bindra Foundation. He will speak about what motivated his Olympic achievement; cultivating the habit of focus; building a culture of sport; his commitment to leadership and the qualities he thinks are most essential to creating lasting change. He will be in conversation with Sharda Ugra, acclaimed sports journalist, followed by an evening of conversation and networking. This event is supported by Burgundy Private, Axis Bank’s private banking business. 

Attendance is by invite only.

SPEAKERS

Abhinav Bindra’s journey to becoming the first Indian to win an individual Olympic Gold, and the first Indian to win a WorldChampionship Gold in Air Rifle Shooting is an example of a single-minded quest for perfection. His victory at Beijing was not just a personal one, it broke a sporting barrier that had haunted a nation for a Century.

Born in Dehradun, he has won over 150 individual medals in a career that lasted over twenty years. His last Olympics were inRio in 2016 where he finished 4th.

Recipient of the Arjuna Award, the youngest recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Mr. Bindra was also conferred with India’s 3rd highest civilian award The Padma Bhushan in 2009. He was also conferred with the title of (Hony.) Lt. Col.in the Territorial Army. For his exceptional services to the Sport, he was awarded the Blue Cross in 2018 by theInternational Shooting Sport Federation, which is the ISSF’s highest honor.

Mr. Bindra chaired the ISSF Athletes Committee for 8 years and is currently a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Athlete Commission, Education Commission and the IOC Members Election Commission.

Post his retirement from active sport, he founded the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance Centres, which are State-of-the-art Sports Performance and Medical Rehabilitation facilities. He also serves as an Independent Director on the Boardof Bajaj Auto. He has also established the Abhinav Bindra Foundation Trust (ABFT) - a nonprofit organization to supportIndian grassroots athletes across various sporting disciplines by imbibing cutting-edge sports science technology. Through the verticals of High- performance training intervention, education & social upliftment, the ABFT aims to bring Global BestPractices into the Indian Sporting Landscape, not only supporting what currently exists as a protocol in Sport but also making it more accountable, expert-driven, and locally contextualized.

Mr. Bindra is championing the cause of Olympism and its values with the aim of building more peaceful & inclusive societiesby leveraging the power of sport. It is his belief that as a society, we need to imbibe the Olympic spirit in our daily livesand promote the ideals, values, and vision for acceptance, human rights, and non-discrimination. Mr. Bindra has played apivotal role in advocating for values- based education and bringing sport values to school children in India. Through hisfoundation, he is currently engaged in delivering core Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship, and Respect as theypromote the holistic development of young children and make positive contributions to society. Currently, the programme is active in Odisha in partnership with the International Olympic Committee & Department of School & MassEducation in the State.

Sharda Ugra has been a sports journalist for over three decades. She started her career in 1989 with Mumbai tabloid Mid-Day before working for national daily The Hindu, India Today magazine and ESPNcricinfo.com / ESPN India. In her early years, she reported sports news from South Asia for Radio Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s overseas service. She has seen India play cricket in nine countries, reported on two Olympic Games, written about cricket and other sport for popular and academic publications in England and Australia, presented conference papers on Indian sport and won Sports Journalists Federation of India (SJFI) awards for sports writing. She has worked with former New Zealand captain John Wright on John Wright’s Indian Summers, his memoirs of his years coaching India and with Yuvraj Singh on The Test of My Life, an account of his diagnosis and recovery from cancer. She was a fellow of the Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne in 2013 and has researched and written about the role of ethnic minority cricket in England and Australia. Currently, she is based in Bangalore and is columnist with the Hindustan Times, Delhi and BBC World Service's Hindi website and also contributes for The Voice of Fashion, the Wisden Almanack, Mojo Story, Al-Jazeera, Frontline magazine, the India Forum, The Telegraph newspaper, Kolkata and other publications.

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