After 30 years of badminton, I still know nothing, says Gopichand

Pullela Gopichand is indisputable about nothing even after spending 30 years in badminton career.

National chief coach said that he begun badminton career out of luck. “There were no admissions open in cricket or tennis. Nobody was interested in badminton at the time and it was the only place I could join. So I did," he recollected.

At the Art of Living International Centre, speaking at the second Global Leadership - a two day forum - Gopichand said that when he began coaching in 2004, the practice was to identify the best and train them to be better. “But I was proved wrong when a young girl in the academy asked me to teach her how to hold the shuttle. I realized that in the bargain of giving our children literacy and exposing them to technology, we are making them lose their human connect.”

“This made me wonder that excellence doesn't come with literacy. It comes with believing that every child is talented. Running against Usain Bolt and beating him wouldn't mean as much as it would if I ran against myself and got a better score than last time. And in the bargain, if we get a medal, fantastic!”

The Forum brought speakers from various fields together to discuss leadership, which is needed in the massive complicated world.

“Leaders are of two kinds: one who wants to achieve and the other who has achieved but wants more people to follow suit.

"We need more of the second kind,” said Sri Sri Ravishankar, founder of AOL.

“Although globalization has contributed to interdependence in society, it has also resulted in wars, human crimes and ignorance of our own responsibilities. We need to change the concept of power,” said Aloz Peterie, European Parliament member and ex-Slovenia Prime Minister.