From transforming workspaces and businesses to fostering cultures of growth and resilience, these individuals demonstrate that effective leadership is not just about decisions made at the top, but the meaningful connections and transformative impacts they inspire along the way.
Nirbhay Handa is the CEO and Co-Founder of Multipolitan, a global migration platform that streamlines the process of travelling, relocation, and setting up businesses, as well as managing assets for borderless individuals. Initially, the company focused on private client advisory business, specialising in investment-based migration for HNWIs. Handa shares that Multipolitan is currently made up of a team of 21 people who are spread across cities like Singapore, Lisbon, Dubai, Bangalore and Sao Paulo. In the next 18 months, the company hopes to open six more offices and reach a headcount of 60.
Share more about your leadership journey. What are the pivotal moments that shaped your approach to leadership?
Growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere – a tiny village northwest of Rajasthan – I realized early that the biggest limits are the ones we put on ourselves and growth starts when we break them. My leadership journey has been about grit, reflection, and believing in what’s possible. On my journey, I’ve learned from amazing leaders and not-so-great ones. From those experiences, I built my own guide:
- Be Sincere: There’s no substitute for sincerity and grace
- Be like a basketball coach: Make your teams visualise success. Help them experience the initial taste of success, build their confidence before expecting returns.
- Hire the hungry: Ambitious people need direction, not management.
- Balance hunger with grace: Know when to ask for more and when not to.
- Dream big: Show your team what’s possible and push them to reach it.
- Forget hierarchies: Great teams are built on trust; titles are cosmetic and a waste of time.
- Make it fun: Work takes up so much of life – it shouldn’t be a grind. Build a workplace where people want to come to work.
- Past wins are past wins: Leadership is about what you do right now. It’s about balancing vision with humility and focusing on building, not just achieving.
What strategies or practices have you found most effective in nurturing leadership potential within your organisation?
Effective leadership can sometimes be like being a musician on stage – you set the energy, but you let the audience take over. The success isn’t determined by how many notes you hit right, but by how engaged and uplifted the audience felt. At Multipolitan, nurturing leadership is not just about talent, but about mindset. Leadership is revealed not by the situations you face, but by how you respond to them. Your reactions, especially in moments of crisis, show whether you truly have what it takes to lead. I cannot build Multipolitan into a world-leading enterprise without exceptional leadership talent around me. When identifying and fostering such talent, I look for specific traits:
- Emotional Regulation: There’s a quiet power in maintaining your composure and telling the truth, even when it hurts. Leaders who can radiate steadiness while offering genuine candour instil a sense of security and trust.
- Crisis Management: How effectively can you manage and navigate through crises? What do you do when panic strikes?
- Human Connection: How do you treat people at all levels of the organisation? Leadership is as much about empathy as it is about strategy.
- Inner Cultivation: Do you invest in yourself? Whether it’s cultivating a strong mindset through personal passions like sports or the arts, this shows you prioritise self-improvement.
- Philosophical Core: Do you have a deeper purpose driving you? A strong philosophical foundation helps leaders make decisions that align with a greater vision, which inspires trust and loyalty.
- Energising Others: Can you ignite energy and enthusiasm in your team, uniting them to achieve extraordinary results?
Can you give us an example of a leadership challenge you’ve faced and how you overcame it?
As I've gained more experience in life and business, my understanding of leadership has evolved. I’ve found myself asking this question: What does it truly mean to lead? To me, it’s about shaping the emotional and philosophical foundation from which people act.
If that foundation is built on fear, not structure – no matter how well-designed – it can’t stand for long. In my earlier days, I was a resolute leader, set in my ways and hesitant to acknowledge my shortcomings. I thought leadership meant always appearing strong and infallible. But over time, I’ve embraced what I call “vulnerable courage.” I started admitting my fears and failures openly. I let my team see my humanity while showing the heart to overcome and persevere with an uncompromising will. I stopped waiting for perfect certainty before making decisions, and when I stumbled, I treated those moments not as sources of shame, but as opportunities for reflection
The impact was amazing. People began to see failure not as the enemy of progress, but as its essential companion. It became clear that missteps are part of the journey, not the end of it. The deeper lesson for me has been this: True leadership is about creating a culture where people feel psychologically safe to be fully human – flawed, curious, and courageous. When people know it’s okay to fail, they stop holding back. They take risks. They innovate. They grow. And ultimately, they lead with the same fearless authenticity that transforms teams and businesses alike.
(Related: Dual citizenship at wealth management strategy)
What are the new rules you’ve added to your leadership playbook, in response to the changes in how people do business?
The world today doesn’t just shift – it pivots, evolves, and disrupts itself daily. I’ve learned to make peace with the chaos, to see uncertainty not as a threat, but as an opportunity to test my mettle.
Focus on purpose, not just productivity. Productivity without purpose is hollow – it burns people out and leaves teams uninspired. But when people deeply believe in the “why” behind their work, they’ll not only meet expectations; they’ll exceed them. Purpose ignites something within us that checklists and quotas never can’t.
Embrace Antifragility. Resilience is about holding steady, enduring life’s storms without breaking. Antifragility, though, goes deeper – it’s about growing stronger, sharper, and better because of those storms. It’s a mindset, a way of living, that finds strength in struggle and meaning in uncertainty. For me, it’s not enough to withstand – I aim to grow through every trial life throws my way.
Finally, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is: Never let the process kill the passion. Processes are meant to provide clarity, not stifle creativity. When passion drives the work, innovation and outcomes follow naturally. Leadership means balancing structure with space – space for ideas to breathe and people to thrive.
(Related: Next Level Leadership - Don Poh, Group CEO, Lorna Whiston Schools)
How do you see leadership roles evolving in the next few years? What traits or skills will be most important?
Leadership is becoming more human and more connected. It’s no longer about standing above a team, but stepping into it. For me, great leadership means practicing empathy and having the courage to admit when you don’t have all the answers, but showing an uncompromising will to move forward.
I truly believe the way leaders treat their teams impacts not just performance, but their mental and emotional well-being. I’ve had to make tough decisions throughout my career, including letting people go, but I’ve always made it a priority to handle those moments with care and respect.
Business will always be about results, but how we treat people along the way matters just as much. As someone who grew up in the millennial workforce, I’ve seen the struggles of dealing with insecure leadership first-hand – leaders who felt threatened by talent instead of seeing it as an opportunity. There’s a saying, “Outclass your master and that’s career suicide,”. This needs to change. Today, organisations need to be fluid, adaptable, and less driven by ego and tenure. The next generation doesn’t just follow leaders; they follow purpose. They want to see leaders who live their values, not just talk about them. They’re drawn to authenticity and boldness – people who turn vision into action and make it real.
For me, leadership is about connection. It’s about creating a space where people feel safe to dream big, take risks, and grow. It’s not about being perfect; it’s about being present, honest, and willing to grow alongside your team.
Back
