Yesterday, I was on a panel at Startup Jalsa discussing the proliferation of startup ecosystems in tier 2 cities. I came across an issue where tier 2 city startups feel that tier 2 cities lack high quality talent. I strongly disagree.

I believe that quality talent isn’t recruited but nurtured, trained and motivated to become that way. Even the best equipped employees will falter under a leader who cannot guide and inspire his/her employees to strive harder and push the boundaries.

Founders need to realise that concentrating on improving their leadership skills will deliver multi-faceted results. A strong leader attracts stronger followers. Strong leaders push their followers to go beyond their capacity to achieve superior results. Strong leaders command loyalty without having to enforce it.

This remains true whether you are in a tier 1, tier 2 or even a tier 4 town. In today’s world where knowledge is available for free online, founders don’t need to find talent but learn to create it.