Zerodha founder and CEO Nikhil Kamath recently interviewed Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides where the later noted how loneliness is linked to power. The historian turned president described the feeling of serving as the top leader of the country and provided an insight to his vision of running a country in the podcast published on 1 July.
“It's a very lonely road,” Nikos said in response to Kamath's question, “How does it feel to be in power?” and to be president of a country.
Leaders should focus on improving country, ‘not to please the voters,’ says Cyprus president
Elaborating on the responsibilities that come with this role, he added, "You need to ….every day take difficult decisions. And that is why you should never forget that you are here in order to change your country, not to please the voters the next day, and having good articles in the press, and care more about good books in the future."
To prove his point, he referenced US President Donald Trump and touched Washington's recent clampdown on tariffs. He suggested that even though short term appeasement brought positive reactions internally in the US, but “when the time passes, you see that even President Trump understands that we need to discuss, we need to find a way, because what is important is what is going to happen, not the reaction the next day.”
Highlighting the future implications of policies and laws that leaders implement, he added, “It's very important to know that whatever you are doing, there is an end day, it will not be forever.”
How actions today determine failure or success of a leader
Convincing that his academic background enables him to take informed decisions, he asserted, “It's very important when you are in a position of power to decide, to think and decide without thinking the next elections, but thinking the next generations, And being a historian, it helps me to understand this.”
Further elaborating how actions today determine failure or success of a leader, he said, “Because you may do something today, please everybody, having the newspapers next day… the best articles, the best coverage. But in the books of history, in 50 years, it will say he or she failed.”
Nikhil Kamath in a post on Instagram underscored Cyprus president's principals and wrote, “Most people chase the top job to be liked. He told me the opposite. A historian who became a president, and decided early that the point was to change the country, not to please the room. Even if that means the loneliest version of the job.”
According to Nikos Christodoulides, leaders of a country must have a clear vision as failing to do so would merely result in solving “everyday issues” instead of the greater problems of the economy. This makes the next elections the main concern, shifting focus from the progress of next generation. “You need to be very specific and always keep in mind that changes will come probably after you leave the office,” the 8th President of Cyprus said, who has been in office since 2023.
