Vikas Pota is a globally respected leader and driving force for much good in the education, international development, philanthropy and technology sectors. His achievements include creating global awareness of the importance of education and specifically about the centrality of teachers and their profession.


His passion for dialogue, cooperation and creating collaborative projects that further the causes he supports mark him out from a field that is normally bound by national boundaries and often by ideology. As an example, what he has achieved through the Global Education & Skills Forum is truly unique and special, convening a vast range of people of all backgrounds and disciplines, shepherding the conversation to achieve a consensus on the inclusion of the teacher workforce in determining the strategies of education organisations. The way in which he approaches coalition building has resulted in successful partnerships, engaging organisations such as Education International – the international alliance of teacher unions – to the opposite spectrum of for-profit providers in education, bringing them onto a shared platform for dialogue, supporting and strengthening public education systems.


As a result of him driving conversations about teachers, several globally renowned organisations have added the teacher workforce to their considerations, whether they be bilateral and multilateral donor organisations, philanthropic institutions, bodies such as the United Nations or organisations further afield including private sector organisations focused on human capital development. His advocacy has resulted in more investment in capacity building programmes.


Not only has he been an ardent champion and advocate but has also invested in and built institutions that will long outlive him and those associated with them. Equally, we are already seeing the positive results from his commitment to good governance, ethics and long termism, that will continue to experience the benefit of these in all parts of the world as his work resonates and speaks volumes in some of the most challenging contexts.
Whether speaking about about his achievements in making the Global Teacher Prize a success, the Global Education & Skills Forum an essential place for dialogue, Arc Skills a response to the youth unemployment crisis, Tmrw Digital a purpose driven commercial enterprise seeking to promote better understanding and use of new technologies, his passion and creativity lead to significant results, not only impacting not just the lives of those around him, but of many more, including the citizens of tomorrow.


On his departure, he posted the following leadership lessons he had learnt in the last ten years, which received positive acclaim.