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Apr 10, 2002

""What are your gifts?" I ask him. Dr. V. replies, "People thank me for giving them sight." This is no error of translation, no slipup of English. Dr. V. considers his gifts to be the things that he has given others, not what he possesses." --Dr. V (Govindappa Venkataswamy)

At the Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India, 82-year-old Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy has solved the mystery of leadership: He brings eyesight to the blind and light to the soul. Today, he runs five hospitals that perform more than 180,000 operations each year. Seventy percent of his patients are charity cases; the remaining 30% seek him out and pay for his services because the quality of his work is world-class.