The Dexterity Global Group

DexSchool in ‘24. @Stanford, @Harvard in ‘26. Within months of graduating from DexSchool, young scholars and leaders from small towns and humble families, begin making their mark at the world’s finest institutions. Within two years of their graduation, two DexSchool Class of 2024 graduates are headed to Stanford and Harvard - Tanish from Haryana to Stanford’s Pre-Collegiate Program, Aabheelesh from Assam to Harvard's Secondary School Program. #GoDexters 🧢🇮🇳

India’s favorite author who brought Chanakya to life passed away in his sleep last night. As I try to process this loss, vivid memories of speaking with him and alongside him continue to return. Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai was a long-standing friend of Dexterity. He would often say, “India had IITs and IIMs. @DexterityGlobal is IIL, Indian Institute of Leadership.” He spent time generously with Dexters and once remarked that he spoke about two Chanakyas: the original Chanakya, and the Chanakya he saw in Graduates and Fellows of Dexterity. Few brought ancient Indian knowledge to modern relevance like Dr. Pillai. Graduates and Fellows of Dexterity deeply mourn the loss of a true scholar and servant leader. India has lost a teacher. The world has lost a light. Om Shanti.

Two years ago, Tanish, one of the youngest in DexSchool Class of 2024, arrived for residential training with a portrait he had painted of the Dexterity Founder and wanted to present it to him. At Dexterity, gifts are not allowed. For Tanish, an exception was made. That night, after dinner, Tanish made another request. He wanted to sing a classical raag he was trained in. He said if he sang it well, it would rain. He sang and keeping up with the legend, it actually rained. This week, Tanish was accepted to Stanford’s Pre-Collegiate Program. When he wrote to share the news, Dexterity Founder @SharadSagar called him and said: “Tanish, @Stanford doesn’t surprise me at all. As a Dexter, you will go places. But remember, your greatest achievement may still be invoking a raag to make it rain.”

This week, during DexSchool selections, I heard a 13-year-old girl from South 24 Parganas in West Bengal say, “To me, being a Dexter is like having a superpower.” In that one sentence, I heard a generational shift. In 2008, some children heard Dexterity and thought of an American cartoon show, Dexter’s Laboratory. Today, children in India hear Dexterity and think of the power within. Swami Vivekananda said all power is within us. Dexterity exists to help young Indians realize and channelize that power in service of Mother India and the world. She is right. Being a Dexter is a superpower.

“How much is left when nothing is left?” This summer, for the 19th year in a row, Dexters will undergo arguably the toughest training of will and skill. They call it life-changing. The world calls it “Dexterity.”

Three DexSchool graduates accepted their @Harvard offers this month. 12 received @IvyLeague offers. 26 were accepted to world’s top 50 universities. That is part of the #DexSchool story. India’s first and the world's foremost school of leadership and entrepreneurship for teenagers. With the toughest training of will and skill, there are less than 1,000 DexSchool graduates in the world, and yet, they make a mark far disproportionate to their number. In a decade and a half, DexSchool has produced graduates who have won 5,000+ global competitions, led 1,000+ leadership initiatives, and received 2.75 billion in university scholarships. For teenagers across India and Indian origin teenagers around the world, DexSchool is accepting applications for Class of 2027.

As many of you know, I grew up in small towns and villages of Bihar, far from power, privilege, or connections. Hearing about Sachin Tendulkar (Sachin Sir, as I call him), was very inspiring. He taught a generation of Indian children that it did not matter how old you were or where you came from. If you worked hard, trained hard, and became world-class, things could work out. That is all I wanted to do with my life: work hard to become world-class and have faith in my training. I was in middle school, struggling to get my passport for an international competition. I did not know anyone. I wrote to the Prime Minister of India. It worked! I was in high school. My mother had passed away. My father was not being transferred to the local branch. I wrote to the Chairman of State Bank of India. It worked! On Sachin Sir’s birthday in 2011, our first and only laptop was stolen from the small rented house we lived in. It was 4 am. I was a young schoolboy. I did the only thing I knew. I called the DGP of Bihar and briefed him. But this time, the problem was bigger. Dexterity Interschool Challenge 2011 was 17 days away. All files, letters, documents, and forms were gone. My childhood training was simple: your work is your signature and no one should know it better than you. So I sat down and wrote every letter, document, and form again from memory. Then I went back to every school, requesting them to fill the forms again. It worked! Every year, on April 24, I remember that morning. Losing our first laptop, calling the DGP at 4 am, writing down every document from memory. When I arrived on my college campus on a full scholarship, I finally bought a laptop. It served me for over a decade. One laptop was never found. The other helped build the future that @DexterityGlobal heralded for millions of students in India. And somewhere between the two, I learned the lesson @Sachin_rt Sir had taught so many of us: train hard, work honestly, and have faith. It works!

Today, three #DexSchool graduates committed to @Harvard. More beautifully, they chose to accept their admission offers on the same day. Khushi (DexSchool ‘19), Shreeya (DexSchool ‘22), and Nithya (DexSchool ‘23) carry forward a proud DexSchool tradition that began with the first Harvard admit from DexSchool Class of 2013. #ThisIsDexterity 🧢🇮🇳

Children’s Day, 2017. One week after my brother passed away, I was supposed to speak in a small village in South Bihar. Many thought I would cancel. I did not. I arrived late evening and stayed at a DexSchool graduate’s home. Early next morning, two local kids came to the house. Their school was not sending them to the event, so they simply wanted to see me before they left for class. I never forget it. Last evening, the DexSchool graduate whose house I stayed at, came to see me. Avinash is now serving in government. He showed me photos of his family’s now double-storey home, including the room where I had stayed that night. I asked him about every local Dexter, every person I’d met. It all came back. Grief. Duty. Kindness. Growth. Years later, the local kids have gone on to serve across the country, the family I stayed in has a bigger, sweeter house, the young boy is a grown up government servant, and the memories still live. Maybe, #ThisIsDexterity. 🇮🇳

For 15 years, Dexterity has followed a simple tradition. We call it the #DexSchoolTest: quietly open DexSchool applications in March/April and see who finds out and applies before any formal announcement. This year, 100+ teenagers did. For teenagers across the country and Indian-origin teenagers around the world who have been waiting, watching, or quietly checking: this is the formal announcement. Dexterity School of Leadership and Entrepreneurship (#DexSchool) is accepting applications for the Class of 2027.

Today, I was moved to see the two inspiring portraits Dexters unveiled at #DexterityHouse in New Delhi. Six months ago, when we opened the world’s first #DexterityHouse, we knew it would be a place dedicated for Dexterity-trained founders to build world-class institutions, a place of transit for Dexters travelling for national and global opportunities, and a place for all Dexters to meet and greet, at all times. Six months later, one Dexterity-trained founder has received an offer from @Harvard and will continue to operate from there, one Dexter won @Stanford’s Global Sustainability Challenge while transiting through Dexterity House, and numerous Dexters continue to gather here regularly, whether to root for India during the World Cup or to learn, build and dine together. Dexterity House is a place full of fun and joy and I am filled with renewed energy and optimism every time I am here.

The wall tells you what’s possible. The room tells you what’s next. The world’s first #DexterityHouse in New Delhi is buzzing with energy and action every day. Today, Dexters unveiled two iconic portraits that now become part of this sacred space.

57 years after Neil Armstrong carried his Boy Scout badge to the Moon, the Proud Dexter badge and the blue Dexter Cap now have a boarding pass of their own. As four astronauts venture around the Moon on Artemis II, we are proud to share that the spacecraft is carrying names of Graduates and Fellows of Dexterity since 2008, along with DexConnect Opportunity Update, on an SD Card. #GoDexters 🧢🇮🇳

Dexterity work is painstakingly generational. Remember, most of these rigorously trained, world-class Dexters weren’t even born when a 16-yr old @SharadSagar was building the country’s most unique training and support system. From small towns, villages, and ordinary Indian families to the world’s greatest platforms, the #DexterityGeneration has truly arrived.

There is a rich @DexterityGlobal–@IvyLeague history. First, #DexterityToCollege fellows went to Ivy League universities. Soon, Ivy League students started coming to #DexSchool. With 12 Ivy League selections this year, that rich tradition continues.

A few years ago at @Harvard, @SharadSagar was asked to draw what he does. He drew this. #ThisIsDexterity: climb, then help another climb. Be and Make.

Exactly six years ago, when the lockdown was announced, I was in constant conversation with young people across our country, many of whom had just seen their internships and job offers vanish overnight. In 72 hours, we built at @DexterityGlobal what remains one of the most defining management challenges of my life, the 1000 Internships Program. Within two weeks, 1,000 interns from 310 districts across 27 states had a summer to look forward to. That summer, we trained, mentored, and developed them through relentless office hours, social hours, and rigorous professional training rooted in the Dexterity system. The program evolved into Dexterity’s Young Professionals Development Program (YPDP), continuing through the aftershocks of the pandemic. Today, thousands of young professionals in corporate India are YPDP-trained, hundreds have gone on to the world’s top graduate schools, many serve in Fortune 500 companies, and several have built ventures of their own. Last evening, on the sixth anniversary of the lockdown, as Himanshu, a Dexterity YPDP and #DexterityToCollege fellow, received his @CambridgeMBA offer, it all came full circle. Even an internship within the Dexterity system is never just about work; it is about the deliberate development of leaders. #ThisIsDexterity 🧢🇮🇳

When Dexters step up, it’s a clean sweep. ☑️ @Harvard ☑️ @Yale ☑️ @Columbia 10 of the world’s best universities. 10 applications. 10 selections. Nithya, a proud #DexSchool graduate and #DexterityToCollege fellow, keeps up the Dexterity tradition of peak Indian ambassadorship at the world’s best universities.

Shreeya, proud #DexSchool graduate and #DexterityToCollege fellow. Five of the world’s greatest institutions. Five Applications. Five Selections. This is not an exception. This is the standard. #ThisIsDexterity 🧢🇮🇳

In 2012, the Dexterity Founder @SharadSagar arrived at @TuftsUniversity on a full scholarship. Everything for him was covered. But, of course, Dexterity was not. To fund the journey of Dexters, he began dishwashing on campus, working nearly 20 hours a week at the dining hall alongside studying and building Dexterity. Every dollar he earned went back home, to fund SAT and GRE exams for Dexters, their travel expenses for competitions and conferences, and often even their personal needs. Four years later, this week in 2016, Sharad Sagar was announced as the Graduation Speaker at Tufts University, the first Indian in 160 years. And, one year later, the youngest Alumni Achievement Awardee in university history. But the story didn’t end there. Exactly this week in 2018, a fellow Tufts dining staff reached out to the Dexterity Founder. Her young son, Takura, had asked, “Mother, what can I do for your 45th birthday?” The mother had replied, “Listen to Sharad Sagar. Learn from his journey.” The 12-year-old took it seriously. Takura gifted his mother a notebook, filled with reflections on Sharad Sagar’s public speeches. When Sagar heard this, he travelled hundreds of miles to meet the young kid in New Hampshire, exactly this week in 2018. And four years later, this week in 2022, Takura, the son of a hardworking dining staff, had been accepted to Tufts University on a full scholarship. #DexterityForAll