Skip to main content

On Leadership

Yesterday, a historic election result happened in India. For the first time, a non-Congress party, the BJP got a majority by itself. This is unprecedented, even unexpected. But the last 10 years Congress has provided insipid, corruption ridden, uninspiring leadership that has led India slip in all possible indices. On the contrary, the incumbent, Narendra Modi has turned his state over his 14 year rule into a powerhouse.

The leadership styles could not be contrary. I will not delve into the political nuances of it - since this is a blog on learning.

What is leadership? Some lessons for people in the corporate ladder and worklife and perhaps in life as well - since leadership lessons largely tend to be the same everywhere.

Leadership is being visible, being active, right at the front. Back seat drivers exist only in cars, not in leadership. It means, facing questions, talking, communicating.The Prime Ministers victory speeches exemplify this and his style of functioning so far - which is unlikely to change.

Leadership is staying in control - this is not about control like in control freak - but leadership is about not losing control. Staying on top of every situation.Not shrugging shoulders and claiming 'hun kee karan' like a victim. The bomb blasts at Patna during his rally and how he held is calm.
 
Leadership is about taking decisions. That often means, that some people may find some decisions unpleasant. But leadership is not about making everybody feel good. This quest of being good to everybody usually ends in disastrous leadership. You will be seen as a vacillating, indecisive and procrastinating. Modi had to move many old entrenched leaders as part of this campaign.

Leadership means, always, always, always doing the right thing - not what is easy or expedient. The latter is usually easiest when one is following the 'I want to be good to everybody' path. And that path is a myth. It does not exist. Doing the right thing takes guts. It means tough messages have to be given. And the best part of doing the right thing is that your team sees you as meaning well for the team. Do something expedient and there is a marginal short term gain, but a massive long term loss. This is well known - on many things, Modi has continued to do the right thing - without ever taking the easier path.

Leadership means showing faith in people. Letting the next level do what they are assigned to do. And if need be, following their instinct. The way Amit Shah ran his campaign in UP - he had a free hand - and the dissenters went whining to him - they were asked to shape up or ship out.

Leadership is all about connect. Many of his twitter followers got a personalised message for working with him. Yes, it was perhaps sent by a automated software, but well, he cared to send that. 

There is much more to be said and perhaps I will, as we see our Prime Minister start working through the many things that will come his way. But this much I must say - for the first time, we have an inspirational political figure in India, in our lifetime.

Yes, not everyone can be a leader - see our outgoing leadership. These are the people who are on vacations when asked to take difficult calls, do the easy things because the right things are difficult, spout spiritual quotes and do the exact opposite. Believe me, the nation can see it - and if the nation can see it, so can your teams.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Be Civil. Make nice!

Popular posts from this blog

The man who saved Pumpelsdrop

This was a story we had in college if I am not mistaken. Perhaps it was in school, but a delightful story it was. The story goes somewhat like this ( reproduced from here ), but the college version we had was slightly different from this.  I t was a dull, gloomy and a depressing morning in a town named Pumpelsdrop in northern England. The Great Depression had brought all the businesses to a standstill. The bored automobile dealer was spending time alone, as usual. But, this seems to be an unusual morning as an odd entity (customer) appeared on the horizon. A man in a bright suit walks up to the dealer and says, "I need to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom II. We have a business conference coming up and I need to impress my customers". Then proceeds to pay 10% of the deal with a single check for 2000 pounds. The rest he says will pay when he takes the delivery.   The auto dealer was stunned. He was delighted to hear that someone is holding a business conference of some kind and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why does elearning exist?

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you w...
Post a Comment
Read more