Leadership – Some Thoughts!

The other day, I woke up to a rather unusual WhatsApp message. A friend had queried my thoughts on leadership, with three simple questions

1.     What is leadership?

2.     Who is a leader?

3.     What makes leader a leader?

I wondered how to respond, when epiphany struck. I decided to pose these questions in my school's WhatsApp group. I reasoned, people my age, would have twenty years or more in terms of professional experience, meaning most would have either contributed in leadership roles or would have formed clear thoughts around the topic. I posted these three questions in my school's WhatsApp group - The Batch of 1992 and requested all to share their views. I didn’t quite stop there, I went on to ask these questions to every connection of mine, outside my school group who I knew had contributed in leadership roles at some point in their careers. Following is a compilation of the responses I received. I can’t begin to think how best to express my gratitude for the generosity of all those who responded. I’m eternally indebted and dedicate this compilation to all of you. Do note, I received all these responses via WhatsApp, since that is where all group level social interactions reside. Subsequently I took the easy way out to request those who are not part of my school group but were part of the list who I wanted to ask, on WhatsApp too. It is important to bear in mind that I have not attempted to dilute these responses in any way, barring the odd spelling correction, in order to retain their original flavors. Now since, WhatsApp is not exactly Grammarly, ignore the syntax errors and focus on the ethos of each message. What I would confess though is the overwhelming pride I experienced while penning these introductions. Read on and learn, these are very practical perspectives gleaned from years of experience and expertise. They cover a wide array of contexts and points of view of highly functional minds, ones that have enjoyed unbridled success in leadership roles.

 

Dipankar Banerjee (Global Head of Sales and Go-to-Market - SAP Preferred Success

• Leadership is bringing everyone together, creating a sense of belonging, sense of identity, to achieve common goal.
• A leader emphasizes, promotes, is inclusive and builds great talent and one that is trusted.
• What makes leader a leader is someone who puts team’s interest first, an individual who is knowledgeable and understands company’s direction, has open dialogue, easily builds trust, is dynamic and has the right attitude.

 

 

Rohit Limaye (Partner @ EY, India)

• Ability of an individual or a group of individuals to enable people to achieve the shared goals of the team
• Leader is a person who effectively communicates the goals, enables processes for people to achieve the goals and takes ownership of the outcome 
• A balanced mix of empathy, domain skills, assertiveness, resilience, patience, aggression, integrity and fairness 

 

 

Eshwar Sundaresan (Multi-Specialist: Writer/Trainer/Counselor)

A leader is a person who can recognize the action required in a particular situation and respond accordingly.

Therefore, the qualities required of a leader who is running a corporate organization is quite different from a leader running an orphanage or an army squadron.

Mythical qualities of a leader tend to be physical attributes and larger than life qualities romanticized in art and literature.

Mandatory qualities include:

1. The ability to recognize and accept one's own mistakes
2. The willingness to follow when the situation demands it
3. The strength to keep one's promises (integrity) 
4. The courage to withstand criticism 
5. The discipline and perseverance to offer quality over long periods of time

At a high level, there are three kinds of leaders:

• People leaders (the only truly recognized category of leader)
• Thought leader
• Process leader

Since the latter two categories are not recognized, leadership gets a skewed definition

 

 

Sandeep Saxena (Founder @ Aranyaani Natural Foods)

Leadership is about enabling others to lead a more meaningful life and reach their potential in that. In that pursuit, one may have to live by self-example to demonstrate or test a solution or thought. It is not about making anyone follow or influence anyone's opinion to a particular path.

In that sense, leadership becomes mostly situational and role based.

A parent may be a leader to child and a follower too in another situation. I do not understand the goal of being a perpetual leader - looks like just an ego trip.

Perpetual followers and leaders are mutually propelling combustion engines- one fueling the other and harming the whole world with their ego trips.

 

 

Manish Kutty (Vice President Axis Bank)

Each person plays a leader’s role in every sub act of his life.

Acts – Family and Work

Tried to break the leader spelling and add value to the L E A D E R

• Listen: should be a good listener
• Educate: Should be the mentor to his folks ... teach/upgrade the team’s knowledge and when he identifies a gap in his own understanding ... be ready to learn 
• Aware: Should be aware of his team’s strengths, weakness and most importantly their needs
• Detail: Should be able to explain the expectations and the goals in detail… no short measures… plans from start to end and works out or charters the course 
• Empathy: should have the desired levels of empathy for the team to be at ease.
• Result: should be one who leads the team to achieve the desired results ... lead from the front and step back and let the team to savor the result if good and shoulder the responsibility in event of failure

 

 

Vikrant Raj Urs (Director of Operations at Freedom Health)

Leaders never manage, they empower independent thinking and initiatives, drive self-reliance.

Leadership is not just delegation, you can delegate task too then you are not a leader just a task manager, any monkey can do that. Real leadership is about making your team feel empowered.

 

 

Sunil Varrier (CSMO @ Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate)

Characteristics of a Leader 

1. Has clear vision and tangible goals.
2. Set positive example for other leaders and employees 
3. Visibly committed to company’ transformation goals 
4. Authentic in communication and intentions 
5. Has industry experience and deep understanding of the organization 
6. Looking forward and anticipate change 
7. Ownership of failure 
8. Respected and credibility 
9. Empowers others 
10. Listens to others and open to feedback 
11. Open to ideas from other leaders and employees 
12. Rigorously prioritize and steer the company 
13. Communicate consistently with transformation team 
14. Effectively work with cross functional team 
15. Sustainable and sensible in long run
16. Most importantly does proper succession planning. 

 

When it comes to People; a great leader would build organization (internal measures) 

• Trust 
• Conflict / conflict Management 
• Commitment 
• Accountability
• Results

 

 

Anuj Malhotra (Urban Development & Mobility Specialist, Senior Planner at Sabarmati River Front Development Corp. Ltd.)

Excellent. Summarizes very well. In 1. I would only add, participates with the team to set a clear Vision and then drives agendas based on this collective Vision.

7 and 9 are extremely important points.

14. Is another amazingly important trait...is open to work with many collaborators and empowers each one of them as his own team. 

16. Is not insecure. Sets his goal above idiosyncrasies and egos. And therefore, takes people along with him to work towards the Vision and not for him. (Achieving Vision as the Goal as opposed to working for him or working for the organization).

17. Does not dismiss ideas even by most uninformed people and works with an open mind.

18. Committed to good of people (specially her/ his team) than just good for the pocket/ bank.

19. Invests in people rather than only infra. Respects people and peers and therefore earns respect.

20. Is sensitive to others needs while at the same time intelligent to protect herself/ himself, his people and organization from divisive entities/ thoughts.

 

 

Hetal Sonpal (TEDx Speaker, LISTENER, Angel Investor, Sales, Marketing & Strategy Leader, Author, Marathoner, Half IRONMAN)

Since Limaye and Sunil have given very comprehensive response, I don’t think there is anything more to be added from conventional perspective. However, I have a very unconventional view to Leadership. According me, Leadership is all about People Management. Every scenario in an organization, for a leader, ultimately comes down to how the leader manages people, team, subordinates, peers, managers, etc. Most of the decisions that a leader takes, like new business initiation, sales, manufacturing issues, etc. all, sooner or later any leader will figure out. But how the response of the people to those decisions and how those decisions impact the people, to have that foresight and prepare/plan accordingly is what distinguishes a good leader from a not so good leader. In fact, the current pandemic crisis also has been a great example of people management. How Ratan Tata on one hand says don't fire anyone, Rahul Bajaj says the employees have to come to the plant, even if Corona has spread or how companies are now restoring salaries after the pay cut announcements made earlier. It’s all people management.

 

 

Jwalant Mehta (Senior Leader at Infosys)

If one is able to meet/beat goals within realm of IQ, EQ and DQ, then he/she is great leader. Something we can learn from people like NRN and Ratan Tata. Values, Integrity and vision are key differentiators.

 

 

Anurag Jain (Ex Head of Procurement at Vodafone India)

In my view there is no one type of leader however all leaders tend to share a few qualities that I believe are common to them all be it political leader, a business leader, leader in the office. Those qualities are conviction of belief based in truth and wisdom, power of believing and therefore inspiring people without having to ask for it, a man of words matching the action, a believer and doer of greater cause then himself (herself). Sonam Wangchuk is a good example of a leader as he is inspiring out of box thinking, Modi is not a good leader as he doesn't allow others to grow or promotes team Kapil Dev was a good leader and so is MS Dhoni, as he allowed Sachin & co. to take center stage after WC final and was seen walking behind the team ( which is a very selfless act). So, for me a leader needs to be selfless first

Same qualities are also displayed by war mongering leaders too such as George Bush. 

From stories I heard in recent times, Abdul Kalam was a good leader with great leadership style

I think leadership has no set style, but every leader is unique. 

For me character is the key ingredient of a leader.

 A leader should be able to identify strength in an individual and make that individual also believe in it. Mostly people are not aware about their strengths and weaknesses. A good leader identifies that. Imran Khan per se.

To understand team or people, inspire, motivate, build trust and confidence, walk the talk is what makes a leader

And to add to what I said, "A leader builds foundation" Steve Jobs like. He has become " Amar " now. Innovation was his idea and he would keep inspiring Apple for that for many years to come even after his death. The impact is huge.

Narayan Murthy won't have same impact on Infosys after 100 years...but Steve Jobs has left a huge footprint.

 

 

Myself

What is leadership? 

Ability to organize, inspire and sacrifice personal agenda for greater good, ability to be adroit, farsighted and fearless under all circumstances, ability to be kind, optimistic, common and human at all times.

 

Who is a leader? 

A mix of guide, knight and mate. 

 

What makes leader a leader? 

Courage and humility.

Oh Corona!

Difficult times bring out the best in us. While COVID-19 lockdown has challenged the way, we have lived our lives so far on this planet and impacted the way we will live our lives henceforth, it has allowed us time to stop and take stock. To introspect and course-correct, as necessary.  When we’re spoilt for choices, we end up being indecisive. When our choices are numbered, an outcome is guaranteed. Social distancing, isolation, quarantine is the new normal in a pandemic afflicted world that is trying hard to regroup socially and commercially. Who would have ever imagined that ‘distancing’ would be considered ‘social’ or ‘isolation’ would become the panacea for the ailing? Naysayers be damned - a vibrant group of forty-three music afficionados, all over the age of forty, chose to turn the COVID-19 impasse on its head. It’s often said that ‘birds of the same feather flock together’, and collaborations are formed out of commonalities. This posse of music enthusiasts chose to work with the limited choices available and collaborated from afar to create magic. 

 

A carefully cultivated culture of collective appreciation for each effort shared by members on the group was the nutrition that nurtured confidence in these forty-three hearts. Each member wanted to connect, touch base, listen to and commend each other. The ethos of patiently listening to and encouraging each other provided a strong link to glory days, when we were in school and didn’t have a worry in the world. Where friends were prized assets and appreciation was not forged on an underlying agenda. Replete with newfound enthusiasm the group members embarked upon a magical journey to rekindle their creative juices and imagination, to perform their part in a carefully planned musical video. The director had assumed the mantle of the gaffer and had laid out each one’s part in detail, all adding up to the piece-de-resistance! Shedding inhibitions is one of the bravest things to do – more so when you’re being recorded in the act. It requires oodles of belief in one’s self. Deciding upon the sojourn was the first half, the second half was an experience called the journey.

 

There it was, clear as the day, in your face! A solemn reminder that being a pedantic armchair critic is easy. To deliver the goods, however, is tough. What appeared as a simple and fun to do directive in text turned out to be a near impossible gig to actually perform. Clothes, location, frame position, expression, lip-sync, coordination with the audio-track, each required individual attention. By the end of it, the effort had instilled in our group a newfound appreciation for the institution of marriage. Two key learnings emerged off the bat, i.e. it is absolutely critical to establish great communication with family members and that one must never take the family for granted. Their value is hard to conjure, leave alone measure. While orchestrating and recording the entire deliverable was a herculean task, next hurdle to clear was the director’s approval. Pleasing others was never easy, so why would this be any different, especially if the intent was to conform to a pre-ordained guidance. Here in came the third learning i.e. patience is a virtue, followed by the fourth i.e. perseverance pays off.

 

The task, the journey and the outcome have all taught us in their own ways, the importance of appreciating each other and believing in ourselves.  

Of those that were evident and those that weren’t!

To begin, let me share context. This piece is set in early November 2016, in India, formerly a British colony, which gained independence in 1947. 69 years later, Modern India flaunts a changed landscape:

Population - second largest in the world circa 1.3 Billion

Area - 7^th largest in the world i.e. 3.28 million sq. km.

GDP - 9^th largest in the world 2,073 Bn USD (growth rate of nearly 5%)

It is evident that despite number of people, India is not producing at par, is also constrained by area, implying it is a developing country, which is in its building phase. Urbanization and infrastructural development has been limited to 9 to 10 top tier cities with Mumbai and Delhi leading the march. Mumbai is home to 21 million and Delhi hosts 25 million Indians. On a given day, Mumbai and Delhi witness a parade of countless heads, moving at differential speeds depending on the mode of transportation deployed, hustling and jostling away to reach ‘a’ destination. India is the largest democracy in the world, since China isn’t! India is comprised of 29 States and 7 Union Territories. Governance is two tiered, i.e. a Central Government that runs national Policy, Planning and Budget and State Governments who do the same but for their States. Indians vote twice – once for Central Government and then for State Government. Dichotomy of the process is that, the party in power at Centre does not enjoy power in even 50% of the States. So there is a perpetual disagreement in the Centre v/s State political scape that nurtures and emboldens inefficiencies in execution of most projects, even those that are acutely critical and important to growth of the nation. Inefficiency can be understood in easy terms as higher time and money spent for less output or work. So someone, somewhere benefits from a higher payout and lower expected delivery. When such is the reward, people and businesses don’t mind sharing some of the spoils. And when there are those spoils to be enjoyed, power is not easy to relinquish. What is at stake is national development and progress, which could not be less important in the scheme of things, isn’t it? Groups and parties are willing to give an arm and a leg to seize power and maintain power. Mind you the end objective here is and always has been in my opinion the quest for wealth accumulation. Needless to say in a land where density of population is high and corruption has created quite a parallel economy, quality of life can’t be the best. Over the span of 69 years and continued hardship, people have more or less adjusted to being asked to accommodate all the time. Standing up for one’s rights has been rebuked into unconditional subservience. In these days of political consternation, not only at home, but globally……..

The Prime Minister has banned currency notes of INR500 and INR1000, with immediate effect! Media outcry - Centre delivers tremendous blow to black money and the reprehensible parallel economy. Entire nation stands by the PMO in this bold decision. Celebrities, cricketers, page3 folk and others of repute cried hoarse, their support for the PM’s decision. Almost sounded like they were privy to the highly classified decision almost like epiphany. Question was, while the PM announced GOI’s decision to call of 500 and 1000 denomination currency notes, all currency notes contain this line, “I promise to pay the bearer of this currency note…..” signed RBI Governor (RBI is Reserve Bank of India, who decides national fiscal policies and manages matters of financial governance at national level).  Did the RBI Governor just say, “Guess what guys, I was joking……LOL, gotcha!”????? Radio stations dished out fake interviews with cheap impersonations of those that are less endowed economically. They happily chirp, “My money is safe”, and “A little inconvenience shall go a long way in building the nation”, with the consummate ease of trained orators…..uncanny resemblance to RJs! As fake as silicon implants, these pieces of inappropriate creativity, reek of propaganda and also have a sting in the tail. The articulations openly mock the intellect of radio audience! In any case, in the first three days after the announcement, banks and ATMs saw endless serpentine queues, wary people, lined up to either withdraw cash or secure replacement of banned currency notes. Understandable, as even the GOI machinery with their planned offensive against black money or parallel economy would need couple of days to replace the banned currency denominations with new ones. What was strange though was the fact that even after a week and a few days more, the situation didn’t improve.  Without getting into details of the chaos that followed in everyday life of commoners, let me share with you couple of interesting observations during this turbulent period of time.

a) Sacrifice and Patriotism: Great nations instill an innate sense of patriotism and countrymen would willingly sacrifice, for national cause……Look at our soldiers – they face hardship all year round and never complain; A small sacrifice will go a long way; Your sacrifice will usher in the ‘new India’ for your children and grandchildren; Why crib so much – the queues are getting shorter by the hour; The war on black money can’t be won without plebeian sacrifice – brace up

b) Social order and civic sense: A society attains greatness when there’s mutual respect and egalitarian values…..This ATM is out of cash and the next ATM is 4 blocks to the west – better hurry; Hello Sir, any luck with the machine?      

c) Love thy neighbor: Healthy relationship with neighbors is the cornerstone of a progressive society…..Katyal sahib can you help me get new currency notes with the help of your labour; Mr. Sharma I have a meeting with the bank manager today – why don’t you give me your cheque – I shall encash it

c) Respect women: A society that doesn’t respect women is regressive and destined to fail and one that does is bound to progress…….Bhaisaab (brother) please allow ladies in queue to form a separate line – they needn’t go through this madness; Hello Sir can you mark my place for a minute I need to step aside for a moment to tend to my home – Sure madam will do

d) Social media and NRIs: You can take an Indian out of India but you can’t take India out of an Indian…….numerous/countless impressions and opinion are exchanged over social media today by NRIs expressing their take on the PM’s decision.

e) Friends forever: You can’t choose your father or your Manager, choose your friends wisely…… Arup if you’re in dire straits and there’s no solution in sight let me know I’ll courier you some; Arup, I can arrange for help from Mumbai in case you’re totally stuck – please let me know.

f) Know your turf: Ignorance is no bliss…….Despite their tenuous opposition to the decision or belligerent show of solidarity for the move, nobody of eminence was ever seen queuing up outside banks/ATMs – barring once when Rahul Gandhi queued up to access an ATM. Its all part of the circus we call politics! Showtime baby.

To me personally this episode has rendered learning and takeaways for a lifetime. I believe everybody, would have their own take on the sequence of events. We all hope and pray, this move called “demonetization”, leaves an indelible mark on the black money trail. Despite the politics and leverage on offer, for India’s power crazed politicians, the nation almost unanimously looks forward to a positive impact, one that creates opportunity for governance, to bolster India from number 9 to number 2 in terms of global GDP rankings. India boasts of “manpower” advantage – add to that improved capital…..there will be no looking back.