Different styles - one crisis

Those were perfect testing times for leaders of a nation, which earned freedom through a unique non-violent political struggle lead by Mahatma Gandhi and yet got the freedom at the cost of partition of country on religious basis, migration of people on a never-seen-before scale and unprecedented bloodshed resulting in atleast half a million human beings losing their life.

Freedom at midnight, a novel by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, is a brilliant work on the events during the fateful days of Indian independence and aftermath. I feel it is a great book on leadership. The book is full of illustrations of leadership in action and I share a few of those instances involving three excellent gentlemen – Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India and Mahatma Gandhi, the man who won freedom for India.

Jawaharlal Nehru emerges as a compassionate leader overwhelmed by the miseries of his people struck in the “Greatest Migration in Human History”. His genuine desire to help his countrymen combined with his helplessness sets a perfect background to his quandary. His warning to a group of Sikhs in a village against assault on neighbouring Moslems was indeed effective. The authors say “Nehru’s dilemma was how to translate an effective, isolated action like that to the scale of a nation …”. Authors also bring out the fact that even as Mr. Nehru was delivering his famous “tryst with destiny” speech at the stroke of midnight, 14th August, 1947, “he could only conceive the awful pictures of Lahore in flames”, the news of which he had received just a short while before.

Lord Mountbatten is depicted as a leader of exceptional organizational skills. His sense of urgency and setting challenging targets is highlighted all through the novel, but the most spectacular instance is when as head of Emergency Committee he converted Viceregal palace into an intelligence centre and a control command for monitoring and guiding rescue operations across Punjab. Not to mention the stringent timeframe he set for himself for transfer of power to India and Pakistan and made it possible.

Mahatma Gandhi with his ideals of love, non-violence, truth and belief in God of all Mankind resorted to fast unto death at the age of seventy eight in an attempt to touch the hearts of people behind the riots in Calcutta and restore peace which he did after seventy three hours of fast. As per the authors, “Rajagopalachari, Governor General of Bengal said Gandhi has achieved many things but there has been nothing, not even independence, which is so truly wonderful as his victory over evil in Calcutta”. Gandhi repeated the miracle again after four months with his last fast spanning 121 hours, to restore peace in Delhi. The novel establishes Gandhi as an ultimate example of a leader, leading by example and his astonishing mastery over communication with simple gestures stirring the souls of his countrymen and binding them in instinctive unity.

The book is about leaders whose actions and emotions never cease to amaze me.

Be comfortable, even in resentment

Expressing resentment was never my cup of tea and I also hated how others disagreed. Disagreement to other’s point of view in team dynamics, generally leads to a play of egos.

Approach that works for me is to find a way out to get along with the colleagues in spite of differences and move on with job at hand. Along the way, I consciously try to see and understand other’s points of view and genuinely try to iron out the differences by moderating my views or by showing others the necessity to reconsider their views, depending on the emerging facts, difficulties and successes.

And I have been successful in my approach to a great extent, but at the same time simply cannot escape from times when I had to openly express resentment to my colleagues and superiors. These are the times when I feel awful, both during and after the act. At the same time I never thought it as a problem – As far as I knew, this is the way people express their disagreement - you cannot be nice and still disagree with others. You have to be offensive in your resentment.

It was during one such act of disagreement over an issue with my leader that I was noticed by a very senior colleague of mine, who had overheard the strife and promptly sent in for me.

In a very straight forward manner he said, “I do not know what the discussion is about, but I must tell you something, you do not have to be rude and aggressive while disagreeing, instead be comfortable in resentment. That will certainly help you in making others comfortable as well and more receptive to your point of view”.

Here was the defining moment, a belief strengthened by my years of on-the-job interactions with insiders and outsiders, that one must be rude and aggressive in disagreement was not only shattered by this gentleman, but also had verbalized my problem: Uncomfortable while resenting.

So learn to be comfortable as you express your disagreement! Your view, after all is just another point of view. Once you gain this capability, your acceptability in teams is bound to surge.

You can never over-communicate

You can never over-communicate, more so if it concerns with building a cultural infrastructure to propel the organization towards its future goals.

Here is a small piece of communication by a leader to emphasize the importance of desired cultural changes in his organization. The communication underlines and clarifies desired cultural undertones, which will help transform the unit.

Thanks to a close friend who worked in this reputed firm, who enriched my collection of great “leadership communications” in business organizations, with this wonderful piece, which I have always wanted to share with others. Next follows the text of the communication:

Some of you must have noticed fresh set of posters in the reception area and must be wondering -- why do we need them and what is it that they are trying to communicate? If you have not noticed them – don’t worry for they will be everywhere; Very soon they are going to become a way of our life.

For us to be positioned successfully for the future, we need to undergo a cultural transformation for we are in crisis. The biggest challenge(s) that we face today are “What do we want to be known for?” and “What is our future roadmap?” All of us need to step up to the challenge and be a part of the cultural transformation that will help us find answers to the above questions. The poster campaign is going to remind each of you every single day on what needs to be done, how can we reach there and who can take us there.

These posters communicate the following:

• Building our Identity
• Moving up the value chain
• Identifying the leader in you
• Creating a culture of Excellence through Focus Demonstrating CLR: Creativity, Leadership and solid relationships with our partners, peers and customers.

We need to make sure that we are focused on what ever we do; be it technology, processes, business knowledge and/or project. It is only through focus can we achieve excellence and excellence is what we require to move up to the next level.

Creativity: It is a process of developing and expressing novel ideas for solving problems or satisfying needs.

• Ask yourself how flexibly and imaginatively did you approach problems?
• Did your solution challenge the status quo?
• Ask yourself what could you have done better?

If you have an inner passion to solve the problem at hand then creativity will automatically get reflected in proposed solutions. Also, to be creative you have to be an expert – be it technical, procedural or intellectual knowledge.

Leadership: Leadership is not just about leading people, it is about:

• Being focused on getting short term results and at the same time not losing sight of long term needs
• Understanding the specifics of how things work
• Respecting the limits of what are the available resources
• Being compassionate and responsive to other’s needs and feelings
• Listening to other’s opinions and ideas
• Thinking broadly on how can we move up the value chain Making tough calls, taking stands and articulating reasons for taking stands clearly

Relationship: Last but not the least, any success that is achieved at the cost of relationships is not truly success. Make sure that your relationships with partners, peers and customer are stellar for then only will we be truly successful.

Go, take a lead in building a culture of excellence through focus and demonstrate CLR every single day to reach new heights!

How did you like it? Any comments please?

Ambiguity of carbon footprint

Climate change has grabbed the attention of industry all over the world and yet there is no single definition or measure for it, leave alone a road map by the industry to contain it.

The issues pertaining to definition range form inclusion of CO2 only to other Green House Gases like methane as well. Questions are also raised whether GHGs that do not include molecules of carbon be included. Should emissions not having GHGs also be included in the definition? These are the gases that still have hazardous impact on the environment e.g. CO – which has the potential of being converted into CO2 in the atmosphere.

The question of gases that can be included in the carbon footprint is only one dimension of the problem of defining and measuring. Other dimension relates to the scope – it is a question of where the boundary lies. Do we consider only the direct on-site emissions or we also consider indirect emissions because of upstream activities in the chain? How the life cycle impact of processes and products be measured reliably eliminating the chances of omissions and double counting.

Look beyond competitors and industry

Replicating competitors’ moves is not a strategy. Most of us try to imitate what one or more of the industry players have already initiated. This way you can achieve competitive parity at best, and a market where competition gets bloodier by the day. Price war is what we get to.

But, replication is the easiest means of implementation.

So replicate, but not what your competitors do, but draw parallel from what similar firms in other industry sectors are doing. You may have to customize what has proved successful for others - who are in the same bracket as you are in, but only in a different industry - to suit your markets.

Comparison of various financial and non-financial parameters will help in identifying a similar firm outside our industry. Apart from a simple comparison of quantified parameters, other aspects of business such as geographical spread, nature of competition, nature of products, risk factors and other value chain considerations can also be compared to zero down on similar firm.

A close comparison and study of strategic initiatives in such a firm can provide much required insights and options for charting a new strategic direction for the company.

Vague strategy statements

Ever wondered what these strategy taglines are all about? First thought that comes to us is the statement so pompously delivered by the top executive and displayed at all vantage points in the company, which any way does not carry any meaning for the employees.

We are talking about the vague strategy statements such as:

• To be a world class organization!
• Unleashing creative potential of people!
• To be an excellent enterprise!

Rest assured there are no takers for these vague statements. With these generalized and sweeping statements leaders simply are not able to put the message across.

The first job of the leader is not to translate strategy into result, though it is what he does ultimately, the first step in fact is to translate strategy into clear and understandable language - a simple statement that tells people what is expected of them.

Have you got survival strategy in place?

Economic slow down has caught many a businesses on the wrong foot. Growth and expansion were the strategic buzz words; it was as if the bolt of economic slowdown was unleashed upon the businesses. All of a sudden, the focus has shifted to survival.

Some of the strategies I can think of which will not only help businesses survive the present turmoil but also keep them fighting fit to take on growth opportunities as the economy starts to stage a comeback:

• Focus on operational efficiency – Shift from aggressive expansion plans to productivity improvement plans
• Create alternate revenue streams – So that impact of slowdown on top line is minimized. Diversification is an option here.
• Rethink your product, market and customer mix – Simple re-alignment may help you hold on to your bottom line
• Emphasize sales and service as well – Encourage customer loyalty through well planned service and support initiatives

Transitory nature of jobs and the way out

An article titled Career management – individual & organizational role stirred up my thinking on changing perspective of jobs, which has redefined the workplace relationship between employer and employees. Increasingly transitory nature of the jobs is a matter of concern for both employer and employees. The only way out, which promises a win-win situation, is the one where both share responsibilities for enhancing employees’ marketability.

The fast evolving solution appears to be the one where employers offer opportunity to employees to develop and hone their skills and guide competent employees towards “right job” in the organization. Employees on their part adopt the motto of continuous learning and be prepared for the opportunities available both inside and outside the organizations.

The win-win proposition that emerges is - a highly capable and flexible workforce for organizations and enhanced marketability of individuals for the employees.

Why is work important?

Work is very important to all of us. People put in more than 40 hours in a week doing their work through which they earn their livelihood. Obviously, the only activity that consumes more time than one's job is sleep. Work is the identity of a person. We introduce ourselves through the job or occupation that we are engaged in. Work is not merely a means of earning livelihood, it is also a source of self-esteem for individuals. The very knowledge of how a worker creates value for the organization is itself a strong motivation for him to excel and in turn drives his self-esteem. A job is a tremendous positive force in one's life.

It is work through which we express ourselves to our communities. The experience and learning that we get in course of doing our work guides our progress in life and in a way is a decisive factor behind what we aspire for in future.

So if on one hand, work provides us our livelihood today, it also provides a means of envisioning and creating our future.