leadership is like a tight ropewalk, thereby making balance its most crucial tool for success
The story dates back to the 1960s when John F Kennedy got elected as the President of the United States. Shortly after assuming charge, the President called Robert McNamara, the then President of Ford and offered him to become the Treasury Secretary. McNamara was honest enough to decline the offer stating that he was not qualified for the job. Kennedy, keen to induct him in his team then asked McNamara to take charge of the position of the Secretary of Defence. McNamara declined again citing the same reason. This time Kennedy reacted in frustration stating that there was no school to train people to be Presidents. The moral of the story is that leadership is a different ball game. No one knows what makes a leader but what a leader should do is in fact common knowledge. As per a study around a decade back by the Centre for Creative leadership, the US had estimated that a good 40 per cent of new CEOs fail in their first 18 months. Business and political leaders face many similar problems of which the most important one is to discover how to lead an endeavour from its present position to a higher destination.
As India readies for its exercise to find a new CEO to run the country, the question that crops up in our minds is somewhat similar — who is the right personIJ And President Kennedy was right. There are no schools to train for the top job. Neither can the PR gimmicks work no matter how many crores are spent over them. The ‘war rooms’ are also not the answer though the spin doctors and their techno savvy understudies may try to prove this in so many words. leadership at best is an art. Two things certainly matter — judgement and courage. And they are directly related to the leader’s values.
The Ramayana, our classic mythological text, offers some basic clues to the art of leadership; on how Ravana, the mighty demon king with all his wherewithal, wealth and team of heavily armed warriors and strategists was humbled by Rama, the barefoot prince of Ayodhya with only an army of monkeys and with no armour or protection gears. The first and foremost reason wasadharma, that is, non-righteousness. Noble intentions must be there behind the vision. Ravana’s intentions were bad. The second reason was his diseased ego, his haughtiness, the ahankara, that clouded his judgement. He was autocratic to the hilt and did not listen to anybody. His decisions were driven by negative emotions, lust, greed, envy and pride. So even his boon could not come to his rescue. Rama on the other hand, was driven by the right cause, was humble and listened to his people. He respected their views and sought their advice. It was his trust in his people that paid dividends. leadership is about taking critical decisions. Sometimes you have to take close ones, as close as one with a 51:49 probability. It calls for a great amount of moral strength and courage to make a judgement on a decision like this. leadership is a tight ropewalk. You have to be above your people but you also have to be one among them. It is about striking a balance and opportunities, though temptations to flounder are many. One slip and you fall. It is under these trying circumstances that leadership is tested. And the values of a leader are his greatest armour.
The writer is a professor, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad (Jharkhand). He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com