Saibal C. Pal
19th November, 2009- it is just another day like any other day. But to the nation it is the 92nd Birth Anniversary of Indira Gandhi who was not only our Prime Minister but a mass leader who moved the nation ahead by her pragmatic approach. She was a lady who mesmerized one and all by her iron will and leadership qualities. It was under her leadership that India earned consolidated position world wide. It was during her tenure as Prime Minister, Bangladesh was recognized as a new nation and India was the first country to recognize the new nation. Sikkim an independent country was annexed to India as the twenty-fifth state. There are other feats of the great leader though small need mention for common man. I cannot top narrating an untold story which is only known to a handful of people. Way back in the early eighties, Mr. Sukhomoy Majumdar, the father of Mr. Arun Majumdar appointed as Head of the Department of Environmental Energy, Advanced Research Wing of USA under the Obama Government, was travelling after his retirement from the Department of Aviation, to one of the West Indian countries on a new assignment. He was travelling from Kolkata via Delhi to his destination abroad. About eight hours before the departure of his flight Mr. Majumdar found that a Home Department clearance was required before his departure. That meant he would not able to take the flight unless the clearance was obtained from the Home Department. He was stranded with his wife and two sons at the airport and did not know what to do. After spending sometime wondering what to do, Mr. Majumdar suddenly remembered that once he had taken care of Mrs. Gandhi when she was out of power in the late seventies at the Airport at Kolkata as an official of the airport. Pleased with his behavior Mrs. Gandhi before boarding the plane told Mr. Majumdar that if ever he required any assistance in Delhi, he could approach her. The words of Madame rang in his ears and based on the words, Mr. Majumdar wanted to try his luck with Mrs. Gandhi who had then become Prime Minister. When he reached her office he found from her secretary that Madam was in a cabinet meeting. Desperate he requested her secretary if he could find a way how she could meet Madam. Mr. Majumdar gave a slip with a request to hand it over to Madam. After great persuasion he went to the meeting room and after sometime came out with the message for Mr. Majumdar that she excused herself for not being able to meet Mr. Majumdar asked her secretary to hear his problem and to sort it out immediately. Mr. Majumdar received the clearance within time to board the flight as scheduled. At that time Madam did not know that she was helping the father of Arun Majumdar, Head of the Department of Environmental Energy, and Advanced Research Wing of the US under Obama Government. I leave it to the readers to interpret the incident. It an brings out the qualities great leader possess. Good leaders may not always be great leaders. Great leaders are worshipped as heroes. World has been blessed with many a hero. They were not in the same field. Chandragupta was a hero in the war field having defeated King Nanda. Pele was a hero in the football field whereas Sachin Tendulkar is a hero of the cricket field.
While I was penning the above lines my radio was on and I was hearing 92.7 FM which was playing the tunes scored by Salil Choudhury who was born on the same day and it was his 84th birth anniversary. Salil Choudhury was a leader in his own field having given tunes to several melodies which keep ringing in our ears even to-day. Salil Choudury gave leadership in the field of Indian film music not only in Hindi but also several other languages. The two were leaders in different fields. One was a politician and the other was a musician. They created history in their own respective fields. One cannot stop remembering the legendary J.R.D.Tata after whom the Board Room of Infosys Technologies Limited is named. Dhirubhai Ambani showed the world the power of leadership and its result. Reliance is the outcome. Indira Gandhi, Salil Choudhury,J.R.D.Tata and Dhirubhai Ambani continue to be respected for their contribution to the world in their respective fields. .
Leadership has no set rules. So we find that no leader can take over another leader’s job and do it the same way. Mahatma Gandhi was different from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in his approach to achieve independence of India yet they both shared the same idea of making India free from the nearly two century old British subjugation. Rishi Aurobindo, Chittaranjan Das, Jaiprakash Narayan, Vinobha Bhave, Ram Mohan Lohia and Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy are all leaders who contributed differently for the progress of the nation. They valued the country’s interest more than their personal interest. A leader is said to work with two things, a job and a group. You can always tell when a leader succeeds because the job gets done and the group holds together.
It is common knowledge that Chairman, President, Coach and King are positions which are meant to lead. Leadership does require skill. It is not required to be born with the attributes of leadership . Human beings are born with a brain. If we can learn to swim or play cricket or do mathematics, we can also learn the art/skill of leadership. Boss and leaders can be differentiated. Being a boss does not make one a leader automatically. A Chairman of company may not be the true leader of his business.
Interest in leadership studies increased during the early 20th century. Initially leadership theories focused on what distinguished between leaders and followers. Theories forwarded looked at situational factors and skill levels. Various theories forwarded include:
1. `Great Man Theory’ assumes leaders are born and cannot be made. The theory lays down great leaders as heroic, mythic and destined to rise to leadership when needed.
2.’Trait Theories’ identify particular personality or behavioral characteristics found in leaders. The theories often highlight particular personality or behavioral characteristic shared by leaders.
3. `Contingency Theories’ focus on particular variables related to environment that might determine particular style of leadership which is best suited for the situation. They conclude that there is no one type of leadership style that is best in all situations. There are a number of variables that determine leadership styles, qualities of the followers and aspects of the situation.
4. `Situational Theories’ propose that leaders choose the best course of action based upon situational variables. Particular style of leadership may be appropriate for certain type of decision making.
5. `Behavioral Theories’ are based on the belief that great leaders are made and not born. Rooted in behaviorism, this theory focuses on the actions of leaders, not on mental qualities or internal states. The theory provides that people can learn to become leaders through teaching observation.
6. `Participative Theories’ suggest that ideal leadership style is not that takes input of others into account. Leaders encourage participation and contributions from group members and help such members to feel more relevant and committed to the decision-making process. In participative theories, however, the leader retain the right to allow the input of others.
7. `Management Theories’ referred to as `Transactional theories’ stress on the role of supervision, organization and group performance. Such theories base leadership on the system of reward and punishment. Managerial theories are often used in business involve rewarding successful employees and punishing them when results are not forthcoming.
8. `Relationship Theories’ also known as `Transformational theories’ focus on connections formed between leaders and followers. The leaders motivate and inspire by helping group members. Transformational leaders focus on performance of group members and also want each person to fulfill his potential. Such leaders often seem to have high ethical and moral standards.
Among the various events held from time to time, the event held on 20th August for giving away the annual the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence for the year 2009, saw selection of the top 10 leaders of Business India Inc , by the jury. Persons selected were rewarded for their unflinching determination and relentless desire to succeed. The jury relied on the faith in the time-tested methods of leadership, gritty hard work with sterling performance for identifying the leaders in their respective fields. Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia Corporation was th Chairman of Jury and the first foreign-born Chairman to have chaired the jury so far. The jury selected Anand Mahindra, Vice-Chairman of Mahindra Mahindra group of companies as the Business Leader of the year. Vinita Bali, Managing Director of Britannia Industries was chosen businesswoman of the year. GVK Reddy who is quietly putting GVK group of companies was named the Entrepreneur of the year. Idea Cellular was selected as the Emerging Company of the year. Ram Charan, the world- renowned management guru and thinker was selected as the Global Indian of the year. Tata Energy Research Institute (Teri) received award for corporate social responsibility. Hero Honda, was named as the Company of the Year. Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar who has managed a remarkable turnaround in the state of Bihar, has been named as the Business Reformer of the year. Jean Dreze, considered instrumental in conceptualizing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, was the policy change agent of the year. Keshub Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra received the lifetime Achievement Award for decades of service to Corporate India. The award was an appreciation for all the hard work and contribution to society to set examples for other corporate leaders to follow.
Person who leads a group of people specially, the head of a country or an organization is regarded as leader . A leader is expected to guide followers who look up at him. They have to shoulder the major responsibility of their organization or group. Leaders are stressed the responsibilities thrust upon them and are said often complain of loneliness. In common parlance, leaders are regarded internally strong and self-reliant. By practicing self discipline for years they master their own emotions even though their ego still be runs wild. They develop the capacity to think, reason and foresee connections what others cannot anticipate.
Leaders have the ability and strength to absorb shocks and set backs and convert calamity into advantage. For the most part they are capable to assess people and situations in an objective manner and focus on moving towards their vision.
Higher a leader goes more is his dependence on people in his immediate circle. Leader is regarded as the boss and no matter how senior or successful the boss, he has the duty to the organization to keep his finger on the pulse of the organization and his ear to the ground. Leaders make and break organizations as they have the power to do so. Position of power is actually a position of responsibility. To put things in perspective, build consensus and utilize peaceful means to accomplish goals leaders have to put in effort. Leadership is regarded as rendering public service. Unless you are a part of the system you cannot make change. The more imaginative one is the more pro-active one becomes. Spiritual leaders regard leadership as being able to give up everything that has been achieved with dignity is power.
Mentoring is related with leadership. Mentors are those who advice and help ones having less experience over a period of time. N.R. Narayan Murthy is the Chairman & Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies Limited and is known all over including overseas. After 28 years through various ups and downs and scaling many new heights Mr. Narayna Murthy decided to set up a venture fund to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst the present generation. Hard work is recognized and sets the ball rolling for leadership. Mr. Tarun Das, the Chief Mentor of CII who is regarded as having shaped things in the economic development of the country retired. Role of a mentor is that of a teacher and student relationship and this may not be in the field of education only. Lord Krishna was the mentor of Arjuna in the epic Mahabhrata. Vishwa was, blessed by Lord Krishna to be the greatest human being to have ever lived acted as the mentor to the throne of Hastinapur. Chanakya was the mentor to King Chandragupta Maurya. Again Shakuni acted as the mentor to Duryodhana to fight the Pandavas. Mahavatar Babaji one of the few living saints acted as the mentor to Yogiraj Shyama Charan Lahiri who helped to spread the once forgotten yoga, world wide. Nothing would be complete without discussing Swami Vivekananda, the `cyclonic’ and `wandering’ monk, on leadership and mentorship. Blessed by Ramakrishnadeva, Swamiji attained heights not with the support of wealth but inherent qualities of leadership. Swamiji was not an organizer though he brought organization to the Ramakrishna Order. He was not a lecturer but he delivered lectures before gatherings and classes. Swamiji was not a missionary but he spread Vedanta to the western world. The blessed disciple of Ramkrishnadeva was an illumined soul and he went through the world, opening eyes of the people, yet Swamiji contained the whole world in his vast heart. Swamiji said, `be free; hope for nothing from any one. I am sure if you look back upon your lives, you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves.’
Reference to Swamiji and his leadership cannot stop with out reference to Eknath Ranade, the man who single handedly made the erection of the rock temple on the Vivekananda Rock possible. Commonly referred to as Eknathji, he used his leadership qualities, organized mass awakening and made the erection of the memorial of Swamiji possible.
After heroes, leaders and mentors come Gurus who are usually spiritual or revered teachers. Guru and disciple relationship is highly respected. The concept has spread to several fields starting from spiritualism to sports. Mahesh Yogi gained fame for being the Guru of the popular band Beatles. Socrates was the Guru of Plato who spread the ideas of Socrates through his writings. Gurus play a great role in the character of a disciple.
The world needs mentors and leaders to meet the challenges poised from time to time. At each stage leaders and mentors emerged to save situations. Each one is unique and cannot be compared. Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mendela, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Indira Gandhi, Jaiprakash Narayan, G.D.Birla, J.R.D. Tata Dhirubhai Ambani, and Jyoti Basu were leaders who continue to remain in public memory for their contribution for the progress of mankind. Their contributions are different but they all had the with the common idea to do good to the world. To-day the world is in the grip of crisis with global warming and it is only pragmatic leadership that can save the world from the danger poised to mankind. The entire world is looking for leadership to save the universe and masses from destruction and extinction. It on the leadership factor that countries and organizations look forward for progress. The word,`leadership’ holds the key to everything. Corporate India is needs the likes of Dhirubhai Ambani, J.R.D. Tata and N.R.Naryan Murthy for its corporates compete with global standards.
Dear Readers,
Regret for a few typographical errors that have crept in the last paragraph.
(Saibal C.Pal)