Leadership Vision

 

Leaders seek a life of selfless service and take care of matters that are beyond the apprehension of ordinary masses. They take upon the vows that don’t serve any individual interest but the greater good. As I opted for term 3 course - Leadership: Vision Meaning and Reality, I was intrigued by the rich literature that the course offered and above it the methodology to understand how different leaders are inspired and achieve their motive to serve the mankind. I was taken on a journey of self-realization through the characters of Mahatma Gandhi, Don Quixote, Joan Arc, Abraham Lincoln and other numerous fictional characters which are equally worth mentioning. The amount of complexity that all these characters revolve around is difficult to corelate if one does not keep an open mind. One needs to be considerate that leadership is an art of human psychology and that different circumstances in life require different skills of leadership ranging from discipline, compassion, self-awareness, critical judgement and many more. Through this article, I am taking an opportunity to express the learnings and inferences that I have come across through the rich lessons and interesting discussions during LVMR course in my MBA journey. 

 

Leaders are not born but made

 

A lot has been debated about how leadership traits are part of inherent character of a few people versus how these traits can develop through exposure to various circumstances. A study conducted by University of Illinois confirms that leadership development follows a specific progression. The reference study highlights that the process of leadership development is based on three things. A person’s readiness to learn about leadership, his/ her willingness to learn skills required for leaders and the ability to lead based on skills and self-motivation. If someone doesn’t think themselves to be a leader or has no confidence in being a leader, they are never going to develop the skills or the ability to be a leader. Research has suggested that leadership skills can be attributed as 30 percent genetic and 70 percent generating from learnings of various life experiences. Throughout the course, while observing the different characters, I could easily understand that leaders were genuinely affected by their life experiences. Prime example for this would be the case of Mahatma Gandhi, who went onto become the torchbearer of truth and non-violence. His struggles paved way for his greatness, and he took every incident to improve upon his ideology which eventually became guiding light for the Indian Independence movement.

 

Leaders have been imagined by most of us as someone idealistic, having great personalities and as the exceptional human beings. But leadership is not only about who you are but more importantly how you are with others. How effectively you can communicate and bond with people to pursue a common goal. Many of the leadership courses begin with the activity of identifying one’s strength and weakness, so that individuals can know how to bridge tha gap to become an effective leader. Many organizations hence have leadership development programs to create individual personalities that aligns with their business requirements. Leadership proficiency which can be said to be determined by readiness, willingness, and ability to lead becomes a key criterion for selecting individuals in such corporate leadership programs. 

 

Self-awareness and Sense of purpose

 

Self-awareness is the foundation for strong character which enables leaders to face difficult situations and take decisions that are not biased by external influences. It takes unbiased reflection on one’s own part to the point of ridicule in the eyes of others. Don Quixote was one such character whose self-awareness was beyond understanding of ordinary intellect. His sense of purpose and belief in himself was idealistic and many understood him to be a mad person. The selflessness exhibited by the character of Don Quixote in the pursuit of his passion is beyond the capabilities of a mind that thinks of everything in terms of loss and gain. His companion Sancho’s character presents the gullibility of human nature that seeks easy and profitable paths. This classic literature deals with the leadership vision like no other text.  Leaders consider the impact beyond short term gains and aim for long term visions. Hence, leaders can never be judged on the basis of what they achieve materialistically. 

 

Don Quixote forced me to rethink how should someone identify his/her path to becoming a leader. One obvious mistake that anyone can make is to focus on the end results and take inspiration from them to seek profitable or comfortable methods towards them. This is exactly what Sancho does. What Quixote does is not fueled by any personal gain but the greater good of serving as a knight. Although he was nothing like a Knight, his sense of purpose was so clear that he took upon imaginary and unreasonable tasks. Many argued in the class that why to seek such a path which brings nothing but pain and humiliation. I think his sense of purpose was so strong that he could easily endure all the difficulties. It may sound idealistic and stupid to today’s generation who want to be high salaried CEO and not a leader who can bind people together with their sense of purpose. But as discussed by the professor in class about Elon Musk’s leadership style, his adamant nature of believing in his vision and relentlessly pursuing his untenable goals have made a huge impact on electric vehicles and space technology for the betterment of mankind.

 

Be a follower first

Everyone wants to lead and be a great achiever. My personal experiences and understanding of the literature that LVMR course exposed me to converge on a single point that one needs to be a follower first then only he/she can understand how to lead. For this reason, military officers are trained to do all kinds of work that exists in the Defence forces, so that they know how to be a follower first and take orders before being able to give orders. Understanding this little aspect is very critical for today’s generation of corporate leaders who are very far from the ground reality, and it hurts their end purpose by allowing them very little understanding of the actual matters. What I believe is being a good listener allows leaders to arrest the gaps between their vision and what transpires on ground. Sad truth is that leaders get themselves surrounded with people who speak comfortable lies instead of harsh truth. When a leader is low on confidence and is seeking to confirm his purpose from others, such comfortable lies become a cultural phenomenon. This was evident during the course while discussing Tughlaq’s character, who had great plans but each of which failed miserably. He was unable to communicate his vision and gain followers in his pursuit of becoming a great king. He went on to fanatically doubt his own kingship when he says, “ Am I the King or son of a King..”.  Ability to amend mistakes comes from humility of being a follower and it allows true understanding of viewpoint of others.

Continuous Self-Improvement

One of the greatest Roman Emperors, Marcus Aurelius stands out from the other great emperors because of his contribution to self-improvement literature through his book Meditations. I had been fortunate to read this book during my Academy days and it gave me an opportunity to understand how an Emperor thought. Marcus Aurelius’s rule was filled with military wars and during that time he had to be more of a leader above and beyond his stoic philosophical belief. During his rule, he kept the Roman Empire safe from the Parthians and Germans at the time. Out of the Roman emperors, he was the most respected because his rule was driven by his philosophical belief and reason. His quotes on leadership specifically are still relevant to this day and have taught me time and again how to be a better leader. One of the learnings I have taken to heart is after you become a leader, don’t forget your calling, and get swayed by the glamour of power and authority. One of my Aurelius’ favorite quote is - “keep yourself simple, good, pure, saintly, plain, a friend of justice, god-fearing, gracious, affectionate, and strong for your proper work”. Aurelius wasn’t made Emperor by bloodline. His connection to the throne was that he was the emperor’s nephew. This was a similar trend to the previous four emperors who weren’t directly related by blood and just so happened to be distant relatives to the Emperor at the time. Marcus Aurelius talks leadership as a responsibility to work intelligently with what is given, and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices. And when you do so you continuously improve upon yourself rather than finding best options around you. 

 

I could relate this aspect of leadership in Lincoln’s character during the course. He was relentless to improve upon himself and without having formal education became a lawyer and eventually the President of USA.While choosing his first cabinet, Lincoln nominated colleagues with whom he fought the presidential election, as they were the best minds available. Lincoln listened to others and put the welfare of the country above his own personal interests. USA was struggling to come to terms with abolishing slavery and Lincoln was instrumental in passing the 13 amendment. Without his leadership vision and pragmatic approach to solve the problems of the USA as a whole, USA might not be as great as it is today.

 

Leaders create movement

 

The most influential characteristic of a leader is to create more leaders that can create a movement. This may happen knowingly or unknowingly as the true reflection of a leader’s effectiveness lies in the fact that how many of the followers are inspired and connected to the leaders calling. Mahatma Gandhi was able to create a nationwide independence movement that galvanized the entire nation which was a community of different religions which otherwise would have been different nations.

 

Ajay Banga became the CEO of Mastercard in 2010. He was focused on making small business accessible to the formal financial system. He focused on innovation and collaboration with customers and communities. In the current times leadership has become harder as stakeholder expectation have increased and globalization has brough multiple factors that are beyond the control of management. What Banga and his senior executive Garry Lyon did was spectacular as they infused Mastercard’s culture with innovation. The company transformed from a non profit bank association to an independent global technology company in payments sector.  Leaders have to act as catalyst and create an ecosystem in the organization that accelerates growth. Leaders need to map the interdependencies to enable the organization to fulfill its purpose.

 

The learnings in the course readings sparked a bright light in my head and heart to seek self-awareness as a leader. As I take forward these learnings, I am aware that results can not be measured in terms of material factors but how much I am connected to my inner self. Leaders need to be selfless when they try to achieve their own goals. It may happen that paths don’t converge and learnings are followed by some more learnings. But I promise to keep my path straight and not loose heart when things don’t turn out as I want.