The Fragrance of Leadership in You

 

It is very interesting to feel the change in human values nowadays. Since basic objectives of most of the individuals have become economic growth i.e. Profit in business, healthy increments, all types of luxuries at home etc. Mobile technology has reduced the distance. Social media have further created a virtual world all around us.

Role of Technology

These changes have very attractive features. Artificial intelligence, robotics, drone technologies are becoming part of human life. They are gradually grabbing the work done by human beings. It is expected that automation in the next 10 years will surpass the automation taking place in the next 100 years. As a result, unemployment is ever increasing. On an average one machine is reducing the employment of at least 10 men. So much employment is neither in the benefit of mankind, society or Govt.

Now a question arises: what is the way out? Whether we should go for these technologies or follow our old practices. This is a conflict zone. Decision on this issue cannot be left to the Govt or a set of people. All of us have to collective own a roadmap and work responsibly on it. For example, Prime minister Modi has given a target to make India a 5 trillion economy by 2024. Whether we are supporters of Prime minister Modi or not but we have to own this mandate and feel ourselves responsible to contribute to it to justify the role India wants to play in the world scenario.

Compulsion to adopt the technology

Whatever decision we take, it has its own benefits, merits and demerits. Suppose we decide to stick with manual work then we will remain lagging behind since China is already a 15 Trillion economy, it is grabbing the land of its neighbors, it’s technologically more advanced than us, it is doing destructive politics in neighboring countries etc. It has already influenced the world economy with its cheap although worst quality goods. Further China is getting full support from its slave country Pakistan. Recently we have seen the effect of technology on the war zone where Azerbaijan won the war against Armenia with the help of Israeli drones in Nagorno-Karabakh. So, we cannot take risks to avoid technology. Despite being peaceful and wishing welfare of all, we had to experienced attack, destruction and slavery of foreign looters. Therefore, there is no escape. We have to explore all the latest technologies to keep ourselves safe.

Need of Leadership

Now the question arises whether a machine can fully replace mankind? Probably no. Machines are very powerful and intelligent but man is a creator it is not simply creation. There will always be scope for working and excellence for mankind. Therefore, there will always be requirements for leaders to work in the knowledge zone. Now the question arises whether there is any set formula to become leader? Probably no. No solution is ever valid. It is effective upto certain circumstance’s thereafter it gets resistance or becomes ineffective. Thereafter someone new appears and resolves the problem.

Opportunity in India as compared to Other Countries

There are tremendous opportunities in India. If you compare the top global companies in the USA for example Google, Microsoft etc, they have Indian CEO’s. These CEO’s have demonstrated exemplary value based ethical management in their global brand. Now the question arises that if these Indians can do excellent jobs for other countries then why can they not for their own nation? There are several factors responsible for this problem. One of them is a lethargic social and Govt approach on brain drain problems. If you take the example of China, the Govt has full control on social and economic activities. Govt. can freely make policies and procedures impacting a large group of people. They have done fantastic economic development but at what cost? Do they have human values anywhere? Recently we have seen their treatment with their big bang Jak Ma.

In India Govt. had taken reforms in the agricultural sector to boost farmers income but it met a hard rock of middle man. Probably Intention behind these reforms were that competition & technological investment will improve productivity in crop yield and boost income of farmers but a group of people did not have trust on these laws they are opposing it. Moreover, dirty politics do not want to allow opponents to perform so they are ready to any extent to disturb the peace and progress of the country. Therefore, all countries are not exactly comparable. They have their unique issues.

The Fragrance of Leadership

A leader needs to be a team player.  He has to be always in CEO mode. Means he has to ensure collaboration, execution and ownership. He has to ensure that his team continues to learn, think and innovate in process, product and relationships. He should ensure that his team enjoys his work rather than blindly follow the instructions like robots. When there is learning with enjoyment it causes growth for the organization as well as employees. They should enjoy appropriate autonomy to take decisions and execute the work. Their self-esteem shall be uplifted from ensuring customer satisfaction to customer delight. It will help them to align their objective of life with the objective of the organization. Remember that you can not make any work interesting but you can find meaning and values in its importance.

Case Studies

1)  Microsoft

Steve Ballmer was hired by Bill Gates in 1980 and he succeeded replacing him as CEO in 2000.  He served till 2014 as CEO of Microsoft. He was a core technology person and had the feeling that he knew best and Microsoft products were the best. During his tenure, he maintained uniqueness in Microsoft. He was of the view that Microsoft products shall not be sold on Apple or Lenox platforms. In a way decision making was limited to board rooms only It got mixed response from the market and Microsoft had to miss good opportunities. Impact of his decisions.

 A comparison of stock prices with Bill gates is given below. In 2014 Satya Nadella succeeded him as CEO. Sathya took a different approach towards decision making. He empowered people at a lower level to take decisions in collaboration with any platform to grow the business. He always emphasized that revenue is a lagging parameter of performance rather usage of their product and services are primary parameters. Further he encouraged people to concentrate on mobile and cloud base business where there is maximum opportunity in future.

 It became a turnaround for Microsoft. Just see the stock process in the above image.

1)     2) InMobi

Inmobi is a Indian Multinational company led by Mr Navin Tiwari and Engineering Graduate from IIT Kanpur. He started this company in 2007 with his friends for mobile marketing and mobile advertisement. Presently they have 22 marketing offices in 12 countries with employee strength of approx. 1000/.

Mr Tiwari & his team have successfully built a self-sustaining organization nourished by their deep-rooted values. People are kept in the Centre and all policies are designed based on research and contain uniqueness. They always have magic in creating and communicating the policies. Some basic features of their policies are as below -

1)  1) They don’t have attendance rules or tracking systems. Its responsibility of the employee to deliver the task at their responsibility. They prefer to enjoy freedom with responsibility. Even they don’t need their supervisor’s approval upto 6 days leave.

2)    2) Everybody gets a 100% performance bonus except the sales team. Sales teams can get more or less depending upon performance. There is no upper cap on earning since they believe that a person can stretch his performance even upto 10X.

3)   3)They don’t assess people on past performance rather on conversations - how to fuel growth in the future.

4)   4)Bridge Assignment. If any one wants to work in another department for learning, then he is given an opportunity.

5)   5) Single line travel policy. Their policy says that they spend as if the travel would have been taken for their own purposes.

6)  6)They create a learning valet for employees. Which they can utilize for learning new skills, new technology, cooking classes or new language.

7)  7) If any employee refers to any bright talent for recruitment, he gets an exciting tour to Europe, Scuba Diving in the Andaman as a reward.

8)  8) If any employee wants to resign to start his own venture, then the company used to support him in everything possible can be done including offering them their office space to start with free of cost. They allow the resigning employee intermingle, brainstorm with their ex-colleagues and even eat the free food that a well-equipped cafeteria serves round the clock.

Looking upon the trends in industry, many business houses are working to improve employee engagement. They have applied flexi office timings, work from home, new idea centers.

Friends! India is a powerhouse of wisdom, humanity and divinity. Here leaders are born and made. In a strategic meeting I met Mr. Ashwini Kumar Pandey a Pune based Business Leader @ Hamshield Solutions. He observed some litter in the meeting room and asked the boy serving tea to bring a jug of water. Further he guided him to clean the room up to best of his satisfaction. This ground to earth passion of excellence becomes inspiration for the followers. Similar passion we used to read about J R D Tata where he himself used to guide the cabin attendants on skill to serve their customers.

Hope in near future India too have their pool of International Business Houses of par excellence like Google. Apple, Microsoft and Alibaba.