When
Venketarajan went to the head office in London after 3 months of his assuming
office as a Vice-president, Finance of South Zone, of a multi-national company,
a very proud man indeed, the group CFO asked him a very simple question over an
official dinner – Are you a leader?
The
question shocked him. In the given 3 months’ time he has shown an impressive
body of work. So why this question? But to his surprise, he failed to answer!
Managers
and leaders are completely different roles and most leadership roles are really
‘managed’ by highly efficient ‘managers’, who, no matter how efficient they
are, does not qualify as leaders.
So,
are you a leader? I will take it here that people who are reading this blog are
aspiring leaders and hence I would suggest that they look at these pointers
with utmost seriousness for all these are valid and time tested.
So,
let’s take a few pointers that every aspiring leader should be able to answer
and be aware of.
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Are you capable of taking risks?
That’s
point number 1. A good leader is one who is fearless of the outcome and immune
to criticism. The capability of taking calculated risks should be a natural
flow in his personality system. While a business can be run and improved by an
efficient manager, to take it to the next level requires a fearless leader.
Because transition to the next level will only come through changes in the
existing system. Change is an unseen entity which will have an element of a
possible failure. A leader, while initiating a change takes failure into
account but is not bogged down by the possibility. He knows how to take it into
his stride and move ahead. This fearlessness give him the capacity to take
risks, lead from the front and initiate the next level.
A
business without a proper leader but good managers can be well run, but can
never grow.
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Are you a confident decision maker?
This
would be our point number 2. Confidence in decision making is paramount to the
successful execution of it. With a confident decision comes a high degree of
clarity. Clarity eliminates the unnecessary frills. It not only saves time, it
also increases productivity. A leader is required to be confident at any given
situation when it comes to his ability of decision making. But never is a
leader’s confidence more at test than when there is a need for a split second
decision. Again, to drill in the concept, or the difference -- while a good
manager may efficiently arrive at a decision in a boardroom meeting, it will
take extreme leadership skills to make a quick decision in the time of
emergency.
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Are you creative?
This
is point 3 in my list and readers may question the importance of its need. “Am
I supposed to know painting or poetry to become a leader?!” In business a
creative mind means a mind that has new ideas. To run a business which is
already existing is good managerial skills. To make it grow, new ideas are the
key. That is work of a creative mind. When a leader has a creative bent of mind
the business sees out of turn growth and prosperity. Innovative ideas like the
cell phone, Bluetooth devices, LCD screens and even the enchanting kohl in a
woman’s eye are all the work of a creative mind. And ofcourse, all a
multi-million business stretch. Worth a thought!
----
Are you honest?
Point
4 and one that needs no elaboration. If you are not honest, you are a failure.
Making money does not need a cunning mind as is popularly propagated. Nor does
it involve one’s ability to cheat. A shrewd and highly successful businessman
is always honest.
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Do you have a positive attitude?
Point
5 is positive attitude and is everything in a nutshell, when we talk of
leadership skills. All great things comes out from a positive frame of mind.
It’s the greatest of all mental skills. Positive attitude in a business means
no matter what the situation is, you need to have the ability to view it from a
positive angle. To be successful, a positive attitude means to never give up
and that’s the basic sustaining character of a born leader.
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Do you have good communication skill?
That’s
point 6. A leader must be able to create the necessary ripple effect within his
team players. For that he needs to have clarity of his ideas. An idea can never
materialize if it cannot be shared with the same passion across the board. To
bring in the players on-board a leader must have an extremely good
communication skill and understand the need for doing so. An effective flow of
communication removes all blocks and maintains the necessary flow.
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Are you able to delegate?
Point
7 – the ability to delegate is a leader’s quality to trust. Do you trust your
teammates? An extremely confident leader has the ability to trust his teammates
and delegate workload to them. Gives them responsibility and trusts them to
deliver. He is not a control freak and understands that without delegation a
business cannot rise to level -2. With business expanding, e-mails pile in and
protocols line up. An effective delegation gives the leader time and mind space
to concentrate on work that cannot be delegated. To understand the importance
of it is the work of a good effective leader.
----
Are you intuitive?
Point
8. Being intuitive may not is an absolute essential skill but an intuitive
leader definitely has an edge. While key decision making in any organization
involves meetings, sharing of ideas and opinions, pulling in facts and files,
comparing data before arriving at a decision, some leaders like to put aside
these fact files and taking intuitive decisions.
Cricket
Captain MS Dhoni is known for intuitive decision making streak and the
importance of it has been highlighted in the recent years only after closely
observing him and studying his pattern.
An
intuitive leader is a highly aware person who can draw from his sub-conscious
easily and make effective decisions. He is considered to be more evolved and a
superior leader.
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Do you have the ability to inspire?
Point
9. Can you inspire? Because without it an organisation cannot have life. The
productivity value of an organisation comes from the ability of its workers to
deliver. Only a highly motivated worker can deliver successfully. A leader
should be a visionary. He not only should have a vision of the company, he
should also be able to see the future path of his workers in it and be able to
motivate and inspire them from time to time.
Who
is an inspiring leader? A leader who has words, phrases and ideas to motivate
is an inspirational leader. Also a leader who has the ability to stand shoulder
to shoulder with his workers and do the job is highly inspiring. A leader who
keeps his door open for his workers to walk in and talk is inspiring. A leader
who knows the ground level job and can get his hands dirty on-job is highly
inspiring.
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Do you have a sense of humour?
Point
10. Never let the blood thicken in your workplace. A true leader knows that
there will always be criticality in the workplace. There will be situations to
handle. Failures to fight against and disappointments to deal with. It’s the
job of a leader to keep the stress level low and spirits high. A sound mix of
humour thrown in from time to time will ensure that no matter what the
situation is, the team does not lose hope. And a highly motivated and hopeful
team will always keep the boat afloat in times of criticality.
These
10 pointers are quintessential to any leader and though the list is
unexhausted, possessing these above given 10 skills will ensure that you have
what it takes in the making of a good leader.
Not
all leaders are born. Some very good leaders are made. Autobiography of great
leaders have proved that they have travelled through rough terrains and have
seen failures umpteen number of times before they tasted success.
What
made them successful?
They
never gave up.
And
what made them a leader?
The
awareness of these leadership skills.
So
never give up and always, always be aware.
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