The Hindu Business Line, October 16, 2006

Much is written and spoken about leadership and what I have read tends to focus on the academic. Leaders and budding leaders are exhorted to be people friendly, good motivators, tenacious, passionate, self-motivated, endowed with great analytical skills, good communicators and so on and so forth. All of this is obviously true – and, of course, I am sure, leaves the beginner with a sense of bewilderment. Where to begin?

In my experience there are two core elements that differentiate a great leader from a merely good one. The first has to do with a framework of values. Do you know, from a values perspective, what rules you would lay down for your team/organisation? Are you able to define these rules/expectations to your co-workers for every conceivable situation they would face in their day-to-day work? Are you able to anticipate the kind of situations they would face and set the rules of conduct in place before the event occurs? When you are faced with a situation you have never faced before, or had not anticipated, does your core set of values quickly take over and guide you to a decision that is consistent with the overall framework of values you have articulated?

Being able to define, articulate, demonstrate, and operate from a tightly defined framework of values is the first step towards established leadership and building a team or an organization.

Let’s move on to the second core element – ability to act in times of uncertainty. Every manager knows that practically every single day he/she will be faced with a situation which he/she does not have enough data to make a completely informed decision. This happens across the world in every business, every day. Good leaders are the ones who do not get paralyzed by this lack of data or information.

Good leaders have an innate ability to act. No matter what the situation or the level of information available – the good leader takes a call, makes a decision, and moves on. They make mistakes. But they learn from these mistakes and do not allow it to make them hesitant or unsure of themselves. Because they learn and keep on acting and moving, their judgment in times of uncertainty gets finely honed and they get it right more often than not. And in times of uncertainty and doubt (which is most of the time in business!) – people turn to those who are willing to take a call and take the responsibility for the call. And so a leader is born!