Business Leaders Should Walk The Talk

Today's Corporate Dossier carries a story on how the young bunch of managers at Airasia - the latest low-cost airline about to be launched in India - are actually  living the philosophy of 'low-cost'. 29 year-old Gangtok-born Ningku Lachungpa is in charge of the ancillaries.As part of shoring up ancillary revenues, she is doing her bit to understand every discipline to live up the tagline of making more people fly. As part of this effort, Lachungpa takes the suburban train every morning from near the airport, where she lives, to her spartan 600 sq.ft. office, situated atop a mall."When I come to the office in a taxi, I don't put down that down in the office expense as each of us are aware that even a Rs. 10 saving is a saving."

Similarly, when Aditya Ghosh, CEO of leading low-cost airline Indigo and his boss Rahul Bhatia, MD, had to go for a meeting of the private airlines' captains with the Prime Minister, they travelled in a small, unassuming hatchback. 

Indigo Airlines CEO Aditya Ghosh (L) and MD Rahul Bhatia (R)

The rest came in their fancy limos.

Living the management philosophy

In the Puranas, as mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik, explains, Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu, is the land of happiness. It is a playground or ranga-bhoomi and is described as a place which attracts Laxmi, the goddess of wealth. Vishnu always attracts wealth and is popularly worshiped as Shri-nath or Tiru-pati which means lord of affluence and abundance. On the other hand, Indra the king of the devas, who resides in his paradise, Swarga, is constantly chasing Laxmi, and trying to prevent the asuras from taking her away.The fundamental difference between Vishnu and Indra is that Indra thinks only of himself and his shareholders. They all feel entitled, like shareholders. On the other hand, Vishnu thinks of everyone - his employees, customers, shareholders, vendors, society at large, in other words - stakeholders. Thus ensuring affluence and abundance.

At times, business leaders and senior executives forget that the people they lead are closely watching their every move and action.  When leaders start living out the key brand proposition and what their company stands for, with actions such as the ones cited above, it can go a long way in inculcating an ideal organizational culture. A culture which results  in more sales, more growth and more profits, making every stakeholder - employees, customers, shareholders, vendors, society at large happy!

So, would you like Vishnu, attract wealth, or like Indra, chase it? The choice is yours.

The Power of Inspiration

Some experiences in our life have the power to shape it forever. Here are two real life stories of people whose experiences in their early years left a permanent mark on their thinking and actions.

Vineet Nayar's Jalwa (charisma)

Thirty years ago, Vineet Nayar, vice chairman and CEO of HCL Technologies was a student of a new batch at XLRI. He and his batchmates had just settled in for the first day in class when 50 adivasis stormed into the classroom and ransacked it before vanishing into thin air. None of the students were hurt, but the professor, Father McGrath, lay in a pool of blood. Even as the students were recovering from their shock, Father McGrath rose to his feet and announced that it was a staged show. "I want you to write sit down and write about what you have just seen," he told them.

The event left an indelible stamp on the young Nayar. "If you want to say something say it in the Father McGrath way so that people never forget about it, or don't sat it at all,"  was the mantra he carried from the experience. Nayar had understood with blinding clarity, the power of communication and the learning went on to form the cornerstone of his leadership style. Today, whether it is the 88,000 employees of HCL Technologies, customers, vendors or the public at large, Nayar makes it a point to get his message across with energy and elan. For instance, at a recent employee conference, he shook a leg to the Bollywood number Tera Hi Jalwa with co-workers before announcing the numbers. Plus, he has eight internal networking platforms and four external ones through which he communicates to his world of employees and stakeholders. These include Meme, HCL's equivalent of  Facebook through which he interacts with 67, 000 employees and Twitter where he sends Tweets daily and has 9000 followers. Its as if Father McGrath is still maintaining a constant vigil on him!

Mashelkar's Aag (fire)

In the case of R.A. Mashelkar, former Director at National Chemical Labotatory at Pune, the inspiration came first from his mother. Mashelkar had a difficult childhood and his mother, who worked as a maidservant, could not support his college education. But she gave him the courage to face life in times of adversity and taught him how to stand tall and not give up on principles. With her inspiration,  he not only went on to to be a rank holder in the Matriculation examination, but also win many other laurels in public life. The other inspiration was his teacher, Principal Bhave. During an experiment on how to find the focal length of a convex mirror, he held the glass till the paper caught fire. Then he turned to young Mashelkar and told him that if he could focus his energies like that, he could burn anything. This two experiences became the cornerstone of his life philosophy and also his leadership style.

Among other things, Mashelkar's personal experience of ascendance from dire circumstances, shaped his thinking that there is no limit to human endurance and achievements except the limit you put on yourself. On the other hand, his experience of Professor Bhave's convex lens experiment, shaped his leadership style forever. It  convinced him of the power of concentration and focus, When he came to CSIR, which was a network of 38 laboratories, he saw that they were competing with each other and there was zero collaboration. His convex lens style of leadership led him to initiate several collaborating programmes, including one which had 19 labs working together. Mashlekar is now hailed as the man behind India’s scientific intellectual property rights (IPR) revolution, a visionary administrator, an inspirational orator and one of the most humble scientists of his times. His mantra; focus your energies and you can set the world on fire. 

Call to Action

Both Nayar and Mashelkar know who the architects of their life philosophy and leadership style are. Do you? If not, here is a set of questions to reflect on and make you to think:

• Think of all your greatest heroes and heroines, for some of us, as in the case of Mashelkar, it may be our parents, or it could be one of our teachers and it could even be an event.
• Who do you look for inspiration in your daily life?
• Who influences your work and your profession the most?
• Who is the front runner in being your role model?

I'll be happy to hear your experience!

Leaders as Role Models

One of the most important components of leadership is to be ambassadors of the values the organization stands for. In these day of a powerful media, where everything that prominent leaders do, gets either flashed on TV, or splashed in print, leaders have an especial responsibilty to symbolize the values of the organization they lead. Three prominent leaders, who, according to me,  manage to do this most effectively are; Vijay Mallya of the UB group, Rahul Bhatia of Indigo Airlines and the Dalai Lama, who needs no introduction.

Vijay Mallya, calls himself the King of Good Times and he symbolizes this image to the hilt! He owns - among other things -  a luxury yatch, a personal aircraft which boasts of a Picasso as part of it's beige and cream interiors, and a fleet of classic and antique cars. Wine, Women (his Kingfisher calendar featuring a bevy of beauties is well known) and Wealth sums Vijay Mallya's lifestyle. It also aptly reflects his moniker as the King of Good Times and pay huge dividends to his companies - liquor company UB, Kigfisher airlines (now in dire staits, financially) and FI and IPL teams, among others.

Rahul Bhatia is the founder of low cost Indigo Airlines.  While Mallya personifies a high flying lifestyle of luxury, Bhatia does the opposite  - he lives up to his companies values of a low-cost functional airline. At a recent meeting of owners of airlines and their CEO's with the Prime Minister of India, he drove down in a Santro driven with his CEO at the wheel. All the others came in expensive chauffeur driven cars. At the recent Economic Times awards for Corporate Excellence (he got the Entrepreneur of the Year Award), in a sea of suits, he was the only one dressed in a waist coat.

The Dalai Lama, the much respected Buddhist leader says his religion is 'kindness'. His ready laughter and child like quality help to reinforce the image of a benign soul. Both in his actions and utterances, he comes across as a simple person and the very epitome of kindness. He was the recipient of the1989 Nobel Peace Prize and his acceptance speech clearly reflected his values. "Although I have found my own Buddhist religion helpful in generating love and compassion, even for those we consider our enemies", he said, "I am convinced that everyone can develop a good heart and a sense of universal responsibility with or without religion."

Being a Role Model to Your Organization's Employees

By the very nature of their high profile roles, leaders such as Mallya, Bhatia and the Dalai Lama have the overarching responsibility of living up to their image more to their external customers. But how about leaders whose compulsions to role model are different? What can leaders whose responsibility lies primarily with their own people and organizations do to fulfill their responsibilities? They can reflect their own and their organizations desirable values with actions such as: 

1. The goals and performance standards they establish.
2. The values they establish for the organization.
3. The business and people concepts they establish.

Successful organizations have leaders who set high standards and goals across the entire spectrum, such as strategies, market leadership, plans, meetings and presentations, productivity, quality, and reliability.

Values reflect the concern the organization has for its employees, customers, investors, vendors, and surrounding community. These values define the manner in how business will be conducted.

Concepts define what products or services the organization will offer and the methods and processes for conducting business.

These goals, values, and concepts make up the organization's personality or how the organization is observed by both outsiders and insiders. And it is this personality which defines the roles, relationships, rewards, and rites that take place, that the leader has to role model.

Useful resource: Sample chapter from the book The Leader as Role Model http://tinyurl.com/bnv2jz8