Today’s Concept is Leadership

Of several concepts, leadership is one of the cluttered and complicated concepts. The word, leadership evokes images like those of a four-star general, a CEO of a company or a politician. In fact, this is a leadership myth. Anybody can be, and everybody is a leader depending on the situation. If not leading anybody else, people lead themselves. This is self-leadership. Dee Ward Hock, founder of Visa Credit Card Association said, “If you want to lead, spend 40 per cent of your time in self-leadership”. The second myth is that leaders are born, not made. If that is so, no one else other than the one born with leadership traits can ever become leader. So, the leadership development plans, and the leadership development institutes have no rational for existence. However, it has been proved that leadership can be acquired.
The importance of leadership cannot be overstated. In addition to self-leadership, when there is more than one person – a group, an organisation, a community, a party, a company – leadership is necessary. Peter Drucker, the ‘management guru’ said, “when there is a group of people, what usually happens is friction, confusion and under-performance”. In order to maximise the group output, leadership is necessary. Also the saying goes; too many cooks spoil the broth. What it means is when many people are involved in a task; it is likely to be messed up. A leader has to delegate the work to right people as per their capacities.
There are numerous leadership definitions and theories. Some of the theories are as follows: Great Man Theory, which means leaders are born not made (Gandhi, Lincoln, Napoleon). People are born with leadership qualities. Trait theory – people can acquire leadership traits – personality, social, physical or intellectual traits which will make them leaders. Behavioural theory – according to this theory, leadership is explained in terms of what leaders do, not what they are. Leadership is the result of effective behaviour. So, specific behaviours distinguish leaders from non-leaders. Contingency theory, this refers to the environment in which the leader exists. It is said that a person is a product of circumstances. Some authors call it situational theory and suggest that a situation and leadership must fit. If not, change the leader to fit the situation or change the situation to fit the leader.
However, we would try to simplify it. In this complicated world, simplifying things is crucial. Einstein said, “Any fool can complicate a thing, it requires a genius to simplify it”. So the first trait of leadership is to communicate things in simple terms. Before we attempt to provide the meaning of this concept, formulate a simple definition or identify the leadership qualities, it is in order that we scan the explanations so far put forward.
The concept of leadership is not new. The discourse goes back to the 6th Century B.C. In a nutshell, the leadership has been explained in the following over the centuries. In the 6th Century B.C., Lao-Tzu suggested that “the leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him.” In other words, people did the work themselves and claimed that they did it. It is like the saying, “That government is best which governs the least”. Around the same time, Tsan Tsu, the Chinese military general and the author of the legendary book ‘The Art of War’ talked extensively about leadership, albeit vis-à-vis conducting wars. One such advice from Tsan Tsu is to subdue the enemy without fighting. He suggests that you lull your opponents into complacence, and when they are unprepared, attack them. A positive advice which can be emulated is when he says, “Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons and they will follow you into the deepest valley”.
In the 2nd Century B.C., the Roman emperor Marcus Tullius Cicero suggested that a leader seeks their own benefit by recognising that success comes from the relationship they establish and that they can cultivate it by being virtuous. A leader should get things done with other people by building friendship and fellowship. He emphasised that life is nothing without friends. In the first Century A.D., Jesus preached servant leadership. One wins confidence of their followers by serving them. Also, Jesus operated from fixed principles rather than laying out the rules as he went along. Many leaders today are like chameleons; they change their hues and views to fit the situation. This tends to confuse followers who are unsure of what course will be taken.
First forward to 16th Century, Niccolo Machiavelli, the author of the famous book ‘Prince’ enunciated the principle of power as the pillar of leadership. It is important to hold on to power by hook or by crook, advised Machiavelli, and use that power for securing your objectives. It is better to be feared than loved, said Machiavelli. In the field of leadership, popularity can be transitory, so the fear should be the basis for subordination as fear is more consistent and easier to control. Scot Thomas Carlyle came up in 1840s with The Great Man Theory. He suggested that great leaders are born and will emerge when confronted with appropriate situation. According to this theory, leaders are heroic, mythic and uncommon. The term Great Man was perhaps used as at the time, leadership was primarily the domain of males especially in military leadership.
In 20th Century, Fredrick Winslow Taylor emphasised scientific management as the basis of leadership. In his book, ‘The Principles of Scientific Management’, he argued that making people work as hard as they could, was not efficient and, it did not optimise the output. He proposed that by simplifying jobs, the productivity would increase. Moreover, the workers and the managers need to cooperate. He noticed that there is no contact between the managers and the workers, the latters’ main motivation was continued employment, there was no other incentive.
Many recent sociological studies have attempted to explain leadership from the point of various principles and human qualities: the capacity to inspire confidence among followers, the rightness of one’s purpose, the matters control and influence etc. Furthermore, some argue that leadership results from charisma although it is not easy to explain what constitutes charisma. Some others now reject the notion of leadership in terms of personal characteristics of the leader, and prefer to see leadership as a relation in a particular social context; so that those were leaders in one situation may not be leaders in another. Elias Canetti in Crowds and Power has described the function of a leader as an integral part of the crowd and has argued that the principal quality of a leader is his capacity for survival. By showing himself able to survive while others succumb to the greatest dangers he perpetuates the myth that more than human quality, the ability to outwit others and forging ahead is the quality of leadership.
John C. Maxwell has written about five levels of leadership. One, the people follow because they have to, as you have the position and the authority. Second, people follow you as a matter of choice not obligation. They like you as an individual. You have built trust and a positive environment for the team members. Three, people follow you because you have achieved success as an individual. When leaders get results, they can become change agents taking people to another level of effectiveness. Fourth, the leadership consists of what you have done for others. In other words, when leaders nurture their followers, overall performance and team work increases. When people professionally grow under leaders, they follow them. Fifth, this is a stage when people follow you for what you are as a leader and what you represent. You become an ideal for your followers.
In his book, ‘The 21 Indispensable Qualities of Leadership’, Maxwell refers to 21 qualities that a leader should possess. He outlines these qualities that a leader must develop in order to truly effective. He gives example for each of the qualities. He also gives a matrix for self-evaluation and home work to build on your leadership qualities. They are: character – Bill Lear, who created the Lear Jet. He lost money and suffered bad publicity in order to fix a fatal flaw in his original jet. He did not want to put people’s life in danger. He risked his own life to fix the problem; Charisma – Benjamin Disraeli, who served as the Prime Minister of Britain twice and had a nack for making people feel good about themselves; Commitment – Michelangelo – when painting the Sistine chapel he permanently damaged his eyesight and physically wore himself down, but he continued painting even in dark corners because he believed God would see even if no one did; Communication – he cites Ronald Reagan, who was able to communicate with maximum effectiveness. He was able to move the audience.
Likewise, he described competence, courage, discernment, focus, generosity, initiative, listening, passion, positive attitude, problem-solving, relationships, responsibility, security, self-discipline, servanthood, teachability and vision. However, in the examples that Maxwell gives are all about the people already holding positions of authority, rather than those aspiring to those positions. Having said that, it is not impossible to embrace these qualities by those who can cultivate them.
The Indian strategist and diplomat Chanakya, who mentored the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta is popular for political advice and leadership. Four key messages from Chanakyaniti could explain and be applicable to modern-day leadership. Effective communication – according to Chanakya, communication is the key. A leader should be accessible to people and communicate in simple terms without risking confusion or doubts. Decision-making – many leaders are reluctant to take decisions. It is said that when you decide you divide. Leaders should not put off things or procrastinate. Chanakya says all urgent calls the king shall hear at once but never put off; for when postponed, they will prove too hard or impossible to accomplish. Chanakya says good leaders should never postpone decisions and should make swift and effective decisions; Keeping people happy – Chanakya says “in the happiness of his subjects, lies his happiness, in their welfare, his welfare. Whatever pleases himself he shall not consider as good but whatever pleases his subjects, he shall consider as good. The leader should follow these principles and keep his followers happy; Accountability – Chanakya said that holding people accountable for their actions is one of the most important rules for a leader. In these days, reward and punishment are not commensurate with actions or results. A leader should be able to keep this symmetry.
Finally, all the above on leadership could be captured in two fundamental principles. One, it is all about the people you lead. Second, which seems contradictory but true is, it is all about you (The leader). Let us elaborate. The leader must think of what their followers need or like. So empathy for and understanding of others is critical. If a leader psychologically or materially attends to the needs of the followers, they will remain obliged and respectful to the leader. It is said a good leader is one who produces other leaders. It is also taking the people where they cannot go on their own, solving their problems which they cannot on their own. A good leader is one who puts other people as his priority. Chanakya strongly advises thus.
The second principle is, it is all about the leader. This means that leaders should equip themselves to be able to lead others. They should have adequate skill, knowledge and admirable personal traits to command other people’s confidence and loyalty. The leader should be able to take initiative when others cannot. Leaders should have the vision which others do not have. This is a major attribute. A leader should learn to foster cooperation not conflict. There is an ancient phrase if two or three agree nothing is impossible. There is also an African proverb which says two minds are better than one. Through cooperation, more is achieved.
These two principles constitute the essence of leadership.

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