Leadership

- Shankar Mukhopadhyaya

It says that you can fundamentally solve your problem if you can put forward your problem to a right person – a leader is much more than a figurehead. The person who can foresee the future, rather who can act a way forward. That person needs to possess certain qualities, some of which can be learnt but most of which are innate (leaders are born not made?). But what exactly makes someone a leader – may be self belief on himself, a security about himself, or may be partly charisma, partly comfort factor (comfort factor means – not in a cuddly way but in a safe hands – someone who will take care of things in the right way at the right time) & it is not an academic intelligence, rather a kind of acumen, a realism, an in-touch-with the worldness a finely honed intuitive sense – gut instinct with clarity & analytical capacity i.e. He must have crystal clear idea about the objective with the ability to break down the complex issues into simpler one ( i.e. which can be easy to understand from 13 to 75 yrs. ) coupled with direct & straight communicating ability suitable at the situation. Also good leaders must have the capacity to think beyond what most people think. This involves good judgement with passion & courage. Passion itself is not enough; passion in the hands of those who lacks judgement is the most dangerous thing. As lack of real judicious courage leads to demotivation & stagnation. It is true that analysis & research are very much needed but once one has mastered the facts, should apply his judgement with practical intelligence & get on with it, if it becomes clear at any point of time that one have got it wrong then again one have to be courageous enough to stop the project. Which means one has to admit that one has made a mistake, which is never easy, & therefore we have to keep in our mind that the leader should not be always very friendly & cosy. But it is very much important to behave in a consistent manner irrespective of whether leader is taking someone to task for the poor performance or praising him or her. Leader's style should be exactly the same. What is most important that followers should feel excited about the future & what they are doing. The aim is they feel good about their particular project but it is difficult as there is something happening different everyday & heading towards instability for which a good system needed, not an elephant memory & should not try to attempt many things together otherwise vision may be blurred. The leader must keep aside his energy for some mega event, where his energy may be required for the T (Together) E (Every member) A (Achieves) M (More), i.e. let the followers carry on the project & help them when needed; otherwise leader will lose his focus. Nurturing of upcoming pool of talent for future leader through delegation with flexibility to move very fast with a positive frame is the other function of a benevolent leader. As followers need a little sense of mystery that someone is up there to deal with the difficult unpredictable things in life, making everything safe. Thus we entered into a trap whether identity of the leader is essentially Relational or Individual. Can we say leadership is a function of a community or a result derived from an individual deemed to be superhuman or hybrid in nature?