I am no leadership expert. [you can bounce now!]
Writing this post wasn't on the cards, but I happened to read an excellent true story. This combined with some random earlier thoughts and experiences - here goes.
Leadership is not a position. It is important to make that distinction. Person XYZ might be the CEO of ABC corporation but that doesn't necessarily make him or her a leader. Haven't we seen enough examples like that already? Person XYZ might be the prime minister or president of ABC country but that doesn't necessarily make him or her a leader. Haven't we seen enough examples like that already? A position without the necessary maturity leads to catastrophe, havoc and depending on the power handed over, even dictatorship or tyranny. Haven't we seen enough examples of that already?
Leadership is a quality. People can exhibit that quality irrespective of what position they are in. This is how organizations get surprised when someone springs up to take over some responsibility that suddenly springs up. These people naturally grow into their corresponding positions depending on their maturity level.
[This example shows a leader-by-position and a leader-by-situation in the same context].
I think the following are the qualities required of a leader - and none of these are optional. The extent might vary depending on situational demands:
1) Clarity or capability - to carry out the tasks assigned to him/her and his/her group. Sometimes, this requires foresight to anticipate the unknown and the courage to make decisions when there are no options.
2) Compassion - towards his/her team and understanding towards their situation. When a great leader says "Because I said so", it usually means he/she has a good reason to say so and not because of a need to exert authority.
3) Involvement - doesn't necessarily mean doing the same activities a subordinate is doing. It means a willingness to walk the talk or to put the money where the mouth is. It also means being what he or she expects of people under him/her.
4) Inclusiveness - very vastly underrated and very scarce in today's world. As a leader grows, his or her footprint usually grows at exponential levels. It is vital that the circle that the leader exerts control on be understood as a contextual boundary. It also means that it is not ok to trample on people or resources outside the circle for the purpose of flourishing the circle. The only way for sustenance of a leader is to engage in synergistic partnership. That can be done only with an understanding of the peer group [that includes the planet as well, by the way]. None of much of the nonsense that is going on in today's world would happen if leaders exhibited this quality.
Note: The success of what the Pixar bosses did is not a reflection of their leadership quality. The move might have well backfired and they did it in spite of that. That simple act of theirs reflects all four qualities above. And oh yes, a leader is allowed to make mistakes!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity
Elizabeth Gilbert (of Eat, Pray, Love fame) presents a humor filled talk about creativity. The talk is awesome and rings with truth and insight. The interesting aspect is that the greatest creators have always recognized this for a fact. IR has said this umpteen times and I've seen magazines dismissing him as talking nonsense. Only problem is that the music out there says otherwise. The greatest creation comes from elsewhere and the role of humans is to channel that. The struggle is that to channel this effectively, the little person who wants to be the CEO of the Universe needs to take a back seat which is incredibly difficult to do, let alone consistently.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Indian Police
Lets see - if we took a list of all the trustworthy organizations/departments in India, Indian Police would be among the bottom if not the bottommost (there is strict, cut throat competition with politics/politicians). This department unlike judiciary reports to politicians (home ministry) and hence has become a vested interest. Additionally, there is substantial power vested to police and hence misuse and abuse are commonplace. In fact at one time, umpteen jokes associating police station as the place for rape were common [magazines and movies]. Honestly, what is your personal experience of a sincere and trustworthy police[wo]man who did not look like Vijaykanth?
I think very low about Indian Police. In fact, given exception for extreme circumstances, I would go out of my way to avoid contact with them - including traffic police. I remember this incident several years ago. I was probably in my eighth grade. My mother had sent me on an errand to buy something from the market. I had to cross my neighborhood police station for this. Unusually this time, a policeman called me inside. As I went up to him, he handed me a rupee and asked me to buy a cigarette for him. That time, fear was my primary emotion and I meekly obliged. But this incident fills me with disgust when I think about it even now. I had never bought a cigarette even for my closest friends or relatives till then. Here I was doing that duty for my protector! Another incident from much more recent times was when I was at the beach. It was a little late in the night, but not too late [10pm or so]. I wanted to venture towards the waves but the place was solitary now. I was accosted by two policemen (in uniform). One of them reeked with alcohol smell. This policeman asked me to go back towards the beach entrance. I should have known better than to retaliate - I just replied back with an irritated "Why?". I didn't like the alcohol and police dress going together. Of course, it wasn't taken well and the subsequent interaction between us wasn't good either. I just walked away from that scene partly in anger and partly in regret at having engaged with them. But these personal experiences, umpteen magazine articles, other first hand experiences of witnessing police (including traffic police) taking bribes and several dramatized movies about their state all get together and don't exactly present a rosy picture in my mind.
But then, I hadn't encountered someone like Kiran Bedi in my life. Reading through her biography ("I Dare"), the final emotion is unabashed admiration and pangs of yearning for someone like her. But the irony of all things was that politicians and other police officers got to her as well. And why wouldn't they? But her stellar accomplishment at the end of her exalted career is coming out straight and clear through this convoluted maze of lethargy and politics. Even then, she had to quit early (a year and a half or so) to avoid being kicked one last time by politics. If anything goes against her - and I state this by facts presented in that book, which one might assume should be taken with a pinch of salt - might be that she was a fan of attention and adulation. At best, it is that others couldn't stand her hogging the limelight but that was just an outcome of her work (very very plausible given what she did, especially in Tihar). In the middle, it might be both. At worst, she might have made some judgmental errors in handling certain situations. But her sincerity and dedication are rock solid and unwavering like a towering monolith. Actually, if someone had applied this kind of work in the corporate world with intelligence, they would have become multi-millionaires. Her life reminds me that people can be sincere even in a corrupt world living in their midst.
I will however, never forgive what the administration did to Tihar after she left the place. The commonly used quote in the book is that "she changed it from a jail to an ashram". Again, more than one inmate is quoted stating "this looks like a hostel"! The administration's way of taking revenge on her (for all the attention she was gathering) was to revert it back to its original state which Kiran Bedi herself calls a "hellhole". The posting was a "dump post" reserved for officers to be punished. But her stature has always been to throw herself 101% into everything and in the process transform the situation through her actions and her subordinates' cooperation. It's hardly a surprise that success and limelight followed her everywhere. Again, that is also why she got selected for UN training and spent several months in international assignments. (Does it surprise you that her training was never utilized once she returned?)
Her life gives me hope. It is living proof that a rotting system is no excuse to rot with it but a small part of transformation can percolate to other parts. I cannot write off as the system being 100% corrupt, but surely the straight ones are far and few and hidden from public visibility - possibly being put down like how she was put down. I salute you madam - not just for what you did to the police service but also for showing what involvement means.
But unless some kind of conscious leadership flowers here, Indian Police will always be - Avoid if you can. Doubt if you cannot. Trust only when extremely sure.
From the perspective of the public, I see the following fundamental problems with the police:
1) Abuse of power (umpteen cases of accused being physically harassed, false cases etc)
2) Shirking work (refusal to log complaints and/or FIRs)
3) Bribery (swaying of responsibility or lack thereof for money)
For 1: Why can't we remove this right from the police? Why not make it impossible by law for police to physically abuse people for interrogation? Just verbal interrogation. Police indulging in this act can be candidates of a complaint themselves?
For 2: I think technology is the most powerful tool for this. See what online booking for railways did to the system? Why not embark on a major project to centralize the complaint/FIR database. Allow people to file a complaint online and do not allow anything to sit on a physical file. This will build transparency and accountability. Then allow for an automatic escalation process through the system itself and allow the original complainant to reopen the complaint if it is closed without resolution.
For 3: No idea!
I think a side process will be for judiciary to work 365 days a year and a way to clear all backlogs. But that is a separate story!
I think very low about Indian Police. In fact, given exception for extreme circumstances, I would go out of my way to avoid contact with them - including traffic police. I remember this incident several years ago. I was probably in my eighth grade. My mother had sent me on an errand to buy something from the market. I had to cross my neighborhood police station for this. Unusually this time, a policeman called me inside. As I went up to him, he handed me a rupee and asked me to buy a cigarette for him. That time, fear was my primary emotion and I meekly obliged. But this incident fills me with disgust when I think about it even now. I had never bought a cigarette even for my closest friends or relatives till then. Here I was doing that duty for my protector! Another incident from much more recent times was when I was at the beach. It was a little late in the night, but not too late [10pm or so]. I wanted to venture towards the waves but the place was solitary now. I was accosted by two policemen (in uniform). One of them reeked with alcohol smell. This policeman asked me to go back towards the beach entrance. I should have known better than to retaliate - I just replied back with an irritated "Why?". I didn't like the alcohol and police dress going together. Of course, it wasn't taken well and the subsequent interaction between us wasn't good either. I just walked away from that scene partly in anger and partly in regret at having engaged with them. But these personal experiences, umpteen magazine articles, other first hand experiences of witnessing police (including traffic police) taking bribes and several dramatized movies about their state all get together and don't exactly present a rosy picture in my mind.
But then, I hadn't encountered someone like Kiran Bedi in my life. Reading through her biography ("I Dare"), the final emotion is unabashed admiration and pangs of yearning for someone like her. But the irony of all things was that politicians and other police officers got to her as well. And why wouldn't they? But her stellar accomplishment at the end of her exalted career is coming out straight and clear through this convoluted maze of lethargy and politics. Even then, she had to quit early (a year and a half or so) to avoid being kicked one last time by politics. If anything goes against her - and I state this by facts presented in that book, which one might assume should be taken with a pinch of salt - might be that she was a fan of attention and adulation. At best, it is that others couldn't stand her hogging the limelight but that was just an outcome of her work (very very plausible given what she did, especially in Tihar). In the middle, it might be both. At worst, she might have made some judgmental errors in handling certain situations. But her sincerity and dedication are rock solid and unwavering like a towering monolith. Actually, if someone had applied this kind of work in the corporate world with intelligence, they would have become multi-millionaires. Her life reminds me that people can be sincere even in a corrupt world living in their midst.
I will however, never forgive what the administration did to Tihar after she left the place. The commonly used quote in the book is that "she changed it from a jail to an ashram". Again, more than one inmate is quoted stating "this looks like a hostel"! The administration's way of taking revenge on her (for all the attention she was gathering) was to revert it back to its original state which Kiran Bedi herself calls a "hellhole". The posting was a "dump post" reserved for officers to be punished. But her stature has always been to throw herself 101% into everything and in the process transform the situation through her actions and her subordinates' cooperation. It's hardly a surprise that success and limelight followed her everywhere. Again, that is also why she got selected for UN training and spent several months in international assignments. (Does it surprise you that her training was never utilized once she returned?)
Her life gives me hope. It is living proof that a rotting system is no excuse to rot with it but a small part of transformation can percolate to other parts. I cannot write off as the system being 100% corrupt, but surely the straight ones are far and few and hidden from public visibility - possibly being put down like how she was put down. I salute you madam - not just for what you did to the police service but also for showing what involvement means.
But unless some kind of conscious leadership flowers here, Indian Police will always be - Avoid if you can. Doubt if you cannot. Trust only when extremely sure.
From the perspective of the public, I see the following fundamental problems with the police:
1) Abuse of power (umpteen cases of accused being physically harassed, false cases etc)
2) Shirking work (refusal to log complaints and/or FIRs)
3) Bribery (swaying of responsibility or lack thereof for money)
For 1: Why can't we remove this right from the police? Why not make it impossible by law for police to physically abuse people for interrogation? Just verbal interrogation. Police indulging in this act can be candidates of a complaint themselves?
For 2: I think technology is the most powerful tool for this. See what online booking for railways did to the system? Why not embark on a major project to centralize the complaint/FIR database. Allow people to file a complaint online and do not allow anything to sit on a physical file. This will build transparency and accountability. Then allow for an automatic escalation process through the system itself and allow the original complainant to reopen the complaint if it is closed without resolution.
For 3: No idea!
I think a side process will be for judiciary to work 365 days a year and a way to clear all backlogs. But that is a separate story!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Indian Population
Very often, a problem or a situation builds up in the background until it bursts forth into view catching everyone by surprise. Be it an expense that is leaking without notice or an internal wound that is just manifesting as symptoms with seemingly absent cause. Indian Population fell into that category may be forty years ago.
The real danger is not even the current state. It is that there is no foresight present to tackle this at the grass roots and the way things are, the "status quo" is bound to prevail for the next several years. Our resources are scarce - land, water, air. Any kind of charity or resources that are expended among our masses get dissipated so fast that it is akin to that help not being available at start. It sounds absolutely insensible to propagate a problem with the left hand while requesting help with the right hand.
This is the first problem: As we exist, we are suffocating on resources. The rich, upper middle and to an extent the middle class don't feel the pinch because the balancing factor is economy. It is a sensible model and automatically adjusts itself to seasonal and productivity fluctuations. But the sub-middle and the poorer sections are left to fend for themselves. Will the problem propagate further or recede if the status quo continues? Status quo here is referring to a 1.5% growth in population on a baseline value of 1.2 billion people.
This is the second problem: The problem is festering in the background behind the scenes. There is nothing that prevents a beggar from bearing a child to assist with his or her begging duties [this is a real scenario]. The fact that this child will need three meals a day for the next sixty years with no fundamental infrastructure provisions like education, health care or even mother's care during his or her early periods is totally unaccounted for in society's process. Ditto for a someone having three or four children deciding to go for a fifth one. Pick your own reason - all females - need a male, or the time of birth of the first eight was not right.
This is the third problem: If we start this discussion now, we have a thousand things to sort out. First being that India is a democracy. We can be sure to hear debates whirling in all directions, but we can rest assured that it will be used for politics. We are rarely able to come together for a consensus on things that matter to all of us - even for agreeing that the things matter to all of us. My question is whether asking a driver to stop at a red light against democracy? Isn't that for his/her own safety? Leaders need to agree that this is a priority.
This is the fourth problem: Quoting other countries - especially our closest peer - China. It is time to make our own decisions in this aspect without fear or comparison. China is four times the size of India in land. And tomorrow, China is perfectly capable of forcibly relocating their people to sparser lands if they decide to re-balance. Factually, their growth rate hit 0.5% long back.
It is ugly to judge the phenomenon once a birth process has started and after a baby has been born. Children are taint less of current situation and the lack of foresight of a billion individuals. The decision must be made holistically before the birthing process. But haven't we harped on this over and over? I for one think that it is ok to state this every single time the problem pricks. But the real question is who in the leadership will stand up and do something about it? At this point, even aggressive solutions are too much to ask. The problem is just begging to be looked at!
The real danger is not even the current state. It is that there is no foresight present to tackle this at the grass roots and the way things are, the "status quo" is bound to prevail for the next several years. Our resources are scarce - land, water, air. Any kind of charity or resources that are expended among our masses get dissipated so fast that it is akin to that help not being available at start. It sounds absolutely insensible to propagate a problem with the left hand while requesting help with the right hand.
This is the first problem: As we exist, we are suffocating on resources. The rich, upper middle and to an extent the middle class don't feel the pinch because the balancing factor is economy. It is a sensible model and automatically adjusts itself to seasonal and productivity fluctuations. But the sub-middle and the poorer sections are left to fend for themselves. Will the problem propagate further or recede if the status quo continues? Status quo here is referring to a 1.5% growth in population on a baseline value of 1.2 billion people.
This is the second problem: The problem is festering in the background behind the scenes. There is nothing that prevents a beggar from bearing a child to assist with his or her begging duties [this is a real scenario]. The fact that this child will need three meals a day for the next sixty years with no fundamental infrastructure provisions like education, health care or even mother's care during his or her early periods is totally unaccounted for in society's process. Ditto for a someone having three or four children deciding to go for a fifth one. Pick your own reason - all females - need a male, or the time of birth of the first eight was not right.
This is the third problem: If we start this discussion now, we have a thousand things to sort out. First being that India is a democracy. We can be sure to hear debates whirling in all directions, but we can rest assured that it will be used for politics. We are rarely able to come together for a consensus on things that matter to all of us - even for agreeing that the things matter to all of us. My question is whether asking a driver to stop at a red light against democracy? Isn't that for his/her own safety? Leaders need to agree that this is a priority.
This is the fourth problem: Quoting other countries - especially our closest peer - China. It is time to make our own decisions in this aspect without fear or comparison. China is four times the size of India in land. And tomorrow, China is perfectly capable of forcibly relocating their people to sparser lands if they decide to re-balance. Factually, their growth rate hit 0.5% long back.
It is ugly to judge the phenomenon once a birth process has started and after a baby has been born. Children are taint less of current situation and the lack of foresight of a billion individuals. The decision must be made holistically before the birthing process. But haven't we harped on this over and over? I for one think that it is ok to state this every single time the problem pricks. But the real question is who in the leadership will stand up and do something about it? At this point, even aggressive solutions are too much to ask. The problem is just begging to be looked at!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Introspection
A lot has been going on this last one or two months. This is in terms of surrounding events. But in terms of inner growth, while things are not bad, they could be a lot better. Actually, only one message keeps coming back as a reminder in different ways. And somehow, that one act to implement is only in spurts just to help with some self assuaging.
This one message is 'involvement'. Each one of us is riddled with a thousand limitations that prevent us from doing what we love or in many cases, even what is necessary. This one aspect of involvement - and not in a surface like mindset but with all we have can be a pivot to reorganize our life. It is like a portal into the vertical from the horizontal. The life aspect switches from mundane one thing after another mindset into a more vibrant sphere of experience. But it needs that cohesive push of energy applied consistently to all activities.
This is new year and pongal just passed. I am hoping this year, this will be my recurring theme. This is not a resolution - I would like this to be my way of life.
This one message is 'involvement'. Each one of us is riddled with a thousand limitations that prevent us from doing what we love or in many cases, even what is necessary. This one aspect of involvement - and not in a surface like mindset but with all we have can be a pivot to reorganize our life. It is like a portal into the vertical from the horizontal. The life aspect switches from mundane one thing after another mindset into a more vibrant sphere of experience. But it needs that cohesive push of energy applied consistently to all activities.
This is new year and pongal just passed. I am hoping this year, this will be my recurring theme. This is not a resolution - I would like this to be my way of life.
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Satsang with Sadhguru @ Chennai - 2nd Jan 2011, Sunday
Some one should probably research this connection between Sadhguru's Satsangs and rain that day. Chennai was dry the preceding weeks and that day had a downpour. Ditto with places like Coimbatore, Pollachi, Vellore, Madurai etc. Infact, some dignitaries at Vellore were asking him to visit the place often for this!
The Chennai Satsang was jam packed. The ground was full like 30 minutes before the function start and I am guessing 200,000 people. I am excited about the classes that are going to happen all over Tamil Nadu next.
:)
The Chennai Satsang was jam packed. The ground was full like 30 minutes before the function start and I am guessing 200,000 people. I am excited about the classes that are going to happen all over Tamil Nadu next.
:)
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