At a time when CEOs are facing difficulty to handle the pressure at the top, programmes like The Leadership Circle Profile can help them understand better the relationship between how they habitually think and behave, and how all this impacts their current level of leadership effectiveness, feels Pratap Nambiar, the CEO of Thought Perfect (Singapore), who has been responsible for introducing The Leadership Circle to India. He tells FE?s Abhishek Chakraborty that it?s important for management institutes in India to understand that leadership values must be imbibed at a young age for better results. Excerpts:
A person who has already reached high professional levels, what is the need to train him further?
When a person becomes very successful, he has already developed certain beliefs, things that have helped him to get to where he is. But one day, he suddenly finds that whatever he has learnt is not helping him reach where he ultimately wants to be. In other words, he seems to have lost the mojo. Such people generally feel lonely at the top. And they are generally not looking for answers, but support. That?s where the role of a consultant comes up.
So who do you think is the most effective leader?
The most effective leader is the one whom we call the servant leader?the one who recognises and understands that he is there to serve. And by doing so helps his followers to evolve and reach the level of excellence.
Can?t these values be inculcated at the management school level?
Absolutely. We just had a meeting with the ministry of human resources people, where we talked about inculcating leadership values in management schools. The IITs, IIMs and other management schools in India need to imbibe such practices in their students. They need to understand what effective leadership is all about. Everybody has leadership potential, but the question is how much of the potential are you putting to use.
But in real life how does this shift happen?
What is needed is the change of the operating system of the individual. It may take just four months, or six months or sometimes even a year for that shift to happen.
You have come here for the Leadership Circle Profile programme?
Yes, this programme is scheduled to take place in Mumbai from July 31 to August 2, in which individuals with executive coaching experience can be certified to administer The Leadership Circle assessments, provide debriefing and support follow-through coaching for managers and leaders. In fact, Bob Anderson, the founder of The Leadership Circle, will be running this three-day certification programme. There are 21 very senior people from organisations like KPMG, Raymond, Kellogg etc who have signed up for this programme.
Whenever we read a book on leadership, we feel charged up, but once we keep it back, we tend to forget things?
The books create awareness. Once you have read a book on leadership, it is like a seed that is being planted. All you have to do is to allow it to grow, though it needs nourishment. If you don?t nourish it, it won?t grow.