Let me throw our corporate leadership into heaving waters. The splash is impressive. Yet, my gut tells me that in our country of a zillion businesses, we have more buccaneers at the wheel than distinguished captains.
Though our ships stay afloat, more because of the natural buoyancy of the market than astute leadership, we have inadvertently meandered into a system that doesn?t create true captains and leaders.
Worse, it applauds sharp minded men and women who masquerade as leaders. More like selfish little children wearing oversized habits of monks.
Strangely, now that I have ruffled a few gaudy feathers, the problem will begin to define itself. The fact is that we often mistake designations, and IIT/IIM tags for leaders. Sure, they are bright people. Some of them also have leadership potential. But that?s about it.
In my book, brains alone don?t qualify people to be called leaders. Not quite enough. Not even close. There?s a big difference. True leadership is warm blood pumped from the heart. Not dazzling flashes of brilliance from the cells upstairs.
Consider this. Why is it that some CEOs bring out the worst in us, and others bring out the best in us? Both would have MBAs, but they aren?t the same species.
The former are also those whom we mentally kick, abuse, and to whom we wish the most terrible things. The latter on the contrary, are those whom we would love to work for – even if we are underpaid.
The problem isn?t that these two exist. The problem is in the ratio. The bad boys far outnumber the better lot. And I think the proportions are staggering. It?s so true that people don?t leave organizations, people leave their bosses.
You could move houses, but you?d rather not scuttle home. You could find new friends, but you certainly don?t want to change family.
That?s precisely what great leaders and leadership can do. They embrace you into a relationship that goes beyond rational. Bonded by an emotional adhesive. What a pity that they don?t make too many of them, and what a bigger pity that many of us don?t dwell upon that chasm.
Think about it. Just how many bosses have stuck their necks out to protect their juniors? How many of them have desisted from passing the buck? How many of them have courageously owned up losses, and generously shared profits?
How many of them have been the large banyan tree under whose shadow you gained knowledge? How many of them took out time and energy to teach and guide you? And just how many of them told you that being a good human is way ahead of being a good professional?
Chances are that these qualities sound like typical descriptions of leaders from another era. Fortunately, these are among the ageless traits that employees look up to, and will unflinchingly rally behind.
These aren?t written in any guidebook, nor are they dished out at marketing schools. These are qualities that rise from within. Much like cunning does for many crafty others.
While business and advertising may have taken on new hues and newer technologies, as long as humans are the creators of intellectual produce, you and I will always remain touched, inspired, and motivated by genuine leadership.
It?s much like our systems that continue to instinctively repel obnoxious scam artists when they prance around in their leadership make-up.
The thing about leadership is that it is an instinct. Untaught and unlearned. And as modern contexts demand quicker decisions and a contemporary sensitivity, true leaders come alive with ease. It springs like a visible reflex. It?s something that comes naturally. Something that comes from deep within, and comes through like a light. And we are but moths drawn to that glow.
Leadership cannot be faked. It?s an aura. Invisible, yet so profoundly palpable. And on the other hand, you can make out the pretenders?hollow to the core, shallow to the soul. The funny bit is that they know this deep inside.
They know they aren?t leaders. They know they don?t command respect. They know yelling is a temporary weapon to push efficiency. And they are also intelligent to know that they cannot report to someone like them.
This then is the insecurity that drives them to engage in false projection?including the finest of suits, expensive watches, copious bank accounts, German wheels, designer corner offices, and of course an offensive mouth.
They add zilch when they are measured against true leaders and their radiance. Because leadership is a concept and a mental position accepted and given by employees. People have to place someone as a leader inside their minds. If that doesn?t happen, neither designation nor accoutrements will hold meaning.
I am sure most of us would have encountered more pretenders in important chairs than genuine men and women forged from the steel of leadership. There is an alarming scarcity of refined leaders in our offices, and a glorious abundance of self appointed tyrants.
They rule with fear. They are dreaded. They are hated. They are cursed. They steal. They plunder. And they lead by gore. Sadly, we live in an environment infested by them, and romanticised by their sycophants.
So who?s at the helm of your ship? A captain or a pirate?
?The author is national creative director of Cheil Worldwide