Once upon a time my guru told me “In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.” I never forgot that. I have a track record in my life; personal as well as business “I’ve never asked for anything”; even as a group manager, I have always known the difference between a boss and a leader; a boss says “Go!” – a leader says “Let’s go!”. Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself. Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. One measure of leadership is the caliber of people who choose to follow you. Also remember that the real leader has no need to lead – he should be content to point the way in the right direction.
But nevertheless as a corollary every leader needs to look back once in a while to make sure he has followers.
You know, when I was in Godrej, one of my mechanics told me “when trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that person is crazy.”… but when the problem is solved; people call that same crazy person a leader. A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.
Finally I also remember the gist of a story that I heard during my school days. This is about two sailors who were given the same task of saving the same ship under the same weather conditions. Both toiled hard. Difference was: one was doing the right thing after planning – the other not. Then the one who saved the day wrote “Inside my empty bottle I was constructing a lighthouse while all the others were making ships.” You cannot save the day by building ships if all of them are going to crash against the coast in stormy weather; you need one lighthouse instead to save the ones you have. Then build more if required. ….
