Leadership Conundrums and Solutions

Why is leadership such a contentious issue in Management literature? There is only one way to calculate IRR (Internal Rate of Return), but innumerable theories and ways on how to lead. We have not seen the end of this subject! New articles on leadership continue to surface. Some of them appear to be controversial. Dhoni, India's current cricket captain for example, is highly recognized for his leadership skills. However, the following link indicates a different line:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Harbhajan-Dhoni-at-bottleheads/Article1-717804.aspx

Should practitioners of Management emulate Dhoni? I personally prefer other models, but respect the choices of others in this matter.

Perhaps there are multiple ways of leading people. I sense that the spread of education and financial security spawns new leadership styles. You cannot inspire the rich and famous in the same way as their less fortunate fellows. This applies to intellectual resources as much as to material ones. I suspect that most people want to emerge as leaders. Those who lack confidence and opportunities may exhibit servile qualities, but harbor ambitions of power and influence at the same time.

A mentor is a great help in getting opportunities to lead. The reverse is not always true however, because deserving people can move on from circumstances in which they feel oppressed.

I suggest that integrity is at the core of leadership. People flock to those they trust. However, no leader can take followers for granted. That is why the fall of leaders is so inexorable over time. Even Mahatma Gandhi has trenchant critics. A friend recently counseled me to listen to my inner voice when I confronted him with an issue related to spiritual leadership. I have concluded that this could be an optimal approach, and the one adopted by relatively successful leaders as well. Be consistent and transparent in thought. Those who wish to follow you will do so automatically if gradually.

Such an approach cannot work in an organizational setting, which brings the nature of leadership on the table. There are inherent differences between obedience and sharing values. No mortal can force others to discard their thinking and analytical faculties. It is safe to keep these aspects in mind when ordering others around or wallowing in the apparent adulation of those who wish to curry favor.

Communication skills are efficient substitutes for leadership. We can use the principles and methods of the Personality Grid and of Transactional Analysis to influence actions and even perceptions of others. These may lead to positions of leadership if transactions focus on a homogeneous group of people. I suspect that modern and self-promoted Gurus use such approaches, even if largely by instinct.

MBO (Management by Objectives) is another alternative to leadership. Let colleagues agree on roles, tasks, deadlines and resources. Why bother with leadership? This is my view. I would like to know yours.

I can help with using the Personality Grid, Transactional Analysis and MBO.

Who is the leader of the pack of children in the photograph below?

I told these five boys about the five benefits of silica for crops and trees. The fellow next to me (second from left) rattled off all five benefits after me and won Rs 50 ($1). It was not a matter of memory alone for he seemed to wield some influence over the others, especially the guy on his left who seemed to know the answers just as well. He was also instrumental in keeping the girls at bay! This probably won him the support of the male chauvinist village elders. Leadership can be situational. Perhaps each of the boys in the picture as well as all the excluded girls could be popular leaders in the right circumstances. 

The picture is from Malihabad in India (Uttar Pradesh-close to Lucknow).

Can you think of ways in which introverts and followers can transform in to positions of authority and influence?

Zero Based Budgeting

A book on Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) changed my professional life. I think I came across it at an airport bookstore in the early 1980s. President Carter used ZBB during his administration. Perhaps the Washington of today should return to it!

ZBB does not allow established costs to continue without fresh justification. We tend to extrapolate historical costs and revenues as well in to the future. Jobs are the most sensitive of fixed costs. No one can propose losses of own jobs and those of close friends. However, ZBB requires that all positions in an organization are looked at afresh during a budgeting process. Task consolidation and suspension of fresh recruitment are common though less invasive outcomes of ZBB.

It is easier to apply ZBB to outsourced services such as advertising. Travel budgets are favorites targets of all cost cutting exercises, but ZBB is a potential exception in this respect. One can retain or even enhance any cost proposal that has credible, specific, and probable prospects of gain. Lateral thinking is an important corollary to ZBB. Confrontations with binary choices plaque ZBB.

An excellent way to initiate ZBB thinking is to apply it to yourself, especially if you are in a senior position of influence. One of my former colleagues did this by flying internationally in economy though he was entitled to First Class luxury and privileges. Another voluntarily downgraded the standard of hotel accommodation for himself.

ZBB has useful applications in personal life. There are a number of fixed expenses such as vacations on which we cut back instinctively in lean times. However, searching questions can lead to substantial reductions of energy costs and mundane things like frequent dry cleaning.

The ZBB process is relatively simple, though automation can consume some resources at the outset in large organizations. You have to make a detailed and written justification for each item of expense. All proposals are vetted, preferably by more than one person. No expense finds place in a budget if it is not proposed or if it is rejected.

Write to me if you would like to know more, or apply it in your situation.

 What if you were in charge of Gudiwada in coastal Andhra Pradesh. A street scene from this busting town appears below:

Which kinds of budgets would you enhance? How would you link things such as garbage clearance with monies spent on paper for such essential services? Which budgets would you cut and how? Many people employed by corporations that work for profits criticize government employees and politicians for frittering away resources. Could any such critic do better in real life?

I would love to hear from you!

Psychology in Business and Management

It is not common to spend resources in finding out how people think and why. Advertising types do worry about responses from their targets, but the use of formal psychology is rare. Some Human Resource Development functions do encourage consultants and advisers from the broad area of neuroscience, but this emerging field is not as sound as the established methods of psychology. Enlightened recruiters do use 'shrinks' of various hues to help find the right candidates for important jobs, but this is not repeated in developing the supply chain, or in strategic decisions related to areas other than personnel.

I was introduced to the field by my employers when I was a salesperson. I must say that the ability to type personalities of customers is the most significant skill I learned after leaving the cloisters of Management school. Later, I was exposed to Transaction Analysis and to the Jo Hari window, both of which I have also found to be extremely useful in professional life. Fortunately, it is possible to get a working knowledge of how to apply these concepts through the Internet. Let me know if you would like links to web sites that you can use to start.

Dr Zwicky was a Management Guru in an international corporation that I was privileged to serve. He taught me, with a gaggle of my colleagues, that an organization is made of humans with feelings, emotions, and thinking powers. I used to be very 'left-brain' about such things before I encountered Dr Zwicky. He also, on a personal level, told me to switch from dark and forbidding spectacle frames to gentler and flesh-colored ones. However, that did not work so well, for people still find me 'avoidable'!

I have found psychology just as useful in understanding parts of myself, as in dealing with others. I have also found that many people who may be generally thought of as mentally normal may in fact suffer from disorders and pathologies of their brain functions. Depression, anxiety, and attention deficits are most common in my personal experience. It is nearly insulting to tell someone in India to see a psychiatrist, but I must say that it could often be the most useful advice to dish out and to receive as well!

Psychology is very relevant for business. Since one does not have to invest colossal amounts in it, it is a path that small enterprises and individual professionals can follow with significant benefits all around.

The Internet does have an array of tests that people can take to assess their levels of mental health. Do write to me if you would like to try them.


Here is a picture from a voluntary service for cancer patients and their families:

The people who use this service most often have no health insurance at all. They have to raise funds to keep their loved ones alive by wandering around philanthropic organizations with the proverbial begging bowl. The service is run by Mr Sanjeev Sharma (facing the camera and in a white shirt). Sanjeev was moved to start voluntary service after he lost a son to cancer. The service breathes new hope in to countless souls, like the two people on the left of the photograph, who come to Sanjeev and his colleagues.

Perhaps you have been in such a situation at some point. How did you respond? Could psychology help in such cases? No money changes hands between a voluntary service and the community it serves, but it is still an extreme manifestation of the contradictions we may face in business life. Participating in voluntary work can be a kind of practical approach to hands-on learning of psychology for business and management.

Health as a Management Concern

It has been treated conventionally as a personal matter. Most corporations have marginal investments in keeping their employees fit, but they do not usually pay as much attention to it as to other aspects of Human Resource Development.

I regret not having taken better care of my health when I was a young professional. My family and friends occasionally warned me about this. I believed in immersing myself in work, and ignored established principles of preventive health-care.

Here are some outputs of my hindsight:

1. Have a complete medical review every year, and maintain a file on the subject.
2. Avoid business meals, and stick to clean drinking water or fruits during meetings, visits to associates, and discussions.
3. Have breakfast, lunch, and dinner on time. Do not drink socially, and try to eat alone. Stay away from buffets.
4. Make time for regular exercise.
5. Get adequate accident, health, and life insurance policies.

These matters are so basic that I write them at the risk of losing readers! Nevertheless, it will be worthwhile if even one person veers away from the path that I tread during my active days.

We can all agree that health is an invaluable business asset. It is worth leaving no stone unturned to stay fit.

Perhaps we should consider some careers that keep practitioners fit in the course of routine duties!

Time

All resources have limits. Most of us are most constrained by time. My wife has a solution that a former colleague also used in the past: they do not use watches! This cannot work in an office situation, especially if you are not the owner or head.

Here are a few ideas from my memory of busy days; please add your own:

1. Separate the urgent from the important
2. Delegate
3. Put a time limit for a meeting; do not attend unless all participants agree to read detailed agenda notes in advance; insist on minutes.
4. Sleep in Shava-asana, at least 4 hours after a light meal; you can gain 2 hours over other people every day!
5. Create and update a manual of procedures. ISO certification is the best way I know.

I would love to expand on these points, and to discuss your ideas at length as well.

Now for a case study:

This picture is from Malihabad near Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The people on the tractor spray mango trees for a living for orchard owners like the gentleman on the right in a jacket. The spraying season lasts for about 100 days a year. These people have to get diesel and water, maintain the tractor and their equipment, get contracts, sleep, eat, rest, and also spray mango trees. This excludes their family and social responsibilities, to say nothing of ill-health and the uncertainties of life in Uttar Pradesh!

How can these poor youths make better use of their peak season and off-season times?

Your solutions can help all stakeholders in the world of farming.

 

Communication secrets

It is like marketing. Everyone seems to be an expert, yet very few know the secrets of successful practitioners, and authoritative specialists.

It is not my claim to be exceptionally skilled at speaking or writing. I can point you to sources from which you can learn and improve, if you like. However, it may not be out of place to recount here, some of my most memorable lessons.

Non-verbal communication is significant though subtle. We all know that lawyers, hospital staff, airline crew, and police have dress codes, if not specific uniforms. Indian politicians have subtle conventions in this respect. Shrimati Indira Gandhi always made it a point to wear a handicraft from the area she visited (Prime Ministers were elected in those days, and spent most of their time amidst their votaries).

The impact of color on communication is not widely known, though we may exercise discretion in the matter without thinking about it. Westerners wear black at funerals, whereas Indian Hindus abide by white. Pink is thought to convey friendship and a willingness to compromise through negotiation. Red is a popular symbol symbol for passion. Green represented nature, even before conservation activists abrogated it. It is the same with brown. I personally love all shades of blue. 

Young people of today think nothing of wearing jeans to a place of worship. They even appear for dinner at restaurants in shorts and shirts without collars. Inner wear is another, I believe, way of non-verbal communication. There are deep natural roots to such behavior, as any peacock or other bird out to make an impression will tell you.

Hairstyles, visible brand names, chosen transport vehicles, favorite places to dine, shop and vacation, are other ways to communicate with others, without saying a word. I know some people who write about their choices in these matters, to spread the good word far and wide. The welcome propensity of people to travel internationally, is celebrated more as an indicator of national economic progress, rather than of dropping air fares, hotel deals, and evolving services.


Hands and eyes have much to convey though they may have no voices or pens. Italians and some Indians are known to move their limbs more than conservative British and most Japanese (bowing excluded). These strong cultural dimensions must pose challenges for international corporations and the United States. There is little chance of Gaddafi chatting with Cameron, which is not such a bad thing anyway, but what if Berlusconi had to deal with Hina Rabbani?

I do not need to say as much about eyes as I have about other modes of non-verbal communication. Any docile husband such as I dreads the angry glance of a spouse. Dogs are best at interpreting looks though. Is this related to their sensitivity to waves to which humans remain impervious? I have a friend in Saurashtra who can even ask his family to serve tea, without saying anything. It certainly beats my rushing to the kitchen every time a friend drops in. Let me conclude by stating that 'look me in the eye' is a worthy adage. Use it to convey sincerity. Drop it like the proverbial hot potato when you have to lie. Fortunately, video calls are not affordable as yet where I live.


The stuff of this post should not suggest that I consider verbal and written communication to be unimportant. I would love to exchange ideas on how to communicate better in a speech, discussion, on paper, or online.

I met these people in May 2009, very near the final resting place of Lord Buddha. We had assembled to discuss honeybees and honey. The seated crew came from Punjab to exhort the farmers standing behind them to start rearing honeybees. Most of us are afraid of getting stung. Honeybees can visit gardens in cities, just as they do with crops and farms. Can you think of a presentation that would persuade you to establish hives?

Empathy has much to do with effective communication. It helps to get in to the shoes of targets, and to try and think like them.

   

Marketing muscle

One of my business Gurus, Dr Tarun Gupta, loves to say 'you can have a business without any resource or function, but not without a customer!

Marketing is a discipline that most of us think we know, but the reality is generally different!

Marketing is just as important for small business and individuals as for corporations. Top salespeople know that they must sell themselves before any product or service.

Imperfect competition covers up wasteful and erroneous marketing. This is especially true of India where scarce infrastructure and corruption can act as huge entry barriers. International companies have insidious ways of keeping domestic and small players away from vast swathes of markets.

Just as water finds its own level, so it is with market share over the long term. Profitability is another leveling factor since organizations with access to cheap funds can, in the short term, use predatory pricing to keep potential competitors away.

I value your contributions to how to find and retain customers:

1. Segment creatively.
2. Target with laser-sharp focus.
3. Check that you can fill a real market gap sustainably and with profit, before you enter.
4. Never take customers for granted.
5. Emphasize internal and interactive marketing; keep external marketing under-stated.
6. Ensure that each element of the marketing mix is in tune with all the others.

I can expand on the points above if you wish.

Now for an exercise. Here is a picture from the deep interiors of Northern India:

One of my colleagues, Kuldeep Singh Khushwaha is first from left. The others are farmers. 

How would you go about making and executing a marketing plan to cater to these customers. We can exchange notes with what my colleagues and I have done with farm inputs.