Are You A Good Example For Others To Follow?

यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जनः । स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते

“yad yad ācarati śreṣṭhas
tat tad evetaro janaḥ
sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute
lokas tad anuvartate”

(Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues. Chapter-3/Karma Yoga/Verse 21)

This is so true for a leader…!

Leaders are role models. A leader who stimulates and inspires us to strive for greatness and live to our fullest potential is certainly a role model.

A sensitive leader positively sets high standards of accountability for his own behaviour as a role model. It is an established fact that leadership is best learned  through “identifying” or “internalizing” the demonstrated behavior of distinguished leaders. A leader should recognize that his prime contribution to the organization is the “behavior he nurtures” and allows to blossom. Often leaders don’t care or probably don’t realize how meticulously they are being scrutinized and ‘watched’ by their subordinates. Unfortunately, majority of leaders are hard-wired to lead by “brainpower” and not by their “souls”. They are programmed or conditioned to put ‘equations’ of business much before the progressiveness of the human spirit. Naturally so, ultimately the leadership is all about delivering results and achieving goals in any given circumstances (sometimes at any cost). Particularly now, when survival strategies are redefined in majority of corporates to circumvent hard-nosed disruptive competition and the conventional 21^st century management practices are ferociously debated and invalidated at every confluence.

In business, emotional sensitivity is generally gossiped as a “delicate” mental predisposition, one that responds to the business complexities and struggles with unreasonably engaged campaigning. Therefore, it is obvious that an intuitively sensitive leader is generally perceived as antiquated and antediluvian in today’s work environment.  

We are, in fact, entombed in the web of our own intellectual deceptions.

We also carry a distinctive image of a powerful leader in our minds. We love to conceitedly attribute forceful traits (Like: righteous, decisive, objective, result oriented, task master, influential, workaholic, etc.) to define a successful leader. Fair enough! But do we need a leader who is only cerebral? In my views, it is an imperative question each one of us must examine ourselves. A leader with an ability to engage the human spirit – to capture the hearts and minds of people is likely to embolden similar pattern of behaviour in the system. Whereas, even if a leader is gifted with charms or very well-accomplished, but lacks positive emotions, people would be apprehensive about relating with him in meaningful way.

Yes, there are cerebral leaders with Midas-Touch. Everything is gold around them, but often without life…And we see dozens of replicas of his axiomatic persona in the system. Objective, cold, and robotic. Indifferent to the labyrinthine niceties of human bonds. Quick in crushing human sensitivities by objectivity, reasoning, and sense of urgency. Finally, people under them are left like debris of sentimental yearning and pensive affection that they have once cemented in their hearts for their organization.  Most significantly, people do not express their full potential as professionals in such environment. In my view, indifferent and “No-Nonsense” leadership style may influence people to deliver results in the short-term, but “associated dissonances” of that behaviour are unimaginable. Just spool back a little and you will realize that in recent past quite a few high-profile global leaders have bafflingly misplaced their standings in the business. Why? I humbly invite you to do your own enquiries to confirm my claim.

Despite having piles of work on emotional intelligence, we often shy away from attaching words like kindness, feelings, compassion, empathy, sensitivity, with “mighty leadership” profiles.

(People use term “emotions” for lots of things, but for the purpose of this blog, I am taking liberty of using all such multiple representative terms interchangeably).

Emotions are essential to everything a leader must do.

The thriving business realities demand intuitive leaders who can balance people’s emotions with desired results. Emotions are critical to inspire people, build trust, and cultivate a shared purpose. Emotions contribute to transformational changes. Only emotions have that power to constructively kindle an individual’s cognitive processes. A true leader has complete faith, resolve, and composure to foster humility, gratitude, and emotional connect with people and his work environment. An intuitive leader knows that he is only as good as his team. For him, emotions are “taana-baana” (balancing) of enlightened organizational drapery.

Yes, emotions have a healing effect on people.

Pardon me if I am giving an impression that productive and result oriented leaders are not necessary. Not at all, rather I am more troubled about how results are achieved by such leaders. I believe, quality of character and emotional bonding are fundamental to success. Moreover, people expectedly gravitate towards such inspiring leaders as their role model. A leader with “paradoxical amalgamation” of ambitions and personal humility is what all we need to cultivate a robust succession.

In a way, it is all about journey of switching from “I” to “We”.

I also believe that we all have many role models in our lives. Each role model has its own influence in modelling of our character. A leader to me is someone who not only delights a subordinate as an equal but also trusts him as an invaluable human asset. For a subordinate, a leader is his hero, who not only fine-shapes him as a professional but also imparts crucial  life winning teachings. Yet, such behaviours never take deep-roots in the minds of people, when a leader’s behaviour lackadaisically exhibits incongruities between words and deeds.

Whether we agree or not, the fact is, we desire to be cared, treasured, and be accredited for our contributions. There is a distinctive difference between being cared and unreasonably pampered. It is all about experiencing feeling of being “emotionally touched” upon by our leaders.

Even though most of the leaders recognize its significance, it is often rare to witness thoughtfulness towards human dignity in the corporate wilderness. Chess Master, Bobby Fischer once said, “Nothing eases suffering like human touch”. So, true!

In my judgement, a leader who disregards the richness of the human-side of leadership, does so at his peril.

Honestly, I hate having to be right in my prophecy in themes like this…!