Very often,
people think mastering technology, marketing, innovation or
possessing high qualifications will automatically confer
leadership mantle on them. True, they lead to leadership in
the concerned areas but at the end of the day, these skills
have to be converted to a strategic advantage. This means
somebody has to be behind, driving them. Ultimately, it
is the leader behind the business who matters for its success
or failure. All other qualities or attributes are added
benefits or advantages. Enough has been written about
leadership and its theories by brilliant minds and we do not
want to repeat them. Repeated research has also shown that
good communication, human relations and team working skills
are the most important requirement for good leaders. While
some have it in them instinctively, all can be trained in
these areas. Most importantly, one need not be a General or a
CEO or a President or a Chairman to be a called a leader. It
is required at every level. Any vision must be turned into
reality. In this page, we will give examples of great leaders
from real life and history.
Mother
Theresa:
She was a
catholic nun in a convent in Calcutta. She always saw some
beggars, who were also lepers, whenever she looked out of her
window. She could see fear, no hope and desolation in their
eyes. They knew they would never be loved and nor will they
get sufficient medical attention. She decided to do something
about it. She left the safe walls of the convent and started
her 'Missionaries of Charity', which is a world wide known
institution with branches all over today. Her institution has
cared for nearly 200,000 lepers till date. She had a vision
for the poorest of the poor. Only she could have done it and
she did it.
She was in New
York to address the UN members. She went to the maximum
security prison there. She saw four prisoners for life and
they were suffering with AIDS. AIDS is a modern day leprosy.
The people with AIDS are as shunned as people with leprosy. In
biblical times, the Romans used to keep the lepers in
dungeons. Mother Theresa went to Mr. Edward Koch, who was the
then Mayor of New York. She asked him to telephone the
Governor and wanted to speak to him. When he came on line, she
asked for those 4 prisoners to be released to her. The
Governor said they had 43 people with AIDS and he was prepared
to handover all of them. She said she wanted only 4 and would
take the rest later. She had a building in mind and asked the
Governor to pay for it and he agreed. She then asked Mr. Koch
to organize the legal formalities in a day. Mr. Koch seemed to
have replied "As long as you don't make me wash the
floors".
Mother Theresa
was so small and frail that she could have been carried around
like a child by any able bodied man. She had people like
Robert Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, visiting her in Calcutta
and willing to do anything for her. The popular notion that a
leader should be tall, dark, handsome or beautiful and well
built is plain stupid. These notions are popularized by
mediocre minds. Napoleon Bonaparte was short by western
standards. Gandhi was short and frail. He had so much energy
that the tall and hefty English soldiers who were guarding
him, while in prison, could not keep up with him, when he went
for his morning walks. Mother Theresa received the Nobel prize
and is being beatified as a saint by the catholic church.
Whoever met her always spoke about her Intensity, Devotion
& Conviction. Great
Leaders have intensity, devotion and conviction.
'Mahatma'
Mohandas K Gandhi:
Since he is well
known we are not giving any details from his life. His
greatest strength was Empathy. Great
leaders have empathy. In Sanskrit, which is the mother of all
Indo Aryan languages, 'Mahatma' means a great soul.
Abraham
Lincoln:
His story is
also well known. Nobody can handle failures like he did. He is
the ultimate symbol of Perseverance. Great
leaders have perseverance.
Sir Winston S
Churchill:
His greatest
strength was Courage under adversity, when England was under a
great threat from Adolph Hitler. England was lucky as nobody
else could have saved it, except him. He rallied the entire
country behind him with one great speech. He was also a great writer.
Unfortunately, people classified him as a crisis manager. A
great crisis manager can be a great growth manager. People who
talk otherwise, do not know what they are talking about. First
give him a chance and then see. Crisis managers always get
thrown into crisis situations all the time and then get
branded. Great leaders
have great courage and are great communicators.
General
George S Patton:
He was a fighter
and very few can match his fighting abilities. No doubt the
World War II saw some famous generals like General Douglas
Macarthur, General Montgomery and the Supreme Commander of the
allied forces, General Dwight B Eisenhower, who later became
the President of USA. The Nazis had some very good generals
too. General Erwin Rommel was an expert in desert warfare and
known as 'The Desert Fox'. Our own and only Field Marshal, Sam
Maneckshaw is one of the best. The strategy and tactics used
by him in 1971 Bangladesh war with Pakistan will be discussed
as a classic in IMA, WestPoint and Sandhurst. Patton was a not
an astute politician. He was a natural and straight forward
man. He remained a simple soldier who knew only how to fight.
He was not fit for politics and the backstabbing/politicking
that goes with it. Benjamin Disraeli was absolutely right when
he said that politics is the last refuge for scoundrels. He
can be classified as the model operations manager or COO. No
doubt, he made some mistakes, but had the courage to admit
them. He apologized to a soldier, he had slapped, when the
soldier exhibited fear publicly. He could not tolerate
cowardice, but at the same time cared for the ordinary
soldiers.
In our own greatest
Vedic epic Mahabharata, Prince Uttara was a born coward, who
later became a hero after the great Warrior Arjuna
counseled him. Why Arjuna himself, felt fear when he saw the
opposing army. He was no coward. He was considered to be the
best Bowman in the world at that time and could take on 30
soldiers at the same time. He could aim and fire 10 arrows,
from his quiver, accurately on target in one 'Vighati' which
means 24 secs. Only the great family Patriarch Bhishmacharya,
His Guru Dronacharya, Karan, his elder brother born before
wedlock and his friend, guide and mentor, Lord Krishna were
better than him but he had God on his side. There was one
more guy called Ekalavya who was better than him. He was not
an Aryan and belonged to a Dravidian tribe. Guru Dronacharya
asked for his thumb because he knew Ekalavya was better than
his favorite pupil Arjuna, who was also the favorite of Lord
Krishna. Drona paid for this gross injustice. His head was cut
off in the final war. Arjuna was called 'Maharathi'. A warrior
who could take on 20 soldiers was called 'Athirathi'. A
warrior who could take on 10 soldiers was called 'Rathi'. I
need to clarify here. In Vedic mathematics, 10 was the basic
unit and signified 1, like logarithms. 100 meant 20. 1000
meant 30. 2000 meant 2x1000=60. As per then existing codes on
warfare, a higher ranking warrior would not take on a lower
ranked warrior, unless challenged. This was the start to the
exposition of 'Bhagvat Gita" by Lord Krishna to him. Fear
of death can grip anyone in the battlefield. Great
leaders are fighters and accept their mistakes. They are not
cowards and are sensitive to people.
Alexander the
Great:
He is the best
strategic planner the world has ever seen and the youngest one
at that. There was no limit to his ambition. This 17 year old
Macedonian lad, crossed the Mediterranean sea and conquered
the whole old world with just a few hundred soldiers. Egypt,
entire middle east Asia and India was under his feet. Only
Chinese civilization remained untouched because of Himalayas. Great
leaders are ambitious, think big and are good strategic
planners.
Julius
Caesar:
He invaded what
is now known as England along with his legions. When he landed
in Dover, on the south coast of England, he did something
unthinkable. He burnt all the ships they had used to cross the
channel. His soldiers had no choice except to fight the
savages who roamed England then. Great
leaders have self confidence and a positive mental attitude.
They always expect to win.
Sir Thomas
More:
Anybody familiar
with English History would know that he did not compromise on
Integrity, even under death threat for high treason. Great
leaders have integrity, principles and values. They do not
compromise on them. Great
leaders have unimpeachable integrity.
Lord Horatio
Nelson:
As a kid, he
asked his mother "what is fear?". Great
leaders have no fear like babies. They overcome it.
Napoleon
Bonaparte:
One of the best
leaders of men. His strength was fortitude, courage, ambition
and ability to withstand high stress. Great
leaders have fortitude and handle stress well.
Indira
Gandhi, Golda Meier and Margaret Thatcher
Indira Gandhi
is the most courageous of the above three great women
leaders the world has ever seen. She is the best because she
could take on the might of USA single-handedly. She took
some critical and crucial decisions which cost her, her
life. Please see my article tilted 'Three
most powerful women leaders the world has ever seen'.
The above
qualities are mostly God given and such people are the chosen
ones and all the leaders mentioned had the above qualities in
different degrees. Most of us can only try to emulate them.
There are other qualities, but are of mundane nature and which
can be learnt and acquired. The above qualities differentiate
the great and the good ones. We have plenty of good
leaders, but very few great ones.
