Aparna’s Weekend Musings on Life – Series 11– Leadership!

 


Leadership is not about title or designation or status! Leadership is not delegating work to others. You don’t have to hold a big fancy title to be a leader but a fancy thought process is essential.

 The fancy thought process of a leader is to solve problems of others, under stand emotions, guide people, give credit to success of others, celebrate other’s success, take ownership and responsibility. Responsibility does not mean just to do the work when everything is going good but to do the tough work when things are really going downhill.

Leaders must be able to think fast, make effective decisions, and stay true to a greater vision and strategy. In today’s fast-paced world, the only certainty is uncertainty, making adaptability the most important leadership trait.

For a CEO to truly stand-out as an exceptional leader and a role model with a service-oriented approach to clients, it’s necessary to be able to think fast, make effective decisions, and stay true to a greater vision and strategy.

The leader’s mood and behaviors drive the moods and behaviors of everyone else. A cranky and ruthless boss creates a toxic organization filled with negative underachievers who ignore opportunities whereas An Inspirational leader has many followers for whom any challenge is conquerable.

Research showed that High levels of emotional intelligence create climates in which information sharing, trust, healthy risk-taking, and learning flourish. Low levels of emotional intelligence create climates rife with fear and anxiety. Because tense or terrified employees can be very productive in the short term, their organizations may post good results, but they never last.

We live in times of exponential change where our economy and covid-19 is disrupting our lives in ways no one would have thought was possible a few months ago. In times of uncertainty, quick decisions are essential. These unexceptional circumstances call for a more human centric and radically driven leadership style. To lead through a crisis leaders must first understand its unique characteristics. All crisis have 3 things in common: they demand a response, they have unprecedented impact & they tend to unfold in an unordered fashion.

In addition to day to day business, leaders face numerous challenges of various dimensions such as

·         stabilizing the business fast - even when results might stop production or draw down available cash resources

·         Remain true to the DNA of the organization

·         Accept the social impact

·         Face the uncertainty of the crisis at various levels.

o   As leader of an ecosystem it is important to observe how each player is impacted and react even though you may be unable to see the ripple effects for the moment.

o   As leader of a company, you need to be quick & confident in decision making despite not having full set of impacts during an uncertain situation while navigating your team & counteracting losses.

o   Yet as an individual you need to face your personal fears & concerns too.

·         When a crisis hits leaders need to quickly intuit on what the organization needs to survive and how best they can address the challenges. Though you need to take decisions quickly yet also consider the next normal to emerge from the crisis stronger than before.

·         Frame strategies to thrive in the post crisis situation is crucial to steer the organization in the new direction.

Signing off with my favourite quotes on leadership:

Great leaders Don’t Set Out To Be A Leader.. They Set Out to Make A Difference. It is Never About the Role – Always About the Goal!

Leadership is not about being in charge. Its about caring for those in your charge!

– Simon Sinek

Regards,

Aparna Subramanian

 


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