"Each one has his own personality and style but if one imitates that person then he is a follower and not a leader," Manvinder (Vindi) Singh Banga, chairman of Hindustan Lever (HLL) said.
Addressing a gathering of more than 50 senior executives of different companies at the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry meeting in Mumbai, Banga was speaking on the topic of 'The Qualities of a leader'.
Banga said, the key task is to provide a growth vision for one's business. Elaborating the point, he cited the example of HLL being a dominant player in 16 out of the 20 product categories. HLL has a 70 per cent market share in the shampoo segment. However, this share would amount to less than 10 per cent considering the intensity of hair washes, defined by the frequency with which people wash their hair, Banga said.
This, Banga pointed out, requires aggressive selling and seeking out more opportunities.
Another key aspect of a leader is to create a sharp degree of focus in the company. Banga said that the general belief is that 'More will get you more'. However, Banga said, this has the risk of spreading your resources thin as well as diverting your focus from the core issues at hand.
Citing an HLL example, Banga said, "The company was focusing all its resources on 30 power brands out of 110 which offers the greatest long-term potential." The parameters for selection of these brands were size, strengths and competitive positioning.
Taking the argument further, Banga said, " A leader should have a great degree of courage and guts to take challenges." Leadership is not about being perfect and not about popularity, it is all about making choices at high speed. As a leader or his organisation becomes more successful, their popularity heads in the opposite direction.
Another important point, according to Banga is timely and very high quality of implementation of strategies. This is because strategies become outdated within weeks and months.
An important quality of a leader is to bring out the best in his employees. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things. Illustrating the point, Banga recalled that when he was appointed as the chairman of the Rs 11,000 crore company, the Unilever chairman said, 'If I were you, I would think who would be my successor.' 'It is extremely important to select right people with right values and foster them. Banga added.
The bottomline in all this is that despite leadership being tough and challenging but it is stimulating, energising and it needs to be enjoyed!!
