Arvind Singhal: Leadership and decisive courage!

MARKETMIND

As we enter the 61st year of our independence, many of us have been contemplating on what is in store for us and the nation as a whole in the next 60 years. While there are many reasons for us to be proud of our achievements in these last 60 years that have come against daunting odds, many more challenges face us in the coming years that need urgent attention and a steely resolve to undertake whatever action needs to be taken without losing any more time.

In this context, I found a recent Wall Street Journal article on a Chinese contract manufacturer for electronics very interesting. Hon Hai is apparently the world's largest manufacturer of electronic products with revenues exceeding $40 billion last year and on course to touch $55 billion this year (according to Nasscom, India's total IT industry size in FY 2007 "" including hardware and software and including domestic as well as exports "" is estimated at about $47.8 billion) and its promoter Terry Gou one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet with a current worth at about $10 billion. While these numbers are truly impressive, what really caught my fancy was a quotation from Mr Gou stating that "the important thing in any organization is leadership, not management. A leader must have the decisive courage to be a dictator for the common cause". Mr Gou has, apparently, prepared a document called "Gou's Quotations" for his managers and I hope I can lay my hands on the same sometime soon since it would surely have many more interesting nuggets of wisdom that many of us in India can benefit from.

Is India and Indian business just busy "managing" while falling short of demonstrating true "leadership"?

At the political level, for far too long, we have come to believe that coalition politics implies pandering to the whims and fancies of different leaders and diverse ideologies (or lack of it) of various coalition partners rather than the larger good of the nation, which should be the common cause for all political parties to exist in the first place. The process of structural reforms in the India has already been brought to a near standstill by vested / misguided or mis-informed elements in the current UPA government. These elements, in the absence of an effectively strong leadership and any visible show of decisive courage from the core constituent of the UPA (the Congress party), are now getting bolder and more disruptive by the day and in the process, threaten to stall the growth momentum of the nation itself and thereby shatter dreams and future of millions of Indians. Never since our independence 60 years ago have we more needed a stronger leadership that can act courageously and decisively.

At the business level, fortunately, India is seeing many examples of "leadership" rather than just "management" and routine display of decisive courage. Some of the fastest-growing Indian (or led by people of Indian origin) business groups "" most notably Reliance Industries and Arcelor Mittal, among others "" can be characterised by such operating styles while many of the so-called "professionally" managed (or perhaps hierarchically managed) companies have failed to live up to their star billing of yesteryear when faced with a totally different business environment of the 90s and the current decade. Most of the companies of the first genre are characterised by a very highly centralised (sometimes just around the personality of a promoter family member or members) but very quick-responsive and decisive leadership. Many of the companies in the second genre (the stragglers) are characterised by an obsession with committees and core groups and sub-groups, with analysis and then more analysis, rather than a determination to move on using a combination of mind and the gut.

On another level, the recently concluded third and final test match in the cricket series with England provides a very interesting glimpse into the psyche of the nation. The so- called purists and the traditionalists in the game support the Indian captain's view that winning the series (after 21 years) was more important than demonstrating the desire to win each time! Thus, even when the Indian captain had an opportunity to rise to the expectations of the hundreds of millions of Indians, who continue to yearn for a demonstration of Australia-like determination and ruthlessness and would have rather accepted their team going down fighting, he chose the safer option. The very overt demonstration of joy on the field from the Indian team immediately after their having snatched a draw from what may have been another hard-fought victory seemed ironical and jarring to me, and perhaps to many other Indians too who believe that there is so much catching up India has to do everywhere that we have no choice but to continue to create winning situations every single time rather than being content with an isolated victory now and then.

I would rather have more Ricky Pontings, Mukesh Ambanis and L N Mittals, Nicolas Sarkozys and Angela Merkels!