Page 57 - AIMA : Foundation Day Souvenir

THE lEAdErSHIP SWEET SPOT
In his monthly column, Cyrus MR Gonda explains why, as a leader, your leadership achievements matter more than your personal milestones.
Cyrus Mr Gonda
Sustainability. Corporate responsibility. Business purpose. Social responsibility. Call it what you like; competent boards can no longer afford to put ESG—environment, social, and corporate governance—issues on the back burner.
Not long ago, these subjects—ranging from freak weather events to demands for a higher minimum wage and the diversity of board members—were widely considered to have no place on a board agenda. Now, however, directors ignore them at their peril.
All great performers need not be leaders, and all great leaders need not be performers. Of course, it is always good when a leader is also capable of performing well. It adds a lot of value to the team he is leading. But consider a large- sized organisation having around five-thousand employees, or even a thousand employees. How much of a difference can one individual’s (the leader’s) contribution in terms of individual achievement or performance really make?
Not too much, even if his or her workrelated output is phenomenal.
On the other hand, it is the leadershiprelated achievements— based on leadership qualities, rather than the individual achievements and the personal milestones, that can determine and decide the fortunes of an organisation.
Too many times, the leader of a department or a team or an organisation is incorrectly chosen, based on the individual-level skills and performance that he or she displays. But one needs to remember that selecting a leader to ‘lead’ others so that these others can offer their best to the team, requires a totally different set of skills as compared to the skills required for individual success.
The reason such poor decisions are taken is that not much thought goes into the selection process as far as choosing an appropriate team-leader is concerned. In most cases, it is assumed that a good performer will, by default, make a good leader—which is an incorrect assumption.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, former Indian cricketer and caption of the Indian national cricket team offers the best of
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