Leadership and compelling ideas

“People are attracted to leaders and compelling ideas,” said Dave Gardner, founder Gardner & Associates Consulting, a California-based advisory firm.

The above quote appeared in today’s ET’s article on Vishal Sikka attracting leaders from his former employer SAP.

This quote got me thinking…’what am I attracted to? What are my people attracted to? Am I attracted to compelling idea? Or great leadership? Or are my team members with me because we have a great idea? Or am I a good leader?’

Then I realized…. I realized that the operating word here is ‘AND’ – this puts new perspective to me and now I ask - “Am I a good leader with compelling ideas?” One thing alone might not be enough to create a sustained motivation.

Every individual has 'the-mind-of-their-own' - which means, up-close, no two human brains are the same. Every individual has been conditioned by forces of nature and nurture. Your thnking is shaped by the genetic make-up and more so by the expereinces that you have had in your life, the choices you have made and how you have reacted to the experiences and choices. So this makes each of us very very exclusive and indeed there is no other person 'just-like-me'.

So, as individuals we have different thoughts and different minds, but we can bind together over an idea and simplistically, the idea can be to bind together for the sake of binding. 'Relatedness' is such a great primordial force that shapes our choices. 

Compelling ideas creates a platform for people to bind together, to overcome individual differences and create something new, something that is greater than oneself and greater than all of us combined such should be the compelling idea.

However, while compelling ideas may attract people with a strong sense of WHY, it is hard to sustain their participation and contribution without great Leadership.

Leadership here takes form of someone who is committed to the 'Compelling idea' - not because it is 'My' idea, but because of the 'Idea' itself....because the idea is so much greater than me as a leader. A leader nourishes and cultivates and shapes the idea which is what attracts followers.

Compelling ideas also creates a sense of strong ownership amongst members. This sense of ownership often leads to conflicts when working together. Remember, up-close every brain is different and unique and hence every individual is entitled to their own thoughts. Often these conflicts are very helpful in generating new ideas that takes everyone close to realizing the 'Big Compelling Idea' - and when that happens motivations increases and the conflicts are forgotten. But more often, the conflicts degenerates into personal ego battles which kills the delicate bond of trust, the trust that each of us is here for the common idea and not for one's ego.

Leadership again plays an important part to create an environment which allows for 'Healthy conflicts' and prevents degenerating conflicts.

Compelling idea is the driver, Leadership is the regulator which keeps the vehicle moving in the direction of realizing the idea. Having any one of it alone will not get us far. Only compelling idea would make the team work appear like a air-filled balloon which is being released without tying the knot.... there is lot of energy and momentum, but no direction. Leadership makes the same force act like an air-pistol which keeps the bullet on a constant trajectory towards the target.

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Who killed Maqsood? The Tiger, The general people, Fear or Perception?

We all must’ve read about the horrific incident that occurred at Delhi Zoo on Tuesday. Maqsood, a 20 year old man either jumped or fell in the Tiger enclosure at Delhi Zoo. The tiger came to him and stood in front of the man for almost 10 min during which the general public was shouting and pelting stones to shoo away the tiger. The Tiger very calmly caught the victim on its neck and carried it away – killing the victim in the process.

The social media was extremely active  with pictures and videos  of  this unfortunate incident being shared around and comments flowing thick – about the dangerous animal, about the stupidity of the man to jump in the enclosure, about the general public and of course about the absent  zoo authorities.

Anyone who has watched a few episodes on Tiger on Discovery or National Geographic Channel would realize that when the Tiger wishes to kill a prey for food, it would stalk the prey and kill it in one quick strike.

The Tiger (named Vijay) has been bred in captivity and is regularly fed at the zoo. So it is safe to assume that the tiger was not hungry and did not kill for food. This is also established from the fact that the tiger never tried to ‘eat’ the victim – it just dragged it away and killing him in the process.

Another reason for a wild animal to attack is self-defense.  Again the pictures and the videos clearly indicate that the Tiger was not at all threatened. The tiger was not growling or being enraged at the intruder. On the contrary, the Tiger seemed to be intrigued by the intruder. The stance of the Tiger seemed to be that of curiosity and playfulness.

Again, since the Tiger has been bred in captivity, it is used to having humans around. He understands that humans are the ones who feed him and are the ones who are around all the time – so apparently the tiger would not have killed out of fear or self-defense.

There were some comments on the social media about the general public not doing enough to save the poor victim. I would say that this is not true. The spectators were fearful of the outcome and were shouting, making noises and pelting stones at the Tiger to shoo him away. Animal  experts believe that the Tiger got upset due to all the noise  and being pelted, and just dragged away the victim who was the object of his curiosity (remember the Tiger  is ultimately a Cat – this time around the curiosity did not kill the cat but the poor man).

The Tiger did not wish to kill him,

So what killed Maqsood? What made the Tiger do what it did? Not hunger, not self-defense – but it was fear. Fear arising out of ignorance, fear arising out of perception. The image and perception of Tiger is that of a wild animal which kills. Stories and myths have been created about the ferocity of the jungle cat and we have been constantly fed with these stories. Our perception about the Tiger is built on these stories and not on our observation and understanding of the animal. We expected the Tiger to kill and acted in a manner which made him do what we expected it to. Our perception about the Tiger made it kill the man who had fallen in the enclosure.

The general public had a good intent to save the man, but their perceptions caused them to behave in a manner which defeated the intent.

We all have perceptions about others all the time and only knowledge about the other person helps us change that. Many a times our perceptions make us behave in a manner which reinforces the perception.

It is so important for all of us to overcome this innate and primordial tendency and develop the ability to see things as they are, without the filter of our perceptions.

Our value of Embracing Diversity is all about this. It is about removing perceptions of people who are not like us. Only when we remove the fog of perceptions from our mind, can we observe and see with clarity. Only when we see with clarity, will be able to understand and only when we understand would we be able to leverage the strengths of the other person and only when we are able to leverage each other’s strengths and work together, can we create magic.

Only when we embrace diversity, can we collaborate.

Cheers!

PS:

I read that the zoo authorities are now going to take some steps to sensitize the general public. That would be a welcome step as it would help in some way to clear the perceptions about the Tiger and understand its place in maintaining a healthy ecological balance for the humans to survive. Those are the precise reasons for a zoo to exist isn’t it?