A real leader is a person who empowers others. This is what my perception is. I might be wrong. But I can bolster my logic by facts.
First I’ll cite the example of Mt Lee Kuan Yew, who is regarded as the founding father of Singapore. I’ve read few books about him but I found one of those really interesting. I could not exactly recall the title but I guess it was ‘Lee’s Lieutenants’. It was quite interesting because Mr. Lee himself stated the secret of his success. He gave the credit to six or seven guys. The whole point of being the leader is to empower people. Picking right people for the right job is the key to be a successful leader. A leader is not a superman that can do everything. So he/she has to select his/her lieutenants carefully. But more important is trust. If there is no trust then there will be interference and it will eventually lead to dissatisfaction. Micro-management is not the answer but might be an occasional tool. Any sane person won’t like others to chase him over and over again. So choose smart guys and let them do the job. This is the best way.
Can we force a person to be motivated? No. Person can get a high for a while but eventually he will come down. So it is the matter of self-motivation. Different people have different motivation. But for most the biggest motivation is money. So leader should very carefully judge the level of motivation of everyone in his team. A new joiner in the team might be interested in challenging work, an experienced guy might want a bit of time for his family and somebody else might be happy to work overtime provided he is compensated for it. So a leader should be a master communicator or negotiator. Life is about give and take. So in a project situation (my personal experience) a small gesture of appreciation can go a long way. I’ve worked in teams where leader just doesn’t give a damn about subordinates. So the flow is unidirectional. At the end the leader de-motivates the team that is supposed to do the job!!! Well at the end of the day job might be done but there won’t be any respect. We have seen in past many leaders got the job done but lost the game. So are they great leaders? Nope. Earning respect is supreme. So if a leader can negotiate skilfully and motivate people he can earn respect. And at the end it is beneficial to Organizations and people.
A leader should have a vision. At junior level it might be to finish a project by a certain date. And at higher level it might be to improve the GDP of a country by X % points. Without a clear goal there can’t be a real cohesion. Well again it is the leader’s responsibility to clearly state the goal and get people motivated towards it. Then leader should choose smart lieutenants. If there is a shared vision then there will be synergy. Alexander is one of the greatest leader history has ever produced. At such a young age he motivated and led an army to capture most of the know-world at that time. There has been a lot of debate on his leadership. I personally feel he is a monumental failure. What did he achieve? He avenged on the Persians. That’s fine. Alexander was a man who wanted to be God. He in fact declared himself God. Human is mortal and the sooner we realize this the better. He was a megalomaniac. A dream or ambition that is not for the good of humanity is not a worthy dream. Finally Alexander’s army revolted and forced him to return. He was a power hungry ruler who chased MORE and MORE. So in nutshell a leader has to have a credible vision. Gandhi had a vision. He dreamed to establish a just society. As English were colonialists, they were driven out. Gandhi inspired people to fight for their right but in a non-violent way. That’s a true leadership for humanity.
To be continued….