The 4 tenets of leading India

"If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got." I wish I had written this line. It is almost universally true - in the context of the environment, governance, business and relationships.

When we look at the business landscape, this was the decade of Indian managers - we saw Indians at the helm of global corporations - Indra Nooyi, Vikram Pandit, Rajat Gupta to name a few. Companies of Indian origin have also left a footprint on the global canvas. We, Indian professionals, are credited for our resilience, operational skills, cost effectiveness and strong problem solving skills on the world scene. But, we are not perceived to be transformational and seen as lacking in team building and leadership skills. Do we really have it in us? Can we move from being efficient managers to being authors of global industry transformation? Can we change gears from being managers to leaders?

Now, we need Indian leaders and visionaries. We need our own version of Sam Walton, Jack Welch, Steve Jobs; leaders who will transform industries and lives. Especially, sectors such as healthcare, financial services, IT, telecommunication and entertainment offer huge potential for transformation. We need to build a leadership brand based on Indian values but on a global level. In a world with a painfully fresh memory of Enron and Lehman, discipline, ethics and transparency are critical for any leadership brand.

The brand of Indian leadership can be built on four elements:
1. Your drive and passion
"You are what your deep, driving desire is. As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny." - Upanishad

The one notable characteristics of successful people is they are all consumed by a purpose. The purpose is not material possessions or even attaining fame. Two Japanese engineers Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita founded Sony over half a century ago in 1946. Their purpose was to erase the 'poor quality' tag that the country had acquired post World War II - that Sony became the most innovative company was an unplanned consequence.
Nikos Mourkogiannis, academician and author writes "Purpose is not a responsibility of any kind. It is not a 'mission,' 'vision' or 'value' - at least not the kind that can be codified in a 'mission, vision, and values' statement. It is none of these things because, at heart, purpose is a call to action."
Mourkogiannis divides purposes into four broad categories. Each of these will require a different variety of leadership, different set competencies, and different measure of success. "Purpose revolves around four conceptions of what is right and worthwhile; they involve pursuit of discovery (the new), excellence (the intrinsically beautiful), altruism (the helpful) and heroism (the effective)."

Sam Walton did not have any vision to make Wal-Mart a USD 300 billion enterprise. But he had a purpose: to give the customer a wide variety and a good deal (altruism). Starbucks founder Howard Schultz didn't want to build the largest coffee chain, he wanted to build the best coffee experience (excellence).

According to Anand Kumaraswamy author of Gandhi on personal leadership, "a strong sense of purpose can accomplish three things for us - it can be a rich source of happiness, self esteem and fulfillment, it can help us overcome adversities and it can help us transcend the work - joy dichotomy". I would like to add "it can force us to transform lives and create value."

2. Ego and Anger
Ego is like fire, it is a bad master but a powerful slave. If your ego is subservient to your purpose it can make an enormous impact. Reliance Infocomm's ego was slave to Dhirubhai Ambani's purpose to democratise telecommunication. Hence, it connected over 500 million Indians and changed the dimensions and fortunes of the entire mobile telecommunication industry.

Anger, usually, has negative connotations but if channelised correctly, it can produce miraculous results. Martin Luther King's anger against discrimination changed the social fabric of the most powerful country in the world. Steve Jobs' anger against the mediocre and dull created the apple way to live.

3. Risk and Change
"If you don't like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less" remarked General Shinskei.

Western global corporations enjoyed the benefit of starting early. It was easier to access markets and consumers, cheaper to hold on to them with fewer competitors to lure them. Today, the context is radically different. Leadership is easy to achieve but difficult to sustain. The environment is hyper dynamic, and the consumer is ever changing. Every change closes some doors but opens several others. Hence, we need to validate assumptions and modify our plans real time. The ability to understand and embrace risk is critical to thrive.
4. Trusteeship
In a world driven by consumption and ownership this is a significant departure from the norm. We should think of ourselves as trustees of our stakeholders - customers, investors, vendors, employees. This will inspire us to be disciplined in decision making and execution. Blessed with this responsibility, we will take decisions which are in the long-term interest of the stakeholders. This will help us keep our ego in check, care for the assets entrusted to us and deliver superior business results.

I strongly believe that these four principles will be the bedrock of the visionary Indian leadership brand. Slowly, steadily, surely!

The author, Ajay Piramal is the Chairman of Piramal Enterprises Limited.