Secrets of Successful Leadership – Quick Implementation of Decisions Taken Very often people ask the secrets of successful leadership. There is enough literature available on the subject. However, successful people in all fields have one common quality across the board which is the ability to implement the decisions taken, quickly. The first major problem is that many in this world do not take decisions, keep dilly-dallying or vacillating or delaying or take impetuous decisions without thinking about the resultant consequences. Some of them can't take decisions at all. They should be followers and not leaders. All decisions carry risks. The risks have to be minimized. That's all a leader can do. Decisiveness is the most important quality for a leader according to Mr. Lee Iacocca.
The second major problem is that once the decisions are taken, the implementation is neither quick, nor carried out properly. This is often the case with large, democratic and bureaucratic set ups. This is also the single most important reason as to why individual driven, autocratic organizations are more successful in any field. The statement of Carlus Slim Helu, the founder of Grupo Carso and the second richest man in the world that ‘when we decide to do something, we do it quickly’, sums up it all. However, the risk of failure is also high. The reason is when the leader fades away from the scene, the organization stumbles. It is very difficult to replace such great entrepreneurial leaders. Individual driven organizations do not have the inherent capacity to develop leaders, because the potential leaders get eclipsed, however good they might be.
Mistakes will be made and we learn by making mistakes but nobody gets a chance. The founder is the star around which all others orbit like planets. Many management thinkers and academics paint the picture that being autocratic is bad. It is not completely so. If you want to implement decisions, you have to be autocratic, especially, when the organization is complacent and lethargic. Good leadership calls for decisiveness and a bias for action.
Wal-Mart is an example of such an organization after the demise of Mr. Sam Walton. If it has grown very big after his departure, it is due to the large momentum gained. There is another fact that the competition is not good enough. Many people do not believe in luck but it has a significant role to play in the case of any leadership. Professional driven organizations do not experience problem of such nature. GE is one such organization after the departure of Dr. Jack Welch. Mr. Jeffrey Immelt can't be called a charismatic leader but is doing an equally good job. It is not necessary to be charismatic to be a good business leader. Mr. Donald Peterson had the charisma of a ‘dead mackerel’ according to Dr. Pascale in the book 'Managing on the Edge'.
Unfortunately, the charismatic leadership school led by Burt Namus and others have stressed too much on it Charisma plays an important role in the political field. John Kennedy, Pierre Trudeau, Jawaharlal Nehru, Fidel Castro, Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi and Bill Clinton are such charismatic political leaders. Bill Clinton was lucky during his tenure except for the Monica Lewinsky scandal, for which he is solely responsible. President Bush’s administration has suffered for the poor economic decisions taken during Clinton’s regime. That’s the way the cookie crumbles in life for some, whether in business or politics or any other field. Poor Bush gets blamed for the wars. It is the Military-Industrial Complex of USA that is responsible for it to boost a sagging economy.
Professionally managed large organizations have one advantage. One leader gets easily replaced by another leader. They may not be top class leaders but the organization doesn't suffer much because the competition is also headed by the same types. Once you become big, the role of quality of leadership is minimal because the systems established take care of the individual deficiencies. We have an old saying – “in the company of blind men, the squint eyed man is the King’.
© May 2007. www.madgopes.com. All rights reserved.
To learn more about this author, visit Madhavan T Gopalachary's Website.
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Madhavan T Gopalachary
(Visit Madhavan's Website)
Madhavan Gopalachary, nick name "madgopes"
(g pronounced as in go) given by IIT
classmates, is a Mechanical Engineer and
an alumnus of Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras having passed out
specializing in IC Engines &
Thermodynamics.
He has nearly 35 years of experience in
the Corporate World. He started off as a
trainee and handled sales, marketing,
manufacturing, product management, profit
center management, strategic planning and
corporate development including R & D in
various organizations and at various
levels before becoming a CEO. His last two
professional assignments were at CEO level
before embarking to start management
consultancy business on January 01, 1998.
He has worked for British, Swedish MNCs as
well as very large Indian business houses.
He has spent a large portion of his time
from June 1998 till date in East African
Countries practicing as an independent
Management Consultant.
More details can be obtained at the
following web sites:
mmg.name/
mtg.html
mmgconsu
lting.biz/
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