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TelecomPlus Jan 09
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Nurturing Leaders
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: "Think of managing change as an adventure. It tests your skills and abilities.
It brings forth talent that may have been dormant. Change is also a training
ground for leadership. When we think of leaders, we remember times of
change, innovation and conflict. Leadership is often about shaping a new way
of life. To do that, you must advance change, take risks and accept
responsibility for making change happen." Charles E. Rice, CEO of Barnett
Bank
Apart from the problem of managing growth for employees, the critical factor that needs focus
relates to identifying talent, nurturing them and subsequently developing them as your future
leaders. And that’s what I want to talk about in this article.
In today’s environs, talent is amongst the keys to competitive advantage. And for a talented
employee, a huge challenge is to rise above a single function and gain a broad understanding of
the business, especially as it operates beyond cities, countries and regions.
According to a marketing specialist and MBA Professor Narayandas of the Harvard Business
School,
"Leadership by definition is a multifaceted term," says Narayandas, a professor of business
administration with a specialty in marketing. "Are you managing yourself, are you managing
upwards or the people below or laterally, or the firm, industry, society? You can lead at so many
levels. That complexity is only going up. It's just not a question of leading a small team. It's about
leadership in ideas, in actions. Add that to the fact that in most situations people are dealing with
the global economy, rapid commoditization, and hyper-competitive environments. So to be able to
be flexible and use the right approach at the right time and change as the situation demands is
going to be tough. Not everybody can do it. That's going to distinguish the true leaders from
people who are capable but not leaders."
This to me is the crust of the approach that management needs to focus on to develop leaders in
our country. The assertion of specialists that they can manage businesses is unfair because they
are not trained nor are they ready for the responsibility. An engineer cannot be expected to
market his product as effectively as a marketer who has been trained and understands the
nuances of selling. An academic trained in applied chemistry cannot head an institution which
ought to be commercial in nature and where human resource is likely to be the largest recipient of
help and guidance.
It amounts to stating the obvious that large organizations can point to formal programs led by
individuals whose sole responsibility is to find and mentor up-and-comers. By contrast so can
small companies shine in talent identification as CEOs identify future “shining-stars.” But the
biggest problem is amongst medium-sized organizations because they tend to lack the
infrastructure of the large organizations and also the human resources capabilities of a start-up.
So the question arises, would a dedicated talent identification program successfully identify future
leaders?
The answer I think would be to come up with an action-oriented program where some ideas come
to mind. Obviously many CEOs can foresee potential and talent and will also ensure that the
identified talents are retained and they gradually move to become part of the core team of the
company. But in essence, talent needs to be nurtured; perhaps in instances it takes someone else
who can recognize that an individual can think beyond his job, can think bigger, and has the
potential to make a bigger impact. It's a combination of the environment, talent seekers and raw
talent together that bring the right kind of people as future leaders.
Today’s business environment is not only getting more complicated but understanding the
interactions of various aspects of business has become exceedingly important. If we assume that
we have an excellent team of accountants who are continuously coming up with ideas, would we
ask the question, 'Is this relevant to the company, customers, and vertical we are working in?'
Would the team simply work within their budgeted constraints or would they identify a problem and
a market segment to focus on. Subsequently they may take the initiative of developing a business
plan and ask for resources and provide deliverables. So those skills are clearly missing in our
environment where the “big picture” is missing from most talented resources. They are great in
terms of focus and dedication but unless they do not step up to the next level it is unlikely that they
will be identified as the next tier of leaders for the company. Many resources even with talent
would simply revert back to management and say that as part of the capital budgeting team, “I've
been given $50,000, now let me try to do the best I can.” If I were to give an example here I would
quote John Sculley of Apple who was President of Pepsico earlier and tried very hard to make the
technology up-start achieve its potential. But it was Steve Jobs who came back and achieved
unprecedented growth; new markets, new vision and did actually have the last laugh!
I think the lesson in that is that one has to understand what he is leading. And perhaps more
importantly that expertise in only one area will always be a handicap! Is job-rotation practiced in
our country the way it is abroad? The multinationals here certainly provide marketers an exposure
in sales and branding but that is never replicated in the seth-organizations or large local entities. It
is a matter of concern because if a marketer within an export-oriented textile mill has been on that
post for 20 years how will that textile mill benefit from Web 2.0 technologies and marketing? The
individual has no idea of Wikipedia or Blogs or even social networks like Linked-In or Facebook.
Maybe I’m being unfair and judgmental but also realistic.
But we achieve a full circle when we know that when an organization trains and mentors leaders,
how will we be able to retain them? Talented employees yearn for challenges so if we do invest in
these people, we must give them significant work. It is inevitable that in a top management group
there are never enough leaders. Something is always a stretch for someone. There are often
conflicts between how fast you can move and how fast the organization can move you. If someone
doesn't see upward mobility, they may simply move on. Not everyone will be CEO some day, and
having an enjoyable and challenging career doesn't have to mean becoming CEO. The key to
career success is to draw on a variety of leadership styles at appropriate times.
I think the reason why many potential leaders never realise their potential is because they just
have a uniqueness about them. Whereas the characteristics of a leader to me would be a person
with uniqueness but willing to learn and grasp opportunities with conviction of his support (his top
management team). This is again amply signified in Apple’s turnaround and its phenomenal
growth. Steve Jobs may never have achieved his potential if he did not have top lieutenants like
Fred Anderson, Guerrino De Luca, Tim Cook, Jonathan Ive, Ron Johnson and Scott Forstall.
A leader has vision; this is what we're going to do. A leader has reason; here's why we're going to
do it. But most importantly he has concerns as every journey is coupled with issues and troubles.
A good leader is someone who can anticipate them. People like to follow people who have vision.
People like to follow leaders who can explain why we're doing something. And people like to follow
people who have said, 'You know what, it's not going to be an easy journey; we're going to have a
lot of adversity, but here's why I think we can get it done!” The faith associated with that is
unprecedented. Apple churns out iMac, iBook, iPod, iPhone and what’s to follow iTV!
In retrospect I would simply state that our environment of chaotic business values and business
deliverables places us in an ideal scenario of developing world class leaders. But exposure and
nurturing is the order of the day. In addition, encouragement and providing opportunities to take
initiative will not help retain talented and potential leaders. Let them brew under your guidance.
Give them an opportunity and reap the rewards for you and them. We need to make the effort. Or
else?
Ali Kamal is an academic, marketer and technology practitioner who brings into perspective a
need for human capital issues and will be writing for the magazine regularly. You are welcome to
contact him at ali.kamalv@gmail.com
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