Leadership crisis in India - 1

In the concluding part of my piece on "Agitations" I had said that I would next be writing about leadership and its crisis in India. Then I was overcome by pangs of guilt for not explaining my true position on the "Agitation" and in the process I said that I would look at the agitation's implication for the social fabric of this country and for federalism too. The logical thing would have been to continue with that line of thought because the issue is topical. But somehow I feel that whoever is reading this blog is tired of my writing only about one issue, two or three pathetic attempts at breaking the monotony not withstanding. So it seems the time is ripe to give that line (the agitation one that is) a break and write about the leadership crisis. Now having said that I cannot guarantee that references to the agitation will not creep back into this piece as well. But the saving grace would be that they will be just references, if at all. I cannot however guarantee that this piece will not be pathetic. I shall leave it to you to judge that.

Let me first make it clear as to what got me thinking about issues of leadership. I am an avid follower of music, rock music at that and I have always marveled at the control that record companies have over bands who are actually the creators of the music. But it was not too difficult to understand that since record labels wield financial power and also because they retain the rights to marketing and promotions, they are in a position to dictate terms to bands. The more difficult question to understand for me was why managers who are paid by bands have a fair amount of control over the bands. The answer to this came to me in a more round about fashion. I myself have been involved in various rock bands. Let me also tell you that in all the bands that I have been a member or a guest, I was the LEAST talented. Even that perhaps is untrue because every once in a while I question myself and find that I somehow am not blessed with any talent at all, in any field. But for reasons of convenience we shall proceed with the premise that I was and am the least talented. Yet the status that I have enjoyed within these bands was not commensurate with my talent. In most instances I saw myself playing leader. Over time I have understood that this happened because I had the courage and the drive to give bands a push in a certain musical direction and take decisions without fearing the consequences of those. I also was forthright in what I wanted and never employed deception. Therefore, people who were very talented (one of the hight lights of my life is that I have had the proud privilege and honour of playing with some of the most gifted musicians) felt convinced by the things that I said and empowered me to take the decisions. That is when I learnt first hand what being a leader meant and what went into being a leader. Please do not construe this account of a part of my life as an attempt at blowing my own trumpet. I only mentioned it because I thought it would have an impact on the narrative that I am indulging in now on leadership.

While what I have written above shows positive things happening and demonstrating to me what leadership is, most of my other lessons have come from totally unacceptable situations which high light the indecisiveness born out of cowardice and lack of understanding of issues and therefore negatively impact on decision making. Most of these situations, I encountered at work. Here is an important disclaimer of sorts. I have worked with many great leaders but it is those who did not have leadership qualities but occupied positions of leadership that brought me face to face with some very valuable lessons. I cannot remember which of the Roosevelts (Theodore or Franklin) said that committee systems were invented by cowards to hide behind safety in numbers and prevent responsibility being pinned on them, but it is indeed a wonderful statement of fact. Look at governance at any level today and it is all based in committee systems where egos fight with each other and all decision making is delayed. Committees are bodies in which everyone agrees to disagree or disagrees to agree or have a frank exchange of views or some such rubbish. It is a pity that today the paradigm of work is this stupid system in which horses and donkeys are reduced to an artificial oneness. I cannot therefore help but agree with Voltaire that it is better to be ruled by a lion than by a thousand rats. In my career spanning almost two decades there must have been at least twenty instances when I have approached higher ups with ideas to make the education system better but each time I was presented with this huge wall called a committee and I have had to retreat after banging my head on that wall. Sometimes I have been part of these committees and there too my experience was similar except that I was banging my head on the other side of the wall. That is the reason why I am always questioning the merits of a democracy but reminding myself of Nehru's assertion that he supported democracy because other forms of governance were even worse. I also remind myself of Hitler and the gas chambers and the application of the final solution. Even these frightening instances cannot keep from questioning the whole idea of leadership. A good and able leader, how or where can one be found? How does one look for that person? I will write my thoughts on that in the next round of this blog. Indulge my indolence till then, please.