Ok – if you started to think of this as another blog on the Indian Premier League, I’ve got you stumped! By IPL, I meant Indian Political League this time!  But to give you and the way you think some credit, let me be fair – I will have some references to the cricket IPL as well, so it wasn’t as bad in the end eh!

I’ve had a lot of fun watching both these leagues unfold over the last few months. If the ride up to these events was fun, the actual events and the end result was very heartening to see indeed. Here is my take on five big lessons learnt from these leagues:

1. Planning & execution is the key to success:

The Congress pulled off a few rabbits off their hat. Sweeping the polls in states that have never been their bastion, the Congress clearly showed that planning and executing well is the key to success. The cricket league had something pretty similar to showcase too. Teams ranked 7 and 8 in the inaugural edition of the IPL played the finals and it was ironic enough that the tables turned and turned literally. The team that finished last a year ago was the winner. Gilly, the man behind this turn around has in interviews revealed the secret of this turn around – Some good planning, learning from mistakes and some smart execution.

2. There’s no place for “Left” overs:

The Left, a major opponent of development was ousted. In what I believe is a fitting message for them to change and embrace development, the Indian electorate showed that we want to move on. In subsequent interviews, the leaders of the Left, snorting under the message they received said that their party was out of touch with the ground reality! WOW! Did it need Einstein to figure this out?

Wasn’t Somnath Chatterjee saying the same thing a while ago? The story wasn’t different in the cricket league  either – Ganguly, the Lord who can’t field, run or bat was a poor shadow of himself. Being a passenger on the slow moving good train that was KKR, he for sure played his last ever game. Should I say I was fortunate enough to see him play his last? . Laxman, the rock star of test cricket and a spectator in T20 was asked to go home mid-way with the champion side. He was rusty to say the best and played his part “motivating” the team on the benches for a large part of the second half!

3. Charge of the “Youth” brigade:

While old is not necessarily out, youth for sure is in. From Rahul Gandhi to all those young chaps who’ve become members of Parliament, this is a new beginning. There’s for a moment no discounting the old hands here – but the guy’s who actually made it through are the finest and probably the fittest. While I’d love to believe that it’s the case always, there are a few exceptions too right?

How else can you explain an 81 year old with prime ministerial aspirations running the race and winning too? The sane can be said if a former Finance minister who won by the skin of his teeth – there’s a sect of people that believe he didn’t but, is controversy ever away from Indian politics? With the cricket, the Suresh Raina’s and the Rohit Sharma’s continue to impress driving home the fact that Indian cricket is in safe hands. If that wasn’t enough, the emergence of Kamran Khan and Manish Pandey is more testimony to this fact. Welcome to the future – the big turn is just around the corner

4. Failure is an orphan:

From being the toast of Indian cricket ( I still believe he is), MSD wasn’t a part of the dream team that the Chairman of selectors put together. At the expense of stating the obvious, I find it ridiculous that a semi final loss actually had such a steep fall for poor MS. Don’t worry MS – you hold all the keys with your young guns – this is a freaking domestic league at the end of it. Don’t let these distractions take anything away from you.. we need you and nee you in full flow for the other big things coming up. These spineless souls will soon be singing your praises! On the political side, the queen makers if you will, had such a fall. From being courted, wined and dined, they were all dropped like hot potatoes (don’t tell me they look like one now please!) from the moment the lead results started to come out. So much for loyalties and alliances eh!

5. Don’t burn bridges, especially by wagging your tongue:

The cake goes to out former Railway minister. After having a good 5 yrs at the helm, he fell apart with the leadership and went on record to say that the Congress will not win more than 3 seats in Bihar. He didn’t stop there, going on to criticize Sonia and the party that he has been associated with for a good 5 yrs. Guess what happened? Our friend won just 3 seats instead and had to eat humble pie – but to his credit, he came out and said he made a mistake! He went to Delhi with his tail between his legs saying I will provide my unconditional support! What does 3 mean when someone already has 300+ mate? What happened on the cricket?

The war of words on the proposed multi captain theory had its share of fallouts – While people love to talk and comment, this war broke an already divided house into pieces of garlic bread that everyone was content to just eat! From being the butt of all jokes to finishing last on the table, they saw it all. The extent of the damage that these talk have done is still being estimated ( hopefully, Fake IPL players predictions on changes to this team will seal it). The piece I loved the most was a commentator on TV saying, forget winning here – I understand… but look at the fair play awards list, KKR are last here too!! I can tell you one thing for a fact – this commentator has no role to play in any future KKR team. Will he want to is a different question though!

With these leagues over, I realize that my evenings are never going to be the same again. TV shows will be back in vogue – but what the hell, the cricket is just around the corner you see!

Image Credit: Tom@HK

Popularity: 46%

If there is one thing that is the most critical element of success in any profession, it is “leadership”. Due to the importance of leadership, successful business firms invest enormous amount of resources in identifying and grooming future leaders who can sustain the success of the firm. The same goes to any other field. But, the debate on who is a leader and what characteristics define leadership is an ongoing one. Mr. Babu Vincent’s article on Manmohan Singh in IndiaSpecial adds to that debate.

What matters more for a leader- style or substance?

Nobody will disagree that “substance” is essential for the sustained success of a leader. However, it is the leadership “style” that is a matter of disagreement.

As Mr. Babu Vincent pointed out in his comments, there are broadly two “leadership styles”

Category 1:

Charismatic, larger than life, aggressive, extroverted – examples include Winston Churchill, Jack Welch of GE  and Lee Iococca of Chrysler.

Category 2:

Down to earth, shy, introverted, non-noticeable – examples include Abraham Lincoln, Azim Premji of Wipro.

One of the most influential Management Gurus of modern times, Jim Collins, discusses about “leadership” in his best-selling book – Good to Great. He did exhaustive research on some of the firms that were outperforming their respective peer group and were transformed from “good” to “great” companies. Based on his research findings, he concludes that leaders who transformed each of these 11 companies exhibited what he calls “Level 5 leadership“. According to him, there are 5 levels of leadership:

Level 1: Highly capable individual

Makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills, and good work habits.

Level 2: Contributing Team member

Contributes to the achievement of group objectives; works effectively with others in a group setting.

Level 3: Competent manager:

Organizes people and resources toward the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives.

Level 4: Effective Leader:

Catalyzes commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision; stimulates the group to high performance standards.

Level 5: Executive Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical combination of personal humility plus professional will.

Interestingly, Level 5 leaders display the 2 traits of personal humility and professional will.

Click here to see more about this paradoxical combination.

Jim Collins also finds that Level 5 leaders are extremely modest; they rarely talk about themselves but talk about the firm, about other’s contributions and usually play down their own role in the success of the firm.

He adds that “Level 5 leadership” is complemented by some other “drivers” -

1. First who: Getting the right people to work in the team

2. Stockdale paradox: Confronting the most brutal facts of their current reality, yet maintain absolute faith that they will ultimately succeed

3. The Flywheel: Knowing and acting upon the fact that good-to-great transformations do not happen overnight but it starts one step at a time, gradually building up momentum and finally succeed.

4. The Hedgehog Concept: A hedgehog knows only one big thing but it knows it very well. The hedgehog is simple but is almost always successful

5. A Culture of Discipline: Good-to-great organizations have three forms of discipline

a. Disciplined people,

b. Disciplined thought

c. Disciplined action

Not everyone agrees with this concept of leadership. Tom Peters, another influential thought leader, does not agree with this model and is highly critical of it. There are other thinkers who have expressed disagreement with Jim Collins. This again confirms the fact that there is no unique leadership style (yet) that will guarantee sustained success in any profession.

Looking from Jim Collins’ perspective, Manmohan Singh is a Level 5 leader. One caveat though – his leadership is more similar to a CEO of a business firm who has the full backing of the Governing Board (Sonia and Rahul Gandhi). If he is evaluated as a political leader, he will most likely be judged as someone with very modest success.

But does he care how history will judge him as a political leader ? I doubt.

Popularity: 41%

Dear  Dr Manmohan,

How is life in Delhi? I heard that you just scraped through the trust vote….I didnt say it, some one else said it. I also read it in Hindustan Times.  My hearty congratulations to you, Sir ! Tussi great ho ji ! You are indeed a King….No wonder Singh is King all over.

But  what am I hearing ? Your allies allegedly bribed the MPs to abstain from voting against the motion-That I must say wasn’t fair, if true. Please order an investigation

What I must say is that you have proved yourself to be a true Sardar. You had the last laugh and you have definitely made us proud – snub the Akalis, CPMs, BJPs etc. and move along the right path. You have my wishes.

As a netspyder, I have been watching the developments in India, over the last few days. I am glad that some conclusive decisions have been taken and the entire country is with you. However, I have certain qualms.

What I do not understand is

CPM going against their ideologies

Not that I ever cared for theirs, on any day.  Give them another term and they will take the country back to stone age. Now that you have the power, I’d like to see the changes that you bring about. You may have a second term in succession. Good luck !

Advani advertising his voice (Read Ad Vaani)

Even at this age he aspires to be more than a deputy.  My guess is he will become another somnambulist Prime Minister like Deve Gowda. Considering the future of India, I think there has to be an upper age limit for becoming the Prime Minister of the country. Else, they will not have the strength to tie their own dhotis before they go to some important meeting.  A true “miss-representation” is in the offing. Let me tell you this – you are way dignified and eloquent.  May you be our Prime Minister for another term.

TDP voting against you

TDP, I thought, is a progressive party. May be they are too hungry for another election.  I think they had enough of YSR. The truth is Andhra Pradesh has had its best time when TDP was in power. May be you want to ally with Chandrababu Naidu – he is a nice man. May be that’s the solution for progressive allround growth.

Criminalization of Politics

Do not understand the sudden emergence of the criminals, pseudo criminals, super negotiators, power hungry societal wastes – How could you even think of seeking their support ? On one hand you say let the government fall, we shall let the nuke go thru – great statement. On the other hand you are allowing the nuke to grow within the system itself. You are setting wrong examples to the youth of this country.  Stand by what is right – Taking support from criminals is nothing short of being a criminal. You did not do well on this scale.  I forgive you !

I still support you for what you have achieved but I don’t deter from calling a spade a spade. Do well, next time – Ok ?

Youth of the Congress

What are you doing with the Youth power? There is plenty of talent out there – Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rahul Gandhi,  Naveen Jindal,  Sachin Pilot et al. Give these young guns the power and see where they take the country. They are the future, they are the young battalions of the Congress. I think it is high time that you replace some of the outspoken octogenarians in your party and replace with the future of India. I am yet to see some commendable steps taken towards empowering the young politicians.

I have lots to speak and I will speak. It is upto you to take it or leave it. May be a true economist that you are, you should give an ear sometimes for a vote later. It pays !

That said- my vote is guaranteed. I will not say to whom, though. Keep guessing !!!

Satsree akal ji

~Kandamangalam

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