Manthan: Art & Science of Developing Leaders

Leaders, who only live in the present and respond to its special pressures and demands, would fail to achieve quality of leadership and the change required in the future. In today's digital age of the millennial, transparency and social awareness have to be the cornerstones of any organization. Leaders and their HR need to align their current values accordingly. Some fundamentals like truth, humility, courage, energy, edge, equity, social justice will have to be brought back into the organization leadership DNA. All of us are aware about the spurt in leadership development activities in India over the recent years. There have been frantic efforts in Indian as well as foreign companies to develop leadership quickly across all levels in the organization. The reason of this recent surge lies in the current growth trajectory of Indian companies. Many Indian companies are growing at a rate which is mind-boggling. Companies which grew at 3 to 4 percent per annum for the first 30 years of their history, grew 10 fold or more since the advent of the new millennium. There are examples of several companies which have expanded phenomenally during the last decade, from Pan-India operations to manufacturing in 5 countries and doing business in 30 countries, increasing their manpower five times more than the number of people they had ever hired. This has put tremendous pressure on companies to develop leadership at all levels in the shortest possible time. So the natural question that comes up is: what kind of leaders do we need today in India? When we explore our own past, we expect our leaders be it in the form of god, king, or entrepreneur, to be 'Sarva Guna Sampanna', i.e. one who has all identified competencies and qualities required to be the 'right' leader. Today the imperative for senior leaders is to keep actualizing the talent in themselves and also in the band of leaders all over, whether leading from the front or middle or behind.