THE INTANGIBLE SIDE OF LEADERSHIP TOO IS A FEATHER IN THE CAP OF LEADERS

The group of students decided on a picnic but Ram was hesitant to join. “Don’t worry I will see that they don’t trouble you, you also come” assured Bharat pointing to three in troupe who were boisterous by nature and seen as bully. Ram joined the party.  All that Bharat did was to size up the anxiety and hesitation of Ram who was otherwise timid, submissive, conforming and yet joyful and inventive on such occasions.

The secret of success of Bharat as leader is he is able to similarly size up the mindset of other people who may be brash, bully, aggressive or even uncouth  and prop them up to come out of their original shell at least for the time being. This is achieved without the individuals expressly spelling out their feelings to Bharat, yet he read out their mind successfully and has also been a part of that mindset on occasions.  In other words people of varied nature find something in the leader that resonates with theirs.

People do have anxiety and apprehension to get along with others, since the upbringing of people create many likes and dislikes, whims and fancies and prejudices and bias. While working for a common cause be it an industry or society leaders understand and appreciate the typical behavior pattern of each of these and ensure synergizing of resources and draping the weaknesses. 

The leader himself may not be social by nature but would appreciate the need of a social person. He may not be introvert or cautious but knows how they feel at a given situation. Thus he may not be the person liking a set pattern of behavior but is not averse to living with such people for a short time to achieve a common goal.

Also relationships get snapped by small bitterness. Leaders utilize the converse of this rule effectively. People who are heterogeneous otherwise, join for a small common benefit. A good leader helps cement the sentiments feeling and aspirations to achieve this unity. 

Ability to handle unstructured situations is yet another aspect of leadership. When rules/systems/practices are ambiguous or incongruous, decisions that too time bound are needed on occasions. In an overseas conducted tour while many came late and held up others routinely a group of three were chronic defaulters. Here the peculiarity of the situation was many were defaulters and there was consensus on the default and its damage perceived as minimal. But in the case of  chronic defaulters the consensus was against them as their default was perceived to be more damaging. To take the decision to leave them to come on their own to the next stop in an unfamiliar country and face their angry reaction effectively to the approval of all needed special leadership skill that understood the mood of the majority with very limited time and inputs to assess. On such occasions while all would agree with the decision none would be willing to initiate it and drive to logical conclusion.  

Thus what is leadership is well known like vision, initiative, courage, team building etc, what is not yet fully deciphered are some of the qualities like how they read the mind, mindset and anxiety in a split second in almost all cases and come with a response. Their ability to judge a situation to take a quick and bold decision adds to their charm. Acquiring such skills and practicing it effectively add to the feathers in the cap of a true leader.

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