Courage Under Fire
My stint here at IIFT is almost done. Nowadays I have so much free time that I am jobless enough to do some soul searching. I am a manager now, a leader who would be leading people, organizations in the near future but have I been able to fathom what leadership is all about? Some people are born leaders, some achieve leadership and some have leadership thrust upon them. Where do I fit in? Or do I prefer to be led?
In this span of twenty five years I have had the opportunity to lead as well as be led. I have come across exceptional awe-inspiring leaders as well as pompous supercilious men and both these kinds have brought me face to face with one important truth. Leadership is not about ability, it’s about responsibility. Leadership is the other side of the coin of loneliness, and he who is a leader must always act alone. And acting alone, accept everything alone. He or she must have the will and courage to make the decisions. Most often these decisions not only affect the leaders’ fate but also those being led and hence he or she has to shoulder the responsibility on behalf of all concerned. Life’s all hunky dory as long as the decision wins the favor of all the stake holders but most often life chooses to be more prosaic. A true leader would follow the principle of the greatest good of the greatest number even if that means making the shitty calls. That’s why he is the leader!
I have noticed that people who have been winners all their life, who always excel at what they do, don’t usually make inspiring leaders. Call it the winners curse if you so wish. Fact remains that they are so used to winning all the time that they can’t handle failure of any kind; losing isn’t an option for them. When you are responsible for people other than yourself, sacrifices and compromises have to be made. Battles must be lost to win the war. You are never a leader until you’ve lost.
It takes a lot of courage to step up to the job, to be unattached to everything else. Knowing that fingers would be pointed, enemies would be strengthened, friends would be lost along the way. I call it courage under fire. A leader does what has to be done, no questions asked. He isn't gifted with the luxury of being confused about his prerogatives. His decisions might prove to be unproductive eventually but the fact that he was the one who had the stomach to do what nobody else around could makes him stand out as the leader. You do it a few times and people would follow you.
The leader must know, must know that he knows, and must be able to make it abundantly clear to those around him that he knows. History stands witness to the fact that no one in the right frame of mind would ever follow a man who doesn’t know where he is going or if he wishes to do everything all by himself and/or take all the credit for himself too. He is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they would say: we did it ourselves!
The questions I have been asking myself are would I be able to stand up to the challenge? Would I be able to take the responsibility of my failures with as much bravado as my successes? Perhaps only time would tell. Until then I just wish I get to learn along the way what stuff true leaders are made of!
