The Grit and Test of Authentic leadership
Elias Moses
As we realign all our resources and ourselves with a renewed confidence and energy after much needed and important two and half months of lockdown, the financial numbers based on GDP growth in the last quarter of 2019-20 have come as a real shocker.
India’s economy expanded by 3.1 per cent in the January-March quarter and dragged the full year FY20 GDP growth to 4.2 per cent, weakest since the financial crisis hit more than a decade back, as per Govt sources as reported by Economic times
Agriculture, government spending drove economic growth in the March quarter; manufacturing and construction shrink, consumption growth falls to 2.7%
As we walk a tightrope with the finance crunch situation gazing at us from the other end, a minor slip or a mistake or an over-sight may set a regressive trend for companies and redemption might be bleak and why, even be a bigger challenge.
Learning from Mistakes
It is true that learning from mistakes and failures is an ongoing process in leadership, however I truly believe that true leadership is all about not repeating them.
Today we have come to a situation, where we cannot even for a moment fall back into a slumber and have a repeat of a mistake.
We have to ask ourselves the following questions “Where did it go wrong? Why did it go wrong? What is in our control and what is not in our control? How can we move ahead with renewed confidence?”
While we scanned through all market related reasons for the miss in the last year, we all know deep within that we may not performed at our peak and that we may not have walked or inspired our team to walk an extra mile to achieve the target. There is no doubt on that.
Test of Leadership in changing course of direction
Recognising error, cutting losses, spotting new opportunities, and changing course is a test of leadership and it sends out a positive message to those who work along with us in the organization and in our teams.
It requires rational, unemotional thought that focuses on the costs and benefits of changing direction.
In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire cat tells Alice “if you don’t know where you are going, it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
Avoiding Set Traps
This is a trap that businesses and business leaders must avoid — the starting point for any new or repeat venture is having a goal and there must be a clear strategy as to how to get there.
Merging Long Term and Short Term
Leadership is all about finding our compass all over again, but the irony I am beginning to see is that while we look at long term, we miss the short term, and while we work on the short term, and we miss the long term. Now we cannot miss on both.
True business results lie in merging both the perspectives of mind journey.
We can’t endlessly be groping in dark; we have to move towards the light and soon begin to see the end of the tunnel. And it is in the hands of today’s leaders.
True success will be a possibility, when its core leadership is able to consistently yield short-term results with long-term possibility for growth.
It is these small little results and successes that will result in long term and sustainable realization of the bigger vision.
A Company cannot be a Vision of one man; it must become a Vision of the entire team/workforce. And this Leadership Vision and Mission must be shared and understood by everyone.
Elias Moses is a Senior Business Strategist, Consultant Researcher, Corporate and Leadership Trainer, Orator, Columnist and an Entrepreneur. He is the Founder and Managing Director of a growing reality firm in south India. He is also the founder of Managing Next, an Online portal for knowledge share.
The author can be contacted@
email: elias@manovsis.com, linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/eliasmoses