The West has long looked to India with a mixture of wonder, bemusement, and sometimes pity. India is the subcontinent of mysterious contradictions, a land of incredible beauty and wealth, but also crushing poverty. Its spiritualism -- manifest in its many religions -- has provided inspiration. It was Mahatma Gandhi who taught the West the power of nonviolent protest in support of social justice.

Yet when it comes to management and leadership, too often India looks westward when perhaps it should be looking inward, too. I say this as one who has been asked for leadership advice by many Indian nationals either via email or after one of my presentations. Part of my response is to remind people from different nations the virtues of their own cultures.And so it was with great pleasure that I read a new book, The India Way, co-authored by my friend, Michael Useem.

First some background. The rise of Indian businesses, and accompanying management models, grew out of deregulation of the early 1990s. From independence in 1947 until 1991, as the authors of India Way explain, Indian businesses operated under what was called the "license raj," a government-controlled bureaucracy of regulations that limited production as well as competition. When the Indian government loosened control in the early 1990s, a flowering of enterprise occurred and brought with it a new way of business that the authors label the India Way.

The four principles of the India Way are: holistic engagement of employees, improvisation and adaptability, creative value propositions and broad mission and purpose. To some extent, these principles complement the four Hindu aims of life: dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), kama (desire) and moksha (salvation). While by no means unique to India, these principles, the authors argue, account for the success of Indian businesses in ways that reinforce entrepreneurism as well as social purpose.

These principles come to life in the rich case studies. Two were of particular interest to me. The first described HCL Technologies, a leading IT firm, whose provocative slogan is "Employee first, customer second." The firm sees itself as a company that must lead by example. Transparency is the rule within the company -- so much so that senior executives post results of their 360-degree behavior evaluations online for all employees to read.

Vineet Nayar, a twenty-year veteran of HCL, wrote a letter to employees upon completion of his first year as CEO. "I am here as long as I have your support and confidence," Nayar wrote - and the authors contend that Navar means to earn that support, since he spends as much as half of his time in meetings with employees, "communicating his vision for the company and managing the corporate culture."

ICICI Bank, the subject of another case study in The India Way" emphasizes leadership and is focused on becoming a world-class bank, ICICI, though, is also mindful of its mission to serve the needs of Indian citizenry. Its retail banking operations operate in both cities and in rural communities. To do the latter, where deposits are measured in the hundreds of dollars rather than thousands or millions, means operating on thin revenue streams, a 100th of what Western banks might consider viable.

What I find refreshing in both of these case studies, as well as many others in the book, is the balance of business acumen with employee engagement. Many American businesses preach the same values, but all too often the engagement tends to fall by the wayside, especially in times of crisis when business comes first; people second.

The India Way is a product of rigorous research. Those interviewed for the book make up a "who's who" of Indian business success, while survey data and questionnaires provide rich background that supports the authors' conclusions.

The book reminds us that management is a multi-national discipline, not an American export. And when it comes to leadership, especially as it provides both aspiration and inspiration, Indian business executives have much to teach us.

First posted WashingtonPost.com/On Leadership4.13.10

“John is a terrific leader. Management is very high on him, but there’s one thing missing.”

“Sally is a star. She knows her stuff, but not sure she has what it takes to move up – yet!”

These are comments that I hear regularly from human resource professionals who hire me to coach one of their employees.

Dollars to doughnuts that missing ingredient is presence, specifically leadership presence. Which I define as earned authority. Leadership presence is rooted in authority but earned through example. That is, you have the power to things and you have earned the right through your actions to lead others.

Presence, as I write in 12 Steps to Power Presence: How to Assert Your Authority to Lead 12 Steps to Power Presence: How to Assert Your Authority to Lead , is the radiance of authenticity. That is, you radiate sincerity and you have what it takes to make good things happen. It is different from charisma; charisma is a gift, but it’s the sheen on metal. Presence is the real deal – a person’s mettle.

Consider these examples:

--The plant manager who holds meetings on the shop floor to be close to the work;

--The school principal who walks down the hallway greeting by name the children who grin and send him a cheerful greeting;

--The CEO who works in an open plan office and eats in the cafeteria so he can stay in touch with people and listen to their concerns as well as their ideas.

You can think of many more examples from your own life. Whichever example you consider, it is important to understand that just as leadership is reflection of earned authority, leadership presence, which enhances the leadership moment, is derived from the support of others. It cannot be assumed through birth or heritage, though many kings and queens have acted as if they have it and don’t. Leadership presence is a form of communications and as such can be taught and put into practice.

Too often we attribute presence to male leaders. And it’s easy to see why. Presidents Kennedy and Reagan exerted command through their good looks as well as their bearing but neither were empty suits. We remember them for their accomplishments.

Women leaders have a tougher time projecting authority, but not delivering on it. Did anyone doubt former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s authority? At the same time, consider Mother Theresa, small, demur and very old. Yet the strength of her advocacy for the poorest of the poor enabled her to create a religious order, fund her mission, and be of service to so many.

Character lies at the root of strong leadership presence. It is not a nice to have; it is a nice to have. But character is not an attribute that leaders possess; it is fundamental to the way they act. Character emanates from thought, word and deed. Leaders prove their character when they insist on accountability for themselves and for those they lead.

Radiating presence
One story indicates what it means to lead through presence. During the birthing of our nation, post-American Revolution and pre-nationhood, one figure exerted considerable influence over all parties, from north, south and west. George Washington. As we know from presidential biographers Richard Norton Smith and Joseph Ellis, never was such respect more apparent than during the rancorous days of the Constitutional Convention during which delegates from all the Colonies met in Philadelphia in Assembly Hall to hammer out a framework for the soon to be United States.

Differences were more apparent than agreement yet, as we know from historians, many of these delegates wrote of Washington’s presence in the room. Day after day he sat behind his desk minding his correspondence and saying very little. But he was fully present; his persona presided over the gathering. Witnesses said that it was Washington’s presence that radiated strength and reassurance. No wonder he was subsequently elected President.

Leadership presence therefore is more than a nice to have. More than an exterior sheen, presence is a reflection of deeply held values and a belief in one’s ability to do the job well enough so that people will want to follow.

Presence is projection not simply of power, but of sincerity, values and conviction. And as such it is something that leaders can use to leverage their influence in order to make themselves heard, understood and followed.

Posted FastCompany.com 4.26.10

Much of what senior leaders do is symbolic. You can consider them as heads of state for their organizations and as such they represent the vision, mission and values of their organization. But their role is not symbolic per se; it is based upon behavior. And so when CEOs of British Airlines and KLM climbed aboard the test flights into volcanic ash-laden skies they did more than symbolize; they acted. By riding with the crew they put the credo "ask nothing of others you wouldn't do yourself" into action.

Every organization should be so fortunate as to be led by men and women who know how to lead from the front. Not long ago I was a first-hand witness to such an example at a corporate seminar I was conducting. The company was faced with a hostile takeover. Before the seminar began, the vice president for the group stood up and spoke about what was one everyone's mind: the immediate future and its impact on them.

The vice president calmly and rationally explained the situation and talked about his expectations for what the group needed to do next. He also made it known that if such a merger occurred, his own job security hung in the balance. The executive then put himself front and center into the crisis, offering to meet individually with each of his managers and his teams so the employees could hear directly from him. He then took questions and within a half-hour the tension of the moment dissipated and the group was able to focus on the seminar. What the vice president did was set the right example and support it with concrete actions.

When words are not backed by actions, employees lose faith. A recent poll conducted by Maritz Research in March showed that only 11 percent employees surveyed "strongly agree" that managers "showed consistency between words and actions." Worse, only seven percent of these employees "strongly agree that they trust senior leadership to look out their best interest."

Symbols speak loudly, but behaviors are the ultimate test. When members of an organization or employees in an organization see their leaders put themselves at risk, or at least experience the hardship of the organization, then they have more faith in their leadership. They earn the trust of their followers.

The Maritz poll provides some hope in this regard. Some 63% of employees "with strong trust in management would be happy to spend the rest of their career with their present company." And 51% said they "would invest money in their company if they could."

Of course symbols have a role. The legendary Oglala Lakota warrior, Crazy Horse, was designated as a "Shirt Wearer" by his tribe. Not only did Shirt Wearers lead in battle; they led on the home front. According to historian Stephen Ambrose in his book, Crazy Horse and Custer , Shirt Wearers hunted the buffalo but they gave away the choicest cuts to the women, children and elderly. Wearing the shirt was the outward expression of their obligation. Giving the bounty away demonstrated the true meaning of sharing. Symbolic leadership has a place but actions matter more.

First posted WashingtonPost.com/On Leadership 4.20.10

Attention spans are getting shorter in part due to the proliferation of new media, including the internet, email and texting. That is one conclusion that Maggie Jackson draws in her 2008 book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age . The net result, as Jackson told NPR’s Diane Rehm, is that people do not spend enough time thinking through issues. Critical thinking is left by the wayside. The problem affects not simply young people who are growing up with hyper-mobile technologies; it affects adults, too.

Loss of attention can be a factor in business. How often have we seen mistakes made because people are too much in a hurry or because they have too many things on their plates? The result is that we do not do one job well, we end up doing twenty things “half-good.” One way to counteract this trend, and which Jackson recommends, is to spend more time thinking critically. Here are some ways to sharpen your critical thinking skills.

Size up the situation. Know what is happening as well as what is not happening is essential. Senior managers who are good at their jobs do this intuitively. They drop into a meeting, ask a few trenchant questions, solicit input, and then call for ideas.

Debate the alternatives. So far so good. All ideas are not equal. So often successful projects are the result of genuine collaboration where people build on each others’ ideas and contribution so that the net result is a synthesis, not the product of a single mind. Debating alternatives takes time but it is so necessary.

Reflect on the process. If there is one area of critical thinking that is overlooked, it is reflection. No one seems to have time for it. I remember interviewing the late Skip LeFauvre, the former president of Saturn Corporation, about finding time for reflection. Skip’s advice was cogent: put it on your calendar. Reflection need not be saved for outcomes; it is often wise to evaluate the process as it applies to progress.

One way to improve critical thinking skills is to keep a journal . The act of writing imposes two disciplines: organization and reflection. You have put down your thoughts in order and you are forced to consider your actions and their outcomes.

The ability to multi-task is not a bad thing. Management at every level, not simply at the top, is a juggling act. You have to discipline yourself to engage and disengage as attention is needed to situations, problems and opportunities. Speed is essential and that is where time for critical thinking gets compressed.

New media is here to stay. Asking people to stop using the Internet or texting is not simply foolhardy; it is stupid. We stay connected to others through the exchange of information and we need to keep that connection going. We simply need to manage our virtual time more wisely so we can invest time on thinking how to do our jobs with more forethought as well as attention.


Posted FastCompany.com 4.06.10

It is not often that an entire region, the nation even, stops for a moment to mark the passing of a legend. Such was the case of Ernie Harwell who died last week at the age of ninety-two.

Michiganders know Ernie as the long-time voice of the Detroit Tigers. With his tenor tones of his native Georgia he narrated the play-by-play of the team through good times and bad with a sense of charm, humor and good old fashioned delight. And while it can be said that Ernie was beloved as a broadcaster, he was even more beloved as a person. What you heard and saw with Ernie was what you got in person: gentility, warmth, and simple graciousness.

Detroit sports talk radio was awash with callers phoning in their remembrances. Ernie, to use the current buzz phrase, defined “random act of kindness.” One man recalled how Ernie did multiple takes for the man’s baseball card business. Ernie’s fee: nothing. A woman called how Ernie and his wife, Lulu, shopped at their local Kroger. People were forever bringing small children up to meet him. And Ernie always obliged with a kind smile. A security guard talked about how Ernie approached him during an event and thanked him for the service he was providing. A sport writer friend of mine recalled how Ernie spent time with him just watching games and talking baseball – no greater mentorship for a young journalist learning his tradecraft.

And speaking personally, Ernie once turned his Free Press column space over to my mother who had written a warm and funny column comparing some struggles of Tiger manager, Jim Leyland, to trials faced by some of Shakespeare’s heroic characters. Ernie knew good writing when he saw it and was always ready to lend a helping hand to a fellow writer.

Ernie was first and foremost good at his job. Before coming to Detroit, he called games for the Brooklyn Dodgers and later the Baltimore Orioles. Ernie’s style was homespun but imbued with storytelling skills and a profound understanding of a game he had watched since childhood.

His signature calls were well-known; “stood like a house by the side of the road” for a batter who did not swing at a strike, or “called out for excessive window shopping” to describe a batters called out on strikes. But beyond the voice, the bond between broadcast and listener was forged by the way he stayed so close to Tiger fans. Foul balls were caught by a “woman from Saginaw,” or “a man from Hamtramck,” or “a youngster from Royal Oak.” As a kid I wondered how Ernie could know just where those fans actually lived. I was not alone; all my friends wondered the same.

As locally famous as Ernie was, and nationally honored by Baseball’s Hall of Fame, he never acted as if it mattered. In his mind, fans were fans of the Tigers, not Ernie Harwell. It did touch him, however, when the outpouring of fan support at his ill-conceived ouster as broadcaster at the end of the 1991 season. He spent the following season calling games for other outlets, but was back with the Tigers in 1993 and stayed till he retired, voluntarily in 2003.

Ernie was diagnosed with inoperable cancer last year and the doctors gave him till Christmas. Well, he made it till the start of a new baseball season. He handled his pending death as he did challenges throughout his life, with cheerful resoluteness. A deeply religious man, he simply said it was God’s plan and he said that he would enjoy life, and continue being active as he could, as long as he could. And he did!

What I will miss from Ernie is his simple graciousness. His charm was not superficial, like we see in so many in public life. It sprang from deep roots: his upbringing in small-town Georgia, his long and loving marriage, and his enduring relationship with baseball, especially the Detroit Tigers.

Graciousness is not a virtue spoken much of these days and we are poorer for it. The memory of Ernie reminds us that how we connect to others is human and real, and as such it does touch lives. Maybe not in big ways but in ways that move people to recall a man’s passing not so much with sadness but with a favorite memory and a smile. While Ernie’s broadcasting days may be, as he himself said of home runs “long gone,” his example stays with us in our hearts. The man from Washington, Georgia taught me that!