Shiv Shivakumar, Group, Group Executive President, Corporate Strategy & Business Development, Aditya Birla Group, recently spoke at the inauguration of Loyola Institute of Business Administration’s (LIBA) new building by TN Chief Minister MK Stalin.
Shiv spoke on the book written by Fr Joe Arun, Director, LIBA, Business Moves , a book on leadership. As Shiv explained, the book on leadership is about eight moves and eight energies. My eight lessons on leadership are:
Leadership lesson No 1: Leadership is a huge responsibility. Don’t take it lightly. It doesn’t come easily, it doesn’t rest easy either on your shoulders or on your head. Leadership is even more difficult in a social media world where everything you say and do is scrutinised to the minutest detail. People like me are scrutinised in the organisation I work in, however, people like the honourable Chief Minister and the MPs, MLAs are scrutinised everydayby society. That’s a far tougher scrutiny.
Leadership lesson No 2: Leadership is about followership. You cannot be a great leader if you haven’t been a great follower. Every leader on this dais has been a follower for many years, not one, not two but 20 to 30 years. Be a good follower.
Leadership lesson No 3: Leadership is a combination of logic and magic. The magic is in the inspiration, if you are magical, you will inspire people.People are energised by the magic you bring everyday.
Leadership lesson No 4: Authenticity is the level of organisational and personal responsibility you take every day. I think leaders in politics take it to a very high level since they are responsible to the last person in their constituency and the last person in the state. That’s a very different level of responsibility they take organisationally and personally.
Leadership lesson No 5: Arrogance is the first step to self -destruction. Many a leader has fallen by the wayside by just being arrogant. I think staying humble as a leader is a great virtue.
Leadership lesson No 6: Leadership is not about dividing, it’s about collaborating, it’s about unifying. Many times we classify people as “they are with us or they are against us”. I can think of three examples and the honourable CM is one of them. President Lincoln, President Obama and the CM himself who embraced people from the opposition and said, “Work with me for the overall development of the state or the constituency.” That’s a rare quality I must say.
Leadership lesson No 7: Maturity is about a deep sense of appropriateness which is a combination of reason plus feeling. And, final lesson.
Leadership lesson No 8: Leadership is about creating momentum, it’s about sustaining momentum. Leadership is not about staying silent or saying it’s ok, it’s constantly trying new things, constantly doing new things.