Thursday, August 16, 2007

Independence - The Struggle and Leadership Lessons!!!

India celebrates 60 years of Independence!!! August 15, 1947 to August 15, 2007

Think Indepencence, think the almost a century long Indian struggle for freedom, and Leadership should come to mind automatically.

There are names and names of leaders that come to mind, the icons -Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose and many more, there were leaders of national stature, of regional stature and then there were innumerable leaders in each district, city, town village.

Each with their own individual leadership style and leadership approach.

It is surprising that I have not seen any management book that attempts to map or capture these great personalities leadership approach, leadership qualities and skills and present for practicing.

We are all to happy to lap up books written by and on successful business leaders and how they turned their companies around and so easily pander to their "oh how great i am so please learn from me and by the way purchase my book and so i get some royalty".

While all these small leaders of Indian freedon struggle did was to redefine the world itself.

I wonder what would happen if any famous CEO turned author or leading B-school prof turned author writes on the "Management and Leadership Styles of Leaders of Indian Freedom Struggle, and its relevance for today's Business" etc.

Would the book sell? Will people want to read and learn. Is the context at all relevant?

i.e. is there something really worth learning from these great personalities?

The answer is a resounding and thumping YES!!

Of course there are Management Skiils to be learnt. How many leaders do you know who can turn a multitude of "Chalta Hai" ( translates as "what do i care") into a charged up force who would readily give their lives for a cause?

I might attempt to take a swing at the leadership styles of these Great and Eminent personalities and attempt to draw some inferences relevant to today's business context.

All for this post.

©2007

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