Page - 1

So what about management???

"A manager always needs to be a good leader but the vice versa is not a pre-requisite for a leader though."
Throughout our life time, we have read and listened to this phrase a thousand times and we agreed to it. The B-schools across the globe were into producing good, infact, great managers. It was always believed that a manager always possesses the leadership qualities because initial part of his job is always to get the work done through others. Also, there was a myth prevalent that leaders are born, but the question is that 'is it true?' Many debates have been held and we have a lot of reviews but no results. Irony, isn't it?

Well, leaving the past reviews and not indulging in one more debate, I would like to draw your attention to this new buzz word - LEADERSHIP. A leader is always believed to be an influencer - the person who is like the Pied Piper whose flute had the magic to lead all the mice. He is the one who has the capability to be the role model. As a manager has functions like planning, organizing, directing, controlling and coordinating to perform, a leader has just one function, i.e., to influence. Now, who can be a leader?

Just to make a distinction, I would like to give an example. You are in your campus / office and suddenly you get to know that in the next building of yours, two eminent people are coming in different auditoriums - Sant Asaram Bapuji & Mr. XYZ, COO of ABC Co. You have the option to go for one, who you think you will go for? You, and infact, 99% people of your age might go to attend the session of Mr. XYZ as you think you will gain some knowledge from him. But the irony is that if you compare the fan following of both, you will notice that Sant Asaram Bapuji has much larger, may be more than 10 times, fan following than Mr. XYZ.

Confused???

This was the same point I wanted to draw your attention to. Mr. XYZ is a manager; however, Sant Asaram Bapuji is a leader infact. He has the capability to draw a larger audience than Mr. XYZ. Now, we can mention as many leaders from different walks of life as you want, e.g., Amitabh Bachchan, Rajni Kant, Ratan Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, George Bush, Osama Bin Laden, etc. We know that all these people have such a charisma that whatever they say, whatever they do, people follow. Now are there any pre-requisites to be a leader?

The answer is both yes and no. Yes, if you take a macro view of whatever I am going to mention below now; and No, if you take it specifically. So here are certain musts to be a great leader: -

Next

* Gaurav Goel is a student of Masters in Human Resources & Organisational Development (MHROD) at Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University.