ATMASHUDDHI

Change is the only constant and when change happens in a disruptive manner, it transforms the entire horizon which needs to be affected. In the same manner, there are some very special individuals who bring in these changes and the way they are willing to disrupt the existing systems and environment makes them "The Transformational Leader", one who takes the responsibility of an entire system and is willing to take a risk which hitherto was never taken and someone who takes ultimate responsibility of failure if at all encountered. Transformational Leadership style is the best leadership style ever invented or followed. This is the best leadership style for business situations since the Leader expects the best out of every member of his team and that includes himself. Nothing but the best can be part of this team and that is essentially due to years and years of hard work. They are brutally honest when it comes to assessing performance and none other than the best can susta...

Most of the times we associate Leadership styles with Individuals and that is one possible reason for the dearth of Leadership in most professions. Either we end up following a particular person or we end up in chaos if we don't find someone. On the other hand accepting a group of individuals or entities to lead the rest is also something which has its own advantages and disadvantages. If a group of individuals, then there is a significant possibility that irrespective of them being good or bad, we continue to accept whatever is thrown to us and if institutional, we end up without questioning the sanctity of the institution lest it be seen as a revolution. However, if the institution or group of individuals are able to create Leaders continuously without bias, then the result is something that cannot be replaced. In this post to show a particular difference I am bringing in Institutions and within them group of individuals (without naming anyone) within a particular leadership s...

Leadership styles are not necessarily in-born qualities. Most of the times circumstances define the method and when the method becomes a practice it becomes a pronounced leadership style. In all the previous posts except in case of Servant Leadership style, it can be very difficult to follow the particular type of leadership style throughout one's life cycle. Servant Leadership is something which is more imbibed due to the very nature of the person following this type of leadership style. Rahul Dravid cannot look at limelight since it hurts his eyes and he goes about doing his task irrespective of whatever others think or do. His role is to clearly play the role of a mentor from behind. If we wish to check for opposites to Servant Leadership style we could probably come very close with another type of leadership style i.e., "Task Oriented Leadership Style". The methodology is only different, the purpose is the same. However, here, the leader irrespective of whether he ...

Leadership positions fall short to aspirants for many reasons. One of the most important reasons is that the aspirant does not have certain important qualities. While there are many such qualities or attributes to make the aspirants effective leaders, three of the more significant attributes are:- a) The ability to Organize b) The willingness to Support and c) The intention to Develop. I would request readers to focus their attention on the nouns i.e., Ability, Willingness and Intention in connection with the attributes and this will clearly show the true quality of another Leadership Style viz., People Oriented or Relationship Oriented Leadership style. Arjuna Ranatunga, his physique belying his cricketing ability, the first "Captain Cool" and a man who would never flinch in the most trying circumstance. He was a leader who was a People's man. One who could pass off as another Corporate executive if not for his presence in the Cricket Field wielding the willow like an...

One of the most distinguished and a man with the highest integrity in Indian Cricket was and is Rahul Dravid. A person always ready to take on the best of the world's bowlers and lead the batsmen with example. One form of Leadership style which is indeed the need of the hour in today's world full of chaos, is "Servant Leadership". We all need people who are ready to lead by example, ready to lead with generosity and ready to lead with highest integrity. And some one like Rahul Dravid is a rarity. A thorough gentleman, I always felt he was in an era which was not really suited to his style but still he succeeded at the highest echelons of Cricket. An ultimate example of what discipline in life can do to a person. A Leader not formally recognized as one, someone who comes from any level in the Organization and is ready to take on the world and one who typically leads in the manner his people want him to. Such a leadership style comes naturally to Servant Leaders. The...

One of the most intriguing Leadership behaviour is to just let things drift. Some of the most successful leaders have found this quality to be supportive to their overall big picture and sometimes they intentionally allow things to drift so that they can control under the resultant chaos. "Leave it be" is the English translation of french term Laissez Faire. Many times we find politicians use this policy so that they can work around the chaotic situation and try to control. However, in sports, it is extremely fatal to let things be or let them drift, since drift is what it will ultimately end up with. Sunil Gavaskar had used this method to ensure that the team does not lose when India were playing a second string West Indies team in 1978. To support Gavaskar's plan the opposition leader Alvin Kallicharan played the same game and the series ended with 5 drawn tests and 1 test win for India on a demon of a wicket in Chennai. Sunny's method was to post Huge totals and...

Democratic Leadership or Participative Leadership Style is the style of following a democratic process in decision making and taking the buy-in from every team member irrespective of position or hierarchy. Democratic leaders create an atmosphere of holistic decision making, however, the Final say is their's and their's alone. These are those type of leaders who are willing to take a responsibility, first of all, for collective thought process and the process does not end there. They are those leaders who are not in the blame game when there are failures. They have the gumption to take the complete responsibility for the result of the decisions. Two of the most successful Leaders in Cricketing history, one an Aussie in Steve Waugh and another an Indian in M S Dhoni. The styles of both these Leaders seem very similar. Both utility men, very tough interiors, significantly cool exteriors. Very similar in style and very similar in the manner they captained their respective sides....

Motivation in any form is key to performance of Individuals, Teams, Organizations and the world at large. Motivation when initiated by Leaders is ultimate since it is the most focused and most successful methods to venture into un-chartered zones or reach the tallest of peaks. When motivation is initiated by Leaders the result generally is fully rounded (negative or positive depends on the approach and result), holistic and all-encompassing. Such Motivational leaders require a very important characteristic and i.e., Charisma. Charismatic leaders are those who can change situations suddenly and completely to exactly the opposite to what it was, the moment they are given the reins. Their reign is generally full of action with every single participant within their teams contributing in whatever manner they can and essentially the result can be attributed to the Leader. Some of the greatest leaders in Cricket have been Charismatic and their individual aura held sway over every team me...

Bureaucracy is something that is prevalent in every system irrespective of the fact that Organizations are open to creative participation, innovation and holistic ideating from their employees and stake holders. Sports is an arena which ideally should be bereft of bureaucracy but unfortunately we are prone to witnessing this in most of the administrative positions within Sports. It comes with an un-written logic of control. Cricket has not been spared either from this bane. "Yes" bane it is, while the Control areas can necessarily be rule bound and where the players need to follow everything strictly as per the rule book, unfortunately, bureaucracy has crept into the playing field too and due to which many a team ends up achieving too little than what they are otherwise capable of. One startling example for Bureaucratic Leadership is Greg Chappel. A class act as far as the art of batsmanship is concerned, Greg Chappel is someone who can be part of various types of Leadersh...

Some of the greatest Cricketers were famous for their attitude. Like they say "Attitude decides Altitude", these were known for their strong attitude, strong egos and never-say die approach to everything they did. For them defeat was something they loathed and would go to any extent to stop the opposition from winning. They were so strong that even the respective Boards, Selectors, media included were not very comfortable in going against them. One of the best batsman ever and arguably India's best was Sunil Gavaskar. No one could dispute his technique in front of the stumps and the best of the fastest bowlers, would give the last of their dime to get his wicket. Sunny was again one of the most shrewdest leaders in the Game's history and probably India's best. Autocratic leaders are those leaders who have complete Power over their people and Sunny could exercise this power without even lifting his finger. Just a stare from him on the field meant that the person...

These are days when finding an able leader is like finding a pin in a hay stack. Like in business, in polity or in socio-cultural platforms, leadership is something that is becoming difficult to find. It is like there are many who are aspiring, achieved significantly, but unfortunately fall short of mass followership and effectiveness. Sports is another platform, the lack of leadership is getting to be a very strong reason for non-performance and when that happens there is significant fall in the followership and equally significant fall in role models. I have been an eternal optimist, at least as far as Sports followership is concerned and a fair bit of my thought process has been driven by Sports. I feel that a we should continuously attempt to analyse Sports or Sports people, time and again, in order to find good practices and look for role models to effectively perform various acts in life. Leadership in Sports is a fine arena to look for role models. To me, Cricket is a great g...