Leadership lessons
by the late Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw
- Leadership can not be achieved without personal competency.
- Leaders do not born. Anyone with rational thinking can be trained to become a leader.
- Leaders should acquire professional knowledge throughout their life.
- Ability to make up mind and quickly take decisions
- No comeback after the decision
- Art of commission > Art of omission
- Taking full responsibility of the outcomes of the decision without blaming your sub-ordinates.
- Why a person can not take decision? - Lack of confidence - Lacks Professional competency (see #1) - Never learnt trained on the circumstances or assumed it is not serious enough
If you must be a bloody fool, be one quickly.
- Absolute Justice and Impartiality
- A person will accept the punishment if she thinks she deserves.
- A person will accept to be superseded if she thinks the other person deserves it.
- Why should not I punish you? Punishment should be a lesson learnt not to destroy someone
- Moral Courage
- Ability to distinguish the right from the wrong
- Once distinguished, have the courage to stand up and speak your piece irrespective of what your superior/colleague/subordinate/parents etc. thinks.
- A โYes manโ is a horrible man; never ever a leader
- May rise high, but
- Used by superiors
- Disliked by colleagues
- Disrespected by subordinates
- Physical courage: Everybody fears. Never show your fear to others and never ever to your subordinates. Once you show fear to them, you quit.
- Only way to face fear is by facing it.
- Loyalty
- Loyalty is a two way thing between leader and subordinates.
Leadership is nothing but management of men (with sense of humour and empathy) and resources.
- Discipline
- Show up five minutes before the time. Always be punctual.
- Always sleep on time and wake up on time.
- Be focussed.
- Character
- Know what you really are inside (and what you portray) rather than what others decipher about us.
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