WINningView: On Leadership

Sunset from my room from the Vivante Hotel in Mumbai, owned by Tata, overlooks a city of vast contrasts.

Indian woman cleaning her little part of the street. A national campaign to rid the streets of litter and rubble would be good.

One of few places uncluttered and "green", the Gardens in Mumbai.

India is, in fact, full of opportunity, but there is a very real dichotomy that exists, which we cannot ignore. With a strong cultural heritage that permeates social interaction, love and marriage, business conduct, we find that it also infuses many people from the various walks of life and economic strata with a sense of inner peace and loving pride that we are too often hard-pressed to find in our western culture. Virtually everyone with whom we came into contact was not only pleasant, but genuinely polite and sincerely interested in ensuring we would have good impressions of their country, culture, spirit and energy. Their smiles are warm and genuine, combined with the beautiful fabrics and tasteful smell of spices in the air, brighten up the grey around them. Their strength and potential, I believe, actually lies in their very nature towards "servant leadership" that we find around every corner. And, I am not implying that they are servants. Servant leadership is studied, well-researched and defined by scholars. A servant leader puts the needs ahead of their own and is therefore inspired to lead. They are humble in their pursuits of helping others reach their full potential (Greenleaf.org, 2011).

On the scale of Blake and Mouton's leadership grid, they would be positioned as having a high concern for social community. While the concern for production/results is proportionately lower, it is not missing. Corporations are doing quite well, even with prioritizing social enterprise. People and production concerns can, in fact, co-exist.

At the same time, here is a concern about whether India can keep up with the global contextual expectations. The infrastructure is a certain way off and there is a sizable political risk. The young, upper class population are moving ahead at lightning speed. Certainly this was evident in our hotel bar that transformed into a modern nightclub on a Friday evening that rivaled the best of nightclubs anywhere. Women wearing beautiful jewelry in saris as well as western, fashionable attire stood side by side with nicely clad men. And, it was interesting that many of the young Indians, with whom we spoke, did not want to subscribe to the traditional model of arranged marriage. They want freedom to choose. One of the contemporary, well-educated, young businessmen we met believes that he has the freedom of choice, but absolutely expects that, when the day comes to marry, he and his bride will move in with his family, following tradition. Ads of western fashion, beauty, atheticism, and yes, sex abound like we see west of the Bosphorus, so to speak. But below those billboards are broken up sidewalks, shacks, dirt and the very significant population that works very hard to make just a little bit of money. 50% of the population in Mumbai live in slums. Over 30% of the entire 1.2 billion people is illiterate. Again, a world of contrasts that manages to co-exist in an ebb and flowing harmony.

In meeting with a senior leader of the Tata Corporation, he brought to our attention four risks, all fairly sizable: 1) deficiency in teacher training, 2) healthcare education among the masses, 3) political corruption, and 4) lack of innovation coming out of India. I am inspired by the Tata organization because they are trying to lead with a social responsibility agenda. Their vision is founded on trust, community and responsibility. They are an organization that falls on the high side of people orientation, versus production/results orientation, on Blake and Mouton's Leadership Grid. So, they bring in over $ 70 billion in revenues, but only 3% is reflected in profits because they give back to society. However, that is over $ 2 billion. I wonder if that would be enough for some of our American companies that put process over people on the leadership grid. Yes, they are proving that social responsibility and enterprising profitability can co-exist and believe that a brand is founded on what you are, not what you say. And to do social responsibility right, I would argue that a great deal of corporate emotional intelligence is necessary too.

I believe now in an inner well-being in India. They have strong souls and perseverance for a better tomorrow, whether it is in this lifetime or the next. I am impressed with the enterprises here that truly value social responsibility and sustainability, not just pay lip service to it. It gives me hope that we all can strive to become those transformational leaders. I have often felt that I needed to leave behind my experience in corporate life because it has so many heartless elements to it. I give myself the latitude after this trip to pursue a corporate career with the right organization that values intellectual curiousity, giving back to society, creates followership, builds humility into leadership, and puts social and environmental sustainability as a priority in every leadership discussion.

There is a space for us as leaders from this program to make this happen for more organizations, but our western organizations have somethings to learn too. Our metaphorical infrastructure needs to be developed. How corporations are evaluated needs to be reformed and shareholders, stakeholders and financial organizations need to lead the effort to put social responsibility on the list of criteria for valuation. I am drawn to our Learning Design coursework, Tyler's 1949 Model for Curriculum Design, which has contemporary application and goes beyond academia. Start to identify the goals and what results will look like, because they may not necessarily have a direct monetary value, at least initially. They may be good for humankind, but we'll need to know how to measure that impact and translate it meaningfully in order to design the program.

The alternative is to do nothing and to continue to let Wall Street largesse and financial gain be the only driver of big business. I think, though, that we are at a point in the global economy where this one-dimensional, myopic strategy won't go very far. India isn't the only place in the world where there are extremes of wealth and poverty. It isn't the only place where people live on $ 1.25 per day. It isn't the only place that burns through the environment. It isn't the only place that lacks potable water. It isn't the only place that needs better healthcare and education. It isn't the only place that is desperate for innovative solutions that work within the societal structure of their way of living. It isn't the only place where you can dine outside at one of the best restaurants and hob-knob with the rich and famous, and walk out the door having stepped on a rat's tail or a cockroach. These issues are global and they are ours to share as the connectivity in our world only keeps growing. And eventually, the Tata Corporations of the world -who are also very enterprising, rich in resources, diverse and profitable - will run circles around the rest because of the social responsibility and sustainability focus that drives productivity.

The Taj Palace Hotel in Mumbai, owned by Tata, full of exquisiteness and riches, representing the full opulence available to the few in India.