“In my business of research,
economies of scale don’t exist” says Franz Huner CEO & Chairman of the
Swiss Pharma giant Roche. According to Hurner, Competitive advantage lies in
the ability to create an economy driven not by the cost efficiencies but by
ideas and intellectual know-how. Therefore the task of a great leader is to
create an environment in which ‘clever people’ can thrive. These people are the
handful of persons whose ideas, knowledge and skills give them the potential to
produce disproportionate value from the resources provided to them. [Source HBR]
Martin Sorrell, CEO WPP, a leading most communications
services firm in the world also backs creativity over capital for greater returns
on investment, says,”One of the biggest challenges is that there are
diseconomies of scale in creative industries. If you double the number of
creative people, it doesn’t mean you will be twice as creative.” Reminiscent of
too many cooks spoil the broth? One defining characteristic of clever people is
that they do not want to be led, a red alert for you leaders. Clever people don’t
plan their pension; they know their value and expect everyone to recognize it.
The bad news is that all the resources and systems in the
world are useless unless you have clever people to make the most of them. As per Hammerstein-Equord view people can be
divided into four groups based on their behavioral habits:
There are clever, diligent, stupid and lazy officers.
Usually two characteristics are combined. So the groups are set as follows:
- Clever and diligent
- Stupid and lazy
- Clever & lazy
- Stupid and diligent
Who would be
the most undesirable group that must be avoided? Certainly the ‘stupid & diligent’
must be avoided and not entrusted with any responsibility as they will always
cause only mischief. And the clever & lazy qualify to for the highest
leadership duties, because the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary
for challenging tasks would benefit for great positive outcomes. Erich von Manstein was regarded as one of
Germany’s best military strategist during World War II and Kurt Gebhard Adolf
Philipp Freigerr von Hammerstein – Equord was Germany’s Chief of the Army High
Command before Second World War.
India has twin advantage of political stability and relative
democracy but faces enormous challenges of culture war led by Hindutva lobby, poverty,
and population. The rising inequality in
incomes can’t be camouflaged with strident Hindu nationalism. Indian elections
present an opportunity to people to select the desirable class of leaders to
take India forward.
The mass media due to its structure and the lack of
knowledge & circumstances have never educated the voters about what type of
leaders people should elect that would help India march forward and develop a
competitive advantage. Justice Katju, head of Press Council had warned Indians
about the poor quality of journalists in India and the need for citizens to avoid
voting on identity factors and chose merit for sake of progress. But Indians
& the mainstream media swept aside his views and got itself a new set of leaders.
The quality of life in a country depends upon the leaders it elect. India has
failed once again to elect a bunch that can take it forward.
No comments:
Post a Comment