Leadership Mantras

I had the privilege of listening to Rudy Guliani , the erstwhile Mayor of New york City on the unfortunate day of 9/11, at the HT Leadership summit last month. He spoke on leadership. According to Rudy, leaders above all their qualities are ones who love people and take responsibility of people who work around them. If a leader doesn't have the above quality he has no business to be called one. A leader must

1. Have Strong Beliefs and Convictions to set direction and goals
2. Demonstrate Courage to decide, take risk and go on against all odds.
3. Show Optimism to think success under all circumstances and situations
4. Prepare relentlessly to get plans, resources, people, course corrections right
5. Be a Team player to be able to utilize every one's strengths, in the team.
6. Possess Communication ability to connect with every stakeholder, at every level

Beautifully put. Though billions of pages have been written about leadership the world over I believe that the essence of leadership is captured in the above few points very well.
He described the moments when the news of the air strike to WTC was communicated to him. The information just said that an Aeroplane had collided with the tower. He said that this information did not communicate to him the full gravity of the situation, and it could not have to anyone. When he reached the location he could realize the gravity of the situation with news of more strikes coming in on one side and people panicking/jumping to their deaths. But there was no time to think but yet decisions had to be taken immediately. Since there was never any plan ever made for such and eventuality he had to draw from the various different plans they had made to confront similar such situations. They had to draw from the plan to face the anthrax attack mass casualties , the plan for high rise firefighting plans etc to be able to face this calamity. An organization led by a good leader according to him would almost always have planned for various kinds of scenarios and in emergency situations some parts these various plans come in handy. Its here that relentless preparation comes handy.

In another context he mentioned how his father used to tell him 'funerals necessary, marriages discretionary'. Its during losses and reverses that people need you more than they need you during happier times. Rudy was saying this in context of the leadership but I was thinking that how parents and cultures all across the world say the same thing in so many ways . The world after all is one big brotherhood.

I thank Rudy Guliani for sharing his mantras so lucidly but I must pay my Gratitude to Preety and Atul Kumar for inviting me to to the summit and getting me the opportunity to listen not only to Rudy but to many more illustrious world leaders.