It was a book titled Harvard Business Review on Leadership. When we returned home, Navin gave me a packet and asked me to open it. As was usual, we also went to the famous book store, Landmark, in Chennai. My two sons-Nitin and Navin-had come on a holiday from USA.
I cannot help being autobiographical in my preface to the book. Pradeep Mallick Founder Chairman of ‘The Listening Post’ I am confident that when our aspiring young leaders are called upon some day to choose one ingredient, they too will exhibit true leadership and pick character. For in the ultimate, leadership is a potent mix of strategy and character. The classical debate on whether leaders are born or made is not as relevant as the practice of outstanding leadership here and now. This treatise will be a valuable guide on how successful leaders meet these challenges and how they strive for excellence and constantly raise the bar. Bala has done brilliantly in showcasing today’s leaders as benchmarks for budding leaders and aspiring students alike. The complexities of a rewarding, sustainable and inclusive growth combined with a warped work-life balance in search of fulfillment and family harmony of transparency, humility and value-based governance of inspirational, visionary, accountable and just leadership of an overarching social responsibility of continually delivering value to all stakeholders of raising standards of living and putting pride back in India of making a difference and leaving behind a better entity are challenges that business leaders face today. Whichever way one views it-inside India or outside India-the current period presents immense opportunities and mammoth challenges. Simultaneously, globalisation has got Indian Companies demonstrating their entrepreneurial and technological prowess in the global arena as emerging MNCs. Our economy is booming, there is an air about India, and she is suddenly looking attractive to the foreign investor. Bala must be complimented for his choice of topic and his sense of impeccable timing in launching his book. Understanding basic motivations, what people hold dear and why and under-pinning organisational values is critical to strategic thinking and sustainable development. Would-be leaders fail most often because they lose sight of the values that form their organisations and the societies in which they live. Ineffective leaders seldom fall short due to lack of knowledge or know-how. As for Business Leaders, they also must have a deep understanding of the fundamental values that define their organisations. The world has been witness to visionaries through the centuries, in the likes of Aristotle, Kautilya, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, JRD Tata, to name but a few.
Leaders must necessarily be sensitive to human and social concerns, for the canvas of a true leader stretches beyond the limited dimension of technical knowledge and touches all facets of life-personal, professional and societal. Defining morally responsible or value-based Leadership is even more so. Interpretations and Lessons for the Futureĭefining Leadership is as nebulous, amorphous and elusive as defining Quality or Governance. My Personal Experiences with Business Leadership
Understanding Personality Differences at Workģ. I dedicate this book To all those business leaders, who I have had the privilege to work and interact with, who taught me the many lessons in leadership that I cherish and To my grandson, Ajay, who brought out the ‘N’ and the ‘F’ in me at this rather late stage in my life.Ģ. The Sage Team: Leela Kirloskar, Uma Purushothaman and Sanjeev Sharma Includes bibliographical references and index. First published in 2007 by Response Books Business books from SAGE B1/I1, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 Sage Publications Inc 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 Sage Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP Sage Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd 33 Pekin Street #02-01 Far East Square Singapore 048763 Published by Vivek Mehra for Response Books, typeset in Charter BT 11/13 pt by Star Compugraphics Pvt Ltd and printed at Chaman Enterprises, New Delhi Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Balasubramanian, S., 1945– The art of business leadership: Indian experiences/S. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Balasubramanian, 2007 All rights reserved.