Many wise people have said that it’s during crises that true leadership shines through. Recently we’ve had the chance to verify this adage.
As Chennai, a city where a significant chunk of our heart-rhythm interpretation work is based, reeled under the disruption caused by cyclone Michaung, our staff in Delhi and Salem stepped right in to make sure our clients – and crucially, their patients – don’t suffer. Which got me thinking that I should write something about leadership.
Leadership is not restricted to just managers. In healthy companies such as ours, everybody is encouraged to be a leader. Because being a leader is not about standing over everyone else and issuing orders. It’s about exemplary behaviour; behaviour that is worthy of following.
You might be aware of the Uttarakhand tunnel rescue that was carried out in November. There, it was the leadership of the men in boots, on the ground and under it, that had the most impact, more specifically, a team of what’re known as ‘rathole miners’ – a highly skilled but primitive technique practitioners, led by a hero called Munna Qureshi, who achieved what all the machines and technology in the world couldn’t.
Why is this? Because in moments of crisis, a single leader issuing orders cannot achieve much. You need leadership from every person working towards a goal.
So what’s leadership then? In simple terms, it’s the quality of taking ownership, responsibility, and a commitment towards the goal, and then showing the selfless resolve, discipline and focus to get there.
Don’t mistake me – ‘selfless’ here doesn’t mean the leader has to do something they don’t like; it only means they must do what is required, beyond their individual likes and dislikes, for the sake of a greater good that exceeds the self (hence ‘selfless’) and help others.
This may seem far less romantic an idea of leadership than what you may have come to understand, but that is exactly what authentic leadership is. And that is precisely what we need in the public sector too, so that even in the face of Nature’s wrath, such civic calamities in our urban spaces can be minimized and handled way better. Perhaps someday, our bureaucracy will also be blessed with Munna Qureshis, the kind of leaders that work at Healthwatch.
Let’s say amen to that, and have a selfless month!
