From Smart to Wise is an excellent book on leadership that advises every leader to find his or her own wisdom logic
Leadership is always assumed to be smart, especially if we define ‘smart’ as being intelligent or ‘successful intelligence’. All CEOs or leaders normally fall into two categories—being either functional smart or business smart. If one is functional smart, you are on a narrow path with focus on operational excellence. The organisation ends up looking at profit, but misses the topline story. If you are business smart, you look at growth that loses momentum after a point of time. This is how Kaipa and Radjou broadly classify leaders in the business world. What they suggest is that neither of these two models is desirable and we need to become ‘wise leaders’ who are mature, resilient and flexible. That is why their book is titled From Smart to Wise, as the authors chalk out the path for this transformation so that leadership is sustainable in a complex changing world. All of us look at the world through a set of filters. Blue goes with functional leadership where the CEO is comfortable in a limited zone. Focus is on being grounded, execution and expertise. If you are a smart leader, the filter turns red and the focus is on vision, drive and risk taking. The authors evidently want them to move out of these zones and give the example of Bill Gates, who changed his own image and style after the anti-trust laws were haunting him to turn a philanthropist. We need to incorporate ideas such as prudence, judgment, humility, ethics and common good, and move away from these standardised filters. The authors urge leaders to move away from their own strengths and winning formula, and step out into the world so that they see all colours. It is not surprising that names like Narayan Murthy and Mahatma Gandhi feature as the ideal role models for them. The transition to becoming wise is based on six interlinked tenets that lead to the ideal combination. These are perspective, action orientation, role clarity, decision logic, fortitude and motivation. Though these tenets do not appear to be connected, they do follow sequentially. Let us look at perspective first. Leaders need to find their own North Star according to the authors. They need to ask themselves as to what inspires them and how do they pursue this goal. There is need hence to start with introspection before taking any action because this perspective that we have is based on the sum of our experiences and knowledge, which has to be blended with the final goal. They give the example of Aravind Eye Care System, which brought vision for several challenged individuals at a low cost. This way we eschew being narrowly focused like the blue filter or self-centered if caught in the red filter. The example of VR Ferose, managing director of SAP, testifies the second trait of being action-oriented, where leaders need to identify with their people and lead them. Most leaders tend to follow systems that are either ‘borrowed’ from B-schools or ‘fake’, where they pretend to be what they are not. What is required is that they need to be authentic. Here, they also show leaders like Gandhi, Steve Jobs and Alan Mulally hit the right chord. Indra Nooyi is another example of a leader who has taken Pepsi to new heights with a focus on society—sustainability, nutrition, water conservation, costs, energy savings and so on. On role clarity, the authors argue that wise leaders should not let ego or personal needs come in the way. Drawing from Chanakya’s advice to kings, they extrapolate to conclude that leaders are actually paid servants and should work keeping this in mind. Of special interest is how Murthy went out of the way to share his experiences and strategies with competitors when awarded the prestigious award from Carnegie Mellon for certification of highest level of Capability Maturity Model (CMM). Infosys was one of the first companies to offer stock option that made all employees millionaires. Therefore, when role clarity is aligned with perspective and one takes authentic and appropriate action, it lays a solid foundation for the creation of wise leadership. Moving over to the fourth step, the authors describe decision logic. Steve Jobs started retail stores based on intuition. This separates wise leaders from smart ones. They need to have the sense of discernment and act based on keen insights and judgment. What goes behind such logic? The authors say it is logic, bias, emotion, discernment, discrimination and ethical clarity. Another example provided is how IBM’s Sam Palmisano acquired PwC’s consulting business and increased investment in R&D, which turned out to be a good move just at the time of the dotcom bubble. On fortitude, what is important is the wisdom to know ‘when to hold and when to fold’. Often leaders hold on even when it is time to re-evaluate their options. Alternatively, they give up easily and get impatient when things do not work out. Often new leaders roll back almost all decisions taken by predecessors just for the sake of it or for proving a point. This is where wisdom has to be displayed by leaders. Finally, wise leaders discover the driver for motivation. Ratan Tata was motivated by a road accident he had seen in Bangalore of a family on a two-wheeler and came up with the idea of Nano. OP Bhatt was able to motivate the entire SBI staff by focusing on employee engagement, customer service and technology infrastructure, which more than compensated for the inability to provide monetary rewards. The Gitanjali Group employs a large number of disabled people, which ensures commitment, gainful employment, loyalty, diversity and a motivated set of staff. This is sheer motivation in wise leadership. Kaipa and Radjou argue that every leader has to find his or her own wisdom logic. While ideally one should imbibe all the six traits, normally one would be close to just one or two of them. This is an excellent book on leadership, which should prompt the reader to actually introspect and figure out where he or she stands. There is a fairly comprehensive questionnaire in the book at the beginning where one can actually find out the areas for improvement, provided we are willing to look beyond our standard filters. The crux is to accept that there is something amiss and that there is scope for becoming wise, so that one can look at all the colours and move out of the narrow confines of the existing filters. From Smart to Wise Prasad Kaipa & Navi Radjou Random House Rs499 Pp 250
Leadership is always assumed to be smart, especially if we define ‘smart’ as being intelligent or ‘successful intelligence’. All CEOs or leaders normally fall into two categories—being either functional smart or business smart. If one is functional smart, you are on a narrow path with focus on operational excellence. The organisation ends up looking at profit, but misses the topline story. If you are business smart, you look at growth that loses momentum after a point of time. This is how Kaipa and Radjou broadly classify leaders in the business world. What they suggest is that neither of these two models is desirable and we need to become ‘wise leaders’ who are mature, resilient and flexible. That is why their book is titled From Smart to Wise, as the authors chalk out the path for this transformation so that leadership is sustainable in a complex changing world. All of us look at the world through a set of filters. Blue goes with functional leadership where the CEO is comfortable in a limited zone. Focus is on being grounded, execution and expertise. If you are a smart leader, the filter turns red and the focus is on vision, drive and risk taking. The authors evidently want them to move out of these zones and give the example of Bill Gates, who changed his own image and style after the anti-trust laws were haunting him to turn a philanthropist. We need to incorporate ideas such as prudence, judgment, humility, ethics and common good, and move away from these standardised filters. The authors urge leaders to move away from their own strengths and winning formula, and step out into the world so that they see all colours. It is not surprising that names like Narayan Murthy and Mahatma Gandhi feature as the ideal role models for them. The transition to becoming wise is based on six interlinked tenets that lead to the ideal combination. These are perspective, action orientation, role clarity, decision logic, fortitude and motivation. Though these tenets do not appear to be connected, they do follow sequentially. Let us look at perspective first. Leaders need to find their own North Star according to the authors. They need to ask themselves as to what inspires them and how do they pursue this goal. There is need hence to start with introspection before taking any action because this perspective that we have is based on the sum of our experiences and knowledge, which has to be blended with the final goal. They give the example of Aravind Eye Care System, which brought vision for several challenged individuals at a low cost. This way we eschew being narrowly focused like the blue filter or self-centered if caught in the red filter. The example of VR Ferose, managing director of SAP, testifies the second trait of being action-oriented, where leaders need to identify with their people and lead them. Most leaders tend to follow systems that are either ‘borrowed’ from B-schools or ‘fake’, where they pretend to be what they are not. What is required is that they need to be authentic. Here, they also show leaders like Gandhi, Steve Jobs and Alan Mulally hit the right chord. Indra Nooyi is another example of a leader who has taken Pepsi to new heights with a focus on society—sustainability, nutrition, water conservation, costs, energy savings and so on. On role clarity, the authors argue that wise leaders should not let ego or personal needs come in the way. Drawing from Chanakya’s advice to kings, they extrapolate to conclude that leaders are actually paid servants and should work keeping this in mind. Of special interest is how Murthy went out of the way to share his experiences and strategies with competitors when awarded the prestigious award from Carnegie Mellon for certification of highest level of Capability Maturity Model (CMM). Infosys was one of the first companies to offer stock option that made all employees millionaires. Therefore, when role clarity is aligned with perspective and one takes authentic and appropriate action, it lays a solid foundation for the creation of wise leadership. Moving over to the fourth step, the authors describe decision logic. Steve Jobs started retail stores based on intuition. This separates wise leaders from smart ones. They need to have the sense of discernment and act based on keen insights and judgment. What goes behind such logic? The authors say it is logic, bias, emotion, discernment, discrimination and ethical clarity. Another example provided is how IBM’s Sam Palmisano acquired PwC’s consulting business and increased investment in R&D, which turned out to be a good move just at the time of the dotcom bubble. On fortitude, what is important is the wisdom to know ‘when to hold and when to fold’. Often leaders hold on even when it is time to re-evaluate their options. Alternatively, they give up easily and get impatient when things do not work out. Often new leaders roll back almost all decisions taken by predecessors just for the sake of it or for proving a point. This is where wisdom has to be displayed by leaders. Finally, wise leaders discover the driver for motivation. Ratan Tata was motivated by a road accident he had seen in Bangalore of a family on a two-wheeler and came up with the idea of Nano. OP Bhatt was able to motivate the entire SBI staff by focusing on employee engagement, customer service and technology infrastructure, which more than compensated for the inability to provide monetary rewards. The Gitanjali Group employs a large number of disabled people, which ensures commitment, gainful employment, loyalty, diversity and a motivated set of staff. This is sheer motivation in wise leadership. Kaipa and Radjou argue that every leader has to find his or her own wisdom logic. While ideally one should imbibe all the six traits, normally one would be close to just one or two of them. This is an excellent book on leadership, which should prompt the reader to actually introspect and figure out where he or she stands. There is a fairly comprehensive questionnaire in the book at the beginning where one can actually find out the areas for improvement, provided we are willing to look beyond our standard filters. The crux is to accept that there is something amiss and that there is scope for becoming wise, so that one can look at all the colours and move out of the narrow confines of the existing filters. From Smart to Wise Prasad Kaipa & Navi Radjou Random House Rs499 Pp 250
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