Leaders, Movers and Shakers

There are managers who are great in execution, but lack vision and strategic thinking. There are managers who are great in vision and strategic thinking, but are unable to carry through to completion. Then there are managers who are leaders. They combine vision and execution.

Consider vision and execution as the two dimensions of leadership. Leaders score high in both vision and execution. They have clarity of vision, think out of the box, see what exists only as a possibility to be realized in the future. They are able to work out strategies to convert the possibility into reality. They also have the discipline to work out detailed plans, delegate responsibilities, ensure resources, review progress and follow through to completion.

What about people who are effective in executing plans, even if it calls for moving the mountains? Yes, they are the movers of the world. They make things happen, and that too pretty quickly and on budget. They are the traditionally efficient managers.

You would also remember someone who deeply influenced you by a very articulate presentation of a vision for the future. He or she could be a manager, a teacher, a politician or from any other profession. Yes, that person literally shook you up. Such people are the shakers of status quo.

For the sake of completion, let me also refer to another type, who neither move nor shake. They may be called laggers. The word may not be in the dictionary. But you know it means someone who lags behind. (Laggers may not be laggards, and so I am using a different word.)


Footnote: The term 'movers and shakers' appears in the following poem by Arthur O'Shaughnessy. The poem is titled 'Ode'

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.


You may like to read the entire poem. It is on http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ode_(O'Shaughnessy)

on leadership

Last night I was at a New Year party on the terrace of our apartment building in Trivandrum, Kerala. There were two young singers -Anand and Latha - supported by Anand's laptop to add spice and spirit to the party. You know, Keralaites have a way of enjoying parties which is very different from that of Punjabis. We talk and talk while our Punjabi friends dance and dance.

Anand had a tough time making us join the chorus and also sway to his tunes. But in the end, he did it. Everyone, the grandparents and grandchildren included, danced to the beats of the latest Hindi songs and the hit Malayalam songs.

How did Anand manage to raise our party spirit? By sheer persistence. And of course talent. But I think it was persistence that did it. He didn't give up when his calls to chorus fell on deaf ears. He continued to sing, and little by little he conquered our hearts. You know, Anand can make a Malayalee dance.

I am just thinking about the title of the book by Louis Gerstner: 'Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? ...' I really don't know what Gerstner did or didn't do to turn around IBM, or whether at all IBM can be compared to an elephant or whether dancing must be taught to those huge pachyderms. But one thing I know: human beings have dance hidden in them. They would be natural dancers, if it weren't for the culture that criticizes and tries to educate them into serious adults.

Anand made loose-lipped, stiff-necked, tight-hipped Malayalees dance. And he didn't do it by force; he didn't impose it on us. He persisted and made sure that we did what we always wanted to do, if it weren't for our self-conscious self-criticism. He made us do what we enjoyed doing. That is leadership in action from the young man, Anand.