Are you a true leader?

Would you stop to help an old person load his bags in a car? Would you be kind enough to give up your seat on a subway to a pregnant woman? Would you stop to help a blind cross a street?

Answers to these simple questions are repetitively simple, yes, yes and yes! But in real life, have you done so? If you are like most ordinary folk, you probably do not even remember seeing an old person or a pregnant lady or a blind man. And in today’s on-the-go-email-responding, mobile-yapping, text-messaging, coffee-in-one-hand world, one cannot blame anyone for not noticing the mundane situations.

While traveling in the UK , I saw a television program that illustrated the lack of helpfulness in our society. One of BBC’s pregnant viewers complained about the decadence of simple manners in society. Her claim was that that rarely few people are polite enough to offer her a seat on public transport. To test her claim, BBC conducted a hidden camera test and they had this lady board a bus and a subway. Boy,was she right! No one even bothered to offer her a seat – even when she was evidently pregnant!

It then occurred to me that this was truly a leadership requirement. If a person is unhelpful or insensitive to his surroundings or blatantly ignoring of his environment, he or she cannot be a good leader. To become a great leader, one has to start with the simple things.

It is important to be helpful –all business, all marketing, all products are being helpful in resolving some problem or satisfying a need. To be able to do so, a leader has to be always ready to help even when it is not a part of their business.

It is important to be observant of the surroundings. If a leader is insensitive to the surroundings, he will start ignoring his customers and his employees. In doing so, the quality of customer-support and the loyalty of their employees towards the company will go down. What is even more amazing is, this imperviousness will linger for such a long time that it will become the norm and eventually, un-repairable.

It is important to proactively participate in the environment. If a leader does not participate, then others will step in to fill the void. Other people may emerge to take over the reins; other competitors may emerge to take over the market share; other products may emerge to replace the offered products and services. Leaders cannot afford to continue to do what they have been doing forever.

Remember, Greatness is achieved with Simplicity.

Ram.

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