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by Rajen Kumar

APEDA Rendering Lip Service

For over four years now, we have been making relentless efforts to fill information deficit that painfully exists in the country's Micro, Small and Medium Sector. Encouragingly enough,...

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Jan 2012

Be Skeptical. Be very Skeptical. Mistake upon Mistake

In recent months, we've had a few slip-ups by the official statistical system in India: • Yesterday's IIP release was preceded by a mistake. Mint says: On Monday, the...

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Special Reports

Leadership for SMEs

Manisha Gupta
Aug 2010
What's the most important ingredient of a successful enterprise? What is that single thing that drives it to its peak performance? What is it that makes it sail through tough times? The answer is a simple word- leadership. The word maybe single and simple but it encompasses the whole world. But what exactly is true leadership? And how can it turn around failures?

This and much more is what I got to learn during the book-launch of “Employees First, Customers Second”, by Mr. Vineet Nayar, CEO HCL Technologies. Panelists, including the likes of Mr. Sachin Pilot and cricketer K. Srikkanth, together gave the recipe of a true leader. Building on Mr. Pilot's comment - “leaders aren't born, they're made”, Srikkanth added the perspective of a true leader being one who is able to passionately motivate his team or employees to steer them towards success. The basis behind this kind of motivation is enabling the team members to make them believe in themselves. Self belief is most important, said Srikkanth. A true leader is one who is able to instill this in his team. He elaborated some instances from the 1983 World Cup to substantiate this. Even though there was no chance whatsoever for India to win the '83 World Cup, Kapil Dev's leadership and motivation of the team made it happen. Srikkanth narrated how Kapil literally made them play to win. He enthused the team, told them they had to just go and do it. And that they could. And they actually did.

A Free Hand
The second most important thing that a true leader does is bring out the best in his team. For that he gives them a free hand and inspires them to work with their whole heart. When people work with hearts, the results are amazing and success is but a natural consequence. So a real leader is one who can make the team work with passion and zeal, showing them he has the confidence of their winning. Apart from empathy, sensitivity and drive, he has the quality of inspiring, motivating and making the people believe in themselves. The result, he can unlock each one's hidden potential and make them achieve even beyond their capabilities. A leader is not aggressive but concrete minded. He is not harsh but hard. Integrity, honesty & simplicity are the hallmarks of a true leader. Three simple virtues difficult to follow but give good returns! Just like walking, exercising and dieting for a perfect health. So simple and yet so powerful!

Possession of true leadership is the success mantra for any enterprise-tiny, small, medium, big, large. Entrepreneurship is needed to create an enterprise but to sustain it and drive it to success, come what may, requires leadership. An SME entrepreneur needs to possess true leadership qualities to be able to steer his enterprise successfully through thick and thin. His team of employees has to be continually motivated, more so in trying times like the recent financial crisis. He also has to be able to understand their perspective and insecurities.

An Acid Test
Leadership is more important in smaller enterprises because in the absence of a structured organization and no financial and social security for its employees, motivating and protecting them during hardships tests the mettle of a true leader. In the current scenario of a global economic meltdown SMEs have been the most affected and millions of people in such enterprises all across the world have lost their jobs. And, India has neither organized social security net nor health cover for industrial workers in the unorganized sector. Thus this situation is an acid test of leadership at different levels, because it is in such times that genuine leadership becomes more pronounced. It stands out in such turnaround situations. 

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