The Hindu Business Line : The businessperson vs the entre-leader

We need entre-leaders who build organisations that form the pillars of our economy, accelerating our efforts to provide the basic requirements to everyone.

The Nano, a story of passion and positivity.

Shabbir Merchant

It was interesting to follow the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s recent visit to the country. Addressing students of IIT Delhi as entrepreneurs of the future, he invited them to the UK to fund their ideas. So, has the Indian entrepreneur come of age, commanding a red carpet welcome across the globe?

This decade has seen more Indians seeking to become entrepreneurs than previously. Are the aspirations of the current generation of entrepreneurs different from those of the 60s and 70s, where enterprising candidates would seek to “start their own business” and become “businessmen”.

The act of starting something of one’s own is called entrepreneurship; the neighbourhood grocer is also an entrepreneur. Having started off on one’s own, one can either chose to be a businessman/ businesswoman or what I would like to call the ‘entre-leader’. So, what differentiates the ‘entre-leader’ from the traditional ‘businessman’?I shall list the 7Ps that, I believe, differentiate the ‘entre-leader’ from the businessman:

Purpose

The entre-leader commences an entrepreneurial venture with a powerful idea and a purpose that goes beyond making profits. The entre-leader’s purpose transcends the need for individual materialistic benefit without diminishing its importance. One of the earliest Indian entre-leaders was Jamsetji Tata, founder of the Tata group. He believed that India’s industrial foundation would be formed on “steel, electric power and scientific learning”. It was this strong purpose that gave birth to The Tata Iron & Steel Company, the hydro-electric projects in the Western Ghats and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

The purpose of a venture has to be powerful though it need not only have noble intentions of serving the bottom of the pyramid nor have solely altruistic motives. The project has to be commercially viable and should help the entre-leader earn a return on the capital invested. Yet, the basic rule that an entre-leader follows is that the purpose precedes profit and not the other way round.

PRINCIPLES

Entre-leaders believe that principles form the core of sustainable organisational growth, which creates genuine value for all the stakeholders.

Entre-leaders in India do not have to look far to seek role models. They can learn so much from successive Indian Finance Ministers, whose policies over the last two decades have not only created sustainable value for the country but also insulated us from financial crises.

PERPETUITY

This in my view is a key differentiator between a businessman and an entre-leader, and is a litmus test that can tell the new age entrepreneur to which category he or she belongs.

The businessman has his sights on the “valuation” of his organisation since he would like to cash out when he gets a good valuation. This new breed of entrepreneur starts a venture with the sole intention of creating valuation for the business so that it can be sold to create wealth for themselves. Well, there is nothing wrong if the leader wants to create wealth for himself (and hopefully for his team as well!), but just imagine a scenario where for the next 10 years, we have several bright entrepreneurs building new businesses and selling them, that too to MNCs. Is that really creating value for India?

In a world that is flat, let me explain why this is important for a country like India. Even in a world that has embraced globalisation, the concept of nations still exists and so do national boundaries and interests. In India, where we have still not conquered hunger, poverty, illiteracy and unemployment, it would be foolish not to have national interests at the top of our priorities. We need entre-leaders who build organisations such as a Wipro, TCS and Mahindra & Mahindra, which form the solid pillars of our economy, accelerating our efforts to provide the basic requirements to everyone.

PASSION, POSITIVITY

The fourth and fifth Ps have been clubbed together since they create the highest impact together. Passion without positivity can become autocratic. Similarly, positivity without passion can be viewed as foolhardiness. It is so easy for a leader in the current context to get carried away by all the things that are not going right in the country: The crumbling infrastructure, government apathy and an inadequate talent pool. The entre-leader displays a passion to do the undoable and the positivity to overcome the shortcomings. Ratan Tata’s passion for building the Nano, sustaining the energy of his team against all obstacles and giving credit to his team for the project, exemplifies his passion and positivity.

Entre-leaders train themselves to focus first on what is working well, rather than concentrating on the problems. They believe that passion also has to do with “focus” — you can be passionate about a few things and that passion helps create unprecedented focus. A mix of passion and positivity can overcome the severest of obstacles.

PANCHAYAT APPROACH

Entre-leaders of the corporate world learn from the Panchayat approach which has the Sarpanch as the head, and the other members being the elders in the community who are responsible for safeguarding the interest of all the villagers. An entre-leader is like the Sarpanch of his organisation, lending a ear to everyone before taking a decision.

The Internal Stakeholders: The employees and the management team.

The External Stakeholders: Customers, business partners and communities. He balances the interests of these stakeholders in an attempt to create a win-win situation. For instance, Richard Branson the flamboyant CEO of the UK-based Virgin group, has committed that all his profits from the airline business will be dedicated to research on clean fuel for air travel. Now, that is listening well to external stakeholders.

The shareholders / VCs: The entre-leader does not take a subservient approach in his interactions with the board/VC; instead, he effectively manages their expectations and develops a healthy relationship which creates a positive partnership with the board/VC.

Conscience: Perhaps the most important voice is the entre-leader’s own conscience. The entre-leader believes that the best direction to a leader can come from his or her own conscience.

PRANKSTERISM

The entre-leader does not consider this to be a frivolous subject. He believes that this element is core to his leadership style. There are two dimensions to ‘pranksterism’: The first is the youthful dimension of pranksterism. The work place today is dotted with youth and this demographic trend is here to stay.

Can a leader, in these times manage the paradox of being “serious about business” and at the same time be “fun to be with”. It is the behaviour of the leader that will reflect in the work culture of the organisation.

Tough business conditions create stress and the entre-leader who displays a playful persona, pulling pranks once in a way, helps lighten the stress in the environment.

The second dimension of “pranksterism” is the ability to create an “artificial rocking of the boat.”

In order to keep the work culture agile and responsive, the entre-leader senses scenarios when the organisation is slipping into a lull — everything seems to be going right, and there is too much satisfaction all round. It is in such a situation, that the entre-leader rocks the organisational boat by asking difficult questions, engaging in hard conversations, initiating some difficult projects — all with the intention of keeping the organisation on its toes.

The next generation of entrepreneurs in the country will have to ask themselves the question: “Do I want to be a businessman or do I want to be an entre-leader?” If they chose to be entre-leaders, they should brace themselves to show the 7P difference!

(The writer is the Chief Value Creator, Valulead Consulting. Comments and feedback can be sent to shabbir@valulead.in)

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