Convictions are important for successful businesses

It is that time of the year again. Over the next few weeks, there will be a flurry of activities — a multitude of annual general meetings will be held and the chairmen of various Boards will announce with a sense of pride (or otherwise) the returns to the shareholders. It will be another year when the patterns of the past will be played out.

In most cases, the grain and texture will remain the same, while the moves will undergo some minor change. The same issues will be agonised over and the same lenses will be used to look at the emerging challenges — almost playing out to the mindset, ‘Haven’t we seen it all?’

As the ‘air’ around us suggests, we are expected to see a tough year ahead, and surely there will be lots of belt tightening that will follow. After all, 2008 and most of 2009, is not too far behind for us to recall and replay!

Being different

Yet, some businesses and teams are likely to think and act differently. They are expected to see what lies ahead as an opportunity to review and renew. They would go beyond the compulsive scrutiny of numbers, economic-political issues impacting business and today’s pressing reality. They would quietly, but surely, recast the leadership agenda for their businesses. These are the organisations and importantly, leaders in those organisations, who set out a new agenda every year — more so in challenging times — consciously and conscientiously. This agenda inspires the organisation to take it forward — to be noticed in its competitive study and to be emulated by others.

All through April, and up until the beginning of June, as performance announcements started coming in, I kept a watch, looking out for those brave souls and their bold or risky moves. While trying to discern the differences in leadership that set the course for the year ahead, my mind wandered, looking beyond businesses, at leaders in a general sense and images of two world leaders appeared in front of me!

Breaking the pattern

One was the great Mahatma Gandhi and the other, Margaret Thatcher — leaders who didn’t simply follow a pattern, but challenged it and played out through ‘rules’ that were not existent. Surely, Game Changers, as the jargon goes!

“Ha, chalk and cheese! How can you even have the two of them in one single sentence?” the logical part of my mind protested — given their different contexts, distinct styles, and the underlying values they embraced. However, both stand out for what I believe is at the core of a leader, namely ‘conviction’. Both Gandhi and Thatcher had loads of it. Their convictions, despite the greatest of threat and tribulation, were unshakeable. So deep was the strength of their beliefs that conviction and principles became their second name.

They were two outstanding individuals, in my view, who wrote new pages of history for all of mankind to study, research, learn and emulate. I must add that while on the ‘conviction’ dimension, they are comparable, the magnitude and the scale of their impact is indeed vastly different. While the great Mahatma is timeless in terms of impact and appeal, Thatcher is defined by the context she was in and the impact needs to be viewed through the boldness of her actions.

Force of belief

They, along with several exemplary business leaders, also demonstrate courage, which we often refer to as courage of conviction. I have often wondered at this expression and have pondered over what leads to what. Is it courage that invites conviction or is it actually conviction that begets courage? After considerable reflection and dissecting the underlying nature of several persona, I have come to the conclusion that conviction brings forth an unshakeable courage. Truly, it is for all to see in the case of both Gandhi and Thatcher! After all, at the fundamental level both of them were purpose driven, which stood on a bed rock of their conviction.

I recently came across a TED video, where a brilliant researcher by the name of Simon Sinek, outlines ‘how great leaders inspire action’ on the need for more of inside-out leaders and how limited the appeal is of outside-in leaders. Simon passionately describes the three golden circles of all human action, as comprising of the why, the how and the what, in that order, from the core to the periphery. He goes on to offer a rationale for this by drawing on the tenets of biology (and not psychology) — an understanding of the functions of the neo cortex ( the rational area of the brain) and the limbic (the feeling centre of the brain).

The first W

Thus, starting with conviction or beliefs (the why) we make ourselves credible and reach out to others and their hearts.

So, what does conviction do for people and businesses? ‘Conviction to make the difference’ is the underlying foundation which translates into key behaviours that build several sustainable qualities and principles into the DNA of a business. Conviction begets courage, the key attribute that not just helps business leaders face challenges but more importantly converts them into opportunities and thrives in them. Courage helps to chart new paths, make bold moves and offers the organisation and its most important constituent, its people, a new and inspiring reason to bring forth superior performance. There are several interesting and impactful cases studies of recent past in India’s corporate world, where we have seen the display of such courage. I am not specifically drawing out these examples as it could lead to meaningless and factitious debate. But I am sure that all of us have our own experiences where such courage has touched us. As for the great Mahatma, he inspired people because the set of principles he was wedded to was what the vast majority embraced and so they looked to him to hear what they believed in!

Conviction also attunes one to emerging trends and gives the required agility to respond with new plans and models. Conviction drives standards. This is what makes them seek out the best in talent, technology, business processes and, above all, to the enduring purpose of business, adding value to the customer. To quote Simon Sinek again, “People don’t follow leaders for ‘what they do’ but for ‘why they do it’.” It is the latter that touches lives and, thus, unlocks human potential and energy. Let us start with why!

thenewmanager@thehindu.co.in

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