Demonstrating Leadership away from Limelight - the MS Dhoni Way!

I read a tweet on Sunday that Hindustan Times lead picture did not have Dhoni in the frame. Then I noticed that it was difficult to spot him even in Times of India picture. On news channels also, the pictures of the players with the cup did not have Dhoni in them.

Where is Dhoni? And I was aghast. This set me thinking.

Dhoni has won the T20 world cup, got India to the No 1 in test ranking, won the IPL and CL, and finally, after 28 years THE world cup. But who is taken around the stadium on the players’ shoulders? Sachin. Who is the stadium rooting for? Sachin. What is the mystery?

You can turn around and say that Dhoni was lucky to have been the captain at the right time. He had great senior players and talented youngsters in the team. However, fact is that he has had very different teams in all the championships that he has won. T20, Tests, IPL/CL and ODIs. He has been the glue to put the teams together, not the other way around. The fact that leaders are often considered to be lucky when the times are going good, but does someone really take note of the invisible efforts being put in by the individual. Keeping the team together and excited in one of the most important, but undermined, jobs done by a successful leader – doesn’t Dhoni just demonstrate that?

Look at Dhoni’s statements over a period of time, which are honest to say the very least. “We are not a good fielding side”, “I took some wrong decisions”, “reading the pitch wrong and playing 3 seamers”. Taking on his team mates publicly. He backs team members and takes tough decisions at the same time. Backing Piyush Chawla to the hilt or dropping Yuvraj or Raina are tough decisions taken by him. I am yet to notice bias in his decision making. He has dropped Ashwin from ODIs, despite him being a worthy team mate in CSK. More often than not, leaders with a WYSIWYG (What you see is What you get) style of working are the most criticized lot, even if it helps keeping the team aware of their strengths and weaknesses promptly. When this leader takes the blame upon himself, he is criticized for not carrying out things properly, but when the same leader blames it on his team, it is seen as a “Blame Game”. Aren’t we a bit too critical for leaders, including Dhoni?

Since becoming captain in ODIs he transformed himself from a dasher to an accumulator. With enough dashers around, he changed his role in the team for the sake of the team. As a captain his average is 52.7 vs 44.2 as a non captain, though his strike rate drops from 96.3 to 82.4. His numbers of 6s per innings go down to 0.56 from 0.95.  A number of times, a leader puts his individual performance at the back seat and adapts as the team requires him to.

I can go and on and on about Dhoni’s professional achievements as a captain. His humility as an individual (his pictures of sharing birthday cake with my colleague or pictures with my sons are some examples). Any comparisons with Ganguly and Afridi are misplaced. He definitely doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve. He is the real man taking “criticism” and “Failures” on his face and letting go the entire credit of the Achievements to his individual Team Members. To me, all this, and more make Dhoni a True Leader!

Then suddenly the realisation dawns on me! This is about where the limelight lies, or where it is not? So, “Do leaders shy away when it comes to being in limelight?”

We should not pity him for missing from the frame of Hindustan Times lead picture on the day nation went crazy. We should give him due credit. It is about stepping back and letting your colleagues savour the moment! This is about having confidence and absence of insecurity – a situation in which you let your team steal the limelight while you smile at the back end, content with your and your team’s performance. It is this confidence, that makes him appreciate the past. Examples are of co sharing the trophy with Kumble, or letting Ganguly lead the last few overs of his test career. It is this confidence, that still makes him thank all his seniors for the victory of his team!

I can say that true leaders only create Limelight and not necessarily be in it – Just the MS Dhoni way!

PS: As usual, would be looking forward to your feedback and opinion on this blog! You can also reach me out at @agrawalsanjeev on twitter.

Intellectual dishonesty

This is a more provocative thought than the one posted previously. Please do read it with an open mind (and heart).

Intellectual dishonesty is the advocacy of a position known to be false. An argument which is misused to advance an agenda or to reinforce one's deeply held beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

In all our daily lives, there are a lot of times that we knowingly or unknowingly go through this phenomenon of ‘Intellectual Dishonesty’. Whilst sub consciously we know what we are saying / doing is incorrect, we still go ahead and do it as it will benefit us in some way or the other. Just for a few examples:

·         “I am in Sync” : Believing X but saying I Believe Y : You have concerns with a subordinate’s work. You have given him hard time in a few instances. When you sit for his appraisal, you give him ratings that look decent as you don’t want to confront him. But to HR, you recommend poor increment and no promotion. When appraisal results come and he asks you, you blame it on HR & company policies. In the short run, everything is fine. But the poor guy never even comes to know that he is bad at his work and he continues to be bad, or probably worse, because now, he is even critical of company policies. What you thought was a win-win, is a lose-lose!

·         “I have completed” : You complete your work, knowing fully well that it is for the sake of doing so : You have to complete your work by day after tomorrow. You are not sure whether what you have done is correct or not. Late night, you send a mail to your colleagues to check whether the file is correct or not. You know that there’ll be no response on it. Day after, you freeze the file and circulate it to a wider group. Next time during the discussion, you say that you had asked for verification and no one bothered to reply. You won the argument, you lost the trust!

·         “I am helpless” : Without putting efforts, you externalise the problem: The sales are not moving up and the pressure from your boss is rising every day. You know everything is going as per daily routine and set processes. When asked, why is the sales not happening, you blame it on “Inflation”, which is the flavor of the season. Boss hesitantly agrees. The next time, when inflation drama is over, you look for another situation to blame the low sales upon. The sales never grow as no new efforts are ever taken by you!

·         “I am right” : Not agreeing to the other person, even when you know he’s correct : You are in the middle of an argument. The opponent shares some statistics, which are right, but now, it's against your ego to agree with him. You keep on going around the conversation trying to drive your point and finally end up in an ugly disagreement. You go ahead and implement what he was saying, as you know it was correct!

·         “I ignore” : Not acknowledging the question itself, if you don’t want to answer : When asked in a meeting by Boss, "Are the new merchandize displays up?", you, even after knowing that the displays are not up, do not answer. A "no answer", in most cases, indicates positive reply. By not answering you have avoided getting battered, but hidden the truth.

These are some of the instances, where we tend to be dishonest with ourselves. Just to avoid momentary discomfiture, we go ahead and falter with the end results. Sometimes, it's just to satisfy our ego or plain laziness!

Whilst there might not be a direct next step for this thought, my only intent is for you to acknowledge the same within yourself, and ask the right question to “yourself”. Whether you agree or disagree with the thoughts, it would be a pleasure to know your view.

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