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.

Who is a Fool?

This blog is triggered by today's date and the significance of the same. “Fool’s Day”.

At the outset, let’s take a look at the reason this day came into being: The theory goes like this: In 1564 France reformed its calendar, moving the start of the year from the end of March to January 1. Those who failed to keep up with the change, who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell between March 25th and April 1st, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of this prank were thus called Poisson d’Avril, or April Fish—which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fools—and so the tradition was born.

Whilst this theory is seemingly simple (and stupid), what it does clearly tell us is “Who is a Fool?”. It is not about taking wrong decisions. It is not about  not being able to understand some obvious things. It’s about being closed to learning. It’s about thinking that you know enough and you do not need to know any further. It’s about making assumptions rather than taking the pain of finding out the reality or change.

If you are closed to the learning, I would also interpret the same as “Not Asking the Right Questions at the Right Time”!

Moving on to a real life situation. It’s a large forum and a presentation by the Department Head is going on. In one of the slides, you cannot make out the point being made. But, it’s a large forum, you don’t know if the question you’ll ask makes sense. You are afraid that you’ll be laughed at. You are collecting strength to raise your voice and ask that question. Meanwhile, a colleague of yours raises his hand and asks the same question. You Thank God. The question is appreciated by the Head and everyone in the room applauds your colleague for the same. You think even you were smart enough to think of that question. Do you realize what you really were? You were a Fool.

Consciously or unconsciously, a lot of us go through these situations. Momentary fear of being laughed at or over confidence in ourselves are two extreme situations where we actually make a fool of ourselves.  In the first situation, you keep fighting with yourself, feeling lesser confident and thereby, losing interest in the rest of the topic – missing one vital piece of information completely! In the second one, chances are, that you continue believing and working on the wrong information, a phenomenon commonly known as “living in Fool’s Paradise”.

Some thoughts to make yourself “Fool Proof”:

1.      Act Like a Child : I am sure you will agree that a child has very high level of inquisitiveness. Can we behave like a child. Ask questions which will have obvious answers and a lot of times, not so obvious! We need to decide what is more important – our public image, or our wisdom!

2.      No Age / Limit for learning – I genuinely believe that every day we learn something new, and its never ever too late to learn something. If you have doubts on some process, which you should have clarified long back, don’t hesitate, ask! Maybe this knowledge gives you a new idea to carry out your work in an efficient manner.

3.      Never Assume – It is easy for me to assume a lot of things and move on without bothering any one of you. Asking questions only help is cross verifying that everything is in place. 

4.      Speak Up – “No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions”. I completely believe in the thought. For the fear of one moment of embarrassment, you let go your lifetime of wisdom. Make the wise choice.

He, who knows, and knows that he knows, is Wise – Follow Him!

He, who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is Simple – Teach Him!

He, who knows, and knows not that he knows, is Asleep – Wake Him!

He, who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is Fool – Shun him!

Avoid being in the last category.

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.