Leading from the Front

Leadership can be defined as one's ability to get others to willingly follow. Some sit and debate whether leaders are made or born. These discussions/debates bring to light the traits of a great leader in front of people. But there cannot be a more powerful way of demonstrating the traits with a live example which was witnessed by a large number of people in the society.

Just about a month back the whole nation was going through a great Euphoria. Everyone wanted to bring the Cricket World Cup back home. There was a lot of excitement, a lot of debate and speculations. Each win for India was difficult. The final with Sri lanka will be remembered for a long time not only by cricket fans but by all. Before the final match two of the heroes in Indian team were Virendra Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. People expected a lot from them. Sri Lankans played first and put a target of 270 for Indians. The early fall of wicket brought frustration for Indians and excitement for Sri Lankans
Sehwag 1 – 0
Tendulkar 2-31
Kohli 3 – 114

After Tendulkar returned to pavilion, Virat Kohli and Gambhir brought a ray of hope for all the Indians and the Indian team. We all know India has a depth in batting; however we have also witnessed India’s batting collapse while playing under pressure. After the fall of Kohli’s wicket, Yuvraj was the next batsman in line. But what happened will be remembered by all Management analysts for a long time. Dhoni showed up. Dhoni was in a bad form during this tournament. The game was exciting. Dhoini demonstrated confidence. He played with a lot of competence. His game was the best in this tournament. He took charge and led from the Front. This was an excellent example of a great Leader who maintains calmness under crisis, leads from the front, demonstrates confidence, inspires his teammates and plays intelligently. This was a great example for a management reader.

Five qualities of a great leader as described by Kouzes and Posner’s in the book “The Leadership Challenge” are:

Honesty
Forward- looking
Inspiring
Competent
Intelligent

Exhibiting these traits will inspire confidence in your leadership during crisis management. As a leader your skill at exhibiting these five leadership qualities is strongly correlated with people’s desire to follow you as their lead.

Let us go back to the World cup cricket match. Dhoni partnered with Gambhir and took the Indian team out of crisis. He lead from the front while demonstrating the traits of a great Leader. India was 223 for 4 when we lost Gambhir’s wicket. Gambhir played very well but unfortunately could not complete his century. Yuvraj joined Dhoni and once again we were victorious. This was a well deserved victory. The game had a lot of excitement, an exemplary performance by Dhoni. Besides his exemplary performance he demonstrated Exemplary Leadership qualities by Leading from the Front.

Leadership is all about helping others to realize their worth and make them perform at their best. It is also about leading from the front in crisis.