2. 1. Are you a leader, born or cultivated or both? How do you characterize your leadership traits
based on the leadership profiles presented by Narayana Murthy and Rahul Khosla?
In-born Leadership Traits Cultivated Leadership Elements Pillars of Leadership
1. Leadership Style
2. Motivation Style
3. Negotiation &
Influencing abilities
4. Empathy
1. Moral & Ethical sensitivity
2. Goal setting
3. People and Social Skills
4. Understanding psychology of
followers
5. Teamwork
1. Self-awareness
2. Self-regulation
3. Self-motivation
4. Empathy
5. Social Skills
• First, effective leaders develop self-awareness—the understanding and insight of how they themselves affect
others, facilitating their ability to work well with them.
• Second, leaders self-regulate. They have the ability to control or redirect impulses and moods that are disruptive,
and they wisely engage in serious thinking before they act.
• Third, leaders are self-motivated. They work because of their passion to pursue goals, not merely because of
money.
• Fourth, leaders have empathy. Their understanding of others’ needs and what is important to them enables them
to build more meaningful relationships. Finally, leaders possess social skills that let them build rapport and find
common ground with others while concurrently revealing what they themselves stand for and value in the
process.
While I inherently possess some of the leadership traits, I have also been groomed in a way such that I have been able
to cultivate certain key elements of leadership.
Personal Leadership
Traits based on
N.Murthy Leadership
Profile
• Rewarding Meritocracy
• Honesty and Loyalty,
• Encouraging Participative Decision
making,
• Having own clear Vision and Goal,
• Creating a Unified Goal for Followers
and Leading them towards it,
• Offering value to customers,
• Unity among diversity
Essentially Mr Murthy’s style of leadership
is more directed to Social commitment and
Reward Oriented. This in-turn helps to
groom up raw Talents and motivates them
to be focused towards a common goal.
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3. Personal Leadership
Traits based on R.Khosla
Leadership Profile
• Personally inspired for better
performance,
• Result driven by taking Calculated Risk,
• Clear Communication with all the
levels,
• Ability to spot talent and groom the
individual,
• cultivating Responsible leadership
style
Mr Khosla’s style of leadership is
Performance driven – Result is the key
factor and Grooming Healthy competitive
spirit for the well-being of the
Organization.
I am more aligned to Mr. Murthy’s style of leadership. Using Mr Murthy’s style I always try to keep my team
motivated with a democratic way for taking decisions so as to create a comfortable environment for everyone to
participate and grow.
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4. 2. Mindful leaders, says Rahul Khosla (ibid), learn constantly and the richness and diversity of
their experience enhances their effectiveness progressively. How will you structure and embellish
your leadership traits with experience and exposure of the past?
Leadership Trait Cultivated through Experience
Cultivated through Past
Exposure
Vision
• Providing guidance and think beyond
the obvious.
• Proactively seeking outside help if need
be.
• Charter steps for the future thinking
realistically.
Have developed the ability to forecast
based on past exposures, to share a
common vision.
Honesty & Integrity
Imparted through Teachings by Parents,
Teachers and proper guidance from
Superiors.
Realized the importance and weightage
of this trait by facing situations of
ethical dilemma both in personal and
professional lives
Communication
• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation
• Self-motivation
• Empathy
• Social Skills
Learnt attributes of responsible behaviour
while communicating with others during
study life; Learnt the technical features of
communication through soft skill
development studies.
• Practised effective way of
communication with subordinates
peers and superiors;
• Self- Learning through Training and
feedback from team members;
• Creating a productive and conducive
work environment through effective
communication skill.
Motivation Skills
Through Education and past experiences,
have learnt different facets of inspiring
team members.
Developed ability to acknowledge and
appreciate the efforts of team members
and reward them.
Confidence
Undertaken challenging tasks and
delivered quality output in time
• As a Leader, I have always worked
towards quality result with
optimistic view and keeping up Team
Morale;
• During tough situations, assured
team members that only who work
they fail and the important thing is to
learning from mistake and to focus
on the larger goal
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5. Commitment &
Dedication
• My commitment and dedication drove
me to pursue higher education.
• I have learnt to set up goals that
challenge my limits and endeavour to
achieve those goals.
• Self-Learning by leading other peers
through examples in various team
work situations;
• Delivered quality responsible work
with peak amount of hard-work and
the proper focus.
Intuition
At unfavourable situation guided the team
based on intuition and gut feeling and by
taking calculated risk based on past
experiences.
• Inculcated the ability to Trust myself
during tough situations;
• Developed good reflex based
decision making through past
exposure
Positive Attitude
Have learnt the art of balancing work and
social life in order to better deliver my
work.
• Learnt to maintain the fine balance
between productivity and fun while
working in team settings;
• Incorporated positive frame of mind
while working within a diverse team
environment
Creativity
Out of Box thinking – on basis of trust on
own intuition and abilities, has driven me
to nurture my creativity.
Decision making under various types
tough situations demands critical
thinking abilities which has improved to
develop my creativity.
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6. 3. What is ethical versus moral versus corporate leadership, and how do you map your life along
these three paths? [See Table 9.3].
Corporate
Leadership
Ethical Leadership Moral Leadership
Nature
Dimensions
Is Multifaceted involving
concept, construct,
model, paradigm and
Exercises influence in the
choice of means and ends
Is Multifaceted involving
elements of Diversity of
Attitudes, Values, Cultures
and Exercises Moral
influence in the choice of
means and ends?
Is Multifaceted involving
parameters of Religious
beliefs, conscience, virtues,
and integrity and Exercises
Moral principles and
improves communities of
humans.
Self-
Correlation
Basic Leadership Style: Corporate
Mainly result driven by utilizing various means. However, at the time of leading team
members from diverse communities and nationalities Ethics and Morality also
become important dimensions.
EntityofInfluence
Dimensions
The leader follows
principles of the
corporate he/she
represents while making
decisions and exerting
influences on
subordinates.
The leader follows Ethical
principles while imparting
corporate decisions on
followers and
subordinates.
The Leader follows Moral
Principles to induce and
influence followership
based on attitudes, beliefs,
intentions and values.
Self-
Correlation
Basic Leadership Style: Moral
My basic leadership style belongs to Moral Principles while taking Decisions or
Facing Dilemmas under corporate environment.
StyleofLeadership
Dimensions
Leadership style involves
ways such as Incentive,
Rewards, Force, and
Promises to influence
leader follower
relationship.
Leadership style involves
Impression, Inspiration,
Incentives, and Persuasion
that must be Ethical in
motives.
Leadership style involves
Organization, Council,
Persuasion, and Incentives
that must be Moral in
Content.
Self-
Correlation
Basic Leadership Style: Ethical
My leadership style is generally Inspirational, Reward based and Persuasive. While
addressing diversity and variety of thoughts my style incorporates Ethical and Moral
values.
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7. ScopeOfLeadership
Dimensions
Employer vs. employees;
Supervisor vs. workers;
suppliers and distributors;
Leader vs. followers;
Leadership in ideas,
technology, innovation,
products and services,
markets and market
share, profits and
performance, growth and
prosperity.
Employer vs. employees;
Supervisor vs. workers;
suppliers and distributors;
Leader vs. followers;
Local vs. global
communities.
Leadership in company
industry codes of ethical
conduct, worker morale,
customer experience and
loyalty, ecological
stewardship and global
sustainability.
Employer vs. employees;
Supervisor vs. workers;
Leader vs. followers;
worker families and
communities; supplier
family and communities;
distributors and families.
Leadership in wisdom,
integrity, caring, sharing,
giving, understanding,
forgiving, reconciling,
compassion, mercy.
Self-
Correlation
Basic Leadership Style: Corporate
As a leader, I strive to incorporate Corporate Values, Sustainability Principles and the
duty of giving back to the community.
PrimeMotivebehindLeadership
Dimensions
Control of Follower
behaviour, popularity,
reputation, wealth,
benefits and loyalty.
Following Fair Trade
Principles, fulfilling rights
and duties, doing right/just
things.
Following Moral Principle
of Trade, Inclusive growth
of the communities
involved.
Self-
Correlation
Basic Leadership Style: Ethical
The Prime motive behind my leadership style is Sense of following fair principles,
Deliver goodwill for the society and being Ethically balanced.
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8. 4. Some twenty five years ago, Robert Greenleaf spoke and wrote about servant leadership. How do
you understand, apply and verify it in your life up to now?
The very notion of a servant as leader, or “servant-leadership” is purposefully oxymoronic and arresting
in nature. It challenges long-standing assumption held about the relationship between leaders and
followers in an organization. By combining seemingly contradictory terms, Greenleaf helps us to
reconsider the very nature of leadership.
The basic framework of servant leadership is explained below:
Service to Other
Servant-leadership begins when a leader assumes the position of servant in their interactions with
followers. Authentic, legitimate leadership arises not from the exercise of power or self-interested
actions, but from a fundamental desire to first help others. A servant-leader’s primary motivation and
purpose is to encourage greatness in others, while organizational success is just an indicator of the
same.
Holistic Approach to Work
The theory promotes a view that individuals should be encouraged to be who they are, in their
professional as well as personal lives. This more personal, integrated valuation of individuals, it is
theorized, ultimately benefits the long-term interests and performance of the organization.
Promoting a Sense of community
That by establishing the sense of community, defined as groups of individuals that are jointly liable for
each other both individually and as a unit, can an organization succeed in its objectives. The theory
states that this sense of community can arise only from the actions of individual servant-leaders.
Sharing of Power in Decision-Making
By nurturing participatory, empowering environments, and encouraging the talents of followers, the
servant-leader creates a more effective, motivated workforce and ultimately a more successful
organization. In this process an “inverted pyramid”, with employees, clients and other stakeholders at
the top, and leader(s) at the bottom which promotes flexible, delegated organizational structures.
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9. Dimensions Major Philosophy/ Understanding
Mapping to my Life and Verifying the
Experiences
Necessity
Legitimate absolute power is irrelevant and
becomes an Ethical imperative. Leader or
Follower is expected to always Listen, Search,
Give and Expect.
In in the absence of the assigned authority, I
have always followed the servant leadership
style.
Focus
Servant is the first priority and inspired by the
desire to Serve. The service must be selfless and
involve collective enthusiasm. The nature of
relationship is essentially Relational.
Whenever I find that any of my team member is
unable to perform or is under any kind of stress
due to the workload, as a team leader, I always
try to go beyond my way to help the person out.
I always try to find out the problems he/she is
facing and try to help him/her out with solving
the issues.
Characteristic
Positive, affirmative, inspiring. This kind of
leadership is prophetic and driven by inspiration
than rationalism. Helps the follower to grow in
faith, hope, self-esteem and most importantly
freedom.
During any kind of review meeting, I always try
to begin the discussion by highlighting the key
achievements and fruitful performances and
unique contributions by my team members.
This tends to boost the confidence of my team
members and improves mutual understanding
and cooperation.
Challenges
The ethical failure persists as long as the world is
occupied by the marginalized and the powerless.
People are continually exploited and
discriminated. Ethical and Moral Challenges lie
in followers responding only to those individuals
who are chosen as leaders because they have
proven worthy.
While leading team members belonging to
diverse communities, at times I assign
responsibilities based not on skill sets but on
their community background.
Impact
Significance of this leadership is serving a
community having a common journey. The
leader sets a vision and directs the team
members and the community involved towards
achieving the common destiny. Thus, Servant
leadership can transform Global capitalism, to
serve better the whole of humanity.
At the time of taking various management
decisions, care is taken such that outcome of the
process leaves a positive impact on the
immediate community involved.
Also, the process is well documented such that
in future the process can be enhanced and
better utilized for the betterment of the whole
community.
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10. 5. Leadership is both an art and a science. Delineate the art features of your leadership style as well its science features. What do
you see and learn from the past, and how do you plan for effective leadership for the future that is a convex combination of art
and science?
Leadership Dimensions Learning from Past Experiences Requirements for Implementation Plan for the Future
ART
Communication
Involves the psychology reading of the listener and also the
expectation of them.
Need to understand the non-verbal cues as effective
communication is built with help of it and also fulfils
the expectation of the audience.
Persuasiveness
Involves both intra Team and inter team negotiation skills.
One has to address and empathize the degrees of demands
of both the client and the service provider in equanimity.
1. Persuasion is basically a combination of several
different traits.
2. There is a need to be confident (not brash), fluent
and self-assured, and be appealing and engaging.
Creativity
Under circumstances where traditional solutions become
inapplicable, thinking out of the box involves creativity. This
creativity in turn involves knowledge and relational aspects
across different domains of technology and ideas.
Need to enhance my imagination and objective
relational skill sets. As my past experiences has been
diverse, relating learning’s from diverse domains and
creating solutions for seemingly unsolvable problems is
much an Art.
ART&SCIENCE
Emotional Intelligence Higher levels of emotional intelligence are associated with
better performance in the following areas:
• Participative Management
• Putting People at Ease
• Self-Awareness
• Balance Between Personal Life and Work
• Straightforwardness and Composure
• Building and Mending Relationships
• Decisiveness
• Confronting Problem Employees
• Change Management
1. EI can be developed through the practice of seeking
on-going feedback.
2. Ask supervisors and co-workers who know you well
for honest feedback on how your behaviour is
impacting them.
3. Use opportunities to self-reflect upon adversity –
business failures, demotions, missed promotions,
unchallenging jobs, and personal trauma.
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11. Empathy
Empathy is also particularly critical to leadership
development in this age of young, independent, highly
marketable and mobile workers.
Leaders with empathy thoughtfully consider employees'
feelings – along with other factors – in the process of making
intelligent decisions.
1. They are people who use empathy to engender
trust and build bonds; they are catalysts who are
able to create positive communities for the greater
good.
2. But even if empathy does not come naturally to
some of us, I firmly believe that we can develop this
capacity.
3. Empathy is an emotional and thinking muscle that
becomes stronger the more we use it.
Social Intelligence
To communicate effectively, it is helpful to be able to read
into others’ thoughts and emotions.
It is commonly expected that those in leadership positions
have the knowledge and ability to address any issue, but
often they do not.
Social intelligence can be enhanced through learning,
training and education.
Ability to Motivate
People need to feel that they are involved in the decision
making process and end results obtained. Hence
accountability of people is also involved. More so, ability to
forecast a Common vision for the team certainly inspires
them for long term results.
Need to understand the deficiencies of the team as a
whole. Thus, making the team realize their
shortcomings will better prepare them for the shared
vision and give them freedom to be creative.
Commitment & Dedication
With dedication and commitment, high quality standards
can be maintained even in the most stressful conditions.
This is particularly important in the current times as the
world is going through a volatile environment and is in need
of leaders who are committed and dedicated.
1. Set difficult but achievable targets – this will enable
testing a person’s mettle by pushing him to use his
maximum capability.
2. Self-Learning by leading other peers through
examples in various team work situations will also
bring commitment and dedication.
Honesty & Integrity
It cannot be taught but can be acquired and inherited.
People have varying degrees of honesty and this can be well
accessed in team environment.
Better understand Team dynamics, so that members
with this prominent quality can be suitably rewarded
and made as role models for the organization.
Confidence
It encompasses all the leadership qualities mentioned. A
befitting leader will have proportionate qualities that in turn
will mould into supreme confidence.
As I will subsequently fulfil the requirements of all the
qualities mentioned above, this will in turn hone my
leadership skills. Thus, I will emerge as a Supremely
confident individual.
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12. SCIENCE
Intuition
Past experiences have honed my reflexive decision making
ability. Moreover, a mindset is created where probable
outcomes are already known within that in turn makes the
decision making process more efficient.
Need to understand the qualitative and quantitative
aspects of decision making processes. This will in turn
enhance my intuitive abilities and further my
understanding of building effective intuition based on
learning from past experiences.
Ability to Delegate
Essentially involves understanding of Team dynamics and
postulate the strengths and weaknesses of team members.
Delegating work based on such factors, makes the whole
exercise enjoyable and interesting.
1. Need to better understand and address the
diversity among international team settings.
2. Certain cultures and communities have inherent
strengths and weaknesses, if known will certainly
make the process simpler and efficient.
Problem Solving Skills
This is somewhat dependent on the education and
background and past experiences.
1. Taking up challenging projects add value to one’s
self rather than being in one’s comfort zone.
2. Planning tactically keeping in mind the future is of
utmost importance.
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13. 6. According to Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana (2010), leaders create meaning, communicate
it effectively, and realize it in themselves and their followers. How will you understand, apply
and verify this form of leadership in your life up to now, as well as plan for the future? [See
Table 9.5].
Leadership Activity
Dimensions
Understanding, Application and
Verification Based on Experiences
Implementation Plan for the
Future
Creation of a Vision
Leaders make Vision based on Big Ideas which are
exciting to the people.
The whole creative process of vision development
consists of stages like observing, reflecting, writing,
speaking.
A powerful Vision attracts people to join that
organization and motivates them to deliver better
resulting growth of the business.
1. Objective understanding of the entire
organization and the ethos on which it
stands.
2. More effective communication skills,
understanding the demand of the
business and the way to relate it with
people.
Creation of Mission
Successful leaders build strong organization culture
by translating the Vision into Mission Statement
which can align the strategy with the goals and
aspirations of the stakeholders.
1. Clearly understand the Vision and the
Values of the organization
2. Understand how the Vision and the
value is translated into the Misson
statement
3. Learn how to effectively align the
strategy with the goals and aspirations
of the stakeholders.
Creation of Objectives
and Goals
An organization has Business, Product, Market,
Customer and Profitability goals.
It the leader who has to prioritize and pursue all
these goals based on what the organization
demands.
1. Business, Product, Market, Customer
and Profitability goals have to be
realized in a sustainable manner.
2. Sustainability goals and ecology goals
are thus required to be formulated in
the implementation plan.
3. Set SMART goals (Paul Mayer) which are
specific, measurable, attainable, realistic
and tangible.
Design of the
Organization
Effective leaders structure their Organization for
better Communication, Productivity and
Innovation.
As the design evolves most organizations have
elements of hierarchy, flexible and organic
structures.
1. Understand the organizational strategy
and structure will follow the strategy.
2. Ensure that the organization structure
put in place is well accepted and
understood by all.
Design of Organization
Process
Effective leaders carefully choose Inputs/ Drivers
for the organizational processes.
These inputs are based on Core Values, Duties and
Responsibilities and Design and Development
policies of the organization.
Incorporate the various process
improvement tools and techniques to
increase the process efficiency and set
world-class standards.
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14. As a result, a framework of Organizational
processes are evolved that involve New Product
Development, Quality Control methodologies,
Product Expansion and Growth and Creativity and
Innovation.
Organizational
Performance
Measurement
Involves various facets of performance
measurement such as Revenue and Growth,
Market Share and Capitalization, Return on Quality
and Assets, Price/ Earnings Ratio, Order booking,
Customer complaint .
An Effective leader is able to grasp the relevant
information and create a yardstick for accessing the
Performance of the organization as a whole.
1. Integrate (inter/intra) Customer review
and Feedback mechanisms to various
functional units of the Business.
2. Ensure to have a proper feedback
mechanism and that all level in the
organization work towards improving it.
3. This will help in maximising the
performance by accessing the Gaps and
addressing the weaknesses.
References
1. O'Malley, M. (2012). Every Leader Is an Artist. Harvard Business Review.
2. BOSCO, D. E. (2010). Achieving High Organization Performance through Servant Leadership. The
Journal of Business Inquiry, 9, 74-88.
3. Fiedler, F. (1967). A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill.
4. Hahn, D. (2010). Leadership …Art Form or Science? Hahn Training, LLC , pp. 1-5.
5. Understanding the Leader in You. (n.d.). Sage Publications.
6. Vondey, M. (2010). The Relationships among Servant Leadership, Organizational Citizenship
Behavior, Person-Organization Fit, and Organizational Identification. International Journal of
Leadership Studies, 6(1).
7. Zaccaro, S., Kemp, C., & Bader, P. (2008). Leader Traits and Attributes. In THE MAJOR SCHOOLS
OF LEADERSHIP.
8. Leadership Qualities. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.nbsa.org.
9. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.forbes.com/leadership.
10. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/leadership.
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