MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP SPECIAL ‘Energise, empower and execute’

A LEADER IN A PROMOTER-DRIVEN COMPANY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT CONDUIT CONNECTING THE PROMOTER’S AMBITION WITH EXECUTABLE RESULTS

Kamal Brar heads the APAC expansion of MongoDB, a New York-based database start-up worth over $1 billion. His responsibilities include building a broad channel across the region. He spoke to HT on a range of issues on leadership. Excerpts from the interview:

How do you define a leader?

I believe that in today’s fast paced global economy, leaders need to bring as much wisdom as possible to bear on their daily decision. At the same time an effective leader needs to possess the ability to motivate their team in order to move towards a desirable vision. All in all, a leader needs to cultivate a professional and personal style. Leaders learn from the experiences of others as well as from their own and thereon drive their employees towards change and long lasting motivation.

What are the three most important traits of a leader?

A leader has various traits and these vary depending on the environment, organisation team and many other factors. In my opinion the three most important traits of a leader are ability to delegate, ability to listen and communicate, and the ability to inspire. However, the most common denominator being the ability to adapt, change and motivate the team in any given situation.

How do you cultivate leaders? We believe strongly in empowering our employees and ensuring they have the ability to make decisions to best support the business needs in the regions we operate. I am also of view that employees should be provided complete transparency on the company’s vision and business needs. From my perspective, I believe that a leader needs to be cultivated throughout the organisation and not be limited to top level.

Can leadership be learnt? In other words, how can a manager become a leader?

Many leadership capabilities are genetic or in-born or can even take a life-time to develop but there are various ways one can step up and start the journey to become a leader. In essence, we believe that, leadership is a skill or attributes that anyone and everyone in an organisation has the capacity to exhibit—and it can be cultivated.

What is the role of a professional leader in a promoterdriven company?

A professional leader in a promoter-driven company is the most important conduit connecting the promoter’s ambition with executable results. On one hand, a leader manages the expectations of the promoter, while on the other he or she leads the team to achieve that ambition.

What has been the biggest leadership challenge you’ve faced?

I believe that acquisitions and mergers always present a significant challenge in integration and in ensuring a unified culture. In my career I have been through three acquisitions, all with varied success. The biggest challenge presented was to swiftly learn, motivate and communicate effectively with employees and have a clear strategy for moving forward.

What are the challenges for your sector?

We are looking to provide solutions in a technology age where the pace of change is faster than ever before. In our industry, ‘big data’ is the catalyst for change — we are storing different forms of data, massive volumes and keep more of this all on-line. Therefore, the challenge is to cope with this change and huge information deluge and create value from it.

Leaders have to often carry the cross of other’s wrong doings and inefficiencies, what role can good leadership play to counter balance this image?

A good leader has to ensure that standards of integrity are continuously raised and met weather it is within an organisation or with the customers. A leader needs to empower, motivate and inspire the team to follow the path of integrity in all courses of action.

What is your one-line leadership mantra?

For me, the leadership mantra is all about energising, empowering and executing.

Who are the leaders that have inspired you?

There are many leaders who have been an inspiration to me. But primarily I have been inspired by Richard Branson. He is an entrepreneur by heart and is always pushing boundaries to achieve the best.

Who is a leader in your industry that your respect?

I admire and learn from different leaders from the past and from today — be it for their management style, inventions or for their thoughts. I especially admire Steve Jobs, who brought a change in the mobile industry by living his passion for product excellence — he turned Apple into the company that it is today.

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