LEADERSHIP SPECIAL................ The True North

The True North 
 

“If smartness is the baseline, the new normal, what allows us to go beyond it?” asks Prasad Kaipa, author of the bestselling From Smart to Wise: Acting and Leading with Wisdom

When Tim Cook took over as Apple CEO in 2011, people were concerned on many fronts. Chief among those was how he would make the transition from being a functional leader to a broader role —and step into Steve Jobs’ shoes. Cook had been brought in to cut the fat in the supply chain at Apple and bring in operational efficiencies in the supply chain, and he excelled at it. However, he realised that he needed to look beyond this to be able to lead the company at this critical juncture, and broadened his perspective. In other words, he went from being a smart leader to a wise leader. What’s important is that he didn’t trade his style of functioning for Jobs’ but expanded his own to adopt certain new aspects.
    Think of the leadership style of all the people you’ve ever worked with and you’ll realise that almost all of them broadly fit into two categories. One is the functional smart leader who has deep expertise in what he does and is execution driven, focussing on the bottomline. The other is the business smart leader who has a broader vision, dreams big, is topline driven and most likely to start companies and bring in experts to run them. According to Prasad Kaipa, CEO, Kaipa Group and executive coach and advisor, most leaders are smart, but to succeed in the world today, being smart is no longer enough. “We have to recognise that smartness is common now. It’s the baseline for everyone to succeed — it’s the new normal,” he says. This forms the central theme of his latest book, From Smart to Wise: Acting and Leading with Wisdom, co-authored by Navi Radjou, a Fellow at the University of Cambridge and an innovation and leadership expert.
    “Think of it like this,” says Kaipa, “if smartness is the baseline, what allows us to go beyond it? It’s wisdom. Often it’s inherent wisdom we possess, but tend to forget in trying to be smart.” Beyond intelligence and business smarts, what leaders need is practical wisdom—a set of new capabilities that enable them to see the potential benefit in complexity, and to turn it into an opportunity to bring new value to their organisations. A wise leader is one who finds a balance between being functional and business smart and above all, doing good. He cites Ratan Tata as an example of a business smart leader who moved towards being a wise leader over time. His focus on doing good and not focussing only on increasing profitability is a key characteristic which makes him stand out as a wise leader.
    Kaipa says that they found that self-interest was an often a great driver in the decisions taken by leaders. “Most smart leaders are driven by what’s in it for them. The smarter you are the better you can articulate and judge how much you will benefit by a certain decision,” he says. Wisdom requires balancing self-interest with the greater good and a healthy dose of introspection.
    If a business is doing well under a smart leader and still bringing in the profits, one might be tempted to ask why bother with wisdom. “Often organisations become anthropomorphised versions of their leader, having an impact on culture and even society at times,” says Kaipa. At Apple, Steve Jobs firmly imprinted his personal stamp on the business in both his innings at the iconic brand.
    For a leader, it’s important that his personal vision and mission is in sync with the organisation’s. If that’s not the case, then he’s doing it either for the money or the fame and title, which aren’t good enough reasons by themselves. “If your personal vision doesn’t match the organisation’s, you tend to drift, and in turn the orga drift as well. This isn’t good for business tent that leaders have clarity on this, th cus on the organisation. It’s important where you personal North Star is and are working towards it,” he says.
    The other problem is that the higher u der you go, the higher the tendency t yourself with people with similar views. Once again, this can have a direct implication on the business. Kaipa says that in an ideal situation, the top two people in management or the CEO and promoter should be functional and business smart respectively. “Move towards figuring out a way to balance it out and leverage both sides of smartness. This opposite polarity is a win-win for all parties concerned. At Oracle, Larry Ellison is the archetype business smart leader and Mark Hurd, functional smart and the duo work well together,” he says.
    Meanwhile, he suggests a course of action for a leader to move from smart to wise. To start with, do things that are counter-intuitive to you. “There are six key leadership capabilities —perspective, action orientation, role clarity, decision logic, fortitude and motivation — and different leaders display them differently. Assess where you stand on these and pick one where you realise you are heavily skewed to one side.” he says. Then create a support system of advisors who are on the other side of the scale and think different from you on it. Have open discussions and analysis’ and most important, listen to what they say. This way, you gradually open yourself to the other style of leadership and make the move towards a wiser leader.
    Six Leadership Capabilities
Perspective: What influences and shapes a leader ’s worldview Action orientation: How a leader is driven to act—or not act Role clarity: How a leader chooses a role and how closely she identifies with it Decision logic: What framework a leader uses to decide Fortitude: How a leader determines when to hold and when to fold Motivation: What inspires and drives a leader ’s actions and decisions
    Wisen Up
    Shift one’s perspective and connect to a noble purpose. Start thinking holistically and focus on a higher purpose rather than purely on execution or strategy. Act authentically and appropriately. Become fully engaged in the process, yet emotionally detached from the outcome. Lead from any position. Learn when to lead from the front and when to let others lead and take credit. Decide with discernment. Make decisions that are intuitive, ethical, yet pragmatic. Demonstrate flexible fortitude. Know when to hold on and when to let go if the situation calls for it and is aligned with the larger purpose. Cultivate enlightened self-interest. Be motivated to create value and bring benefit to the greatest number of people.

Priyanka Sangani CDET131011