A Leader of Hearts

R.C. Natarajan

Associate Professor

TAPMI, Manipal

At the outset, I clarify that this is not about ME. I hardly qualify as a possessor of this uncommon trait especially when I think of those whom I worked with in the industry and most of whom I worked with. Normally, when one hears the term “Leadership”, one immediately visualises the Tatas, the Birlas, the Narayanamurthys, the Premijies and the rest. Leadership is a characteristic that has become so synonymous with accomplishment in the world of business that we fail to acknowledge the existence of leadership qualities in many others whom we interact in our daily life.

In the film Munna Bhai MBBS, Munna hugs the old man who has been working as a floor-cleaner for ages, and follows it up with an appreciation that people don’t actually recognise what an important job he was doing by cleaning the place regularly. This struck a familiar chord in me. In the organisation where I worked prior to joining TAPMI, I had a colleague who worked as a peon. The post of a peon has been existent since the colonial times and our Babus have happily accepted it and continued the legacy. His work was to carry out all odd jobs, which included remitting the bank-instruments, drawing cash for disbursement, despatching courier and sometimes even withdrawing cash form the bank for the employees in the office. Invariably, he was the first to enter the office in the morning and ensured that the office was kept clean and neat. He brought in a loyal cleaner who kept doing the job for the branch for over ten years. At this point one may ask, “What is so great about what he did? It’s merely some ordinary work that millions of peons in the country do.” That is precisely the point. We compare his job with those of the “big” names mentioned earlier. But what is the relevance of his work? When in a meeting at Anand, my CEO asked me, “When you are here, do you call the Hyderabad office and check if everything is ok?” I responded saying, “Certainly not. I wish to say two things: One, when I am away from my head quarters, my branch performs better; two, when Narasimha, my peon, goes on leave, hell breaks loose. So, I am hardly important in my branch.” Everybody laughed heartily and someone even commented, “Then we should probably swap the posts.” But later during the evening, my CEO called me aside and said, “I liked the way you put it. Actually, we are all so governed by designation that we only respect authority. No one spots the true leader in a situation.”

Here I should say a few things about Mr. Narasimha. He did not complete his SSLC. He could not speak English. He spoke only Telugu and Hyderabadi Hindi. He talked very little, but he communicated brilliantly. I never saw him—not even once—sitting idle. And I never saw him upset or angry—the basic traits that I possess. He always had his hands full with work. Narasimha had a subtle sense of humour that he used anytime he heard someone saying “The boss is in a foul mood today.” (You can guess who the “boss” was). He was about 50 years old; was an affectionate father; had married off both his daughters; educated his sons and got them placed. He had a house constructed and paid off the loans. He was planning to buy a two-wheeler. Whenever any problem arose in his joint family, he would get a phone call and he would take a few hours off, sort out the mess and return to work. There were many instances when he was simply admirable...one had to only watch consciously. To me, he symbolised leadership. I watched him with envy when he spoke to angry customers and pacified them and even solved the problem when I could not speak a sentence in Telugu. When I look back, I am happy to have done two things for him. I fought with my “higher-ups” to issue the promotion-order—which he deserved much before—and he became a daftari, another colonial designation, but a little higher in rank and little better pay. And when I left Hyderabad, I gave him my desert-cooler, saying, “For all that I gained and learned from you, this is a small guru dhakshina. Please accept it.” I saw tears in his eyes that he tactfully hid from me. Or, at least, I thought so.

I have seen executives—top level, middle level and even junior level—trying to “be in control” of every situation desperately. To them, letting off control means falling from the throne of leadership. I firmly believe that one doesn’t have to be in control of everything all the time to be a successful leader. In fact, it is irrational to attempt such a thing. Being a “team leader” does not imply that one should always be in command. It requires maturity to “let go of control”—a hard to imagine, harder to believe and even harder to carry out proposition. I have always suffered from this paranoia of “being in control” until I learnt my lesson from Narasimha. When the truth dawned upon me, I looked back at my own stupidity and was able to laugh at myself. There are people around us who are capable of rising up to the occasion when demanded, and are most likely capable of handling the situation better. I was lucky to have had the rare opportunity to see this coming true in my executive career.

I have come across terms such as “lead from the front” and “lead from the back.” However, this is someone who led by just being there when needed, not once failing. Till date, he is the real worldly leader whom I had a close encounter with. I am proud to have worked with Narasimha for half a decade.