Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw presents important attributes of leadership and elaborates with examples in the above video.
It’s hard to imagine a person spending his lifetime in the same domain, but that’s how its been for majority of the stalwarts in any field. Even if we change professions and do multiple things in our lives, the following list should still holds good. Infact, it might even help to dissuade us from flights of fancy, and focus on more important things.
Here we go.
- Professional knowledge and Professional Competence.
- Make a decision and accept the responsibility.
- Absolute justice and impartiality.
- Moral and Physical Courage.
- Loyalty, expect and give.
- Management of men and resources.
- Leadership with Human touch.
- Discipline (punctuality etc) and Character (knowing who we really are)
A ‘Yes man’ is a dangerous man. He is a menace. He will go very far. He can become a minister, a secretary or a Field Marshal but he can never become a leader, nor ever be respected. He will be used by his superiors, disliked by his colleagues and despised by his subordinates. So discard the ‘Yes man’.”
Do not misunderstand me, when I talk of character. I don’t mean just being honest, truthful, and religious, I mean something more- Knowing yourself, knowing your own faults, knowing your own weaknesses and what little character that we have, our friends, our fans, the ‘yes-men’ around us and the sycophants, help us reduce that character as well.
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