Are you going to them or are they coming to you?

It has been the proverbial stimulant of great leaders. And every aspiring one almost always misses. Good times are what people identify leaders with. And tough times are what turn them into leaders.

The success of the world’s greatest leaders is incomplete without the story of their struggles. Think Martin Luther, Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, and their achievements are greater in the light of their struggles.

Leadership belongs to people who believe in the goodness of bad times. As businesses go through a turbulent time worldwide, it is important to remember that businesses are reaching out to us not because we were completely untouched or escaped the drubbing, but because they believe we understand and know how to lead them through their tough times.

I have spoken about this being the age of collaboration before. We are witnessing many leaders like CISCO show how effective and profitable this can be. But as businesses increasingly look at realigning their strategy, the question we are really asking is: Are we going after the business or is it coming to us because of the value we can offer to their business? Or in other words are we leading the game or being led?

Leadership is not just about leading people or about being heard. If at all, it is about listening, asking uncomfortable questions and taking tough decisions. The decisions of most leaders are considered revolutionary only in retrospect. In their own time, the best of leaders face brickbats and criticism.
But as people saw value in their words and their actions, these leaders manage to draw people to them. Which is why, the recession will well be our grooming ground of tomorrow’s leaders.

In today’s business scenario, this would mean the ability to pick the right signals when we see ourselves losing relevance. To do so, leaders will need to constantly step aside to see through the maze and understand what will be of relevance to their partners not just in the present but also in the future.

The days of market control are long gone. The competitive pyramid is increasingly flattening out as we operate in markets of equal opportunities. And differentiating in this playing field will mean providing solutions that compel our customers and our people to reach out for us - for the value that we bring, and the difference that we make to their lives.