Great Leaders Constantly Read Situations And Respond Says Dr J.M Sampath

Leaders never have it easy. To quote another famous saying "Heavy is the head that wears the crown" which comes to mind. They operate in a volatile environment and are responsible for taking several game-changing decisions. The environment is often made up of several variables, which have increased multifold over the years. For example, if there were five variables 10 years ago, today the number has climbed to a hundred.

Tackling Variables Of Change

Most of the time variables change by the minute, by the day. In such situations, if there is no agility in a leader, they will not be able to cope with changes and businesses will subsequently struggle. Weak, non-agile leaders come up with several excuses. They will blame the pandemic or the global environment. On the other hand, agile leaders are what we call a ‘Master of Circumstance' (MC). These leaders are constantly reading the situation and responding to it. They are extremely responsive and context-sensitive. Instead of letting the situation get the better of them and become a victim of it, they read the context with a fresh mindset and respond.

Taking Lessons From Famous Leaders

Let's take Elon Musk as an example. He foresees the context and develops solutions for it. What NASA could not do for decades, he made possible through his various space missions, including the reusable engines. In India, Tata Motors moving toward electric vehicle manufacturing is another great example. They have been foreseeing the shift and have been at the forefront. Leaders who are able to respond faster than the competition thrive and make the most of opportunities. 25 years ago, CEO of Robert Bosch came across a small news item saying ‘India is going to become a software hub'. He circled it and made it into a board agenda. His company Bosch became one of the earliest companies that came to India and set up a software division. This was a CEO who read the context and got the early advantage of moving.

Developing the ability to be agile

The opposite of a master of circumstance is a victim of circumstance (VC). These kinds of leaders are not clear about their vision and find reasons to not confront situations. They fail to look at alternatives and find solutions. To be able to develop the ability to grow and be agile as a leader, one must change this weak perspective. Leaders should be willing to take risks, be good learners and constantly innovate. Instead of getting worried about mistakes, they should be capable of learning from them. I strongly believe in this idea "If you thought what you thought and did what you did, you will get what you get". If a leader continues making the same mistakes and refuses to learn, the outcome will never be positive. The only way to stay relevant is to keep learning. Once a leader stops learning, he stops being relevant. If you sit quiet and do not keep moving on in life, learning from it, the consequences can be dire. Many companies do not exist anymore because of their failure of keeping up with the times.

To summarise, leaders need to keep their eyes and ears open to understanding the context and respond with a clear outlook. The best leaders never fear change. They embrace it and come out bigger and better.

By Dr J.M Sampath, Management Thinker, Author and Entrepreneur