Is Mr. Modi truly a Great Leader?

Leadership is a nebulous subject. There are as many opinions about leadership as there are leaders! Are leaders born or are they made? The debate has been endless and hence there is no simple answer to this vexing question. ”Who is a leader?” and what constitutes leadership has also evolved over the ages. The essential trait that makes a good leader has also changed with time, with a strong correlation to the context in which it is discussed.  However, some Gurus who have been writing and coaching leaders all over the world have written innumerable books about leadership. Hence it would be appropriate to go by their views assuming that it is the distilled wisdom of the current age.

And what is leadership? According to John C Maxwell, one of the leading authors on leadership, the true measure of a leader is Influence, nothing more nothing less. If this is what he says about corporate leadership, this is more so in the case of political leadership. In his classic “The 21 irrefutable laws of Leadership”, in law no 2 called the “Law of Influence”, he states the following as the key factors that make a leader. I have summarized them as under with my subjective assessment about Mr. Modi.

1.    Character – who they are: True leadership always begins with the inner person. People can sense the depth of a person’s inner character. The fact that so many people adore him, so much so, they are called Bhakts is because of who he is! His integrity, sincerity, discipline, hard work and commitment to the nation is what makes people admire him. People perceive him as one who has no personal axe to grind. A hypothetical question to test this trait would be to ask “Would people vote for BJP without Modi?” I am sure a majority would not vote for BJP! That speaks for itself. Character of a leader matters. Some people say that he is authoritarian and does not trust anyone. He is ruthless. He treats his opponents not as adversaries but as enemies. Maybe. Nevertheless, even his worst critics do not cast aspersions on his integrity, character, hard work and commitment. My rating for this trait is: 8

2.    Relationships – who they know: With deep relationships with the right people you can become a leader in an organization. Mr. Modi, being nominated as the PM candidate in 2014, from being an unknown persona, is probably the starting point. He was the most vilified Indian politician in India and abroad so much so our elected MP’s sent letters to US asking them not to grant visa to an elected CM of a state.  Today his supporters include many of the PM’s and premiers of different countries. He was the first PM in Independent India to visit Israel – and their PM calls him my friend - and Mr. Modi had the audacity to visit Palestine, a sworn enemy of Israel, immediately thereafter! And despite being portrayed as anti minorities locally, he received the highest civilian award from 2 Islamic nations – UAE and Saudi Arabia. And India was invited to the OIC for the first time as a keynote speaker despite the protests from Pakistan! Based on his request, the first Hindu temple in UAE is being opened. Apart from his numerous international awards, he is considered one of the top international leaders of this time. His entire image and that of India have undergone a tremendous change over the past 5 years without a doubt. And his direct connect with the people is brilliant using unconventional tools like the outdated radio! On the downside, it is said the he has sidelined seniors who have built his party. He ignores his cabinet and runs the show with his PMO and bureaucrats. He has no friends in his party. He has complete disdain for the Main Stream media and so on. There may be elements of truth in these allegations based on anecdotal evidence. My rating for this trait is: 7

3.    Knowledge – What they know: Information is vital. You need a grasp of the facts to develop an accurate vision of the future. Leading a nation as vast as India with internal complexities coupled with a highly sensitive external relationships is no ordinary matter. Obviously no single person can have the expertise in such diverse areas like technology, economics, healthcare et al. Experts assist a modern leader. But the leader should be smart enough to understand these nuances and take the final decision owning up the responsibility. Mr. Modi, despite lacking any experience of even being an MP, has learnt the ropes of managing a nation fairly quickly, a fact that was even acknowledged by our former President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. Maybe at times, he portrays himself as a “Know all” with an over confidence tinged with a bit of arrogance is what some of his detractors say. He does give that impression at times. My rating for this trait is: 6

4.   Intuition – what they feel: leaders seek to recognize and influence intangibles such as energy, morale, timing and momentum. This is something that Mr. Modi is a master. Both on the Government side and on the political front, he has been amazing with his indefatigable energy, timing and setting the narrative. To me the 2014 election was won purely based on his passionate campaign and unbelievable travels criss crossing the country. Having intuition is one thing, but articulating that to the masses is another talent altogether. Here again Modi is a magician. However, his critics point out that he goes overboard with his theatrics at times and is attention seeking hogging the limelight to himself. Maybe there is some validity in their arguments too. My rating for this trait is: 8

5.    Experience – where they have been: the greater your past challenges, the more likely your followers will let you lead. Here again Mr. Modi scores high because of his experience both as an administrator as chief minister and the challenges he faced due to riots in Gujarat and the prolonged enquiries and investigations he faced. His formative years as a RSS pracharak have taken him to the nook and corners of the country and he is aware of the ground realities that have shaped his experience. The opposition barb that he is only a “chaiwala’ was catastrophic, as we have seen. My rating for this trait is: 7

6.    Ability – what they can do: the bottom line is followers want to know whether you can lead them to victory. As soon as they believe that you cannot deliver, they will stop following. This is absolutely true in India! India is a complex country with numerous segments with varying expectations. Hence there is bound to be claims and counter claims as to what Mr. Modi has promised and what he has delivered. Sifting the wheat from the chaff and looking for data amidst all this cacophony, I personally feel that he has done reasonably well. He has risked failure by implementing projects like GST, has been firm in dealing with militants, going ahead with Swachh Bharat programme despite ridicule, enhancing the usage of Aadhar, Jan Dhan, Ujjwala scheme, housing for poor, improved infrastructure, opening up defense production under Make in India, improved tax compliance, containing inflation and fiscal deficit so on and so forth. There have been misses too like job creation, farmer’s distress, etc. Could he have done better? Absolutely yes. However, it is fair to say that he has delivered reasonably well in this short tenure.My rating for this trait is: 6

So Mr. Modi scores 42 out of the maximum 60 which works out to about 70% which is really good. It is a moot point if we benchmark any other current political leader against the same traits and see where they stand. Of course, I have used a framework by one author whom I know. There could be several other frameworks similar to this which could also be used.

Marshall Goldsmith is a very highly ranked Executive coach and #1 leadership thinker in the world. In his recent book he states that “Leadership is a matter of how to Be, and not how to Do.” This resonates well with the framework we discussed earlier. He goes on outline the development of leadership over the ages. He also emphasizes that another paradigm that we need to consider when evaluating leadership is to see how future proof these leaders are. Based on extensive research, he has identified seven key trends that have emerged and will dramatically impact the leader of the future throwing out all the old assumptions about leadership because of the cataclysmic changes that we are seeing in the evolution of our nations. Will Mr. Modi fit this emerging framework? Well, I suggest that you fit in the arguments of the earlier framework and decide for yourself!

The seven key trends are:

1.    From thinking locally to thinking Globally

2.    From requiring uniformity to seeking diversity

3.    From understanding one technology to becoming technologically savvy

4.    From leader as a knower to leader as a learner

5.    From eliminating challenge to encouraging constructive dialogue 

6.    From leading in the Hierarchy to Building alliances and teams

7.    From the leader as Boss to leader as facilitator

While this framework essentially for the corporate world, as stated earlier, we can extrapolate it to apply for political leadership as well.

Finally, I would also like to establish a difference between two concepts, namely fact and opinion. While this may not be relevant to leadership per se, it assumes significance in the arguments for and against a particular leader. A fact cannot be disputed – like India got independence on 15^th August, 1947. Opinion, on the other hand, is someone’s view of a particular event or situation based on his perception, understanding and interpretation of facts. For example, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was a better Prime Minister than Mr. Manmohan Singh is something that cannot be settled – all of us have our own opinions on this argument! Opinions generally tend to be coloured by prejudices, swayed by emotions and persuaded by ideologies that one may profess. It could also be deliberately biased.  Even if shorn of all these aberrations, an opinion is an opinion and not a fact. Unfortunately with the advent of social media, our polity and the followers of various leaders and parties are not able to differentiate between fact and opinion. Hence no one is able to digest - leave alone appreciate and disagree with - the opinion of another person. We see discussions descending to levels of indecency that are not acceptable in a civilized society. We need to bear this in mind while evaluating and discussing all issues, more so political ones including political leadership.

In the final analysis, going by the definitions of leadership discussed above, in my humble opinion, I feel that Mr. Modi is truly a great leader with a mass following that this country has seen after independence. Yes, he may have his failures and failings, like many other leaders of the past. But in the pantheon of current political leadership in this country, I do not see any worthy challenger. Having said that, another great leader will emerge over the horizon when there is a dire need, just as Shastri ji came to the fore after Mr. Nehru’s demise! Till then, Mr. Modi is THE man!

Bibliography:

1.    The 21 Irrefutable laws of Leadership

By John C Maxwell

2.    Work is Love made visible

By Frances Hesselbein

    Marshall Goldsmith

    Sarah McArthur