Leadership Paradox#1

Ravi is the Vice President-Sales at an MNC. A star performer from the day he joined the company 7 years ago, with his Business Unit consistently beating the numbers every quarter. He has climbed the proverbial Corporate ladder faster than anyone else in the history of the company and is now a leading contender for the soon to be vacant post of the CEO.

The Chairman, however, is not so sure.

While Ravi has consistently exceeded expectations in terms of Top Line, People attrition in his Business Units have also been among the highest. Probably, his contribution to the revenue growth of the company had been overshadowing this reality.

The Chairman began casual conversations with the current CEO, Ravi’s peers and even subordinates.

Very goal-oriented, very confident, quick decision maker, clarity of thoughts, ability to get things done, precise communication were some of Ravi’s strengths which everyone seemed to allude to. A task master, blunt, pushes people to get work done, doesn’t appreciate people enough were some of the so-called negative perceptions that people carried about him. 

As the Chairman mulled over the many conversations and feedback, some questions started cropping in his astute mind. 

Ravi was seen as super confident in his own opinions, but did they tend to border on dogmatism?

Ravi was seen as someone with a clear vision, but did it also mean, that was the only vision that mattered to him?

The feedbacks seemed to suggest that it was not about Ravi not wanting to seek opinions from others. The problem seemed to be that he didn’t even feel the need. Was this leading to his teams feeling “Do we even matter?”

While he still would get people to toe his line, was it more as a matter of compliance and the possible monetary rewards that lay ahead rather than a sense of commitment?

The Chairman acknowledged that while these behaviour traits seemed so much better than the Leader being inconclusive, were they leading to the people exodus?

Wouldn’t Ravi make a better Leader and benefit the Organization if he could imbibe some traits of the paradoxical behaviour of being open and reflective?

If the negative connotations of his behaviour were brought into Ravi’s awareness, could he be nudged towards a more balanced trait of ‘Truth Exploring’?

Could he play on Ravi’s ego and align his focus to the people aspect of the business apart from achieving the numbers which he was anyway good at?

While there are a number of traits that define good Leadership, the truth is they cannot be bucketed into a black or white. Rather the real effectiveness of a Leader is born out of the grey, striking the right balance between behaviours which may otherwise seem like a paradox.

The Chairman smiled. He had arrived at some decisions.

Coach-Ram

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