On Leadership Style
Leadership is tested when the company begins scaling up. When the company moves from ‘A’ to ‘B’ and more personnel join, sensitive situations arise. The work is divided between matured staffers and junior personnel. The older generation feels threatened by generation next and the former question their added importance. Hence it is better if the scaling up and acclimatization is done faster and neater. If done otherwise the turbulence caused will hurt the company by resulting in infighting. A leader may make mistakes in this area and it is important to learn fast the lessons it teaches and get over the miserable feelings quickly. There is nothing wrong in falling or failing, you can always get up and run again. The more important part is not repeating the mistakes again.

Persistence and focus are the two keywords a leader must follow for the rest of the staff to look up to them, especially when the company is in a growth phase. One must have patience and a positive attitude during startup and growth phases. In this process-oriented workflow, delegation of work is crucial and people should be held accountable for the returns they give. I feel the challenges for me even now are getting things done by people and letting others do more. I am still learning to do this.

My theory is a company is like an atom when you start it. Initially, you operate with a small team and you are in a level or orbit appropriate for that management team. When you begin with operations, - like the number of electrons in a primary shell of sequence 2, 4, 8, and 10 - the numbers working under you are manageable. But if you want to grow faster there should be drastic measures taken like adding more people, which requires higher energy levels akin to the orbits in which more number of electrons are there further from the nucleus which possess higher energy states.

One thing any leader must understand is that a company’s growth can never be continuous and is marked by discontinuity. All those concerned must objectively comprehend this. Again introducing the atom concept, moving from one orbit to another requires strategy. If you want to do this process quickly, different things must be done like bringing in a new management, make changes in the way customers are tracked, use tactics to get new projects, enter new markets or even change location for the better. These are important catalysts for renewed growth. I feel that the optimum rate at which a company must grow could be made clearer by bringing in an analogy of a driver (read CEO) driving a car. The speed at which you drive is decided while driving depending on the obstacles you encounter en route, the physical conditions of the road and the legal limits.