Leadership Style
I believe in leadership by example, which is the first aspect of my multifaceted leadership model. The second is empowering people substantially, followed by trusting people and giving opportunities until proven otherwise. It is better to begin with trust rather than mistrust because it affects each party’s best interests and creates a stifling work atmosphere.

Leading by example must be practiced everyday. For example, if I expect my team to put in ten hours of work every day, I put in twelve.
Leaders should be approachable to each and every person in the organization. I am readily accessible and make it a point to reply to e-mails within two hours if I am at office and within twenty-four hours if I am traveling.

That’s my commitment and I expect the same
from my people. I will give them the best effort because that’s what they expect from me.

My convictions are not complicated but they are valuable because of the difficulty in practicing them. Three maxims I value are that whatever happens, happens for good, all crisis pass and there are two sides to every coin.

Anyone will believe everything is good when the going is good but very few understand that it is for the good. I have assimilated these simple wholesome beliefs into my system after years of trying to practice them. This internalization makes you unquestioningly believe in them and you automatically sound them out in times of crisis. Reaching this stage is a long process.

A leader should be a tower of strength to handle the multitude of problems that hinder the progress of any organization. It is here that reaction is more important than action because life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you react to those events. The reaction should always be positive.

Motivating Oneself
“Why do I do what I want to do?” is a question I try to answer sincerely. If the reason is not compelling or great enough, then the motivation is not sustainable. At my level, I don’t try to motivate myself because it has to happen on its own. It does not happen by working towards it. It is something that must come from you unrestrained, especially if you are a leader. Money is not a sustainable motive because once you make money then the question is: what next? Then the motivating factor is gone because it’s not sustainable. My answer for ‘why’ is that I want to build an organization.

Motivating Troops
Along with motivation comes passion, which is contagious. People can see through ‘put-on’ passion because the plasticity is so apparent. That will not motivate your employees or stakeholders. Unless you have genuine reasons for doing things apart from money, you cannot sow the seed of motivation in others. A leader should show the path for his employees to grow in an organization. Empty talk produces no results. You have to practice what you preach before your employees have to walk the talk.
Communication is also essential to motivation. Proper communication helps to percolate my conviction, passion and expectation right to the bottom rungs of the organization, making life uncomplicated. Communication is more important during difficult times, which Subex faced two years ago during telecom downturn.

In Subex there are “open house” meetings for the general staff, “meet the CEO” meetings for individual senior management, strategy meetings and annual sales meetings where even though the messages given are different, the set of beliefs communicated is consistent.

This consistency gives them a grounding day in and day out, as well as year in and year out.

Choosing the Right People
Hiring at the top level can be treacherous if done with the heart and not with the head. From the middle management level, one has to be careful in selecting and grooming after he or she is deemed appropriate. You must understand why they are joining your organization. If they are joining because they didn’t get a job anywhere else then it’s the wrong reason to take them. The potential employee’s goals must come across to be aligned with the company’s goals. There may be times when good employees feel frustrated. At such times you need to show them the way and realign them.

Customer Focus
Customer care should not begin and end with the leader but it has to be on the radar of each member of the organization. If a leader is preaching a certain manner of customer support he must stick with decisions of a similar kind, even when the chips are down. If the problem with the customers concerned is very complicated it is advisable for the leader to solve it rather than put his people in a situation they aren’t prepared for. This shows that the leader cares and supports his people.

Most Admired Companies
I admire Reliance because it has gumption and Infosys for being a trailblazer. Microsoft is synonymous with great leadership and proved that anybody could have constructed its great business model if they had Bill Gates’ conviction. Nokia showed that great business ideas could be created within the masses’ reach even though it does not come from a low-cost country.

Going Forward
There may not be a mentor for a leader, and at times, nobody to look up to. Hence, one has to consider every aspect of a problem and be on the treadmill all the time. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. Juggling so many roles, attitudes and thought patterns is enjoyable only if one has the passion.

Otherwise, it is best to quit gracefully than be a leader who needs a saviour.

Final Say
Expectations from you as a leader will always be sky-high, which is intimidating but you have to internalize your qualms and deal with it. The only thing one has to fear, fear itself. A leader has to be a perpetual student along with carrying the ‘guru’ image with aplomb. One must read, think and practice a lot. Read a lot of corporate history to mould yourself and go that extra mile.

Read a lot of history and autobiographies of people in the business so that you don’t repeat the mistakes which these distinguished people had committed. It helps to know that fools learn from their own experience while the wise learn from others’ experience.