Lesson in leadership
There are a few aspects that management colleges cannot teach. For instance, leadership. Leadership is not a skill set, nor a collection of strategies. Good leadership is practical wisdom.
A good leader is one who understands the situation fast, has an uncanny knack to solve problems and take control of difficult situations. Here is an example of a leader who understood a situation and took a decision in matter of seconds. Decision making is a hallmark of a good leader and always differentiates the good from a great.
Cecil B DeMille, the film director from Hollywood who made iconic movies with large sets and huge canvas. In his movies there were scenes with thousands being filmed in one frame. Once, during a shooting a scene of The Ten Commandments in Egypt, Cecil had to deal with a leadership challenge.
It was afternoon, the sun shone bright and in front of him were 700 extras dressed as Hebrew slaves on one side and goats and camels on the other side. Cecil was standing on a raised platform with a megaphone giving instructions.
The shot was an important one but the extras were tired and the sun was beating down. They were dressed in heavy gear and were thirsty and hungry. As he was giving directions, he heard an extra, a woman whispering. Cecil, annoyed and irritated asked her through the microphone to share what she had to say with all.
“Yes” she shouted back. “I was wondering when the bald son-of-a-bitch was going to call lunch!”
What followed was pin drop silence. Everyone looked at her in horror. Cecil, looked down at his feet for a few seconds. Then he raised the microphone and called ‘Lunch’.
What the director in that moment did was a kind of leadership you will never find in a guide. Good leadership is practical wisdom. What he did in a few seconds of silence was to take the most practical decision. If the movie had to be shot and progress well, his actors need to be comfortable.
As soon as they heard ‘Lunch’ all roared in laughter, the mood was changed there was positivity all around and they came back after lunch to shoot the scene.
A good leader realizes the situation, uses practical wisdom and takes the most effective action.
Closer home, in Hyderabad, several years ago, in the 1980s, two groups of students were fighting in City College, there was total chaos and no one was willing to stop. The Principal came out of his room and walked straight into the open ground where the fighting was taking place and said, “Please go ahead and fight but first you would have to hit me.”
The students retreated and a major mishap was stopped. The Principal had a choice to call the police as all would have done but his act of leadership in a time of crisis averted a problem.
This does not mean that leaders do not need to study skills, theories and strategies but thinking on your feet and practical wisdom goes a long way.
