Leadership @ the Lightning Speed

Some of you may be surprised at the heading. The reason for using this term is because I had the opportunity of working with some excellent bosses in the Navy who were great in taking quick decisions and I used to love that.  And I also came across some bosses in the Navy as well as in the corporate world who moved at the snail’s speed. They either never took any decision or took abnormally long time, got into too many deliberations before taking even a simple decision. Obviously, they were considered as lousy leaders.

I have been somehow very fast in taking decisions in my life. The credit for this goes to my college days, where my grooming took place as a student leader. And then I joined the Indian Navy. By and large, defence officers are considered to be quick in decision making. (Exceptions are always there). When the cannon shells and rockets are flying all around you in the battlefield, you don’t have the luxury of calling a meeting and then taking a decision as to how to retaliate. When a torpedo is detected by your Sonar approaching your ship, a quick decision by the Commanding Officer can make the difference between sinking or survival of your ship.  

Leadership at the Lightning Speed in the corporate world becomes even more relevant in the age of smart phones and internet. You may be travelling on business tour in Germany and still taking decisions based on a brief chat or an e-mail for a deal with a Chinese company. The employees love a leader or a manager who takes quick decisions. Such leaders command the respect of their subordinates and appreciation from all the stake holders of the company and their management styles are used as case studies in B-schools.

Leadership @ the Lightning Speed doesn’t mean hasty decisions or reactions to some events. It means immediate attention to the problem based on its importance and urgency, quick analysis based on thorough understanding and then the remedial action. Such leaders use their immense experience, wisdom and even gut feeling at times to come to a conclusion. Such leaders have the risk taking capability too. They are highly confident in their approach, their thinking and about their actions. They are men of integrity. They do what they say and they say what they think. There is absolute synchronization in their thinking, their words and their deeds.

A leader who believes in the concept of Leadership @ the Lightning Speed believes and trusts his people. They delegate responsibility and accountability along with authority. They are quick in their feedback to their managers and employees. They believe in rewards and recognition and that too in public.  Such leaders have a great tolerance for occasional mistakes but definitely not for the stupid ones. They are full of enthusiasm and energy and cultivate the ownership mentality in the minds their employees. They believe in empowering their teams and trusting them. Simplicity, Agility and Speed of Execution are their Mantras. They don’t clutter their mind with the unnecessary and unimportant while they are fully alert and aware about what matters for the growth of the organization. They don’t consume their energy and time on trivial issues.

The Lightning Speed Leaders expect their managers to be motivators and trainers and definitely not controllers. They have great aversion to too much of analysis that many times causes paralysis of the projects in hand. The words like fear and procrastination are not there in their dictionary. These leaders are great absorbers of the best practices pursued around the globe.  And they are great communicators of these best practices to their people. They follow the fundamental ABC of all communications i.e. Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity. Their comments are crisp and to the point. They are not prisoners of existing rules and use them as guidelines for the growth of the organization and are ever willing to change them if it is required in the journey from good to a great company.

They are a reservoir of abundant energy and they know the knack of transmitting this energy to their people. The one leader,  I admire a lot is Jack Welch, the ex GE boss who transformed GE to number one global organization in the 80s and 90s He used to say, ”Put the right people in the right jobs, give them the resources they need, give them the freedom to operate and in fact get out of their way”. He practiced ‘Leadership @ the Lightning Speed’ in the true sense.

(There are many more in the world and in India too who can come in this category. Who are those great leaders according to you? They could be from any discipline? I would be grateful if you can share at least one name with me and why do you put him/her in this category.)