1. The missing pages: A manuscript of True Leadership
December 26, 2013 1 Avinash Kumar
Bullet points-
The significance of ‘Uniqueness’.
The effect of doing things differently.
Recognition of Extraordinariness.
Erasing the fear of failure.
Ownership: Manual or Automatic process?
Team Work vs Individual Heroic efforts.
The importance of ‘Respecting’ an individual.
How to deliver a Bad News?
Deadlines: When exactly?
Each one of us is born with a different type of mindset, different types of capabilities that make us
unique. However, we tend to forget our uniqueness- what we are good at, by several external factors
like our social environment, impact of media, influences of our idols/heroes, work/family pressures etc.
And somewhere down the line we start living in others shoes. Now a big question is-
How to regain our- ‘Extraordinariness’???
Not by words but only through concrete actions we can re-discover our rarity, our UNIQUENESS. One
has to show the team why each of our work should be distinctive; and of course- How to accomplish
that? We need to display the effect of rareness; we must demonstrate the magic of ‘thinking out of the
box’; instead of just following the processes written in the Rule Book.
Thomas Alva Edison once said- “I know a thousand ways through which one can’t make an Electric Bulb”.
Now, just try to imagine the kind of frustration he must have gone through by each single failure and
compare it with our failures- for that one objective we fought the most. Why did we gave-up, after a few
failures, whereas Mr. Edison didn’t at all- what exactly was driving him? Try to envision the kind of
determination that kept on pushing him to accomplish what he dreamt for. How exactly can we ignite
such a fire inside an individual? Of course there will be a lot of failures and one must not forget that
most of the processes that we follow today are the outcome of- God knows how many failures &
frustrations! Are we really helping the team to get such a great determination or just pushing an
individual towards the depth of frustrations?
I firmly believe that- each work can be done in different ways and this individuality, this rarity
automatically encourages an individual to keep searching for another horizon- once it is displayed in a
proper manner, as an example, as a milestone for the entire team. Nothing motivates an individual
more than one successful implementation of his/her idea that bring changes; thus making the individual
believe that he/she too can bring changes- that how important his/her ideas are for the team, and for
the organization- doesn’t matter how small his/her role is. This search, an accomplishment (no matter
how small they may sound) triggers the chain reaction of ideas; thus resulting in the discovery of new
processes, undiscovered paths- yet. Each single appreciation & recognition acts like a fuel that

2. The missing pages: A manuscript of True Leadership
December 26, 2013 2 Avinash Kumar
encourages the person to push themselves for more. We just need to make the entire team realize how
important each one of them is. Now once you ignite this fire, they are no more ‘Manually Operated
machines’- always waiting for another instruction, in the absence of which- they’ll do nothing except
keep on waiting; instead they have now become ‘Automatic’- they already have drawn their action plans
that will keep them restless till the time they find what they’ve been searching for, starving for. And then
only we can say- this team is self-motivated.
A leader places a crucial role- as an initiator, as a motivator. He should keep-on encouraging his team
members to do things differently; as we are not the same, neither should our work be. And this leader
should make each member have faith in themselves, not to be afraid of their failures as failures are
inevitable- very likely to happen as this particular path is a brand new one, still untouched, unexplored.
The leader must make them believe that these failures won’t impact much as long as an individual is
learning from it and of course- not repeating the same mistakes again. In the meantime- the leader
should also make the team well aware about the differences between a ‘Mistake’ & a ‘Blunder’ and
‘being Adventurous’ & ‘being Careless’ - that up to what extent the team is ready to sustain the impact
of each failure.
Now once the team is on their way to discover their uniqueness- they are already practicing
‘Ownership’; as each one of them are striving to deliver something different, something better than
what’s already being used. And as soon as the team start taking ownership (a byproduct of Uniqueness);
the leader will need not to suggest them to walk for an extra mile.
As the team has now well understood the importance of being unique and already practicing
Ownership, now is the time to teach them about why Team Work is more important than an individual
heroic effort- no matter what changes it might bring. This can be brought through many inspirational
movie clips that prove that- Either we heal, now, as a TEAM; or we die as an individual. We can take an
example of Football game- that’s undoubtedly the best example of Team Work; clearly proves that no
matter how big star you may be, but you alone can’t take the ball to the other goal post. At last, the
Leader must show- practically, how Team Work is beneficial than a solo heroic effort.
While teaching the team about the importance of Team Work, the lead also need to tell them why it is
important to give respect to other efforts, even if they are rivals. That if we won’t respect their work,
the kind of efforts they are putting in; then we must not expect the same for our efforts. If our task is to
deliver bad news- that something isn’t working then how politely & diplomatically we should deliver it,
so that it shouldn’t hurt the one who has so painstakingly created it.
Once the team has understood and already practicing the above mentioned objectives- at the end
introduce the ‘Deadlines’. Because now they are ready, already starving to give their best. So, now once
they are shown the deadline, it acts like a goal that they won’t like to miss.
***

3. The missing pages: A manuscript of True Leadership
December 26, 2013 3 Avinash Kumar
In the end…
All these ideas (mentioned in this article) are not just a mere theory- taken from some motivational
book; but are the results of many failures that I faced while leading a small team for 3 months. And most
of these ideas have been already implemented by me- that’s why now I can say that each-n-every points
mentioned in this article can be implemented. I can’t deny that they won’t lead to anymore failures;
however, as long as we are learning from each of our failures, it’ll surely help us to come-up with more
concrete ideas. I’m looking forward for a challenging opportunity where I could get a chance to
implement all these ideas; looking for someone who could share the same vision and help me build/lead
such a team; so that, together, we can win the trust of the client, resulting in bringing more revenue
generation for our organization, for our great nation.
“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are
there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop
the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!”
-Randy Pausch
The next part will cover the following topics-
i) How to build an effective Team?
ii) How to achieve any BIG objective?
iii) Implementation of Voting rights (an integral part of Democracy) in Team: WHEN?
Thank You!
[Please do share your valuable feedbacks!]
[Special Thanks to Mr. Satguru Saran- a friend & a former colleague with whom I shared my ideas & who
helped me make the necessary corrections by giving his valuable suggestions; to my previous Project
Manager- Mr. Devendra Singh; who gave me a chance to build my dream team, who entrusted his faith
in someone who had no prior experience of leading a team, apart from his vision.]
…avi!