Lessons from Leadership

What is Leadership? It is a difficult question to answer. I thought I’ll start this article by sharing a nice quote on leadership, but only to realize that there are so many of them. One statement sums it up beautifully- "There are as many definitions of leadership as there are leaders" (1). To me personally, it is like one of those things- ‘You know it when you see it’.

How do you define a good leader is an equally difficult question. Throughout human history we have weaved the best stories about the qualities of great leaders. There are qualities that have been discussed over and over again through hundreds of thousands of books and editorials. I’m not going to discuss any of that (partly because I haven’t read them all). What I will however like to share is my own experience recently with a Leader in my organization. This is a snapshot of what I learnt from my shadowing experience for close to 12 hours, spread across 3 days, including two hours of one on one conversation. That may not sound a lot to some, but when you are in an open & honest receiving end (like an antenna), it is a lot of learning. So I thought, why not share some of the learnings gained from this wonderful and insightful experience with everyone. If this interests you, please continue reading.

This article is an attempt to not just define leadership or what makes a good leader but some lessons we can all learn from Great leaders. It is an 'outside-in', rather than an 'inside-out' view on the conduct of a great leader, based on my own direct experience. Before I move on to elaborate, I need to clarify, what constitutes human 'conduct' or behavior? Well, I can think of three main aspects of human behavior - we observe, we speak and we act. Taking into consideration these three aspects - Observation - Speech - Action, here goes some of the learnings I’d like to share.

1. Curiosity in Observation

I started my shadowing experience with an hour long introduction call where both the Senior leader and I could break the ice and know each other, something that she made sure we did before I spent time with her on other activities. While I went on with my monologue of my life and history, I couldn’t help but notice her taking notes. By the end of the call, it surprised me how she was quickly able to observe my strengths (or let me say how kind of her it was to point out my strengths), something that is quite unusual especially today when we want to speak more and listen less. Throughout my shadowing experience I tried to do the same, and it became obvious to me how she was always observant and curious to understand more about the topic under discussion.

 She also shared her own experience in her life when she had a chance to shadow someone and how she learnt early on that with more responsibility you also need to ask more questions. So like those old ‘teacher-student’ traditions in India, these brilliant words of wisdom came down to me, and perhaps I can pass this on to anyone who's reading this.

So, the most important lesson I learnt from how a good leader observes is that it is driven by genuine curiosity and a way to do that is simple- ask questions to gain more understanding.

So here goes a revised version of the famous adage-

'With great power comes great responsibility and also a great amount of questions!' 

2. Honesty in Speech

Almost all 'good' Leaders are confident in their speech, but what makes a 'Great' leader is that their speech includes a substance of Truth. With my experience with this Leader, I saw how she was Honest in her speech every single time in her work discussions, where she would start by stating the Truth early on. I also saw how telling the truth does some remarkable things-

• first- it builds trust, and helps the leader participate and contribute to the discussion.
• second- it lays out the assumptions that bring everyone on the same page setting out the outcome everyone should try to achieve and hence, motivates collaboration.

Telling the truth is a difficult thing to do, as most of the times it is disturbing and painful for the listener. Especially hard is the task of being truthful to ourselves. I learnt that not only it requires confidence but most importantly Courage to state the obvious.

I recall a story shared by her where how she made a difficult but courageous choice of leaving the comfort of her home and family and travel all the way to a different part of the country to try and make her career. Mind you this is a time when we did not have omniscient internet connections or smartphones to make contact with our loved ones the way we do today. She did it again another time leaving the comfort and position of leverage working for a High-tech firm in Silicon valley for close to 19 years, to contribute to something new with a new organization.

While I could see how she leverages this quality of courage to state the truth, I couldn't help but notice that there was another side of this coin, another quality that helps a leader 'convey' the truth in the right way- that is of Compassion. Throughout various meetings it is with compassion i.e. out of care (and not contempt) that the truth was being told, showcasing how everyone was together in that moment and how as a leader she was there to support them through their challenge. So lesson learnt- it is a delicate balance of courage and compassion with which a leader can have Honesty in speech and ask the teams to perform their best.

Reminds me of a Quote by George Orwell-

In a time of universal deceit, telling the Truth is a revolutionary act.

 3. Thoughtful and Respectful Actions

The word 'thoughtful' is used in many ways - but I’m referring to actions that have impact primarily on Others, something I'm so glad I had a chance to experience first-hand.

My shadowing experience (thanks to Covid-19) was a 100% virtual, something I thought would not provide me the most of the experience compared to being present in-person. This doubt, however, was turned into an opportunity- thanks to the well thought out meetings- that I could shadow over a span of a couple of days. I experienced how a Leader puts on various hats, from being a Chief Revenue Officer managing her entire organization making thoughtful decisions, to a Leader of the org. Inspiring Call to Action for an upcoming major event, or as a Trusted partner to a customer, or to a Public Relations face taking on questions from the various interviewers. Besides the learnings gained these different experiences, the act of carefully selecting meetings was in itself testament of a 'thoughtful' action.

So I thought about this for sometime before I could come to think of what those qualities are that a Leader embodies to achieve thoughtful actions. Here are my two cents about it- 

• Be Authentic- The quality of authenticity does wonders when you are with people, especially because seeing authenticity is built into us. But the most important (and understated) thing of 'being authentic' is that it lets you be who you are and not who you 'think' you are. (In her own words- authenticity also lets you sleep well at night). As a consequence, it is with this clear mind when a leader develops qualities of pure competence in their area, and also persevere through any challenge.
• Enable Others- Second quality of a great leader is to work towards the growth of the people or organization in general, by constantly working towards enabling them. It is through respectfulness towards others that one gains respect for oneself.

If you’ve come this far reading this, I’m sure you’re wondering who that leader is that I’ve been so openly sharing this experience about or behavior of. Well, I'll not disappoint you, here is a small introduction (finally)…

(Drum Rolls please……)

She is the Chief Revenue Officer and SVP of SAP Customer Experience - Paula Hansen. It was very kind of her to give me this amazing opportunity that opened a window to the ‘Day in a life of a CRO’. Even though, the SAP HR team and Paula herself can't be thanked enough for doing this exercise, I will say it one more time, THANK YOU! :)

I sincerely hope this experience and the learnings from it, does not only enlighten me but everyone who reads this.

Well, Who knows what is the true potential of a great leader, but I have no doubt that this experience definitely is a snapshot of some great Lessons from Leadership.

~--------------------- *** ----------------------~