The lessons from the Narendra Modi juggernaut: A year on

This is a reprise of my post on LinkedIn on 17 May 2014, shortly after it was clear that there will be a new Prime Minister of India, who answers to the name of Narendra Modi. Now, as the Modi Government completes a year in office today, 25 May 2015, I am revisiting the post to check if the lessons learnt from his campaign leadership remain relevant to us corporate honchos. And, for you, dear reader to judge how strong those lessons, which I culled, are!

Narendra Modi’s win in the Parliamentary elections in India is replete with lessons for the corporate warrior. Here are five of them. The caveat? None of them is for the faint-hearted! 

 First, wear your chaiwallah tag with pride. Narendra Modi, in his youth, sold tea at an office for a living. He was a tea-seller, a chaiwallah. Whoever said that a chaiwallah could never become the Prime Minister of India did singular service to Mr. Modi’s cause. He turned the pejorative jibe into a talisman that merged his humble beginnings, his struggle and his ambition into the narrative of the entire campaign. The manager who can do the most humble of assignments with pride and has no hesitation in getting hands dirty stands to reap rich dividends. As the aura surrounding premier engineering and management institutes also starts to fade (ask Satya Nadella!) and if you happen to be from a so-called second or third rung institute, Narendra Modi’s victory should goad you to keep the faith! Proving the skeptics in the organization wrong with a powerhouse performance is even more satisfying. The upshot: never be apologetic or defensive about your origins.

One-Year-On-Update: The chaiwallah has had chai with world leaders ranging from Barack Obama to Vladmir Putin to Xi Jinping. Has given his maiden Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort (see headline picture), taken a power-cruise on the Seine and met with China’s terracotta warriors in Xi’an. All of it while rolling out coal-block auctions, Mission Indradhanush and Make In India at home. There is much, much more that a chaiwallah is not supposed to have done, but he has completely ignored such limitations! Make sure your origins are a source of strength for you.

Second, do your chai-pe-charcha diligently. One of the ways in which Mr. Modi capitalized on the chaiwallah jibe was to initiate a major citizen contact drive where India’s beloved drink, hot tea, was served to those who came to listen to him. He held forth on his vision and mission at these conclaves. This initiative was called chai-pe-charcha (Tea Time Discussion). Your tea break is a wonderful opportunity to talk shop, not gossip. It enlarges your circle of influence, bonds you with more people. Don’t miss out!

One-Year-On: For me the most striking thing about the year gone by is the way the PM has reached out to those who once appeared to be entrenched opponents: Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav (remember the visit to the Yadav nuptials at Saifai? See the picture above), K Chandrasekhar Rao and Mamta Banerjee. The ability to win friends and wield influence is crucial in the corporate space as well. Those who enjoy their chai-pe-charcha can do the networking more easily. One comment on my post a year back had noted the ‘story-telling’ style of the PM’s communication. As most communication coaches will tell you, that is the most effective communication style.

Third, go where the bombs are going off. Shortly after his party, the BJP, declared him the Prime Ministerial candidate in September 2013, the Janata Dal United (JDU) broke ranks with the NDA. The BJP, which along with the JDU, ruled the state of Bihar then, was shown the door. Bihar became hostile territory for the BJP, especially for Narendra Modi. On 27 October 2013, a day on which Mr. Modi was to address a rally in Patna, the capital of Bihar, bombs started going off in the city, with one exploding in the ground even as Mr. Modi addressed the rally. He neither flinched nor balked. The rally was held as scheduled. That display of courage won him much in Bihar, 28 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats, to be precise. And, what were the JDU’s pickings? Only 2 seats! Courage has only one address: the corner office.

A-Year-On: The corner office still belongs to courage. Another comment on my post said that making oneself indispensable to the organization while remaining affable is a winning formula. It is not easy to combine both in an individual, but Mr. Modi has managed many impossible tight-rope walks. The way to indispensability is to do the things others are afraid of, to go where the bombs are going off!

Fourth, know when silence is golden. Even as he clocked thousands of miles on the campaign trail speaking till he was hoarse, the voluble Mr. Modi’s silence on two issues was noticeable. One was the revelation of his hitherto undeclared marriage in campaign documents and the second was on his challenger in the Varanasi seat, AAP and its founder, Arvind Kejriwal. Once he declared his marriage in his nomination papers at his constituency Vadodra, everybody went to town about it. Everybody, except Mr. Modi. From the very beginning of the campaign, Modi had maintained that the battle was between the BJP and the Congress. Kejriwal, known for his ambush candidacy politics had demolished the Delhi CM, Shiela Dikshit in December 2013, and now descended on Varanasi to challenge Modi. As it turned out, Mr. Modi’s silence reduced both to irrelevance. For the corporate warrior, silence is a weapon. Just ensure that you judge the situation well.

A-Year-On: Silence is still golden, if you know the art of communication well. Mr. Modi is regarded as one of the most articulate Prime Ministers India has ever had. Not just articulate, but also expressive. His wardrobe, speeches, ability to play percussion instruments and hugs and handshakes have all been analyzed ad nauseum. That is a price one has to pay for being in the public eye. Also, the corporate eye! Everyone is hanging on to each word that you say, waiting to make that pronouncement into a fatal error. The wise adage has never failed: speech is silver, silence is golden!

Fifth, make it large; go for the high-hanging fruit. Oh, how beloved is the idea of the low-hanging fruit in our organizational circles! That customer base we can pocket with least expense. That product development cycle we can pick off a rival. That margin-crusher we can slam down on some hapless vendor. If Narendra Modi had gone for such fruits then we can rest assured that he wouldn’t have reached the numbers he has done today. Campaigning in places no PM-aspirant had gone to earlier, reaching out to allies many did not know existed, relentlessly pushing the envelope about the parliamentary numbers he wanted with his “yeh dil maangemore” (“My desire is for more”) act, Mr. Modi spread himself thin, played it unsafe, never minced his words. Already sweating, are we? But, then the world has never belonged to the safeoinistas, those who smoke away for ages playing it safe, rather than glow brightly for whatever time you are meant to.

A-Year-On: Safeoinsistas! That was an original coinage, representing those who play it safe. They are scared of living their larger than life dreams. This is the top lesson from Mr. Modi’s campaign and his first year in office. He has come in for some trenchant criticism, as is expected, but has gone about his mission with the aura of a man who knows what he is doing, and why he is here. In your corporate journey, it could mean the difference between a lasting legacy and a footprint in the air! 

So, those were my quick pick of the high-fives from Mr. Modi’s journey a year back. The updates show that they still hold good. The caveat, too, still holds. These are challenging notions and you would be playing it safe if you still believe that they apply to politics and not to the management arena. They can give you uncommon success. And, if you are applying these to life and living, chances are you don’t much bother about failure, if, heavens forbid, it comes your way.

It would be good, as usual, to get your views!