The se7en leadership traits restraining growth:

(Please note that views represented by me on this forum are personal)

?

When I was young and ambitious, I applied to a business school and while answering the question of “why do you want to pursue your MBA”, I replied that I wanted to create MNCs from Pakistan. More than 23 years later, I still haven’t figured out the solution to achieving this. I have always wondered what the most talented pool in the world lacks if it has not succeeded in creating a significant number of the world’s leading corporations. My conclusion is that nature of local regulations, limitation of the passport, and lack of international focus in the institutions have not imparted the traits required to lead globally. Some of the traits I find missing in some of the brightest minds are below. Just a fine tuning of the direction and we will unleash one of the most promising breeds of leadership to the world. ??

?

1.??????If you think local, you will remain local: Most industrialists I have met in my life either look at Pakistan as their source of excellence or as their target market. True that Pakistan is a land of opportunities and a very significant market of more than 230 million people, but that thought limits the potential, or at least the basic energy that is required to lead the world goes missing with this thought. We must think global, if at all we have decided to act local. Case in point: how many people have talked about capitalizing Bangladesh success in Bangladesh to grow their Pakistani business globally?

?

2.??????We only follow the successful: Our aspirations are driven by someone or something that has been achieved by someone outside Pakistan. We lack genuine aspiration and original thought. Original thought is the most basic ingredient for global leadership, and I am yet to find an idea that has not been conceived before by someone from outside Pakistan. Case in point: In our ecommerce, we dream of becoming uber, amazon, google, and apple. I agree that achieving that is so exciting, but where is the wild idea that is purely indigenous ??

?

3.??????We don’t solve the problem: I would say that most of us even end up causing a problem. Almost all of our business ideas are meant to “make money”, and not to “solve a problem” of our target stakeholders. This is one of the reasons that some of the best minds of the world are, although, successful in creating profitable projects, but are failing to create sustainable world leading initiatives. This is important because we have learnt that humanity across the world has similar problems, and if one can crack the code of solving deeper problems of its stakeholders anywhere, s/he has a target market that spans across the globe. In this case, the regulations only serve as a barrier. Case in Point: For a business idea to target globe, it is unlikely to succeed if it requires regulatory subsidies to exist. In this context, can you guess as to how many of our business ideas depend upon regulatory subsidy of some kind. How will these businesses become global ever! ?

??

4.??????We fear to fail: We fear so much so that we have forgotten to dream. True that having no fear makes you ruthless. But having too much fear makes you take no risk. I understand that entrepreneurial mindset thrives in an enabling environment and the local market is not the one. We, in general, do not encourage failing. If you dream and you get up scared, then you have lost the most basic ingredient to lead – hope. Fear only creates the best followers not leaders. Case in Point: How many times in your resume have you mentioned your failures? ??

?

5.??????We forgot “What’s gonna work, teamwork”: This childhood theme song of a cartoon series is still true. We would recall that there was a focus on teamwork when we were growing up. That focus remained intact till the time we started interacting with other potential global leaders. In our competitiveness, we have forgotten that we can only grow as a “together” people and not as “individuals” while we solve the problems. “what’s gonna work, team work” was a famous phrase from a children cartoon series, but somehow we become less involved in sharing the benefits of our ideas, and that is how our ideas remain more localized. Case in Point: What would have happened if the Founder of McDonalds wanted to keep all the benefit of his brilliance to himself?

??

6.??????Lack of merit: During my search of finding the magic that turns the loss-making corporations into profit, I found a magic that changes fates of countries and corporations. That magic is not driven by superstition but by the lack of it. It is the promotion of merit and merit only. This country lacks the culture of merit. Case in Point: Why is that the most Pakistani companies have family-based CEOs? True that our passport limits our ability to work abroad but it does not limit our ability to hire internationalized talent

?

7.??????Short term profitability: the word “short term” says it all itself. A profit focus leads to entrepreneurs that are “short lived” and corporations that are “short sighted”. There is no short cut of attaining leadership than a long term focus supported by a long term vision and even longer durations of infinite effort. A country that only looks at dividends and short term gains will find it difficult to support leaders that are willing to put their life work behind sustainable objectives that take years to mature. Case in Point: Do you recall a 20-year price target of any stock recommended to you by anyone in Pakistan? ?

May be this list is longer than it should be or may be it is not even covering a mere fraction of the real reasons. This is irrelevant as only by dreaming of something and making errors, together we can achieve what we want. And our potential is no less than leading the world into a future which only we will decide.