Its Lonley at the Top

VOLUME 1 - TABLE OF CONTENTS: Article Name

Published Date

Page

01 Strategic Vacuum

Monday, December 17, 2008

03

02 The Boring CEO

Monday, December 24, 2007

04

03 Are you an Obnoxious Boss?

Monday, December 31, 2007

06

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04 The Leader’s Dilemma

Monday, January 7, 2008

08

05 The Perpetual Victim

Monday, January 14, 2008

10

06 The Insider – Outsider

Monday, January 21, 2008

12

07 New Leader At The Helm

Monday, January 28, 2008

14

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08 The Killer Instinct

Monday, February 4, 2008

16

09 The Art of Creating Ownership

Monday, February 11, 2008

18

10 Dangers of Atrophied Listening

Monday, February 18, 2008

20

11

Monday, February 25, 2008

22

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CEO ‘s Conscience-Keeper

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12 Evolving into a CEO

Monday, March 3, 2008

24

13 When People Leave….

Monday, March 10, 2008

26

14 Stroke At The Top

Monday, March 17, 2008

28

15 Fear of Decision Making

Monday, March 24, 2008

30

16 The Empire Builder

Monday, March 31, 2008

32

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17

Human Resource Destruction

Monday, April 7, 2008

34

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It’s Lonely at the Top - Table of Contents

Page No: 01/57

VOLUME 1 - TABLE OF CONTENTS: Article Name

Published Date

Page

18 The CEO’s Role

Monday, April 14, 2008

36

19 Crafting A Vision

Monday, April 21, 2008

38

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20 Getting Results Consistently

Monday, May 5, 2008

40

21 Commitments Embedded in Comments

Monday, May 12, 2008

43

22 Virtuous Cycle of Results

Monday, May 19, 2008

45

23 Mismatched Mindsets

Monday, May 26, 2008

47

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24 From Self Confidence to innovation

Monday, June 2, 2008

49

25 Family business mantras

Monday, June 9, 2008

51

26 Human side of the CEO

Monday, June 23, 2008

54

27 Learning from Sam Bahadur

Monday, June 30, 2008

56

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01 E

Strategic Vacuum

by V.K.Madhav Mohan

Published in The Hindu Business Line - Monday, December 17, 2008 www.mentorsmantra.com

veryone covets success for the satisfaction, power and money it brings. But the price is stiff indeed in terms of hard work, stress and exertion over a long time. The road to success is paved with blood, sweat and tears! While most of the factors that contribute to success are well documented, the pain of loneliness is often ignored. And yet, loneliness is a defining characteristic of the rarified atmosphere of the higher echelons of management.

CONTINUOUS SCRUTINY When you are at the top of the totem pole, you walk alone! Everyone in the organization is looking up to you and at you. Continuous scrutiny of every word and deed goes with the territory. Not only that, everything you say and do is interpreted, amplified and distributed down and across, into the nooks and crannies of the organization. Perceptions about you are built and acted upon; the reality may be far different but perceptions drive behaviour.

Your image becomes a brand that may be far different from the real you.

So, when you lead an organization you need to operate in a state of heightened awareness.

While being continuously aware of trends, behaviours, information, propensity for manipulation, probable problems, solutions and feedback, you also need absolute clarity of purpose and a rock solid commitment to ethics and fairplay. Your own biases, likes and dislikes don’t figure in the equation at all. What matters is only the welfare of the organization and its people. All this needs to

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be woven together with clear and continuous communication to all the stakeholders. All the people around you must see that there is not even a chink of a gap between what you say and what you do. That’s when you make the transition from being a good manager to a great leader.

With all this weighing on your shoulders, whom do you unload on? Who can understand you and your situation? Who can you turn to for advice? Who can you trust with confidential information? Who can encourage and nurture you? Who can you bounce ideas off? Who can help and share in the big decisions? The sad truth is hardly anyone!

PECULIAR DYNAMICS That’s because organizations breed two peculiar dynamics: as the boss you are always being told what you want to hear and people keep an emotional distance from you.

This happens insidiously and unless you are particularly alert to the chasm between what you are being told and the reality, you fall victim to it. That’s why leaders operate in what I call a strategic vacuum: the space between what the organization is communicating and your own clarity of purpose, character and competence. Its desperately lonely at the top!

That’s why you need to create a solid support system: rich relationships with your team, a loving environment at home and perhaps, a mentor who can nurture and guide you without a vested interest.

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02 C

The Boring CEO

by V.K.Madhav Mohan

Published in The Hindu Business Line - Monday, December 24, 2007 www.mentorsmantra.com

EO Duncan had a sneaky feeling that people in the company were avoiding him! Often people would quickly change direction when they saw him. A hush would fall even on an animated group when it spotted the CEO. In one-to-one meetings Duncan could sense that the person was in a hurry to leave the room. Given a choice nobody seemed willing to spend time with him!

Duncan was so right about his isolation! He had only himself to blame, though. It was really quite simple: every interaction with Duncan was only on performance. One-to-ones were only on performance; meetings were only on performance; pep talks were on performance; even if Duncan ran into someone in the toilet, well, the conversation was on performance.

People wondered if this was a man or a machine; it seemed unlikely that he had any thought other than performance.

Duncan was so uni-dimensional that he was absolutely boring! Apart from work he had no other interests and nothing to contribute.

No reading, no sports, no entertainment, no meaningful relationships, no nothing!

An interaction with him left people feeling as though they had just been mangled by a machine. So they simply chose to minimize any possible contact with him; wherever possible they would submit reports and write emails.

PERSONAL EQUATIONS It wasn’t at all surprising that Duncan didn’t

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know the personal equations in the company; he really didn’t know the true capabilities or talents of people; and more dangerous was what people didn’t tell him. Under his watch the company lost good people, market share and profitability. Needless to say the Board asked him to leave before the press and equity analysts chewed him up!

The boring CEO example may be a bit extreme but sadly, a lot of CEOs resemble Duncan at least in part. Its important for people to be able to truly connect with the leader.

Otherwise, they feel somehow, unfulfilled. The connection can only happen if the CEO can offer something of value and interest to his people in each interaction. A piece of knowhow, some information, some encouragement, some new development, an interesting tidbit, a tip for self-improvement and just plain old tender loving care; that’s when an interaction becomes motivating. And let’s face it, everyone needs that kind of positive interaction to deliver peak performance continuously.

MOTIVATIONAL ROLE The CEOs role is by definition, motivational.

To become that kind of a powerful beacon of hope and excitement the CEO has to cultivate many dimensions to his personality. He must be able to offer something of value to everyone in every encounter. For that to happen he must consciously immerse himself in diverse experiences and yet never lose focus on results : art, culture, social concerns, sport, environment, music, movies all become part

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of his repertoire. Only then can he be an interesting person who is able to understand and relate to people effectively. Why should someone spend any time with a boring person?

For sustained success all of us need to be attractive in a complete sense. Its important to hark back to an important facet of Krishna: akarshayati iti Krishna, meaning “one who attracts”. Attraction is pull and in the long run, pull is mostly better than push! That’s how you create a strong brand for yourself and your company!

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The Boring CEO

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