IT CAN’T BE A ONE-MAN SHOW

Richard Lee (CEO, Asia Pacific, LAPP GROUP) SAYS AUTHORITY AND SCOPE SHOULD NOT BE CENTRALISED

48-1Q. How would you define leadership?

A. Leadership is about commanding charge and undertaking responsibility. An effective leader should take responsibility even when he is unable to deliver. He or she should have the charisma to motivate the followers and set an example for others in the organisation.

Q. What difference do you see in the expectations of the workforce in different countries?

A. Expectations of the workforce are significantly determined or moulded by their leaders. They expect transparent environment and fair treatment in the organisation. Fostering open and honest communication between the leadership and employees plays a critical role. The expectations are the same across the world, and are moulded by leadership and management of the organisation in respective countries.

Q. How different is the Indian leadership style? What are the strengths and weaknesses of Indian leaders?

A. From my short experience in India, I think if you are a leader here, everybody waits for your decision. The person leading has to make sure everything goes right. Indian leaders are in a very powerful position. Openness, less questioning of authority, being compliant work in favour and reinforce the Indian leadership style. However, I feel the style is narrow and focus is predominantly on top.

Q. How will you differentiate between the leadership styles of Singapore and India? What are the lessons that can be learnt?

A. Owing to operation of several international companies in Singapore, leadership of that country is eminently influenced by western values and aspirations. Today, leaders in Singapore are as good as their western counterparts. In India, we mostly look at expat leadership, so authority and scope of the management team are still limited. Indian companies should try and give more autonomy of management to the next level or may be three levels down so that they can express their creativity and energy.

Q. What should Indian leaders do to improve? What are the dimensions they need to work on?

A. I think Indian leaders should work on delivering their promise. Two primary things that I would like to state here are:

– They have a set of goals and they must focus on delivering their goals, be it timing, budget or progress.
– They must not over-promise or under-deliver. We often find people who think that they can get more resources if they over-promise. Managing one’s own expectations as well as boss expectations is a regular challenge.

Indian leaders are ambitious and strive to achieve more, but sometimes they stop short of being able to deliver. Delivering on time and on plan without being unrealistic about vision and goal-setting helps build credibility and reflects a responsible leader.