Walk the Talk

“Walk  the Tallk” should be the mantra for people who want to become leader as leaders play an important role in shaping organisational goals, reckons Suresh Lulla.

In every management sphere, leadership holds the key to setting the direction for organisational change and influencing people to follow that path. Able leaders know that their most important responsibility is to be a role model for the rest of the team and this is always demonstrated by being visibly active on the leadership track.

Different people talk about leadership from several different perspectives. Many think leadership is all about being the first, the biggest or most powerful individual in a team. Some view leadership as a series of specific traits or characteristics while others see it as a blend of certain skills and knowledge. Very few view leadership as a process that places emphasis on social interaction and relationship wherein individuals are influenced, inspired and guided to achieve their personal or collective desired goals.

An apt definition that complements this leadership view is that of Northouse, a Professor of communication at Western Michigan University: “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.”

Being a true leader is not as easy as it sounds. Successful leaders of all kinds, all over the world, have an honest understanding of who they are, what they know, and what they can do. Such leaders pave the road for great leadership by proving beyond doubt that they are worthy of being followed. Unfortunately, many people in so-called leadership positions are not leaders. They may be managers, bosses, administrators, department heads, bureaucrats and technocrats but they are definitely, not leaders. On the other hand, certain individuals among us who contribute to society and bring out change in our midst may be rightfully referred to as powerful leaders in the real sense of the word. The leadership they have set in motion is not that of position but of action that precedes visible leadership.

Effective leadership, irrespective of the approach or style, is always an alignment of visions and values. Even in visible leadership, the most effective leaders are those who possess a high vision and implement high values in every step they take. Such leaders set high standards for themselves as well as for those who follow them. They always have a vision for a desirable future and are determined to achieve it without compromising on high values.

Whenever there is an alienation of visions and values in an organisation, it is almost often because of the leader’s inability to walk the talk and show a clear-cut relation between visions and values. Depending on the vision-value alignment and the level of clarity that exists between the two, four styles of leadership are known to emerge. These are:

• Low Vision - Low Values: So-called leaders who fit into this style are not very initiative for fearof taking risks. They are focussed neither on the job nor on the team and can be easily influenced. Due to a distinct lack of clear principles, convictions or values, such people are better off as followers than leaders
• Low Vision - High Values: Leaders who adhere to this style are idealists who will go to great lengths to impose their rigid values and strong convictions upon the team. Their egoistic, reactive attitude displays a marked insensitivity towards any resistance from team members. Though such leaders are extremely driven to perform, they are focused solely on the task and do not care about the people who make up their team
• High Vision - Low Values: These leaders basically have very low standards and will stoop too low to get things done. Often portrayed as extremely driven and over-ambitious, such leaders display arrogance of the worst kind and love to boast of the power they are entitled to as leaders. They always see themselves under a threat and since they have very few options to reach their vision, such leaders ultimately destroy the team spirit in an organisation
• High Vision - High Values: These are the most effective leaders among the four. Always open, proactive, sensitive, humble and flexible, such leaders are the ones who will walk the talk and succeed in finding innovative solutions to counter ambiguity. They are always confident with a process-driven positive attitude and they build motivation into any team they choose to be in. Leaders with high vision and high values always create their own systems which in turn benefit the entire organisation.

Today, most organisations understand the importance of leadership and value those leaders who actually turn their good intentions into action - those that “walk the talk”. Such leaders have within them the power to change the world with their examples.

Visionary leaders are the master craftsmen of a new tomorrow. They come up with challenges that can be achieved by bringing like-minded people together around a shared sense of purpose. Visible leaders have the strength of character and a firm commitment to do what they speak. Given below are a few of the world's greatest proponents of visible leadership, who helped change the world by “walking the talk” and leading by example:

• Mahatma Gandhi: “We must become the change we want to see” are the words of India's Father of the Nation. Mahatma Gandhi spent most of his adult life living what he preached to others. His commitment to nonviolent resistance to protest injustice won him an admirable crowd of followers. His visible leadership created a picture of the possibilities that India could be free from the clutches of British rule.
• Jack Welch, Former CEO, General Electric: This legendary businessman developed a whole new idea of a “boundary-less organisation” for GE. He promised to listen to ideas from anyone in the company and proved he was worth his word. Everyone, from the lowest line workers to the senior managers, got his attention whenever they had some new idea that might make the company better. Jack Welch did not just “talk”; he “walked” and his team was always willing to follow his lead.
• Alexander the Great: As the King of Macedonia, Alexander was one of the most superb leaders of all time. He was crowned as a king at the age of 19, when his father, Philip II, was assassinated. Within the next 11 years, he conquered a huge part of the world we see today, leading his armies against superior forces. He insisted on leading by example, perhaps, which is why Alexander could simply draw his sword at the beginning of a battle and effortlessly lead his men forward into conflict. Alexander felt that he could not ask his men to risk their lives unless he himself was willing to risk his own life. The sight of Alexander charging forward in an excited frenzy motivated his soldiers to conquer the world.

Here we look at a few eminent leaders who attained great heights because they were able to motivate their core team to achieve faster and better results all the time.

• Dr S S Badrinath (Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai): Dr S S Badrinath, Chairman Emeritus, Sankara Nethralaya (SN), Qimpro Platinum Standard Healthcare 2004 and ET Corporate Citizen Awardee 2007, is one of the few living legends of visionary leadership. He founded Asia’s only ISO 9002 certified Ophthalmic hospital with a vision to provide quality eye care for the poor. Around 125 surgeries are performed at the hospital in a single day and 50 percent of the operations are supported free of cost. Thanks to Dr Badrinath’s vision for the poor without vision, Ophthalmology has literally taken world-class eye care to the thresh old of the masses. Today; Sankara Nethralaya is the first hospital to introduce photorefractive Keratectomy and Laser Treatment technologies that correct refractive errors. The hospital also runs an optometry school and a research centre for stem cell and genetic therapy to find ways to cure rare types of blindness.
• E Sreedharan (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation): Renowned as the “Metro Man of India”, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, is the power behind the success of the world-class Delhi Metro. As the Managing Director of DMRC, Sreedharan took up the Delhi Metro project under his wings and ensured its successful completion well ahead of schedule. Even amidst bureaucracy and wide-spread corruption, Sreedharan relied on his high vision and higher values to change the face of urban public transport in the capita state. India owes her transport revolution to this visible leader who believed that his country deserved only the best.
• G P Chopra (DAV Public Schools System): The Dayanand Anglo-Vedic Schools System, popularly known as DAV, is the single, largest, non-governmental education society in India and its teaching principles are based on the ideals of the religious and social reformer, Swami Dayanand Saraswati. Even to this day, DAV institutions are revered as temples of unparalleled learning. The DAV College Managing Committee is presently headed by the eminent educationist G P Chopra, Qimpro Platinum Standard Education 2009, who strongly believes that it is only through education that one can cross the barriers of caste, creed, race or religion. Chopra's deep seated visions helped in the perfect blending of traditions, modernity and value-based education across the 680 institutions under the DAV committee.
• Carlos Ghosn (Nissan): Carlos Ghosn, former CEO of Michelin North America, was asked to lead this Japanese firm with the mission to bring about change and revive the Nissan brand. Ghosn had a Middle eastern and Latin cultural background, with French experiences. He was not well-versed in the Japanese language and was not familiar with the Japanese style of management. Many wondered if his turnaround strategy would do more harm than good for Nissan. However, under his leadership, Nissan reported the best financial performance in the history of the company, one year ahead of schedule. Ghosn’s visible leadership style and Change Management principle of consistency between what he thought, said and did was a key factor in Nissan’s success.
• Secondary School in KwaZulu-Natal: This is a truly inspiring case study of teacher leaders in a semi urban South African secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal. During the era of apartheid, South African schools were characterised by hierarchical and bureaucratic management structures that stifled the leadership potential of all those within the organisation. However, with the onset of democracy in South Africa in 1994, a radical shift in education policy took place, making schools democratic organisations in which distributed leadership practices and collaboration became the norm. There rose several visible leaders among the teachers of this school who sought to thwart the education crisis at the school by instilling trust and confidence in the community. Their efforts to bring about a change in the role of educators proved fruitful only because of their commitment to “walking the talking”.
• Hutcheson Medical Center: Hutcheson Medical Center scores among the top five hospitals in the US due to the strategies adopted by the establishment to ensure high patient satisfaction. The new leadership strategy adopted by the management helped steer the hospital from a position of financial losses and shrinking census to being a force to reckon with. By trying to be the change the staff wanted to bring about in the hospital’s ambience, an atmosphere of transparency and trust could be successfully created among patients. Hospital leaders began holding weekly patient-safety rounds. Staff concerns were addressed, making staff happier and more effective at their jobs. Five components of the hospital’s strategy that are said to be behind Hutcheson Medical Center’s success are as given below:
  • Fostering a culture of customer service.
  • Empowering nurses through shared governance.
  • Visible leadership.
  • Collecting and tracking data to chart progress.
  • Implementing evidence-based practice.

The power of a leader to create an organisation’s values, environment, culture and actions is far more intense than anyone can imagine. The best leaders are those who create better leaders. They “walk the talk”, motivate others to follow their vision and achieve a set of goals in accordance with the mission of the organisation.

Legitimacy in leadership is possible only through visible leadership. In walking the talk, an important first step is to understand why a leader wishes to implement a change or improvement in his/her team or organisation. When a leader begins to behave in the way in which he/she wants others to be, such a leader will be more likely to be modelled as exemplary.