'Leading from back' comes to the fore
(This story originally appeared in on Sep 28, 2023)
Bosses, step back a bit and let your team do the job. They won't disappoint you.
In a challenging business environment, with disruptions like AI and information deluge, an understated style of leadership — leading from the back- is coming to the fore.
«Leading from the front is not only broken… youngsters resent that kind of leadership. We have no option but to look at alternative ways of leadership. Perhaps, leading from the back will make for more sustainable success. It will certainly make for happier organisations. Technology has made people lonely… there is a need to bring warmth in society,» said Ravi Kant, former vice-chairman, Tata Motors.
Kant, who has nearly 50 years of corporate experience across industries — including 15 years with Tata Motors where he was CEO, MD, and VC — says he has followed this form of leadership. Leading from the front has been borrowed from the military style of leadership.
According to Kant, if anyone says 'they know it all', they come with a lot of ego. «You cannot work like that anymore. You've got to be humble… you've got to understand that it is about distributed leadership today.»
While earlier people aligned themselves with their organisations, Kant says that today if companies do not align with their employees, they will not succeed. «Today's young employee says, 'I can do wonders, but you have to give me freedom'. With work-from-home and hybrid becoming the norm, work has become even more decentralised. We must be flexible so that we are able to deal with any situation that arises. Leading from the front has no relevance, no role in this kind of a scenario,» says Kant.
Shepherd Leadership
: In his autobiography Long
