Five Men Army of a Successful Leader

When I fall back and look at my thirteen year old career it’s filled with learning experiences, I have failed more than succeeded, took big risks and made enough blunders and learnt a lot from them. Looking back, I realize that I could have changed my approach and pressed on in my efforts to take one more step forward and made it happen… many instances and assignments it’s the last last last minute that I backed out and there was always someone who picked up this as an opportunity and finished it coming out in bright colours…

I could have done the tasks and projects far better had I got the five men army way early in my career… nonetheless better late than never.  My mentor always insisted on a quote that says “Leadership is not a designation…it’s a position earned” unless you see a rough sea you will not be a good sailor. Success is short lived and forgotten but the failures remain long enough with you and these learning experiences is what the industry is looking to hire you for so that you will not make the same mistake again …

Almost 8 years down the line of my career I had a breakthrough after earning the trust of my five men army and believe everyone plays a very vital role in any assignment I am leading …

My five men army consist of …

a.      Coach…

b.      Mentor…

c.       Black Shadow …

d.      White Angle …

e.      and above all Myself….

Each of them has a designated role to play and they help me as a captain to walk up to my stakeholders and give them the taste of success they have hired me for…

Coach: A coach for me is one who will bring in the discipline in me, will always guide me and bring me back on track. He will make the necessary project plans, track the progress, question me if things are not falling in place, help me see the risks early and also help me come up with a risk mitigation plan. He is the most practical personality who is experienced and knows things inside out

Mentor: While there is a coach doing all things in practice, I have a Mentor who will help me understand the choices to make. She motivates me, inspires me with examples and case studies. She is always there when I need her, she is not a subject matter expert but she is the one who listens to me patiently and helps me discover what I already know. She never suggests me unlike a coach but helps me with all the necessary tools and tips to overcome the hurdles I am facing and prepares me for the success.

Black Shadow: While the coach and mentor play their roles in making things happen and support me physically and emotionally, my best friend is the Black Shadow. I learnt it the Hardaway, not everyone is comfortable listening to a feedback, but she is the one who tell me at every step why I will not succeed, why the things I am putting across will not work, her role is to crib, sulk and give me all the negatives and put across many reasons why things will fail.

White Angel: My most dearest is white angle, he is one who is the exact opposite to the Black shadow, he comes up and tells me every reason why I should try out and experiment with the idea I have. He is the one who looks at the inputs of the Black shadow and works with the coach and strengthens the plans to overcome the risks. A white angle should be innovative, think out of box and be a continuous energy of ideas bubbling to counter the black shadow

Myself: While I have four pillars the army is completed only by me, I am the one who is the final decision maker, I am accountable for my actions, I am responsible for the things I do, I am the cornerstone of success of failure, I may ignore to all the above and follow my gut, I may take suggestion from all and do exactly what is required… I am the master of my destiny. I write the success story or I choose to be in the books of history… and with me come the five men army.

I recently completed a project adding approx. USD 13 million to the bottom line and now switching to pick up a next big task to improve the revenue by at least 15 % for the year FY 14-15. This model has worked for me and now is a part of my team…

The first time I proposed this to my SVP, he laughed at me and told I have hired you and believe all these four should be a part of your quality / personality. Over a period of time after a few sessions he now strongly believes that the very human nature will get into conflict if the expectation is to have a personality dwell all the above four pillars.

I believe it’s worth investing in the above four for a successful business unit looking for a long term sustaining result and grow at the rate of at least 15% – 20% CAGR … thus make an impact … J