Tuesday, 22 December 2015

“Leadership Strategies to Achieve Success in Military and Business” ―Professor M.S.Rao











“When one treats people with benevolence, justice and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders.” ― Sun Tzu


The Chinese philosopher, Sun Tzu outlined several leadership strategies to win a war. Similarly, ancient Indian philosopher, Chanakya (Kautilya) shared several leadership strategies to defeat enemies. He once remarked, ‘The enemy of your enemy is your friend.’ The leadership strategies shared by them are immortal as they can be applied everywhere including military, business, and politics depending on the situation and the leadership style of leaders. In this article, we will look at leadership strategies that can be applied in business and military to lead successfully to achieve the desired objectives.  

To defeat your enemy, you must first bring his morale down. The people who follow him start suspecting the abilities of their leader and gradually withdraw their support with a belief that their leader will be defeated. They will think that it doesn’t make sense to fight a losing battle. That is the reason, there is a lot of propaganda during war to bring down the morale of their enemies. Once the morale is brought down, half of the battle is won.

Sun Tzu remarked, “Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril” Hence, keep your cards close to your chest. Don’t reveal everything to others as it helps others anticipate and counter your strategies. Always keep multiple plans ready to keep your momentum. If there is a failure of one plan, other alternative plans must be ready to address the challenges to take the things forward.  Don’t talk too much. Be careful when you speak. Don’t disclose all your secrets to others as you end up worrying and protecting your secrets rather than winning the game.

Divert the attention of your enemy. Externally focus on activities that draw your enemy to the wrong side and internally focus on activities to win your end game. Revise your leadership strategies and styles from time to time with a clear focus. Take feedback from all sources to improve your strategy and decision-making skills. Remember, there is no fixed formula for strategy and decision-making. You must change your strategies depending on the situation and the availability of information.


Sutras for Your Successful Leadership Strategy

“An army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness.” ― Sun Tzu   

Here are some sutras to create a successful strategy and blueprint and execute them effectively.
  • Focus on your strengths and concentrate on the weaknesses of your opponents. Find out the chinks in the armor to eliminate your enemy.
  • Be confident. Avoid over-confidence. Don’t underestimate your enemy.
  • Learn to lose a battle to win a war.
  • Don’t cut corners. Emphasize on ethics and etiquette. Lead by example and achieve your success with integrity.
  • Convert your enemy’s offensive posture into defensive posture strategically.
  • Look for survival first to prosper later. There is always another day to fight and win.
  • Build strong alliances based on trust and confidence.
  • Be slow in building blueprint for your strategy and be fast in executing your strategy.
  • Consult the specialists in the area to get accurate information and ideas. Remember, nobody is expected to know everything under the sun on the earth.
  • Attack from all sources systematically and strategically. Keep your strategies highly confidential. If required, adopt autocratic leadership style to keep things confidential.  
  • If your enemy is very strong, attack him part by part from all sources. Corner him from all sources to checkmate him finally.
  • Create overconfidence in him to crush him.
  • Remember, brain is always superior to brawn.
  • Show a way for your enemy to retreat when you attack to eliminate waste and achieve early victory.


Conclusion

"Speed is the essence of war. Take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness; travel by unexpected routes and strike him where has taken no precautions." ― Sun Tzu

To win your war, you must follow strategy, tactics and propaganda. Be prepared to be surprised and plan to surprise your enemy. Keep your energy and enthusiasm high. Don’t get dejected due to temporary setbacks and failures. If required, take break for some time to rejuvenate and restart your game to win. Whatever the strategies you adopt, you must ensure that you are fighting for truth and justice. Achieve your success with integrity to avoid repenting later internally for the mischief you have done. Adopt soft leadership to achieve your ends. If not, use hard leadership to achieve your ends.


“To rely on rustics and not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues.” ― Sun Tzu  



If you like this article, Like and share Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Professor-MSRao/451516514937414


Read my ‘Vision 2030 One Million Global Leaders’ URL: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030-one_31.html  


Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao, India
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India
Recipient of 10th International Prestigious Sardar Patel Award―2015
Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com
Blog: http://professormsraoguru.blogspot.com
Global Top Gurus 30: http://www.globalgurus.org/leadership/upcoming.php
21 Success Sutras for Leaders: Top 10 Leadership Books of the Year (San Diego University) Amazon URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI






Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2015 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.
at 3 comments:

“Mann Ki Baat: AICTE must Deny Approvals to Erring and Fraud Engineering Colleges” ―Professor M.S.Rao









“We would like to bring it down to between 10 lakh and 11 lakh (one million and 1.1 million) from a little over 16.7 lakh now. The capacity should come down for the betterment of all—students, education providers and employer.” — Dr. Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, All India Council of Technical Education.


India’s technical education regulator, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) denies approval to colleges due to various reasons including poor infrastructure, shortage of faculty, poor academic performance and the number of grievances.  It takes serious note of engineering colleges that inflate number of faculty on their rolls to meet the AICTE requirements and guidelines by inviting cameo faculty at the time of inspections. It is observed that most colleges bring in dummy faculty at the time of AICTE, JNTU and OU inspections to show them. At times these colleges cheat the dummy faculty also by not paying them the honorarium they have committed to pay for the day of inspection. Of course, that is a different story. Second, the colleges hire senior professors and PhD holders at the time of inspections to fool the visiting inspection teams. If the college has another college, it takes faculty on loan to show on records like the goods are taken on hand loan from others. For instance, if the educational group has more number of colleges, they reshuffle the faculty and senior professors to the college for which the AICTE, JNTU and OU teams visit. The main intention is to fool them that these colleges have adequate number of faculty, professors and PhD holders. The AICTE, JNTU and OU have teams led by intellectuals who are aware of such notorious games played by the owners of private engineering colleges in India. Some of the owners of these colleges are over smart to pay money and get their colleges ranked to brand themselves. Of course, people are smart enough and the regulating bodies are intelligent enough to identify such fake ranks and games. In this way, the owners of private engineering colleges not only try to fool the AICTE and the universities they are affiliated but also cheat the students. Students often take admission into these colleges based on their ranks and figures shown on the brochures. After taking admission into the colleges, students realize that they got cheated by these colleges as they don’t have adequate infrastructure and efficient faculty, laboratories and libraries. Since there is no way out, students suffer silently until they complete their education. If students raise their grievances in their campus, they will not get their qualifications since the management instructs the faculty to fail the students in the internal and laboratory exams.  

Both students and faculty should not suffer silently. They must voice their grievances. They can approach AICTE directly to redress their grievances which will be attended to earnestly. Here is the link to email their grievances aictevigilance@gmail.com.  

Because of these reasons, AICTE denied approvals to many colleges. It is a step in the right direction because there must be quality education to students, not quantity. There is no sense in giving paper degrees and qualifications to students when they are not employable and deployable in the corporate world. Research shows that currently most students who pass out of engineering and other streams don’t have adequate skills and abilities leading to unemployability. Additionally, the AICTE chairman, Anil Sahasrabudhe[1] had stated that only about 30% of engineering graduates were deemed employable by recruiters.


Reasons for Closure of Colleges

It is unfortunate that toddy traders, financiers, real estate brokers and criminals have become education players to make money in India.  AICTE Chairman commented[2]: AICTE will ensure that students are not at the receiving end. We shall also ensure that educational lands or properties are not converted into a real estate business by education players.

While this year AICTE has reported to have received about 1,422 applications seeking permission to shut down the engineering departments or courses where about 556 engineering courses or departments have closed down this year alone. The main reason[3] behind the shutdown of the engineering departments or courses was said to be the lack of proper infrastructure of this schools and inability of students of these colleges to get a jobs in firms due to inadequacy of employable skills.


Surprise Inspections in Telangana State

The TRS government in Telangana tried to streamline the present system, and to check irregularities, frauds, and corruption in private pharmacy, medical, engineering colleges. It conducted surprise inspections to set the education system right. AICTE and affiliated universities must conduct surprise inspections without prior intimation to these colleges to check these irregularities. Only the owners who are strong will survive and the rest will perish paving the way for encouraging good educational institutions in India. It helps faculty enjoy professional ambience and get their salaries on time. It helps students have adequate facilities to acquire both education and knowledge. It is observed that some colleges cheat faculty by not paying their salaries to the leaving faculty. Worse, these colleges don’t pay salaries for months and blackmail the leaving faculty by various means. Hence, AICTE and affiliated must check these irregularities to create a healthy education system in India.


Conclusion

AICTE is the apex regulatory body for technical education in India. It must ruthlessly close down the fraud colleges that maintain fake list of faculty and indulging in irregularities.  It must organize surprise inspections to such colleges to derecognize them. It must identify the erring colleges that violate the norms and close them.

To conclude, I strongly recommend the steps taken by AICTE Chairman to deny approval to educational institutions that don’t comply with their guidelines. There are plenty of engineering colleges in the state of Telangana without quality education. Presently it has become a problem of plenty. It is time to emphasize on quality in educational institutions in India, not quantity for the betterment of all—students, education providers and employers.  Jai Hind!


“All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.” — Scott Alexander

References
https://factly.in/duplicate-faculty-in-engineering-colleges-the-story-of-brazen-violation-of-norms-a-silent-aicte/   
http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/aicte-plans-to-cut-600-000-engineering-college-seats/story-TVbO64dWyv1Pum1fCWHpWP.html  
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/AICTE-denies-approval-to-588-colleges/articleshow/46869702.cms
http://asianetindia.com/aicte-plans-to-cut-6-lakh-seats-in-engineering-colleges/
http://allindiaroundup.com/news/aicte-plans-to-cut-number-of-engineering-college-seats-by-600000/
http://www.complaintboard.in/complaints-reviews/aicte-l52798.html


If you like this article, Like and share Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Professor-MSRao/451516514937414


Read my ‘Vision 2030 One Million Global Leaders’ URL: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030-one_31.html  


Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao, India
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India
Recipient of 10th International Prestigious Sardar Patel Award―2015
Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com
Blog: http://professormsraoguru.blogspot.com
Global Top Gurus 30: http://www.globalgurus.org/leadership/upcoming.php
21 Success Sutras for Leaders: Top 10 Leadership Books of the Year (San Diego University) Amazon URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI






Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2015 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.



at 3 comments:

Sunday, 20 December 2015

“Explore Soft Leadership to Overcome Your Challenges and Redress Your Grievances” ―Professor M.S.Rao









“I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
I shall fear only God.
I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.” ― Mahatma Gandhi          


You can redress your grievances through various tools and techniques. Conventionally, the aggrieved parties approach court to resolve them. Some prefer out-of-court settlement to legal means. Some use Chanakya’s fourfold strategy of Sam, Dana, Bhed, and Dandopay to resolve their challenges.  Here is a brief description of this fourfold strategy:

First strategy is ‘Sam’ that means persuasion. When you want your tasks to be executed effectively, you must persuade others. If it fails, use the second strategy ‘Dana’ which means offering incentives and benefits to others to get your tasks executed. If this second strategy also fails, use the third strategy ‘Bhed’ which means compare and contrast with others. That means differentiate with others. Communicate clearly that when others can do their tasks effectively why you cannot do it. With this strategy, most of the tasks can be executed. The worst thing you can do to others is to compare with others. All are born unique in this world. Even twins cannot be alike in attitudes, temperaments and behaviors. When people are compared with others, it upsets them and the problems can be resolved easily and the tasks can be executed effectively. If this third strategy also fails, use the fourth and final strategy of ‘Dandopay’ which means use the threat of punishment to get the things done or to resolve the problems.  Likewise, people adopt various methods to resolve their problems and redress their grievances. Here is a new leadership perspective – “soft leadership” to resolve your problems through peaceful means with perseverance. It is based on Mahatma Gandhi’s twin principles of ‘truth’ and ‘non violence.’


What is Soft Leadership?

I have coined this new leadership perspective which is gaining global recognition and attention. People are taking it seriously and applying it to achieve organizational excellence and effectiveness. It can be applied for individuals, organizations and nations to resolve their grievances, challenges and conflicts. Here is the brief description of this new leadership perspective: 

Soft leadership is a blend of courageous leadership, thought leadership, servant leadership and inspirational leadership. It characterizes 11C’s such as character, charisma, conscience, conviction, courage, communication, compassion, commitment, consistency, consideration and contribution. It suggests soft approach rather than hard approach. It believes in transformational rather than transactional approach. It appreciates people-orientation rather than task-orientation. It underscores partnership rather than the so-called the traditional command-and-control approach. It stresses on soft skills rather than hard skills. It emphasizes on personality, attitude and behavior rather than on technical competency or domain knowledge which can be acquired when people possess right attitude and behavior. Succinctly, soft leadership can be defined as the process of setting goals; influencing people through persuasion; building strong teams; negotiating them with a win-win attitude; respecting their failures; handholding them; motivating them constantly; aligning their energies and efforts; recognizing and appreciating their contribution in accomplishing the organizational objectives with an emphasis on soft skills. It is based on the right mindset, skill set, and toolset.


Explore Soft Leadership

While resolving the issues, always emphasize on what is right and wrong, not who is right and wrong. Emphasize on ethical and legal approaches to resolve your issues. At times, people are tempted to resort to shortcuts to win their cases and resolve their problems. What is important is to win your case with integrity. Hereafter whenever you encounter challenges, explore soft leadership to achieve your goals and objectives.    


“Remember that the greatest crime is to compromise with injustice and wrong.” ― Subhash Chander Bose

References
http://www.amazon.com/Soft-Leadership-Make-others-important/dp/8175156538   http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=17087126



If you like this article, Like and share Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Professor-MSRao/451516514937414


Read my ‘Vision 2030 One Million Global Leaders’ URL: http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030-one_31.html  


Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao, India
Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants India
Recipient of 10th International Prestigious Sardar Patel Award―2015
Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com
Blog: http://professormsraoguru.blogspot.com
Global Top Gurus 30: http://www.globalgurus.org/leadership/upcoming.php
21 Success Sutras for Leaders: Top 10 Leadership Books of the Year (San Diego University) Amazon URL: http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI






Thanks for reading!

Kindly share your thoughts and comments below, I’m sure someone out there will find your story useful.



Copyright©2015 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

This is a nonprofit blog to share Professor M.S.Rao’s passion and vision to build one million students as global leaders by 2030. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in.  This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.
at 2 comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)