Of Prime Ministerial hopefuls, their personalities and leadership styles

High personal humility and great professional will are ideal leadership qualities. But they are paradoxical and extremely difficult to achieve

Leadership as an area of management science and function has acquired much attention and importance in recent years. Pundits and professors have crafted many theories and perspectives, especially on the spheres of influence in the world of business. These range from <i>The 5 Levels of Leadership</i> by John C. Maxwell initially, and later by Jim Collins, to the seminal thoughts of management guru Peter Drucker and the need for high emotional quotient expounded by Daniel Goleman. Business school case studies have also been developed around the leadership styles of historical figures, from Moses of the Bible, to Julius Caeser, to Mahatma Gandhi.

The five levels of leadership as per Jim Collins capture a growing maturity of leadership capabilities, from level 1 to level 5. Level 1 is about a highly capable manager who contributes through his own knowledge and skills; a level-2 manager contributes productively to the entire group or the team as the case may be; a level-3 manager organises people and resources through a pre-determined set of objectives, while a level-4 manager brings in a high level of commitment and contribution through vision and implementation. The level-5 manager contributes through a paradoxical combination of personal humility and professional will.  

In this background, the ongoing 2019 Indian national elections offer an interesting display of leaders with unique and varied leadership styles. How then do the leadership styles of five national Prime Ministerial hopefuls stack up? Take the examples of Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati, Mamta Banerjee and Chandrababu Naidu.  

Rahul Mishra, Professor of Strategy and Leadership at IILM, New Delhi says, “Political leaders can learn much from great business leaders. One can learn how to be a visionary like Jamshedji Tata despite adversity. To have had the vision to transform a backward country into a modern nation, Jamshedji stands tall. Ratan Tata’s leadership abilities are a combination of vision, leadership, innovation and transformation of organisations as the context changes. He transformed a very India-oriented Tata group into an Indian multinational.”

Narendra Modi: From his 13 years of chief ministership in Gujarat and now five years as Prime Minister, Modi has developed has a host of positive leadership qualities: confidence, charisma, vision, decisiveness, statesmanship and courage. But beyond these he has also demonstrated some opposite traits, including authoritarianism, autocracy and craftiness. Having been moulded by the strict hierarchy-led RSS ethos, much of the latter's characteristics can be traced all the way back to the thoughts and ideas of sociologist Max Weber who developed the traditional-patriarchal leadership style combined with the ‘legal-rational’ style. However, there is a third group of characteristics that can be observed in him: that of adaptability and change. He adapted his style to bring in a macro perspective when he moved from Gujarat to New Delhi and then, over the last five years, he brought in a global understanding and statesmanship to his vision and action.

Rahul Gandhi: In the current elections, perhaps the second most watched national leader is Rahul Gandhi (along with his sister Priyanka). The Congress President has often been caricatured as a reluctant and somewhat reclusive political leader who has come into his own only recently. Parochialism and dynastic traits have also been added to his litany of limitations. However, beyond all this lie some qualities that have been exhibited off and on of consensus, data-led decision making and leading for loyalty. What this polarisation demonstrates is a lack of experience in leadership in taking the helm at a complex and large entity such as the Congress Party. How can he overcome this situation?

Says Irfan Rizvi, Professor of Leadership, International Management Institute, “Narendra Modi is decisive yet circumspect. He has low personal humility but high professional will. Rahul Gandhi is well-meaning but idealistic.”

Mayawati: The Dalit leader of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) is another Prime-ministerial hopeful in the cacophony of coalition politics. She is one of those leaders who demonstrates paradoxical leadership abilities and personality. Those who are with her swear absolute loyalty and faith in her ability of execution, determination and unconventional out-of-the-box thinking. Mayawati epitomises the oft-said statement that politics is the art of possibilities and, over the last decade or so that she has been at the forefront of national politics, she has exhibited this time and again -- most recently, in tying up with Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. Before that, she did go along with the Bharatiya Janata Party thrice in alliances and, as has been written in a biography, “She thinks in a straight line, which to her is the shortest distance between Point A and Point B.”  

Mamata Banerjee: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief is ambitious and courageous. Undaunted by threats, she has galvanised many of the Opposition parties to rally against the BJP to form a national alternative of regional parties. Having come into politics through the ranks of the Youth Congress initially and then the Congress, she was bold enough to move away from the Grand Old Party and became chief minister of of the traditional Marxist bastion of West Bengal. Today, she is often spoken of as a Prime Ministerial potential should the fortunes of coalition politics favour her after the poll results are out.

Adds Professor Mishra, “The leadership of Mamata and Mayawati depends on centralisation of power. They act as supremos of their parties. But as a potential PM of a coalition, it requires different set of skills to run a diverse country. Mamata and Mayawati, in the absence of a structured system will start running a government which will be dependent on a few close confidants and will also allow other regional leaders complete freedom because of their numbers, leading to diminishing of the stature of PM.” 

Chandrababu Naidu: He is one among the many regional leaders who is hoping to be the Prime Minister in the aftermath of an election where no single national party is likely to have a strong majority. H D Deve Gowda did become a coalition Prime minister in the past but didn't last too long as national premier because of the compulsions of coalition politics and the fact he wasn't a strong leader. Naidu, like Modi, does have the experience of managing a state, but the difference between the two is perhaps in the strength of their personal charisma and decisive leadership.  

Leadership styles of five PM hopefuls 

Narendra Modi

• Low personal humility
• High professional will
• Ambitious, goal-oriented, pragmatic, charismatic, hardworking, communicative, self-focused, non-trusting, authoritative, risk taker, poor listener
• Task master – Decisive – but not circumspect

Rahul Gandhi

• High personal humility
• Moving toward professional will
• Well meaning, genuine, confused, idealistic, collective & collaborative, dependent on team/others, executive style
• Combination of people & task orientation
• Good listener – collaborative & trusting

Mayawati

• Low personal humility and high professional will
• Self-aggrandizement, non-trusting/suspicious, authoritative, plays victim to gain sympathy

Mamta Banerjee

• Low personal humility
• High professional will
• Ambitious, authoritative, risk taker, disruptive
• Coterie, sycophancy-led

Chandrababu Naidu

• Low personal humility and medium professional will
• Similar to Rahul Gandhi in many ways  
• ‘Middle of the road’ – partly task and partly people
• Well-meaning

Note: The two key attributes of a Level-5 leader are that of great personal humility and high professional will or capability to deliver the work at hand. Therefore, low personal humility will translate into a high degree of arrogance and high professional will refers to a great capability. The best quality will be high personal humility and high professional will. These are paradoxical and the most difficult to achieve.

The author studies management issues and is a former editor of Indian Management.