Champion leadership: What India Inc can learn from the Kohli-Dhoni equation

The trust, friendship and mutual respect between Virat Kohli and M S Dhoni have helped bust the myth that a captain has to behave like an emperor, or else he would be seen as abdicating his role

Cricket team captains usually prefer to field within the 30-yard circle during the crucial stages of a limited-overs match. That’s because it helps them to be in command and in advising bowlers and close-in fielders. But Virat Kohli has gone off the beaten track. Match after match, he fields closer to the boundary line during the last few overs. This helps in two ways: One, in making good use of his superb throwing arm and agility; and two, it allows the wicketkeeper to advise the bowlers on the length they should bowl at. Kohli’s logic is simple: The wicketkeeper, specially of the calibre and experience of M S Dhoni, has the best angles from behind the stumps. All through, both keep their eye contact intact — the captain is thus kept in the loop about what’s going on and what to expect. The trust, friendship and mutual respect between the two have helped bust the myth that a captain has to behave like an emperor, or else he would be seen as abdicating his role. 

On the contrary, this is leadership at its best. Kohli’s actions show a supremely confident leader who knows exactly how to get the best out of his teammates and contribute to the overall objective. Kohli has time and again made it clear that he would go to any length to make sure that the team benefits from the watchful eyes of an elite Indian captain, who is possibly the finest of all time in limited overs’ cricket because of his ability of not losing his cool in the tightest of situations. In several interviews, Kohli has acknowledged that he turns to Dhoni whenever he feels the need to, and nine out of 10 times he gets the right suggestions from his former skipper. It is a blessing, Kohli has said, to have a player as experienced as Dhoni in the side specially in the initial years of his captaincy. Dhoni has reciprocated in full measure, describing Kohli as a “legend already” and has made sure that he keeps himself out of the spotlight that’s rightfully the captain’s slot. 

As a leader, one of the things that’s most important is to know your team needs to see you as confident. And one of the places you can show your greatest strength is in how you speak about or behave with the person who held your job before you. Great leaders have no problems looking to whoever held their jobs before them for ideas and inspiration. They don’t need to tear anyone down because they are sure of themselves.  

To be sure, assuming command from a legendary captain or a CEO is a more complicated process than a standard leadership transition. Employees or players will wonder how the replacement can ever measure up, and they will compare the new boss to the old. It is to Kohli’s credit that while being a role model himself through his performance, he has given the respect that Dhoni deserves. 

The interesting thing is that both are as different as chalk and cheese. While Kohli is visibly aggressive, Dhoni is one of the most reserved captains India has seen. That doesn’t matter much. Actually that’s the way it should be. One of the biggest mistakes a board can make when selecting a replacement is to try to find a carbon copy of the legendary CEO. That’s virtually impossible. In any case, people in any organisation are pretty savvy, and if they see you trying to copy somebody else, they’ll think you’re disingenuous.

Kohli’s biggest leadership skill is this: He knows how to extract the best out of his predecessor and learn the tricks of the trade before Dhoni departs. And for that, he knows he doesn’t need to be his ex-captain’s mirror image.

The moral of the story is simple: Leaders must know how to build relationships and understand that a conglomerate’s collective IQ far outweighs any individual IQ, and however smart they are, they can't know everything. When Satya Nadella took over as Microsoft CEO, he had a clear sense of how to use what he called Bill Gates’ “searchlight intelligence”. Gates did oblige by helping apply analytical rigour to the stream of new product ideas that popped up regularly in a roughly 100,000-person company. Also, Nadella said he wanted to cash in on Gates’ unique ability to energise employees.

Replace Nadella with Kohli, and Gates with Dhoni, and you know why India’s current cricket captain is a champion leader.