STARTUPS: BE A SAILOR

BY ROBIN GHOSH
( FORMER CHIEF ECONOMIST, BENGAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY)
KOLKATA, 26 DECEMBER 2022

How much time do you spend as CEO on meetings? If the answer is most of the time,then you are not in sync with the contemporary concept of leadership.
Listen to  Bill George, Harvard professor and author. He shouts Leaders are spending 72 percent of their time on meetings.No! Go out,spend time in the office, production floor, research and development laboratories ,markets.Support them in their work. It will be very effective’
You are a CEO.You must understand  that you are living in a VUCA world.
The word VUCA is a military term.It means Volatility, Uncertainty, Chaos and Ambiguity.
We are living in a VUCA world.Covid crisis, Russian war in Ukraine, inflation, job crisis. The environment is riddled with complexity.
When you live in a complex world, you need leaders with clear vision.
You need a leader with a sailors vision. You need leaders who know the
world. Leaders having experience and agility and adaptability. No fixed mindset please,!
Bill George cites examples of leadership. He talks of Nelson Mandela and Indra Nooyi.
Dr. Nelson Mandela, having spent 27 years in prison,  argued for a united country and  Indra Indra Nooyi for her vision for healthier foods and beverages.

To summarize, the quality of leadership required in the VUCA world is of different class.It is more on managing people than managing processes and technology.