Payment
Connect Us
Apr 02, 2024
Good evening, and I think we all had a long and perhaps successful day in which a lot of learning has transpired. Now it's very difficult to get anything into a container that is very full. So we will keep it short, sweet, and simple.
We talk about keeping the boards future-ready for an uncertain world; we all know what VUCA stands for, but today the world has redefined VUCA: Vicious, Unpleasant, Cruel and Aggressive. So when you are faced with such a situation, we all talk of geopolitical situations, and we talk of how businesses get impacted by politics and some decisions that the politicians or the leaders of a particular country take, that impact the whole world. Yes, that is a matter of fact; we have to face it. But today, it is also a fact that businesses can realign the political world. Therefore, we must look at how businesses can realign the political world as well as how they can recalibrate themselves to work in an environment that they themselves make conducive to bigger and better things. One of the issues that I think a lot of leaders face and, therefore, what boards should be, what leaders should be - they should not be resistant, they should be resilient. I think as we navigate through uncertain times and unpredictable business landscapes, we need to be resilient; we need to strategize as to how we can make our country work.
Particularly, the leadership of this country that we are sitting in at the moment and at the warm invitation of the leaders here, we are seeing how the leaders are focusing on improving their relationships as well as making the country more attractive, both for investments within the country and for the country to invest outside. My friend, Dr. Abdulla Al Saleh, mentioned that the UAE is going to sign 26 new FTAs. This brings us to the first 'V'. Therefore, 'vicious' needs to be recalibrated to 'volume'. I think countries are looking to grow volumes out here. I was thinking of a few words that people need to adapt to, especially leaders, and a few words that came to mind are: - Agility, Adaptability, Ability, Accessibility, Accountability, Availability, Acceptability, and last but not least, Affordability.
If we imbibe all these As, and as we see that a lot of countries and companies, when they go for ratings like to have their AAA rating. If they are able to adapt to these eight 'A's, we will come to a situation where I think our businesses will flourish.
As I said in the morning, leadership is more about building more people under you and making more people leaders than followers. Leadership is the apex of any change because the leader has to be a visionary, he has to have expertise, and most importantly, he has to have very good execution skills. Now, we were talking about how technology is changing the world. Now, as we see, necessity is the mother of invention. If we go back a long way, people who have been to Japan can vouch for the tiny boxes. Why were those tiny boxes created? Were they made out of desire? Were they made out of necessity, as there was a space constraint? Similarly, climate change has forced a lot of change from fossil fuels to green energy.
I had the opportunity to visit the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bangalore a few weeks ago. What I saw is exactly what I think all of us need to adopt. The leaders out there were actually not the leaders; they were the most humble listeners. When leaders listen, then you are creating an ecosystem for the people down the line to follow you, but then they give the best out of you, and this is something that I was discussing with Lt. Gen. Surinder Nath at lunch also. Leadership has to be generous, has to be resilient, has to be orderly, and has to be warm and welcoming. Therefore, the acronym for this generosity, resilience, orderliness, and warmth is 'GROW'. This leads to the growth of a country. My humble suggestion to all of us is that we should keep on learning, we should keep on growing, and I think we should keep on meeting. The last few years have prevented a lot of interaction, especially human interaction. I think meetings like this help all of us to become better, to create new relationships, and most importantly, to grow.
Thank you very much.
Owned by: Institute of Directors, India
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the articles/ stories are the personal opinions of the author. IOD/ Editor is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or validity of any information in those articles. The information, facts or opinions expressed in the articles/ speeches do not reflect the views of IOD/ Editor and IOD/ Editor does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
About Publisher
Bringing a Silent Revolution through the Boardroom
Institute of Directors (IOD) is an apex national association of Corporate Directors under the India's 'Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860'. Currently it is associated with over 30,000 senior executives from Govt, PSU and Private organizations of India and abroad.
View All BlogsMasterclass for Directors
Categories
