The Microscopic Parsis

Resolve To Strengthen The Oneness Of Creation

Who Is A Parsi?

BPP Athletes Excel

"Obituary Of The Late Mr. Common Sense"

We Have Learned How To Make A Living, But Not A Life

Long Live the Parsis

MacDonald's Use Feng Shui for even more
success!

Love Your Fruits, Nuts And Dry Fruits

Conversion Or Acceptance - Some Myths And Realities

Restoring Dreams!!

Diamonds Dazzle At Hollywood/Bollywood Award Shows!

Wanna Go The Dinosaur Way?

Parsi Lustre In Pakuranga (New Zealand)

Homage To Amardad

Can't we Zarathushtis Live and Let Live?

The Myth Of The Great Divide

The Gaiwali (Cow Woman)

Good Karma for Your Home!

A Peek-a-boo At Filmmaking

Films

Disclaimer

Su Khabar?

"I'm proud to be a Parsi and love the enormous Brand Equity we have!"

Thoothi Agiary: Resplendent & Renovated

Thank - You

Social COMA

Technology And The Sexual Revolution!

Ashrafi Ginwalla - Baller in a par excellence!

Leadership & You

Thank God For Our Good Old Baugs!

Go Out And Buy Some Love

Secret Of Happiness

Love Among The Rocks

Understanding Astrogemology

Ushta-te Foundation's 8th Annual Award

5th Zochild Day Celebrated With Great Aplomb

Sheeroy Sunawala's Response to Acceptance / Conversion Advice

The Wooden Bowl

The Bombay Parsee Associaton's Prayer, Kusti Wea Ving& Spinning Competitions

Din Yazad - Divine Spirit In Charge Of Zarathoshti Religion

The Secret to Never Ending Motivation

Adaar Technology

A True Leader Knows the way and Shows the Way !

Leadership at any level, is built on basic management skills. Until an operation is well managed, the person in charge does not have enough freedom to lead. Therefore, it follows that those who attempt to lead without the basic management skills usually fail even before they start.

Some of the thoughts which flit through the manager's mind are:

• "Most of the days, all I can do is just work as a nanny around here. You must be joking that I have the time to lead!"
• "Without proper management procedures, it is just a fire fighting exercise. So, where is the question of leading? "
• "I am indeed sad to say that I can free myself from my every day hassles only now and then, to lead. "

Very few people are in a sufficiently high enough position in an organisation's hierarchy, to select and train people who can take care of administrative routine and leave them free to lead. A junior or a first rank manager who wants to lead must learn to manage things in such a way that he/she has .the option of adding the leadership dimension to their style. Therefore, it follows that a manager who wants to lead should free himself / herself from routine managerial functions by learning to be :

• Good system developers and operators
• Good delegators of work - .
• Excellent teachers and counsellors
• Time managers- par excellence, being particularly good at achieving targets and goals.

A word of caution for managers who just jump into the leadership arena without the managerial skills. The result could be loss of your management job, frustration and there could also be insecurity amongst the employees and they may lose respect for your way of operation.

So get your priorities right. Develope your management skills before jumping on the leadership bandwagon.

WHAT MAKE'S A MANAGER WANT TO LEAD ?

All managers do not aspire to lead. Surprising isn't it ?

But it's a fact that some thoroughly capable managers prefer to be excellent managers. They are happy with the recognition of. their superior management techniques They would rather be "follower" managers of a high calibre than take the risk of leading other people. The reasons which turn on a manager into developing a leadership style are threefold viz.:

1. He wants more personal fulfilment than he can achieve in his managerial role. He wants to stand out from the crowd of managers with a telling performance which improves his company's destiny.
2. He feels suffocated and encaged in his managerial role. He wants to take more risk and decisions to reach his full potential as a person.
3. Last, but certainly the most powerful driving force is that he wants to zoom up the corporate ladder as fast & as high as possible. Money may be important but far more important for him is to be able to realise some bench marking long-term goals.

LEADERSHlP POWER

There are 3 main sources of leadership power. They are:

1) PERSONALITY POWER
2) POSITION POWER
3) KNOWLEDGE POWER

PERSONALITY POWER is the development and use of your best traits, both physical and mental, to influence others. Each and everyone has Personality Power. Some people are endowed with more power than others but, all of us possess more power than what we realise. It is not a question of how much power we posses. Leaders learn how to use their best traits which impress others and they concentrate on improving them constantly. In this manner, they increase their Personality Power. Without Personality Power, leaders would not be able to influence and inspire their followers to reach out for fresh goals. Leaders generate Personality Power or charisma, as much as possible and they use it wisely too.

In order to be a good leader, you need to IDENTIFY, IMPROVE and TRANSMIT your best traits. If you have an attractive beard, make it prominent and better. If you have an authoritative voice, use it to your advantage. In short, play your trumps, play to your strengths!

But in order to really appreciate the full potential of your Personality Power, it is necessary to understand the other two. sources of leadership power.

Position Power comes from the management position which you hold. It is the power which comes from the chair you occupy. This power is one which has to be down played by an effective leader because this power is always a temporary power.

KNOWLEDGE POWER is the safest and best way to demonstrate leadership. As our society zooms into a technological age, knowledge power gains an increasing amount of importance. Surprisingly, a lot of managers and leaders downplay knowledge as a power source. Just consider : Why do students studying for their Masters degree refer to their guides ? Isn't it because the guide acts as the 'GURU" of olden days and provides knowledge and guidance ? If yes, then a leader must strive to be both a mentor and a teacher to his team. He should share his knowledge in a clear and complete manner thereby turning his employees into followers.

If you were to rate the importance of the three sources of leadership power, the split-up would be :

Personality Power - 50 %,
Knowledge Power - 35 % ,
Position Power - 5 %

Naturally, the more Personality Power you develope , the stronger a leader you will be. You will be able to communicate better and your stronger personality will help you convert more people into followers. But it is not always how much power you have. IT IS MORE IMPORTANT HOW YOU USE IT. Sensitivity to others is vital and sensitivity is enhanced when it is blended with Position and Knowledge Power.

In conclusion, a leader can be effective with different proportions of the three power sources mentioned above:

* A leader with little position power where Knowledge Power is not very important, depends on PERSONALITY POWER.

* A leader with great knowledge can have a tremendous impact even with limited PERSONALITY POWER.

* A leader who soft pedals his Position Power and utilises his Knowledge Power to the fullest can be very effective even with a bit of PERSONALITY POWER.

So, play your trumps, improve your positive traits, both mental and physical.

Be proud of your personality and enhance it.

USE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TO GIVE A GLOW TO YOUR PERSONALITY AND SELECT THE RIGHT MODEL TO FOLLOW.