Gandhi, CEO by Alan Axelrod

Author:Alan Axelrod [Axelrod, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781402781483
Publisher: Sterling
Published: 2010-09-07T00:00:00+00:00

Lesson 44

DEFINE YOUR PRESENT REALITY

“I have no objection to your remaining in my country, but although you are the rulers, you will have to remain as servants of the people.”

∼ “Conclusion,” Hind Swaraj, 1909

“Actions speak louder than words,” we are told. Maybe louder, but not always more effectively. Gandhi used his entire being, his body and his life, to bring about change, but he also relied on words, using them so imaginatively that they prompted people to reassess and even redefine the various social, political, and economic relationships they had been taking for granted.

To India’s English overlords, he proposed conceding that they were indeed the rulers of India. This was a fact. It would be ineffective—indeed, false—to deny it. But, having conceded this fact, Gandhi deftly redefined what it meant to be a leader—namely, to be a servant to the people one leads. “It is not we who have to do as you wish, but it is you who have to do as we wish.” Having through words altered the perception of reality, Gandhi backed the words with proposed action. “If you act contrary to our will,” he warned the British leaders, “we shall not help you; and without our help, we know that you cannot move one step forward.”

Leadership is about accepting as well as changing reality; it is never about denying reality. The most meaningful and durable alterations to reality are made, not by force or imposition, but from within. This requires shaping and reshaping the perceptions and values of the people you lead. Sometimes these changes are best brought about by actions, sometimes by words, and sometimes—most of the time-by a combination of both approaches. Define the reality you want. Then determine what combination of acts and words will work most effectively to create that reality.

Typically, the most successful approach to change is to meet the status quo half way, as Gandhi did in conceding that the British ruled India. That is, begin by embracing reality as it is, but then take the next step by adjusting the terms of that reality to suit your ends. Think of the reality in which you and your organization operate as modeling clay. As the sculptor shapes his clay, so can you shape and mold reality in many ways. The simultaneous acceptance of reality as it is and the near infinite malleability of that reality is a central but rarely explored lesson from the experience of Mohandas Gandhi, yet it applies in virtually any context in which change is contemplated.

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