On 4th August 2016, the students of Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur were truly captivated by Mr. Sumit Mitra, Managing Director, British Telecommunications, Central Business Services who gave them learnings for life while speaking about “Driving organizational health through challenging leadership”. Mr. Mitra is an alumnus of Harvard business school with more than 15 years of work experience in British Telecommunications at various leadership positions.
It is perilously easy to find a leadership ideal and stick to it without considering how one can improve and expand their skills. The best leaders inspire exceptional motivation when they speak, this inspiration breeds respect and the power of that respect has the ability to move lives. What is an organization if not an amalgamation of people working towards their own personal and professional goals. Mr. Mitra drove these ideals right into the understanding of leadership and its role when it comes to guiding an organization forward. The topic raised certain relevant questions. What is that style which effectively balances the need for short term financial results and the long term need for sustainable business practices? What is the style that best aligns with modern social expectations yet still retains the necessary authority to get things done? The answer to both of these questions that business leaders face in our time of volatile organizational health is the concept of challenging leadership.
Mr. Mitra took the relevant example of British Telecommunications and how the company through its ups and downs has retained its position as a telecommunications giant in these rapidly evolving markets. Facts and figures aside, the presentation spoke of how every enterprise must focus on individual employees and their expectations from their workplace. The prevalent corporate culture that many organizations now adopt involves strict goal setting and an almost narrow mindset when it comes to being flexible and considerate towards the mental and sometimes professional well being of the functional entities in their workspace i.e. the employees. Leadership is definitely not about achieving revenue targets from employees by treating them as mechanical engines, it is about inspiring and motivating people and helping them grow as an integral and indispensable part of the company. An interesting concept that was brought into the fore by Mr. Mitra was that of the 5R’s of Challenging leadership. Going in the order of increasing importance, the 5R’s include Right, Relation, Reproduction, Responsibility and Respect. Each of these traits in leaders gives birth to a varied set of positive and negative characteristics among the employees they lead. For example, leading by relation leads to the creation of a safe space for an employee under a leader. No matter the nature and outcome of his/her work, the employee is given the opportunity and benefits they want. Now this might seem to be a positive aspect for the one concerned but it also hinders their intellectual growth, especially since their growth and prosperity is guaranteed under the leader in question, they stop trying to exceed their own limits and as a result they impede their own progress. Respect on the other hand remains as the single most inspirational and motivating quality of a leader. Admiration is a very strong driver and leaders that command respect help develop the best talent under themselves. It goes way beyond just the traditional achievement of goals; it is what drives organizational health through the best form of leadership.
Mr. Mitra as a leader personifies the phrase ‘Leadership by example’. He is what one can call a databank of business acumen who exemplifies the idea of being a perfect front runner for organizational well being. The lecture ended with a quote that said, “Life’s battles are never won by the smartest, wisest or the strongest but by those who believe that they can do it” and a huge round of applause that was proof of the brilliance of the speaker.
Vinod Gupta School of Management would like to thank Mr. Sumit Mitra & his entire team including Ms.Sagarika Mohapatra, Ms. Dipanwita Dutta, Mr. Puranjoy Chatterjee and Mr. Nilanjan Goswami for taking time out of their busy schedule and giving an opportunity to host them.