Leading the underdogs with Passion

Staying with Cricket once again...........

The stand out player during the first fortnight of IPL has been Shane Warne. Much has been written in every second website worth its salt about how he, a retired legend, took over a bunch of no hopefuls of the Rajasthan team that had not invested as much in star players as some of its more famous opponents, and turned them into a match winning team. He has led from the front, given the youngsters the confidence, led with passion and delightfully said that he doesnt need a few computers, pages of notes and umpteen meetings to create a fine team. He has made his no hopers believe in themselves and has led from the front, whether be it ball, bat or as a captain. The underdogs have been barking and sniping at other teams with great success. It is a regret that the cricketing world never got to see an extended run of Shane Warne as Captain of Australia, which he should have been instead of Ricky Ponting, but for his colorful life off the field. Such a pity. It has been a delight to see his intensity and leadership on and off the field. (maybe Sachin can take a leaf out of Shane. He has done his usual vanishing act in the current Harbhajan - Sreesanth slugfest. As the icon of Mumbai team, he was expected to take Harbhajan to task the moment he punched Sreesanth. This is not the first time and wont be the last when Sachin has abdicated from his responsibility despite being the finest batsman India has produced -well almost! for me, Sunny Gavaskar qualifies for that title. While I respect Sachin for his skills, I don't think much of him as a leader of men. He has hardly stood up to be counted when it mattered on any issue).

About a few weeks back, I was in a Middle East country visiting some Schools as part of my job to evaluate a prospective business partner. The Principal of the School claimed with lot of pride that his school always had 100% results. While my colleagues nodded in admiration, I asked innocently, " What is your detention rate at 8th and 9th standards and do you conduct an entrance exam when you take the students in?". An embarrassing silence followed. I had touched a raw nerve. There was lot of hemming and hawing. When I insisted, they admitted that the retention at the pre board exam level classes were quite high and yes, they did have a strict entrance test to ensure the best students get in. You don't have to be a frigging genius to get 100% results from top students. Also by detaining students who are just about average, you are making them failures in life when they are not. The psychological scars run deep. This is what the so called best private schools do. They of course have the best of the infrastructure and teachers. Compare this with a Government school, that takes in at least 3 times the number of students, working with tremendous constraints, not detaining students and still having a 60-70% pass rate. Who is the better of the two? My heart goes out to the selfless teachers and administrators of these Government School whose passion for teaching is seen to be believed (not all of course).

Leadership and strength of character are not about recruiting the best and making them perform at 80%. It is about taking over a team and a situation when you know you are given a raw deal and then to lead from the front with passion,turning around a hopeless situation into a clear success. That is what separates men from boys. The operative word is 'passion'