How to be a good leader

B-schools provide you with a great foundation to start a career, but the school of hard knocks shapes that foundation and creates a holistic leader out of you.

In B-school, I learnt a lot about analysis and problem-solving, about tools which I could deploy in various scenarios to arrive at the best solution.

What I didn't learn though, was that there is an important element of taking people along in any situation; listening to people around you, understanding what they are saying and what is unsaid.

Understanding the intellectual content of what they say is crucial as is the feeling underneath, and that is something that I picked up along the way. I realised over the past many years of my career that this capability of listening is critical in problem-solving, but more importantly in implementing any new solutions.

Swaggering in with the perfect intellectual solution is not the answer. Getting people to commit towards solving a problem is possible only if people feel that they contributed to the solution.

A B-school equips you with all that you need to become a good manager. But you need to learn a number of additional things to become a good leader.

For instance, a good manager sets goals for the future plans; however, a leader knows his role and leads by example. A leader needs to have integrity of purpose and a strong personal vision that helps align people around this vision.

A leader goes beyond delivering results and solving problems, but motivates and inspires people by appealing to not just their intellect, but to their needs, values and emotions, too.

Managing and leading are complementary and good leaders know how to balance the two. A good leader also knows how to flex his style according to the people he deals with.

Good business education makes you realise your capability, fills you with a competitive spirit and pushes you towards realising your goals. However, it doesn't teach you how to deal with the ups and downs of your career. We need a high degree of resilience as we go through our career.

There will be times when, in spite of your best efforts, you fail, or you take the accountability of failure for your team members. Having the equanimity to handle these failures with the same composure as you handle success is critical.

Meena Ganesh is CEO, Tesco Hindustan Service Centre. She graduated from IIM, Kolkata in 1985.