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Gulf Times
Thursday, January 1, 2015

COMMENT
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GULF TIMES
A contrary cricketers
abrupt end to a career
of outstanding record
The words honour and virtue are written across
Mahendra Singh Dhonis chest in his Twitter prole
picture - tting words for the Indian captain (now
former), who displayed both qualities in abundance
during his 90-Test career.
The honorary Indian Army lieutenant colonel dropped
a bombshell on Tuesday by announcing his retirement
from Tests at the age of 33, just moments after helping
India secure a draw in the third match against Australia
at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
The series was lost but it was an abrupt end to a career
in which Dhoni emerged from the cricketing backwaters
of Jharkhand to take arguably the most difficult job in the
sportleading the national team of 1.2bn cricket-crazy
Indians.
He developed his own batting and keeping techniques,
tinkered with conventional eld settings and displayed
a natural tendency to take calculated risks while
maintaining a Zen-like calm. He has always been
a contrary cricketer. On the one hand he is one of
the supreme one-day cricketers, a chillingly calm,
calculating batsman for whom a run chase is like a
mathematical equation.
And then, there is Test cricket, where he has been
a competent batsman, very good for a wicketkeeper
batsman in fact, but an indifferent, scruffy glovesman
and a captain who has always appeared to operate in a
dream, a leader content to let the game drift past, not
so much calm and collected as indifferent. Yet, he led
India in 61 Tests, more
than anyone else, with an
overall record of 27 wins
and 19 defeats.
In India, Dhonis record
as captain is outstanding,
with 21 wins in 30 games
and only three defeats.
Away from India there have been six wins only and 15
defeats. In Indias last ve series abroad, they have lost
14 of 19 matches, and won just that single game at Lords
last summer.
Likewise, on Indian pitches, Dhoni averages almost
46, and ve of his six Test centuries have come at home.
The sixth, his rst outside India, was in Faisalabad in
Pakistan, in no way dissimilar conditions. Away from the
comfort of such pitches, he averages just 32.
Its another thing that Dhoni probably should have
been replaced as captain a while ago. In mitigation,
the heir apparent, Virat Kohli, had been occupied in
establishing his own Test credentials, which have
appeared at odds with his truly astounding record in
limited-overs cricket.
Kohli suffered a torrid time in England last summer,
but now appears to be coming to terms with his allround game and status. He is an exceptional young
batsman, and might well make a vibrant leader.
With Dhonis departure goes the last vestige of the old
guard who served them so well. Indias Test side really is
ready for the next generation.
On the positive side, he leaves Test cricket with a
45% winning record as captain to focus on his favoured
limited-overs game, starting with leading Indias title
defence in the 50-over World Cup in February-March.
He will once again marshal his teammates in the
tournament in Australia and New Zealand, and his fans
will go into raptures every time he unfurls his trademark
helicopter shot.

He developed
his own batting
and keeping
techniques

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Tony Fernandes: shows genuine compassion and support for families of the victims of AirAsia flight QZ8501.

Airline leaders show strength

coming to terms with tragedy
By Updesh Kapur
Doha

plane crash in the heart of

England 26 years ago shook
Britains aviation industry to
the core.
The passenger jet, a Boeing 737
operated by British Midland, smashed
into a motorway embankment just
short of the airstrip at East Midlands
International Airport.
The pilot narrowly missed plunging
into the nearby Leicestershire village
of Kegworth on nal approach. With
runway lights in full glare a quarter
of a mile away, he tragically failed to
make it. Forty-seven people onboard
lost their lives, 74 were seriously
injured in the incident on January 8,
1989.
It was the second major tremor to
hit Britains airline industry in the
space of just 18 days.
On December 21, 1988, Britain
suffered its worst terrorist attack when
a New York-bound PanAm Boeing
747 was blown out of the sky over the
Scottish town of Lockerbie en route
from London Heathrow.
All 243 passengers and 16 crew
onboard, and a further 11 people on the
ground were killed.
In what can only be described as
unimaginable, this weeks incident
involving an AirAsia aircraft crashing
into the Java Sea capped off a terrible
year for the aviation industry in
Southeast Asia notably Malaysia.
In March 2014, a Boeing 777
carrying 239 people onboard vanished
on a routine ight from Kuala
Lumpur to Beijing. It is presumed to
have crashed in the Indian Ocean,
but to this day there is no trace of
the aircraft, those onboard, nor any
wreckage.
Four months later, a 777 was
shot down at cruising altitude of
33,000ft by a surface-to-air missile
on the Ukraine-Russia border. All
298 passengers and crew travelling
from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur
perished. Both aircraft were operated
by Malaysia Airlines.
And this week, the Indonesian arm
of Malaysian conglomerate AirAsia
suffered a tragedy when an Airbus
A320 plummeted into shallow waters
an hour after take-off from Surabaya,
bound for Singapore. All 162 people
are feared dead.
Tragedy will always put those at
the heart of a disaster in the public
spotlight.
The AirAsia tragedy and the British
Midland accident of 26 years ago draw
stark similarities in the handling of the
crises by their respective leaders.
Sir Michael Bishop, chairman of
the now-defunct British Midland and
AirAsias Group CEO Tony Fernandes
can be singled out for taking
leadership to new levels.
It is Sir Michaels handling of the
British Midland incident that is used
in textbook case studies and in crisis
communication training courses for
PR professionals.
Within 30 minutes of hearing of

British Midland aircraft crashes 26 years ago on approach to East Midlands

International Airport in the UK.
the fatal crash from his secretary, Sir
Michael was at the scene. He gave a
radio interview from his car en route.
He knew almost nothing about what
had happened but he said as much as
he could. He spoke with compassion,
saying he understood how the relatives
of passengers must be feeling because
he personally knew every member of
the crew and that the pilot was an old
friend.
He took full control of the situation
upon arrival.
Not leaving it to his PR sidekicks,
he took the leadership role to address
the media of the unfolding drama from
the accident site itself. He had been
considering a crisis PR exercise only
days earlier and was still making up his
mind about the simulation when the
real thing happened.
He made himself publicly available
to press and broadcast crews, giving
information as fast as he received it.
His priorities were to get the relatives
of the injured passengers and crew
to the hospitals concerned, and to
provide immediate support to the
bereaved. Every family was allocated a
carer who would organise somewhere
for them to stay and look after their
personal needs.
He distinguished himself by
showing both humanity and control.
He was seen visiting survivors at
the same hospital where his mother
was being treated. He announced an
interim $7,500 payment to the families
of the dead and injured. He praised the
emergency services and helped the
investigators.
He set the tone for the companys
response by saying, I dont know
whats happened here but Im going to
the site now and will do everything in
my power to help these people.
Sir Michael will forever be
remembered to this day for his
immediate, credible and authoritative
response to the disaster. He stated that
if British Midland were at fault, they
would take full responsibility, but in
the meantime the immediate impacts
must be dealt with in a considered and
efficient manner.
An immediate and effective
response was crucial that would go
a long way to keep the companys
reputation intact.
Meanwhile, Tony Fernandes
has been turning to social media
channels to keep the world at large
regularly updated with developments

expressing his emotions and personal

role in handling the AirAsia incident.
A jet-setting businessman who
is active on social media, he has
used this form of communication
non-existent 26 years ago to keep
messaging as transparent as possible.
Social media has played a
crucial role in crisis handling and
disseminating authoritative messages
regardless of whether there is any
substantial update or not.
With a strong social media
following across his various business
interests including aviation and
football Fernandes is chairman of
English Premier League club QPR he
has not been shy of communicating
with his audience in good or bad
times. He is often surrounded by
beautiful cabin crew at promotional
events wearing his trademark AirAsia
cap and jeans and always prepared to
provide news sound bites to the media
hungry for a story.
In the current crisis, his biggest to
date, leaving tweets and Facebook
posts to his social media team has
not been an option. He needed to get
involved, has done so, and continues
to do so.
He ew to Surabaya to be with the
families immediately after hearing the
news on Sunday morning. Describing
the situation on Twitter as his worst
nightmare, Fernandes demonstrated
genuine concern for customers and
staff.
But more importantly under his
guidance, AirAsia has been open
and responsive to the media with
everything that it knows about the
situation, deserving praise for actively
taking charge of the situation.
Showing genuine compassion and
support for families of the victims
of AirAsia ight QZ8501 was evident
through Fernandes tweets.
Thank you all for your thoughts
and prayers. We must stay strong,
said one of his rst tweets on the
morning of the December 28 crash.
Another stated: On my way
to Surabaya where most of the
passengers are from. Providing
information as we get it.
A later post the same day said: I
am touched by the massive show of
support especially from my fellow
airlines. This is my worst nightmare.
In Jakarta this morning to
communicate with Search and Rescue.
All assets now in region. Going back to

Surabaya now to be with the families.

He later went on: Working with
airport to prepare all facilities. And
hospital. Chief pilots have been
making all arrangements.
Hope to y to evacuation site to
thank everyone for putting in so much
effort in nding the site. And keep
everyone informed.
Subsequent tweets stated: Reality
of seeing the evacuees and some of
my aircraft parts are soul-destroying.
But we stay strong. Keeping positive
and staying strong. My heart bleeds
for all the relatives of my crew and
our passengers. Nothing is more
important to us.
But the most touching and tting
tweets for a leader addressing
employees and distressed relatives
read: I, as your group CEO will be
there through these hard times. We
will go through this terrible ordeal
together.
I have apologised profusely for
what they are going through. I am the
leader of this company, and I have to
take responsibility. That is why Im
here. Im not running away from my
obligations.
Fernandes Twitter presence and
prole have paid off for the airline
but his personal involvement is likely
to make this a devastating blow for a
man who has been so closely identied
with the rise of one of Southeast Asias
most visible companies.
The AirAsia group of airlines has
had a virtually unblemished safety
record until Sunday compared with
competitors like Malaysia Airlines and
Indonesian carriers such as Lion Air
and Garuda Indonesia which have lost
several planes in crashes over the last
decade.
Fernandes, like Sir Michael, is
a CEO who understands issues
management. His empathy and
concern have been exemplary that he
was not going anywhere and would
focus on the companys commitments
to the families of those onboard the
ill-fated aircraft.
For those watching from afar, it
could be argued that Sir Michael and
Fernandes had no choice but to face
the cameras and the world because
they are iconic leaders at the helm of
their respective businesses.
But its far more than this.
They have had signicant or
controlling stakes in their airlines
from day one, making it so much more
distressing seeing their operations
grow in front of them to be hit by
tragedy. It is more a personal crusade
to be at the forefront of everything.
A sense of responsibility and
ownership is essential for any leader
faced with such a scenario. Taking
control and being accountable, and
saying sorry for what has happened
while at the same time stressing the
need to nd answers goes a long way to
earning respect.
A few handle tragedy well, majority
handle it badly. No form of training
will ever fully prepare a leader for an
unfolding crisis.
But good leaders truly exemplify
their leadership in good times and
bad. Sir Michael Bishop and Tony
Fernandes are such examples.
Lets look forward to 2015 and hope
no leader has to suffer annus horribilis.
zUpdesh Kapur is a PR &
communications professional,
columnist, aviation, hospitality
and travel analyst, social and
entertainment writer. He can be
followed on twitter @updeshkapur