MAHATMA GANDHI: The Maha Leader

“In the mist of death, life persists. In the mist of untruth, true persists. In the mist of darkness,
light persists. Hence I gather that God is life, truth, and light. He is love; he is the supreme
good...”
What is meant by leadership? What are the characteristics required to become a good
leader?

Leadership can be defined as one's ability to get others to willingly follow. A leader
with vision has a clear, vivid picture of where to go, as well as a firm grasp on what
success looks like and how to achieve it. But it‟s not enough to have a vision; leaders
must also share it and act upon it. Leadership is a quality which cannot be acquired by
any person from the other but it can be acquired by self-determination of a person.
Leadership can best be called the personality of the very highest ability-whether in
ruling, thinking, imagining, innovation, warring, or religious influencing. It is a quality
hidden in the personality of a human being. Human personality is very complex and it
is very difficult to grade individuals according to one‟s personality. Leadership, on the
other hand, depends on the organic structure of the personality which
includes experience, skill, responsibility, intelligence, power of organizing people and
social interaction. Leadership is an indispensable activity, which every leader has tap
perform for directing the people, working under him. It is the ability of the Leader to
induce subordinates to work with confidence and zeal. In other words "Leadership is
the process by which a leader imaginatively directs, guides and influence the work of
others in choosing and attaining specified goals by mediating between the
individuals and the organisation in such as manner, that both will obtain maximum
satisfaction.

The following are the major attributes of leadership:

Infinite Courage: In fact, no follower will like to be dominated by a leader who lacks
self-confidence, courage and wisdom. No intelligent follower will be dominated by
such a leader for very long.

Self Control: The person who controls self rules others! The man who can't control
himself can never control others. In fact, self-control sets a mighty example for one's
followers, which the more intelligent will emulate.

Sense of Justice: Without a sense of fairness and justice, no leader can command and
retain the respect of his followers.

Decision Making: The man who wavers in his decision, shows that he is not sure of
himself, cannot lead others successfully.

Planning: The successful leader must plan his work and work his plan. A leader who
moves by guesswork, without practical, definite plans, is comparable to a ship without
a rudder. Sooner or later he will land on the rocks.
Doing More: One of the penalties of leadership is the necessity of willingness, upon the
part of the leader, to do more than he requires of his followers.

Pleasing Personality: Leaderships calls for respect. A person without a good and
pleasing personality will not be respected by his followers for very long. Well,
personality can be defined as the complex of all the attributes--behavioral,
temperamental, emotional and mental--that characterize a unique individual and
without it, a person can neither become a intelligent followers nor a good leader.

Sympathy: The word sympathy can be best defined as sharing the feelings of others
(especially feelings of sorrow or anguish). The successful leader must be in sympathy
with his followers. Moreover, he must understand them and their problems.

Responsibility: The person who wants to be a leader must develop the quality of taking
responsibility. With responsibility comes power. A leader is assumed to be responsible
for the mistakes and the shortcomings of his followers. If he tries to shift the
responsibility, he will not remain the leader.

Cooperation: Without good co-operation and coordination no organized plan could be

executed. Thus a successful leader must understand and apply the principles of
cooperative efforts and be able to induce his followers to do the same. Leadership calls
for power, and power calls for cooperation.
Who is known as one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen?

Mohandas Karmachand Gandhi (1869 – 1948) never won a war. He never was a
President. He never was a movie star. He never made it big in industry. He never even
made money. Still, virtually every poll across the globe, names him as the Man of the
Century. He is known as one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. So what is
it that makes the frail man from Porbander such a towering Titan? One time a
prominent lawyer in South Africa, Gandhi gave up practicing law and returned to India
in order to help ease the suffering of the repressed people of his homeland. Gandhi's
love for people and his religious fervor made him a revolutionary in many of his ideas
and actions. He desired to see India freed from British rule in a bloodless revolution,
similar to the Glorious Revolution of Seventeenth Century England. Knowing that
violence only begets violence, he began the practicing of passive resistance, or as he
called it, Satyagraha which means holding onto truth. In his famous Salt March of 1930,
Gandhi and thousands of others marched to a coast where salt lay on the beaches to
protest the British Governments' prohibition against the Indians making their own salt.
Though many were beaten, arrested and killed, no one fought back. Over the course of
his life he led three major crusades, rallied support for nonviolent strikes, urged Indians
to boycott anything British, and championed women's rights. Gandhi exemplified many
characteristics of a great leader. His love for the people of India was boundless; he
wanted nothing more than to serve and help them. Always putting others above
himself, he sought to make himself even lower than the lowest member of the Hindu
caste system. He even humbled himself to the point of sweeping up excrement left
behind by others, hoping to teach that disease was spread in filth. One of his most
admirable qualities was that he led by example and never preached that which he was
not willing to do himself. A common thread between Gandhi and many other great
leaders was that no matter what he did, he did it to the best of his ability. He once said:
No matter how insignificant the thing you have to do, do it as well as you can, give it as
much of your care and attention as you would give to the thing you regard as most
important. For it will be by those things that you shall be judged. He gave up his life
and material possessions, fasted, toiled and suffered for his people and their cause. He
showed that passiveness is not synonymous with weakness, and became a leader in the
truest sense of the word. Perhaps Gandhi's greatest contribution to the world continued
long after his assassination in 1948. Few realize that had it not been for his influence, we
may have never witnessed Martin Luther King Junior's “I have a dream speech”, or
Nelson Mandela's struggle against antiapartheid oppression in South Africa. These
people and many more who have followed in his footsteps bear witness to Gandhi's
leadership ability and his legacy that will continue for many centuries to come.
What enabled Mahatma Gandhi to be a great leader?

Gandhi learnt his Leadership skills during his years in South Africa, and honed them in
India. He was naturally charismatic. He had a "feel" for his Follower‟s needs which was
uncannily correct. But he did develop formal tools and methods to become a better
Leader over time. What he learnt is instructive to us all. He is a classic example of the
Leadership model put forward in "Leadership Truths". That is, he had a rock-
solid value system from which all of his activities stemmed, he wanted to make major
changes at every turn in his life, and he had a totally interdependent relationship with
his followers. And, as a man of action, he used the 4 E‟s throughout his life.

Beliefs

As discussed in the biography, whilst a Hindu, his wide-ranging interests and learning
gave him knowledge and an eclectic assimilation of other faiths. He was without doubt
a "learner" and an experimenter in almost every aspect of his activities, and throughout
his life. His beliefs are central to everything he did. He saw love in Christianity, a direct
relationship with one‟s God in Islam, and the unity of life in Hinduism. Religion for
Gandhi was what one did, not what one believed. Action was everything. This is
because God in his view is not a person, but is Truth. Thus, by discovering one‟s own
true dispositions, one reaches one‟s own unique spiritual destination (or "Moksha").
Again, spiritual renewal is to Gandhi the key to personal freedom.

Values

For Gandhi, Truth was everything, and it was intrinsically linked with the concept of
the non-violence and spiritual renewal that was "Satyagraha" and "Swaraj".
"Satyagraha" was not just a political method but a moral statement about how to act
politically. Unless events were conducted the right way, he would rather not act, and
often called off protests or other actions as a result.

Truth was also connected to humility, cleanliness, celibacy and poverty. It was
connected to unity (of religions and beliefs), and to the goodness of humanity. He
always believed that people were intrinsically capable of good – which was both a key
to his success as a Leader, and one of the reasons for his failures. He believed in action,
and not just words.

Change
His entire life story is about action, to bring about positive change. He both succeeded
and failed in what he sought to do, but he always moved forward and he never gave up
the quest for improvement, both social and spiritual, and both for individuals and for
the Nation as a whole.

In some changes he succeeded, and in some he failed. And, in some case, the success
came years after the action. For example, the Salt tax was only fully repealed at
Independence. But, in every case his actions were targeted against a specific change he
was trying to bring about.

Followers

Gandhi‟s life is one of total service to others, and of the unselfish representation of their
needs. His spirituality and charisma just added to his plain hard-nosed rationalism in
analyzing each issue he faced – to evaluate how best to motivate and therefore lead his
Followers. Rarely has one man been able to generate such a band of willing followers.

Envision

His vision of the future was a combination of the spiritual, the moral and the practical,
and it was through his consistent application of his vision that he led.

He clearly felt that the apparent Indian lack of self-respect enabled the British to rule
India, so he felt that Indians should take prime responsibility for their own situation.
Thus, as consistently noted, Gandhi wanted not only the political independence of
India, but the spiritual renewal (and independence) of all of India‟s people.

His vision of the future of India was firmly rooted in the glorious, spiritual past of the
Gitas, yet with significant influence from Christian and other values. In expressing his
vision, Gandhi touched the hearts of millions, and to this day holds a moral beacon for
millions more.

Practically, he chose causes that were of great importance to his potential followers, and
brought alive his vision of what success would look like. Examples are his work to
bring fair treatment to people in South Africa, the repealing the Salt Tax and Indian
Independence itself. In every case he did not just use philosophical statements or
flowery visions, but he laid out concrete objectives which people could buy into and
then act upon.

In all things he did as a Leader, he thus put forward a powerful and appropriate vision
to the Follower group. He could write the most complex, intellectual work, to be sure
his point was understood. Yet, he could express the feelings of his Followers in the most
simple and eloquent ways. Picking up a handful of salt on the beach was perhaps the
most dramatic practical expression of his vision of freedom from the salt tax, an act that
was copied by thousands.

Enable

In formal organizational terms, Gandhi employed few unique methods. Yet, he clearly
knew how to get people in the right place, to do the right thing. From arranging
ambulance corps, to setting up formal "protest" organizations, to raising funds or even
recruiting troops to fight in the War, he was no stranger to structure.

However, his greater enablers were in his own actions. He literally lived the life that he
wanted other people to live. He demonstrated exactly how to behave, whether in
normal day to day life, or in high-profile political protest. From the philosophy and
structure of the "Constructive Program", his use of a spinning wheel was both a symbol
of revolution, and a method of demonstrating how to build the "perfect" Indian Society.

Gandhi also used words as enablers, ranging from writing protest letters to helping to
construct the Constitution of the Indian Congress party. "Satyagraha" and "Swaraj" are
themselves both words of description and words of action.

From his dedication to a life of action, everything he did enabled his Followers to follow
and to act. "Do what I do, not what I say" was his greatest enabler. It was also his
greatest energizer.

Empower

Gandhi‟s life was a combination of discipline and freedom, for himself and for his
Followers. His greatest successes came from empowering people with the methods and
the desire for "Satyagraha". When those individuals faced attack or prison, they were
both terribly alone, yet totally connected to their fellow protesters. They were free to
pursue their goals, yet they had a contract with Gandhi and with each other. He needed
to serve them, just as they served him, the cause, and each other.

Energize

Gandhi had a knack of choosing causes which would have maximum impact, and
which would have the maximum chance of touching everyone. Many members of
Congress were skeptical of overly focusing on the Salt tax issue, as it had been a long-
standing source of discontent. It could be seen as a minor issue in the grand scheme of
the fight for Independence. Yet, the Salt March caught the imagination of the Nation,
the global media and the world.
Not only could Gandhi energize on a large scale, but he could also touch individuals. A
classic example is the response of the Judge who hoped Gandhi would be dealt with
leniently, despite the Judge having to serve a mandatory sentence on him.

Gandhi‟s humility, and obvious care for his opponents as equally as his followers,
meant that virtually everyone Gandhi met had an emotional response to the man and
his actions. Witness the Lancashire mill workers in England, who should have disliked
his boycott on their products. His obviously truthful and heart-felt explanation, both of
why he was doing what he was doing, and why he hoped the mill workers would not
suffer, struck a significant cord.

Gandhi also chose his personal symbols well, from the white dhoti ("cleanliness and
humility") to only wearing sandals made of leather from cows that died naturally. The
only decoration on the walls of his room at the Ashram was a crucifixion. He took the
philosophy he espoused and turned it into visual representations of his "story". These
symbols clearly provided a consistency to the energizing process he consciously used.

From a "story telling" viewpoint, his speech on the Salt March, almost angrily
denouncing the overzealous use of scarce rural resources for the benefit of the marchers
was a classic case of his speaking from his values, and galvanizing his Followers back
onto the right course.

Single handedly, he stopped slaughter at partition in Bengal, with two of his most
powerful energizing tools. He fasted without fear, and he met the "combatants" face to
face, with no fear for his own safety. In fact, it is worth noting that his apparent
fearlessness and disregard for himself was in itself a powerful energizing force, and a
great problem for his opponents.

Influence

Gandhi‟s effect on the world was and still is immense. On the positive side, he helped
create the world‟s largest democracy. He also gave to the world a way of thinking about
and acting upon value systems that profoundly influenced such important figures as
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Gandhi directly influenced the American Civil
Rights movement, and thus the broader Human Rights concerns and activities of today.

From a practical viewpoint, his focus on "Swadeshi" formed the core of India‟s
industrial policy, and that did deliver some real successes under Nehru‟s Leadership.
How did Gandhi successfully use marketing techniques to achieve his vision?

Market Research:
In 1901, after attending the Kolkata session of the Indian National Congress he went out
on a tour of India, traveling third class in order to study for himself, the habits and
difficulties of the poor.

Packaging:
When Gandhi came back from South Africa he promptly gave up his westernized dress
and moved to dhoti, kurta, turban; and he had a „packaging‟ which was different than
other leaders of freedom fighters like Motilal Nehru, Mohammad Ali Jinnah etc. When
he picked up the „walking stick‟ he did not need one, but again it could have been a part
of „packaging‟.

Positioning:
With “My Experiments with Truth”, an autobiography containing true account of his
early life Gandhi positioned himself as an epitome of truth. This helped him get away
with many of his actions of omission and commission later in his political life.

Shelf Space:
Gandhi‟s first appearance on the all India political scene in 1919 was through Rowlatt
satyagrah which ended in a fiasco but made him known all over India. The spark was
provided by the opposition of many Indian Muslims to British policy towards the
defeated Ottoman Empire and their demand for preserving the Khilafat of Islam.
To quote Claude Markovits from „The Un-Gandhian Gandhi‟, “Gandhi got associated at
an early stage with Muslims protests against British policy, a position which did not go
down too well with many nationalists, wary of a movement that, they thought, was
dominated by pro-Islamic elements. But it enabled Gandhi to use this apparently
peripheral position to establish himself at the heart of the political debate. He forged an
alliance with some Muslims leaders which helped him make his views prevail in
Congress in spite of his lack of a proper base.”

Image Management:
“Gandhi had a frugal style of living but, as Sarojini Naidu once jokingly remarked, it
cost Gandhi‟s friends a great deal of money to keep him in poverty. His consumption of
fresh fruit, increasingly his staple diet, would have bankrupted many a middle class
household. This friend of the poor was also friend of rich, and he was always opposed
to the ideology of class struggle. While he never showed indulgence towards the rich,
whom he expected to behave as trustees and not owners of their assets, his links to
business circles did sometimes act as a break on his political decisions.”

Event Management:
Of all the great initiatives in India‟s Freedom Struggle, the Salt Satyagrah remains the
most innovative…Think of Gandhi, for a moment, as a strategist. He had to fight the
British Empire. He understood his competition. He was resource-constrained, if we
consider military or financial resources. He needed a cause that would unite people, the
rich and the poor. He needed a public demonstration of defiance. He did not want a
defiance that would involve any technological requirements. Salt was it. It united all
castes and economic levels. Salt is God‟s gift. Salt, water and the Indian Sun could do
the trick. The Dandi March and the crowds on the beaches attracted people. The British
learned not to underestimate the power of common symbols”

Public Relation:
He knew how to exploit all the possibilities offered by a given situation, combining
agitation and propaganda in the most effective way. Gandhi proved to be a genius of
„agitprop‟. He was good at attracting the attention of media upon his actions and on the
movements he led. The start of the salt march was covered by the three film
documentary organizations present in India and by correspondents of
the international press. Gandhi was skilled in staging his smallest action, so as to
maximize its resonance, by playing on symbols and visual elements. When he seized
the initiative, he gave no breathing time to the opponent.

Logo:
He was a great creator of „Logos‟. He made „Charkha‟ (spinning wheel) a potent symbol
of freedom fight and he devoted some part of every day to work on „Charkha‟ to give it
the required publicity. Charkha became so powerful a logo that it ended up on the
National Flag.
Brand Identity and Brand Ambassador:
„Khadi‟ became the brand identity. Gandhi himself became the Brand Ambassador for
Khadi. Khadi was not a mere rejection of Western attire – it was a panacea for the
economic ills that beset the country.

Slogan:
He was well aware of the fact that Mughal and Buddhist rule was overthrown by
Bhakti Movement. The resonance of „Vande Mataram‟ had brought about the revival of
the urge in the country to overthrow Britishers. He created an alternative in „Raghupati
Raghav Rajaram‟ and like Charkha, started spending time on it every day to give it
enough publicity.
What is the learning we can take from Gandhi to apply in our lives?

Definite Of Purpose

One of the main traits that Mahatma possessed was his „definite of purpose‟. His vision
and how he was to achieve this, was the guiding light for the choices that he made. His
main goal was to set India free and to fight for the rights of the repressed, through the
use of NON violent means. His total commitment to this at times caused great
tribulations for him and his people, but his principle that, non violence was the correct
way to accomplish the goal of freeing India was always at the fore front of everything
he did.

One should have a clear and definite vision, to become a great leader.

Discipline

Mahatma believed that challenging his self discipline heightened his commitment to
achieving his goals. He was a focused leader that had a“Do or Die” attitude. He „would
free India or die in the process‟. Mahatma would do extraordinary things to improve
his discipline and his commitment.

Integrity

He would not accept any deviation to this principle of Non Violence. He would rather
go to jail (which he did often) rather than go back on his word about non violence. His
word was his power and his weapon.

To become a great leader, all your actions have to be rooted in deep moral values.

Related To People

Gandhi made an effort to truly understand his people. He spoke from their point of
view...from what motivated them. It has been said that, when he spoke publicly to large
audiences it was like he was speaking to you individually. He did not put himself on a
pedestal and segregate himself from his people. He had great empathy.

This is an important attribute that future leaders have to learn. One should connect with
the followers and appear to be one of them.
Belief and Faith

His belief was probably the most important factor in Mahatma‟s success. He not only
had self belief but he had the ability to INSPIRE the Indian people to believe in
themselves and their goal of freedom, even through all the hardships that they faced.

Flexibility

At times Gandhi had to be quite flexible leader. At times he had to change his plans
around to counter British rules and tactics. One thing that stayed the same was his
values and principles.

Especially in today‟s corporate environment, one has to be very careful, as both external
and internal environment is volatile. A leader has to be flexible enough to allow a
change in plans, but not at the expense of his core values.

Able To Transcend Failures

The first time Mahatma got up to speak in court, when he was working as a lawyer, he
could not speak one word out loud due to fear. This caused him great humiliation. Even
though he failed miserably, those failures eventually lead to him becoming one of the
best public speakers of all time. There were quite a number of times Gandhi failed; each
time he used the failure to improve his leadership skills and to improve himself and the
task at hand.

Mahatma shows us that the even the best leaders still fail and make mistakes. He also
shows that the difference between good leaders and great leaders is that the great
leaders acknowledge and learn from their mistakes.

Spirituality

Gandhi was able to successfully bring spirituality into his leadership style. He
promoted love and peace in times when another leader would have made a call to arms.
Basically he transcended hatred by bringing belief and love to all the people he came
across… even his enemy.

Gandhi‟s life shows that living by integrity and having a strong unmovable sense of
belief and faith, means that anyone can make a positive impact in this world that we
live in.
“A Customer is the most important visitor
on our premises.
He is not dependent on us.
We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption on our work.
He is the purpose of it.
He is not an outsider to our business.
He is a part of it.
We are not doing him a favour by serving
him.
He is doing us a favour by giving us an
opportunity to do so”

- Mohandas Karmachand Gandhi.