Exponential Leadership EL = EQ to the power of 4

Exponential Leadership -> el = eq4
Only 2% can work without supervision. They are called ... LEADERS.
Does this statement imply that in organizations only 2% of the population fits the leadership bill????
I recently read excerpts of a study by academics Heike Bruch and the late Sumantra Ghoshal. They studied the topic of “Decisive purposeful action”. The investigation conducted by them revealed that in organizations there were always a small group of people doing the majority of the work that mattered.
According to this study only 10% of the of the managers took purposeful action. The remainder were busy but not very effective : - 40% were energetic but unfocused; 30% had low energy, little focus and tended to procrastinate and the remaining 10% were focused, but not very energetic.
It has become imperative for organizations to have an effective leadership measurement system.
So what is leadership and how should we measure it? Exponential Leadership = EQ4 .

There are 4 “EQ” dimensions to leadership and ultimately they all add up. If organizations look within and discover employees who continuously display these dimensions, there is exponential leadership talent. All the organizations need to do is identify, measure and invest in that talent.
The first facet of leadership (the atom as they call it) is the desire of an individual for entrepreneurship.
This stems from an individual’s ability to visualize what could create that difference or become a USP in times to come. Trying out new ideas, new processes, new products, an un-ending spirit, of trying to usher in the new and playing the role of a constant change agent.
I read an article in the Economic times titled “Failed Entrepreneur a successful professional” the essence of the article was to highlight how companies are looking at hiring individuals who have an innate entrepreneurial spirit with an added edge of fighting spirit, ability to face competition and a keen understanding of profit. “where no man has gone before”. This spirit of taking the unchartered course makes these individuals truly invaluable provided they take measured or prudent risks not taking risks that are close to being labeled as a gamble.

Vision

Can we devise some way to check the innovation culture of an organization?

How are failures treated by the organization when the failures are due to trying out different or new ways of doing things? Do the top managers / leaders encourage people to try out new ideas and what degree of freedom do they give these initiators?

Employees will be encouraged to think laterally or outside the box when they know that their leaders are open to trying out new and different things.

Leaders provide their employees a free hand and power to challenge and change things. It is not enough if employees are asked to think new ideas and differently, equally important is the resources that are placed at their disposal to facilitate implementation of a few their ideas which they think are most worthwhile. Leadership is all about managing and continuously improving in-spite of resource constraints.
EVA can also be used to represent the concept of Employee Value Addition. Organizations should continuously encourage employees to measure their contribution to the organization vis-à-vis what the organization contributes to their bank accounts every month / year.

It frustrates us no end to see that the tax Payers money is not utilized appropriately in development of the nation by the Government. It frustrates the organizations top managers and shareholders to see that their investment in human capital of the organization is not yielding a positive ROI. A positive ROI of human capital will only be accomplished if the organization is doing everything in the most efficient manner possible, bringing the latest technology and products to market at the fastest pace and being the market leader continuously increasing its return to shareholders.

Emotional Quotient
Leaders, who are able to drive results by harnessing their own emotions as well as the emotions of their teams (Armies), will be able to achieve much higher (efficient & effective) results than others. Harnessing emotions will only happen if the leaders are able to generate the right emotions.
Passion
Leaders ought to understand what causes passion (positive) to run high.
What causes people to come together and give up self interest and look at the big picture? Look at what will benefit the organization and in turn benefit them? People who are able to draw the linkage, articulate what’s in it for us and exhibit a lot of passion for the end goal and are able to create followers. Followers turn into self less workers, for them the leader is the role model they want to impress, for them the leaders success is their success and they believe in the leaders ability to turn the tide in their favor. These followers believe that when the going gets tough our leader (the tough) gets going….and hence the leader is able to generate a sense of security.
Leaders need to continuously revisit the passion levels as dropping passion can lead to complacency, which should be avoided at all costs.
I would like to draw parallels with famous leaders to explain this aspect of leadership. The Emotional quotient cannot be understood well enough without linking it with impact. The impact of this quotient can actually play a big role in turning the tide for any organization.
Leaders such as George Washington, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela have all shown the people the big picture, what life would be if…… what they envisioned and how everybody’s life would change. All of them were able to identify what lay at the heart of the problem and what most people wanted. They used simple communication texts, spoke with a lot of passion and exhibited honesty in their desire to work for the betterment of all. This is what earned them the followers….the movement swelled and ultimately with a lot of sacrifices success was accomplished….all of them became immortal. The one thing people never doubted was the ability of these leaders to think of new ideas…to find solutions when everyone ran out of gas…to gain alignment and to foster relationships. They were all very passionate about the one thing “THE GOAL”.
Charisma
Demonstration of passion can be amplified by a charismatic personality.
Charisma is defined as personal magnetism or charm, a rare personal quality attributed to leaders who arouse fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm.
Some of the most significant charismatic leaders in the history have been – John F Kennedy, Margret Tatcher, Rajeev Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto & above all my favorite Sir Winston Churchill.
They went on to arouse hope amongst their followers. The # of followers grew continuously as a result of the fact that these leaders were a heady mi x of passion and charisma….a deadly cocktail…but a sure shot success mantra in driving emotional bonding between a leader and their teams.
Charisma by definition is a rare personal attribute…but charisma can be broken down into various elements and the leaders can work towards acquiring some of those elements ….
• A visual treat : - personal look / grooming can make this happen
• A complete over haul of the wardrobe…the target is to be a treat for the eyes, smartly dressed 
• Almost killer looks – cannot be acquired…however can be enhanced with a look that the leader should always wear…i.e., a look called “I am not bogged down…I can find a solution”
• Well Educated – Education is a continuous process, hence the leader needs to continuously update himself / herself with the happenings….well educated could easily be replaced with well read or well informed.
• Speech Skills is something that every individual who aspires to be a great leader must work on. The maximum effort should be made in this arena as this is a skill which is invaluable….what to speak, how much to speak, when to pause and when to stop are all very essential in getting the attention of people and having an engaging dialogue.
Empathy – This word has often been confused with sympathy. Sympathy is all about feeling pitiful about another individual’s plight and showing concern / willingness to help. However in the real world self respecting individuals do not want sympathy. Every individual will appreciate empathy. Stepping into the shoes of your subordinates will help you, as a leader to understand, the real problem, if any, appreciate what bothers them, what causes their frustration as well as gain insight into what motivates them. Once you have been able to appreciate the perspective of someone junior to you. Your concern / attempt to address the problem will seem more genuine / honest.
Humility is the other aspect of being empathetic. Once the leader has been able to understand the problem and is able to move the needle in solving it….he/she should also portray it as a joint attempt. Remember you are trying to gain followers. You will only gain followers if you are humble. Being humble is all about being human or rather, humane.
Passion coupled with Charisma is a lethal combination for a leader’s success in creating followers and being extremely effective. Empathy coupled with Humility is a combination that will ensure passionate followers who would fall in love with the leader….taking his overall emotional quotient to the altar.
The next facet of leadership is the ability of a leader to Execute – Execution Quotient

The success of a leader depends on the ability to execute in the most efficient manner or in other words his / her ability to “Do more with Less”. The ability to execute draws from the ability to understand very clearly what needs to be executed i.e., clarity of goals and well laid out plans. The clarity of goals comes from identifying the top most priority, the objective that will yield “maximum bang for the buck”. Unless we are able to single out that one priority which will provide us the maximum benefit with minimum effort, leaders or managers will be generating waste. As finance professionals we should continuously be measuring the ROIC of our effort. Leaders always try to eliminate waste…hence efficiency is of utmost importance when it comes to execution.
The other facet of execution is ownership – How clearly boundaries are drawn between the various stake holders. How, stake holders, are set up as partners / as competitors / as adversaries. As the leader of a group, one needs to encourage partnership, which is beneficial for all. Organizations look for and seek employees who are always willing to help others to achieve the end objective.
Execution heavily rests on accountability. Leaders should be the first to take accountability for all actions, especially the failed ones. As they say “Success has many fathers, failure has none”. A true leader will take accountability for the failure and learn from the experience.
The last facet of execution rests on the ability of an individual to drive results. Driving results is the ability of the leader to deliver at or above expectations. Hence the basis of measuring whether a leader has delivered at or above expectations is first setting the right expectations. Once the foundation to measurement has been set, what distinguishes a good leader from a great leader is how effectively he/she has delivered on the results. Though a leader may have met 100% of the targets assigned to him, but what matters is whether he has accomplished this through collaboration, cohesive co-existence, and building lasting partnerships which will ultimately go a long way to strengthen the organization.
Ethics Quotient
People are committed to the organization they work for, people (managers) do not drive their behavior, rather it’s the organizations core values / culture that would drive their behavior. Their commitment is to the organization and not to individuals.
I aspire to be like that SVP, how could one let go of such a good candidate…if I were him…I would have hired this person and made sure that he got something meaty to do…and this is what I told by my SVP…to which he said “never make that mistake….you would be playing unfair to all those other people who work with you just so that you could carve out a niche role for an exceptional candidate.” He continued “Our role is not to ignore mediocrity but to make exceptional performers out of mediocre performers. That is the truest contribution you can make to your organization.”
To this day, I do not believe I could have received a better education on ethics, inside a corporate or outside of it.
Now comes the question……How do you measure ethics.
In my opinion the best way to measure ethics is to look how many people look forward to working with a leader. People like to work for people who have no double standards, who are transparent in their dealings, who are committed to making stars of ordinary performers and above all who pass on the limelight (credit) to their subordinates. During a session at one of the organizations I worked with, a senior leader advised us to look for leaders who promote people under them.
How can your desire to promote your team mates be a measure of ethics? One promotes someone when one sees potential in, puts a stake in the ground in his favor. To be able to reach that stage one invests time in mentoring his team mates so that they create / enhance his/her brand, when they move out of their organizations. Mentoring can only have desired results if the effort is genuine. To make a genuine effort one has to have an honest intention.

Thus in my limited opinion ethics quotient can be measured when more and more people want to work with you and for you.