By: Willpower Harris
Businesses can learn five valuable lessons from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Success is a science which can be applied to any genre. All it takes is a deeper look at anyone’s successful track record to uncover the DNA of a winner.
From a stay at home mom to the Prime Minister of a Country, if you adopt the habits which lead to top performance you will capture the crown of success in your area of expertise. In business, few things are greater predictive indicators of success than the five principles exhibited in the achievement and behavior of Prime Minister Modi.
Lesson #1 – Never be pushed when you are on the ledge.
Prime Minister Modi, along with the rest of the world, looked hate squarely in the eye on a day designed for love. On 14 February 2019 the Pulwama attack resulted in the deaths of 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel. Prime Minister Modi did not allow hate mongers to push him into to blanket madness but to identify the source and deliver both protection to the needy and a response to aggressors.
Prime Minister Modi responded with might and not fright.
You can be fragile like a flower or fragile like a bomb. Both need to be handled with care. But you cannot fight bombs with flowers. Nor can you make flowers grow with bombs. Likewise, in business, the leader must appropriately respond to negativity in the workplace. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The leader of a business must know when to utilize the right tool during the right situation.
Lesson #2 – You have both internal external customers to satisfy.
Prime Minister Modi
In the world’s largest election, Prime Minster Modi won the 2019 Prime Minister race in a landside victory. Only someone who is clearly appreciated by their constituency could win in such an overwhelming victory. The largest group of humans in the world choose him by the largest margin. Internal customers, the life blood of any organization, are those people within an organization. All leaders must have a strong reading of the pulse of their internal customers.
The United Nations Environment recognized Prime Minister Modi as 2018 Champion of Earth. Being the national leader of a nation of 1/7 of the world’s population means the other 6/7 of the population is impacted by your leadership. While being responsible for guiding India, Mr. Modi recognized he is responsible for global impact as well.
Even in a country like the United States, known for its blunt and frank nature of expression, Prime Minister Modi was well received multiple times to standing ovations which shows the impact he has on the hearts and minds of the American people. Millions of Americans warmly say, “Howdy Modi!”
The world is PM Modi’s external customer. And, India is his first love and internal customer.
Business leaders must balance receiving respect from both their internal customers and external customers. In business the external customer is the one outside of your organization. The internal customer is the one inside your organization. Happy external customers and miserable internal customers is a bad mix. Likewise, happy internal customers and miserable external customers is a bad mix. Business leaders excel in their role when they have the admiration of both.
Lesson #3 – More than smarts you need Emotional Intelligence (incidents around moon)
Whose heart didn’t break over India’s Moon Mission only to feel it mended back with the embrace of Prime Minister Modi and ISRO Chairman K Sivan. It takes smarts to become the leader of the world’s largest democracy. And it takes Emotional Intelligence to lead it to higher heights of greatness.
Emotional Intelligence is a human being’s ability to manage their own emotions or that of other people. A business leader must know how to look out for the emotional well being of their staff. The happiness quotient of an office can mean the difference between a profitable year and unprofitable year.
Lesson #4 – Be yourself always
International Yoga Day led to Prime Minister Modi doing yoga with 40,000 other countrymen. Yoga was birth in India and spread across the world. It would be easy for a world leader to avoid such activity and limit their involvement to only western type traditions; Not Prime Minister Modi. He clearly recognized that somethings can be modernized and others things need to stay the same. Be yourself always and the world will take notice.
Business leaders should always strive to adopt best practices but never at the cost of losing their companies identify. You should never let your technology surpass your humanity. Whatever is the nature of your company, an upgrade to your software should not mean a downgrade of your kindness.
Lesson #5 – Utilize your best to fight the worst
Prime Minister Modi enhanced India’s national focus on entrepreneurship. Under his leadership, thousands of first-generation entrepreneurs have given birth to new ideas. Where the mind of the leader focuses the group at large will take notice.
Business leaders serve as the catalyst for their employees to adopt the entrepreneur mindset. The heart of an entrepreneur can reside in a janitor, administrative assistant, sales person, and manager. When everyone in your organization adopts the entrepreneur mindset a variety of innovative undertakings begins to raise your company from mediocracy to greatness.
Throughout my global travel working with Fortune 500 companies, meeting with international dignitaries and even village humanitarians these five lessons have become the mantras to my professional success. If you adopt even one into your daily habits then you will have the success that has easily been captured by the Prime Minister Modi.
