Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw on leadership
I had a chance to read this article recently and just loved the way he describes leadership. An excellent talk, worth reading, understanding and putting it in practice. I feel really happy to have met Sam Sir in person.
A 21 gun salute for a
true soldier who refused address late IG as Madam instead called her Mrs.
Prime Minister
THUS SPOKE FIELD
MARSHAL SHFJ MANEKSHAW ON LEADERSHIP DEFICIT IN INDIA !
Leadership in the 21st
Century
- By Field Marshal Sam
Manekshaw, MC
Gentlemen,
Vice President, Ladies & Gentlemen,
I am fully conscious
of the honor and privilege which is mine to be invited here to address you this
evening. The honor is even greater that you should have invited a soldier when
you could have invited any number of VVIPs. General Choudhury, I thank you for the
very kind words you spoke about me. You have told us all the good things that
Field Marshal Cariappa has done. But one big thing that he did, you haven’t
mentioned. He taught the Indian Army to be completely apolitical. Ours is one country,
where soldiers have kept out of politics. I think that was the biggest
achievement of Field Marshal Cariappa, the greatest service to this
country.
Some years ago, I was
invited to a Rotary club function at Madras. It was stated that the youth of
this country had not contributed much to the society and they asked me to speak
on the subject. I disagreed violently. I said then, and I say now that the
youth of this country is confused. It doesn’t know why this country is facing
all these problems. Wherever they look, they find there are shortages. There is
shortage of power and there are power cuts, they can’t study and they want to
know whose fault it is. They want to join colleges and universities and they
are told there is a shortage of seats and they want to know whose fault it is.
They look around and they see the dissension amongst politicians and they want
to know whose fault it is, not theirs. They want to go abroad for studies and they
are told that there is no foreign exchange and they want to know whose fault it
is. Wherever they look, they find shortages, corruption, bribery, smuggling and
they want to know whose fault it is.
Here was a country,
which was considered the brightest jewel in the British crown and they want to
know what’d happened to that bright jewel. And nobody gave them any answer.
They are no longer fooled with the glib answer that we were under British rule
for 200 years and that’s why we are in this state. They turn around and say
that the British left us four decades ago, what have you done, except making
excuses.
They say, look at Singapore,
look at Malaysia, which too were ruled by the British and look at the progress they
have made. They turn around and say look at Japan and look at Germany. They
fought a war for four years. Their youth was decimated, they lost, their
countries were occupied, their industry was destroyed, and portions of the
country were taken away, and look what they have achieved. So please stop
making excuses and give us an answer.
Why? Ladies and gentlemen, I have decided to open my big mouth and say that the
answer and the real problem for all our difficulties, all our shortages, etc.
is lack of leadership. Mr. Vice President don’t misunderstand me and gentlemen
of the Press don’t misquote me. When I turn round and say lack of leadership I
do not mean just political leadership.
Books on military
leadership What are Generals Made of?, Follow Me-1, Follow Me-II
I mean lack of leadership in every sphere of this country. Whether it is political,
administrative, in industry, in trade unions, in educational institutions, in
the law and order, personnel, in our sports organizations and even in the
Press, it is lack of leadership. And it is on this subject that I wanted to
address you this evening. The Director General of Infantry wanted me to talk
about leadership in the 21st century.
Ladies and gentlemen, leadership does not change. The attributes of leadership
have come down the years. All that happens is that greater emphasis is placed
on certain attributes of leadership as countries advance and technological
developments take place. I do not know whether leaders are born or leaders are
made. There is a school of thought, which, says leaders are born. Ladies and
gentlemen, we have a population of nine hundred and thirty million people but
there is a dearth of leadership. If leaders are not born, can we make leaders? And
my answer is yes. Give me a man or a woman with common sense and who is not an
idiot and I assure you, you can make a leader out of him or her.
What are the attributes of leadership?
The primary, the cardinal attribute of leadership is professional knowledge and
professional competence. And you will agree with me, ladies and gentlemen, that
you cannot be born with professional knowledge or professional competence. Not
even if you are the son of the prime minister, an industrialist or a Field
Marshal! Professional knowledge has to be acquired the hard way. It’s a
continuous study and you never
acquire enough in today’s fast moving, competitive, technological world that we
are living in. You’ve got to keep up with your profession, whatever you are in.
Doctors, engineers, scientists, all contribute to journals of their profession.
They all have contact with their counterparts in other worlds. The problem in
India is that as soon as one of us is put in a position of power, he feels that
he has the monopoly of the entire knowledge.
Those who are responsible for the defense and security of this country, can
they cross their hearts and swear that they have ever read a book on strategy,
on tactics? On military campaigns, or weapons? Can
they even distinguish between a mortar and a motor, a guerrilla from a gorilla?
Professional knowledge and professional competence are the main attributes of
leadership. Unless you know, and the men you
command know that you know your job, you will never be a leader. Take industry
for example. The
automobile industry has gone through tremendous technological changes. It’s
only recently that our
industrialists have started thinking and producing a modern car. I want to tell
you that unless you have
professional knowledge and professional competence, you will never become a
leader.
And that takes me to the next attribute of leadership, the ability to think; to
make up your mind, to take a decision and accept full responsibility for that
decision. Have you ever wondered why a man doesn’t take a decision? Very
simple, because he lacks professional knowledge and professional competence or
he is afraid that if he takes a decision and goes wrong, he will have to carry
the can.
Ladies and gentlemen,
as a law of average, if you take ten decisions, five should be right. And if
you have professional competence and professional knowledge, nine should be
right. And the one that is wrong will always be put right by a bright
colleague, by an intelligent staff officer or by the gallantry of some soldier.
I don’t want to give you too many examples of why and when people haven’t taken
decisions and what has happened. I will give you just one. If the decision had
been taken to ensure that the Babri Masjid would not be destroyed, a whole
community would not have been antagonized. An act of omission can be corrected
but an act of commission cannot be corrected. To do nothing is to do something,
which is definitely wrong. When I was the Army Chief, I visited my formation
commanders and I asked one of them what he had been doing about some matter.
He turned around and said “Sir, I have been thinking, I haven’t made up my
mind”. It is absolutely
necessary that a leader must be decisive.
The next attribute of the leadership is absolute honesty and impartiality. We
all have our likes and dislikes, but, we must never allow our likes or our dislikes
to influence our professional judgment. Those of us, who had the good fortune
of commanding hundreds and thousands of men, know this. The leader must be absolutely
impartial and honest in dealing with personnel. No man likes to be punished and
yet a man will take his punishment if he knows that the punishment awarded to
him is similar to the one for a similar crime committed by somebody who has
influence, who has the ear of an industrialist, of a minister, of a member of
parliament, or the Field Marshal. No man likes to be superseded. And yet, they
will accept supersession, if they know they have been superseded by someone
better, better qualified under the regulations but not by somebody who is a
relative of the minister or by somebody for whom a ‘Godman’ intervenes. It is
vitally important when you are dealing with men that you should be absolutely
impartial. We must possess the courage to withstand these pressures.
Moral and physical courage are the next vital attributes, and I do not know
which one is more important. While addressing young officers or young
policemen, I will put emphasis on physical courage but since I am addressing
this gathering, I will lay stress on moral courage. What is moral courage?
Moral courage is the ability to distinguish right from wrong and having done
so, to say so, irrespective of the consequences to you. A ‘Yes man’ is a
dangerous man. He is a menace. He will go very far. He can become a minister, a
secretary or a Field Marshal but he can never become a leader nor, ever be
respected. He will be used by his superiors, disliked by his colleagues and
despised by his subordinates. So discard the ‘Yes man’.
I am going to give you a personal example of moral courage.
There is a very thin line between being dismissed and becoming a Field Marshal.
In 1971, when Pakistan cracked down in East Pakistan, hundreds and thousands of
refugees started pouring into India,
into West Bengal, Assam & Tripura. The Prime Minister held a cabinet meeting
in her office. The External Affairs Minister, Sardar Swaran Singh, the
Agriculture Minister, Mr Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad, the Defence Minister, Babu
Jagjivan Ram, and the Finance Minister, Yashwant Rao Chauhan were present. I
was then summoned. A very angry, grim-faced Prime Minister read out the
telegrams from the Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura.
She (Indra Gandhi)
then turned around to me and said, “What are you doing about it?”
And I said, “Nothing, it’s got nothing to do with me. You didn’t consult me
when you allowed the BSF, the CRP and RAW to encourage the Pakistanis to
revolt. Now that you are in trouble, you come to me.
I have a long nose. I know what’s happening.” I then asked her what she wanted
me to do.
She said, “I want you to enter East Pakistan.” And I responded, “That means
war!”
She said, “I do not mind if it is war. "Have you read the Bible?” I
queried.
The Foreign Minister, Sardar Swaran
Singh asked, “What has the Bible got to do with this?”
I explained, that the first book, the first chapter, the first words, the first
sentence God said was, “Let there be light” and there was light. Now you say,
“Let there be war” and there will be war, but are you prepared? I am certainly
not. This is the end of April. The Himalayan passes are opening and there can
be an attack from China if China gives us an ultimatum.
The Foreign Minister asked, “Will China give an ultimatum?” And I said, “You
are the Foreign Minister, you tell me”.
I told them that my armoured division and two of my infantry divisions were
away. One in the Jhansi/Babina area, the other in Samba and the third one in
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. I mentioned that I would require all the road
space, all the railway wagons, the entire railway system to
move these formations to the operational areas & that harvesting was in
progress in the Punjab and UP and they would not be able to move the harvest
which would rot; and I pointed out to the Agriculture
Minister that it wouldn’t be my responsibility if there were a famine.
Then I said, “My armoured division, which is my big striking force is supposed
to have one hundred eighty nine tanks operational. I have got only eleven tanks
that are fit to fight.” The Finance Minister, who is a friend of mine asked,
“Sam why only eleven?” So I told him, “Because you are the Finance Minister. I
have been asking you for money for over a year and you say you haven’t got it!”
And finally I turned around to the Prime Minister and said that the rains were
about to start in East Pakistan and when it rains there, it pours and when it
pours, the whole countryside is flooded. The snows are melting, the rivers
would become like oceans. If you stand on one bank, you cannot see the other.
All my movement would be confined to roads. The Air Force, because of climatic
conditions would not be able to support me. Now Prime Minister, give me your
orders.
The grim Prime Minister with her teeth clenched said, “The Cabinet will meet
again at 4 o-clock”.
The members of the Cabinet started walking out. I being the junior most was the
last to go and as I was leaving, she said, “Chief, will you stay back?”
I turned around and said, “Prime Minister, before you open your mouth, may I
send you my resignation on grounds of health, mental or physical?”
She said, “Everything you told me is true”. “Yes! It is my job to tell you the
truth” I responded, “and it is my job to fight, it is my job to fight to win
and I have told you the truth,”
She smiled at me and said, “All right Sam, you know what I want?”
I said, “Yes, I know what you want!”
I had the moral courage to tell her the truth. A leader must have moral courage
otherwise he will not be respected. I now come to physical courage. Fear, like
hunger and sex, is a natural phenomenon and the
man who says he is not frightened is a liar. But to be frightened is one thing
and to show fear is something quite different. It is when your knees are
knocking and your teeth are chattering – that is when the real leader comes
out. If you once show fear to your men, you will never have their respect. I
could quote you many examples of my own life. I am not a brave man! Please
believe me. You have to have physical courage. Never show your fear. How often
has a course of a battle, when everything was going wrong, changed because some
young officer has picked up a handful of men and changed the situation by his
physical courage? How often a poor old Inspector of Police with nothing but a
little swagger stick in his hand quelled a riot by showing physical courage?
The other attribute of
leadership is loyalty. We all except loyalty but do we give loyalty? Look at
things happening around you. The sons of kings, chief ministers and heads of
governments have shown disloyalty. Loyalty you must get from your subordinates
and also give loyalty to your superiors, colleagues and subordinates. Men may
give you trouble and create problems but a leader must deal with them
immediately and sternly.
A leader must remember that human beings have human problems, so the leader
must have a
human touch. Leaders must have the gift of the gab and a sense of humour.
And finally, men and women all over the world like their leader to be a man, to
have manly qualities. It is not that only a person who has no vices is a good
leader. Look at Caesar or Napoleon, they had vices but they were outstanding
leaders.
Since I joined the
Army, many changes have taken place; the .303 rifle has been replaced by a new
weapon. Horses and mules have been replaced by vehicles and tanks. Signal
communications have
advanced a great deal. Satellites now give the entire information to the Commanders.
But for infantry soldiers, one thing has not changed, and that is their job.
Their job is to fight and win. If you lose, you would disgrace your country,
your village, your home
and your wife. Let your motto be, ‘No one provokes me with impunity’.
In other words, or in a soldier’s language, if your enemy hits you on the chin,
black both his eyes and
push his teeth down his throat! If you can instil this quality in your men, you
will be a great leader. It is
" The leader" that this country lacks at all levels, in all walks of
life.
I did not wish to
re-iterate leadership traits and qualities from books to this august gathering,
but share my perceptions with you in our context. I hope I have been able to do
that.
Thank you.
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, MC
Excerpts from the book “Field Marshal KM Cariappa: Memorial Lectures 1995-2000”
