C.K.Prahalad on Leadership Styles

Today I got some time to look at C.K.Prahalad’s views on Leadership, since I have been wanting to read about his ideas on FBoP. But listening & viewing him was much more interesting! Leadership is about hope, change & future. Always analogies help people to understand better and he likens a leader to a sheepdog. The following are the three important points he mentions:

• Bark & not bite: Consensus building and listening to dissent & being open to new ideas which are different & valuable. Listening to customer voices for co-creation.
• Follow and not be ahead: Leading from behind with humility and not be arrogant.
• Knowing where to go & not lose the sheep: Should have a point-of-view about the future and be able to articulate it.

Leaders of future should have moral authority & not hierarchical authority: Gandhi Vs General George Patten styles. Gandhi was never dogmatic, autocratic but willing to changing his views. To him, means are as imp. as ends or goals and had clear values. But Patten used hierarchical leadership as a way of demonstrating credibility.