If you want to be a true leader, moral courage is of the essence. You have to be straight and you have to lead from the front. You cannot have double standards. You have to keep your word of honour. Our civilization has always believed in death rather than dishonour. This means keeping your credibility with subordinates. When you promise them something, make sure you keep that pledge. If you are unable to do so, have the courage to say why.
In the Army, commanders are referred to as “tigers.” And they are honour-bound to behave like tigers. I tell my officers they should not have double standards – they should not behave towards their subordinates like tigers and towards their superior officers like rats. Have you ever seen an animal that is half-tiger, half-rat? Even in mythology, there is no such creature. Take the case of a subordinate who enjoys having a social drink. But, in the company of his boss, when offered a drink he says he prefers fresh lemonade and, to impress the boss, says this preference is based on its mineral and Vitamin C content! His subordinates whisper that he should have the moral courage to say he would like a whisky and soda. This man, who behaves like a tiger with his subordinates, is behaving like a rat in front of his boss. A tiger should be a tiger – with his subordinates and his boss. If you behave like a rat in the hope that this will get you a promotion, you will not get it. An officer also displays the qualities of a tiger if he has the moral courage to take the rap rather than blame a mistake on his subordinates. You will rise in the esteem of your superior officers as well as your subordinates. It is the rat who tries to get away by saying: “It is not my fault, sir, the accountant made out the wrong cheque. I just signed it.” It happens sometimes. But lame excuses and refusing to take responsibility do not an officer make. And I am clear about one thing: while punishments are meted out, no good officer’s neck is cut in a hurry by any organization.
Punishment and praise must be objective and without any secondary consideration and you should never think of where your subordinate comes from, what language he speaks, what religion he believes in. It is his work and merit which matter. In the Army, we have made that our religion. One must always guard against merit being sacrificed at the altar of sycophancy. Sycophancy, unfortunately, is a universal organizational trait. We all feel happy when people say complimentary things about us. If you have someone constantly praising you then you should be clever enough to realize that this person will do the same thing to your successor. In recognizing this, you will be two steps ahead. A person who differs with you and looks at problems differently from the boss, may be delivering and achieving more than the person who showers you with praise.
In good organizational culture, the chief cannot behave as the repository of knowledge. This attitude kills all innovative thinking and initiative. A chap like me will encourage a whistle blower. He is part of the corrective mechanism when things are going wrong. But there is the “whistle blower” who is part of the mischief and, when about to get caught, blows the whistle. That is unfair. He should be a whistle blower in the true sense. I would respect and stand up for someone who publicly says we made a mistake rather than someone who says he did not make any mistake and keeps lying. For the sake of a few rats posing as whistle blowers with self-serving motives, I would never abandon the tiger. We will only produce results with tigers in our organization.
A dozen years ago, I met a woman cancer patient and her husband at the Army hospital. I told her a Reader’s Digest story about an American woman who, diagnosed with cancer, fought it with physical activity – running between 5 and 10 km every day. I told the couple that there is an approach to cancer. It is as if you meet a tiger in the forest. You can say, “Tiger sahib, eat me if you must but spare me if you can.” Chances are he is not going to listen to your pleadings. The other is that you pick up a stick, a stone, you put up a fight. Eventually, he may still eat you up but at least you died fighting. When I became Chief of Army Staff, the husband of the lady had become a brigadier. He wrote to me to say that his wife had overcome her cancer, and that they had never forgotten my advice.
Her victory over cancer may not have been just because of my telling her that story but it may be a drop, a drop that helped her, a drop in the ocean. I suppose it was enough to bring out the tiger in her.
