Men in blue and Leadership

It is very difficult to associate Indian cricket team and Leadership. Over the years, it has been individualistic performances that have helped India win most matches. Even when India had great captains like Gavaskar, Kapil, Azhar, Ganguly etc, the individuals soared above the team. Team effort, coordination, consistency was not in the menu. That is, till recently. At this juncture, when India is the World champion, let us look at some of the leadership lessons from Indian cricket team

Leader that is Dhoni 

The biggest influence as a leader has been undoubtedly Dhoni. Stepping in as captain of a cricket team which had a billion followers is not easy. This he did at the age of 26. Dhoni showed that as a leader you have got to believe in yourself and your team. You have to support the team in its ups and downs. You have got to take risks. I would rate these as the brilliant decisions he took in this world cup

- At the start of the world cup, no body would have imagined that Yuvraj will the 2nd best bowler for India in this world cup. Dhoni’s had the faith in Yuvraj and it paid off. Another calculated risk that Dhoni took is bowling Ashwin in the beginning against Australia. Both these paid off. And I don’t think Dhoni would have been too worried if it did not pay off. After all, a few decisions like Nehra in that last over against SA, as well as playing Sree may not have worked well. But as a leader,Dhoni showed courage and belief in his team and believed that he was doing the right thing.

- Batting changes showed another key aspect of Dhoni as a leader. Always on the move and thinking. When Yusuf was not at this best in death overs, he had to see how best the support can be provided at the down. In spite of Raina being in not so good form (he had scored only 1 fifty in his last 24 ODIs), he took the risk to place Raina in the eleven. And in the final, he himself decided to come at number 5. As Jadeja was to state later, it is very rare that Dhoni would get out early if he decides to promote himself. A true trait in a leader! Leading the way from the front

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Captain cool

Have you seen Dhoni loose his cool on the field? Have you seen him shout at his team on field? At the same time, if somebody makes a mistake, he is quick to see if any change is needed. Whether it is field placement or changing the bowler etc. A leader respects his team. He also gives them a second chance. In fact, even I was a little amused when Sree came to bowl a third spell yesterday. A leader does not react in the heat of situation. Leader always shows self control

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Bringing team work is leadership

Not everyone can be a leader. We have seen that some of the greatest players like a Tendulkar or Muthiah Muralidharan were not Captain material. Still, this world cup final will be remembered for these 2 players as much as for others. 2 key lessons here:

- Within a team, there will people who perform well and they need to continue to do so. Being the captain is not the goal always.

- As a captain Dhoni brought out the best in everyone. It is important to recognize that there might be people who perform better than the leader. A leader has to perform well, not everyone who performs well is a leader

Team work is leadership. We had 3 different people bagging man of match awards in the 3 knock out games. We had almost every one in batting order fire in this world cup and almost all bowlers performing decently. That is team work and that is the true output of good leadership!

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This world cup will be remembered for many years for many reasons - India winning it after a long time, Tendulkar’s last world cup (Well, surely :-)), Yuvraj’s man of series etc..but it will be also remembered for Dhoni’s leadership.

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Congratulations to Men in Blue and all the best! Bleed Blue!!!