Is Dhoni a leader at all?
Leadership as they say!
In any theoretical class of management in any B school across globe, they mostly start with the phrase “ Leadership is taken, not given”!
Its a standard line of discussion among global leaders. Though there are different school of thoughts circulating around. Be it the Steve Jobs school of autocratic management or the Sun Tzu philosophy of strategic management, being a leader is hard most of the times.
Because leadership is a very silent function. You can’t really show the merits of a good leader merely by the qualitative results they show, but by the value addition they bring to the entire sub system they lead.
Different Schools of leadership:
Let’s take an example of Narendra Modi, arguably one of the most dynamic personalities
in the world currently but have often been criticized for being one- dimensional in tone. What people don’t understand is, leadership in politics can never be a one man show.The Priminister of Democratic Republic of India is completely dependent on his council of ministers for taking critical decisions and when that happens, often in a broad economic diaspora, decisions gets diluted under many ideologies. I am not saying Narendra Modi ain’t doing a great work, I am saying he is binded by his larger subsystem and we all will agree, India as a subsystem to administer has to be the toughest job in this world.
Sports, however is different. If you try and understand major spectator sports across the globe, you will often find that the leadership is focused to one or two odd individuals. Take for example football, a coach is often called the main decision maker, despite having a captain, because when it comes to man-to-man marking, it’s a chess board, the entire soccer ground is. In cricket, traditionally a captain of a team is known as the leader of his pack, and for good reasons. Cricket is a very tough game where every right move can make a King out of you, whereas every wrong move can make a rookie out of you.
So what is it in Mahendra Singh Dhoni for which he is touted as perhaps the greatest captain cricket has ever produced? Can it be one factor? The simple answer is no! It’s a conglomeration of different factors that makes him different from the others.
A personality that speaks in itself :
Whatever portfolios I have come across and among many successful people I have come across in my life, one thing has been always constant. The personality speaks. Personality is something that brings long lasting impression on the table. Be it your peers or your elders, I have never seen any human being getting any amount of success without having a telling personality.
Now personality in context, is very vague and is a huge platform to cover. Some peoples personality comes out when they are pushed back against the wall.
Rahul Dravid is a perfect example of this. Every time team India had some challenge overseas, Dravid showed,brute resolute can bring immense laureals across the table over blunt romanticism.
So what is it in Dhoni that people can identify with?
Dhoni definitely has to be one of the pleasant personalities across board. He is calm to the levels even Gods won’t believe. Such a silent approach works immensely across team dynamics . When you know you have a leader who is silent and is approachable, your individual prowess towards the cause of the team gets enhanced.
Wattos amazing season :
I shall cite two very delicate examples which many of you might have missed recently, one, Shane Watson, the knock that he played in finals is a silent reflection of Dhonis personality! How? Can you imagine Watson playing a knock like that under the impulsive captaincy of Ponting or Michael Clarke, at this age? Never.
10 dot balls he faced, he could size himself up only because he knows he has the backing of his captain, who believes in process being more important than end result.
This was evident in Wattos presentation remark too, where he said he was not sure what he was doing in RCB. Imagine the psychology here, obviously in his subconscious mind, he compared the two managements and could figure which brand of management suited him the most, and definitely it was Dhonis. Because we all will agree, even Team Australia thought Wattos time was over when CSK picked him up.
The prodigal is back — Rayudu:
Another would be Ambati Rayudu. Champion performer across all franchises and team India, ignored by Indian management because of his age, flourished under Dhoni. Experience just needs confidence. Nothing else.
This is a classic case study of how negative motivation can diminish you to ashes, whereas positive motivation can take you anywhere.
Walk the talk eh?
Second attribute which I personally have believed all my life, you got no basis to talk if you can’t perform yourself first and Dhoni is a proven performer across a decade and half.
Not many kids now a days realize that Dhoni has won most matches with Team India playing at Max three and half bowlers almost 60% of his entire career. That’s in itself is legendary.
I won’t go much into his laureals and achievements as it is known world wide. But I shall tell you the trigger point of CSK in IPl 2018 according to me.
Self believe comes in achieving things which no one thought we can achieve. Like I surprised myself by going into the interview of IAS 2017 in my very first attempt. That’s a self believe in itself and I am sure many of you have telling stories to tell.
A surgical strike of Mind :
That league match against RCB where CSK was down by 70 odd for 4 chasing 200+ and won the game, is where tables turned for CSK. It was a surgical chase, like someone was writing the script of the best adventure movie ever, the way Dhoni and Rayudu planned the chase and the way Dhoni finished it, is a lesson in itself of immense self -belief. If you remember the CSK dug out, Faf, Watto, Billings Jadeja were all pumped up like kids when Dhoni hit that six.
That’s change in outlook right there which no institution can ever teach you.
A seed is most important to nurture:
Third, and I guess most of you know this already. Dhonis dynamics with young players is the best in the business.
Remember Jaydev Unadkat?He was picked for the highest prize for an Indian bowler in 2018. I vividly remember him saying Mahi Bhais contribution after IPl finale of 2017 and same goes for Deepak Chahar yesterday. Exactly the same lines, he said.
Saurav Ganguly brought the culture of bringing youngstars in team India with Yuvi, Zaheer, Kaif etc. Dhoni is a KINGMAKER in this subject. The list is unbelievable. From having faith in Rohit Sharma, to backing Dhawan, bringing Rahane in the middle order, campaigning Kohli to leadership role, to Bhuvi, Umesh, Jadeja, Ashwin, Raina, even Mohit Sharma and now Ngidi. World cricket is immensely blessed to have Dhoni who has brought a generation of match winners to the table.
Life is a risk, risk it:
Lastly experience and risk taking ability, remember Yoginder Sharma, remember Karn Sharma replacing Harbhajan last night who took the wicket of Williamson? These are Dhoni moments, no one else can bring them in table.
That’s why perhaps Williamson despite of being the best captain throughout the league stage couldn’t pass the final hurdle.
Winning two world cups and a champion trophy with a rookie team talks in itself. If you recall your memory, Dhoni bounced out England at Lords test, and won the champions trophy finale by giving Ishant Sharma one over out of the rarest odds which resulted in wickets of Morgan and Bopara.
Dhoni ain’t a leader- Dhoni is the mirror :
So again I come back to the final problem. What is leadership? I don’t have a concrete answer but what I can tell you all is, in Mahendra Singh Dhonis case, it’s always simple. Make the team arise to one cause, believe in individual ability of players, and when the time comes deliver on your own and set examples for your team.
Dhoni might be in the fag end of his career. We all know the eventuality. Everyone has to stop somewhere some day.
But when that day arises,
I shall rather celebrate and tell my peers, “ It’s not often you come across a leader who doesn’t appear like a leader, but that’s his greatest leadership quality ever”!
MS Dhoni aint a leader at all, he is the mirror we all can reflect and connect with something, somewhere!!
