The Leader in You

There can always be a question arising in our minds, as to who can be considered as a leader. Typically leaders are considered to be those, who lead a group towards achieving certain goals, they have a command over the whole group and it is their decision that matters. There have been many leaders in the past who have created history by their leadership skills.

Is it the physical or the mental attributes that determines a leader’s position?
Mahatma Gandhi, was a leader responsible for creating a free India, sixty one years ago. He was a person who did not have a physical outlook, which would have been associated with a leader of his status. During his childhood days, Gandhi was an extremely scared boy. He was an average student, who did not have good communication skills. He could not boast of a family with famous personalities. This proves that a person’s physical attributes doesn’t determine that he is a leader.

What did Gandhi possess in order to be a leader?
He was an example to show that anyone can be a leader if he aspires to be one. This creates a whole new dimension for everyone to be a leader. This is what open source leadership is all about, here everyone are leaders and all can be decision makers just like Gandhi whose decisions changed a whole nation. It is a practice of shared ownership, there is no single leader who is the decision maker. All the members of the group or organisation have equal power to voice their opinions. They are the ones who facilitate the smooth working of the group by encouraging the fellow members.

“In open source leadership everybody are part of the vision”, asserts Sangeeth Varghese, Founder Director of LeadCap, an organization which spreads the message of leadership. They spread the message of leadership, who irrespective of facing failures should go ahead in achieving their goals. He says, “A place where open source leadership is followed is more of a movement than an organisation”.

How practical is this kind of practice?
Southwest Airlines is one of the examples, where employees played the role of co-owners. They were given power to take decisions in times of crisis. This system saved a lot of time and even the customer was satisfied with the prompt working of the staff and services. It should also be noted that the airline adopted the first profit-sharing plan in the U.S. airline industry in 1973. Through this plan and others, employees own about 10 percent of the company stock Today, Southwest Airlines is one of the world's most profitable airlines and in January 2008, posted a profit for the 35th consecutive year.
Southwest maintained excellent customer satisfaction rating in 2006, according to the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) year end operating statistics, Southwest ranked number one (lowest number of complaints) of all U.S. airlines for customer complaints, with 0.18 per 100,000 customers enplaned. Southwest Airlines has consistently received the fewest ratio of complaints per passengers boarded of all major U.S. carriers that have been reporting statistics to the DOT since September 1987, which is when the DOT began tracking Customer Satisfaction statistics and publishing its Air Travel Consumer Report.
Linux, is one of the most prominent examples of open source development, typically all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone. The primary difference between Linux and many other popular contemporary operating systems is that the Linux kernel and other components are free and open source software. Linux is not the only such operating system, although it is the best-known and most widely used. Some free and open source software licenses are based on the principle of copyleft.
This kind of open source policy by Linux makes everyone who involves him with a Linux project, a leader. He has the freedom to take his decisions in creating the software which he feels interesting. He does not need a higher authority who takes decisions for him to develop his software. Linux only facilitates the ‘Leaders’ in realising their goals, by giving them a platform.
Even in cricket, Sourav Ganguly, the former skipper of Indian team used to follow this system. He gave freedom to his teammates, they were given the freedom to do what they like in the dressing room. But, when they get into the field they focus on the game. Every player knows the importance of playing well on the field, hence they contribute to the team’s performance. This method of leadership by Ganguly has been very much valued, because the kind of success the Indian team experienced under his captaincy is huge.

Can this leadership be practiced in big organizations also?
It becomes difficult to emulate this kind of leadership in big corporations because there the financial bottom-line is very high and there are many people involved in the working of such an organisation. In these types of organisations closed source leadership is ideal, where traditional hierarchical leadership is followed.

Whereas, in a start-up venture, open source leadership is more practical. Here there is less number of people involved and even the financial targets are not very high. In these companies there needs to be an environment wherein everyone’s opinion is valued. Here everyone is involved equally for the growth and there is scope for more innovations in policies and strategies of the organisation. Each person would contribute in different ways to achieve the common goal.