“Leadership Lessons from Anna Hazare” - Professor M.S.Rao

With the continuous fast of Anna Hazare the crusade against corruption is reaching to peak position where the health of Anna Hazare is of more concern than the crusade against corruption. Anna’s rise reminds people of referent power where people wield this power not by position but by stature. Although he doesn’t hold any public office he still wields more power than the people in public life. In this context, let us briefly know various types of powers.


Types of Powers

There are five types of powers - legitimate, coercive, reward, expert and referent power. One who holds his power just because of his legal standing vested in him by organization is known as legitimate power. Such people hold power as long as they hold their legitimate positions. Coercive power is a negative power such as threats or punishments that usually prevail in autocratic societies and such people are hated. Reward power is the ability to reward people and people enjoy their positions as long as they reward others. Expert power is about the position where people have expertise in some areas. Precisely, they are domain experts. Finally, referent power is the power where people enjoy status not bestowed by law or position but just because people admire such leaders. When you look at leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa they enjoyed referent power as people revered and supported them. Similarly, Anna Hazare began earning acceptance all over India and the world through his simplicity and humility. People across the country cutting across religions, regions, languages and cultures began batting for him. Hence, Anna Hazare enjoys referent power currently. Only the time will tell how long he will continue his crusade against corruption. Government of India must immediately come out with viable and feasible solutions to declare war against corruption by losing its personal battle against Anna Hazare. Here are the lessons that you can learn from Anna Hazare’s leadership:

• Lead from front
• Find out the common cause and work on it.
• Spot the leadership vacuum and fill it.
• Be a risk taker. Risk for your life and move forward come what may.
• Talk less and do more.
• Above all, walk your talk as people are watching you closely and keenly.



Professor M.S.Rao
Founder and Chief Consultant,
MSR Leadership Consultants, India
Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com
Where Knowledge is Wealth
Email: profmsr7@gmail.com



Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.



© 2011 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved.
This is an educational blog for free sharing of knowledge, not for commercial use. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://profmsr.blogspot.com This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.