Building CEO behaviour and mindsets

This is not the first book on leadership.

- R GOPALAKRISHNAN

The bookshops are overflowing with umpteen leadership books. Readers are intrigued about which ones to read, and later, to contemplate whether they learnt anything useful, Leadership books pose a dilemma as much as leadership itself does! This comment should not be interpreted as meaning that such books are of no value, It merely implies that there are multiple leadership lessons that are possible for successful leaders to share. There are books that teach you lessons from sports, from mythology, from political leaders, and from business leaders. Many books extol the virtues of the author or the protagonist.

My personal experience has been that lessons about “great men” can inspire people, but lessons from personal acquaintances instruct people! [learnt and practised great lessons from my father and physics teacher but was surely inspired by lessons from Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln. My perception is worth mentioning as I write about this distinctive book by S Shivakumar. It is also fair to mention that Shiv has been a longtime colleague at Unilever, a good friend, and an active professional colleague. Having made the statutory disclosures, what is the book about?

It is an unusual repository of leadership behaviour and mindset. Which is more important: Behaviour and mindset on the one hand or actions and practices on the other? Many leadership books focus on action and practices. Shiv’s book focuses on the former, almost exclusively.