Leadership trait: Look ahead, and don't be part of the herd

Common sense tells us that we should buy when times are bad and sell when times are good. However , the reality cannot be further than this. People find it comforting to buy during good times and sell during good times. Partly because we love being in the comfort of a herd. If everyone is buying, then there should be some logic to it. This is also partly because we expect good or bad times to last forever. Seldom do we make the effort to see beyond what is on the immediate horizon. But then, that is exactly what good leaders are all about.

Being contrarian, seeing what is distant and doing what is right, rather than what others are doing. In a way a good leader is more like a good investor: he buys low and sells high. An investor practises this in the world of finance to make a profit, while a leader practises this for conceptualising and developing his idea. Initially, though his idea is perceived like an undervalued stock, be it because it is before its time, or because times are bad, he still supports it and adds value to it till the time has come for fruition. He sees what is not obvious and strives to create what is not there by betting on hidden potential . He undertakes the act of converting something worthless in the present to what is precious in the future. So, what does buying low mean in times like these?

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

True leadership is about committing your present to a future that appears to be on the lower side currently , but which you believe can be high. Visionary leaders see the potential in things before they become obvious. They look for what is not there, what has not been said, what has not been done and imagine how things should or could be.

DEFYING THE CROWD

If we were to ask George Bernard Shaw, he would brand a true leader as an unreasonable man. While a reasonable man adapts himself to the world, an unreasonable man tries to adapt the world to him. He takes the big decision to defy the crowd. He produces and supports ideas that go against the crowd, that are like buying low and doing the opposite of what the world is doing, even while those ideas are viewed as bizarre, useless and foolish . However, as Shaw would conclude : “All progress depends upon the unreasonable man.”

LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAY

Leadership is the art of buying low and selling high. There is no better time to buy into an idea than when times are bad.

-- Sangeeth Varghese, Author of 'Open Source Leader: The Future of Organizations and Leadership'