Conceptually Management & leadership are two different sides of the same coin. All executives are managers, in fact all employees may classified as managers for the assigned task & responsibility but in essence only the executives working in top positions are genuinely defined as the, management of the company. Among the top management the Leaders by implication are the people with vision, deep understanding of business, acumen, drive, ability to lead & guide people, risk taking ability etc.

1. Essence of Corporate
Leaders
By Ajay Bhat (Monnet Ispat)

2. Conceptually Management & leadership are two different sides of the same
coin. All executives are managers, in fact all employees may classified as
managers for the assigned task & responsibility but in essence only the
executives working in top positions are genuinely defined as the,
management of the company. Among the top management the Leaders by
implication are the people with vision, deep understanding of business,
acumen, drive, ability to lead & guide people, risk taking ability etc.
Ajaybhat.in

3. All managers are not leaders but all leaders
are managers.
Tens & hundreds of books have been written on leadership, management institutions from ivy leagues to well-
known business schools teach leadership. Therefore it’s a much discussed & debated subject. The question is,
Do we get leaders from ivy leagues & business schools? or humming books on leadership. The answer is
clearly big NO.
In my experience of corporate sector essentially Group CFO 0f Monnet & after watching companies of all sizes
& reputations, I dwelt upon this subject & realized that there are basic fundamental characteristics which make
genuine leaders or so to say senior corporate managers assigned with leadership roles. These fundamental
characteristics may be classified as;
 Academic & Professional Background
 Job Experience
 Knowledge
 Attitude
 Approach ajaybhat.in

4. Academic & Professional Background
Basic academic qualifications in a relevant or related subject provide fertility & understanding. It’s
futile to write about qualifications as the whole edifice of society is based on education. However
the quality of academics does matter, students from top schools & colleges do well relative to
their counterparts from average institutions, however the same is never a guarantee for students
from top bracket institution for success in corporate ladders & or we cant conclude average
success of students from lower rung institutions. In fact many of the successful leaders do not
have any Ivy League/top bracket institution tag. Therefore qualification and quality of academic
institution does matter but may be a means but not the end of it. Students from average
institutions have also achieved wonderful feats in careers and in fact have better hunger and fire
to do well in conjunction with other characteristics discussed hereinafter. In the modern economic
environment, academic qualifications have assumed far greater importance compared to its
relevance in the past. To conclude a desirable academic or professional qualification is a pre-
requisite for a successful corporate leader given the challenges of global integrated economy &
increased play of technology.
ajaybhat.in

5. Job Experience
Experience is an essential ingredient for a corporate leader. Practical Experience exposes a
potential leader to intricate nuisances of job & corporate working. The quality & content of
experience isn’t what job offers you but on inquisitiveness of the person. Experience isn’t also
related only to the company of association but the engagement of mind with internal & external
environment. You learn less from what you handle but you learn more from what you don’t
handle. The quality of experience does vary from company to company. Experience in a
company strong in system and process and in a structured & professional working environment
is superior, knowledgeable and valuable. Job experience and company are complimentary to
each other. A job experience in a less descript company may not offer a desirable experience
profile. Job experience is always evaluated and correlated with a company of repute and known
professionalism and is rightly so. To a right individual, experience is a curtain between unseen &
eagerness to see, main reason about holistic involvement of some compared to their colleagues
& friends. Right experience reflects in the performance, ability & delivery. Experience is a
pedestal of growth & recognition. Experience is all about life, personal, impersonal, formal,
informal. It’s exhaustive but not inclusive. It’s neither a debate nor a discussion, its real & just
real EXPERIENCE.
ajaybhat.in

6. Knowledge
Knowledge is an ocean where all rivers of academic qualification, general reading of books &
journals, learning from experience on the job, learning from what has been happening around
you in the industry, country & even globally. Knowledge shared by juniors, peers, seniors,
colleagues & by experts & knowledge available in print & social media. Knowledge has no
definition in my opinion, it’s an unending debate.
However knowledge in the context of corporate leader may be summed up as broader & deeper
understanding of the role earned by academic background, experience & clarity & understanding
of intricacy of the subject. Knowledge is essential to perform a leadership role, it inspires &
motivates the people being led. It generates respect, recognition & following. Knowledgeable
person is looked by all for guidance, support & direction and hence become a natural leader
eventually. Knowledge is more relevant about profile of role & responsibility rather than generic
issues. In a dynamic global environment, knowledge transcends opportunities & challenges.
Knowledge for a business leader is a 360 view of core, fundamental issues of operational &
strategic matters to create a vision & mission.
ajaybhat.in

7. Attitude
Attitude of a person is critical to rise to a leadership position notwithstanding his narratives of
qualification, experience & knowledge. I am not a votary of a positive attitude, neither I discern a
negative attitude. A positive attitude as generally believed is froth with risk, haste & carefree style
and a negative attitude though sometimes powerful is besieged with defensive, extra careful &
extreme caution. Therefore, it’s appropriate to have a real attitude, a hybrid of positive & negative
attitude. Leadership roles require multiplicity of functions and each function demanding a
different skill set & a right attitude. Inverse of a right attitude is obviously a wrong attitude. I have
seen careers getting destroyed with a wrong attitude of person with respectable & right mix of
qualifications & experience. I have also seen less quailed & less experienced persons doing
much better in their careers with the right attitude. A person with right attitude attracts solutions
and is looked upon colleagues, seniors & juniors for guidance, support & may eventually become
a natural choice for a leadership role. Right attitude is an incredible asset, which channelizes the
knowledge and experience into defining roles. It is an index of measurement of leadership traits.
It defines virtues and personality of a leader. A corporate manager with no attitude or negative
attitude is never a candidate for leadership role.
ajaybhat.in

8. Approach
Last but not the least, desirable approach reminiscent to different situations is critical for an
identification & progression into leadership ladder. Approach is a style statement like approaching the
work in structured and systematic manner, prioritizing important and less important tasks, art of
delegation and deliberation, right planning and timely execution, art of engaging and managing people.
Approach to work is an art and quality, which flows from the personal characteristics of a leader rather
by virtue of his experience and knowledge. Approach encompasses, right communication skills,
communication is all about what & where to talk, communication through body language which is more
pervading than talking, interpersonal relations with seniors, juniors & colleagues, impression of being
non-negotiable on the matters of delivery. A person with an empathetic attitude, a quality that
generates respect & following. Approach flows from the clarity of role, responsibility, empowerment,
accountability and management traits of the person. It’s not taught and guided that’s why it’s one of the
most critical leadership qualities not found in most of the corporate managers. Lack of approach kills
many corporate managers aspiring for leadership roles. I have seen very talented & experienced
people messing up their positions by wrong approach either on account of any of the above
characteristics or by sheer unstructured or unsystematic way of work.
Senior Managers in leadership roles are weighed by attitude and approach. That has been experience
about Senior Managers in Monnet.
The above frame work for a desirable leader is based on my experience in Monnet and after evaluating
key people working in leadership roles though informally or through an interactive process in other
companies in the same and other industries working in professional capacities. Besides, what I have
gathered after reading profiles of some of the great corporate leaders.
ajaybhat.in

9. In News
 Follow ajay bhat on twitter , Linkedin
 Monnet Ispat to merge power arm - business-standard.com
 Current board of directors to be disbanded: Ajay Bhat, Advisor, Monnet Ispat & Energy
 Verdict on coal block allocation to impact bottom line: Ajay Bhat, group CFO at Monnet Ispat &
Energy, speaks to NDTV about the impact of the Supreme Court's verdict in the coal block allocation
case.
 Monnet Ispat eyes Rs 3500cr turnover in FY14, says Ajay Bhat Monnet – Moneycontrol
 Blackstone buys 1.87% stake in Monnet Ispat - Mr Ajay Bhat, Chief Financial Officer of Monnet,
confirmed to Business Line that the market deals by Blackstone