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Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a political decathlete. Just like a decathlon competitor has to win across 10 events over two grueling days, Modi likes to pack a dozen public meetings, yoga sessions, Cabinet meetings, midnight Mann Ki Baat recordings and state banquets in 48 hours, day after day after day.
PM Modi says (and we believe him!) that he works round-the-clock, seven days a week, without ever having taken a vacation in his life. “I’ve got no time to waste. Let others think about big, complex issues. I take delight in solving the tiny problems faced by ordinary citizens.”
Of late, he has switched to the third person when referring to himself. “Modi does not care about their useless philosophies. Modi is hands on. Modi is a doer. Modi is tireless,” he says often, with undisguised glee.
Erich Von Manstein was among Hitler’s best military strategists. He was ruthless and committed indescribable atrocities on the Jews. But he also crafted a celebrated theory of selecting leaders, which is best represented by the following grid:
According to Manstein, “There are only four types of officers. First, there are the lazy, stupid ones. Leave them alone, they do no harm… Second, there are the hardworking, intelligent ones. They make excellent staff officers, ensuring every detail is properly considered. Third, there are the hardworking, stupid ones. These people are a menace and must be fired at once. They create irrelevant work for everybody. Finally, there are the intelligent, lazy ones. They are suited for the highest office.”
A leader has to constantly do the most tiring thing in the world – make judgements and decisions, which can improve or ruin the lives of millions of people. If you are always hyper busy, on the move, giving unending rhetorical speeches, a la Modi, you physically exhaust and suppress your intelligence. So instead of:
But PM Modi is neither “lazy” himself nor can he tolerate a “lazy” person around him. So in the Manstein model, Modi himself is not a leader, but the Chief Staff Officer. Around him:
So, in Manstein’s paradigm, Modi’s team is awfully weak on the “creative leadership” quotient. It’s full of “command/staff officers” who can keep the old wheels oiled and running, but without covering much new ground.
Alas, if only PM Modi was just slightly lazy, he may have dealt India a new deal, like Roosevelt did for America, or Lee Kuan Yew for Singapore, or Deng Xiaoping for China.
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Published: 28 Apr 2018,01:38 PM IST