Thursday, July 21, 2011

Leadership Lessons from the Phone Hacking Scandal

Witnessed amazing testimony 2 days ago from Sir Paul Stephenson (Commissioner, Metropolitan Police) on the phone hacking scandal in the UK Parliament. Straight off, was amazed at how the committee questioned the Commissioner on whether, when, why and why not the Prime Minister knew certain things. Even more amazed at how well he answered them. A police commissioner asked about the Prime Minister's involvement on global TV..... and we in India have a problem in bringing the office of the Prime Minsiter under Lok Pal....

The best part came at the end of his testimony when he read a prepared statement on why he was resigning, even though he did nothing wrong....

I am going because I am a leader. Leadership is not about popularity, the press or spinning; it is about making decisions that put your organisation, your mission and the people you lead first. It is about doing things that will make them proud of their leaders, and that is very different from being popular with them. It is about making decisions that might be difficult and personally painful; that is leadership, and that is why I am going.

Well said.

No comments: