Inspiring Leadership By Dr Pramod, Solanki

What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Coping with the increasing expectations and diverse perspectives of the stakeholders.

How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell your story?

It's been a gradual process. From the earliest I can recall about myself, living by my convictions was important. Then college and university offered some opportunities to express myself and influence people around. As I began my career, I saw opportunities to stand up for my convictions and influence the course of action.

The space to influence organizational working grew together with growth in organizational hierarchy.

Now as a coach, advisor and consultant to the organizations, the opportunity to influence the management teams is much larger and I leverage this opportunity to raise the bar on leadership effectiveness and nurture high performance culture. I also write to share my thoughts on leadership in social media platforms to influence leadership practices.

The leadership series that I host helps disseminate lessons on leadership excellence based on the experience of people who have made their mark in their chosen field.

How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

The day begins with a short session of yoga and breathing exercise. Then I look at the work already scheduled for the day and anything else that I would like to complete. That's how the plan for the day gets ready.

I alternate between 'deep work' ( like writing, reading, holding meetings etc) and 'shallow work' (responding to the mails, making calls etc). It helps me work for longer hours at a stretch, though I try and take short-breaks (10 minutes or so) every two hours.

What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

Something that struck to me about leadership is the value of your own convictions.

In my conversations with the outstanding leaders, I discovered that they stood up for what they believed to be true even when they were commoners, though they also aligned / managed their stakeholders at the same time. Actually, it's this mindset that seems to have propelled them to the position of eminence.

What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

Maverick by Ricardo Semler clearly stands out for the pathbreaking leadership demonstrated and the outstanding results achieved by the author / leader. The idea of working everything out together with people and 'work' being central to the lives of people was so powerfully visible in the real story shared in the book.

It strengthened my belief in co-creating, vision and strategy to transform an organization.

If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

Do everything to align people with the purpose/vision. Once that is accomplished, you may not have to really put much effort in the rest of the management.

What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

It's a work done by one of my team members in a plant.

The whole team was working on the initiative to help managers engage their teams better. Every month, each team member in a plant was required to present how the initiative is faring on the ground. While most of them shared positive experience, one particular member brought the whole experience come alive i.e. how each manager was behaving differently, how each of their team members were walking extra-mile to ensure that they met or exceeded the targets. It just goes to prove that if your team is fully aligned with the purpose of what they are required to do, they can surprise you with their innovative contributions and that's the test of your leadership.