The Case of the Bonsai Manager - Anecdote

"When institutions teach management techniques and concepts, they appeal to the analytical brain. When the student manager graduates from there, he feels that he knows a lot about management. Otherwise, why would he go there in the first place? However, management practice is much more than the acquisition of such knowledge or the MBA diploma.

As he manages in real life, the manager must analyse, but he must also synthesize, he must know about and be aware of the strengths of people around him, as he will always realise but rarely admit, he will never know enough, not at any time during his career. When the chips are down, he must lead with truthfullness and credibility, and when the going is good, he must alert his team to the impending challenges so that complacency is consciously avoided. He must be a master of psychology without possibly ever having studied the subject.

He must at all times be rational, but his rationality must have a core of emotion, which is the essense of all human motivation. As acknowledged by experienced managers, effectiveness comes through good judgement, which comes through experience, and experience comes through bad judgement."

"Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him"
Aldous Huxley

Ratan Tata : Chairman , Tata Sons
"Gopal observes: Today's leadership skill set, has moved awayfrom the coldly analytical, aggresive and thrusting, towards the humane, inclusive and intuitive. Good leaders, overlay the known facts with their gut feel and instinct, which they consciously develop through their keen listening, reflection, contemplation and mentoring."