The concept of a great leader is a myth: Sanjiv Mehta
The concept of a great leader is a myth; it is always the work of a great team, said Sanjiv Mehta, Executive Chairman of L Catterton India, on Day1 of Goafest 2024 held in Mumbai on Wednesday. In the compelling session, Mehta delved into the importance of leading with critical elements such as vision, flexibility, innovation, agility and dynamic purpose in today's ever-changing market landscape. He articulated how visionary leadership, combined with the agility to pivot and a strong sense of purpose, can drive business success and resilience. “Agility demands spare capacity and the ability to redirect talent towards value creation,” he mentioned.
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Mehta also highlighted the importance of innovation through several examples, noting that no business follows a linear trajectory. Instead, resilience and adaptability are essential for organisations to bounce back and thrive in a dynamic environment.
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He stated, “Learning happens when you have the hu\mility to say, ‘I don’t know’. By admitting so, organisations and corporations open themselves to new knowledge and understanding, fostering a growth mindset that enables them to learn and grow from others' expertise and experiences, not just myopically thinking of profit generation. He highlighted myriad leadership attributes, including sensemaking, a term coined by Karl Weick that involves piecing together disparate information to foresee and navigate complexity. He also spoke about care and compassion being a core value for leaders. “We have seen new models of work and new models of businesses emerge. We have witnessed social media strengthening its position as a platform of mass movements, beginning with Arab Spring. We have seen the voice for environment, social concerns and diversity & inclusion growing louder. Natural disasters have become more frequent and there are climate concerns. There is steady economic growth on the back of globalization and relatively stable financial markets, especially in the developed economies. The era of great moderation is over. “ Explaining the factors behind this, he noted, “First is the global financial crisis, and what I would call as the increase in financialization. The financial crisis clearly exposed weaknesses in our financial system. The financialization of the economy with a growing reliance on complex financial instruments leads to interconnectedness of global financial markets and this has naturally increased the vulnerability of the systems to the shocks. And that's what we saw happening. If you recall, way back in 2009-10 when the rupee crashed. That was because of the interconnectedness of the financial system.” The second important bit is rising income and wealth inequality. This has led to social and political tensions, undermining the stability of the economic system. The third, of course is technological disruptions. And this is going to impact not just a few industries, but every industry and every walk of life. Both the industries as well as the labor markets.” “The fourth is geopolitical uncertainty. If you would recall, post the Cold War, there was a unipolar world. The era of unipolar world is again over. The geopolitical tensions, trade conflicts, uncertainty around international relations, this has also added to economic instability. The fifth is the climate change challenges. And, of course, added to this are the changes which have been generated by the evolving consumer behavior and dramatic shifts in the business regulations.” He explains that agility involves moving your talent to value. We often talk about agility. There is no business which ever moves in a linear fashion. There will be times when you will trip and fall. So, bouncing back from setbacks, failures, unexpected events is something which is very intrinsic to an adaptable organization. And last but not the least is orientation to learning.” “Focussing on the value of team over individuals is the key, he shared, “The concept of a great leader is a myth; it is always the work of a great team,” Mehta noted. For more updates, be socially connected with us on
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