RPGCOM :: April 2010

Interview - David Garvin
GREAT leaders listen to what isn’t said’

David Garvin is the C. Roland Christensen Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. During one of his recent visits to India, he conducted an advanced leadership workshop at Ceat Mahal. In a free-flowing interview with RPGCom, Garvin elaborates on how strategic leadership becomes the key driver in steering an economic downturn

What role does strategic leadership play in managing a global downturn?
The global recession was certainly due to a liability crisis. The part that got us into the crisis was unwillingness to question and very opaque financial processes. Complex derivatives were being used freely without evaluation. It is very important to understand and manage the risks associated with exotic options, complex swaps, warrants, and other synthetic derivatives. There is ample evidence of CEOs getting into it without understanding the implications. There are rogue organisations like AIG that got us into it and there are also fortress organisations like JP Morgan Chase, which are much more conservative, who believe in a clean balance sheet and a culture of compliance.

What catapulted it was the seeming inability of Wall Street to understand how they are viewed and the failure of a Democratic leadership and unwillingness to come to any decision.

To answer your question: yes, good leadership always makes the difference. A willingness to face reality and plan ahead are crucial attributes of a good leader. What is equally important is a contingency plan in place and real-time operating data. A good leader is one who encourages dissent just to get a more accurate view. Minority voice needs to be on the radar, even though such views are seldom adopted.

While some leaders are born, others believe that leadership skills can be acquired. What is your view?
I would say that they are both born and made. A lot depends on the range in which one operates. Temperament and intelligence are characteristics that can be acquired and but it
depends largely on whether one is operating at the top or bottom of his range. People need to put themselves in situations where they will be stretched, while some people will gain, others will not.

‘GREAT leaders listen to what isn’t said’ Courage, however, is a quality that one has to be born with. If you want to be a good leader it is important to be courageous and it is a quality that is hard to develop. The ability to take ownership, the ability to step out and take a call and assure your team that you will be there for support, is an ability that can’t be cultivated.

What would you say is that one key ingredient that separates a good leader from a great leader?
I would say that it is a combination of two things that separates the good from the great. First, is the ability to ask thoughtful questions. I say this, because the higher up you go, you answer less. Secondly, great leaders listen for what isn’t said. The ability to hear the unsaid problem and to recognize it is truly the mark of an outstanding leader.