Military Leadership – Its Relevance for CEOs in the Corporate World.

 

Military Leadership – Its Relevance for CEOs in the Corporate World.

Dinesh K Kapila , Chief General Manager, NABARD (Retd).  

(Published in The Business Sandesh of 05/05/2026)
The characteristics of Military leadership at the senior level are often not considered as an appropriate paradigm for the corporate world. The two worlds, specially in the Indian context are viewed as two exclusive separate streams. However one has to distinguish between the stereotyped image prevalent in India of a military leader and search for its essence and relevance for the corporate sector. The traits and views of military leaders such as Marshals Zhukov & Rokossovsky of Russia, Generals Eisenhower & Patton of USA, Field Marshal Montgomery of the UK and our very own Field Marshals Carriappa and Manekshaw can impart valuable insights. 

 My father, Major General Rajendra Nath, PVSM (Retd), a Brigade Commander in the 1971 War in Bangladesh, often advised that whatever be the position and field one may be in, if your team excels consistently, is committed to the mission and objective, stands by you, as you stand by them, and radiates positivity and a can do attitude, you are leading well. It’s pertinent to note that as the economy expands rapidly, the challenges for CEOs shall only multiply manifold. This particularly applies to maximizing the potential of human resources. This is a function where the military has excelled generally. In his book “Military Leadership in India” my father states the “short & swift wars of today call for a leader with a far superior moral & intellectual fibre that tempers itself in peacetime so as to stand up to the duress of a brief but intensive war in which no mistakes are acceptable”. The fast changing economic environment we face up today requires CEOs who can lead effectively for enabling sustainable success to be achieved. It is pertinent to remember that the battle for market share with profits leaves little on the table for the average performers of the corporate world.

 Using the trait approach, I find the essence of leadership is the same, the leaders may change as older generations fade, like Satish Dhawan who built up ISRO, Narayanan Vaghul, who was mentored by RK Talwar of SBI and later went on to mentor an entire leadership team at ICICI. Prakash Tandon of Hindustan Lever, the tremendous contribution of Faqir Chand Kohli at TCS.  Most were low key, effective, had a strong ethical and moral fibre and decisive. RC Bhargava of the Maruti Suzuki is another such stalwart. Ratan Tata is a legend by himself.    

 As regards character & integrity, Field Marshal Montgomery was of the view that it was the strength of character of a leader, whether noble or evil; to inspire others and so enable them to place their trust or confidence in him and his ability to lead them to success. Integrity gives rise to moral strength and intellectual honesty which is the main characteristic of a man of character; he also possesses transparent sincerity and takes full responsibility for his actions. The requirement of this trait applies equally to corporate leaders; The House of Tata’s attracts respect and goodwill as did the late Mr Aditya Birla. This has enabled the groups to build a band of dedicated, effective professionals with loyalty to the group. Similarly, Field Marshal Cariappa advised me as a  college going youngster that character and ethics were primary in leadership along with standing up for the right thing.   

At higher levels, it is just not physical courage but morale which matters. This acts as a motivator for the troops and enables a senior commander to stake his career & future in the judgement of what he thinks is right or wrong. Way back, the then Chairman of ITC said in the 84th Annual report; ‘the leadership of tomorrow will have to focus on courage. There will be many testing times & intelligent rationalizations but without courage, it is difficult to build, with only knowledge; it is difficult to build on people’s commitment”. Mr. Narayan Murthy of Infosys stands out as a leader with courage who has dared to dream and succeeded, even though perceptions have changed somewhat now. A stand out example is the late Subir Raha,  Chairman of ONGC. Such leaders inspire. As does Shri V Krishnamurthy, a leader who could inspire an entire large PSU company pushing through a strong change in productivity and attitudes.   

An Ability to Motivate implies a senior leader’s ability to make his juniors appreciate their responsibilities, to build their self belief and confidence, to believe in his men and the ability to achieve the objective with the team no matter how tough the challenge. As Thomas E. Cronin observes in ‘Military Leadership – In Pursuit of excellence’ “Optimism and high motivation count for a lot. They can lift organizations. Most people are forever waiting around for somebody to light a fire under them. They have not learned that ultimately you are responsible for yourself. You don’t blame others. You don’t blame circumstances. You simply take charge and move the organization forward”. Jack Welch at GE and V. Krishnamurthy at SAIL demonstrated this amply by simply taking charge and turning GE and SAIL around. Jack Welch would often say, “control your destiny or someone else will” and “don’t manage, lead’. These simply demonstrate the essential commonality in the leadership models in the military and the corporate world, shorn of the jargon but accepting the factors which set them apart. Young Army Officers demonstrate this in combat, nothing life throws at you can equal combat, being resolute, pressing home the attack, yet being aware of your environment and the developments. Young corporate leaders ought to learn by silently imbibing these lessons by reading about such young leaders. Effective Leadership down the line pays and always will. You have to nurture leadership and inculcate it.  

Self Confidence, Steadfastness, Calmness, an effective military leader has a belief in his own abilities based on sound professional knowledge and devotion to his profession. Coupled with this he has the ability to generally take sound decisions even in the chaos of war in a measured analytical manner. Mr. K.L. Chugh, the then Chairman of ITC in quite tumultuous times described it as mental toughness and emotional maturity which provides confidence and not panicking when presented with bewildering choices. He put it as “keeping your head while others are losing theirs”. The commonality of views is self evident and striking. In a battle when a unit broke under a well planned counter attack, my father simply stood in his jeep, it was not planned, you do what you need to do, officers regrouped, our own tanks moved up, status quo was restored. Nobody was hunting for glory, it was just what they had trained for and drilled into their minds.  

Field Marshal Montgomery has said that the measure of one’s ability to lead is twofold. Firstly, it is in his will to dominate the men and events which surround him, the will to drive himself and his men to the limit of their powers for a specific purpose and the refusal to allow anything to divert him from his aim. Secondly, it is in his character to inspire others to trust him. Once a target is logically decided upon, a determination to achieve it, even against all odds and even accept a certain degree of casualties and collateral damage is acceptable, this could be termed as ruthlessness. Harvey Golub, once CEO, American Express used to stress the need to be candid and straightforward as also the need to set unattainable objectives because no objective was worthwhile unless it was beyond reach. We Indians uniformly score high on adaptability in Transactional Analysis, this needs to be balanced with the achievement of the goals set for the organization. This trait somehow is a challenge for us.  

General SLA Marshall in Mainsprings of Leadership was of the view that not only are effective military leaders self disciplined; they have a marked tendency for inculcating discipline and rigourous training in their formations. Their leadership stems from ‘the fruit of application, preparation, thoroughness and the willingness to struggle to gain the desired end”. JRD Tata says in his biography, Beyond the Last Blue Mountain – “Nothing worthwhile is ever achieved without deep thought and hard work. That one must forever strive for excellence or even perfection; in any task, however small and never be satisfied with the second best”. This thought process has enabled select corporate leaders to deliver world class quality and services / products consistently as also to grow their organisations. The RBI has consistently delivered on its intellectual acumen and knowledge, which very few realise.

Senior military leaders are driven by a sense of mission & a keen awareness of nation building. They also study the achievements of great military leaders of the past and imbibe their philosophy and strategy. JRD Tata was of the same viewpoint and said ‘no success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile unless it serves the needs or interest of the country and its people and is achieved by honest means”. General Rajendra Nath describes it as “the primary requirement for developing the full potential of a military leader is for him to have a goal higher than himself”. Jan Timmer, the architect of the turnaround of Philips at one time said much the same while stressing that each organization and its people must have a dream, a vision, to sustain them and to strive for. Effective corporate leaders, if they develop a sense of mission and are devoted to it, can develop an effective strategy around it. A deep sense of history enables seasoned CEOs to understand the possible scenarios and implications of actions they could be planning and the context.

Team Building, Communication Skills, Organization Building, are best described within the forces as the creation of the ‘buddy spirit’, the spirit of oneness. A quality of generosity of heart is another characteristic of great military leaders. The Japanese corporate world and Maruti in India exemplify this the best, the building up of pride in the company, the belongingness and devotion to the company mission and targets and a belief in the company’s values and ideals..

Above all these traits, an effective military leader has a drive and strength of character, and ability to lead from the front (junior levels) or an ability to show a high degree of visibility & interaction (at senior levels) so as to make the formations feel they operate behind a leader who himself is a man of courage & conviction. More important, an effective military leader creates an aura and environment of victory. A certain degree of flamboyance does accompany the process of communication as also to project the personality for motivating the troops. The effective military leader also welcomes with self assurance and aplomb the triumph and glory of war. CEOs of today can learn valuable lessons from them as strive to build self sustaining organizations which will last after them and attract the best of talent the nation has to offer.

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