Recently when I saw the movie 83, Kapil Dev’s leadership style truly touched my heart. A leader who is always keeping a close watch on his team and supporting them with anything that they need to be at the top of their craft. Whether it’s replacing Balvinder’s shoe or a nudge to Gavaskar to show up in the field.
In short, the movie brought back memories of one of India’s most epic triumphs. While Kapil Dev and his team wrote history for Indian Cricket, and cricket became a religion in our country, the leadership insights from the saga cannot be overlooked. Kapil’s inspiring leadership vision and his humble demeanour are something that every leader needs to uphold, to live in the hearts of the people they lead.
3 Leadership Lessons to pick up from this legendary win and its cinematic play are:
- Leading with Conviction & Faith – While the cricketing world in the 1983 world cup had discounted the Indian team, the skipper of the team had a different plan. ‘Jitke Aana’ was his only mantra and conviction that his mother had instilled in him for every match that he had ever played. While the entire team and also other officials took this to be a nice holiday to England, one man had the faith to win for his land! Whether it was the press ridicule or any other negative press release he ignored everything with his conviction to lead his boys to victory. His strong conviction, despite the numerous odds, was the force that not only changed the mindset of his team members (Srikanth’s monologue in one of the parties) but also made history for the nation. The cool mantra for the team was a statement by their skipper ”As they say when you have tasted success once the tongue wants more!!!”. ‘The stronger the leader’s faith and conviction the better are the chances for the goal accomplishments and braving all odds.
- Rising to the occasion in Crises – India had gotten off to a good start in the tournament, winning two on the trot. Then, they were successively brought down by the West Indies and Australia. The skeptics were rubbing their hands together in pride of their predictions! And when India was down 17 for 5, in a qualifier match against Zimbabwe, the obituary writers began sharpening their quills. That was when Kapil Dev played one of the most splendid innings defying all conventions. His 175 not out, not only transformed the game, and the tournament, it also turned around the perceptions of an entire nation about the possibilities of limited-overs cricket. Everything changed from that moment on. This inning was never recorded, yet it broke all records in the cricketing history of its times. This is also a classic exhibit of how a leader can face a crisis with inner wisdom and resolve, though he may not be an expert in that facet of his domain. In the movie we see Kapil bracing every crisis with true conviction and self belief…whether it was with press or his team members, or adverse conditions when the West Indies caused them injuries… he held his head high to lead the team to the best destination of holding the cup in their hands!
- Leveraging every Talent meticulously – As a leader first getting talent onboard and then playing them right is an art! An interesting facet of the 1983 winning Indian team was not only their key skills but also their alternate skills that were beautifully leveraged. Most of the players had more than one skill with reasonable competence. Apart from Kapil Dev who was an awesome allrounder the other players like Kirti Azad(batsman with bowling skills), and Madan Lal, Roger Binny were all bowlers with reasonable batting skills. Thus cross-skilling was not only harnessed it was played with strategic prioritization. Whether a corporate leader or a start-up leader being an all-rounder or a professional with reasonable knowledge and expertise in other skills is a need for every industry.
Who is your cricketing hero and what leadership acumen have you learnt from him? What is your learning from 1983 world cup victory? How would you like to go against all odds to accomplish your goals? How do you react to critics?
drsonaliduttabaanerjee 